Оптимизация ХП {english 2}

Want to have more options in the Add/Remove program list ?

All programs that are available on your Windows XP system are not
available for removal. For example wordpad. I mean you don't want to
remove wordpad from Add/Remove program list, but that serves just as an
example. So why are some programs in the list and some not. Its not a game
of Random numbers. There many a few unique methods through which we can
control what appears on list and what does not. If you have installed
Windows in C: drive , Go to C:\WINDOWS\inf (substituting the correct drive
letter for your version of Windows) and open the sysoc.inf file. File
contents looks like this: See the components that have word HIDE as second
last item on the row. This hide tells system to not to display those
items/apps in the Add/Remove program list. If you want to have this item
in list, simply replace it with blank. I think you understand what am I
saying
[Version]
Signature = "$Windows NT$"
DriverVer=07/01/2001,5.1.2600.0
[Components]
NtComponents=ntoc.dll,NtOcSetupProc,,4
WBEM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wbemoc.inf,hide,7
Display=desk.cpl,DisplayOcSetupProc,,7
Fax=fxsocm.dll,FaxOcmSetupProc,fxsocm.inf,,7
NetOC=netoc.dll,NetOcSetupProc,netoc.inf,,7
iis=iis.dll,OcEntry,iis.inf,,7
com=comsetup.dll,OcEntry,comnt5.inf,hide,7
dtc=msdtcstp.dll,OcEntry,dtcnt5.inf,hide,7
IndexSrv_System = setupqry.dll,IndexSrv,setupqry.inf,,7
TerminalServer=TsOc.dll, HydraOc, TsOc.inf,hide,2
msmq=msmqocm.dll,MsmqOcm,msmqocm.inf,,6
ims=imsinsnt.dll,OcEntry,ims.inf,,7
fp_extensions=fp40ext.dll,FrontPage4Extensions,fp40ext.inf,,7
AutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,au.inf,hide,7
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
RootAutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,rootau.inf,,7
IEAccess=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,ieaccess.inf,,7
Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,,7
AccessUtil=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,accessor.inf,,7
CommApps=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,communic.inf,HIDE,7
MultiM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,multimed.inf,HIDE,7
AccessOpt=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,optional.inf,HIDE,7
Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,HIDE,7
MSWordPad=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wordpad.inf,HIDE,7
ZoneGames=zoneoc.dll,ZoneSetupProc,igames.inf,,7
[Global]
WindowTitle=%WindowTitle%
WindowTitle.StandAlone="*"


Start menu is slow in responding? Want to boost response time of start menu ?

Windows XP is touted as a new generation of OS Xperience. No doubt about
that but this experience come at a cost. Resources. If your hardware
configuration (read CPU,RAM) is not upto speed but still want to boost
response time of start menu, here are a few tricks that might help. Open
registry editor by going to START-RUN and entering regedit and navigate to
key HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ MenuShowDelay . Change
the value (default may be 400) to 5 or 50 or even 0. This should speed up.
If you are not all that crazy for shadowy effects, you can further speed
the things up by going to DISPLAY Properties Window and from there to
appearance and over there clicking Advanced command button and check off
Show menu shadow.


Lock known dll's list and make your computer a bit more safer

Folks, You may be wondering that I am talking about making your computer a
bit more safer even though my very site was hacked on 1/14/2002. As it
stands I have kept this site simple and I do not control the webhosting
part. Anyway it is a good idea to keep your computer safe.Open Registry by
going to START-RUN and entering REGEDIT and Navigate to
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager] and
look for ProtectionMode parameter. If its value is not 1 , set it to value
of 1. On my computer default value is 1. Doing this will protect your list
of known system dlls from being compromised. To see what is present in
your known DLL list, navigate to
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session
Manager\KnownDLLs] and look in the right pane. I have not yet tried this
but You may even try adding some other DLLs that You feel important and
should be protected. This could be risky as I have not yet tried this
myself.
Microsoft has an old but informative article on it
http://support.microsoft.com/suppor...s/q218/4/73.asp


Improve computer performance by reducing EFS cache validation

Navigate to HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\NTFS\EFS\Parameters and
set the parameter of EFSKCACHEPERIOD to a value between 2 and 30. default
is 5. Value suggest the time in seconds the kernel will cache the session
key for a user for a given file. The Kernel will not validate the user
credentials during this cache period. This has the net effect of faster
access to encrypted files that may be opened several times during a given
time period.This is helpful in kernel and user mode of the EFS (encrypting
file system) as it provides quicker access to frequently use components.
Similarly navigate to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\EFS and set the value of KeyCacheValidationPeriod to a
value in units of second from 1 minute to 1 day (60 to 86400).
Microsoft has an interesting article on this at Registry Keys Used to Tune
EFS Caching (Q278256). Read it for complete details.


Want to enhance Network throughput? Try out this tip.

Network throughput depends on a variety of factors and as such you never
no what could be the bottleneck. One of things that we can try out is the
network redirector reserves.Open registry editor by going to START-RUN and
entering regedit and navigate to key
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters].
One here, click on right pane and added following Dwords. Dwords are in
hexadecimal (and value as shown below indicates that of 104, valid values
are 0-255). Keep both values same. I think default is 15 or 20. This may
help networkthrough put but there is no guarantee. Try it out.
"MaxCmds"=dword:00000068
"MaxThreads"=dword:00000068


Having problem with slow boot time or is it taking long to resume ?

There are a variety of reasons why your windows XP system would boot
slowly. Most of the times it this has to do with the startup applications.
If you would like to speed up the bootup sequence, consider removing some
of the startup applications that you do not need. Easiest way to remove
startup apps is through System Configuration Utility (Go to START-RUN and
enter MSCONFIG) and going to Startup tab and deselecting application(s)
that you do not want to startup at boot time. If this works, great ! If
not you can also look into SERVICES tab and possibly deselect WORKSTATION
option and see if that helps.


Speedup boot time by improving NTFS check

CHKNTFS is the command used to set the AUTOCHK initiation count down time.
You can reduce it from default 9 seconds to a much lower value say 4
seconds. Go to command prompt and type CHKNTFS/T:4 This command would set
the AUTOCHK initiation count time down to 4.


Activate Automatic Boot Disk Optimization

To activate automatic boot disk optimization, do this.Open registry by
going to START-RUN and entering regedit. Navigate to
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction] . In
this look for value of "Enable". You can set its value to "Y" to enable it.


Do You want Windows to unload dll immediately?

