TUTORIALS

Tarun Kumar Jaiswal Tarun.Reflex ‘ Less to know, Much to explore ‘ [email protected]

Some Tips And Tricks For Your Windows XP Author: Tarun Kumar Jaiswal Tarun.Reflex Mail at : [email protected] *************************************************************************************

STOP NOISE IN COPYING AUDIO CD When using 3rd party burning software (eg, Nero Burning Rom) to copy audio CD,some noise may be heard at the end of each track. To prevent this,try the following method: 1. Enter System Properties\device manager 2. Select IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers 3. Double click on thee CD writer IDE channel 4. Select advance setting 5. Change the transfer mode to 'PIO Only' 6. Restart Computer

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DISABLING THE 'UNSIGNED DRIVER' DIALOGS This option wll disable the screen wich keeps popping up when you try to install 'digitally unsigned drivers'. Normally you can choose to continue the install anyways, but I have had situations where you cannot continue the install.. very annoying.. This is how to fix it: Click Start - Run

then type: gpedit.msc then hit enter. Browse the folder tree to the following location: User Configuration - Administrative Templates - System now right-click Code signing for Device drivers and select Properties. On the Settings tab, either select - enable, and then select ignore from the appearing listbox.. - or click the disable option. Click apply and Ok and your set! Alternatively especially for XP Home users: Open "System" properties (Windows key + pause or Right click 'My Computer' - properties or Control Panel - System).On the Hardware tab click the "Driver Signing" button. In the dialogue that comes up choose "Ignore" to install the new driver anyway.

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DMA MODE ON IDE DEVICES VIEWS Just like Windows 2000, Windows XP still fails to set the DMA mode correctly for the IDE device designated as the slaves on the primary IDE and secondary IDE channels. Most CDROMS are capable of supporting DMA mode, but the default in XP is still PIO. Setting it to DMA won't make your CD-ROM faster, but it will consume less CPU cycles. Here's how: 1. Open the Device Manager. One way to do that is to right click on "My Computer", select the Hardware tab, and Select Device Manager. 2. Expand "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" and double-click on "Primary IDE Channel" 3. Under the "Advanced Settings" tab, check the "Device 1" setting. More than likely, your current transfer mode is set to PIO. 4. Set it to "DMA if available". Repeat the step for the "Secondary IDE Channel" if you have devices attached to it. Reboot.

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RESTORING MEDIA PLAYER To restore Windows Media Player insert the the XP CD into the CD drive (if it autostarts click exit). Open a command window and type the following : rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection InstallWMP7 132 c:\windows\inf\wmp.inf

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RESTORING ACCESS TO CD ROM'S If you removed CD Burning software, or for some other mystical reason, can not longer access your CD ROM's, in most cases following registry keys needs to be deleted: Locate and delete the UpperFilters and LowerFilters values under the following key in the registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E32511CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

DELETING THE INDEX.DAT Del "C:\Documents and Settings\aeon\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat" ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

CONTROL PANEL ON THE DESKTOP. On The Desktop, Right Click Your Mouse Then Choose "New | Folder". Name The Folder As "ControlPanel. {21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" Without The "Quote Things. And Now You Can Access The Control Panel More Faster Then Before.

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CHANGING INTERNET EXPLORER ICON NAME. Open Registry Editor Then Go To : "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID". You Can See A Few Key Below It.

Now Go To This Key {871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}, Double Click At The Default Value On The Right, Enter Whatever Name You Like. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

REMOVING USERNAME IN THE STARTMENU Open Registry Editor Then Go To : "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer". On The Right, Make A New Entry With Right Click On Your Mouse Then Choose "New | DWORD Value" Change The Entry's Name Into "NoUserNameInStartMenu", Double Click In The New Entry And Fill The "Value Data" With "1". Press OK, Exit From The Registry Editor. Restart Your Computer.

INTERNET EXPLORER TWEAKS INTERNET EXPLORER LIGHTING-FAST STARTUP. Isn't it annoying when you want to go to a new website, or any other site but your homepage, and you have to wait for your 'home' to load? This tweak tells Internet Explorer to simply 'run', without loading any webpages. (If you use a 'blank' page, that is still a page, and slows access. Notice the 'about:blank' in the address bar. The blank html page must still be loaded..). To load IE with 'nothing' [nothing is different than blank]: 1. Right-click on any shortcut you have to IE [You should create a shortcut out of your desktop IE icon, and delete the original icon]

2. Click Properties 3. Add ' -nohome' [with a space before the dash] after the endquotes in the Target field. 4. Click OK Fire up IE from your modified shortcut, and be amazed by how fast you are able to use IE!

INTERNET EXPLORER SPEED UP. Edit your link to start Internet Explorer to have -nohome after it. For Example: "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" -nohome This will load internet explorer very fast because it does not load a webpage while it is loading. If you want to go to your homepage after it is loaded, just click on the home button.

SPEED UP BROWSING WITH DNS CATCH. when you connect to a web site your computer sends information back and forth, this is obvious. Some of this information deals with resolving the site name to an IP address, the stuff that tcp/ip really deals with, not words. This is DNS information and is used so that you will not need to ask for the site location each and every time you visit the site. Although WinXP and win2000 has a pretty efficient DNS cache, you can increase its overall performance by increasing its size. You can do this with the registry entries below: ************begin copy and paste*********** Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters] "CacheHashTableBucketSize"=dword:00000001 "CacheHashTableSize"=dword:00000180 "MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000fa00 "MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000012d ************end copy and paste*********** make a new text file and rename it to dnscache.reg. Then copy and paste the above into it and save it. Then merge it into the registry.

START IEXPLORER WITH EMPTY BLUE SCREEN. Set your default page to about:mozilla and IE will show a nice blue screen upon startup. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

SPEED UP DETAILED VIEW IN WINDOWS EXPLORER. If you like to view your files in Windows Explorer using the "Details" view here is a tweak to speed up the listing of file attributes: Viewing files in Windows Explorer using the "Details" mode shows various attributes associated with each file shown. Some of these must be retrieved from the individual files when you click on the directory for viewing. For a directory with numerous and relatively large files (such as a folder in which one stores media, eg: *.mp3's, *.avi's etc.)

Windows Explorer lags as it reads through each one. Here's how to disable viewing of unwanted attributes and speed up file browsing: 1. Open Windows Explorer 2. Navigate to the folder which you wish to optimize. 3. In "Details" mode right click the bar at the top which displays the names of the attribute columns. 4. Uncheck any that are unwanted/unneeded. Explorer will apply your preferences immediately, and longs lists of unnecessary attributes will not be displayed. Likewise, one may choose to display any information which is regarded as needed, getting more out of Explorer. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

WEB PAGES SLOWS DOWN, FIX. The tweak is simple. Beside the QoS and others around the Internet for the new XP OS, I found out that native drivers sometimes slow you down (cable and xDSL users). So if you have applied all tweaks and you are still having slow downs try reinstalling your NICs drivers. The difference is noticeable. My web pages now load almost instantly where they used to take even a minute!

