Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience
You may ask yourselves, why should this article be any different from all those tweaking tutorials around the Internet or, better yet, why should you read this when you can install a program that does it all for you?
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23.10.2008 Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience VI
The moment has come once again to pimp your Windows XP with the skills of a power user and the tool that will always be at your disposal, Notepad. This article, along with the previous ones, will allow you to enhance and customize your operating system with advanced IT knowledge.
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29.11.2008 Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience - Part II
Allow me to start this article by recommending you read (if you haven’t already) the first part of this “tweaking series,” as it sets the ground rules that must be followed in order to get the job done right.
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24.10.2008 Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience - Part III
Welcome back to the registry optimization saga! If you’re just joining us, please start by reading at least our first episode, which describes a few rules that must be followed in order for the optimization process to take place successfully...
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25.10.2008 Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience - Part V: Desktop Icons
Once again, it's time to enhance your Windows XP operating system exactly the way you want and without paying a cent on expensive programs that do something so simple that even a kid could handle it.
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26.11.2008 Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience - Part IV: Display Properties
Welcome to yet another episode of our Microsoft Windows XP tweaking saga. If you're not familiar with the procedure, please start by reading the first article in the series, so as to fully understand how exactly you should use the lines below and how to run the tweaks.
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12.11.2008 Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience - Part VIII: Add or Remove Programs
In part eight of the our tweaking series we’ll go through a few Control Panel optimizations for Windows XP power users that may not interest most people using their operating system for basic tasks.
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26.12.2008 Three Really Cool Vista Visual Tweaks
Andreas Verhoeven has released three really great Windows Vista tweaking applications, designed to improve some of the visual decisions Microsoft made in Vista without much effort on your part.
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4.9.2007 Two Vista Registry Hacks
Thanks to rzalonis for this post in our forum. Here are two easy registry hacks for minor performance gains.
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17.4.2007 Gartner: Vista antitrust tweaks to take years
Antitrust related changes to security in Windows Vista 64-bit will take years to complete and will cause compatibility trouble in the interim, according to Gartner.
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23.10.2006 10 top Vista tweaks part 2
As I noted in the first installment of this series, some of my favorite productivity-enhancing techniques don’t involve custom code or registry edits.
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18.6.2008 10 expert tips and tweaks for Windows Vista RC2
Click on the links for the full tweak
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30.10.2006 12 Tweaks - Squeeze Every Last Drop of Performance Out of Windows Vista
Windows Vista is a resource hog. Microsoft’s latest operating system will swallow every last bit of hardware resources you throw at it in the race for a top user experience, a concept synonymous with high performance.
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15.9.2007 No More Registry from Vista SP1 and XP SP3 to Windows 7?
Windows 7 is the next iteration of the Windows operating system that will succeed Windows Vista. Following the availability of the latest Windows Client, Windows Vienna was the codename for the next version of Windows.
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16.1.2008 Disable and Remove Half-Open TCP Connections Limit (to Unlimited) in Windows 7 and Vista SP2 with EnableConnectionRateLimitin Registry Key
Officially, the incomplete half-open outbound TCP connection attempts allowed at any one time is now unlimited by default in Windows Server 2008 and Vista SP2 (Service Pack 2), and Windows 7. Actually, the ability to limit or restrict number of half-open outgoing TCP connections system can create or establish is built into Windows Vista SP2 and Windows 7, however it’s disabled by default.
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8.6.2009 The Growth of the Windows Registry from 16-bit Windows to XP SP3 and Vista SP1
The Windows registry has been around since the 16-bit editions of Windows, and will continue to be a key component of the operating system even after Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Widows XP Service Pack 3, and even after Windows 7.
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18.1.2008 Microsoft tweaks IE 7 for performance
Microsoft has quietly released a patch aimed at improving the performance of Internet Explorer 7's phishing filter ahead of the company's regular patching schedule, which occurs on the Tuesday of every month.
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8.2.2007 Windows 7 to get parallel-processing tweaks
Microsoft has shared bits and pieces of how it is adding new features to its development tools to better support parallel processing.
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30.9.2008 Wise Registry Cleaner 1.9
Wise Registry Cleaner is one of the safest Registry cleaning tools available in the market today.
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8.4.2007 Wise Registry Cleaner 2.9.4
Wise Registry Cleaner is one of the safest Registry cleaning tools available in the market today.
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27.10.2007 Microsoft tweaks the Live side of the house
On July 1, Microsoft’s new fiscal year started with a new slate of Live executives — or at least a bunch of existing execs with new titles and responsibilities.
