The Tweaks and Tricks Thread

SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
edited March 2005 in Science & Tech
I thought it might be a good idea to have a place where people can post tweaks and work arounds that people might find usefull. So if you've got a tweak or tip for a popular piece of software, this is the place for it to be.

PLEASE USE THIS THREAD JUST FOR STRAIGHT UP INFORMATION, NOTHING MORE. USE THE REST OF THE FORUM IF YOU WANT TO DISCUSS THE INFORMATION IN THIS THREAD, I WILL LINK THE RELEVANT POST TO THE DISCUSSION.

ATTENTION! SOME TWEAKS MAY REQUIRE EDITING THE REGISTRY OF YOUR OS, IT IS RECOMMENED YOU BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY BEFORE PERFORMING ANY OF THE REGISTRY TWEAKS LISTED.

SOME TWEAKY LINKS:

www.bootdisk.com
www.tweakxp.com
www.blackviper.com Submitted by RADA
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Comments

  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    WINDOWS MESSENGER REMOVAL

    1. Click on the Start button and select Run.
    2. Type:

    RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove

    In the text box and click OK. You will see a progress bar appear shortly as it deletes its files and it will then ask you to reboot. After the reboot the program will be gone.

    MSN MESSENGER REMOVAL

    Click Start - Run

    Type the following line:

    RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove

    Will remove the msn messenger from XP

    FIX THE SLOW LOADING OF OUTLOOK EXPRESS AFTER MESSENGER REMOVAL

    Open up Register Editor by running "regedit" command. Click on "Edit" and select "Find". Copy and paste FB7199AB-79BF-11D2-8D94-0000F875C541 onto the "Find what" box and click on "Find Next". Once found, click on the plus sign in front of it and you will find InProc32 and LocalServer32. Select one of them then right click on default under the name column and select "modify", then simply delete what's in the Value Data box. Repeat for the other.

    CHANGE THE MESSENGER BACKGROUND

    Just go to "C:\Program Files\Messenger\" and replace the file "lvback.gif".

    If you use the MSN add-in, you can change that icon aswell. It's simply called "icon.gif"

    CHANGE THE WARNING MESSAGE ON MESSENGER

    Open Regedit (start menu, run and type 'regedit' press enter)

    Navigate to the following location

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Messenger Service\Policies

    Locate the string value called 'IMWarning' and change its message to what ever you would like to appear at the top of each new conversation window.

    Close regedit and open a new conversation and notice the new message. You do not have to reboot for this one to work.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    Open up the Windows Registry Editor by clicking Start -> Run and type regedit and press enter. Now locate HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\ - Once you've located this area find the value HungAppTimeout set to 5000 if it isn't already. Next up locate WaitToKillAppTimeout which is in the same folder and set it to 4000 from the default of 20000 - This is one of the key elements of decreasing the time it takes to shut down.

    Finally for this tweak to work locate the following HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\ and look for an option called WaitToKillServiceTimeout and change this to 4000.

    Watch how quickly Windows XP shuts down for you now!

    A discussion thread on this tweak: http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?p=91411#post91411
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    Microsoft has designed a tool to help in monitoring the boot up process of your computer. The tool, named BootVis, has many cool features that allow you to find out how long each program running at start up is taking to load and when they load. To get the program click on the link below.

    http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hwdev/platform/performance/fastboot/bootvis.mspx
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    If you dual boot your PC using Windows XP's dual boot process, you can reduce the timeout period your PC uses before booting to the default OS. This tweak is useful if you boot to the default OS most of the time and only boot to the other OS's on a limited basis.

    1)Locate and Open the hidden file "boot.ini" in notepad or your favorite text editor. This file will likely be in the root directory on the boot partition of your "master" HD.

    NOTE: Under Windows XP another easier way to edit the file is to right click on My Computer - Properties - Advanced - Startup and Recovery - Settings - (System Startup) Edit.

    2) Locate the line - timeout=30 (default is 30 seconds). Change this value to any time desired. Be careful not to choose too low of a setting or you may not have time to select your other OS's. Also, be careful not to change other lines as this may prevent your PC from booting at all.

    3)Save the file. The next time you boot your PC, the changes will take effect.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    NTFS is a great filesystem, but its feature-set comes at a slight cost in performance. You can negate this a little with the following tips:

    By default NTFS will automatically update timestamps whenever a directory is traversed. This isn't a necessary feature, and it slows down large volumes.

    Disable it by pointing regedit to:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem and set 'DisableNTFSLastAccessUpdate' to 1.

    NTFS uses disparate master file control tables to store filesystem information about your drives. Over time these core MFT files grow and become fragmented, slowing down all accesses to the drive. By setting aside a little space, MFT's can grow without becoming fragmented.

