Windows Tips and Tricks

2007-12-16T15:11:00.001-08:00

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Remove Record of Recently Used Documents

2007-10-23T09:09:00.000-07:00

In Windows XP Professional, the Start menu contains a My Recent Documents folder that contains 15 of your recently used documents.

To remove the record of recently accessed documents:

Right-click Start, click Properties, and then click Customize.
Click the Advanced tab, and then click Clear List. If you're using the Classic Start menu, click Clear.
Clicking Clear List empties the My Recent Documents folder. It doesn’t delete the documents from your computer.

If you don’t want to include anything in the My Recent Documents folder:

On the Advanced tab, click Customize, and then clear the List my most recently opened documents check box.
In Windows XP Home Edition, My Recent Documents is not automatically listed on the Start menu. You can turn on this feature by right-clicking Start, clicking Properties, clicking Customize, and then selecting the List my most recently opened documents check box.

Install or Remove Fonts in Windows XP

2007-10-23T09:07:00.001-07:00

This step-by-step article describes how to add and remove fonts in Windows XP. The following fonts are included with Windows XP and are installed on every computer:

Courier New (TrueType, including Bold, Italic, and Bold Italic variations)
Arial (TrueType, including Bold, Italic, and Bold Italic variations)
Times New Roman (TrueType, including Bold, Italic, and Bold Italic variations)
Symbol (TrueType)
Wingdings (TrueType)
MS Serif
MS Sans Serif

If any of the standard fonts that are included with Windows XP are missing, you can run Windows XP Setup again. Setup replaces missing or changed files. If these standard fonts are missing, other Windows XP files may also be missing, and Setup corrects these problems.

Adding New Fonts
Windows supports TrueType fonts or fonts that are specially designed for Windows, and these fonts are available commercially. Some programs also include special fonts that are installed as part of the program installation. Additionally, printers frequently come with TrueType or special Windows fonts. Follow the directions that come with these products to install these fonts.

To manually install or re-install a font:

Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
Double-click the Fonts folder.
On the File menu, click Install New Font.
In the Drives box, click the drive that has the floppy or CD-ROM that contains the fonts you want to add. If you are installing fonts from a floppy disk, this is typically drive A or drive B. If you are installing the fonts from a compact disc, your CD-ROM drive is typically drive D.
Double-click the folder that contains the fonts.
Click the font you want to add. To select more than one font at a time, press and hold down the Ctrl key while you click each font.
Click to select the Copy Fonts To Fonts Folder check box. The Windows\Fonts folder is where the fonts that are included with Windows XP are stored.
Click OK.

Removing Fonts
To completely remove fonts from the hard disk:

Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
Double-click the Fonts folder.
Click the font you want to remove. To select more than one font at a time, press and hold down the Ctrl key while you click each font.
On the File menu, click Delete.
When you receive the "Are you sure you want to delete these fonts?" prompt, click Yes.

To prevent a font from loading without removing it from the hard disk, move the font from the Fonts folder into another folder. Use this method for troubleshooting purposes. This process does not completely remove the font, because font registry information is not deleted. However, it prevents the font from loading.

Keyboard Shortcuts

2007-10-21T14:39:00.001-07:00

CTRL + ALT + ESC

While in a full-screen window will launch the task bar. If used while not in a full screen window, it will work like ATL + TAB without the option of choosing which window and simply go to the window whose button is to the RIGHT of the current window.

ALT + D [MSIE]

This will move the cursor to the Address bar, highliting all the text in the bar as well.

ALT + TAB (With Shift)

If you have many windows open, using ALT + TAB can be kind of annoying if you miss the program you're seeking. Adding SHIFT and pressing TAB again will move the highlite back one.

CTRL + TAB

When working with multiple frames/panes, this will jump from one frame to another without having to TAB to the end of the current pane to move to the next. Press TAB again to enter the frame/pane you select.

