20 things you didn't know about Windows XP

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/Control Panel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType 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/Current Version/Explorer/Advanced and create a DWORD value called 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 2003 and won't be much to write home about. The next big release is codenamed Blackcomb and will be out in 2003/2004.

Toys for Windows

Power Toys for Windows appear in windows95.
It's a Toys that in Microsoft websites it stated:

"Note: We take great care to ensure that PowerToys work as they should, but they are not part of Windows and are not supported by Microsoft. For this reason, Microsoft Technical Support is unable to answer questions about PowerToys. PowerToys are for Windows XP only and will not work with Windows Vista."

Although Microsoft do not take the resposiblily for the errors by the settings but most of the settings are simple and do not modify the system files. By using the "Toys", you can change the icons for my computer, my documents...

Here the topics in the program:

• Color Control Panel Applet


• SyncToy


• RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer


• ClearType Tuner


• HTML Slide Show Wizard


• Open Command Window Here


• Alt-Tab Replacement


• Tweak UI


• Power Calculator


• Image Resizer


• CD Slide Show Generator


• Virtual Desktop Manager


• Taskbar Magnifier


• Webcam Timershot

For more information and download of the toys, please visit Microsoft webpage:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx

Windows 2k/XP Tweaks

General Windows 2000/2003 Server/XP Tweaks and tips.

This article provides some general tweaking information relevant to Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 Server. If you're looking for broadband-specific information, please visit the broadband section of the site.

Turn off Indexing Service

Indexing Service creates indexes of the contents and properties of all files on local and network drives in order to increase file searching speed. It's quite similar to "Find Fast" that ships with Microsoft Office. Indexing Service runs continuously and can slow down your PC's general performance because it has to index files continuously. If you don't need slightly faster file searches, the feature can be safely turned off. Note: Indexing Service is turned on by default for all NTFS partitions.

Turning this service off to increase overall performance: Open My Computer -> right-click on a Drive icon -> Select Properties -> Remove the checkmark from "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching" -> Click Apply. Make sure to select "Apply changes to :\, subfolders and files."  before clicking OK in the new window.

Alternatively, you can navigate to: Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services -> Disable Indexing Services.

Disable Paging Of Core Files

You can improve Core System Performance in Windows NT/2k/2k3 on systems with large amount of RAM, by forcing the core Windows system files to be kept in memory and not paged to disk.

To appply this tweak, open the Registry and edit the value in the key below.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

To enable: DisablePagingExecutive=dword:00000001   (Data Type: REG_DWORD, set to 1 to enable tweak and stop core processes from being paged to disk)
To disable: DisablePagingExecutive=dword:00000000   (Data Type: REG_DWORD, set to 0 to disable tweak, this is the Windows default setting)

Note: In Windows 2000, there is a bug with enabling this tweak, you might need to update to the latest Service Pack, or install the hotfix described by MS here: MS KB Article 32605

Disable unnecessary Services

Services are programs that start with Windows and continuously run in the background, helping the OS with different functionality. Not all services that load by default are needed, you can disable some to free some resources and speed up your system in general. You should go through the list and read the descriptions to decide which services you need depending on what you use your computer for...  You can always turn the service back on if and when you find need for it. Here is the procedure to turn off a service:

1.  Navigate to: Start -> Programs -> Administrative Tools -> Services.
Alternatively, you can do START -> Run ->  and type services.msc

2. Left-click on a service and read its' description carefully. Turning off services disables some particular functionality of the OS, so make sure you want to turn the particular service off.

3. To disable, Right-click -> Properties -> Change the "Startup Type" to "Manual" and Stop the service. Next time you reboot that particular service won't start.

Some Sample Services that can safely be turned off in most Home PCs:

Automatic Updates
Computer Browser
Error Reporting Service
Help and Support
Indexing Service
Messenger (pop-up spam vulnerability)
NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
Performance Logs and Alerts
Protected storage (stores passwords and enables ato-complete)
Remote Registry (remote access to your registry)
Routing and Remote Access (enables dial-in routing to your computer)
Secondary Logon
Task Scheduler
...

Notes:
To disable services, just stop them, and set them to "Manual". Check the Event Log for errors after rebooting.
For additional information on all services, and what they do, check: http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/service411.htm

Temporary Administrative Permissions

Many programs require administrative rights to be able to install. Here is an easy way to temporarily assign yourself Administrative permissions while you remain logged in as a normal user:

1. Hold down the Shift key (might not be necessary on Win2k3) and right-click on the program, or the setup file.
2. Click "Run as"
3. Type in a username and password that have Administrative permissions.

