Tips And Trick Registry Windows Xp Part4

Turn Off Indexing to Speed Up XP
Windows XP keeps a record of all files on the hard disk so when you do a search on the hard drive it is faster. There is a downside to this and because the computer has to index all files, it will slow down normal file commands like open, close, etc. If you do not do a whole lot of searches on your hard drive then you may want to turn this feature off:

• · Open My Computer.
• · Right-click your hard drive icon and select Properties.
• · At the bottom of the window you'll see "Allow indexing service to index this disk for faster searches," uncheck this and click ok.
• · A new window will pop up and select Apply to all folders and subfolders.

It will take a minute or two for the changes to take affect but then you should enjoy slightly faster performance.



Clean Your Prefetch to Improve Performance

This is a unique technique for WinXP. We know that it is necessary to scrub registry and TEMP files for Win9X/ME/2000 periodically. Prefetch is a new and very useful technique in Windows XP. However, after using XP some time, the prefetch directory can get full of junk and obsolete links in the Prefetch catalog, which can slow down your computer noticeably.

• · Open C(system drive):/windows/prefetch, delete those junk and obsolete files, reboot. It is recommended that you do this every month.

Remove Hibernation File

If you do not use hibernation, make sure you do not have it enabled, which reserves disk space equal to your RAM. If you have a hidden file on the root directory of your C-drive called hiberfil.sys, hibernation is enabled. To remove that file:

• · Go to Control Panel, select Performance and Maintenance, Power Options, Hibernate tab, and uncheck the Enable hibernation box.

Performance Increase Through My Computer

Easy enough tweak to usually find out about it on your own, but still, some of us still don't find it right away. So here it is:

• · Start > right-click on My Computer and select Properties.
• · Click on the "Advanced" tab.
• · See the "Performance" section? Click "Settings".
• · Disable the following:

Fade or slide menus into view
Fade or slide ToolTips into view
Fade out menu items after clicking
Show Shadows under menus
Slide open combo boxes
Slide taskbar buttons
Use a background image for each folder type
Use common tasks in folders
There, now Windows will still look nice and perform faster.

Reduce 10 Second Scandisk Wait Time

• · Start MS Dos Prompt (Start run CMD), and type: CHKNTFS /T:4

where 4 is the amount of wait time.
CHKNTFS /?
for more info.

Tips And Trick Registry Windows Xp Part3

Slow Start-up When Using Norton Internet Security 2002
If you are using Norton Internet Security 2002, and are experiencing slow start-up of XP, (i.e. you can see the desktop with icons etc. but it takes 30-60sec before you can start using the computer), this fix might help:

• · Click on Start button.
• · Select Control Panel.
• · Open "Network Connections".
• · Under "LAN and High-Speed Internet", right-click on your "Local Area Connection" and select "Properties".
• · Under "General" tab, select "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" and select "Properties".
• · Select "Use the following IP address:".
• · Under "IP address" enter following : 192.168.0.1
• · Under "Subnet Mask:" enter following : 255.255.255.0
• · Click "Ok".

Correcting System Hang at Startup

If your system hangs about 2 or 3 minutes at startup, where you can't access the Start button or the Taskbar, it may be due to one specific service (Background Intelligent Transfer) running in the background. Microsoft put out a patch for this but it didn't work for me. Here's what you do:

• · Click on Start/Run, type 'msconfig', then click 'OK'.
• · Go to the 'Services' tab, find the 'Background Intelligent Transfer' service.
• · Disable it, apply the changes & reboot.

Disable XP Boot Logo

It is possible to disable the XP splash screen, which will slightly speed up the overall boot process. Be aware that removing the splash screen will also cause you not to see any boot-up messages that might come up (chkdsk, convert ... ), but if your system runs without any problems then it should not matter.

• · Edit boot.ini.
• · Add " /noguiboot" right after "/fastdetect".

Upon restarting, the splash screen will be gone. It can be re-enabled by removing the new switch.

