The Start menu gets more real estate in XP than in previous versions, and it's more
customizable. To make the Start menu display only the applications you want, rather
than the default determined by Microsoft, right-click in an empty section of the Start
menu's left column, and select Properties > Start Menu > Customize. Here you'll find
a list of your most frequently used programs. (XP keeps track of what you use and
what you don't, then updates this list dynamically.) Don't want your boss to know
that Pinball, Solitaire, and Quake all make your list? Go to the General tab, click
Clear List, and set the counter to zero.
Organize your desktop
The only default icon on XP's desktop is the Recycle Bin, but we think it's a good idea
to add a shortcut to Computer Management, a quick and dirty way to get to such
important tools as the Event Viewer, Local Users and Groups, Shared Folders, the
Device Manager, and Disk Management. To surface this handy management dialog,
click Start > Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > Administrative Tools.
Right-click the Computer Management shortcut. Select Copy from the dialog menu.
Right-click an empty portion of the desktop and select Paste Shortcut. Use this
procedure to add shortcuts to anything else; use Windows Explorer or My Computer
to find your target
Turn on your firewall
Microsoft included a firewall in Windows XP to keep you safe from hackers while you
cruise the Internet. How do you know that the Internet Connection Firewall is on? Go
to the Control Panel and double-click the Network Connections icon. In the dial-up,
DSL, or cable connection dialog that appears, check the Status column. If your
firewall is on, it should say Firewalled. You can turn the firewall off with the check
box, but unless you are going to add a third-party firewall for heightened security,
it's best to leave it on.
Now that you know that your firewall is on, how do you know that it's doing its job?
Test it with ShieldsUp, the free testing service sponsored by Gibson Research.
According to our tests, XP's Internet Connection Firewall kept the computer in full
stealth mode. Hackers could not break in and couldn't even see the computer online.
But, given the latest security problems with USB 2.0, etc, you should always go to
Windows Update to make sure you have the latest patches, no matter what
operating system you use.
The omnipotent Administrator
When you use Windows XP, you belong to one of two groups: Administrators or
Users. Administrators are all-powerful: if you have a so-called Admin account, you
can make systemwide changes and change other users' accounts. While this power is
a boon to the ego, it's also dangerous. If, for example, you encounter a virus, a
Trojan horse, or a worm while you're logged on as Administrator, you could wreck all
the accounts on your entire system. Log in as User, on the other hand, and any
damage you cause will be less extensive, because ordinary users are prevented from
making systemwide changes. A word to the wise: Do your everyday computing as a
regular user and log on as Administrator only when it's absolutely necessary, such as
when adding a new user or changing security settings. To sign on as User, use the
Run As command: just right-click a shortcut and select Run As. As long as you know
the username and password, you can sign on as another user.
Reduce Temporary Internet File Space
The temporary internet files clutter your hard drive with copies of each page visited.
These can build up over time and take up disk space. Even more bothersome is that
instead of getting new pages each time IE often takes the page out the temp internet
files. This can be a problem if you are viewing a website that is updated all the time.
If you are on a slow connection such as a 56K or lower then this can be good but if
you are on a fast broadband connection, like me, then you can get away with
decreasing the size of your temp internet files to just one meg without any
performance decrease.
Launch Internet Explorer.
Select the Tools from the menu bar. Then select Internet Options... from the drop
down menu. Once the internet options has loaded click on the general tab. Under the
temporary internet files section click the settings button. A settings window will load.
Slide the slider all the way to the left so the size indicated in the text box on the
right is one. Click OK Click Ok
Services You Can Disable
There are quite a few services you can disable from starting automatically.
This would be to speed up your boot time and free resources. They are only suggestions so I suggestion you read the description of each one when you run Services and that you turn them off one at a time.
Some possibilities are:
Alerter
Application Management
Clipbook
Fast UserSwitching
Human Interface Devices
Indexing Service
Messenger
Net Logon
NetMeeting
QOS RSVP
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Registry
Routing & Remote Access
SSDP Discovery Service
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Web Client
Cleaning the Prefetch Directory
WindowsXP has a new feature called Prefetch. This keeps a shortcut to recently used programs.
However it can fill up with old and obsolete programs.
To clean this periodically go to:
Star / Run / Prefetch
Press Ctrl-A to highlight all the shorcuts
Delete them
Not Displaying Logon, Logoff, Startup and Shutdown Status Messages
To turn these off:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionpoliciessystem
If it is not already there, create a DWORD value named DisableStatusMessages
Give it a value of 1
Clearing the Page File on Shutdown
Click on the Start button
Go to the Control Panel
Administrative Tools
Local Security Policy
Local Policies
Click on Security Options
Right hand menu - right click on "Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile"
Select "Enable"
Reboot
For regedit users.....
If you want to clear the page file on each shutdown:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerMemory ManagementClearPageFileAtShutdown
Set the value to 1
No GUI Boot
If you don't need to see the XP boot logo,
Run MSCONFIG
Click on the BOOT.INI tab
Check the box for /NOGUIBOOT
Speeding the Startup of Some CD Burner Programs
If you use program other than the native WindowsXP CD Burner software,
you might be able to increase the speed that it loads.
Go to Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Services
Double-click on IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service
For the Startup Type, select Disabled
Click on the OK button and then close the Services window
If you dont You should notice
Getting Rid of Unread Email Messages
To remove the Unread Email message by user's login names:
Start Regedit
For a single user: Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionUnreadMail
For all users: Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionUnreadMail
Create a DWORD key called MessageExpiryDays
Give it a value of 0
Decreasing Boot Time
Microsoft has made available a program to analyze and decrease the time it takes to boot to WindowsXP
The program is called BootVis
Uncompress the file.
Run BOOTVIS.EXE
For a starting point, run Trace / Next Boot + Driver Delays
This will reboot your computer and provide a benchmark
After the reboot, BootVis will take a minute or two to show graphs of your system startup.
Note how much time it takes for your system to load (click on the red vertical line)
Then run Trace / Optimize System
Re-Run the Next Boot + Drive Delays
Note how much the time has decreased
Mine went from approximately 33 to 25 seconds.
Increasing Graphics Performance
By default, WindowsXP turns on a lot of shadows, fades, slides etc to menu items.
Most simply slow down their display.
To turn these off selectively:
Right click on the My Computer icon
Select Properties
Click on the Advanced tab
Under Performance, click on the Settings button
To turn them all of, select Adjust for best performance
My preference is to leave them all off except for Show shadows under mouse pointer and Show window contents while dragging
Increasing System Performance
If you have 512 megs or more of memory, you can increase system performance
by having the core system kept in memory.
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerMemory ManagementDisablePagingExecutive
Set the value to be 1
Reboot the computer
Increasing File System Caching
To increase the amount of memory Windows will locked for I/O operations:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerMemory Management
Edit the key IoPageLockLimit
Resolving Inability to Add or Remove Programs
If a particular user cannot add or remove programs, there might be a simple registry edit neeed.
Go to HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesUninstall
Change the DWORD NoAddRemovePrograms to 0 disable it
4096 - 32megs of memory or less
8192 - 32+ megs of memory
16384 - 64+ megs of memory
32768 - 128+ megs of memory
65536 - 256+ megs of memory
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