    In the same key where you disabled the last access feature creat a new DWORD value called 'NtfsMftZoneReservation' and set it to 2.

    Note: This tweak will not work on FAT32 file systems!
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    A Handy utility for speeding up system performance in Windows XP (or any version of Win9x/me for that matter as well) is the System Configuration Utility.

    To access the system configuration utility, go to Start and click Run. Type msconfig and click ok. Click the tab labeled Startup. Uncheck any items for which you do not care if they load when Windows loads or you do not have any idea what they are. In Windows XP, no items that are listed here are essential to Windows running properly, so feel free to experiment. After you removed everything you don't need, click apply and then ok. Say yes when it asks you to restart your system. Enjoy the significantly enhanced performance!
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    It is possible to disable XP splash screen, which will slightly speed up the overall boot process. Be aware that removing the splash screen will also cause you not to see any boot-up messages that might come up (chkdsk, convert ... ), but if your system runs without any problems then it should not matter.

    1. Edit boot.ini
    2. Add " /noguiboot" right after "/fastdetect".

    Upon restarting, the splash screen will be gone. It can be re-enabled by removing the new switch.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    Microsoft clear type technology greatly increases clarity of text on laptop LCD screens. By default this feature does not start until after you log on. But with the tweak below you will be able to make it start as windows loads so it will be enabled on the welcome login screen.

    Start regedit. Navigate to HKEY_USERS\DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop. Locate the key FontSmoothingType. Change the value to 2. Restart.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    Go to Start/Run, type in command, or cmd depending upon your windows version. Get to the root directory ; type"dir /s > whatever.txt" where whatever is whatever you want to name the file. Change it to "dir *. /s > whatever.txt" in order to get just directory names. It'll also put in any files without extensions.

    THIS TIP ORIGINATED FROM THIS THREAD CURTESY OF GHoosdum

    http://short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=422
  • Bad_KarmaBad_Karma The Great White North
    edited June 2003
    Paranoid? Think windows is watching you? Try this:

    http://www.xpantispy.de/

    EDIT (SPINNER)

    XP-AntiSpy is a little utility that let's you disable some built-in update and authentication 'features' in WindowsXP.
  • El-CheapoEl-Cheapo Central California
    edited June 2003
    One-click restore point:

    ______________

    Set sr = getobject("winmgmts:\\.\root\default:Systemrestore")

    msg = "New Restore Point successfully created." & vbCR
    msg = msg & "It is listed as: " & vbCR
    msg = msg & "Automatic Restore Point " & Date & " " & Time

    If (sr.createrestorepoint("Automatic Restore Point", 0, 100)) = 0 Then
    MsgBox msg
    Else
    MsgBox "Restore Point creation Failed!"
    End If

    Set sr = Nothing
    ________________

    Copy & paste the above to a new text document,rename it to restore.vbs (or anything else that you want to,as long as it's got a .vbs extension),click on it, instant restore point.
    I know not everyone uses system restore,but it's bailed my butt out a few times...

    ec
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    The more flexible method of bypassing the recycling bin is to simply hold SHIFT while you delete your selected item(s). This will promt you to choose whether you want to permanently delete the item(s) or not. Simply click "yes" and the action will be completed.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    Press Control and Backspace to delete the whole word instead of a single letter.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    Here is a way to send instant messages to folk over networks as long as you have their ip or the name of the computer on the network.

    An easy way to find a computer's ip address is to type cmd in the run box on your start menu. This will start the command prompt. Type "ipconfig /all" with a space between "ipconfig and /all". That will list the computer's ip address along with other network specs. Now that you have the ip of that computer, you may send instant messages to it.

    Go to the run command in your start menu. Type cmd in the box which will open the command prompt just like above. Type: net send "ip address" message. If the computer you were trying to send a "Hello" message to had the ip address of 127.10.1.1, you would type "net send 127.10.1.1 Hello"

    Additionally, it is possible to use a wild card such as * in the ip address parameter.

    Example: net send * message

    The above command will send your message to every computer on your subnet. This is great for system administrators to send out messages to all windows computers on the network notifying them that you are going to be taking down the server or something.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    There is an application in XP that allows networked users to to communicate with each other. It is a very simple program located in the Windows System32 directory. A search for "winchat"
    will also bring it up. This program can be very usefull to users that work in large office complexes and need to deliver a message to another individual quickly and efficiently. This application also has a real time chat screen, so you can see the other person typing.

