Windows tips & tricks

[Friendz]

Windows tips & tricks

1.How to make your Desktop Icons Transparent
Go to ontrol Panel > System, > Advanced > Performance area > Settings button Visual Effects tab "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the Desktop"

2.Speed up your browsing of Windows 2000 & XP machines
Here's a great tip to speed up your browsing of Windows XP machines. Its actually a fix to a bug installed as default in Windows 2000 that scans shared files for Scheduled Tasks. And it turns out that you can experience a delay as long as 30 seconds when you try to view shared files across a network because Windows 2000 is using the extra time to search the remote computer for any Scheduled Tasks. Note that though the fix is originally intended for only those affected, Windows 2000 users will experience that the actual browsing speed of both the Internet & Windows Explorers improve significantly after applying it since it doesn't search for Scheduled Tasks anymore. Here's how :

Open up the Registry and go to :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace

Under that branch, select the key :

{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}

and delete it.

This is key that instructs Windows to search for Scheduled Tasks. If you like you may want to export the exact branch so that you can restore the key if necessary.

This fix is so effective that it doesn't require a reboot and you can almost immediately determine yourself how much it speeds up your browsing processes.

3.Search For Hidden Or System Files In Windows XP


The Search companion in Windows XP searches for hidden and system files differently than in earlier versions of Windows. This guide describes how to search for hidden or system files in Windows XP.

Search for Hidden or System Files By default, the Search companion does not search for hidden or system files. Because of this, you may be unable to find files, even though they exist on the drive.

To search for hidden or system files in Windows XP:
Click Start, click Search, click All files and folders, and then click More advanced options.

Click to select the Search system folders and Search hidden files and folders check boxes.

NOTE: You do not need to configure your computer to show hidden files in the Folder Options dialog box in Windows Explorer to find files with either the hidden or system attributes, but you need to configure your computer not to hide protected operating system files to find files with both the hidden and system attributes. Search Companion shares the Hide protected operating system files option (which hides files with both the system and hidden attributes) with the Folder Options dialog box Windows Explorer.

4.Restricting Logon Access

If you work in a multiuser computing environment, and you have full (administrator level) access to your computer, you might want to restrict unauthorized access to your "sensitive" files under Windows 95/98.
One way is to disable the Cancel button in the Logon dialog box.
Just run Regedit and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Network/Logon

Create the "Logon" subkey if it is not present on your machine: highlight the Network key -> right-click in the left hand Regedit pane -> select New -> Key -> name it "Logon" (no quotes) -> press Enter. Then add/modify a DWORD value and call it "MustBeValidated" (don't type the quotes). Double-click it, check the Decimal box and type 1 for value.
Now click the Start button -> Shut Down (Log off UserName) -> Log on as a different user, and you'll notice that the Logon Cancel button has been disabled.


5.Remove the Recycle Bin from the Desktop

If you don't use the Recycle Bin to store deleted files , you can get rid of its desktop icon all together.

Run Regedit and go to:


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/explorer/Desktop/NameSpace


Click on the "Recycle Bin" string in the right hand pane. Hit Del, click OK.

[Friendz]

Make your Folders Private

•Open My Computer
•Double-click the drive where Windows is installed (usually drive (C:), unless you have more than one drive on your computer).
•If the contents of the drive are hidden, under System Tasks, click Show the contents of this drive.
•Double-click the Documents and Settings folder.
•Double-click your user folder.
•Right-click any folder in your user profile, and then click Properties.
•On the Sharing tab, select the Make this folder private so that only I have access to it check box.

Note
•To open My Computer, click Start, and then click My Computer.
•This option is only available for folders included in your user profile. Folders in your user profile include My Documents and its subfolders, Desktop, Start Menu, Cookies, and Favorites. If you do not make these folders private, they are available to everyone who uses your computer.
•When you make a folder private, all of its subfolders are private as well. For example, when you make My Documents private, you also make My Music and My Pictures private. When you share a folder, you also share all of its subfolders unless you make them private.
•You cannot make your folders private if your drive is not formatted as NTFS For information about converting your drive to NTFS

[Friendz]

Copy Files and Folders to CD

To copy files and folders to a CD

•Insert a blank, writable CD into the CD recorder.

