Mastering XP

8/14/2019 Mastering XP

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Customize Windows XP

Customize XP Tips n Tricks

1) Remove windows messenger from WinXP one forever

Go to Run box and type next:runDll32 advpack.dll, LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove

2) Disable XP Error Reporting

Right click on MyComputer choose PropertiesIn System Properties click on AdvencedIn Advenced click on Error ReportingCheck "Disable error reporting"Leave unchecked field "But notify me when critical errors occur"

3) Hide 'User Accounts' from users

Go to Start/Run, and type: GPEDIT.MSCOpen the pathUser Config > Admin Templates > Control Paneldoubleclick "Hide specified Control Panel applets"put a dot in 'enabled', then click 'Show"click Add button,type "nusrmgt.cpl" into the add box

4) Create Your Own Logon Message

Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.In the Registry Editor, drill down to the following key:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WinlogonRight-click LegalNoticeCaption, click Modify, type My Windows XP Machine, and then clickOK.Right-click LegalNoticeText, click Modify, and then type your message.Close the editor and your new message will appear at every log on.This tip applies to computers that are part of a domain. For stand-alone or peer-to-peernetworks, the custom screen appears just before the Welcome screen.

5) Disable balloon tips

Run regedit and Navigate to Key:HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion \Explorer\Advancedthen set the value of 'EnableBalloonTips' to 0.

6) Create your own popup menu in the taskbar

You can create your own popup window other than START MENU in the taskbar.Put all the shortcuts to the applications that you want to popup in a folder.Then you right click on taskbar ->toolbars ->new toolbar -> and select the folder


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7) Reset Your Password On XP

1. Restart you computer

2. When booting, press F8 and select "Safe Mode"

3. After getting to the user menu. Click on a user and this time it will not ask you for a

password

4. Go to Start>Run and type "CMD" (without the quotes).

5. At command prompt type in "cd C:WindowsSystem32" (without the quotes), I am assumingC is your System/Windows Drive

6.For safety purposes first make a backup of your Logon.Scr file.. You can do this by typing in"Copy to Logon.scr to Logon.bak" (without the quotes)

7.Then type "copy CMD.EXE Logon.scr"(without the quotes)

8.Then type this command, I will assume that you want to set Administrator's password to"MyNewPass" (without the quotes)

9.Now, type this in (I am assuming that you are still in the directory C:WindowsSystem32) ,"net user administrator MyNewPass" without the quotes

10. You will get a message saying that it was successful, this means Administrator's newpassword is "MyNewPass" (without the quotes)

11. Restart the PC and you will login as Administrator (or whatever you chose to reset) with

your chosen password

8) Create your own Internet Explorer Toolbar

First, create your HTML file and place it in whatever folder is easiest for you to remember. ( I have afolder on my D drive called Desktop Toolbars. )

Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\AboutURLs

Create a new String Value with an easy to remember name.Ex: TopToolbar ,BottomToolbar ,GoogleSearchPage

In the data for the new string value you've created, put the COMPLETE address for the HTML pageyou want to display in a toolbar.

Like this: D:\Desktop_Toolbars\TopBar.html

To show your new toolbar, right-click on your taskbar and choose "Toolbars" > New Toolbar.

In the box labeled Folder:, type about: with the name of the string value you created that represents theHTML file you want to see in your toolbar.Like this:


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about:TopBarwill display your D:\Desktop_Toolbars\TopBar.html in your taskbar.about:BottomBarabout:GoogleSearchPage

See this screenshot for a visual example of something simple you can do:

Speed Up Windows XP and Improve performance

1) Shutting down WinXP faster

When a user shuts down Windows XP, first the system has to kill all services currently running.Every once in a while the service does not shut down instantly and windows give it a change to shutdown on its own before it kills it. This amount of time that windows wait is stored in the systemregistry. If you modify this setting, then windows will kill the service earlier. To modify the setting,follow the directions below:

Click on Start, and then goto run, type REGEDIT

Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control.Click on the "Control" Folder.Select "WaitToKillServiceTimeout"Right click on it and select Modify. Set it a value lower than 4000

2) You can start up without needing to enter a user name or password.

Select Run... from the start menu and type 'control userpasswords2', which will open the useraccounts application. On the Users tab, clear the box for Users Must Enter A User Name And PasswordTo Use This Computer, and click on OK. An Automatically Log On dialog box will appear; enter theuser name and password for the account you want to use.

3) Windows XP SP2 Tweaks

Disable the SP antivirus and firewall functions

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center]"AntiVirusDisableNotify"=dword:00000001"FirewallDisableNotify"=dword:00000001; don't monitor firewall and antivirus"AntiVirusOverride"=dword:00000001"FirewallOverride"=dword:00000001


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Turn off Auto Updates[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update]"AUOptions"=dword:00000001;disable Auto Update[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center]"UpdatesDisableNotify"=dword:00000001

Turn off the SP2 firewall

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\DomainProfile]"EnableFirewall"=dword:00000000

turn off firewall policy for domain profile[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\StandardProfile]"EnableFirewall"=dword:00000000

4) Disable unnecessary Services

Caution:Exercise caution when stopping services. If you do not know what a service does or are

unsure of the ramifications of stopping the service, leave it alone. Some services are critical toWindows XP's operations, so make sure you understand what the service is before you disableit.

Open Control Panel/Administrative ToolsServices or else select Start/Run, typeservices.msc, and click OK. Either way, you see the Services console.

Notice that on the General tab, you see a Startup Type drop-down menu. If youwant to change an automatic service to manual, select Manual here and click OK. As a generalrule, don't disable a service unless you are sure you will never use it. However, manualconfiguration allows the service to be started when you find it necessary, thus speeding up yourboot time. However, before you change a service to manual, look at the Dependencies tab. Thistab shows you which other services depend upon the service you are considering changing.

Tip:

The Indexing service and the System Restore service take up a lot of disk space andsystem resources across the board. You can live without the Indexing service but I suggest thatyou keep using System Restore. It works great when you are in a bind and this is one casewhere the loss of speed may not be worth the ramifications of not using System Restore.