Note: This will also work for applications in the Start menu.

Optimize the Pagefile

If you have more than one hard drive, it is a good idea to put your pagefile on the non-windows drives. Also, it is not a bad idea to set the pagefile to a constant size (1 to 2 times the available RAM), so it wont get fragmented.

Right-click on My Computer -> select Properties -> the Advanced tab -> Performance, Settings button ->  Advanced tab, Virtual memory, Change button -> choose the drives and size available for pagefile(s).

I usually use a non-windows drive, and same Initial/Maximum size to avoid fragmentation of the pagefile. Another method to avoid fragmentation is to clear the pagefile on shutdown, by changing the following Registry setting:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\
"ClearPageFileAtShutdown=1"  (1 clears the pagefile at shutdown, 0 is the Windows default).

Related Resources:
MSKB 314834 (Windows XP)
MSKB 182086 (Windows 2000)

Fix Windows Explorer Slowdowns

Sometimes Windows Explorer can slow down to a crawl, here are a couple of tips to reclaim your resources:

1. Possible WIA and USB device issues, here is the solution: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;819017

2. Media files causing slowdowns, such as large number, and/or corrupt AVI files. Any Explorer operaion can lead to very high CPU usage and a seeming lockup of your computer. To resolve the issue:
Start > Run > type: Regedit
Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}
And delete this key:
InProcServer32
Then unload the dynamic library with the following:
Start > Run > type: regsvr32 /u shmedia.dll

If you're running XP, you might also want to check this: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;822430

3. Reduce Shell Overhead: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;819101

4. Apply the LAN browsing tweak if you're on a network (and not using Netware):
Start > Run > type: Regedit
Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Explorer\RemoteComputer\NameSpace
Delete this key:
{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}
 

Improve NTFS Performance

You can improve NTFS performance by stopping it from generating timestamps every time directories are accessed, and if you're feeling a bit more adventurous, by preventing NTFS from generating MS-DOS compatible filenames for all files with long filenames. Here are the two registry keys that you can modify:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem
"NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate"=dword:00000001
"NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation"=dword:00000001

Note: Applying the second line above (disabling truncated filename creation) might cause problems with some 16-bit applications. To resolve this, simply set the number back to "0"

Unload DLLs of Closed Applications

Windows does not always unload DLLS (Dynamic Link Libraries) used by programs from memory, even after the applications are closed. This default behavior causes more memory to be reserved for unused DLLs over time.  This tweak sets Windows to automatically unload DLLs for closed applications from RAM, which speeds up GUI operation by freeing unused memory and returning it to the system.

To fix this and unload unnecessary DLLs, navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AlwaysUnloadDLL
and set the "Default" string to "1"

If the "AlwaysUnloadDLL" subkey does not exist, create it. To reverse the change, simply delete "AllwaysUnloadDLL". Alternatively, you can use the following registry files to apply/undo this tweak:
  sg_unload_dll.reg
  undo_sg_unload_dll.reg

Note: This tweak also works with Windows 9x. It is possible that unloading DLLs might cause some issues with some old 16-bit applications.

Create a shortcut to switch users

Fast user switching has been a very useful feature of Windows for multi-user computers. Dating back to Windows XP, fast user switching allows multiple users to be logged into a computer at once. This is very useful if a user is in the middle of work but another needs to use the computer shortly. Fast user switching will allow the other user to log in while still retaining the other users session. Once the other user is finished the session can be switched back to the original user.

Creating a shortcut to switch the active user is as easy as creating a shortcut to c:\windows\system32\tsdiscon.exe

Right click where you want the shortcut to be created and select New and then Shortcut.
Copy and paste “c:\windows\system32\tsdiscon.exe” into the location box and hit Next.
Give it a name and hit Finish.

How to Change the boot screen

This is a pretty common question on the newsgroups, and also came up on e-mail this morning - how do you change the Windows XP Embedded boot screen/logo ?

From Sysinternals.com - modify your boot.ini as follows.
/BOOTLOGO Use this switch to have Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 display an installable splash screen instead of the standard splash screen.

First, create a 16-color (any 16 colors) 640x480 bitmap and save it in the Windows directory with the name Boot.bmp.

