Tip of the Week

2007 Tip of the Week Archive
2006 Tip of the Week Archive
2005 Tip of the Week Archive

For the Week Beginning October 6, 2008
Back Up Your Network!

We have watched it happen in New Orleans, Biloxi, Mobile and all over Florida - Mother Nature ripping through law offices, causing a great deal of business interruption. This is another very good reason to back up your network; it is an important aspect of disaster planning. Backing up your firm's computers should be part of your office's daily (or at least weekly) routine, whether you use a tape drive, zip drive, or on-line service. It is important to store the backup off site, otherwise, you're defeating the purpose of backing up your computers.

For the Week Beginning September 29, 2008
Get Your Name Out There!!
Did you know that public seminars are excellent means of marketing your firm? Holding informational seminars for the general public in your community is an excellent way to get your name out and become recognized as an attorney. For example, if you're an estates planning attorney, you may want to hold a seminar or workshop on wills at a retirement center. The key is to let members of the community know who you are and what you do.

For the Week Beginning September 22, 2008
Collection Policy for Your Firm
Your firm should have a sample policy where only exceptions are rare, which only should be made by the committee or objective partners. To handle fee collection you will only need to have basic knowledge of word processing/law firm technology to diary the dates and generate form letters.
Below is a sample policy from the book Winning Alternatives to the Billable Hour, 3rd Edition: Strategies that Work written by Mark A. Robertson and James A. Calloway. A sample policy might include the following steps with all periods of time running from the date of initial billing:

20-25 days. A staff person can be assigned to contact the client by telephone to make certain there are no problems with the bill and to ask when payment can be expected.
30 days. When a second monthly bill is sent out with the previous balance unpaid, it is stamped "Past Due" in red ink.
40 days. An internal e-mail notice is sent to the lawyer time to intervene if there has been a mistake or some alternate agreement made with the client.
45 days. The first collection letter is sent to the client. This is written in the "friendly reminder" style.
55 days. An internal e-mail notice is sent to the lawyer, explaining that the client is seriously delinquent and that steps must soon be taken to rectify the situation. It is suggested that the lawyer telephone the client to discuss the matter.
60 days. Included with this month's billing statement is a letter noting that the account is seriously past due and the firm may need to reconsider its continued representation if arrangements are not made within the next five days.
66 days. The management committee meets with the responsible lawyer to assess any practical or ethical obstacles to withdrawing from the representation. Depending on the situation, notices may be sent to the client explaining that work has ceased and, in litigation matters, that a motion to withdraw has been prepared and filed.

To check out the book Winning Alternatives to the Billable Hour, 3rd Edition: Strategies that Work, please contact Law Practice Management at 404-527-8772.

For the Week Beginning September 15, 2008
Some Things Do Not Change

The scarcest commodity in law practice today is not clients, technology sophistication, or even capital resources? It's good people.

With a shortage of available skilled talent, it is more important than ever to "hire for attitude - then teach the skills." The bedrock principle - "The best predictor of future success is past behavior" has never been more applicable. The skills needed to work in a law firm can be taught, but if the underlying work ethic is laziness or untruthfulness you would be better off leaving the position vacant. Thus, training new employees, once the fit is correct, has taken on an even greater importance. Certainly, this is true as it applies to technology usage. Many dollars are wasted by throwing new employees into a "sink or swim" environment with new software. The few dollars invested in training new employees to use the current versions of major law office software will bring an even greater return when the employee has the "right" attitude and motivation.

For the Week Beginning September 8, 2008
Pay Your Clients a Visit!

Occasionally meeting a client at their office or other "home" turf instead of your office is an empowering gesture that clients really appreciate. There is an easy, one-step way to help you get to your client's "home" turf?

If you need directions and if you use Outlook, open the client's contact information screen. Highlight the client's home or business address using the down arrow under the address button. Then click the yellow road sign on the contact screen toolbar. Your web browser will automatically take you to Expedia.com and a map to the client's address.

For the Week Beginning September 1, 2008
Make Your Bills Clear and Concise
Clarity of explanation when preparing your bills is essential to avoiding any misunderstandings that might hinder payment of the bill. Make your bills clear and informative, with a format and layout that is easy to read. Ask several clients, your spouse or other non-lawyer to review several samples of your bills--with names and addresses redacted, of course! Is the wording free of jargon? Do they understand what work was performed? Can they understand how the amount of the bill was calculated? If so, you probably have a winning format that your clients will respect and pay.