While disabling services, check and make sure that IIS (internet information server) isnot installed and running if you do not want to run a web server, ftp, or mail server. If you findit, you can uninstall from the control panel. If you only want to run one of the 3 services itprovides, disable the other 2 (the 3 should be HTTP server, FTP server, & SMTP server).

No. Service Name Comment/Detail

1 Terminal Services Disable this service unless you actually usethis feature

2 Telnet server Same as above. Huge security risk here


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3 Background intelligent transfer service

4 Messenger This service sends alert messages on a localarea network (it is not the same as WindowsMessenger). If you are not on a network, youcan disable this service.

5 Remote registry service This service allows remote users to modifythe Registry on your computer. If you are noton a network, you can disable this service.

6 Routing and remote access only useful if you use ICS7 Computer Browser If your computer is not on a network, you

don't need this service. If you are on anetwork, leave it alone.

8 DHCP Client If you are not on a network, you do not needthis service. If you are on a smallworkgroup, you can still increase boot timeby configuring manual IP addresses

9 NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing

10 Portable Media Serial Number

11 Remote Desktop Help Session Manager

12 Server Unless you want to share files.

13 SSDP Discovery Service

14 TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper Service Only useful if you often access other Window's shares to get files.

15 Windows Time unless you use an internet time server

16 Wireless Zero Configuration If do not use wireless networking devices,you can disable this service.

17 Alerter

18 Security Center

19 Windows Firewall If you do not use these features, you can

disable them.20 Application Layer Gateway a part of the Windows Firewall setup

21 Automatic updates This service enables Windows XP to check the Web automatically for updates. If youdon't want to use Automatic Updates, youcan disable the service.

22 Cryptographic services Wont hurt anything, but doesn't need to rununtil you need it. Set it to Manual

23 Distributed Link Tracking Client Set it to Manual

24 Error Reporting and Event Log Unless you use it.

25 Help and Support If you never use the Windows XP Help and

Support Center (found on the Start menu),you can disable this service.

26 IPSEC Probably won't use it, but keep it available incase. Set it to Manual

27 Security Accounts manager Set it to Manual

28 Task scheduler Unless you use it.

29 Web Client

30 Upload Manager Set it to Manual

31 DNS Client If you are not on a network, you do not needthis service. If you are, leave it alone.

32 Fax If you don't use your computer for fax


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services, you can disable this one.

33 IMAPI CD-Burning COM This service enables you to burn CDs onyour computer. If you never burn CDs, youcan disable the service.

34 Indexing Service Your computer keeps an index of files but if you rarely search for files, the service is justa resource hog. You can stop it and turn theservice to manual.

35 Infrared Monitor If you do not use infrared devices, you candisable this service.

36 Print Spooler If you do not do any printing from thecomputer, you can disable this service. If youprint, make sure you leave it as automatic.

37 System Restore Service This service allows you to use SystemRestore. If you have turned off SystemRestore anyway, you do not need to turn offthe service. If you do, you turn off SystemRestore.

38 Themes If you do not use themes, you can disable

this service.39 Windows Image Acquisition If you do not use scanners or digital cameras,

you can disable this service40 Clipbook

41 HID Input Service

42 Fast User Switching Compatibility

43 Network DDE

44 Network DDE DSM

45 Network Location Awareness (NLA)

46 Performance Logs and Alerts

47 QoS RSVP

48 Secondary Logon

50 Security Center

51 Smart Card

52 Uninterruptible Power Supply

53 Volume Shadow Copy

54 Windows User Mode Driver Framework

55 WMI Performance Adapter

5) Disable Wallpapers:They slow your whole system down, so if you're willing to compromise, havea basic plain one instead!

6) Drivers:Update your hardware drivers as frequently as possible. New drivers tend to increasesystem speed especially in the case of graphics cards, their drivers are updated by the manufacturervery frequently!

7) Minimizing:If you want to use several programs at the same time then minimize those you are notusing. This helps reduce the overload on RAM.

8) Boot Faster: The 'starting Windows 95/98' message on startup can delay your booting for a coupleof seconds. To get rid of this message goes to c:\ and find the file Msdos.sys. Remove the Read-Only


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option. Next, open it in Notepad or any other text editor. Finally, go to the text 'Options' within the fileand make the following changes: Add BootDelay=0. To make your booting even faster, set addLogo=0 to remove the Windows logo at startup.

9) Restart only Windows: When restarting your PC, hold down Shift to only restart Windows ratherthan the whole system which will only take a fraction of the time.

10) Turn Off Animations:win98.jpg Go to Display Settings from the Control Panel and switch to the

Effects Tab. Now turn off Show Windows Content While Dragging and Smooth Edges on ScreenFonts. This tip is also helpful with Windows XP because of the various fade/scroll effects.

11) Faster Start-Menu Access:Go to the Start menu and select Run. Now type Regedit and hit Enter.The Registry Editor will appear on the screen. Now, open the folder KEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Desktop. You should see a MenuShowDelay value. If you don't then do the following: right clickon a blank space in the right pane and select New\String. Change the name in the new value toMenuShowDelay. Now that we have the MenuShowDelay value, double click on it and enter 0 in thevalue data field. This sets the start menu delay to 0 milliseconds.

12) Resolutions: If you are willing to do anything for faster performance from your PC, then try

lowering your display resolution. The lower it is, the faster your PC.

13) Turn off Active Desktop:win98.jpg Go to your Display Properties and switch to the Web tab.Uncheck View My Active Desktop As a Web Page. Since the Active Desktop option under Windows98 uses a lot of system resources, this option can have a dramatic effect on the speed of the wholesystem.

14) Defragment Often: win98.jpg Windows 98's Defrag tool uses Application Acceleration from Intelwhich means that when you defragment your drive, data is physically arranged on the drive so thatapplications will load faster.

15) Take your PC to Bed:win98.jpg Using the Advanced Power Management feature underWindows 98 gives you the option to use the sleep command. That way, you can send your PC to sleepinstead of shutting it down and then restarting it. It's as simple as pressing a button and then pressingthe same button to wake it up. You can tell Windows after how many minutes/hours of inactivity toautomatically sleep the machine in the Advanced Power Management section of the Control Panel.

