1. The first thing to do is make XP look more like what you might be used to. In other words to deflower it (get rid of some of the eye candy!). Most of the bells and whistles new to XP offer very little functionality, and only slow the computer down.
2. Right button click on the "Start" button and left button click on "Properties".
3. Click on "Classic Start Menu" and "Customize". The options here are
a matter of personal choice, but our recommendations are:
4. After clicking "OK" to return to the desktop, find and activate the
"Windows Explorer" in "Programs/Accessories". Here we can now customize how
the folder windows will look. Click on "Tools" and "Folder Options" in the
menu. Choose the following options:
5. On the current window, Choose the Window Style (ie. normal or maximized) that you prefer, and the view (ie. Icons, or Details). These selections will be used to extend those properties to other window folders. Please note that XP overides these selections on certain windows
6. Click on the "View" tab. Again, the options here are
a matter of personal choice, but our recommendations are:
7. Click on the "File Types" tab. These are the associations that are used by Windows to determine what program is used to open a file with a particular extension. If the extension is not defined, your computer will give you a message that it can't open the file. One definition that seems to have been left out is the Cabinet (.CAB) definition. Without this definition, your computer will think that these are Directory or Folder names. Click on "New" and enter the extension "CAB".
8. Now return to the "View" tab and click "Apply To All Folders" and "Close". The selections you have just made will be applied to most other folders. The one caveat here is that you must not select "Remember each folder's view settings". Temporary changes on the last 400 folders accessed will be remembered by XP if this is selected, and cancell out the changes you have just made.
The next step is to deal with some of the security issues in XP.
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