Jason's PC Passion

How to do things
Home
Main Parts of your Computer
Troubleshooting
Window Basics
About Us
Humour
Keeping it Clean
How to do things
Software
Peripherals
Memory and Storage
Links
PC Talk

Downloading

Get rid of windows messenger

Start->Run->"gpedit.msc""
-Computer Configuration
-Administrative Templates
-Windows Components
-Windows Messenger

Here you can enable "Do not allow Windows Messenger to be run" and "Do not automatically start Windows Messenger initially"

Remove Shared Documents

Open Regedit(Start- Run- Regedit) and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Explorer My Computer NameSpace DelegateFolders

There will see a sub-key named {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. By Deleting this you can remove the 'Other Files stored on This Computer' group.

Reduce Temporary Internet File Space

The temporary internet files clutter your hard drive with copies of each page visited. These can build up over time and take up disk space. Even more bothersome is that instead of getting new pages each time IE often takes the page out the temp internet files. This can be a problem if you are viewing a website that is updated all the time. If you are on a slow connection such as a 56K or lower then this can be good but if you are on a fast broadband connection, like me, then you can get away with decreasing the size of your temp internet files to just one meg without any performance decrease.

Launch Internet Explorer.
Select the Tools from the menu bar.
Then select Internet Options... from the drop down menu.
Once the internet options has loaded click on the general tab.
Under the temporary internet files section click the settings button.
A settings window will load. Slide the slider all the way to the left so the size indicated in the text box on the right is one.
Click OK
Click Ok

Turn Off System Recovery

Right click on My Computer and choose Properties. Click on the System Restore tab and check the box Turn off System Restore. (This will increase Windows performance & save disk space)

Enable / Disable Firewall

Open Control Panel and double click on Network Connections. In the new box that appears right click on the Connection and click on the Advanced tab. Check or uncheck the box according to your desire.

Win XP Won’t Completely Shutdown

- Goto Control Panel, then goto Power Options.
- Click on the APM Tab, then check the "Enable Advanced Power Management support."
- Shut down your PC. It should now successfully complete the Shut Down process.

WinXP Clear Page file on shutdown

Go to Control Panel - Administrative tools - local security policy - local policies - security options. Change the option for "Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile" from disabled to enabled.

Turn off Hibernation

Control Panel - Screen Saver - Power-Hibernate Tab - uncheck the hibernation box - reboot and hiberfil.sys is no more.

Adjust various visual effects

1. Open up the control panel
2. Go under system and click on the advanced tab
3. Click settings under Performance options
4. You can now change various graphical effects (mainly animations and shadows)

Disable error reporting

  1. Open Control Panel
  2. Click on Performance and Maintenance.
  3. Click on System.
  4. Then click on the Advanced tab
  5. Click on the error-reporting button on the bottom of the windows.
  6. Select Disable error reporting.
  7. Click OK
  8. Click OK

Remove shortcut arrow from desktop icons

Here's how you can remove those shortcut arrows from your desktop icons in Windows XP.

1. Start regedit.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile
3. Delete the IsShortcut registry value.

You may need to restart Windows XP.

Easy sendto menu modification

first open - X:\Documents and Settings\username\SendTo\ (it is hidden) where X is your drive letter and username is your username make and delete shortcuts to folders at will

Enable Clear Type

Easy way- Click on or cut and paste link below:

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/cleartypeactivate.htm?fname=%20&fsize=

or

- Right click on a blank area of the Desktop and choose Properties
- Click on the Appearance Tab; Click effects
- Check the box: Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts
- In the drop down box select: Clear Type

Turn of CD Auto Play

- Open My Computer
- Right click on your CD ROM and choose Properties
- Click on the Auto Play tab
- In the drop down box you can choose the Action for each choice shown in the drop down box

Or

1. Go to Start->Run->gpedit.msc
2. Computer Config -> Administrative Template -> System
3. Double click Turn off Autoplay
4. Enable it.

Getting MP3 ripping to work in Windows Media Player 8 in XP

Enter the following in the registry :

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Settings\MP3Encoding]
"LowRate"=dword:0000dac0
"MediumRate"=dword:0000fa00
"MediumHighRate"=dword:0001f400
"HighRate"=dword:0002ee00

This corresponds to 56, 64, 128 and 192 Kbps.

You can change this to your liking using the following dword hex values :

320 Kbps = dword:0004e200
256 Kbps = dword:0003e800
224 Kbps = dword:00036b00
192 Kbps = dword:0002ee00
160 Kbps = dword:00027100
128 Kbps = dword:0001f400
112 Kbps = dword:0001b580
64 Kbps = dword:0000fa00
56 Kbps = dword:0000dac0

Increase BROADBAND:

this ones simple:
this is for broad band connections. I didn’t try it on dial up but might work for dial up.
1.make sure your logged on as actually "Administrator". do not log on with any account that just has administrator privileges.
2. start - run - type gpedit.msc
3. expand the "local computer policy" branch
4. expand the "administrative templates" branch
5. expand the "network branch"
6. Highlight the "QoS Packet Scheduler" in left window
7. in right window double click the "limit reservable bandwidth" setting
8. on setting tab check the "enabled" item
9. where it says "Bandwidth limit %" change it to read 0
reboot if you want to but not necessary on some systems your all done. Effect is immediate on some systems. some need re-boot. I have one machine that needs to reboot first, the others didn't. Don't know why this is.

This is more of a "counter what XP does" thing. In other words, XP seems to want to reserve 20% of the bandwidth for its self. Even with QoS disabled, even when this item is disabled. So why not use it to your advantage. To demonstrate the problem with this on stand alone machines start up a big download from a server with an FTP client. Try to find a server that doesn't max out your bandwidth. In this case you want a slow to medium speed server to demonstrate this. Let it run for a couple of minutes to get stable. The start up another download from the same server with another instance of your FTP client. You will notice that the available bandwidth is now being fought over and one of the clients download will be very slow or both will slow down when they should both be using the available bandwidth. Using this "tweak" both clients will have a fair share of the bandwidth and will not fight over the bandwidth.

How to do Things

Input: Information and programs are entered into the computer through Input devices such as the keyboard, disks, or through other computers via network connections or modems connected to the Internet. The input device also retrieves information off disks.

Output: Output Devices displays information on the screen (monitor) or the printer and sends information to other computers. They also display messages about what errors may have occurred and brings up message or dialog box asking for more information to be input. The output device also saves information on the disk for future use.

Processing: The CPU or central processing unit is sometimes called the Control Unit and directs the operation of the input and output devices. The Coprocessor or the Arithmetic-Logic Unit does arithmetic and comparisons. The memory or RAM temporarily stores information (files and programs) while you are using or working on them. The BIOS or basic input/output system controls the dialogue between the various devices.

