Running Applications in Compatibility Mode
With Windows XP, you can run programs as if though they were being run under
a different operating system. (This is known as "emulation".) Simply
right-click a shortcut, select "Properties" and then check "Run in
compatibility mode" and select the operating system you wish to make the
program believe it is being run under. This fools or tricks the program into
thinking you are really using a previous version of Windows, such as NT, 2000,
98, or 95. This is especially useful for certain games that won't run
properly. Be careful *not* to use this with certain system utilities, such as
antivirus, defrag, registry, and disk tool applications.
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Customizing the Start Menu
Right click on the "Start" button and left click "Properties". From here, you
can select the new Windows XP style Start Menu, or return to the Windows
2000/Millennium style one. You can also customize the two possible choices
using their corresponding "Customize" buttons. This also allows you to turn on
or disable cascading menus and other options that are useful, such as large or
small icons and more.
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Bring Back Those Desktop Icons
After you install Windows XP, you probably noticed that some of your icons
from previous versions of Windows you've used are missing. Microsoft did this
intentionally to help simply and reduce clutter. Of course, for some people,
this isn't the best choice or the user preference. So, if you want those icons
like "My Computer" and "My Network Places" back, just open Display Properties
(right click Desktop Wallpaper, left click "Properties") and click the
"Desktop" tab. Click the "Customize Desktop" button and on the "General" tab
check the items you want. You can also change the icons used by these desktop
items in the same screen. One final tip related to this screen is the "Clean
Desktop Now" button, which notifies you of unused icons on the desktop and
offers to remove them if you choose.
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Give Me My ClearType
Windows XP includes a great new visual technology, called "ClearType" which
increases horizontal legibility by approximately 300% and it looks great. Go
back into "Display Properties" [see tip: "Bring Back Those Desktop Icons" for
instructions] and this time, go to the "Appearance" tab. Click "Effects" and
for the second drop down box, labeled "Use the following method to smooth
edges of screen fonts", select "ClearType". Click OK twice and you're all set.
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Lock Computer vs. Welcome Login Screen
You must go into Control Panel and open the "User Accounts" applet to change
this setting. Click "Change the way users log on or off". For maximum
security, uncheck the "Use the Welcome screen" option. This re-enables the use
of the "Lock Computer" option from the ALT CTRL DELETE menu, but prevents
multiple users from being logged on locally at a single time. This also
returns to the Windows 2000 style login screen. If you'd rather have the
ability to *not* be able to use "Lock Computer" and would rather allow
multiple users to logon to the computer at a single time locally, leave this
setting checked and also check "Use Fast User Switching".
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Looking for a Windows XP Compatible Driver?
If you can't find a driver for a hardware device under Windows XP, you can try
to use a Windows 2000 compatible driver for the same hardware. Usually this
tends to work, and in my experience so far, it always has. However, if you can
find a driver specifically designed for use with Windows XP, that is usually
the best and safest option. You can also e-mail the hardware manufacturer and
ask them about Windows XP compatibility and drivers.
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To increase system performance
Right click my computer. Click properties.
Click advanced.
Click settings (under performance).
Click Adjust for best performance.
Scroll to the bottom and check the last one ?use visual styles on windows and buttons?.
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How to disable XP's crap built in CD Burner
Click the start button.
Select Run.
Type services.msc and click ok.
Go to IMAPI CD-Burning Com Services open it and click on start up type, change to "Disabled".
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These Settings will fine tune your systems memory
You need at least 256MB of ram to do this:
Go to start\run\regedit -and then to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management
1.DisablePagingExecutive -double click it and in the decimal put a 1 - this allows XP to keep data in memory now instead of paging sections of ram to harddrive yeilds faster performance.
2.LargeSystemCache- double click it and change the decimal to 1 -this allows XP Kernal to Run in memory and improves system performance a lot.
