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Tip 9: Clean up the backup
Be sure to check out the Disk Cleanup tool’s advanced options, available on the More Options tab. For example, click More Options, and under System Restore, choose Clean up to delete all but your most recent restore point.
Tip 10: Avoid musical duplicates
If, after ripping CDs in the Windows Media Audio (WMA) format, you decide to go with a tool like iTunes to interface with your portable music player, be aware that importing songs into iTunes means converting them to the Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) format, resulting in duplicate music files that will hog your hard disk. To save space, stick to one music player, or at least to one format (such as MP3) that multiple players can handle. Windows Media Player 10 can rip music in MP3 format without any additional software. To select the format for ripping music from CDs to hard drives in Windows Media Player, choose Tools, Options and click the Rip Music tab. Choose your desired option from the Format drop-down list and click OK.
Tip 11: More music-management magic
Many people who have learned the joys of using their PC as a jukebox soon discover that they have scads of music files downloaded from the web or ripped from their massive CD collection. If you don’t need all that music on your computer, store it in an external device to save valuable space on your PC.
Tip 12: Make your system multimedia-friendly
On the other hand, you may be struggling to get a handle on the photos you’ve transferred from your digital camera. A solution to that, aside from tip 13, is to also use external devices or simply sort out through the pictures you are simply never going to print out. (College parties anyone?) You can also make sure the pictures you do want, but are not planning on printing, are optimized for the web in a low memory format, such as JPG. If you have Photoshop, simply go to File, Save For Web and play around with the settings to lower the memory used to store it. One word of caution: optimizing pictures for the web or even resaving them causes loss of quality and makes it harder to print larger versions of a picture afterwards. Using a format like RAW will avoid the resaving problem, but not the initial memory clutter.
Tip 13: Store pics online
Running out of room on your hard disk? Of course you should keep your photos backed up at home and with family members, but, for little or no money (depending on the service), you may also be able to store and access your photos online, where it’s much easier to share them with Uncle Bert and Aunt Ernie. Major players to check out include Flickr,Yahoo Photos and Google’s Picasa Web Albums). (For more on this, check out Photo finishing made easy and Digital Photos: print them, share them, perfect them).
Tip 14: Become a wireless wonder
If you just got a wireless router (a router that broadcasts a wireless signal) and want to set up a wireless network, you can use the wizard in Windows XP Service Pack 2 to accomplish just that: choose Start, Programs (or All Programs), Accessories, Communications, Wireless Network Setup Wizard. But, if you already have a wireless network and are just adding a laptop or other new device to receive the signal, don’t bother with the wizard. You’ll probably have better luck using the software and instructions that came with your wireless hardware for the installation and for subsequent additions.
Tip 15: Fix glitches
Nevertheless, Windows’s built-in wireless tools can be helpful. For example, to see what wireless networks are available to you, look for the wireless-network icon in your system tray (the part of the taskbar near the clock). If you don’t see the icon, choose Start, Programs (or All Programs), Accessories, Communications, Network Connections. (Alternatively, you can open this window by right-clicking My Network Places in any Explorer window and choosing Properties.) Select the icon for your wireless connection and, in the task pane on the left, click Change settings of this connection. Check the box for Show icon in notification area when connected and click OK.
Once you see the icon, it’s a simple matter of right-clicking it and choosing View Available Wireless Networks. If this doesn’t open the Wireless Network Connection window, the software for your network may be intercepting the command to display its own dialog box. If so, you can get to the Windows version by opening the Network Connections window, selecting your connection and clicking the View available wireless connections link in the task pane on the left.
If no networks are listed in the Wireless Network Connection window, or if you don’t have a Wireless Networks tab in your wireless connections properties dialog box (right-click the connection icon in the Network Connections window and choose Properties to see whether you do), you may not have Windows’s Wireless Zero Configuration service started. To fix that, choose Start, Run, type services.msc /s, and press <Enter>. Find Wireless Zero Configuration in the list of services and double-click it. Choose Automatic from the Startup type drop-down list, click Apply, choose the Start button and click OK. Finally, return to the Wireless Network Connection window (if it isn’t still open) and click Refresh network list in the task pane on the left.
Tip 16: Jump from signal to signal with the greatest of ease
You may spend part of your day using your notebook computer on your home wireless network, another part of the day using the wireless signal at your office, and yet another block of time linked to a signal from your favourite coffee shop or internet cafe. Do you really want to open your wireless hardware’s utility (or Windows’s own dialog boxes, for that matter) to switch networks manually each time you change locations? I think not.
Fortunately, you can set up XP’s wireless settings to connect to your favourite networks automatically when they are available, and even set the priority order.
To do so, right-click your network tray icon and choose View available wireless networks as described above. If you’re already connected to a network that you normally use, the word ‘Connected’ and a yellow star will appear to the right of its name. If you don’t see any other networks that you want to use, you may need to take your laptop to the location where you’ll get the other signal that you commonly use and then return to this window.
Once you see a network that you are not currently connected to–but would like to use regularly–double-click its name in the Wireless Connections dialog box to initiate a connection. Enter any passwords or network keys you need. Repeat these steps for all wireless networks that you use regularly. As you do this, the network entries will get marked as ‘Automatic’ in the list of available networks.
While still in the Wireless Network Connection window, click Change the order of preferred networks in the task pane on the left. Doing so will open the Wireless Network Connection Properties box. In the Preferred networks list in the middle of the dialog box, select your most frequently used network and click Move up–repeatedly, if necessary–to move it to the top of the list. Continue selecting networks and using the Move up or Move down button until the list reflects the priority order you desire. Click OK.
The next time you move your notebook to a new location, Windows will try to link to your preferred, or automatic, networks in the specified order until it finds a connection, without any fuss or bother on your part.
Tip 17: Boost your bandwidth
Wireless networks continue to run faster and faster, but that doesn’t mean your PC is connected at your network’s top speed. For instance, a neighbour’s Wi-Fi chip set could be interfering with your signal. If you find that could be the case, having your neighbour agree to use a different gateway channel. If that’s not an option, a directional antenna may be the way to go.
Tip 18: Emulate Vista
Modernizing Windows may mean adding a few low- or no-cost enhancements. If your hardware can handle some degree of upgrading, but you don’t want to risk a whole new OS, check out Scott Dunn’s article on Making your system look like Vista.
Tip 19: Check directory sizes at a glance with folder size
When you view Windows Explorer in Details view, the Size column shows the space consumed by individual files, but provides no information on the size of directories. Not to worry. Rather than find a different file managing tool, just download and install the free Folder Size utility, which adds this feature to Windows Explorer. Once you’ve installed Folder Size, choose View, Choose Columns and check the box for Folder Size.
You may also want to uncheck the Size box, since this column is now superfluous. Click OK. The new Folder Size column will show the size of folders and of individual files. Calculating the size of large folders can take a while, which is probably why Microsoft never added the feature to begin with. Still, this approach is much better than having to open a Properties dialog box for each folder one at a time.
Tip 20: Master maintenance
Ta-da! you’ve successfully re-engineered Windows XP to face the future. To keep it fresh, you need to get on a regular maintenance schedule. Fortunately, these days, you can set up your housekeeping chores to take care of themselves automatically. But, if automatic is not your cup of tea, just make sure you defragment your system periodically, thus ensuring your “brand new” XP stays fresh.