1. W95-11D.ZIP Driver
2. XPTIPS.TXT File Contents

XPTIPS.TXT Driver File Contents (W95-11D.ZIP)

			Cliff's Windows XP Tips Collection




Compiled and freely distributed by Cliff (cliffs@strato.net):
http://thor.prohosting.com/~1cls/Index1.html
Cliff's Windows XP Tips page:
http://thor.prohosting.com/~1cls/windows_xp.htm
Get Cliff's Windows XP Tips RTF (Rich Text Format) file [143 KB, zipped]:
http://thor.prohosting.com/~1cls/Freeware/XP%20Tips.zip

All this info is Free and Tested!
ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR SYSTEM BEFORE MAKING ANY CHANGES!


XPTIPS.TXT Contents:


CAUTION: REG TIPS!
NEVER REACTIVATE AGAIN
WINDOWS EXPLORER TIP
BACKUP AFTER FRESH INSTALL
10 TIPS FROM SPOOKY
JAVA NO JAVA
XP BROWSING SPEED TWEAK
GROUP MULTIPLE OPEN WINDOWS
NO RECENT HISTORY
WANNA NETWORK BUT DON'T HAVE ALL THE STUFF?
HELP IS JUST A DIRECTORY AWAY!
SPEED THINGS UP A BIT
UNLOCK WINXP SETUPP.INI
ADMINISTRATOR NAME ON WELCOME SCREEN
FIX AVI MOVIE INTERFERENCE
CREATE PASSWORD RESET DISK
CHANGE WEB PAGE FONT SIZE ON THE FLY
CLEAR PAGEFILE ON SHUTDOWN
WINXP GROUP POLICY
FORGOT WHAT YOUR FILES ARE?
TEMPORARILY ASSIGN YOURSELF ADMINISTRATIVE PERMISSIONS
CREATE SHORTCUT TO LOCK YOUR COMPUTER
CREATE SHORTCUT TO START REMOTE DESKTOP
ACTIVATE SCREEN SAVER INSTANTLY
ADD MAP DRIVE BUTTON TO THE TOOLBAR
SOFTWARE NOT INSTALLING?
USE WINDOWS KEY
CHANGE CD KEY
REMOVE SHARED DOCUMENTS FOLDERS FROM MY COMPUTER
BETA COMMENTS LINK
RIP HIGH QUALITY MP3S IN WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER 8
SPEED UP START MENU - PART 1
SPEED UP START MENU - PART 2
SPEED UP INTERNET EXPLORER 6 FAVORITES
UNATTENDED INSTALL
REMOVE DESKTOP VERSION TEXT
ENABLE CLEARTYPE ON WELCOME SCREEN
STOP WINDOWS MESSENGER FROM AUTO STARTING
DISPLAY HIBERNATE OPTION ON SHUT DOWN
ADD ALBUM ART TO ANY MUSIC FOLDER
CHANGE LOCATION OF MY MUSIC + MY PICTURES FOLDERS
ADD/REMOVE WINXP OPTIONAL FEATURES
REMOVE WINDOWS MESSENGER
XP AUTOLOG ON
ASPI
PRINT DIR
RENAME MULTIPLE FILES
MORE THEMES FOR WINDOWS BLINDS XP
SHOW FILE EXTENSIONS
XP MEMORY TWEAKS
______________________________________________________________________________



CAUTION: REG TIPS!



Please note that some of these tips require you to use the Registry Editor
(Regedit.exe or Regedt32.exe), which could render your system unusable.
Thus, none of these tips are supported in any way: use them at your own risk.
Also note that most of these tips will require you to be logged on with
Administrative rights.



NEVER REACTIVATE AGAIN



If you have to reinstall Windows XP you normally will have to reactivate it
too.
Well not anymore. Just backup the Wpa.dbl file after you activated the first
time. It is located in the System32 subfolder. Now if you reinstall Windows XP
just copy the file back and you're up and running again.
Here's how to check if your copy of XP is Activated.
Go to the Run box and type in:
%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe /a
and hit OK. There's your answer.



WINDOWS EXPLORER TIP



When launched in Windows ME/2000/XP Windows Explorer by default will open the
"My Documents" folder. Many people prefer the behavior from previous versions
of Windows, where Explorer would open and display "My Computer" instead of the
new way. To revert to the old way (My Computer rather than My Documents as
default), simply edit the shortcut to Windows Explorer by right-clicking on
it, then left-clicking "Properties" and changing the "Target" box to:
%windir%\EXPLORER.EXE /n,/e,
The key is to add "/n,/e," at the end of the shortcut (don't type the quotes).



BACKUP AFTER FRESH INSTALL



After you complete your clean install and get all your software installed I
would recommend that you use something like Drive Image 3 or 4 to do an image
of your install partition, then burn the image to CD and keep it. XP is a
different creature for some people. If you mess it up when playing around with
it, just bring the image back. You can be up and running again in 20 minutes
vs. the two to three hours it will take to get the whole thing and all your
stuff installed again.
Note the default install of XP is about 1.5 GB and the download image may be
larger that 700 MB. So don't install too much on the OS partition. To help
downsize the Image I run the System File Checker (SFC) and reset the cache
size to 40 or 50 MB (it's well over 300 MB by default).
To run it open a command prompt and run:
SFC /?
SFC /purgecache
SFC /cachesize=50
and finally rebuild the cache by typing (have your XP Setup CD ready):
SFC /scannow
I also delete the Pagefile.sys and Hibernate.sys files before running Drive
Image.