Folks, I read about this a long time ago and my preliminary findings are
that it works on XP as well even though I can not say how beneficial this
trick is (or how damaging !). Also there might be some potential problems
with a a few apps. But I would still provide it to You There is a way in
registry for You to tell Windows OS to unload DLL,immediately as soon as
its use is over. Here is how to do that: . Open Registry by going to
START-RUN and entering REGEDIT and Navigate to
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
and look for AlwaysUnloadDLL parameter. It may not be present by default.
If not, add a key by the name AlwaysUnloadDLL and set it to value of 1.
This would inform OS to unload the DLL files from memory immediately. This
has its advantages and disadvantages. It may also crash some Microsoft
applications (like Access).


If you have a faster hard disk, keep your pagefile.sys

If you do not already know, pagefile.sys is your swap file. Its make
common sense to put on a hard disk that is fastest. So say if you have
upgraded you machine and a newer and faster harddisk, change the pagefile
location to that drive. Open registry and navigating to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\
MemoryManagement and then looking for Paging files Change its drive
location (on mine its says C:\pagefile.sys) to the one that is faster (say
D:\pagefile.sys if D: denotes the faster drive).


Heard of Atomic Clocks? or NIST ? Here is a tip on accurately setting your computer clock

Thanks to National Institute of
Standards and Technology, It has become much easier to do that via
Internet. And there is no need for third party tool if you have bought
WINDOWS XP Operating System. Just click on the time (right side of your
START bar or panel) and click on INTERNET TIME tab. Select the
time.nist.gov and click update now. Your are all set. Wait a minute your
computer clock is still not that advanced. So you many need to synchronize
again and again. But hey, we are in the computer world and who has time
for This manual work. So I have a solution for you. OPEN registry editor (
I think you know how to open a registry.. click START-RUN and enter
regedit) and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ ControlSet001 \
Services \ W32Time \ TimeProviders \ NtpClient. In right pane, you would
see "SpecialPollInterval". Double click and set a decimal number (unit is
seconds) to the frequency with which you want to have the automatic
synchronization carried out.
Also you can add many more time servers directly into registry because by
default all that you can see is two time servers in the drop down list.
List of many other time servers is available at
http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/ntp/. To add any other time servers, get
details about the server and then navigate to
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DateTime\Servers]
and adding them into the list.


If you have a lot of RAM, do you really need swap file?

With RAM prices dropping so low ( I saw 256 MB SDRAM for $34 in COMPUSA on
Jan 2nd,2002), more and more people are adding RAM to their computer. This
is the best upgrade I would suggested to anyone. Well if you have 512MB or
768 MB or a whopping 1GB of RAM, you do not need a swap file (SWAP FILE is
the concept of old dayw when RAM was too costly). Try this out. Go to My
Computer and right click on properties and get into System Properties
window. Go to Advanced tab and click on the Settings button for
Performance group, click again on advanced tab and then click on change
and choose NO SWAP FILE. I think you would see an improvement. If you
don't like the change, follow the same steps and change SWAP FILE size to
whatever you want (typically 1.5 * physical RAM). Also you can further
gain by applying following changes in registry. Open Registry by going to
START-RUN and typing REGEDIT. Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory
Management and look for DisablePagingExecutive. On my computer default
value is 0. Set it to 1. This will stop paging act as well.


How to boost XP speed by by changing real time clock priority?

I read about this trick the other day over Internet. Open Registry by
going to START-RUN and typing REGEDIT. Navigate to
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\PriorityControl]. If
you see an entry by the name IRQ8Priority set it to a value
"IRQ8Priority"=dword:00000001 if you don't then click on the right pane
and add a new dword entry with given name.. IRQ8 is typically reserved for
real time clock in most of the computers. Make sure thats the case (by
going to device manager -> system devices -> system COMS/realtime clock ->
properties -> resources tab , if it is set to another number try adding an
entry with that number N as IRQNPriority) . Generally realtime clock
priority boosting helps most but you are free to try others as well.


CPU Priority setting tweak.

Using 'Regedit', go to this location:
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\PriorityControl\"
and set the "Win32PrioritySeparation" to "38"


Reduce IO and increase turnaround which means faster computer !

I read about this trick the other day over Internet. Open Registry by
going to START-RUN and typing REGEDIT. Navigate to
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session
Manager\Memory Management\IoPageLockLimit. Depending upon how much RAM you
have, you can increase your diskcache size by entering a higher value in
IoPageLockLimit. Typically your computer won't come optimized for
diskcache and you can set to a value which works best for you by trial and
error.Rule of thumb is to have a ratio of 1 or 2 for every 64K chuck. But
try out various different values as each case would be a little different


Speedup boot up sequence by defragmenting all key boot files

Open Registry by going to START-RUN and typing REGEDIT. Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction. In right
hand panel look for Enable. Right click on it and set it 'Y' for enable.
This is the way I have it set on my computer. This will help speedup boot
time.


Enable write caching on disk and improve disk performance

I have enable write caching on my disk. This has a significant boost in
computer performance Now you may ask why. Write Cache is nothing else but
concept of delayed write. As we all know I/O activities are generally slow
and hence if they are synchronous can significantly reduce the system
performance Hence if system performance has to be improved we have to
reduce I/O activities. Now practically we can not ask you to change your
habits (meaning start typing like a superman or robot etc.) but we can
have a solution. I can regulate the diskwrite at regular intervals. All
that we need to write in between the interval would get stored in a write
buffer which would be written to the disk at regular intervals or whenever
it gets full. This is smart concept with one drawback. There is a chance
that you may loose some data in case of critical power loss or system
failure but this is not an issue to me or to most of the users. It only is
an issue for Mission Critical Business Servers. Any to enable write cache
on your disk, go to DEVICE MANAGER. Then select hard disk in the disk
drives and right click and select properties. Go to policies tab and
select checkbox which say "Enable write caching on the disk". Close out
everything and you are done.


MFT (Master File Table) manipulations to improve disk performance

MFT stands for Master File Table. Typically in Windows XP , if you are
using NTFS ( I would recommend it if you don't) then by default,NTFS would
reserve 12.5% of your free diskspace for MFT. MFT fragmentation could also
cause a significant slow down. Let me discuss size first. Now if you have
installed tons of different programs on your hard disk (or intend to do
so), MFT utilization is going to be high. Under such situation, it may be
beneficial to increase this percentage to say 25%. If you want to do this,
here is the the trick. Open Registry by going to START-RUN and entering
REGEDIT and Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem. In right
pane, Add one more key by the name "NtfsMftZoneReservation" with the
REG_DWORD value of 2. DWORD value of 1 is interpreted as 12.5% ,2 as 25%
and so on.


