XP Tips & Tweaks
These tips and tweaks have come from hundreds of individuals across the internet. I
have included some of web sites links (below) that cover this popular topic.
I have not tried most of these tips, so let me know if some don't work or have
mistakes.
Tips & Tweaks Links
TipsDr
Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows - XP Tips & Tricks
Microsoft WinXP Support Center
Microsoft WinXP Professional
Microsoft WinXP Home
Microsoft WinXP Knowledge Base Articles
Microsoft Power Toys for Windows XP
Microsoft Windows XP Tips
Microsoft Windows XP User Tips Archive
Microsoft Windows XP Professional Tips
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Tips
Microsoft Tips & Tricks for Windows XP Professional
Microsoft Tips for Techies
Stop Jerky Graphics
If you are connected to a LAN and have problems with jerky graphics, this might be the
solution:
· Right-click "My Computer".
· Select "Manage".
· Click on "Device Manager".
· Double-click on your NIC under "Network Adapters".
· In the new window, select the "Advanced" tab.
· Select "Connection Type" and manually set the value of your NIC. (Not "Auto Sense"
which is default.).
· You should reboot.
Shutdown XP Faster
Like previous versions of windows, it takes long time to restart or shutdown windows
XP when the "Exit Windows" sound is enabled. To solve this problem you must disable this
useless sound.
· Click Start button.
· Go to settings > Control Panel > Sound, Speech and Audio devices > Sounds and Audio
Devices > Sounds.
· Then under program events and windows menu click on "Exit Windows" sub-menu and
highlight it. Now from sounds you can select, choose "none" and then click Apply and
OK.
Now you should see some improvements when shutting down your system.
Speeding Up Your Pentium 2 by 50%
We all know that you really shouldn't try to run Windows XP on anything less that
about a Pentium 3 of some sort if you are out for speedy operations and amazing reaction
times, but for those of us with the good old Pentium 2's who want to see just how well we
can run XP, we have to tweak as much as we can where-ever we can. A real killer to the
system's performance is Windows Media Player. Although it may look desirable and fancy
with it's rounded off edges and 3rd-Dimensional appearance, the truth is, it takes up a
large amount of that precious processing power. All of these troubles however, lead to
one thing in particular with this 'new-look' over-rated music and video player...the
Visualizations. The look-great I'll admit but like a lot of software these days, it has
no purpose. If you run the task manager, and click the Performance tab along the top,
you'll see that when Windows Media Player is running and nothing else is active, it takes
up around 50% of the processors power. Once these visualizations are turned off, it
barely takes up 2-3% of the processors power, which leaves much more room for other
applications to work efficiently.
|