Then add "/bootlogo /noguiboot" to the boot.ini selection.
There are a ton of other boot.ini flags listed on the Sysinternals site.

Speed up your Windows 2000/XP system and save resources at the same time

You can improve performance of your Windows 2000/XP and reclaim memory by simply disabling the services that is also known as "System Services" you don't need which Windows 2000 or XP automatically provide by default.

What Are System Services in the 1st place
System services are actually small helper programs that provide support for other larger programs in Windows 2000. Many of the services are set up to run automatically each time you start Windows 2000. However, if you're not using the larger programs that these services are designed to support, these services are simply wasting RAM that could be put to better use by your applications. While the word "Disable" is used here to describe the idea that you'll remove these services from memory, what you'll really be doing is changing the startup setting from Automatic to Manual. When you do, the services won't automatically start each time you launch Windows 2000 Professional. However, Windows 2000 will be able to manually start the services if they're needed. That way you won't be unnecessarily wasting RAM, but you won't be crippling your system either. Note: If you're running Windows 2000 Professional on a corporate network, you may not be able to adjust system services. Regardless of whether you can or not, you should check with your system administrator before attempting the make these changes.

Changing the startup type of a service from Automatic to Manual is a relatively simple operation. To begin, open the Control Panel, open the Administrative Tools folder, and then double click the Services tool. When you see the Services window, set the View to Detail if it isn't already. Then click the Startup Type column header to sort the services by Startup Type. When you do, all the Services that start automatically will appear at the top of the list.

As you scan through the list of services on your system whose Startup Type setting is set to Automatic, look for the services in listed in the Table below. These are some of the services are good candidates to be set to a Manual Startup Type.

Examples of services that can be safely changed to Manual :-
DHCP Client -- You're not connecting to a specific DHCP server on your local network

Distributed Link Tracking Client -- You're not connected to a Windows 2000 domain

DNS Client -- You're not connecting to a specific DNS server on your local network

FTP Publishing Service -- You don't need your system to act as an FTP server

IIS Admin Service -- You don't need your system to act as an WWW server

IPSEC Policy Agent -- You're not connected to a Windows 2000 domain

Messenger -- You're not connected to a Windows 2000 domain

Remote Registry Service -- You don't remotely access the Registry of other systems on your local network

RIP Service -- You don't need your system to act as a router

Run As Service -- You don't use any applications that run as an alias

World Wide Web Publishing Service
You don't need your system to act as an WWW server
If you find a match and think that your system doesn't need that particular service, right-click on the service and choose the Properties command from the shortcut menu. When you see the Properties dialog box for that service, click the Startup Type drop down list and select Manual. Then click OK. As you change the Startup Type for any service, take note of the service's name. That way you'll have a record of which services you changed and can change them back if you need to, as I'll explain in a moment.

Using the Windows Task Manager
Trick : To determine the amount of RAM you'll regain by disabling unnecessary system services, use the Windows Task Manager. Here's how: Before you disable any system services, reboot your system and don't launch any applications. If you have applications that automatically load when you start Windows, hold down the [Shift] key to bypass the Startup folder. Then, right click on the task bar and select Task Manager from the shortcut menu. When you see the Windows Task Manager dialog box, select the Performance tab. Now take note of the Available value in the Physical Memory panel. After you disable those system services you deem unnecessary, reboot your system in the same manner and compare the Available value in the Physical Memory panel to the one that you noted earlier.

Final thoughts
Keep in mind that you may not find all the services listed in the Table set to Automatic on your system. In fact, you might not even see some of the services listed present on your system. If that's the case, don't worry about it. Each Windows 2000/XP installation is unique depending on the system and installed software, and different sets of services may be installed and set to start automatically.

On the other hand, you may find services other than those listed in Table set to Automatic that you may think are unnecessary. If so, you can find out what each service does by hovering your mouse pointer over the service's description. When you do, a tool tip window will pop up and display the entire description of the service. You can then better determine if the service is unnecessary. Remember, by changing the Startup Type to Manual, Windows 2000 can still start the service if it's needed. If you decide to experiment with changing the Startup Types of certain services, you can monitor the services over time by launching the Services utility and checking the list of running services. If you consistently find one of the services you set to Manual running, you may decide to change the Startup Type back to Automatic.

