TIPS for the AVERAGE JOE

[Bruceleeon]

1. Change the text in Internet Explorers title bar to anything you want

In regedit navigate to this key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerMain

change the value of the string "Window Title" to whatever you want on the title bar of Internet Explorer - to have no title except the title of the web pages you are browsing do not enter anything for a value.

Caution: Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on your computer.

[Bruceleeon]

2. Fdisk Limitation Fix.

SYMPTOMS

When you use Fdisk.exe to partition a hard disk that is larger than 64 GB (64 gigabytes, or 68,719,476,736 bytes) in size, Fdisk does not report the correct size of the hard disk.

The size that Fdisk reports is the full size of the hard disk minus 64 GB. For example, if the physical drive is 70.3 GB (75,484,122,112 bytes) in size, Fdisk reports the drive as being 6.3 GB (6,764,579,840 bytes) in size.

CAUSE

Fdisk uses some 16-bit values internally to calculate the size of the drive. Some of these variables overflow when the drive size is equal to or larger than 64 GB.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...;EN-US;Q263044&

[Bruceleeon]

3. Remove shortcut arrow from desktop icons

Here's how you can remove those shortcut arrows from your desktop icons in Windows XP.

1. Start regedit.

2. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTlnkfile

3. Delete the IsShortcut registry value.

You may need to restart Windows XP.

Caution: Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on your computer.

[Bruceleeon]

4. Increase bandwidth by tweaking QoS in Windows XP Pro

The following tweak applies only to Windows XP Professional edition.

The default system behavior is that all 100% bandwidth is available, however, if there is a running application that indicates to the OS it needs to send high priority/real time data, then as long as it has the socket open, Windows XP will restrict “best effort” traffic to 80% of the bandwidth so that high priority traffic can be accommodated. Basically, applications can make this request to the operating system for QoS support using the QoS application programming interfaces (APIs) in Windows and this only applies if a specific app is requesting QoS.

If you'd like to change how much bandwidth is reserved for QoS (the default is 20% of the total bandwidth), do the following:

1. Make sure you're logged in as "Administrator" (not just any account with admin privileges).

2. Navigate to START>Run and type: gpedit.msc

3. Navigate to Local Computer Policy > Administrative Templates > Network > QOS Packet Scheduler

4. In the right window, double-click the limit reservable bandwidth setting

5. On the setting tab, check the enabled setting.

6. Where it says "Bandwidth limit %", change it to read 0 (or whatever percentage you want to reserve for high priority QoS data)

7. Click OK, close gpedit.msc

Under START > My Computer > My Network Connections > View Network Connections, right-click on your connection and under Properties (where it lists your protocols), make sure QOS Packet Scheduler is enabled.

You need to reboot for changes to take effect.

Note: This tweak applies only to The Professional version of Windows XP.

[Bruceleeon]

5. 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

Caution: Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on your computer.

[Bruceleeon]

6. Speed up the Start Menu

You can use this tip to speed up the Start Menu in Windows XP release candidate 1. You can customize the speed of the Start Menu by editing a Registry Key.

1. Click Start, and then click Run.

2. Type Regedit in the box, and then click OK.

3. Expand the menu in the left panel and select the HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop folder.

4. Scroll down in the right panel and double click on the MenuShowDelay file.

5. In the Value Data box, change to default value for the menu speed from 400 to a lesser number, such as 1.

6. Click OK.

Caution: Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on your computer.

[Bruceleeon]

7. Display Hibernate Option on the Shut Down dialog

For some reason, Hibernate isn't available from the default Shut Down dialog. But you can enable it simply enough, by holding down the SHIFT key while the dialog is visible. Now you see it, now you don't!

[Bruceleeon]

8. Create a Password Reset Disk

Microsoft has enhanced security features in XP including the ability to create a floppy diskette to recover your password incase it is forgotten.

• Click Start

• Click Control Panel

• Click User Accounts

• Click on the account which you want to create a password disk

• Click Prevent a forgotten password which starts the Forgotten Password Wizard. This is found under Related Tasks

• Insert a blank, formatted disk into drive A, and click Next

• Enter the password in the Current user account password box

To use the recovery disk, at the Welcome screen

• Click the user name whose password is on the recovery disk

• Click the question mark button

• This causes the “Did you forget your password message to appear.”

• Click use your password reset disk

• This will start the Password Reset Wizard.

From this point, just follow the wizard's instructions and you will be able to set a new password. It is different if you are part of a domain, see next tip.

[Bruceleeon]

9. How to Create a Password Reset Disk for computers that are part of a domain

Note that this procedure requires one blank, formatted floppy disk.

To create a password reset disk for your local user account:

1. Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE. The Windows Security dialog box appears.

2. Click Change Password. The Change Password dialog box appears.

3. In the Log on to box, click the local computer. For example, click Computer (this computer) .

4. Click Backup. The Forgotten Password Wizard starts.

5. On the "Welcome to the Forgotten Password Wizard" page, click Next.

6. Insert a blank, formatted disk in drive A, and then click Next.

7. In the Current user account password box, type your password, and then click Next. The Forgotten Password Wizard creates the disk.

8. When the progress bar reaches 100 percent complete, click Next, and then click Finish . The Forgotten Password Wizard quits and you return to the Change Password dialog box.

9. Remove, and then label the password reset disk. Store the disk in a safe place.

10. In the Change Password dialog box, click Cancel.

11. In the Windows Security dialog box, click Cancel.

[Rbreb13]

A List of the Keyboard Shortcuts That Are Available in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...b;en-us;Q301583