Make private folders in Windows XP

There's a few ways to keep other users from viewing your files.

The easiest is to make every folder under My Documents private, so only you can access these folders and their contents:

1. Right-click your My Documents folder and then click Properties.
2. Click the Sharing tab, select the Do Not Share This Folder checkbox, and then click OK.

If you don't need this much privacy, you can simply follow the same steps above to make individual folders private instead.

Personalize the All Programs menu

The icons on the All Programs menu are only shortcuts. You can rename, move, or even delete them without harming the program. This means that it might make sense to organize them to better suit you. For instance, you could create a new All Programs folder named Design Apps to hold shortcuts to all of your graphic design programs. Here's how:

1. Right-click the Start menu and click Explore All Users.
2. Open the Programs sub-folder.
3. Create new folders and move existing program folders or shortcut icons into them to sort your programs.

Now when you click the Start menu and select All Programs, you'll see your new customized menu, making it much easier to locate your most-used programs.

Use keyboard shortcuts to launch applications

Of all the programs installed on your computer, you use maybe five regularly, right? Creating a keyboard shortcut is a great way to launch them fast.

Create a photo screen saver

You can create a custom screen-saver slideshow from a folder of your photos. Here's how:

1. Right-click the desktop and click Properties.
2. Click the Screen Saver tab and select My Pictures Slideshow on the Screen Saver list.
3. Click Settings, click Browse to select the location of your pictures folder, and then click OK.

Arranging windows on your desktop

Did you know that you can display any two windows side by side on your desktop? Here's how:

1. Click a window's button on the taskbar
2. Right-click the second window that you want to open while pressing and holding the Ctrl key
3. Click Tile Vertically

Displaying small icons on your Start menu

After you install a few dozen applications, your Start menu can become very crowded. One way to reduce the clutter is to use small icons:

1. Right-click the Start menu and click Properties.
2. Click the Start Menu tab and then click the Customize button.
3. Click the General tab, click Small Icons, and then click OK twice.

Searching a folder

When you misplace a file, often you know which folder it's in, but it's usually lost in a maze of documents or buried in a subfolder. Below is a great way to search a folder quickly.

1. Locate the folder where you think the file is located and right click the folder.
2. Click Search. A Search window opens, ready to search within the selected folder and only that folder. This is much quicker than launching Search and navigating your entire hard drive to the folder.

Customising folder views:

Did you know that you can customise folders to suit their contents?

1. Right-click the folder and click Properties.
2. Click the Customize tab in the dialog box.
3. From the Use this folder type as a template drop-down menu, select the type of folder: Pictures, Photo Album, Videos, and more.

Adjusting the mouse wheel scroll speed:

If you own a wheel mouse, then you can control how many lines your mouse scrolls when you turn the wheel.

1. Click the Start menu and open the Control Panel.
2. Click the Printer and Other Hardware icon, then the Mouse icon. (Note: This is in Category view, not Classic view.)
3. Click the Wheel tab in the dialog box, change the number of lines your mouse scrolls with each turn of the wheel, and then click OK.

Customising your application's toolbar:

1. To see all of the toolbar buttons available to you, right click a toolbar and click Customize. Scroll the Available toolbar buttons list on the left side of the dialog box.
2. When you find a button that you want to add, click it, and then click Add (in the center of the dialog box). You'll see that the button now appears in the Current toolbar buttons list on the right of the window.
3. When you're finished, click Close.