********************************************************************
Performance
Tweaks for Windows XP
Set the Online Registration
as Being Completed
Set Windows-XP to assume the
online registration has been completed.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \
SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \WindowsNT \ CurrentVersion
Edit the String Value called
RegDone and Give it a value of 1
*******************************************************************************
Decrease Shutdown Time
Cut the amount of time it takes your computer to shut down to only a few seconds.
Click Start, click Run, and type regedit.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ System
\ CurrentControlSet \ Control.
Click the Control folder.
Right click "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" and click Modify.
Set the value to 1000 (One Second)
***************************************************
Automatically
Ending Non-Responsive Tasks
AutoEndTasks = Set the value to 1
HungAppTimeout = Set the value to 1000
WaitToKillAppTimeout = Set the value to 1000 (One Second)
***************************************************
This method of shutting down your PC will be much quicker than starting the process with the START button. It also forces stubborn programs to close. Create a New Shortcut on your desktop and put this line in the path box.
%windir%\System32\shutdown.exe
-s
-t 00 -f
Save the shortcut and you
now have yourself a quick way to shutdown Windows.
On my own PC, using “Quick
Shutdown”….Shutdown only takes five seconds.
********************************************************************
These Settings will fine tune your systems memory management -at least 256MB of ram recommended, 512 preferred for first tweak.
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.
2.LargeSystemCache- double click it and change the decimal to 1 -this allows XP Kernal to Run in memory improves system performance a lot. This tweak can actually slow down a system with less than 256 megs of ram.
***************************************************************
Hanging of Disk Cleanup
during compression is a known problem with Windows XP. To solve it, you must edit the Registry. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \
Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ VolumeCaches
Under VolumeCaches is "Compress
Old Files". Click it once to highlight,then click the Del button.
Close the Registry editor. Disk Cleanup should no longer hang. Temporary files
can also cause Disk Cleanup to hang. If the previous change does not solve your
problem, try this. Click Start>>Run. Enter "%temp%" (without
the quotes) in the box. Click OK. The Temp folder will open. In the Edit menu,
click Select All. Press the Del key and
click Yes to confirm the deletions. That will send everything to the Recycle
Bin. Next, click Start >> Control
Panel. Double-click "Internet Options" On the General tab, click
Delete Files. Select "Delete all
offline content." Click OK. This could take a while. Disk cleanup gets rid
of temporary files, old applications you no longer use and Internet cache
files. It asks before any of these are deleted.
***********************************************************************
Poweroff
at Shutdown
If your PC does not turn off the power when doing a shutdown, edit the registry
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control
Panel \ Desktop
Edit the key PowerOffActive and give it a value of 1
Also:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \
Software \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ Current Version \ winlogon
Edit the Key: PowerOffAfterShutdown
Values: 0=Default, 1=Power
Off
********************************************************
Disabling
Balloon Tips
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software
\ Microsoft \ Windows \ Current Version \ Explorer \ Advanced
Right click in the right
hand pane,,,then select DWord from the menu.
Create a Dword value of EnableBalloonTips
and set value to "0" (it will be set to "0" by default)
*********************************************************
Disabling
Error Reporting
By default, Windows-XP will
request to report application errors to Microsoft. To turn this off:
Right click on the My
Computer icon on the desktop
Select Properties /
Advanced
Click on the Error
Reporting tab
Check Disable error
reporting
***************************************************************
By default, Windows-XP turns
on a lot of shadows, fades, slides etc to menu items.
Most simply slow down their
display. To turn these off selectively:
Right click on the My
Computer icon
Select Properties
Click on the Advanced
tab
Under Performance, click on
the Settings button
To turn them all of, select Adjust
for best performance
Turn ON: Show window contents
while dragging
Apply the change and close
the window.
*****************************************************
Controlling
the Desktop Cleanup Wizard Added 7/24/02
By default, the Desktop
Cleanup Wizard will pop up every 60 days to cleanup your desktop.
To stop this:
Right click on the desktop.
Select Properties
Click on the Desktop tab
Click on the Customize Desktop button
Uncheck Run Desktop Cleanup
Wizard.
Click Apply, and close the
window.
******************************************************
Restoring
Access to CD ROMs
If after you remove CD
Burning software, you can no longer access your
CD ROM's, the following
registry keys need to be deleted:
Locate and delete the UpperFilters
and LowerFilters values under the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINES \ SYSTEM
\ Current Control Set \ Control \ Class \ {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
*****************************************************************
If a Dell PC is losing time
while the PC is turned on, Run the following commands:
Start / Run / CMD
Net stop w32time
w32tm /unregister
w32tm /unregister
w32tm /register
Net start w32time
***************************************************************
Turning
Off the Built-In CD Burner
If you want to turn off the
ability to use the built-in CD burner software that comes with Windows-XP:
Open up the Explorer
Right click on the drive
that is your CD burner
Select Properties
Click on the Recording tab
Uncheck Enable CD recording on this drive
*************************************************
Re-Installing
Windows-XP
If you need to reinstall
Windows-XP and want to keep all your current installed applications and settings:
1. Start Windows-XP
2. Find the location of your
source files (a folder called "I386" , May Be on Your Install CD or a
folder on your HD) You may find several
i386 folders on your PC but you want the one that has the .cab files in it
along with the command file "Winnt32.exe".
3. Run WINNT32 /unattend ,,, For example, D:\I386\winnt32.exe /unattend
(type this command into the RUN box, then press ENTER).... Leave
just one space where I've put three for emphasis, at the end of the command and
before the switch (/unattend).
I've often needed to do this
to repair something that had gotten corrupted and I didn't want to do a clean
install.
************************************************************************
A shortcut is a pointer to a
file or application that is stored in another location. When you create a
shortcut, you'll notice the icon has a small arrow in the corner. And, yes, you
guessed it!
This little arrow indicates
to you that the icon is, indeed, a shortcut.
So here is a tip that lets
you remove the shortcut arrows and it works with all versions of Windows. A
word of caution before you proceed since it does require making changes to the
registry; do so carefully!
To completely remove the shortcut
arrow, open the registry and delete the IsShortcut from the following
three keys:
* HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \
InternetShortcut
* HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \
lnkfile
* HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \
piffile
Once you've made the change,
Windows no longer considers shortcuts to be shortcuts anymore.
Note: A security update for Windows 98 may
prevent the steps outlined above from working. This tweak should work
well on all versions of Windows.
******************************************************************
You
can change the registered owner information by editing the registry. Always
remember to back up the registry before making changes.
Open your favorite registry editor
In the left pane, navigate to the
following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion
In the right details pane, double click
the entry labeled RegisteredOwner. In the Value Data field, delete the name and
type in the name you want. Click OK
You can similarly change the company
name (or make it blank) by double clicking the entry labeled
RegisteredOrganization and editing the Value Data field.
12-22-06