16). Faster Internet Access:If you use the internet for reference and the sites you visit are rarelyupdated then try the following. In IE (the same can be done in Netscape) go to Tools, Internet Options.Next, click on Settings... in the Temporary Internet Files section. Finally, select Never for the firstoption and double the amount of storage space to use, click OK!

17). Benchmarking:Benchmarking can be very useful when run frequently. It can tell you how your

PC's components are performing and then compare them to other machines like yours. For example,when you overclock your PC, you want to know how much more speed you have and whether it isstable. All this and more can be discovered using benchmarking. An excellent piece of software fordoing this job is SiSoft Sandra which can be found in the

18) Start Up Programs:win98.jpg Windows can be slowed down when programs run on start up. Toeliminate this, check your Start up folder. You can access it from the start menu: Start, Programs, StartUp. Another way to eliminate programs from loading even before Windows actually starts is by doingthe following: Click on Start, then Run. Type msconfig. It will take quite a long time for this program


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to load, but when you finally see it on your screen, explore the different tabs. They all have to do withhow quickly your PC boots, so select what you want, and uncheck what you don't want!

19) Fonts:When Windows starts, it loads every single font in the Fonts folder. Therefore, the morefonts you have, the slower the booting process. To get rid of unwanted fonts, simply go to the Fontsfolder under c:\windows and remove whatever you don't want. Fonts that have a red letter 'A' as theiricon are system fonts, so don't delete them.

20) Stretching Wallpapers:win98.jpg Don't "stretch" your wallpaper in Windows 98 since it actuallyslows Windows down when you drag icons around on the desktop.

21) Eliminate Pests

Start by visiting the Windows Update site to make sure you have the latest patches for your version ofthe OS. Next, check your antivirus and antispyware utilities for updates, and then runa complete check of your system with each tool.Once the scans come up clean, disconnect from theInternet and any local networks you might be on, and shut down each of the utilities autoprotectfeatures. This will make it easier to spot the CPU-cycle robbers on your system.

22) Zap Unwanted Programs

many of the programs that came preinstalled on your computer automatically launch helper programswhen Windows starts, often doing little more than adding to the flurry of applets swirling around in theWindows atmosphere. First, jettison unneeded Windows components. In XP, click Start Control PanelAdd or Remove Programs, and choose Add/ Remove Windows Components in the left pane. (Thesteps are similar in older versions of the operating system.) Two prime candidates for deletion areGames (click Accessories and Utilities Details Games Details, and uncheck those you dont want) andMSN Explorer (simply uncheck it and step through the wizard). When youre done, click Next andFinish.You can remove well-behaved applications by using Control Panels Add or Remove Programsapplet, but if the program has its own undelete option (likely on its submenu in All Programs), use that.If the program still appears in Add or Remove Pro-grams after you do so, or if it doesnt have its own

undelete function, select it in the list of Currently installed programs, click Remove orChange/Remove, and follow the instructions (as shown below left). Some security programs have onlya Change option, requiring removal by their own uninstall component. Click Show updates at the topof this window to see the various Windows and Office patches that have been added to your system.If you delete a Windows or Office patch here, however, Windows concludes that you want to undo thepatch, rather than just remove the files. Rolling back patches is risky. Sometimes programs remain inthe Add or Remove Programs list after they have been uninstalled. Others insist on runningcomponents even after theyve been removed, and icons for some removed programs may continue toappear in your system tray (next to the clock), the Ghosts of Applications Past. When you encountersuch a spectral program, click its Remove or Change/Remove button again. Windows XP with ServicePack 2 may recognize your second try as an attempt to remove the entry from the Add or Remove

Programs list, and fix the problem automatically. If that doesnt work, shift Windows into Safe Mode:Restart your computer, hold down the key, and choose Safe Mode. Use the Remove/Changeoption in Add or Remove Programs once again. If that doesnt work either, haul out the heavy artillery.While you can manually remove stuck entries by editing the Registry.Microsoft has a much morethorough and less dangerous option called the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility. Download that fromMicrosoft.

23) Poke Autostart Porkers


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once youve deleted all the programs you can live without, look for cycle-stealing apps that rununnecessarily in the background on your system. The majority of self-starting Windows processes,inscrutable though they may be, serve vital roles. For example, if you press -- tobring up the Windows Task Manager, you may see ten copies of the file svchost.exe among yourprocesses. Dont worry. Svchost.exe is a wrapper a program that runs other programs and having half adozen running all the time is common. If you read somewhere that Windows runs blazingly fast if youjust disable one of these Windows services, be skeptical, and think twice before you stop any Windowsservice without knowing for sure that you dont need it.

24) Whip Disks Into Shape

having plenty of empty space on your hard drive is important for good Windows performance, as itallows room for virtual memory.Fortunately, clearing space on a drive is usually pretty easy. Forexample, few people need anywhere near the hard-disk space that Windows sets aside for theRecycle Bin the default is 10 percent of the drives total capacity. Thats 3GB of a 30GB hard drive. Tomake some room, rightclick the Recycle Bin, choose Properties, swing the slider down to3 percent or less, and click OK. That would still give you almost a gigabyte to temporarily storedeleted files on our example 30GB hard drive, which should be plenty under most circumstances.Another storage profligate is Windows System Restore, which uses a ton of hard-drive spaceto hold restore points that you will never need. To trim them, right-click My Computer, choose

Properties System Restore, drag the slider down to 3 percent or less, and click OK (seeimage at right). That should be sufficient for at least two restore points on my example 30GB drive.

