On account of legal issues, Microsoft did not include its Java Virtual Machine (VM) on the original Windows XP CD-ROM. Instead, it was treated as an Install on Demand component: The first time you visited a site with Java code, you were prompted to get the VM from Microsoft's site. Microsoft's Java VM is now distributed as part of Service Pack 1.
If you prefer, download and install Sun's Java VM from http://java.sun.com/getjava. If both Microsoft's and Sun's VMs are installed on your system, you can select which one to use by opening Internet Explorer's Tools menu and selecting Internet Options. Then open the Advanced tab and scroll down to where you see Java (Sun). Place a check next to Use Java 2 for Sun's Java VM. Deselect it and Microsoft VM will be reactivated.
IE 6 has a new feature that automatically resizes large images to fit in your browser window. You expand an image to full size by hovering your pointer over it and clicking on the button that appears in the lower-right-hand corner of the image.
If the shrinking images have you headed for your shrink, disable the feature. Select Tools on IE's menu bar and click on the Advanced tab. Scroll down to the Multimedia options and uncheck Enable Automatic Image Resizing.
When you hover over an image in IE 6, a new toolbar pops up in the top-left-hand corner of the image. The toolbar's buttons save, print, or e-mail images, and open your My Pictures folder. The toolbar has an interesting use. You may have noticed that some sites don't let you right-click on an image and save it. We don't condone the theft of images, but you should be aware that the Image toolbar's Save button isn't disabled on these sites.
Some Windows XP users have noticed that when they have multiple Internet Explorer windows open, the Status bar (at the bottom of the IE screen) appears only in the first window opened. To make it appear in every IE window, follow these steps.
Start with one instance of IE. Select View | Status Bar. Now press Ctrl while clicking the X in the upper-right-hand corner of the window to close the application. Next, open My Computer and select View | Status Bar. Finally, go to Tools | Folder Options and select the View tab. Click Apply to all folders, confirm the dialog, and then close Windows Explorer.
When you first install Windows XP, Microsoft strongly encourages you to enter Passport account information. This lets you access Passport sites and use MSN Messenger without entering information.
To delete a Passport account from your system, follow these steps. If you're not on a domain, go to Control Panel | User Accounts and select your user name. On the Related Tasks pane at the left, select Manage my network passwords. Now delete the entries that end with (Passport). If you are on a domain, go to the User Accounts list, select the Advanced tab and click on Manage Passwords. Note that these steps don't remove the Passport account from Microsoft's database.
If you're tired of remembering and typing in passwords for various Web sites, you can let IE save your passwords automatically (without the annoying pop-up that asks whether you want to save each password). In IE 5 and IE 6, select Tools | Internet Options and go to the Content tab. Then click AutoComplete and uncheck Prompt me to save passwords.