Keyboard Layout and Data Entry

ENTER or RETURN - Moves the cursor down one line and to the left margin. Enter also process commands such as choosing an option in a dialog (message) boxes and submitting a form.

DEL or DELETE - Deletes the character at cursor and/or characters to the right of the cursor and all highlighted (or selected) text.

BKSP or BACKSPACE - Deletes the character to the left of cursor and all hightlighted text.

SPACE BAR - Moves the cursor one space at a time to the right

SHIFT KEY - Use the shift keys to type capital letters and to type the upper character on keys with two characters on them

CAPS LOCK - Locks the keyboard so it types capital letters (a light goes on when caps lock is on)

TAB - Moves the cursor five spaces to the right (number of spaces are usually adjustable). Tab moves to the next field in a form or table (Shift-Tab for previous field).

ESC or ESCAPE - Cancels a menu or dialog box

ARROW KEYS - Moves the cursor around document without changing text

FUNCTION KEYS or F KEYS - Access commands by themselves or in combination with the three command  keys; CTRL, SHIFT, and ALT

Keyboard Function KeysTab KeyCaps LockLeft Control or CTRL KeyLeft Alternate or Alt KeyArrow KeysDelete KeyInsert KeyBackspace or BKSP KeyEnter KeyHome KeyEnd KeySpace BarRight Alternative or Alt KeyRight Control or CTRL KeyRight Shift KeyEscape KeyLeft Shift KeyPage or PG Up KeyPage Down KeyNumber PadLock IndicatorsAlphanumeric and Symbol KeysPrint Screen Key (copies screen to clipboard in Windows)Scroll Lock KeyPause/Break Key

Command or Special Keys

Command keys normally do nothing on their own but work in combination with other keys. Each piece of software uses the command keys differently though there is a move to standardize some functions. The Control key or Ctrl is often used to access commands. The Alternative key or Alt is often used to access menus. The Shift key is used to type CAPITAL LETTERS. As well the command keys are all used to move through documents and edit text faster and easier. As well many computers have Special keys design specifically for the particular computer. Apple computers have the Apple keys and Macs have Command keys. Many keyboards now have a Windows key specifically for Windows 9x and newer systems. Many older computers also have special keys used for a variety of different functions.

Some Notebook or Laptop keys are left out because of space limitations and they usually have a Special function key which allows other keys to double for the missing ones.

Basic Typing Rules

Place one space between each word, after a punctuation mark and at the end of a sentence. Always start a sentence with a capital letter. Use capitals for names, addresses, provinces and countries, places, organizations, businesses, associations, schools, colleges, universities, days of the week, months, holidays, nationalities, ethnic groups and languages.

Learning the keyboard is the first step to learning computers. Learning involves practice. It really is as simple as that. There are two kinds of typing.

The first is called Touch Typing. The Touch Typist uses the Home Keys (asdf for the left hand and jkl; for the right) and all the fingers on both hands as well as the thumbs for the Space Bar while typing. There are many commercial and public domain programs that are designed to teach this method.

The other method is some times called 'Hunt and Peck' or depending on finger strength 'Search and Destroy'. This involves using one or more fingers on one or two hands to type. It is a perfectly acceptable way of using a computer and many people get along fine with this technique.

For Beginners
 
  • Right-click on everything. You can't really do any damage with the right mouse button in Windows, because it's designed only to show a context menu (a list of options appropriate for the selected object). One of the options is usually Properties, which gives you access to lots of settings and information.

  • Your mouse tells you what's happening. Look closely at your mouse cursor while you're moving it around - it's not always an arrow. For example, when you're dragging a file, Windows gives you a clue as to what's going to happen when you drop it depending on what's currently underneath the cursor.

  • Help is near. Pressing F1 in most situations will either display detailed instructions or brief descriptions of the controls. The help has a search feature, too, allowing you to find desired information by typing in a keyword.

  • Explorer is called Explorer for a reason. Don't be afraid to browse your hard disk. Look in all your folders, and try all the programs in the Start Menu. Explore!

  • Use Shortcuts. A shortcut is a little file that lets you open a program without having to find the program on your hard disk. You can make a shortcut for any program, document, drive, or folder by draging and dropping the icon onto the destkop with the right mouse button. See the next section for another use for shortcuts.

  • Edit your Start Menu. You can fully customize your start menu - don't bother with the Taskbar Settings, though. Open the Windows Explorer, and open the Start Menu folder under your Windows directory. All the files and folders inside the Start Menu folder are mirrored in the actual Start Menu. You can drag-drop program icons into the start menu folder, just as easily as making new folders by using the right mouse button.

  • The Desktop is a folder. The desktop is a folder (aka directory) on your hard disk, just like any other. It's located under your Windows directory (usually C:\Windows\Desktop\), and can contain files, folders, and shortcuts. The desktop is a good place to store newly downloaded files from the internet, email attachments, and other "recent" files.

  • ZIP files. You'll notice that Windows Annoyances, among other sites on the World Wide Web, allow you to download various types of software. More often than not, this software is compressed into a ZIP file. A single ZIP file can contain an entire directory of files, while only occupying a fraction of the disk space. This definitely helps to reduce download time, but you'll need to obtain the program used to deal with such files. DOS users can use PKZip, and Windows users can use WinZip to extract ZIP files.

  • Maintenance. Windows comes with two maintenance utilities, Scandisk and Disk Defragmenter. Scandisk is used to find and correct many types of errors on your hard disk, and Disk Defragmenter is used to "optimize" your files (rearrange them so they aren't broken up). Using each of these on a regular basis (such as once a week) will not only improve performance, but will decrease the likelyhood of a disk crash or other loss of important data.

  • Drivers are important. A driver is a software program that's used to help your computer work with a particular piece of hardware, such as a sound card or scanner. Many problems and errors in Windows are caused by buggy or outdated drivers. If you're having trouble, make sure you contact the manufacturer to see if they have any newer drivers for your hardware.

 

Customisation Tips & Tricks:

Once you have XP on your Hdd then there are a few things that you should try to make sure you get the most out off it.