SHIFT + CLICK (Explorer/MSIE)

This does the same thing as RIGHT CLICKing and selecting "Open in new window". Sometimes, however, I find that you have to DOUBLE CLICK to make it work.

SHIFT + RIGHT CLICK (Explorer)

This gives you an extra option, "Open With..." for certain (most) files types.

WINKEY + L (Using the "Welcome" style logon)

Same as [Start>Log Off>Switch User].

Opens the Help dialogue for most programs.

When searching using a typical text "Find..." feature, this will do the same as "Find next".

Disable the Shutdown Event Tracker

2007-10-19T16:00:00.000-07:00

Description:
If you are annoyed by the Shutdown Event Tracker, the new .NET Server feature, and don't want to document the shutdowns in Event Logs especially in a testing environment, you can easily disable this feature in the Local Computer Policy MMC. This console is not in the Administrative tools by default, so you have to create it:

1. Open a blank MMC console by typing mmc from the command line.

2. From the empty console, click the File menu and select Add/Remove Snap-in or press Ctrl+M.

3. From the Add/Remove Snap-in page, click Add or Alt+D, choose Group Policy, select Local Computer and click finish.

4. From the Add Standalone Snap-in page, click Close. From the Add/Remove Snap-in page, click OK.

5. Expand Local Computer Policy, Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, System and in the right pane locate Display Shutdown Event Tracker.

6. Double-click the Display Shutdown Event Tracker and select Disabled.

7. Click OK to accept the policy change. Close the MMC console, saving it if prompted to so.

8. To refresh the the policy, enter the gpupdate command from the command line.

Memory Performance Tweak

2007-10-18T15:22:00.000-07:00

These Settings will fine tune your systems memory

management -at least 512MB of ram recommended

go to start\run\regedit -and then to the following key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

1.DisablePagingExecutive -double click it and in the decimal put a 1 - this allows XP to keep data in memory now instead of paging sections of ram to harddrive yeilds faster performance.

2.LargeSystemCache- double click it and change the decimal to 1 -this allows XP Kernel to Run in memory improves system performance alot

Reboot and watch your system fly ..happy tweakin

How To Reinstall PC Health

2007-10-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

To reinstall the PC Health:

NOTE: You must be logged on as Administrator or as a member of the Administrators group in order to perform this procedure.

Click Start , click Run , and then type the following command:

%systemroot%\inf

NOTE : There are no spaces at all in the preceding command line.

Click OK to open the INF folder.
Locate the file pchealth.inf .

Right-click the file, and then click Install . This will reinstall the files that Search needs to proceed normally.

You will be asked to place your windows XP cd rom in the drive.

Control Font Size on Web Pages

2007-10-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

I've noticed recently that Web-page designers seem to be competing to see how small a font they can use before readers need to break out a magnifying glass. Although small font sizes are only a minor annoyance when running in a low resolution (768 x 1024 or less), a small font size becomes a huge pain if you run a high-resolution setup (1600 x 1200 or greater), even on a large monitor.
Because these Web-page designers are trying to force a fixed font size on their viewers, using the View, Text Size menu option in Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 6.0 doesn't fix the problem. However, you can configure IE to ignore these attempts to give you headaches and take back control of the font size by performing these steps:

1. Launch IE.
2. Open Tools, Options, General.
3. Click the Accessibility button.
4. Select the Ignore Font Sizes on the Web page's check box.
5. Click OK.

Following the above steps returns font-size control to you by overriding the font size that the Web page requests and using whatever font size you've chosen as the default on the View, Text Size menu. Another option if you have a wheel mouse is to place the cursor within the Web page and hold the Control key down. Move the wheel to either enlarge or diminish the font size (rather than to scroll the page). works on all windows even windows server 2003

Block incoming attacks

2007-10-09T13:19:00.001-07:00

Limit your exposure to the outside world by blocking incomming connections.

