User Interface Tweaks

System Performance Tweaks

Internet Tweaks

Miscellaneous Tweaks

What's the difference between Windows XP Home and Professional editions?

Locate the file or folder for which you want to set permissions.

Right–click the file or folder, click Properties, and then click the Security tab. (If you do not see the Security tab, you may not be joined to a domain. See To display the Security tab below.)

Do one of the following:

To set permissions for a group or user that does not appear in the Group or user names box, click Add. Type the name of the group or user you want to set permissions for and then click OK. (When adding a new user or group, by default, this user or group will have Read & Execute, List Folder Contents, and Read permissions.)

To change or remove permissions from an existing group or user, click the name of the group or user.
Do one of the following:

To allow or deny a permission, in the Permissions for User or Group box, select the Allow or Deny check box.

To remove the group or user from the Group or user names box, click Remove.
If the check boxes under Permissions for user or group are shaded or if the Remove button is unavailable, then the file or folder has inherited permissions from the parent folder.

Until now, that is.

Simply fire up the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key: (regedit from the start\run menu)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ My Computer \ NameSpace \ DelegateFolders

You'll see a sub-key named {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. If you delete this, all of the Shared Documents folders (which are normally under the group called "Other Files Stored on This Computer") will be gone.

You do not need to reboot your system to see the change.

Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
Click Sound, Speech, and Audio Devices.
Under Pick a task, click Change the speaker settings.
In the Sounds and Audio Devices Properties dialog box, on the Volume tab, select the Place volume icon in the taskbar check box, and then click OK.
Now, when you want to adjust the volume, click the icon and move the slider.

Click Start, and then click Run.
Type msconfig to open the System Configuration Utility.
Click the Services tab.
Clear the Error Reporting Service check box, and then click OK.
Hit Restart to reboot your system.
Your computer will now start without loading the error reporting service.

To dramatically expand the list of applications you can remove from Windows XP after installation, navigate to C:\WINDOWS\inf (substituting the correct drive letter for your version of Windows) and open the sysoc.inf file. Under Windows XP Professional Edition, this file will resemble the following by default:

[Version] Signature = "$Windows NT$"
DriverVer=06/26/2001,5.1.2505.0

[Components]
NtComponents=ntoc.dll,NtOcSetupProc,,4
WBEM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wbemoc.inf,hide,7
Display=desk.cpl,DisplayOcSetupProc,,7
Fax=fxsocm.dll,FaxOcmSetupProc,fxsocm.inf,,7
NetOC=netoc.dll,NetOcSetupProc,netoc.inf,,7
iis=iis.dll,OcEntry,iis.inf,,7
com=comsetup.dll,OcEntry,comnt5.inf,hide,7
dtc=msdtcstp.dll,OcEntry,dtcnt5.inf,hide,7
IndexSrv_System = setupqry.dll,IndexSrv,setupqry.inf,,7
TerminalServer=TsOc.dll, HydraOc, TsOc.inf,hide,2
msmq=msmqocm.dll,MsmqOcm,msmqocm.inf,,6
ims=imsinsnt.dll,OcEntry,ims.inf,,7
fp_extensions=fp40ext.dll,FrontPage4Extensions,fp40ext.inf,,7
AutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,au.inf,hide,7
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
msnexplr=ocmsn.dll,OcEntry,msnmsn.inf,,7
smarttgs=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,msnsl.inf,,7
RootAutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,rootau.inf,,7
Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,,7
AccessUtil=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,accessor.inf,,7
CommApps=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,communic.inf,HIDE,7
MultiM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,multimed.inf,HIDE,7
AccessOpt=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,optional.inf,HIDE,7
Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,HIDE,7
MSWordPad=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wordpad.inf,HIDE,7
ZoneGames=zoneoc.dll,ZoneSetupProc,igames.inf,,7

[Global]
WindowTitle=%WindowTitle%
WindowTitle.StandAlone="*"

The entries that include the text hide or HIDE will not show up in Add/Remove Windows Components by default. To fix this, do a global search and replace for ,hide and change each instance of this to , (a comma). Then, save the file, relaunch Add/Remove Windows Components, and tweak the installed applications to your heart's content.