10 TIPS FROM SPOOKY



1. When setting up the system with tweaks or making changes to the core OS or
hardware always be logged in as administrator. Seems that while XP does create
an account upon install that has administrator privileges, its not the same as
the administrator account is. Think about it this way - if the account created
was the same then why have an administrator account period?

2. It is always better to install WinXP clean than to do an upgrade.

3. The Files and Settings Wizard is your friend. However it doesn't save the
account passwords for your e-mail and newsgroups accounts in OE. Export these
accounts manually from within OE first beforehand and save them in a safe
place. This way you will not need to remember what the account info was, just
import the account again.

4. If using a SB Live! sound card and trying to run Unreal (the game) you may
have some problems. This is not the fault of WinXP or Unreal. The problem is a
bad driver design from Creative and the Devloader portion. There is currently
no workaround for this problem.

5. Many games do run in WinXP in compatibility mode. The easiest way to do
this is to simply create a shortcut (on the desktop) to the game executable,
right-click on it, select the compatibility tab of the shortcut and set it up
for Win98 or WinME.

6. Do not disable all the services outlined in the Win2K tweak guides floating
around. Set them to manual instead of disabled. This will allow something to
start up when it is needed and you'll avoid the BSOD thing that can occur if
something gets disabled that wasn't supposed to.

7. The WinXP firewall is actually decent. However it is not very configurable.
I recommend Kerio Personal Firewall (KPF):
http://www.kerio.com/dwn/kpf2-en-win.exe
It's free and all you need. So far it is the most compatible with WinXP - why
you may ask? - because KPF improved on Tiny Personal Firewall (TPF), and
(little known trivia fun fact here) TPF is where the XP firewall came from.
Both the XP built-in firewall and KPF will give you complete stealth. However
what you can do - which is kind of cool - is divide the work between the two
and use both. Use KPF to just filter the ports you want to block instead of
everything and let the built-in XP firewall take care of the rest. The result
is a smoother running firewall system that reacts much more quickly. I've used
Norton's, Zone Alarm (which contrary to popular belief is not a real firewall
and a joke in the IT community as a whole) and several of the rest, KPF has
been the best so far.

8. After your clean XP setup is completed and get all your software installed,
I recommend to use something like Drive Image 4 to create an image of your
install partition, then burn the image to CD and keep it. XP is a different
creature for some people. If you mess it up while playing around with it, just
bring the saved image back. You can be up and running again in 20 minutes vs.
the 2 to 3 hours it will take to get the whole thing and all your stuff
installed again.

9. Choose WinXP Professional over the Home version because it has more bells
and whistles. However if the bells and whistles do not appeal to you then the
Home (Personal) version is the way to go.

10. Avoid problems with WinXP. Ensure that your hardware is on the MS HCL
(Hardware Compatibility List):
http://www.microsoft.com/hcl/
Don't be mad because the latest and greatest doesn't work with your hardware.
It is not MS's fault, WinXP's or anything/anyone else's. Not defending them
here, just being practical. Look at it this way - if your dream car costs
$100,000 dollars and you don't have $100,000 is it the car manufacturer's
fault? Nope, because that's the free enterprise system and the way it works.
Try to upgrade your hardware if you can. If you can't, wait for drivers from
the manufacturer that support WinXP. I would highly recommend before
installing WinXP that you get the Win2000 drivers for all your hardware. 99%
of the Win2000 drivers will work in XP. This way if WinXP doesn't have
drivers, you do.



JAVA NO JAVA



MS Java Virtual Machine (JVM) may not appear on the Microsoft Windows Update
site.
Some web sites will prompt you to install it upon visiting their pages.
However this might change in the near future due to problems between SUN and
MS so the link you get pointed to might not be there.
You can download JVM and have it ready to use when you install XP [5.07 MB]:
http://www.gwdg.de/samba/updates/win98/msjavwu.exe
Keep it in a safe place and run it after you install XP.



XP BROWSING SPEED TWEAK



When you connect to a web site your computer sends information back and forth,
this is obvious. Some of this information deals with resolving the site name
to an IP address, the stuff that TCP/IP really deals with, not words. This is
DNS (Domain Naming System) information and is used so that you will not need
to ask for the site location each and every time you visit that site. Although
WinXP and Win2000 have a pretty efficient DNS cache, you can increase overall
performance by increasing its size.
All you need is the Registry entries below:

-----Begin cut & paste here-----
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters]
"CacheHashTableBucketSize"=dword:00000001
"CacheHashTableSize"=dword:00000180
"MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000fa00
"MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000012d

------End cut & paste here------

Copy & paste this text in Notepad and save it as DNSCACHE.REG.
Then merge it into your Registry by (double)-clicking on it.