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Network Connections
Right click on "Local Area Network" And go to "Properties", In the scroll box, Click on "Internet Protocol (IP/TCP)" and then click on the "Properties" button, In the new window, Click on the "Advanced.." button, Then in the other new window go to the "Options" tab, Click on "TCP/IP Filtering" and hit "Properties", Check off "Enable TCP/IP filtering (All adapters)" next In the Above "TCP Ports" Click on the Radio button "Permit Only" and then add in the ports that you want people to be able to access... If you're running a web server add in 80, If you're running an FTP server add in 21... And so on... Then hit "OK" And close all the other windows, And reboot when it asks you too.

This way you can close the ports that you do not need to be open to the outside world. An alternative to this tweak could be running a firewall or enabling windows built in firewall. Please note that in order for other computers to connect to you, for example sending a file over AOL Instant Messenger or using Windows Messenger to send a file, make sure that the required port is not blocked on your system. Otherwise, nothing will go through.

Fix problems with USB DSL/Cable modems

2007-10-09T13:15:00.000-07:00

Some usb dsl/cable modems may get disconnected after a little while. A possible reason that could cause this problem is that in windows xp there is an option that allows the computer to turn off a usb device to save power. To disable this option:

1) click start, highlight my computer, right click and select properties and a window will pop up with the system properties
2) click on the hardware tab and press the device manager button
3) expand the universal serial bus controllers
4) Double click on the USB Root Hub.
5)Select the Power Management tab and UNTICK the "allow the computer to turn off the device to save power"

If you have more than one USB Root Hub, then you should apply the steps to each one of them
That's it, you won't need to restart the computer!

Disabling Automatic Updates properly

2007-10-08T06:14:00.000-07:00

A lot of people already know about Automatic Updates and how to disable them by selecting the appropriate option from within the Automatic Updates tab in My Computer. A lot of you might not realise this, but the Automatic Update service still runs even when you select to disable it here. To turn it off completely and for good do as follows:

1. Go into Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.

2. Highlight the service called "Automatic Updates". You will know when you have the correct one because you will see a description about it telling you what it does.

3. Right click once highlighted and click stop to terminate the service.

4. Right click on it again and go to Properties. Half way down the first tab there is "Startup Type:" change this to disabled.

Congratulations. You have now disabled Automatic Updates service. Not only will this make certain the service won't run, but by disabling it properly you are freeing up system resources as they won't be diverted to running a service that you don't use.

Enjoy.

Gaming Machine: Hardware Profile

2007-10-08T06:13:00.001-07:00

Instead of disabling HW and stopping services, let's say for gaming, create a Hardware Profile.

Right click on My Computer - select Properties. Select Hardware Tab, then click Hardware Profiles.

Mark "Original Configuration", then Copy and then Rename to e.g "Game" Now you have created a menu that shows up when you boot your computer. Set the properties for your boot option in the "Hardware profiles selections" You normally would boot with the Original Configuration. Never delete your "Original Configuration" if you boot in another profile. Reboot your computer to see that this takes effect.

Select each service to configure, right-click, select Properties, Choose "Log on" tab. In the lower part of this box select "Disable" or "Enable" dependent on which hardware profile you configure. If you configure for "Game" you choose "Disable" to free up system resources.

Careful: You can also disable/enable different hardware in the Device Manager - "Device Usage" box according to what Hardware profile you boot on, this is only recommended if you have any hardware that causes problems for games, etc.

Also; if you configure Virtual Memory you should set "Initial Memory" and the "Maximum" to be the same to avoid this pagefile to be defragmented, i.e you get better performance. Use 384 MB pagefile if you have installed 256 MB RAM. (256MBx1.5=384MB, Microsoft.)

If you used XP "clean-up" on your hardisk, then defragmented it, the PC would perform even better. Enjoy.

Adjust Graphics for Speed

2007-10-08T05:52:00.000-07:00

Windows XP - has a lot of new cool looking visual elements however, those new elements take up more RAM and cause your computer to be less responsive. By tweaking your graphics settings, you can increase the performance of your computer.