TuneXP- Turn your XP system into a Ferrari

Software name: Tune XP 1.5
OS: XP
File size: 1,021.15K

It is a freeware that optimize your XP and Tweaks some hidden settings.

From DriverHeaven:

This radical, new tool is one of the best and most powerful Windows XP tweakers ever, having a few tweaks, which are unique to the program. Among them are: ultrafast boot (rearrange boot files); boot folder defragmentation; prefetch folder cleaning; DNS cache optimization; and file allocation size tweak. However, that isn't all. It includes a plethora of other performance tweaks, which will make your Windows installation run faster than ever before, as well as Windows Service configuration. For the first time ever, it allows the user to control a few of the most common performance suckers and annoyances.
Version
1.5 has a few major fixes to its code, as well as new
tweaks (USB polling and
what now).

Download

Increase your cable modem or DSL speed in Windows XP

This tweak is for broad band cable connections on stand alone machines with winXP professional version - might work on Home version also. It will probably work with networked machines as well but I haven't tried it in that configuration. This is for windows XP only, it does not work on win2000.
I use 3 Com cards so I don't know how it works on others at this point. It does not involve editing the registry. This tweak assumes that you have let winXP create a connection on install for your cable modem/NIC combination and that your connection has tcp/ip - QoS - file and print sharing - and client for microsoft networks , only, installed. It also assumes that winxp will detect your NIC and has in-box drivers for it. If it doesn't do not try this.
In the "My Network Places" properties (right click on the desktop icon and choose properties), highlight the connection then at the menu bar choose "Advanced" then "Advanced Settings". Uncheck the two boxes in the lower half for the bindings for File and Printer sharing and Client for MS networks. Click OK

1. From the windows XP cd in the support directory from the support cab, extract the file netcap.exe and place it in a directory on your hard drive or even in the root of your C:\ drive.
2. next, open up a command prompt window and change directories to where you put netcap.exe. then type "netcap/?". It will list some commands that are available for netcap and a netmon driver will be installed. At the bottom you will see your adapters. You should see two of them if using a 3Com card. One will be for LAN and the other will be for WAN something or other.
3. Next type "netcap/Remove". This will remove the netmon driver.
4. Open up control panel / system / dev man and look at your network adapters. You should now see two of them and one will have a yellow ! on it. Right click on the one without the yellow ! and choose uninstall. YES! you are uninstalling your network adapter, continue with the uninstall. Do not restart yet.
5. Check your connection properties to make sure that no connection exists. If you get a wizard just cancel out of it.
6. Now re-start the machine.
7. After re-start go to your connection properties again and you should have a new connection called "Local area connection 2". highlight the connection then at the menu bar choose "Advanced" then "Advanced Settings". Uncheck the two boxes in the lower half for the bindings for File and Printer sharing and Client for MS networks. Click OK.
8. Choose connection properties and uncheck the "QOS" box
9. Re-start the machine
10. after restart enjoy the increased responsivness of IE, faster page loading, and a connection speed boost.

Why it works, it seems that windows XP, in its zeal to make sure every base is covered installs two seperate versions of the NIC card. One you do not normally see in any properties. Remember the "netcap/?" command above showing two different adapters? The LAN one is the one you see. The invisible one loads everything down and its like your running two separate cards together, sharing a connection among two cards, this method breaks this "bond" and allows the NIC to run un-hindered. Please Do comment..

Speed Up Windows Vista

Many people have written or asked me questions about problems that Vista has, especially in terms of the speed. Slow computer system is indeed what computer users find annoying really. However, this is what I found when I was surfing to kill my spare my free time last week: WINDOWS VISTA PERFORMANCE AND TUNING.

This is a final advice Microsoft has to help Vista users understand better some ways to speed up the performance of Windows Vista. This 14-page pdf document, will highlight some important issues like:

• Power Settings on Mobile Computers
• Disable Visual Effects
• Adjust Search Settings
• Windows ReadyBoost
• Sleep Option
  
• Disable Unwanted Startup Programs
• Disable Background Programs or Services
• Remove Unused Programs
• Disable Unwanted Services
• Improving Performance on User Account Control
• Clean Things up with Disk Cleanup
• Schedule Disk Cleanup
• Defragment Your Disk
• Windows Vista Experience Index
• Performance with Task Manager
• etc..

To download this pdf, here is the link.

Windows Vista Performnce and Tuning

Here are some shots..


