Colors
Changing colors is a good way to personalize Windows. Unfortunately, WinXP is limited, color-wise to blue, silver, and green. You'll find this selection in the Display window. To access it, you right-click an empty area of the Desktop and click Properties. On the Display window, select the Appearance tab. The three selections are under "Color scheme." For a better selection, click "Windows and buttons” and select "Windows Classic style." Now you'll find many colors under "Color scheme." You can also make various Windows elements different colors by clicking Advanced and selecting the elements under Item.

Startup, Logon & Logoff Sounds
If you have installed Microsoft (MS) Plus for WinXP and don’t like the special logon and logoff sounds, or if you’d simply prefer not to hear them at all, then disable these features. Click Start, Control Panel, Sounds, Speech and Audio Devices. In the Sounds and Audio Devices Properties dialog box, select the Sounds tab. Under Program Events, you must scroll to find Start Windows and click it. In the Sounds dropdown menu, select None, then click the Apply button. Under Program Events, select Windows Logon and under Sounds, select None. Now click Apply and do the same thing for the event called Windows Logoff.

Startup Streamlining
WinXP loads all sorts of network-related and other services on your computer. You can keep them from loading to save Random Access Memory (RAM) by selecting Start, Run, typing services.msc, and pressing Enter. Next click the Extended tab and look for programs that are of no use to you. To present a service from starting automatically, double-click it and choose Disabled from the General tab’s “Startup type” drop-down menu. The services you can safely disable vary from one configuration to another, but an example of a good candidate is Messenger. This service is not MSN or Windows Messenger. You can find more detailed descriptions of XP Services at BlackViper. When at this site, view that list.

Startup Folder & System Tray
If you want to thin out your startup folder and get rid of extra icons in the system tray, there are two Startup areas that are easily accessible. Click Start, All Programs, and Startup. Now you’ll see a list of programs that start when the computer is turned on. Right click and select Delete for those that you do not want to start with Windows. This step deletes the automatic startup, however it doesn’t remove the program. None of the programs there are likely to be critical to running your computer. Click Start, Run, Enter "msconfig" (without the quotes) in the box and click OK and the Startup tab. Deselect any programs that you do not need to start up automatically. You can also try right-clicking icons in the system tray, and then selecting that program's Properties. Often you'll find an option to check to keep the icon from loading to the system tray.

System Enhancement Utilities
There are many utilities which can improve the performance of WinXP. The following three do an especially good job. They clean out the system registry, fix system flaws, and make the whole operating system run more smoothly. RegScrubXP does a clean sweep of your WinXP registry to make it more efficient. Xteg X-Setup changes hidden system settings to make your computer run faster. Boost XP trims the processes that slow down your computer. It also lets you enable hidden performance settings.

Taskbar and Tray
Perhaps the best aspects to WinXP are its Taskbar and Tray area. It now has buttons with options that saves space; has built-in CD-R software so XP needs no third-party CD burning tools; includes power management improvements for suspend, hibernate, and resume operation, speed and flexible Backup capability; and has Clear Type that lets you adjust the boldness of your on-screen fonts.

Task Manager
If you accidentally double-click in the border around the tabs in the Task Manager, Windows will go into a tiny-footprint mode that reduces the top of the program window. To bring back the full Task Manager display, double-click in the border again.

Tips and Tricks
One of the better Web sites with WinXP Tips and Tricks is Brian Livingston’s. To conduct a search at it type one or more words into the search box, then click Go. The results are sorted by relevance. Just type XP to find WinXP tips/tricks. At this site you can click Help to see how capitalization refines your search, how a hyphen in front of a word excludes it, and how wild cards work. Click Advanced to limit your search to a range of dates, turn on Soundex matching, and perform other tricks.

Underlined Letters
If a recent convert to WinXP, you may be missing a feature in earlier versions.  There were underlined letters in menu items. To activate the item you simply held the Alt key while pressing that underlined letter.  To restore this feature in XP, right click the desktop and select Properties, Appearance tab, Effects button and remove the check in "Hide Underlined Letters for Keyboard Navigation Until I Press the Alt Key."

