48. Automatically Turn On Num Lock, Scroll Lock, and Caps Lock

When you start your PC, Num Lock, Scroll Lock, and Caps Lock don't automaticallytoggle on. You can automatically turn each of them on or off whenever your PCstarts, for all accounts on the PC. As a practical matter, most people probably want tohave only Num Lock automatically turned on, but this Registry hack allows you toforce any combination of keys on or off.

Run the Registry Editor [Hack #83] and goto HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\Keyboard. Find the String valueInitialKeyboardIndicators. By default, it is set to 0, which means that Num Lock,Scroll Lock, and Caps Lock are all turned off. Set it to any of the following values,depending on the combination of keys you want turned on or off:
0-Turns off Num Lock, Caps Lock, and Scroll Lock1-Turns on Caps Lock2-Turns on Num Lock3-Turns on Caps Lock and Num Lock4-Turns on Scroll Lock5-Turns on Caps Lock and Scroll Lock6-Turns on Num Lock and Scroll Lock7-Turns on Caps Lock, Num Lock, and Scroll LockExit the Registry. When you restart, the new setting will take effect.

47. Control User Logins by Hacking the Registry

To control logon options, run the Registry Editor [Hack #83] and go to theHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersionWinlogon subkey, which contains a variety of logon settings (as well as some settingsnot having to do directly with logons).

Following are the most important values youcan edit to customize logons
DontDisplayLastUserName
This setting lets you control how the system logon dialog box is used. If this Stringvalue is present and set to 1, all users will have to enter both their username andpassword to log on.

If the value is 0, the name of the last user to log on will bedisplayed in the system logon dialog box.
DefaultUserNameThis String value contains the name of the last user who logged on. It will bedisplayed only if the DontDisplayLastUserName value is not present or is set to 0.LegalNoticeCaption and LegalNoticeText// Already discussed
PasswordExpiryWarningThis DWORD value lets you display a warning message to users a certain number ofdays before their passwords are set to expire. It lets you determine how many daysahead of time the warning should be issued. To edit the value, click the decimalbutton and enter the number of days.
ShutdownWithoutLogonThis String value enables or disables a button on the XP logon dialog box that lets thesystem shut down. A value of 1 enables the button (so that it is shown); a value of 0disables the button (so that it is not shown).

ShellIt determines the shellthe user interfacethat will be used by XP. The default isExplorer.exe, but it can be another shell as wellfor example, the Program Managerfrom older Windows versions. Type in the name of the program; for example,Progman.exe for the Program Manager, or Taskman.exe for the Task Manager.
AutoRestartShellThis DWORD value doesn't have to do with logons either, but it's another good one toknow. It sets whether to automatically restart the Windows shell if the shell crashes. A value of 1 automatically restarts the shell.

A value of 0 tells XP not to restart the shell,forcing you to log off and then back on again to restart it.

46. Play around registry- More Options

Launch Regedit and go to the following Registry Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/CurrentVersion/Policies Under this key, there will definitely be a key named explorer.
Now under this explorer key we can create new DWORD valuesand modify it's value to 1 in order to impose the restriction. If you want to remove the Restriction, then you can simply delete the respective DWORD values or insteadchange their values to 0.
The following is a list of DWORD values that can be createdunder the Explorer Key:
NoDeletePrinter: Disables Deletion of already installed PrintersNoAddPrinter: Disables Addition of new PrintersNoRun : Disables or hides the Run CommandNoSetFolders: Removes Folders from the Settings option on Start Menu (ControlPanel, Printers, Taskbar)NoSetTaskbar: Removes Taskbar system folder from the Settings option on StartMenuNoFind: Removes the Find Tool (Start >Find)NoDrives: Hides and does not display any Drives in My ComputerNoNetHood: Hides or removes the Network Neighborhood icon from the desktopNoDesktop: Hides all items including, file, folders and system folders from theDesktopNoClose: Disables Shutdown and prevents the user from normally shutting downWindows.NoSaveSettings: Means to say, 'Don't save settings on exit'DisableRegistryTools: Disable Registry Editing Tools (If you disable this option, theWindows Registry Editor(regedit.exe) too will not work.)NoRecentDocsHistory: Removes Recent Document system folder from the StartMenu (IE 4 and above)ClearRecentDocsOnExit: Clears the Recent Documents system folder on Exit.Nolnternetlcon: Removes the Internet (system folder) icon from the DesktopNow create a new key and name it System. Under this new key, system we can createthe following new DWORD valuesNODispCPL: Hides Control PanelNoDispBackgroundPage: Hides Background page.NoDispScrsavPage: Hides Screen Saver PageNoDispAppearancePage: Hides Appearance PageNoDispSettingsPage: Hides Settings PageNoSecCPL: Disables Password Control PanelNoPwdPage: Hides Password Change PageNoAdminPaqe: Hides Remote Administration PageNoProfilePage: Hides User Profiles PageNoDevMgrPage: Hides Device Manager PageNoConfigPage: Hides Hardware Profiles PageNoFileSysPage: Hides File System ButtonNoVirtMemPage: Hides Virtual Memory ButtonSimilarly, if we create a new subkey named Network, we can add the followingDWORD values under it:NoNetSetupSecurityPage: Hides Network Security PageNoNelSetup: Hides or disables the Network option in the Control PanelNoNetSetupIDPage: Hides the Identification PageNoNetSetupSecurityPage: Hides the Access Control PageNoFileSharingControl: Disables File Sharing ControlsNoPrintSharing: Disables Print Sharing Controls.