Now you should run Windows Disk Cleanup: Click Start Run, type cleanmgr /sageset:99, and press. Check each type of file you want to look for (I check them all), and click OK. Right-click theC: drive in My Computer and choose Properties Disk Cleanup. Youll see a list of a dozen or so kindsof files that you can delete. Check the categories you dont need, click OK, and then click Yes You maywant to leave some entries unchecked, however. The contents of your Temporary Internet Files folder,for example, can help speed up Internet Explorer by reducing the amount of data you have to downloadto view Web pages that you return to frequently.more.) Also, if you delete your Office Setup files,some Office 2003 updates may not function properly.Once youve emptied the trash, restart your

computer, right-click your C: drive in My Computer, and choose Properties Tools Defragment Now. Inthe Disk Defragmenter dialog box, click Analyze. If the Analyzer reports that you need to defrag thedrive, wait until you can afford to leave your computer alone for a few hours before proceeding. Infact, there is some disagreement as to whether defragging actually improves your systemsperformance. The consensus at present, however, is that defragging your hard drive periodically doesindeed result in faster data accesses.

25) Automate Your Registry Scrubs

you could spend the next ten years fiddling with Registry keys, cache parameters, menu delay settings,and a thousand other minute Windows details. Or you can take advantage of the years of work thatother folks have devoted to the cause of achieving a more shipshape Windows. Two of my favorites are

Macecrafts $30 jv16 PowerTools (30-day free trial) and the Registry scanner in Iolo Technologies$50 System Mechanic utility suite (30-day free trial).Both programs make it easy to clear the crudfrom your Registry. (Note: The Registry is a terrible thing to muck up, soavoid no-name Registry cleaners like the plague.)

26) Manual IP Addressing on Small Office/Home Networks


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Windows XP is configured to help you take care of networking. It uses the TCP/IP protocol fornetworking in workgroups, or what you might call small office or home networks that do not use adedicated server.

The problem is that automatic IP addressing can be slow. When your computer boots, it has to querythe network to see what IP addresses are already in use and then assign itself one. If you want to speedup the boot time a bit, consider manually assigning IP addresses to all computers on the network. This

way, the network computers do not have to worry about locating an automatic IP address. Because oneis manually configured, the operating system doesn't have to spend time solving this problem.

This isn't a networking book, however, so I won't delve into the implications of using a manual IPaddress, but if you are using a computer that functions as a host computer to the Internet (usingInternet Connection Sharing [ICS]), you can get into connectivity problems if you change theconfiguration of the IP address. However, you can still work around this problem by starting with theICS host computer.

Select Start/Connect To/Show All Connections. Right-click your network adapter card and clickProperties. On the General tab, select TCP/IP in the list of services and click the Properties button.

In the TCP/IP properties, you can see if you use an automatic or manual IP address. In the example inFigure 4-5, I have configured a manual IP address of 90.0.0.1 and a default subnet mask. The othercomputers on my office network each use a different IP address in the same class, such as 90.0.0.2,90.0.0.3, 90.0.0.4, and so on. This way, each computer has a permanent IP address, which helpsincrease boot time. Note that if you change the IP addresses of your computers, they must all use thesame subnet mask. A default subject mask of 255.255.255.0 will keep you in good shape.

Make sure you understand the implications of changing IP addresses on your network. If you have nonetworking experience at all, you may be wiser to leave the automatic IP addressing as is and try togain some speed using the additional suggestions in this chapter.

27) Disabling Recent Documents History

Windows XP includes a feature that keeps track of all recent documents you have opened or used. Theidea is that you can select Start/Recent Documents History and quickly reopen any document you haverecently used. I use many documents each day and never use the feature myself. In my opinion, I cankeep up with what I want to use without Windows XP doing it for me.

The bad thing about Recent Documents History is that Windows XP has to calculate what should beput there each time you boot Windows, which can slow things down. So, if you never use the Recent

Documents History, it's a good idea to disable it. Here's how:

1. Open the Registry Editor (select Start/Run, type regedit, and click OK).2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Mcft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.3. Create a NoRecentDocsHistory D_WORD key. Double-click the value to open it once it is created.4. Set the Data Value to 1 to enable the restriction.5. Click OK and close the Registry Editor. You'll need to restart the computer for the change to takeeffect.

28) Disabling the Boot Logo


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You can remove the boot logo that appears when you start Windows XP. This little tweak probablyshaves only a few seconds off your boot time but seconds count if you are serious about trying to getWindows XP up and running as quickly as possible. The only negative is that if you remove the bootlogo, you will also not see any boot messages, such as check disk. (But if you are not having problemswith your computer, this isn't such a big deal.)

To remove the boot logo, follow these steps:

1. Select Start/Run, type msconfig, and click OK.2. In the System Configuration Utility, click the BOOT.INI tab.3. On the BOOT.INI tab, click the NOGUIBOOT check box option. Click OK.

29) disable Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop Sharing.

you have two remote networking features called Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop Sharing.These remote networking features are very helpful in a variety of situations but if you don't use them, itis good idea to disable them to save boot time. You can always enable them later if you want to usethem.

Note:If you are interested in using Remote Desktop or Remote Assistance, see my book Windows XP forPower Users: Power Pack published by John Wiley & Sons.

1. Open the Start menu, right-click My Computer, and choose Properties.2. Click the Remote Tab.3. Clear both check boxes to disable Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop.

30) Speeding Up the Dual-Boot Timeout

If you dual-boot your computer with Windows XP and another operating system, you see an operatingsystem selection menu on startup. If you typically boot into Windows XP and not the other operatingsystem, you can speed up the dual-boot timeout value so that you do not wait so long for the bootprocess to select your default operating system and continue with the boot process. The default timeoutvalue is 30 seconds but you can change this setting to 10. This gives you enough time to select thealternate operating system if you want but also speeds up the boot process. You can skip this section ifyou do not use a dual-boot configuration.

Follow these steps:1. Locate the boot.ini file on your computer. It is a hidden file by default; mine is located in C:\boot.ini.2. Open the file with Notepad (which is what opens it by default).

3. Change the Timeout value to 10 (see Figure 4-11).4. Select File/Save and close Notepad.

31) Speeding Up Your PPPoE Connection

If you use a Point-to-Point Protocol connection over Ethernet (PPPoE), you may notice a delay inusing the PPPoE connection after startup. By default, there is a 120 second delay but you can stop thisbehavior by manually configuring an IP address for the network adapter card. If you do not use aPPPoE connection, you can skip this section.

