Tips 0100 to 0125

Tips from 0100 to 0125:

101. Run Windows Explorer in its own process. Avoid Total Explorer Crash
This will further secure your windows explorer from crash though not a great idea if short on memory. Open registry by going to START-RUN and entering regedit. Navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced] . In this look for value of "SeparateProcess". If available set its value to 1 and if not (which could be the case ) then add a DWORD key by the name "SeparateProcess" and set its value to 1.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Before doing anything with registry, It is very important that you take a backup of registry by exporting it. Remember even a minor mistake in registry could render your system unusable or will cause it to stop or crash. XPTOOLS is not responsible for any such damage that may occur directly or indirectly as a result of your applying these changes. Don't try it if you are not sure. Use at your own risk

102. Secure your computer: Enable Advanced File System Security Options
This will further secure your windows explorer and not really a performance tweak. Open registry by going to START-RUN and entering regedit. Navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa] . In this look for value of "forceguest". If available, its default value would be 1. Set its value to 1. This would enables Windows XP logic for advanced permissions.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Before doing anything with registry, It is very important that you take a backup of registry by exporting it. Remember even a minor mistake in registry could render your system unusable or will cause it to stop or crash. XPTOOLS is not responsible for any such damage that may occur directly or indirectly as a result of your applying these changes. Don't try it if you are not sure. Use at your own risk

103. Define a logical value for System Cache
Depending upon how you intend to use your computer (like a workstation or server ), it may make sense to set the system cache. Open registry by going to START-RUN and entering regedit. Navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management] . In this look for value of "LargeSystemCache". If available, do one of the following:
If intention is to use the computer like a workstation, set its value to 0.
If intention is to use the computer like a server, set its value to 1.

104. Control parsing of autoexec.bat
In Window 3.1 autoexec.bat was one of the few choices of executing any app at boot time. But its importance has gradually thinned. It is still supported but you can pretty much do without it for most part. If you do not need to parse the autoexec.bat (there may not be anything in it anyway !), you can tell Windows XP to do that. Open registry by going to START-RUN and entering regedit. Navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon] . In this look for value of "ParseAutoexec". If available, do one of the following:
If you want to disable parsing of autoexec.bat, set its value to 0.
If you want to enable parsing of autoexec.bat, set its value to 1.

105. Disable default capability of Windows XP to open the compressed/zipped folder
I am comfortable with the default capability that Windows XP provides to unzip the zipped/compressed files/folders. But if you are used to winzip/pkzip or any other third vendor software, it may make sense to avoid confusion by disabling default unzipper code in windows. To do this go to START-RUN and entering "regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll" (without quotes). To enable it go to START-RUN and entering "regsvr32 zipfldr.dll" (without quotes).

106. Automatically kill non-responding application at shutdown
Remember this ! It happens to all of us invariably sometime or the other no matter what you do. Don't you hate waiting for those extra seconds and then simply responding yes to the windows query. Well you have a remedy. You can tell Windows XP to automatically close all non responding windows. Open registry by going to START-RUN and entering regedit. Navigate to [HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktopn] . In this look for value of "AutoEndTasks". If available, do one of the following:
If you want to enable automatic killing of non responding tasks, set its value to 1. to disable it set it back to 0.

107. Improve Shutdown. Lets not save your active session's settings on exit
If you Don't care which windows app was located where when you are shutting down the system, this tip may in fact help improve the shutdown time a bit (a bit not too much)..Simply inform windows not to save the settings at exit time. To do this , open registry by going to START-RUN and entering regedit. Navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer] . In this look for value of "NoSaveSettings". If available, do one of the following:
If you want to enable no save on exit, set its value to 1 else to save on exit. set it back to 0.

108. Disable use of Win key
I am not sure why you would ever want to do this except probably if you do not have a windows enabled keyboard but here is the tip anyway (tip for the sack of tip !!!!). To disable use of Win key, open registry by going to START-RUN and entering regedit. Navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout] . In this look for value of "Scancode Map". Its binary data so be extra careful:
Set its value to "00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 5B E0 00 00 5C E0 00 00 00 00" to disable the win key.

109. AutoReboot whenever Windows XP experiences BSOD (Blue Screen of Death!)
Since Windows XP is touted as most reliable Windows XP ever, you do not need this trick!. Well I am somewhat kidding. There is nothing in this world that is foolproof. I have faced this twice so far. To make windows reboot instead of producing the cryptic dump, open registry by going to START-RUN and entering regedit. Navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl] . In this look for value of "AutoReboot". Setting its value to 1 will activate Autoreboot. By default this is the value on my system but just in case if you have a 0,set it to 1.

