17 November
2001
Revised
6 January 2002
I
was getting tired of adding all these cool Windows XP sites
to my bookmark list. So I decided instead to group them all
together in one place. While this was meant simply as a convience
for me, hopefully you can find some of these sites as useful
as well. As always, many of these products are still beta.
Create a RESTORE POINT before installing them
!!ALERT!!
Microsoft has released a security
patch to fix problems with Universal Plug and Play. This
is a Critical Update!
Themes/Visual
Styles/Logon Screens
One
of the first customizations many people make to Windows XP
is to change the default color schemes. The three color schemes
that Windows XP ships with leaves much to be desired. Fortunately,
there are many people who took on the task of improving on
them.
1.
StyleXP
- A good style to start with and some themes require it to
be installed. Site also includes StyleBuilder to create your
own themes and visual styles.
2.
dotnet
- This theme is my personal favorite. It's based on the upcoming
.NET colors. Site also includes the excellent Windows.NET
visual style.
3.
ThemeXP
- A decent site with themes and login screens.
4.
LogonUI
- A simple utility that lets you view and change your Windows
XP logon screen. Excellent.
XP
Upgrade Guides
Upgrading
an Operating System is rarely easy or problem free. These
guides attempt to make things go a bit smoother.
1.
Upgrading
to Windows XP - Our own guide to help the transistion
go smoothly. Also includes a fix or two to problems people
have experienced
2.
Windows
XP as an Upgrade - A comprehensive guide to taking the
big plunge. This guide covers it all. Excellent!
3.
Windows
XP Upgrade Advisor - Running this program before you upgrade
to XP will tell you what hardware and software on your PC
is not compatible with Windows XP.
Help/Support
Running
into a problem is never a fun thing, but not knowing where
to go for help is even more frustrating. Below are a few places
to go online for help.
1.
Windows
XP Expert Zone - Microsoft's own online community for
help and support.
2.
Newsgroups
- Newsgroups can be one of the best tools for support. Many
of my problems get solved there. Remeber, though, most of
the people in the newsgroups are not professionals and are
subject to an occassional bit a bad advice
3.
Microsoft's
TechNet - I haven't spent much time here, but it looks
full of good information.
Tweaking
Now
that you got everything looking right and running well, it's
time to tweak that new OS. Here are a few sites that can give
you a hand in pushing Microsoft's latest OS to the max.
1.
Windows
XP: Getting Things Done, Part 1 - Not really a tweak guide,
but it offers a few pointers to improve the performance of
XP.
Miscellaneous
The
best of the rest.
1.
Rename
your Start Button - I don't know of any utilities yet
to do this, so this guide shows you how to hack your Start
Button.
2.
Powertoys
- A great collection of applets put out by Microsoft. The
latest version includes right-click ISO CD burning and a Shell
Audio Player.
3.
Windows
Media Bonus Pack - Microsoft's Bonus Pack for Windows
Media includes utilities, PowerToys, visualizations, skins,
sound effects, and much more.
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