GROUP MULTIPLE OPEN WINDOWS



WinXP will group multiple open windows (IE windows for example) into one group
on the taskbar to keep the desktop clean. This can be annoying at times,
especially when comparing different web pages because you have to go back to
the taskbar, click on the group and then click on the page you want and then
you only get one page because you have to click on each one separately. I
think the default for this is 8 windows - any combination of apps or utilities
open. 
You can modify this behavior by adding a Registry value at:
HKEY_CURRRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
Change the number of windows that are open before XP will start grouping them
on the Taskbar by adding a new REG_DWORD entry called "TaskbarGroupSize".
Modify "TaskbarGroupSize" to show the number of windows you want open before
XP starts to group them on the task bar. A value of 2 will cause the Taskbar
buttons to always group.



NO RECENT HISTORY



Disable or enable recent documents history. Start Regedit and go to:
HKEY_CURRRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
This Registry value should already be present. If it isn't you need to add it:
REG_BINARY = "NoRecentDocsHistory" (no quotes). Modify it so its value reads
01 00 00 00 for disabled or 00 00 00 00 for enabled (don't type spaces).



WANNA NETWORK BUT DON'T HAVE ALL THE STUFF?



If you want to network two XP machines together you don't have to install a
full blown network setup, i.e. switches, hubs, routers, etc...
All you need is 2 NIC cards (3 if you want to share an Internet connection)
and a crossover cable.

1. Connect one NIC to your broadband connection device as normal.
2. Install a second NIC in the machine with the broadband connection.
3. Install a NIC in the second machine.
4. Connect the crossover cable between the second machine NIC and the second
NIC in the broadband connection machine.
5. Reboot both computers.
6. Run the Networking Wizard if necessary.

Or:
Use a Direct Connection setup with a parallel port to parallel port connection
between the 2 machines.
You will NOT be able to share a connection using Direct Connect.



HELP IS JUST A DIRECTORY AWAY!



In Windows XP Pro in C:\Windows\Help you will find many *.chm files. These are
help files. Just start one up and find what you're looking for without going
thru the main Help menu. If for example you are interested in command line
tools or command line references start up the Ntcmds.chm file. If you use the
command line a lot, just create a shortcut on your desktop to Cmd.exe and
simply start it up when you need it.
You could go thru the Help menu to find these but on the Home version of XP
some are not linked in some of the help files.



SPEED THINGS UP A BIT



This might help some of you:
1. Go to Control Panel -> System.
2. Click on the Advanced tab.
3. Under Performance click on the Settings button.
4. Click on the Advanced tab.
5. Click on the Background Services button.
6. Click OK.



UNLOCK WINXP SETUPP.INI



WinXP's Setupp.ini controls how the CD acts. I.e. is it an OEM or retail
version? First, find your Setupp.ini file in the I386 directory on your WinXP
Setup CD. Open it up in Notepad, it looks something like this:

[Pid]
ExtraData=707A667567736F696F697911AE7E05
Pid=55034000

The Pid value is what we're interested in. What's there now looks like a
standard default. There are special numbers that determine if it's a retail,
OEM, or Volume License Edition. First, we break down that number into two
parts. The first 5 digits determine how the CD will behave, i.e. is it a
retail CD that lets you clean install or upgrade, or an OEM CD that only lets
you perform a clean install? The last 3 digits determine what CD key it will
accept. You are able to mix and match these values. For example you could
make a WinXP CD that acted like a retail CD, yet accepting OEM keys.
Now, for the actual values. Remember the first and last values are
interchangeable, but usually you'd keep them as a pair:

; Retail:
Pid=51882 335
; Volume License:
Pid=51883 270
; OEM:
Pid=82503 OEM

So if you wanted a retail CD that took retail keys, the last line of your
Setupp.ini file should read:

Pid=51882335

And if you wanted a retail CD that took OEM keys, you should use:

Pid=51882OEM

Note that this does NOT get rid of WinXP's activation (WPA).
Changing the Pid to a Volume License will NOT bypass activation.
You MUST have a Volume License (Corporate) Product Key to do so.



ADMINISTRATOR NAME ON WELCOME SCREEN



To get the Admin account on the Welcome Screen, as well as the other user
names, make sure that first there are no accounts logged in.
Press Ctrl-Alt-Del twice and you should be able to login as administrator!



FIX AVI MOVIE INTERFERENCE



If you have any AVI files you saved in Windows 9x/ME, which show interference
when opened in Windows XP, here's an easy fix:
Open Windows Movie Maker.
Click View and then click Options.
Click in the box to remove the check mark beside Automatically create clips.
Now, import the movie file that shows interference, and drag it onto the
timeline.
Then save the movie, and during the re-rendering, the interference will be
removed.



CREATE PASSWORD RESET DISK



If you're running Windows XP Professional as a local user in a workgroup
environment, you can create a password reset disk to log onto your computer
when you forget your password. To create the disk:
Click Start, click Control Panel and then click User Accounts.
Click your account name.
Under Related Tasks, click Prevent a forgotten password.
Follow the directions in the Forgotten Password Wizard to create a password
reset disk.
Store the disk in a secure location, because anyone using it can access your
local user account.



