When you perform a search for a file in Windows XP. The default settin’ is for XP to ONLY return files in de “Search Results” pane when dey are registered file types to a program on your PC.

In oder words if you are lookin’ for a file that is NOT registered with an application on your PC, it will not be found usin’ de default search settin’s.

However, you can turn off de default by a quick tweak of de registry!

Open de Registry editor (type regedit from de Run command) and navigate to:

HKEY LOCAL MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ContentIndex

Double-Click de value named:

FilterFilesWithUnknownExtensions

Change de value from 0 to 1

Exit de registry editor and reboot!

By default Windows 2000, Windows XP and WinNT automatically setup hidden admin shares (admin$, c$ and d$). This registry key will disable dese hidden shares.

System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ System\ CurrentControlSet\ Services\ LanmanServer\ Parameters]
Value Name: AutoShareWks
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (0 = disable shares, 1 = enable)

This registry key actually stops de recreation of de shares Therefore it may be necessary to delete de shares through de drive properties also or you can also remove de shares through de Computer Management Console.

1. In Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and den double-click Computer Management.

2. Click to expand Shared Folders, and den click Shares.

3. In de Shared Folder column, right-click de share you want to delete, click Stop sharin’, and den click OK.

Note : To remove de admin share for only de current session use de second method (Computer Management console). If you want a permanent removal, add de AutoShareWks registry.

The followin’ Q&A will answer your question.

Question:
When I sign onto Messenger in Windows XP, dere’s a drop-down menu of sign-addresses I can use. Is dere a way to keep those addresses from appearin’, so I have to type it in each time?

Answer:
Yes dere is a way, although you will need to modify/create a key within de system registry. Open de Registry Editor, and navigate to de key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Control Lsa

Create a Value called “disabledomaincreds” and set it to “1″.

Reboot will finalise de process.

Note: This is generally only usefull if you are settin’ up a system to be used by many users.

Key Details:

Machine Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Control Lsa]
Value Name: disabledomaincreds
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Data Value: “1″ = disable : “0″ = enable

Heres a faster, safe, alternate way: must be logged in as ADMIN

Goto Start + Control Panel + User Accounts + Choose your account + “Manage my network passwords” at de top left + Then delete whichever msn accounts you don’t need

Makin’ Windows XP Go Faster

Services You Can Disable

There are quite a few services you can disable from startin’ automatically. This would be to speed up your boot time and free resources. They are only suggestions so I suggestion you read de 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 UserSwitchin’
Human Interface Devices
Indexin’ Service
Messenger
Net Logon
NetMeetin’
QOS RSVP
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Registry
Routin’ & Remote Access
SSDP Discovery Service
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Web Client

Cleanin’ de Prefetch Directory

Windows XP 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:

1) Star / Run / Prefetch
2) Press Ctrl-A to highlight all de shorcuts
3) Delete them

Not Displayin’ Logon, Logoff, Startup and Shutdown Status Messages

To turn dese off:

1) Start Regedit
2) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/MicrosoftWindows/CurrentVersion/
policies/system
3) If it is not already dere, create a DWORD value named DisableStatusMessages
4) Give it a value of 1

Clearin’ de Page File on Shutdown

1) Click on de Start button
2) Go to de Control Panel
3) Administrative Tools
4) Local Security Policy
5) Local Policies
6) Click on Security Options
7) Right hand menu - right click on “Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile”
8) Select “Enable”
9) Reboot

For regedit users, if you want to clear de page file on each shutdown:

1) Start Regedit
2) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControl/SetControl/SessionManager/
MemoryManagement/ClearPageFileAtShutdown
3) Set de value to 1

No GUI Boot

If you don’t need to see de XP boot logo :

1) Run MSCONFIG
2) Click on de BOOT.INI tab
3) Check de box for /NOGUIBOOT

Speedin’ de Startup of Some CD Burner Programs

If you use program oder than de native WindowsXP CD Burner software, you might be able to increase de speed that it loads.

