More than 100,000 people worldwide have signed a Save XP petition organized by the US magazine Infoworld. The operating system will no longer be available as a shrink-wrapped product after 30 June, though PC builders will be able to pre-install XP until January.

A starter edition of XP will be available until mid-2010 in emerging markets, according to Microsoft, which claims Vista sales are heading for 100 million.

However, most Vista installs are in machines sold to home users. Business have been slow to adopt, not unusual with a new operating system, and some are concerned about hardware and software compatibility and performance, particularly on older machines.

But not everyone responding to thee petition was against Vista. One wrote: I’ve had Vista on my laptop since launch and I haven’t had any major issues with it.

The most infamous error message is the Blue Screen Of Death. It’s so well known that it has crept into the vernacular: “Aw, Fxxk! I was almost finished with my project when I got bluescreened!” The phenomenon is also known by its acronym, BSOD.

The conditions that cause a blue screen have changed since the days of Windows 95/98, as has what it means. In either case, chances are pretty good that, if you get bluescreened, any unsaved work will be lost, as either Windows (in NT/2000/XP) or your application (in 95/98) has been shut down.

The BSOD is perhaps the most despised error not only because it has wiped away countless hours of work over the years, but because of the obtuse way in which it does so. The messages delivered in the typical blue screen are meant for developers more than end users. For example, a blue screen delivered by Windows may deliver a message such as the following:
0x0000001E, KMODE_EXCEPTION _NOT_HANDLED.

And if you don’t find that sufficiently informative, you’ll see four variables in parentheses to help developers figure out what’s happening. Again, none of this will mean much to most of us, but a support rep or developer can often learn a great deal from such cryptic messages.

Fortunately, blue screens are rare in recent versions of Windows and may disappear after a reboot. But if the problem recurs, you could have a real problem. Here are some troubleshooting steps to follow if you encounter a BSOD:

While your system is booting, press F8 and select Safe Boot Mode, which loads a subset of Windows with minimal drivers. If things run smoothly in Safe Mode, you likely have a software problem with a recently installed application. Try to decipher the error message to see if you can trace it to a specific program. If all else fails, uninstall your most recently installed application.

If you still see blue screen errors in Safe Mode, restart again and use F8 to get to the advanced options. This time, choose Restore Last Known Good Configuration, which is a snapshot of your system as it existed before you last installed any drivers or other software. You will lose any system changes you’ve made since that point, but your documents will normally remain untouched by this process.

If you’re still having problems, you are likely suffering from a hardware problem or a corruption of vital system files. Again, any hints that you can glean from the error message could help you trace the source of the problem. Remove any recently installed hardware and try booting again.

In the worst case, it’s not uncommon to have to resort to reinstalling device drivers or even the whole operating system.

Ultimately, the best cure for the BSOD is prevention: Save often, create frequent backups, and burn a little incense to curry favor with capricious PC spirits.

Back in the days of 80-column monitors, dot-matrix printers, and DOS, the PrintScrn key on your keyboard was a way to send the entire contents of the screen to an attached parallel or serial printer. These days, PrintScrn takes a snapshot of your open windows, then sends the file into a hidden temporary buffer as an uncompressed image.

Each screen shot for this story was taken by opening the necessary windows, pressing the PrintScrn key, then loading Microsoft Paint by clicking Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Paint. Under the Edit menu in Paint, when you select Paste or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-V, Windows will paste the buffer contents in. You can also paste your buffer contents directly into applications such as Word, but many people like to compress the file into a JPEG first. To do this click on File -> Save As. Pick a folder and name the file something relevant, then select JPEG beside the Save As type. This will make the file much smaller, and the file can also be cropped into Paint while you are at it.

[tags]PrintScreen, Paint[/tags]

Every time you boot windows, MSN Messenger starts running in the background. You’re not a fan of this IM client? Too bad. You don’t have a Passport account or don’t use the instant messenger integration built into Microsoft Outlook and Exchange? Too bad.

You can save a bit of memory and get a little faster boot time by not loading this chat client every time Windows starts. Users of AOL Instant
Messenger, ICQ, or Yahoo!’s client are also likely candidates for this tweak. First, click Start, then Run. Then, type this long string into the field:
RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove and be careful to type it exactly right (no spaces) or unpredictable results may occur. You will need to reboot to complete the settings.

If you run Outlook or Outlook Express, those programs may try to launch MSN Messenger too. In order to prevent this from happening in Outlook, for example, go into the program and click on Tools, Options, then Other. Under this menu you will find a check box that reads Enable Instant Messaging in Microsoft Outlook, and you should clear it. Problem fixed!

For Outlook Express, the process is similar:
Click on Tools | Options | General. Here you will need to clear the check box next to Automatically log onto Windows Messenger to keep it from starting up. Celebrate by rebooting and no longer having those little “blue dudes” in the task bar looking at you all the time.

[tags]Disable Messager[/tags]

Windows XP is full of helpful applications, but some of them take too much control or have other downsides. MSN Explorer, the Outlook Express e-mail client, and even the Internet Explorer browser may all be mere baggage to you. All of these can be removed, saving you as much as 20MB of drive space in the process.

To remove them, navigate to the Control Panel by first clicking Start. Then open Add or Remove Programs and click on Add/Remove Windows Components on the left-hand side of the window. You can uncheck options that you do not use, such as Outlook Express, MSN Explorer, and, of course, Messenger.

After unchecking items to your heart’s content, click Next and let Windows configure its components; your system should be a few megabytes lighter. Note that some changes will require a restart, and removing things such as Networking can leave you with a crippled computer.

If you want to control more components in XP, try the utility in Add or Remove Programs that comes with Microsoft’s Service Pack 1. Click Start, then All Programs, then near the top of the column click on Set Program Access and Defaults. From here you can set your default browser, music player, and messenger, among other things.

[tags]Windows XP Tips[/tags]

Every time your laptop connects to a Wi-Fi hot spot, whether it’s in your home or down at the coffee shop, it logs the name of the access point that you connected to in the Windows Preferred Network settings. If you accidentally (or maybe even deliberately) connect to your neighbor’s access point, and then find yourself reconnecting again despite your efforts not to, you need to bump that listing down in your connection list and move your router to the top.

To do this, click Start and select Connect To, then Wireless Network Connection. On the window that opens, click on the Properties button on the lower left, then the Wireless Networks tab at the top. Under Preferred Networks look for your home, work, or favorite coffee shop’s router name. Highlight it and use the Move Up button to move the selection to the top of the list. This will prioritize the connection to your favorite hot spot’s access points. You can also use the Remove button to eliminate the auto-connection of networks that are no longer used or those that happen to be at your neighbor’s house.

Although you wouldn’t be alone if you kept it at the bottom for emergency use, just in case your Internet connection goes down.