Learn the tricks for making your Windows XP PC run faster!

Speed Up Your Windows PC

Learn the tricks for making your Windows XP PC run faster, whether you¡¯ve got an old machine or a new one. This course explores how to adjust Windows XP settings for better performance and stability. Plus you¡¯ll learn how to free up resources that waste your computer¡¯s processing power, optimize your internet connnection, and more.

• Add memory for more stability and speed.
• Adjust Windows XP settings for maximum efficiency.
• Reduce the number of programs that start automatically (and slow your system down).
• Windows Registry tweaks that can improve speed.
• Hidden ways to improve your internet connection.

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Lesson 1: The basics

In this lesson we¡¯ll look at a couple of simple and relatively quick things you can do to speed up your computer. In this course, we¡¯ll zero in on some key ways you can make your PC run faster. Really.

When you first take a new PC out of the box, Windows comes with many ¡°default settings¡± that can significantly slow down your system. Fortunately there are many ways you can adjust those settings to get more performance out of your machine. Sometimes you¡¯ll have to strike a balance between speed and looks, but in most cases there¡¯s no tradeoff ¡ª you simply need to change the way Windows works with your hardware and software.

Of course, making adjustments in Windows can be intimidating. But that¡¯s why you¡¯re here. We¡¯ll try to make this a simple, step-by-step process that anyone can do.

ALERT:
This course only offers recommendations for speeding up the performance of your Windows XP PC. Before you do any troubleshooting or changing to your PC settings, we recommend that you do a full back-up of all your files.

Memory boost

To start off, the single most important thing you can do to increase your computer¡¯s speed is to add RAM--random access memory. It¡¯s also the one thing in this course that will cost you money (but it¡¯s worth it).

Think of your hard drive as a big box full of puzzles and games, and your RAM is like a table where you can assemble puzzles and play games. The bigger the table, the more puzzles and games you can play with at once. Conversely, when you have a small table (limited memory), your hard disk is forced to serve as an ¡°artificial table¡± (or virtual memory). This fake memory trick works fine, but it causes the computer to slow way down. So it¡¯s far better to have enough RAM so that your PC isn¡¯t forced to use its hard drive for virtual memory.

The price of memory has dropped dramatically in the last few years, making an upgrade an inexpensive way to get a big boost in performance.

Adding or replacing RAM is relatively simple to do: You simply plug some chips into sockets on your computer¡¯s motherboard.

The challenge, however, is getting the correct memory module for your PC. Just about every computer is different. Some are already equipped with plenty of memory, while others have very little. And there are a lot of different types of memory, so you need to be sure to get the exact right module for your system.

A good reference on this topic can be found at CNET Labs¡¯ guide to buying RAM. This guide explains what RAM is and how to install it. There¡¯s also an online tool called a memory configurator that tells you exactly what kind of memory your computer make and model uses.

Cut the graphics

Whether or not you choose to add memory, another easy way to speed up Windows XP is to change your graphics settings. The more gratuitous effects you use, the slower your computer will work. So let¡¯s reduce or eliminate them.

If you¡¯ve used other versions of Windows, you know that XP has a very different look. Unfortunately, that look comes at the expense of some speed because it uses more graphics. So if you don¡¯t mind a simpler, no-nonsense interface, dump it and reclaim the power. Here¡¯s how:

• Go to Control Panel and choose Display (you may have to click Appearance and Themes first).
• On the Themes tab, change your current theme to Windows Classic, which uses fewer resources than the new look does. You can then click the Appearance tab and change that look to suit yourself.

We¡¯re not finished. Windows also uses its graphics power to provide all sorts of special effects--menus that fade, shadows under the mouse cursor, and so on. All of these effects sap performance. So¡­

• Go into Control Panel and choose System (you may have to click Performance and Maintenance first).
• Click the Advanced tab.
• In the Performance box, click Settings.
• You can now select Adjust for best performance, or you can choose Custom and play around with the settings. The more you uncheck, the less work your computer will have to do.

Browse files faster

Finally, a useful change to speed up your file browsing. When you open a folder or run Windows Explorer, Windows will automatically search your network for folders and printers you might want to access. That takes time, and is especially annoying if you don¡¯t need to access one at the time.

So let¡¯s tell Windows not to search for them unless you ask it to. Here¡¯s how:

• Open My Computer.
• Click the Tools menu.
• Choose Folder Options.
• Click the View tab.
• Uncheck ¡°Automatically search for network folders and printers.¡±
• Click OK.

The next time you reboot your computer, browsing your folders should be a little faster.We¡¯ll make them faster still in the next lesson, when we do some spring cleaning of your hard drive.

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Lesson 2: Clean your drive

In this lesson you¡¯ll learn how to clean up the data on your hard drive to make accessing files faster.

Hard disks run faster and more consistently when not completely filled. Having a large block of unused disk space is essential for both speed and stability. So it¡¯s useful to look through your hard disk and remove files that you no longer need (and you¡¯ll probably be surprised how many there are!).

Before you begin, check how much space you currently have on your hard drive. To do this, open up My Computer, right-click on your hard disk¡¯s icon, choose Properties, and then make a note of how many gigabytes or megabytes of free space you have.

Now go through your My Documents folder. Delete what you don¡¯t need, or if there¡¯s stuff you want ¡°just in case,¡± consider storing it on a CD, DVD, or second hard drive so your main drive doesn¡¯t have to wade through it.

Eliminate extra software

That done, continue your cleanup by getting rid of any software you don¡¯t use. Go to your Control Panel and select ¡°Add or Remove Programs.¡±

A list of your installed software will appear. Scroll through it and remove anything you don¡¯t use anymore. (Some programs might have been preinstalled on your computer when you bought it.)

ALERT:
Once you remove a program, the change is permanent--so if you¡¯re not sure about whether you¡¯ll need a particular program, do not remove it!

Next, click the big button on the left labeled ¡°Add/Remove Windows Components.¡± This lists XP components that were automatically installed with Windows. Remove whatever components you don¡¯t need.

Eliminate fonts

If you¡¯re feeling up to it, clean out your fonts. Create a folder (maybe within My Documents) called ¡°Unused Fonts.¡± Then use Windows Explorer to go to your C:\WINDOWS\FONTS folder, and drag any fonts you never use into that Unused Fonts folder. (You can double-click a font to see what it looks like.) Just moving those fonts will speed up some applications.

Clean your disk

Finally, let Windows find some more unused gunk.

• From My Computer, right-click on your hard drive.
• Choose Properties.
• Click ¡°Disk Cleanup.¡±

It will take a few moments to scan your disk for files you can delete. When it¡¯s done, click OK and then Yes (you do want to perform those actions).

Even though you may have uninstalled some programs, many of them leave ¡°residue¡± in the Windows Registry, which Windows uses to store just about everything about your system. We¡¯ll work with that in a future lesson.

Clean the Registry

For now, let¡¯s just clean out anything that doesn¡¯t belong. There are a lot of Registry cleaners out there, and my favorite--because it¡¯s (a) easy to use and (b) free--is EasyCleaner.

