How+to+make+Windows+XP+last+for+the+next+seven+years

This post was written several years ago. However, it is still relevant today XP user ( Of which I was one ) take heart you are not forced to upgrade yet, but if you do you will like Win 7

How to make Windows XP last for the next seven years

If you've got Windows XP, worry not, you can keep it running on your hardware for years to come. As with an old car, though, if you plan to keep XP around for a while, you're going to have to spend some time maintaining it.

Windows XP has been extremely successful; market research firm IDC estimates that Windows XP (Home and Pro) had a worldwide installed base of 538 million copies at the end of 2006. Microsoft's support road map currently says that extended support for Windows XP ends in April 2014. You need to be on the latest service pack within one year of its release for continued support, which at this point means you must be running XP Service Pack 2.

So the earliest date that XP SP2 support will end is 2014, but history has shown that Microsoft often gives customers a reprieve as these dates draw near.

For example, support for Windows 98 was to be dropped in January 2004, but Microsoft extended it by two and a half years to July 2006. XP's life would also be extended if Microsoft were to issue an XP service pack on or after 2013.

Antispyware

Microsoft's Windows Defender -- and the same program is available as a free download for Windows XP users as well. Windows Defender is exactly the same on Vista as it is on XP, so you're not losing anything by not moving to Vista.

It's a good idea to have more than one piece of antispyware on your PC, whether you use Vista or XP. So double up for safety and add Lavasoft AB's Ad-Aware :-http://www.lavasoft.com/ or Spybot Search & Destroy :- []

Hardware-based encryption Vista features hardware-based encryption for laptops, called BitLocker encryption. It uses a hardware-based key and password protection so that if your laptop is stolen, no one will be able to view any of the data.

Firewall As for a firewall, XP's built-in firewall has one major limitation compared with Vista's -- it doesn't include outbound protection. There's a great deal of debate about whether Vista's firewall includes true outbound protection, but if you want a firewall with true, configurable outbound protection for XP, get the free Comodo Firewall Pro.:- []

Vista security features you cannot get in XP:-

Note:- There are some Vista security features you won't be able to replicate on Windows XP, such as Internet Explorer's Protected Mode, which protects your system from malware that enters via the browser.

Another Vista feature that you cannot replicate in XP but that you probably will not miss at all is User Account Control, a universally reviled security measure that seeks users' permission before taking many actions, such as running a program or opening a dialog box. Many Vista users turn it off because of its intrusiveness.

Get Vista's eye candy in XP

Besides security, one of Vista's main attractions is its new Aero interface featuring transparent windows, eye-popping animations and cool new ways to navigate. But you don't have to upgrade to Vista to get many of these features. Using freeware or low-cost shareware, you can transform your XP computer into a Vista lookalike. Keep in mind, though, that adding all this eye candy can slow down your machine, depending on your system configuration. So be prepared to scale back on some of it if you find your PC becomes sluggish.

Sidebar and Gadgets One of Windows Vista's niftiest features is the Sidebar and its Gadgets -- little applets capable of gathering, displaying and using live information from the Internet or from your PC. But there are plenty of ways to get the same things for free on Windows XP.

Desktop Sidebar :- [] This gives XP a full-blown sidebar like Vista's, with numerous built-in gadgets, including a clock, weather gadget, performance monitor, mail checker, media player, stock tracker and more. Two other good choices from well-known search companies are:-

Google Desktop Gadgets and Yahoo Widgets. [] and [] To use Yahoo Widgets, you'll first have to download the software. It comes with a variety of widgets, such as a weather checker, CPU monitor, stock checker and so on. But you're not stuck with just those, there are more than 4,000 widgets available. In fact, you'll have a greater choice of Yahoo Widgets than you'd have it you were using Gadgets for the Vista Sidebar. Yahoo Widgets run in a Sidebar-like application, but can also be placed anywhere on your Windows desktop. Google's Desktop Gadgets require that you download and use Google Desktop, which may be problematic for some people because Google Desktop is a big piece of software, primarily used for searching your PC. It includes a live indexer that runs all the time, which could possibly slow down your PC. But if you are already a Google Desktop user or want a good searching tool, the Gadgets are a nice bonus. They live in a sidebar that looks and works a lot like Windows Vista's Sidebar. You will find plenty of Gadgets, including Real Simple Syndication readers, a stock checker, to-do list creator, weather watcher and more, although not as many as Yahoo Widgets. Windows Flip and Windows Flip 3D replacements

Two of the more useful new features in Windows Vista are Windows Flip and Windows Flip 3D. With them, when you switch between windows or applications using Alt-Tab (for Windows Flip), or Windows key-Tab (for Windows Flip 3D), you can see a preview of the windows, making it easier to decide to which window you want to switch. As the name suggests, Windows Flip 3D shows you the open windows in a three-dimensional view, a very nice piece of eye candy. You can get the same features in Windows XP using a couple of software add-ons. Microsoft's free Alt-Tab Replacement Power Toy:- [] is your best choice for the Windows Flip replacement. It's two-dimensional only.