1. Select Start/Connect to/Show All Connections.


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2. Open the TCP/IP properties for your LAN network interface card.3. Manually set the IP address on the TCP/IP properties to an appropriate IP address and subnet maskfor your network.

32) Reducing the Wait Time

When you start to shut down Windows XP, it has to quit, or "kill," any live applications or processesthat are currently running. So close all applications first. However, some applications and processes are

always running in the background. You can reduce the amount of time that Windows XP waits forthose applications and processes to close before Windows XP kills them. Edit three different Registrysettings to change this:

1. Open the Registry Editor.2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. Select WaitToKillAppTimeout andset the value to 1000.3. Select the HungAppTimeout value and set it to 1000 as well.4. Navigate to HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop. Set the WaitToKillAppTimeout andset the value to 1000. Select the HungAppTimeout \newline value and set it to 1000 as well.5. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control. Select the

WaitToKillServiceTimeout value and set it to 1000.6. Close the Registry Editor.

33) Automatically Killing Tasks on Shutdown

You know the drill. You start to shut down the computer, you wait a few moments, and then you see adialog box asking if you want to kill an application or service that is running. Instead of promptingyou, you can make Windows XP take care of the kill task automatically. Here's how:

1. Open the Registry Editor.2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop.

3. Highlight the value AutoEndTasks and change the value to 1.4. Close the Registry Editor.

3. enable boot defragmentation, so that files used during start-up are clubbed together.

5. disable : "clear page file on shutdown" option. cleaning the page-file on every shut down meansoverwriting the data by zeros, and it takes time.

Start --> Run --> gpedit.mscComputer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options

.

.

.Shutdown: Clear virtual memory pagefile

34) go to BIOS settings, by pressing del key during boot-up, and disable 'seek floppy drive' option.this saves time for those who do not use floppy drives.


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35)disable windows startup/shutdown sounds. go to control panel,sounds & audio devices, soundtab, in program events select 'no sound' for these 2 events.

36) To control clear/not clear page file you can follow a reg tweak. Back up registry before tryingthis.

Start->run->regedit [enter]

Follow this path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\Memory Management

Modify (if not present, then right click in open space and create) the Value Data Type(s) and ValueName(s) as detailed below.

Data Type: REG_DWORD [Dword Value]Value Name: ClearPageFileAtShutdownSetting for Value Data: [0 = Clear Page File Disabled / 1 = Clear Page File Enabled]Exit Registry and Reboot

37) Ensure that Windows XP is utilizing the NTFS file system. If you're not sure, here's how tocheck: First, double-click the My Computer icon, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties.Next, examine the File System type; if it says FAT32, then back-up any important data. Next, clickStart, click Run, type CMD, and then click OK. At the prompt, type CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS andpress the Enter key. This process may take a while; it's important that the computer be uninterruptedand virus-free. The file system used by the bootable drive will be either FAT32 or NTFS. I highlyrecommend NTFS for its superior security, reliability, and efficiency with larger disk drives.

38) Disable file indexing. The indexing service extracts information from documents and other files

on the hard drive and creates a "searchable keyword index." As you can imagine, this process can bequite taxing on any system.

The idea is that the user can search for a word, phrase, or property inside a document, should they havehundreds or thousands of documents and not know the file name of the document they want. WindowsXP's built-in search functionality can still perform these kinds of searches without the Indexingservice. It just takes longer. The OS has to open each file at the time of the request to help find whatthe user is looking for.

Here's how: First, double-click the My Computer icon. Next, right-click on the C: Drive, then selectProperties. Uncheck "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching." Next, apply

changes to "C: subfolders and files," and click OK. If a warning or error message appears (such as"Access is denied"), click the Ignore All button.

39) Once a month, run a disk cleanup. Here's how: Double-click the My Computer icon. Then right-click on the C: drive and select Properties. Click the Disk Cleanup button -- it's just to the right of theCapacity pie graph -- and delete all temporary files.

40) In your Device Manager, double-click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers device, and ensure thatDMA is enabled for each drive you have connected to the Primary and Secondary controller. Do thisby double-clicking on Primary IDE Channel. Then click the Advanced Settings tab. Ensure the


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Transfer Mode is set to "DMA if available" for both Device 0 and Device 1. Then repeat this processwith the Secondary IDE Channel.

41) Upgrade the cabling. As hard-drive technology improves, the cabling requirements to achievethese performance boosts have become more stringent. Be sure to use 80-wire Ultra-133 cables on allof your IDE devices with the connectors properly assigned to the matching Master/Slave/Motherboardsockets. A single device must be at the end of the cable; connecting a single drive to the middleconnector on a ribbon cable will cause signaling problems. With Ultra DMA hard drives, these

signaling problems will prevent the drive from performing at its maximum potential. Also, becausethese cables inherently support "cable select," the location of each drive on the cable is important. Forthese reasons, the cable is designed so drive positioning is explicitly clear.

42) Remove all spyware from the computer. Use free programs such as AdAware by Lavasoft orSpyBot Search & Destroy. Once these programs are installed, be sure to check for and download anyupdates before starting your search. Anything either program finds can be safely removed. Any freesoftware that requires spyware to run will no longer function once the spyware portion has beenremoved; if your customer really wants the program even though it contains spyware, simply reinstallit.

43) Turn off any and all unnecessary animations, and disable active desktop. In fact, for optimalperformance, turn off all animations. Windows XP offers many different settings in this area. Here'show to do it: First click on the System icon in the Control Panel. Next, click on the Advanced tab.Select the Settings button located under Performance. Feel free to play around with the options offeredhere, as nothing you can change will alter the reliability of the computer -- only its responsiveness.

44) Make sure you fewer than 500 type fonts installed on their computer. The more fonts theyhave, the slower the system will become. While Windows XP handles fonts much more efficiently thandid the previous versions of Windows, too many fonts -- that is, anything over 500 -- will noticeablytax the system.

45) At least once a year, open the computer's cases and blow out all the dust and debris. Whileyou're in there, check that all the fans are turning properly. Also inspect the motherboard capacitors forbulging or leaks.

