Windows XP - Tips

• Access special folders easily using the shell command

  How to use the shell keyword to quickly access special folders like the Send To folder.

• Allow viewing of CHM files across the network

  Microsoft security update MS05-026 blocks for viewing compressed HTML (CHM) files placed on a network drive.

• Bookmark favorite registry keys in the Registry Editor

  The ability to store favorite locations in the registry can be quite useful.

• Change OEM branding of System Properties

  System Properties can be modified to display company name or company pictures.

• Change WinXP CD Key using WPA

  By re-activating Windows XP then one gets the option to change the cd-key.

• Change location of the print spooler directory

  When printing a document, then the document is spooled into a temporary directory and then sent to the printer.

• Change the color of Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)

  How to change the color of the BSOD to make it easier to read or just for fun.

• Change the display of drive-letters in Windows Explorer

  Control in what order the drive letter and label should be shown in My Computer.

• Change the display of share comment in My Network Places

  Control in what order the share name and share comment should be shown in My Network Places.

• Change the looks of the login and welcome screen

  Changing the visual styles of the login and shutdown screens.

• Changing PS/2 mouse refresh rate

  Improve the precision and smoothness of your ps/2 device by increasing the sample rate.

• Changing the available bit rates for encoding mp3

  Configure the bit rate of the predefined quality levels for mp3 encoding in Media Player 8.

• Changing the background color for the login screen

  Changing the color of the desktop shown before a user has logged in.

• Configure Autorun for different drives using policies

  How to configure autorun for the different drive types.

• Configure Autorun for the CD-ROM drives

  Configure whether to automatically launch application when inserting a CD or DVD disk.

• Configure Mouse Acceleration

  Mouse is accelerated when moved in a single movement to make the Windows nagivation easier.

• Configure Mouse Acceleration in WinXP

  The settings to configure mouse acceleration are hidden away but can still be changed.

• Configure NtBackup for faster throughput

  Increase the size of the buffers used by NtBackup to perform faster backup and restore.

• Configure Windows Search to index file contents

  Configure Windows Search index filters to perform indexing of document and spreadsheets using IFilters.

• Configure cleanup profiles to remove unnecessary files

  How to create different profiles for cleaning up the hard disk.

• Configure drive letter for the CD-ROM Drive

  Assign specific drive letters for removable drives.

• Configure the Attachment Manager in Windows XP SP2

  Windows XP SP2 includes the ability to mark files downloaded from the Internet as insecure and block access to them.

• Configure the My Computer security zone

  Display the My Computer security zone along with the other security zones for configuration.

• Configure the Shutdown Event Tracker

  The shutdown event tracker forces the user to give a reason for restarting the computer.

• Configure the Task Scheduler Log

  How to configure the location and size of the task scheduler log with all its events.

• Configure the Windows taskbar

  Changing the behavior and visual appearance of the task bar.

• Configure the caching of customized folders

  Configure how many folder customizations Windows should remember.

• Configure the caching of thumbnails in thumbs.db

  Thumbnail View uses a cache to allow quicker viewing of folders with pictures, and one can change the quality of these thumbnails.

• Configure the explorer file sort to be like in Windows 2000

  Windows Explorer file sorting can be changed from logical number compare to just one digit at a time.

• Configure the file association for unknown file types

  Change whether it should use the Internet to determine what application to use for opening a file of an unknown type.

• Configure the file search to include all files types

  Change whether the file search assistant should look through only registered file types or all files.

• Configure the keyboard mapping using scancode map

  How to use the scancode map to modify the keyboard layout and disable the Windows-key.

• Configure the task grouping in the taskbar

  Change how multiple instances of the same application should be grouped together.

• Configure the taskbar Start Menu

  Changing the behavior and visual appearance of the Start Menu.

• Configure the timeout used when stopping / starting services

  Change how long time to wait before a service is considered not responding and should be shut down.

• Configure when to report low on disk space in the Event Log

  Change the treshold of when to report that a disk is near its capacity.

• Configure whether to display balloon tips

  Configure what balloon tips Windows should display above the system tray.

• Configure zip and cab files as compressed folders

  Open zip and cab files in Windows Explorer like they were normal directory with files.

• Configuring the media preview in Windows Explorer

  Change whether it should extract file details for media files and display thumbnail preview.