I have not finished reading and experimenting all the tips though (my apology, I am a busy undergraduate ;p). However, i can assure you these tips are absolutely useful! I see some improvements since I applied some of the advice.

User Account Control fix in vista

People do some things in Windows--such as install destructive applications or edit the Registry--that deserve a stern "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" warning. Such situations may even warrant your having to prove you're an administrator before you're allowed to continue.

But Vista's User Account Control (UAC) fails to offer enough feedback to users; often it gives you no way to know why a given act is considered dangerous. Even worse, Vista's designers went overboard, forcing people to click through a UAC prompt to set the clock or manually start a backup. The result: People get annoyed and learn to ignore UAC, effectively removing any protection it might provide.

Here are three imperfect ways to stop UAC annoyances. One minor problem they all share is that every so often, when you boot, Vista will warn you that the UAC is off. You can just ignore the warnings, in much the same way you've already learned to ignore UAC itself.

1. Just turn it off: This easy fix works well in an administrator account, but it renders standard accounts almost unusable. Select Start, Control Panel, User Accounts, and click Turn User Account Control on or off. Select Continue at the UAC prompt, and on the next screen, uncheck Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer. Click OK and reboot.

2. Use TweakUAC : This free program can turn UAC off for administrator accounts while leaving it on for everyone else, which is a relatively safe and convenient compromise. Just run the program, select Switch UAC to the quiet mode, and click OK.

3. Fine-tune your system's UAC settings: This works only in Vista Business or Ultimate. Select Start, type secpol.msc, and press Enter. Navigate the left pane to the Security Settings\Local Policy\Security Options folder. In the right pane, scroll down to the bottom for nine options controlling how UAC behaves. If you're not sure what these settings change, see the helpful guide at Walker News.

Vista Tips, Tricks, and Tweaks

All Windows systems have many possible configurations. Depending on individual usage patterns, there are a variety of ways to make a Vista system easier and quicker to operate. Here are some tips and tweaks that I like.

Make file extensions visible

I have made this recommendation for every Windows version so far and I am not stopping with Vista. Why Microsoft persists in the default policy of hiding file extensions is beyond me but they are easily made visible.

1. Open "Computer" and click "Organize"
2. Select "Folder and Search Options"
3. Select the "View" tab and open the "Advanced Options" list
4. Find "Hide File extensions for Known File Types" and uncheck it

Show hidden files and folders

While you have the above list open, you may also want to select "Show Hidden Files and Folders". Personally, I want to be be able to see hidden objects but you may feel that it's better to protect them by leaving them hidden. However, there are times when you may want to make them visible and it is worth knowing how to do it even if you generally want to keep these system objects out of sight and harm's way.

Restore the Run line to the Start menu

One of the first things different in Vista that I noticed was that the Run line was missing from the Start menu. Since I am a frequent user of the Run function, I restored it to the Start menu. Actually, the new search function in the Start menu basically supersedes Run but from habit I like Run anyway. You can get Run back temporarily by using the keyboard shortcut Windows key+R. To put Run permanently back in the Start menu :

1. Right-click on the Start menu and choose "Properties"
2. Select the "Start Menu" tab and click on the "Customize..." button
3. Check the "Run command" option

Restore the Menu Bar to Windows Explorer

Another noticeable change in Vista is the new look for Windows Explorer. Navigation is different and the menu bar is gone. Most functions formerly found in the various menus like File, Edit, etc. can be found elsewhere but my first reaction was to get the Menu Bar back. Over time you get used to the new setup but I still like the Menu Bar sometimes. A temporary method is to press the Alt key. A more permanent display is enabled this way:

1. Open the "Organize" menu
2. Click "Layout"
3. Put a check by "Menu Bar"

Using the "Organize" feature

As mentioned in the preceding tip, a new menu called "Organize" is present in the upper left of a Vista Explorer window. A number of functions can be accessed there as shown in Fig. 1.

Figure 1. "Organize" menu

Go up one level in Windows Explorer

In XP, Windows Explorer has an "Up" button that will take you to the next-higher folder in the path. Vista no longer has this function but has "bread-crumbs" and a "Back" button. However, you can go up one level by using the keyboard combination Alt + Up Arrow.

Enhance the right-click menu

Ever since Windows 95, the right-click context menu (also called the "shortcut" menu) has provided many useful operations and I am constantly using its functions for one thing or another. In Vista an extended menu with additional functions becomes available when you hold down the Shift key as you right-click a folder or file. Two added options are "Open Command Window Here" and "Copy as Path".