• Download and install it. When you start the program, you¡¯ll get a grid of 16 things from which to choose.
• Click the Registry button.
• Click the Find button on the bottom. EasyCleaner will search your Registry for the leftovers of old programs and other detritus. This could take several minutes.
• When it¡¯s done, click the Delete All button. (You can¡¯t click it till it¡¯s finished.)
• Click Yes to confirm you really want to delete the bad entries.

That¡¯s it! Click Close and let¡¯s move on.

Time to defrag

With all that cleaned out, it¡¯s time to defragment your hard drive.

When your computer stores files on your drive, it puts files in whatever empty space is available. The result is that over time individual files are actually split up and stored in several places on the drive. (Imagine a library where the different chapters of a book are on different shelves.)

Defragmenting--often referred to as simply ¡°defragging¡±--puts those pieces together so your computer spends less time accessing files.

The procedure is simple:

• First, shut down any running programs. Then disable your screen saver through your Control Panel by choosing Display (you may have to click Appearance and Themes first).
• That done, go to My Computer and right-click on your hard drive.
• Choose Properties, then click the Tools tab.
• There you¡¯ll see ¡°Defragment Now.¡± Click on it and then let the computer complete the process without any disturbance. This can take anywhere from minutes to hours, depending on the size of your drive and the level of fragmentation.

ALERT:
During the defragging process, the PC cannot be used for anything else, and you should be especially careful not to accidentally turn it off. It¡¯s essential that this procedure run its course without interference, or data loss could occur.

When you¡¯re all done, check to see how much free space your drive now has (go to My Computer, right-click on the drive, and choose Properties). Hopefully you¡¯ll see a difference.

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Lesson 3: Get more out of your hardware

In this lesson you¡¯ll get into some of the deeper parts of your computer to change the way Windows works with your hard drive.

One of the slowest things about your machine is your hard drive. It takes a computer forever (comparatively) to read the disk and write things to it. So it makes sense that anything you can do to speed up your drive will also speed up your computer.

In this lesson, we¡¯ll cover two permanent changes you can make that affect how Windows works with your hard drive. The first upgrades your file system--the way Windows stores information on your drive. The second speeds up how Windows moves that information from place to place.

It¡¯s possible your computer is already set the right way. Let¡¯s find out.

The file system is how Windows stores your files on your hard drive, and it¡¯s akin to the way a library arranges books on a shelf. Older versions of Windows used a file system called FAT32 (File Allocation Table, if you must know). Newer versions use one called NTFS (New Technology File System).

NTFS has several benefits. Most importantly, files don¡¯t get fragmented as much, so you won¡¯t have to defrag as often (see Lesson 2 for instructions on how to defrag).

You can¡¯t tell which way your drive is set up just by using it. But to get the most out of your machine, you¡¯ll want to make sure that you¡¯re using NTFS.

Losing FAT

First, check to see if you¡¯re already using it. Go to My Computer, then right-click on your hard drive and choose Properties. On the window that appears, you¡¯ll see either ¡°File system: FAT32¡å or ¡°File system: NTFS.¡±

If it¡¯s FAT32, you should convert it. Here¡¯s how:

• Shut down any running programs.
• Click Start, then choose Run.
• In the box, enter cmd, which will bring up a black command-line window. You¡¯ll see a prompt that says something like ¡°C:\WINDOWS¡± with a blinking cursor. (If you¡¯ve ever used DOS, you¡¯ll recognize this.)
• Enter the following: convert c: /fs:ntfs (If your hard drive isn¡¯t drive C:, substitute the correct letter, and don¡¯t forget the space between the colon and the slash.)
• When you press Enter, you¡¯ll probably see a message saying the conversion will take place next time you start Windows. So click Start, choose Shut Down, and choose Restart. Windows will convert your drive--and it will also reboot your computer twice.

Hook into DMA

Next, let¡¯s make sure your computer is transferring data efficiently by using a technology called DMA (direct memory access).

• Go to your Control Panel and double-click System, then choose the Hardware tab. Click Device Manager. This will bring up a list of every type of hardware your computer has, from ¡°Computer¡± to ¡°Disk Drives¡± to ¡°Monitors,¡± and more.
• Click the plus sign next to ¡°IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers.¡±
• Double-click ¡°Primary IDE Channel.¡± (If you have two of them, don¡¯t worry. Just repeat this procedure.)
• Click the Advanced Settings tab. You¡¯ll probably see two devices listed (0 and 1).
• For each one, click the drop-down arrow next to Transfer Mode and choose ¡°DMA if available.¡± Then click OK. (If you have another Primary IDE Channel, repeat this procedure.)
• Close Device Manager and reboot your computer.

Congratulations! You¡¯ve just made two simple changes that most people have never heard of, that will add a bit more speed and stability to your system.

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Lesson 4: Reduce start-up programs

In this lesson, you¡¯ll prevent Windows from automatically running programs you don¡¯t need.

You may be working in a program and wondering why it runs so slow--especially if you don¡¯t have any other programs open. The problem is that when Windows boots up, a lot of programs are automatically loaded to run ¡°in the background¡± where you can¡¯t see. Of course, some of these are quite valuable (virus protection for instance), but many are useless and simply eating up your system resources for no reason.

Seek and destroy

Here¡¯s how to get rid of these unnecessary start-up programs:

The first and easiest way to seek and destroy unnecessary start-up programs is to look in your Startup folder.

• Click Start, then choose All Programs or Programs (depending on your setup).
• Find the Startup folder on the list and hover your mouse over it.
• The list of programs that automatically start will appear. Check this list, and if you see something you don¡¯t want or need to start automatically--such as some Microsoft Office task--right-click it and choose Delete.

Repeat as necessary.

Stop automatic starts

Now let¡¯s go a little deeper. Remember EasyCleaner from Lesson 2 ? It has another useful function besides cleaning the Registry: It can tell you what programs start automatically and let you stop them. Here¡¯s how:

• Start the program and click the Startup button.
• You¡¯ll see a list of all the programs that start automatically with Windows. Most of these should start: your anti-virus program, a Windows program called HDAShCut, maybe a driver or two. But some things just waste resources.
• Most notorious for loading themselves are media players such as Quicktime and RealPlayer. There¡¯s no need for them to be loaded until you need them. If you see things like that which don¡¯t belong, select them and click the Delete button. When you¡¯re done, click Close and close EasyCleaner.

Deep cleaning

That done, let¡¯s go even deeper. Besides programs that run automatically when you start up, Windows also launches services --internal software that does important things, such as making your network run, managing users, and a host of other things.

But there are some services you just don¡¯t need; running them is a waste of resources.

• To get to the list of services, click Start, then Run.
• Enter services.msc in the box. The screen that pops up is a bit intimidating at first, but it¡¯s actually pretty straightforward. It lists every service on your machine and tells you whether it starts automatically or manually, among other things.
• Click the Extended tab on the bottom, which will create a space that will give you a description of each service.
• Now click on the words ¡°Startup Type¡± at the top of that column, which will sort the services. The ones that say ¡°Automatic¡± are--obviously--the ones that start when Windows does. They¡¯re the only ones you care about.