110. Laptop/portable computer users ! Undock without logon
I read about this over the Internet. This would allow you to undock without logging on to Window XP.To do this, open registry by going to START-RUN and entering regedit. Navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System] . In this look for value of "UndockWithoutLogon". Setting its value to 1 to enable it or 0 to disable it.

111. Selectively clean the history of START-RUN list
If you have not cleaned the RUN entries for a while or you choose not to, you would have a list of them.If you want to selectively delete the entries do this.Open registry by going to START-RUN and entering regedit. Navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU] . In this look for value of "UndockWithoutLogon". You can choose what you want to delete and simply delete it. Or you can clear all command lines as well.

112. Customize task bar grouping
This is a customizing tip. If you want to change the default number of grouping in task bar do this.Open registry by going to START-RUN and entering regedit. Navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced] . In this look for value of "TaskbarGroupSize". You can set it to any value you want. Default is 3.

113. Activate Automatic Boot Disk Optimization
To activate automatic boot disk optimization, do this.Open registry by going to START-RUN and entering regedit. Navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction] . In this look for value of "Enable". You can set its value to "Y" to enable it.

114. Restrict certain users from running an application
You can selectively restrict access to few apps and file names. To do this, open registry by going to START-RUN and entering regedit. Navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion \Policies\Explorer] and a sub-key by the name "DisallowRun". Within this key, add many string keys you like each mapped to an application or file that you want to be restricted.

115. Do not let Regedit remember last changed key
You'll need to be in the admin account, or yours must have admin privileges.

In regedit, navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Regedit] and look for the value LastKey. Double-click it and clear the string. Then right-click the Regedit key (in the left-hand pane) and select Permissions. Set Permissions to Deny for any/all users/group.

116. How to use program aliases ?
You can use program aliases to run actual program. Well there are ways to hide actual program name. Not sure what's the good use for this tip but here it is anyway

In regedit, navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths]. To create a new alias, create a sub-key, and call it the name of the alias you wish to create. Then modify the Default value of the sub-key to equal the fully qualified path and filename of the application you want to be launched.

117. How to disable MSN Messenger from loading up whenever you start Outlook Express.
I thought I had this covered in one of my tips. Actually, I told you indirectly about how to uninstall MSN messenger and also how to stop from loading it at boot time. But recently I saw few mails/posts where people want to keep the MSN messenger , but do not want it to run whenever Outlook Express is executed.
For these folks here are a couple of solution. There is a Microsoft knowledgebase article on this as well. Visit How to Prevent Windows Messenger from Running on a Windows XP-Based Computer (Q302089) and learn more.
In regedit, navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft]. Create a new key by the name "Messenger" and then within that another key by the name "Client". This is equivalent to creating and navigation to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Messenger\Client]. Within this create a DWORD key by the name "PreventRun" and set its value to 1. Quit registry and even though not a must, its a good idea to reboot.

118. Change alignment of Start Menu panel.
This is a customizing tip. If you have noticed, START MENU PANEL has all the entries aligned to left. Well that's not a cause of concern but may be you are one of those who want it to be the other way, say you want it to align to right. This can be done by a quick registry tweak. In regedit, navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop] and look for key "MenuDropAlignment". Set its value to 1 to align the menu entry to right or if you did not like the idea of entries aligned to right, set it back to 0 for align back to left which is the Default XP behavior.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Before doing anything with registry, It is very important that you take a backup of registry by exporting it. Remember even a minor mistake in registry could render your system unusable or will cause it to stop or crash. XPTOOLS is not responsible for any such damage that may occur directly or indirectly as a result of your applying these changes. Don't try it if you are not sure. Use at your own risk

119. Customize windows explorer's Default search
This is a customizing tip. If you want to customize your windows explorer search here are some tips. In regedit, navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer] and look for following keys
"CaseSensitive"
"IncludeSubFolders"
"SearchHidden"
"SearchSlowFiles"
"SearchSystemDirs"
Key names are self revealing. If you want a CaseSensitive search set its value to 1 else 0. This is the technique, if you prefer to enable any of the above feature, set its value to 1 else set it back to 0.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Before doing anything with registry, It is very important that you take a backup of registry by exporting it. Remember even a minor mistake in registry could render your system unusable or will cause it to stop or crash. XPTOOLS is not responsible for any such damage that may occur directly or indirectly as a result of your applying these changes. Don't try it if you are not sure. Use at your own risk

