not sure if these have been posted before, and if you know any other ones that's not listed here, feel free to chip in
# 5: Deleting an "undeletable" file
Open a Command Prompt window and leave it open. Close all open programs.
Click Start, Run and enter TASKMGR.EXE Go to the Processes tab and End Process on Explorer.exe. Leave Task Manager open.
Go back to the Command Prompt window and change to the directory the AVI (or other undeletable file) is located in.
At the command prompt type DEL where is the file you wish to delete. Go back to Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart the GUI shell. Close Task Manager.
# 4: Speed up Menu Display
Start Regedit
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\MenuShowDelay
from the list on the right. Right click on it and select Modify
Change the value to 0
Reboot
# 3: Speed up Network Browsing
Open up regedit
Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace
Find a key named {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}
Right click on it and delete it
Reboot
# 2: Speed up Diskcache
Open Regedit
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/SessionManager/MemoryManagement/IoPageLockLimit]
Create a new DWORD value named 'IoPageLockLimit' if it doesn't already exist. Set the value in Hex to equal the maximum number of Kbytes to be allocated to I/O operations as per the table below:
RAM: Modified value(Hex)
64M: 1000
128M: 4000
256M: 10000
512M or more: 40000
Reboot
# 1: Increase bandwidth for QoS aware programs
for Winxp Pro only
If you use QoS aware programs then the following tweak can help you increase your bandwidth:
Login as Administrator. (To log in as Administrator - Click on start->logoff->logoff - At the logon screen hold Ctrl+Alt+Del - In the user field type 'Administrator' - Enter the password and press OK)
Click on the Start -> Run
Type gpedit.msc in the box and click OK
Once the program loads, expand the Computer configuration branch then the Administrative templates branch and then the Network branch.
Highlight the QoS Packet Scheduler in left window.
In right window double click the limit reservable bandwidth setting
On setting tab check the enabled option.
Where it says Bandwidth limit %, change it to 0
Click OK and exit the group policy editor.
Go to your Network connections (start->my computer->my network connection-> view network connections).
Right click on your connection, choose properties then under the General or the Networking tab (where it lists your protocols) make sure QoS packet scheduler is enabled.
Reboot your computer.
here're some more XP tips:
Useful tips for Windows XP
Please remember to always BACKUP YOUR REGISTRY before making any changes
Clear pagefile on shutdown
For added security you should always clear the page file upon shutting down your computer. Windows uses this file as extra ram. Lets say that you are working on a confidential MS Word doc.
When you load this document it is loaded into ram. To save ram windows places certain items in the page file. The page file can then be opened and the document can be extracted as well as any other open program or files. However Microsoft has implemented a feature that will clear the page file but they do not have it enabled by default. Please note, this will slightly increase the amount of time it takes to shut down your computer but it is well worth it.
Start Regedit.
Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\SesssionManager\Memory Management
Select ClearPageFileAtShutdown from the list on the right.
Right click on it and select Modify.
Change the value to 1 to enable.
Reboot your computer
Speed up Nero in XP
Go to "administrative tools" in the control panel, and in the "services" list, disable the IMAPI CD-Burning COM service. (Note: manual setting is not enough it must be disabled) It is the built-in CD-burning capability for windowsXP (incidentally, written by Roxio).
Note: This solved my problem with not being able to access CDRW's from a previous version of Windows.
Disable Hibernation to save disk space
Unless you use it, you can disable hibernation in : Control panel / Power Options / Hibernate If left on, the hybernation reserves disk space equal to your RAM
Easily Disable Messenger
Go into C\Program Files\Messenger
rename the Messenger folder to something like "MessengerOFF"
This does not slow down Outlook Express or hinder system performance
Uninstall MSN Messenger (by Allan at TweakXP.com)
Click Start \ Run Then type the following:
RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove
Press ENTER
Restart Windows
Create your own popup menu in the taskbar
You can create your own popup window other than START MENU in the taskbar.
Put all the shortcuts to the applications that you want to popup in a folder.
Then you right click on taskbar ->toolbars ->new toolbar -> and select the folder
Disable balloon tips
(provided by Perris, aka «dealer»)
Run regedit and Navigate to Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion \Explorer\Advanced
then set the value of 'EnableBalloonTips' to 0.
Disable error reporting
Every time a program crashes you do not want to send a report to microsoft. Read below to find out how to disable this feature.
Open Control Panel
Click on System.
Then click on the Advanced tab
Click on the error reporting button on the bottom of the windows.
Select Disable error reporting.
Click OK
Stop Password Expiration
After you have run Windows XP for a while, you may receive this message when you log on: "Your password will expire in 14 days".
By default, Windows XP is set up with passwords which will expire after 42 days. 14 days in advance, Windows will start warning you of this fact. If you do not want your passwords to expire:
1.Go to Start > Run and in the Open: box type control userpasswords2
2.Select the Advanced tab in the User Accounts window
3.Press the Advanced button below the Advanced user management header
4.Select Users in the Local Users and Groups
5.In the right pane, right-click the user name for which you want to change the setting, and select Properties
6.On the General tab, check Password never expires
7.Click Apply and OK (all the way out)
Linear Mode
