Blocking Ads

Blocking Ads with a Hosts File:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/winhelp2002/download.htm

Bootable CD

How to make your XP bootable
How to create a bootable CD for XP with SP1

Microsoft added the ability to Slipstream a Service Pack to Windows XP. It not only has the advantage that when you reinstall your OS, you'll don't have to apply the Service Pack later, also if you update any Windows component later, you'll be sure that you get the correct installation files if Windows needs any. Slipstream Windows XP Service Pack 1

Boot - Disable Splash Screen

Right click My Computer, select Properties. Go to Advanced, Startup and Recovery, Settings and click the Edit button.  Locate the line that loads XP and add /SOS to the end of it.  The resulting line should look something like this:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /SOS

Boot - Run a Batch File at Bootup (before XP loads)

How to Run a Batch File Before Logging on to Your Computer (Q243486)

Boot Disks

Obtaining Windows XP Setup Boot Disks (Home & Pro)
An alternative, ONE BOOT DISK, to the Microsoft Windows XP 6 Disk Set
HOW TO: Create a Boot Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition with Windows XP
Use System Files to Create a Boot Disk to Guard Against Being Unable to Start Win XP

Right click on your Floppy drive. Choose format. an option at the bottom is "Create an MS-DOS startup disk. This will format the disk and install Dos components.

Boot Config and INI

How do I use Msconfig to modify boot.ini?
A Discussion About the Bootcfg Command and Its Uses
BOOT.INI and ARC Path Naming Conventions and Usage

     Alter BOOT.INI to remove secondary listings:

Right click My Computer, select Properties. Advanced, Startup and Recovery. Set the default OS and and the timeout.
Or...
Remove the line for the old OS in [operating systems] by going to Start/Run, and typing:  C:\Boot.ini.  Be sure 'default=' points to the new OS.
Or...
Press WinKey-Break,(or start/run 'sysdm.cpl'), Advanced Tab, "Start Up and Recovery" area, Settings button, then edit the old line out with the edit button. Reboot, and delete the files for the old OS.

Boot - Increase Bootup Speed

Right click My Computer Icon/Properties/Hardware/Device Manager. Go to IDE/ATAPI Controllers. Select Primary Channel/Properties. On the device that does not have a device type, select disable instead of autodetect. 

This example assumes you have 1 Hard drive on your primary IDE channel and a DVD-ROM(or CD)
and CD-R on your two secondary IDE channels.

Boot - Problems

How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows XP
How to Use Clean Boot Troubleshooting for Windows XP
How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP 
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_conflicts.htm

How to Disable a Service that Prevents Windows XP from Booting
Use System Files to Create a Boot Disk to Guard Against Being Unable to Start Win XP
Fast Boot /Fast Resume Design: A performance trace visualization tool for use with Windows XP systems.
Troubleshooting Bootup Problems and Edits

Boot Disk - Control Automatic Boot Disk Optimization

Go to Start/Run/Regedit and navigate to this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction 

Create a new String value, or modify the existing value, called 'Enable' and edit the value according to Y = enabled, N = disabled . Exit your registry, you may need to restart or log out of Windows for the change to take effect.

Bootvis - Decrease Boot Time

Bootvis is a Boot performance trace visualization tool for use with Windows XP systems. It gives a graphical view of what processes are doing what and when during boot and allow you to optimize your boot up. A very handy tool.

Download Bootvis: http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/platform/performance/fastboot/BootVis.asp

This is a self extracting ZIP file. Double click the file you just downloaded and unzip it to the folder of your choice. Locate Bootvis.exe click on it. You will now see the GUI of bootvis.

Now go to File/New and choose "Next boot trace" or "Next boot and drivers chase". Leave everything else as is and get ready for a reboot in 15 seconds.  Then click on the Bootvis.exe, it will now output the results, once it has finished generating the report, you will see graphs 5 or 6 graphs. From the main menu .. Click on Trace >> optimize system, then reboot.

You will see a message box "Please wait for bootvis to load" ... about 20 seconds later another message box will appear "Optimizing system for boot performance" basically bootvis is rearranging the boot files for a faster startup. (T. Shuel)

More information:

• Disk: Tracks the time to enumerate all the devices in the non-pageable device path. This is everything from the CPU to the boot disk drive; multiple IDE devices and slow IDE devices can affect this time. Typical disk time in Windows XP is 2 seconds.

• Driver: The time it takes to initialize devices.

• Prefetching: The time spent reading pages in from disk used later as devices initialize, and Winlogon, services, the shell, and other applications start during boot.

• Registry+Page file: The time spent to read the registry and initialize the page file.

• Video: Time spent as the display mode is set for the final resolution and refresh rate. Video driver and Video BIOS affect this time.

• Logon+Services and Shell: The times to start Winlogon, services, the shell, and so on. This is mostly the operating system. However, 3rd party software such as anti-virus and firewall software can effect this time.

You can start a report by selecting Next Boot from the Trace menu, or select Next Boot + Driver Delays, which will show you if there are any drivers delaying your boot (they will be displayed in red). Choose to boot your computer, and patiently wait..... After your machine has rebooted to the desktop, it will still take a while before Bootvis will show its report, so just wait till it shows up on your screen.

