~XP tips and tricks~

001. try making a folder named CON in ur windows..it cannot be made and Bill Gates also dont know the reason for this

002. Remove Internet Explorer Completely - All version of Windows
Microsoft said that removing IE may make Windows unstable because it has
key components that makes Windows function properly. Well, there is a
way to remove it completely. Go to this site

Code:

http://www.litepc.com/ieradicator.html

and get IEradicator. Many people have used it before and removed IE with no problems afterwards.

003. Shutdown Windows Faster
All versions of Windows have the same problem. It usually takes a little
longer to shutdown when you have the Exit Sound enabled. To disable
this go to Start->Settings->Control Panel->Sounds and Audio
Devices->Sounds. Scroll down and look for Exit Windows. Click on it
once and then under Sounds, choose None. You should see faster shutdown
times.

004. Clean out files in Prefetch Folder
There are files located in the Prefetch folder (C:\Windows\Prefetch)
that you may safely delete. These files are usually left there by other
programs that were using. You can either manually delete them or use
this batch file that I created to do it. All you need to do is unzip the
file called prefetch.bat into your Desktop and then double click on it.
You will see the command prompt come up shortly and disappear. That's
it.

005. Remove temporary files from Temp Folder
You may have noticed that .tmp files appear in the Temp folder
(C:\Windows\Temp). You may delete these files. Since these files might
be accessed by another program, it's a good idea to delete these when
you don't have any programs open. It's best to do this right after you
login to ensure that no programs are using it. If you don't want to
bother going into that folder every time to delete it, you can download
xp_downloads.zip which contains a file called del_temp.bat. Just extract
that file and double click on it to run it.

006. Add programs/folders to SendTo menu
When you right click on a file/folder and choose SendTo, you will get a
list of programs/folders to send it to. Let's just say that you want to
add or delete one of your own programs/folders. This could be
accomplished very easily. Just navigate to C:\Documents and
Settings\your_username\SendTo. In this folder you may add or delete any
program/folder shortcuts. All you need to do is right click on the
program you want to add, and drag and drop (choose Create Shortcuts
Here) it into the SendTo folder.

007. Make XP stop displaying zipped files as folders
In XP, zipped folders could be viewed just by opening up the file. If
you have a third party zip program that you want to use instead of the
built in one by XP, you can stop XP from displaying the zipped files as
folders. This may also be useful for those who are on a slow PC and
don't want to open zip files using XP's built in zip program.

To disable this in XP, go to Start->Run and type in regsvr32 /u
zipfldr.dll. You may just copy and paste the command into the Run menu.
If you want to undo it, just type in regsvr32 zipfldr.dll. Zip away.

008. How to Create a Password Reset Disk
Windows XP allows you to create a password reset disk, just in case you
forget the password and can't login. This is only for computers that are
not on a domain. Those that are on a domain may or may not work the
same way.

Go to Start->Control Panel->User Accounts and click on your
username. Under Related Tasks on the left pane, click Prevent a
forgotten password. A wizard will show up. Click next and then insert a
floppy disk into your floppy drive and choose to save the reset disk on
the floppy.

Enter your current password and then click Next and Finish. The floppy
will now contain your encrypted password. If you forget your password,
you can just use the Password Reset Wizard to create a new one. Just
make sure to create another reset disk once you changed your password.
So if you forgot your password and changed it to a new one, create
another reset disk by repeating the above procedure again.

009. Set User Logon Hours
You can restrict a certain user to only use the computer at a certain
time interval. Let's say you have a username called Bill and you want
Bill to access the computer only from 9AM - 9PM from Monday through
Friday. You can do this by going to Start->Run and type in net user
Bill /time:M-F,9am-9pm. For 24-hour time, you can replace the time with
09:00-21:00 instead. This will only allow the user to login during those
hours on those days.

010. Disable XP Messenger Service
Disable the messenger service built into Windows XP to prevent ads or
other popups from coming up when using Outlook (and maybe even Outlook
Express). Anyway, just disable it for better performance. To disable it,
right click on My Computer->Manage->Services and
Applications->Services and right click on Messenger and choose Stop.
This will stop the service. There may be cases when the Messenger
Service is required for some programs to run properly, so if that's the
case, I would set it to Manual instead of Stop.

011. Customize SendTo Menu - All versions of Windows
Have you ever wanted to use some other program to open up a certain file
but had to go through My Computer->Program Files and then click on
the program's folder and then the program itself. You can open a file
with any programs you have with ease by adding them to the SendTo menu.
You know, when you right click on a file and choose Send To. To do this,
go to Start->Run and type in sendto to open up the SendTo folder.
Now go to My Computer->C: Drive->Program Files and open up any of
the program folders you want. Then right click on the individual
programs and drag it to the SendTo folder and choose Create Shortcuts
Here. Do that for each program you want to be listed there. The next
time you right click on a file and choose Send To, you should see those
programs listed there.
012. Disable Personalized Menus
Some XP users might not like the personalized menus that XP has. One
example of this feature is the highlighting of newly installed programs
in the Start Menu. Some users might find this annoying. To turn this
feature off right click on the Start Button->Properties->Start
Menu tab->Customize->Advance tab->uncheck Highlight newly
installed programs. Click OK. Now when new programs are installed they
shouldn't be highlighted.

013. Using XP System Restore
One important feature in XP is System Restore. This makes a backup of
your data. To create the restore points go to Start->All
Programs->Accessories->System Tools->System Restore. Click
Create a restore point and click Next. Type in a description for the
restore point and click Create. You're all set. If your system fails for
some reason you may use the restore point by hitting the F8 key
repeatedly during boot time until a menu comes up. Choose Last known
good configuration. This will restore everything to the last time when
everything was working ok. It's using the most recent restore point that
you created. If you can get into Windows XP, you can go to
Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->System
Restore.

014. Clear System Restore Points
System restore points can take up a huge amount of space due to the many
restore points created. You can delete all these restore points by
right clicking on My Computer->Properties->System Restore and
check Turn off System Restore on all drives. Then make sure to create
them again manually for each drive using the method above (Using XP
System Restore). That will get rid of the older restore points and leave
you with the new and updated one.

015. Disable/Remove Hibernation Mode
The hibernation file which allows a user to use hibernation mode takes
up a lot of space. If you use this feature you are allocating/creating
space so that when you come back everything (programs and folders) are
still open. If you don't use it that much then there's not much sense
keeping it. So you may remove it. Go to Start->Control
Panel->Power Options->Hibernate tab and uncheck Enable
hibernation. That should remove the actual hibernation file. You may
double check by doing a Search (F3 key) and search for hiberfil.sys in
the C: drive. It shouldn't be found, but if it is, you may safely delete
it.

016. Disable Indexing Service
Speed up XP by turning off the Indexing Service for your hard drive.
This feature is used to make your searching needs faster, but it's
affecting the overall performance so it's best to turn it off. Go to My
Computer and right click on the drive that you want the feature to be
disabled. Choose Properties and uncheck the box where it says Allow
Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching. When a box
come up choose to Apply to all folders and subfolders.

017. Rename Multiple Files
This is something new in Windows XP - renaming multiple files. Let's say
you have a huge photo collection and want to name them in sequential
order. You can do this very easily. Just select all the photos you want
to rename (you may use the ctrl key and click on individual files if
desired). Then hit the F2 key and type in the name of the file. Hit
Enter. It should all rename. So if you entered VacationPhoto, you will
have VacationPhoto (1), VacationPhoto (2), VacationPhoto (3), etc.