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Performance Tweaks for Windows XP
Set the Online Registration as Being Completed
Set Windows-XP to assume the online registration has been completed.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \WindowsNT \ CurrentVersion 
Edit the String Value called RegDone and Give it a value of 1
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Decrease Shutdown Time
Cut the amount of time it takes your computer to shut down to only a few seconds. 
Click Start, click Run, and type regedit. 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ System \ CurrentControlSet \ Control.
Click the Control folder.
Right click "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" and click Modify. 
Set the value to 1000 (One Second)
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Automatically Ending Non-Responsive Tasks
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ 
AutoEndTasks = Set the value to 1
HungAppTimeout = Set the value to 1000
WaitToKillAppTimeout = Set the value to 1000 (One Second)
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Create a Quick Shutdown Icon for your Desktop
This method of shutting down your PC will be much quicker than starting the process with the START button.  It also forces stubborn programs to close.  Create a New Shortcut on your desktop and put this line in the path box.
%windir%\System32\shutdown.exe  -s  -t  00  -f
Save the shortcut and you now have yourself a quick way to shutdown Windows.
On my own PC, using “Quick Shutdown”….Shutdown only takes five seconds.
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Memory Performance Tweak
These Settings will fine tune your systems memory management -at least 256MB of ram recommended, 512 preferred for first tweak.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ 
Session Manager \ Memory Management 
1.DisablePagingExecutive -double click it and in the decimal put a 1 - this allows XP to keep data in memory now instead of paging sections of ram to harddrive.
2.LargeSystemCache- double click it and change the decimal to 1 -this allows XP Kernal to Run in memory improves system performance a lot.  This tweak can actually slow down a system with less than 256 megs of ram.
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Hanging of Disk Cleanup
Hanging of Disk Cleanup during compression is a known problem with Windows XP.  To solve it, you must edit the Registry.  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ VolumeCaches 
Under VolumeCaches is "Compress Old Files". Click it once to highlight,then click the Del button. Close the Registry editor. Disk Cleanup should no longer hang. Temporary files can also cause Disk Cleanup to hang. If the previous change does not solve your problem, try this. Click Start>>Run. Enter "%temp%" (without the quotes) in the box. Click OK. The Temp folder will open. In the Edit menu, click Select All.  Press the Del key and click Yes to confirm the deletions. That will send everything to the Recycle Bin.  Next, click Start >> Control Panel. Double-click "Internet Options" On the General tab, click Delete Files.  Select "Delete all offline content." Click OK. This could take a while. Disk cleanup gets rid of temporary files, old applications you no longer use and Internet cache files. It asks before any of these are deleted.
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Poweroff at Shutdown
If your PC does not turn off the power when doing a shutdown, edit the registry 
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop 
Edit the key PowerOffActive and give it a value of 1 
Also: 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ Current Version \ winlogon
Edit the Key: PowerOffAfterShutdown
Values: 0=Default, 1=Power Off
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Disabling Balloon Tips
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Current Version \ Explorer \ Advanced 
Right click in the right hand pane,,,then select DWord from the menu.
Create a Dword value of EnableBalloonTips and set value to "0" (it will be set to "0" by default)
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Disabling Error Reporting
By default, Windows-XP will request to report application errors to Microsoft. To turn this off:
Right click on the My Computer icon on the desktop 
Select Properties / Advanced 
Click on the Error Reporting tab 
Check Disable error reporting 
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Increasing Graphics Performance
By default, Windows-XP turns on a lot of shadows, fades, slides etc to menu items. 
Most simply slow down their display. To turn these off selectively:
Right click on the My Computer  icon 
Select Properties 
Click on the Advanced tab 
Under Performance, click on the Settings button 
To turn them all of, select Adjust for best performance 
Turn ON: Show window contents while dragging 
Apply the change and close the window.
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Controlling the Desktop Cleanup Wizard Added 7/24/02
By default, the Desktop Cleanup Wizard will pop up every 60 days to cleanup your desktop.
To stop this:
Right click on the desktop. Select Properties 
Click on the Desktop tab Click on the Customize Desktop button
Uncheck Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard.
Click Apply, and close the window.
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Restoring Access to CD ROMs
If after you remove CD Burning software, you can no longer access your 
CD ROM's, the following registry keys need to be deleted:
Locate and delete the UpperFilters and LowerFilters values under the following key in the registry: 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINES \ SYSTEM \ Current Control Set \ Control \ Class \ {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} 
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Dell Computer Not Keeping Correct Time
If a Dell PC is losing time while the PC is turned on, Run the following commands:
Start / Run / CMD 
Net stop w32time
w32tm /unregister
w32tm /unregister
w32tm /register
Net start w32time 
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Turning Off the Built-In CD Burner
If you want to turn off the ability to use the built-in CD burner software that comes with Windows-XP:
Open up the Explorer 
Right click on the drive that is your CD burner 
Select Properties 
Click on the Recording tab 
Uncheck  Enable CD recording on this drive 
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Re-Installing Windows-XP
If you need to reinstall Windows-XP and want to keep all your current installed applications and settings:
1. Start Windows-XP 
2. Find the location of your source files (a folder called "I386" , May Be on Your Install CD or a folder on your HD)  You may find several i386 folders on your PC but you want the one that has the .cab files in it along with the command file "Winnt32.exe".
3. Run WINNT32    /unattend ,,, For example, D:\I386\winnt32.exe    /unattend    (type this command into the RUN box, then press ENTER).... Leave just one space where I've put three for emphasis, at the end of the command and before the switch (/unattend).
I've often needed to do this to repair something that had gotten corrupted and I didn't want to do a clean install.
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Removing those Arrows from Desktop Icons
A shortcut is a pointer to a file or application that is stored in another location. When you create a shortcut, you'll notice the icon has a small arrow in the corner. And, yes, you guessed it! 
This little arrow indicates to you that the icon is, indeed, a shortcut.
So here is a tip that lets you remove the shortcut arrows and it works with all versions of Windows. A word of caution before you proceed since it does require making changes to the registry; do so carefully!
To completely remove the shortcut arrow, open the registry and delete the IsShortcut from the following three keys:
* HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ InternetShortcut
* HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ lnkfile
* HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ piffile
Once you've made the change, Windows no longer considers shortcuts to be shortcuts anymore.
 Note: A security update for Windows 98 may prevent the steps outlined above from working. This tweak should work well on all versions of Windows.
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You can change the registered owner information by editing the registry. Always remember to back up the registry before making changes. 
Open your favorite registry editor 
In the left pane, navigate to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion 
In the right details pane, double click the entry labeled  RegisteredOwner.  In the Value Data field, delete the name and type in the name you want. Click OK 
You can similarly change the company name (or make it blank) by double clicking the entry labeled RegisteredOrganization and editing the Value Data field. 
12-22-06