After you hit ENTER, you'll be greeted by gpedit, which lets you modify virtually every feature in Windows XP without having to resort to regedit. Dig around and enjoy!

1) Click Start, Run and enter GPEDIT.MSC
2) Go to Computer Configuration, Windows Settings, Security Settings, Local Policies, Security Options
3) Locate the Network security: Force logoff when logon hours expire
4) Double click this entry and set it to enabled.
5) Open Help and Support and type "logon hours" (without the quotes) in the search box.
6) Go to Full text matches and click on "Net user". See the examples for setting a user's logon hours. Some examples would be:

net user johnsw /time:M-F,08:00-17:00
net user johnsw /time:M-F,8am-5pm
net user marysl /time:M,4am-5pm;T,1pm-3pm;W-F,8:00-17:00
net user johnsw /time:all (this one means this user can always log on)

7) Enter the appropriate "net user" command for the user(s) you wish to restrict access for.

System Performance Tweaks

Below are some Windows XP memory tweaks. They are located in the windows registry at: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEM CurrentControlSetControl Session ManagerMemory Management

DisablePagingExecutive - When enabled, this setting will prevent the paging of the Win2k Executive files to the hard drive, causing the OS and most programs to be more responsive. However, it is advised that people should only perform this tweak if they have a significant amount of RAM on their system (more than 128 MB), because this setting does use a substantial portion of your system resources. By default, the value of this key is 0. To enable it, set it to 1.

LargeSystemCache - When enabled (the default on Server versions of Windows 2000), this setting tells the OS to devote all but 4 MB of system memory (which is left for disk caching) to the file system cache. The main effect of this is allowing the computer to cache the OS Kernel to memory, making the OS more responsive. The setting is dynamic and if more than 4 MB is needed from the disk cache for some reason, the space will be released to it. By default, 8MB is earmarked for this purpose. This tweak usually makes the OS more responsive. It is a dynamic setting, and the kernel will give up any space deemed necessary for another application (at a performance hit when such changes are needed). As with the previous key, set the value from 0 to 1 to enable. Note that in doing this, you are consuming more of your system RAM than normal. While LargeSystemCache will cut back usage when other apps need more RAM, this process can impede performance in certain intensive situations. According to Microsoft, the "[0] setting is recommended for servers running applications that do their own memory caching, such as Microsoft SQL Server, and for applications that perform best with ample memory, such as Internet Information Services."

IOPageLockLimit - This tweak is of questionable value to people that aren't running some kind of server off of their computer, but we will include it anyway. This tweak boosts the Input/Output performance of your computer when it is doing a large amount of file transfers and other similar operations. This tweak won't do much of anything for a system without a significant amount of RAM (if you don't have more than 128 MB, don't even bother), but systems with more than 128 MB of RAM will generally find a performance boost by setting this to between 8 and 16 MB. The default is 0.5 MB, or 512 KB. This setting requires a value in bytes, so multiply the desired number of megabytes * 1024 * 1024. That's X * 1048576 (where X is the number, in megabytes). Test out several settings and keep the one which seems to work best for your system

Services are programs that run when the computer starts up and continue to run as they aid the operating system in functionality. There are many services that load and are not needed which take up memory space and CPU time. Disabling these services will free up system resources which will speed up your overall computer experience. I recommend that you sort through the list and read the descriptions to decide if you need that service depending on what you want to do with your computer. Remember, you can always turn the service back on if you find that you need it in the future.

Full Description of each service - Microsoft.com

Below is the procedure to turn off a service.

Click the start button.
Select run from the bottom of the right column.
Then type services.msc in the box and click ok.
Once the services window has loaded we are ready to turn off unneeded services.
For instructional purposes we are going to turn off the Portable Media Serial Number service.
Find this service in the list and select it with the mouse.
Right click and select Properties.
Once the properties windows has loaded locate the Start up type drop down box and select disable.
Then just click ok and the next time the computer starts the service will not be loaded.