    1 start, search, "winchat" (or find in Windows, System 32 directory)
    2 right click and select send to desktop (for easy opening)
    3 run the program
    4 choose dial button at the top
    5 choose the computer of the person on the network who you wish to talk to.
    6 both users must agree to connect to each other to talk.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    CTRL + ALT + ESC

    While in a full-screen window will launch the task bar. If used while not in a full screen window, it will work like ATL + TAB without the option of choosing which window and simply go to the window whose button is to the RIGHT of the current window.

    ALT + D [MSIE]

    This will move the cursor to the Address bar, highliting all the text in the bar as well.

    ALT + TAB (With Shift)

    If you have many windows open, using ALT + TAB can be kind of annoying if you miss the program you're seeking. Adding SHIFT and pressing TAB again will move the highlite back one.

    CTRL + TAB

    When working with multiple frames/panes, this will jump from one frame to another without having to TAB to the end of the current pane to move to the next. Press TAB again to enter the frame/pane you select.

    SHIFT + CLICK (Explorer/MSIE)

    This does the same thing as RIGHT CLICKing and selecting "Open in new window". Sometimes, however, I find that you have to DOUBLE CLICK to make it work.

    SHIFT + RIGHT CLICK (Explorer)

    This gives you an extra option, "Open With..." for certain (most) files types.

    WINKEY + L (Using the "Welcome" style logon)

    Same as [Start>Log Off>Switch User].

    F1

    Opens the Help dialogue for most programs.

    F3

    When searching using a typical text "Find..." feature, this will do the same as "Find next".
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    Instead of typing http://www.anysite.com you can just type anysite then press ctrl+return and it automatically puts in the http:// and the .com

    yahoo + "ctrl+return" = http://www.yahoo.com
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    Right click on desktop, create new short-cut.

    Type shutdown.exe -i

    Click next, type in name for your short-cut e.g. shutdown computers

    Click finish.

    Run the short-cut you just created. Now you can browse the network for computers to shutdown/reboot etc. or just type in the IP/Name of the computer.

    You can even broadcast a message, and schedule the shutdown.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    This tip will show you how to create an unattended disk cleanup which will also empty your prefetch folder. This tip assumes you have Windows XP installed in c:\windows.

    Step 1.
    Create a new text file and place the following contents inside:

    c:\windows\system32\cleanmgr.exe /dc /sageset: 1
    c:
    cd \
    cd c:\windows\prefetch
    del *.* /q

    Step 2.
    Save the file, changing the extension from .txt to .bat
    For this tip's purpose, we will call it clean.bat

    Step 3.
    Execute the file. This will run the Disk Cleanup program in a special mode which asks what items you will want cleaned when Disk Cleanup performs an unattended cleanup. Check the items you wish to have cleaned up, then click OK.

    Step 4.
    Right-click on the clean.bat file and click edit. Change the first line to read:

    c:\windows\system32\cleanmgr.exe /dc /sagerun: 1

    Step 5.
    Save the file. You can execute this file in place of running Disk Cleanup, or, to have this program run unattended, run the Add Scheduled Task Wizard in the Control Panel and create a scheduled task using the clean.bat file you just created.

    Note: This cleanup script will also clear windows prefetch directory. Often this directory can become cluttered with old appication and a cleaning would free up disk space but it will result in a one time performance decrease and windows has to rebuild the cache with active software afterwards.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    If you've ever performed some kind of file operation, you'll be blasted with "Are you sure?"-type dialog boxes with the options, "Yes", "Yes to All", "No" and "Cancel". Hold down SHIFT and press "No" to mean, "No to All".
  • LawnMMLawnMM Colorado
    edited June 2003
    For anybody with an ATI TV Wonder running on windows XP...most people find that when they start the TV program the image is washed out and scrambled. A bug in the drivers that seems to only affect XP systems. ATI has a few workarounds, I believe holding the shift key while starting the tv program lets the program start with a normal display you can watch.

    However, a better fix that I found is that by setting the TV app to run in windows 98/ME compatibility mode eliminates the problem altogether. It starts fine every time and you don't have to remember to hold any keys down in order to get the image feed from the TV tuner to load without being scrambled.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    Run notepad and paste this text:

    [General] Manufacturer="You can display useful information here"

    Model="You can display useful information here"

    [Support Information]

    Line1="You can display useful information here"

    Line2="You can display useful information here"

    Line3="You can display useful information here"

    Line4="You can display useful information here"

    Line5="You can display useful information here"

    Line6="You can display useful information here"

    Line7="You can display useful information here"

    Line8="You can display useful information here"

    Line9="You can display useful information here"

    Line10="You can display useful information here"

    Save it as oeminfo.ini in C:\windows\system You can also create a bitmap file and name it as oemlogo.bmp, save it in C:\windows\system Now, try to hold down Win key while pressing L. You'll notice that the text and image you created will appear in your System properties.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    Removing password from returning from hibernate / suspend

    This tweak removes prompt for password on resume from hibernate/suspend

    1. Click Start > Run > Type gpedit.msc
    2. Click User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Power Management
    3. Double click on Prompt For Password On Resume From Hibernate/Suspend
    4. Click Enabled
    5. click OK
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited July 2003
    MSN Messenger 5.0 has already a feature for video conversations however, like with most of MSN Messengers standard features, they all try to communicate directly with their clients, which results in the video data or whatever is usually being sent, is stopped dead in its tracks by things like firewalls or ICS setups.