  1. Get Up to Date Drivers: First off make sure you install all of your motherboards/Device(s) drivers (try and get the most recent from your relevant sites). Once you have done this then (if you have a legal copy of XP) you should go to the windows update site and download all the fixes and updates. If you have a copy then you can still get the updates from a cover disc from most computer magazines with the XP service packs on it. Be aware that service pack 1 will disable the leaked version of Win XP Pro (that’s the one with the FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8 serial number), if you are using this copy which I think most people are then do not install SP1unless you have the guide and cracks to do it. Once they are installed, then you should install the most recent drivers for your Graphix Card. Next install drivers for your other devices if needed i.e. Modem, Nic, Sound etc.
  2. No Icons on my Desktop. As you can see there are no icons on your desktop and everything is accessed through the Start bar. If your not comfy with this then go to the Start bar and right click on the icons that you wish to be on the desktop and choose show on desktop from the drop down menu that appears.
  3. Windows won’t shut down. Right click on your My Computer icon and choose Properties from the drop down menu. The System Properties box opens. Choose the Hardware Tab at the top and select the Device Manager button. Check in Device Manager that all devices are installed and there are no conflicts. To double check go to views at the top and select show hidden devices. If you see the NT ATM / Legacy Interface mode with a red cross on it. Double click it and on the screen that appears at the bottom choose enable from the drop down menu. Otherwise you will have problems when you try and shut down.
  4. Protect your details: Download XP-AntiSpy program. It’s small and won’t take long. Run it and select all the little hidden registry settings to stop XP informing Microsoft of your details.
  5. Auto Logon If you use a password: Click Start /Run. Type, control userpasswords2 and click Ok. On the Users tab, clear the "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" check box and click "Apply". A dialog will appear that asks you what user name and password should be used to logon automatically, just click "OK". (Unless you are using a user name & password, then type them in and apply it). Next go to Control Panel / User Accounts, and click "Change the way users log on or off", and un tick both "Use the Welcome Screen" and "Use Fast User Switching". If you are using a user name & password, go to Start/Control Panel/User Accounts and choose to supply a password the same as the one you typed. Ok it. Now you have auto logon to save you typing a username & password every time you boot. (COOL).
  6. Increase your swap file (Virtual Memory) size for faster performance all round if you have 256Mb or less memory in your system. Rule of thumb is 1.5 x 256Mb if you are less than 256 then multiply by 2.5. Go to My Computer icon & right click choose Properties. Click the Performance tab. Click Advanced tab. Where it tells you Virtual Memory total size click the Change button. In both Max & Min boxes type 384 (assuming you have 256Mb ram) and then click the Set button Apply it and next time you reboot you should have a zippier puter. Note: this only works if you have a spare 384mb on your C:drive you should really have about 800Mb free before trying this. You can put your swap file on any partition you wish.
  7. Download Cpuidle (Works mostly on T-Birds and Durons) install it to keep your Processor as cool as possible. Why? Well the hotter your CPU gets then your puter will be more prone to crashing (blue screening). This happens when you are using processor intensive applications like GAMES. So do yourself a favour and download it. It will help the longevity of your CPU as well. If your cpu temp goes above 50 °C then you could be looking at a new CPU and possibly a Mobo as well.
  8. Motherboard Monitor. If the above paragraph concerns you then you should also download the very useful Motherboard Monitor. This will display your CPU temperature in the system tray. Cpuidle works in conjunction with MBM so no worries with conflicts. MBM is a free download. To get Cpuidle type fosi into a search engine, go to his web page, I think its called PROGRAMZ and download it from his site.
  9. Is your boot time to slow? Is windoze almost sleeping before it gets its ass into action? Microsoft has a small program available for download [329KB] called BootVis.exe Tool. It is a performance trace visualisation tool for use with Windows XP systems. Stick it on the root partition (or C: Drive). Run it and choose Trace/Next Boot & Driver Delays from the menu, the puter will reboot and BootVis will run when you reach the desktop. Once it has finished, run it again and this time choose Trace/Optimise System again the puter will reboot and this time when it reaches the desktop it will optimise your start-up drivers so that they load more efficiently, hence with a shorter boot time. Try it once the program has finished, Reboot and your puter will boot quicker.
  10. Bored with the limited Luna look of XP. then download StyleXP and also the uxtheme.dll so that you can use the thousands of skins on the net without having to pay for the program. Personalise your Win XP install and don’t be like the millions of other minions that can’t be bothered to change the grey look. Don’t be Microsoft, be different!
  11. Empty your Temp folder regularly. The temp folder is found at C:\Documents and Settings\"Whatever your username is"\ Local Settings\Temp, select everything in the folder and hit the delete button. That’s it, and remember to clean it regularly. Defrag every 3 months or so. And do it just before you go to bed. Its safe to leave it on all night (Honestly there built to stay on 365/24/7). Remember to disable any shutdown power savers and screen savers, or the sequence will not finish.
  12. Do DEFINATELY run AntiVirus software, and for Christ sakes keep it up to date. There are just far too many unhealthy people out there dying to mess your system up. Same as defrag, run a virus scan before you go to bed. And then every 3 months after.
  13. XP comes with a firewall but I choose to run my own (Norton AntiVirus 2003). Why? I just don’t trust an Os that tries to inform Microsoft of your details without letting you know. I control everything that goes out and comes in to my puter. Its up to you ;-)
  14. Download Serials 2000 and get the updates for it. Updates are also posted on the 1st and 15th of every month. Find them by doing a search in Google. Why? This little prog will give you all the serial numbers for those handy programs like CustomizerXp, TweakXp, WinrescueXp. Download these progs and tweak XP as much as you want once you have registered them without even paying a penny for the software. Cool!
  15. Move the Temporary Internet Files Folder, to save space in your Windows folder. Go to Control Panel/Internet Options and click the Settings button. Next click the Move Folder button and type where you wish to move the folder to. Anywhere other than the Windows folder will do. But on the root is best i.e. C: Ok it. You will be asked to reboot to finish.
  16. Get 3D Mark2003 (you will be able to register it using Serials 2000) this is a great program for benchmarking your Graphix card. When you have it downloaded and installed, do a search for any upgrade patches, download and install them also. Go into the System Information and highlight your Graphix card. (Nvidia GeFortce2 etc)(If it does not show your total memory next to Agp (i.e. 0), then you have to enable it, as you will be getting a shitty benchmark and the card will not be performing, as it should.
  17. Download Riva Tuner 10.2 or above. this little program will help you enable your agp and give you significant Frames per second boost in your game play. Once you have it installed then click the little magnifying glass at the bottom and then open the string that says System. Scroll down until you find Enable Agp and Fast Writes & Side Banding. (If you have a Geforce 2/3 fine, but if its a 4 then only enable the agp setting) Enable by right clicking and choose Enable. Go to the properties in the menu at the top and choose to start Riva Tuner when Windows starts. If you have probs on reboot then just hit F8 at boot, choose safe mode and disable each option you enabled until you find the prob. Reboot. (GeForce 4 users should download Riva 11.1 and use detonators above 29.40) Happy Frag Fest.
