Few xp tips..........

[helloimtim]

Run anti-virus and spy-ware programs! I recommend avast and spy-bot. Keep all RD party programs backed up!! Back up bookmarks for free and yahoo bookmarks. Surf the word yahoo bookmarks. Clean your registry and defrag your hard-drive!! There are lots of utilities that do all that for ya and allot of times you get a 30 day free trial. I use system mechanic 5 and Fix it utilities. Have for along time. Only ones I trust!! Some registry cleaners will crash your computer!! Happed to me once. Always double check the fix solution. We that post have been wrong. Not given enough right information. Don't drive yourself crazy. Worse comes to worse back up your programs and reinstall xp. Keep your computer organized!! I save all my downloads to a folder on my desktop. Open the program to that folder with winrar. Keeps all my downloads and such in one place. Don't loose them. Service pack 2 turns my puter to garbage. I don't use it. I can take care of my own security. This is just my humble opinion. Last. Post in forums. Pass along tips. Help others. You can learn tons from posts. Just respect others opinions. After all we are all just trying to help each other the best we can.........peace......im out

[bozo]

All pretty sound advice...I do something similar with downloaded programs...I have a folder in my "Programs" partition dedicated to DL'd programs.

I have to take issue with your opinion of SP2, however. If it turns your computer into garbage, then you have a program(s) or hardware that are not compatable with SP2. I would find out what is the problem and get rid of the problem before I would compromise security. I have had NO spyware-malware since installing SP2, and I was riddled with spyware pre-SP2.