45. Change Internet Explorer's Caption

Open the registry editor and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft \Internet Explorer\Main. In the right pane create a new String Value namesWindow Title (Note the space between Window and Title). Right click on this newlycreated String Value and select Modify. Type in the new caption you want to bedisplayed. Restart for the settings to take place.

44. Shutdown and Reboot in Style

Turning off or rebooting XP involves a several-step process: click the Start menu,choose Shut Down, and then select Shut Down or Restart. If you want, however, youcan exit or reboot much more quickly, by creating a shortcut that enables one-clickshutdowns. You can also use the shortcut to customize the shutdown or reboot forexample, by displaying a specific message or automatically shutting down anyprograms that are running.
First, create a shortcut on your desktop by right-clicking the desktop, choosing New,and then choosing Shortcut. The Create Shortcut Wizard appears. In the box askingfor the location of the shortcut, type shutdown. After you create the shortcut, doubleclicking it will shut down your PC.
But you can do much more with a shutdown shortcut than merely shut down your PC.

You can add any combination of several switches to do extra duty, like this:
shutdown -r -t 01 -c "Rebooting your PC"
Double-clicking that shortcut will reboot your PC after a one-second delay anddisplay the message "Rebooting your PC." The shutdown command includes a varietyof switches you can use to customize it.
Switches you can use with shutdown
Switch What it does-s Shuts down the PC.-l Logs off the current user.-t nn Indicates the duration of delay, in seconds, before performing the action.
Switches you can use with shutdownSwitch What it does
-c "messagetext"Displays a message in the System Shutdown window. A maximumof 127 characters can be used. The message must be enclosed inquotation marks.
-f Forces any running applications to shut down.
-r Reboots the PC.
Here are the ones I use for shutdowns and restarts:
Shutdown -s -t 03 -c "See you later!"
shutdown -r -t 03 -c "You can't get rid of me that quickly!"
You always have to turn from the CPU after running this command. (Same with ATand ATX powered machines.) If you want to turn down power of ATX machineautomatically, run the following commnd "c:\windows\system32\tsshutdn.exe 00 /POWERDOWN / DELAY:00" This is used to turn off a server.

Even though youdon't have networked computers attached to your computer, this works.

43. Disabling Drives in My Computer

To disable the display of local or networked drives when you click My Computer goto HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion \Policies\Explorer Now in the right pane create a new DWORD item and name it NoDrives.
Now modify it's value and set it to 3FFFFFF (Hexadecimal). Now press F5 to refresh.When you click on My Computer, no drives will be shown. To enable display ofdrives in My Computer, simply delete this DWORD item.

42. Increasing Band-Width By 20%

Microsoft reserves 20% of your available bandwidth for their own purposes likeWindows Updates and interrogating your PC etc.
Click Start then Run and type"gpedit.msc" without quotes. This opens the group policy editor. Then go to: LocalComputer Policy  Computer Configuration Administrative Templates NetworkQOS Packet Scheduler and then to LimitReservableBandwidth. Double click onLimit Reservable bandwidth. It will say it is not configured, but the truth is under the'Explain' tab i.e."By default, the Packet Scheduler limits the system to 20 percent of the bandwidth of a connection, but you can use this setting to override the default." So the trick is to ENABLE reservable bandwidth, then set it to ZERO.
This will allow the system to reserve nothing, rather than the default 20%.
It works on Win 2000 as well.

41. Internet Explorer As Fast As FireFox:

Open registry editor by going to Start then Run and entering regedit. Once in registry,navigateto key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion \InternetSettings. Right click on the right windows > New > DWORD. TypeMaxConnectionsPerServer > You can set value (the more higher the no, the moregood speed eg:99).

Create another DWORD >type MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server.Then put a high value as mentioned above.

Restart I.E and you are done.