Keyboard shortcut to objects in the Quick Launch Bar

I've been making regular use of the Quick Launch Bar since Windows 98 and, here again, Vista has an added wrinkle. If you wish to get something from the Quick Launch Bar but do not want to switch to the mouse when your hands are on the keyboard, you can use the following shortcut. Press Windows key + n. Here n is an integer from 1 to 9 that indicates the position of the desired object on the Quick Launch Bar. So if you want to invoke the third item (from the left) on the Quick Launch Bar press the Windows key together with the number "3". You can also use "0 " for the number "10".

Keyboard shortcut to put system in "sleep" mode

The keyboard is sometimes faster than the mouse and if you want to turn off the computer with the keyboard, use Windows key+right arrow+Enter to go into sleep mode. The keys should be pressed sequentially and not simultaneously.

Volume Shadow Copy or Previous Versions

A new feature in Vista that I like very much is unfortunately only in the Business and Ultimate editions. It is called "Previous Versions" and is like the Volume Shadow Copy of Windows Server 2003. It keeps track of changes in individual files and allows you to use Window Explorer to restore a file or folder to the state it was in on a particular date. The backup process occurs once a day (with System Protection) and only backs up files that have been changed. If you accidentally delete or change a file this allows you to get it back. Shadow copies are only kept for as long as available space allows and only if System Protection is enabled (the default setting). To see what previous versions are available for a file or folder, right-click the object in Windows Explorer and open the "Properties" dialog box. Click the tab "Previous Versions" and a list of the available shadow copies will open. There are buttons for the operations Open, Copy, and Restore. Select a file or folder from the list and click the desired button.

Remove the sidebar from the desktop

The new "Sidebar" feature appears on the desktop by default. However, not everyone will want to take up space this way. The sidebar can be prevented from displaying automatically by right-clicking the Sidebar icon in the notification area ( AKA the System Tray). Then select "Properties" and uncheck "Start Sidebar when Windows starts". You can always return the sidebar whenever you want

Get more gadgets for the sidebar

"Gadget" is the name Microsoft gives to the little programs that run in the sidebar. Vista comes with a small assortment but there are many more. This Microsoft site has a big list.

Use the Task Manager to monitor the system

The Task Manager is a useful system tool that I have described elsewhere for Windows XP. A similar utility is present in Vista but access to it is somewhat different from XP. The old "three-finger salute" Ctrl+Alt+Delete no longer brings up the Task Manager directly but presents a window with a list of various possible actions. The keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Esc can still be used or right-click on the Taskbar and choose "Task Manager" from the context menu.

New ClearType fonts for Vista

Six new fonts are included with Vista (and Office 2007). Their description and examples are shown at this Microsoft link.

How to turn off ClearType

The font-smoothing technology called ClearType is on by default in Vista. ClearType is intended for LCD displays and laptops so if you have a an old-fashioned CRT you may wish to turn it off. Also, some people prefer to have it off even with an LCD display. Here is the procedure:

1. Right click an empty spot on the Desktop and choose "Personalize" from the context menu.
2. Select "Windows Color and Appearance".
3. Click the line, "Open classic appearance properties for more color options".
4. Click the "Effects" button.
5. Choose "Standard" in the drop-down menu.
6. Click "OK".

How much does "ReadyBoost" help?

ReadyBoost is a way to use a USB thumb drive to add additional memory for paging that is faster than hard drives. In practice, the method is of somewhat limited application. First, it requires thumb drives with specifications that many of these devices do not meet. Secondly, it is of most help in systems with limited RAM . Tests at PCStats indicate that If you have less than 1 GB of RAM, it will speed things up but otherwise ReadyBoost does not help much. Adding RAM is a much better way to speed up a system.

Tweaking performance by configuring visual effects

If your system is slowed down too much by Vista's fancy graphical effects or you just want to get rid of some eye candy, you can turn off some of the visual effects by this procedure:

1. In an administrator account, go to the Start menu and right-click "Computer".
2. Choose "Properties" from the context menu.
3. Click "Advanced system settings" in the left section of the window that opens.
4. Click "Continue" when User Account Control opens.
5. Click "Settings" in the Performance section.
6. With the Visual Effects tab selected, remove checks by effects you wish to turn off. You can also just check the radio button "Adjust for best performance".