To get started, Let's reduce the color quality. This setting determines how many colors are displayed on your screen.

Right click on your desktop and select properties.
Click on the settings tab and adjust the color quality drop down box to Medium (16 Bit).
Click OK.

Next, let's use the windows performance settings to optimize your computer for performance. This will revert back to the old Windows 2000 look as well as take away a lot of the fancy graphics effects. However, if you are really into performance, this is the price you have to pay.

Right click on the My Computer icon on your desktop or in your start panel and select properties.
Next, Click on the Advanced tab and hit the setting button under performance.
On the visual effects tab, select Adjust for Best Performance and hit OK.
Hit OK once more to exit system properties.

Now your computer will run slightly faster!

How to Repair Installation

2007-10-07T11:49:00.001-07:00

Configure your computer to start from the CD-ROM drive. For more information about how to do this, please refer to your computer's documentation or contact your computer manufacturer.

Insert your Windows XP compact disc (CD) into your CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart your computer.
(You can also boot with a Windows 98/Me Startup disk with CD support and run WINNT.EXE in the I386 folder on the CD)

When the "Press any key to boot from CD" message is displayed on your screen, press a key to start your computer from the Windows XP CD.

When you see the following message displayed on the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER:

To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

At this point an option to press R to enter the Recovery Console is displayed. Do not select this option.

On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen, press F8 to agree to the license agreement.

Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP is selected in the box, and then press the R key to repair Windows XP.

Follow the instructions on the screen to complete Setup.

To Turn on System Restore

2007-10-07T11:44:00.000-07:00

Click start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore.

If System Restore was turned of on your com

puter, you will see the following dialog :

If Windows shows you the System Restore wizard screen instead of the above image ......
STOP ! You already have it enabled on your computer. Else ...
... click yes to enable it. Windows shows this screen :

Make sure to UN-check the check box that says "Turn of System Restore on all drives" and click ok.

That's all ! The next time you launch System Restore, you will see the "Welcome to System Restore" wizard.

How to create a boot disk

2007-10-07T11:21:00.000-07:00

This is quite simple.
1: Go into MY COMPUTER
2: Have a floppy disk in your drive and then RIGHT click on on the floppy drive and then click on FORMAT
3: You will be greeted with a number of options. The one you need to select is "Create an MS-DOS start up disk".
4: Click ok

Note: This requires up to 5 floppy disks and DOES NOT contain ANY CD-ROM drivers to boot from. A proper CD-ROM boot up disk is going to be release by Microsoft after the Windows XP public release. You can however use you old Windows Me start-up disk if you would prefer, as long as you have not upgraded to an NTFS drive.

The system has recoverd from serious error

2007-10-07T07:59:00.000-07:00

Whenever Windows XP encounters a problem (that it thinks is serious even if you did not do anything unusual) it creates a dump file. Next time you reboot, you most likely see this error message. Clicking on more information shows error signature and other clumsy details. Typically minidump would be stored in \WINDOWS\MINIDUMP directory. It is not so easy to decipher this information. Best thing to do is to go to Windows Online Crash Analysis site at http://oca.microsoft.com and submit report ( or check status if you have already submitted the report). You may need to signon with Microsoft .Net Passport and if you don't have you may need to create one by supply some basic information about yourself..
Following are some of actions that you can take to avoid this error from cropping up.

Temporarily disabling error reporting:
Right-clock on my computer, select properties, advanced tab, error reporting button - turn on the "no error reporting" check box and turn off the "but notify me" option.

Disable Virtual Memory:
Right-click on my computer, select properties, advanced tab, performance settings, advanced tab, virtual memory "change" button. Note down the current VM settings (system managed or any customized size. Turn on the "no paging file" bullet, and press the set tab.

