Tips and Quick Fixes

1. My Internet browser sometimes closes for no reason with an error. What’s wrong ?

A: Sometimes when you browse to various sites or install some programs , they modify or install ‘add-on’ or ‘helper’ modules to the web browser.
Sometimes this is also caused by Spyware.
These issues can sometimes be resolved by uninstalling those small programs or you can check your computer for Spyware with a program such as Spybot which is free.
Spybot will remove the programs that can cause those browser crashes.
Find Spybot at www.safer-networking.org

2. My machine is running so slow ? – It was much faster when I bought it.
What to do ?

A: As a machine is used and programs get installed and uninstalled, there are a lot of files that get created/modified and deleted.
This causes not only the hard disk to become fragmented, but the extra programs and plug-ins chew up a lot more memory than a nice fresh windows installation.
In most cases more RAM and defragmenting the hard drive will turn your machine into a performer again.
Reinstalling your Windows operating system is not our recommended fix – as extra RAM is usually cheaper and results in a quicker PC.

3. I’ve just upgraded to Office 2007 and documents I make are not compatible with others I send documents to – What can I do ?

By default – Office 2007 has a new saving format .DOCX , or .XLSX - instead of .DOC or .XLS
You can change the Office 2007 program to save back as these old formats by default with the following procedure.

In the Office program , press ALT-F - To bring up the file menu
Then press i           - To bring up the program options
Then click on the ‘SAVE’ option on the Left pane.

You should see the picture as shown as below.

4. How can I add Album Art to any Music Folder

This is easily my favorite tip! One of the coolest new features in Windows XP is its album thumbnail generator, which automatically places the appropriate album cover art on the folder to which you are copying music (generally in WMA format). But what about those people that have already copied their CDs to the hard drive using MP3 format? You can download album cover art from sites such as cdnow.com or amguide.com, and then use the new Windows XP folder customize feature to display the proper image for each folder. But this takes time--you have to manually edit the folder properties for every single folder--and you will lose customizations if you have to reinstall the OS. There's an excellent fix, however.
When you download the album cover art from the Web, just save the images as folder.jpg each time and place them in the appropriate folder. Then, Windows XP will automatically use that image as the thumbnail for that folder and, best of all, will use that image in Windows Media Player for Windows XP (MPXP) if you choose to display album cover art instead of a visualization. And the folder customization is automatic, so it survives an reinstallation as well.
Your music folders never looked so good!

5. How can I change the location of the My Music or My Pictures folders.

This can be useful in a network environment where your ‘My Documents’ has been relocated to a server for backup purposes , but you don’t want the server to be swamped with pictures, and music.
In Windows 2000, Microsoft added the ability to right-click the My Documents folder and choose a new location for that folder in the shell. With Windows XP, Microsoft has elevated the My Music and My Pictures folders to the same "special shell folder" status of My Documents, but they never added a similar (and simple) method for changing those folder's locations. However, it is actually pretty easy to change the location of these folders, using the following method.
Open a My Computer window and navigate to the location where you'd like My Music (or My Pictures) to reside. Then, open the My Documents folder in a different window. Drag the My Music (or My Pictures) folder to the other window, and Windows XP will update all of the references to that folder to the new location, including the Start menu

6. Burning CDs in Windows XP and the Limitations

Windows XP's integrated CD burner is powered by the Roxio engine but lacks the familiar Easy CD Creator interface. There is no CD Burner icon on the desktop or in the start menu. So where is this promised CD burner? There are two answers, depending on if you want to burn audio or data CD's.

To burn data CDs
Open a folder. Look at the folder options on the left of your screen. You should see an option to Copy All Items to CD or Copy to CD, depending on your folder view. You can also right-click a file or folder and choose Send To and then CD drive. I appreciate that XP has made it as easy to drop files to a CD as it is a Zip disk. It does not copy the files immediately. Instead, it places them into a repository and waits for further instruction on when and where to burn the CD. Now, place a blank CD into your CD drive or navigate to your CD drive in My Computer, and choose to write the files to a CD.

To burn music CDs
The Windows Media Player was always a monstrosity, and now it now includes a new function -- CD burning. Select a song in your My Documents folder, and choose Copy to Audio CD from the folder options on the left. Surprise! Up pops the Windows Media Player, waiting for you to choose Copy to CD. Hit the record button, and have a good time.

Limitations of the incorporated CD burner
You cannot create bootable CDs with the Windows XP CD burner, nor can you create a CD from an image (like a .iso file). If you want this functionality, you need to install your favorite CD burning software. Don't try to install Easy CD Creator 5 just yet -- Windows XP won't let you.
Roxio will have XP patches available on their website soon, but only for their latest edition of CD creator. Roxio will not support Easy CD Creator 3.X and 4.X for Windows XP, and the user will be required to purchase the upgrade to Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum.

Windows XP does not have a CD burning interface, but it has CD burning artfully integrated into the operating system. However, third-party CD burning software is still necessary for those who want to burn more than the occasional audio CD.