40. Eg2:Hack XP Password

If you log into a limited account on your target machine and open up a dos promptthen enter this set of commands Exactly. Forget about the explanations as it is for thesake of clarity purposeCommand Expalnationcd\ *drops to rootcd\windows\system32 *directs to the system32 dirmkdir temphack *creates the folder temphackcopy logon.scr temphack\logon.scr *backsup logon.scrcopy cmd.exe temphack\cmd.exe *backsup cmd.exedel logon.scr *deletes original logon.scrrename cmd.exe logon.scr *renames cmd.exe to logon.screxit *quits dos
Now what you have just done is told the computer to backup the command programand the screen saver file, then edits the settings so when the machine boots the screen saver you will get an unprotected dos prompt with out logging into XP.

Once this happens if you enter this command minus the quotes "net user here> password"
If the Administrator Account is called Frank and you want the password blah enterthis "net user Frank blah" and this changes the password on franks machine to blahand you should be in.

39. Eg1: Hack the XP Admin Passwords

When you or anyone installs Windows XP for the first time your asked to put in yourusername and up to five others. Now, unknownst to a lot of other people this is theonly place in Windows XP that you can password the default AdministratorDiagnostic Account. This means that to by pass most administrators accounts onWindows XP all you have to do is boot to safe mode by pressing F8 during boot upand choosing it. Log into the Administrator Account and create your own or changethe password on the current Account. This only works if the user on setup specified apassword for the Administrator Account.

38. What the heck is a hack then..?

Hacking is done to expose a security hole in a system. Hacking is done to expose the
holes in the armor so that system designers can patch it in their next release.

Hacking if done with a malicious mind, then its cracking! Crackers are basically hackers with a malicious mind. They exploit the security holes to gain unauthorized access to a system. They often steal data like the credit card information from the victim’s computer and read their mails. Some crackers go beyond and often engage in
destructive actions like creating viruses and worms. So the next time when you say
hacker/cracker, understand what they are. Hackers don’t like being greeted as
crackers for the same reason that hackers are friendly and nice people.

I’m giving you two examples below to understand how hacking differs from
tweaking:

37. Is it a hack by any means…??

Defenitely Not!
What we have discussed so far are not hacks by any means.
They are just ‘tweaks’. Tweaking is done to customize the system according to user
preferences by over riding the default settings. Tweaking will improve the system
performance by many folds, provided that it is done in the right way. Most of the
tweaks and tricks are performed in the following 3 areas.

1. Start> Run > Regedit
2. Start > Run> Msconfig
3. Start > Run> gpedit.msc

It is difficult for a newbie to understand the various keys and sub-keys in the registry and a wrong move can have catastrophic effects. The second one is way too simple and the options are limited. So I recommend the third area ☺. Group Policy Editor or gpedit.msc is a nice place for the newbies to learn and try their own tricks. The main advantage is its simplicity. Just click on the + signs to dive deep into it. Explanations are given along with each entry. Read the explanation and decide on the settings that needs to be set.
Nothing much, you just need to enable or disable a setting. Isn’t it a simple thing to do?? And trust me, it can even create wonders!! So go ahead and try it now itself. Good luck.

36.Banning Programs from “Most Frequently Used” list

Take a look at this for it is very interesting. If any of the following words or phrases is included in the program's shortcut name, the program will be excluded from the list: Documentation, Help, Install, More Info, Readme, Read me, Read First, Setup, Support, and What's New. Additionally, the following executables are excluded from the list: Setup.exe,Install.exe, Isuninst.exe, Unwise.exe, Unwise32.exe, St5unst.exe, Rundll32.exe,Explorer.exe, Icwconn1.exe, Inoculan.exe, Mobsync.exe, Navwnt.exe, Realmon.exe, and Sndvol32.exe.

Run the Registry Editor and go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications. Underneath this
key, you'll find a series of subkeys, each representing an application. The primary purpose of these su-keys is to determine whether the program appears on the Open With dialog box that appears whenever you try to open an unknown file type. But you can also add a value to any of the subkeys which will ban programs from appearing on the Most Frequently Used Programs List.

Look for a subkey that is the executable name of the application you want to ban from the list; for example, visio.exe for the Visio business illustration program. Once you find the application's subkey, create a new String value for that subkey, named NoStartPage. Leave the value blank. Exit the Registry. You might have to reboot for the setting to take effect and the program to be banned from the list.

35. DMA Mode for CD-ROMs

Like Windows 2000, Windows XP still fails to set the DMA mode correctly for the
IDE device designated as the slaves on the primary IDE and secondary IDE channels.
Most CD- ROMS are capable of supporting DMA mode, but the default in XP is still
PIO. Setting it to DMA won't make your CD-ROM faster, but it will consume less
CPU cycles.
Here's how: Open the Device Manager. One way to do that is to right
click on "My Computer", select the Hardware tab, and Select Device Manager.