FIX IE 6 SLOWDOWNS AND HANGS. 1. Open a command prompt window on the desktop (Start/Run/command). 2. Exit IE and Windows Explorer (iexplore.exe and explorer.exe, respectively, in Task Manager, i.e - Ctrl-Alt-Del/Task Manager/Processes/End Process for each). 3. Use the following command exactly from your command prompt window to delete the corrupt file: C:\>del "%systemdrive%\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat" 4. Restart Windows Explorer with Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del/Task Manager/Applications/New Task/Browse/C:\Windows\explorer.exe[or your path]) or Shutdown/Restart the computer from Task Manager.

SPEED UP WEB BROWSING. Iv'e personally found a dramatic increase in web browsing after clearing the Windows XP DNS cache. To clear it type the following in a command prompt: ipconfig /flushdns.

ALLOW MORE THAN 2 SIMULTANEOUS DOWNLOADS ON IEXPLORER 6 This is to increase the the number of max downloads to 10. 1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe). 2. Locate the following key in the registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings 3. On the Edit menu, click Add Value , and then add the following registry values: "MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server"=Dword:0000000a "MaxConnectionsPerServer"=Dword:0000000a 4. Quit Registry Editor.

IPV6 INSTALLATION FOR WINDOWS XP.

This protocol is distined to replace the Internet Protocal Version 4 used by Internet Explorer it uses hexadecimal ip addresses instead of decimal example (decimal ip 62.98.231.67) (hexadecimal IP 2001:6b8:0:400::70c)

To install To install the IPv6 Protocol for Windows XP: Log on to the computer running Windows XP with a user account that has local administrator privileges. Open a command prompt. From the Windows XP desktop, click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt. At the command prompt, type: ipv6 install For more information on IPv6, visit the site below: CODE http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/techinfo/administration/ipv6/default.asp

ANOTHER WAY TO FIX IEXPLORER 6 SLOW PAGES LOADED. Here's an easier way to get to index.dat file as addresse in another tweak submitted here. 1. click on Internet Explorer 2. go to to your root dir (usually C:) 3. open Documents and Settings folder 4. open "your username folder" 5. open UserData 6. **close IE if you have it open** rename index.dat to index.old logoff and log back on (don't need to restart) open up IE and go to a web page or site that always seemed to load slowly. It should load a lot more quickly now. NOTE. Always rename or backup .dat or other system files before deleting. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

EASY WAY TO ADD THE ADMINISTRATOR USER TO THE WELCOME SCREEN Start the Registry Editor Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon \ SpecialAccounts \ UserList \ Right-click an empty space in the right pane and select New > DWORD Value Name the new value Administrator. Double-click this new value, and enter 1 as it's Value data. Close the registry editor and restart.

DRIVE ICONS To set the icon of any drive (hard disk, cd rom or anything else) with a letter (C:\ etc.), run REGEDIT (Start -> Run -> regedit) Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer If one doesn't already exist, create a new KEY called "DriveIcons". Under this key, create a new key with the letter of your drive. I.e. C for your C:\ drive. To change the icon for that drive, create a key inside that one called DefaultIcon and set the path of (Default) to the location of your icon eg C\DefaultIcon\ then (Default) = D:\Documents\C Drive Icon.ico To change the name of that drive, create a key in the drive letter one (eg C\) called DefaultLabel and set the (Default) to what you want the drive to be called. This is useful if you want to assign a long name to the floppy drive.

CHANGING OEM REGISTRATIONS Have you used someone's new Hewlet Packard with their OEM version of Windows XP? You've seen that HP has their own icon in the Start Menu, underneath Run, that goes to their Help Site. Now, you can have your icon that does anything you want (website, program, etc) and says anything you want. Basically, you are "branding" Windows XP (Home or Pro), great for if you are a computer builder and sell them, or you just want to make Windows XP your own. It involves Regedit. 1. Start up Notepad and creat a new registry file (*.reg) and copy and paste the following into it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}] @="YOUR COMPANY NAME" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\DefaultIcon] @="YOUR ICON HERE" 00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,68,00,70,00,6c,00,69,00,\ 6e,00,6b,00,2e,00,69,00,63,00,6f,00,00,00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\InProcServer32] @=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\ 00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,\ 64,00,6f,00,63,00,76,00,77,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00 "ThreadingModel"="Apartment" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\Instance] "CLSID"="{3f454f0e-42ae-4d7c-8ea3-328250d6e272}" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf00c04f60b9f0}\Instance\InitPropertyBag] "CLSID"="{13709620-C279-11CE-A49E-444553540000}" "method"="ShellExecute" "Command"="YOUR TITLE HERE" "Param1"="YOUR FUNCTION HERE" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\shellex] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf00c04f60b9f0}\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf00c04f60b9f0}\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}] @="" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf00c04f60b9f0}\shellex\MayChangeDefaultMenu]

@="" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\ShellFolder] "Attributes"=dword:00000000 2. Edit where it says YOUR ICON HERE to a path to an icon (ex. c:\\icon.ico), it must be 24x24 pixels and in *.ico format. Use double back slash for path names. 3. Edit both places where it says YOUR TITLE HERE to what you want it to say in the Start Menu (ex. Elranzer Homepage). 4. Edit where it says YOUR FUNCTION here to what you want it to do when you click it, it can be anything... your website, a local HTML document, a program, a Windows funtion, whatever your imagination can provide (ex. http://www.shareordie.com). 5. Save this file as brand.reg, double-click it to enterin your information, and refresh Explorer (log off/on) to see it in the Start Menu!! This works in both Home and Professional (and probably 64-Bit Professional) Editions! ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

ORIGINAL WALLPAPERS This is more of a fun tweak than it is useful. Go to run, type regedit press ok. when that comes up go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER>Control Panel>Desktop Now find the orginalwallpaper, right click and select modify.In the text box type the path to the file you want to be your orginal desktop wallpaper.

DELETING My eBooks AND SPECIALS FOLDER IN MY DOCUMENTS. Click Start, then Run and type: regsvr32 /u mydocs.dll then delete them. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

DISABLE WINDOWS PICTURE AND FAX VIEWER. By default, Windows XP opens all picture files (gif,jpg,...) with the included Windows Picture and Fax Viewer no matter what other picture viewers you have installed. To disable the

Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, unregister shimgvw.dll. This can be done from command prompt: regsvr32 /u shimgvw.dll ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

REMOVE PAST ITEMS ICONS IN TASKBAR Some times When you check your TasKbar properties or when you hide or unhide icons you can see old icons from Uninstalled or old programs you dont have anymore. This Tweak will help you how to get rid of this problem Thanks to leobull of Xperience.or How To clear the Past Items or Icons list in the TaskBar, perform the following steps: 1.Open Regedit Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify 2.Delete the IconStreams and PastIconsStream values 3.Open Task Manager, click the Processes tab, click Explorer.exe , and then click End Process . 4.In Task Manager, click File , click New Task , type explorer , and then click OK . ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

LOCKING COMPUTERS To lock a computer in XP, as you probably know, you press "L" while holding down "Windows Logo" key on your keyboard. However, if you would like to lock a computer remotely, for example via "Remote Administrator", you don't have this ability. What you can do instead, is to create a shortcut on remote computer's desktop where Target %windir%\System32\rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation Start In %windir% ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

