Question: What does XP in Windows XP stand for?

Answer: "eXPerience".

Question: Is Windows XP firewall any good?

Answer: If you have a dialup connection, then it is probably good enough for you, due to their nature, dial up connections aren't easily attacked since they are connected for short periods and get new IP addresses every sign-on. But with a full time internet connection, such as cable, DSL, or leased line connection, you should get a full featured firewall, such as BlackIce Defender , McAfee Firewall, Norton Firewall or Tiny Personal Firewall. You can also get a nice easy solution by buying a router or, if you plan on networking multiple computers, a wireless router. It really makes home networking easy, no cables and very fast connections.

Question: What's the difference between the home version and the professional version of Windows XP?

Answer: Well The home edition means what you think it does, it's more for stand alone home pc's, won't login to domains correctly, etc. The professional is more suited for domains, such as you may have at your work environment, multi-processor support, roaming user profiles, remote desktop connections, access control, you can encrypt your files, it has support for offline files and folders, remote installation services, group policy, and multi-lingual user interface support (add-on).

Question: Can I upgrade my Windows 2000 professional with Windows XP Home edition?

Answer: No, you can only upgrade from Windows 98 and Me with windows XP home edition, windows XP professional can be used to upgrade windows 2000 professional though.

Question: How can I check my IP Address?

Answer: WINIPCFG.EXE was the GUI application in Windows 9x/Me that lets you check the status of your network connections. In Windows XP you can run a command line version, ipconfig.exe, or you can right-click, or double-click, each network connection to make configuration changes and check their status.

Question: How do I get rid of that dang new programs installed message from the start menu?

Answer: Well you can get rid of it permanently, at least until you change this setting back, by right clicking the start menu, then click properties then click the start menu button and then click customize, click advanced and un-tick the highlight newly installed programs box.

Question: I have some older programs that I can't get too work with windows XP, what can I do?

Answer: Well you can try running it in compatibility mode, in windows explorer, right click the program and click properties, then click the compatibility tab, the check the box that says run this program in compatibility mode for: and then select the operating systems it needs from the drop down box and then click OK.

Question: Will I be able to upgrade my existing windows to windows XP?

Answer: Windows 95 and Windows NT 3.51, or earlier, are not supported for upgrading, so you will need to buy a full version of Windows XP, windows 98, windows 98 se, windows ME, windows 2000 are all supported upgrades to Windows XP home edition and professional, windows 2000 professional and NT workstation 4.0 can only be upgraded to Window XP professional.

Question: All of my open copies Internet Explorer appear under one group in my taskbar, why is that and how do I stop it?

Answer: It's called grouping, in which all of the copies of the same program, in your case internet explorer, appear under one group in the taskbar. You can turn grouping off by right clicking the taskbar, then click properties and un-tick the option Group Similar taskbar option.
 

Question: How do I lock my computer in Windows XP?

Answer: Type WINKEY+L to lock your computer.

Question: Does Windows XP contain any Easter eggs?

Answer: Because they had to supply certain government agencies with software, Microsoft can't include undocumented features, including Easter eggs, in its software. As a result, you will not find any Easter eggs exist in XP, at least as of right now.

Question: How can I find out which product key I used to activate my copy Windows XP?

Answer: Well you can't because XP converts the product key to the system's product ID, and if you expose this product ID, it opens security concerns around the product ID generation process and it's security. So make sure you keep track of all product keys you use, write them down or keep a text file if you have lots to keep track of.

Question: How do I enable Windows 2000-like file sharing and security in Windows XP workgroups? I don't see the security tab for a file or a folder.

Answer: You have to change a network access setting in the local policy settings.

• Start the Microsoft Management Console Local Security Policy snap-in by clicking start, control panel, administrative tools, local security policy.
• Double click local policies.
• Click security options.
• Double-click the policy "Network access: Force network logons using local accounts to authenticate as Guest."
• Check disabled, and click OK.
• Close the console.
• Reboot the system, to make the change to take effect.

Now you have share permissions and file security on NTFS volumes with Windows XP. On FAT volumes, the Security menu will still remain unavailable.

Question: How do I keep Windows XP from highlighting newly installed programs?

Answer: You can do this by right-clicking the Start button, choosing properties, then customize, and then click advanced, and then un-tick Highlight newly installed applications option.
 

Question: Windows XP doesn't have a driver for my hardware, what can I do?

Answer: You can try using the Windows 2000 driver, since it is an upgrade from Windows 2000, or if you can get online, go to the manufacturers homepage and download there latest driver from there. Before you buy any hardware for Windows XP you should check the hardware compatibility list here from Microsoft.

Question: Microsoft recommends a Pentium II 233 and 64 MB of RAM to run Windows XP, is this true?

Answer: While this is true, technically, you will not really be able to use it for very much, you should start with a Pentium III 500 MHz or above and 256 Megs of ram to have a decent user experience.

Question: What happened to NetBEUI?

Answer: NetBEUI is no longer supported and Microsoft recommends using TCP/IP protocol instead, which is the default in Windows XP. But if you must have NetBEUI, you can install it, it's in D:Valueadd\msft\net\netbeui by default. You can add it by configuring a network adapter and choosing Properties, General, Install.

Question: How can I Alphabetize my start menu?

Answer: Windows adds new programs to the end of the start menu. The fix is quick and simple, right click on the menu and select sort by name.

Question: How do I get rid of that stupid toolbar when I hover the mouse over images on my desktop.

Answer: That would be the Internet Explorer 6 Image Toolbar, to turn this off, open IE 6 and then click tools, then internet options, on the advanced tab, un-tick Enable Image Toolbar under Multimedia.
 

Question: I can't get my PC to boot with the CD, is there a way to create a floppy boot disk to install Windows XP?

Answer: Sure can, from Microsoft, create a boot-disk for Windows XP Professional install, you should also check out bootdisk.com they have listings for all kinds of boot disks for Windows XP, Windows 98, DOS and more.

Question: I have more than one computer, do I have to buy a copy of Windows XP for each computer?

Answer: Yes, you have always been required to have license for each computer running a windows operating system, now Microsoft is making it harder for you to install Windows onto more than one system with WPA.

Question: All of my open copies Internet Explorer appear under one group in my taskbar, why is that and how do I stop it?