Improve system performance and Reduce MFT fragmentation by disabling DOS 8.3 naming convention

In some tips, I briefly mentioned MFT fragmentation. So what is the
cause of fragmentation. Well most common cause is too much use. As with
anything excessive use causes fragmentation. Activities of
add/update/delete to a section of disk would invariable cause it to
fragment. So there is no permanent solution as we can not avoid these
acts. As such it is a good idea to use disk defragmenter regularly.
Contiguous data which results from defragmenting disk, improves system
performance considerably. But what I am suggesting you here would prolong
intervals between defragmentations resulting in more time for your own
productive work. OK! This tip is for those folks would never be using a
DOS based program or don't care for connection from DOS based operating
systems (example: old games and all things before windows 95). In Windows
XP, two file names are created for each file one is the actual name and
another one is 8.3 version of that file name for compatibility with DOS
based programs. Now this work name in the name of compatibility takes
quite a lot of system resources specifically CPU time and disk space.But
this is not it, it also increases your MFT utilization and fragmentation.
So the solution is to disable it. How to do this ? Open Registry by going
to START-RUN and entering REGEDIT and Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem. In right
pane, look for key by the name "NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation" and sets its
value to 1. Thats it. You would see improvement in system performance for
sure.

MCTarakan добавил 16-03-2003 в 00:46:20:
Set the low level hook time-out and stop certain programs from crashing or becoming unstable

One of the things that you can do avoid some programs from becoming
unstable is to set a low level hook timeout. There are a few programs
which use this low level hook timeout. Setting a low value (in
milliseconds) means that if the hooked program does not respond within
timeout period, one that has set the hook would not become unstable or go
in infinite wait but would kill itself saving windows resources and
improving performance. Open Registry by going to START-RUN and entering
REGEDIT and Navigate to HKEY_CURRRENT USER\Control
Panel\Desktop\LowLevelHooksTimeout and entering a small number in
milliseconds.


Another tweak to boost up network application performance. Change thread priority

I just read about this over the internet.You can change the priority of
applications as soon as associated IO tasks are completed. Microsoft
TCP/IP Stack component AFD.SYS allows you to do this. You can read all
about it at http://rdweb.cns.vt.edu/public/notes/tcpip2000.pdf Again this
is a registry tweak and works well with XP.Open Registry by going to
START-RUN and entering REGEDIT and Navigate to
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\AFD\Parameters] and
set the following key values to the values shown.
"TransmitWorker"=dword:00000010
"PriorityBoost"=dword:0000000a


Make a habit of cleaning prefetch data once a month.

Prefetch is a new and very useful technique in Windows XP. However, after
using XP some time, the prefetch directory can get full of junk and
obsolete links in the Prefetch catalog, which can slow down your computer
noticeably. I would suggest that You do this once a month: Go to C(system
drive):/windows/prefetch, and delete everything and reboot. This may help
speed up your computer.


Have a IDE drive ? Improve disk performance by changing to DMA access mode

If You are an average user, there is a good chance that your are using a
IDE hard disk that supports DMA access. Even Windows XP fails to set the
DMA mode correctly for the IDE device designated as the slaves on the
primary IDE and secondary IDE channels. Most CD-ROMS 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. Follow
instructions below:
1. Open the Device Manager and navigate to "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers",
expand it and double-click on "Primary IDE Channel"
2. Under the "Advanced Settings" tab, verify the "Device 1" setting. If
transfer mode is set to PIO Then set it to "DMA if available". Repeat the
step for the "Secondary IDE Channel" if You have devices attached to it.
Reboot the sytem.


Enable UDMA/66 mode on IDE Channels

Even if DMA is enabled on IDE channels, by default UDMA/66 mode is
disabled. You can improved disc performance by enabling it. Open registry
by going to START-RUN and entering REGEDIT and Navigating to
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0000].
In right pane look for a key by the name "EnableUDMA66". If it is there,
set its value to 1 if it is not already set to 1. If not, add a dword
entry by the name "EnableUDMA66" and set its value to 1.


Get back to old days, see the file attributes in Windows Explorer

I have noticed that in Windows Explorer, when you click on the detailed
mode, you do not see the file attributes any more. This used to be there
in previous versions of Windows (Well in office, I still use Windows 95
and Windows Explorer out there shows the file attributes). If you want to
enable this setting, do this:
In regedit, navigate to
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Explorer\Advanced] and look for key "ShowAttribCol". You may not find it
there if this is your first time. In this case, create a new DWORD key
"ShowAttribCol" and set its value to 1 to enable it.


Working in command environment ? Avoid keystrokes - use TAB key and let window do the typing work

One of the features in Linux and certain UNIX shells is the ability to
predict user keystroke. If You are typing a directory name or a filename
and if it exists, using this feature would help You avoiding those extra
keystrokes. Do You know WindowsXP command environment has this feature ?
(Well it is available in Windows 2000 as well). To use this feature You
have to use TAB key. (I would also show You how to change it to some other
key even though there is no need of it). Assume You are in C:\ drive and
want to type autoexec.bat and there is a file that exists by that name.
Result are amazing if there is no ambiguity in filenames (meaning multiple
files/directories with similar names/prefix). In such cases You can simply
type first few characters and press the TAB key. You would really be
amazed at this finding (Hey if not, You are really too smart and don't
need this tip! )
Now if You want to change this power key to some other key here is howto:
Open Registry by going to START-RUN and entering REGEDIT and Navigate to
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Command Processor] and set
CompletionChar" to ASCII number associated with the key char. for example,
"CompletionChar"=dword:00000009


How to alter behavior of System Restore Utility

There are three specific keys that control behavior of System Restore
Utility. It has many values that can be altered and also have some that
should not be altered under any circumstances. Microsoft Article The
Registry Keys and Values for the System Restore Utility (Q295659) explains
it all in detail this but in brief following three keys are important.
1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Sr
2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Srservice
3.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore

Only some sub-keys of third key can be modified without harming your
computer. Read the Microsoft Article to know what can not be
modified.Following keys can be modified (copied from Microsoft Article):
CompressionBurst
This value, listed in seconds, specifies the idle time compression: The
amount of time to compress data after the computer reaches its idle time.
A service can compress data for the amount of time that is specified in
this value, and then stop. Then, at the next idle time compression, the
computer can repeat the process.
DiskPercent
This value relates to the percentage of disk space that System Restore
uses for its data store. The default value is 12 percent. The data store
size is always calculated as "max(12 percent, DSMax)," regardless of the
size of the hard disk. The maximum (max) size is what is specified in
DSMax. For hard disk sizes that are less than 4 gigabytes (GB) in size, 12
percent is less than 400 megabytes (MB), so "max(12 percent, DSMax) equals
400 MB." For hard disk sizes that are greater than 4 GB, 12 percent is
greater than 400 MB, so "max(12 percent, DSMax) equals 12 percent." This
data store size is not a reserved disk space, and the data store size is
used only on demand.
DSMax
This value specifies the maximum size for the System Restore data store.
The default size of the data store is 400 MB. The data store size is
always calculated as "max(12 percent, DSMax)," regardless of the size of
the hard disk. The maximum (max) size is what is specified in DSMax. For
hard disk sizes that are less than 4 GB, 12 percent is less than 400 MB,
so "max(12 percent, DSMax) equals 400 MB." For hard disk sizes that are
greater than 4 GB, 12 percent is greater than 400 MB, so "max(12 percent,
DSMax) equals 12 percent." This data store size is not a reserved disk
space, and the data store size is used only on demand.
DSMin
This value relates to the minimum amount of free disk space that System
Restore needs so that it can function during the installation process.
Also, this value relates to the minimum amount of free disk space that is
needed for System Restore to reactivate and to resume the creation of
restore points after System Restore has been disabled because of low disk
space.
RestoreStatus
This value specifies if the last restore operation failed (0), succeeded
(1), or had been interrupted (2).
RPGlobalInterval
This value specifies, in seconds, the amount of time that System Restore
waits before it creates the automatic computer check points for elapsed
time. The default value is 24 hours.
RPLifeInterval
This value specifies, in seconds, the restore points Time to Live (TTL).
When a restore point reaches this time and it is still on the system, it
gets deleted. The default value is (7776000), which will be 90 days.
RPSessionInterval
This value specifies, in seconds, the amount of time that System Restore
waits before it creates the automatic computer check points for session
time (the amount of time that the computer has been on). The default value
is zero (0), which means that this feature is turned off.
ThawInterval
This value specifies, in seconds, the amount of time that System Restore
waits before it activates itself from a disabled state (after the
conditions for this process to occur have been met). If you start the
System Restore user interface, System Restore is activated immediately.


Customizing Windows Explorer Context menu (right click menu in windows explorer)

Ever wondered how does the right click menu (which is actually a context
menu) work ? For example, when I right click in windows explorer, I see an
option which says "open command window here". Do You know why I see this ?
Well I see this because I have following entries in my registry.

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\cmd]
@="Open Command Window Here"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\cmd\command]
@="C:\WINDOWS\System32\cmd.exe /k cd "%1""
If You have never used a tweaking utility and have newly installed Windows
XP, You would not see this option. You would have to navigate to
[[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive] go and create two subkeys ("cmd" and within
that "command" and would have to put the text "Open Command Window Here"
without quotes in default string value of "cmd" key and the text
"C:\WINDOWS\System32\cmd.exe /k CD"%1"" without quotes in default string
value of command key). After this You need to REBOOT for these changes to
take effect.

Trick is in adding similar entries for other applications as well even
though its much harder to come with ideas about what to put in the context
menu!!!! .


Customize your Start Menu setting and preferences

You can open group policy editor (gpedit.msc) and go to User Configuration
\ Administrative Templates \ Start Menu and Taskbar and set a variety of
preferences for your startmenu. Or if You want You can open registry
editor and navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
and enable/disable various parameters by changing 1 to 0 and viceversa. I
am doing a cut/paste of list available at Microsoft site. Visit the site
to get details on these registry values
Registry Value:"NoSimpleStartMenu"
Registry Value:"NoStartMenuPinnedList"
Registry Value:"NoStartMenuMFUprogramsList"
Registry Value:"NoStartMenuMorePrograms"
Registry Value:"NoCommonGroups"
Registry Value:"GreyMSIAds"
Registry Value:"NoWindowsUpdate"
Registry Value:"NoStartMenuMyMusic",
"NoSMMyPictures","NoFavoritesMenu","NoRecentDocsMenu"
Registry Value:"DisableMyPicturesDirChange", "DisableMyMusicDirChange",
"DisableFavoritesDirChange".
Registry Value:"NoSMMyDocs"
Registry Value:"DisablePersonalDirChange"
Registry Value:"NoRecentDocsMenu"
Registry Value:"MaxRecentDocs"
Registry Value:"ClearRecentDocsOnExit"
Registry Value:"NoFavoritesMenu"
Registry Value:"{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}" under
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\NonEnum.
Registry Value:"NoNetworkConnections"
Registry Value:"NoStartMenuNetworkPlaces"
Registry Value:"NoRecentDocsNetHood"
Registry Value:"NoSMHelp"
Registry Value:"NoFind"
Registry Value:"NoRun"
Registry Value:"MemCheckBoxInRunDlg"
Registry Value:"NoResolveSearch"
Registry Value:"NoResolveTrack"
Registry Value:"ForceStartMenuLogoff"
Registry Value:"StartMenuLogoff"
Registry Value:"NoClose"
Registry Value:"NoStartMenuEjectPC"
Registry Value:"NoChangeStartMenu"
Registry Value:"NoSetTaskbar"
Registry Value:"NoInstrumentation"
Registry Value:"NoUserNameInStartMenu"
I read about this on Microsoft Web Site. Here is the link Policy Settings
for the Start Menu in Windows XP (Q292504)


How to Add a Control Panel Tool to a Category : Tips on customizing categories

Have You noticed the new view of control panel in XP. Well as its says,its
a view and You can switch to a classic view anytime. But if You like the
view but want to customize the categories, there is again a good article
on How to do this : How to Add a Control Panel Tool to a Category
(Q292463). You can get complete details by visiting the site but in brief
a control Panel tool can be included in a particular category by adding a
registry DWORD entry for the tool in the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control
Panel\Extended Properties\{305CA226-D286-468e-B848-2B2E8E697B74} 2
Value category ids are:
0x00000000 : Other Control Panel Options (any tool that does not specify a
category ID is placed in this category)
0x00000001 : Appearance and Themes
0x00000002 : Printers and Other Hardware
0x00000003 : Network and Internet Connections
0x00000004 : Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices
0x00000005 : Performance and Maintenance
0x00000006 : Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options
0x00000007 : Accessibility Options
0xFFFFFFFF : Do not put the tool in any category (for special tools such
as Add/Remove Programs which only start directly)


Protect yourself from denial of service attacks: UPnP weakness in Windows XP

You might have heard of Denial of Service attacks . Recently this news
covered media headlines. Microsoft has provided a fix for it. You can read
complete details at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/se...in/MS01-059.asp But in
brief few registry tweaks can save the day for You in unlikely case of You
being the target .
1. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\UPnP Control Point
and add "DownloadScope" key and put a value of 0 to 3. Here is the
description of these values:
0 - on the same subnet
1 - same subnet or at a private address
2 - same subnet or at a private address or within 4 hops
3 - anywhere
2. Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SSDPSRV\Parameters
and add key "TTL" and sets its value to max number of rounter hops allowed
in the PnP device search on Internet .


