1. Removing the Recycle Bin from the desktop
2. Removing an Error Report Flag From The Paging File
3. Reinstalling Internet Explorer 6
4. Uptime Reliability and Availability Information Tool
5. Optimizing Contiguous File Allocation Size
6. Turn off Hibernate and save a chunk of disk space
7. Defrag your hard drive the easy, no frills way
8. Scheduling Defrag via the command prompt
9. Prevent lost passwords in XP
10. Change the Windows Logon Screen Saver in Windows XP
11. Tweak your mouse response
12. Speed up icon display in My Network Places
13. Another Quick Way to Shutdown
14. Disable unused devices to free resources
15. Putting your Windows logo key to work
16. Adding a log reader to XP's built-in Firewall

Removing the Recycle Bin (and other items) From The Desktop

START ====> RUN ===> GPEDIT.MSC

Then User Configuration ===>Administrative Templates=== >Click on Desktop,

In the right pane Click "Remove Recycle Bin icon from desktop", right-click it and choose Properties (or double-click). Choose "Enable". As you can see, it's fairly easy to remove items from the desktop and/or context menus related to the desktop.

Removing an Error Report Flag From The Paging File

Here's an interesting problem I came across recently. After screwing around with unsigned drivers on my Toshiba notebook, an error would pop up on every boot of XP. After scratching my head for a few hours and several unsuccessful Restore procedures, I came to find that the Paging File had an erroneous flag indicating that Windows XP had experienced an error and prompted me to report the error. Well, the problem was solved quite easily by removing the paging file, rebooting, then restoring the page file back to normal. The flag and the problem were gone along with the error report.

Reinstalling Internet Explorer

One of the easiest ways to reinstall Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 is to reinstall from a download.

First, fire-up regedit and navigate to the key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMICROSOFTACTIVE SETUPINSTALL COMPONENTS{89820200-ECBD-11cf-8B85-00AA005B4383}

In the right-pane, double-click IsInstalled, and change its value to 0.

Now cruise over to Microsoft and download MSIE 6 , then reinstall.

Uptime Reliability and Availability Information Tool

This tool is intended for Windows NT 4 or 2000, but works just dandy on XP. Working as a command line tool, it displays :

\XXXXXX has been up for: 0 day(s), 6 hour(s), 21 minute(s), 45 second(s)

Estimate based on last boot record in the event log.
See UPTIME /help for more detail.

Download the tool here

Optimizing Contiguous File Allocation Size

This sets the minimum amount of contiguous disk space before writing to disk. This can be most helpful for apps which are disk intensive and does help reduce disk fragmentation.

Run regedit and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetControlFileSystem
If not there, create a new DWORD value named ContigFileAllocSize and set the value to 512 (decimal)

Turn off Hibernate and Save a Chunk of Disk Space

It didn't take me long to figure this one out! If you don't plan on using the Hibernate feature, why not shut it off? There's disk space the size of your RAM reserved for Hibernation if you leave it enabled.

What is Hibernation. Hibernation enables you to power down and save your system and what you were working on, to disk. When coming out of Hibernation, your system is restored to exactly the way it was when you shut down. (most of the time)

No need for it? Let's disable it! We can always turn it back on if need be:

Go to Control Panel, then Power Options, click the Hibernate tab, and uncheck Enable Hibernation.

Defrag your hard drive the no frills way

Create a shortcut on your desktop by opening notepad and and putting in the line defrag c: Save this file as defrag_c.bat or whatever you desire. When double-clicking this shortcut, it will open the command prompt and, you guessed it, defrag drive, c:

Gone is the fancy interface and options. Well there are a few options, but you'll have to enter them by using one of the following in your batch file:

Windows Disk Defragmenter
Copyright (c) 2001 Microsoft Corp. and Executive Software International, Inc.
Usage:
defrag [-a] [-f] [-v] [-?]
volume drive letter or mount point (d: or d:volmountpoint)
-a Analyze only
-f Force defragmentation even if free space is low
-v Verbose output
-? Display this help text

You can make a batch file for each drive individually, or add them to a single file like this:

defrag c:

defrag d:

defrag e:

The output in the command prompt isn't very verbose, but it is defragmenting.

Scheduling Defrag via the Command Prompt

In the above , we showed how to defrag from the command prompt, but how about scheduling a defrag? Well, it's just as simple and requires no batch file.

