Hide the Partitions

->This trick is for all those people who want to hide tons of data into their box. So here it is, if you have very important data in your hard drive placed in some partition which you do not want anybody to access then this trick is only for you!

->Just click on start>run type gpedit.msc, now navigate through user configuration> administrative templates > windows components> windows explorer, now double click on “Hide these specified drives in My Computer” modify it accordingly then just below you will find another option “Prevent access to drives from My Computer”, double click on this option and modify it accordingly.

->To make it visible again select "disable" by double clicking on the “Hide these specified drives in My Computer” option.

IMPROVE XP SHUTDOWN SPEED

This tweak reduces the time XP waits before automatically closing any running programs when you give it the command to shutdown.
Go to Start then select Run
Type 'Regedit' and click ok
Find 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\'
Select 'WaitToKillAppTimeout'
Right click and select 'Modify'
Change the value to '1000'
Click 'OK'
Now select 'HungAppTimeout'
Right click and select 'Modify'
Change the value to '1000'
Click 'OK'

Now find 'HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop'
Select 'WaitToKillAppTimeout'
Right click and select 'Modify'
Change the value to '1000'
Click 'OK'
Now find 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\'
Select 'WaitToKillServiceTimeout'
Right click and select 'Modify'
Change the value to '1000'
Click 'OK'

Disable Turn Off Option ..and ALT+F4 option

REGEDIT->HKEY_CURRENT_USER->SOFTWARE->MICROSOFT->WINDOWS->POLICIES->EXPLORER THEN GO TO RIGHT SIDE AND BY RIGHT CLICK OF UR MOUSE CREATE NEW DWORD VALUE WITH NAME NoClose and after creating click on it and give Value Data 1.
And Reboot your pc ..now your Turn Off option is disabled ..to Enable it again ..go to that directory by regedit ..and simply delete that created NoClose and Log Off Your User and Log in again ..your Turn off Again Working

Deleting recycle bin

Start] [Run] [Regedit]
Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\BitBucket
Modify/Create the Value Data Type(s) and Value Name(s) as detailed below.
Data Type: DWORD // Value Name: NukeOnDelete
Setting for Value Data: [0 = Use Recycle Bin / 1 = Permanently Delete]
Exit Registry and Reboot


Another Method

start->run->gpedit.msc-> user configuration ->desktop->remove recycle bin from desktop->double click->change it not configured to enable->apply and ok.

now come to start->run->gpupdate.exe and press enter.

your recycle bin icon is gone from desktop nad you will need to revert your settings for get that back.

after reverting setting make sure to run gpupdate.exe command.

Create A Hidden User Account

This tweak allows an account that is normally displayed on the Welcome screen to be hidden from view. To log on using the account it's necessary to use the Log On To Windows dialog box similar to the one in Windows 2000.

#[Start] [Run] [Regedit]
#Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\
Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList
#Modify/Create the Value Data Type(s) and Value Name(s) as detailed below.
#Data Type: REG_DWORD [Dword Value] // Value Name: Type Name of Account to be Hidden
#Setting for Value Data: [0 = Account is Hidden / 1 = Enabled]
#Exit Registry and Reboot...

Create nameless files and folders in windows

This trick will allow you to create files and folders without any name.

Just follow the following steps:

1.Select any file or folder.
2.Right click on it, press rename or simply press F2.
3.Press and hold the alt key. While holding the Alt key, type numbers 0160 from the numpad.

4.Press Enter and the nameless file or folder will be created.

Reason: The file or folder that seems nameless is actually named with a single space.

But what if you want to create another nameless file or folder in the same directory ?

For this you will have to rename the file with 2 spaces. Just follow these steps below:

1.Select file, press F2.
2.Hold alt key and type 0160 from the numpad.
3.Release the alt key. Now without doing anything else, again hold alt key and press 0160.
4.Press enter and you will have second nameless file in the same directory.
5.Repeat step 3 to create as many nameless files or folders in the same directory.

Convert FAT- NTFS

To convert a FAT partition to NTFS, perform the following steps.

Click Start, click Programs, and then click Command Prompt. In Windows XP, click Start, click Run, type cmd and then click OK.

At the command prompt, type CONVERT [driveletter]: /FS:NTFS. Convert.exe will attempt to convert the partition to NTFS.



NOTE:=
Although the chance of corruption or data loss during the conversion from FAT to NTFS is minimal, it is best to perform a full backup of the data on the drive that it is to be converted prior to executing the convert command.

Boot your Computer Faster

Many computers take a lot of time to boot (or start ).This is due to many reasons.

Some slight changes can do wonders for your system:

1.Press start->run then type msconfig and press enter.

Go to the startup tab. Here you will see a list of startup items. These are all the programs that automatically start when you boot your PC. It is these that slow down the boot up process.

So uncheck all the unwanted items like ms-office, messengers other utilities that u may not need at startup). Don't uncheck your antivirus software.

Restart your Pc to and see for yourself, your pc will now boot faster....


2.A great new feature in Microsoft Windows XP is the ability to do a boot defragment. This places all boot files next to each other on the disk to allow for faster booting. By default this option is enabled, but on some systems it is not, so below is the information on how to turn it on:

Go to Start Menu and Click Run
Type in regedit then click ok
Find "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOpt imizeFunction"
Select "Enable" from the list on the right
Right on it and select "Modify"
Change the value to Y .
Reboot your Pc and see the change yourself.

3.SPEED UP BOOT BY DISABLING UNUSED PORTS.!!

You may have tried many tweaks like modifying windows XP start-up applications, prefetches, unload DLLs method, etc. And yes those methods do work for me.
I have just accidentally found out another way to give you an extra boost in windows XP's boot performance. This is done by disabling your unused devices in
Device Manager. for example, if you don't have input devices that are connected to one of your USB's or COM ports, disabling them will give you an extra performance boost in booting. Go to Control Panel -> System -> Hardware tab -> device manager Disable devices that you don't use for your PC and then restart.

