Does it take forever to boot and run like a dog? Did all your taskbar buttons just vanish into thin air? (and stay vanished!?) Sick of it trying to head off into the www every time you ask for "help"? The following are links to webpages that may help (no guarantees!)
- Snakefoot's WinNT4, Win2k, WinXP services - resource-hogging things ("services") you can turn off, things you should turn on that aren't, and things you shouldn't touch... Includes an alphabetic listing of services, their process name, dependencies, and recommended state.
- Black Viper's Windows XP Home and Professional Service Pack 2 Service Configurations -- another, more succinct, list
- Windows XP auto-dials the Internet (and how to stop it). Also includes a list of "services" most users can do without.
- Registry Edits for Windows XP (if you're feeling brave - or desperate). This is an index of VBscripts and .reg files for implementing various tweaks and/or restoring defaults after they've been messed up. Run at own risk! (Scroll to line#164 for the script to get your buttons back - and yes, it worked).
Other maybe useful things...
- How to turn on the XP firewall (because it isn't on by default!)
- How to turn automatic windows updates on (or off!)
- The MS Security Updates page
- WinPlanet - Windows Software Reviews and Downloads
- JSI Tip 6963: Windows XP SP1a makes the Internet Gateway Device Discovery and Control Client optional? (or, why have port 1900 open if you're not using it...)