For the Week Beginning August 25, 2008
E-mail Etiquette
E-mail is a very important communication tool when conveying a message to someone internally and externally in the workplace. Click here for an e-mail etiquette guideline to help you communicate with others effectively and efficiently in the workplace.

For the Week Beginning August 18, 2008
It happens more than you think
Have you ever been unable to get to your office in a snowstorm or other emergency? How can you contact your clients, opposing counsel or the court to postpone important events? Keep a list of all office and home phone numbers of clients and opposing counsel. Take home an updated hard copy of the list--or e-mail it to yourself--every few months. In case of an emergency, such as sickness, injury, storm or damage to your office, you will have a way to contact clients and other attorneys to inform them of the situation. Be sure to keep your client list in a confidential and secure location.

For the Week Beginning August 11, 2008
Thinking About Voice Recognition Software?
Some voice recognition software boasts a 98% accuracy rating. While those claims may well be true for the vendor, this may not be the case for others. "Training" the software and a fast computer processor are required to attain such accuracy. When looking at voice recognition software, look at recommended system requirements and then double to ensure your hardware can handle the software.

For the Week Beginning August 4, 2008
Strategic Action Planning
When marketing your practice in an economy that is good or bad, below are ten tips from the article, A Strategic Action Plan For Recession Resistant Marketing, by business coach Glen Ebersole that will help your firm stay on the road to profitability.

NEVER STOP MARKETING! Marketing is a continuous, not an intermittent or sometimes endeavor.
Contact and reactivate past clients. Call them or send them a letter, but make sure you contact them.
Deliver consistent superior service to your clients. Create a WOW factor with your service.
Develop your 100 most desired clients list and plan an aggressive business marketing campaign to retain existing clients and attain new clients.
Develop and implement an effective Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Plan.
Develop and implement a contact strategy so you will gain "Top Of Mind Awareness" by being in regular contact with your clients and prospects.
Employ cross selling and up selling tactics to increase revenue from new and existing clients.
NETWORK! NETWORK! NETWORK!
Develop and follow a yearlong marketing activity plan.
Continuously test and evaluate your marketing tactics and strategies.

For the Week Beginning July 28, 2008
Bates Numbering
Another way to keep track of all your documents in Adobe Acrobat during the course of
litigation is bates numbering. To use this feature to create Bates-number labels, you will
need to create a macro that will allow you to prefix the numbers with an alpha code. One
thousand pages can be numbered in less than five minutes and its fast, clean and 100 percent accurate.

The book The Lawyer's Guide to Adobe Acrobat, 3rd Edition is a great resource to help
guide you through this process and is also available in our Law Practice Management
library. To checkout this resource, please contact Law Practice Management at 404-527-8772.

For the Week Beginning July 21, 2008
Automated Timekeeping - An Invaluable Management Tool
Automated timekeeping records are possibly one of the best management tools regardless of billing method used. They can give you information on timekeeper efficiency, profitability of certain practice areas, work volume by client, and many more important facts. If you'd like to automate your timekeeping, please phone Natalie Kelly at 404-527-8770 for more information.

For the Week Beginning July 14, 2008
Confidentiality and the Fax Machine
Confidentiality is a big issue when sending faxes to your client. When a client gives you his or her fax number, determine right then how the client receives faxes. Is it a neighbor's fax machine, a common fax machine in an office, or a personal computer accessible to several people? Make a note by the fax number whether the fax machine is reasonably confidential or whether the client must be called first in order to stand by the fax machine to receive the fax. You may want to modify your client intake form to include this information.

For the Week Beginning July 7, 2008
Podcasting for Lawyers
Did you know that podcasting would be an excellent idea for lawyers to market their practice?! If you are very knowledgeable of your chosen areas of expertise and comfortable with public speaking, then this could be a great tool for your practice.

John Simek and Sharon Nelson has an article in the ABA's Law Practice Management magazine called Lawyer's on the Air: How to Get Started in Podcasting that will give you some of the technical requirements.To request this article, please contact the Law Practice Management Program at 404-527-8772.

