By Dennis O’Reilly Many tools make dubious claims about boosting PC performance, but some utilities actually do trim Windows’ boot time. One example is a free program from the person who brought us the popular Process Explorer troubleshooting tool.

Windows Secrets associate editor Scott Dunn tested for his Nov. 6 Top Story several well-hyped utilities that he found of little value. Lest you think any program that makes speedup claims is snake oil, you should know that worthwhile system tools are out there, many of which are free. Reader Cecil Britton writes in to tell us about his favorite:

• “I read Scott’s great column on the relative worthlessness of commercial speedup utilities for Windows, and I completely agree with his assessment of that type of software. While he didn’t go into it, I think he’ll find that many of these same products can actually do more harm than good to a working system.
  
  

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  “My real comment on the column has to do with Scott’s recommendation on good, free utilities that control Windows startup programs. Scott mentioned Mike Lin’s excellent little Startup Control Panel, which I personally used for several years and found to be an essential tool in easily controlling Windows’ startup behavior.
  
  “I have since found that I get far more control by using Sysinternals’ nice little Autoruns utility (Microsoft/Mark Russinovich). I know this program is probably suited to more sophisticated users than Startup Control Panel [is], but it gives the technically competent user far more control over all types of startup components than does SCP.”
  

Autoruns has been around for years — the current version is 9.35 and is available from a Microsoft download page — but it shows that when it comes to useful system tools, newness isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Flash cookies foil Comcast video playback

We received a tremendous volume of responses to Woody Leonhard’s Nov. 6 column (paid content) on the threat that third-party Flash Player cookies pose to your Web privacy. For some readers, the Flash cookies were more than a nuisance — they were a show-stopper. Wayne Wert was one of several Comcast customers we heard from:

• “I wanted to express my thanks to Mr. Woody Leonhard for his article on Adobe’s ‘cookies.’ After reading an earlier article about this problem, I had reset my Adobe settings to try to increase the security on my computer.
  
  “I soon found that Comcast’s Fan (video clips) would not work, but when clicking the blank page and bringing up Adobe, the site implied that all was well. In addition, I could go to any other site that used Adobe [Flash], and it worked properly. Even Comcast’s other sites, such as old TV programs and such, worked very well, so I assumed that the problem must be elsewhere — other than Adobe.
  
  “Today, I was getting ready to call Comcast’s trouble line and try to rectify the problem, but I first read Mr. Leonhard’s article. I reset Adobe’s settings to allow almost everything and found that the Fan then worked. I reset the categories one by one to get the maximum security I could without preventing the Fan from working.
  
  “I found that I had to allow third-party cookies, as reported in the Windows Secrets article, but I could set stored content to 0 (zero) and the Fan still played. I think that I achieved maximum security, thanks to Mr. Leonhard’s article.”
  

The good thing about nuisances such as third-party cookies is that there’s usually a workaround.

Microsoft clarifies its support policy for XP

Associate editor Stuart Johnston stated in his Top Story last week that Microsoft has extended free support for Windows XP beyond the standard five years after the product’s initial release. Microsoft spokesperson Katie Fazzolari sent in the following clarification:

• “You claim that the end of Microsoft’s mainstream support phase is ‘coming more than two years later than is typical.’ Actually, the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy states that mainstream support is available for five years after the product is released or two years after the successor product is released, whichever is longer. In XP’s case, Vista was released in early 2007, starting the two-year clock for the end of XP mainstream support, which ends in early 2009, right on schedule.
  
  “Also, I just want to clarify again that XP users who are buying a new PC with that operating system installed will receive support from their OEM, not Microsoft.”
  

XP was first shipped in late 2001, so the five-year gap before Vista was released has had the effect of giving XP seven years of mainstream support rather than five. Stuart was pointing out that seven years is two years longer than the five years of mainstream support that other Windows versions typically enjoyed. Anyway, I’m glad Microsoft clarified the point.

It’s been almost two years since Microsoft sold Windows XP at retail in the United States. Copies of XP that were sold to consumers by PC makers are supposed to be supported by those manufacturers. The question is whether PC users will truly get the support they need when they have XP-related problems in the years to come.

Richard Chase of Gadget’s Computers & Electronics in Sundre, Alberta, Canada, reminds us that help with XP glitches may be closer than you think:

• “Don’t forget your local mom & pop shops. We’ve been using XP for years and will continue to do so. Any decent shop will help you out with warranty and any other Windows XP issues until it’s finally tossed completely by 2014. Hell, we still service some Windows 2000 and even 98 and Me machines (although we discourage it). For the $59 that MS charges, you can get some good service elsewhere.”
  

That’s good advice, although somehow I just can’t see my mom wearing a grounding wrist strap as she disassembles a motherboard.

Readers Cecil, Wayne, and Richard will each receive a gift certificate for a book, CD, or DVD of their choice for sending tips we printed. Send us your tips via the Windows Secrets contact page.

The Known Issues column brings you readers’ comments on our recent articles. Dennis O’Reilly is technical editor of WindowsSecrets.com.

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