how to auto end programs & reduce shutdown time

When windows xp shutting down it takes some time to close running programs, you can reduce this time by editing some of registry key, here's how to do it.

• Open registry editor (start>run>type regedit> press enter)
• Navigate to key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
• In the right pane double click AutoEndTasks and enter value 1 in the "value data field"
• Now in the same side open WaitToKillAppTimeout and enter value 3500 in the field (default value is 20000)
• Close the registry editor and restart pc changes to go into effect.
  

how to disable right click on taskbar

Does your taskbar & start menu settings messed up by someone , you know you can prevent them using taskbar properties , with a simple edit of registry you can disable right clicking on taskbar, this prevents users from getting "taskbar and start menu properties" here's how we do it.

• Open registry editor
• Go to the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
• Now right click on the key, point to new then click DWORD value
• Name the key as NoTrayContextMenu
• Now open the key and put 1 in the "value data" field

From the next restart the settings will be effected , you can revert this process by putting 0 to "value data" field, or deleting the key

delete items without sending to recycle bin

There are 3 ways to configure this option described as follows, use more suitable way to you

From recycle bin properties

• Right click on recycle bin and click properties
• In the recycle bin properties window click global tab
• Select "use one setting for all drives" (it may be already selected) when this option selected it is used one settings for partitions.
• Now select " do not move files to the recycle bin.remove files immediately when deleted"
• Click apply and ok

From registry

• Open registry editor
• Locate the key of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Explorer\BitBucket
• Now in the right pane double click to open NukeOnDelete key and set its value to 1

Manual method

• Just select the files or folders you want to delete, now in keyboard press shift and delete key simultaneously, click yes to delete the files.
  

how to disable security center warnings

Does security center frequently alerts you a message "Your computer may be at risk. Your virus protection status is unknown" with useless repeating reminder. do you want to stop this warning messages ever appearing again. there are 2 ways to disable this reminders, take more suitable way to you.follow these steps.

Disable from control panel

• Go to the control panel
• Double click security center icon
• Now in the left pane under " Resources " click change the way security center alerts me
• In the opened " alert settings window " deselect the options that you don't want to remind (ex - firewall , virus protection)
• Click ok and close security center

Disable from registry

• Open registry editor
• Locate the key of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center
• In the right pane double click to open the keys of " AntiVirusDisableNotify , firewalldisablenotify , updatesdisablenotify " and put DWORD value data as 1
• Now close the registry editor and restart your computer for changes to go into effect.
  

how to backup entire registry manually

This will show you how to backup windows registry, follow these steps

• Open registry editor (start > run > type regedit > press enter)
• Now click on file menu and click export
• In the " export range " (see the bottom of export registry file window) select all
• Give it a name for file and select the saving location
• Click save to backup the registry.
  

create shortcut to shutdown and restart

This post will show how to create shortcuts for shutdown & restart your system without taking long way to find your restart and shutdown buttons. the procedure as follows.

Shutdown

• Right click on desktop, point to new, click create shortcut
• In the location field (space near browse button) type shutdown -s -t 0 and click next
• Now type a name for shortcut and click finish
• Now double click shortcut to shutdown your pc
  

Note - if you want you can change the icon of newly created shortcut, just right click on shortcut and click properties, now in the "shortcut" tab click change icon button, pick icon as you like click ok, then apply and ok.

Restart

• Right click on desktop, point to new, click create shortcut
• In the location field (space near browse button) type shutdown -r -t 0 and click next
• Now type a name for shortcut and click finish
• Now double click shortcut to restart your pc

Tip - instead double clicking shortcut you can add them to quick launch at taskbar to perform single click operation. first you need to put quick launch to taskbar, right click on taskbar and click properties, in "taskbar" tab select show quick launch by checking the box. click apply and ok. now drag newly created shortcut to quick launch.

how to prevent appearing recent documents

Normally when you open or access a document or file it is added to the list called recent document (in the start menu) by editing some keys in your registry you can disable recent document ever appearing again. here is how we do it.

