How to remove startup programs?

If your XP computer is taking way too long to boot up, it might be because you're loading too many programs at startup. Often applications that you install will take it upon themselves to add themselves to the startup list, even though you don't really want them to start automatically every time you boot the computer. Sometimes many of these apps are vendor "crapware" programs that you don't even want or use. Here's how to quickly prevent unwanted programs from starting up when you boot the system:

1. Click Start Run
2. In the Run box, type msconfig
3. In the System Configuration Utility interface, click the Startup tab
4. Uncheck the items you don't want to start when your computer starts
5. Click OK and then restart the computer to make the change take effect (or just exit without restarting if you want to reboot at a later time).

How to find out who has used or tried to use your printer?

If you share the printer attached to your XP Pro machine with others, you can find out who has used it - or tried to use it - by enabling auditing on the printer. Here's how you set it up:

1. Log on with an administrative account.
2. In Windows Explorer, click Tools | Folder Options | View tab.
3. Uncheck "Sue Simple File Sharing (Recommended)."
4. Click Start | Control Panel (classic view) | Administrative Tools | Local Security Policy
5. In the left pane, click to expand Local Policies.
6. Click Audit Policy.
7. Double click Audit Object Access in the right pane.
8. Select to audit both successes and failures.
9. Click Start | Printers and Faxes.
10. Right click the icon for your printer and select Properties.
11. Click the Security tab.
12. Click Advanced.
13. Click the Auditing tab.
14. Click Add, and add the Everyone group. Click OK.
15. Select the types of access you want to audit (Print, Manage Printers, Manage Documents, etc.).
16. When some successfully uses the printer or performs other audited tasks, it will be recorded in the System log. When someone who doesn't have permission tries to print, it will be recorded in the Security log. You can view the logs by clicking Start | Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Event Viewer.

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How to kill multiple processes?

Have you ever had Internet Explorer or Chrome or some other program freeze up (it seems to be especially common with web browsers) and you couldn't get it to close by clicking close button right side of the title bar? So you open Task Manager(Ctrl+Alt+Del), go to the Processes tab and proceed to kill the process (for example, iexplore.exe) but you find there are half a dozen or more of them. Don't you wish you could kill them all at once instead of having to right-click each one and select to end it? Well, you can. Here's how:

1. Click the Start button.
2. In the Search box, type cmd to open the command window.
3. At the command prompt, type: taskkill /F /IM /T

For example, to kill all instances of the IE process, you would type: taskkill /F /IM iexplore.exe /T

How to set up a network printer in XP?

A few years back, printers that connected to the network via Ethernet (rather than to a computer via USB) were mostly confined to expensive models marketed to businesses. Today you can buy low cost printers for your home that plug directly into the network. Here's how to set up a network printer in XP:

1. Physically connect the printer to a hub or switch on the network with an Ethernet cable and turn it on. 
   
2. In Control Panel, open Printers and Faxes.
3. In the Printer Tasks section, click Add a Printer.
4. On the page labeled "Local or Network Printer," select the local printer option and uncheck the box labeled automatic detection.
5. On the page labeled "Select a Printer Port," click Create a New Port.
6. Select Standard TCP/IP Port.
7. Click Next.
8. On the "Add Standard TCP/IP Printer Port" page, click Next.
9. On the "Add Port" page, enter the IP address of the printer, which you can usually obtain by printing out a configuration information report from the printer's Setup menu.
10. Click Next.
11. Click Finish.