Delete the paging file:
Reboot. Verify that the option reads 0 kb for page file. Use folder options on control panel or explorer "tools" pulldown menu & go to "view" tab. Turn off check box to permit viewing of system files. Now explorer on the root of C drive (or what ever drive letter you page file was set to use), should show a pagefile.sys entry. Delete this. You will get a warning message about this being a system file. Since you have disabled virtual memory, this entry is not being used. Delete it. Go empty the trash bin to make sure this entry is cleared.

Re-enable Virtual Memory:
Right-click on my computer, select properties, advanced tab, performance settings, advanced tab, virtual memory "change" button , turn on the system-managed or customized paging file with the same settings as you noted down earlier. Be sure to press the set button. Reboot and verify that the paging file is active. Re-enable error reporting that was disabled earlier. Reboot to verify that the repetitive error message has indeed "left the building"

Enabling and Disabling Windows Firewall

2007-10-07T07:57:00.000-07:00

Windows XP contains its own firewall. A firewall is a security system that acts as a protective boundary between a network and the outside world. Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) is firewall software that is used to set restrictions on what information is communicated from your home or small office network to and from the Internet to your network.

If your network uses Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) to provide Internet access to multiple computers, ICF should be enabled on the shared Internet connection. However, ICS and ICF can be enabled separately. You should enable ICF on the Internet connection of any computer that is connected directly to the Internet. To check to see if ICF is enabled or to enable the firewall, see Enable or disable Internet Connection Firewall.

ICF also protects a single computer connected to the Internet. If you have a single computer connected to the Internet with a cable modem, a DSL modem, or a dial-up modem, ICF protects your Internet connection. You should not enable ICF on VPN connections because it will interfere with the operation of file sharing and other VPN functions.

Disabling Unnecessary Services

2007-10-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

Services are programs that start up when your computer boots. They continue to run in the background while your PC is on, some services load automatically, some when a program is used. Some of these services are not needed by various users and can be safely disabled. But BE WARNED there are some of these services that MUST not be disabled. To get a good idea what can and can't be removed check out for a very detailed list. Remember, you can always turn the service back on if you find out that you need it in the future. Below is the procedure to turn off a service.

Click the start button.
Click on Control Panel.
Click on Administrative Tools.
Click Services.
Once the services window has loaded you are now able to turn off any unneeded services.
For instructional purposes we are going to turn off the Printer Spooler (Which isn't needed if you don't have a printer installed) service.
Find this service in the list and select it with the mouse.
Right click and select Properties.
Once the properties windows has loaded find the Start up type drop down box and select disable.
Then finally click ok and the next time the computer starts the service will no longer be loaded.

One button Ctrl+Alt+Del

2007-10-07T07:54:00.000-07:00

For some people, pushing Ctrl, ALT and Delete (Ctrl+Alt+Del) at the same time can be an inconvenience, if not a complete impossibility. With Windows XP, there are two ways to get around this.

First option: Configure the system so that you do not need to press Ctrl+Alt+Del at all during logon (assuming you're not using the Welcome screen, in which case this key combo is not required).

Open Control Panel then User Accounts.
Navigate to the Advanced tab.
Uncheck the Require users to press Ctrl+Alt+Del checkbox under Secure Logon.

Second option: Configure XP's accessibility options so that "sticky keys" will be activated at the secure desktop: That way, you may "press" ALT, Ctrl, and DEL sequentially rather than simultaneously. You can turn that on via the Accessibility control panel. (Control Panel then Accessibility Options):

Bring up the Accessibility Control panel and navigate to the Keyboard tab.
Check Use Sticky keys.
Navigate to the General Tab.
Check Apply all settings to logon desktop.

Registry Hacks

2007-10-07T07:52:00.000-07:00

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, yada, yada. 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.

Outlook Explorer Splash
If it's important enough to you to edit the registry in order to get rid of the OE splash page, here's how. With regedit open, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{long number here will vary}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0. left-click on 5.0 then right-click on a blank space in the pane on the right side. Choose 'New' DWORD and name it NSplash with a value of 1.