  18. Speed Up the Start Menu. This is an old tweak, it has been around since Windows 95, and is still alive today! If you think your Start menu could respond a little quicker try this: Start the Registry Editor. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ Right-click the String Value MenuShowDelay, and select Modify. Change the Value data (0 is fast, 400 is default. These are all in milliseconds) When ready, press OK and close the registry editor. Log off, or restart Windows for the changes to take effect.
  19. Disable Error Reporting. Whenever an application suffers from an error, and is closed down by the system or by you, the Microsoft Error Reporting feature will pop up, asking you if you want to send a report about the problem to Microsoft. As I have reported previously, there is some privacy concerns with this. Windows allows you to customise the way Error Reporting works. Open the System applet from Control Panel, and select the Advanced tab. Near the bottom, click the Error Reporting button. You can enable or disable Error Reporting, or when you leave it enabled, you can specify which programs you want to exclude from this feature.
  20. Remove Shared Documents folder. If your computer is part of a Workgroup, you will notice that a Shared Documents folder appears in My Computer. This folder lets you share files with multiple users easily. If you want to remove this folder you can. Start the Registry Editor Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer \ Right-click an empty space in the right pane and select New > DWORD Value. Name the new value. NoSharedDocuments. Double-click this new value, and enter 1 as its Value data. Close the registry editor. Log off, or restart Windows for the changes to take effect. To reverse this process, change the Value data to 0, or delete the NoSharedDocuments Value.
  21. Improve NTFS Performance by Disabling Indexing Service. The Indexing Service in Windows XP indexes your files presumably to shorten the time needed to search your hard drive if you are looking for a specific file or part of a phrase inside a file. By default, this service is set to manual (so it won't start), but when you do a search on your computer, there's that little question asking you if you want to make future searches faster.... So you could have enabled it (it will tell you that you are going to enable the Indexing service when you choose this). Anyway, having run it for a while, it was one of the first things I decided to switch off. I haven't noticed any delay when I do my searches, (and I presume that with my C:\ drive holding in excess of 106,000 files in over 2,700 folders I'm not a typical user!). But I did notice the improvement of having more CPU cycles available at all times. Don't you just hate it when you're playing a game of Hearts and your system decides that you are doing "nothing", so it can start indexing your files, thereby slowing down your game to a crawl. To disable the Indexing service, open Computer Management from Administrative Tools (on the Start menu if you enabled this, or from the Control Panel), select Services and Applications, double click Services, and find the Indexing Service. Double click to bring up the Properties window, and click Stop to let Windows stop the service. Then from the Status type drop down box select Disabled. Ok it
  22. Disable Search Assistant. If you dislike the Windows XP Search Assistant as much as I do, you'll love this tip! Take control back, and restore Windows 2000-like search functionality: Start the Registry Editor. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Current Version \ Explorer \ Cabinet State \ Right-click an empty space in the right pane and select New > String Value. Name the new value Use Search Asst. Double-click this new value, and enter no as its Value data. Close the registry editor. You can do the same for Internet Explorer search: Start the Registry Editor. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Internet Explorer \ Main \. Right-click an empty space in the right pane and select New > String Value. Name the new value Use Search Asst. Double-click this new value, and enter no as its Value data. Close the registry editor. To change back to the Windows XP default, just delete the key you created, or change the Value Data from no to yes. To see the change, be sure to close any open Windows Explorer / Internet Explorer windows.
  23. Shutdown XP Faster. When a user shuts down Windows XP, first the system has to kill all services currently running. Every once in a while the service does not shut down instantly and windows gives it a chance to shut down on its own before it kills it. This amount of time that windoze waits is stored in the system registry. If you modify this setting, then windows will kill the service earlier. To modify the setting, follow the directions below: Start Regedit. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control. Click on the "Control" Folder. Select "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" Right click on it and select Modify. Set it a value lower than 2000 .
  24. Fresh Install with no ACPI (updated). Here is an easier way to do the fresh install with no ACPI. When set-up is loading, the blue screen will ask if you have any raid devices, and to press F6. When it does that, press and hold F7, & Congratulations! No ACPI will be installed.
  25. Using & Tuning Clear Type Font Smoothing Clear Type triples the horizontal resolution available for rendering text through software so that the result is clearer display of text on a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screen with digital interface. But don't let that lead you to believe it's only good on a LCD display! If you have a good quality CRT display, you may also benefit from Clear Type. For CRT users it seems a matter of taste, but why don't you try it? To enable Clear Type font smoothing, right-click on your desktop, select Properties, select the Appearance tab and press the Effects button. There is a drop down box to choose between Standard and ClearType font smoothing. When you have Clear Type enabled, you can go to this Microsoft Clear Type Tuning page to fine-tune your clear type settings.
  26. Reforce Refresh Tool for Windows XP. Reforce Refresh Tool is a utility used to fix the problem in Windows XP that sets your refresh rate to 60Hz when you play ANY game. This problem occurs whether or not you have a higher refresh rate set in your Display Properties of Windows. Reforce Refresh Tool is simple and easy to use. Just load up the Reforce Refresh Tool program and it will automatically detect the maximum refresh rate at each resolution that your monitor supports. If you're an advanced user, you can customise each refresh rate at each resolution. Currently Reforce Refresh Tool supports all Detonator versions 27.42 and above. No more eyestrain, no more monitor clanking, just smooth 3D graphics at the highest refresh rates. It makes 3D graphics look as smooth with Windows XP as Windows98 used to be.
  27. Keep high performance and keep the GUI. To increase system performance and keep the GUI, 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.
  28. Clearer instructions for StyleXP free patch. (This applies only too XP Non Sp1) Some of you may be using StyleXP to get away from the default GUIs that are supplied with the latest version of windows. The makers of StyleXP have provided a patch that will enable the visual styles in the program without having to register or pay the $20 fee. Here it is: http://www.themexp.org/tgtsoft/uxthemepatcher1.zip But there is one catch - the instructions included with the .zip suck. Indeed, they seem PURPOSEFULLY CONFUSING. So because I am such a nice guy, here is the way I installed the patch. 1. Make sure you can see your hidden file extensions ie .dll. do it from Folder Options in any window or View/Options etc..Okay? First uninstall StyleXP and reboot. (Don't worry, your favourite themes will still be there.) 2. Run the "uxthemepatch.exe" and go to C:\windows\system32\dllcache (to reach this folder you'll probably have to type out the address in the windows explorer location bar). 3. Locate "uxtheme.dll" in this folder and rename it "uxtheme.bak". 4. In C:\windows\system32, also rename "uxtheme.dll" to "uxtheme.bak". Right next to it should be "uxtheme.pat", the file that was created by the .exe you ran a minute ago. 5. Rename the .pat to "uxtheme.dll", answer "cancel" then "yes" to any warnings from Windows and reboot. 6.