ALERT:
Some services are critical for your computer to run. So don¡¯t disable anything that¡¯s not on the list below unless you¡¯re absolutely sure that it¡¯s an expendable item.

The following lists services you can probably do without. Of course, if you recognize one that you use such as Windows Messenger or Telnet, don¡¯t turn it off.

Alerter
Clipbook
Computer Browser
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Error Reporting Service (if you don¡¯t want to be asked to send error reports to Microsoft anymore)
Fast User Switching
Human Interface Access Devices
IPSEC Services
Messenger
NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
Portable Media Serial Number
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Procedure Call Locator
Remote Registry
Routing & Remote Access
Secondary Logon
Server
SSDP Discovery Service
Telnet
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Upload Manager
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Workstation

Pick one from the list and double-click it. You¡¯ll see a drop-down menu next to ¡°Startup type¡± that is currently set to Automatic.

Change it to Manual and click OK. This way the service will start only if it¡¯s needed, not all the time.

Special services

Two services deserve special mention: the indexing service and Windows themes.

The indexing service¡¯s job is to keep track of every file on your computer, so if you use Windows¡¯ search function you¡¯ll be able to find things faster. But if you don¡¯t use search that often, the indexing service is a waste of resources and will slow you down.

That¡¯s why disabling the indexing service is high on the list of many speed tweakers. To do that, go back to your list of services (Start, Run, enter services.msc -- see above), scroll down to Indexing Service, and set the Startup type to ¡°Disabled.¡±

Finally, if you¡¯re using the Windows Classic theme (we suggested switching to it in Lesson 1 ), you can free up some memory. Scroll down the list of services to Themes and set it to ¡°Disabled.¡±

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Lesson 5: Tweaking the Registry and more

In this lesson you¡¯ll get into the nitty-gritty with the Windows Registry¨Cthe heart of the operating system, and a place full of ways to squeeze some more speed from your computer.

The Registry stores all sorts of information about your system in what are called ¡°keys.¡± A key might describe how Windows handles a particular type of file, or how it manages memory, and many other things.

You get into the Registry by clicking Start, choosing Run, and entering regedit in the box that appears. Then welcome to the Registry, perhaps the most intimidating part of Windows. Here you can make all sorts of internal changes to the way Windows operates.

Note:
Changes made to the Registry will not take effect until you restart Windows.

ALERT:
Be very cautious editing the Windows Registry. Changes made here can completely disable your computer if they¡¯re done incorrectly. We recommend that you follow the instructions below very carefully, and encourage you to back up your data files before proceeding.

Saving your configuration

Before you do anything else, set up a System Restore Point. That tells Windows to save everything about your current configuration, so if something goes awry you can tell it to revert back to that point¡ªkind of like a big ¡°undo¡± button.

To set a Restore Point:

• Click Start and choose either Programs or All Programs.
• Go to Accessories, then System Tools, and choose System Restore.
• On the welcome screen, you¡¯ll be asked whether you want to restore or create a restore point. Choose Create a Restore Point.
• Name it something you¡¯ll remember, such as ¡°Before CNET Changes.¡±
• Click Create.
• Now if something doesn¡¯t work, you can repeat these steps and choose ¡°Restore¡± instead, to return to the status you just saved.

That done, let¡¯s tweak.

The first things you¡¯ll see are the five main sections of the Registry¡¯s entries. They have cryptic names: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, and so on.

Next to each of those five sections is a small plus sign. Click that to view that section¡¯s subsections. Note that you can end up going several levels deep before getting to the key you want to change.

The standard way to point to a key is to list the various levels separated by slashes. For example, if you see:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Control Panel / Desktop

it means you should click the plus sign next to HKEY_CURRENT_USER, then the plus sign next to Control Panel, then look for Desktop.

Make your menus load faster

For your first trip to the Registry, we¡¯ll do something simple: Make your menus work faster.

• Start regedit (see above).
• Navigate to the following key by clicking the plus signs next to the name of each level:
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Control Panel
  • Click ¡°Desktop.¡± A list of entries will appear on the right side.
  • Double-click ¡°MenuShowDelay¡± and change the Value data to 0.
  • Click OK.

Free up memory from closed programs

When you shut down a program, Windows will often keep part of it in memory even if it¡¯s not being used. Called dynamic link libraries (DLLs), they take up memory and sometimes cause other problems.You can change a Registry key to prevent Windows from doing this.

• Start regedit, following the instructions in this lesson.
• Navigate to the following key:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SOFTWARE / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion
• Under CurrentVersion, right-click on Explorer, then choose New->Key.
• In the box that appears (¡±New Key #1¡å), change the name to AlwaysUnloadDLL.
• Hit Enter. On the right side, double-click the word (Default).
• For the value data, enter 1.
• Click OK.
• Close regedit (unless you want to tweak some more).

Speed program startup
Windows can be set to load information about some applications to make them start up faster by changing how much work a program called the Prefetcher does.

• Using regedit (instructions above), navigate to the following key:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SYSTEM / CurrentControlSet / Control / Session Manager / Memory Management / PrefetchParameters
• When you click PrefetchParameters, the right side of the editor will display a list of entries.
• Double-click ¡°Enable Prefetcher¡± and change the value data to 5 (in decimal, not hexadecimal).
• Click OK.
• Close regedit.

Reduce Windows¡¯ workload
If you have many folders and subfolders, every time you access one, Windows will spend a lot of time updating the ¡°last accessed¡± time for that folder and all its sub-folders. Stopping that process will buy you some time.

• Using regedit (see instructions above), navigate to the following key:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / System / CurrentControlSet / Control
• Under Control, right-click on FileSystem, then choose New, then DWORD Value.
• Replace ¡°New Value #1¡å with NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate and hit Enter.
• Double-click NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate and change the Value data to 1.
• Click OK.

Improve Swapfile performance
Many programs use a lot of memory, and if you run more than one or two at once, Windows might run out of RAM. In that case, it will start using a section of your hard disk called the ¡°swapfile¡± to store information. It¡¯s a lot slower than RAM, but it beats not being able to run a program.

But sometimes Windows uses the swapfile before it has to. This tweak will tell it to wait ¡®till the last moment before doing that.

• Click Start, then Run.
• Enter msconfig in the box.
• Click on the System.ini tab.
• Click the plus sign next to 386enh.
• Click New, then type ¡°ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1¡å in the box that appears.
• Click OK.

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Lesson 6: Improve your Internet browsing

In this lesson you¡¯ll learn a couple of tricks to make your broadband connection work more efficiently with Windows.

First, you might want to test your current connection speed. A good tool to do this is the CNET Bandwidth Meter speed test. Run the test a few times to get a better idea of your average bandwidth speed, then check again after you¡¯ve made these changes to see whether your connection speed improves.

Stop QoS

First, let¡¯s get rid of a system that¡¯s supposed to make sure your network is working, but in reality isn¡¯t helpful and can eat up to 20 percent of your bandwidth. It¡¯s called QoS, for Quality of Service, and here¡¯s how you stop it.

