• If you want to boot into Windows XP with no logon at all, try this:
• The Encrypting File System (EFS) is a great tool for protecting sensitive documents.
• Do you share your Windows XP Home computer with other users? If so, you might want to make a folder private so that other users on that computer can't access the contents of your folder. If you've formatted your disk using NTFS (which you should always do unless you're dual booting with another OS and want to be able to access the files with that OS), you can lock up that folder so that only you can get to it. Here's how:
• You have a powerful method to control who can access what files and programs, if you have Windows XP Professional and have formatted your drive(s) using the NTFS file system.
• Internet Firewall - a traditional firewall is a device (either a computer running Windows with firewall software installed, or a dedicated computing device running a non-Windows operating system and firewall software) that protects all the computers on a network from attacks by Internet criminals.
• Windows XP allows you to secure the data on your hard disk by taking advantage of the Encrypting File System (EFS). Only Windows XP Professional allows you to encrypt files using EFS; you don't get this feature with Windows XP Home. EFS allows you to encrypt files so that only your user account (or those you designate) can access the contents of a file. This is a useful feature if you keep sensitive information on your hard disk and don't want that information to fall into the wrong hands in the event that your computer is stolen. One problem with EFS is that if you lose your file encryption certificate, you won't be able to access the encrypted files and NO ONE will be able to get them for you (except for a Recovery Agent). To prevent this kind of disaster, you should back up your file encryption certificate. Here's how:
• The Windows XP Encrypting File System allows you to secure your files against people who want to steal the information contained within them (or just view them without authorization).
• If you want to know what you can do to prevent your children from getting into your Windows XP computer here are some steps you need to take to secure your computer:
• It's a good security practice for administrators to logon with a user account that is not a member of the administrators group, because viruses and worms (and hackers) can take advantage of the fact that you're logged on as an administrator.
• If a bad guy can persuade you to run his program on your computer, its not your computer anymore.
• The Internet Connection Firewall is designed to prevent Internet users from accessing the computer running ICF, and any computer on the private network behind the ICF computer.
• After you log on as an administrator to a computer that is not a member of a domain, when you double-click User Accounts in Control Panel to change the password for the built-in Administrator account, the Administrator account may not appear in the list of user accounts. Consequently, you cannot change its password.
• The black art of VPN NAT and PAT

Where IT-Expert on Call shares knowledge and experience, suggestions to solve problems, and compatibility issues.

Where technology problems and/or workarounds are addressed, how to, what to, why to, are provided.

We often give a tip or trick that requires you to edit the Registry. It's always a good idea to back up the registry before making any change. The fastest way to do this is to back up the Registry key to which you're going to make changes.

IT-Expert on Call recommends that you Buy Registry First Aid Platinum [linked for information and purchase], a professional grade Registry editor.

Warning: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. We cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

Special Note: If you are working on a Corporate Desktop - it may be locked due to your corporate security policy -- consequently you may not be able apply many of the Tips, Hints and/or Tweaks found here. Most Corporate Desktops are prevented from making changes of any kind.