ADMINISTRATOR IN WELCOME SCREEN When you install Windows XP an Administrator Account is created (you are asked to supply an administrator password), but the "Welcome Screen" does not give you the option to log on as Administrator unless you boot up in Safe Mode. First you must ensure that the Administrator Account is enabled: 1 open Control Panel 2 open Administrative Tools

3 open Local Security Policy 4 expand Local Policies 5 click on Security Options 6 ensure that Accounts: Administrator account status is enabled Then follow the instructions from the "Win2000 Logon Screen Tweak" ie. 1 open Control Panel 2 open User Accounts 3 click Change the way users log on or log off 4 untick Use the Welcome Screen 5 click Apply Options You will now be able to log on to Windows XP as Administrator in Normal Mode. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

BUGFIXES This is a strange bug in Windows XP Pro but it can and does happen to everyone. When you open the My Computer screen and your Documents folder is missing but all the other users folders are there try this tweak. STEP 1: START > RUN > REGEDIT > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / Software / Microsoft / Windows / Current Version / Explorer / DocFolderPaths Once you click the DocFolderPaths folder you should see all the user's folders. STEP 2: Add a new string value Value Name: your user name Value Data: the path to your docs folder ( ex. C:\Documents and Settings\your docs folder ) Exit Registry editor and open my computer, your docs folder should now be visable. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

MOUSE POINTERS

It seems that even without pointer precision disabled, the mouse under XP is still influenced by an acceleration curve. This is especially noticeable in games. To completely remove mouse acceleration from XP, you will need to go into the registry and adjust the SmoothmouseXYCurve values. Here is how its done. 1. Click Start button 2. Select Run 3. Type 'regedit' in the open textbox 4. Open the tree 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER', select control panel, then select mouse 5. Right clicking, modify the SmoothMouseXCurve and SmoothMouseYCurve hexidecimal values to the following: SmoothMouseXCurve: 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00 00,a0,00,00,00,00,00,00 00,40,01,00,00,00,00,00 00,80,02,00,00,00,00,00 00,00,05,00,00,00,00,00 SmoothMouseYCurve: 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00 66,a6,02,00,00,00,00,00 cd,4c,05,00,00,00,00,00 a0,99,0a,00,00,00,00,00 38,33,15,00,00,00,00,00 If done correctly, you will notice you are holding a markedly more responsive mouse. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

HIDDEN WINDOWS XP ICONS Windows XP Pro and Home contains icons for folders and files that cannot normally be seen, you can select to view hidden files from the folder options menu, but there are still some that remain hidden.

You can set windows to view these files as normal hidden files, so that when you use the view hidden files and folders toggle from the folder options menu that these will be turned on/off along with the normal hidden files. These files are usually system files and should not be altered/deleted unless you really know what you are doing, if you don't yet still wish to change them I might suggest that you create back-ups of your system first. I will personally accept no responsibility for any damage caused by using this tweak. To view the hidden files you need to open up regedit, if you are not sure how to do this, select run from the start menu and type in 'regedit' without the apostrophe's. In the regedit window, expand out the groups by clicking on the '+' next to the name in the left hand column of regedit, and navigate to the below address. HKEY_CURRENT_USER \SOFTWARE \MICROSOFT \WINDOWS \CURRENTVERSION \EXPLORER \ADVANCED when you have clicked the advanced folder on the left pane, look down the list at the titles in the right hand pane, one of those titles is 'ShowSuperHidden' double click the title and in the window that appears set the value to equal 1 to show the super hidden files and 0 to hide them. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

XP HOME ADVANCED FILE PERMISSIONS This is actually an addition to my previous post entitled "Get XP Pro file security with XP Home". In the aforementioned post I outlined how to access *Advance file Permissions* on NTFS file systems for XP Home simply by booting into *Safe Mode*, right-clicking any file or folder, and navigating to the *Security tab*. This gives the user the ability to allow or deny read, write, execute, read & write, display contents, full-control, inheritance, and take ownership permissions, with many more options available to apply to different users and groups stored on the computer. Well, you don't have to do this in *Safe Mode* (XP Home). Although it is a little less intuitive, you can simply go to your command prompt - Start>All Programs>Accessories>Command Prompt. Now type "cacls" in the window (without the quotes). This gives you the ability to add, remove or modify file permissions on files and folders through the command prompt. Type "cacls /?" for help on different options and variables. You do not need to be in safe mode to use this so it makes it a little quicker than using the safe mode security tab GUI. Remember - this only applies to NTFS. Here also is a very useful link to find a lot of extras and tweaks straight from the horse's mouth - the Microsoft Resource Center. You will find a lot of very useful web-based extra's here, most of them left unknowing to the general public - such as, "Online Crash Analysis" - a site that looks like Windows Update but you can upload your crash "dump logs" (when you get those system or application crash error

reports). Microsoft will then analyze the log file and tell you some more info about WHY the system crashed (ie. faulty hardware/software/conflicts, etc). ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

FLASHGET :BYPASSING 8 MAX SIMULTANEOUS JOBS Users of Flash get will notice that the maximum number of file splits is 8. This number can be increased by the tweak below: 1. Run regedit. 2. Navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\JetCar\JetCar\General\] 3. Right Click -> Add String Value. 4. Name as MaxSimJobs -> Set the value as what ever number you want. After a restart you should be able to download with more file splits. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

OUTLOOK EXPRESS WINDOWS TITLE TWEAKS Change the window title of Outlook Express to anything you want! In regedt32 and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{EE383506-901D-43C68E40-9A61901DF7CC}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0. Add a new string key called WindowTitle and make its value the desired window title. Then close the registry editor, and restart Outlook Express (if it's running.) Your new title now shows up in the title bar! ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER 9 When installing WMP 9 it leaves a watersign on your desktop. You can easily remove this with: regedit: HKey_Local_Machine\SOFTWARE\microsoft\system certificates\CA\certificates\FEE449EE0E3965A5246F00E87FDE2A065FD89D4 HKey_Local_Machine\software\microsoft\system certificates\ROOT\certificates\2BD63D28D7BCD0E251195AEB519243C13142EBC3

Remove both lines and restart computer.

CHANGING THE WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER TITLEBAR This is a per-user tweak. Open RegEdit. Browse to the following key: HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-xxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxx\Software\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsMediaPlayer (the x's will vary from computer to computer , it's the key without the "_Classes" at the end) Create the following String, "TitleBar" , the value of this will now become the TitleBar of Windows Media Player. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

AUTO DELETE TEMPORARY FOLDER First go into gpedit.msc Next select -> Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Terminal Services/Temporary Folder Then right click "Do Not Delete Temp Folder Upon Exit" Go to properties and hit disable. Now next time Windows puts a temp file in that folder it will automatically delete it when its done! Note from Forum Admin: Remember, GPEDIT (Group Policy Editor) is only available in XP Pro. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

CLEANUP STARTUP ITEMS IN MSCONFIG Do you ever uninstall programs and they are still listed under startup items in msconfig? Personally, I found myself with 30 such items from old installs. Microsoft leaves you no way to clean up this list, but have no fear, I have figured it out for you. 1. Open MSconfig and click on the startup items tab 2. Open Regedit and naviate to HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Sharedtools/MSconfig/startupreg