Unused Icons
With WinXP every 60 days a reminder appears in your system tray prompting you to run Desktop Cleanup. If you see this reminder, just click it to run the program. Otherwise, you can right-click the desktop and choose Properties. Then click the Desktop tab and Customize Desktop. On the General tab, click Clean Desktop Now. When the Desktop Cleanup Wizard starts, click Next to continue. Now mark or clear the check boxes for each desktop shortcut. Next to each one is the date it was last used. Items that have never been used are marked by default. Click Next when a confirmation appears and then Finish. Close all open dialog boxes. A new folder icon now appears on your desktop called “Unused Desktop Shortcuts.”  It contains the removed icons. At any time, you can: open this disk, open the write-protect switch in its bottom-left corner, and label the floppy “Boot Disk.” Return to the Folder Options dialog box, recheck folder, and drag one of the icons out to the desktop again.

Updates
To insure your computer provides you automatic updates, go to the Start menu and open the Control Panel. From the Performance and Maintenance category, click the System icon. In the System Properties dialog box, select the Automatic Updates tab. Make sure the “Keep My Computer Up To Date” check box is selected. Then, check the box marked “Download The Updates Automatically.” Now, Windows will download updates when available and prompt you to install them. Hereafter whenever you’re on the Internet, WinXP checks with the MS Website for any needed updates. If one is found, you will be asked if you want to install it. You should read the information listed on that screen before accepting the upgrade. Some updates have caused computer problems. Therefore, read the update in the possible event there’s a need to uninstall it by using the “Add or Remove Programs” from the Control Panel. If you need to check for additional updates go to Microsoft.  These automatic updates can be turned on/off by right clicking My Computer, choosing Properties, and clicking the Automatic Updates tab.

Uptime
WinXP is more stable than older versions. However, to know how long your computer has been running without a crash, select Start, Run. In the Open box, type CMD and click OK. At the command prompt, type SYSTEMINFO and press Enter. You’ll find the System Uptime towards the top of the report.

User Account Password
You can assign a password to your user account to prevent other people from accessing it. However, you will need to enter the password each time to use Windows. With your computer administrator account, you can assign passwords to all accounts. If you have a limited account, assign a password only to your own account. To assign a password to a user account, click Start to display the Start menu. Next click Control Panel to change your computer's settings. When the Control Panel window appears, click User Accounts to work with the user accounts set up on your computer. When the User Accounts window appears if you have a limited account, skip the next step. If you have a computer administrator account, the accounts set up on your computer are displayed. Click the account you want to assign a password. A list of tasks appears that you can perform to change the account. Click Create a password to assign a password to the account. Type a new password for the account. To confirm the password, type it again and then type a word or a phrase that can help you remember the password. This information will be available to everyone who uses the computer. Finally, click Create Password.

User Account Photo
To add a picture of yourself to your User Account, find a friend with a digital camera, have him/her snap your picture, and store it in your My Pictures folder as a JPG (Joint Photographic Group) file. Then click the Start button, choose Control Panel, and select User Accounts. Next click Change My Picture. If the administrator, you might need to click Change an Account, choose an Account, and then choose Change the Picture. Choose an existing picture or choose Browse for More Pictures. If you choose the Browse option, your My Pictures folder opens up showing its contents. Locate your saved picture, click its name, and click Open. Windows grabs the picture, shrinks it to thumbnail size, and sticks it on your account.

Web Content
To display Web content on your Desktop from a secure site that requires a login, you can configure WinXP to automatically log in when a scheduled synchronization occurs. This configuration provides a hands-off way for you to access this secured content so that it is readily available on your Desktop. Access the Desktop tab of Display Properties, click Customize Desktop, and then add the URL to the list on the Web tab. Next Select the URL (Universal Resource Locator) and click Properties. Now set up a schedule. On the Download tab, click the Login button. Finally you should type in a user name, a password that's required to log in, and then click OK.

Windows Explorer
To make the columns fit the width of their contents in Windows Explorer, press CTRL and the “+” button on the keyboard’s number pad. If you want to put the file sizes in column four, rather than column two, just drag the column head to the right. WinXP has about 30 of these tricks. Find the list by right-clicking the title bar and checking off the titles you want to include in Windows Explorer.

You'll find a whole array of Tweak and other XP power tools at Microsoft. If you are shopping for computers, software, etc., and want to save money in the process, there are months of the year when discounts are traditionally the best. Buy computers in Jan, antivirus and tax software in Feb, hard drives, printers in Apr and desktops in May.