If you have Windows XP Professional, follow these instructions to disable QoS:

• Click Start, then Run.
• Enter gpedit.msc in the box.
• Under ¡°Local Computer Policy,¡± click the plus sign next to ¡°Computer Configuration,¡± then the one next to ¡°Administrative Templates.¡±
• Click the plus sign next to ¡°Network¡± and select ¡°QoS Packet Scheduler.¡±
• In the right-hand box, double-click on ¡°Limit Reservable Bandwidth.¡±
• On the Settings tab, choose Enabled.
• In the ¡°Bandwidth Limit %¡± box, set it to 0%. (Do not leave it blank.)
• Click OK.

If you have Windows Home Edition, follow these instructions to disable QoS:

• Click Start and then the ¡°Settings¡± option.
• Select the Control Panel, and open up ¡°Network Connections¡±
• Right-click ¡°Local Area Connection¡±and choose Properties.
• On the General tab, uncheck QoS.

Network settings

Now let¡¯s change some other networking settings.Out of the box, Windows networking comes configured for a generic user with a generic connection. It has no idea what kind of Internet connection you have--whether you¡¯re using dialup or DSL or a cable modem. Because of that, its network settings are also generic.

It¡¯s helpful to tailor these settings to your connection. The easiest way to do this is to use a (free) software program that will do it for you.

There are several programs that will let you manage those changes. Some require you to enter values in boxes; they then edit the Registry for you. But a much easier-to-use one is TCP Optimizer from Speed Guide, a Web site dedicated to broadband issues.

The nice thing about TCP Optimizer is that you only have to use a slider to indicate your connection speed, tell it how you connect, and click on the Optimize button. When you reboot, your connection should be noticeably faster (and you can always go back to Speakeasy.net to check it).

The measures we¡¯ve covered in this course will help speed your computer, but they¡¯re only the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds of small tweaks you can make, and the only limitation is how deep you¡¯re willing to delve into your system.

A number of Web sites are dedicated to helping people squeeze every last drop of speed from their machines. Searching for ¡°speed up Windows XP¡± or ¡°Windows XP speed tweaks¡± will help you find some.

In particular, check out the System Performance section of TweakXP.com , and the Broadband/Registry Tweaks section of Speed Guide --both have some excellent suggestions with detailed instructions, along with a community of people you can ask for help.

20 things you didn't know about Windows XP

20 things you didn't know about Windows XP

You've read the reviews and digested the key feature enhancements and operational changes. Now it's time to delve a bit deeper and uncover some of Windows XP's secrets.

1. It boasts how long it can stay up. Whereas previous versions of Windows were coy about how long they went between boots, XP is positively proud of its stamina. Go to the Command Prompt in the Accessories menu from  the All Programs start button option, and then type 'systeminfo'. The computer will produce a lot of useful info, including the uptime. If you want to keep these, type 'systeminfo info.txt'. This creates a file called info.txt you can look at later with Notepad.  (Professional Edition only).

2. You can delete files immediately, without having them move to the Recycle Bin first. Go to the Start menu, select Run... and type ' gpedit.msc'; then select User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Explorer and find the Do not move deleted files to the Recycle Bin setting. Set it.  Poking around in gpedit will reveal a great many  interface and system options, but take care -- some may stop your computer behaving as you wish.(Professional Edition only).

3. You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using  a right mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation' in the location field. Give the shortcut a name you like. That's it -- just double click on it and your computer will be locked. And if that's not easy enough, Windows key + L will do the same.

4. XP hides some system  software you might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can tickle it and make it disgorge everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf,  search for the word 'hide' and remove it. You can then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel,  select Add/Remove Windows Components and there will be your prey, exposed and vulnerable.

5. For those skilled in the art of DOS batch files, XP has a number of interesting new commands. These include 'eventcreate' and 'eventtriggers' for creating and watching system events, 'typeperf' for monitoring performance of various subsystems, and 'schtasks' for handling scheduled tasks. As usual, typing the command name followed by /? will give a list of options --  they're all far too baroque to go into here.

6. XP has IP version 6 support -- the next generation of IP. Unfortunately this is more than your ISP has, so you can only experiment  with this on your LAN. Type  'ipv6 install' into Run... (it's OK, it won't ruin  your existing network setup) and then 'ipv6 /?' at the command line to find out more. If you don't know what IPv6 is, don't worry and don't bother.

7. You can at last get rid of tasks on the computer from the command line by using 'taskkill /pid' and the task number, or just 'tskill' and the process number. Find that out by typing 'tasklist', which will also  tell you a lot about what's going on in your system.

8. XP will treat Zip files like folders, which is nice if you've got a fast machine. On slower machines, you can make XP leave zip files well alone by typing
'regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll' at the command line. If you  change your mind later, you can put things back as they were by typing 'regsvr32 zipfldr.dll'.

9. XP has ClearType -- Microsoft's anti-aliasing font display technology -- but doesn't have it enabled by default. It's well  worth trying, especially if you were there for DOS and all those years of staring at a screen have given you the eyes of an astigmatic bat. To enable ClearType, right click on the desktop, select Properties, Appearance, Effects, select ClearType from the second drop-down menu and enable the selection. Expect best results on laptop displays. If you want to use ClearType on the Welcome login  screen as well, set the registry entry

HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/ControlPanel/Desktop/FontSmoothing Type to 2.

10. You can use Remote Assistance to help a friend who's using network address translation (NAT) on a  home network, but not automatically. Get your pal to email you a Remote Assistance invitation and edit the file. Under the RCTICKET attribute will be a NAT IP address, like 192.168.1.10 . Replace this with your chum's real IP address -- they can find this out by  going to www.whatismyip.com -- and get them to make sure that they've got port 3389 open on their firewall and forwarded to the errant computer.

11. You can run a program as a different user without logging out and back in again. Right click the icon, select Run As... and enter the user name and password you want to use. This only applies for that run. The trick is particularly useful if you need to have  administrative permissions to install a program, which many require. Note that you can have some fun by running programs multiple times on the same system as different users, but this can have unforeseen effects.


12. Windows XP can be very insistent about you checking for auto updates, registering a Passport, using Windows Messenger and so on. After a while, the nagging goes away, but if you feel you might slip the  bonds of sanity before that point, run Regedit, go  to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Explorer/Advanced and create a DWORD valuecalled EnableBalloonTips with a value of 0.

13. You can start up without needing to enter a user name or password. Select Run... from the start menu  and type 'control userpasswords2', which will open the user accounts application. On the Users tab, clear the box for Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To Use This Computer, and click on OK. An Automatically Log On dialog box will appear; enter the user name and  password for the account you want to use.

14. Internet Explorer 6 will automatically delete temporary files, but only if you tell it to. Start the browser, select Tools / Internet Options... and Advanced, go down to the Security area and check the box to Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed.

15. XP comes with a free Network Activity Light, just in case you can't see the  LEDs twinkle on your network card. Right click on My Network Places on the desktop,  then select Properties. Right click on the description  for your LAN or dial-up connection, select Properties, then check the Show icon in notification area when connected box. You'll now see a tiny network icon on  the right of your task bar that glimmers nicely during network traffic.