Step 1

1. Go to the registry editor (start>run>type regedit and press enter)
2. Now go to the key of HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
3. Right click on the key, point to new and click DWORD value
4. Now name the key as NoRecentDocsHistory
5. Double click to open the key and set the value '1' to enable the restriction

Step 2

1. Then go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
2. And repeat the steps from 3 to 5
   

From next reboot, there is no more recent document saved at the start menu.

convert partition from FAT to NTFS with command prompt support

Do you need to convert your FAT partition to NTFS, this can be done with a simple command. and you can even convert your partiton straight away with data (no need to backup data) but keep in mind this process cant be reversed once you convert FAT to NTFS, here is how we do it

• Click start and run
• Type cmd and press enter to open command prompt
• In the command prompt type Convert C: /FS:NTFS and press enter
• Once you press enter it will ask you for confirmation and press Y. Then press Y again once more to reboot pc
• The conversion process will begin at the next reboot

Note - "C" is the drive you wish to convert (you can convert more drives, just put the correct drive letter, for example - Convert E: /FS:NTFS. Make sure there is a space between the C: and the foward slash (/).

turn off Autoplay option from group policy

This will guide how to disable Autorun options for windows, after doing this your removable devices such as USB disks and CD-Rom will not auto start. complete these 2 steps to disable autorun option.

step 1

• Click start and run
• Yype gpedit.msc and press enter to open group policy
• Now under "computer configuration" double click administrative templates
• Click system folder
• In there find "turn off autoplay" and double click to open it
• In the settings tab click enable to select it
• Now in the drop down menu select "all drives"
• Click apply and ok

step 2

• Now under "user configuration" double click administrative templates
• Click system folder
• In there find "turn off autoplay" and double click to open it
• In the settings tab click enable to select it
• Now in the drop down menu select "all drives"
• Click apply and ok

configure full screen for explorer view

With a simple edit of registry you can view full screen for explorer view, here is how to do it

• Open registry editor
• Go to key of HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Console
• In there find "fullscreen" and open key
  
• Edit value from 0 to 1
• Now go to registry key of HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
• In there find "fullscreen" and open key
• Edit the value from no to yes
• Now everytime you open windows explorer or IE 6 you'll be running in full screen
  

reduce disk space for temporary internet files

This post will guide how to decrease disk space that used by temporary internet files.

• Open internet properties (start>run type inetcpl.cpl press enter)
• In the general page click settings under "temporary internet files"
• In the opened settings window, Slide the slider bar all the way to the left to decrease the disk space.
• Click ok
• Then click apply and click ok
  

changed i386 cached location

Sometime if you want to add some extra features to windows you might ask for windows installation CD, you can do this easily (without provide CD time to time) by copying i386 folder to your harddisk. now you can point the location of the i386 folder by editing the registry key, so that windows XP will look for them automatically, here is how to do it.

• Open the registry editor
• Go to the key of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
• In there you can find SourcePath now change the value to the correct i386 folder (ex - d:\i386)
• Now go to the key of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup
• In there open SourcePath and changed it to the correct drive letter (ex - D:\)

That's it, from now on you are no longer need to provide the CD time to time, windows will get files automatically from the location you specified from the registry.

how to display message from startup

If you want to display message when windows starts, you can do it by simple edit of registry, please follow these steps carefully and you have no problem.

• Go to registry editor (start>run type regedit and press enter)
• Navigate to key of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
• Now in winlogon, find key legalnoticecaption and open the key
• Type a name you want to name the window
• Now find key legalnoticetext and open the key
  
• Now type the message window want to say, that's it.
• From next restart you can see the what you want to see
  

remove history from internet explorer address bar

internet Explorer can track URL that you type in the address bar, this feature allows you to save you from typing the next time that you visit that site again. However, any user that uses your computer can find out what addresses you typed. this is the part that you don't like, this post describes how to remove history from internet explorer, follow these steps.

• Click on Start, then Run
• Type regedit and press enter to start registry editor
• In the registry find the key of HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Typed URLs
• Now delete this key

Note - from now on internet explorer history not displayed in address bar.

create batch file to delete prefetch files

the below steps are about how to create batch file to delete prefetch files automatically, follow these steps.