For the Week Beginning June 30, 2008
Discussing Fee Issues with Your Client
It is best to discuss fee issues with the client more than once. Remember that clients are often under considerable stress (from their legal problems) the first time they visit a lawyer. Your explanation of your fees and costs may be a model of clarity, but it may not sink in. Give your explanation in writing as well as verbally. If a lot of money is at stake (in the eyes of the client), allow the client time to think it over before committing to your fees. Clients who 'buy in' to a fee agreement are more likely to abide by it. Then take the initiative to periodically discuss the amount of fees throughout your representation. If at any given point the fee does not comport with the client's expectations, resolve the situation as soon as possible - don't let it fester until the attorney/client relationship is irreparably damaged.

For the Week Beginning June 23, 2008
Stay in the Technology "Fast Lane"
The average life span of technology is roughly 18 to 24 months. An excellent means of staying abreast of the ever-changing technology world is to read hardware and software reviews. Many tech journals offer such reviews on-line such as Law Office Computing, PC Magazine, PC World, to name a few. There are also websites dedicated solely to technology which offer reviews regularly such as www.computers.com and www.cnet.com.

For the Week Beginning June 16, 2008
Create a good habit in QuickBooks by setting a routine for inputting data. Try doing this on a daily basis or a couple of days out of the week. Remember to add your debit card expenses. Waiting for your bank statement will make for a long day of inputting information to reconcile.

For the Week Beginning June 9, 2008
Editing Image Documents
Office comes with a program called Microsoft Document Imaging. You can use it to perform quick-and-dirty optical character recognition (OCR) on items you've scanned (save them as TIFF files). Click Send Text to Word and you can start editing immediately.

For the Week Beginning June 2, 2008
Restoring the Performance of Windows
Is your "fast" computer not so fast these days? Even the most vigorous computers get
bogged down over time. Unnecessary files, unused programs and programs running in the background consume valuable space. There are five easy steps to rejuvenate your now
sluggish, once zippy Windows machine.

Lighten the load. Your hard drive, no matter how big, will slow down once it reaches 90 percent capacity. To free up valuable space, you can remove unused programs. Click Start>> Control Panel (in Windows 98/ME, Start>>Settings>>Control Panel). Double-click Add or Remove Programs. If you have Windows XP, you can see the size of the program, how often it's used and date it was last used. Although helpful, this info should not be the only determining factor. Click the program you want to remove and then click Change/Remove (In Windows 98/ME, Add/Remove). During this process, you may encounter a message asking if you want to remove a shared component. Select "no to all." These files are small and may be necessary for programs to operate properly.
Clean it up. Disk Cleanup will delete downloaded program files, temporary files,
temporary internet files and items in your Recycle Bin. Windows XP's version of Disk
Cleanup also deletes offline Web pages and compresses rarely used files. Click Start>>(All) Programs>>Accessories>>System Tools>>Disk Cleanup. Select the drive you want to clean (probably C:) and click OK. Place a check mark next to the items you want deleted and click OK. You can also remove Windows components that you don't use. Start Disk Cleanup and click the More Options tab. Click "Clean up" under Windows components. You can remove games, accessories and other non-essential Windows components. The More Options tab also allows Windows XP users to clear old restore points. These chew up a lot of space over time. Just click the "Clean up" button under System Restore and then Yes.
Reduce your start-up time. Instant messaging programs, media players and other programssneak an automatic start with Windows, slowing down your boot time while reducing your system's resources. You can stop these programs by clicking Start>>Run. Type "msconfig" without the quotes and click OK. Click the Startup tab.
You'll see a number of programs listed. Some names are easy to figure out. But the majority is difficult to decipher. You can find a list of entries and explanations here:
http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php. Clear the boxes for the programs you don't need. Click Apply>>OK. You'll be prompted to restart your computer. After restarting you'll receive a message stating that the System Configuration Utility is in Diagnostic or Selective Startup mode. Just check the box next to "don't show this message again" and click OK.
Consolidate. Photographs take up a lot of space and it's easy to have multiple copies of digital picture files. A good photo organizer will help consolidate all of your pictures and remove duplicates. If you want to try an organizer, there is a free program called Picasa at http://picasa.google.com/.
Search. Find and remove very large files through Windows' search function. Click Start>>Search>>All files and folders. Then click on the arrow next to "What size is it?" Click Large>>Search.

This function will show you all those forgotten video or music files and data files from
games you used to play. If you're not absolutely sure what the file is, it's best to conduct an Internet search using the file name.

Exercise these steps on at least a quarterly basis. You'll keep your computer spinning
like a top!