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8.7.2007 Auslogics Registry Defrag 4.1.6.75
Auslogics Registry Defrag is an extremely useful program to keep your registry as compact as possible. As a result of keeping the registry defragmented and as small as possible, your computer performance will be much improved.
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18.1.2008 Symantec tool cleans up Windows XP SP3 registry corruption
Symantec Thursday released a free tool that wipes spurious entries from Windows' registry that had crippled some PCs running the company's security software after they were upgraded to Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) or Vista SP1.
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9.6.2008 Windows Registry Editor, Task Manager and Folder Options Disabled by New Infection
January 2008 comes with a new trend when talking about computer security because lots of worms, Trojan horses, viruses or other pieces of malware attempt to disable important Windows functions in order to hide their files.
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14.1.2008 Retrieve CD Key/Product Key From Windows Registry with Product Key Finder
You must keep CD Key/Product key of any software or application at handy place since you may not know when you will need that key again.
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9.7.2009 How to Install Vista Language Packs MUI on all versions of Vista + video tutorial
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium, and Vista Business versions of the Microsoft licensing restrictions can only preserve a language!
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23.9.2008 The Vista Built-in Super Administrator Account Has Survived in Vista SP1
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is designed to evolve the RTM version of the latest Windows client from Microsoft, made available in November 2006 to business customers, and in January 2007 to the general consumers.
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15.2.2008 Vista SP1 Is Out, XP SP3 Old News, the Pink Edition of Vista Is In
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is now nothing more than water under the bridge, now that the service pack was released to manufacturing on February 4, 2008, shipping to general users on March 18.
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27.3.2008 Tell Hasta la Vista to XP - Time to Upgrade to Vista SP1
Like it or not, this is the right time not only to upgrade to Windows Vista Service Pack 1 but also to tell hasta la vista to Windows XP.
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30.6.2008 Instant Change Vista Product ID with Vista ProductID Changer
In past we have reviewed number of application to recover product key like Product Key Finder, WinGuggle, Windows product Key Finder.
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1.11.2009Shipping Seven: The Registry
Could the registry be replaced? Sure, in software, pretty much any change is possible.
In practice though...If you were to
replace the registry, you would end up with something that pretty much looks exactly like the registry.
Go take a look at all the
programs on your hard disk that use the registry APIs in
in advapi32.dll...
winbeta.org - 16.01.2008
Fix Windows Vista Help and Support
If you have been getting the dreaded "Internet Explorer cannot download / from help" error message when attempting to open Help and Support in
Windows Vista, try this fix. It re-associates the .xml file type with its default settings. Once you've merged this into the registry, re-launch Help
and Support and it should work.
You can download the fix here.
winbeta.org - 02.01.2008
10 top Vista tweaks, part 2
Ed Bott: As I noted in the first installment of this series, some of my favorite productivity-enhancing techniques dont involve custom code or
registry edits. Instead, they involve learning how the basic building blocks of Windows work, and then rearranging those components to cut steps out
of the tasks you perform most often.
In todays installment of this two-part series, I share some of my favorite tweaks for
getting maximum mileage out of Windows Search. I also explain the inner workings of volume shadow copies and how you can make better use of these
automatic backups with System Restore and the Previous Versions feature. I show how to get quick access to your local and network data files by
combining shortcuts in a single, easy-to-reach location, and I explain why hybrid sleep should be the default on every desktop PC.
winbeta.org - 18.06.2008
Top Windows Vista Tweaks You Can Find
Love it or hate it, Windows Vista is here to stay as the default operating system for those buying PC laptops on the market today. We all know Vista
requires more hardware power, such as 2GB of RAM being almost a necessity to get decent performance, but are there Vista OS and software tweaks you
can do to improve performance without buying better hardware? There certainly are, and our forum members are working together to collect them all.
A major Thanks goes to forum member flamenko
for starting the "Top Vista Tweaks You Can Find". This
article is a mere summary of what Flamenko and other forum members have come up with so far as recommendations for greatly improving your Windows
Vista Experience, but keep checking the thread in the future as the NotebookReview.com
community is working to make it grow.
winbeta.org - 14.09.2007
Windows registry forensics guide: Investigating hacker activities
When analysing a compromised Windows system, investigators and system administrators can glean enormously useful information about attackers' actions
by looking through the Windows registry, a hierarchical database storing tens of thousands of settings on a modern Windows box. Whether an outside
attacker compromised the box, an inside employee engaged in nefarious activities, or malware inexplicably infected the machine, the Windows registry
contains wonderful gems of information for investigators. In this tip, we'll look at what information investigators can gather about user activity
via the registry. Next month, we'll focus on how investigators can pull useful registry information associated with the overall operating system.
winbeta.org - 06.06.2008
VeriSign Raises .com, .net Registry Fees
VeriSign said late Thursday
that it would raise the
registry fees on both .com and
.net domains October 15 by as
much as 10 percent. The
increase is the first in eight
years, the company says...
betanews.com - 06.04.2007
Rumors: Microsoft to buy
Softricity
There are persistant rumors
all over the web since
yesterday, which say that
Microsoft would fear VMWare's
June products releases. To
compete with them, according
to those rumors, Microsoft is
in talks with Softricity, a
virtualization specialized
company, about buying
possibilities.
