Here's how you can speed up FireFox by enabling a few options:

1.) In the address bar, type in "about:config"
2.) In the filter bar, copy and paste the following: "network.http"
3.) Change the following entries:

network.http.pipelining : True
network.http.proxy.pipelining : True
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests : 50
network.http.keep-alive.timeout : 10
network.http.max-connections : 50
network.http.max-connections-per-server : 65
network.http.request.max-start-delay : 2
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy : 30
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server : 32

That's it. :)

You can change the GRUB menu in order to list Windows XP as the default OS thus booting it automatically. Here's how to do it:

1.) Boot Ubuntu, and start terminal.

2.)Backup the GRUB menu file: "cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst_BU."

3.) Edit the menu: "sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst."

4.) Locate the line "default = 0."

5.) Edit the line from "default = 0" to "default = 1." Save the file and exit.

6.) Restart the PC. You should notice that Windows XP is at the top of the list.

Here's a quick way to access your cookies on Windows Vista.

Follow these steps in order to access the cookies:

1.) Double click My Computer
2.) Go to the C drive
3.) Go to C:\Users\"Your user"\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies
4.) Alternatively, you can just paste the address in the address bar, but remember to change "Your user" with your user name.

That's it :D