Encyclopedia of XP tweaks

[dejav00]

...

thx for the instr. Ramanuman, but I couldn't find a way to do it in XP without making a startup disk, adding an autoexec.bat file telling it which .bin file to use and the awdflash.exe prgm, so I just installed win98 since it was compatible with my mobo BIOS updater and it did it all by itself

 

[Ramanuman]

Your right, allan. My friend's lost all access to his motherboard trying to flash his bios. -I did find surprising that dejav00 thought it hard to do...

Anyway, wasn't this thread about "my favourite tweaks" ?

 

[dejav00]

...

Sadly, the un-install of the program didn't work. I'm going to try botting from the CD and running the OS repair, if that doesn't work, I'll re-format.

 

[Perris Calderon]

Hope that does it for ya, dajavoo.

gonna add another idea most of you have already done, but it's a big one;

I love the eye candy in xp, but it's expensive in terms of performance, there's a good compromise that I use, and here it is;

control panel>appearance and maintenace>visual affects...NOW HERE'S THE IMPORTANT PART; if you adjust for best performance, ya, computing is usually noticeably faster, however, you can turn off selective candy, still have most of the good xp erience(hehe), and still speed the box up almost as much...here's what I dissable;

1)fade or slide menu into view
2)fade or slide tool tips into view
3)fade out menu items after clicking
4)show shadows under menus
5)slide open combo boxes
6)slide taskbar buttons
7)use a backround image for each folder type

ok, now you still have xp candy, but computing should be noticeably faster

 

[dejav00]

...

Well, as I can't remember if I said earlier whether the un-install of the GoodMEM fixed the problem, it didn't, neither did repair OS, so I did the whole ordeal over again...I'm thinking now that it might have been my VIA 4-in-1 drivers, I knew XP didn't need them, but installed them anyway. Not that I'm going to try GoodMEM again...it was cool in 98, but pointless for XP. As soon as I can, imma try the rest of these tweaks, and re-instate the rest of them that I had to DEL :*(

 

[LeeMedic]

Dealer, I cannot find the Icon Cached Max either. Is this something I need to add then. And if so, exactly, what do I need to add.

Thanks for the help

 

[dejav00]

...

I never said I found it hard to do, I was implying that I'd rather go through windows 98 hell and use the updater that came from my mobo supplier for my mobo...I was unsure of using an autoexec file that I found on the internet with a program that i had to search for because all the links from the site with the autoexec file were broken etc. etc. etc., when I KNEW that the one from my mobo manufacturer did work.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Hi LeeMedic,
open up your registry and make your way here:-
HKEY_LOCAL_
MACHINE / Software / Microsoft / Windows /currentversion / Explorer

in the right side, right-click a blank area and choose "New" "String Value" and call it
Max Cached Icons
Double-click this new Key and type the value
8192
into the box

P.S.
If you want to try the DWORD version, follow the above but instead of making a new String Value, you should make a "New" "DWORD Value" and call it
MaxCachedIcons
and give it a Value of
2000 in Hexadecimal, or
8192 in Decimal.

 

[Perris Calderon]

Originally posted by Dirk Diggler


P.S.
If you want to try the DWORD version, follow the above but instead of making a new String Value, you should make a "New" "DWORD Value" and call it
MaxCachedIcons
and give it a Value of
2000 in Hexadecimal, or
8192 in Decimal. [/B]

I'm going to paste this to the original post, thanx dirk

 

[Ramanuman]

For having done it and having seen a serious improvement, also for having checked on a different pc where the value had been entered, I sincerely believe the string is the only one needed...

 

[Perris Calderon]

Ramanuman...thanx for the input

 

[Perris Calderon]

gonna get back on track to this string topic now, add add something I should have put right on top...IF, AND ONLY IF YOU ARE NOT ON A COMPUTER NETWORK...if you have not dissabled, or set to manual the workstation service, try it, that'll speed the boot by seconds...you should still be able to get away with dissabling workstation if you're on a lan, so give it a shot, now some people have trouble with zone alarm pro without the workstation service, mine works fine without it, but if it's an issue with your computer, then try setting the service to manual...

ALSO, i'D LIKE OTHER PEOPLE TO STEP UP TO THIS PLATE, AND GIVE ME AND OTHERS SOME SPEED UPS TO TRY.

 

[open_source]

Originally posted by dealer
gonna get back on track to this string topic now, add add something I should have put right on top...IF, AND ONLY IF YOU ARE NOT ON A COMPUTER NETWORK...if you have not dissabled, or set to manual the workstation service, try it, that'll speed the boot by seconds...you should still be able to get away with dissabling workstation if you're on a lan, so give it a shot, now some people have trouble with zone alarm pro without the workstation service, mine works fine without it, but if it's an issue with your computer, then try setting the service to manual...

ALSO, i'D LIKE OTHER PEOPLE TO STEP UP TO THIS PLATE, AND GIVE ME AND OTHERS SOME SPEED UPS TO TRY.

Dealer,

Workstation is a necessary service on a LAN if you are sharing resources across the network.

 

[Perris Calderon]

Originally posted by open_source


Dealer,

Workstation is a necessary service on a LAN if you are sharing resources across the network.

thanx, open_source, for pointing that out
even if you do share resuorces,I'd still experiment with the workstation set to manual, and see if it affects the way you need your computer to behave on the lan. It sooo speeds the start up, it's worth the experiment

 

[allan]

If you set workstation service to Manual and you are on a LAN, my guess is that it will activate on boot anyway. More important, it doesn't make sense to disable worksation if you are on a LAN because as Open points out, it will disable the ability to share files, peripherals, etc., thus defeating the purpose of the network in the first place.

If you are part of a network you pretty much have to live with the addtional time Workstation takes to install the protocols necessary to configure and maintain your system as a client within that network.

 

[LeeMedic]

Dealer and Dirk, thank you for the help.

 

[Perris Calderon]

if you are on a lan for the only puropse of shared internet, and if you don't share resources, experiment without the workstation...I don't share files, I send them, I'm on a multitude of lans for internet purposes, and not having the the workstation has been an excellant tweak for me, one of my favorites... that's why I suggested in the first place that you 'EXPERIMENT" with dissabling, or setting this service to manual, but as allan and open_source point out, if you're sharing resources, you'll need this service...BUT,as I pont out, if you're not, this should be a very noticeable differance in your start up.

I'll point out for the benefit of everyone that reads this string...these are my personal tweaks, and hopefully other peoples personal tweaks will enter this thread...when you try any tweak, it's an experiment for you, so of course, back up the registry, create a restore point one way or another, and have some fun, most of these will be worth the effort for most of the people that try them.

 

[Perris Calderon]

Originally posted by LeeMedic
Dealer and Dirk, thank you for the help.

I get more out of helping, then you get out of recieving, so, you're more then welcome

 

[Perris Calderon]

ok, back to the topic;
Now, I have to tell you, I Know very little about the user interface, and I havn't done much here, but I JUST HAD TO RENAME MY "RECYCLE BIN"...sheeesh, who came up with "recycle bin"
...it's a trash can, or garbage can, or trash, or you can even call it "dealer", but you can not call it "recycle bin", so here's how to give yourself access to re nameing it.

hit that regedit shortcut you have on your desktop by now, and go here;

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ShellFolder

change "Attributes" to show 50,01,00,20
change "CallForAttributes" to show 00000000

now you just right click on the bin, and "re name" becomes available.

Ps....if you know how to change the recycle icon, could you let me know...thanx

 

[dreamliner77]

gotta love someone that would rather give than recieve