A source close to Microsoft
gave its comments about the
story: "It's coming down to
the final stretches,", but
also notes that it's not a
done deal yet, and that things
could still change.
If the rumor says
right, the deal would be
accomplished before the end of
the WinHEC 2006 (Windows
Hardware Engineers Conference)
event, which kicks in next
week.
The point
of buying Softricity is pretty
clear: Giving its Windows
Virtual Server products an
advantage over competing
companies' virtualization
products, along with adding
yet another feature to its
next flagship Operating System
Windows Vista, this feature
would allow application
developers to create a virtual
registry unique to their
application instead of using
the main system registry, and
to avoid DLL conflicts. These
new features in Windows Vista
would be another move in order
to get away from the
getting-old system registry
concept, a tendency that began
with the release of the
Microsoft .NET development
platform...
jcxp.net - 20.05.2006
TweakVI v1.0 build 1014 for Windows Vista released
Optimize and tweak Windows
Vista with TweakVI v1.0
('Basic' edition is
freeware)
Totalidea Software has
released TweakVI, an
application that adds up to 26
time-saving productivity
improvements to Windows Vista.
In addition to tuning Windows
Vista to run faster,
TweakVI's easy-to-use
functions let you tailor the
Windows interface to meet your
personal needs. A registry
cleaner cleans up your systems
registry, and the option to
create a 256MB RAM drive
grants the fastest access to
files and folders.
TweakVI v1.0 gives you
instant access to hidden
Windows XP settings, including
ones that are hard to change.
You can make the Windows Vista
fade in and out, tweak lots of
desktop settings, customize
the Start menu, and enable
several hidden performance
options. With the Ultimate
version of TweakVI an
auto-system-optimizing feature
has been included to optimize
Microsoft's new Operating
system with a click of the
mouse only.
For the
new Windows Vista 'User
Account Control' (UAC)
TweakVI v1.0 includes several
tweaks options to configre
this Vista security feature.
TweakVI v1.0 also manages
Windows Vista system updates:
it detects available updates,
installs them and removes
backups of installed updates
for more hard drive space.
TweakVI v1.0 lets you
lock applications so others
cannot run them. Whether you
want to keep your children
from accidentally destroying
your business files, or you
have colleagues or employees
who shouldn't be using
certain programs on your
computer, Tweak-VI v1.0 locks
people out of a master list of
applications that you can
easily maintain. In addition
to locking applications,
TweakVI v1.0 also lets you
hide and lock folders so they
cannot be accessed by other
people or programs.
TweakVI v1.0 gives you
control over what programs are
launched when you start your
computer. In addition to
letting you easily manage the
programs in your Start menu,
the program also gives you
access to programs that are
launched because of obscure
entries in the Windows Vista
Registry. TweakVI v1.0 lets
you remove those annoying
programs that you've never
wanted running in the
background. With a single
mouse click, you can optimize
the physical memory in your
computer. Each program that
you run uses computer memory.
When you close a program,
often it leaves code fragments
in memory and, over time, your
Windows session runs slower
and slower. TweakVI v1.0 lets
you clean out these leftovers
so your system will run more
quickly and efficiently. For
more system performance,
TweakVI v1.0 allows to set up
multiple pagefiles and virtual
drives.
TweakVI
v1.0 optimizes your Internet
connection speed. Its built-in
table of the most popular
Internet Service
Providers' configurations
contains information that lets
you increase throughput,
whether you're using a
dial-up connection or a faster
broadband connection.
Additionally TweakVI includes
a huge list of tweaks and
restrictions for Microsoft
Internet Explorer 7, as well
as an auto optimization
feature for Firefox v1 and
v2.
TweakVI v1.0
currently comes with an
English interface; more
languages will be supported
soon. The program lets you
tweak the new Windows Vista
Sidebar, restrict access to
the taskbar, sidebar and
several other Windows Vista
feactures, rename multiple
files with a single mouse
click, generate truly random
passwords as well as
pronounceable passwords,
destroy sensitive files
without leaving a trace, find
and remove unnecessary files
from your hard drive, and
perform many other tweaks and
optimizations.
