Windows XP Tips + Tricks

Turn Off Autoplay for Program CDs

2009-10-21T09:40:00.000-07:00

Turn Off Autoplay for Program CDs

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How can you stop Windows XP from launching program CDs?

· Click Start, click Run, type GPEDIT.MSC to open Group Policy in the Microsoft

Management Console

· Double-click Computer Configuration, double-click Administrative templates,

double-click System, and then click Turn off autoplay. The instructions on your screen

describe how to configure this setting.

· Click Properties to display the setting dialog. Click Enabled, and choose CD-ROM

drives, then click OK, to stop CD autoplay. This setting does not prevent Autoplay for

music CDs.

How to Rename Multiple Files

2009-10-13T05:51:00.000-07:00

How to Rename Multiple Files with Windows Explorer
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· Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > Windows Explorer.

·    Press and hold down the Ctrl-key while you are clicking files.
·    After you select the files, press F2.
·    Type the new name, and then press ENTER.
Note: When you complete the preceding steps, the highlighted state of all files
except one disappears, so it may appear as if you are only renaming one file. However,
after you press ENTER, all of the files are renamed. When you rename multiple files, all
of the renamed files have the same name with a number in parentheses appended to the name
to make the new file name unique. For example, if you type BUDGET as the new name, the
first file is named BUDGET. All of the remaining selected files are named BUDGET(x),
where x is a unique number, starting with (1).

Notes

If you make a mistake when you try to rename multiple files, you can press Ctrl+Z, or

click Undo Rename on the Edit menu to undo file rename action you just completed, and you

can repeat this process as needed.

The Rename function in Windows Explorer does not match the behavior of the REN command

you may use at a command prompt. For example, if you had files that are named

smitha.doc, smithb.doc, and smithc.doc, you could use the ren smoth*.doc smythe*.doc

command. All file names automatically show the new spelling, and are renamed

smythea.doc, smytheb.doc, and smythec.doc.

If you use the Windows XP Rename function in Windows Explorer, after you select the

three "smith" files, and rename smitha.doc to smythea.doc, all the other files you

selected are named smythea(x).doc. To return to the original file name structure (the

use of a, b, c, etc), you must rename each file individually.

Getting an Older Program to Run on XP

2009-10-12T06:11:00.000-07:00

Getting an Older Program to Run on Windows XP

If an older application gives you trouble when running Windows XP, you can set the

compatibility properties manually so that the program runs in a different mode, such as

Windows 95, or in a different display or resolution setting.

· Right-click the executable or the program shortcut to the executable, and then click

Properties.

· Select the Run this program in compatibility mode check box.

· From the list, select an operating system that the program runs in comfortably.

· If necessary, also change the display settings and/or resolution, or disable the

Windows XP visual themes.

Run the program again when you're finished changing the settings. Adjust the

compatibility settings again if the program is still not running smoothly: a program

that's unhappy on Windows 2000 may flourish on Windows 98.

Increase BROADBAND

2009-10-11T01:23:00.000-07:00

Increase BROADBAND

This is for broad band connections, though it might work for dial up.

· Make sure your logged on as actually "Administrator".

· Start->Run->type gpedit.msc

· Expand the "Local Computer Policy" branch.· Expand the "Administrative Templates" branch.

· Expand 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" item.

· Where it says "Bandwidth limit %" change it to read 0.

Effect is immediate on some systems, some need to re-boot. This is more of a "counter

what XP does" thing. In other words, programs can request up to 20% of the bandwidth be

reserved for them, even with QoS disabled.

Increase Your Cable Modem or DSL Speed in XP

This tweak is for broad band cable connections on stand alone machines with WinXP

professional version - might work on Home version also. It may also work with networked

machines as well.

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.

· 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.

· 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.

· Next type "netcap/Remove". This will remove the netmon driver.

· 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.

· Check your connection properties to make sure that no connection exists. If you get

a wizard just cancel out of it.

Now re-start the machine.

· 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.

· Choose connection properties and uncheck the "QOS" box.

· Re-start the machine.

After restart enjoy the increased responsiveness 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 separate 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.

Use a Shortcut to Local Area Network Connection Information

Something new in Windows XP, instead of using the command line program and typing

ipconfig to find local area network information, you can use the following shortcut:

· Click Start, point to Connect to, and then click Show All Connections.

· Right-click the connection you want information about, and then click Status.

· In the Connection Properties dialog box, click the Support tab. For even more

information, click the Advanced tab.

To automatically enable the status monitor each time the connection is active, in theConnection Properties dialog box, select the Show icon in taskbar notification area when

connected check box.

Performance Increase

2009-10-09T21:18:00.000-07:00

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

Very Slow Boot When Networking

2009-10-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

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 thedesktop may not appear or will freeze for a minute.

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.

Stop Jerky Graphics

2009-10-09T20:55:00.000-07:00

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"

which is default.).

· You should reboot.

Easy Way to Adjust LargeSystemCache

2009-10-09T09:58:00.000-07:00

Easy Way to Adjust LargeSystemCache

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 thevalue 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).

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".

Shutdown XP Faster

2009-10-09T09:53:00.000-07:00

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.

Turn Off System Restore to Save Space

2009-10-09T09:33:00.000-07:00

Turn Off System Restore to Save Space

By default, Windows XP keeps a backup of system files in the System Volume Informationfolder. 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.

Speed Up Detailed View in Explorer

2009-10-09T09:27:00.000-07:00

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 Indexing to Speed Up XP

2009-10-09T06:16:00.003-07:00

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.