3. Compare the list of registry keys under startup reg with their counterparts in msconfig. 4. Delete the keys which are no longer valid. 5. Voila! You've cleaned up msconfig. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

REMOVING SERVICES DEPENDENCIES This will allow you to disable a service or uninstall it from your system without effecting another service that depends on it. Here's how you do it 1. After you have set your services the way you want them and you have disabled/uninstalled something that another services depends on, run "regedit" 2. Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\find the service that will not function, do to another service being disabled/uninstall (found in ControlSet001\Services, ControlSet002\Services, and CurrentControlSet\Services) 3. Once you have found the service right-click on the string value, "DependOnService,"and modify 4. You should now see a list of services that it is dependent on. Simply delete the service that you have disabled/uninstalled 5. Restart your computer and your ready to go Disclaimer REMEMBER TO BACKUP YOU REGISTRY FIRST I'm not totaly sure if this will have any negative effects on your system. I used this method after uninstalling "Netbios over Tcpip" from my system completely, so that my Dhcp service would function and I have had NO negative effects on my system. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

ANOTHER WAY TO DELETE HIDDEN DEVICES You can view and delete or modify hidden devices by: 1. Openning Device Manager. (I usually right-click on My Computer, select Properties, select the Hardware tab, then select Device Manager.) 2. Select View and check "Show hidden devices" 3. Hidden devices will appear below with the others and can be modified. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

HOW TO GET "My Briefcase" IN WINDOWS XP go to C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache. look for a file named "syncapp". double click it. an icon should appear on your desktop that says "My Briefcase". double click it. it will come up with this window that tells you how to use it. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

TURN NUMLOCK ON AT LOGON NumLock does not toggle on by default (system-wide), even if you have it set in your PC's BIOS, because of XP's multi-user functionality. Guess Microsoft doesn't know everyone actually turns it on, which should be reason enough for what acts as "default"... Anyway, you can hack the Windows Registry to change this behavior, or run a script at logon to turn NumLock on. 1. To enable NumLock through the Registry: * Open Windows' Registry Editor (START > RUN, type "REGEDIT"). *. Navigate to HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\Keyboard. *. Change the value for InitialKeyboardIndicators from 0 to 2. 2. To enable NumLock using a script, see this MS Knowledgebase article for complete instructions: CODE http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;Q262625

Option 1 is the quicker method, but if you have more than one user on your system and one or more don't want NumLock on (stranger things have been known of), then option 2 is the way to go since it allows you to only attach the script to specific users. ****************************************************************************************** *******************************************************************************

FREE DISK SPACE BY DELETING RESTORE POINTS Start button-all programs-accessories-system tools-cleanup-more options. You will have the option of deleting your restore points.When your done create one restore point as a back up.

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HOW TO REAL GET RID OF UNNECESSARY SOFTWARE to uninstall things like msn messenger and other hidden installs thru add remove programs, do this: find sysoc.inf (you might have to enable "show hidden files" and "show hidden/protected system folders" in explorer) and open it in notepad replace all ",hide" with "," (both with out quotes) which is easiest to do with the replace all command under edit then in add/remove programs under add/remove windows compnents and whole new list of things to uninstall and add are now listed (such as internet explorer) ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

HAVING PROGRAMS RUN WHEN WINDOWS LOADS SLOWS DOWN YOUR STARTUP There are two ways do disable programs that may be in your startup (like icq, messanger,) The easiest is to do the following: 1. start --> run --> msconfig 2. Click on the "startup" tab (furthest right)\ 3. Unclick any items you don't want to load when windows starts. The second is by deleting registry entrys, this can be done the following way: 1. Start --> run --> regedit 2. Navigate to : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run 3. Delete any entry's that you don't want to load up ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

TURN OFF INDEXING TO SPEED UP XP. Windows XP keeps a record of all files on the hard disk so when you do a search on the hard drive it is faster. There is a downside to this and because the computer has to index all files, it

will slow down normal file commands like open, close, etc. If you do not do a whole lot of searches on your hard drive then I suggest turnning this feature off: 1. Control Panel 2. Administrative Tools 3. Services 4. Disable Indexing Services ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

HALF LIFE AND WINDOWS XP 1. How to recover from incompatible drivers Before you install new drivers set a system restore point. Start>All programs>Accessories>system tools>system restore After your new drivers don't work reset your computer. Press F8 repeatedly as soon as the BIOS screen disappears, and before the Windows XP screen appears. Select safe mode. Use system restore again to undo your mess. 2. Video Drivers The NVidia drivers that come with XP do not allow you to run Half Life in OpenGL. Update to the newest drivers. Despite the fact that they are not official drivers, 22.50 was the only set which worked 3. Sound Drivers Use windows update to update Creative drivers. 4. Fixing screen flicker Windows XP defaults to 60Hz for games. A fix is available here: CODE http://www.fileplanet.com/dl/dl.asp?/planetquake/ztn/nvreffix-setup.exe

Select "set: ev ery resolution to monitor's maximum supported rate" 5. Fixing lag

If you are having trouble with lag, try disabling the windows XP firewall. Go to control panel>network connections. Select connection, right click, properties, advanced, untick the firewall. 6. Mouse You can improve your mouse smoothness for games. Control panel>mouse>hardware>properties>advanced Change the sample rate to a higher one, eg. 200 ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

REGISTRY METHOD FOR REMOVING STARTUP ITEMS I prefer to use MSCONFIG selective startup to troubleshoot. To remove entries for good, open the registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RUN and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RUN Delete entries of unwanted startup daemons and tray procedures. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

DISPLAY MESSAGE ON STARTUP. Start regedit, if you are unfamiliar with regedit please see our FAQ. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon Modify the key legalnoticecaption with what you want to name the window. Modify the key legalnoticetext with what you want the window to say. Restart. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

REMOVE THE DEFAULT IMAGE VIEWER IN WINDOWS ME/XP. This tweak works in Windows Me/XP, I have not try it in Windows NT/2000 yet, because i don't have that OS, you can try it if you have. *This tweak does not work in Windows 95/98

To remove the Windows default Image Viewer, first: Click Start Menu Select Run menu Type "cmd", (for Windows Me, type "command") Then type "regsvr32 /u shimgvw.dll" to unregister this dll. This will stop it from previewing any picture that it support, e.g. JPEG, Bitmap, GIF.... * Before perform this tweak, make sure that you have the alternative Image Viewer installed in you windows e.g. ACDsee, FireGraphics... because once you do this tweak without that application, you can't open and view your image anymore! So, to undo it, type "regsvr32 shimgvw.dll" in command prompt. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

SPEED UP BOOT BY DISABLING UNUSED PORTS. You may have tried many tweaks like modifying windowsXP start-up applications, prefetches, unload DLLs method,etc. And yes those methods do work for me. I have just accidentally found out another way to give you an extra boost in windowsXP's boot performance. This is done by disabling your unused devices in Device Manager. for example, if you don't have input devices that are connected to one of your USBs or COM ports, disabling them will give you an extra perfromance boost in booting. Go to Control Panel -> System -> Hardware tab -> device manager Disable devices that you don't use for your PC and then restart.