CHANGE WEB PAGE FONT SIZE ON THE FLY



If your mouse contains a wheel for scrolling, you can change font size on the
fly when viewing a web page in MS IE. To do so:
Press and hold Ctrl. Scroll down (or towards yourself) to enlarge the font
size. Scroll up (or away from yourself) to reduce the font size.
You might find it useful to reduce font size when printing a web page, to fit
more content on the page.



CLEAR PAGEFILE ON SHUTDOWN



Create WINXPCPS.REG (WinXP Clear Pagefile on Shutdown) in Notepad:

-----Begin cut & paste here-----
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]
"ClearPageFileAtShutdown"=dword:00000001

------End cut & paste here------

This Registration (.REG) file clears the Pagefile when you power off the
computer.
Restart Windows for this change to take effect!
You can also do this without hacking the Registry: go to Control Panel ->
Administrative tools -> Local security policy -> Local policies -> Security
options -> change the option for "Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile".



WINXP GROUP POLICY



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 -> Run -> type:

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!



FORGOT WHAT YOUR FILES ARE?



This procedure works ONLY under NTFS.
As times goes along you have a lot of files on your computer. You are going to
forget what they are. Well here is a way to identify them as you scroll
through Windows Explorer in the future.
1. Open up a folder on your system that you want to keep track of the
different files you might one to identify in the future.
2. Under View make certain that you set it to show Details.
3. Highlight the file you want to keep more information on. Right-click the
file and you will get a pop-up menu. Click on Properties.
4. Click on the Summary Tab (make sure it says Simple not Advanced on the
button in the box). You should now get the following fields: Title, Subject,
Author, Category, Keywords, Comments.
You will see Advanced also if you have changed it to Simple. Here will be
other fields you can fill in.
5. Next you can fill in what ever field you want.
6. After you finished click the Apply button then OK.
7. Next right-click the bar above your files, under the address bar and you
should get a drop down menu. Here you can click the fields you want to
display.
8. You should now see a list with the new fields and any comments you have
done.
9. Now if you want to sort these, just right-click a blank spot to sort the
information to your liking.



TEMPORARILY ASSIGN YOURSELF ADMINISTRATIVE PERMISSIONS



Many programs require you to have Administrative permissions to be able to
install them. Here is an easy way to temporarily assign yourself
Administrative permissions while you remain logged in as a normal user.
Hold down the Shift key as you right-click on the program's setup file.
Click Run as.
Type in a username and password that have Administrative permissions.
This works also with the Start menu applications.



CREATE SHORTCUT TO LOCK YOUR COMPUTER



Leaving your computer in a hurry but you don't want to log off? You can
double-click a shortcut on your desktop to quickly lock the keyboard and
display without using CTRL+ALT+DEL or a screen saver.
To create a shortcut on your desktop to lock your computer:
Right-click on the Desktop.
Point to New -> click Shortcut.
The Create Shortcut Wizard opens. In the text box, type the following:
rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation
Click Next.
Enter a name for the shortcut. You can call it "Lock Workstation" or choose
any name you like.
Click Finish.
You can also change the shortcut's icon (my personal favorite is the padlock
icon in Shell32.dll).
To change the icon:
Right click the shortcut and then select Properties.
Click the Shortcut tab, and then click the Change Icon button.
In the Look for icons in this file text box, type:
Shell32.dll
Click OK.
Select one of the icons from the list and then click OK.
You could also give it a shortcut keystroke such CTRL+ALT+L. This would save
you only one keystroke from the normal command, but it could be more
convenient.



CREATE SHORTCUT TO START REMOTE DESKTOP



You can add a shortcut to the desktop of your home computer to quickly start
Remote Desktop and connect to your office computer.
To create a shortcut icon to start Remote Desktop:
Click Start, point to More Programs, point to Accessories, point to
Communications, and then click on Remote Desktop Connection.
Click Options.
Configure settings for the connection to your office computer.
Click Save As, and enter a name, such as Office Computer. Click Save.
Open the Remote Desktops folder.
Right-click on the file named Office Computer, and then click Create Shortcut.
Drag the shortcut onto the desktop of your home computer.
To start Remote Desktop and connect to your office computer, double-click on
the shortcut.



ACTIVATE SCREEN SAVER INSTANTLY



Turn on a screen saver without having to wait by adding a shortcut to your
Desktop:
Click the Start button -> click Search.
In the Search Companion window, click All file types.
In the file name box, type *.scr.
In the Look in box, choose Local Hard Drives (C or the drive where you have
system files stored on your computer).
Click Search.
You will see a list of screen savers in the results. Pick a screen saver you
want. You can preview it by double-clicking it.
Right click on the file, choose Send To and then click Desktop (create
shortcut).
To activate the screen saver double-click the icon on your Desktop.




ADD MAP DRIVE BUTTON TO THE TOOLBAR



Do you want to quickly map a drive, but can't find the toolbar button? If you
map drives often, use one of these options to add a Map Drive button to the
folder toolbar.

