The windows registry is a
system critical database modifying the registry can cause serious damage to
your operating system. I assume no responsibility for any damage caused by use
of any of these tips. Use at your own risk.
Ok now that I have you
attention and thoroughly scared it is time to teach you how to play with fire. The
registry is two data base files index.dat and user.dat. These files are read-only and can only be edited
if you change the file attributes and remove the read-only status, or if you
use the regedit program that comes with windows. The
later is easier than the former because it is GUI
based, while the former you need to open each of the registry files in a text
editor such as notepad. I prefer the GUI and this is how I will teach you to
tweak the registry. So lets get started, click the little start button, select
run and type regedit, and click ok. The registry
editor program should start immediately or shortly there after depending on the
speed of your computer. It should look like the picture below:
You will notice that it looks
similar to windows explorer, it’s got a My Computer icon and a bunch of folders
beneath it called keys. The little plus signs to the left let you know that
there are more than one folder or sub-keys within the main-keys. A word of caution,
never, ever, ever delete a main-key bad things will happen! Now that been said, let move
on, when ever I refer to a key it will always appear in square brackets like so
[the key goes here]. Each sub-key will be preceded by a slash like so \. Thus a
reference to a sub-key within [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE] will look like this
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Adobe\Reader]. Over to the right in the registry
editor you will see a section that is split off from the left. This is where
the actual data within a sub-key is viewed, there are two editable fields Name
and Data; separated by a grey indented line. Within any key there can be three
basic values they are: String value, Binary value, and Dword
value. A string value contains plain text such as a web address. A binary value
contains binary numbers, i.e. 1’s and 0’s. And a Dword
value contains Hexadecimal (0-9 and A-F) and/or Decimal(0-9)
numbers. Finally every key will have a default String value in it, leave it
alone unless you want to modify its data.
Now let’s tweak the registry
shall we? Below are some of my favorite registry tweaks they are easy and
relatively harmless.
Disable
automatic modem connection when windows starts
Keep
alive settings for connections
Automatically
close non-responding applications on shutdown
Quick view is a nice little
feature that windows has to the contents of a file even if there are no
registered views for that file type, but it is not normally available for every
file this tweak will change that.
Start your handy dandy
registry editor navigate to the following key [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\* ], yes there
really is a sub-key that is called [ *
]. Now right-click on that sub-key, move your mouse over to new menu selection,
in the next menu that pops up select key, a new sub-key has been created see
below:
Rename the new sub-key to QuickView, note the spelling must be exactly as I have
spelled it, with a Capital Q and V.
Now right-click on the
default string value and select modify, type an * and click ok. Close the
registry and you now have QuickView option for every
file.
Have you ever had this
problem? You start your computer in the morning and when windows finishes
loading some stupid application is trying to connect to the internet and you
just want to play you favorite game that doesn’t require a connection to the
internet. Doesn’t that just piss you off? This tweak will get rid of that annoying problem.
Start the trusty registry
editor and navigate to the following key
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Ole]. If there isn’t a string value
called EnableRomoteConnect then create it. Change its
value to N for no. It will look like this:
This change may require a
restart.
This tweak regulates when and
how often it sends keep alive packages to your internet
connections, this is useful especially if you have a dial-up connection. It won’t
prevent you from being booted by your server, but it may help reduce the
frequent boots that some dial-up services seem to be prone to.
Again start the handy dandy registry
editor and navigate to the following key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxDMSTCP]. If you are running
windows 98 and only windows 98 then create the following String values
otherwise make them Dword values: KeepAliveInterval,
and SessionKeepAlive. Next create a Dword value called KeepAliveTime.
Now modify the values thusly:
KeepAliveTime (7,200,000), KeepAliveInterval
(1000), and SessionKeepAlive (3600).
Note: when modifying a Dword Value select the decimal option otherwise you will
have a devil of a time getting the right value set. But if you are a glutton
for punishment and want to try the hexadecimal number system here are the equivalent
numbers in hexadecimal: (6DDD00), (3E8), and (E10).
A restart is necessary for
the changes to take effect.
The title is those words you
see in the blue bar at the top of any window. This tweak is fun for me because
I can change the title of IE to anything I want and it currently is named
Internet Exploder (big surprise there).
Once again start the trusty
registry editor and navigate to the following key [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\Main]. Create a new String value called WindowTitle
and modify it to say what ever you like. To restore the title to its default
just delete the String value completely.
Top
Close
non-responding apps automatically
This tweak is nice because I hate waiting for applications that aren’t
responding to shutdown, before I shut off my computer. This will set the auto shutdown
feature for non-responding apps globally, that is ever user on the computer
will not have to wait so long.
Start the registry editor navigate to the following key
[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop]. Note there is
a dot after the first slash and before the word default. If the String values AutoEndTasks and WaittoKillAppTimeout
are not present create them. Modify there values like so: AutoEndTasks
(1) and WaitToKillAppTimeout (5000). Note the time
for WaitToKillAppTimeout is in milliseconds 1 second
equals 1000 milliseconds, I put in 5 seconds but you can put in any time you
want to speed or slow it down.
That’s all for now but I hope to have more registry tweaks and tips
soon.