Open the command prompt START==>All Programs==>Accessories==>Command Prompt

Now type at /? then enter and were presented with these options:

AT [\computername] [ [id] [/DELETE] | /DELETE [/YES]]
AT [\computername] time [/INTERACTIVE]
[ /EVERY:date[,...] | /NEXT:date[,...]] "command"

\computername Specifies a remote computer. Commands are scheduled on the
local computer if this parameter is omitted.
id Is an identification number assigned to a scheduled
command.
/delete Cancels a scheduled command. If id is omitted, all the
scheduled commands on the computer are canceled.
/yes Used with cancel all jobs command when no further
confirmation is desired.
time Specifies the time when command is to run.
/interactive Allows the job to interact with the desktop of the user
who is logged on at the time the job runs.
/every:date[,...] Runs the command on each specified day(s) of the week or
month. If date is omitted, the current day of the month
is assumed.
/next:date[,...] Runs the specified command on the next occurrence of the
day (for example, next Thursday). If date is omitted, the
current day of the month is assumed.
"command" Is the Windows NT command, or batch program to be run.

I want to defrag my hard drive c: on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 11 p.m. and keep it interactive. (allows visual progress).

C:>at 23:00 /interactive /every:M,W,F defrag c:

....and I'm presented with:

C:Documents and SettingsXPUSER>at 23:00 /interactive /every:M,W,F defrag c:
Added a new job with job ID = 1

To list your scheduled jobs, just type at at the prompt, then enter:

C:Documents and SettingsRock.MICHAELB1>at
Status ID Day Time Command Line
------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Each M W F 11:00 PM defrag c:

To delete pending jobs, just follow the syntax:

/delete Cancels a scheduled command. If id is omitted, all the
scheduled commands on the computer are canceled.

So to cancel my job with ID 1:

at 1 /delete

Prevent lost passwords in XP

Go to Control Panel, then User Accounts, click the user, and in the upper left pane, choose "Prevent a forgotten password". This will start the forgotten password wizard. Have a floppy ready and proceed through the prompts.

This creates a file called userkey.psw on the floppy. To restore your password at the login screen, click the user, then click the "arrow" and you're prompted to insert your disk. Needless to say, keep your disk in a safe place! ;)

Change the Windows Logon Screen Saver in Windows XP

This is quite simple, just follow this link to Microsoft. No need for me to type it all out for you! ;)

Tweak Your Mouse Response

Here's a simple tweak for your PS/2 mouse. In Device Manager, expand Mice and other pointing devices and double-click your device. Under Advanced Settings, change the sample rate to something higher than it's current setting. For instance, the default setting is 100, but in some instances, it may be set much lower. Try changing it to the next highest setting. This usually improves mouse movement giving a 'smoothing' effect.

Reboot to take effect.

Speed up icon display in My Network Places

When opening My Network Places, it became obvious that as it searched for Network devices and connections, it was taking longer and longer. A quick fix is to open My Network Places, go to Tools, then Folder Options, Then View. Then uncheck the very 1st choice, Automatically search for network folders and printers. This will undoubtedly speed up the display.

Shortcut for Easy Shutdown

Here's a handy option to shutdown your system with the click of a shortcut. Right-click an empty spot on your desktop and then choose New, then Shortcut. In the input type in shutdown then add one of the switches below.

For instance:

shutdown -l (Logs off the current user)

shutdown -s (Shuts down the local computer)

shutdown -r (Reboots after shutdown)

There's a bunch of other switches embedded in XP's Help section and I encourage you to explore those also.

Disable unused devices to free resources

While this may seem like stretching it a bit, it is possible to free up resources by removing or disabling devices under Device Manager. Some of these unused devices may include, floppy drives, serial ports, USB, Firewire and parallel ports, or onboard audio devices. In most cases you can disable these in system BIOS, but here we'll remove them from the Manager.

The increase in speed can be great while in other cases barely noticeable. Now I wouldn't go too crazy with this, but it's worth a try especially if you have an unused Network card (NIC) or modem enabled.

Right-click My Computer, then Properties, then click the Hardware tab, then click Device Manager. The list of devices installed is displayed. In this example I'll disable my internal modem.

Expand the tree to expose the device. In this case I double-click Modems (or click the +).

Right-click the device and choose Disable:

You'll be prompted if you want to disable the device, choose OK.

The screen refreshes and shows:

Just reboot and see how it goes. You can do this with as many devices that you've condemned as unnecessary. If all is ok, congrats on reducing your startup time and freeing up a bit of resources. To undo what we've done here, just reverse the procedure and choose Enable.

Putting your Windows Logo Key to work

Since most of us have the Windows Logo Key on our keyboards, why not put it to good use? These aren't really tweaks, but they are tips! ;)

Below are a few that you may find useful:

(in case you don't know what it looks like) ;)

	+ L	Lock your computer or switch users.
	+ U	Open Utility Manager
	+ R	Opens the Run dialog box.
	+ F	Search for a file/folder
	+ Break	Bring up System Properties
	+ E	Bring up My Computer
	+ M	Minimize all Windows
	+ Shift + M	Restore minimized Windows
	CTRL + + F	Search for network computers

Adding a log reader to XP's built-in Firewall

If you have XP's Firewall enabled, you know all to well that it isn't very verbose. Well I found this utility written by Robert McBride at MajorGeeks that'll take care of that, and it could be found here.

Here's a screenshot.

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