MS WindowsTips & Tricks

The Internet has become a breeding ground for millions of brand-new malware samples every month. With names like Trojans, worms, bots or keyloggers these threats can ruin your day – or your PC. And for that matter, a single PC in the household with a virus can infect all other PCs, laptops and connected devices on the network.

After all, the home PC is now the central hub of everyone’s digital life. It holds personal files, contacts, pictures and music. Maybe even the logins and passwords to your bank account.

2. Altering page files

The page files are one or more areas of your hard disks that Windows XP reserves as virtual memory. To put it simply, these reserved areas are used to contain any data that may spill over from your main memory.

Virtual memory is accessed by Windows just like physical memory, but is many times slower, due to the much slower speed of hard drive data transfer as compared to RAM. Windows XP actually uses the Page files continuously, regardless of the amount of free memory on your system, so optimizing these files can have a positive effect on the performance of your computer.
To optimize the page file(s), there are a few options you can consider.
Page File Placement:
Since Page files require intermittent disk access to write and retrieve information, putting them on the same drive as the operating system can compromise the performance of both. Of course, since most systems contain only a single hard drive, this is not usually something that can be changed. If your system contains more than one hard disk, consider placing a page file on the the non-OS disk and removing the one on the OS-disk containing the Windows files.
To do this: Right click on 'my computer' and select 'properties' then the 'advanced' tab. In the 'performance' section, click 'settings' then select the 'advanced' tab. In the 'virtual memory' section, click 'change.' From here you can choose individual drives and customize the size of the paging files you wish to create. See below for more info.
Page File Size:
By default, page files are created with a starting size and a maximum size. These values allow Windows to resize the paging file as system demand grows. It is more efficient to set an identical starting and maximum value so that no resources are wasted resizing the file.
To do this, choose 'custom size' for each page file and set the initial and maximum sizes to the same number.
As for what size to set them at, the best bet is to leave them at, or slightly below the default 'maximum' setting the system assigned, with a ceiling of 1GB. This is the amount of space that is reserved for the file, regardless of its current size. If you are creating multiple page files, split the amount between them. 
Source : http://www.pcstats.com

1. Turn off or reduce system restore to save hard drive space

Windows XP includes a system restore utility which is capable of rolling your computer back to a pre-defined point in time, removing all changes made to the system since that point. This can be an extremely useful feature for rescuing your PC from viruses or faulty software problems, but it also eats up a large amount of hard drive space.
By default, system restore reserves a whopping 12% of each logical drive for itself. You can considerably reduce the amount of space system restore uses by cutting back on the number of restore points the utility sets for itself, or you can turn the feature off altogether.
To adjust system restore settings: Right click on 'my computer' and select 'properties.' Choose the 'system restore' tab.
To disable system restore, simply check the 'turn off system restore on all drives' box. Otherwise, highlight a drive and click 'settings.'

Using the slider, you can set how much space on this drive system restore will use for its restore points. Decreasing this number will limit some of your flexibility in restoring your system should it be necessary, but reducing the amount down to about 5% or less should still be safe enough for anyone with a 80GB hard drive. Click ok when you decide on the exact amount, or choose 5% if you are unsure.
Source : http://www.pcstats.com  

Miscellaneous registry tweaks (94-101)

94. Disable error reporting on program crash
95. Automatically close non-responsive programs
96. Permanently bypass the recycle bin when deleting files
97. Show administrator account on welcome screen
98. Enable/Disable Active Window Tracking to Mouse Movements
99. Launch Programs at Login Without Using the Startup Folder
100. Force windows XP to reboot upon crashing
101. Disable admin shares.
      Source : http://www.pcstats.com  

Registry tweaks For performance (81-93)