46)Removing unused device drivers from Windows XP machines

When you install a device driver on a Windows XP machine, the operating system loadsthat driver each time the computer boots regardless of whether the device is presentunless youspecifically uninstall the driver. This means that drivers from devices that you have long since removedfrom your system may be wasting valuable system resources.

Follow these steps to view and remove these unnecessary device drivers:

1. Press [Windows] + [Break] to bring up the System Properties dialog box.2. Select the Advanced tab and click the Environment Variables button.3. Click the New button below the System Variables panel.4. In the New System Variable dialog box, type devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices in the Variable

Name text box and 1 in the Variable Value text box.5. Click OK to return to the System Properties dialog box and then click OK again.6. Select the Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button.7. In Device Manager, go to View | Show Hidden Devices.


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8. Expand the various branches in the device tree and look for the washed out icons, whichindicate unused device drivers.

9. To remove an unused device driver, right-click the icon and select Uninstall.

Secure your Computer while Surfing on Internet

1) Use NTFS, not FAT for your filesystem. If you're FAT and want to change, drop to a DOS promptand type in "convert c: /fs:ntfs".

2) Give every account on your PC a password. And make them HARD passwords. I follow the rulethat it should be at least 7 letters long, not be a dictionary word, use both upper and lowercase letters,and contain a numeral and/or other ASCII character in it somewhere. For instance, real goodpasswords would be like: $uPrn0v@, 1nMe&U2, Ih8$p@m. Ok passwords: ilbcnU2, 14daroaD,p1zz4isgood. BAD passwords: john1, password,

3) Disable the guest account, unless you have a real reason to use it. And if you do need to use it, still

give it a password. Disable or delete any other account that you do not need to use. The more activeaccounts you have, the more venues a hacker has to attempt an entry.

4) Rename your default administrator account. Just so it's not so easy to guess.

5) Create a separate account for you to use, not the default administrator account. You can give youraccount admin access while you set things up and install apps, but generally you want to make anyaccount you use daily at most a 'Power User'. This is not only for security, but also for safety from datacorruption. And if something within your profile gets corrupt and you can't log in as yourself, you canstill get in as the admin account and fix things.

6) Log on as admin and go into the Local Security Policy MMC (start>Settings>Controlpanel>Administrative tools>Local Security Policy) and change the following:

6a) under 'local policies', 'user rights assignment', open up "Access this computer from the network"and remove everyone. Unless you have a specific reason to access file shares or printers from anothercomputer. And in that case, add only the accounts you need and remove all the rest.

repeat for "Allow logon through Terminal services". Even if you have 3 accounts that need to access aprinter remotely, they don't need to use Terminal services. Remove everyone from here, unless youhave a specific reason for them to be here.

6b)under 'local policies', 'security options', open up "Network access: do not allow anonymous

enumeration of SAM accounts". Set this to "enable". This will stop people from using certain softwaretools from scanning your computer and getting your account names, share names, etc. Using a simpleprogram called Winfo, I can scan a computer and get all the user accounts, shares, computer name, etc,if they're on the internet and have not changed this setting.

6c) 'user rights assignments'>'force shutdown from remote system'. Remove anyone here.

7) Anti-Virus software! This is no longer just good to have, it's mandatory. And keep it up to date. Thisis to prevent you from getting trojans and worms that you can get by doing nothing more than pluggingin your cable modem. I usually recomend that you have more than one AV program. One that runs all


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the time (usually called "realtime" or "autoprotect") and one that does not, and only runs when youmanually run it. This way they do not conflict with each other. Why 2? Because none of them catcheverything.

Of similar importance is antispyware software. I have 4 of those as well. Giant, Ad-Aware, Spybot, &Hijackthis!. The rest, imho, are garbage.

8) Disable unwanted services (as mention earlier in this tutorial)

9) keep up-to-date with your critical updates and service packs. Set it to automatic, if you trust it.

10) Firewalls. It's a mixed bag. Some people swear by software firewalls, but I personally don't carefor them. They tended to crash too much and use resources. The best option is to use a router thatactually has a full state packet inspection firewall built into it (or another dedicated firewall device).Recomended models: Linksys BEFSX41, NetGear FR114P & WGU624, Gigabyte GN-B41G, GN-B49G & GN-BR404W. There's already a how-to on software firewalls, so I won't go into that here.

11) In Internet Explorer, hit 'tools>internet options>security>internet>custom level'. Either set it to"high" or manually disable all the ActiveX and scripting options. You can set certain websites to be

"trusted" in that same place (like microsoft.com needs to be to run windowsupdate) if you need them torun ActiveX controls and scripting commands. Otherwise, you do not want arbitrary websites to runthem. If you're paranoid like me, don't even use IE. Use Firefox. It blocks popups and ActiveX bydefault. You still need to set these options in IE though, because these settings affect the OS and all MSprograms (because IE is built into the OS).

12) Open Windows Media Player. Hit 'tools>options>security'. Make sure "run script commands" isunchecked, and "Do not run script commands.....inside a web page" IS checked. WMV files havescripting abilities (thanks MS) and these scripts can be made to do malicious things. Even if you try tonot ever use WMP, it's hard to prevent it from opening media while web browsing. Windows wouldprefer if WMP was the default for everything, and occasionally it somehow gets reset back to default.

13) Right click "My Network Places">properties. Right click "local area connection">properties. Onthe "general" tab, if you do not plan on sharing folders or accessing Windows shares on your localLAN, uncheck "Client for MS networks" and "File & printer sharing for MS networks". Thiseffectively disables these protocols on this network card. If you see "NWLink IPX/SPX" or "Client forNetware" you can uninstall them, unless you happen to have a Novell Netware server. None of this willaffect web browsing or bittorrent and the like.

14) Right click "My Computer">properties. On the "Remote" tab, make sure Remote assistance andRemote desktop are both turned off. Unless you actually use Remote Desktop.