CLEAR UNWANTED ENTRIES FROM ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS. Run the Registry Editor (REGEDIT). Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Uninstall Remove any unwanted keys under "Uninstall." ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

CLICKING * .AVI FILES ON EXPLORER CAUSING 100% CPU USAGE Well windows seem to have a REALLY big problem when it comes to reading AVI files. It seems that when you click on an AVI file in explorer, it'll try to read the entire AVI file to determine the

width,height, etc. of the AVI file (this is displayed in the Properties window). Now the problem with Windows is that if you have a broken/not fully downloaded AVI file that doesnt contain this info, Windows will scan the entire AVI file trying to figure out all these properties which in the process will probably cause 100% CPU usage and heavy memory usage. To solve this problem all you have to do is the following: 1. Open up regedit 2. Goto HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.avi\shellex\PropertyHandler 3. Delete the "Default" value which should be "{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}" Voila! Please not that this will no longer provide you with the windows properties displaying the AVI file information such as width, height, bitrate etc. But its a small price to pay for saving you resources. NOTE: Please use caution when using regedit. Improper usage may cause windows to behave imcorrectly. Also, I cannot be held resposible. Backup your registry first. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

CD ROM STOPS AUTOPLAYING/AUTORUN. And the AutoPlay Tab has disappeared in My Computer, Devices With Removable Storage, Right Click on CDROM, Properties. Solution: The service: "Shell Hardware Detection" has been set to Manual or Disabled. Go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services. Return this service to "Automatic". ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

SHUTDOWN XP FASTER 1 Like previous versions of windows, it takes long time to restart or shutdown windows xp when the "Exit Windows" sound is enabled. to solve this problem you must disable this useless sound. click start button then go to settings -> control panel -> Sound,Speech and Audio devices -> Sounds and Audio Devices -> Sounds, then under program events and windows menu click on "Exit Windows" sub-menu and highlight it.now from sounds you can select,choose "none" and then click apply and ok. now you can see some improvements when shutting down your system.

SHUTDOWN XP FASTER 2

Start Regedit. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control. Click on the "Control" Folder. Select "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" Right click on it and select Modify. Set it a value lower than 2000 (Mine is set to 200). ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

EASIEST WAY TO DELETE PREFETCH 1. Open notepad.exe, type del c:\windows\prefetch\*.* /q (without the quotes) & save as "delprefetch.bat" in c:\ 2. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "gpedit.msc". 3. Double click "Windows Settings" under "Computer Configuration" and double click again on "Startup" in the right window. 4. In the new window, click "add", "Browse", locate your "delprefetch.bat" file & click "Open". 5. Click "OK", "Apply" & "OK" once again to exit. 6. Reboot your computer. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

SPEED UP MENU DISPLAY When using the start menu the you will notice a delay between different tiers of the menu hierarchy. For the fastest computer experience possible I recommend changing this value to zero. This will allow the different tiers to appear instantly. Start Regedit. If you are unfamiliar with regedit please refer to our FAQ on how to get started. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop Select MenuShowDelay from the list on the right. Right on it and select Modify. Change the value to 0. Reboot your computer.

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16 COLOUR ICONS If you select 16bit mode for graphics your icons will revert to using 8bit (16 color) icons. Yuck! Change the following registry setting to: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics] "Shell Icon BPP"="16" "Shell Icon Size"="32" Setting the BPP to 16bit will yield 65565 colors for icons.

DE-CRYPT ENCRYPTED FILES ON WINDOWS XP. 1. Login as Administrator 2. Go to Start/Run and type in cmd and click OK. At the prompt type cipher /r:Eagent and press enter This prompt will then display: Please type in the password to protect your .PFX file: Type in your Administrator password Re-confirm your Administrator password The prompt will then display Your .CER file was created successfully. Your .PFX file was created successfully. The Eagent.cer and Eagent.pfx files will be saved in the current directory that is shown at the command prompt. Example: The command prompt displays C:\Documents and Settings\admin> the two files are saved in the admin folder. (For security concerns, you should house the two files in your Administrator folder or on a floppy disk). 3. Go to Start/Run and type in certmgr.msc and click OK. This will launch the Certificates Manager. Navigate to Personal and right click on the folder and select All Tasks/Import. The Certificate Import Wizard will appear. Click Next. Browse to the C:\Documents and Settings\admin folder. In the Open dialog box, change the Files of Type (at the bottom) to personal Information Exchange (*.pfx,*.P12). Select the file Eagent.pfx and click Open. Click Next. Type in your Administrator password (leave the two checkboxes blank) and click Next. Make sure the Radio button is active for the first option (Automatically select the certificate store based on the type of certifcate). Click Next. Click Finish. (You'll receive a message that the import was successful). To confirm the import, close Certificates Manager and re-open it.

Expand the Personal folder and you will see a new subfolder labeled Certificates. Expand that folder and you will see the new entry in the right side column. Close Certificate Manager. 4. Go to Start/Run and type in secpol.msc and click OK. This will launch the Local Security Policy. Expand the Public Key Policies folder and then right click on the Encrypted File System subfolder and select Add Data Recovery Agent... The Wizard will then display. Click Next. Click the Browse Folders... button. Browse to the C:\Documents and Settings\admin folder. Select the Eagent.cer file and click Open. (The wizard will display the status User_Unknown. That's ok). Click Next. Click Finish. You will see a new entry in the right side column. Close the Local Security Policy. You, the Administrator are now configured as the default Recovery Agent for All Encrypted files on the Local Machine. To Recover Encrypted files: Scenario #1 If you have completed the above steps BEFORE an existing user encrypted his/her files, you can log in to your Administrator account and navigate to the encrypted file(s). Double click on the file(s) to view the contents. Scenario #2 If you have completed the above steps AFTER an existing user has already encrypted his/her files, you must login to the applicable User's User Account and then immediately logout. Next, login to your Administrator account and navigate to the encrypted file(s). Double click on the file(s) to view the contents. *Warning Do not Delete or Rename a User's account from which will want to Recover the Encrypted Files. You will not be able to de-crypt the files using the steps outlined above. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

DUMP FILES TWEAK & DISABLE DR.WATSON "Dump file. A dump file stores data from memory during a system crash and can be helpful when diagnosing problems, but like a swap file, it can also expose a lot of sensitive, unencrypted data. To prevent Windows from creating the file, go to Control Panel | System. Click on the Advanced tab and then the Settings button on the Startup and Recovery pane. Set the dropdown menu under Write debugging information to (none). "Similarly, the debugging program Dr. Watson saves information when applications crash. To disable it, go to: HKEY_local_machine\software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\ AeDebug and set the Auto string to 0. Then use Windows Explorer to go to Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\DrWatson. Delete User.dmp and Drwtsn32.log, the insecure logs the program creates." Heed related advice from 'microsoft' regarding 'Disable Dr.Watson' first before the preceding Dr. Watson advice (go Google search.) Back up with System Restore, and go ahead. As

cautious as I am, I have gladly applied these tweaks, and followed related microsot advice on Dr. Watson.

How can I uninstall Windows XP and return to my old Windows 98? If you've upgraded to XP from Windows Me or Windows 98, go to the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel applet and click Uninstall Windows XP.

If you want, you can also uninstall XP from the command prompt by performing the following steps:

* Start the computer in Safe Mode with Command Prompt support (press F8 during start up). * Navigate to %systemroot%\system32. * Type osuninst.exe and press Enter. * Follow the onscreen instructions.

