Windows Tricks and Tips (Set-2)

1. Need More Disk Space??

Clean up by going to StartAll ProgramsAccessoriesSystem ToolsDisk Cleanup. In
'More Options' click the button to remove all but the most recent restore point. Delete the
hidden folder C:\Windows\$NTServicePackUninstall. There may also be a large folder
C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download. That can also be deleted. There will also be a
large folder C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles. Do NOT delete this but compress it to save
about 200MB of disk space. To compress it, Right click on it, Choose Properties, click the
Advanced button, and select 'Compress’.

2. Shortcut to Lock Your PC

We have already discussed about shortcuts to shutdown, restart and logoff XP machines. This
time I’ll show you how to lock it with a shortcut. Create a new shortcut on your desktop
using a right mouse click, and enter rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation in the location
field exactly as it is. Give the shortcut a name. Just double click on it and your computer will
be locked. Enter passport to log back in.

3. Stop XP from Tracking User Information

XP tracks user information such as the programs users run, the paths they navigate, and the
documents they open in order to customize Windows menu and other related features. We
can stop XP from doing this so as to free the system resources. To do so, navigate to the key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Create or modify a DWORD key named NoInstrumentation and give it a value of 1 (hex).

4. Stop Users Changing Desktop Settings

If you are running a cyber cafe (or a public machine) and do not want users to change desktop
settings,navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Program
Manager\Restrictions.
Create or edit the DWORD NoSaveSettings. Now to disable saving desktop settings, set its
value to 1. Reboot the machine for the settings to take effect.

5. A Tip for the Taskbar

Navigate to the following registry hive for this small but cute registry hack:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Create or modify a DWORD key named NoToolbarsOnTaskbar and set its value to 1 (hex).

6. Security Tip: Clear Page File

Some programs can temporarily store unencrypted passwords and other sensitive information
in memory. By clearing the Windows paging file (stored in hard disk as Pagefile.sys), we can
prevent any unsecured data from being contained after the shutdown process is complete.
This tip will enhance the security but will slow down the shutdown process by another 5 to 8
seconds. If you do not want to compromise on security, follow the tip.
Open Control PanelSelect Administrative ToolsChoose Local Security PolicyLocal
Policies. Now Click on Security Options. In the right hand menu, right click on Shutdown:
Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile and Select Enable. Reboot the machine. Now for the guys,
who love to edit the registry for this setting, navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\
MemoryManagement. Double click on ClearPageFileAtShutdown and Set Value = 1.Click
OK and Reboot.

7. Clear the Temporary Files Automatically

You can tell IE 6 to automatically delete temporary files. To do so Start the browser, select
Tools Internet Options Advanced. Go to the Security area and check the box to Empty
Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed.

8. More DNS Tweaks

Failed DNS lookups get cached and to prevent it from occurring, we have to change
following three registry keys under the hive:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ Dnscache\ Parameters
Now create or modify the DWORD key named NegativeCacheTime and set its value to
0(zero) .The default value is 300 seconds. This key determines how long an entry for a
negative answer remains in DNS cache.
Create or modify the DWORD key NetFailureCacheTime and set the value as 0 (zero). The
default is 30 seconds. It determines for how long the DNS client stops sending queries when
the network is not responding.
Create or modify the DWORD key NegativeSOACacheTime and set the value as 0(zero).
The default value I think is 120 seconds. This key determines how long an entry for a
negative answer to a query for an SOA remains in the Domain Name System (DNS) cache.

9. Increase the Maximum Recording Time

In the Sound Recorder utility the maximum time of recording is 1 minute. You can increase it
to any number of minutes of your choice by applying this trick. First make sure that your
microphone is muted so it will not pick up sound. Click Record, and then let Sound Recorder
run for 60 seconds. This will create a blank wave file of length 1 minute. After 60 seconds,
click Save As on the File menu, and name the file loops.wav
Click Insert File on the Edit menu, and then insert the loops.wav file. This increases the
maximum recording time by 60 seconds. You can repeat this step once for each additional
minute of recording time that you want to add. For example, for a 10-minute recording time,
insert the loops.wav file 10 times.

10. Killing Tasks from Command Line

First get the command prompt by following StartRuncmd. Find out the tasks and its
process id by typing tasklist in the black window.You can now get rid of tasks on the
computer by using taskkill /pid followed by the process number, or just tskill and the process
number.

11. Task Bar Grouping

If you want to change the default number of grouping in task bar do this tweak. Go to
STARTRUN and enter regedit. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\
Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced. Look for value of the key titled
TaskbarGroupSize. Set it to any value you want. Default is 3.

12. Turn Off Descriptions

When you place the cursor on explorer objects, a description of the object pops up. To disable
the pop up description, you can use the following registy hack . Navigate to the registry key :
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Micrsft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
Look for the data key ShowInfoTip and set its value to 0 to disable it.

13. Display Wallpaper Right from Log On

To display wallpaper during the logon itself, navigate to the following registry key :
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop. In the right pane, change the path to
Wallpaper. It will be useful if you are looking for ways to display your company logo during
all user log in sessions.

14. Find the Details of a Web Update

If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer, you can easily determine when a page was updated
last. Navigate to the page you want to check and type into the Address Bar:
javascript:alert(document.lastModified) and press Enter. Please make sure that you have
entered the line exactly as above. A dialog box will open display the date and time of the last
update.

15. Disable ZIP files Being Shown as Folders

In Windows Experience (XP) the Zip files are shown as a folder. If you are using a third
party zip utility like WinRAR, and you do not want them to be handled by XP, do the
following registry tweaking. Click Start and go to Run. Now enter the string given below in
the run box , and click OK:
regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll
You should receive a dialog that says "DllUnregisterServer in zipfldr.dll succeeded."
To restore the default behavior, simply do the same with another string:
regsvr32 zipfldr.dll