I'm finally retiring my dad's virus-laden PC running XP with a new iMac. Is there any way to migrate his old settings from the PC over to a VMWare instance of XP running on the iMac in case he must use a PC-only app after the upgrade to a new machine? [more inside]
posted on Jul 23, 2008 - 9 answers
PC Help again again. I have an old pc with windows 2000 server installed on a 20gig SCSI drive. I am trying to install a 40 gig IDE drive that has xp on it. I don't need windows 2000 server anymore so I want the computer to boot into xp but it isn't happening for me. What am I doing wrong? [more inside]
posted on Mar 22, 2008 - 11 answers
Can I create a custom Windows XP install disc with all of my favorite applications, drivers, windows updates already installed? If so, how do I do it? [more inside]
posted on Mar 15, 2008 - 10 answers 
Anyone familiar with using a Fax/Printer to send a fax from Windows XP, connecting to a Fax/Scanner/Printer?? [more inside]
posted on Mar 12, 2008 - 19 answers
What's the best way to erase my hard drive for resale if I don't have original OS reinstall CDs to work with? [more inside]
posted on Feb 29, 2008 - 13 answers
I want to reinstall Windows xp but I am scared. [more inside]
posted on Oct 13, 2007 - 24 answers
What would make an old Windows computer stop accepting input for short periods of time (2-3 minutes)? [more inside]
posted on Aug 6, 2007 - 8 answers
In the rare times I've needed to hit ctrl-alt-delete within the past few months, the task manager window pops up, but it lacks the little tabs at the top and the useful little X in the upper right that actually allows me to CLOSE the task manager. What happened? [more inside]
posted on Jun 12, 2007 - 13 answers
I'm trying to reinstall Windows XP, but I'm running into driver issues. I'm using a Dell Inspiron E1405 that I want to dual boot XP and Feisty Faun on (I want to go Linux full time, but I needs my WoW, and I can't get Wine to be friendly with my Video Card). I'm running into driver issues. [more inside]
posted on May 11, 2007 - 6 answers
Windows XP: my wife's computer locks up a few times a day, but there are no other symptoms. What could be wrong? [more inside]
posted on Apr 10, 2007 - 16 answers
So it's come to this - I see no other option than to ask a "help me fix my PC" question. After some troubleshooting the STOP errors seem to have been resolved, XP now boots successfully but is excruciating slow to the point of being unusable. Details and specs below the fold. [more inside]
posted on Mar 4, 2007 - 25 answers
My dad needs help with total computer backup (particularly Outlook).
Computer in question is an older Dell model, running Windows XP. No one in our family is a computer genius. More information and particular stickyness inside. [more inside]
posted on Jan 2, 2007 - 13 answers
My mom's computer won't re-install an older version of Windows XP. This is actually a timely, pressing problem. [more inside]
posted on Nov 27, 2006 - 8 answers
What's the most efficient way to transfer an entire functioning Windows XP PC to my new Mac running Parallels? [more inside]
posted on Oct 20, 2006 - 3 answers
Windows XP: When I Click "User Accounts" nothing happens. [more inside]
posted on Jun 13, 2006 - 5 answers
Re-installed Windows XP on my old laptop (Sony PCG-SRX87). Let it run through all the updates. Now neither IE nor Firefox will show CSS background images. [more inside]
posted on Jun 12, 2006 - 2 answers
Every time I turn off the Read Only setting for this one folder it reverts immediately. Is there another way to change this setting? [more inside]
posted on Mar 19, 2006 - 6 answers
WindowsXP Filter: I've noticed, on more than one machine, that XP has a tendency to crash when you view thumbnails in "open file" dialog boxes, especially, of course, if the folder you are viewing has a lot of image files in it. It is as if XP has to rebuild the thumbnails every time, rather than cacheing them. I've had this issue on more than one machine and using more than one application (most recently, Palm Desktop, while trying to add some photos to my wife's Palm). It seems an XP problem, not an app or machine problem. [more inside]
posted on Mar 2, 2006 - 10 answers
Mixed wireless network: 3 Macs, one Windows XP PC. We're using 40-bit WEP encryption, and for some reason the Windows XP laptop simply cannot stay on the network... why that be? [more inside]
posted on Jan 12, 2006 - 6 answers
WinXP SP2: Forcing hibernate to resume from old hiberfil.sys [more inside]
posted on Jan 8, 2006 - 8 answers
My laptop is running hot lately with the fan going all the time regardless of processor load. Is there a windows XP setting that controls processor stepping? [more inside]
posted on Nov 28, 2005 - 14 answers
Windows XP: What does the "Speaker setup" option do, if you choose one of the various stereo options (desktop, laptop, monitor stand, monitor side, keyboard, headphones)? How does it change the waveform? It seems to me that things sound better if I pretend my headphones are desktop speakers... [more inside]
posted on Oct 16, 2005 - 3 answers
When I use BitTorrent on XP SP2, Windows "limits the number of concurrent, incomplete outbound TCP connection attempts" and (I think) slows me down, because they might be coming from a "malicious program". How can I stop it doing that and make it treat me like a grown-up? Is it in the registry somewhere?
