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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 30 Days: Windows Vista
On June 30, Microsoft is scheduled to pull the OEM distribution plug on Windows XP. In 30 days. That's all before the older operating system largely disappears from new PCs.
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2.6.2008 Windows 7 RTM Will Take 101 Days
According to information Microsoft provided its OEM partners with, the RTM of Windows 7 is planned to take a full 101 days.
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10.11.2008 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 Windows v Linux - Days of risk in 2006
Microsoft’s Jeff Jones has released his “days of risk” comparison of security vulnerabilities fixed in the major workstation operating systems in an attempt to prove his controversial argument that Windows users are arguably safer than those using Linux, Mac OS X or Solaris.
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15.6.2007 Try Windows Home Server for 120 days
Microsoft is offering a 4 month trial of Windows Home Server for evaluation purposes.
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3.11.2007 Yes, a Windows Vista SP1 Installation Can Take Up to 4 Days!
Yes, the process associated with the deployment of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 can take as much as four days before completion.
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15.1.2008 Remembering Windows XP’s early days
I am amused by the current lovefest going on with Windows XP. It’s the greatest operating system ever, in the minds of some, especially compared to the allegedly bloated, slow Windows Vista. In fact, InfoWorld has gone so far as to kick off a “Save XP” petition drive.
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25.2.2008 How to activate Windows Vista Ultimate for 180 days
Thanks to soulplane who report this crack method in
our forum. The method is very similar to the as we report about in
Next Vista 2099 Time crack. In the crack is short "SCREENSHOTs TUTORIAL".
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23.1.2007 Windows Vista Ultimate Extras, Less than 3 days and counting
Microsoft has 2 & 1/2 days left until Summer ends and the first day of fall officially starts. and still no word on what or if anything is happening with Ultimate Extras.
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20.9.2007 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 Extending The Windows Vista Grace Period to 120 Days
If you're on the fence about the impending release of Windows Vista, I recommend trying before you buy. Every Vista DVD includes
the ability to install any edition of Vista without a product key. When you install without a product key, you get an automatic 30 day evaluation period.* This probably isn't news to anyone.
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1.2.2007 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 Three million of IE7 in first 4 days
IEBLOG: In the first four days over three million of you have already downloaded the final release.
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25.10.2006 How to Rearm and Extend Free Usage Activation Grace Period of Windows 7 to 120 Days
Windows 7 (SeVeN) is probably going to continue the trial software trend that starts with Windows Vista’s rearm, that user can install Windows 7 without any product key for free usage of 30 days as evaluation period.
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5.11.2008 How to bypass Vista 30 days activation
Next way how to bypass Vista 30 days activation. This how to is for Windows Vista Ultimate Edition.
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29.12.2006 Official Way to Use Vista without Activation 120 Days
Official Way to Install and Use Windows Vista without Activation for Free for 120 Days!
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22.2.2007 Measuring the Success of Vista's First 100 Days
As Windows Vista reaches its first meaningful milestone--100 days of widespread availability, as measured from its January 29 consumer launch--it's time to begin analyzing whether the product is truly successful. Back in March, Microsoft announced that Vista sales were record setting, with more than 20 million Vista licenses sold in its first 30 days on the market, a rate double that of its predecessor, Windows XP.
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9.5.2007Shipping 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
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
Windows XP Service Pack 3 RC2 via Windows Update (Public Availability Program)
Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Candidate 2 is available to the public. Specific registry settings will allow you to be offered SP3 via Windows
Update.
Download the script and run it on a machine currently running Windows XP Service Pack 2. The script sets a registry key
on your system. The registry key is required for Windows Update to recognize your machine as a valid target for Windows XP Service Pack 3 RC2.
Versions of Windows XP Service Pack 3 prior to Release Candidate 2 should be removed before attempting to use the registry key.
Windows Update will not offer Release Candidate 2 to machines with previous versions of the Windows XP Service Pack 3 beta.
It is
recommended that you apply the resulting update package to an activated, genuine copy of Windows XP, in a test environment. As with any pre-release
software, it is also recommended that you back up files and settings on your machine before applying this update package.
winbeta.org - 20.02.2008
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
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
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner 1.25 Final
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner
is a free registry repair
software that allows you to
safely clean and repair
registry problems with a few
simple mouse clicks. Problems
with the Windows Registry are
a common cause of Windows
crashes and error messages.
Registry problems can occur
for many reasons, including
references left behind after
uninstall; incorrect removal
of software; missing or
corrupt hardware drivers; or
orphaned start-up programs.
