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Latest Windows XP patch can slow down PCsBy Joris Evers, IDG News ServiceAPRIL 23, 2003Microsoft Corp.'s latest security patch can cause computers running Windows XP to slow down to a crawl, affected users say. Windows XP can take up to 10 seconds to start an application after installation of the patch released April 16 with Security Bulletin MS03-013, users wrote in dozens of postings on several online discussion boards. Removing the patch brings system speed back to normal, according to those users. Microsoft is aware of the issue and is investigating, said Stephen Toulouse, a security program manager at Microsoft's...

I hope I have enough VCP's stored up for this, but... ...I am being unable to figure out how to network TWO Windows XP Home PC's. I have a cable connection to the Internet, and a wireless NetGear router. I am trying to network the desktop and a laptop. I'm stumped. My two educated attempts so far succeeded only in disconnecting the Internet from the laptop. I find no simple, helpful web site that will just say "Do this, this, and this." We're brainiac-heavy here. Any brainiac willing to help? Thanks, Dan

I just purchased a new computer from Dell running Windows XP Home and I need help with an annoying issue that has come up.When we first logged on we created four user accounts for myself, my wife and the kids with my wife and I both having administrator status. When I setup my ISP account I was logged in under my user account and all the information I put into both Explorer and Outlook (i.e., favorites, etc.), as well as all incoming e-mail was only accessible under my user account.To make a long story short, we both use the same...

<p>Thanks to a newly found flaw in Windows XP, two of the most popular audio file formats can be used by crackers to take control of remote PCs. Users only need to hover their mouse pointers over the icons for malicious MP3 or Windows Media files to execute the attacker's code, Microsoft Corp. said in a bulletin published Wednesday.</p>

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O) released a software update for its flagship computer operating system on Monday to make Windows XP more secure, reliable and open to modification. Service Pack 1, Microsoft's first major update to Windows XP since the launch of its "trustworthy computing" initiative and consent decree with the U.S. Justice Department, is now available on the software giant's Web site or on a CD that can be ordered for $9.95. Users who signed up for automatic updates to their Windows XP operating system, which went on sale nearly a year ago, will be able to download...

In baseball, batting .500 is cause for celebration. In installing operating systems, it's a well of woe. Regular readers might remember that a few months back, the office PC was upgraded to Windows XP Home edition, and everything went exactly as advertised. Which was remarkable. And, it turns out, remarkable in the sense that it doesn't always happen. Since Windows XP will install only on one machine, Bill Gates got another $100 for the same upgrade to the home machine, which is pretty much a twin of the office machine. Started Windows ME and fired up the XP install CD....