15) Shared folder permissions. There are actually 2 sets of permissions. Share permissions and NTFSpermissions. NTFS permissions override share permissions. You need to set/check both to be sure thatyou are giving access to who you think you are. When adding users to the permissions window, be asspecific as possible. That is, only add users that need to open it, and only give them enough access todo what they need. Don't just add 'everyone' with full control. Don't add the whole "Users" group ifyour one account is the only one that will ever access it.

16) Auditing. This might be overkill for some of you, but here goes. Go back to the Local SecurityPolicy MMC in #6. Under 'local policies'>'audit policy'Generally I will set "Audit Account Logon Events" to Success and Failure, and "Audit Logon Events"to just Failure. What this does is the system will record every time someone logs into the PC, or


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accesses a share, or if they attempted and failed. To see these recorded logons, you open the EventViewer (start>run>eventvwr), and click on "security log". It'll tell you date/time, account names, PCname they were on, and etc. Great for tracking down if someone hacked, or tried to hack you with thegood old "net use" commands or something.

WINDOWS XP HIDDEN APPS

No. Application Use

1 Character Map -- charmap.exe very useful for finding unusual characters

2 cleanmgr.exe Disk Cleanup

3 Clipboard Viewer -- clipbrd.exe views contents of Windows clipboard

4 Dr Watson -- drwtsn32.exe Troubleshooting tool

5 DirectX diagnosis -- dxdiag.exe Diagnose & test DirectX, video & sound cards

6 Private character editor -- eudcedit.exe allows creation or modification of characters

7 IExpress Wizard -- iexpress.exe Create self-extracting / self-installing package

8 Microsoft Synchronization Manager --mobsync.exe

appears to allow synchronization of files onthe network for when working offline.

Apparently undocumented9 Windows Media Player 5.1 --

mplay32.exeRetro version of Media Player, very basic

10 ODBC Data Source Administrator --odbcad32.exe

connecting to databases

11 Object Packager -- packager.exe to do with packaging objects for insertion infiles, appears to have comprehensive help files

12 System Monitor -- perfmon.exe very useful, highly configurable tool, tells youeverything you ever wanted to know about anyaspect of PC performance, for uber-geeks only

13 Program Manager -- progman.exe Legacy Windows 3.x desktop shell

14 Remote Access phone book --rasphone.exe

documentation is virtually non-existant

15 Registry Editor -- regedt32.exe ,alsoregedit.exe

for hacking the Windows Registry

16 Network shared folder wizard --shrpubw.exe

creates shared folders on network

17 sigverif.exe File signature verification tool

18 sndvol32.exe Volume Control

19 System Configuration Editor --sysedit.exe

modify System.ini & Win.ini just like inWin98!

20 Syskey -- syskey.exe Secures XP Account database - use with care,

it's virtually undocumented but it appears toencrypt all passwords, I'm not sure of the fullimplications

21 telnet.exe Microsoft Telnet Client

22 Driver Verifier Manager -- verifier.exe Seems to be a utility for monitoring the actionsof drivers, might be useful for people havingdriver problems. Undocumented

23 Windows for Workgroups Chat --winchat.exe

appears to be an old NT utility to allow chatsessions over a LAN, help files available

24 System configuration -- msconfig.exe can use to control starup programs


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25 gpedit.msc used to manage group policies, andpermissions

26 control userpasswords2 Excellent for adding user accounts, deletingpasswords etc.

27 System file Checker --SFC.exe/scannow

Verifies that windows protected files arecorrect

Run Commands

No. Command Name Detail

1 compmgmt.msc Computer management

2 devmgmt.msc Device manager

3 diskmgmt.msc Disk management

4 dfrg.msc Disk defrag

5 eventvwr.msc Event viewer

6 fsmgmt.msc Shared folders

7 gpedit.msc Group policies

8 lusrmgr.msc Local users and groups9 perfmon.msc Performance monitor

10 rsop.msc Resultant set of policies

11 secpol.msc Local security settings

12 services.msc Various Services

13 msconfig System Configuration Utility

14 regedit Registry Editor

15 msinfo32 System Information

16 sysedit System Edit

17 win.ini windows loading information(also system.ini)