16. The Start Menu can be leisurely when it decides to appear, but you can speed things along by changing the registry entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop/MenuShowDelay from the default 400 to something a little snappier. Like 0.

17. You can rename loads of files at once in Windows Explorer. Highlight a set of files in a window, then right click on one and rename it. All the other files will be renamed to that name, with individual numbers in brackets to distinguish them. Also, in a folder you can arrange icons in alphabetised groups by  View, Arrange Icon By... Show In Groups.

18. Windows Media Player will display the cover art for albums as it plays the tracks -- if it found the picture on the Internet when you copied the tracks from the CD. If it didn't, or if you have lots of pre-WMP music files, you can put your own copy of the cover art in the same directory as the tracks. Just call it folder.jpg and Windows Media Player will pick it up and display it.

19. Windows key + Break brings up the System Properties dialogue box; Windows key + D brings up the desktop; Windows key + Tab moves through the taskbar buttons.

20. The next release of Windows XP, codenamed Longhorn, is due out late next year or early 2006 and won't be much to write home about. The next big release is codenamed Blackcomb and will be out in  2003/2007.

Windows Tips Complete Chapter

ACCESS YOUR DESKTOP ICONS FROM YOUR TASKBAR

Do you ever want to access your desktop, or shortcut icons on your desktop when your screen is cluttered with windows which you don't want to minimize?

A simple solution. Place a shortcut to your desktop atop your START Menu. Here's how:

1) Right click on your TASKBAR and choose PROPERTIES.
2) Select the START MENU PROGRAMS tab, then the  ADVANCED button.
3) In the right panel, under the PROGRAMS  folder, you will see any shortcuts you have already placed atop your START menu. Right click here in the white space here and choose NEW, then SH ORTCUT.

4. In the command line for your shortcut, type c:\windows\desktop (If your Windows directory has another name, substitute that name for windows).

5. Click NEXT. Then in the name box, name your shortcut Desktop.

6. Click the FINI SH button.

7. Close the Explorer window, then click ok in TASKBAR  PROPERTIES.

8. Now, open START on your taskbar. VOILA! Your desktop folder icon should be visible. Click it to open your desktop folder.
Success!
You will now be able to view and access your desktop shortcut icons (not non-shortcut icons). If you want ALL desktop icons to be visible (Recycle Bin, My Computer etc.), you will need to place shortcuts to these other icons on your desktop.
Hint:
If you normally hide your taskbar, so that it is not always on top of other windows, you can access it at any time from any program  by pressing and holding control, then pressing escape (the ESC key at top left of your keyboard). You may then quickly choose your desktop folder and access desktop icons as well as any other programs accessible via your taskbar and programs menu.

 

OPEN EXPLORER RATHER THAN  MY COMPUTER TO VIEW FILES
(This is a great tip!! One of the most useful customizations...)

Have you created drive icons for your hard drives and floppy drives on your desktop

If so, you may wish that they opened in the two-paned Explorer view, rather than in My Computer.
To change the default view to Explorer:

1) Open Explorer (from Start, Programs, Explorer, or if you have created it, from the Explorer icon on your desktop).

2) Choose the View, Options menu.

3) Select the File Types tab.
4). Under registered file types, double click on FOLDER.

5) From the list of actions, select explore.

6) Click on the SET DEFAULT button at bottom right!

Now when you double click on a folder or open a drive icon shortcut Explorer will open instead of  My Computer.

 

OPEN ANY NEW DOCUMENT  FROM YOUR DESKTOP
(Associate files with programs)
Yes, we can teach you how to edit your Windows registry in order to add any new document to your desktop - and in a future tip, we will!
But the easiest way to add any new document to your desktop, whether
Or not it is listed in your NEW menu is to simply:

1) Right click on your desktop and choose NEW.

2) Choose TEXT document (assuming it is listed there, and associated with Notepad or the equivalent). Otherwise, choose any kind of document included in your NEW menu.

3) Retype the name by clicking inside the name box and typing OR by right clicking the icon, selecting RENAME, the typing. Type in a document name, and the extension for the kind of document you
Wish to open (e.g. .doc for Microsoft Word).

NOTE: The above tip assumes that you have associated this document
With a particular program on your computer. If not:

1) In MY COMPUTER, select view, options, then the FILE  TYPES tab.

2) Choose NEW TYPE.

3) In the DESCRIPTION box, type a name for the kind of document or file you are associating (e.g. Adobe Acrobat file)

4) In the ASSOCIATED EXTENSION field, type the extension of the kind of file in question (e.g. Pdf).

5) Below the ACTIONS field, choose NEW.

6) Type OPEN (in capitals).

7) Using the BROWSE button, browse to find the executable program
(usually ending with .exe, in the primary directory for the program)
Of the software which will open this particular file type. Select it.

8) Click ok or close until you've exited all your open screens.

9) Now your document type is associated. When you type in the
Extension on a file you create from the desktop and then double
Click on the icon, Windows will open its program.

 

Bypass the recycle bin when deleting a file

If you do not wish a file or folder you are deleting (or a group of files or folders) to end up in the recycle bin, for security or privacy reasons, there is a simple keyboard shortcut to avoid it.

To bypass the recycle bin when deleting a file, press and hold the SH IFT key as you press delete or select the delete command from the menu. You will see a request for confirmation, and once you say 'yes' the files will be permanently deleted, and absolutely non-restorable from WindowsXP

Create a link to shutdown your PC

To create a useful link desktop link to shutdown or restart your PC, follow these directions: Right click on an empty area of your desktop, then select 'new' and 'shortcut' to open the new shortcut wizard. When prompted for the location of the shortcut, enter ' SH UTDOWN -s -t 01' to shutdown the system or ' SH UTDOWN -r -t 01' to restart the system. Name the shortcut and give it an appropriate icon from the '%SystemRoot%\system32\ SH ELL32.dll' location.

 

Rename multiple files simultaneously

In windows XP explorer, you can rename multiple files at the same time simply by highlighting all the files you wish to change, right clicking one of them and selecting 'rename.' Once you have done this, all the files will share the same name with a number in brackets differentiating them

 

Hosting online games through the Windows XP firewall

If you are using the Windows XP firewall and you wish to host an online game such as Quake 3, or other applications that require users on the Internet to contact your computer directly, you will need to customize your firewall slightly to allow these specific communications through. Fortunately the XP firewall makes these changes fairly easy to do. To customize your firewall: Go to 'start\control panel\network connections'. Right click on the network connection that has the firewall enabled and go to 'properties.' Choose the 'settings' button at the bottom. On the 'services' tab, click the 'add' button.

This window will add the application that you are using to the firewall's list of data that is allowed into your computer. You will need to find out the port that your application uses. This information should be available from the documentation or from the software manufacturer's website. Input a description for your convenience, then the computer name or IP address of the computer that is hosting the program, then put the port number that the program uses. Note that as long as the program is running on the computer that uses the XP firewall, the internal and external port will be the same. Click 'ok' to apply the rule. Your firewall will now allow connections through the port you specified.