Preview windows with the Alt-Tab Replacement Power Toy. (Click for larger view.)

If you must have the 3-D look, you'll have to pay for it. Top Desk :- []

is shareware from Otaku Software that gives you the equivalent of Windows Flip 3D on XP. You can try it for free for 14 days. If you want to use it after that, you'll have to fork over £10.00p.

Transparent windows and other interface tweaks:-

For many people, the niftiest feature of Vista's Aero interface is its transparent windows. If you want to go the whole hog and replace your entire desktop and interface, you can download and use Stardock Corp.'s WindowBlinds:- [] It lets you make all kinds of changes to XP's user interface, including transparent windows and a lot more. Install the program, and you can apply a skin that makes it look like Vista, such as the Arrow skin. :- [] WindowBlinds is shareware, and costs £10.00p to register.

Start-up screens

Finally, if for some bizarre reason you're a big fan of the Windows Vista boot and log-on screens, you can mimic them in XP with some free tools from Stardock. First, download Logon Studio:- [] which lets you customize your log-on screen. Once you do that, you can apply a Vista-like log-on screen called Vista Reaction. [] To mimic Vista's boot screen, get BootSkin :- [] and use the Real Vista:- [] boot screen.

Tweak XP settings for faster performance.

Lose the eye candy. All the animations and visual effects that XP uses can sap performance, particularly on low-end systems.

If you prefer fast over frilly, you can turn off XP's eye candy to gain speed. Go to :- Control Panel > System > Advanced tab, and in the Performance area, click the Settings button. On the Visual Effects tab, choose the Custom option, and clear as many of the check boxes as you can stand, the more check boxes you clear, the faster your system can run. Most people will not notice much of a difference in appearance as long as these two boxes remain checked:- "Smooth edges of screen fonts" and "Use visual styles on windows and buttons." Click OK twice, and you're done. Optimize your Internet connection.

A computer without a fast Internet connection is not much of a computer nowadays. Vista automatically tunes the Internet connection for best performance, but you can get performance that is nearly as fast on XP by using a connection tuning tool. The TCP Optimizer:- [] tool from SpeedGuide.net is free and easy to use. Just choose Optimal Settings near the bottom of the main screen, select the rated speed of your Internet connection using the slider bar, click Apply changes, click OK, and then reboot your computer. If the tuning causes any problems, you can restore the previous settings from the backups that TCP Optimizer keeps each time you make changes.

Limit Windows' junk-file caches.

Disk performance is a serious limiting factor for the performance of most systems. As the drive fills, it becomes slower due to the additional disk head motion required to access the files that are spread across the disk.

A full drive is a slow drive, so the best way to increase performance is to un-install unneeded applications and delete the junk files that Windows keeps around long after they have served their purpose. By default, XP's System Restore feature uses 12% of the total space on every partition to save restore point files and settings. For example, with a 200GB disk broken into two 100GB partitions, it will use 12GB on each partition to hold system-restore files. With its standard settings, XP creates a restore point every day. The actual size of a restore point varies, but they are typically something less than 50MB. That means the default settings allow for about 200 days of restore points, which is much more than anyone needs. There are quite a few System Restore settings you can adjust through Windows Registry edits:- [] but one simple change through the user interface provides most of the benefits. Go to :- Control Panel > System > System Restore tab. Move the slider until it shows that about 1,000MB (1GB) of disk space will be used for restore points; the exact number is not critical, and it's hard to get a precise number since it's expressed as a percentage of the total disk space. On today's large drives, you'll often need to move the slider to just 1% or 2%. As soon as you click the OK button, XP will delete old restore points to bring the size down to your requested disk space setting, and it'll stay there, continually swapping out old restore points as it adds new ones but staying under the size you have set. The Recycle Bin is another space hog; by default, it uses 10% of the drive, up to a maximum of 4GB. It is handy to have the Recycle Bin to recover accidentally deleted files, but 4GB is overkill on most systems. If you're a compulsive desktop cleaner and tend to empty the Recycle Bin regularly, you can leave the setting as is. Otherwise, it's best to reduce the size a bit. Right-click the Recycle Bin and select Properties, then adjust the size to suit your garbage-retention needs, for example, something around 1 GB. Unlike System Restore, the Recycle Bin Properties dialog doesn't make it easy to do the math. The slider is shown in percent of the size of the drive, but it doesn't show the actual size. Once you have selected a size with the slider, you can click on the individual drive tabs to see the actual amount of disk space that will be used. Do not get too aggressive, though; if you delete a file that is larger than the size of the Recycle Bin in the future, it will be permanently deleted rather than recycled  <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">