Tag: Windows XP

Ask Jake / Premium / Windows XP

Turn Off Internet Explorer Content Advisor

Gordon writes, How do I get rid of Content Advisor in XP Pro? I started it accidentally & is a real pain on Internet.
Content Advisor is possibly one of the most poorly implemented filtering solutions available for Internet Explorer. If the password is lost you need a registry hack to get rid of the password. Disabling Content Advisor retains the password you set when it was created (or hopefully you set). If the rating system gets corrupted it causes otherwise safe sites to become inaccessible. Fortunately you can override Content Advisor if you need to.

Ask Jake / Premium / Windows XP

Sharing a Hard Drive

Chuck writes, I have a small home network between my computer and my son�s, to share files, internet etc. I purchased and installed a second 300gig hard drive on my son�s computer and I set up 2 partitions, one for him one for me (to back up my pictures, videos, etc). We had no problems at first but now I can not gain access to his computer. When I search for his computer name, it shows up but I get a message that I do not have access to this resource and access is denied. We are using the same workgroup name and file and printer sharing is enabled.
Networking remains one of those things that Microsoft needs to simplify for the average home user. They want to connect an Xbox in every living room to a computer in the office, but don’t make it very easy to figure out what’s going wrong in a network setup on the other hand. There are a number of potential hazards in setting up shared network drive. I’ll step through both an easy way to share files and a more secure method for file sharing. Either should get you to a solution.

Premium / Windows XP

WMF Security Expolit Fix

Just before the New Year, I wrote about a potential security exploit in Windows XP from WMF files. Microsoft just released a patch, ahead of their normal security fix schedule in order to close this major security hole. If you have automatic updates turned on, the update should either be available for download or already downloaded for your system. If you don’t use the Windows XP Automatic Update service, it’s time to visit Windows Update and patch your system. This is not something you want to mess around with as the potential hole can be exploited simply by opening a link to a specific type of graphic file.

Ask Jake / Premium

Changing Folder Settings

When I open folders on my computer, sometimes the folders show a combination of icons and sometimes I get the detailed list of file names, creation date and sizes. I want all my folders to look the same. How do I change my folder settings so all folders have the same appearance?
Microsoft includes a number of settings for modifying the way your folders appear. Some of them appear helpful and can actually cause your folders to do all kinds of crazy things you never intended. There are a few steps to configuring your folders to get them to all look the same and stay that way.

Ask Jake / Media Center PC / Premium

Location of Media Center Recorded TV Files

What is the location of my videos recorded on Windows Media Center? I can’t find them in the My Videos folder.
Microsoft makes the television recordings from Windows Media Center available to any user that logs in to a Windows XP Media Center Edition PC. If the recorded shows were stored in your My Videos folder and your wife logged in with a different account, she wouldn’t be able to see any of the recorded shows. While this might be a good thing for some relationships, in general, making the videos available to any potential viewer helps promote things like marital harmony while also allowing individual user accounts to have different access permissions for other features of Windows XP.