Activate Once Forever

Windows will require re-activation if several pieces of hardware are changed at one time. It makes sense to try to spread these installations out to avoid the hassle.

But what if the WinXP OS must be re-installed on the same system? To avoid having to re-activate, keep a copy of wpa.dbl from the System32 folder with your backups. Make sure to create a fresh copy with any hardware upgrade. Upon re-installing WinXP, just copy wpa.dbl back to the System32 folder to skip activation.

Deactivate WinXP ‘Spyware’

Win XP users have a new set of security issues, including a plethora of default settings that cause ‘phone home’ activity, automatic updates and downloads without user choice or intervention. The method for manually disabling these is here. Free software to change these settings easily is here.

WinXP Power Toys

This versatile (unsupported) collection of goodies from Microsoft includes:

Tweak UI: Provides access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.

Super-Fast User Switcher: Switch between users without having to go through the Logon screen (see Quick Tips, below, for another way).

Open Command Window Here: Adds an “Open Command Window Here” context menu option on file system folders.

Taskbar Magnifier: Magnify part of the screen from the taskbar.

Power Calculator: Graph and evaluate functions as well as perform many different types of conversions.

Image Resizer: Resize one or many image files with a right-click.

CD Slide Show Generator: View images burned to a CD as a slide show.

Virtual Desktop Manager: Manage up to four desktops from the Windows taskbar. Multi-monitors is much better.