  29. Remove Shortcut Arrows. I tried lots of different tips for this all without luck. End result is to use a program like Tweakui or CustomizerXp that allows you the option to do just that.
  30. Turn off AutoPlay for CDs. 1. Go to Start/Run/gpedit.msc. 2. Computer Config /Administrative Template/System. 3. Double click Turn off AutoPlay. 4. Enable it.
  31. Sending mail by clicking an icon on desktop without opening outlook express. You can easily create an icon on your desktop that allows you to compose and send a mail by double clicking on it without opening Outlook Express. 1- Find a free space on your desktop and right click on it on New /Shortcut. 2- Enter in the space 'mailto:' (w/out quotes). 3- Press 'Next' button. 4- Enter in the space a name for the icon (i use 'mail'). 5- Click 'finish'.
  32. CD-ROM/DVD go faster Tweaks. What’s the one thing we hate most when copying something from CD, for me at least, is the speed in which the data is copied. After many months of research, I have found what I consider the best CDFS settings to have, and my DVD drive never copied so good ;-) Here is the changes that must be made. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem\CDFS Look for that registry key, if not there, we must create a new key, then add the following values. CacheSize, this must be added as a binary value, then type in this value: ff ff 00 00 Prefetch, this key must be added as a DWORD value, then type in this value: 4000 hex. PrefetchTail, this key must be added as a DWORD value, then type in this value: 4000 hex. After that tweaking, try copying something across from CD, and you will notice it does produce a speed boost, but it becomes apparent after a while of using this tweak, you may or may not see it at first. Let the ripping begin ;-)
  33. Services Info and Configurations. Do you mean that out of 89 services, 36 are set to Automatic as DEFAULT, but we MAY only need 5 running? In short, yes. More detail on XP Service descriptions and dependencies can be found at: http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/service411.htm Suggested configurations for tuning internet gateway and gaming systems can be found at http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm
  34. Increase speed by tweaking prefetcher settings. This is a unique technique for XP, which could improve the performance significantly by tweaking the prefetcher. Recommended hardware: PIII 800 or higher, 512M RAM or more. 1. Run "regedit". 2. Go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters\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. Try it!
  35. Remove hibernation file. If you do not use hibernation, make sure you do not have it enabled, which reserves disk space equal to your RAM. If you have a hidden file on the root directory of your C:drive called hiberfil.sys, hibernation is enabled. To remove that file, go to Control Panel, select Performance and Maintenance, Power Options, Hibernate tab, and uncheck the Enable hibernation box.
  36. 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.
  37. Unload. DLL’s to Free Memory. 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\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\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. I tried this after running a intense program, then watched the task manager; memory recovered it self.
  38. Reduce 10-second scandisk wait time. Start MS Dos Prompt (Start run CMD) CHKNTFS/T: 4 where 4 is the amount of wait time. CHKNTFS/? for more info.
  39. System Pages Memory Tweak. I'm not 100% sure if this tweak will yield a great performance boost to the majority of users, but for me it seems to have shown very good results. By default, if you look in the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]key, you'll see the 'SystemPages' DWORD Value set to something around 500 MB (more accurately, 524288 (KB), or something close to that value). Simply reduce the value to something around 128 MB (131072 KB) or 256 MB (262144 KB). Personally, I'm using the 256MB setting, since my total RAM is 512 MB. It might help to experiment a little, since each puter will most likely yield better or worse results. Good Luck!
  40. Get rid of IM and no slow OE start-up. If you have OE 6 got to tools/windows messenger/options/preferences and in the general area uncheck "run this program when windows starts" and "allow this program to run in the background." After doing this IM does not load on start-up and OE loads as usual.
  41. ASPI Drivers. I have had some bad times trying to get CD/DVD programmes working with XP. This was down to the ASPI drivers, which I have now downloaded and installed. PowerDVD, AudioCatalyst and a few others now work how they were meant to. Get the drivers here and follow the read me: Adaptec Driver- ASPI layer version 4.60 (1021) (ASPI32.EXE) ...
  42. DMA Mode on IDE Devices. Just like Windows 2000, Windows XP still fails to set the DMA mode correctly for the IDE device designated as the slaves on the primary IDE and secondary IDE channels. Most 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. (Make sure your CDRom is UDMA33 capable, if its not then leave it at PIO) Here's how. 1. Open the Device Manager. One way to do that is to right click on "My Computer", select the Hardware tab, and Select Device Manager. 2. Expand "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" and double-click on "Primary IDE Channel". 3. Under the "Advanced Settings" tab, check the "Device 1" setting. More than likely, your current transfer mode is set to PIO. 4. Set it to "DMA if available". Repeat the step for the "Secondary IDE Channel" if you have devices attached to it. Reboot. Bingo!
  43. Disable automatic updating. To save memory and CPU time turn off the automatic update system in windows. You can always check manually for updates and most users have no problem with that. For those of you lazy arses out there you can leave this feature on but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Open control panel. Click on performance and maintenance. Click on System. Then click on the automatic updates tab and select Turn off automatic updating. Click Ok.
  44. Can't connect to computers on your network? This may not solve everyone's problem with networking, but this is one way to fix a problem if you can't connect to user’s computer. 1. Click Start button. 2. Click "My Network Places". 3. Right-click and click on "Properties". 4. Right-click on "Local Area Connection" and click on "Properties". 5. Click on the "Authentication" tab. 6. Uncheck "Enable network access control using IEEE 802.1X". 7. Click "OK".
  45. Disable Schedule Task in IE IE 6.0 wants to run a scheduled task every time it connects to a server. This results in slower browsing. To disable this, delete the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\ RemoteComputer\NameSpace\{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}.
  46. Enable AGP 4x On VIA Chipsets. Serious gamers may notice a decrease in framerate compared to previous versions of Windows when using XP on their Via-chipset based machines. This is partly because of XP’s built-in support for Via chipsets. A quick check in the Device Manager will reveal the lack of some items, such as the "Via CPU to AGP Controller." What’s worse is downloading and installing the latest Via Drivers won’t help under normal circumstances. This guide will get you the controller back and increase your framerates. 1. Download the latest Via 4-in-1 drivers here - http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2#4in1. 2. Navigate to wherever you saved the drivers, and unzip them to a folder. 3. Open the folder and find the Setup.exe. Right-click it and choose Properties. 4. Click the Compatibility Tab. 5. Check the box labelled "Run this program in compatibility mode for: " Choose Windows 2000 from the drop down list. 6. Click "Ok" to close the dialog. 7. Double-click the Setup.exe and install the drivers as usual. 8. When you reboot, you’ll notice the "Via CPU to AGP Controller" in your device manager, as well as a few other Via items that weren’t there before. This works because, ultimately, XP is running Windows 2000’s engine under the hood. Hopefully Via will resolve this driver issue in the future, but in the meantime, this works quite well.
