[Vishal Gupta]

Guys!

This tutorial is meant for increasing the performance of Windows XP, either it can be a fresh installed windows or an old windows.
Actually these r some tips/tricks, which I always apply whenever I do a fresh installation of windows. So here I’m sharing many of those tips-n-tricks:

1.) First I’ll tell some Registry tricks, which can be applied without any problem or doubt and I believe these tricks will surely help in increasing the performance of your windows. Copy the following code in Notepad, save the file with name "Vishal.reg" (including quotes) and then run the file:

CODE

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Copy To]
@="{C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Move To]
@="{C2FBB631-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell\DosHere]
@="Command &Prompt Here"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell\DosHere\Command]
@="%windir%\\System32\\cmd.exe /k cd \"%1\""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\Shell\DosHere]
@="Command &Prompt Here"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\Shell\DosHere\Command]
@="%windir%\\System32\\cmd.exe /k cd \"%1\""

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
"Link"=hex:00,00,00,00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"AutoEndTasks"="1"
"HungAppTimeout"="1000"
"MenuShowDelay"="8"
"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="2000"
"LowLevelHooksTimeout"="1000"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoLowDiskSpaceChecks"=dword:00000001
"ClearRecentDocsOnExit"=dword:00000001
"NoRecentDocsHistory"=hex:01,00,00,00
"LinkResolveIgnoreLinkInfo"=dword:00000001
"NoResolveSearch"=dword:00000001
"NoResolveTrack"=dword:00000001
"NoInternetOpenWith"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]
"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="2000"

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RemoteComputer]

2.) Right-click on Desktop and select Properties, Now in the new window goto Appearance tab and click on Effects button. Now in the new opened window uncheck the following options:

a.) Use the following transition effect for menus & tooltips.
b.) Show shadows under menus.
c.) Show window contents while dragging. (you may remain this option checked as I hv in my screenshot. It depends upon ur choice.)
d.) Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts. You may select “Standard” for this. I hv selected “Clear Type” coz I hv a TFT, it doesnt work properly for CRT monitors.



3.) Right-click on My Computer icon on Desktop and select Properties (or press <WIN> key + <Pause/Break> key), now goto Advanced tab in new window and click on Settings button in Performance section:



Now uncheck all the options in Visual Effects, but u can remain following options checked acc. to ur choice:

a.) Show window contents while dragging.
b.) Smooth edges of screen fonts.
c.) Use common tasks in folders (If u use the left side pane in My computer, I don’t use it.)
d.) Use drop shadows on icon labels on the desktop. (to make the desktop icons label transparent.)
e.) Use visual styles on windows and buttons. (If u use XP themes.)



4.) Open Tools -> Folder Options and click on View tab:



Now uncheck following options:

a.) Automatically search for network folders & printers.
b.) Display file size information in folder tips.
c.) Display simple folder view in Explorer’s Folders list.
d.) Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color. (I don’t use this option.)
e.) Show pop-up description for folder and desktop icons.
f.) Use simple file sharing.

Other remaining options are totally based upon user’s requirements, they usually don’t affect the performance! So u can enable/disable them acc. to ur requirements.

5.) Right-click on My Computer icon on Desktop and select Manage. Now goto Services & Applications -> Services. Here you can set many services to Manual, which u don’t want to start as soon as the windows starts. Following is a thread, in which I posted a small tutorial for knowing about which service should be set to MANUAL and which should be set to AUTOMATIC:

Windows XP Services that can be Safely set to MANUAL

6.) Start -> Run and type msconfig, now goto Startup tab and uncheck the entries, which u don’t want to start automatically with the windows, like u can get display settings utility entry there, and many more.

7.) Open Sound & Audio Devices in Control Panel (or type mmsys.cpl in RUN), goto Sounds tab and select No Sounds in Sound Scheme section. Or u can remain some of ur favorite sounds there but set Exit Windows, Start Windows, Windows Logoff, Windows Logon to (None).

8.) For more options/tips-n-tricks for better performance, u can use TweakUI, Tuneup Utilities 2006 and gpedit.msc (Windows XP Professional built-in tool)!

[Peteski]

great tutorial, im sure this will come in useful for a lot of peeps

[Stevey]

Great tutorial sort of like myne, we both did soem of the same tweaks lol, nice one!

[Vishal Gupta]

thnx guys

[Dito]

cool i like the part about the reg. vary interseting

[Stevey]

Hey, you said that I could disable some MCE services to make it run as fast as XP Pro was, could you posibly tell me hose tweaks?

[Vishal Gupta]

Actually I hv remove the MCE components from my Setup CD using nLite. SO now my XP MCE has been changed to XP Pro

But u can do one thing!
Right-click on My Computer icon on Desktop and select Manage. Now goto Services & Applications -> Services. Now in right-side pane, Sort the columns by Startup Type and now check the descriptions of all services, which hv their startup type set to Automatic. Now which services r related to MCE, just set them to Manual.

U can also get them from Task Manager!

[Stevey]

Actually I hv remove the MCE components from my Setup CD using nLite. SO now my XP MCE has been changed to XP Pro

But u can do one thing!
Right-click on My Computer icon on Desktop and select Manage. Now goto Services & Applications -> Services. Now in right-side pane, Sort the columns by Startup Type and now check the descriptions of all services, which hv their startup type set to Automatic. Now which services r related to MCE, just set them to Manual.

U can also get them from Task Manager!

Cool thanks buddie

[Vishal Gupta]

Guys!
I hv added some more Registry tweaks in the first post.
Like:

1.) Adding Copy To & Move To in context menu.
2.) Adding Command Prompt Here in context menu.
3.) Setting "Word Warp" & "Show Status Bar" in Notepad automatically. etc.

These tweaks might come handy many times.
I hope u'll like them

[Stevey]

Guys!
I hv added some more Registry tweaks in the first post.
Like:

1.) Adding Copy To & Move To in context menu.
2.) Adding Command Prompt Here in context menu.
3.) Setting "Word Warp" & "Show Status Bar" in Notepad automatically. etc.

These tweaks might come handy many times.
I hope u'll like them

Yes, they look interesting, Ill try some of these out when I get home

[Vishal Gupta]

thnx buddy

[Sreejith]

Great tutorial !! Thanks for it man

[Vishal Gupta]

My pleasure
It makes me happy when u guys like my work

[James Gates]

Nice Find!

[Greyham]

Wow i seriously need to try some of these out

[abesmith]

Yes, they look interesting, Ill try some of these out when I get home

Thank you very much, Vishal. I´m using these reg-tweaks and must say you were right. Very helpful and i won´t miss it anymore.
Thx again
peace & respect
Abe

[Vishal Gupta]

thnx buddy

[Stevey]

thnx buddy

Should we merge our 2 topics so people don't have to reply in both?

[Vishal Gupta]

No, both topics r quite different!

[Stevey]

No, both topics r quite different!

Yeah, I guess they are I am off to do both these on my laptop