Option One (Long Term Fix):

Click Start, click My Computer, right-click the toolbar, then unlock the
toolbars, if necessary.
Right-click the toolbar again, and then click Customize.
Under Available toolbar buttons, locate Map Drive, and drag it into the
position you want on the right under Current toolbar buttons.
Click Close, click OK and then click OK again.
You now have drive mapping buttons on your toolbar, so you can map drives from
any folder window. To unmap drives, follow the above procedure, selecting
Disconnect under Available toolbar buttons. To quickly map a drive, try this
option.

Option Two (Quick Fix):

Click Start and right-click My Computer.
Click Map Network Drive.
If you place your My Computer icon directly on the desktop, you can make this
move in only two clicks!



SOFTWARE NOT INSTALLING?



If you have a piece of software that refuses to install because it says that
you are not running Windows 2000 (such as the Win2K drivers for a Mustek
scanner) you can simply edit:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProductName
to say Microsoft Windows 2000 instead of XP and it will install. You may also
have to edit the version number or build number, depending on how hard the
program tries to verify that you are installing on the correct OS. I had to do
this for my Mustek 600 CP scanner (compatibility mode didn't help!) and it
worked great, so I now have my scanner working with XP (and a tech at Mustek
can now eat his words).
BTW: don't forget to restore any changes you make after you get your software
installed.
Do this at your own risk.



USE WINDOWS KEY



The Windows logo key, located in the bottom row of most Win95/98 keyboards is
a little used treasure. Don't ignore it. Provides shortcut anchors for these
commands:

WinKey: Display Start menu
WinKey + D: Minimize or restore all open windows
WinKey + E: Display Windows Explorer
WinKey + F: Display Search for files
WinKey + Ctrl + F: Display Search for computer
WinKey + F1: Display Help and Support Center
WinKey + R: Display Run dialog box
WinKey + Break: Display System Properties dialog box
WinKey + Shift + M: Undo minimize all open windows
WinKey + L: Lock the workstation
WinKey + U: Open Utility Manager
WinKey + Q: Hold WinKey and then tap Q to scroll and switch thru the different
users on your PC (XP Power Toys only).



CHANGE CD KEY



You don't need to reinstall if you want to try the key out. Just do this:
1. Go to Activate Windows.
2. Select the "Activate by phone" option.
3. Click "Change Product Key".
4. Enter RK7J8-2PGYQ-P47VV-V6PMB-F6XPQ.
5. Click "Update".
Now log off and log back in again. It should now show 60 days left, minus the
number of days it had already counted down.
NOTE: If you deactivated REGWIZC.DLL + LICDLL.DLL, you will have to
re-register them.



REMOVE SHARED DOCUMENTS FOLDERS FROM MY COMPUTER



One of the most annoying things about the new Windows XP user interface is
that Microsoft saw fit to provide links to all of the Shared Documents folders
on your system, right at the top of the My Computer window. I can't imagine
why this would be the default, even in a shared PC environment at home, but
what's even more annoying is that you cannot change this behavior through the
shell.
Those icons are stuck there and you have to live with it.
Until now, that is.
Simply fire up the Registry Editor and go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\My Computer\NameSpace\DelegateFolders
You'll see a subkey named {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. If you
delete it, all of the Shared Documents folders (which are normally under the
group called "Other Files Stored on This Computer") will be gone.
You do not need to reboot your system to see the change.
Before: a cluttered mess with icons no one will ever use (especially that
orphaned one).
After: simplicity itself, and the way it should be by default.



BETA COMMENTS LINK



Edit or remove the "Comments" link in window title bars.
During the Windows XP beta, Microsoft has added a "Comments?" hyperlink to the
title bar of each window in the system so that beta testers can more easily
send in a problem report about the user interface. But for most of us, this
isn't an issue, and the Comments link is simply a visual distraction. And for
many programs that alter the title bar, the Comments link renders the
Minimize, Maximize, and Close window buttons unusable, so it's actually a
problem.
Let's get rid of it. Or, if you're into this kind of thing, you can edit it
too.
Open the Registry Editor and go to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Modify these values:
- "LameButtonEnabled": determines whether the link appears at all. Change its
value to 0 to turn it off.
- "LameButtonText": lets you have a little fun with the hyperlink. You can
change the text to anything you like.
You can just remove them entirely.
Editing either value requires a restart before the changes take effect.



RIP HIGH QUALITY MP3S IN WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER 8



The relationship between Windows Media Player 8 and the MP3 audio format is
widely misunderstood. Basically, WMP8 will be able to playback MP3 files, but
encoding (or "ripping" CD audio into MP3 format) will require an MP3 plug-in.
So during the Windows XP beta, Microsoft is supplying a sample MP3 plug-in for
testing purposes, but it's limited to 56 Kbps rips, which is pretty useless.
However, if you have an externally installed MP3 codec, you can use WMP8 to
rip at higher bit rates. But you'll have to edit the Registry to make this
work.
Fire up the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Settings\MP3Encoding

Here you'll see subkeys for LowRate and LowRateSample, which of course equates
to the single 56 Kbps sample rate you see in WMP8. To get better sampling
rates, try adding the following keys (using New -> DWORD value):

"LowRate" = DWORD value of 0000dac0
"MediumRate" = DWORD value of 0000fa00
"MediumHighRate" = DWORD value of 0001f400
"HighRate" = DWORD value of 0002ee00

Now, when you launch WMP8 and go into Tools -> Options -> Copy Music, you will
have four encoding choices for MP3: 56 Kbps, 64 Kbps, 128 Kbps, and 192 Kbps.
Note that you will not get higher bit rate encoding unless you have installed
an MP3 codec separately. The version in Windows Media Player 8 is limited to
56 Kbps only.
And now you'll be ripping CDs in higher quality MP3 format!



