Automatically Ending Non-Responsive Tasks

Automatically Ending Non-Responsive Tasks

Start Regedit

Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\AutoEndTasks

Set the value to be 1

In the same section, change the WaitToKillAppTimeout to the number of milliseconds you want.

Common Command Console Utilities

Common Command Console Utilities

WindowsXP comes with quite a few console utilities you can easily run from the command line:

Computer Management - compmgmt.msc
Disk Managment - diskmgmt.msc
Device Manager - devmgmt.msc
Disk Defrag - dfrg.msc
Event Viewer - eventvwr.msc
Shared Folders - fsmgmt.msc
Group Policies - gpedit.msc
Local Users and Groups - lusrmgr.msc
Performance Monitor - perfmon.msc
Resultant Set of Policies - rsop.msc
Local Security Settings - secpol.msc
Services - services.msc
Component Services - comexp.msc

Increasing System Performance

Increasing System Performance

If you have 512 megs or more of memory, you can increase system performance
by having the core system kept in memory.

Start Regedit

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\DisablePagingExecutive

Set the value to be 1

Reboot the computer

Displaying the QuickLaunch Toolbar

Displaying the QuickLaunch Toolbar

By default, WindowsXP does not show the QuickLaunch toolbar.
To enable it again:

Right click on an open area of the toolbar

Select Toolbars

Select Quick Launch

Now you can add programs like with Win98

Changing the Picture Displayed for a User

Changing the Picture Displayed for a User

You can change the picture that gets displayed for a particular user

Go to the Control Panel

Select User Accounts

Click on the Account to change

Click on Change my picture

You can then browse to the picture you want to use

Disabling Hibernation

Disabling Hibernation

If you don't want to use up the disk space taken by Hibernation, or don't need to use it at all,
you can easily disable it.

Open up the Control Panel / Power Options icon

Click on the Hibernation icon

Uncheck Enable Hibernation

Opening an Explorer Window to the Directory You Want

Opening an Explorer Window to the Directory You Want

If you want to create a shortcut for the Explorer to a specific directory,
include the directory you want in the Target.

For example:
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /n, /e, d:\internet

would open the Explorer to the D:\INTERNET directory

Creating a Password Recovery Disk

Creating a Password Recovery Disk

In case you forget your password, you can create a password recovery floppy disk beforehand to help you out of this problem.

Single-click Start menu

Go to the Control Panel / User Accounts

Click the User Account

On the left hand side, click on Prevent forgotten password

You will need to know your password to create the disk.

If you don't remember your password sometime in the future, click on the green arrow like normal at the login and you will be prompted to insert the password recover disk.

Setting System Time Over the Internet

 Setting System Time Over the Internet

You can set your system clock to a time server on the Internet.

Double-click the time on your taskbar

Click the Internet Time tab

Check Automatically synchronize with an Internet time server

Click on the Update Now button

Speeding Up the Display of Start Menu Items

Speeding Up the Display of Start Menu Items

An easy way to speed up the display of the Start Menu Items is to turn off the menu shadow.

Right click on an open area of the Desktop

Select Properties

Click on the Appearance tab

Click on the Effects button

Uncheck Show shadows under menus

Disabling Balloon Tips

Disabling Balloon Tips

To turn off balloon tips in applications that support XP Themes:

Start Regedit

Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\

Create a DWORD value of EnableBalloonTips

Give it a value of 0

Disabling Error Reporting

Disabling Error Reporting

By default, WindowsXP will request to report application errors to Microsoft.
To turn this off:

Right click on the My Computer icon on the desktop

Select Properties / Advanced

Click on the Error Reporting tab

Check Disable error reporting

Increasing Graphics Performance

Increasing Graphics Performance

By default, WindowsXP turns on a lot of shadows, fades, slides etc to menu items.
Most simply slow down their display.

To turn these off selectively:

Right click on the My Computer icon

Select Properties

Click on the Advanced tab

Under Performance, click on the Settings button

To turn them all of, select Adjust for best performance

My preference is to leave them all off except for Show shadows under mouse pointer and Show window contents while dragging