  47. Get Rid Of Pesky Un-Signed Driver Installation Warnings. Microsoft doesn’t sign many new drivers so WinXP will warn you or even prevent you from installing new drivers for a device. To prevent this warning or to allow new un-signed drivers to be installed do the following. 1. Go to start/run/ then type secpol.msc. 2. Browse to local policies/security options. 3. Change "Devices: Unsigned driver installation behaviour" setting to Silently succeed. 4. Reboot Computer.
  48. Install XP from DOS. If XP will not install from the CD or if you have a new drive with no operating system on it yet try these. Install Windows XP from the hard drive with Windows 98 already installed. Boot Windows 98. Insert the XP CD into your CD reader. Explore Windows XP through My Computer. Copy i386 folder to C:\ Go into C:\i386 folder and double click on winnt32.exe to launch the set-up from the hard drive. Install Windows XP from DOS (i.e. no OS on a new hard drive. Boot with a Windows 98 Start Up disk. Insert the Windows 98 CD into the CD reader. Run smartdrv.exe from the Win98 directory on the windows 98 CD (file caching). Type cd.. to back up to the root directory. Insert Windows XP CD into the CD reader. Copy the i386 folder to C:\ Go into C:\i386 folder on C: and type winnt.exe to launch the set-up from the hard drive.
  49. AR RAM Disk is a driver for Windows NT/2000/XP used to create an additional drive in your memory. This drive can be used for storing temporary files, this can increase your system speed. http://www.arsoft-online.de/download/ramdisk.zip Read more... Using the RAM Disk Setup the Windows TEMP Directory to the RAM Disk. 1. Create a Batch File with the following content. set TEMP=T: set TMP=T: 2.Put this Batch File into the Start-up Folder of Windows. Warning. Use AR Soft RAM Disk at your own risk. Using large amount of memory for the RAM Disk can cause problems with other drivers or programs. Notes: If you reboot your system all contents of the RAM Disk will be lost! The theoretical maximum capacity of the RAM Disk is 2GB. If driver fails to allocate the memory, the driver does not start. The driver writes an event record into the Event Log. Please look into the Event Viewer for more details of the error. Package contains: RAM Disk Driver for Windows NT or Windows 2000/XP RAM Disk Control Panel Applet
  50. MP3 ripping in WMP (Works!) A previous tip here had a download to allow MP3 ripping in Windows Media Player. It did not work in Windows XP. Here is the link for an encoder that works with Windows Media Player and Windows XP. http://www.speakeasy.org/~intense1/bink/MP3Pack.zip
  51. Sick of inserting WinXP CD when computer asks you to! Sometimes you are installing something, were as your asked to insert the windows XP CD, and sometimes your just too lazy to get it, or you don’t have it at the moment. Well here’s something that'll definitely solve that problem... 1. Insert your windows XP CD. 2. Click on, Perform Additional Tasks. 3. Now click on Browse this CD. 4. Look for the i386 folder, right click on the folder and copy. 5. Get into, My Computer. 6. Right click on your C: drive and paste. Well dudes, from now on you’ll never need that CD again, I mean never ever...
  52. Remove Balloon Tips. With this setting, some of the pop-up text is not displayed. The pop-up text affected by this setting includes "Click here to begin" on the Start button, "Where have all my programs gone" on the Start menu, and "Where have my icons gone" in the notification area. Start/Run/gpedit.msc/user configuration/administrative templates/start menu & taskbar/find remove balloon tips on start menu items/check enabled/Ok it.
  53. Want to know everything about your system. Instead of typing systeminfo in a dos box, your can simply do it in windows too. 1. Start 2. Select Run 3. type winmsd
  54. How to get to Corporate Windows Update. This URL will take you to the Corporate Windows Update Page where you can download and save updates and files for later use. Click: http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp?corporate=true
  55. Quick access to System Properties. Hold windows key and hit "break"key......walla !!!
  56. Master Boot Record Recovery. You're actually a WinXP user and installed Linux as a secondary OS just to have a look at it? You installed the Lilo Boot loader too, and now want to get rid of both and get back to WinXP without having to reinstall the whole system or to install a secondary boot loader? Then this is the right guide for you! It's as simple as 123, believe me. (Important: To perform this operation it is inalienable that you're still able to start up your Windows XP operating system! Furthermore this guides assumes that your operating system is on hard disk 0, drive C:). 1. Put the WinXP in your CD-ROM drive (supposed to be D:). 2. Click Start/Run and type: D:\i386\winnt /cmdcons. This will download and install the "Recovery Console". 3. Right Click "My Computer"/Properties. The System Properties pops up. Click on the "Advanced" tap and then the "Settings" button". 4. Make sure that "Time to display list of operating systems" is enabled! 5. Restart your PC and start the Recovery Console when the System prompts you. 6. When the Recovery Console prompts you to start a system, just type "1" and push enter. 7. When the Recovery Console has finished loading, type in the following lines: fixmbr /device/harddisk0 Just ignore all the warning and type "y" for yes. 8. Restart the system. 9. Once you've finished this operation you might want to disable the "Time to display..." option in the system panel. Congrats! You've just successfully restored your Master Boot Record to its original state!
  57. Keep Printed Documents: with the option to reprint them quickly, when you need them. (The price you pay is lost hard drive space). You turn on the option in the printers Properties dialog box. To reach it you may have Printers and Faxes on your Start menu, or you may have to get to it via the Control Panel. Once it’s opened, then right-click on your Printer icon and choose Properties. Click the Advanced tab. Check Keep printed documents and click ok. You will also want to create a shortcut to the printer spool. In the Printers and Faxes window drag your printer icon to the desktop, quick launch bar or Start menu. If your Control Panel is displayed as a menu then hold down the Ctrl and drag the printer icon from the menu. To reprint a document, just launch the printer shortcut, right click the file & select restart. Eventually the list of files will grow quite long so you will want to delete any that you do not wish to keep, to save hard drive space. Find them at C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Printers or C:\Winnt\System32\Spool\Printers. Right-click any files you don’t want and click Cancel. Bingo.
  58. How to start your computer when it won’t. Boot to command prompt, edit system.ini file, change the boot line shell=explorer to shell=progman.exe save & restart. Windows will start with the 3.1 program manager. Click file, run, type control appwiz.cpl and hit enter. This will bring up the add/remove programs wizard. Select your program to remove. Remember and change the system.ini file back to shell=explorer.exe
  59. Change the Logon background. 1. Click Start > click Run > type regedit > and click OK. 2. Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_USERS\DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop 3. In the detail pane (right side), double-click the Wallpaper string value item. 4. In Value data, type the path and name of the picture or background, and then click OK. IMPORTANT: Make sure that you specify the path correctly to the Background. You have now changed the logon Background.