Private information about who is logged on your computer at a time.

XP stores certain information about you as and when you are logged on in
following places in registry:
Logged on User:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Logon
User Name]
Personal:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell
Folders\Personnal]
Default Document folder: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Volatile
Environment\HOMEDRIVE]
.Net email account:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MessengerService\ListCache\.NET
Messenger Service\IdentityName]
Number of Open programs:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SessionInformation\ProgramCount]


How startup programs get loaded in Windows at boot time ? Run keys of Windows Registry

Run keys cause programs to automatically run every time computer/XP boots
up . The Windows XP registry includes the following four Run keys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

Each of these keys has a series of values. The values allow multiple
entries to exist without overwriting one another. The data value for a
value is a command line. There are some special considerations for the
third and fourth keys in the list, the RunOnce keys: By default, Run keys
are ignored when the computer starts in Safe mode. Under the RunOnce keys,
You can prefix a value name with an asterisk (*) to force the associated
program to run even in Safe mode. You can prefix a RunOnce value name with
an exclamation point (!) to defer deletion of the value until after the
command runs. Without the exclamation point prefix, a RunOnce value is
deleted before the command runs. As a result, if a RunOnce operation does
not run properly, the associated program is not asked to run the next time
You start the computer.
Again, this article is available at Microsoft site at A Definition of the
Run Keys in the Windows XP Registry (Q314866)


Have You seen those annoying searches for broken shortcuts/links ? Need a remedy ?

This could be annoying ! Has been to me. Well there is are couple of ways
to solve this problem. If You are comfortable with Registry manipulation,
Open registry editor by going to START-RUN and entering regedit.exe. After
this , Navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
add a new key by the name "NoResolveTrack" (without quotes) and sets its
value to 1.
This can be achieved by group policy editor as well. Open group policy
editor by opening START-RUN and entering gpedit.msc. Navigate to User
Configuration\AdministrativeTemplates\Start Menu and Taskbar group policy
and selecting "Do not use the tracking-based method when resolving shell
shortcuts"

MCTarakan добавил 16-03-2003 в 00:47:09:
Want to move a Windows XP Installation to Different Hardware. How to do that ?

In most of the scenarios (legal !), You would be doing one of the
following acts:
A. Migrate a working Windows XP operating system and your installed
programs to a different or more powerful computer in minimal downtime.
B. Replace a small system/boot disk drive with a larger system/boot disk
drive.
C. Restore a Windows backup from a malfunctioning computer to a different
computer for disaster recovery purposes
Windows Backup (Ntbackup.exe) can handle differences in hardware
configuration information between computers and maintain critical registry
entries that are unique to the computer to which You are migrating
information. This capability means that You can migrate to new hardware by
performing a full backup of the source computer and Then restoring the
backup over a fresh installation of Windows XP on the destination
computer.
Ntbackup.exe handles restore operations in the registry by first querying
the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\KeysNotToRestore

This registry key indicates to Ntbackup.exe that certain registry keys
under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM key should not be overwritten when
files are restored.
An entry that ends with a backslash (\) indicates that a key is protected
and that any keys or values under that key should not be restored. If the
entry ends with a backslash and an asterisk (\*), all subkeys are
"merged." In this situation, "merged" means comparing the start values of
the keys in the backup set with the start values that exist in the current
registry, to determine the correct key to restore.
If the value of the key on the backup set has a lower start value, the
backup key takes precedence. If the value of the key in the current
registry has a lower start value, the current key takes precedence. This
process ensures that all services and devices start correctly after a
"system state" restoration, even on dissimilar hardware.

Complete details on this are available at Microsoft site at How to Move a
Windows XP Installation to Different Hardware (Q314070)


Prevent a Program From Being Displayed in the Most Frequently Used Programs List

This is easy.Open registry by going to START-RUN and entering regedit.
Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\ Program name.exe where Program
name.exe is the name of the application that you do not want to be
displayed in the Most Frequently Used Programs List. Add an empty string
value named NoStartPage. That's it. Reboot your computer.


Having trouble with MSDOS program ? Tips on troubleshooting.

I read a good article on Troubleshooting MS-DOS-Based Programs in Windows
(Q314106) at Microsoft knowledgebase website. One of the first thing to
test when you are having problems with MS-DOS-based programs is the
Windows Virtual DOS Machine (NTVDM) subsystem. Open START-RUN and enter
command.com or cmd.exe. If you don't see a MSDOS windows coming up you of
course have a problem. Check the Config.nt and Autoexec.nt files in the
SystemRoot%\System32 folder for nonstandard settings.
Use a REM statement to remark out all entries except the following default
entries:
Config.nt
---------
dos=high, umb
device=%SystemRoot%\System32\Himem.sys
files=20
Autoexec.nt
-----------
lh %SystemRoot%\System32\Mscdexnt.exe
lh %SystemRoot%\System32\Redir
lh %SystemRoot%\System32\Dosx
lh %SystemRoot%\System32\Nw16 (only if CSNW is installed)
lh %SystemRoot%\System32\Vwipxspx (only if CSNW is installed)

The registry entries that are associated with the NTVDM subsystem are:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session
Manager\Environment
This key stores the environment variables from the Config.sys and
Autoexec.bat files for use in Windows.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\ VirtualDeviceDrivers
This key stores the device drivers that are used in an NTVDM session.
Windows Setup creates these entries when a device driver is installed.
Read the article at Troubleshooting MS-DOS-Based Programs in Windows
(Q314106) for complete details as I am simply repeating what's already
available in the article.