posted on Aug 23, 2005 - 9 answers
I'm trying to transfer pictures from my digital camera to my computer, which is being made very difficult by the constant bluescreens Windows is giving me. [more inside]
posted on Aug 22, 2005 - 10 answers
I just received a new Acer laptop. The hard drive is 100GB, but it arrived divided into two partitions. According to the Windows XP Professional disk management window, the drive is divided as follows ... [more inside]
posted on Aug 11, 2005 - 22 answers
Stupid Windows question: Every time I shut down or log out of Windows XP, my My Computer and Network Places icons move. How do I make them stay put? Trying to google an answer has left me humbled.
posted on Feb 15, 2005 - 6 answers
SoftwareRAID0AndCan'tLogInToWindowsXPFilter: My userinit.exe is gone after a routine Windows update, and I can't use the recovery console or a boot disk to access my hard drives [+]
posted on Feb 14, 2005 - 8 answers
HTPC owners: need recommendations, based on your direct experience, on a remote control for my XP-based mp3/video player. More requirements inside.
posted on Feb 13, 2005 - 4 answers
photoshop 7 won't start ! help !
posted on Feb 8, 2005 - 7 answers
Printer filter/ I'm downsizing to travel cross country and would like to use an old Canon bubble jet (BJ10ex) with my new Dell laptop running XP. Does anyone know if this won't work? I have to wait for a USB Parallel converter cable to arrive to test it. Are there other compatibility problems I need to know about?
posted on Feb 3, 2005 - 3 answers
If I have two XP machines on the internet in different locations, and each machine is running a virtual PC version of Windows 98, is it possible through some use of a tunneling protocol or whatever, to make those two virtual 98 machines appear to be on the same local network? In other words ...(more inside)
posted on Jan 26, 2005 - 2 answers
Why has my Firefox slowed down? It started a few day ago. Sometimes it takes several minutes for a page to load. Some only partially load, then stop. Some don't load at all. Not every page is this way, but I'd say about 20% suffer from one of these problems. IE is zipping right along though. I did a virus check, ran Spy-bot and Ad-Aware and cleaned up my registry. Yet the problem persists. Oh, I'm running 1.0 and XP Pro.
posted on Jan 17, 2005 - 8 answers
When I'm booted into Windows, the motherboard sensors always flash up an alert: the 5v Standby is below it's threshold at 4.2v. All I can do is kill PC Alert. I presume this isn't serious, since my PC has happily worked for years, but what is going on? What is the 5v Standby?
posted on Dec 29, 2004 - 5 answers
Win XP Problem: Windows Explorer (and My Computer) keep crashing. If I bring either up, it crashes immediately (the computer doesn't crash). Around the same time, I noticed I'd acquired some spyware. So I ran Ad-aware, and it seemed to get rid of the bad stuff. But Explorer still crashes. I ran Norton Anti-Virus, which claimed it found viruses but couldn't fix them because I needed to adjust the properties of some of the Norton files. But I can't adjust these properties, because I can't get to the files (because Explorer crashes). Help.
posted on Dec 21, 2004 - 13 answers
WindowsXPsupportfilter: Wow. My hard drive is all kind of messed up. Looking for a program that will reconstruct an NTFS file partition. (more inside)
posted on Dec 18, 2004 - 6 answers
Laptop Clean XP Install:
1] My (on board?) sound card is unrecognised. How do I find out what drivers to use?
