Hold on to Windows XP?

You may want or need to hold on to Windows XP instead of upgrading to Vista. If so, you should know that you can still get some of the benefits of Vista by adding on to XP. Here are some cool add-ons, (courtesy of an article by Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows). These are free unless a price is listed. Read Paul's article for a more in-depth review of each category.

• Desktop search: Windows Search
• AntiSpyware: Windows Defender
• Web browser: MSIE 7.0 (not yet in final release)
• Sidebar and Gadgets: Yahoo Widget Engine or Google Desktop
• Backup/Restore: Windows One-Care ($15-$20/yr)
• Email: Mozilla Thunderbird or Microsoft Windows Live Mail Desktop Beta
• Calendar: Mozilla Sunbird or Google Calendar
• Photo gallery, management, & sharing: Picasa 2 from Google.
• Digital Media Jukebox: Windows Media Player 11 for XP
• Digital movie editor: Windows Movie Maker 6

Private Folders lets XP users protect data

Microsoft now offers, for free, Private Folders 1.0, using password protected folders. It is a step to protect sensitive data from prying eyes. Though billed as being for a computer that multiple people use, it may also help protect against data theft by hackers and thieves.

Then there's file and folder encryption too using XP's Encrypting File System (EFS). The Federal Government will soon have to start using encryption on all its laptops, notebooks, tablets, ... (portable computers). Just remember -- encryption is not for files you need to share.

• The article on CNET
• Download Private folders 1.0 from Microsoft