For the Week Beginning May 26, 2008
Private Data Search in Word 2007
If you would like to look for private data in Word 2007, use the Inspect Document command before sending a file. It'll look for hidden text and other info that Word can strip out.

For the Week Beginning May 19, 2008
Summer is a Great Time for Practice Evaluation
If your firm has "downtime," you can utilize that free time to re-evaluate certain aspects of your practice. If your practice slows down a bit this summer, take some time to review your practice. Do you need to revise your business plan? Need to develop that marketing plan? Are your office systems adequate to avoid malpractice? If you need assistance with practice management issues, please contact Natalie Kelly at 404-527-8770.

For the Week Beginning May 12, 2008
Use Skype to lower phone bills
Using Skype from your PC lets you call Skype users free, and call almost any landline or
mobile phone in the world for a low per minute fee. It can make your business appear
international, too. Skype also offers low-cost phone numbers in other countries.

For the Week Beginning May 5, 2008
Free Directory Assistance
Dial 800-FREE-411 - Follow the prompts to get the desired number by phone or text message. This only works for both residential and business listings in the U.S. only.

For the Week Beginning April 28, 2008
Successful Billing
Did you know that drafting thorough and complete client's bills are not the only elements to successful billing? Timing and personal attention can increase your client's commitment to pay your bill. Studies show that if you offer a bill within a month of the work's completion, you will
collect more than 95% of the total amount. The longer you wait the more unlikely the client
will pay. Three tips to overcome this downfall:

Foremost, establish regular billing procedures !!! Ideally, at the same time(s) of the month to create a routine for getting the bills out.
Discuss with your clients at the beginning of the case as to when they are better situated to pay. You may find that the 15th of the month is better than the first. Adjust to your client's needs.
Don't wait until the end of the case to expect payment. For those accepting money up front, consider establishing a monthly billing schedule to maintain a clients investment in their case. Upon completion of the case, the up front money can be applied to the final bill.

It doesn't stop at just getting the bill out either. What you say on the bill has a tremendous impact on a client's perception of you and the bill. Personalize the final bill with handwritten comments and never forget that even corporations have humans who read andevaluate the bills.

For the Week Beginning April 21, 2008
Look For Private Data in Word 2007
Before sending a file, use the Inspect Document command (under the Office button, click (Prepare). It'll look for hidden text and other information that Word can strip out.

For the Week Beginning April 14, 2008
Taming Squiggles and Smart Tags
Some of the features that are supposed to help you can just be downright annoying. Take those squiggly red and green underlines Word puts under words and sentences. Intended to point out spelling and grammatical errors, these are often wrong or inappropriate. To turn off the squiggly lines, choose Options from the Tools menu, select the Spelling & Grammar tab, then uncheck Check spelling as you type and Check grammar as you type.

Similarly, the Smart Tags that appear under dates, telephone numbers, pasted text, and so on can be distracting. You can choose AutoCorrect Options from the Tools menu, then select the Smart Tags tab to turn off individual features or all Smart Tag displays.

For the Week Beginning April 7, 2008
Managing your "Paperless Office" Workflow
A way to begin the "paperless office" workflow is using a logical filing system. Mr. David Masters, author of The Lawyers Guide to Adobe Acrobat, suggest that you should begin creating a file folder for each client and if they have multiple matters, create subfolders for each matter. Within the client-matter folder, create folders to sort documents by type such as correspondence, pleadings, drafts and so forth. If you are confused about naming your files, one method to use is to name the individual files within the folders starting with the date of the document in year-month-day order, followed by descriptive terms - for example, X:WorkSmithPleadPDF80107Complaint. Inserting the date at the beginning of the file name enables you to sort all documents in a given folder in year-month-day order.

To check out the book The Lawyers Guide to Adobe Acrobat, please contact the Law Practice Management Program at 404-527-8772.

For the Week Beginning March 31, 2008
Avoiding Client Frustration--and it's sooooo easy!
Changing your greeting on your voice mail/answering machine regularly can save your clients from much frustration. Add a personal touch to voice mail: Change your greeting daily--or at least weekly--to reflect your schedule so callers will know whether you will receive their message in ten minutes, ten hours or ten days! There are few things more frustrating for a client than to call their lawyer and get the same "I'm either away from my desk or on another line," only to find out their lawyer is in trial for three days or in Tahiti for three weeks. Also, if you are going to be unavailable for more than a day, leave instructions on your greeting message on how to reach a real live person if they need to when you're unavailable. Your clients may not thank you, but they will appreciate it!