Remove unnecessary Scheduled Tasks scan by Internet Explorer and make Internet Explorer Load faster

I read about this tip on internet at
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/o...livingston.xml.
This tips is about a bug in Windows OS (was originally present in Windows
2000 and I do see it in Windows XP as well) that causes Internet explorer
to search for Scheduled Tasks whenever your launch the Internet explorer
as a user. Microsoft has it documented in a knowledgebase article. Anyway
trick is to open registry and navigating to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current
Version\Explorer\RemoteComputer\NameSpace and then looking for shared
tasks ClassId key {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}. Simply delete it
and get out of registry. No need to reboot. Launch Internet Explorer and
see the difference. I noticed significant gains on my computer and I sure
bet you will as well.


Make Windows XP load frequently used programs in quickly accessible location

Windows XP is smart enough to analyze user behavior and adjust accordingly
(somewhat !) Important example is MRU list. Periodically (default is 3
days I think), XP would do some file movements to keep most actively used
programs in that part of the disk that are quickly accessible. (Believe me
all parts of disk are not the same,some are quicker to access and some are
not..its simple law of physics). Anyway if you want to do it at your will,
go to START-RUN and enter Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks and
start the reordering process.


Optimize your XP Pro system by tweaking service manager ? Remove unnecessary services !

This is important. You don't know how many services are started by your
service manager everytime you boot your system. There is a very strong
likelihood that some of these services are never of any use to you and as
such you never directly or indirectly use them. If so, why delay the boot
time and also degrade the system performance for no reason ! Stop this
services from starting automatically. Here is How-to ! Open service
manager by going to START-RUN and entering services.msc. Now in the right
pane, you would see a list of services some of them would be started and
others don't. Also they could be set to any of three status of start mode.
"Manual", "automatic" and "disabled". If you double Click on any of these
you would see detailed info on each of these. You have an option of
starting or stopping the services running on your computer. If you are
typical desktop user like most of us, it might be safe to disable and stop
following services. But still do understand it before you do it. Also some
of those listed below may not be available for you as well.
1. Portable Media Serial Number
2. DHCP Client
3. Distributed Link Tracking Client (Most likely you're not connected to a
Windows 2000 domain )
4. DNS Client ( Again you're not connecting to a specific DNS server on
your local network most of times)
5. FTP Publishing Service ( If you don't want your system to act as an FTP
server. I don't !)
6. IIS Admin Service ( You computer may not be a WWW server and as such no
need for this service )
7. IPSEC Policy Agent ( disable it if you're not connected to a Windows
2000 domain )
8. Messenger ( same reason...you may not be connected to a Windows 2000
domain )
9. Remote Registry Service (Typically you don't remotely access the
Registry of other systems )
10. RIP Service (If you are a typical home user, you don't need your
system to act as a router)
11. Run As Service ( This can also go since most likely you don't use any
applications that run as an alias )
12. World Wide Web Publishing Service ( If you are a not into web
publishing business,You don't need this as well)


Improve speed of of file search in WINDOWS XP PRO operating system.

If you have not already noticed, you soon will. Default search for a file
in Windows Explorer takes a long time to complete. Yes thats correct. I
had to wait for some time before I could do that when I was creating the
screen print of *.msc search on my computer (see the article on gpedit.msc
in list of tools link). Anyway bottom line is default search would be slow
in XP, In fact slower than even a Window 98 PC. But there is a reason for
it and couple of ways to tweak it. First the reason: One of the reasons
XP's default file search takes so long is it not only looks for file names
in your directories, it processes compressed (.zip and .cab) files,
looking for your filename inside of these zipped files! There are few ways
to improve your search.
Disable ZIP and CAB search:
This tip was brought to my attention by James Heinrich.

To disable Compressed Folders for zip files:
regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll
For CAB files:
regsvr32 /u cabview.dll
All of a sudden it goes so much faster, and no need for indexing service,
or weird searching limitations.
Can always be re-enabled afterwards with the same command, minus the/u
Set index service on:
You can further improve the search bye turning the index service on ! Well
it does not end here. You not only have to turn the index service on but
also has to follow many do's and don'ts. Here are some of them.
1: Never search by putting criteria in the "All or part of the file name"
box.
2. Enter your criteria in the "A word or phrase in the file" as described
below - no matter what you want to achieve !
TO SEARCH FOR A FILE BY NAME:
Your search criteria must begin with:
@filename
or
#filename
followed by all or part of the filename you are looking for and you must
put it in the "A word or phrase in the file: input area Wildcards * and/or
? are allowed:
TO SEARCH FOR A FILE BASED UPON A WORD OR PHRASE IN THE FILE:
Your search criteria must start with an exclamation mark
!yourcriteria
The exclamation mark forces use of the index. If the exclamation mark
isn't used, Search Companion will begin a slow file-by-file physical
search.


Troubled by IE crashing unexpectedly for no reason? Launch it in its own process.

If you have seen it happening, you must hate it. You are working on
something important (may be filling an application form, filing a tax
return, view sensitive data what not or may be just reading an interesting
site ) and out of no where an error is reported in iexplorer.exe and all
instances of Internet explorer closes out. Isn't this painful ? Well sure
it is , but what can you do (???) Well you can do some thing. Thats not
the perfect solution but may be a good workaround till we achieve
perfection. Open registry (by going to START-RUN and entering regedit) and
navigate to
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer] and
add a new string by the name "BrowseNewProcess" and set its value to
"yes". That all. Doing this would open your Internet Explorer Browser in a
separate process area of its own, and this would not shut down just
because there was a problem with another instance of Internet Explorer.
Hey this takes more memory but for those who can afford it offers a
solution.


Increasing number of connections per http server

Folks, HTTP Protocol limits number of maximum connections to a HTTP server
to 2. Following table explains restrictions placed by various HTTP
PROTOCOLS. This is the as per the RFC specifications.

