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Trace the route
A great utility included with Windows is a program called Trace Route. Open a DOS window and type tracert <location name>. The location name can be any IP address or Internet domain like tracert www.softwaretipsadntricks.com. The program will then trace the route from your Internet service provider to that locating, and show you every server along the way. this could be useful for when you can't connect to a site it will show you if some server is down along the way.

Bitmap as icons
You can preview bitmaps (.BMP files) as icons in Explorer instead of the default icon of the application it is associated with. Open the Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_ CLASSES_ROOT\Paint.Picture\DefaultIcon. Double-click the Default string and change it's value to '%1' (without quotes). Close the Registry Editor and restart windows.

Speed-up your connecting time
To speed-up the time it takes for Dial Up Networking to establish a connection with your ISP: 1. Open Dial-Up Networking. 2. Right-click your connection and choose Properties. 3. On the server types tab, under Advanced Options, make sure that the check-box for Log on to network is unchecked. 4. Under Allowed network protocols select only TCP/IP and uncheck NetBEUI & IPX/SPX

Stay Connected
If you get disconnected frequently, try this extra modem setting: 1. Open Control Panel > Modems. 2. From Modems select Properties, select the Connection tab, and click the Advanced button. 3. In the Extra settings dialogue box, enter ATS10=250.

Select your Monitor
Windows might not always detect your Monitor accurately. This affects display and refresh rates. To select your monitor manually: 1. Right-click on the Desktop. 2. Choose Properties from the context menu. On the Settings tab press Advanced button. Select the Monitor tab. If your monitor is not listed (correctly) here, click on Change. 3.Select your Monitor form the list, or if you have a driver disk for your monitor, select have Disk. 4. Click Apply, and follow any other instructions on screen.

Change the Refresh rate of your Graphics Adapter
Refresh rate of your monitor determines how fast the screen if updated. Generally, the higher refresh rate monitor can support, the better. Optimum refresh rates can be set manually for a flicker-free display., if Windows hasn't already configured it. Right-click on the Desktop, click on Properties and open Settings > Advanced > Adapter. Depending on your graphics card and monitor, you will get different choice for the refresh rate. Click on Apply after setting the appropriate refresh rate. Click through the warning message to change the refresh rate. If, for some reason the display becomes garbled, don't do anything, Windows will restore the original refresh rate.

Redialing
Dial-Up Networking provides for automatic redial. 1. Open Dial-Up networking. 2. Select your connection. 3. From the menu select Connections > Settings. 4. Enable, Redial, select the number of times to redial and click OK.

A clean Run!
To remove unwanted items form the Run menu: 1. Start the Registry Editor. 2. Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU. 3.Delete the entries that you do not want on Run menu. 4. Close the Registry Editor and Restart Windows. Note: Do not delete the (Default) or MRUList values.

Window and menu Animations
One of the desktop enhancements built into windows is the animation displayed when you minimize and maximize windows or when displaying menus. Disabling this makes navigating Windows a lot faster. Open the Desktop Properties dialog by right-clicking any blank area of the desktop and clicking on Properties. Disable Animate windows, menus and lists form the Effects tab.

Instant Shut Down or Restart
To shut down or restart Windows with one mouse click: 1. Right-click the Desktop and select New > Shortcut. 2. In the command line box type: C:\WINDOWS\rundll.exe user.exe, ExitWindows (for shut down) C:\WINDOWS\runfll.exe user.exe, ExitWindowsExec (for restart). 3. Click Next, name it appropriately and click on Finish to create the shortcut. Be careful, clicking on the shortcuts will not ask for any confirmation before shutting down.

Reclaim CD-ROM Cache
If you do not use the CD-ROM drive very often, you could very well reclaim some precious memory. This could be especially useful for low-end computers. 1. Right-click on My Computer and click on Properties. 2. Click Fine System form the Performance tab. 3. Form the CD-ROM tab, you can configure the amount of cache that is assigned to the drive. Adjust the slider according to your needs. The minimum amount is 64KB and maximum is 1238KB. 4. Changing the Optimize access pattern from drop-down selection also affects the amount of memory used (maximum for Quad-speed or higher and minimum for No read-ahead).

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