Remove "Stand By" Option
Try out this if you wish to remove the "Standby" option from the Windows XP.
Begin by clicking on the "Start" menu on the taskbar. Followed which, click on "Run".
In the "Run" window, type: regedit and click on "OK"
Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Services\ ACPI\ Parameters
On the right side of the window, right click, select "New" and then click on "DWORD Value"
Right click on the value to rename it as "Attributes".
Double click on "Attributes" to set its "Value data" to 70. Make sure that 'Hexadecimal" is selected.
Click on "OK", exit the Registry editor, and reboot.
Now the next time when you Turn off your computer, you won't see the option "Standby".
In the "Run" window, type: regedit and click on "OK"
Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Services\ ACPI\ Parameters
On the right side of the window, right click, select "New" and then click on "DWORD Value"
Right click on the value to rename it as "Attributes".
Double click on "Attributes" to set its "Value data" to 70. Make sure that 'Hexadecimal" is selected.
Click on "OK", exit the Registry editor, and reboot.
Now the next time when you Turn off your computer, you won't see the option "Standby".
Change The Default Path To Install Programs
The default path when we install any new programs is usually C:\Program Files. If you feel that the C drive is packed with a lot of programs and is slowing down the performance of the PC, you can change the default path to install your programs to another location, so that the next time you install any new programs they are directly installed in the path that you choose. To change the default installation path, we need to go to the Registry editor.
Let's begin by clicking on the "Start" menu on the taskbar. Followed which, click on "Run".
In the "Run" window, type: regedit and click on "OK"
Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion
On the right side of the window, locate the key titled "ProgramFilesDir" and double click on it.
In the "Edit String" dialog box that opens, change the "Value data" from C:\Program Files to a location of your choice. We changed it to E:\Programs after creating a folder "Programs" in the E drive. This is the location where we want all our softwares to be installed by default in the future.
Click on "OK" to save the changes.
Once the location is changed in the Registry Editor, you can close it and henceforth you need not change the location of every program manually.
Improve The Menu Speed
If you feel the menu's in Windows XP are taking a long time to open, this is what you need to do, to make them load faster:
Click on "Start" menu, followed by clicking on "Run"
In the "Run" window that opens, type "regedit" in the text box and click on "OK"
In the "Registry Editor" window that opens, navigate to:
My Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
On the right pane of the window, locate the key:
"MenuShowDelay"
Double click on "MenuShowDelay" and in the "Edit String" window that pops up, you can safely set the "value data" to "100" and click on "OK"
Close the Registry Editor window.
Next, Right click on your Desktop, select "Properties"
In the "Display Properties" window, under the "Appearance" tab, click on "Effects" button
In the 'Effects" pop up window, uncheck the box before "Show shadows under menus" and click "OK"
Click "OK" to close the "Display Properties" window too.
Reboot your computer to see the change in effect take place.
In the "Run" window that opens, type "regedit" in the text box and click on "OK"
In the "Registry Editor" window that opens, navigate to:
My Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
On the right pane of the window, locate the key:
"MenuShowDelay"
Double click on "MenuShowDelay" and in the "Edit String" window that pops up, you can safely set the "value data" to "100" and click on "OK"
Close the Registry Editor window.
Next, Right click on your Desktop, select "Properties"
In the "Display Properties" window, under the "Appearance" tab, click on "Effects" button
In the 'Effects" pop up window, uncheck the box before "Show shadows under menus" and click "OK"
Click "OK" to close the "Display Properties" window too.
Reboot your computer to see the change in effect take place.
Fast Shutting Down Of Win XP
The following procedure will reduce the time windows xp takes to shut down.
Go to Start then select Run
Type 'Regedit' and click OK
In the Registry Editor window that opens up, locate the following path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\
On the right side of the window, select 'WaitToKillAppTimeout' and Right click to select 'Modify'
Change the value to 1000 and Click OK to close the pop up window.
Now follow by selecting 'HungAppTimeout', on the right hand side of the window itself and follow the same procedure of Right clicking and selecting 'Modify'
Change the value to again 1000and Click OK to close this pop up window too.
Now locate HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop and on right hand side the files that the folder displays, Select 'WaitToKillAppTimeout'Right click and select 'Modify'
Change the value to 1000 once again and Click OK
Lastly locate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\
Select 'WaitToKillServiceTimeout' from the right side of the window and Right click on it to select 'Modify'
Change the value to 1000and Click OK
And you are done with reducing the delay in shutting down for win xp!
Windows Registry!
The Windows Registry is a large database that stores all the information and settings for all the hardware, software and PC preferences. When a user makes changes to a Control Panel settings, or File Associations, or installed software, the changes are reflected and stored in the Windows Registry.
Everytime a change takes place, the registry is updated, and information is added to it. However this leads to the registry grows bigger with passage of time, slowing down your PC. The more software programs you install and de-install, the bigger your registry will grow. This leads to weaker computer performance and even worse, it can can cause crashes and blue screens. Optimizing your registry can improve your computers performance greatly, and it helps preventing and can solve computer problems. The manual cleaning of the Windows Registry is extremely complex and should only be performed by an expert. If done incorrectly you can seriously damage the Registry, which may result in bluescreens, your computer not booting anymore or data loss. Instead you can go in for a good registry cleaner, which would help solve all your problems.
Just to give an overview of what windows registry looks like and how to get in there, read through..
The Registry information is stored in 2 hidden files in your Windows\System directory, system.dat and user.dat
You can open and edit your registry file in Window by clicking: Start and then click on Run.
When the Run box opens, type in 'regedit' there (without the quotes) and click on OK.
This would open your Registry Editor window which looks like this:
To give a brief explanation of what each of the key on left hand side of the window indicates, here it follows:
1. HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT: stores information about registered applications, such as file associations, tying them to the applications used to handle these items. This subtree contains two types of data:
a) Data that associates file types with programs. The file type subkeys here have the same name as the file name extension example .exe File type associations are stored in the registry, but you should use Windows Explorer to change them. (In Windows Explorer, from the Tools menu, click Folder Options, and then click the File Types tab.)
b) Configuration data (exampe for Visual Basic programs)
2. HKEY_CURRENT_USER: This subtree contains the user profile for the user who is currently logged on to the computer. The user profile includes environment variables, personal program groups, desktop settings, network connections, printers, and application preferences. This subtree does not contain any data but provides easier access to the data.
3. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE: This subtree contains information about the local computer system, including hardware and operating system data, such as bus type, system memory, device drivers, and startup control parameters.
4. HKEY_USERS: This subtree contains all actively loaded user profiles. It has atleast 3 keys:
a) DEFAULT, which stores the profile used when no users are logged on to the computer (such as when the CTRL+ALT+DELETE logon prompt is displayed).
b) A subkey named for the Security Identifier (SID) of the current local user. This subkey contains the current user's profile. If the user is logged on remotely, the data for the user's profile is stored in the registry of the user's local computer.
c) A subkey named for the Security Identifier (SID) of the current local user with the _Classes suffix. This subkey contains the current user's Classes.
5. HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG: This subtree stores configuration data for the current hardware profile. This subtree does not contain any data. It just stores a pointer to the content of the Hardware Profiles.
The folders inside Windows Registry window denote:
1) Open/selected folder: as you see in Windows Explorer
2) Closed folder: as you see in Windows Explorer
3) String Value: allows you to place certain values to certain aspects of a program such as a version number.
4) Binary Value: allows you to set attributes to a particular application, values are in binary.5) Dword: Similar to the binary value allowing you to set attributes; however, are done in binary and hexadecimal.
Listed/Ranked:
The Tech Directory
Cluster Maps