By default, your Windows XP will shut down when the Power button is pressed. It’s a good idea to change it so that the shutdown menu is opened instead, especially if you have little kids running around the house.
It’s quite easy to change it:
Step 1:
Go to your Windows XP’s desktop and right-click it. Select “Properties” and the Display Properties window will appear.
Open the “Screen Saver” tab and look for the “Power” button near the bottom of the window. Click it.

Step 2:
In the “Power Options Properties” window that opens,  go to …

Any ordinary USB memory device can do a lot more than you probably thought it could. It can carry programs, encryption and even a full installation of Windows XP! Here is our tenlist for the coolest things you can do with a USB thumb drive:

Take your programs with you
We all know how frustrating it is when we take your files to another computer just to discover that the software required to read the files is not installed.
Here’s the simplest solution – take your programs with you – on your …

There are many technology and gadget related blogs out there, but Gadget Advisor is different. They filter out all the minor and uninteresting news and stories, posting only the coolest. The idea is great, but can they keep it up?
Although it’s still quite a new blog, there are already a lot of great posts about many new and  cool gadgets, from universal remote controls to network media players and online backup services.

If your Windows XP or Vista is getting slow, a wise thing to do is to defragment your hard drives!defragment
There are many programs but one of the best is Auslogics Disk Defragmenter. Just download the defragmenter, install it and run defragment. It should take approximately 1 hour and it says how much faster your computer went (for example 30%).
When the program has completed defragmenting you should immediately feel the difference (if the percent was over 30). Your computer should now be much faster than it used to be. Programs start …

Windows XP’s built in Windows Messenger can be quite a nuiscance for those 99% of us that use Windows Live Messenger (formerly MSN Messenger) or any other instant messaging program instead of it.
To be honest, I don’t even really know why it even exists. Why does Microsoft need two free messenger programs, one much better than the other?
Anyway, here is how to remove Windows Messenger from your XP and save some valuable disk space.

The hibernate function on Windows XP is basically the same as stand by, but with one difference. The files and programs you have open will temporarily be saved onto a specific location on the hard drive, instead of RAM.
This means that the computer can be switched off while hibernating and it will consume no power. When you turn your Windows XP on again, everything will open instantly, just like after a standby. No startup screens and waste of time.