2] What programs do you really think I need? I already have VNC, VLC, Firefox, Thunderbird and AVG installed. What else should I add? (Freeware/OS appriciated but not needed.)
posted on Dec 16, 2004 - 9 answers
Can I dock MSN Messenger on the side of my (Windows XP) screen? [mi]
posted on Nov 26, 2004 - 5 answers
WindowsXPSecurityFilter: How do I help my mother-in-law?
posted on Nov 20, 2004 - 12 answers
Are there any real advantages to running Windows XP on a partitioned hard drive, with a different partition each for Windows, programs, and files?
posted on Nov 15, 2004 - 6 answers
Defrag this! What defragmentation program would people recommend for Windows XP? The one which came standard with the OS or a third party?
posted on Nov 9, 2004 - 22 answers
JavaScript: is it possible to detect a Windows XP user's chrome settings? For some perverse reason, chromed-out Windows XP scrollbars are a pixel wider than their "Classic" counterparts and it's breaking an interface.
posted on Nov 4, 2004 - 6 answers
WinXP: my laptop downloaded a windows update (not sure what sort). Now, when I shut down, it tries to update my machine. I get a message saying that Windows is updating, and it advises me NOT to turn off my machine until it's done. But it continues to "update" forever. I've let it sit for two hours, and it still claims to be updating. Finally, with clenched teeth, I shut off the machine and rebooted. Everything seems okay. Now, whenever I shut down, it asks me if I want to install the upgrade or not. If I say yes, the machine stalls on that upgrading message. If I say no, it shuts down fine. I'm ok with saying no all the time, except that now I can't ever add any new updates. What should I do?
posted on Oct 27, 2004 - 14 answers
I have an HP Pavilion mx703 that runs on Windows XP. Lately, right in the middle of working on it, the screen will get these wavy black lines on it (can't really be more specific than that) that start at the bottom and work their way to the top. It's annoying as hell, and nothing gets rid of them except shutting down completely - rebooting doesn't help. A friend suggested "Degausse", but that doesn't work. I'm not as computer-savvy as other MeFites here - anyone know what to do? It's done it four or five times this evening alone, and I'm at my wits end. Please help!!
posted on Oct 12, 2004 - 5 answers
Is there something I can get for Win XP that can control the volume of each program individually? I'd like Windows Media Player to be loud (for those videos that have unexplained quiet sound) and Trillian and system beeps and the like to be barely audible. Is this possible?
posted on Sep 30, 2004 - 6 answers
Is there anyway I can get the image previewing from Windows XP on Win 2k? If not, are there any alternatives? I tried ACDSee and found it too bloated.
posted on Sep 15, 2004 - 12 answers
Any recommendations for flashcard program? I'm looking for something free that runs on XP. The kicker: I need to be able to change the font on the cards and have access to a character map so I can use it for classical Greek. Everything I've found so far is crap or for OS X.
posted on Sep 15, 2004 - 2 answers
WindowsXP, 250 gig shared backup hard drive, and a lab full of people with sensitive information that needs to be backed up on said drive but shouldn't be accessible by anyone other than the user who put it there. Security is giving me fits and I'd appreciate some helpful advice. [more gory details inside]
posted on Sep 13, 2004 - 6 answers
Is there a way to bulk rename a bunch of folders in Windows XP by just removing any white space? I want to upload these to a web server and would prefer avoiding the %20 madness.
posted on Aug 31, 2004 - 5 answers
I have a new 160 gig HD that I partitioned into two drives. One of the partitions is exclusively for mp3s. Unfortunately, when I open the drive, XP treats it as a "My Pictures" folder. How do I change it to a "My Music" folder? Ordinarily, I'd go Properties>Customize, but when I go Properties on the root folder, I get hard drive properties. (General / Tools / Hardware / etc.)
posted on Aug 28, 2004 - 3 answers
I have a PC with WinXP Pro. She has an iBook with Mac OS X. Together they fight crime share a router. e:\ is where I shove all my porn music. How can I make this available to her to copy what she wants to her machine or her ipod?
posted on Aug 7, 2004 - 5 answers
PCFilter : Is there any way to tell what program inserted something into the registry?