Unload DLLs
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.

Hack IE Title Bar
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.

Encode MP3s with WiMP
Install an MP3 codec (compression/decompression, required for this operation). You can download it here. Once installed, navigate to the following string in regedit:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Settings\ then to MP3Encoding and set the following:
"LowRate"=dword:0000dac0
"MediumRate"=dword:0001f400
"MediumHighRate"=dword:0003e800
"HighRate"=dword:0004e200
After reboot, you'll be in the MP3 business without third-party software.

Perform a clean install of Windows XP

2007-10-07T07:49:00.000-07:00

A clean installation refers to removing all data from your hard disk by repartitioning and reformatting your hard disk and reinstalling the operating system and programs to an empty (clean) hard disk. You should back up all important information before you perform a clean installation of Windows XP.

For additional information about important things to consider before you partition and format you hard disk and how to partition and format your hard disk by using the Windows XP Setup program. How to partition and format a hard disk in Windows XP After you have backed up all your important information, follow these steps to install Windows XP:

1.	Start your computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM. To do this, insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into your CD drive or DVD drive, and then restart your computer.
2.	When you see the "Press any key to boot from CD" message, press any key to start the computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM.
3.	At the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER to start Windows XP Setup.
4.	Read the End-User License Agreement, and then press F8.
5.	Follow the instructions on the screen to select and format a partition where you want to install Windows XP.
6.	Follow the instructions on the screen to complete Windows XP Setup.

Uninstall hidden Windows components

2007-10-07T07:45:00.000-07:00

Apparently, Microsoft didn't want you to be able to remove useless garbage like Windows Messenger. It's installed by default, and it doesn't appear in the Add/Remove Program applet in Control Panel.

Thankfully, you can force the issue by editing the SYSOC.INF file, which is located in the C:\WINDOWS [or your Windows XP directory]\INF folder. Open it with Notepad.

Under the [Components] heading, you'll see a whole bunch of parameters for various Windows applets. Some of them contain the word "hide." Those particular programs, which include Windows Messenger (msmsgs), Terminal Server, Pinball, and others, are installed on your XP system, but their entries are hidden from and Add/Remove dialog.

To remove Windows Messenger, edit hide out of the line that reads

msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7

so that it looks like this:

msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,7

Save the file, close it, and open the Add/Remove Program applet. Click on Windows Components button and you'll see Windows Messenger listed. Uncheck it and click Next to purge that silly program from your system.

Feel free to edit hide everyw

here it appears in the SYSOC.INF file to reveal other removable Windows XP components.

Offer DMA To All Your ATAPI Drives
By default, slave drives on ATAPI channels are often set to PIO mode--even when the device attached is capable of much more efficient UltraATA (or DMA) mode data transfers. This can hurt the performance of ROM burners, DVD movie playback, and other drive functions. Plus, DMA mode data transfers require much less CPU overhead than PIO-mode transfers.

You can set this atrocity straight through the Device Manager. Open the System Properties dialog and select the Hardware tab. Click the Device Manager button. Expand the entry for IDE/ATAPI controllers.

Select the primary channel and click on Properties, and then choose the Advanced Settings tab. For each device listed, change the transfer mode to "DMA if possible." Don't worry; devices that aren't capable of DMA mode will still work just fine. Repeat the process for the secondary channel.

MSCONFIG

2007-10-07T07:43:00.000-07:00

It's great for experimenting with startup applications. The SCU main interface contains several tabs that allow users to selectively and non-permanently alter several startup parameters. The first two, SYSTEM.INI and WIN.INI, are included for the purpose of legacy compatibility; there's very little chance you'll ever need to tweak them.

The BOOT.INI tab lets you play with the file that defines how Windows XP boots. The entire file is displayed in a text box in which you can select individual lines, which in turn you may be able to alter through checkboxes, but there's little advantage in doing so unless you're troubleshooting something.