Slow Network Access Not Always Due to Scheduled Tasks Check

If you have very slow access to your network computers through "My Network Places" and have already deleted the Registry entry calling for a check of Scheduled Tasks on the other network computers (documented elsewhere on this site) AND you have multiple network adaptors (i.e. a cable or DSL connection through one NIC and an internal network using a second NIC) check the following:

• · Right-click on "My Network Places", go to Properties.
• · Right-click on the NIC that your cable/DSL connects to, and choose Properties.
• · Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and click on Properties.
• · Click on "Advanced", go to "WINS" tab, and chose Disable NetBios over TCP/IP.
• · When you are back at your Network Connections page, right-click on the Broadband selection.
• · Choose "Properties", click on the Networking tab.
• · Again, choose TCP/IP, Properties, Advanced, WINS, and select "disable NetBios over TCP/IP".

Tips And Trick Registry Windows Xp Part2

Speed Up Detailed View in Explorer

If you like to view your files in Windows Explorer using the "Details" view here is a tweak to speed up the listing of file attributes:
Viewing files in Windows Explorer using the "Details" mode shows various attributes associated with each file shown. Some of these must be retrieved from the individual files when you click on the directory for viewing. For a directory with numerous and relatively large files (such as a folder in which one stores media, eg: *.mp3's, *.avi's etc.), Windows Explorer lags as it reads through each one. Here's how to disable viewing of unwanted attributes and speed up file browsing:

• Open Windows Explorer.
• Navigate to the folder which you wish to optimize.
• In "Details" mode right-click the bar at the top which displays the names of the attribute columns.
• Uncheck any that are unwanted/unneeded.

Explorer will apply your preferences immediately, and longs lists of unnecessary attributes will not be displayed.
Likewise, one may choose to display any information which is regarded as needed, getting more out of Explorer.

Easily Disable Messenger

Go into: C:/Program Files/Messenger. Rename the Messenger folder to "MessengerOFF". This does not slow down Outlook Express or hinder system performance.

Turn Off System Restore to Save Space

By default, Windows XP keeps a backup of system files in the System Volume Information folder. This can eat up valuable space on your hard drive. If you don't want Windows to back up your system files:

• Open the Control Panel.
• Double-click on System.
• Click the System Restore tab.
• Check "Turn off System Restore on all drives".
• Hit Apply.
• You may now delete the System Volume Information folder.

Warning! If you turn this off you will not be able to use Windows System Restore to restore your system in case of failure. Very Slow Boot When Networking
On some XP Pro installations, when connected to a network (peer-peer in this case), the computer boot time is over 1:40. The system seems to freeze after logging in and the desktop may not appear or will freeze for a minute. As timed with the utility, Bootvis.exe, the problem was with the driver mrxsmb.dll, adding over 67 seconds to the boot time. Turning off and restoring file and printer sharing eliminated 65 seconds from the boot time.

• · Alt-click (or right-click) on Network Places > Properties.
• · Alt-click on Ethernet Adapter connection > Properties.
• · Un-check "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks" > OK.
• · Reboot.
• · If you need file or printer sharing, repeat the above, re-check the box and re-boot again.
  

Easy Way to Adjust LargeSystemCache

Normally, the tweak I've seen asks you to go into HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management and change the value to either O or 1 to the adjustment the LargeSystemCache.
However, in Windows XP, all you have to do is:

• · Right-click My Computer.
• · Select Properties.
• · Click Advanced.
• · Choose Performance.
• · Click Advanced again.
• · Select either Programs or System Cache under Memory Usage.

Programs = 0 for the registry tweak equivalent System Cache = 1 for the registry tweak equivalent On NT Server (in this case XP), the Large System Cache option is enabled, but disabled on Workstation. The two different settings effect how the cache manager allocates free memory. If the Large Cache option is on, the manager marks all the free memory, which isn't being used by the system and/or applications, as freely available for disk caching. · On the flip-side (with a small cache), the manager instead only sets aside 4MB of memory for disk caching in an attempt to accelerate the launch of applications. Or in a more technical approach, if enabled the system will favor system-cache working sets over process working sets (with a working set basically being the memory used by components of a process).

Tips And Trick Registry Windows Xp Part1

• XP Tips & Tweaks

These tips and tweaks have come from hundreds of individuals across the internet. I have included some of web sites links (below) that cover this popular topic.
I have not tried most of these tips, so let me know if some don't work or have mistakes.

• Tips & Tweaks Links

Tips Dr Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows - XP Tips & Tricks
Microsoft WinXP Support Center
Microsoft WinXP Professional
Microsoft WinXP Home
Microsoft WinXP Knowledge Base Articles
Microsoft Power Toys for Windows XP
Microsoft Windows XP Tips
Microsoft Windows XP User Tips Archive
Microsoft Windows XP Professional Tips
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Tips
Microsoft Tips & Tricks for Windows XP Professional
Microsoft Tips for Techies

• Stop Jerky Graphics

If you are connected to a LAN and have problems with jerky graphics, this might be the solution:

• Right-click "My Computer".
• Select "Manage".
• Click on "Device Manager".
• Double-click on your NIC under "Network Adapters".
• In the new window, select the "Advanced" tab.
• Select "Connection Type" and manually set the value of your NIC. (Not "Auto Sense"w hich is default.).
• You should reboot.

Shutdown XP Faster

Like previous versions of windows, it takes long time to restart or shutdown windows XP when the "Exit Windows" sound is enabled. To solve this problem you must disable this
useless sound.

• · Click Start button.
• · Go to settings > Control Panel > Sound, Speech and Audio devices > Sounds and Audio Devices> Sounds.
• · Then under program events and windows menu click on "Exit Windows" sub-menu and highlight it. Now from sounds you can select, choose "none" and then click Apply and OK.

Now you should see some improvements when shutting down your system. Speeding Up Your Pentium 2 by 50% We all know that you really shouldn't try to run Windows XP on anything less that about a Pentium 3 of some sort if you are out for speedy operations and amazing reaction times, but for those of us with the good old Pentium 2's who want to see just how well we can run XP, we have to tweak as much as we can where-ever we can. A real killer to the system's performance is Windows Media Player. Although it may look desirable and fancy with it's rounded off edges and 3rd-Dimensional appearance, the truth is, it takes up a large amount of that precious processing power. All of these troubles however, lead to one thing in particular with this 'new-look' over-rated music and video player...the Visualizations. The look-great I'll admit but like a lot of software these days, it has no purpose. If you run the task manager, and click the Performance tab along the top, you'll see that when Windows Media Player is running and nothing else is active, it takes up around 50% of the processors power. Once these visualizations are turned off, it barely takes up 2-3% of the processors power, which leaves much more room for other applications to work efficiently.
Here's how to disable the feature:

• Open Media Player.
• Make sure the Now Playing tab on the left is selected.
• Click the View menu along the top.
• Go down to Now Playing Tools.
• In the sub-menu that has just 'popped-out', uncheck Show Visualization.

Registry Microsoft Windows XP

The registry is the heart and soul of Microsoft Windows XP. In my other registry books, I said the same thing about the registry in every version of Windows since Microsoft Windows 95, and by the time you're finished reading this book, I hope you'll agree. The registry contains the configuration data that makes the operating system work. The registry enables developers to organize configuration data in ways that are impossible with other mechanisms, such as INI files. It's behind just about every feature in Windows XP that you think is cool. More importantly, it enables you to customize Windows XP in ways you can't through the user interface.
Windows XP and every application that runs on Microsoft's latest desktop operating system do
absolutely nothing without consulting the registry first. When you double−click a file, Windows XP consults the registry to figure out what to do with it. When you install a device, Windows XP assigns resources to the device based on information in the registry and then stores the device's configuration in the registry. When you run an application such as Microsoft Word 2002, the application looks up your preferences in the registry. If you were to monitor the registry during a normal session, you'd see the registry serves up thousands of values within minutes.
In this book, you will learn how to customize the registry, but you must also learn how to take care of the registry. You must learn how to back up the registry so you can restore it if things go awry.


You must also learn the best practices for editing the registry safely.
The registry isn't just a hacker's dream, though. The registry is an invaluable tool for the IT professional deploying, managing, and supporting Windows XP. Did you know that most policies in Group Policy and system policies are really settings in the registry? Does that give you any ideas? Did you know that scripting registry edits is one of the best ways to deploy settings to users? This book teaches you about policies, scripting, and much more. For example, you will learn how to deploy registry settings during Windows XP and Microsoft Office XP installations. Some deployment problems can be solved only by using the registry, so I describe the most common IT workarounds, too. For example, I'll show you how to prevent Windows XP from creating the Microsoft Outlook Express icon on the desktop when a user logs on to the computer for the first time.