1.HTTP 1.0 conforming server4 simultaneous connections
2.HTTP 1.1 conforming server2 simputaneous connections

Limitation caused by this is visible whenever your applications make calls
like HttpSendRequest and InternetOpenURL which take longer to complete as
they wait for previous connections to be freed up before their requests
are sent. You can configure WinInet to exceed this limit by creating and
setting the registry entries. Open registry (by going to START-RUN and
entering regedit) and navigate to
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet
Settings] and look for values of "MaxConnectionsPerServer" and
"MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server ". If you don't see then add two key by the
names "MaxConnectionsPerServer" and "MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server "
respectively. Default values are as
MaxConnectionsPerServer = 2
MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server = 4

Changes its value to a number you want. I read about this at
http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...b;EN-US;q183110

CAUTIONARY NOTE: By changing these settings you are causing WinInet to
break the HTTP protocol specification for your application and any other
WinInet applications running on your machine, including Internet Explorer.
You should only do this if absolutely necessary and then you should avoid
doing standard Web browsing while these settings are in effect


Run your Windows Desktop in its own process environment

This may take a little more memory but would make your Desktop more
stable. So this is more of a security tip. Security from other
applications running on your desktop. Open registry (by going to START-RUN
and entering regedit) and navigate to
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer] and
look for value of "DesktopProcess". If this is the first time, you may not
see this key and if so add the DWORD key by the name "DesktopProcess". Now
sets its value to 1


Run Windows Explorer in its own process. Avoid Total Explorer Crash

This will further secure your windows explorer from crash though not a
great idea if short on memory. Open registry by going to START-RUN and
entering regedit. Navigate to
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
. In this look for value of "SeparateProcess". If available set its value
to 1 and if not (which could be the case ) then add a DWORD key by the
name "SeparateProcess" and set its value to 1.


Set the "Launch folder windows in separate process"

Setting by opening the "My Computer\Tools\Folder Options\View -and tick the
"Launch folder windows in separate process" box.
Window XP will open any new window(including program) in its own memory and
in separate process priority.(increase stability and speed but use much more RAM than before)


Define a logical value for System Cache

Depending upon how you intend to use your computer (like a workstation or
server ), it may make sense to set the system cache. Open registry by
going to START-RUN and entering regedit. Navigate to
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session
Manager\Memory Management] . In this look for value of "LargeSystemCache".
If available, do one of the following:
If intention is to use the computer like a workstation, set its value to 0.
If intention is to use the computer like a server, set its value to 1.


Control parsing of autoexec.bat

In Window 3.1 autoexec.bat was one of the few choices of executing any app
at boot time. But its importance has gradually thinned. It is still
supported but you can pretty much do without it for most part. If you do
not need to parse the autoexec.bat (there may not be anything in it anyway
!), you can tell Windows XP to do that. Open registry by going to
START-RUN and entering regedit. Navigate to
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
. In this look for value of "ParseAutoexec". If available, do one of the
following:
If you want to disable parsing of autoexec.bat, set its value to 0.
If you want to enable parsing of autoexec.bat, set its value to 1.


Automatically kill non-responding application at shutdown

Remember this ! It happens to all of us invariably sometime or the other
no matter what you do. Don't you hate waiting for those extra seconds and
then simply responding yes to the windows query. Well you have a remedy.
You can tell Windows XP to automatically close all non responding windows.
Open registry by going to START-RUN and entering regedit. Navigate to
[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktopn] . In this look for value of
"AutoEndTasks". If available, do one of the following:
If you want to enable automatic killing of non responding tasks, set its
value to 1. to disable it set it back to 0.


How to improve on shutdown time ? Close apps automatically & quickly at shutdown

Open Registry by going to START-RUN and typing REGEDIT. Navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\CONTROL PANEL\DESKTOP and look for AutoEndTasks. On my
computer default value is 0. Change it to 1. Thats all. Further more you
can reduce the time it takes for Windows to issue kill directive to all
active/hung applications. In doing this only constraint that you should
make sure exists is that HungAppTimeout is greater than
WaitToKillAppTimeout. Change the values of WaitToKillAppTimeout to say
3500 (since default value for HungAppTimeout 5000 and for
WaitToKillAppTimeout is 20000)

MCTarakan добавил 16-03-2003 в 00:47:36:
Improve Shutdown. Lets not save your active session's settings on exit

If you Don't care which windows app was located where when you are
shutting down the system, this tip may in fact help improve the shutdown
time a bit (a bit not too much)..Simply inform windows not to save the
settings at exit time. To do this , open registry by going to START-RUN
and entering regedit. Navigate to
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
. In this look for value of "NoSaveSettings". If available, do one of the
following:
If you want to enable no save on exit, set its value to 1 else to save on
exit. set it back to 0.


AutoReboot whenever Windows XP experiences BSOD (Blue Screen of Death!)

Since Windows XP is touted as most reliable Windows XP ever, you do not
need this trick!. Well I am somewhat kidding. There is nothing in this
world that is foolproof. I have faced this twice so far. To make windows
reboot instead of producing the cryptic dump, open registry by going to
START-RUN and entering regedit. Navigate to
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl] . In
this look for value of "AutoReboot". Setting its value to 1 will activate
Autoreboot. By default this is the value on my system but just in case if
you have a 0,set it to 1.


Customize task bar grouping

This is a customizing tip. If you want to change the default number of
grouping in task bar do this.Open registry by going to START-RUN and
entering regedit. Navigate to
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
. In this look for value of "TaskbarGroupSize". You can set it to any
value you want. Default is 3.


How to use program aliases ?

You can use program aliases to run actual program. Well there are ways to
hide actual program name. Not sure what's the good use for this tip but
here it is anyway

In regedit, navigate to
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths].
To create a new alias, create a sub-key, and call it the name of the alias
you wish to create. Then modify the Default value of the sub-key to equal
the fully qualified path and filename of the application you want to be
launched.


Change alignment of Start Menu panel.

This is a customizing tip. If you have noticed, START MENU PANEL has all
the entries aligned to left. Well that's not a cause of concern but may be
you are one of those who want it to be the other way, say you want it to
align to right. This can be done by a quick registry tweak. In regedit,
navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop] and look for key
"MenuDropAlignment". Set its value to 1 to align the menu entry to right
or if you did not like the idea of entries aligned to right, set it back
to 0 for align back to left which is the Default XP behavior.


How to change the text in START Button in task bar ?

I have received many emails from users on this topic. In Windows XP Pro,
you can change your Start button and you are not even restricted with 5
characters as it used to be the case in previous version of Windows but
the process itself of modifiying the start button is a bit more tedious
than what it used to be. Anyways, gist of act is to modify your
1. First of all, make a backup of your explorer.exe This is one of the
most important executables of your operating system and incase you make a
mistake, you should have its backup to fall back on to ! You will see this
file in C:\Windows directory. Go there, make a copy and change its name to
something you remember like "explorerold.exe or explorer.old".
2. Download a freeware called ResourceHacker by going to
http://www.rpi.net.au/~ajohnson/resourcehacker
3. Now, lauch resource hacker and locate your explorer.exe by going to
c:\windows. Now go to String Table>37>1033. This is where the START text
is located. Change it whatever you would like....
4. Once done with the changing START button text, click on the button
called "Compile Script". Now its time to save the changes. Important: Save
the file as explorer_modified.exe (or something similar). You can not save
it as explorer.exe as file is in use as you are exploring the directories
etc etc.
5. All right, reboot the computer and boot into safe mode in command
prompt environment (at boot time press 'F8' a few times...) and log in as
administrator.
6. Now all that you need to do is to copy the modified explorer file to
original one.
Type this at command prompt "copy c:\windows\explorer_modified.exe to
c:\windows\explorer.exe" (without quotes)
7. Reboot your computer as you would normally do.