The Services tab lets you check and uncheck XP services, but there's a better way to go about enabling and disabling them that we'll get to later.

Under the Startup tab, you'll find a listing of each program that's called to start after Windows XP is booted up. It's here that you can disable things that you suspect are unnecessary, such as Microsoft Office's TSR, Quicken Agent, launchers employed by multimedia programs like RealPlayer and WinAmp, and other such nonsense. The beauty of the SCU is that disabled items aren't permanently deleted: you can uncheck particular components, reboot, and then test your applications and hardware. If you determine that something has ceased to function, you can fire the SCU back up, recheck the box next to the startup item in question, and reboot.

You can often improve system performance vastly by experimenting with the SCU and eliminating everything that isn't absolutely necessary. Once you've determined a particular startup item to be useless, you can purge it from wherever it's being called by checking its location in the SCU listing. Items shown to be in "Common Startup" are called through the Start Menu's Startup group--delete their icons and they won't be launched anymore.

Items launched via the registry can be purged through the REGEDIT program (after, of course, you've carefully backed up the registry in case you accidentally alter something critical). They're most often located HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run key. Simply delete their values to prevent them from being launched on subsequent Windows boots.

Windows XP's Built-in Optimization

2007-10-07T07:41:00.000-07:00

Of everything you can do to optimize Windows XP, one of the simplest is just to use it. As you launch and exploit applications, Windows observes your behavior and updates a dynamic file called Layout.ini. After every three days, when it senses that the computer is idle, it rearranges the locations of programs on the system hard drive to optimize their launch and execution.

XP also speeds up and the boot process and optimizes the launch of programs by using prefetching. Windows observes the code and programs that are used immediately upon bootup and creates a list of data to prefetch very early in the boot process. Similarly, as individual programs are launched, Windows keeps track of different files and components are accessed. The next time the application is accessed, Windows prefetches the necessary items to expedite the application's launch.

The prefetch optimizing code exists both within the XP kernel and the task scheduler service. The kernel keeps track of pages that are referenced by a given process immediately after the process is created. The service transforms the recorded pages into prefetch instructions for that process. The next time the process is created, the kernel executes the prefetch instructions, speeding up the creation of the process.

Disk optimization and application/boot prefetching work in tandem. That is, when XP optimizes file system for faster program access, the data it recorded for the application and bootup prefetch processes is factored in to determine optimal file placement on the disks.

Make your own icons

2007-10-07T07:38:00.000-07:00

It's shockingly easy to create your own icons in Windows XP. Let's do it: Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, and then click Paint. On the Image menu, click Attributes. Type 32 for both the Width and Height of the document, and make sure that Pixels is selected under Units. Click OK to create a new 32x32-pixel document: the size of an icon.

Now add type, color, or do whatever you'd like to your image. I like to shrink photos (headshots work best) to 32x32 and simply paste them into my Paint document. When you're finished, open the File menu and click Save As. Use the dialog box to choose where you want to save your file, then give it a name followed by ".ico" (without the quotes), and click Save. (The extension ".ico" tells Windows that it's an icon file.) You just created an icon! Now you can change any shortcut or folder to your own icon—just browse to it on your hard drive.

How to backup the Windows XP Registry?

2007-10-07T07:16:00.000-07:00

Method 1: Using System Restore

One way to backup the registry is to create a System Restore snapshot. System Restore returns your computer to a previous snapshot without losing recent personal information, such as documents, history lists, favorites, or e-mail. It monitors the computer and many applications for changes and creates restore points. You restore these snapshots when your configuration isn't working. This method is unreliable in case you want to rollback the registry changes made a longtime ago, in which case the System Restore might have purged that particular restore point - due to space constraints or due to a recent system restore point or even a Restore point corruption. Please remember, System Restore points get deleted for many reasons, making it unreliable, especially in the long run.

