Tip and tricks for XP

[Neo]

Display the Sharing Tab in Folder Properties

In Windows 2000, getting to the Sharing options for a folder was simple: Just right-click, choose Properties, and you'd see a Sharing tab. In Windows XP, this feature is missing by default, but you can make the system display the Sharing tab if desired. Simply open up Folder Options (My Computer, then Tools, Folder Options) and navigate to the View tab. In the Advanced Settings section, scroll down to the bottom and uncheck Use simple file sharing (Recommended), a Mickey Mouse feature if there ever was one. Now share your folders on the LAN as you would in Windows 2000.

 

[Neo]

Use the ultimate configuration tool (Professional Edition only)

One of the most full featured Windows XP configuration tools available is hidden right there in your system, but most people don't even know it exists. It's called the Local Group Policy Editor, or gpedit for short. To invoke this editor, select Start and then Run, then type the following:

gpedit.msc

After you hit ENTER, you'll be greeted by gpedit, which lets you modify virtually every feature in Windows XP without having to resort to regedit. Dig around and enjoy!

 

[Neo]

Rip high-quality MP3s in Media Player for Windows XP (MPXP)

The relationship between Media Player for Windows XP (MPXP) and the MP3 audio format is widely misunderstood. Basically, MPXP is able to playback MP3 files out of the box, but encoding (or "ripping") CD audio into MP3 format will require an MP3 plug-in. During the Windows XP beta, Microsoft supplied a sample MP3 plug-in for testing purposes, but it was limited to 56 Kbps rips, which is pretty useless, leading some to report that Microsoft was purposefully hobbling MP3 to make its Windows Media Audio (WMA) format look better. This is not the case.

To enable MP3 encoding in Windows XP, you'll need to to purchase one of three MP3 Creation Add-on packs for Windows XP.

 

[Neo]

Speed up the Start Menu

The default speed of the Start Menu is pretty slow, but you can fix that by editing a Registry Key. Fire up the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ MenuShowDelay

By default, the value is 400. Change this to a smaller value, such as 0, to speed it up.

If this doesn't work for some reason, then you might try the following: Navigate to Display Properties then Appearance then Advanced and turn off the option titled Show menu shadow. You will get much better overall performance.

 

[Neo]

Stop Windows Messenger from Auto-Starting

If you're not a big fan of Windows Messenger, you can use the tip "Add/Remove optional features of Windows XP" above to remove it, or simply delete the following Registry Key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\MSMSGS

 

[Neo]

Display Hibernate Option on the Shut Down dialog

For some reason, Hibernate isn't available from the default Shut Down dialog. But you can enable it simply enough, by holding down the SHIFT key while the dialog is visible. Now you see it, now you don't!

 

[Neo]

Automatically defrag drives with a new context menu item!

Create a new Registry import file named context_defrag.inf in Notepad (be sure to save with it with the Save as type set to All Files and not Text Documents) and place the following text inside:

; context_defrag.INF

; Adds Defrag to the right click context menu in Windows XP

[version]
signature="$CHICAGO$"

[DefaultInstall]
AddReg=AddMe

[AddMe]

HKCR,"Drive\Shell\Defrag\command",,,"DEFRAG.EXE %1"

Then, right-click and choose Install. This will add a context menu to XP that allows you to automatically defrag drives, using the command line version of the built-in defragmentation utility. To use it, navigate to a drive in My Computer, right-click, and choose Defrag. A command line window will appear, and that drive will be defragged. When it's complete, the window just disappears.

 

[Neo]

To enable Autologon in Windows® XP Professional

1. Click Start, Run and enter "control userpasswords2" to open the Windows 2000-style User Accounts application.

2. On the Users tab, clear the Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To Use This Computer check box and then click OK.

3. In the Automatically Log On dialog box that appears, type the user name and password for the account you want to be logged on each time you start your computer.

 

[s4]

Those are some great tips. I'm saving all the xp tips I find on the web. Thanks!!!

