Enable mIRC identd
Ident needs to use port 113 , if you use "Internet Connection Firewall" in XP. Here is how to get it working without disabling the entire firewall:
1. Go into Control Panel-> Network Connections
2. Right click "Local Area Network" and select "Properties"
3. Left click the advanced tab
4. Left click the settings button
5. Under services, left click the add button
6. For description type "Ident", for Name of IP put the name that identifies your system with your ISP OR your IP if it is static.
7. Both external and internal ports are 113 by default and TCP.
8. Click OK all the way out.
Disable Schedule Task in IE
IE 6.0 wants to run a schelduled task everytime it connects to a server. This results in slower browsing.
To disable this delete the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/
explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace/{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}
Get rid of Internet Browsing history
Launch Internet Explorer.
Select the Tools from the menu bar.
Then select Internet Options... from the drop down menu.
Once the internet options has loaded click on the general tab.
Under the history section change the days to keep in history to 0.
I would also click the clear history button to get rid of everything else.
Click OK
Clear temp files on close
The latest versions of internet explorer include some great new security improvements. For this tweak I will talk about the feature that clear the temporary internet files each time you close internet explorer.
Launch Internet Explorer.
Select the Tools from the menu bar.
Then select Internet Options... from the drop down menu.
Once the internet options has loaded click on the advanced tab.
Under security find where it says Empty Temporary internet files folder when browser is closed and check it.
Click OK
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. 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.
Disable or Adjust Taskbar Grouping
Right Click on the Taskbar. Choose Properties . Untick Group similar taskbar buttons
Adding .com easily - Quick URL's
Just type cnn in the address bar
Now press Ctrl + Enter
This adds the
http:// and the .com to the cnn.
Clear pagefile on shutdown
For added security you should always clear the page file upon shutting down your computer. Windows uses this file as extra
ram. Lets say that you are working on a confidential MS Word doc. When you load this document it is loaded into
ram. To save
ram windows places certain items in the page file. The page file can then be opened and the document can be extracted as well as any other open program or files. However Microsoft has implemented a feature that will clear the page file but they do not have it enabled by default. Please note, this will slightly increase the amount of time it takes to shut down your computer but it is well worth it.
Start Regedit.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control > SessionManager > Memory Management
Select ClearPageFileAtShutdown from the list on the right.
Right on it and select Modify.
Change the value to 1 to enable.
Reboot your computer
Disable error reporting
One feature that I can do without is error reporting. Every time a program crashes I do not want to send a report to microsoft. Read below to find out how to disable this stupid feature.
Open Control Panel
Click on Preformance and Maintenance.
Click on System.
Then click on the Advanced tab
Click on the error reporting button on the bottom of the windows.
Select Disable error reporting.
Click OK
Display message on startup
If you would like to display a legal message or any other message in a pop-up window when windows starts read below:
Start regedit. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/WindowsNT/CurrentVersion/Winlogon
Modify the key legalnoticecaption with what you want to name the window.
Modify the key legalnoticetext with what you want the window to say.
Reboot..
Turn off system beeps
If those beeps annoy you there is a way to turn them off
Start Regedit.
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Control Panel > Sound
Once there, locate Beep on the list on the right.
Right click on it and select Modify
Change the value equal to no
Reboot your computer and the beeps will be gone!
Enable Hibernation
Click on the start button and select turn off computer.
Then hold down the shift key and the hibernate button will be shown.
Click it and your computer will enter into hibernation.
Create a shortcut to lock computer
Right click on desktop and select new -> shortcut.
Then copy and paste this in the program location box "rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation"
Click next and enter a name for you shortcut and then click finish.
Now you can copy and paste that shortcut anywhere you want on your computer.
Use the group policy tool to restrict access
If you would like to play computer god and limit or control just about every aspect of your computer you can use a great tool called the group policy editor.
Click Start and select Run
Type gpedit.msc in the text box and click on OK.
The group policy editor will load. Navigate through the folders and you will discover hundreds of items that you can limit access to and control.
Media Player 8 High encoder
Allows MP3 ripping at a higher Rate.
Download -
HERE Regedit stays expanded
Open Regedit
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Applets/Regedit and look for the value LastKey. Double-click it and clear the string.
Then right-click the Regedit key (in the lefthand pane) and select Permissions.
Set Permissions to Deny for any/all users/groups
Speed up Nero in XP
Go to "administrative tools" in the control panel, and in the "services" list, disable the IMAPI CD-Burning COM service.
(Note: manual setting is not enough it must be disabled) It is the built-in CD-burning capability for windowsXP (incidentally, written by Roxio).
Once it is disabled, Nero will start up much quicker.
Source: Tweaks from
www.xp-erience.org