Top 20 Tips To Keep Your System Faster...

Follow these tips and you will definitely have a much faster and more reliable PC! Most of the below tips works for windows 98



1. Wallpapers: They slow your whole system down, so if you're willing to compromise, have a basic plain one instead!


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2. Drivers: Update your hardware drivers as frequently as possible. New drivers tend to increase system speed especially in the case of graphics cards, their drivers are updated by the manufacturer very frequently!


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3. Minimizing: If you want to use several programs at the same time then minimize those you are not using. This helps reduce the overload on RAM.


4. Boot Faster: The 'starting Windows 95/98' message on startup can delay your booting for a couple of seconds. To get rid of this message go to c:\ and find the file Msdos.sys. Remove the Read-Only option. Next, open it in Notepad or any other text editor. Finally, go to the text 'Options' within the file and make the following changes: Add BootDelay=0. To make your booting even faster, set add Logo=0 to remove the Windows logo at startup.


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5. Restart only Windows: When restarting your PC, hold down Shift to only restart Windows rather than the whole system which will only take a fraction of the time.


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6. Turn Off Animations: Go to Display Settings from the Control Panel and switch to the Effects Tab. Now turn off Show Windows Content While Dragging and Smooth Edges on Screen Fonts. This tip is also helpful with Windows XP because of the various fade/scroll effects.


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7. Faster Start-Menu Access: Go to the Start menu and select Run. Now type Regedit and hit Enter. The Registry Editor will appear on the screen. Now, open the folder HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. You should see a MenuShowDelay value. If you don't then do the following: right click on a blank space in the right pane and select New\String. Change the name in the new value to MenuShowDelay. Now that we have the MenuShowDelay value, double click on it and enter 0 in the value data field. This sets the start menu delay to 0 milliseconds.

8. Resolutions: If you are willing to do anything for faster performance from your PC, then try lowering your display resolution. The lower it is, the faster your PC.


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9. Turn off Active Desktop: Go to your Display Properties and switch to the Web tab. Uncheck View My Active Desktop As a Web Page. Since the Active Desktop option under Windows 98 uses a lot of system resources, this option can have a dramatic effect on the speed of the whole system.


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10. Defragment Often: Windows 98's Defrag tool uses Application Acceleration from Intel which means that when you defragment your drive, data is physically arranged on the drive so that applications will load faster.


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11. Take your PC to Bed: Using the Advanced Power Management feature under Windows 98 gives you the option to use the sleep command. That way, you can send your PC to sleep instead of shutting it down and then restarting it. It's as simple as pressing a button and then pressing the same button to wake it up. You can tell Windows after how many minutes/hours of inactivity to automatically sleep the machine in the Advanced Power Management section of the Control Panel.


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12. Faster Internet Access: If you use the internet for reference and the sites you visit are rarely updated then try the following. In IE (the same can be done in Netscape) go to Tools, Internet Options. Next, click on Settings... in the Temporary Internet Files section. Finally, select Never for the first option and double the amount of storage space to use, click OK!


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13. Benchmarking: Benchmarking can be very useful when run frequently. It can tell you how your PC's components are performing and then compare them to other machines like yours. For example, when you overclock your PC, you want to know how much more speed you have and whether it is stable. All this and more can be discovered using benchmarking. An excellent piece of software for doing this job is SiSoft Sandra which can be found in the Downloads File Archive!


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14. Refresh the Taskbar without restarting: If you in some way change the taskbar, either in Regedit or elsewhere, you can refresh the task bar without restarting. Hold down Ctrl Alt Del, and double click on Explorer. Say Yes to close Explorer, but no to closing Windows. This will refresh the Taskbar and system tray.


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15. Quick CD Eject: Instead of pushing the button on your drive, right-click your CD drive letter in My Computer and click on Eject. This will also remove any icons that have become associated with the CD drive.


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16. Start Up Programs: Windows can be slowed down when programs run on start up. To eliminate this, check your Start up folder. You can access it from the start menu: Start, Programs, Start Up. Another way to eliminate programs from loading even before Windows actually starts is by doing the following: Click on Start, then Run. Type msconfig. It will take quite a long time for this program to load, but when you finally see it on your screen, explore the different tabs. They all have to do with how quickly your PC boots, so select what you want, and uncheck what you don't want!


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17. Fonts: When Windows starts, it loads every single font in the Fonts folder. Therefore, the more fonts you have, the slower the booting process. To get rid of unwanted fonts, simply go to the Fonts folder under c:\windows and remove whatever you don't want. Fonts that have a red letter 'A' as their icon are system fonts, so don't delete them.


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18. Stretching Wallpapers: Don't "stretch" your wallpaper in Windows 98 since it actually slows Windows down when you drag icons around on the desktop.


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19. RAM Matters: If you have less than 32MB then you should seriously think of upgrading it to at least 64MB. Windows runs much more smoothly with 64MB or higher and tends to use less hard disk space for virtual memory.


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20. Partitioning: A very nice little thing you can do to boost system performance. By partitioning your hard drive, splitting one physical drive into several logical ones, you can gain several advantages. 1. If you get a virus or you accidentally format a drive, not all will be lost. 2. By placing the swap file (Win386.swp) on a separate drive, The swap file will be less fragmented and thus, faster. 3. Place Windows on a separate drive and whenever you need to reinstall it, you rest assured that your data is safe on a separate drive. Partitioning can be done using a few programs such as FDisk which comes with DOS. However, FDisk formats everything on the hard disk before partitioning. Alternatively, you can use Partition Magic from Power Quest to partition your hard disk without losing your data.