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1. Installing Microsoft Windows Updates
In an ideal world, every computer-related product would work perfectly out of the box, and it would continue to work as long as you own it. Of course, in that world, technical support centers would answer the telephone on the first ring and fine champagne would run out of public drinking fountains. In this world, Windows XP, other software, device drivers, and even your computer’s BIOS all require periodic updates that allow them to interact with new products that weren’t available when they were f...

2. Updating the BIOS under Windows XP
As you know (or if you don’t, go back and read article 8), your computer’s BIOS contains instructions that the computer uses to interact with devices such as video cards, as well as the commands necessary to start Windows. When a new version of Windows appears, or when new devices or new pro- cessors become available, the BIOS manufacturer may update the BIOS in order to allow it to recognize and support the newer hardware or software. For example, if Intel or AMD adds features to new CPU chips, or if a new and be...

3. Viruses, Worms, and Trojan Horses
External attacks on your computer come in many forms: viruses, worms, spyware, and Trojan horses are just a few of the mostcommon types. This malware, or malicious soft- ware, presents threats to your computer’s operation, the security of your data, your privacy, and your identity. If your computer is doing something strange for no apparent reason, a virus or spyware program could be to blame. Sometimes, though, there are no visible signs. For example, a virus could quietly fill up your hard drive with garbage data, or spywar...

4. Firewall Software under Windows XP
Stopping Break-ins: Firewalls It may seem like an odd form of entertainment, but there’s a whole sub- culture out there of people who spend their time trying to break into other people’s computers. Some of these people are just in it for the game, but others are cracking into computers as a way to steal personal and corporate information. As anyone who has ever had to deal with identity theft can tell you, taking back control of your life after someone has stolen your credit card numbers, co...

5. Internet connection and Windows XP
The Internet has become such an essential part of most people’s experience that it’s sometimes difficult to know where your own computer stops and the Internet begins. For most of us, it doesn’t matter if a particular resource is physically located on a local hard drive (one inside your PC or a network server) or a computer halfway around the world. Either way, it’s just a matter of keystrokes and mouse clicks to view it on the screen or listen to it through speakers plugged into your computer. ...

6. How to setup a local network in Windows XP
LOCAL NETWORK PROBLEMS Any time two or more computers and their related devices are under the same roof, they should probably connect to one another through a etwork. Networking allows users to share files and printers and to share access to the Internet through a common modem or broadband connection. Windows XP includes tools and wizards that make it relatively simple to set up a network, but a network is always more complicated than an isolated, stand-alone computer. Network problems don’t oft...

7. Windows XP activation and hardware problems
Not every computer failure is caused by a software issue. Many problems that appear to be related to Windows are actually caused by some kind of hardware malfunction or by a conflict between two or more incompatible hardware components inside the computer. This article describes many of the most common problems that you might encounter when you try to add, move, or change a component inside your computer. Most of these problems have relatively easy solutions if you know where to look. Finding and fixing hardware problems requ...

8. Installing a New Hard Drive on Windows XP Professional
Hard drives are a special case. On a cost- per-bit basis, drives are cheap and getting cheaper all the time. When a drive fails, the cost of replacing the physical device is relatively small, but the data stored on the old drive is often irreplaceable. So you shouldn’t throw away an apparently broken drive until you have done everything possible to recover the data, and you shouldn’t do anything to the drive that might erase or damage any more data. When your boot drive (almost always the C: dri...

9. How to recover data from a corrupted hard drive using Windows XP Pro
Recovering Your Data Unless the physical platters inside the drive are severely damaged, it’s probably possible to recover the data from a bad drive. In extreme cases, you might need to send the drive to a very expensive recovery service that will take the drive apart in a clean room environment and replace the damaged parts, but it can be done. Before you spend that money, try the techniques in this section to read your files with special recovery software. The most important thing to ...