SPEED UP START MENU - PART 1



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" default value is 400. Change this to 0 to speed it up.



SPEED UP START MENU - PART 2



If you're frustrated by the slow speed of the Start Menu, even after using the
tip above, then you might try the following: navigate to Display Properties ->
Appearance -> Advanced -> turn off the "Show menu shadow" option.
You will get much better overall performance.



SPEED UP INTERNET EXPLORER 6 FAVORITES



For some reason, the Favorites menu in IE 6 seems to slow down dramatically
sometimes. I've noticed this happening when you install MS TweakUI 1.33:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/winme/Install/1.0/WinMe/EN-US/Tweakui.exe
for example, and when you use the previous tip to speed up the Start menu. But
here's a fix for this problem, that does work, though it's unclear why:
Just open a command line window: Start button -> Run -> cmd -> type sfc -> hit
Enter. This command runs the System File Checker, which performs a number of
services, all of which are completely unrelated to IE 6.
But here you go: it works.



UNATTENDED INSTALL



The Windows XP Setup routine is much nicer than that in Windows 2000 or
Windows ME, but it's still an hour long process that forces you to sit in
front of your computer, answering dialog boxes and typing in product keys.
But Windows XP picks up one of the more useful features from Windows 2000,
the ability to do an unattended installation, so you can simply prepare a
script that will answer all those dialogs for you and let you spend some
quality time with your family.
I've written about Windows 2000 unattended installations and the process is
pretty much identical on Windows XP, so please read that article carefully
before proceeding. And you need to be aware that this feature is designed for
a standalone Windows XP system: If you want to dual-boot Windows XP with
another OS, you're going to have to go through the interactive Setup just like
everyone else: An unattended install will wipe out your hard drive and install
only Windows XP, usually.
To perform an unattended installation, you just need to work with the Setup
Manager, which is located on the Windows XP CD-ROM in
D:\SupportTools\DEPLOY.CAB by default: extract the contents of this file and
you'll find a number of useful tools and help files; the one we're interested
in is named setupmgr.exe. This is a very simple wizard application that will
walk you through the process of creating an answer file called Winnt.sif that
can be used to guide Windows XP Setup through the unattended installation.
One final tip: there's one thing that Setup Manager doesn't add: your product
key. However, you can add this to the Unattend.txt file manually. Simply open
Winnt.sif in Notepad and add the following line under the [UserData] section:

ProductID=RK7J8-2PGYQ-P47VV-V6PMB-F6XPQ

(This is a 60 day CD key).
Then, just copy Winnt.sif to a floppy, put your Windows XP CD-ROM in the CD
drive, and reboot. When the CD auto-boots, it will look for the Unattend.txt
file in drive A automatically, and use it to answer the Setup questions if
it's there.
Finally, please remember that this will wipe out your system! Back up first,
and spend some time with the help files from DEPLOY.CAB before proceeding.
Valid for Older Builds or not using Setupreg.hiv.



REMOVE DESKTOP VERSION TEXT



During the Windows XP beta days, you could see text in the lower right corner
of the screen saying Windows XP Professional, Evaluation Copy, Build 2462 or
similar. A lot of people would like to remove this text, and while it's
possible to do so, the cure is more damaging than the problem, in my opinion.
So the following step will remove this text, but you'll lose a lot of the nice
graphical effects that come with Windows XP, such as see-through icon text.
To remove the desktop version text, open Display Properties: right-click the
desktop, then choose Properties, and navigate to the Desktop page. Click
Customize Desktop and then choose the Web page in the resulting dialog. On
this page, check the option titled Lock desktop items. Click OK to close the
dialog, and then OK to close Display Properties. The text disappears. But now
the rest of your system is really ugly. You can reverse the process by
unchecking Lock desktop items.
There's also a shortcut for this process: right-click on the Desktop -> choose
Arrange by -> Lock Web Icons on the Desktop.



ENABLE CLEARTYPE ON WELCOME SCREEN



As laptop users and other LCD owners are quickly realizing, Microsoft's
ClearType technology in Windows XP really makes a big difference for
readability. But this feature is enabled on a per user basis in Windows XP,
so you can't see the effect on the Welcome screen; it only appears after you
logon.
But you can fix that. Fire up the Registry Editor and look for the following
Values under this Registry key (default user):
HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\Desktop
- FontSmoothing (String Value).
- FontSmoothingType (Hex DWORD Value).
Make sure both these values are set to 2 and you'll have ClearType enabled on
the Welcome screen and for each new user by default.