    So what's the solution to this... well Logitech and Microsoft smartly came up with a plug-in for MSN Messenger that uses a web server to act as a third party handler of your MSN Messenger data, in this case video transmissions. This therefore allows MSN Messenger simply to bypass routers and firewalls for the purpose of a video link. This particular plug-in requires all partys to have it installed, but comes with the added benefit of making your video, or more specifically your webcam broadcasts accessible by more than one idividual at a time.

    This particular plug-in is an exmaple of the direction Microsoft plans to take MSN Messenger in the future, using it's own servers to help the advanced functions of Messenger to work more efficiently. The file transfer functionality I believe is one feature which is due to get the same treatment in the near future.

    Please also note, this plug-in only works with MSN Messenger and not Windows Messenger and also this add-on now comes built into version 6.0 of MSN Messenger.

    Here's the link :

    http://messenger.msn.com/support/webcam.asp
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited July 2003
    Attrib - Changes the attributes of a file or directory.

    Batch - Executes the commands specified in the text file.

    Bootcfg - Boot file (boot.ini) configuration and recovery.

    ChDir (Cd) - Displays the name of the current directory or changes the current directory.

    Chkdsk - Checks a disk and displays a status report.

    Cls - Clears the screen.

    Copy - Copies a single file to another location.

    Delete (Del) - Deletes one or more files.

    Dir - Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directory.

    Disable - Disables a system service or a device driver

    Diskpart - Manages partitions on your hard drives.

    Enable - Starts or enables a system service or a device driver.

    Exit - Exits the Recovery Console and restarts your computer.

    Expand - Extracts a file from a compressed file.

    Fixboot - Writes a new partition boot sector onto the specified partition.

    Fixmbr - Repairs the master boot record of the specified disk.

    Format - Formats a disk.

    Help - displays a list of the commands you can use in the Recovery Console.

    Listsvc - Lists the services and drivers available on the computer.

    Logon - Logs on to a Windows installation.

    Map - Displays the drive letter mappings.

    Mkdir (Md) - Creates a directory.

    More - Displays a text file.

    Net Use - Connects a network share to a drive letter.

    Rename (Ren) - Renames a single file.

    Rmdir (Rd) - Deletes a directory.

    Set - Displays and sets environment variables.

    Systemroot - Sets the current directory to the systemroot directory of the system you are currently logged on to.

    Type - Displays a text file.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited July 2003
    If you want to install the recovery console under XP as a startup option, instead of having to boot from the CD every time you want to use it, follow the instructions below.

    With Windows running, insert the XP Setup CD into your CD-ROM drive. CLick Start and select Run. Type the following where D: is the CD-ROM drive letter: D:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons

    Follow the instructions on the screen.
  • Park_7677Park_7677 Missouri Member
    edited July 2003
    I had some time on my hands, so I figured I'd spend 10 minutes writing a MS Batch scipt to copy & compress my data on a spererate partition on my HDD, safe from "FORMAT C:" :) I ended up making 2 versions, WinZip & WinRAR. I just click a shortcut and folders across my HDD are compressed.

    Very worth the time, many times I've forgotten to backup my Favorites and/or Email :(

    I'd like to share with everyone here, maybe someone will get use out of it besides me! See Next Two Posts
  • Park_7677Park_7677 Missouri Member
    edited July 2003
    Type #1: WinZip

    This version uses WinZip's command line interface to compress a list of files & directories. README includes details on how to add folders and further configure it.


    Option #1:
    WinZip Code Generator

    Option #2
    or Download the ZIP below for the "do it yourself" version.
  • Park_7677Park_7677 Missouri Member
    edited July 2003
    Type #2: WinRAR

    This version uses WinRAR's command line interface to compress a list of files & directories. README includes details on how to add folders and further configure it.


    Option #1:
    WinRAR Code Generator

    Option #2
    or Download the ZIP below for the "do it yourself" version.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited July 2003
    Here's how to make Internet Explorer remember your preferred window size.

    1) Open IE and resize the Window to your desired size
    2) Simply press and hold the Ctrl key

    After you have done the above, all the IE windows you open will be the size you specified.
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