Expand "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" and double-click on "Primary IDE Channel".Under the "Advanced Settings" tab, check the "Device 1" setting. More than likely,
your current transfer mode is set to PIO.
Set it to "DMA if available". Repeat the step for the "Secondary IDE Channel" if you have devices attached to it. Reboot.

34. Delete INDEX.DAT (Faster Browsing)

First of all open up the command prompt. For that go Start -> Run -> cmd. Now press CTRL + ALT + DELETE to bring up the task manager. In the task manager, go toprocesses and click on explorer.exe. End the “explorer.exe” task. All the windowswill be closed down. Don’t panic. You can still see the command prompt. In thecommand prompt type the following command exactly as it is:
Del "C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\TemporaryInternet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat"
Note is the name that you use to log in to your windows. Somelog in as “administrator” while some with another name eg: Sandeep. Whatever it is,type that name. This will also help in fixing all the issues related to browserperformance, especially the ones that cause browser to hang frequently.

33. Speed up IE Start Up

This tweak tells Internet Explorer to simply 'run', without loading any webpages. Ifyou use a 'blank' page, that is still a page, and slows access. Notice the 'about:blank' inthe address bar. The blank html page must still be loaded. To load IE with 'nothing' [nothing is different than blank]
1. Right-click on any shortcut you have to IE[You should create a shortcut out of your desktop IE icon, and delete the original icon]
2. Click Properties
3. Add -nohome [with a space before the dash] after the endquotes in the Target field.
4. Click OK

32. Cleaning Recent Docs Menu and the RUN

The Recent Docs menu can be easily disabled by editing the Registry. To do this go tothe following Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
Now in the right pane, create a new DWORD valueby the name: NoRecentDocsMenu and set it's value to 1. Restart Explorer to save thechanges. You can also clear the RUN MRU history. All the listings are stored in thekey:HKEY_USERS\.Default\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ RunMRU. You can delete individual listings or the entire listing. To delete Historyof Find listings go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ Microsoft \ Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Doc Find Spec MRUand delete.

31.Killing Tasks from Command Line

First get the command prompt by following Start>Run>cmd.
Find out the tasks and its process id by typing tasklist in the black window.

You can now get rid of tasks on the computer by using taskkill /pid followed by the process number, or just skill and the
process number.

30.Task Bar Grouping

If you want to change the default number of grouping in task bar do this tweak. Go to
START>RUN and enter regedit. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\
Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced. Look for value of the key titled
TaskbarGroupSize. Set it to any value you want. Default is 3.BDV-818057-BDV

29. Disable 8.3 Name Creation in NTFS

Files that use the 8.3 naming convention can degrade NTFS drive performance.
Unless you have a good reason for keeping the 8.3 naming convention intact (such as
if you’re using 16-bit programs), a performance gain can be achieved by disabling it.
Set the Registry DWORD key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ FileSystem\NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation to 1. Exit the Registry and reboot.

28. Alter Prefetch Parameters

Pre-fetching (the reading of system boot files into a cache for faster loading) is a
commonly overlooked component that can have a significant impact on system boot
time.
To see which files are gathered using each setting, clear the prefetch cache
located at C:\Windows\Prefetch and then enable one of the settings listed in this hack.

Clear the cache and repeat for each setting. Set the Registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\
Memory Management\PrefetchParameters\EnablePrefetcher to 0 to disable
prefetching, 1 to prefetch application launch files, 2 to prefetch boot files, or 3 to prefetch as many files as possible.

27. Place Windows Kernel into RAM

It’s a given that anything that runs in RAM will be faster than an item that has to
access the hard drive and virtual memory. Rather than have the kernel that is the
foundation of XP using the slower Paging Executive functions, use this hack to create
and set the DisablePagingExecutive DWORD to a value of 1. Perform this hack
only if the system has 256MB or more of installed RAM! Edit the Registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\
Memory Management\DisablePagingExecutive to 1 to disable paging and have the
kernel run in RAM (set the value to 0 to undo this hack).
Exit the Registry and reboot.

26. Add Specific Folders to Open Dialog (XP Home only)

When you use certain Windows applications (such as Notepad) to open a file, on the
left side of the Open dialog box are a group of icons and folders (such as My
Documents, My Recent Documents, Desktop, My Computer, and My Network) to
which you can navigate to open files. A registry hack will let you put just the folders of your choosing on the left side of the Open dialog box. Note that when you do this, it will affect XP applications such as Notepad and Paint that use the Open and Save common dialog boxes. However, it won’t affect Microsoft Office applications and other applications that don’t use the common dialog boxes. Run the Registry Editor and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Policies\comdlg32.
This is the key that determines how common dialog boxes are handled.