STOP WINDOWS MESSENGER FROM AUTO STARTING



If you're not a big fan of Windows Messenger simply delete the "MSMSGS"
Registry value from:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run



DISPLAY HIBERNATE OPTION ON SHUT DOWN



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



ADD ALBUM ART TO ANY MUSIC FOLDER



One of the coolest new features in Windows XP is its album thumbnail
generator, which automatically places the appropriate album cover art on the
folder to which you are copying music (generally in WMA format). But what
about those people that have already copied their CDs to the hard drive using
MP3 format? You can download album cover art from sites such as www.cdnow.com
or www.amguide.com and then use the new Windows XP folder customize feature to
display the proper image for each folder. But this takes time--you have to
manually edit the folder properties for every single folder--and you will lose
customizations if you have to reinstall the OS. There's an excellent fix,
however.
When you download the album cover art from the Web, just save the images as
folder.jpg each time, and place them in the appropriate folder. Then, Windows
XP will automatically use that image as the thumbnail for that folder and,
best of all, will use that image in XP Windows Media Player (WMP) if you
choose to display album cover art instead of a visualization. And the folder
customization is automatic, so it survives an OS reinstallation as well. Your
music folders never looked so good. :)
Album cover art makes music folder thumbnails look better than ever!



CHANGE LOCATION OF MY MUSIC + MY PICTURES FOLDERS



In Windows 2000, Microsoft added the ability to right-click the My Documents
folder and choose a new location for that folder in the shell.
With Windows XP, Microsoft has elevated the My Music and My Pictures folders
to the same "special shell folder" status as My Documents, but they never
added a similar (and simple) method for changing those folder's locations.
However, it is actually pretty easy to change the location of these folders,
using the following method.
Open a My Computer window and navigate to the location where you'd like My
Music (or My Pictures) to reside. Then, open the My Documents folder in a
different window. Drag the My Music (or My Pictures) folder to the other
window, and Windows XP will update all of the references to that folder to the
new location, including the Start menu.
Or use MS TweakUI Power Toy for XP/2003 [147 KB, free, unsupported]:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/c/a/fca6767b-9ed9-45a6-b352-839afb2a2679/TweakUiPowertoySetup.exe



ADD/REMOVE WINXP OPTIONAL FEATURES



To dramatically expand the list of applications you can remove/(re)install
from Windows XP retail or upgraded with SP1, navigate to C:\Windows\Inf
(substituting the correct path for your version of Windows) and open the
Sysoc.inf file in Notepad.
This is how it looks like (by default) in Windows XP Professional final
retail RTM (Gold):

[Version]
Signature="$Windows NT$"
DriverVer=07/01/2001,5.1.2600.0

[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
RootAutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,rootau.inf,,7
IEAccess=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,ieaccess.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="*"

[Components]
msnexplr=ocmsn.dll,OcEntry,msnmsn.inf,,7

[Strings]
WindowTitle="Windows Professional Setup"
WindowTitle_Standalone="Windows Components Wizard"

The entries that include the HIDE text string will NOT show up in Add/Remove
Windows Components by default. To fix this, replace all HIDE instances with a
comma (,). Then save the file, reboot, and finally relaunch Add/Remove Windows
Components to tweak the installed applications to your heart's content.
There are even more new options now under Accessories and Utilities.



REMOVE WINDOWS MESSENGER



It seems that a lot of people are interested in removing Windows Messenger for
some reason, though I strongly recommend against this: in Windows XP, Windows
Messenger will be the hub of your connection to the .Net world, and now that
this feature is part of Windows, I think we're going to see a lot of .Net
Passport-enabled Web sites appearing as well. But if you can't stand the
little app, there are a couple of ways to get rid of it, and ensure that it
doesn't pop up every time you boot into XP. The best way simply utilizes the
previous tip (see above).
If you'd like Windows Messenger to show up in the list of programs you can add
and remove from Windows, navigate to C:\Windows\Inf (substituting the correct
drive letter/folder name for your version of Windows) and open Sysoc.inf in
Notepad (see the previous tip for more information about this file). Change
this line:

msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,HIDE,7

to read this:

msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,7

and Windows Messenger will appear in Add or Remove Programs -> Add/Remove
Windows Components, where you can remove it for good.



XP AUTOLOG ON



Real easy and straight forward:
1. Click Start -> click Run... -> type "control userpasswords2" -> click OK.
2. Click Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Users and Passwords -> Users
tab -> clear the "Users must enter a user name and password to use this
computer" check box -> a dialog will appear that asks you what user name and
password should be used to logon automatically -> type your info -> click OK.
You're all set.



