Change Your Computer Clock From Military Time to Regular Time on Windows XP

Change Your Computer Clock From Military Time to Regular Time on Windows XP
Occasionally, your computer may revert to displaying military time for your system clock with Windows XP. Common times for this would be when your computer needs repair, etc and it comes back to you with the clock set wrong.

Open Control Panel

Open "Regional and Language Options"

Click "Customize"

Click on the "Time" tab

Change "Time Format" section to h:mm:ss tt

Be sure ":" for the time separator and AM and PM are selected on the next couple of lines. They may be set here already.

Click "Apply" and "Ok" on each open window.

Analyze Your Computer

Download CPU-Z from "www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php" and copy the zip file's contents into a folder. CPU-Z requires no installation, which means you can simply delete the folder when you are finished with it! The first CPU tab shows general information about your system processor.

Switch to the Mainboard tab and you can see details about your motherboard, BIOS, and graphic interface. Take particular note of your motherboard's manufacturer- this will come in handy if your board becomes faulty and you need to call customer support.

Click on the Memory tab- you'll see your system's RAM type shown in the first box. If you want to add to your PC's memory, then you should buy the same type in order to ensure compatibility. For a computer running Windows Vista, you should ideally have at least 1024 MB of ram.

Select the About tab. This tab contains three tools, including the Registers Dump utility - click on the Registers Dump button and save a text file. Open this file up, and you'll find a plethora of different PC specifications, which will be helpful to more advanced users.

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How to Free Up Computer Disk Space

Through time, you may find that your computer begins running slower than it used to. One reason for this may be that your disk is running out of room. Eliminating files and programs from your hard drive will improve the speed of your computer and allow you to add files and programs that you will actually use. The overall process is rather simple, as you don't even have to do everything yourself. Here is how to free up computer disk space.


Begin by running Disk Cleanup. Removing temporary Internet and Windows files, emptying the Recycle Bin and deleting components that you haven't used in a long time and no longer use is a great way to free up some computer disk space. Disk Cleanup does all of this for you. Using Disk Cleanup should definitely be your first step when trying to free up some disk space.

Go through your audio and video files and delete any songs, movies or other files that you don't want anymore. A single song or video will not take up much space on your disk. However, chances are that anybody who downloads or rips music and videos onto a computer has more than just a handful of these files that could be deleted. Consider making a large data CD with these files before you remove them from your computer.

Browse through the “Add or Remove Programs” section of your control panel and remove any programs you don't use. Disk Cleanup does catch some of these programs but not all of them. When going through the list of programs, consider if you actually need every program before you decide to keep or delete it.

Download, install and run an anti-spyware/anti-adware program. Disk Cleanup has been known to miss these types of files. This is important in both freeing up some computer disk space as well as keeping your computer safe from infections.

How to get a Computer to Standby Automatically

In standby mode, Windows shuts off the monitor and keeps the hard drive from spinning while the CPU is also placed on the lowest capacity. At times, you may walk away from your desktop or notebook computer and not be able to get back in a short period of time. It is helpful to set the computer to standby automatically, without user intervention, to save power when you are away from your computer.


Decide how long you want a computer to sit idle before it goes into standby mode. This will vary depending on how often you use it and what times of day you work. Keep in mind weekend use when you make your decision.


The Control Panel choice is circled. Columns are similar in Windows Vista. Click on the "Start" menu in the bottom left corner of your computer screen. From there, open the Control Panel, which is in the right-hand column.







The Power Options icon is highlighted. Choose the "Power Options" choice in the Control Panel. The choices appear in alphabetical order, so this option is towards the bottom of the screen (see photo at left).








The System Standby choice is circled. Click the "System Standby" drop-down box choice towards the bottom of the screen. You will want to change that from "never" (see photo at left).











Choose the amount of time you wish for the computer to wait before it goes into standby mode automatically. This can be 1 to 10 minutes, and then increased by increments of 5 minutes. You can choose up to 5 hours.

Click the "Apply" button all the way to the right inside of the Power Options dialog box. Your computer is now ready to stand by automatically according to the time limits you set.

Repeat these steps if your computer use should ever change. This can also be helpful for keeping prying eyes away from your computer screen. This can work for business use, confidential data or children. You can set it to stand by after a few minutes and then require a password to log in to the computer again.