If XP was installed as a dual-boot system along with Win98 or W2K then you can simply format the partition on which it is installed. That is one of the reasons I always recommend to install separate operating systems on separate partitions!

Note: Windows XP Professional provides an uninstall tool when upgrading from Windows 98 on a drive formatted as FAT or FAT32. Therefore, when upgrading this type of drive, you will not have the option to upgrade to NTFS, as this would negate the uninstall option. However, you can convert the drive to NTFS after installation if you choose.

Auto End Tasks to Enable a Proper Shutdown

This reg file automatically ends tasks and timeouts that prevent programs from shutting down and clears the Paging File on Exit. 1. Copy the following (everything in the box) into notepad. QUOTE Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management] "ClearPageFileAtShutdown"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop] "AutoEndTasks"="1"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control] "WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="1000"

2. Save the file as shutdown.reg 3. Double click the file to import into your registry.

NOTE: If your anti-virus software warns you of a "malicious" script, this is normal if you have "Script Safe" or similar technology enabled.

Cannot use my password to get back into windows XP Because of the security features built into Windows XP, it is virtually impossible to get back into the system without the password. You have several options to try and get around this problem. If you have access to another user account with administrator rights, you can use that account to change the password of the account that is locked out. You can also use the default Administrator account that is built into Windows XP. First you need to boot the system into Safe Mode.

1.Restart your system. 2.When you see the blue Dell globe or screen, press the ( F8 ) key about 3 times a second. 3.You should get the Windows startup menu. Use the (Up or Down) arrow keys to highlight (SafeMode) 4.Press (Enter) on (Safe Mode), then press (Enter) on (Windows XP). 5.The system should boot to Safe Mode.

Once you are at the Account Log on Screen, click on the icon for the user account with administrator rights, or click on the icon for the administrators account. Note: For Home the Administrator account isn't normally shown & in Safe Mode you have to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete keys twice to show. For PRO you can do this in normal mode When the system has booted to the desktop, use the following steps to change the accounts password. 1.Click Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools. 2.Click Computer Management. 3.Double click Local Users and Groups, double click the folder Users. 4.Right click on the account name that is locked out, and click on Set Password. 5.You may get a warning message about changing the password, simply click proceed. 6.Leave the New Password box blank, also leave the Confirm Password box blank. 7.Click OK, and OK again. 8.Then close all Windows, reboot the system and try to log in. There are also applications that can recover the password for you. The following companies provide these applications at a cost. iOpus® Password Recovery XP here. LostPassword.com, here. Asterisk Password Recovery XP v1.89 here.

Windows XP / 2000 / NT Key here.

If the above information does not help in recovering the password, the only option left is to format the hard drive then reinstall Windows and the system software.

Change text on START Button

Step 1 - Modify Explorer.exe File In order to make the changes, the file explorer.exe located at C:\Windows needs to be edited. Since explorer.exe is a binary file it requires a special editor. For purposes of this article I have used Resource Hacker. Resource HackerTM is a freeware utility to view, modify, rename, add, delete and extract resources in 32bit Windows executables and resource files (*.res). It incorporates an internal resource script compiler and decompiler and works on Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems. get this from http://delphi.icm.edu.pl/ftp/tools/ResHack.zip The first step is to make a backup copy of the file explorer.exe located at C:\Windows\explorer. Place it in a folder somewhere on your hard drive where it will be safe. Start Resource Hacker and open explorer.exe located at C:\Windows\explorer.exe.The category we are going to be using is "String Table". Expand it by clicking the plus sign then navigate down to and expand string 37 followed by highlighting 1033. If you are using the Classic Layout rather than the XP Layout, use number 38. The right hand pane will display the stringtable. We’re going to modify item 578, currently showing the word “start” just as it displays on the current Start button. There is no magic here. Just double click on the word “start” so that it’s highlighted, making sure the quotation marks are not part of the highlight. They need to remain in place, surrounding the new text that you’ll type. Go ahead and type your new entry. In my case I used Click Me! You’ll notice that after the new text string has been entered the Compile Script button that was grayed out is now active. I won’t get into what’s involved in compiling a script, but suffice it to say it’s going to make this exercise worthwhile. Click Compile Script and then save the altered file using the Save As command on the File Menu. Do not use the Save command – Make sure to use the Save As command and choose a name for the file. Save the newly named file to C:\Windows. Step 2 – Modify the Registry

!!!make a backup of your registry before making changes!!! Now that the modified explorer.exe has been created it’s necessary to modify the registry so the file will be recognized when the user logs on to the system. If you don’t know how to access the registry I’m not sure this article is for you, but just in case it’s a temporary memory lapse, go to Start (soon to be something else) Run and type regedit in the Open field. Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows NT\ CurrentVersion\ Winlogon In the right pane, double click the "Shell" entry to open the Edit String dialog box. In Value data: line, enter the name that was used to save the modified explorer.exe file. Click OK. Close Registry Editor and either log off the system and log back in, or reboot the entire system if that’s your preference. If all went as planned you should see your new Start button with the revised text

Change the default location for the installation folders

As the size of hardrives increase, more people are using partitions to seperate and store groups of files. XP uses the C:\Program Files directory as the default base directory into which new programs are installed. However, you can change the default installation drive and/ or directory by using a Registry hack. Run the Registry Editor (regedit) and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion Look for the value named ProgramFilesDir. by default,this value will be C:\Program Files. Edit the value to any valid drive or folder and XP will use that new location as the default installation directory for new programs.

Create One-Click Shutdown and Reboot Shortcuts:

First, create a shortcut on your desktop by right-clicking on the desktop, choosing New, and then choosing Shortcut. The Create Shortcut Wizard appears. In the box asking for the location of the shortcut, type shutdown. After you create the shortcut, doubleclicking on it will shut down your PC. But you can do much more with a shutdown shortcut than merely shut down your PC. You can add any combination of several switches to do extra duty, like this: shutdown -r -t 01 -c "Rebooting your PC" Double-clicking on that shortcut will reboot your PC after a one-second delay and display the message "Rebooting your PC." The shutdown command includes a variety of switches you can use to customize it. Table 1-3 lists all of them and describes their use. I use this technique to create two shutdown shortcuts on my desktop—one for turning off my PC, and one for rebooting. Here are the ones I use: shutdown -s -t 03 -c "Bye Bye Reflex!" shutdown -r -t 03 -c "Ill be back Reflex ;)!" Switch

What it does? -s Shuts down the PC. -l Logs off the current user. -t nn Indicates the duration of delay, in seconds, before performing the action. -c "messagetext" Displays a message in the System Shutdown window. A maximum of 127 characters can be used. The message must be enclosed in quotation marks. -f Forces any running applications to shut down. -r Reboots the PC. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

Enable Folder and Icon Refresh

This reg file Enables Folder and Icon Refresh. 1. Copy the following (everything in the box) into notepad. QUOTE Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\A dvanced] "NoNetCrawling"=dword:00000000 2. Save the file as disablerefreshundo.reg

3. Double click the file to import into your registry. NOTE: If your anti-virus software warns you of a "malicious" script, this is normal if you have "Script Safe" or similar technology enabled. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