  60. Change the email icon in the start menu. Well, I'll get straight to the point. This tweak will allow you to change the default icon for the e-mail shortcut in the start menu to whatever you want. You should be familiar with regedit prior to trying this. 1. Click on "Start" and go to "run". 2. In the run dialog type "regedit". 3. Go to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\" by expanding the appropriate branches of the tree. 4. Select the email client that you are currently using. 5. You can now modify the (default) key and rename the shortcut to whatever you want. 6. To change the icon, expand the selected client and click on "DefaultIcon". 7. Change the (default) key to point to the icon file of your choice by double-clicking it. If you are going to use a .exe file with multiple icons inside you should specify with a comma after the target the index number. (Eg. C:\icons.exe, 2) 8. Reboot your computer for the changes to take effect. That's it! Have fun.
  61. Copy to... and Move to... Context Options. To add Copy to... and Move to... context menu options (similar to Win95 Powertoys send to folder option) create the following registry keys. HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Copy To HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Move To HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Copy To HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Move To. For the Copy To's set the default value to {C2FBB630-2971-11d1-A18C-00C04FD75D13} and for the Move To's set the default value to {C2FBB631-2971-11d1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}. Now when you right click on a file or folder, above the send to option are two new options: Copy to Folder and Move to Folder. You can copy or move files or directories to other folders with this.
  62. Change XP Boot Screen. If you would like to change your boot up screen follow the directions below. These instructions assume that you have a place to download the boot screen from the net. If you would like to download a boot screen, do a search in Google for XP Boot Screens. Backup (copy) the file %windir%\system32\ntoskrnl.exe (most likely C:\windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe - the boot screen). 2. Download the Boot Screen.zip to your computer. Unzip the ntoskrnl.exe to somwhere you know. 3. Reboot your computer into Safe Mode (hit F8 before the boot screen) or into true DOS (from a boot disk). 4. Navigate to your unzipped ntoskrnl.exe and copy it. 5. Paste it into %windir%\system32\ to overwrite. 6. Reboot your computer as you normally would.
  63. Only the User Pics You Want. You know the picture next to your name on the Start Menu? You picked it from a group of pictures Microsoft gave you. You can easily manage that group of pictures: 1. Go to "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\User Account Pictures\Default Pictures" 2. Delete any User Pictures you do not want or use 3. Add in any of your own 48x48 pixel images (bmp, gif, jpg, or png) you want as user pictures. Now the User Accounts control panel has a much more customized feel to it, and you don't have to fish through all those unwanted images Microsft gave by fefault for your User Picture. This can be good if you want to "brand" your Windows XP system with your images if you build computers.
  64. Remove Login Password. I didn't want to enter the password at the welcome menu every time i boot up my computer so i tried to disable it in the user accounts located in the control panel. When I clicked on my account and clicked on remove my password, it didn't allow me. Follow this step to remove it. 1. Go to Control panel. 2. Click administrative tools. 3. Local Security Settings. 4. Click Minimum password length. 5. Reduce it to 0, No password required. 6. Go to user account in control panel click your account and remove password. This will disable the password feature. Have fun.
  65. Remove user name from Start Menu. START > RUN > GPEDIT.MSC > USER CONFIGURATION > ADMINISTRATIVE TEMPLATES > START MENU AND TASKBAR > FIND REMOVE USER NAME FROM START MENU > RIGHT CLICK PROPERTIES > CHECK ENABLED > OK.
  66. Delete My eBooks and other special folders in My Documents. Click Start, then Run and type: regsvr32 /u mydocs.dll. then delete them.
  67. Turn off Thumbs.db. Thumbs.db is a file, which is created in a folder with Movies or Pictures so that you can view a piece of their content without actually opening them (you can't see thumbnails unless you have the option to view system files turned on). Thumbs.db is there so that you don't need to reload a thumbnail everytime you browse that folder. Sad fact is, Thumbs.db takes up about 2kb per file and if you edit a lot of stuff its annoying to keep seeing them popping up all over your computer. You can remove thumbs.db quite easily by following these steps. 1. Go to Run in the start menu. 2. Type gpedit.msc. 3. Click OK and the Group Policy will open. 4. Go to User Configuration/Administrative Template/Windows Components/Windows Explorer. 5. Scroll down to the bottom of the long list of stuff that now shows up in the menu on the right. Double-Click on Turn off caching of thumbnail pictures. 6. Click on Enable then Apply, Ok. And now you no longer have this annoying problem.
  68. Icon Folders (The Hard Way). This tip is to change the icon of folders, especially if there is no "Customise" tab on the folder properties. Here's how. 1. Open Windows Explorer, and open the folder you want to change the icon. 2. Right click the right pane, point to new and click on "Text Document" 3. type "desktop.ini" as the file name. Make sure that you have unchecked "Hide file extension for know file types" under "Folder Options" --> "View" tab. 4. open desktop.ini 5. Under the section "[.shellClassInfo]", find the attributes "IconFile" and "IconIndex". If you don't find the section name and the attributes, go on, type it. Don't forget to put the "=" sign after the attributes' name. 6. Change the value of "IconFile" to the icon file you want to use and it's path. For Example: C:\WINDOWS\system32\SHELL32.dll 7. Change the value of "IconIndex" to the index number of the icon you want to use. This is an example desktop.ini file that will change the folder icon to a windows update picture: [.ShellClassInfo] IconFile=%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll IconIndex=46 Well, that's it! Happy Tweaking... and rearranging your computer with icons!
  69. Easy re-install of Windows Applications. If you need to re-install a 'hidden' Windows component, e.g.. Outlook express or messenger, there is an easy way to do this... [But you will have to BE CAREFUL!] Open the INF folder in your windows folder [C:\WINDOWS\INF] Find the *.inf. files [view>arrange icons by>type] Find the application title you need in the filename [for example messenger is msmsgs.inf] If you are unsure of the installer, RIGHT CLICK on the file, then select open, at the top of the file should say what application it is: ; MSMSGS.INF ; Setup INF file for Messenger When you have found the file the right click on it then click install. Tip: To reinstall Microsoft Outlook Express, Right click and select install on MSOE50.inf
  70. Tricking WinXP to use larger then 32GB FAT32 Partitions. I have found a way to trick WinXP into using Partitions bigger then 32GB. I have been using a 60GB Fat32 partition on WinXP for over 4 months now and I haven't had a single problem. This is how you do it. 1 get a Win98 boot disk. 2 boot from boot disk and run Fdisk. 3 partition the drive to what size you want up to 120GB. 4 reboot the computer off of the Win98 boot disk. 5 format the drive. 6 boot the computer off of the WinXP CD. 7 proceed to install the WinXP. 8 When WinXP ask you what partition to install to choose the disk you just formatted it will give you an several option dealing with NTFS don't pay them any mind and choose the last option which is to install WinXP to current drive without making any changes. WinXP will proceed to install normally and you will have WinXP installed to a fully functional FAT32 Partition greater then 32GB. WinXP can use larger then 32GB partitions M$ intentionally limited the Fdisk portion WinXP to push people to the Realm of NTFS.