You’re going to create a subkey that will create a customized location for the folders,and then give that subkey a series of values, each of which will define a folder location.To start, create a new subkey underneath EY_CURRENT_USER
\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Policies\comdlg32 called Placesbar,
and create a String value for it named Place0. Give Place0 a value of the topmost
folder that you want to appear on the Open dialog box, for example, C:\Projects. Next, create another String value for Placesbar called Place1. Give it a value of the second folder that you want to appear on the Open dialog box. You can put up to five icons on the Open dialog box, so create new String values up to Place4 and give them values as outlined in the previous steps. When you’re done, exit the Registry. You won’t have to reboot for the changes to take effect. If you do not want any folders to appear in common Open dialog boxes, you can do that as well.

In HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Policies\
comdlg32, create a new DWORD value called NoPlacesBar and give it a value of 1.
Exit the Registry.
If you want the folders back, either delete NoPlacesBar or give it a value of 0.

25. Turn Off System Beeps

Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Sound, and find the Beep and
ExtendedSounds String values.
Set each value to No. Exit the Registry and reboot.
The beeps will no longer sound. Hey, your XP is no longer noisy!!

24. Hide All Icons in the Notification Area

The system tray, also called the notification area, is the small area on the far right side of the taskbar, in which utilities and programs that run in the background, such as antivirus software, show their icons. I don’t find it a particularly intelligent use of screen real estate, so I prefer not to see the icons there.

To hide them, run the Registry Editor and go to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Policies/Ex
plorer. Among other things, this key controls the display of objects throughout XP.
Create a new DWORD called NoTrayItemsDisplay. Assign it a value of 1. (A value
of 0 will keep the icons displayed.) Exit the Registry and reboot.

While you’re at the HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/
CurrentVersion/Policies/Explorer key, you can also delete the My Recent Documents
icon on the Start menu. Create a new DWORD called NoRecentDocsMenu. Assign it
a value of 1. (A value of 0 will keep the icon displayed.) Exit the Registry and reboot.

23. Pop Up a Message at Start Up

To pop a banner which can contain any message you want to display just before a user
is going to log on, go to the key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System.

Now create a new string Value in the right pane named LegalNoticeCaption and enter
the value that you want to see in the Menu Bar.
Now create yet another new string value and name it Legal NoticeText. Modify it and insert the message you want to display each time Windows boots.
This can be effectively used to display the company's private policy each time the user logs on to his NT box.

22. Rework System Restore

The amount of space Windows uses for restore points is a little more complicated than
a single percentage value. The Registry includes its own setting for the maximum disk
space given to System Restore, and Windows uses whichever amount is larger: the
percentage you specify via the System Properties dialog box, or the Registry's
maximum value. Any disk space you free up via System Properties won't instantly be
used by System Restore; it will be available until a new restore point requires more
space than the amount allotted via the percentage value.
The percentage and max values tell Windows only when to stop making new restore points.

To lock in your System Restore allocation, open the Registry Editor and navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore.

Select the SystemRestore icon in the left pane to see several icons appear in the right pane. Do not experiment with just any of these icons! While you can safely change the value of some of them, Microsoft warns that others should not be altered under any circumstances. Fortunately, you can safely edit the values for the DiskPercent and DSMax icons, which control System Restore's disk-space allotments.

To change the maximum amount of disk space System Restore will use (providing it's
larger than the percentage value), double-click the DSMax icon. In the Edit DWORD
Value dialog box, click Decimal so you can see the specified number of megabytes in
the 'Value data' box (the default on most systems is '400'). Change this to the desired amount, and click OK.

While you're there, you can also safely edit the DSMin value, which specifies the
minimum space System Restore needs to work at all. Normally, if free space on your
Windows drive gets too low, System Restore shuts down and makes no restore points
until you have at least 200MB of free space. Setting this value determines the amount
of disk space at which System Restore will wake up and attempt to start saving restore points again. However, just because System Restore will try to do so, it won't necessarily succeed if the available space is too small.
Unfortunately, we know of no method to determine how much space a single restore point will require, so setting this amount too low could render the feature useless. Still, you can fit a lot of system files in 100MB of disk space.

To change this value, double-click the DSMin icon, click Decimal, and enter your
desired amount of free disk space (in megabytes) in the 'Value data' box. Click OK.

21. Find Every File

When you search for a file in Windows Windows searches only for file types it
recognizes. Files that aren't listed in the 'Registered file types' list are ignored.
Fortunately, a simple edit of the Registry will make Windows search for every file,
regardless of its extension.

