Tech Unleash » Windows XP

Adjust for the Best Performance of Applications in Windows

Bimal Roy — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:14:23 +0000

By adjusting for the best performance of applications instead of background services in Windows can increase the performance your system. For doing it, just follow the steps given below.

1. Open the ‘Control Panel’.

2. Double-click the ‘System’ icon.

3. In Windows 7 or Vista, click the ‘Advanced system settings’ option on the left pane and in Windows XP, just double-click the system icon and the ‘System Properties’ dialog box appears.

4. Select the ‘Advanced’ tab, click the ‘Settings’ option under the ‘Performance’ section and the ‘Performance Options’ dialog box appears.

5. Under the ‘Processor scheduling’ section in the ‘Advanced’ tab, check the ‘Programs’ option for adjusting for the best performance of applications.

6. Click ‘Apply’ and then ‘OK’.

That’s all!

By adjusting for the best performance of applications instead of background services in Windows can increase the performance your system. For doing it, just follow the steps given below.

1. Open the ‘Control Panel’.

2. Double-click the ‘System’ icon.

3. In Windows 7 or Vista, click the ‘Advanced system settings’ option on the left pane and in Windows XP, just double-click the system icon and the ‘System Properties’ dialog box appears.

4. Select the ‘Advanced’ tab, click the ‘Settings’ option under the ‘Performance’ section and the ‘Performance Options’ dialog box appears.

5. Under the ‘Processor scheduling’ section in the ‘Advanced’ tab, check the ‘Programs’ option for adjusting for the best performance of applications.

6. Click ‘Apply’ and then ‘OK’.

That’s all!

Make Windows XP/Vista Taskbar look like Windows 7 Taskbar(Iconized Taskbar)

Bimal Roy — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 01:37:28 +0000

Windows 7 only show the icons of apps and not their names/text. But Windows XP/Vista also show the text along with the icons that are not as big as Windows 7’s. The Windows 7’s new iconized taskbar feature shows the thumbnail of the app and saves space in the taskbar. Moreover it looks pretty too. So if you want this iconized taskbar feature in Windows 7, just follow the simple registry hack.

1. Type ‘regedit’ in ‘Run’ hit Enter. Now the Registry Editor will be opened.

2. Navigate to ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics’.

3. Click on ‘Edit’ and select ‘String Value’ from the ‘New’ menu.

4. Create a new String Value named ‘MinWidth’.

5. Double-click on it and set its value to -255.

6. Now log off or restart your computer for the effect to take place.

NOTE: To get the old taskbar look, just delete ‘MinWidth’ string value.

Now you could attain the Windows 7 taskbar appearence in Windows XP/Vista. But you won’t be able to get the thumbnail feature in Windows XP but you could get the iconized taskbar feature. But in Vista you could get both.

How to get the large taskbar icons in WindowsXP/Vista as in Windows 7

Windows 7 taskbar only show the icons of apps and not their names/text. But Windows XP/Vista show the text along with the icons and are not as big as Windows 7’s. The Windows 7’s new iconized taskbar feature shows the thumbnail of the app and saves space in the taskbar. Moreover it looks pretty too. So if you want this iconized taskbar feature in Windows 7, just follow the simple registry hack.

1. Type ‘regedit’ in ‘Run’ and hit Enter. Now the Registry Editor will be opened.

2. Navigate to ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics’.

3. Click on ‘Edit’ and select ‘String Value’ from the ‘New’ menu.

4. Create a new String Value named ‘MinWidth’.

5. Double-click on it and set its value to -255.

6. Now log off or restart your computer for the effect to take place.

NOTE: To get the old taskbar look, just delete the ‘MinWidth’ string value.

How to get the large taskbar icons in Windows XP/Vista as in Windows 7

Turn off/disable Search Indexing

Bimal Roy — Tue, 26 May 2009 01:16:15 +0000

Windows has an index structure called the Search Index. This Search Index helps in the quick execution of files. This index always keeps a track of files so that they it can be quickly executed whenever the user needs it. Eventhough this tool is very handy, it may also be a reason for the reduction in your PC’s performance. So you should disable this feature. For turning off this feature, Just follow the below steps.

1.Open ‘My Computer’.
2.Right-click an appropriate drive.
3.From the context menu, select the ‘Properties’ option.
4.Under the ‘General’ Tab, clear the ‘Index this drive for faster searching’ checkbox in Vista and the ‘Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching’ checkbox in XP..

Now the search indexing feature will be turned off.