Configure Windows features

Certain features of Vista can be turned on or off in Control Panel. These include games, faxing, tablet PC components, various networking services and others. To see and configure the list of features:

1. Open the Start Menu and click Control Panel.
2. Click the "Programs and Features" icon.
3. In the Task Pane click "Turn Windows features on or off"'
4. When the User Account Control prompt comes on, click "Continue".
5. Wait for the Windows Features box to populate.
6. Put a check by any features you want to run and remove the check from those you do not need.
7. Click "OK" and reboot if necessary.

Note that Vista often seems to take a long time to make the changes.

Tips for using the Vista command line

Although the command prompt in Vista is quite similar to the one in Windows XP, there are some interesting differences. Tips on some of the added features for the Vista command line are at this sister site.

How to find special folders

Many of the special system folders such as Cookies and SendTo are in a different place from that in Windows XP and are harder to find. The easiest method is to use the "Shell:" command. Details are at this link but I will illustrate with the "Cookies" folder. To quickly open the "Cookies" folder, go to the Start menu and in the "Start Search" box enter shell:cookiesNote the colon between "shell" and "cookies". There must be no spaces in the command. Instead of "cookies", any of the other folders listed at the link above can be used.

Turn off automatic Defender scans

The anti-spyware program Defender that comes with Vista is automatically set to do a system scan once a day. This can cause a lot of disk activity and use resources while it is happening. I prefer to do any spyware scans manually. You can turn off the automatic scans this way:

1. Go to Start Search and enter "defender" (without quotes).
2. At the top of the window for Defender that opens, click Tools.
3. Under Settings, click Options
4. Remove the check by "Automatically scan my computer". If desired, you can always put the check back.

Get a report on system health

Vista contains an accessory called the "Reliability and Performance Monitor" that will carry out a health check on your system in about 1 minute.The path to it is, Control panel—> System and Maintenance—> Performance Information and Tools—> Advanced Tools. Then click on "Generate a system health report". A shorter way to get to the tool is to go to "Start Search" and enter "performance" or just "perf". Then click on "Performance Information and Tools". Next click "Advanced Tools" in the left pane and select "Generate a system health report"

Resize Desktop icons with mouse scroll

You can control the size of icons on the Desktop with a simple mouse action. Click in an open spot on the Desktop, hold down the Ctrl key, and scroll with the middle mouse button to make icons larger or smaller.

Speed up your internal SATA drive

Write caching is a way to improve hard drive performance but it is not enabled by default in Vista for SATA drives. Since almost all PCs now use SATA instead of the old parallel connected drives, most systems can be speeded up by enabling write caching. There is a small possibility that data could be lost in a power failure if caching is enabled, but power outages can cause data loss in other ways. (You should be using an uninterruptible power supply anyway.)

Write caching can be enabled by using the Device Manager. Go to Start—>Search and begin entering "Device" (without quotes). Device Manager should appear in the search list after the first few letters have been entered. Click the entry and approve the UAC query. In the Device Manager console, choose "Disk Drives" and select the entry for your SATA drive. In the dialog box, click the tab "Policies". Then click "Optimize for performance" and check "Enable write caching on the disk." Click "OK",

Turn off hibernation

Even if you don't want to use hibernation in your power management, Vista will still create a file hiberfil.sys. This file is equal in size to your total RAM so it can take up quite a bit of disk space. If you want to disable hibernation, use the command line. You'll need administrator privileges so use the procedure given at Commandwindows.com to open the appropriate command window. Then enter the command powercfg /h offIf you wamt hibernation back, enter powercfg /h on

As time goes on I will continue to add tips to this page.

Firefox Speed Tweaks

Yes, firefox is already pretty damm fast but did you know that you can tweak it and improve the speed even more?

That’s the beauty of this program being open source.
Here’s what you do:
In the URL bar, type “about:config” and press enter. This will bring up the configuration “menu” where you can change the parameters of Firefox.

Note that these are what I’ve found to REALLY speed up my Firefox significantly - and these settings seem to be common among everybody else as well. But these settings are optimized for broadband connections - I mean with as much concurrent requests we’re going to open up with pipelining… lol… you’d better have a big connection.

Double Click on the following settins and put in the numbers below - for the true / false booleans - they’ll change when you double click.

