Like I always tend to do when there’s a new operating system in my life, here are a few Windows XP tips ‘n stuff that I’ve accumulated over the past week or two.

• Do you hate how Windows Messenger wants to be running at all times? Here’s the best thread I’ve found about how to stop that boorish behavior.
• Windows XP finally has the ability to easily set the system time from Internet time servers, but by default, it only does so every seven days. If this doesn’t suit your fancy, though, you can change it.
• Do you need your machine to automatically log into an account on startup? It seems that there’s a new way to do it with the Home and Professional editions; it’s not as convenient as in past versions (e.g., it won’t log onto a domain account), but it may be the only way.
• Want to download the entire Internet Explorer setup package, but can’t figure out how to do it under Windows XP (or Win2K)? Here you go.
• If you have a stubborn system service that won’t quit, you can use the Kill command-line utility to make it go away. (This one also works with win2K and WinNT.)
• There are a slew of new command-line tools that come with Windows XP; learn them and love them.