Mehtod 2: Backing up the selected branch of the registry by exporting
(reliable)

This method is preferred if you're making changes to a specific key/area of the registry. To backup a selected branch/key in the registry, try this:

Click Start, and then click Run.

In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK

Locate and then click the key that contains the value that you want to edit

On the File menu, click Export.

In the Save in box, select a location where you want to save the Registration Entries (.reg)

In the File name box, type a file name, and then click Save.

Changing location of My Documents

2007-10-07T06:09:00.000-07:00

By default, the My Documents folder for your user account resides in the %Userprofile% folder:

Example: C:\Documents and Settings\Robert\My Documents
(Assuming your user account name is Robert)

If the system drive is running out of space and you want to redirect the My Documents folder to a different partition, follow this method:

Create a folder in a different drive
Assign appropriate folder permissions
Open My Computer window.
From Common Tasks pane, right-click My Documents and choose Properties.
Type the target folder path and click Apply

Removing invalid entries from Add or Remove Programs

2007-10-07T06:06:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when you uninstall a program, corresponding entry in the Add or Remove ProgramsAdd or Remove Programs applet, follow these steps: listing may not be removed. This may be due to incomplete uninstall or poorly designed uninstaller itself. To manually remove the orphaned entries from the Click Start, Run and type regedit.exe

Navigate to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Uninstall

Backup the branch to a file

Note: Each subkey represents a program that you've installed. To determine which program that each key represents, click the key, and then view the DisplayName value data in the right pane

Select the subkey that you want to delete
Right-click on the subkey and choose Delete
Close Registry Editor

Still unable to remove an entry?

If the program was installed using Windows Installer, then you may use Windows Installer Cleanup Utility to remove the installer information for that program, and also the corresponding entry in Add or Remove programs.

Configure Windows XP to Automatically Login

2007-10-07T05:53:00.000-07:00

After downloading fixes from Windows Updates page or via Automatic Updates, you may notice that Windows XP no longer logs into your account automatically. This is usually caused after the installation of .NET Framework from Microsoft. It creates an additional user account called ASP.NET, which you can see in the Control Panel User Accounts applet. But, you neither need to remove this update nor delete this account. You can still configure Windows XP to automatically login using these methods:

Method 1

Click Start, Run and type CONTROL USERPASSWORDS2, and click Ok. Select the user account from the list (the account to which you want to automatically logon). Uncheck Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer option, and click Ok. Type the user account password and complete the process.

For Windows XP Home, don't try to auto-login as the built-in Administrator, as you'll receive an error

message.

Method 2: Using TweakUI

Open TweakUI (Click Start, Programs, Powertoys for Windows XP). Expand the Logon branch, and click Autologon. Turn on the "Log on automatically at......"option, type your username and password, and click Ok.

How to Remove Windows XP's Messenger

2007-10-07T05:51:00.001-07:00

Theoretically, you can get rid of it (as well as a few other things). Windows 2000 power users should already be familiar with this tweak.

Fire up the Windows Explorer and navigate your way to the %SYSTEMROOT% \ INF folder. What the heck is that thingy with the percentage signs? It's a variable. For most people, %SYSTEMROOT% is C:\Windows. For others, it may be E:\WinXP. Get it? Okay, on with the hack! In the INF folder, open sysoc.inf (but not before making a BACKUP copy first). Before your eyes glaze over, look for the line containing "msmsgs" in it. Near the end of that particular line, you'll notice that the word "hide" is not so hidden. Go ahead and delete "hide" (so that the flanking commas are left sitting next to one another). Save the file and close it. Now, open the Add and Remove Programs applet in the Control Panel. Click the Add / Remove Windows Components icon. You should see "Windows Messenger" in that list. Remove the checkmark from its box, and you should be set. NOTE: there are other hidden system components in that sysoc.inf file, too. Remove "hide" and the subsequent programs at your own risk.