Avoid Win XP Re-activation

The time may come that you'll need to reinstall your Windows XP. It could happen. Maybe you'll add a new motherboard or hard drive. Maybe you'll get constant errors and problems that just won't go away. Or perhaps you're a neat freak who wants to rid yourself of clutter and start fresh with a clean operating system. If you do reinstall Windows XP, then you'll need to re-activate it too—that is, unless you keep this tip handy ;-)

See, the first time you activated XP it created a file called "wpa.dbl" that lives in the WINDOWS\system32 folder. By creating a backup of this file on disk, you can simply put it back into the folder after reinstalling XP and avoid the whole re-activation hassle. Here's how...

Go to My Computer then select your Hard Drive (usually drive C). Go to the WINDOWS\system32 folder and scroll way down until you find the wpa.dbl file.



Right-click and choose "Send To" then either Floppy Drive (make sure you have a disk in) or CD-R/RW.

Now, when you reinstall Windows XP you'll come to the activation screen—decline to activate and let the install finish.

Restart your computer in Safe Mode (keep hitting F8 at start-up then when the Advanced Boot Options menu appears arrow down to Safe Mode).

Find your way back to the WINDOWS\system32 folder. It's a good idea to rename the wpa.dbl file you're replacing just in case you run into problems, so call it something like "wpa.nothing".

Get the backup disk and copy the old wpa.dbl file back to the WINDOWS\system32 folder and reboot.

Password Protect Folders in XP

Do you share a computer with other users and want some extra security on your folders? There are two ways to password protect a folder built into Windows XP (for other Windows flavors, there are some freeware/shareware programs out there).

If you have a log in password for your account, this can be used to protect folders from other users. Your hard drive must be formatted using NTFS (which it probably is unless you're dual booting with another operating system). Here's what to do...

Right-click the folder that you want to make private and choose "Properties" (or Alt+Double-click). Go to the "Sharing" tab and check the "Make this folder private" box.


Click Apply . If you do not have a password on your account, a box will pop up asking if you want to assign a password. This must be done if you want to make the folder private, so click Yes . You will need to use your password to log on to your computer from then on.

Type in a password then confirm it. Click the "Create Password" button then close the Password window.

Click OK in the Properties dialog box.

Now anyone else logged on to your computer can't access that file without knowing your password.

If the Folder is Zipped you can give it a unique password.

Just double-click the zipped folder. In the top menu select File then click "Add a Password".


Type a password into the Password box. Then again in the "Confirm Password" box.


Now, you are the only person who can access files in this folder. The folder can be opened allowing the files to be seen, but you are the only one who can access them.

Disable the Security Center warnings

Security is a system of safeguards designed to protect a computer system and important data from damage or access by unauthorized persons. Different antivirus and firewall programs are used to manage the security of the computer. Some time this is build-in antivirus or firewall program in windows XP to maintain the computer security. But if your windows is not provided with any antivirus, firewall program and Automatic Updates, your windows security center will alerts you a message "Your computer may be at risk. Your virus protection status is unknown" with useless repeating reminder. You can disable this message permanently by changing the values of “AntiVirusDisableNotify” in windows registry.

Follow the given steps to edit the computer registry for disable message:
First click on Start button then type Regedit in Run option.
Here locate the location to:
· HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center
Here in right side panel, double click on AntiVirusDisableNotify and set its value 1.

Now close the registry editor and restart your computer after any changes to go into effect.