120. Get back to old days, see the file attributes in Windows Explorer
I have noticed that in Windows Explorer, when you click on the detailed mode, you do not see the file attributes any more. This used to be there in previous versions of Windows (Well in office, I still use Windows 95 and Windows Explorer out there shows the file attributes). If you want to enable this setting, do this:
In regedit, navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Explorer\Advanced] and look for key "ShowAttribCol". You may not find it there if this is your first time. In this case, create a new DWORD key "ShowAttribCol" and set its value to 1 to enable it.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Before doing anything with registry, It is very important that you take a backup of registry by exporting it. Remember even a minor mistake in registry could render your system unusable or will cause it to stop or crash. XPTOOLS is not responsible for any such damage that may occur directly or indirectly as a result of your applying these changes. Don't try it if you are not sure. Use at your own risk

121. Stop a user from changing Start Menu
This can be considered a security tip. If you want to restrict modifications to Start menu, do the following:
In regedit, navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer] and look for key "NoChangeStartMenu". Set its value to 1 to enable it to stop users from changing the Start Menu.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Before doing anything with registry, It is very important that you take a backup of registry by exporting it. Remember even a minor mistake in registry could render your system unusable or will cause it to stop or crash. XPTOOLS is not responsible for any such damage that may occur directly or indirectly as a result of your applying these changes. Don't try it if you are not sure. Use at your own risk

122. Control Scrolling or Cascading behavior of Start Menu
If there are more items in Start-Program menu than can be shown in a single screen, then windows has to do either scrolling or cascading effect to display rest of the items. You can tell Windows what to do by doing this:
In regedit, navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced] and look for key "StartMenuScrollPrograms". You may not find it there if this is your first time. In this case, create a new STRING key "StartMenuScrollPrograms" and set its value to "YES" to enable scrolling or "NO" for the cascading effect.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Before doing anything with registry, It is very important that you take a backup of registry by exporting it. Remember even a minor mistake in registry could render your system unusable or will cause it to stop or crash. XPTOOLS is not responsible for any such damage that may occur directly or indirectly as a result of your applying these changes. Don't try it if you are not sure. Use at your own risk

123. How to enable/disable thumbnail cache
For performance reason, Windows explorer stores thumbnail of pictures in a cache. This is good but there is a problem. Some time caching mechanism would show incorrect pictures just because update process is not instantaneous. If you want to have thumbnail pictures refreshed every time (mind you, this would be an additional load on your CPU resources), do this:
In regedit, navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced] and look for key "DisableThumbnailCache". You may not find it there if this is your first time. In this case, create a new DWORD key "DisableThumbnailCache" and set its value to 1 to disable caching mechanism.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Before doing anything with registry, It is very important that you take a backup of registry by exporting it. Remember even a minor mistake in registry could render your system unusable or will cause it to stop or crash. XPTOOLS is not responsible for any such damage that may occur directly or indirectly as a result of your applying these changes. Don't try it if you are not sure. Use at your own risk

124. Disable Default CD Burning capability
If you have a good CD burning software, you may want to disable the CD burning capability. There are couple of ways to, do this:
REGISTRY METHOD:
In regedit, navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer] and look for key "NoCDBurning". You may not find it there if this is your first time. In this case, create a new DWORD key "NoCDBurning" and set its value to disable it.
ALTERNATE METHOD:
Go to your windows explorer and locate the drive that corresponds to CD-RW drive. Right click on it and select properties. Within Properties window, go to Recording tab and you would see and option called "Enable CD Recording on this drive". If it is checked , deselect it.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Before doing anything with registry, It is very important that you take a backup of registry by exporting it. Remember even a minor mistake in registry could render your system unusable or will cause it to stop or crash. XPTOOLS is not responsible for any such damage that may occur directly or indirectly as a result of your applying these changes. Don't try it if you are not sure. Use at your own risk

125. Securing your WINDOWS XP computer
You can provide added level of security to your WINDOWS XP System. This is called securing your Windows XP accounts database. You can store all information related to your accounts in a encrypted form on a floppy disk. What this would do is that if You do not have access to your floppy disk, You can not access the system. I am not sure You realized what I just said ! Even if You know your userid/password, You will not be able to access the system unless and until You have this startup disk.
Process of generating the this secure startup floppy disk is simple. Go to START-RUN and type syskey. You would see a window coming up. Click on Upgrade command button. You would see another window poping up which will give You the option of storing the encrypted accounts database either locally or on your floppy disk. Choose floppy disk and click OK and let the process complete. You are done.
Next time You reboot the computer and get to the logon prompt, make sure that You have the floppy disk available in A: drive else You can not log on.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: If You loose your disk in any way or it becomes defective, You would not be able to access the desktop. You would have no choice except to reinstall everything.. XPTOOLS is not responsible for any such damage that may occur as a result of your applying these changes. Don't try it if You are not sure. Use at your own risk.