[stidyup]

The idea of this post is to collect useful tips and tweaks.

I'll close the topic and the mods will add any other useful tips that get posted in the software and discussion forum.

Here are some useful sites:

Calender of Updates

Visit the above site for announcements regarding software updates (anti-virus, spyware, firewalls etc...)

Black Vipers homepage appears to have disappeared but his content is still available if you know where to look.
Black Vipers tweaks & tips Post1 web archive page

TweakHound XP tweaks http://www.tweakhoun...upertweaks1.htm

Windows 2000 & XP tips http://aumha.org/win5/articles.htm

Tweak Guides
TweakGuides Tweaking Companion [Regular Edition] free 170 page PDF Regular Edition of the TweakGuides Tweaking Companion.

From lawson23

23 ways to speed up XP - 6, 11, and 18 are to be viewed with caution.

From LittlBuger

XP Myths

How Do I Repair A Missing or Corrupt Windows\System32\Config\System File

[stidyup]

How to get your PC to automatically defrag with freeware software.

Scheduling the inbuilt XP defragmentor.

You will need to download the necessary Defrag bats from http://www.compu-docs.com/W2KDfrag.htm or download my modded bat file from here these will only work on WinXP. For Win2K see how to schedule Dirms further down or try AutoDefrag.

With the first link the bat file only has the following command:
Defrag C: /V

Mine has the -b option to improve boot performance
Defrag C: -b
Defrag C: /V

To get a schedule to run you will need to create an admin account with a password otherwise this won’t work.
Start
Control panel
User accounts
Create a new account
Add a password

Download and extract the defrag bat files. You can place them anywhere but I suggest putting them in the program files folder under defrag.

Now log in to your admin account you’ve just created that will run the task

Now you need to schedule the task scheduler.
Start
Control panel
Performance and maintenance
Scheduled tasks
Add Scheduled task
Next
Browse for the location of the defrag bats you’ve just download
Once select press open
Now select when you want the task to run daily, weekly, when my computer starts then press next (I’d recommend when my computer starts, once it’s completed it’s initial run, each subsequent run shouldn’t take up too many resources)
If you’ve select daily, weekly etc… you’ll be given options at what time etc… to run the task, once you’ve configured this press next
Enter in the password for the account in both boxes, press next
Then click finish.

Your PC will now defrag automatically from now on. One note of caution, I’ve found that this defrag software doesn’t like big files (ie over 400mb) you may find that your PC could become very sluggish whilst defragging. Once the initial pass is done it may not be a issue, but if you do notice a performance hit after setting this up, this is the likely cause.

You may ask but I have Win2K, this won’t work for me.

Well the good news is there is a alternative defrag software that’s free that you can schedule in the same way.

Dirms from www.dirms.com

This works on 2000 and XP
Follow the same instructions as above to set it up.

The only difference is instead of just clicking finish you need to tick the open advanced properties box

The run box needs to look like the following C:\dirms.exe c –q
C is the drive letter and can be changed to any relevant hdd, -q is the command for it to defrag the drive. If the above isn’t entered Dirms will not run.

Once you have changed these settings you will be prompted to add your password again.

Dirms also has a similar problem with large files which the author is aware off and says he will fix it in the next release. I’ve not tested but he says you will still be able to browse the web etc… while it runs without any problems but more cpu intensive tasks will have to wait.

Once a large file has been defragmented then hopefully you shouldn’t see a performance hit.

In my own experience I’ve found Perfect Disk http://www.raxco.com.../perfectdisk2k/ and O&O http://www.oo-softwa...defrag/pro.html to be good at handling large files, but you need to buy the software. Diskeeper I’ve had problems with (which is what the inbuilt defragger in 2000, XP is based on) others claim they haven’t had a problem with it.

[stidyup]

Some of these tweaks I think are done by this freeware software.
SpeedXP

Taken from this post on Bleeping Computer

Quote

1. Start, Run then enter this in the run window without the quotations, and reboot. "FSUTIL behaviour set disablelastaccess 1" this disables last access timestamps that XP has. When every you execute a file, along with of course executing the file, XP creates a timestamp, which saves the time/date you did it. This isn’t going to be very noticeable, but every little bit adds up

2. Turn off the indexing service (the search feature). This process is a bit of a memory hog, and most people know where the needed files are. There are alternatives to the windows search as well. To do this in run, type services.msc and change the start-up of type of indexing service to disabled or manual.