• Control the keyboard numlock state at startup

  Configure whether the num-lock, caps-lock or scroll-lock keys should be turned on or off at startup.

• Create keyboard shortcut to quickly launch a program

  How to configure a keyboard shortcut as a hotkey to quickly start an application.

• Create shortcut to "Run..." in the Start Menu

  The Run... option in the Start Menu can be launched using a shortcut.

• Create special folders where you want them

  Shortcuts can be created to most of the special folders available in Windows Explorer.

• Creating the Show Desktop shortcut

  The Show Desktop shortcut in the quick launch bar can be restored if deleted.

• Customization of Windows visual appearance

  Description of the different things that can be customized in Windows, and links to resources that can provide even more customization.

• Customize the default registered identity

  How to change the name and company registered as owner of the Windows installation.

• Customize the right-click menu in Windows Explorer

  Adding own actions to the context menu when right clicking a file in Windows Explorer.

• Defrag command line switches

  List of the available command line switches for defrag.

• Disable hibernation to save disk space

  Hibernation requires a file as big as the size of the physical memory, which it dumps the contents of the memory to hibernate.

• Disable hotkey activation of sticky keys

  Sticky keys is an accessibility features, that can be activated with a shortcut key (often by accident when inside a game).

• Disable running low on disk space notification in the taskbar

  Display a warning when the when a hard disk is near its capacity

• Display all components in the Control Panel Add/Remove applet

  Windows does not by default display all items that can be uninstalled in the Add / Remove applet.

• Display the Windows version on the desktop

  When BETA testing Windows versions then it can be rather useful to easily see the build version on the desktop.

• Enable support for hard disk above 137 GByte

  Things to be aware of when using a hard disk larger than 137 gigabyte.

• Extend Folder Options to include your own tweaks

  Folder Options can be extended to easily configure other settings in Windows.

• Extend context menu with Move To and Copy To options

  Add "Copy To Folder..." and "Move To Folder..." when right-clicking a file.

• Extend the Windows Explorer context menu with Copy Path

  Make it easier to copy the location of a file to the clipboard.

• Extract files from a MSI package

  The Microsoft Installer (MSI) Package file is a compressed archive, which can be decompressed.

• Faster Start Menu navigation with integrated search

  Utilities to make it easier to browse the Start-menu and increase productivity

• Make screendump of the desktop using Print Screen

  How to use the keyboard key "Print Screen" to make a screen dump.

• Mapping folder as a virtual drive letter using subst

  Mount a file folder as a drive-letter, like a shortcut to make it easier to access the folder.

• Modify the Windows registry with registry files

  How to add and remove registry entries from the Windows registry using .reg files

• Pro and cons for using multiple disk partitions

  Describes the benefits and the costs of using multiple partitions.

• Provoke a blue screen of death on command

  Using a special keyboard shortcut to create a blue screen of death with memory dump.

• Reload the registry by restarting Explorer.exe

  How one can reload the HKEY\_CURRENT\_USER registry hive without needing a restart.

• Remove listing of recent shares in My Network places

  Shortcuts to network shares visited will automatically be added to My Network Places.

• Remove the Shared Documents folder from My Computer

  The shared documents folder allows multiple users to exchange documents, pictures and other files on the same computer.

• Retrieve a lost CD-Key from the registry

  Where to find the cd-key for the current Windows install.

• Send To Toys

  Utility that can extend the functionality of the sendto context menu.

• Setting the default folder view for all folders

  How to configure the Windows Explorer to display all folders the same way.

• Stop Regedit from remembering previous location

  Configure whether the registry editor should show the last registry location when started.

• Turn off the beeping from the PC Speaker

  Disable the beep from the PC speaker when Windows performs an alert.

• Use NTFS compression to save disk space

  NTFS compression can compress / decompress files on the fly and save disk space and minimize needed hard disk I/O

• Using "Send To" for easy access to useful actions

  How to use the "Send To" feature to perform often used file operations.

• Using file compare to see changes made to the registry

  How to see the registry changes of a certain action by using the file compare utility.

• Using the Group Policy Editor as registry editor

  How to use the group policy editor for easy editing of registry settings.

• Verbose status messages during boot, logon, logoff and shutdown

  Extend the level of informational messages during Windows startup and shutdown.

• Windows Explorer command line switches

  Windows Explorer allows one to specify what folder to display when launched.