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Hidden in Windows XP

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

If you’ve upgraded to Microsoft’s latest OS, and want to use features that no one else would have even thought of, you’ve come to the right place. Here are some tricks to make you more comfortable with the OS. Some of the these are based on modifying the Windows Registry. It is advised that you backup your registry first so that you don’t accidentally mess up your XP installation. You can backup the registry by running Regedit from the Start menu>Run. From here, select My Computer, go to the Registry Menu and select Export Registry File. Here, ensure you choose to backup the entire range. Give a file name and path for the registry backup file. You can also backup the registry by creating an Emergency repair disk from Start menu>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Backup.

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Add Defrag to context menu



With bigger capacity hard disks, you are likely to have lots of partitions. Disk Defrag is recommended to improve performance of the PC. You can add a Defrag option to the right-click context menu by adding entries to the Registry. Open Notepad and write the following code:





signature=”$CHICAGO$”





AddReg=AddMe





HKCR,”Drive\Shell\Defrag\command”,,,”DEFRAG.EXE %1”



Save the file as ‘defrag.inf’. Make sure to save it as ‘All files’ type. Now you can invoke the DOS-based defrag utility from the right-click context menu in Explorer.

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Add/remove optional Windows components



For power users who need a leaner OS, the ability to remove as much optional components as possible is a requisite. For some reason Windows XP does not show up the complete list of removable components in the Add/Remove option from the Control Panel. You can ‘show’ them all by editing one file. Go to the ‘inf’ sub-folder under your ‘Windows’ Folder. This would be hidden. So select the option of ‘Show all files and folders’ from the Explorer first. Open the file called ‘sysoc.inf’ with Notepad. The file contains the entries for the programs. Entries with the text ‘hide’ in their parameters will not show up in the Add/Remove Windows Components list. Do a search and replace for ‘,hide’ and replace it with ‘,’ (a comma). Save the file and close it. Voila! all the hidden components show up ready to be tweaked or removed.

Remove the Shared documents folders



The My Computer window has links to Shared documents folder, which is used by hardly anyone. This is a default setting and you cannot even delete them. To get rid of them, there is a simple registry modification. Start Regedit and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ My Computer \ NameSpace \ DelegateFolders

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There is a sub-key called {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. Delete this key. Reboot your PC to reinitialize the registry. All your Shared Folders will be gone.

Share folders easily on the network



It was so much easier to share a folder under Windows 2000. Just right-click a folder and choose share. Windows XP has made this process slightly complicated. You can get the old method back. Just open My Computer window, go to the Tools menu and then Folder options. In the View tab, scroll down to the last entry, which says ‘Use simple file sharing (Recommended)’. Uncheck it and you get the familiar Windows 2000 sharing options now.

Start-menu speed



The default speed of the Start menu is slow. But you can speed it up by changing its delay. In the registry, navigate to:

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HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ MenuShowDelay

The default value is 400. Change it to 0 to speed things up.

Hibernate option on Shut down



For some reason, hibernate option does not come up when you select ‘Turn off computer’ from the Start menu. To get the option, hold down the ‘Shift’ key after the three options of ‘Stand by’, ‘Restart’ and ‘Turn off’ come up. The Standby changes to Hibernate!

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Keep favorite programs at hand



To keep your favorite and most used program always on the Start menu, right-click on the program’s link in the menu and select ‘Pin to Start menu’. This will place the link just below your Internet and e-mail application. It is a nice feature and gives quick access to the FTP client you always used and had to put a shortcut for on the Desktop for.

Java-enabling Win XP



Because of the legal battle with Sun, Microsoft did not include the Java Virtual Machine in Windows XP. But for Java propounders and even regular users visiting websites requiring Java support, a separate virtual machine is available from Microsoft website’s download center. If you try to open a Java enabled website from XP for the first time, you’ll be automatically pointed to the link on Microsoft’s website from where the VM can be downloaded. If you upgraded from your previous installation of Windows, which had JVM installed in it, don’t bother downloading it again. Your earlier JVM will still exist.

Amazingly useful Views



Go to the View menu in any window and the ‘Arrange icons by’ option. Select ‘Show in groups’ here and there is an instant transformation in the view of the window. You can now right-click inside your MP3 folder and ‘Arrange icons by’ anything–name, size, artist, album, year etc.! The ‘Details’ drop down menu in the windows is also a great help. Use it while navigating through your MP3 or picture folders. It gives all ID3v2 tag details like file size, duration, album, artist for MP3s and file size and dimensions for pictures as you scroll through them. What is more, with ID3v2 support now built-in, you can edit an MP3’s info from the ‘Properties’ in the right-click context menu. However, remove the ‘Read only’ check mark before trying to edit the details in the ‘Summary’ tab.

Help the ‘Help’



The Help and Support in Windows XP is pretty extensive and you might face a couple of initial problems navigating your way through it. Want to make is easier and friendlier? Click on the last button on the toolbar marked ‘Options’. Now you can do almost anything including the way help-search is performed to the way the support-center looks!

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