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner
will scans your Windows
registry for invalid or
obsolete information and
provide a list of the errors
found. After fixing the
invalid entries, your system
will be more stable and run
faster. For maximum safety,
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner
will make a backup of the
repaired entries. You will be
able to restore any changes
made using the software by
choosing Restore registry
backup. It is strongly
recommended to back up your
data before using
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner
!
Changelog:
* Add checking for
update.
* Show the
problem count after scanning
every item.
* Change
donation agent.
neowin.net - 25.12.2006
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
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
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
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
How to: Create custom wallpaper collections in Windows 7
Do you love customizing your Windows desktop? If you do, you'll love this trick! By default, Windows 7 includes several locations to choose
pictures and desktop backgrounds from, such as Windows Desktop Backgrounds, Pictures Library, Top Rated Photos, and Solid Colors. In this article, I
will walk you through the process of creating your own wallpaper collection through the registry, and how to customize it to your liking. This process
will help you categorize and sort your wallpapers efficiently, and allow you to use a mix of categorized wallpapers with Windows 7's new automatic
background shuffle without the need to lump everything together. Disclaimer: The steps in this article involve modifying the Windows registry.
Read full story.....
neowin.net - 28.07.2009
Microsoft's XP SP3 Patch Fixes Anti-Virus Glitch
Microsoft issued a hotfix for Windows XP Service Pack 3 last week that it says "could resolve" a Windows registry corruption problem associated with
third-party security software. The problem was first discovered just over a month ago, and it notably affected users of Symantec's Norton Antivirus suite of products.
Some users who
installed XP SP3 reported seeing garbled system entries that cluttered the Windows registry. The corruption in the registry led to problems such as
lost Internet and wireless connections, along with uninitiated restarts caused by sporadic registry subkeys.
Microsoft provided an
explanation for the problem in a Knowledgebase posting on Friday. The
issue "occurs when the Fixccs.exe process is called during the Windows XP SP3 installation," the KB article explains. "This process creates some
intermediate registry subkeys, and it later deletes these subkeys. In some cases, some antivirus applications may not let the Fixccs.exe process
delete these intermediate registry subkeys." When the problem occurs, "certain applications" within Windows, such as "Device Manager and Network
Connections" may be unable to function, Redmond added.
neowin.net - 02.07.2008
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
Is Malware Hiding in Your Windows Registry?
Security company says vulnerability could allow malicious software to lurk undetected...
pcworld.com - 31.08.2005
Symantec pins blame for XP SP3 registry corruption on Microsoft
But some users say Microsoft tech support told them it's Symantec's fault
Symantec Corp. Thursday said it was
Microsoft's code that crippled some PCs after upgrades to Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) emptied Device Manager, deleted network connections, and
packed the registry with thousands of bogus entries.
"We finally got to the bottom of this last night," said Dave Cole,
Symantec's senior director for product management of its consumer software. "All of these problems are related to the same thing: a Microsoft file
that created all the garbage entries ."
He also said that some of the same symptoms had been acknowledged by
Microsoft when users updated to Windows XP SP2 several years ago; Cole referenced a pair of Microsoft support documents to back up his claim.
winbeta.org - 23.05.2008
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
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
Windows 7: Build 7057 blocks third-party video codecs
The latest beta of Windows 7 blocks the usage of third party video decoders from Windows Media Player and MCE. Albain, a DirectShow (ffdshow)
developer explains in his own words what he encountered when he was testing the multimedia pipeline of Windows 7 in the latest build 7057.
"Microsoft has locked mpeg4 and h264 codecs into Media Foundation, the replacer of DirectShow (even if directshow is still supported).There is no way
to override those codecs, even if you develop a Media Foundation version of your decoder, because Microsoft maintains a list of preferred codecs
(their codecs) into the registry (HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and HKLM \MediaFoundation\Transforms\Preferred), and this registry key cannot be
modified, even in admin mode.
Read full story.....
neowin.net - 27.03.2009
Symantec tool cleans up XP SP3 registry corruption
Symantec Corp. yesterday 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.
winbeta.org - 06.06.2008
Windows Firewall Flaw Hides Open Ports
Microsoft earlier this week confirmed a flaw exists in the way the user interface for its Windows Firewall handles bad entries in the Windows Registry, but said the problem was not a security vulnerability. An exception could be created that would open a hole in the Windows Firewall...
betanews.com - 02.09.2005
