Credit goes to Position from GzP -To Increase System Performance Right click my computer. Click properties. Click advanced. Click settings (under performance). Click Adjust for best performance. Scroll to the bottom and check the last one “use visual styles on windows and buttons”. -How to Disable XP's crap built in CD Burner Click the start button. Select Run. Type services.msc and click ok. Go to IMAPI CD-Burning Com Services open it and click on start up type, change to "Disabled". -Fine Tune Your Systems Memory These Settings will fine tune your systems memory You need at least 256MB of ram to do this: Go to Start > Run then type in 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 Kernal to Run in memory and improves system performance a lot. 3.IOPageLockLimit - Create a new dword and name it double click it and set the value in hex - 4000 if you have 128MB of ram or set it to 10000 if you have 256MB set it to 40000 if you have more than 512MB of ram -this tweak will speed up your disckcache. Reboot -Unable to delete from Avi files from HD XP holds files in it's memory even after you have closed the application using them making it impossible to delete them from your harddrive. To fix this: Start -> Run -> Regedit Find the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.avi\shel lex\PropertyHandl er\ directory and delete the "DEFAULT" key. -Tweak The Swap File For Users with 256 MB RAM or more this tweak will boost their Windows- and Game-Performance. What it does: It tells Windows not to use any Swap File until there is really no more free RAM left. Open the System Configuration Utility by typing msconfig.exe in the RUNConservativeSwapfileUsage =1" under the 386enh section. Restart your Windows and enjoy better Game performance command. There in your System.ini you have to add " -Disable Services XP Pro runs a lot of services by default that are pointless if your not on a corporate network, the following services are ones that I safely disable thereby freeing up memory but check what each one does first to make sure your not using it for something: Go to Run and type services.msc, right click on each service, properties and choose disable. Alerter Application Layer Gateway Service, Application Management Automatic Updates Background Intelligent Transfer Clipbook Distributed Link Tracking Client Distributed Transaction Coordinater Error Reporting Service Fast User Switching Compatibility IMAPI CD-Burning Indexing Service IPSEC Services Messenger Net Logon Net Meeting Remote Desktop Sharing Network DDE Network DDE DSDM Portable Media Serial Number Remote Desktop Help Session Manager Remote Registry Secondary Logon Smartcard SSDP Discovery Service Telnet Themes Uninterruptible Power Supply Universal Plug and Play Device Host Upload Manager Webclient Wireless Zero Configuration WMI Performance Adaptor -Speed Up The File System NTFS is a great file system, but its feature-set comes at a slight cost in performance. You can negate this a little with the following tips: * By default NTFS will automatically update timestamps whenever a directory is traversed. This isn't a necessary feature, and it slows down large volumes. Disable it by going to Run and type regedit: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM \CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem and set 'DisableNTFSLastAccessUpd ate' to 1. * NTFS uses disparate master file control tables to store filesystem information about your drives. Over time these core MFT files grow and become fragmented, slowing down all accesses to the drive. By setting aside a little space, MFT's can grow without becoming fragmented. In the same key where you disabled the last access feature creat a new DWORD value called 'NtfsMftZoneReservation' and set it to 2. -Disable DLL Caching Windows Explorer caches DLLs (Dynamic-Link Libraries) in memory for a period of time after the application using them has been closed. This can be an inefficient use of memory. 1. Find the key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWA RE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Explorer]. 2. Create a new DWORD sub-key named 'AlwaysUnloadDLL' and set the default value to equal '1' to disable Windows caching the DLL in memory. 3. Restart Windows for the change to take effect. -Tweak The Prefetch 1. Run "Regedit" 2. Goto [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM \CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParame ters\EnablePrefetcher] 3. Set the value to either 0-Disable, 1-App launch prefetch, 2-Boot Prefetch, 3-Both ("3" is recommended). 4. Reboot. It will decrease the boot time but double and increase the performance of your XP. -SpeedUp Your Connection By 20% (Cable Users Only) 1.Log on as "Administrator". 2. Run - gpedit.msc 3. Expand the "Local Computer Policy" branch. 