TweakVI v1.0 includes a
Windows Vista auto-logon
feature, Outlook 2002, 2003
and 2007 security tweaks, and
a number of Windows Vista
performance and user interface
tweaks. Additionally it comes
with a DiscDrive Doctor, and
lots of other useful features
for the user's daily work
with Windows Vista.
TweakVI v1.0 is available in
three different editions: the
free 'Basic
Edition' , which
contains all the basic
tweaking features for standard
system tweaking, the
'Premium Edition',
which gives you access to much
more tweaking and system
optimization features, and the
'Ultimate Edition',
for complete control on
Windows Vista, with all
plugins currently available
for TweakVI. The TweakVI
'Basic' Edition is
available without charge, the
'Premium' Edition
costs US$ 29.95, and the
'Ultimate' Edition
costs US$ 39.95.
Download: TweakVI
v1.0 build 1014
View:
Screenshot
View: Changelog/Hi
story
Read full story.....
neowin.net - 20.11.2006
Windows Vista "NoDriveTypeAutoRun" Security Issue
CERT/CC has reported a security issue in Windows Vista, which can be exploited
by malicious people to bypass certain security settings.
AutoPlay is a feature designed to immediately begin reading from a drive
(e.g. run a setup file) when a media is inserted. According to Microsoft, this feature can be disabled for all drives by setting the value of the
"HKLMSOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesExplorerNoDriveTypeAutoRun" registry key to "0xFF". However, as Windows Vista
fails to properly handle the mentioned registry key, this may still result in programs being executed automatically when a media is inserted even with
the registry key value set to "0xFF".
Successful exploitation may result in execution of arbitrary code, but requires physical
access to a vulnerable system or that a user is tricked into inserting a malicious media (e.g. USB device).
winbeta.org - 22.03.2008
AutoPatcher December 2006
AutoPatcher is a comprehensive
collection of patches, addons
and registry tweaks that give
you peace of mind in the
knowledge that your Windows
system is up to date, even
before you connect it to the
Internet. It's designed to
quickly patch a system with
the most current updates and
tweaks available, and requires
no user interaction once you
have selected what to
install.
December
2006 releases available:
neowin.net - 22.12.2006
The ultimate tweaker's guide to Windows
But just because the operating system doesn't look and work the way you want doesn't mean that you're stuck with it as is. Windows is extremely
tweakable; if you dig a little, you'll find that you can customize it in almost any way you want.
To help you out, we've put
together this guide to tweaking Windows. It covers both XP and Vista and lets you do all kinds of things you might have thought were impossible --
replacing your boot screen, hacking the Control Panel, speeding up Windows Flip 3D and more. Look for the XP logo and Vista logo icons to see which
tips work in which OS.
The hacks vary in the expertise you'll need. In some cases you'll get down and dirty with the Registry,
so if you're not certain you know how to make a DWORD value, for example, read our story "The tweaker's guide to the
Windows Registry" first. (Be sure to read the instructions for backing up the
Registry before you attempt any Registry edits whatsoever.)
In other cases, you'll just have to dig into hidden corners of
menus and folders. But in all cases, you'll tell Windows exactly how you want it to behave ... and it will bow down to you, the master.
winbeta.org - 18.10.2007
Microsoft Releases Updated
Vista Build
Microsoft over the weekend
made available an updated
build of Windows Vista, but
only to a limited subset of
testers in its Technology
Adoption Partner (TAP)
program. The interim release,
numbered 5342, includes minor
fixes and user interface
tweaks, and is labeled an EDW
build...
betanews.com - 27.03.2006
First Post-Beta 2 Vista Build
Released
Microsoft late Friday
delivered the first build of
Windows Vista to follow the
release of Beta 2 at WinHEC in
May. Build 5456 is available
to technical beta testers, and
includes better user interface
performance along with User
Account Control tweaks to
lessen the number of
authentication notices...
betanews.com - 26.06.2006
New Project: vLite - Vista Lite
Windows Vista from Microsoft
takes a lot of resources, we
all know that. So here is the
tool for easy removal of the
unwanted components in order
to make Vista run faster and
to your liking. vLite can also
create the bootable ISO and
apply the tweaks directly.
This tool doesn't use
any kind of hacking, all files
and registry entries are
protected as they would be if
you install the full version
only without the components
you select for the removal.
It configures the
installation directly, before
the installation, meaning
you'll have to remake the ISO
and reinstall it. This method
is much cleaner, not to
mention easier and more
logical than doing it after
installation on every
reinstall.
neowin.net - 09.12.2006
What's In Your Registry?