For the Week Beginning March 24, 2008
Quality Service Standards: Putting Your Best Foot Forward
Your office can create quality client service standards in as little as four steps. The steps you should include are:

Subdivide the firm's service to clients.
Begin by looking at the very basic elements of your firm's service. View this step
from your clients' perspective and how your firm helps them.

List the major steps that make up particular client contact.
After you define the major areas of the firm's service to client's, choose one area
that needs improvement. List the steps your clients go through during their encounter
with your firm, either directly or indirectly.

Define how each contact with the firm can be improved.
After each contact area above, answer the question: "What will improve the client's experience of doing business with the firm during this step?"

Create standards.
Using the answer from the above step, rewrite the client contact steps into service standards. Each should encompass three standards: personal, product, procedural.

The following example is a shortened version and defines only one element of a firm's service - that of the initial client inquiry and the contact the receptionist has with the client. You will have more elements and standards created in each step and subsequent steps.

Step 1:
Initial client meeting or inquiry.

Step 2:
Client calls to speak with attorney about problem.
Receptionist takes initial or basic information.
Receptionist takes telephone message; schedules appointment; or forwards call.
Client enters office to meet with attorney, asked to wait.
Client meets with attorney to discuss details of case.
Client leaves office.

Step 3:
Receptionist takes initial or basic information.
(The first contact a potential client has with the firm is extremely important because negative impressions are difficult to overcome)

Step 4:
Client calls to speak with attorney.
Receptionist takes initial or basic information.

Personal:
Use the client's name often when speaking with them. This personal standard creates a sense of personal concern and attention.
Product:
Verify spelling of the client's name. This product standard ensures that client information is correct in system and forms for later use.
Procedural:
Answer phone within 3 rings. This procedural standard promotes attention and importance of clients' calls.

Receptionist takes telephone message; schedules appointment; or forwards call.
Client enters office to meet with attorney, asked to wait.
Client meets with attorney to discuss details of case.
Client leaves office with copy of signed fee agreement.

For the Week Beginning March 17, 2008
Stripping Out Metadata in Word
Want to remove your name and other personal info from a Word document? Here's a simple trick to do just that.

Select Tools | Options from the menu, click the Security tab, check the box Remove personal information from file properties on save, click OK, and save the document. While you're there, also check the box that offers to warn before printing, sending, or saving a file with tracked changes or comments. Or, if formatting isn't important, just select File | Save As . . . and save the document as a plain text file. That will wipe out everything except the text itself.

Word 2007 takes the process of removing metadata to a new level, and you reach it in a
completely different way. Click the Office icon at top left, then Prepare, then Inspect
Document to see just what sort of personal information is hidden in the document. You can click a Remove All button to clear out all data in each of five categories. You'll surely want to remove comments/revisions, document properties, custom XML data, and hidden text. But think twice before clicking the button to remove all headers, footers and
watermarks--those are typically meant to be seen.

For the Week Beginning March 11, 2008
How to Continue Editing Where You Last Were
If you find yourself working on the same document in multiple editing sessions, you can use this tip to get started faster. If you open a document you were editing when you last used Word, you can use the SHIFT+F5 keyboard combination to quickly jump to where you were last working in the document. This is also a good way to get back to what you were editing after browsing through a document.

For the Week Beginning March 3, 2008
Recognizing the Efforts of Your Staff
One action plan to improve people skills and increase profitability is by consistently recognizing your staff efforts on your clients' behalf. Thank them when they work extra hard. Try to do this publicly, letting others know how well they have handled something and how much you appreciate or value their work.

For the Week Beginning February 25, 2008
There's still time to make plans for Chicago
If you are a legal professional who is interested in legal technology, ABA TECHSHOW offers more than 65 education and training sessions in eight different tracks--sessions designed to help people at various skill levels learn to make the most effective use of technology in their legal setting. Whether you are an IT novice or a technocrat, ABA TECHSHOW provides education and training sessions sure to challenge your thinking and expand your knowledge. Sessions are created to accommodate the needs of solo practitioners and those operating in large firms. Visit http://www.abanet.org/techshow for registration information.

