Several non-official, for-profit online registries offer star naming services. These registries give you a certificate for your star and other items like photographs of constellations, a star map, fact sheets, and space-themed accessories. Most packages will also include instructions on how to find your star in the sky. Look online at different companies and compare what they offer to help narrow down your decision. The only official registry is the International Astronomical Union (IAU). They define how stars and other celestial bodies are officially named for astronomical and scientific purposes. Most online star-naming registries will have different packages that you can buy. If you want to get more merchandise, you'll have to purchase a more expensive package. Look at the different packages and choose one based on your budget and what they have to offer. Star naming packages typically cost anywhere from $30 to $100. Once you select the package, input your payment details and put in your order. Once you pay, you'll be prompted to type in your desired star name. Most companies will then pick out a star for you and show you a photo of it in relation to other stars. If you're naming a star after someone else, you should input their address so that the package gets delivered to them. You should receive an email confirmation and a receipt for your purchase. Though most stars, constellations, and planets have already been named, new comets or meteors typically receive a name based on the person who discovered them. If you have a telescope and see a comet or meteor that you don't think was named yet, email cbatiau@eps.harvard.edu. As you track the comet or meteor, make sure to keep meticulous records and contact the IAU as soon as possible. In the email, include your name, address, contact details, date and time of the observation, the observation method, and the observation site. When a comet can be seen by the naked eye, you typically can not name it since many other people "discovered" it at the same time. The observation method could include a telescope, naked eye, or photograph. The observation site should include the town or city name and longitude and latitude of your location when you made the discovery. Usually astronomers and teams of astronomers with telescopes are the first ones to find and name new comets and meteors.

Summary: Search online for star-naming registries. Compare gift packages and choose the one you like the best. Purchase the star and wait for your certificate to come in the mail. Email the IAU to officially name unnamed comets or meteors.

This will open the "Run" program from which you can access your PC's registry. Doing so will launch the Registry Editor tool. You'll need to navigate through several of the folders listed here in order to reach your destination. Since the registry holds most of your computer's sensitive system information, consider clicking File and then Export in the top left corner of your screen to back up your registry before proceeding. Note that you'll need to click the + sign to the left of the folder to expand it--don't click the folder itself. Each folder you need to expand after this point will be inside of the previous folder (for example, "SOFTWARE" was inside of "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" and so on). Don't expand this one. You should see its contents listed in a window on the right side of the Registry Editor page. These should be several pairs and sequences of random numbers. This should remove the values listed here. It doesn't matter what you put here, but you'll need to keep the format consistent (for example, if you deleted four characters, you'll need to replace that section with four characters). This will save your changes. Remember, you can hold Win and tap R to do so. Exclude the quotation marks. Entering this command opens the Windows XP activation wizard. For best results, simply copy and paste this text into the Run field. This option should say "Yes, I want to telephone a customer service representative to activate Windows" and there should be a clickable check box to the left of it. If you see a note that says "Windows XP is already activated", changing your key manually isn't working. Please proceed to the Windows Key Finder method. This is at the bottom of the "Activate" window. Note that you may have to attempt this step a few times with different keys. If you don't know the version of Windows XP your computer is currently running, consult your computer's manual to verify before you proceed with trying the linked product keys. This will generate a new Windows XP ID for your computer. After this process completes, you'll need to confirm your activation of Windows XP. This will allow you to activate your version of XP quickly. Note that calling Microsoft using the "telephone a customer representative" option likely won't work since Microsoft discontinued support for Windows XP on April 8th, 2014. After you've completed your Windows XP activation, you should be able to use it without getting locked out of the system.
Summary: Hold down Win and tap R. Type "regedit" into the Run field. Press Enter. Review the options tree on the left side of your screen. Expand the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" folder. Expand the "SOFTWARE" folder. Expand the "Microsoft" folder. Expand the "Windows NT" folder. Expand the "CurrentVersion" folder. Click the "WPA Events" folder. Right-click the "OOBETimer" entry. Click Modify. Select the "OOBETimer" contents. Tap Delete. Type in new numbers. Click OK once you're done. Exit the Registry Editor tool. Open the Run tool again. Type "%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a" into the Run window. Click OK. Select the telephone option. Click Next. Click Change Product Key. Enter a Windows XP product key. Click Update. Click Back. Check the "Activate Windows over the Internet" option. Follow the on-screen instructions.