If you have followed the steps correctly, you should have new explorer by
now.


Customize windows explorer's Default search

This is a customizing tip. If you want to customize your windows explorer
search here are some tips. In regedit, navigate to
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer] and
look for following keys
"CaseSensitive"
"IncludeSubFolders"
"SearchHidden"
"SearchSlowFiles"
"SearchSystemDirs"
Key names are self revealing. If you want a CaseSensitive search set its
value to 1 else 0. This is the technique, if you prefer to enable any of
the above feature, set its value to 1 else set it back to 0.


Control Scrolling or Cascading behavior of Start Menu

If there are more items in Start-Program menu than can be shown in a
single screen, then windows has to do either scrolling or cascading effect
to display rest of the items. You can tell Windows what to do by doing
this:
In regedit, navigate to
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
and look for key "StartMenuScrollPrograms". You may not find it there if
this is your first time. In this case, create a new STRING key
"StartMenuScrollPrograms" and set its value to "YES" to enable scrolling
or "NO" for the cascading effect.


How to enable/disable thumbnail cache

For performance reason, Windows explorer stores thumbnail of pictures in a
cache. This is good but there is a problem. Some time caching mechanism
would show incorrect pictures just because update process is not
instantaneous. If you want to have thumbnail pictures refreshed every time
(mind you, this would be an additional load on your CPU resources), do
this:
In regedit, navigate to
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
and look for key "DisableThumbnailCache". You may not find it there if
this is your first time. In this case, create a new DWORD key
"DisableThumbnailCache" and set its value to 1 to disable caching
mechanism.


How to kill the IE About windows that popup from time to time

There is an Internet Explorer vulnerability to which allows some web sites
to open a hidden popup tracking minimized window either upon your first
visit or when you leave their web site or even when you close your browser
while one of their web pages is still displayed. They do this by using the
little known "about :" browser built-in command into their HTML/DHTML/XML
code. Sometimes this window Go undetected as these are not resizable as
you come to expect of a typical window app. If you do not have anything
specific with www.about.com, there could be a registry tweak that you can
do. Run the Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE) by going to START-RUN and type
regedit and navigate to
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Internet Settings\ZoneMap\ProtocolDefaults]
and add two DWORD keys"about" and "about :" and set its value to 4.


What is Master Bood Record ? How to fix problems with master boot record

So what is Master Boot Record (MBR)? Master boot record is the first
sector of the disk that is accessed by you computer BIOS as soon as it
boots up. So what does it mean ? It means that your ability to boot to a
particular operating system depends upon the correctness of Master Bood
Record. If you have ever installed two or more operating system, your
ability to select an operating system is controlled by master boot record.
Assume if you are not able to boot due to your dislike of the changes in
boot loader process or corruption in MBR (btw, this could happen for a
variety of reasons, right from virus to your own experiments with multi
boot process.. I have seen this happening a lot on my PC since I have a
dual cpu system with Mandrake 8.1 on one partition and Windows XP on
another with Mandrake graphical Master Boot Menu ) you have to correct the
master boot record.
Assuming you are in Windows XP, you have to put WINDOWS XP CD in your
drive and make it reboot next time in recovery console.
1. Simplest way to do this would be to would be to navigate to START-RUN
and type D:\i386\winnt /cmdcons (D: is the CDROM drive in my computer) and
let the process finish and reboot.
2. Once rebooted, system would prompt you to choose recovery console and
chose it by entering proper menu id number (by default should be 1). Once
console is loaded do enter this command FIXMBR /device/harddisk0 (where
harddisk0 refers to C: drive where WINDOWS XP is installed by default).
This would fix your master boot record to default XP boot. By the way
FIXMBR command is only available from recovery console. What to know more
about FIXMBR, visit Microsoft TechNet site

If you have followed the instructions correctly, you are done.


How to write a new partition boot sector to the system partition

Are you look for a way to correct the partition boot sector, here is a
quick fix. You have to put WINDOWS XP CD in your reboot the computer next
time in recovery console. Here are the steps after you put your XP CD and
boot into recovery console (Choose R for Recovery console when Windows XP
setup disk starts)
1. Once console is loaded do enter this command FIXBOOT C:\ where C: is the
hard disk drive where WINDOWS XP is installed by default). To know more
about FIXBOOT options, click here to visit Microsoft Technet site


Improve NTFS Performance

The NTFS file system is the recommended file system because of its advantages in terms
of reliability and security and because it is required for large drive sizes.
However, these advantages come with some overhead. You can modify some functionality to
improve NTFS performance as follows:

1. Disable creation of short names. By default, NTFS generates the style of file name that
consists of eight characters, followed by a period and a three-character extension for
compatibility with MS-DOS and Microsoft® Windows® 3.x clients. If you are not supporting
these types of clients, you can turn off this setting by changing the default value of the
NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation registry entry
(in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Filesystem) to 1.

2. Disable last access update. By default NTFS updates the date and time stamp of the last
access on directories whenever it traverses the directory. For a large NTFS volume, this update
process can slow performance. To disable automatic updating, change the value of the
NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate registry entry
(in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentContolSet\Control\Filesystem) to 1.
If the entry is not already present in the registry, add it before setting the value.
(Add it as a REG_DWORD)

3. Reserve appropriate space for the master file table. Add the NtfsMftZoneReservation entry
to the registry as a REG_DWORD in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem.
When you add this entry to the registry, the system reserves space on the volume for the master
file table. Reserving space in this manner allows the master file table to grow optimally.
If your NTFS volumes generally contain relatively few files that are typically large, set value
of this registry entry to 1 (the default). Typically you can use a value of 2 or 3 for moderate
numbers of files, and 4 (the maximum) if your volumes tend to contain a relatively large number
of files. However, be sure to test any settings greater than 2 because these higher values
cause the system to reserve a much larger portion of the disk for the master file table.

Reboot after making changes.


Easily Disable Messenger

Go into: C:/Program Files/Messenger. Rename the Messenger folder to "MessengerOFF"