Windows XP Tips 'N' Tricks

» Decreasing Boot Time
Microsoft has made available a program to analyze and decrease the time it takes to boot to WindowsXPThe program is called BootVisUncompress the file. Run BOOTVIS.EXE For a starting point, run Trace / Next Boot + Driver Delays This will reboot your computer and provide a benchmark After the reboot, BootVis will take a minute or two to show graphs of your system startup. Note how much time it takes for your system to load (click on the red vertical line) Then run Trace / Optimize System Re-Run the Next Boot + Drive Delays Note how much the time has decreased Mine went from approximately 39 to 30 seconds.

» WindowsXP Command Line Utilities
While there are a lot of command line utilities in WindowsXP, here are some that I have been using lately.bootcfg - Configures, queries, or changes Boot.ini file settings.driverquery - Displays a list of all installed device drivers and their properties.getmac - Returns the media access control (MAC) address and list of network protocols associated with each address for all network cards in each computergpresult - Displays Group Policy settings and Resultant Set of Policy (RSOP) for a user or a computernetsh - You can use commands in the Netsh Interface IP context to configure the TCP/IP protocolschtasks - Schedules commands and programs to run periodically or at a specific timesysteminfo - Displays detailed configuration information about a computer and its operating system

» Creating an Automated Install of WindowsXP
On the WindowsXP CP, in the SUPPORT\TOOLS directory,there is a file called DEPLOY.CAB.Extract the programs DEPLOY.CHM (help file) and SETUPMGR.EXE (main program) Run SETUPMGR and answer the prompts. This will create both a unattend.bat and unattend.txt file you can use for automated installs. Note: The batch file might need some minor modification for file locations but it is fairly basic.

» Disabling Hibernation
If you don't want to use up the disk space taken by Hibernation, or don't need to use it at all,you can easily disable it.Open up the Control Panel / Power Options icon Click on the Hibernation icon Uncheck Enable Hibernation

» Increasing System Performance
If you have 512 megs or more of memory, you can increase system performanceby having the core system kept in memory.Start Regedit Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\DisablePagingExecutive Set the value to be 1 Reboot the computer

» Common Command Console Utilities
WindowsXP comes with quite a few console utilities you can easily run from the command line:Computer Management - compmgmt.mscDisk Managment - diskmgmt.mscDevice Manager - devmgmt.mscDisk Defrag - dfrg.mscEvent Viewer - eventvwr.mscShared Folders - fsmgmt.mscGroup Policies - gpedit.mscLocal Users and Groups - lusrmgr.mscPerformance Monitor - perfmon.mscResultant Set of Policies - rsop.mscLocal Security Settings - secpol.mscServices - services.mscComponent Services - comexp.msc

» Automatically Ending Non-Responsive Tasks
Start Regedit Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\AutoEndTasks Set the value to be 1 In the same section, change the WaitToKillAppTimeout to the number of milliseconds you want.

» Changing the Internet Explorer Title
Start Regedit Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Window Title Enter what you want appear in the title bar

» Changing Programs That Start Automatically
WindowsXP has a similar program, MSCONFIG, that was available in Windows98.This allows you to view and change what programs are automatically started each time you log in.The new version also allows you to view and edit the boot.ini file

(as well as check for errors and use several advanced switches)