Open the Registry Editor as described above, and then navigate to and select:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ContentIndex.
Double-click the FilterFilesWithUnknownExtensions icon in the right pane, change
the 0 in the 'Value data' box to 1, and press Enter.

To ensure that Windows XP searches for every possible file, select All Files and
Folders under 'Type of file' in the Search Companion pane. (If you don't see this
option, click More Advanced Options.)
Check Search system folders, Search hidden files and folders, and Search subfolders (as desired).

In Windows 2000, click Search Options, check Type, and make sure that (All Files and Folders) is selected in the resulting drop-down menu. Check Advanced Options, and make sure Search Subfolders is checked.
Finally, to ensure that Windows 2000 finds system and hidden files, choose Tools, Folder Options and click the View tab. In the 'Advanced settings'list, select Show hidden files and folders.
Uncheck Hide protected operating system files (Recommended), click Yes to acknowledge the warning, and finish by clicking OK.

20. Bonus Tip: Hack Your BIOS for Faster

You can speed up your startup procedures by changing the BIOS with the built-in
setup utility. How you run this utility varies from PC to PC, but you typically get to it by pressing the Delete, F1, or F10 keys during startup. You'll come to a menu with a variety of choices.
Here are the choices to make for faster system startups:

Quick Power On Self Test (POST)
When you choose this option, your system runs an abbreviated POST rather than the normal, lengthy one.

Boot Up Floppy Seek
Disable this option. When it's enabled, your system spends a few extra seconds
looking for your floppy drivea relatively pointless procedure, especially considering
how infrequently you use your floppy drive.

Boot Delay
Some systems let you delay booting after you turn on your PC so that your hard drive
gets a chance to start spinning before bootup. Most likely, you don't need to have this boot delay, so turn it off. If you run into problems, however, you can turn it back on.

19. Resize Your Wallpaper

If you just switched to a wide-screen monitor, your desktop wallpaper image may no
longer look right, or maybe you just want to make a small adjustment to it.

For more-granular control of your wallpaper's placement, highlight the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\desktop

Double-click the WallpaperOriginX icon in the right pane. (If you don't see this icon, right-click in this pane, choose New, String Value, type WallpaperOriginX to name the value, and press .)
Type a number (in pixels) for the starting horizontal position of your wallpaper's left edge, and press .
Now double-click the WallpaperOriginY icon (create it if necessary as explained above) and enter a number for the starting vertical position of the image's top edge. If your wallpaper image is larger than the screen, type a negative number (for example, -200) to push the picture's top or left edge off the screen.

To test the effect, first minimize the Registry Editor (and any other open window),
right-click the desktop, choose Properties, and click OK or Apply to refresh the
wallpaper placement. Repeat these steps as needed until the wallpaper is positioned
correctly.The settings work whether you've set your wallpaper to be centered, tiled, or stretched.

18. Retitle Internet Explorer

By default, Internet Explorer's title bar shows the name of the Web site you're
viewing, followed by "Microsoft Internet Explorer"--or in some cases, your
company's name or the name of the ISP that supplied the browser.

To change the repeating text in IE's title bar (or to get rid of it altogether), navigate to and select HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main in the Registry
Editor, and double-click the Window Title icon in the right pane. (If you don't see this icon, right-click in the pane, choose New, String Value, type Window Title, and press).
Type what you want to see on IE's title bar, or type nothing to show only the site name. Note that the hyphen that normally separates the site name from the
page title will remain. When you relaunch Internet Explorer,
you will see the change.

17.Unhide the Administrator

Few people are aware of Windows XP's cloaked administrator account (called,
appropriately enough, "Administrator").
This account is invisible unless either your
system has no other accounts or you are booting in Safe Mode.
To remove
Administrator's camouflage and add it to XP's Welcome screen, navigate to & select
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winl
ogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList in the Registry Editor, and double-click the

Administrator icon in the right pane. If you don't see this icon, right-click in the pane,
choose New, DWORD Value, name it Administrator, and press Enter.
Type 1 in the
'Value data' box, and press . From now on, when you open the User
Accounts window via the Control Panel, you'll see the Administrator account.

You can easily change its picture or give it a password. In addition, the next time you see the Welcome screen, your Administrator account will be visible, along with the entire computer's other user accounts.

16. Disable Unsigned Driver Dialogue

First go to: Start > Run
Then type: gpedit.msc and hit enter. Browse the folder tree to the following location

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System. Right-click Code
signing for Device drivers and select Properties. On the Settings tab, either select > enable, and then select ignore from the appearing listbox..> or click the disable option. Click apply and Ok and your set!