81. Backing up and restoring the windows registry
82. How to edit the windows registry (before other reg tips)
83. Keep Windows operating data in main memory
84. Disable the DOS 8.3 naming convention to save system resources
85. Stop the 'last access update' from taking up system resources
86. Clear the Page File (virtual memory) when shutting down XP
87. Get Rid of XP's annoying balloon tips
88. Adding additional Icons to 'my computer'
89. Speed up the Start Menu
90. Display message on startup
91. Set the default download directory for Internet Explorer
92. Change the size of thumbnail pictures
93. Opening a Command Prompt to a Particular Directory from ExplorerSource : http://www.pcstats.com
    

Essential advice for Beginners (59-80)

59. Stopping desktop ad popups
60. Displaying hidden files and folders
61. Convert Your drives to the NTFS file system
62. Formatting a hard drive partition larger than 32 Gigs with FAT32
63. Finding your IP address and other information with IPCONFIG
64. Update your machine automatically
65. Logging in as the 'Administrator' account
66. Update your drivers
67. Check your PC for spyware and other nasties
68. Show the quicklaunch bar
69. Locking the desktop
70. Using the Windows Scientific calculator feature
71. Accessibility tools
72. Set a new home page in explorer
73. Remove the annoying dog from the search screen
74. Change the look of your mouse pointer.
75. Email attachments are the most common vector for viruses.
76. Keyboard shortcuts
77. Set monitor refresh rate
78. Set power options
79. Creating shortcuts
80. Create passwords for all your user accounts!Source : http://www.pcstats.com
    

Customizing Windows XP (45-58)

45. Stop Windows messenger from running
46. Run command prompt utilities successfully from shortcuts
47. Remove the XP desktop theme
48. Change start menu style
49. Add my computer and other missing icons to your desktop
50. Change the picture in the welcome screen
51. Add items to the 'Send To' right click option
52. Automatically run programs when starting Windows XP
53. Create a screensaver from your pictures
54. Modify autoplay for different types of CD
55. Different folder types with XP
56. Using 'my computer' as a toolbar
57. Enlarge and resize the quicklaunch bar
58. Disable desktop cleanup wizardSource : http://www.pcstats.com
    

Security, privacy and recovery tips (31-44)

31. Use the Windows 2000-style secure logon screen
32. Hiding shared folders with $
33. Using advanced file security settings in Windows XP Home
34. Create a password reset disk
35. Applying a password to the 'administrator' account in XP Home
36. 'Rolling back' a faulty device driver
37. Disable simple file sharing (XP Professional only)
38. Using the Windows XP firewall
39. Turn autocomplete off in IE
40. Using the Windows XP repair installation process
41. Add, Clear or remove the 'my recent documents' menu
42. Creating a desktop shortcut for locking your computer
43. Giving a password to the 'Guest' user account
44. Use system restore when you cannot boot your system normally
    http://www.pcstats.com

Useful Tech Tips for Windows (13-30)

1. Resize screen fonts on the fly in Internet Explorer
2. Mouse Sonar
3. Quick back and forward commands in Internet explorer
4. Mount a new hard drive as a folder in your C: drive
5. Enable clear type
6. Create a keyboard shortcut to a folder or program
7. Use remote desktop to connect to your PC from anywhere (XP Pro only)
8. XP Powertoys
9. Backing up or transferring your email manually with outlook express
10. Running legacy software in Windows XP
11. Compressing files and folders to save space
12. Open explorer window from current command prompt directory
13. Using Quick Edit in the Command Prompt
14. Select 'No to all' when copying files in XP
15. Bypass the recycle bin when deleting a file
16. Create a link to shutdown your PC
17. Hosting online games through the Windows XP firewall
18. Rename multiple files simultaneouslySource : http://www.pcstats.com

Performance Tech Tips (1-12)

1. Turn off or reduce system restore to save hard drive space
2. Altering page files
3. Clean out prefetch folder
4. Set priority for individual programs
5. Cleaning up unwanted startup programs
6. Defrag your hard drive
7. Disable unnecessary services
8. Disable the Disk performance counter(s)
9. Turn Off Windows Indexing service
10. Increasing desktop Graphics Performance
11. Check and set the DMA mode on your drives
12. Smooth out your mouse movement
    http://www.pcstats.com