Go to Windows Update Anonymously Would you like to use the Windows Update feature without being forced to register with Microsoft? OK then, this is what you can do: Launch good ol' Regedit. Go down to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion. Look for a value named RegDone. If it isn't there create a new value with that name. Right click the new value and choose Modify. Make the value 1. Close Regedit and Enjoy! ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

How to Search for all files in Windows XP

When you perform a search for a file in Windows XP . The default setting is for XP to ONLY return files in the "Search Results" pane - when they are registered file types to a program on your PC. In other words if you are looking for a file that is NOT registered with an application on your PC, it will not be found using the default search settings. However, you can turn off the default by a quick Tweak of the registry! Open the Registry editor (type regedit from the Run command) and navigate to: HKEY LOCAL MACHINE\ SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Control\ ContentIndex Double-Click the value named:

FilterFilesWithUnknownExtensions ..and change the value from 0 to 1 Exit the registry editor and reboot! ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

Increase XP folder Settings Windows remembers 400 folder settings. When that number is reached some settings aren't retained any longer. You can change this to 8000 by adding this edit to the registry. 1. Copy the following (everything in the box) into notepdad. QUOTE Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU] [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell] "BagMRU Size"=dword:00001f40

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam] "BagMRU Size"=dword:00001f40

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Ex plorer] "NoSaveSettings"=dword:00000000 2. Save the file as folder8000.reg 3. Double click the file to import into your registry.

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Kill Microsoft Instant messenger This will remove Microstufts Instant Messenger (MSN). This worked in WinXP Pro, but may work on others.... So, go to START-->RUN copy and paste the following: QUOTE RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove Clink ok. No more msn process lwink.gif ********************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************** **********************************************************************

Precaution: Backups All your Data before tweaking, Not All of the Tips I’ve Mentioned above Were Tested. I Don't Responsible For Any Damages. Happy Experiments.

TIPS AND TRICKS : Part 2 Author: Tarun Kumar Jaiswal [email protected]

Lock XP Workstation (#1)

You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a right mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation' in the location field. Give the shortcut a name you like. That's it -- just double click on it and your computer will be locked. And if that's not easy enough, Windows key + L will do the same.

Remove Windows XP system software (#2)

XP hides some system software you might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can tickle it and make it disgorge everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf, search for the word 'hide' and remove it. You can then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Windows Components and there will be your prey, exposed and vulnerable.

New commands (#3)

For those skilled in the art of DOS batch files, XP has a number of interesting new commands. These include 'eventcreate' and 'eventtriggers' for creating and watching system events, 'typeperf' for monitoring performance of various subsystems, and 'schtasks' for handling scheduled tasks. As usual, typing the command name followed by /? will give a list of options -- they're all far too baroque to go into here.

Windows XP supports IPv6 (#4)

XP has IP version 6 support -- the next generation of IP. Unfortunately this is more than your ISP has, so you can only experiment with this on your LAN. Type 'ipv6 install' into Run... (it's OK, it won't ruin your existing network setup) and then 'ipv6 /?' at the command line to find out more. If you don't know what IPv6 is, don't worry and don't bother.

Kill tasks from the command line (#5)

You can at last get rid of tasks on the computer from the command line by using 'taskkill /pid' and the task number, or just 'tskill' and the process number. Find that out by typing 'tasklist', which will also tell you a lot about what's going on in your system.

Enable ClearType by default (#6)

XP has ClearType -- Microsoft's anti-aliasing font display technology-- but doesn't have it enabled by default. It's well worth trying, especially if you were there for DOS and all those years of staring at a screen have given you the eyes of an astigmatic bat. To enable ClearType, right click on the desktop, select Properties, Appearance, Effects, select ClearType from the second drop-down menu and enable the selection. Expect best results on laptop displays. If you want to use ClearType on the Welcome login screen as well, set the registry entry

HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/ControlPanel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType to 2.

Run program as different user (#7)

You can run a program as a different user without logging out and back in again. Right click the icon, select Run As... and enter the user name and password you want to use. This only applies for that run. The trick is particularly useful if you need to have administrative permissions to install a program, which many require. Note that you can have some fun by running programs multiple times on the same system as different users, but this can have unforeseen effects.

Speed up the Start Menu (#8)

The Start Menu can be leisurely when it decides to appear, but you can speed things along by changing the registry entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop/MenuShowDelay from the default 400 to something a little snappier. Like 0.

Rename multiple files at once (#9)

You can rename loads of files at once in Windows Explorer. Highlight a set of files in a window, then right click on one and rename it. All the other files will be renamed to that name, with individual numbers in brackets to distinguish them. Also, in a folder you can arrange icons in alphabetized groups by View, Arrange Icon By... Show In-Groups.

Show cover art in Media Player (#10)

Windows Media Player will display the cover art for albums as it plays the tracks -- if it found the picture on the Internet when you copied the tracks from the CD. If it didn't, or if you have lots of pre-WMP music files, you can put your own copy of the cover art in the same directory as the tracks. Just call it folder.jpg and Windows Media Player will pick it up and display it.

Display Hibernate Option on the Shut Down dialog (#11)

For some reason, Hibernate isn't available from the default Shut Down dialog. But you can enable it simply enough, by holding down the SHIFT key while the dialog is visible. Now you see it, now you don't!

Enable ClearType on the Welcome Screen! (#12)

As laptop users and other LCD owners are quickly realizing, Microsoft's ClearType technology in Windows XP really makes a big difference for readability. But the this feature is enabled on a per-user basis in Windows XP, so you can't see the effect on the Welcome screen; it only appears after you logon.

But you can fix that. Fire up the Registry Editor and look for the following keys:

(default user) HKEY_USERS \ .Default \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ FontSmoothing (String Value) HKEY_USERS \ .Default \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ FontSmoothingType (Hexadecimal DWORD Value)

Make sure both of these values are set to 2 and you'll have ClearType enabled on the Welcome screen and on each new user by default.

Change User Picture (#13)

Click on the Icon at the top of the start menu. Select desired picture from resulting screen Windows 2000 style logon. To revert back to the Win2k style logon so you can

log on as the administrator and other options, press ctrl+alt+delete twice at the logon screen. Change the location of the My Music or My Pictures folders:

In Windows 2000, Microsoft added the ability to right-click the My Documents folder and choose a new location for that folder in the shell. With Windows XP, Microsoft has elevated the My Music and My Pictures folders to the same "special shell folder" status of My Documents, but they never added a similar (and simple) method for changing those folder's locations. However, it is actually pretty easy to change the location of these folders, using the following method.

Open a My Computer window and navigate to the location where you'd like My Music (or My Pictures) to reside. Then, open the My Documents folder in a different window. Drag the My Music (or My Pictures) folder to the other window, and Windows XP will update all of the references to that folder to the new location, including the Start menu.

Protect Your Files From Unauthorized Users (#14)

Other users with permission to delete a file (users with Modify or Full Control permission) can't use your encrypted files-but they can make them difficult for you to use. Any such user can rename your files, which can make them difficult to find, and can also delete your files. (Even if the user merely deletes them to the Recycle Bin and doesn't remove them altogether, the deleted files are unavailable to you because you don't have access to any other user's Recycle Bin.) Therefore, if you're concerned about protecting your files from other authorized users as well as from a thief who steals your computer, you should modify the NTFS permissions to prevent any type of modification by other users.