Alternatively especially for XP Home users:

Open "System" properties (Windows key + pause or Right click 'My Computer' -
properties or Control Panel - System).On the Hardware tab click the "Driver Signing"
button. In the dialogue that comes up choose "Ignore" to install the new driver
anyway.

15. Stop Noise

When using 3rd party burning software (eg, Nero Burning Rom) to copy audioCD,some noise may be heard at the end of each track.

To prevent this,try thefollowing method: -

1. Enter System Properties\device manager.

2. Select IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers.

3. Double click on thee CD writer IDE channel.

4. Select advance setting.

5. Change the transfer mode to 'PIO Only'.

6. Restart Computer.

14. Automatically Killing Tasks on

You know the drill. You start to shut down the computer, you wait a few moments,and then you see a dialog box asking if you want to kill an application or service thatis running. Instead of prompting you, you can make Windows XP take care of the killtask 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.

13. Reducing the Wait Time

When you start to shut down Windows XP, it has to quit, or "kill," any liveapplications or processes that 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 for those applications andprocesses to close before Windows XP kills them.

1. Open registry editor

2. Navigate to HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop. Set theWaitToKillAppTimeout and set the value to 1000. Select the HungAppTimeout\newline value and set it to 1000 as well.

3. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control.Select the WaitToKillServiceTimeout value and set it to 10000.

4. Close the Registry Editor.

12. Speeding Up Your PPPoE Connection

If you use a Point-to-Point Protocol connection over Ethernet (PPPoE), you maynotice a delay in using the PPPoE connection after startup. By default, there is a 120 second delay but you can stop this behavior by manually configuring an IP address forthe network adapter card. If you do not use a PPPoE connection, you can skip thissection.

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

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 addressand subnet mask for your network.

11. Speeding Up the Dual-Boot Timeout

If you dual-boot your computer with Windows XP and another operating system, yousee an operating system selection menu on startup. If you typically boot into WindowsXP and not the other operating system, you can speed up the dual-boot timeout valueso that you do not wait so long for the boot process to select your default operatingsystem and continue with the boot process. The default timeout value is 30 secondsbut 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 canskip this section if you 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 islocated in C:\boot.ini.

2. Open the file with Notepad (which is what opens it by default).

3. Change the Timeout value to 10.4. Select File/Save and close Notepad.

10. Stopping Remote Assistance and

In Windows XP Professional, you have two remote networking features calledRemote Assistance and Remote Desktop Sharing. These remote networking featuresare very helpful in a variety of situations but if you don't use them, it is good idea to disable them to save boot time. You can always enable them later if you want to usethem.

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.

9. Removing Unwanted Fonts

One trick that increases your boot time a bit is to lose any fonts in the Fonts folder in Control Panel that you never use. The more fonts you have, the more processing Windows XP has to do to prep all of those fonts for use. You must be a bit careful here to not remove fonts that you might want, but there is a good chance that you can live without many of them.

To delete unneeded fonts, follow these steps: -

1. Open the Fonts folder in Control Panel.

2. Select Edit/Select All and then Edit/Copy.

3. Create a new folder on your desktop, open it, and select Edit/Paste.

4. In this new folder, delete any of the fonts you do not want.

5. Return to the Fonts folder in Control Panel. Right-click the selected fonts and click Delete.

6. Go back to your new desktop folder and click Edit/Select All.

7. Return to your Fonts folder and click Edit/Paste. You now have only the desiredfonts in the Fonts folder.

8. Disabling the Boot Logo

You can remove the boot logo that appears when you start Windows XP. This little tweak probably shaves only a few seconds off your boot time but seconds count if youare serious about trying to get Windows XP up and running as quickly as possible.
The only negative is that if you remove the boot logo, you will also not see any bootmessages, such as check disk.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.

7. Disabling Recent Documents History

The bad thing about Recent Documents History is that Windows XP has to calculatewhat should be put there each time you boot Windows, which can slow things down.

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 itonce 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 thechange to take effect.

6. Memory Tweak

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) and locate the following key in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\MemoryManagement\PrefetchParameters

2.On the EnablePrefetcher value, change the setting from 3 to 5 (decimal).

3. Close the registry editor and restart your computer.

5. Stop Error Messages from Displaying

If you constantly see an error message that you can't get rid offor example, from a piece of software that didn't uninstall properly and continues to give errors on startupyou can disable it from displaying on startup.
Run the Registry Editor and go toHKEY_LOCAL MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Windows. (Thiskey holds a variety of Windows system settings, such as the location of your systemdirectory.)
Create a new DWORD called NoPopupsOnBoot and give it a value of 1. Exit the Registry and reboot for the setting to take effect. To disable it, either delete the DWORD value or give it a value of 0.

