How to Disable the Local Administrator Account

Because the built in Administrator account is a default account in Windows XP, hackers already know half of the two things they need to know (the account name and password) to log onto your XP computer with administrative privileges. For better security, you can create another user account and give it administrative privileges, then disable the local administrator account. Here's how (don't forget to make the other account an administrator first):

1. Log on with an administrative account, either the built in Administrator or the new account you've given admin privileges.
2. Right click My Computer.
3. Click Manage to open the Computer Management console.
4. In the left console pane, expand the Local Users and Groups node.
5. Click Users.
6. In the right details pane, double click Administrator to open its properties box.
7. On the General tab, select Account Is Disabled.
8. Click OK.
9. Close the Computer Management console.

Office How-to: Filter your Outlook Contacts Folder

Need to filter your Outlook Contacts list so you can send holiday greetings to a selected set of recipients? The trick is to tag Contacts with categories. To view the existing Outlook categories, select an item and choose Edit/Categories to open the Categories dialog box. If you don't see the category you need, just click in the text box labeled "Items belong to these categories," type a category, and click Add to List. Repeat this step to add any other categories you need.

To assign categories to contacts, open the Contacts folder and select all the contacts to be assigned the category (hold down Ctrl and click each contact to select multiple contacts). Choose Edit/Categories. Place a check beside the desired category and click OK.

Create a custom filtered view for the category: Choose View/Arrange By/Current View/Define Views. Click New, enter a view name, and click OK.

Click the Filter button, the More Choices tab, the Categories button, and select each of the categories to include in the view. Click OK three times, then Apply View. You'll now see only those items in the selected categories.

The key to successfully performing a mail merge with just a selection of contacts is to first filter the view to show only the target contacts. The keys to achieving that view are categories and filtering.

How to Create Connection Objects in Stored User Names and Passwords

XP has a feature that makes it easier for you to access resources that require credentials that aren't the same as your logon credentials. This feature is called Stored User Names and Passwords. This can be used for logging on to password protected Web sites, VPN connections to your company network, resources in a domain, etc. Keys, also called connection objects, are created automatically when you connect to a server with alternate credentials and select to have Windows remember your password. You can also create keys manually. Here's how (these instructions are for computers that are not domain members):

1. Click Start | Control Panel and select User Accounts.
2. Click Related Tasks.
3. Click Manage My Network Passwords. You'll see a list of the stored user names and passwords.
4. Click Add.
5. In the Logon Information Properties dialog box, type the name of the server or share to which you want to connect in the Server field.
6. Type the name of the user account for that resource in the User Name field.
7. Type the password for that account in the Password field.
8. Click OK.
9. Click Close.

How to Get Back the Ability to Make Pictures Smaller in Email

Windows XP, by default, gives you an option to reduce the size of photos that you attach to email messages in Outlook or Outlook Express, in order to decrease the file size. This is a handy feature if you send pictures from or to a computer that uses a slow dialup connection. Sometimes, however, you may find that the option no longer appears. You can usually fix this by registering a DLL file. Here's how:

1. Click Start | Run.
2. Type cmd to open a command window.
3. At the command prompt, type regsvr32 shimgvw.dll.
4. Press [Enter].
5. Close the command window