Remove Shared Documents

Open Regedit(Start- Run- Regedit) and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Explorer My Computer NameSpace DelegateFolders There will see a sub-key named {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. By Deleting this you can remove the ‘Other Files stored on This Computer’ group.

Turn Off System Recovery

Right click on My Computer and choose Properties. Click on the System Restore tab and check the box Turn off System Restore. (This will increase Windows performance & save disk space)

Adjust various visual effects

Open up the control panel

Go under system and click on the advanced tab

Click settings under Performance options

You can now change various graphical effects (mainly animations and shadows)

Enable Clear Type

Easy way- Click on or cut and paste link below: http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/cleartypeactivate.htm?fname=%20&fsize= or

Right click on a blank area of the Desktop and choose Properties

Click on the Appearance Tab; Click effects

Check the box: Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts

In the drop down box select: Clear Type

Add Familiar Icons back to your desktop

It’s the case of the missing icons. Many of you may be wondering where all the icons from your desktop are in Windows XP? Well if you’re like me, you like to have at least My Computer, My Network Places, and My Documents on the desktop.

To do this:

Right-click on the desktop, and then click Properties.

Click the Desktop tab and then click on Customize Desktop.

Put a check mark in the box next to My Document, My Computer, My Network Places, or Internet Explorer, to add those familiar icons to your desktop.

Software: Test the integrity of your computers security with ShieldsUp

TIP: REMOVE MS MESSANGER FOR GOOD. THAT PIECE OF SHIT.

Getting MP3 ripping to work in Windows Media Player 8 in XP

Enter the following in the registry : [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARE

MicrosoftMediaPlayerSettingsMP3Encoding] “LowRate”=dword:0000dac0 “MediumRate”=dword:0000fa00 “MediumHighRate”=dword:0001f400 “HighRate”=dword:0002ee00 This corresponds to 56, 64, 128 and 192 Kbps. You can change this to your liking using the following dword hex values : 320 Kbps = dword:0004e200 256 Kbps = dword:0003e800 224 Kbps = dword:00036b00 192 Kbps = dword:0002ee00 160 Kbps = dword:00027100 128 Kbps = dword:0001f400 112 Kbps = dword:0001b580 64 Kbps = dword:0000fa00 56 Kbps = dword:0000dac0

Increase BROADBAND

This is for broad band connections. I didn’t try it on dial up but might work for dial up.

make sure your logged on as actually “Administrator”. do not log on with any account that just has administrator privileges.

start – run – type gpedit.msc

expand the “local computer policy” branch

expand the “administrative templates” branch

expand the “network branch”

Highlight the “QoS Packet Scheduler” in left window

in right window double click the “limit reservable bandwidth” setting

on setting tab check the “enabled” item

where it says “Bandwidth limit %” change it to read 0

Effect is immediate on some systems, some need to re-boot. This is more of a “counter what XP does” thing. In other words, programs can request up to 20% of the bandwidth be reserved for them, even with QoS disabled, this is no big deal and most programs do not request it. So, although QOS has caused a big stink because people think it reserves 20% of their bandwidth, you can still disable it, just to be sure, hehe.

Increase your cable modem or DSL speed in XP

This tweak is for broad band cable connections on stand alone machines with winXP professional version – might work on Home version also. It will probably work with networked machines as well but I haven’t tried it in that configuration. This is for windows XP only, it does not work on win2000.

I use 3 Com cards so I don’t know how it works on others at this point. It does not involve editing the registry. This tweak assumes that you have let winXP create a connection on install for your cable modem/NIC combination and that your connection has tcp/ip – QoS – file and print sharing – and client for microsoft networks , only, installed. It also assumes that winxp will detect your NIC and has in-box drivers for it. If it doesn’t do not try this.

In the “My Network Places” properties (right click on the desktop icon and choose properties), highlight the connection then at the menu bar choose “Advanced” then “Advanced Settings”. Uncheck the two boxes in the lower half for the bindings for File and Printer sharing and Client for MS networks. Click OK

From the windows XP cd in the support directory from the support cab, extract the file netcap.exe and place it in a directory on your hard drive or even in the root of your C:\ drive.

next, open up a command prompt window and change directories to where you put netcap.exe. then type “netcap/?”. It will list some commands that are available for netcap and a netmon driver will be installed. At the bottom you will see your adapters. You should see two of them if using a 3Com card. One will be for LAN and the other will be for WAN something or other.

Next type “netcap/Remove”. This will remove the netmon driver.

Open up control panel / system / dev man and look at your network adapters. You should now see two of them and one will have a yellow ! on it. Right click on the one without the yellow ! and choose uninstall. YES! you are uninstalling your network adapter, continue with the uninstall. Do not restart yet.

Check your connection properties to make sure that no connection exists. If you get a wizard just cancel out of it.

Now re-start the machine.

After re-start go to your connection properties again and you should have a new connection called “Local area connection 2”. highlight the connection then at the menu bar choose “Advanced” then “Advanced Settings”. Uncheck the two boxes in the lower half for the bindings for File and Printer sharing and Client for MS networks. Click OK.

Choose connection properties and uncheck the “QOS” box

Re-start the machine

after restart enjoy the increased responsivness of IE, faster page loading, and a connection speed boost.

Why it works, it seems that windows XP, in its zeal to make sure every base is covered installs two seperate versions of the NIC card. One you do not normally see in any properties. Remember the “netcap/?” command above showing two different adapters? The LAN one is the one you see. The invisible one loads everything down and its like your running two separate cards together, sharing a connection among two cards, this method breaks this “bond” and allows the NIC to run un-hindered.

Know your rights

Windows XP comes bundled with Windows Media Player 8.0. While Media Player plays just about any digital media file format–it supports 35, including MP3, it records music only in the Windows Media Audio, or WMA, format. The reason? Content protection.

When recording, or ripping, music from CDs, Media Player allows you to make protected recordings so that no one will be able to copy the recording from one computer to another. You can turn copy protection on or off on the Copy Music tab by checking or unchecking the box that says Protect Content.

Protect your identity

Like many other audio players, Windows Media Player rushes out to the Internet to find information for you when you play a CD. Some of this information, such as song titles and album art, is useful, but Media Player also identifies your copy of Media Player to the site where it’s getting data. Why? According to the help file, “The server uses this unique identifier to monitor your connection. By monitoring your connection, the server can make adjustments to increase the playback quality and to alert you about events that occur when receiving streams over the Internet.”

If you’re disturbed by this exchange of information, here’s how to stop it. In Windows Media Player, click Tools > Options and go to the Player tab. Notice the option that says “Allow Internet sites to uniquely identify your player?” Turn it off.