For the Week Beginning February 18, 2008
Correcting Misclassified Employee Reporting
Did you know that if an employer misclassifies an employee as an independent contractor, there could be tax penalties against the employer? When an employer incorrectly misclassifies the employer as an independent contractor, the employer will be responsible for the employees federal income tax, as well as, the employee's share of the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA)/Railroad Tax Act (RRTA), even if it was not withheld from the employee's wages.

The good news is that the IRS has provided some relief for employers who have made a classification error. Under Code Section 3509 provides an opportunity for correct the tax treatment of misclassified employees and provides reduced rates for the employee's share of FICA taxes and federal income tax that should have been withheld. However, employers are still responsible for the full amount of their share of FICA taxes and Code Section 3509 does not provide a reduced Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) rate.

Below are tips from the IRS for employers that have misclassified employees:

- If the employee does not qualify for the reduced rate under Code Sec. 3509, the employer must have the employee sign a Form 4669 (Employee Wage Statement) stating that the employee reported their federal income tax and taxes attributable to the income have been paid.
- Employer must complete and sign Form 4670, Request of Relief from Payment on Income Tax Withholding, and submit this form along with any properly executed Form(s) 4669 to request relief from payment of tax liability.

- An employer will not owe employment taxes under Section 530 if the employer:
(1) must have had a reasonable basis for not treating the workers as employees, (2) treated the workers and any similar workers as independent contractors for all applicable periods beginning after December 31, 1977, and (3) filed Form 1099 MISC (Miscellaneous Income), for each worker, if such form was required.

For more information regarding correcting misclassified employee reporting, please contact
www.irs.gov.
For the Week Beginning February 11, 2008
Need Electronic Forms You Can Use?
There are software programs which convert printed forms into useable electronic forms. Some programs even create the blank fields for use in a database structure. For an example, visit ScanSoft Inc.'s website and look for their program OmniForm at www.scansoft.com. The State Bar of Georgia's Law Practice Management Program also has available a resource of administrative office forms, which are useful for daily management forms commonly found in law firms. Visit our resource link, http://gabar.org/programs/law_practice_management/forms/ for other listings.

For the Week Beginning February 4, 2008
Don't Invite Costly Theft
Thousands of laptop computers are stolen every year. Laptops are prime targets of thieves at many different public places such as the airport. Chances are that you have been in the airport at some point or another with your laptop that you keep in the all-too-familiar "Targa"-style bag. Obviously, there's a laptop in the bag and would-be thieves know this, making your laptop an easy target for theft. To combat this, keep your laptop in a less-conspicuous bag like a tote or wheeled garment bag. Would-be thieves would never expect a laptop to be in such a bag.

For the Week Beginning of January 28, 2008
Organizing Your Files - One Way to Leave the Office Earlier
If you haven't gone paperless or are not using case management with tickler capability, then customize and tailor a tickler filing system that works best for you. It allows you to pace yourself better, eliminates piles from surfaces, and keeps all your reminders in one place. After you adjust to it, you will gain confidence that items filed out of sight will pop up again.

For the Week Beginning of January 21, 2008
File Retention - How Long Should You Keep Your Files?
You should keep all firm trust accounting records for a minimum of six years. The ethics
rule does not require a lawyer to keep closed files for a particular length of time, but is
recommended that you keep your files for at least 10 years. For information regarding
records management and retention, please contact the Law Practice Management Program at 404-527-8772.

For the Week Beginning of January 14, 2008
Free Tools for Checking Your Computer for Viruses
Protection is key when it comes to vital information on your computer. Whenever you see your pop-up window saying that you need to update your spyware or anti-virus software-do it. Viruses seldom reveal whose computer is sending them. They can come from an infected PC hard drive or if you are surfing on the Internet there are chances that you could possibly download files without your approval. Below are a couple of free tools you can use to see if you have these culprits attacking your computer:

Use www.zonealarm.com or Sygate Personal Firewall to stop and report all outgoing activity you haven't explicitly approved. Windows XP's firewall does not provide this functionality,so if you do not have a stand-alone firewall or security suite this should handle it for you.
You might discover hints of an infection in your System Configuration Utility, also known as Misconfig. To open it, click Start, Run, type misconfig, and then press <Enter>. Click the Startup tab. In the list of programs that load automatically when Windows starts, look for whose name resembles an eye chart; many malicious programs rename their files with random character strings. Others, though, mimic the name of real system components.

It only will take a few minutes to download anti-virus software or spyware. So, just remind yourself that it is better to be safe than sorry.