Clean out the prefetch folder

Windows XP uses a system called 'prefetch' to organize and preload some of the data necessary for commonly used applications and files. A folder called prefetch is used to store the information the operating system needs to carry out this operation. After several months of use, the prefetch folder may become quite overloaded with older references to software and files that may no longer be in use.

It's a good idea to manually empty the older files out of the prefetch folder every few months or so. To do this: Navigate to 'c:\windows\prefetch' and delete all .PF files that are older than a week or two.

Set priority for individual programs

If you regularly multi-task while you are working at your computer, but some of the applications you use require more horsepower than others to work effectively (for example using Adobe Photoshop along with Word or other less demanding programs), you may want to consider setting a custom priority for the high-demand applications. Priority is how the operating system determines how to share the processor time among applications. Most applications default to the 'normal' priority, so by setting your high demand application higher, you can increase its performance when multitasking. To do this: Load the program you wish to change the priority for and press CTRL+ALT+ DEL to bring up the Task Manager. Select the applications tab and highlight your program. Right click the program and select 'go to process.' Now right click on the highlighted process and choose 'set priority.'

The higher you set the priority above normal, the more CPU time the program will steal from other applications when you are multitasking.

Cleaning up unwanted startup programs

Many freeware and commercial software programs have a habit of setting themselves up to run automatically upon Windows startup. This can contribute to the gradual decline in startup speed that most Windows XP systems (and windows PCs in general) experience. Also, having programs that you only use selectively, or not at all, load automatically is a waste of system resources that could be better used for other things.

To top it off, many internet nasties such as spyware programs, viruses and Trojan horses will install themselves into one of the automatic start locations on your system in order to make sure that they are run on startup. So the point is, take a look at what is currently running every time you load your PC, and disable what you don't need or can't identify.

To do this: The first place you should go is 'start\programs\startup' which is a directory Windows XP uses to launch application shortcuts on boot-up. If you remove the shortcuts from this directory, the applications will not load on startup. This directory can also be a repository for various badness such as spyware and virus software, so if there are files here which are not shortcuts and you don't recognize them, you may wish to consider removing them anyways, as Windows will not place critical files in this directory.

The next location for removing unnecessary startup files is the handy MSCONFIG utility that has been resurrected from the graveyard of Windows 9x especially for XP. Go to 'start\run' and type 'msconfig' to access the utility. The 'startup' tab in MSCONFIG provides access to several other applications that are started at boot up and are running in the background. By examining their Filenames and irectories, you should be able to get a feeling for what is necessary and what is not. Be aware than several viruses and worms have a habit of disguising themselves with authoritative sounding Windows system file names,such as win32.spybot.worm present in the above screenshot as MSCONFIG32.EXE. Leave these for now if you are not sure. The other method for removing these programs is through the programs themselves, as many applications, for example MSN messenger, contain the option to remove the software from startup.

Compressing files and folders to save space

Windows XP includes a built in compression utility which can save you some valuable space on your hard disk by archiving little used files. Working similarly to compression programs such as PKZIP and WINRAR, the built in software reduces the space your files take up on the disk at the penalty of increased disk access time for the compressed files in question. There are several ways of compressing data on your system: If you have a pre-existing folder and would like to compress everything in it, right click on the folder, select 'properties' then the 'advanced' button at the bottom. In the 'compress or encrypt attributes' section, check the 'compress contents to save disk space' option.

If you wish to create a compressed folder for a file or folder separate from the one it is in now, right click on the item you wish to compress and choose 'send to\compressed (zipped) folder.' This will create a new compressed folder in the same location as the original file or folder.

 

Open explorer window from current command prompt directory

There is a built in command prompt ('start\run' then type 'cmd') command that will open a Windows Explorer window to your exact current directory location in the DOS-oriented command prompt. Simply type 'Start .' from the prompt to open up explorer in that location. And yes, that is 'start(space).

Using Quick Edit in the Command Prompt

The Quick Edit function allows you to cut and paste text to and from the command prompt window, something which you may have become used to not being able to do. To activate Quick Edit: Open a command prompt Window ('start\run' and type 'cmd'). Right click on the toolbar at the top and select 'properties.' Put a checkmark in the Quick Edit mode box. When prompted, opt to apply changes to all similar windows. Now that Quick Edit is enabled in the command prompt, you can click and drag to highlight text, then press ENTER to copy it to the clipboard. To paste text from the clipboard, simply right click on the command prompt window.

 

Select 'No to all' when copying files in XP

Have you ever noticed that Windows XP gives you the 'yes to all' option in its file copy dialog box, useful if you would like to overwrite files in a directory with newer files of the same name from another location, for example, but fails to offer a 'no to all' option for doing the opposite. Kind of annoying if you think about it. What if you have a lengthy file copy operation partially finished, and wish to restart it? If you use the default options, you essentially have to recopy every file, since saying 'no' to each and every duplicate file will take just as long, and cause your mouse finger to fall off. Fortunately, there is a way to tell your computer not to copy all duplicated files with a single command:

To do this, when the file copy dialog box appears asking you whether you wish to overwrite the first file, hold down SH IFT and click 'no.' This will automatically answer no for all following files. Note that it will ask you again for the first folder it encounters, so follow the procedure again to answer no automatically for all folders. This will dramatically speed up the file copying process.

Defrag your hard drive

Defragmentation of a hard drive is the act of re-ordering the data on the drive so that each file can be read continuously from the disk. By default, Windows XP will attempt to store any files it needs to write to the hard drive in consecutive clusters (a cluster is the smallest unit of storage space available on a hard drive) on the drive, so that the file can then be read continuously. A hard drive which has been frequently used over a long period of time will have developed many fragmented files, files which are scattered over different clusters on the surface of the disk. This can occur because of many factors, for example uninstall programs that leave files behind, system crashes while in the act of writing to the hard drive, regular deletion of files, etc. A file becomes fragmented when the portion of consecutive clusters on the disk that Windows begins to write into is not large enough to hold the whole file. The remainder of the file then needs to be written to a different physical area of the disk. This does not have any effect on the operating system's ability to access the files themselves, but it does slow down disk access times (and by extension, any application that depends on disk access) due to the extra time needed to reposition the read heads of the hard drive to access the rest of the fragmented file. Windows XP includes a disk defragmentation utility which you can use to re-arrange the files on the drive and eliminate fragmentation. This can have a significant affect on the speed of your computer. To access this utility, go to 'start\programs\accessories\system tools\disk defragmenter.' To begin with, you need to analyze your hard disk(s) to see if defragmentation is needed. Select a drive and hit the 'analyze' button. This could take a little while depending on the amount of data on the drive. Whille the system is analyzing, it is best to leave your computer alone or the process may need to restart.

 

Once the analysis is finished, you will have a graphical representation of your disk's level of fragmentation. See the pic below for an example of a highly fragmented drive.

Windows will also inform you if it recommends defragmenting the drive. You must have 15% of the drive free in order to fully defragment it. Anything less will result in only a partial re-ordering of the files. You may need to delete a few things to obtain this free space.