Code:
browser.tabs.showSingleWindowModePrefs – true
network.http.max-connections – 48
network.http.max-connections-per-server – 16
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy – 8
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server – 4
network.http.pipelining – true
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests – 100
network.http.proxy.pipelining – true
network.http.request.timeout – 300

One more thing… Right-click somewhere on that screen and add a NEW -> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0”. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives. Since you’re broadband - it shouldn’t have to wait.

Now you should notice you’re loading pages MUCH faster now!

Performance tips for Windows XP

Everybody and their dog will tell you they know some great performance tips for Windows XP. The internet is overcrowded with them. How to tell which ones work and which are to be avoided ?

And why on earth is this yet another Windows XP tips and tricks page about performance tips for Windows XP ?

It's because there are some simple techniques that really work without compromising your system stability. And they are simple to implement, so let's get started.

1. Optimize your paging file

Windows XP uses a paging file on your hard disk to store information when the amount of available RAM memory isn't sufficient to hold all the data that is being processed. For instance, when you are working on a very large Word document that is too big to fit in your computer's RAM, Windows XP starts swapping part of it's data in and out the paging file on your hard disk.

Hard disk access is typically a lot slower than RAM access, that's why you should optimize your paging file.

• Click the Start button, right click "My Computer" and select "Properties"
• Select the "advanced" tab
• Under "Performance" click on the "Settings" button
• Again, select the "advanced" tab
• Under "Virtual Memory" click on the "Change" button

Windows will then show the available hard drives in your computer and the paging file settings for each drive. If you have more than one hard disk, you should place your paging file on another disk than the system disk (where Windows is installed).

That is to avoid contention on the disk controller when Windows is working with system files and the paging file simultaneously.

Usually the system disk is C:, so select any other disk if you have one and then check the "Custom size" radio button. Type in the same value for "Initial size" and "Maximum size", so that Windows doesn't need time to resize the paging file while you are working with your computer. Microsoft recommends about 1.5 times the amount of RAM in your computer. Click the "Set" button to commit the changes you have made.

It is possible to have multiple paging files on multiple disks, but try to avoid having a paging file on your system disk. Just select that disk and select the "No paging file" radio button.

2. Optimize display settings

A lot of performance tips for Windows XP talk about the overall sexy-ness of Windows XP and the performance price you have to pay for it. If you are working on an older computer and you care more about speed than graphical coolness of the Windows XP interface, you might want to consider toning down the graphics a bit.

• Click the Start button, right click "My Computer" and select "Properties"
• Select the "advanced" tab
• Under "Performance" click on the "Settings" button
• Click the "Visual Effects" tab
• Select the "Adjust for best performance" radio button and click ok

If this change is too radical for you, you can try experimenting with the different individual settings as well.

3. Indexing service

The indexing service is a program that indexes files on your computer to speed up search results when you perform a search. It usually wakes up and starts doing it's job when your computer is idle. That's the reason why some pc's hard disks often start making a lot of noise when nobody's working on them.

The indexing service is also mentioned in a lot of performance tips for Windows XP, because it can interfere with your work. If you don't perform a lot of file searches on your pc, you might want to disable the indexing service.

• Click on the Start button, right click "My Computer" and select "Manage"
• In the navigation tree at the left, go to the bottom and click the little "+" sign next to "services and applications"
• Select "Services"
• In the right Windows pane, scroll to "Indexing service", right click it and select "Properties"
• Make sure that "Manual" is selected from the drop-down list under "Startup type"

4. Use the NTFS file system

Performance tips for Windows XP often mention the use of the NTFS file system because it works slightly faster than the FAT32 file system. Besides the performance benefit, you will also enjoy improved stability and security in comparison with the FAT32 file system.

You can convert an existing FAT32 file system to NTFS without data loss, but always remember that older operating systems like Windows 98 cannot work with NTFS.

Proceed with care if you have more than one operating system on your pc.

• Click on the Start button, right-click "My Computer" and select "Manage"
• In the navigation pane on the left, expand "storage" and choose "Disk Management"
• The details on the right will reveal the file system details for each of your drives. Also make a note of the drive's volume name.

To convert a drive's file system :

• Click the Start button and select "Run"
• Type "convert d: /fs:ntfs" (without the quotes - replace d: with the drive letter that you want to convert) and click ok
• A dos box will open and ask for the drive's volume name
• Enter the volume name and hit the ENTER key

Windows will start the conversion to NTFS and notifies you when it is finished.