Category Archives: Windows XP

Turn Off System Beeps

This tweak prevents the system beeps from being audible without altering any other audio settings.

Reset Shell Folders Default Paths

Windows stores the location of per-user special folders under the following registry key:

NoDriveTypeAutoRun and AutoPlay

This registry hack will control what happens to AutoPlay when you put a CD into the drive caddy. Researching NoDriveTypeAutoRun, reminds me of a tip that I was given for playing chess; when you find a good move, look for an even better one. Previously I had known about plain AutoRun, but now I have found a more… Read More »

Automatic Daily Defrag

Defragmenting your hard drive is a simple way to improve disk access and improve the overall zip of your PC. The only downside is that it can take several hours to run. Also, it’s not something that most people remember to do on a regular basis.

Disable Writing to USB Devices

This registry hack works with both Windows XP (SP2 and greater), as well as Vista.

Text is Too Large or Too Small in IE

IE has a feature that increases or decreases the size of your fonts. You can make adjustments by clicking View > Text Size.

Reset IE7 to Defaults

If Internet Explorer 7 is unstable and generally doesn’t work properly, maybe it’s time to start fresh. Reset it to factory default settings.

Faster Application Loading

For faster application loading you can change the prefetch parameters value. Windows perfetcher loads application faster by prefetching the applications and storing it in prefetch cache.

Boot File Optimization

This hack will enable the de-fragmentation of boot files, which may result in reducing the boot time.

Unload unused DLLs

This hack will enable the automatic unloading of program associated DLLs from memory when a program ends. This will free the memory and other resources for other running programs.