Do this with Care !

When Windows NT lists a directory (Explorer, DIR command, etc.) on an NTFS volume, it updates the LastAccess time stamp on each directory it detects. If there are a very large number of directories, this could effect performance. A new registry entry allows you to control this behavior.

Download : NTFS Tweak reg file

or/and

Disable Run Commands Specified in the Registry (Windows 98/Me/2000/XP)

This restriction is used to disable the ability to run startup programs specified in the registry when Windows launches.

Open your registry and find the key below. (regedit.exe from the start/run menu)

Create a new DWORD value for each of the optional values below depending on which Run function to stop and set the value to "1" to disable.

Restart Windows for change to take effect.

Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Policies\Explorer]
Value Name: DisableLocalMachineRun, DisableLocalMachineRunOnce, DisableCurrentUserRun, DisableCurrentUserRunOnce
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (0 = enable run, 1 = disable run)

Right–click My Computer, and then click Properties.
Click the Advanced tab, and in the Performance area, click Settings.
On the Visual Effects tab, click the Custom radio button, and then select which UI features to disable to improve performance.
Click the Advanced tab, and in the Processor scheduling area, click the Background services radio button. Selecting this option means that background tasks that you want to run while you work, such as backup utilities or print jobs, will share processor time equally with programs.
You may need to be logged on as an Administrator to make these changes. Note that applying these settings may change your current desktop theme.

Internet Tweaks

This is to increase the the number of max downloads to 10.

1. Start Registry Editor

2. Locate the following key in the registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\InternetSettings

3. On the Edit menu, click Add Value , and then add the following registry values:

"MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server"=Dword:0000000a
"MaxConnectionsPerServer"=Dword:0000000a

4. Quit Registry Editor.
Reboot

1. Go into Control Panel-> Network Connections
2. Right click "Local Area Network" and select "Properties"
3. Left click the advanced tab
4. Left click the settings button
5. Under services, left click the add button
6. For description type "Ident", for Name of IP put the name that identifies your system with your ISP OR your IP if it is static.
7. Both external and internal ports are 113 by default and TCP.
8. Click OK all the way out.

IE 6.0 wants to run a schelduled task everytime it connects to a server. This results in slower browsing.
To disable this delete the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersion

explorerRemoteComputerNameSpace{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}

Press and hold Ctrl. Scroll down (or towards yourself) to enlarge the font size. Scroll up (or away from yourself) to reduce the font size.

You might find it useful to reduce font size when printing a Web page, so that you can fit more content on the page.

How to Enable Internet Connection Firewall
The Internet Connection Firewall is useful when you want to protect a dial–up connection when dialing directly into an Internet service provider (ISP), or to protect a LAN connection that is connected to an asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) or cable modem. You can also enable the ICF on the Internet connection of an ICS host computer to provide protection for the ICS host computer.

To enable ICF using the Network Setup Wizard:Run the Network Setup Wizard. To access this wizard, point to Control Panel, double–click Network and Internet Connections, and then click Setup or change your home or small office network.
The ICF is enabled when you choose a configuration in the wizard that indicates that your computer is connected directly to the Internet.

To configure ICF manually for a connection:In Control Panel, double–click Networking and Internet Connections, and then click Network Connections.
Right–click the connection on which you would like to enable ICF, and then click Properties.
On the Advanced tab, check the option to Protect my computer and network....

If you want to enable the use of some applications and services through the firewall, you need to enable them by clicking the Settings button, and then selecting the programs, protocols, and services to be enabled for the ICF configuration.

When people are having trouble getting to specific programs or services on your Windows XP machine after you enable Internet Connection Firewall (ICF), you may need to enable the program or service to work through the firewall. To do so, follow these steps:

Click Control Panel, click Network and Internet Connections, and then click Netw