3. Add this information to the registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SYSTEM>CurrentControlSet>Control>PriorityControl
on the top menu of the registry editor click Edit>New>DWORD Value, name it Win32PrioritySeparation and then make the hexadecimal value 26. This makes the CPU pay more attention to foreground core processes running, and less to background processes. 3 times as much

Only do this if you have 1gb of memory or more, if you have less you may experience severe system instability!!!!
4. In the registry editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SYSTEM>CurrentControlSet>Control>Session Manager>Memory Management and double click on DisablePagingExecutive and change the value to 1. Next change the value of LargeSystemCache to 1. LargeSystemCache forces the operating system to allocate all of your RAM cept 4 MB as filesystem cache, and the 4mb left are used for diskcaching. DisablePagingExecutive restricts the core aspects of the OS from being sent to page file, and stored on RAM instead, which makes XP more responsive. OF course you’re going to not have as much free ram, but if you have a decent amount installed(1gb+), this should not be a problem. A good way to see the effects of these tweaks is to fire up one of the Microsoft office programs such as Word or PowerPoint, completely close it and then launch it again. IF the tweak worked properly the program should launch VERY fast. But don’t forget to restart windows after registry changes or they won’t take effect.

5. This one is hard for some to accept, but the XP style GUI is laggier than the windows classic, even on computers with high-end graphics. go to Control panel>System, and under the advanced tab, click the settings button under performance, then the visual styles tab, and select adjust for best performance. Check only the important boxes in the below window such as "smooth edges of screen fonts," and click OK. Windows will now look like Windows 2000, but it will run better.

I hope these tips/tweaks help speed up XP for you, but remember it isn’t always THAT noticeable so don’t hate me if you think you just wasted your time.

[stidyup]

If your experiencing problems with windows (2K/XP) shutting down and restarting make sure the following is enabled so that the BSOD remains on screen so you can write down the error string:

Start
Control Panel
Performance and Maintenace
System
Advanced tab
Startup and Recovery - Settings
Ensure Automatically Restart is unticked

The error string will look something like this:
0x00000000 (0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

Another place to look for information on what is happening is in the Event Viewer which can be found here:

Start
Control Panel
Performance and Maintenace
Admin Tools
Event Viewer
System

Highlight a error then click properties, then click on the link below For more information, see Help and Support Center at this may give you information on how to solve the error.

[stidyup]

Caution only do the following if you are sure you do not want or need Microsoft Virtual Machine

MS Statement on Java Virtual Machine

If you need to remove MVM from a PC this is how to do it.

How to remove Microsoft Virtual Machine.

Microsoft Removal Tool

Manual Removal

Remove Microsoft Java; Microsofts no longer supported version of Java is often a source of installed spyware and hijacks so it is a good idea to remove Microsoft Java Virtual Machine and Install Sun Java. To remove it follow these steps.

1: Select Start > Run and Enter "RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection java.inf,UnInstall" in the Open box, and click ok.
2: Click Yes to confirm that you want to remove the Microsoft VM
3: When prompted, reboot the computer
4: Remove the following items: (Systemroot is where windows is installed (usually C:\Windows)
The \%Systemroot%\Java folder
The file java.PNF from the \%Systemroot%\inf folder
The files jview.exe and wjview.exe from the \%Systemroot%\system32 folder
The registry subkey HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Java VM
The registry subkey HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ InternetExplorer \ AdvancedOptions \ JAVA_VM

Download Microsoft Virtual Machine

[stidyup]

How to find out which version of DirectX you are running:

MS Knowledge Base

Quote

To use the DirectX Diagnostic Tool to determine the version of DirectX that is installed on your computer, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. Type dxdiag, and then click OK.
3. On the System tab, note the version of DirectX displayed on the DirectX Version line.
4. On the DirectX Files tab, check the version information for each DirectX file.
5. When you are finished checking file versions, click Exit.

[stidyup]

Need startup floppy startup disks for XP because the WinXP CD won't boot in the CD-Rom drive?

Download from here You need to download the correct version, ie the home and pro versions have different startup disks, as do the SP version.

If you need bootdisks for Win2K the images are on your Win2K CD in the folder BOOTDISK. MS How to create

This site has all the startup disks your ever likely to need:

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

[stidyup]

Autoupdate / Messenger not working in XP?

Getting the following error messages?
Send error number to Microsoft (0x800B0004)

Send error number to Microsoft (0x800b0001)

Read the following MS Knowledge base article

[stidyup]

16bit_fix

Found this whilst looking on another forum, I've had this problem on some PC's could be a useful tool.