To defragment the drive, select it and hit the 'defragment' button. Note that depending on the size of the drive and the level of fragmentation, this can take a long time. It's a good thing to leave overnight, since you should not run anything else while doing the defrag either.

Disable unnecessary services

 

Windows XP runs many, many services in the background. A lot of these are not actually necessary to the day-to-day operation of your PC, depending of course, on what you use it for. Creating a guide for which services are useful in which situation would unfortunately take up the entire remainder of this article just for itself, so we're not going to go in depth. The simple fact is different people will need different services enabled. To judge for yourself which are necessary, right click on 'My computer' and select 'manage.' From the computer management window, expand 'services and applications' then click 'services' to open up the window listing all available services. The ones labeled 'started' are currently running, and the startup type 'automatic' denotes a service which is started by windows each time the operating system loads.

By highlighting each service, you can see a description of its properties, and make an informed decision on whether you need it or not. To stop a service from running, right click on it and select 'properties,' then stop it and make the startup type 'disabled.' If the description indicates that services which depend on the service you are currently examining will fail if it is disabled, you can go to the 'dependencies' tab to see which services will be affected.

Enable clear type

Windows XP allows you to enable Microsoft's Clear Type font smoothing method. This blends the colours at the edges of type on screen, causing the letters to appear less jagged. While it is primarily intended to increase text quality for users of laptops and desktop PCs with LCD (flat panel) screens, it is worth experimenting with even if you use a traditional CRT.

Be advised that certain ClearType settings may appear rather blurry on a CRT monitor. If you use an LCD monitor on a laptop or desktop, you should definitely enable Cleartype as the increase in text quality is considerable.

To activate ClearType: Go to 'control panel\display' and select the 'appearance' tab.Click the 'effects' button. Ensure that the 'use the following method to smooth the edges of screen fonts' box is checked and change the drop down box to 'ClearType.' Press 'OK.'

Once you have enabled cleartype, Microsoft has provided a web location where you can fine-tune your ClearType settings. Here it is the link.

 

Create a keyboard shortcut to a folder or program

Shortcuts to programs are very convenient, but only if they are easily accessible. It can be a pain to have to minimize the window you are currently working in just to locate the shortcut you are looking for. To make things easier, XP features the ability to link shortcuts to user-defined key combinations, so you can easily activate the one you are looking for without disrupting what you are doing. Unfortunately this only works for shortcuts that are placed directly on the desktop, not in other folders, but it's still a useful little tip. To do it: Select the folder or program icon that you wish to use. Create a shortcut for it by right clicking on the item and selecting 'create shortcut' from the menu. Place your newly created shortcut on the desktop by dragging or cut/pasting. Right click the shortcut and select 'properties.' Select the 'shortcut' tab and enter the key combination you wish to use (XP will automatically edit the combination if it is not acceptable. Just entering 'e' for example, will get you an actual key combination of ctrl + alt + e). Click 'ok.'

Now you can open the specified shortcut without altering your workflow

Resize screen fonts on the fly in Internet Explorer

Here's a simple useful tip that you can use in Internet Explorer. While viewing a web page, hold down CTRL and use the scroll button on your mouse to increase or decrease the size of the fonts on the page. Some websites really like using the small size 1 fonts, and if you're eyes have a hard time reading such small text, this little trick can make previously headache ridden websites much easier to read through.

Mouse Sonar

Here's a good little tip for users who have trouble locating their mouse pointer on the screen. Windows XP has a nifty little 'mouse sonar' option available, which will cause your mouse pointer to pop-up a little concentric ring around itself to show you where it is.

Go to 'start\control panel\mouse' choose the 'pointer options' tab and check the 'show location of pointer when I press the control key' box.

Quick back and forward commands in Internet explorer

Here's a tip that can speed up your web surfing. When viewing a page in Internet Explorer, hold down SH IFT and use the mouse scroll wheel to quickly go forward or back through the pages you have viewed.

Mount a new hard drive as a folder in your C: drive

Actually, this tip works for any partition of any NTFS formatted drive (except the partition with the Windows system files on it)… Windows XP, like 2000 before it, allows you to 'mount' drives as folders in a pre-existing logical drive. For example, if you had a computer with a 20GB disk formatted into a single partition and volume (drive c:), you could purchase a second drive, partition and format it from disk manager and then instead of giving it its own drive letter, add it to your c: drive as a directory. Any files added to that directory would of course be stored in the new HD.This can come in extremely handy, as certain applications (databases come to mind) can grow extremely large, but may not support storing data on a (logically) separate drive.As far as Windows is concerned, a drive mounted as a directory is just a directory, so no extra drive letters are involved. This can also cut down on storage confusion for the average user, and it's easy to do, though it can only be done with NTFS formatted partitions, and obviously the boot partition cannot be used this way, though other partitions can be added to the boot partition.

Also note that shuffling the partition around in this way has no effect on the data stored in it. You can move an NTFS partition from directory to directory, then give it back a drive letter if you choose, while maintaining complete access to the data inside. No reboot is necessary. One other note: If you have installed software on a partition you plan to mount as a directory, it is best to uninstall and reinstall it, since the move may stop the software from working correctly. Windows will warn you about this if you forget my wise words.

To mount a partition as a directory: Open disk manager, the right click on the partition you wish to mount as a directory in the graphical partition window (lower pane). Select 'change drive letter and paths…' Remove the current option (if any), then click add. Choose the 'mount in the following empty NTFS folder,' browse to the desired volume and add a directory for your drive. Click 'ok.' That's it.

If you wish to return things back to the way they were, simply repeat the procedure, removing the directory location and choosing a drive letter instead. The data on the drive will be unharmed.

Disable the Disk performance counter(s)

Windows XP contains a built in performance monitor that is constantly examining various areas of your system. This information can be called up using the performance monitor application found in control panel\administrative tools. Of course, most of us have little interest in this sort of performance statistics monitoring, that being more the territory of systems administrators than individual users. The thing is, XP is still monitoring away, and some of its observation tools can use a considerable amount of resources. The disk monitoring is an example of this, and it's a good idea to turn the disk monitors off if you are not planning to use the performance monitor application.

To do this: Go to the command prompt ('start\run' then type 'cmd') and type 'diskperf -N'

Turn Off Windows Indexing service

The 'Indexing' feature is used to increase the speed of file searches within XP by creating and updating an index of all files on your system. Unfortunately, it also reduces the performance of your system, since it is constantly working in the background.

To turn it off: Go to Control Panel\Add/Remove Programs\Windows Components. Then uncheck 'Indexing Service.'

Increasing desktop Graphics Performance

If you are running Windows XP on an older computer, you may find turning of some of the graphical frills that XP uses to render the desktop will improve the 'snappiness' of your computing experience. To see a list of these effects so that you can experiment with the effectiveness of turning them off:

Right click on 'my computer' and hit 'properties.' Choose the 'advanced' tab. In the performance section, click the 'settings' button.

A list of the various graphical effects that can be turned off or on is shown. To turn them all off, you can choose the 'adjust for best performance' button. Play around with these settings and see what you think.