Shutdown Your System in a Hurry (#15)

If you need to shut down in a hurry-or if a frozen application prevents you from shutting down in the normal ways-you can use the following procedure. Be aware, however, that you won't get an opportunity to save open documents. To perform an emergency shutdown, press Ctrl+Alt+Del to display Task Manager. Open the Shut down menu and

hold down the Ctrl key as you click the Turn Off command. Poof! If your computer is part of a domain, the procedure is similar. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del and then hold down Ctrl when you click Shut Down. In this situation, you'll get a warning message pointing outquite correctly-that this should be used only as a last resort.

Provide Personal Support (#16)

It never fails: when friends, co-workers, or family members discover that you're a Windows expert, you get pressed into service as an unpaid support technician. If the party asking for help is running any edition of Windows XP and has an active Internet connection, your job is much easier. Have the other person send you a Remote Assistance request; when you accept the request, you connect directly to their computer and can edit Registry settings, fix file associations, set System options, and perform just about any other troubleshooting or repair task, just as if you were sitting at the other person's desk.

Quickly Fix Connectivity Problems (#17)

Are you having trouble connecting to other computers on your local area network? If your network uses a hardware firewall that assigns IP addresses to each machine and you're certain you've configured all other components correctly, check to see whether the Internet Connection Firewall is enabled. That component can effectively block communication between PCs on the network.

Hack IE Title Bar (#18)

This can be an impressive bit of personalization. Use your name or moniker to brand Internet Explorer. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ and left-click on Main to change the string "Window Title" to whatever you wish.

Unload DLLs (#19)

To prevent Windows from caching DLLs after the program using them has closed, follow this procedure: Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ then left-click on Explorer. Right-click (as above) and create the DWORD

AlwaysUnloadDLL with a value of 1. This requires a reboot to take effect. This will allow memory to be used more efficiently.

Registry Hacks (#20)

Editing the Windows Registry, while much more common now than in years past, is still not to be entered into lightly. You can break Windows, cause boot failure. I know you're gonna do it anyway; why else would you be reading this. Just be careful, OK? These are few because, for the most part WinXP can be customized through the interlace or with third-party freeware (as above). All of the tips below require running regedit. To do so, hit 'Start/Run' then type 'regedit' and follow the instructions. Naturally, I take no responsibility for any damage or loss of data incurred in the remote possibility that something goes terribly wrong.

The Ultimate Appearance Tweak (#21)

Microsoft said: "You can connect up to 10 monitors to your Windows XP-based computer and display numerous programs or windows at one time. You can use your mouse to move items from one monitor to another. You can open a different file on each monitor. Or several. Or you can stretch one item across several monitors; so for example, you can see more columns in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, or the entire layout of a Web page, without scrolling." Consider it. Monitors and PCI video cards are

pretty cheap now. Windows recognizes the addition & allows easy adjustments on the 'Display Properties/Settings' menu.

Save Streaming Media (#22)

It's cool to listen to MP3s (or watch movies) over the Internet. Often, saving this media, however, seems impossible. Hey, if it plays on your computer, it's on your hard drive. Once the file is fully loaded and with folder view set to show hidden and systems folders, searches for the media (.mp3 or .mpg). There it is!

Securing the Paging File (#23)

If you're truly concerned about the possibility of your computer falling into the wrong hands, you should be sure that you don't leave any tracks in the paging file. By default, when you shut down your system, the paging file remains intact. People who've access to your computer could conceivably look through the unencrypted paging file to find information they shouldn't have.

Assign a Keyboard Shortcut (#24)

Click in the Shortcut Key field and press a keyboard combination that you want to use for launching or switching to this program. The shortcut key you assign must consist of one character key (a letter, number, or symbol) plus at least two of the following three keys: Ctrl, Alt, and Shift. (If you press a character key only, Windows automatically adds Ctrl+Alt.)

Shortcut keys work only when assigned to a program shortcut on the Start menu, the Programs menu, or the Desktop. The shortcuts you define will not work if it conflicts with a combination used in the program whose window has the focus. ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************

Precaution : Please remember, we cannot accept responsibility with what you decide to do with these tips. These tips act as a guide to tweaking and changing Windows XP from the default settings. If you are unsure about how to make these changes then don't meddle !

TIRED OF RE-INSTALLING WINDOWS My Suggestions For A Better And Easier Computing: -> First partition ur HDD as follows. C: (primary, bootable) 10GB, D: (ur choice), E: (10 GB) -> Next install 2 OSs, it can be XP,XP or XP,9X. One OS in C: and other E: Let OS in C:\ be called "TRASH" and that in E:\ be called "GOOD" -> Boot into GOOD OS. Install all the important software (image viewer, winamp, winrar, acrobat, ms-office etc) in E:\program files\. Tweak all you settings, Install all the latest drivers, AV, service packs, patches etc and do the same for TRASH if you want! ALSO INSTALL THE IMAGING SOFTWARE. -> Now boot to TRASH OS and move the "E:\Documents and Settings" to D:\ and change the default Desktop folder and My Documents folder to d:\doc & settings of TRASH OS. (right click on My Doc, Properties. There just change E: to D:\ or manually "MOVE") for changing desktop u need a tweak program (I use X-Setup, fast and free) NOW INSTALL THE IMAGING SOFTWARE.

-> Depending on ur requirements, allocate pace for D: (say 15 GB). Now OS in E: is the main OS is called GOOD (just for easy identification). and the OS in C:\ is standby and is called TRASH (again this is for easy identification) DONT FORGET TO ON BOTH THE OS. (I use Paragon HDD Manager, it is fine. The compression is good) -> Boot into GOOD OS. and change the default Desktop folder and My Documents folder to d:\documents and settings. -> Boot into TRASH OS. Defragment E:. Now load the imaging program, take the image or save image to file (NOT DRIVE COPY) and store safely (if it is on secondary hdd it is good) or if dont have one, save it to different partition or save on CD. For installing image viewer, winamp, winrar, acrobat, ms-office and other must have apps use the Program Files folder (E:\) Now you are done! Since documents and settings is in D:\, if u restore from image, your private files are NOT lost. The OS in C: is TRASH and the OS in E: is GOOD. These are just labels for better identification. Use E:\ OS or GOOD as your primary OS. After this install any software utls to D:\. Sort software in categories like video, audio, dvd, cd, internet, graphics, protection etc. and install each app in thier sub-folder under the category. If anything goes bad, go to standby OS, load Imaging app, restore the E-drive. ********************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************** **********************************************************************

The Last Word:

Well friends, That’s all for now… now… Do not forget to make restore points or back up of any important data before procee proceeding with any appearance or performance performance tweaks.T tweaks.The author will not be responsible for any loss of data.. data..

Feel free to distribute this tutorials keeping this Last word preserved. Contact me at : [email protected] Happy experimenting!! Regards, Tarun Kumar Jaiswal Tarun.Reflex ‘Less to know ,Much to explore’ [email protected] ######################################################### ######################################################### ######################################################### #########################################################