How to Create a Password Reset Disk for computers that are part of a domain

Note that this procedure requires one blank, formatted floppy disk. 
To create a password reset disk for your local user account: 
Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE. The Windows Security dialog box appears. 
Click Change Password . The Change Password dialog box appears. 
In the Log on to box, click the local computer. For example, click Computer (this computer) . 
Click Backup . The Forgotten Password Wizard starts. 
On the "Welcome to the Forgotten Password Wizard" page, click Next . 
Insert a blank, formatted disk in drive A, and then click Next . 
In the Current user account password box, type your password, and then click Next . The Forgotten Password Wizard creates the disk. 
When the progress bar reaches 100 percent complete, click Next , and then click Finish . The Forgotten Password Wizard quits and you return to the Change Password dialog box. 
Remove, and then label the password reset disk. Store the disk in a safe place. 
In the Change Password dialog box, click Cancel . 
In the Windows Security dialog box, click Cancel.
If you forget your password, you can log on to the computer with a new password that you create by using the Password Reset Wizard and your password reset disk. 
To gain access to your local user account on a computer that is a member of a domain, or has been disconnected from a domain:
In the Welcome to Windows dialog box, press CTRL+ALT+DELETE. 
In the Log On to Windows dialog box, type an incorrect password in the Password box, and then click OK . 
In the Logon Failed dialog box that appears, click Reset . The Password Reset Wizard starts. The Password Reset Wizard lets you create a new password for your local user account. 
On the "Welcome to the Password Reset Wizard" page, click Next . 
Insert the password reset disk in drive A, and then click Next . 
On the "Reset the User Account Password" page, type a new password in the Type a new password box. 
Type the same password in the Type the password again to confirm box. 
In the Type a new password hint box, type a hint that will help you remember the password if you forget it. NOTE : This hint is visible to anyone who attempts to log on to the computer by using your user account. 
Click Next , and then click Finish . The Password Reset Wizard quits and you return to the Log On to Windows dialog box. The password reset disk is automatically updated with the new password information. You do not have to create a new password reset disk. 
In the Log On to Windows dialog box, type your new password in the Password box. 
In the Log on to box, click the local computer. For example, click Computer (this computer) , and then click OK . You are logged on to the local computer with your local account information.

Create a Password Reset Disk

Microsoft has enhanced security features in XP including the the ability to create a floppy diskette to recover your password incase it is forgotten. 
Click Start 
Click Control Panel 
Click User Accounts 
Click on the account which you want to create a password disk 
Click Prevent a forgotten password which starts the Forgotten Password Wizard . This is found under Related Tasks 
Insert a blank, formatted disk into drive A, and click Next 
Enter the password in the Current user account password box 
To use the recovery disk, at the Welcome screen 
Click the user name whose password is on the recovery disk 
Click the question mark button 
This causes the Did you forget your password message to appear. 
Click use your password reset disk 
This will start the Password Reset Wizard. 
From this point, just follow the wizard's instructions and you will be able to set a new password. It is different if you are part of a domain, see next tip.

Automatically defrag drives with a new context menu item

Create a new Registry import file named context_defrag.inf in Notepad (be sure to save with it with the Save as type set to All Files and not Text Documents) and place the following text inside:
; context_defrag.INF
; Adds Defrag to the right click context menu in Windows XP
[version]
signature="$CHICAGO$"
[DefaultInstall]
AddReg=AddMe
[AddMe]
HKCR,"Drive\Shell\Defrag\command",,,"DEFRAG.EXE %1"
Then, right-click and choose Install. This will add a context menu to XP that allows you to automatically defrag drives, using the command line version of the built-in defragmentation utility. To use it, navigate to a drive in My Computer, right-click, and choose Defrag. A command line window will appear, and that drive will be defragged. When it's complete, the window just disappears.

Missing Administrator account

Once you have created regular user accounts, the default Administrator account vanishes from the Welcome screen, which you see when the computer starts up. Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete twice at the Welcome screen to retrieve the standard logon dialog. You can log on as Administrator from here. To switch among accounts, just click the Log Off button on the Start menu. You'll then see the Log Off Windows dialog box. Click the Switch User button, and you'll be taken to the Welcome screen where you can select and log on to other accounts.

Stop Password Expiration

After you have run Windows XP for a while, you may receive this message when you log on: "Your password will expire in 14 days.....". 
By default, Windows XP is set up with passwords which will expire after 42 days. 14 days in advance, Windows will start warning you of this fact. If you do not want your passwords to expire: 
Go to Start > Run and in the Open: box type control userpasswords2 
Select the Advanced tab in the User Accounts window 
Press the Advanced button below the Advanced user management header 
Select Users in the Local Users and Groups 
In the right pane, right-click the user name for which you want to change the setting, and select Properties 
On the General tab, check Password never expires 
Click Apply and OK (all the way out)

Speed up the Start Menu

You can use this tip to speed up the Start Menu in Windows XP release candidate 1. You can customize the speed of the Start Menu by editing a Registry Key. 
Click Start, and then click Run. 
Type Regedit in the box, and then click OK. 
Expand the menu in the left panel and select the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop folder. 
Scroll down in the right panel and double click on the MenuShowDelay file. 
In the Value Data box, change to default value for the menu speed from 400 to a lesser number, such as 1. 
Click OK. 
Caution: Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on your computer.

Easy sendto menu modification

first open - X:Documents and SettingsusernameSendTo (it is hidden) where X is your drive letter and username is your username make and delete shortcuts to folders at will

Change the text in Internet Explorers title bar to anything you want

In regedit navigate to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerMain
change the value of the string "Window Title" to whatever you want on the title bar of Internet Explorer - to have no title except the title of the web pages you are browsing do not enter anything for a value.

Remove Shared Documents

Open Regedit(Start- Run- Regedit) and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Explorer My Computer NameSpace DelegateFolders There will see a sub-key named {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. By Deleting this you can remove the 'Other Files stored on This Computer' group.

Remove shortcut arrow from desktop icons

Here's how you can remove those shortcut arrows from your desktop icons in Windows XP. 
Start regedit. 
Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTlnkfile 
Delete the IsShortcut registry value.
You may need to restart Windows XP.

Disable error reporting

Open Control Panel 
Click on Performance and Maintenance. 
Click on System. 
Then click on the Advanced tab 
Click on the error-reporting button on the bottom of the windows. 
Select Disable error reporting. 
Click OK 
Click OK

Turn off hibernation

Control Panel-Screen Saver Power-Hibernate Tab-uncheck hibernation box-reboot and hiberfil.sys is no more.

WinXP Clear Page file on shutdown

Go to Control panel Administrative tools, local security policy. then goto local policies ---> security options. Then change the option for "Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile"

Win XP Won’t Completely Shutdown

Goto Control Panel, then goto Power Options. 
Click on the APM Tab, then check the "Enable Advanced Power Management support." 
Shut down your PC. It should now successfully complete the Shut Down process.

Turn Off System Recovery-Windows XP

Right click on My Computer and choose Properties. Click on the System Restore tab and check the box Turn off System Restore. (This will increase Windows performance & save disk space)

Reduce Temporary Internet File Space

The temporary internet files clutter your hard drive with copies of each page visited. These can build up over time and take up disk space. Even more bothersome is that instead of getting new pages each time IE often takes the page out the temp internet files. This can be a problem if you are viewing a website that is updated all the time. If you are on a slow connection such as a 56K or lower then this can be good but if you are on a fast broadband connection, like me, then you can get away with decreasing the size of your temp internet files to just one meg without any performance decrease.