Enable Folder and Icon Refresh

This reg file Enables Folder and Icon Refresh.

1. Copy the following (everything in the box) into notepdad.
QUOTEWindows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]"NoNetCrawling"=dword:00000000

2. Save the file as disablerefreshundo.reg3. Double click the file to import into your registry.

NOTE: If your anti-virus software warns you of a "malicious" script, this is normal if you have "Script Safe" or similar technology enabled.

Disclaimer: Modifying these settings can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. We cannot guarantee that problems resulting from these modifications to the settings listed above can be solved. Use the information provided at your own risk.

Disabling the "Send Error Report" feature

To disable the feature in WinXP which tries to send a report to microsoft every time a program crashes you will have to do this:

Open Control Panel > Click on Preformance and Maintenance. Click on System. Then click on the Advanced tab > Click on the error reporting button on the bottom of the windows. Select Disable error reporting. Click OK

Boot Windows XP Fast

Follow the following steps
1. Open notepad.exe, type "del c:\windows\prefetch\ntosboot-*.* /q" (without the quotes) & save as "ntosboot.bat" in c:\
2. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "gpedit.msc".
3. Double click "Windows Settings" under "Computer Configuration" and double click again on "Shutdown" in the right window.
4. In the new window, click "add", "Browse", locate your "ntosboot.bat" file & click "Open".
5. Click "OK", "Apply" & "OK" once again to exit.
6. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "devmgmt.msc".
7. Double click on "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers"
8. Right click on "Primary IDE Channel" and select "Properties".
9. Select the "Advanced Settings" tab then on the device or 1 that doesn't have 'device type' greyed out select 'none' instead of 'autodetect' & click "OK".
10. Right click on "Secondary IDE channel", select "Properties" and repeat step 9.
11. Reboot your computer.

This is not exactly a registry tweak but it essentialy changes the registry entries that control these settings.

Disclaimer: Modifying these settings can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. We cannot guarantee that problems resulting from these modifications to the settings listed above can be solved. Use the information provided at your own risk.

Auto End Tasks to Enable a Proper Shutdown

Auto End Tasks to Enable a Proper Shutdown
This reg file automatically ends tasks and timeouts that prevent programs from shutting down and clears the Paging File on Exit.
1. Copy the following (everything in the box) into notepad.

QUOTEWindows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]"ClearPageFileAtShutdown"=dword:00000001
[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop]"AutoEndTasks"="1"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="1000"
2. Save the file as shutdown.reg
3. Double click the file to import into your registry.

NOTE: If your anti-virus software warns you of a "malicious" script, this is normal if you have "Script Safe" or similar technology enabled.

Disclaimer: Modifying the registry can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. We cannot guarantee that problems resulting from modifications to the registry can be solved. Use the information provided at your own risk.

Change The Default Location For Installing Apps

As the size of hard drives increase, more people are using partitions to separate and store groups of files.
XP uses the C:\Program Files directory as the default base directory into which new programs are installed. However, you can change the default installation drive and/ or directory by using a Registry hack.
Go to :
- Start > Run
- Type “regedit” (without “”)
- Go to this directory…HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
- Look for the value named ProgramFilesDir. by default,this value will be C:\Program Files. Edit the value to any valid drive or folder and XP will use that new location as the default installation directory for new programs.

Disclaimer: Modifying the registry can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. We cannot guarantee that problems resulting from modifications to the registry can be solved. Use the information provided at your own risk.

Windows registry

Understanding the registry of any of the OS created by Microsoft can give you enormous manipulative power. The registry is basically a structure that saves any change that you make at any time while you are working on you PC. If you install a registry monitoring program you can see that the registry is active at all times. Every small action such as opening a new window is being controlled by the registry. If you are running a Windows XP OS you can access the registry by using the command "regedit" in the run menu which can be found in the start menu. You cand find out more about the Windows registry on wikipedia.
This is how registry editor looks like under Windows XP:
Now this might look a bit complicated to those that encounter Registry Editor for the first time but it's nothing to be afraid of.