  71. Shutdown XP using your keyboard! Wouldn’t it be great to easily shut down or restart your computer with a simple keystroke? Well now you can! You know about Ctrl, Alt, Delete, but what about Ctrl, Alt, END? Here's how it's done. The instructions are quite simple, and as long as you follow along, this should be rather painless! Please follow step by step!                                         1. Right click on your desktop. Go to new, and then click on shortcut.                                         2. A window comes up. Type in shutdown add a space and enter one of the following commands. Usage: shutdown [-i | -l | -s | -r | -a] [-f] [-m \\computername] [-t xx] [-c "comment"] [-d up:xx:yy]                                                                                                                                   -i Display GUI interface, must be the first option                                                                         -l Log off (cannot be used with -m option)                                                                                   -s Shutdown the computer                                                                                                          -r Shutdown and restart the computer                                                                                         -a Abort a system shutdown                                                                                                        -m \\computername Remote computer to shutdown/restart/abort                                                -t xx Set timeout for shutdown to xx seconds                                                                              -c "comment" Shutdown comment (maximum of 127 characters)                                                   -f Forces running applications to close without warning                                                                -d [u][p]:xx:yy The reason code for the shutdown                                                                        u is the user code                                                                                                                      p is a planned shutdown code                                                                                                    xx is the major reason code (positive integer less than 256)                                                       yy is the minor reason code (positive integer less than 65536)                                                    2. (Continuation) a good example of a shutdown line would read as follows: "shutdown -s -t 0" (of course, without the quotes) This tells the computer to run the shutdown program, and to shutdown the computer (marked by –s). The timer is set to zero, which will shut down the computer instantly (marked by –t 0). 3. After you have created your customised shutdown command, click next. Enter a name for it and hit finish. 4. Right click on the shortcut you just created, and go to properties. 5. Note where it says "Shortcut Key". Enter your combination here. I recommend "Ctrl, Alt, END" as stated before, but the choice is purely up to you. 6. Click OK. Your shutdown string is now effective! Just hit that key combination and your computer is off! Happy Tweaking!
  72. Turn off Indexing to speed up XP. Windows XP keeps a record of all files on the hard disk so when you do a search on the hard drive it is faster. There is a downside to this and because the computer has to index all files, it will slow down normal file commands like open, close, etc. If you do not do a whole lot of searches on your hard drive then I suggest turning this feature off. 1. Open my computer. 2. Right click your hard drive icon and select properties. 3. At the bottom of the window you'll see "Allow indexing service to index this disk for faster searches," uncheck this and click ok. 4. A new window will pop up and select apply to all folders and subfolders. It will take a minute or two for the changes to take affect but then you should enjoy. Disable unnecessary programs. Installing many programs on you computer can often clutter your registry with unnecessary programs running when your computer starts up. This will slow down your machine and take up memory. Start Regedit. If you are unfamiliar with regedit please refer to our FAQ on how to get started. Navigate to. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run Once there, locate any entries on the right. You can identify the program by the path to the executable. Find programs that you can live without starting up from the list. Right click on them and select Delete. You may also want to navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Runonce and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run. Delete unnecessary programs. Reboot your computer. Alternative method: Click on the start button and select run. In the text box type msconfig and click ok. Once the window has loaded, click on the start-up tab and uncheck programs you do not want to start up anymore.
  73. Speed up Network Browsing. There was a bug in windows 2000 that would cause the scheduled tasks folder to be searched when ever the user would browse network drives. Microsoft developed a fix for this bug. The fix fixed the problem and it also had nice side affect of speeding up browsing of Microsoft networks. Below are instructions how to apply the fix. 1. Open up regedit. 2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace. 3. Find a key named {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}. 4. Right click on it and delete it. 5. Restart
  74. Fix IE 6 Slowdowns and Hangs. If Internet Explorer (IE) 6 is slowing to a crawl and/or hanging and starts to use 100 percent of CPU time it may well be a corruption of the "Temporary Internet Files folder". In particular, trying to delete Temporary Internet files via Tools, Internet Options or other privacy software seems to trigger this behavior. Also, attempts to view files in the Temporary Internet Files folder may show the folder as already empty when it is not. This behavior occurs because the Temporary Internet files database is corrupt. The Temporary Internet files aren't really files but entries in %systemdrive%\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat. Deleting that file solves the problem. This same problem has occured for NT users and the fix works for XP. 1. Open a command prompt window on the desktop (Start/Run/command). 2. Exit IE and Windows Explorer (iexplore.exe and explorer.exe, respectively, in Task Manager, i.e - Ctrl-Alt-Del/Task Manager/Processes/End Process for each). 3. Use the following command exactly from your command prompt window to delete the corrupt file: C:\>del "%systemdrive%\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat" 4. Restart Windows Explorer with Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del/Task Manager/Applications/New Task/Browse/C:\Windows\explorer.exe[or your path]) or Shutdown/Restart the computer from Task Manager. IE should now work properly.
  75. Nero Burning Rom Tweak. This is not really a tweak, but it does make using Nero under XP quite different and in some cases, better. If you use Nero 5.5.8.2 give this a try. It is better to use in some ways. Here's a bit of interesting info, Nero is apparently also Nero Express or the vice versa. If you have the newest version of Nero (5.5.8.2) all you have to do is change the target path on the shortcut from "C:\Program Files\ahead\Nero\ Nero.exe" to. "C:\Program Files\ahead\Nero\Nero.exe" /w and bingo instant enhanced GUI of Nero Express.
  76. Outlook folders whereabouts? All files can be found at C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook look for pst files
  77. Change the default Program Files Location. Got to Start\Run and type regedit, OK it. Got to Edit\Find in the menu and type ProgramFilesDir and click Find Next. Change the Path or partition to anything you want and its also a good idea to change the Common Files string path to the same destination as well.


Jason * Perth* Australia * 6169
Copyright of all documents and scripts belonging to this site by Jason's PC Passion.  2004. Most of the information contained on this site is copyrighted material. It is illegal to copy or redistribute this information in any way without our expressed written consent . This site is NOT responsible for any damage that the information on this site may cause to your system.