1) Go to Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Services
2) Double-click on IMAPI CD-Burnin’ COM Service
3) For de Startup Type, select Disabled
4) Click on de OK button and den close de Services window

Gettin’ Rid of Unread Email Messages

To remove de Unread Email message by user’s login names:

1) Start Regedit
2) For a sin’le user: Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/MicrosoftWindows/CurrentVersion/UnreadMail
3) For all users: Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/MicrosoftWindows/CurrentVersion/UnreadMail
4) Create a DWORD key called MessageExpiryDays
5) Give it a value of 0

Decreasin’ Boot Time

Microsoft has made available a program to analyze and decrease de time it takes to boot to Windows XP. The program is called BootVis

1) Uncompress de file.
2) Run BOOTVIS.EXE
3) For a startin’ point, run Trace / Next Boot + Driver Delays
4) This will reboot your computer and provide a benchmark
5) After de reboot, BootVis will take a minute or two to show graphs of your system startup.
6) Note how much time it takes for your system to load (click on de red vertical line)
7) Then run Trace / Optimize System
8) Re-Run de Next Boot + Drive Delays
9) Note how much de time has decreased
10) Mine went from approximately 33 to 25 seconds.

Increasin’ Graphics Performance

By default, WindowsXP turns on a lot of shadows, fades, slides etc to menu items. Most simply slow down deir display.

To turn dese off selectively:

1) Right click on de My Computer icon
2) Select Properties
3) Click on de Advanced tab
4) Under Performance, click on de Settin’s button
5) To turn them all of, select Adjust for best performance
6) My preference is to leave them all off except for Show shadows under mouse pointer and Show window contents while draggin’

Increasin’ System Performance

If you have 512 megs or more of memory, you can increase system performance by havin’ de core system kept in memory.

1) Start Regedit
2) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControl/SetControl/SessionManager/
MemoryManagement/DisablePagin’Executive
3) Set de value to be 1
4) Reboot de computer

Increasin’ File System Cachin’

To increase de amount of memory Windows will locked for I/O operations:

1) Start Regedit
2) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControl/SetControl/SessionManager/
MemoryManagement
3) Edit de key IoPageLockLimit

Resolvin’ Inability to Add or Remove Programs

If a particular user cannot add or remove programs, dere might be a simple registry edit neeed.

1) Go to HKCU/Software/MicrosoftWindows/CurrentVersion/Policies/Uninstall
2) Change de 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

Removin’ Items

A lot of programs you install will add themselves to de right-click menu of your files and/or folders. And most times, you have no choice in de matter and, as a result, your right-click menu can get very lon’ with added items you don’t even use. The last person I was helpin’ with this had a right context menu so lon’ that de Rename option was no longer visible!

Fortunately, you can easily remove those unwanted menu items, if you know de registry values to edit. And it’s not at all difficult once you know de keys responsible for de additions.

For Files, de secret lies in de “context menu handlers” under de shellex subkey for “All Files” which, in de registry, is nothin’ but an asterisk - like a dos wildcard, which means de values entered apply to all files. It is at de very top of de Root key, right here:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

Click de de + sign next to de ContextMenuHandlers key, to expand it. Now you will see some of de programs that have added items to your right-click menu. Simply delete de program keys you don’t want.

Yup! It’s that simple. If deletin’ makes you uneasy, just export de key before deletin’ it. Or, instead of deletin’ de values, disable them. Simply double click de default value for de program on de right hand pane and rename de clsid value by placin’ a period or dash in front of it.

ie; - {b5eedee0-c06e-11cf-8c56-444553540000}

Then exit de registry, refresh, and right click a file to see if de item was removed from de menu.
Some programs - like WinZip or WinRar - will add several items to your right click menu but all of them will be removed by deletin’ or disablin’ deir one context menu handler.

Note that de above key only applies to de right click menu of files. To remove entries from de right click context menu of folders, you need to navigate to de Folder and Drive keys:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

All you have to do is follow de same procedure as for Files - eider disable or delete items you wish to remove.

Addin’ Items

Addin’ Items to de right click menu of Files and Folders is also fairly simple usin’ de Registry. It just involves de creation of a few new keys for each item you wish to add. You edit de same keys used for removin’ items. Let’s use Notepad as an example of an item you’d like to add to de right click menu of all your files or folders.

For folders, go to this key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder

Click de + sign next to Folder and expand it so that de Shell key is visible. Right click de Shell key and choose New>Key and name de key Notepad or whatever else you’d prefer (whatever de key is named is what will appear in de right-click menu). Now right click de new key you made and create anoder key named Command. Then, in de right hand pane, double click “Default” and enter Notepad.exe as de value. Exit de registry, refresh, and right click any folder. Notepad should now be on de context menu.