3.Create a new dword and name it IOPageLockLimit - double click it and set the value in hex - 4000 if you have 128MB of ram or set it to 10000 if you have 256MB set it to 40000 if you have more than 512MB of ram -this tweak will speed up your disckcache.
Reboot
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Unable to delete from Avi files from HD
XP holds files in it's memory even after you have closed the application using them making it impossible to delete them from your harddrive. To fix this:
Start -> Run -> Regedit
Find the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.avi\shellex\PropertyHandler\ directory and delete the "DEFAULT" key.
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Tweak The Swap File
For Users with 256 MB RAM or more this tweak will boost their Windows- and Game-Performance.
What it does: It tells Windows not to use any Swap File until there is really no more free RAM left.
Open the System Configuration Utility by typing msconfig.exe in the RUN command. There in your System.ini you have to add "ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1" under the 386enh section.
Restart your Windows and enjoy better Game performance
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Disable Services
XP Pro runs a lot of services by default that are pointless if your not on a corporate network, the following services are ones that I safely disable thereby freeing up memory but check what each one does first to make sure your not using it for something:
Go to Run and type services.msc, right click on each service, properties and choose disable.
Alerter
Application Layer Gateway Service,
Application Management
Automatic Updates
Background Intelligent Transfer
Clipbook
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Distributed Transaction Coordinater
Error Reporting Service
Fast User Switching Compatibility
IMAPI CD-Burning
Indexing Service
IPSEC Services
Messenger
Net Logon
Net Meeting
Remote Desktop Sharing
Network DDE
Network DDE DSDM
Portable Media Serial Number
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Registry
Secondary Logon
Smartcard
SSDP Discovery Service
Telnet Themes
Uninterruptible Power Supply
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Upload Manager
Webclient
Wireless Zero Configuration
WMI Performance Adaptor
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Speed Up The File System
NTFS is a great file system, but its feature-set comes at a slight cost in performance. You can negate this a little with the following tips:
* By default NTFS will automatically update timestamps whenever a directory is traversed. This isn't a necessary feature, and it slows down large volumes. Disable it by going to Run and type regedit:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem and set 'DisableNTFSLastAccessUpdate' to 1.
* NTFS uses disparate master file control tables to store filesystem information about your drives. Over time these core MFT files grow and become fragmented, slowing down all accesses to the drive. By setting aside a little space, MFT's can grow without becoming fragmented.
In the same key where you disabled the last access feature creat a new DWORD value called 'NtfsMftZoneReservation' and set it to 2.
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Disable DLL Caching
Windows Explorer caches DLLs (Dynamic-Link Libraries) in memory for a period of time after the application using them has been closed. This can be an inefficient use of memory.
1. Find the key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer].
2. Create a new DWORD sub-key named 'AlwaysUnloadDLL' and set the default value to equal '1' to disable Windows caching the DLL in memory.
3. Restart Windows for the change to take effect.
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Tweak The Prefetch
1. Run "Regedit"
2. Goto [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters\EnablePrefetcher]
3. Set the value to either 0-Disable, 1-App launch prefetch, 2-Boot Prefetch, 3-Both ("3" is recommended).
4. Reboot.
It will decrease the boot time but double and increase the performance of your XP.
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SpeedUp Your Connection By 20% (Cable Users Only)
1.Log on as "Administrator".
2. Run - gpedit.msc
3. Expand the "Local Computer Policy" branch.
4. Then expand the "Administrative Templates" branch.
5. Expand the "Network" branch.
6. Highlight the "QoS Packet Scheduler" in left pane.
7. In the right window pane double-click the "Limit Reservable Bandwidth" setting.
8. On the settings tab check the "Enabled" item.
9. Change "Bandwidth limit %" to read 0.
10. Then go to your Network connections Start=>Control Panel>Network & Internet connections>Network Connections and right-click on your connection. Then under the General or the Networking tab, (where it lists your protocols) make sure QoS packet scheduler is enabled.
It may take effect immediately on some systems. To be sure, just re-boot.
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