Cameras
Camcorders
Cell Phones
Components
Desktops
HDTV
Home Theater
GPS
Laptops
Monitors
MP3 Players
Networking &
Printers
Storage
Safety First
16. (XP) Preserve your password: Trust your friends, but cut the cards. And trust your memory, but keep a password reset disk nearby in case you ever forget your XP password. First, get a blank, formatted floppy disk at the ready, and then type Control Panel\User Accounts in the Address bar of any Explorer or Internet Explorer window. Press Enter, select your account, click Prevent a forgotten password in the Related Tasks list, and follow the steps presented in the Forgotten Password Wizard.
17. (XP) Bypass forgotten passwords, part 1: If you don't have a password reset disk, log in with another administrator account, open the User Accounts control panel (see tip 16), select the account with the forgotten password, click Change the password, and follow the instructions to reset it.
18. (XP) Bypass forgotten passwords, part 2: If you don't have another administrator account, reboot your PC and press F8 until you see the Windows start-up options as described in. Use the arrow keys to highlight Safe Mode, and press Enter. When you see the Welcome screen, select Administrator (a hidden account that by default needs no password). Follow the steps in to reset the account password, and then restart your computer.
19. (2K, XP) Be a power user: When you log in as an administrator, your system is vulnerable to Trojan horse programs and other risks. When you log in as a power user, however, you avoid these risks and get all the functionality you typically need (switching back to administrator when necessary is easy; see below). To demote yourself, choose Start, Run, type lusrmgr.msc, and press Enter. Click Groups and double-click Administrators. Make sure you have an account listed under Members that you can use when you need full administrator privileges. Select the account to demote, click Remove, and then click OK. Double-click Power Users, click Add, type your account name, and click OK twice.
20. (2K, XP) Become a part-time administrator: Power users don't need to log out and back in with an administrator account to run an administrator program (such as the lusrmgr.msc program described in tip 19). Instead, hold down Shift and right-click the program's executable (.exe) file in Explorer, or any shortcut to it. Choose Run as, select either Run the program as the following user (in 2000) or The following user (in XP), and enter the name and password (and domain, if necessary) of an administrator account. Click OK.
21. (XP) Camera Action: The initial time you connect your digital camera to your PC, you can select an action and check Always use this program for this action to keep from seeing a prompt. But what if you want something else later? Connect the camera again, right-click its icon in Explorer, and choose Properties. Use the settings on the Events tab to select what happens the next time you link it.
22. (XP Pro) Keep your secrets: To protect sensitive files and folders on NTFS-formatted drives, use Windows' built-in encryption. Choose the uncompressed files or folders to encrypt, right-click them, and then select Properties. On the General tab, click Advanced. Check Encrypt contents to secure data and click OK. Specify the files and folders to include. The files are accessible only to the user who encrypted them. To undo, uncheck the Encrypt box. (The encryption option is disabled in XP Home.)
23. (XP) Keep a no profile: Any administrator can see the files on your desktop, in your My Documents folder, and elsewhere in your profile folder by finding your account subfolder in the Documents and Settings folder. For additional privacy on NTFS-formatted disks, open the Documents and Settings folder, right-click the folder you want to keep private, and choose Properties. Click Sharing, check Make this folder private, and click OK (see FIGURE 2).