Check and set the DMA mode on your drives

Windows XP occasionally sets IDE hard drives and CD drives to the PIO transfer mode by default, which is slower than the standard DMA (Direct Memory Access) mode used by modern drives. It's worthwhile to check your drive settings to make sure that they are not being slowed down in this manner. To check your drives: Right click 'my computer' and select properties, then the 'hardware tab' then the 'device manager' button. Expand 'IDE ATA\ATAPI controllers' highlight 'primary IDE channel' and hit the 'properties' button. Go to the 'advanced settings' tab, and ensure that the transfer mode is set to 'DMA if available.' Repeat the above steps for the secondary IDE channel.

Smooth out your mouse movement

Assuming you are using a PS/2 mouse, this tip can help give you smoother and more precise mouse control. Good for gaming and for your nerves in general. Studies have shown that smooth mousing reduces fatigue and stress and generally promotes a healthy cheerful glow (your experience may vary).

On to the tip: Right click on 'my computer' and select properties. Choose the 'hardware' tab, then the 'device manager' button. From the device manager window, find your PS/2 mouse and select 'properties.' In the 'advanced settings' tab, set the 'sample rate' to 200.

These first twelve (12) shortcuts utilize the Windows Key which is located at the lower left hand corner and, the lower right hand corner of your keyboard between the Ctrl and Alt keys. If it is not there, then you do not have a Windows keyboard.

Ctrl Windows Key Alt

The keyboard image effects that you see above and below are being controlled through an external .css (Cascading Style Sheet) file. These are not actual images, but a carefully thought out list of CSS attributes that gives the appearance of a key on a Windows keyboard.

Windows Key + E

Opens a new Explorer Window. Probably one of the hottest Windows keyboard shortcuts. This one gets a lot of hoorahs!

1.     Windows Key

Displays the Start Menu.

2.     Windows Key + D

Minimizes all windows and shows the Desktop.

3.     Windows Key + D

Opens all windows and takes you right back to where you were.

4.     Windows Key + F

Displays the Find all files dialog box.

5.     Windows Key + L

Lock your Windows XP computer.

6.     Windows Key + M

Minimizes all open windows.

7.     Windows Key + Shift + M

Restores all previously open windows to how they were before you Minimized them.

8.     Windows Key + R

Displays the Run command.

9.     Windows Key + F1

Displays the Windows Help menu.

10. Windows Key + Pause/Break

Displays the Systems Properties dialog box.

11. Windows Key + Tab

Cycle through the buttons on the Task Bar.

12. Alt + Tab

Toggle (switch) between open windows.

Restoring a Lost Desktop

If you ever lose the Desktop but Explorer is still running with the Start Button,
you can do this to bring back your Desktop in a Windows box.

1.     Click Start Click Run Type a period " . "

2.     Then press Enter

Creating a New E-Mail Shortcut

To create a shortcut that will open your default e-mail program starting a new e-mail,

1.     Right click on an open area of the desktop Select New / Shortcut For the Command Line, enter mailto: For the title enter something like New E-Mail

2.     When you click on this your default e-mail program should start with a new e-mail form.

Creating 3D window Effect

You can create a nice 3D effect for your windows

1.     Start Regedit Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Colors

2.     Make sure the following setting are there:

• ButtonHilight=128 128 128
• ButtonShadow=255 255 255

Creating Shutdown, Restart and Logoff Icons

To create the icons, create a shortcut on the desktop.For Shutdown, the command is C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL.EXE user.exe,exitwindowsFor Restart, the command is C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL.EXE user.exe,exitwindowsexecFor Logoff, the command is C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL.EXE shell32.dll, SH ExitWindowsEx 0

Having your Favorites and Start Menus Sort Alphabetically

If your Start Menu Program or Favorites are not sorting alphabetically, it is easy to fix this:

1.     Start Regedit Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Explorer/MenuOrder Under here is are Favorites and Start Menu folders In each there is a value called Order Simply delete (or rename this) and restart Winodws

2.     Your Favorites or Start Menus should now sort alphabetically

Increasing the Icon Cache

1.     Run Regedit Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer Create a new string called Max Cached Icons Give it a value of 10000

2.     This will increase response time in windows and give the Shellicon cache file more elbow room.

Make Icons 256 Color 16-Bit

1.     Open the Registry Hit Ctrl+F Type Shell Icon BPP When found, right click the Shell Icon BPP icon Click Modify Change the value from 4 to 16 Click Ok Close the registry

2.     Restart your computer

Removing Shortcut Arrows

An easy way to remove those irritating arrows from your desktop shortcut icons and not change their properties

1.     Right click the Desktop / Properties / Appearance tab Select Item Scroll for Icon The default size is 32 Change this to 30

2.     Clicking Apply

Adding the Control Panel to the Start Menu

1.     Open up the Explorer Go to \WINDOWS\Start Menu Right click in the right-hand panel Add a new folder Name it Control Panel.{21ec2020-3aea-1069-a2dd-08002b30309d}

2.     This makes getting to the Control Panel items a little easier

Making Desktop Changes Permanent

To make changes to the Desktop like window size, positon after rebooting:

1.     Start Regedit Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer Create a New Binary Value Name it NoSaveSettings

2.     Give it a value of 01 00 00 00

Easy Shortcuts on the Desktop

Here is an easy way to put shortcuts on the Desktop where they can easily be moved to other group icons.

1.     Using the Explorer, create a SH ORTCUT to the \Windows\Desktop directory in your \Windows\SEND TO directory. Now whenever you want to make a shortcut and move it to the desktop: Just make the shortcut you want using Explorer Right click on that shortcut

2.     In the pop up menu select the Send To and Desktop shortcut.

Changing a Folder's Icon

To change the icon of a Folder on desktop:

1.     Using the Explorer, move the folder from the Desktop directory to another directory on the hard drive Right click on the new folder and select "Create Shortcut" Move the shortcut to the Desktop

2.     Right click and select a new icon

Full Window Drag ( Without Plus! )

1.     Start Regedit Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER /ControlPanel /Desktop /DragFullWindows

2.     On "DragFullWindows" properties change 0 to 1

Fixing Corrupted Desktop Icons

Easier way to reset icons then deleting SH ELLICONCACHE.There's no need to exit Win95 and delete the SH ELLICONCACHE file in order to reset icons that you may have changed (like Network Neighborhood).

1.     Go to Control Panel, Display, Appearance Tab. Select Icon from the Item drop down list. Change the Size up or down one and apply.

2.     Change the Size back to your original and apply.

If your Start Menu is slow or your icons are black for some reason, it means your Shelliconcache file is corrupt and should be deleted.
Delete the hidden file C:\WINDOWS\ SH ELLICONCACHE
It will be recreated the next time you start Win95

Getting Screen Shots

If you need to get a screen shot, and you do not have a screen capture program, try this:

• Hit the Print Screen key. This copies a bitmap of the full screen into the Windows clipboard. Start up a graphics editor and paste it in.
• Alt + Print Screen will capture only the active window.

Increasing the Size of the Scroll Bar

How to adjust the width of the scroll bar:

1.     Right Click with Mouse on Desktop Area. Select Properties Select the Appearance tab Go to the item list and find scrollbar.