How to disable Error Reporting in XP?

We've all seen it: an application crashes and you get a dialog box that pops up and asks you to send an error report to Microsoft. Sure, it's nice that they want to try to keep up with what problems users are having and fix them, but maybe you don't want to bother or you don't particularly want to send information about what programs you're running. You can turn off the error reporting service and do away with those dialogs for good.

Here's how:

1. Right click My Computer.
2. Click Advanced.
3. Select "Disable error reporting."
4. Click OK.

Now wasn't that easy?

How to make Windows XP your default operating system in dual boot with Ubuntu?

Lots of people are trying out Ubuntu, one of the currently most popular distributions of Linux. Why not? After all, it's free. Many are installing it to dual boot with their Windows OS, which is a good idea since many Windows applications that you may rely on to do your work don't run in Linux. However, you may notice that its boot loader takes over and makes Ubuntu the default operating system, and that might not be what you want. To change that behavior, you need to edit the Grub boot loader menu. Here's how:

1. Boot into Ubuntu
2. Click Applications Accessories Terminal to open a command line window
3. At the command prompt, type sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
4. When prompted, type your password
5. In the file, find the following section:
   ## default num
   # Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0,
   and
   # the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.default 0
6. Change the 0 to the number of the Windows boot section, which should be 4 on a typical dual boot system where you installed Ubuntu after XP
7. Save the file with the changes
   

It's a good idea to back up the file before you edit it.

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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