•Open My Computer.

•Click the files or folders you want to copy to the CD. To select more than one file, hold down the CTRL key while you click the files you want. Then, under File and Folder Tasks, click Copy this file, Copy this folder, or Copy the selected items.

•If the files are located in My Pictures, under Picture Tasks, click Copy to CD or Copy all items to CD, and then skip to step 5.

•In the Copy Items dialog box, click the CD recording drive, and then click Copy.

•In My Computer, double–click the CD recording drive. Windows displays a temporary area where the files are held before they are copied to the CD. Verify that the files and folders that you intend to copy to the CD appear under Files Ready to be Written to the CD.

•Under CD Writing Tasks, click Write these files to CD. Windows displays the CD Writing Wizard. Follow the instructions in the wizard.

Notes:

•Do not copy more files to the CD than it will hold. Standard CDs hold up to 650 megabytes (MB). High–capacity CDs hold up to 850 MB.

•Be sure that you have enough disk space on your hard disk to store the temporary files that are created during the CD writing process. For a standard CD, Windows reserves up to 700 MB of the available free space. For a high–capacity CD, Windows reserves up to 1 gigabyte (GB) of the available free space.

•After you copy files or folders to the CD, it is useful to view the CD to confirm that the files are copied. For more information, click Related Topics.
To stop the CD recorder from automatically ejecting the CD

•Open My Computer.

•Right–click the CD recording drive, and then click Properties.

•On the Recording tab, clear the Automatically eject the CD after writing check box.

[Friendz]

Rename a Series of Files

When you download photos from your digital camera, they often have unrecognizable names. You can rename several similar files at once with the following procedure. This also works for renaming other types of files.

1.Open the My Pictures folder. (Click Start, and then click My Pictures.) Or open another folder containing files that you want to rename.
2.Select the files you want to rename. If the files you want are not adjacent in the file list, press and hold CTRL, and then click each item to select it.
3.On the File menu, click Rename or press F2
4.Type the new name, and then press ENTER.

All of the files in the series will be named in sequence using the new name you type. For example, if you type Birthday, the first will be named Birthday and subsequent files in the series will be named Birthday (1), Birthday (2), and so on. To specify the starting number for the series, type the starting number in parentheses after the new file name. The files in the series will be numbered in sequence starting with the number you type. For example, if you type Birthday (10), the other files will be named Birthday (11), Birthday (12), and so on.

[Friendz]

Disk Tools to Speed Up your PC

Every month or two you should do a little disk maintenance to optimize the performance of your computer.

1 - Disk Cleanup - Click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Cleanup. Click the unnecessary files you want to remove, and click OK.

2 - Run ScanDisk - Click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, ScanDisk.(run Standard and check Automatically fix errors)

3 - Run Disk Defragmenter - Click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter. (note this may take a long time to run the first time.)


Disabling Error Reporting

By default, WindowsXP will request to report application errors to Microsoft.
To turn this off:

Right click on the My Computer icon on the desktop
Select Properties / Advanced
Click on the Error Reporting tab
Check Disable error reporting


Speeding Up the Display of Start Menu Items

An easy way to speed up the display of the Start Menu Items is to turn off the menu shadow.

Right click on an open area of the Desktop
Select Properties
Click on the Appearance tab
Click on the Effects button
Uncheck Show shadows under menus


Setting System Time Over the Internet

You can set your system clock to a time server on the Internet.

Double-click the time on your taskbar
Click the Internet Time tab
Check Automatically synchronize with an Internet time server
Click on the Update Now button


Creating a Password Recovery Disk

In case you forget your password, you can create a password recovery floppy disk beforehand to help you out of this problem.

