Just like Windows 2000, Windows XP still fails to set the DMA mode correctly for the IDE device designated as the slaves on the primary IDE and secondary IDE channels. Most CD-ROMS are capable of supporting DMA mode, but the default in XP is still PIO. Setting it to DMA won’t make your CD-ROM faster, [...]
Easy enough tweak to usually find out about it on your own, but still, some of us still don’t find it right away. So here it is:
· Start > right-click on My Computer and select Properties.
· Click on the “Advanced” tab.
· See the “Performance” section? Click “Settings”.
· Disable the following:
Fade or slide menus into view
Fade [...]
If you do not use hibernation, make sure you do not have it enabled, which reserves disk space equal to your RAM. If you have a hidden file on the root directory of your C-drive called hiberfil.sys, hibernation is enabled. To remove that file:
· Go to Control Panel, select Performance and Maintenance, Power Options, Hibernate [...]
This is a unique technique for WinXP. We know that it is necessary to scrub registry and TEMP files for Win9X/ME/2000 periodically. Prefetch is a new and very useful technique in Windows XP. However, after using XP some time, the prefetch directory can get full of junk and obsolete links in the Prefetch catalog, which [...]
Windows XP keeps a record of all files on the hard disk so when you do a search on the hard drive it is faster. There is a downside to this and because the computer has to index all files, it will slow down normal file commands like open, close, etc. If you do not [...]
If you have very slow access to your network computers through “My Network Places” and have already deleted the Registry entry calling for a check of Scheduled Tasks on the other network computers (documented elsewhere on this site) AND you have multiple network adaptors (i.e. a cable or DSL connection through one NIC and an [...]
It is possible to disable the XP splash screen, which will slightly speed up the overall boot process. Be aware that removing the splash screen will also cause you not to see any boot-up messages that might come up (chkdsk, convert … ), but if your system runs without any problems then it should not [...]
How can you stop Windows XP from launching program CDs?
- Click Start, click Run, type GPEDIT.MSC to open Group Policy in the Microsoft Management Console.
- Double-click Computer Configuration, double-click Administrative templates,
double-click System, and then click Turn off autoplay.
- The instructions on your screen describe how to configure this setting. Click Properties to display the setting [...]
Go to Start > Run, and type ‘control userpasswords2′.
From Users Tab, Uncheck “Users must enter ….”
A dialog will allow setting a user and password to be used automatically.
.In the Welcome to the Desktop Cleanup Wizard dialog box, click Next.
·In the Shortcuts dialog box, a list of shortcuts are displayed in the Shortcut to Clean Up list. The shortcuts that you click are removed from the desktop and placed in the Unused Desktop Shortcuts folder on the Windows desktop.
·If you do not want [...]
