Sunday, 16 November 2014

WINDOWS XP - TIPS [ 4 ]


 Disabling Hibernation

Added 8/20/01
If you don't want to use up the disk space taken by Hibernation, or don't need to use it at all,
you can easily disable it.
  1. Open up the Control Panel / Power Options icon
  2. Click on the Hibernation icon
  3. Uncheck Enable Hibernation

 Locking the Workstation

Added 8/19/01
There are two ways you can lock the workstation.
  1. With a Windows key + L
  2. Create an shortcut rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation

 Changing the Picture Displayed for a User

Added 8/19/01
You can change the picture that gets displayed for a particular user
  1. Go to the Control Panel
  2. Select User Accounts
  3. Click on the Account to change
  4. Click on Change my picture
  5. You can then browse to the picture you want to use

 Displaying the QuickLaunch Toolbar

Added 8/16/01
By default, WindowsXP does not show the QuickLaunch toolbar.
To enable it again:
  1. Right click on an open area of the toolbar
  2. Select Toolbars
  3. Select Quick Launch
Now you can add programs like with Win98

 Increasing System Performance

Added 8/16/01
If you have 512 megs or more of memory, you can increase system performance
by having the core system kept in memory.
  1. Start Regedit
  2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\DisablePagingExecutive
  3. Set the value to be 1
  4. Reboot the computer

 Removing the MSN Messenger

Added 8/16/01
If you want to remove the MSN Messenger from always starting in the system tray, do
  1. Start / Run
  2. Then enter in the following string: RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove
To remove it completely, see the section Adding / Removing Additional Programs
Remove the hide  from the line:
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7

 Common Command Console Utilities

Added 8/16/01
WindowsXP comes with quite a few console utilities you can easily run from the command line:
Computer Management - compmgmt.msc
Disk Managment - diskmgmt.msc
Device Manager - devmgmt.msc
Disk Defrag - dfrg.msc
Event Viewer - eventvwr.msc
Shared Folders - fsmgmt.msc
Group Policies - gpedit.msc
Local Users and Groups - lusrmgr.msc
Performance Monitor - perfmon.msc
Resultant Set of Policies - rsop.msc
Local Security Settings - secpol.msc
Services - services.msc
Component Services - comexp.msc

 Automatically Ending Non-Responsive Tasks

Added 8/16/01
  1. Start Regedit
  2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\AutoEndTasks
  3. Set the value to be 1
  4. In the same section, change the WaitToKillAppTimeout to the number of milliseconds you want.
Download reg file

 Changing the Internet Explorer Title

Added 8/16/01
  1. Start Regedit
  2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Window Title
  3. Enter what you want appear in the title bar

 Changing Visual Effects

Added 8/16/01
To change visual effects such as fade menus, mouse shadow, visual styles on buttons, drop shadows for icons, slide open boxes and buttons etc.:
  1. Right click on My Computer
  2. Select Properties
  3. Click on the Advanced tab
  4. Under Performance, click on the Settings button
  5. From here you have a list of items you can select

 Changing System Restore Settings

Added 8/16/01
By default, WindowsXP uses a large amount of hard drive space for storing system restore points.
If this is not necessary, you can change the settings.
  1. Go to Start / Programs / Accessories / System Tools
  2. Run System Restore
  3. For each drive or partition, you can click on the Setting button to change how much hard drive space is devoted to each one.
  4. There is even the option to turn it off for all drives.

 Configuring the Firewall

Added 8/16/01
WindowsXP has firewall capabilities built into the operating system.
  1. For your network connection to the Internet, select Properties
  2. Click on the Advanced tab
  3. Check the Internet Connection Firewall section
  4. Click on the Settings button to change the settings

 Changing Programs That Start Automatically

Added 8/16/01
WindowsXP has a similar program, MSCONFIG, that was available in Windows98.
This allows you to view and change what programs are automatically started each time you log in.
The new version also allows you to view and edit the boot.ini file (as well as check for errors and use several advanced switches)

 Adding / Removing Additional Programs

Added 8/16/01
By default, WindowsXP does not display all the programs you can add or remove.
To show this list:
Edit the \Windows\Inf\sysoc.inf file
In the Components section, simply remove the word hide.
This will leave two commas together (like on the rest of the items).
Then you can go to the Control Panel / Add or Remove Programs / Add/Remove Windows Components and the new items will be displayed.
[Components]
NtComponents=ntoc.dll,NtOcSetupProc,,4
WBEM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wbemoc.inf,hide,7
Display=desk.cpl,DisplayOcSetupProc,,7
Fax=fxsocm.dll,FaxOcmSetupProc,fxsocm.inf,,7
NetOC=netoc.dll,NetOcSetupProc,netoc.inf,,7
iis=iis.dll,OcEntry,iis.inf,,7
com=comsetup.dll,OcEntry,comnt5.inf,hide,7
dtc=msdtcstp.dll,OcEntry,dtcnt5.inf,hide,7
IndexSrv_System = setupqry.dll,IndexSrv,setupqry.inf,,7
TerminalServer=TsOc.dll, HydraOc, TsOc.inf,hide,2
msmq=msmqocm.dll,MsmqOcm,msmqocm.inf,,6
ims=imsinsnt.dll,OcEntry,ims.inf,,7
fp_extensions=fp40ext.dll,FrontPage4Extensions,fp40ext.inf,,7
AutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,au.inf,hide,7
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
msnexplr=ocmsn.dll,OcEntry,msnmsn.inf,,7
smarttgs=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,msnsl.inf,,7
RootAutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,rootau.inf,,7


Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,,7
AccessUtil=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,accessor.inf,,7
CommApps=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,communic.inf,HIDE,7
MultiM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,multimed.inf,HIDE,7
AccessOpt=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,optional.inf,HIDE,7
Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,HIDE,7
MSWordPad=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wordpad.inf,HIDE,7
ZoneGames=zoneoc.dll,ZoneSetupProc,igames.inf,,7

 Displaying and Configuring the Classic Start Menu

Added 8/16/01
If you prefer the original Start Menu, you can easily switch it back.
  1. Right click on the Taksbar
  2. Select Properties
  3. Click on the Start Menu tab
  4. Select Classic Start Menu
  5. If you click on the Customize button you can choose to display Administrative Tools, Favorites, Run, and expanding many of the sub-menus like the Control Panel.

 Increasing File System Caching

Added 8/16/01
To increase the amount of memory Windows will locked for I/O operations:
  1. Start Regedit
  2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management
  3. Edit the key IoPageLockLimit
4096 - 32megs of memory or less
8192 - 32+ megs of memory
16384 - 64+ megs of memory
32768 - 128+ megs of memory
65536 - 256+ megs of memory

 Enabling NumLock on by Default

Added 8/16/01
To have numlock turned on for each user:
  1. Start Regedit
  2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Keyboard\InitialKeyboardIndicators
  3. Change the value from 0 to 2
  4. Turn Numlock on manually
  5. Log off and back on again.
  6. For all users, make the same change to HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Keyboard\InitialKeyboardIndicators
Download reg file
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