18 winver Shows current version of windows

19 mailto: Opens default email client

Control Panel Command

20 timedate.cpl Date/Time Properties

21 desk.cpl Display Properties control

22 findfast.cpl FindFast

23 fonts Fonts Folder

24 inetcpl.cpl Internet Properties

25 main.cpl keyboard Keyboard Properties

26 main.cpl Mouse Properties

27 mmsys.cpl Multimedia Properties28 netcpl.cpl Network Properties

29 password.cpl Password Properties

30 printers Printers Folder

31 mmsys.cpl sounds Sound Properties

32 sysdm.cpl System Properties

Command Prompt


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No. Command Detail

1 ANSI.SYS Defines functions that change display graphics, control cursormovement, and reassign keys.

2 APPEND Causes MS-DOS to look in other directories when editing a file or running a command.

3 ARP Displays, adds, and removes arp information from network devices

4 ASSIGN Assign a drive letter to an alternate letter

5 ASSOC View the file associations6 AT Schedule a time to execute commands or programs.

7 ATMADM Lists connections and addresses seen by Windows ATM call manager.

8 ATTRIB Display and change file attributes.

9 BATCH Recovery console command that executes a series of commands in afile.

10 BOOTCFG Recovery console command that allows a user to view, modify, andrebuild the boot.ini

11 BREAK Enable / disable CTRL + C feature.

12 CACLS View and modify file ACL's.

13 CALL Calls a batch file from another batch file.

14 CD Changes directories.

15 CHCP Supplement the International keyboard and character set information.

16 CHDIR Changes directories.

17 CHKDSK Check the hard disk drive running FAT for errors.

18 CHKNTFS Check the hard disk drive running NTFS for errors.

19 CHOICE Specify a listing of multiple options within a batch file.

20 CLS Clears the screen.

21 CMD Opens the command interpreter.

22 COLOR Easily change the foreground and background color of the MS-DOSwindow.

23 COMP Compares files.24 COMPACT Compresses and uncompress files.

25 CONTROL Open control panel icons from the MS-DOS prompt.

26 CONVERT Convert FAT to NTFS.

27 COPY Copy one or more files to an alternate location.

28 CTTY Change the computers input/output devices.

29 DATE View or change the systems date.

30 DEBUG Debug utility to create assembly programs to modify hardwaresettings.

31 DEFRAG Re-arrange the hard disk drive to help with loading programs.

32 DEL Deletes one or more files.

33 DELETE Recovery console command that deletes a file.34 DELTREE Deletes one or more files and/or directories.

35 DIR List the contents of one or more directory.

36 DISABLE Recovery console command that disables Windows system services ordrivers.

37 DISKCOMP Compare a disk with another disk.

38 DISKCOPY Copy the contents of one disk and place them on another disk.

39 DOSKEY Command to view and execute commands that have been run in thepast.

40 DOSSHELL A GUI to help with early MS-DOS users.


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41 DRIVPARM Enables overwrite of original device drivers.

42 ECHO Displays messages and enables and disables echo.

43 EDIT View and edit files.

44 EDLIN View and edit files.

45 EMM386 Load extended Memory Manager.

46 ENABLE Recovery console command to enable a disable service or driver.

47 ENDLOCAL Stops the localization of the environment changes enabled by thesetlocal command.

48 ERASE Erase files from computer.

49 EXPAND Expand a Microsoft Windows file back to it's original format.

50 EXIT Exit from the command interpreter.

51 EXTRACT Extract files from the Microsoft Windows cabinets.

52 FASTHELP Displays a listing of MS-DOS commands and information about them

53 FC Compare files.

54 FDISK Utility used to create partitions on the hard disk drive.

55 FIND Search for text within a file.

56 FINDSTR Searches for a string of text within a file.

57 FIXBOOT Writes a new boot sector.

59 FIXMBR Writes a new boot record to a disk drive.60 FOR Boolean used in batch files.

61 FORMAT Command to erase and prepare a disk drive.

62 FTP Command to connect and operate on a FTP server.

63 FTYPE Displays or modifies file types used in file extension associations.

64 GOTO Moves a batch file to a specific label or location.

65 GRAFTABL Show extended characters in graphics mode.

66 HELP Display a listing of commands and brief explanation.

67 IF Allows for batch files to perform conditional processing.

68 IFSHLP.SYS 32-bit file manager.

69 IPCONFIG Network command to view network adapter settings and assigned

values.70 KEYB Change layout of keyboard.

71 LABEL Change the label of a disk drive.

72 LH Load a device driver in to high memory.

73 LISTSVC Recovery console command that displays the services and drivers.

74 LOADFIX Load a program above the first 64k.

75 LOADHIGH Load a device driver in to high memory.

76 LOCK Lock the hard disk drive.

77 LOGON Recovery console command to list installations and enableadministrator login.

78 MAP Displays the device name of a drive.

79 MD Command to create a new directory.80 MEM Display memory on system.

81 MKDIR Command to create a new directory.

82 MODE Modify the port or display settings.

83 MORE Display one page at a time.

84 MOVE Move one or more files from one directory to another directory.

85 MSAV Early Microsoft Virus scanner.

86 MSD Diagnostics utility.

87 MSCDEX Utility used to load and provide access to the CD-ROM.

88 NBTSTAT Displays protocol statistics and current TCP/IP connections using NBT


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89 NET Update, fix, or view the network or network settings

90 NETSH Configure dynamic and static network information from MS-DOS.

91 NETSTAT Display the TCP/IP network protocol statistics and information.

92 NLSFUNC Load country specific information.

93 NSLOOKUP Look up an IP address of a domain or host on a network.

94 PATH View and modify the computers path location.

95 PATHPING View and locate locations of network latency.

96 PAUSE Command used in batch files to stop the processing of a command.

97 PING Test / send information to another network computer or network device.

98 POPD Changes to the directory or network path stored by the pushdcommand.

99 POWER Conserve power with computer portables.

100 PRINT Prints data to a printer port.

101 PROMPT View and change the MS-DOS prompt.

102 PUSHD Stores a directory or network path in memory so it can be returned toat any time.

103 QBASIC Open the QBasic.

104 RD Removes an empty directory.105 REN Renames a file or directory.

106 RENAME Renames a file or directory.

107 RMDIR Removes an empty directory.

108 ROUTE View and configure windows network route tables.

109 RUNAS Enables a user to execute a program on another computer.

110 SCANDISK Run the scandisk utility.

111 SCANREG Scan registry and recover registry from errors.

112 SET Change one variable or string to another.

113 SETLOCAL Enables local environments to be changed without affecting anythingelse.

114 SHARE Installs support for file sharing and locking capabilities.115 SETVER Change MS-DOS version to trick older MS-DOS programs.

116 SHIFT Changes the position of replaceable parameters in a batch program.

117 SHUTDOWN Shutdown the computer from the MS-DOS prompt.

118 SMARTDRV Create a disk cache in conventional memory or extended memory.

119 SORT Sorts the input and displays the output to the screen.

120 START Start a separate window in Windows from the MS-DOS prompt.

121 SUBST Substitute a folder on your computer for another drive letter.

122 SWITCHES Remove add functions from MS-DOS.

123 SYS Transfer system files to disk drive.

124 TELNET Telnet to another computer / device from the prompt.

125 TIME View or modify the system time.126 TITLE Change the title of their MS-DOS window.

127 TRACERT Visually view a network packets route across a network.

128 TREE View a visual tree of the hard disk drive.

129 TYPE Display the contents of a file.

130 UNDELETE Undelete a file that has been deleted.

131 UNFORMAT Unformat a hard disk drive.

132 UNLOCK Unlock a disk drive.

133 VER Display the version information.

134 VERIFY Enables or disables the feature to determine if files have been written


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properly.

135 VOL Displays the volume information about the designated drive.

136 XCOPY Copy multiple files, directories, and/or drives from one location toanother.

137 TRUENAME When placed before a file, will display the whole directory in which itexists

138 TASKKILL It allows you to kill those unneeded or locked up applications