How to set Windows XP as default operating system

Bimal Roy — Sun, 17 May 2009 01:41:56 +0000

Windows Vista is an operaring system that has a variety of features and one of its features is that it enables you to use multiple operating systems. Windows XP is not as advanced as Windows Vista and Windows XP get replaced when an updated operating system is installed over it. But microsoft has managed to embed this feature in Windows Vista and on its upcoming operating systems. Suppose you have installed Windows Vista as a dual boot with XP. When you have installed Windows Vista over an installation of Windows Xp then, Windows Vista would be set as the primary operating system by default. But if you are usually using Windows XP or if you require XP as the default operating system, you can make Windows XP the default operating system By following the steps given below.

1. Click ‘Start’ and select ‘Run’.
2. Type ‘cmd’ in the search box and the command prompt will be displayed.
3. Type the command ‘bcdedit/default {ntldr}’ and press the ‘Enter’ key.

If you do all these steps correctly, Windows XP will be made your default operating system.

A way to make the text on the screen more clear

Bimal Roy — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 04:58:22 +0000

You can make the on-screen text more clear by increasing the resolution. But this will make the screen very blurry. There is an another way for making the text on the screen more clear and readible that is by increasing the font size by adjusting the monitor settings.

For viewing the text more easier, you can change the display settings. But as mentioned above it would make the screen blurry. So, for avoiding this situation follow the instructions given below.

1. Right click on the screen and click on ‘Properties’ option.

2. Select the ‘Settings’ tab and click on the ‘Advanced’ option.

3. In the ‘Display’ box in the ‘General’ tab, click on the DPI combination field.

4. Choose ‘Large size’ option or after selecting the ‘Custom setting’ option adjust the value.

5. Click on ‘Apply’ and then on ‘OK’ to save the changes.

Disable the Delete Confirmation in Windows

Bimal Roy — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 04:53:38 +0000

The Windows brings up a confirmation dilog box each time when select a file and press the [Delete] key to delete it. This confirmation dialog box appears to confirm the deletion of the selected file.But if you are executing a system cleanup and deleting random files, you may not be needing the delete confirmation message given by Windows. In this case, you can disable the delete confirmation message with the help of the steps given below.

1. Right-click on the ‘Recycle Bin’ and take the ‘Properties’ option.

2. Clear the ‘Display delete confirmation dialog’ checkbox and click the ‘OK’ button to save the changes.

Hide icon text in Windows

Bimal Roy — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 04:41:45 +0000

In Windows, familiar icons are there and sometimes, you might not want to know the names of these icons. This can be explained with an example. Familiar icons like My Computer and Recycle bin do not need text beneath them to know what their function is as most users are familiar to these icons. The texts under the icons can be eliminated if they are not required by the user by the following ways.

1. Right click the respected icon.

2. Select the ‘Rename’ option.

3. The ‘Num Lock’ should be activated if not readily activated.

4. Hold the [Alt] key and enter the value ‘255′ from the keypad.

Disable automatic restart in Windows XP

Bimal Roy — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 04:33:51 +0000

Windows XP restarts your computer automatically if any major error is present in your sytem. This restart occurs to record the error message for troubleshooting purposes. But it may disturb you as the reboot occurs without your knowledge or a warning. This automatic restart in Windows XP can be disabled by the following steps.

1. Select the ‘Control Panel’ from the start menu.

2. When the ‘Control Panel’ window appears,double click the ‘System’ icon(The ‘System’ icon’s position may vary depending on the version of Windows XP you are using so that you may not see the ‘System’ icon. Click the ‘Switch to Classic View’ on the left pane to view it).

3. Select the ‘Advanced’ tab from the ‘System Properties’ window.

4. Click the ‘Settings’ in the ‘Start and Recovery’ area.

5. Clear the ‘Automtically restart’ check box in the Startup and recovery window.

6. In the ‘Startup and Recovery window’ click ‘OK’.

7. Click ‘OK’ in the ‘System Properties window’.

Follow all the above steps so that if any major error freezes the system,the system won’t restart automatically but instead it will ask the user to restart the system manually.

Remove dead drivers and install new devices correctly and more easily

Bimal Roy — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 04:19:53 +0000

You have got a new device whose driver has to be installed in Windows.If the installation failed in the first attempt, the Windows aborts all your attempts that follows the first one showing an error message. Entries and data will be left behind by these failed installations and depending on the point where the installation was interrupted, it causes trouble for your computer. Sometimes, these fragments may satisfy the Windows to believe that it already has a correct driver installation, though the partially installed data interferes with the proper functioning of the device. Not only that, the device will not be visible to the user which makes the uninstallation of the driver impossible with the help of the built-in Windows resources.

Windows rejects any new installations giving you a message that the driver already exists on the system. Mostly, you might be trying a system recovery or a reinstallation of the operating system.But this is only a waste of time. If you do not have the patience to sit for doing any of these, you can remove the unwanted dead drivers using a system cleaning tool such as ‘CCleaner’. This software searches for the unwanted registry entries as well as temporary files that uses the hard disk space.