4. Then expand the "Administrative Templates" branch. 5. Expand the "Network" branch. 6. Highlight the "QoS Packet Scheduler" in left pane. 7. In the right window pane double-click the "Limit Reservable Bandwidth" setting. 8. On the settings tab check the "Enabled" item. 9. Change "Bandwidth limit %" to read 0. 10. Then go to your Network connections Start=>Control Panel>Network & Internet connections>Network Connections and right-click on your connection. Then under the General or the Networking tab, (where it lists your protocols) make sure QoS packet scheduler is enabled. It may take effect immediately on some systems. To be sure, just re-boot. -Performance Increase Through My Computer Easy enough tweak to usually find out about it on your own, but still, some of us still don't find it right away. So here it is: Start > right-click on My Computer and select Properties. Click on the "Advanced" tab. See the "Performance" section? Click "Settings". Disable the following: Fade or slide menus into view Fade or slide ToolTips into view Fade out menu items after clicking Show Shadows under menus Slide open combo boxes Slide taskbar buttons Use a background image for each folder type Use common tasks in folders There, now Windows will still look nice and perform faster. -Remove Windows Messenger Go to Start/Run, and type: "rundll32 setupapi,InstallHinfSection BLC.Remove 128 %SystemRoot%INFmsmsgs.inf" Do Not Highlight Newly Installed Programs Tired of that annoying little window that pops up to tell you that new software is installed? If it gets in the way when you?re logging off, turn it off completely. To do this: Click Start, right-click at the top of the Start menu where your name is displayed, and then click Properties. In the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box, on the Start Menu tab, click Customize. Click the Advanced tab, and then clear the Highlight newly installed programs check box. Click OK, and then click OK again. -Customize the Start menu The Start menu gets more real estate in XP than in previous versions, and it's more customizable. To make the Start menu display only the applications you want, rather than the default determined by Microsoft: Right-click in an empty section of the Start menu's left column. Select Properties > Start Menu > Customize. Here you'll find a list of your most frequently used programs. (XP keeps track of what you use and what you don't, then updates this list dynamically). Don't want your boss to know that Pinball, Solitaire, and Quake all make your list? Go to the General tab, click Clear List, and set the counter to zero. - Search Companion Error When doing a file search, if you get the error A File That Is Required to Run Search Companion Cannot Be Found Log on as an Administrator Click Start Select Run Enter in the command - %systemroot%\inf Right-click the Srchasst.inf file Click Install -Installing the Backup Program on the Home Version By default, the NTBACKUP program is not installed on the home version. You can find it on the CD in the \VALUEADD\MSFT\NTBACKUP directory Since not all vendors include the actual source code for XP, you can download a copy -Changing Drive Letters If you want to change the letters assigned to your fixed or removable drives: Right Click on My Computer Select Manage Select Disk Management For a Fixed Disk: Select it Right click Select Change Drive Letter and Path Click on the Edit button Enter in the letter you want to use For a Removable Disk: In the lower, right hand panel, right click on the Disk or CD ROM # Select Change Drive Letter and Path Click on the Edit button Enter in the letter you want to use - Turn off the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer as the Default Image Viewer You can also change the file associations for the specific file types you want. Open the Windows Explorer Go to Tools / Folder Options / File Types Scroll down to the extension you want to change Click on the Change button Select the program you want to associate with that extension Click on the OK button If the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer is set as the default for many of your graphic file types, you can remove it so other graphics programs can be used. Run Regedit Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT / SystemFileAssociations / image / ShellEx / ContextMenuHandlers Delete the key ShellImagePreview Download reg file -Allowing Network Access with Blank Passwords Although you can log in locally without a password, by default, WindowsXP Pro does not allow network users to access the computer without a password. Typically you will receive an Unknown error 31 if this is the case. To change this setting: Run gpedit.msc Go to Computer Configuration / Windows Settings / Security Settings / Local Policies / Security Options Double click on Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to console login only Disable this option -Changing the Default DOS Window Properties If you want to change the default DOS windows properties like: Size Color Font Buffer Size Window / Full Screen Open up a DOS window Right click on the Title Bar Select Defaults Make any of the changes you like All subsequent DOS windows will assume these defaults -Changing the Registered Owner Start Regedit HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion From there you can edit the name in the Registered Owner key -Opening a Command Prompt to a Particular Directory from Explorer If you want to open a command prompt to a directory that is selected in the Explorer: Start Regedit Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Directory \ shell Create a new key called Command Give it the value of the name you want to appear in the Explorer. Something like Open DOS Box Under this create a new key called command Give it a value of cmd.exe /k "cd %L" Now when you are in the Explorer, right click on a folder, select Open DOS Box, and a command prompt will open to the selected directory. Download reg file -Adding Time Servers With WindowsXP, you can double-click on the time in the System Tray and connect to Time Servers on the Internet to synchronize with. To add to the list of available servers: Start Regedit Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\DateTime\Servers Add new string keys named 2, 3, etc. with a value of the time server you want to use. -Creating a Boot Floppy To create a bootable floppy from within WindowsXP: Insert a floppy into the A: drive Open the Explorer Right click on the A: Drive Select Format Check Create an MS-DOS startup disk Click on the Start button This will create a Millennium boot disk -Changing the Login Screen Saver If you want to change the screen saver that runs at the login prompt: Start Regedit Go to HK_USERS / .DEFAULT / Control Panel / Desktop Double click on SCRNSAVE.EXE Enter in the screen saver you want to use -Running NetMeeting To run NetMeeting: Do a Start / Run Enter conf Answer the prompts along the way for name, e-mail etc. -Set the Online Registration as Being Completed You can set WindowsXP to assume the online registration has been completed. Run Regedit Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion Create a String Value called RegDone Give it a value of 1 Download reg file -Decreasing Boot Time Microsoft has made available a program to analyze and decrease the time it takes to boot to WindowsXP The program is called BootVis Uncompress the file. Run BOOTVIS.EXE For a starting point, run Trace / Next Boot + Driver Delays This will reboot your computer and provide a benchmark After the reboot, BootVis will take a minute or two to show graphs of your system startup. Note how much time it takes for your system to load (click on the red vertical line) Then run Trace / Optimize System Re-Run the Next Boot + Drive Delays Note how much the time has decreased Mine went from approximately 39 to 30 seconds. -Re-Enabling System Restore If you previously disabled system restore through the Group Policy Editor, the option to start it again does not show in the System Properties. You can re-enable it again by: Run the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) Go to Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / System / System Restore Set Turn off System Restore and Turn off Configuration to Disable Right click on My Computer Select Manage Go to Services and Applications / Services Scroll down to System Restore Service Set it for Automatic Click on the Start button to start the service Close down this window Go back to the Group Policy Editor and configure both to Not configured Now when you right click on My Computer, there should be a tab for System Restore and you can configure how much space will be used. -Hide/Unhide Logon Names If you want to hide or unhide the names of users that are displayed on the initial logon screen: Start Regedit Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon \ SpecialAccounts \ UserList Add a DWORD with the name of the user account you want to hide Make sure it has a value of 0 If there is an existing account, you can unhide it by giving it a value of 1 -Speed up start menu Start -> Run -> regedit HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop and then right click on ""MenuShowDelay" and click on "Modify", the figure you have here is in milliseconds. The standard is 400, I have mine set to 50, 0 is instant. Take your pick Credit goes to Position from GzP
You may want to add a disclaimer, because you are having people edit the registry. If they happen to delte something they arent supposed to, they can mess up XP seriously. Just a suggestion.
