Tips of the Week

XP's Built-in Firewall

You can turn on a very basic firewall in Windows XP that will give you minimal protection. Go to Control Panel/Network Connections and then 'right click' on your Local Connection. Then left click on 'properties'. Three tabs appear at the top of a Network Connections dialog box. Left click 'advanced' and check the box below Internet Connection Firewall that says 'Protect my computer and network by limiting or preventing access to this computer from the internet'.

System Restore

Before you install any new software, run System Restore. This Microsoft utility, which is only available under Windows ME and XP, takes a snapshot of your system and can be used to recover your PC to the state it was in before your newly installed software "hosed" your system. You can find it under Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools.