19 Secrets about Windows XP

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 http://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.

Speed up ur xp

Speed up the booting of your XP
run -> msconfig - Hit Enter
Whenever you start your computer, you are faced with a few moments of thumb
twiddling while Windows XP boots and prompts you to log on. Although you
should expect to wait for a few moments, sometimes Windows XP seems to boot
rather slowly. In fact, you may notice that over a period of time the PC that used
to roar to life seems a bit sluggish instead. Fortunately, you can perform several
techniques that help Windows XP get the bootup speed you want. This Article
explores how to put these techniques to work.
Stopping Unneeded Startup Services !
Along with the core operating system and programs that Windows XP runs
when it starts, there is also a host of services involved. Many of these services are
necessary for Windows XP to operate correctly. However, many of them are for
features in Windows XP that you may not use at all. You can peruse the services
and disable any service that you do not want to run. The fewer services that run,
the more quickly Windows XP will boot.
Caution:
Exercise caution when stopping services. If you do not know what a service does
or are unsure of the ramifications of stopping the service, leave it alone. Some
services are critical to Windows XP’s operations, so make sure you understand
what the service is before you disable it.
To reduce the number of services that start on bootup, you can access two
different areas of Windows XP. The first is the System Configuration Utility. The
Services tab shows you the services that start when the computer boots.
You can stop a service from starting by simply clearing the check box next to the
service and clicking OK. However, before you do so, there is another way to
disable services that you may prefer because the interface gives you more
information about the service in question.
Open Control Panel/Administrative ToolsServices or else select Start/Run, type
services.msc, and click OK. Either way, you see the Services console.
I prefer to use the Services console instead of the System Configuration Utility
because it describes what the service does. Additionally, you can double-click a
service and examine its properties.
Notice the Startup Type column in Figure 4-2. This information lists whether the
service is automatic or manual. Manual services are only started in Windows XP
when you start a process that requires the service. Some other process may
require the service that has a “dependency” relationship with it; in this case, the
dependency service will start, as well. Because these services do not start
automatically when you boot Windows XP, you do not need to do anything with
manual services.
However, all services listed as automatic start when Windows XP boots. These
are the services that increase boot time. As I have mentioned, many of them are
necessary and important, so you should not stop automatic services from booting
unless you are sure of the ramifications. You can get this information by looking
at the Description column. Here’s a quick look at common services you may want
to live without:
SPEED UP BOOT BY DISABLING UNUSED PORTS.!!
You may have tried many tweaks like modifying windowsXP start-up
applications, prefetches, unload DLLs method,etc. And yes those methods do
work for me.
I have just accidentally found out another way to give you an extra boost in
windowsXP’s boot performance. This is done by disabling your unused devices in
Device Manager. for example, if you don’t have input devices that are connected
to one of your USBs or COM ports, disabling them will give you an extra
perfromance boost in booting. Go to Control Panel -> System -> Hardware tab -
> device manager Disable devices that you don’t use for your PC and then
restart.
Do Dis !!
1.Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
2.Locate the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionMan
ager\MemoryManagement\PrefetchParameters
3.Make sure you backup the keys by exporting them to a .reg file.
4.On the EnablePrefetcher value, change the setting from 3 to 5 (decimal).
5.Close the registry editor.
6.Restart your computer
Automatic Updates !
This service enables Windows XP to check the Web automatically for updates. If
you don’t want to use Automatic Updates, you can disable the service. You can
always check for updates manually at the Windows Update Web site.
Computer Browser: If your computer is not on a network, you don’t need this
service. If you are on a network, leave it alone.
DHCP Client: If you are not on a network, you do not need this service. If you
are on a small workgroup, you can still increase boot time by configuring manual
IP addresses (which I explore later in this chapter).
DNS Client: If you are not on a network, you do not need this service. If you are,
leave it alone.
Error Reporting and Event Log: You don’t have to use these services but they
can be very helpful, so I would leave them configured as automatic.
Fax: If you don’t use your computer for fax services, you can disable this one.
Help and Support: If you never use the Windows XP Help and Support Center
(found on the Start menu), you can disable this service.
IMAPI CD-Burning COM: This service enables you to burn CDs on your
computer. If you never burn CDs, you can disable the service.
Indexing Service: Your computer keeps an index of files but if you rarely search
for files, the service is just a resource hog. You can stop it and turn the service to
manual.
Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing: If you do not use these features,
you can disable them.
Infrared Monitor: If you do not use infrared devices, you can disable this service.
Messenger: This service sends alert messages on a local area network (it is not
the same as Windows Messenger). If you are not on a network, you can disable
this service.
Print Spooler: If you do not do any printing from the computer, you can disable
this service. If you print, make sure you leave it as automatic.
Remote Registry: This service allows remote users to modify the Registry on
your computer. If you are not on a network, you can disable this service.
System Restore Service: This service allows you to use System Restore. If you
have turned off System Restore anyway, you do not need to turn off the service.
If you do, you turn off System Restore.
Themes: If you do not use themes, you can disable this service.
Windows Image Acquisition: If you do not use scanners or digital cameras, you
can disable this service.
Wireless Zero Configuration: If do not use wireless networking devices, you can
disable this service.
You may have a number of other automatic services, depending on software and
other configurations on your computer. So it’s a good idea to look through the
services and learn more about them. If you double-click a service, a Properties
dialog box appears
Notice that on the General tab, you see a Startup Type drop-down menu. If you
want to change an automatic service to manual, select Manual here and click
OK. As a general rule, don’t disable a service unless you are sure you will never
use it. However, manual configuration allows the service to be started when you
find it necessary, thus speeding up your boot time.
However, before you change a service to manual, look at the Dependencies tab
(see Figure 4-4). This tab shows you which other services depend upon the
service you are considering changing.
Keep in mind that services are necessary for the vast functionality you get with
Windows XP. Change only those services that you understand and do not use.
How you use your Windows XP computer should be the best guide in terms of
optional startup services.
Tip !
The Indexing service and the System Restore service take up a lot of disk space
and system resources across the board. You can live without the Indexing service
but I suggest that you keep using System Restore. It works great when you are in
a bind and this is one case where the loss of speed may not be worth the
ramifications of not using System Restore.
Speed Tips and Tricks for Windows XP Startup
Aside from startup programs, services, and the Prefetch folder, there are a
number of other startup procedures and issues you can modify to help Windows
XP start faster. The following sections explore those tips and tricks.
Manual IP Addressing on Small Office/Home Networks
Windows XP is configured to help you take care of networking. It uses the
TCP/IP protocol for networking in workgroups, or what you might call small
office or home networks that do not use a dedicated server.
The problem is that automatic IP addressing can be slow. When your computer
boots, it has to query the network to see what IP addresses are already in use and
then assign itself one. If you want to speed up the boot time a bit, consider
manually assigning IP addresses to all computers on the network. This way, the
network computers do not have to worry about locating an automatic IP
address. Because one is manually configured, the operating system doesn’t have
to spend time solving this problem.
This isn’t a networking book, however, so I won’t delve into the implications of
using a manual IP address, but if you are using a computer that functions as a
host computer to the Internet (using Internet Connection Sharing [ICS]), you
can get into connectivity problems if you change the configuration of the IP
address. However, you can still work around this problem by starting with the
ICS host computer.
Select Start/Connect To/Show All Connections. Right-click your network
adapter card and click Properties. On the General tab, select TCP/IP in the list
of services and click the Properties button.
In the TCP/IP properties, you can see if you use an automatic or manual IP
address. In the example in Figure 4-5, I have configured a manual IP address of
90.0.0.1 and a default subnet mask. The other computers on my office network
each use a different IP address in the same class, such as 90.0.0.2, 90.0.0.3,
90.0.0.4, and so on. This way, each computer has a permanent IP address, which
helps increase boot time. Note that if you change the IP addresses of your
computers, they must all use the same subnet mask. A default subject mask of
255.255.255.0 will keep you in good shape.
Make sure you understand the implications of changing IP addresses on your
network. If you have no networking experience at all, you may be wiser to leave
the automatic IP addressing as is and try to gain some speed using the additional
suggestions in this chapter.
Disabling Recent Documents History !
Windows XP includes a feature that keeps track of all recent documents you
have opened or used. The idea is that you can select Start/Recent Documents
History and quickly reopen any document you have recently used. I use many
documents each day and never use the feature myself. In my opinion, I can keep
up with what I want to use without Windows XP doing it for me.
The bad thing about Recent Documents History is that Windows XP has to
calculate what should be put there each time you boot Windows, which can slow
things down. So, if you never use the Recent Documents History, it’s a good idea
to disable it. Here’s how:
1. Open the Registry Editor (select Start/Run, type regedit, and click OK).
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Mcft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
3. Create a NoRecentDocsHistory D_WORD key. Double-click the value to open
it once it is created.
4. Set the Data Value to 1 to enable the restriction.
5. Click OK and close the Registry Editor. You’ll need to restart the computer
for the change to take effect.
Disabling the Boot Logo !
You can remove the boot logo that appears when you start Windows XP. This
little tweak probably shaves only a few seconds off your boot time but seconds
count if you are serious about trying to get Windows XP up and running as
quickly as possible. The only negative is that if you remove the boot logo, you will
also not see any boot messages, such as check disk. (But if you are not having
problems with your computer, this isn’t such a big deal.)
To remove the boot logo, follow these steps:
1. Select Start/Run, type msconfig, and click OK.
2. In the System Configuration Utility, click the BOOT.INI tab.
3. On the BOOT.INI tab, click the NOGUIBOOT check box option. Click OK.
Removing Unwanted Fonts !
One trick that increases your boot time a bit is to lose any fonts in the Fonts
folder in Control Panel that you never use. The more fonts you have, the more
processing Windows XP has to do to prep all of those fonts for use. You must be
a bit careful here to not remove fonts that you might want, but there is a good
chance that you can live without many of them. For instance, you may have
foreign language fonts and other symbol fonts (such as Wingdings) that you
never use.
To delete unneeded fonts, follow these steps:
1. Open the Fonts folder in Control Panel.
2. Select Edit/Select All and then Edit/Copy.
3. Create a new folder on your desktop, open it, and select Edit/Paste.
4. In this new folder, delete any of the fonts you do not want.
5. Return to the Fonts folder in Control Panel. Right-click the selected fonts and
click Delete.
6. Go back to your new desktop folder and click Edit/Select All.
7. Return to your Fonts folder and click Edit/Paste. You now have only the
desired fonts in the Fonts folder.
Tip:
You can directly delete fonts from the Fonts folder without creating the
secondary folder. However, I recommend the preceding steps to help ensure that
you do not make a mistake in the deletion process.
Stopping Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop Sharing !
In Windows XP Professional, you have two remote networking features called
Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop Sharing. These remote networking
features are very helpful in a variety of situations but if you don’t use them, it is
good idea to disable them to save boot time. You can always enable them later if
you want to use them.
Note:
If you are interested in using Remote Desktop or Remote Assistance, see my
book Windows XP for Power Users: Power Pack published by John Wiley &
Sons.
1. Open the Start menu, right-click My Computer, and choose Properties.
2. Click the Remote Tab.
3. Clear both check boxes to disable Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop.
Speeding Up the Dual-Boot Timeout !
If you dual-boot your computer with Windows XP and another operating
system, you see an operating system selection menu on startup. If you typically
boot into Windows XP and not the other operating system, you can speed up the
dual-boot timeout value so that you do not wait so long for the boot process to
select your default operating system and continue with the boot process. The
default timeout value is 30 seconds but you can change this setting to 10. This
gives you enough time to select the alternate operating system if you want but
also speeds up the boot process. You can skip this section if you do not use a
dual-boot configuration.
Follow these steps:
1. Locate the boot.ini file on your computer. It is a hidden file by default; mine is
located in C:\boot.ini.
2. Open the file with Notepad (which is what opens it by default).
3. Change the Timeout value to 10 (see Figure 4-11).
4. Select File/Save and close Notepad.
Speeding Up Your PPPoE Connection !
If you use a Point-to-Point Protocol connection over Ethernet (PPPoE), you may
notice a delay in using the PPPoE connection after startup. By default, there is a
120 second delay but you can stop this behavior by manually configuring an IP
address for the network adapter card. If you do not use a PPPoE connection, you
can skip this section.
1. Select Start/Connect to/Show All Connections.
2. Open the TCP/IP properties for your LAN network interface card.
3. Manually set the IP address on the TCP/IP properties to an appropriate IP
address and subnet mask for your network.
Reducing the Wait Time
When you start to shut down Windows XP, it has to quit, or “kill,” any live
applications or processes that are currently running. So close all applications
first. However, some applications and processes are always running in the
background. You can reduce the amount of time that Windows XP waits for
those applications and processes to close before Windows XP kills them. Edit
three different Registry settings to change this:
1. Open the Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. Select
WaitToKillAppTimeout and set the value to 1000.
3. Select the HungAppTimeout value and set it to 1000 as well.
4. Navigate to HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop. Set the
WaitToKillAppTimeout and set the value to 1000. Select the HungAppTimeout
\newline value and set it to 1000 as well.
5. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control.
Select the WaitToKillServiceTimeout value and set it to 1000.
6. Close the Registry Editor.
Automatically Killing Tasks on Shutdown !
You know the drill. You start to shut down the computer, you wait a few
moments, and then you see a dialog box asking if you want to kill an application
or service that is running. Instead of prompting you, you can make Windows XP
take care of the kill task automatically. Here’s how:
1. Open the Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop.
3. Highlight the value AutoEndTasks and change the value to 1.
4. Close the Registry Editor.