One frequent TV commercial asks, "What's in your wallet?" I ask: What's in your computer that could expose sensitive data? Last week, I searched
my Windows Vista registry and turned up some disturbing stuff.
I found some surprising personal information there, such as name,
address and phone number; online account user names; software registration codes; and information identifying some online accounts. I wasn't looking
for any of this information. My search had initially been for something else. But the discovery of this information greatly disturbed me.
To be absolutely clear, none of this information was put there by Windows Vista. Third-party software or services were the culprits.
Andrew Jaquith, Yankee Group program manager for Security Research, said that the Windows registry makes "application developers' lives
easier. It provides a centralized API for reading and writing configuration settings. Instead of worrying about lots of
parsing and modifying .INI files scattered all over the hard disk, all you'd need to do is make a few Win32 API calls, and Windows takes care of
managing all of that information for you."
winbeta.org - 12.09.2007
New WMV PowerToy & registry key documentation
The birth of the VC-1 Encoder SDKs will reduce the need for these over the next few months, but Alex has updated his WMV PowerToy and also revised our
documentation about the registry key options.
Here's the new PowerToy. It mainly removes a few options that we determined weren't in the Format SDK 11 implementation, particularly
adaptive chroma search and default adaptive deadzone.
And here's the new, hopefully final registry key documentation,
reflecting the above and other useful tidbits we've learned.
winbeta.org - 09.09.2007
Symantec tool cleans up Windows XP SP3 registry corruption
Symantec Thursday released a free tool that wipes spurious entries from Windows' registry that had crippled some PCs running the company's
security software after they were upgraded to Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) or Vista SP1. The tool, SymRegFix, had been promised by Symantec two
weeks ago when users reported that upgrading to XP SP3 emptied Windows' Device Manager, deleted network connections and packed the registry with
thousands of bogus entries.
Symantec initially blamed Microsoft for the snafu, but later accepted some responsibility. Last week, the
company said the combination of a Microsoft process and the SymProtect feature of its Norton-branded consumer security software had added the errant
registry entries, and it told users to turn off that feature before upgrading. Symantec's SymRegFix clean-up tool can be downloaded from the company's site.
neowin.net - 09.06.2008
Adobe Acknowledges Flaw in PDF for Windows, Urges Registry Hacks
Confirming a statement made by Petko D. Petkov on his GNUcitizen.org blog over two weeks ago, Adobe has released a security advisory warning of a
potential exploitable flaw in its Acrobat and Adobe Reader software. Adobe's suggested system registry fix suggests a maliciously crafted PDF can be
made to send e-mail undetected...
betanews.com - 09.10.2007
Three Really Cool Vista Visual Tweaks
Andreas Verhoeven has released three really great Windows Vista tweaking
applications, designed to improve some of the visual decisions Microsoft made in Vista without much effort on your part. Download them and load
shortcuts to them into your startup folder (only one of them will do it for you) and you should really enjoy the results.
Glass
Toasts replaces the balloons that come out of your system tray with something a bit more ostentatious, a glass balloon that is too flashy for most
users. Then again, that is probably the point.
3D User Picture takes the picture that appears atop the Start Menu, makes it 3D,
and has it rotate. This means that your user picture, plus all the icons in the Start Menu that go up there when you select them, all get this cool
effect, and the effect only uses system resources when the Start Menu is open (so theres little cost to actual use of the computer.
Thumbnail Sizer lets you dramatically increase the size of the taskbar preview thumbnails, increasing seperately the height or the width (so if
you want wider, but not necessarily taller, thats easy). You can even slow down the fade in/out animation so you can enjoy that more.
winbeta.org - 04.09.2007
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 in the Wild
By now many of you may have seen reports of Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1 in the wild. For a while, it was merely speculation (and several
good hints) towards Release Candidate Refresh 2 (RCR2) being the Release to Manufacturer (RTM) build. There has been a 'registry hack' going
around for a few days now to enable the option to download SP1 via Windows Update. This 'hack' is actually straight from Microsoft, which was
given to beta testers on Connect January 23rd.
According to Geeks Anatomy, Jeff DaVos (a Windows Vista SP1 beta program leader) has said
on the Connect news group that this is indeed the same release being used for RTM, and that “What you got is what we’re all running our
Vista machines here internally - we definitely RTM’d”.
Note: As I am sure Microsoft will say, using anything except for
files downloaded from Microsoft directly is a risk. If you plan to install SP1 via the registry changes, you are accepting this risk.
neowin.net - 08.02.2008