Single-click Start menu
Go to the Control Panel / User Accounts
Click the User Account
On the left hand side, click on Prevent forgotten password
You will need to know your password to create the disk.
If you don't remember your password sometime in the future, click on the green arrow like normal at the login and you will be prompted to insert the password recover disk.


Changing the Default Search Settings

By default, when you start a search,
you are prompted for what you want to search for.
(e.g. Pictures, Documents, Files, Computers)

To change the preferences, simply click on Change preferences

From here you can:

Turn off the animated screen character
Change files and folders search behavior (setting it to Advanced changes the default search screen to be for simply files)
Internet search settings
Turn off balloon tips

[Friendz]

How to Increase Windows Speed


Step1 Defrag your hard drive as needed. Go to "My Computer" to find your hard disk drive. It usually is designated as the "C" drive. Right click on the hard drive. Click "Properties." Choose "Tools" to find Defragmentation. Click "Defrag Now," and follow the onscreen prompts to consolidate fragmented data.



Step2 Clean out temporary file folders. Go to the "Tools" menu option in your browser window and click "Internet Options." Find the section for Temporary Internet files, and click "Delete Files." You can also access temporary files through Windows Explorer. Do this regularly, as temporary folders accumulate quickly. If you don't want the hassle, buy a "windows washer" program that will automate the process.



Step3 Remove your desktop wallpaper. Desktop graphics can use quite a bit of memory, and anything that uses this much memory slows your computer. Right click on your desktop. Click on "Properties." Choose "Desktop." For "Background," select "None" and click "OK."



Step4 Delete unused programs. During software installation, other programs sometimes piggyback onto other programs. Go to your Control Panel and check Add/Remove Programs. Delete programs that you never use from the list.



Step5 Get rid of unused folders as well. Your hard drive is programmed to check folders when starting. Delete folders you no longer need. Computer techs say you can also delete these folders in Windows: Driver Cache, Prefetch and RegisteredPackages.



Step6 Stop "Indexing Services" if you don't search your computer very often. Indexing Services is continually updating lists of files on your computer so that searches go faster. Go to "Add/Remove Programs" in your Control Panel. Click "Add/Remove Window Components," and remove the checkmark next to "Indexing Services."



Step7 Eliminate unnecessary start-up programs to add some speed. As a temporary fix, you can bypass start-up programs by holding down the shift key while you're booting up. For a longterm solution, go to C:\Windows\Tasks, and delete the shortcuts of programs you don't want to run automatically. Delete other start-up programs by clicking on "All Programs" and selecting "Startup." Right click programs you want to remove. It's best to do this one program at a time and reboot.

[annie]

A modern PC with Vista Home Edition takes about one and a half minutes to boot. An older machine with XP is about the same. That’s 30 seconds for the PC itself (the BIOS) to boot up, plus a minute for the Windows operating system to boot.

Sometimes, you need to reboot Windows (e.g. when installing new software), but there is no need to restart BIOS, too. However, the default is to reboot both. (That’s called doing a “cold boot,” rather than a “warm boot.”) There’s a trick that works on both XP and Vista to get it to do a warm boot instead, thus saving you 30 seconds per cycle.

The trick is to hold down the SHIFT key when invoking the restart.

Windows Vista: Select Start, then hover over the right arrow that is to the right of the padlock icon until the pop-up menu appears that contains “restart” as one of it’s choices. Hold down the SHIFT key while clicking on the “restart” choice.

Windows XP: Select Start. Select “Shut Down…”. Change the drop-down combo box under “What do you want the computer to do?” to “Restart”. Hold down the SHIFT key while clicking on the “OK” button.

[Zer(O)]

good tricks

[spiral]

sweet thread man... if your not flimilar with microsoft powertoys, they gotta program/plugin called 'tweakxp' that you can mod a lot of xp settings with that regularly arent available... well user friendly available anyways haha. check it out, they got it at microsoft.com

[emmaelle]

Nice information it is useful to do icon transparent

Thanks.....