In this section I will post registry edits that will modify windows to your liking. As you all should know, messing around in the registry could mess up your system. I would recommend that you back up your registry before doing any editing. In Regedit, go to Registry (menu) and choose the export option and save either the whole registry or just part of the registry you are editing. Depending on what's stored on your pc this backup registry file could be huge.
I will probably not post regularly on this section. If I find interesting registry hacks, I'll post them. I will get these registry edits mainly from these sites: www.annoyances.org, www.winguides.com, and others.
To get into the registry, go to Start->Run and type in regedit and hit ENTER. Then go to the specified directory in the table below to apply the changes in the registry. The directory starts with HKEY. Back up the registry before attempting to do any registry editing. You can either export the whole registry or just the part you are working with by going to File->Export and then save it somewhere where you will remember it if you need to merge it back.
| 001. Speed Up Windows XP by Keeping the Operating System in Memory (Windows XP) |
| One thing you can do to speed up Windows XP is to make sure that key operating system functions stay in memory. Memory (also called "RAM") is much faster than the hard disk. Perform the following steps to pep up your XP computer's performance: |
| HKEY LOCAL MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session
Manager\Memory Management Right click the DisablePagingExecutive entry in the right pane of the Registry editor and click Modify. In the Edit DWORD Value dialog box, type the number "1" (without the quotes) in the Value data field. Click OK. Close the Registry Editor and restart the computer. |
| 002. Remove entries in the Add/Remove Programs list (All Windows) - No Download |
| If you uninstalled a program and there is still an entry for it in the Add/Remove Programs list, then you will need to use this edit to remove it. There is nothing wrong with leaving it there, but if it bothers you or clutters the list, you may remove it. Sometimes you might also want to remove it on purpose. If you don't want to uninstall this program in the future, you may want to remove it from the menu to prevent accidental uninstallation. |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall Double click on the Uninstall folder and there should be a bunch of folders listed on the left pane. Look for the program to remove and right click and choose Delete. Repeat for other programs you want to remove from the Add/Remove list. |
| 003. Remove nagging balloon that asks you to Create A Passport Account (Windows XP) |
| When you install Windows XP it will pop up a balloon reminding you to either create a passport account with MSN or if you have one already to enter it. The passport account is used to login to the MSN (Microsoft Network) like Hotmail, MSN Instant Messenger, etc. If you don't have one and don't want one either, you can stop this message from appearing. |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MessengerService Create a new Binary Value called PassportBalloon by right clicking on an empty space and choose New->Binary Value. Next double click on PassportBalloon and enter 0A (that's a zero and the letter A). |
| 004. Customize Internet Explorer Title Bar |
| You can change the title in Internet Explorer. It should be Microsoft Internet Explorer by default. But you can change it to something like "Bob's Browser". You can do this yourself or use the template that I have (click on the above link). Just unzip if and right click on the 004.reg file and change the text to what you want. |
| HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main Look for an entry called Window Title. Double click on it and type in whatever you want. |
| 005. Make XP Remember its Folder Settings |
| There may be a handful of Windows XP users out there that have encountered this problem. A user might want a certain folder to remember its settings the next time you open it again. If this fails, there is a possible fix for this. |
| HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags Just delete these two folders from the registry and it should reset it to remember your settings. |