More Secure HDD in Win2k/XP:

There's a very neat trick in which you can setup ownerships on hard drives within WindowsXP. This is extremely useful if you have important or sensitive data on a certain drive and do not want anyone else to access it!

Go to your "Control Panel" and click the "Administrative Tools" icon. From there go into "Computer Management" and then find "Disk management". Once you're there, right click on the disk which you want to claim ownership on and go to "Properties". Click the "Security Tab", then the "Advanced" button. You should see an "Owner" tab and when you're inside there, select the owner you'd like.

After this is done, only that user will be able to access the HDD and your data is secure. Please keep in mind, you must use a NTFS partition to use this trick!

Forget your Password?

I'm don't know about you, but I'm very forgetful. I always lose my keys, my wallet and I always forget my passwords! Thankfully, WindowsXP has a little built in feature that can help you if you forget your password, or more accurately, want to make sure you don't forget it!

You can make a password reset diskette by going into your "Control Panel" and opening up "User Accounts". Inside there find "Prevent a forgotten password" and once you found it, follow the instructions. Make sure you have a floppy in the drive and put it in a safe place - hopefully one you won't forget!

Now when you enter your password incorrectly Windows will prompt you for a the disk. This only works for computers which are not part of a domain, so it's best for your home PC where the IT department are never to be found.