Daniel-J

Okay thanks. I've read some negative reviews about the latest WMP, but most of the reviews talked about tasks I don't normally use anyway. I think I'll give it a go.

I'm not sure if this would qualify as a graphic annoyance, but it is annoying and ugly (at least I think it is). I'm running Windows XP Pro SP2 When I start my computer and log into my account, the My Computer icon is the first icon on my desktop. It has a dotted outline around the text, "My Computer". If I click the desktop anywhere and then the taskbar (in that order) the dotted outline vanishes and does not re-appear. However, the dotted outline does appear in some programs like WMP11, for example. The dotted outline is like that of the Windows 98 dotted outline. I think it's called a focus box and I think it's ugly. I never used to have it with XP. I can't remember when this started, but it seems to me not that long ago. I also don't remember if I made any system changes that might have caused this annoyance. I did play with MSCONFIG a long time ago and unchecked almost everything in the startup list except for about 5 items. I would like to get rid of this little dotted border once and for all! Does anyone know how I can? And what might have happened to make it appear? Thanks in advance! Dan

Hi, I have Windows XP Pro SP2 with Windows Media Player 10 installed as my primary MP3 player and am considering upgrading to WMP11. I think I did read somewhere that it's not a good idea to do because it makes you purchase a license for all your locally saved music. I currently have an MP3 collection of nearly 4000 songs, all ripped from CD's I own. I used Musicmatch Jukebox 9 to rip them all. Am I going to have issues with playing these MP3s using WMP11?

Recently, I decided to uninstall Nero SmartStart Essentials (7) due to problems with making an audio CD. I decided to install Nero Burning Rom 5 because I've used it in the past and liked it. However, after installing it, it would not see my DVD burner (probably can only see a CD burner). So, instead of uninstalling it, I decided to put Nero 7 back on. I noticed that some of my settings were retained which led me to believe the registry entries were not removed when I did the uninstall. My question is, does uninstalling and reinstalling simply "overwrite" any registry entries left behind, or are new entries created, causing the registry to grow larger? I also have TweakNow Registry cleaner basic installed and periodically check for errors. If and when it finds errors, I delete the safe ones, trusting the program knows best. Having done this (and assuming the enties were indeed safe to delete) does this cause other potential errors in the registry like large "gaps" or fragmenting? Is there a need to do anything about this? Thanks for any replies and sorry for the long post.

There should be jumpers on the back of each hard drive. You need to set one HDD as a MASTER and the other as a SALVE. I think the master will then automatically be C:\.

Hi, I'm looking for good freeware registry cleaners and tools for Windows XP. Any personal recommendations? I'm also wondering about registry defragmenters...are they good to use? Any good suggestiond for those, also? Thanks!

Thanks! Although, the article mentions that to access the registry editor I need to run regedit32, but I can't...I can access by running regedit because regedit32 was not found! I wonder if it was a typo? Does anyone else have regedit32?

When no profiles are loaded (at the welcome screen, for example) the the default screensaver is set to the Windows XP Professional (White text with the Windows flag on a plain black screen). How can I change that without loading a profile?

Balloon tips are annoying anyway! DISABLE 'EM ALL!!!

Thanks for the recommendations! I decided to use the Neowin patch to replace uxtheme.dll. Then I unzipped the Vista CG theme and browsed to point to it and applied it. VERY cool! But it wasn't enough for me...I needed Vista icons, too! So, I found a program called Vista Customization Pack. Splendid! I haven't had a chance to re-apply the Vista CG theme after installing of VCP, but I'm loking forward to see what else I can do. Here's a screenshot of what someone did to their Windows XP! I think I like it!

This Christmas, I gave myself a gift of a new-to-me computer. It had Windows XP preloaded on it. I really like it. Don't get me wrong, Windows 98 rocks, especially with the visual enhancements available from this site! It's just that I've got so many more options as far as supported programs now! So, I feel a bit sad to be leaving all my Windows 98 SE forums behind, this one being one of the better ones. I'm on to new horizons now. I'll still be checking back to see screenshots of RP8 when it comes out though! Later, all! Dan

I think these notifications are a part of the way I set up my Windows Live Messenger, but how do I disable them? You probably know the messages I am talking about. But if not, I'm referring to the Welcome screen where you choose a user account to log into. There's a picture beside the name, and under the name there's a new mail notification message. I don't want that message to appear anymore. Is that done through the messenger itself?

Anyone know where I can download free (clean and safe) XP themes and styles to enhance the appearance of XP? I've seen some which make the taskbar, start button and icons look similar to (actually, more like EXACTLY like) Vista. However, I need to find a patched uxtheme.dll file to use the themes. Where can I get this? The website which offered it had a bad link to the file. Thanks in advance!

I'm looking for DVD software in which I can extract the sountrack from a movie (without the dialogue and/or sound effects). I don't know what type of software this would be called, otherwise I'd do a google search. Any good suggestions? Freeware possible? Thanks in advance!

The first question gives various options, the last two being "No, I don't use WinVista" and "I use Win95/98(SE)/2000/XP". I was a bit confused since I could only choose ONE option, yet both the last TWO options were true for me! So, I just chose the 'true-er' option?