Quote

When users attempt to start an MS-DOS based or 16-bit Windows application in Windows XP an error similar to:

16-bit MS-DOS Subsystem
path to the program that you are trying to start or install
C:\Winnt\System32\config.nt The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application.

or

16-bit MS-DOS Subsystem
path to the program that you are trying to start or install
C:\Windows\System32\Autoexec.nt The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application.

may appear.  Download 16bit_fix.exe by from the link below.  When it is downloaded, double-click it to run it.  It reinstalls the missing  or corrupt  XP system files command.com, autoexec.nt and config.nt which cause the error.

Note:  If the error message returns when the system is rebooted, the autoexec.nt file has been deleted.  You can prevent this from occurring by temporarily locating autoexec.nt in C:\Windows\system32, right-clicking it, selecting "Properties" and making it "Read only."  This problem is caused by a virus or spyware.  When the precise cause is identified that information (as well as corrective measures) will be added here.

[stidyup]

Run Windows 2000 with 32mb of RAM!!!!

This doesn't appear too secure as it says not to install the SP's, how much the SP's will affect performance I'm afraid I can't answer. Maybe with more memory SP's don't have too much impact.

[stidyup]

System File Checker

Quote

System File Checker gives an administrator the ability to scan all protected files to verify their versions. If System File Checker discovers that a protected file has been overwritten, it retrieves the correct version of the file from the cache folder (%Systemroot%\System32\Dllcache) or the Windows installation source files, and then replaces the incorrect file.

Nework Blue Con

Quote

Windows 2000 & XP comes with a very handy tool called the system file checker. The SFC tool itself will scan your computer for system files that may have been replaced when some old or poorly made program was installed. This usually happens because the programmer who made the software did not create it to check the versions of each system file it replaces.

[stidyup]

TheInquirer

Quote

Microsoft claims Longhorn will be, er, faster

The only reason why its faster is they added a superfetch feature to the prefetcher. If you look at the key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\Prefetcher

you will notice in windows xp

EnablePrefetcher = 3 and you will notice in windows longhorn
EnableSuperfetch = 1

Well, guess what? You can put the EnableSuperfetch = 1 in windows xp and get the same speed.

Wow, Microsoft just added a feature that was already there in xp.

XP Myths

Quote

Myth - "Enabling this will improve performance in Windows XP as it does in Windows Vista."

Reality - "This myth was started when the Inquirer irresponsibly ran a bogus letter without doing any fact checking. Windows internals guru Mark Russinovich said this won't work, the "Superfetch" string isn't even in the Windows XP kernel. You can confirm this yourself by checking with the strings.exe utility. This makes it impossible for it to do anything since no "Superfetch" command exists. Windows cannot execute a nonexistent command and will simply ignore it. Anyone who says this works is not only lying but a fool."

[stidyup]

Upgrade Mobo without Reinstalling

Quote

Introduction
Installation of a new motherboard can be a real pain in the butt. If your new motherboard uses any other chipset then the old one, chances are you may experience the BSOD (blue screen of death) in Windows 2000/XP. Back when we were all running Windows 95/98, we could reset the hardware configuration.  In my opinion if Microsoft decided to add this very useful feature to Windows 2000/XP, it could solve a lot of issues and save us all lot’s of trouble.

USE THIS GUIDE AT OWN RISK!!

[stidyup]

I accidentally deleted my Recycle Bin, how do I restore it?

Enable/Disable Recycle Bin for the brave or foolhardy.......

Rename Recycle Bin

More Registry Tweaks here

[stidyup]

Unofficial Win98 Service Pack

Quote

UNOFFICIAL Windows98 Second Edition Service Pack (Freeware)

Microsoft has never released a service pack for Windows98 SE. But I made a Service Pack for Windows98 SE users. It contains all Windows98 SE updates from Windows Update site and more.

It is a self-extracting and self-installing pack like Microsoft's update files. Thus, you cannot choice individual files. However, the pack installs only required fixes for your system. Uninstallation is possible from Add-Remove Programs. However, I don't recommend uninstallation of the pack, if you don't face any problem.

This is *only* for WINDOWS 98 SECOND EDITION ENGLISH. I highly recommend that you should backup your system before installing the pack. You must have at least 32 MB of RAM.

It contains only operating system updates. It does NOT contain Internet Explorer 6, DirectX 9, Media Player 9 and their updates.