For files, go here again:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*

Expand de * key and see if a Shell key exists. If it does exist, follow de same procedure as for folders. If it does not exist, you’ll have to create a new Shell first. Just right click de * key and choose New>Key and name it Shell. Then right click de Shell key and continue on de same way you did for addin’ items to de right click menu of folders. Once done, Notepad should appear as an option in de right click menu of all your files.

First you need a tool called “Resource Hacker”. This free program allows you to change resources in any .exe file such as “Explorer.exe”, which includes de [Start] button’s Label. You can visit Download.com and search dere for “Resource Hacker”.

After you download it, follow de guide here:

Step 1:

A - Run “Resource Hacker” and open de file “%windir%\Explorer.exe”.
B - You see a Tree of all Resources in this file, expand de “Strin’ Table”
C - Find de “start” and replace it with your own text. den press de [Compile Script] button.
D - Save “Explorer.exe” as “MyStart.exe” DONT save it as Explorer.exe, do “save as..” and give it a new name.
E - Quit “Resource Hacker”.

Step 2:

A - Click on de [Start] button and choose de “Run…” item from de start menu. (Or use de shortcut key WinKey+R)
B - Type “RegEdit” in de Run “Dialog Box”. And den press de [Ok] buton to run de “Registry Editor” program.
C - Go to: “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon” and find de “Shell” property.
D - Replace value of de “Shell” property to “MyStart.exe”.
E - Quit “Registry Editor”.
F - Restart your system.

Note about Registry Editor:
if you did not find de key “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon”, you can search de Registry for de “Explorer.exe”, to do this use de Edit Menu | Find Next (Ctrl+F).

AmirBehzad Eslami’s site has a handy tool for alterin’ your start button, which makes life much easier, you can find his site here:
http://www.startbtn.main-page.com

If any of you out dere like to use de thumbnail view, especially for browsin’ through photos and images, it can become a bit of a drain on your system. It is possible to lower de thumbnail size and quality by editin’ de followin’ registry keys.

Open de registry and navigate to :

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft \ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer

Create a new DWORD value called ThumbnailSize, and set de value between 32 and 256.

And/or create anoder DWORD value called ThumbnailQuality, and set de value between 50 and 100.

Key Details :

USER Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft \ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer]
Value Name: ThumbnailSize
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Data Value: 32 - 256

USER Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft \ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer]
Value Name: ThumbnailQuality
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Data Value: 50 - 100

Step 1

Open Start/Run… and type de command:
regedit and click “OK” (or press ENTER).

Go to HKey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Current Version\WPAEvents,
on de right double click on “oobetimer” and change at least one digit of this value to deactivate windows.

Click “OK” and close de Registry Editor.

Step 2

Open Start/Run… and type de command:
%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a and click “OK” (or press ENTER).

This will brin’ up de “Activate Windows” window.

Check de option for “Yes, I want to telephone a customer service representative to activate Windows” and click “Next”

Step 3

Then click “Change Product Key” (don’t enter any information on that screen)

Step 4

Type in de new key and click “Update”

The activate Windows by phone window will reappear at this point, just close it by clickin’ de X in de upper right hand corner

Step 5

Reboot your system and Open Start/Run… and type de command:
%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a and click “OK” (or press ENTER).

If you see “Windows is already activated” den everythin’ is OK.

Before you edit de registry, export de keys in de registry that you plan to edit, or back up de whole registry. If a problem occurs, you can den follow de steps how-to restore de registry to its previous state.

How to Export Registry Keys

Click Start, and den click Run.

In de Open box, type regedit, and den click OK.

On de File menu, click Export.

In de Save in box, select de boxs at de bottom de bottom accordin’ to weader you want to export all or only selected branches of de registry.

Next select a location in which to save de backup .reg file. In de File name box, type a file name, and den click Save.

How to Restore de Registry

To restore registry keys that you exported, double-click de .reg file that you saved.

Are you sick of seein’ de same tips again and again when you first logon to Windows? Now you can change them to whatever you want, wheder it’s quotes, jokes or a to-do list, anythin’ is possible.

Open your registry and find de key below.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ Tips

Create a new strin’ valued named by incrementin’ de existin’ value names and set it to de required tip text.