I've been attacked by four seperate virii that sophos claims don't exist in the wild. One of them (netclnc.exe) keeps reappearing in my registry and the system32, and I want to know what's putting it there so I can kill it. Ideas?
posted on Jul 18, 2004 - 14 answers
My parents were getting tired of the clutter on their computer, so I reformatted the hard drive for them and installed Windows XP and (among other things) Symantec AntiVirus 9. Seemingly randomly, and fairly often, they now get a yellow pop-up warning that "Symantec auto-protect is disabled" - even though auto-protect is enabled in preferences and shows up in the system tray. I have a laptop with SAV9 on WinXP, and it doesn't do this. What's going on?
posted on Jun 18, 2004 - 9 answers
Something is royally screwed with my PC (Windows XP). I had some kind of spyware involving the file "bridge.dll", I found instructions online to get rid of it, but I still have problems. When I reboot, my Quick Launch toolbar is no longer there, and when I use the "Email", "WWW" and other buttons on my Logitech keyboard, it opens up 3 instances of the programs. Adaware and Norton Antivirus turn up nothing. Anything I can do?
posted on Jun 15, 2004 - 9 answers
Windows XP firewall + Zone Alarm = problem?
I've just upgraded to Windows XP and I have three questions (so far...).
posted on Jun 7, 2004 - 9 answers
My laptop has developed a serious issue during startup, and I have no idea how to fix it. [MI]
posted on May 23, 2004 - 8 answers
The bell tolls for ME. Help this loser to upgrade from Windows ME to XP Pro. [4 questions inside...]
posted on May 2, 2004 - 13 answers
MIDI input through the game port in Windows XP - does this actually still work, or is it just me? [More Inside]
posted on Apr 4, 2004 - 6 answers
Double question: My XP Pro OS wont let me switch users anymore (5 account system), it will only let me log off. Second my brother got kicked from the computer and I forgot to get a password for administrator. Hes got his own password now. How do I reset the admin pass without using a linux boot disk?
posted on Mar 18, 2004 - 2 answers
I'm getting a new computer in a few weeks, but I have a TV capture card I want to transfer from my old machine into the new one. Since it's going to be an XP machine, in light of the weird "hardware configuration" key they built into the software, should I install the capture card before I boot the machine for the first time, or should I wait until afterwards? On the one hand, I'd like to make sure the machine works as is before I crack it open, but on the other hand, I would not like to spend a bunch of time on hold with Microsoft to get the damned OS unlocked. How touchy is the XP hardware configuration key? (I know, I know, buy a Mac...)
posted on Mar 2, 2004 - 3 answers
Windows XP question... My parents computer is set up that most items are stored on a 20 GB harddrive (or possibly a partition- listed as c:) while they have 100 GB available on d:... When I install software, is it perfectly acceptable to run it off the D drive, and is there a way to switch the set up so most items save to the d drive?
posted on Feb 23, 2004 - 9 answers
Internationalising email in WinXP. My wife can read emails sent to her in Thai script using Outlook on our Win XP machine, but I can't work out how to configure the machine so that she can type in Thai (using out Thai/ English keyboard) in a non-html email. Outlook help mentions configuring using Microsoft Office Tools from the program manager - but that requires using the XP discs, which we don't have as it was preinstalled by the PC manufacturer. Anyone got any ideas? I don't want to change the language of the whole O/S/ (there's a download from microsoft.com to do that) as I don't read Thai. We're by no means married to Outlook; Moz, Opera etc would be fine. We have Thai fonts.
posted on Feb 18, 2004 - 5 answers
I'm about to upgrade my beloved Sony Vaio laptop from Windows Me (blecch) to XP. Will this screw up my previously installed drivers, software, documents, etc? Anything I should know before I start?
posted on Jan 2, 2004 - 16 answers
Computing at the in-laws .... Since they don't know what their ISP password is, I'm forced to do all my web work (I'm telecommuting today) using their Windows machine. The central vagary I'm confronted with is that they have somehow let IE 6.0 for Windows XP become overrun from one of those "Do you want to set your homepage to ...?" sites, and not only has it installed itself as their homepage, but anytime you put a URL in the address bar that's not proceeded by an http:// or www., it redirects you to their shitty find4u.net page. I've changed the homepage to Google, but how can I liberate the address bar?
posted on Dec 26, 2003 - 15 answers
Twiddling my thumbs... wirelessly! I'm setting up a new Windows XP Pro laptop with built-in 802.11b. It seems to detect our Apple Airport (I) base station just fine, and connect to it. Just can't get any network services through it (ie: web pages are all 404s). Any suggestions?
posted on Dec 24, 2003 - 7 answers
When I purchased my laptop, I dumped XP and installed Linux. Of course, now the inevitable has happened and I need to run a Windows-only program; is there a way to install Windows after installing Linux? Right now I have one ext3 partition.
posted on Dec 16, 2003 - 8 answers
