People with Administrator or Limited accounts usually have no problem connecting to the Internet through a dial-up modem. But when Guest account users sit down at that same computer and try to connect to the Internet, Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 refuses to let them. What gives? It’s a security measure built-in to Windows, […]

Both Windows XP Home and Professional include a program to send and receive faxes, but the program’s hidden: It’s not normally installed when you install or upgrade to Windows XP. After installing the fax program, it’s no problem to leave the fax turned on all day. Sure, the junk faxes still pour in. But I […]

When talking about computer security, the answer always depends on your personal level of paranoia: No computer system is completely secure. Many people are satisfied with Windows XP’s built-in “one-way” firewall. It makes a fairly decent effort to keep people on the outside from getting into your computer. Other firewalls, such as ZoneAlarm, work as […]

I cover Windows’ built-in firewall in my books Windows XP For Dummies, Windows Vista For Dummies, and Windows 7 For Dummies. But if you ever need to turn on the firewall or make sure that it’s turned on and protecting your PC, follow these steps:

Q: For quite some time, I’ve used a picture-editing feature which came with Windows XP. When I clicked a thumbnail in the My Pictures folder, Windows XP showed a larger picture. When I right-clicked the picture and chose “Edit,” a menu appeared, offering options like cropping, incremental angle shifting, color shifting, contrast, brightness, sharpening, the […]