On your computer, you always use the power button to turn the computer on, but not that many people use the power button to turn the computer off anymore. This is because recent Microsoft Windows operating systems, such as Windows 98, 2000, and XP, have trained the computing population to shut down via Start > Shut down menu.

Back in the day when personal computers were starting to emerge in people’s home, and back when the only operating system that computers had was MS-DOS, the user had to always manually “park” the hard drive by running an executable command that prepared the hard drive to power down. This is now an unnoticed automatic feature that is integrated into Windows so that you do not have to worry about this extra step.

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Windows XP is a classic and robust operating system from Microsoft that runs great and speedy on recently built computers; however, on some older computers, Windows XP runs slower due to the fact that many current programs that you can buy or download require more processing power. With this in mind, I would like to focus this publication on an easy-to-follow method that you can perform to help speed your Windows XP machine up without having to purchase any additional hardware that can be cumbersome to install.

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There may be instances when you need to log into your computer from another location, such as a hotel, place of business, or on vacation. Whether you want to check the progress of a large download, to see the latest activity that has been happening on your computer, or need to access a specific document for work, there is a way that you can set up your Windows XP machine so that you can login from another location.

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When surfing the net and videos on YouTube, we may come across some movies that we would like to keep for ourselves without having to always get online and connect with the popular video search engine. With this in mind, I have provided an easy-to-use step by step method below that will allow you to save a copy of your favorite YouTube videos.

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In some circumstances, you may need to reinstall Windows XP. It may have been quite some time since you have installed Windows XP, and have accidentally misplaced the original case that your CD came in, which includes the CD key that is needed during the installation process. With this in mind, I would like to bring your attention to a piece of software called Magical Jelly Bean that will allow you to automatically recover the CD key that was entered during your last Windows XP installation.

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May 11, Windows will be receiving some critical patches for both Windows and Microsoft Office. They will be plugging holes which can leave users vulnerable to remote attacks. The patch will be issued for both Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 users. Along with Microsoft Office, the patch will address Visual Basic problems as well.
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One of my favorite features of Mac OS X is how PDF (portable document format) tools are tightly integrated into the operating system. Want to save something as a PDF document? Any app that can send a document to the printer, be it a Web page, a screen capture, or a nicely formatted report, can just as easily do a “Save As PDF”, and even specify what image quality should be used. Sure, Adobe sells its Distiller program, but on a Mac I would estimate that 95%+ of your document to PDF requirements are already included in the operating system.

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My mom keeps checking out what sites I visit and I want to clean up my tracks. It’s not that I’m going anywhere I shouldn’t - of course - but I just really want some privacy and just want to be able to wipe my MSIE8 (Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0) browsing history. How do I do that?

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Every so often I go to download some software for my Acer Windows PC and have to decide between a 32-bit and 64-bit version of the application. I’m running Windows Vista but when I look, it just says that I’m running “Home Premium”. How do I know if I’m running 32-bit or 64-bit Windows?

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I saw your earlier article about how to set up your Mac so that it requires a password when waking up from sleep or from the screen saver (see password required to wake Mac from sleep). Nice. Now, how can I do that with my Microsoft Windows Vista PC laptop?

Dave’s Answer:

Glad that other article was helpful. I think it’s pretty darn important to be aware of these privacy and security issues on your computer, whether you’re running Windows or Mac OS X. It’s just too likely that between kids, colleagues, pranksters and actual delinquents that someone can spin your laptop around and do something you don’t want while you’re in the bathroom, ordering a new drink at a cafe, or even at the store, computer sitting on the table at home.

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