This is useful when you are sharing a PC with someone at work or even at home. Here’s how to do it:

1) Open My Computer
2) Double-click the drive where Windows is installed (usually drive (C:), unless you have more than one drive on your computer).
3) If the contents of the drive are hidden, under System Tasks, click Show the contents of this drive.
4) Double-click the Documents and Settings folder.
5) Double-click your user folder.
6) Right-click any folder in your user profile, and then click Properties.
7) On the Sharing tab, select the Make this folder private so that only I have access to it check box.

-FreePCTech Guide

Each and everyone of us has our own secret. There are some information that are not for public reading and the best and most secured way is to make your folders private. But how?

Go to My Computer. Double-click the drive where Windows is installed. If the contents of the drive are hidden, under System Tasks, click Show the contents of this drive then double-click the Documents and Settings folder. Double-click your user folder. After that,
right-click any folder in your user profile, and then click Properties. Go to the Sharing tab and select the “Make this folder private so that only I have access to it” check box. You’re done!

When the XP prompt gives you the options to Standby, Turn Off or Restart, holding down the Shift key gives you another option instead of Standby: Hibernate. Should you Standby or Hibernate? It depends on how long you will be away from your computer. Standby is good if you won’t be gone for hours. It conserves energy by running your computer on low power. Hibernate is better if you will be away for a while but do not want to wait for a total restart. It writes the contents of the memory onto a file. Now that you know, you have no excuse to keep your screensaver running.

These DOS commands are very useful for Windows XP users when they cannot be bothered to manually shutdown the computer after downloading or after certain system scans or commands. To set automatic shutdown, go the the Run icon on the Start menu of Windows. Type in ‘cmd’ and press enter to open the window. Type ’shutdown’ to display all the commands if you are not familiar with them. The most useful commands are ’shutdown’ followed by -l to logoff, -r for restart, -t xx to set a time (xx standing for number of seconds) and -a to abort the shutdown.

Just because a file is deleted and removed from your Recycle Bin doesn’t mean it’s gone. Windows does not destroy deleted files, but keeps them until they are overwritten. Here are three freeware to help you get rid of your sensitive data such as classified documents and make them unrecoverable.

Sami Tolvanen’s Eraser 5.87 Beta 1 overwrites data several times with multiple passes of pseudorandom data along with several data pattern writes. Kevin Solway’s Delete Doctor 2.2 is much simpler, aiming to remove files that resist deletion, such as corrupted file names and leftovers of viruses and Trojans. At just 148 KB, you’ll barely notice it’s there. Simple File Shredder 3.2 is the core product of Scar5 Software. Its main feature is the System Shredderwhich locates browser cache, cookie, and history files for shredding.