4. Bonus Tip: Perform a Boot Defragment

There's a simple way to speed up XP startup: make your system do a boot defragment,which will put all the boot files next to one another on your hard disk. When boot files are in close proximity to one another, your system will start faster.

On most systems, boot defragment should be enabled by default, but it might not beon yours, or it might have been changed inadvertently. To make sure that bootdefragment is enabled on your system, run the Registry Editor and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction

Edit the Enable string value to Y if it is not already set to Y. Exit the Registry and reboot.

The next time you reboot, you'll do a boot defragment.

3. Disabling Unused PORTS

I have just accidentally found out another way to give you an extra boost in windowsXP's boot performance. This is done by disabling your unused devices in
Device Manager. For example, if you don't have input devices that are connected to one of your USBs or COM ports, disabling them will give you an extra perfromance boost in booting.
Go to Control Panel > System > Hardware tab > Device manager
Disable devices that you don't use for your PC and then restart.
See the difference foryourself.

2. Stopping Unneeded Startup Services and Making XP boot faster !

Along with the core operating system and programs that Windows XP runs when it starts, there is also a host of services involved. Many of these services are necessary for Windows XP to operate correctly. However, many of them are for features in Windows XP that you may not use at all. You can peruse the services and disable any service that you do not want to run. The fewer services that run, the more quickly Windows XP will boot.
To reduce the number of services that start on bootup, you can access two differentareas of Windows XP.

o The first is the System Configuration Utility. You can do that by entering thecommand “msconfig” in the run menu.

Start Run “msconfig” (without quotes) Hit EnterThe Services tab shows you the services that start when the computerboots. You can stop a service from starting by simply clearing the check boxnext to the service and clicking OK.
o However, before you do so, there is another way to disable services that you may prefer because the interface gives you more information about the servicein question.

Open Control Panel Administrative Tools Services orStart Run “services.msc” Hit Enter
Take a quick look at common services you may want to live without:Automatic Updates: This service enables Windows XP to check the Webautomatically for updates.
If you don't want to use Automatic Updates, you candisable the service.Computer Browser: If your computer is not on a network, you don't need this service.
If you are on a network, leave it alone.
DHCP Client: If you are not on a network, you do not need this service. If you are ona small workgroup, you can still increase boot time by configuring manual IP.
DNS Client: If you are not on a network, you do not need this service.
Error Reporting and Event Log: You don't have to use these services but they can bevery helpful, so I would leave them configured as automatic.
Fax: If you don't use your computer for fax services, you can disable this one.Help and Support: Disable if you never use the Windows XP Help and SupportCenter.
IMAPI CD-Burning COM: This service enables you to burn CDs on your computer.If you never burn CDs, you can disable the service without any second thoughts.
Indexing Service: Your computer keeps an index of all the files. But if you rarelysearch for files, the service is just a resource hog.
You can stop itWindows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing: If you do not use these features, plzdisable.
Infrared Monitor: If you do not use infrared devices, you can disable this service.Messenger: This service sends alert messages on a local area network (it is not thesame as Windows Messenger).
If you are not on a network, you can disable thisservice.
Print Spooler: If you do not do any printing from the computer, you can disable thisservice. If you print, make sure you leave it as automatic.
Remote Registry: This service allows remote users to modify the Registry on yourcomputer. If you are not on a network, you can disable this service.System Restore Service: This service allows you to use System Restore. If you haveturned off System Restore anyway, you do not need to turn off the service.
Themes: If you do not use themes, you can disable this service.
Windows Image Acquisition: If you do not use scanners or digital cameras, you candisable.
Wireless Zero Configuration: If do not use wireless networking devices, you candisable.

1. Read before you proceed

This is in no way an ‘ultimate’ resource to computertweaking. It is just the drop an ocean. This guide is nothingbut an honest effort to assimilating knowledge on how amachine can be tamed. More can be obtained by searchingthe World Wide Web using ‘Google’ ‘MSN’ ‘DogPile’‘Yahoo!’ and other search engines.

I do not claim any rights on the contents discussed here.Many people- hackers, crackers, administrators, computergeeks, teaching faculty, user groups- have contributed theirwisdom and they wanted it to be shared and discussed. I havejust ‘compiled’ the data into a single file that people can useit as an all purpose computer guide.

I have personally tried and tested most of the tweaksdiscussed in this guide. However, I request fellow readers tobe cautious while trying it out with your system. Alwaystake a backup copy of all important data/registry beforeattempting to change the system/registry settings.Remember, prevention is always better than cure.

Last but not the least- Learn, Share & Grow. Add yourknowledge to what I have and share it unconditionally withthe people who are looking for it.

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