ASPI



WinXP does not come with an ASPI layer. So far almost 90% of the problems with
WinXP and CD burning software are ASPI layer problems. After installing WinXP,
before installing any CD burning software do a few things first:
1. Open up "My Computer" and right click on the CD Recorder. If your CD
recorder/rewritable was detected as a CD recorder there will be a tab called
"Recording". On this tab uncheck ALL the boxes. Click Apply/OK and close My
Computer.
2. Next install the standard Adaptec ASPI Layer for Windows XP [510 KB, free]:
ftp://ftp.adaptec.com/software_pc/aspi/aspi_471a2.exe
Reboot when asked.
That's it. After the reboot you can install any of the currently working CD
recording applications with no problems. If using Easy CD Creator, Direct CD
or Take Two, you must get the XP fixes Roxio:
http://www.roxio.com/



PRINT DIR



XP alas does not include a way to print a directory listing aside from using
the command prompt. I'm talking about a right click on the directory and print
the files names on the printer type of Dir print.
We will need to add it. Start up Regedit and add the following:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\print\command]
@="cmd.exe /c dir %1 > PRN"

or:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\print\command]
@="cmd.exe /c dir %1 > Dirprnt.txt"

Right-click on a folder in Windows Explorer and choose Print. The contents of
the folder will appear in a file called Dirprnt.txt in the respective folder.
Open this file and print it out. If you want to print directly to the printer
remove the second line containing "Dirprnt.txt".



RENAME MULTIPLE FILES



A new, small, neat feature for WinXP deals with renaming files. I personally
have always wanted the OS to include a way to do a mass file renaming on a
bunch of files. You can now rename multiple files at once in WinXP. It's real
simple:
Select several files in Windows Explorer, press F2 and rename one of those
files to something else. All the selected files get renamed to the new file
name (plus a number added to the end).
I recommend that you only have the files you want to rename in the directory
you're working in. I also recommend until you get used to this neat little
trick that you save copies of the files in a safe location.
Handy for renaming those mass amounts of x-rated pics you d/l from the web. :)



MORE THEMES FOR WINDOWS BLINDS XP



Windows Blinds XP has been integrated into the Windows XP operating system.
Microsoft and Stardock have entered into a partnership in which Microsoft will
use their technology in the Windows XP operating system. With Windows Blinds
XP installed you have additional styles to choose from in Display Properties.
And the best part is you can download over 1000 different styles and even make
your own very easily using the SDK.
To get started you need to download the Windows Blinds XP extension [1.2 MB]:
http://www.stardock.com/files/wbxp-b5_private.exe
Then download the latest beta.
NOTE: You must register at:
http://scripting.stardock.com/customer/wbxp_beta.asp
to be able to legally download the Windows Blinds XP beta. Once you register,
they will even e-mail you when new builds are available for download.
Once downloaded, install the program and you will notice the extra styles in
the Display Properties when you run the program. 
To download more styles, go to:
http://www.wincustomize.com/
and select Windows Blinds from the menu.



SHOW FILE EXTENSIONS



Ever wonder where your file extensions went? Working with files when you
cannot tell what the file extension is can be a huge pain in the butt.
Thankfully, MS has made it possible for all file extensions to be shown.
In any folder that contains files, click on the Tools menu and select Folder
Options. Then click on the View tab. Locate the Hide extensions of known file
types box and uncheck it. Click OK.



XP MEMORY TWEAKS



Below are some Windows XP memory tweaks, located in the Registry at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

- DisablePagingExecutive = When enabled, this setting will prevent the paging
of the Win2000 Executive files to the hard drive, causing the OS and most
programs to be more responsive. However, it is advised that people should only
perform this tweak if they have a significant amount of RAM on their system
(more than 128 MB), because this setting does use a substantial portion of
your system resources. The default value of this key is 0. To enable it set it
to 1.

- LargeSystemCache = When enabled (the default on Server versions of Windows
2000), this setting tells the OS to devote all but 4 MB of system memory
(which is left for disk caching) to the file system cache. The main effect of
this is allowing the computer to cache the OS Kernel to memory, making the OS
more responsive. The setting is dynamic and if more than 4 MB is needed from
the disk cache for some reason, the space will be released to it. By default,
8 MB is earmarked for this purpose. This tweak usually makes the OS more
responsive. It is a dynamic setting, and the kernel will give up any space
deemed necessary for another application (at a performance hit when such
changes are needed). As with the previous key, change the value from 0 to 1 to
enable it. Note that by doing this, you are consuming more of your system RAM
than normal. While LargeSystemCache will cut back usage when other apps need
more RAM, this process can impede performance in certain intensive situations.
According to Microsoft, the 0 setting is recommended for servers running
applications that do their own memory caching, such as Microsoft SQL Server,
and for applications that perform best with large amounts of memory, such as
Internet Information Services.

- IOPageLockLimit = This tweak is of questionable value to people that aren't
running some kind of server off of their computers, but I will include it
anyway. Boosts the Input/Output performance of your computer when it is
processing large amounts of file transfers and other similar operations.
This won't do much for a system without a significant amount of RAM (don't
even bother if you don't have more than 128 MB), but systems with more than
128 MB of RAM will generally see a performance boost by setting this to
between 8 and 16 MB. The default is 0.5 MB (512 KB). This setting requires a
value in Bytes, so multiply the desired number of MegaBytes * 1024 * 1024.
That's X * 1048576 (where X is the number in MegaBytes). Test several settings
and keep the one which seems to work best for your system.

______________________________________________________________________________
Finished on September 8 2001
Special thanks to TweakXP.com

Links:
http://www.tweakxp.com/
http://bink.nu/
http://members.aol.com/axcel216/
http://www.wincustomize.com/
http://thor.prohosting.com/~1cls/Index1.html