Encyclopedia of XP tweaks

[Ramanuman]

The Icon Caching Value: in HEX or Decimal ?
(And, for future reference, is HEX or Decimal the usual protocole ?)

Thanx

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Sorry dealer, I posted in a rush. I meant that "MaxCachedIcons" with no gaps or "Max Cached Icons" with gaps as either a DWORD or as a STRING.

 

[Perris Calderon]

sorry guys, been away all day, ok, first, ranunum,just type in the value, the default is correct, and dirk, thanx for pointing that out for me, I have edited the original post, as per your information, that will address the issue if you don't yet have the entry.

 

[Ramanuman]

Well, if I may...

About the "Max Cached Icons" tweak :
I checked on my friend's pc. He has been doing a lot of tweaking recently, but not manually : through tweaking softwares. (And be warned : his OS is wME.)

He did enter the value specified above for the icon caching, but :
-1st, it's a string, not DWORD.
-2nd, it's "Max Cached Icons" (with spaces).

So I'll try it that way (which, incidentally, solves my "HEX or DEC" problem).

But I beg you : if you think I'm doing a terrible mistake, PLEASE, PLEASE WARN ME BEFORE MY PC BLOWS UP !!!.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

To Ramanuman,
nothing bad will happen to your comp if you add this tweak in either form. It will either increase the cache or it won't.
The trouble with Microsoft is that they keep changing the way things operate in Windows. What may have worked in M.E. might not work in XP.
I have decided to use both:-
Max Cached Icons (String Value)
MaxCachedIcons (DWORD Value)

I know I could just use one of them and wait until the cache grows, but waiting isn't something I'm good at.

 

[skauch]

In my regedit, i had already a "Max Cached Icons" STRING, and i think it's the only one you need cuz i think i had already increase it before, but i'm not sure.

 

[Perris Calderon]

glad that's solved, if you don't have it, put it in both ways...thanx dirk, now something else to speed up;

the start menu the has a delay between different tiers of the menu hierarchy. To speed this, you can change the value to zero. This will allow the different tiers to appear instantly.

Start Regedit. (use that cool shortcut I posted to get to regedit, hehe)
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Select MenuShowDelay from the list on the right.
Right on it and select Modify.
Change the value to 0.
Reboot your computer.

 

[Ramanuman]

So I guess I'll be fine. Thanx.

-It's just kind of scary for the newbie that I am to see all those warnings (i.e "ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR REGISTRY BEFORE DOING ANY CHANGE !").
That's why I'm always a bit nervous...

And by the by, if any of you guys could refer me to a good source of info on the registry - what it is, how it operates, etc - for beginers, I'd appreciate greatly. Nowadays I'm trying to improve my knowledge on computers.

Ciao

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Thats probably one of the best tweaks out there dealer, nice one. Just for info really but if you change it from "0" and make it "-1" the menus will take 60 seconds to pop out.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Hi Ramanuman,
this page is as good as it gets:-
Axcel216

 

[Perris Calderon]

Originally posted by Dirk Diggler
Hi Ramanuman,
this page is as good as it gets:-
Axcel216

also, here is a registry learning kit that relder posts, this is a direct download, excellant learning tool.

relder makes appearances on this forum, look for his posts, they're always right on

 

[Perris Calderon]

Dirk, you should write a registry learning kit of your own, the kit relder has up is 2000

 

[Ramanuman]

Really grateful, guys. Thanx.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

To be honest, I've not even seen Rob's kit. I shall have to have a look. As for making my own, I haven't got the time or patience.

I won't be in the chats, my system is fried, so I'm gonna re-format shortly. I shall look in tomorrow.

 

[Perris Calderon]

I gotta have the computer turn itself off at shutdown.

go to the device manager,(use that cool desktop shortcut I posted fpr ya,hehe)

Under the 'View' menu select "Show Hidden Devices". Double click NT/Apm/Legacy Interface
Node and enable device. De-select show hidden devices again and re-boot.

Now your PC will shutdown automatically Wi.

 

[dejav00]

...

Well, I'm no longer having PF problems lol...decided since I was re-formatting i might as well update my BIOS, and since I'm not to sure on how to flash it with a startup disk, I put Win98 on my machine to use the magic updater dealy thing lol...now, I'm trapped in this windows 98 hell, lock-ups 3-4 times a day, blue screens, PLEASE, SOMEONE SAVE ME!!

lol...ill be back tommorow with an OS that's stable enough to risk running.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

I'm gonna tell Hawk, he won't be happy

 

[Ramanuman]

dejav00,
flashing the bios with a disk is really easy. Only a matter of double-clicking the updater, which will open a DOS window telling you to insert a disk, and will then give you instructions to start copying the files to it.
Once that's done, you just reboot and follow the instructions...

Even I, who knows flute all about computers, managed to do it without trouble.

 

[allan]

Yeah, the problem isn't how easy it is - you're right, it's just a matter of putting in a bootable disk with the flash autoexec on it. The problem is that sometimes flashing a bios can cause real problems - for no reason and through nobody's fault. You can, literaly, lose the motherboard.

I've seen Dell put up a bios update and pull it three days later, not to be seen again for weeks. I'm glad I don't know why

Accordingly, flashing the bios is something that should be done only when there is a good reason to do so - and even then with utmost caution (no matter how easy it seems). As many times as I've done it, I check myself every step of the way.

 

[dejav00]

...

I believe I figured out my problems with the Page File...I re-formatted and installed XP and had no problems, I was installing all my hardware and utilities etc., I re-booted, and there was the problem again...I was using a program called GoodMEM from MSI, that didn't say it wouldn't work with XP, but didn't say it did, I believe that an un-install of the program will fix my problem, if not, another format, and installing nothing but updated drivers from the manufacturers website