• Create new text document
• Now type del C:\Windows\Prefetch\*.* /Q inside the text document
• Go to file menu, click save as (this will open save as dialog box)
• In the dialog box, under save as type select all files from the drop down menu
• In the file name field type a name you prefer with .bat extension (ex-prefetch.bat)
• Click save
• Now double click the file to test, you will find that there's no more prefetch files left in the folder.
  

disable auto restart in windows xp

Blue screen, what happen when you get blue screen error, the pc automatically restart without letting you to read error description, now lets see how to disable auto restart feature in windows xp.

• Right click on my computer and click properties to open system properties (or press "window key and pause break" in keyboard)
• In the opened system properties window click advanced tab
• Under the Startup and Recovery section, click Settings
• Now under system failure uncheck "automatically restart"
• Click ok. then apply and ok
  

create shortcut for fast user switching

Fast user switching is a very useful feature of Windows for multi-user computers. fast user switching allows multiple users to be logged into a computer at once. This is very useful when someone is in the middle of work but another needs to use the computer shortly.Fast user switching will allow the other user to log in while still retaining the other users session. Once the other user is finished the session can be switched back to the original user. now lets see how to create shortcut for fast user switching.

• Right click the area the shortcut you want to appear then click new shortcut
• Now copy c:\windows\system32\tsdiscon.exe to location area (typing area next to browse button)
• Now give a name for shortcut (ex-fast user)
• Click finish
• Now double click the shortcut see the results
  

cleanup prefetch & temp files

Cleanup "prefetch files" - some say it will create problems, some say it is safe to delete, some say it doesn't make any difference. my thought is you can safely delete prefetch files with no problems at all. below descriptions is about how to delete unnecessary files from system.

Delete prefetch files

• Go to run (start>run)
• Type prefetch and press enter (the exact path is C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch)
• Now delete all files inside the prefetch folder

Delete windows temporary files

• Go to run (start>run)
• Type temp and press enter (the exact path is C:\WINDOWS\Temp)
• Now delete all files inside the temp folder

Delete user temporary files

• Go to run (start>run)
• Type %temp% and press enter (the exact path is C:\Documents and Settings\(user name) \Local Settings\Temp
• Now delete all file in the temp folder

Note - running above actions will no harm to your system

If you need all in one type software to perform all above actions, the only free software i know (the best) is Ccleaner. just download software, install it, after install select the actions to perform (it automatically selected most for you) then click analyse, if this gonna take time click cancel button and click run cleaner, this perform all above actions for you.

adjust graphic settings for speed performance

We all know windows xp uses some considerable amount or ram for visual elements, this can cause your computer to be less responsive. By tweaking your graphics settings, you can increase the performance of your computer. to get start reduce some color quality, procedure as follows.

• Right click on your desktop and click properties
• Click on the settings tab and adjust the color quality to medium (16 bit) form the drop down menu
• Click apply and ok to exit

Next, we use the windows performance settings to optimize your computer for performance. this will reduce lot of the fancy graphics effects. follow these steps.

• Right click on my computer and click properties
• Click advanced tab
• Now under "performance" click settings
• In the visual effects tab select "adjust for best performance"
• Click apply and ok

One more thing, we also can use "windows classic" as a default theme, to do this follow these steps.

• Right click on the empty area of desktop and click properties to open "display properties" window.
  
• On the theme tab, select windows classic from the drop down menu
• Click apply and ok to exit display properties.

After completing all above steps, you can see some faster response from the computer

how to turn off & remove the thumbs.db files

This describes how to turn off & remove the thumbs.db files, the procedure as follows.

• Open folder options ( click start and run, type "control.exe folders" press enter)
• Click on the View Tab
• Place a check in the option "Do not cache thumbnails"
• Click Ok
• that's it you turn off the thumbs.db features

Now lets see how to remove thumbs.db files from hard disk

• Open search window
• Click on All Files and Folders
• Now search for a thumbs.db files (make sure all hard disks selected)
• Click Search
• In the long list of thumbs.db files, select all files and delete the files.