 

[a13antichrist]

Thanks, those are some nice tips.

Plus, I've pinched your post about Auto-Login.

 

[Gonzo]

Hack the start button

You need to hack explorer.exe to change the XP start button, but it is kind of an important
file, so lets make a backup before we start.
Open Windows Explorer and locate explorer.exe in your c:\windows directory. Make a copy of
the file in the same directory and name it explorer.bak.



Now for the fun part. Run the Resource Hacker: Choose File, then Open, and open
c:windowsexplorer.exe. Skate on over to String Table>37>1033, where you should see "Start."
Change this to whatever you want. Get creative. Get offensive. Go crazy -- it's all about
choice.


Click on the button labeled "Compile Script." Now go to file, and click Save As. Save the
file as Explorer_new.exe. You can't save it as Explorer.exe because Explorer.exe is currently
in use. Close all programs and restart your system.


Boot to safe mode with command prompt (F8 on startup).


Log on as an administrator.


Type copy c:\windows\explorer_new.exe c:\windows\explorer.exe, then type yes, then close the
command prompt by typing exit.

 

[Gonzo]

a little expansion on Neo's Messenger info & a little extra I found

You can stop Windows Messenger from Auto-Starting by the
following methods

1) Delete the following Registry Key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Run\MSMSGS

2) Use MSCONFIG to disable it in startup

Start \ Run \ MSCONFIG \ OK \ Startup \ untick Messenger

3) Dramatically expand the list of applications you can
remove from Windows XP after installation

Navigate to C:\WINDOWS\inf (substituting the correct drive
letter for your version of Windows) and open the sysoc.inf
file. Under Windows XP Professional Edition, this file
will resemble the following by default:

[Version] Signature = "$Windows NT$"
DriverVer=06/26/2001,5.1.2505.0

[Components]
NtComponents=ntoc.dll,NtOcSetupProc,,4
WBEM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wbemoc.inf,hide,7
Display=desk.cpl,DisplayOcSetupProc,,7
Fax=fxsocm.dll,FaxOcmSetupProc,fxsocm.inf,,7
NetOC=netoc.dll,NetOcSetupProc,netoc.inf,,7
iis=iis.dll,OcEntry,iis.inf,,7
com=comsetup.dll,OcEntry,comnt5.inf,hide,7
dtc=msdtcstp.dll,OcEntry,dtcnt5.inf,hide,7
IndexSrv_System = setupqry.dll,IndexSrv,setupqry.inf,,7
TerminalServer=TsOc.dll, HydraOc, TsOc.inf,hide,2
msmq=msmqocm.dll,MsmqOcm,msmqocm.inf,,6
ims=imsinsnt.dll,OcEntry,ims.inf,,7
fp_extensions=fp40ext.dll,FrontPage4Extensions,fp40ext.inf,
,7
AutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,au.inf,hide,7
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
msnexplr=ocmsn.dll,OcEntry,msnmsn.inf,,7
smarttgs=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,msnsl.inf,,7
RootAutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,rootau.inf,,7
Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,,7
AccessUtil=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,accessor.inf,,7
CommApps=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,communic.inf,HIDE,7
MultiM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,multimed.inf,HIDE,7
AccessOpt=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,optional.inf,HIDE,7
Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,HIDE,7
MSWordPad=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wordpad.inf,HIDE,7
ZoneGames=zoneoc.dll,ZoneSetupProc,igames.inf,,7

[Global]
WindowTitle=%WindowTitle%
WindowTitle.StandAlone="*"

The entries that include the text hide or HIDE will not
show up in Add/Remove Windows Components by default. To
fix this, do a global search and replace for ,hide and
change each instance of this to , (a comma). Then, save
the file, relaunch Add/Remove Windows Components, and
tweak the installed applications to your heart's content.

 

[fury]

Windows Messenger still autostarts if you have Outlook Express. The solution to that, I don't remember, but it had something to do with deleting a string under Outlook Express's registry key. I'll see if I can find it again, then I'll post it here.