If Bootvis reports that drivers are delaying your boot time, visit the manufacturers Web site to obtain the latest drivers.
To optimize your system for a faster boot, choose Optimize System from the Trace menu.

Bootvis - Explained by David Candy

Bootvis optimizes the files so it's traces are run on an optimized machine. XP automatically optimizes itself every three days, bootvis merely makes it the optimization happen now rather than having to wait three days.

There are two ways of asking XP to do this now.  defrag c: -b which rearranges files according to the current layout.ini and rundll32.exe, advapi32.dll, ProcessIdleTasks which rebuilds layout.ini from the information in the prefetch folder and and rearranges files according to the newly generated layout.ini. It also does other tasks (such as some System Restore stuff) that windows does when the computer is idle.

Bootvis calls ProcessIdleTasks function in advapi32.dll so automated tasks don't kick in affect the boot monitoring and so the boot monitoring is done on an optimized machine.

You can read about it here : http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/fastboot/download/fastboot-winxp.ZIP which will explain what those .pf files are in prefetch folder and the registry keys that control it.  The technical documentation on ProcessIdleTask is below from the platform SDK.

Idle Task Scheduling: The ProcessIdleTask API

The file placement optimization, which is done no more often than once every three days, is an example of a task that is carried out when the system is deemed to be idle. System Restore and other features of Windows XP also attempt to defer some work until the system is deemed to be idle. There are also some done-once-after-setup work items that also operate under the Idle Task Scheduling mechanisms.

All of these "idle tasks" are controllable by a system API in advapi32.dll, ProcessIdleTasks. The API’s sole purpose is to allow benchmarks a simple way to force any pending idle tasks to be executed immediately, without having to wait a lengthy period of time.

The API ProcessIdleTasks can be called in one of two ways, from the command line or synchronously from a program. To call ProcessIdleTasks from the command line, use this syntax:

Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks

When called from the command line, the ProcessIdleTasks work is done in the background asynchronously. It can take 10 to 15 minutes for idle tasks to complete. Task Manager will report processes running, and the disk will likely be active during this time.

The ProcessIdleTasks API takes no arguments and returns a standard Win32 error code. The definition is:

DWORD
ProcessIdleTasks()

The API itself is synchronous, so it won’t return until the idle tasks have completed.

Bootable CD

A bootable CD-Rom is a CD from which you boot the PC. This means putting the CD in your CD-Rom drive and power-on or reboot your system. The PC will load a boot image from the CD-Rom and control is given to this boot image. Information here:  Creating bootable CD-Roms for PC!

Bootup Problems and Issues

How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows XP
How to Use Clean Boot Troubleshooting for Windows XP
How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP 
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_conflicts.htm

Windows XP Restarts Continuously with Blue Screen
How to Disable a Service that Prevents Windows XP from Booting
Use System Files to Create a Boot Disk to Guard Against Being Unable to Start Win XP

Bootup - Network

When your computer is connected to a network, booting up Windows XP can take a long time. A big part of this time is taking up by updating the group policies. This tweak lets you log on before this process is finished. Because of this, booting up is much faster.

Go to Start/Run/Regedit and navigate to this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system

In this key, look for the following values: SynchronousMachineGroupPolicy and SynchronousUserGroupPolicy
By default, these values don't exist. If you can't find them, create them as REG_DWORD values. Set both values to 0.

Bootup - Reduce the Time the Startup List is Shown on Boot

Using Windows explorer find the file called BOOT.INI on your system drive. Change the attributes of the file from read-only, by right clicking on it and choosing Properties, and then under Attributes, uncheck 'Read-only'. Then double-click on BOOT.INI and it should open in Notepad.

Under the [boot loader] section is a value called "timeout=". The number after the "=" sign is the time in seconds Windows will wait for a selection. Change the value according to the options below.

Set the value to the number of seconds between 1 and 999. To make Windows boot instantly change this value to "0" (i.e. timeout=0). To make Windows wait indefinitely change this value to "-1" (i.e. timeout=-1). Save the file, and restart Windows for the change to take effect.

Branding - Remove

Changes the Title Bar Text in Internet Explorer
Remove IE/OE Branding

For IE:  Go to Start/Run and enter: rundll32.exe iedkcs32.dll,Clear

Manual Edit:  Go to Start/Run/Regedit and navigate to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main.  In the right pane scroll down to Window Title, double click it and change accordingly.

Briefcase

How to get "My Briefcase" in windows XP

C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache. Look for a file named "syncapp" and double click it. An icon should appear on your desktop that says "My Briefcase". Double click it and it will come up with this window that tells you how to use it.

HOW TO: Use the Briefcase Feature in Windows XP

Browser Hijacking

Home Page Hijacking - "Has your Browser Been Hijacked?"

Browsing - Speedup (Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer)

Start/Run/Regedit HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RemoteComputer\NameSpace In the left pane find: {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF} Value and delete it.

Bug Filing

Go Start/Administrative Tools/Component Services/Services (Local). In the right pane, with the Extended tab selected at the bottom of the screen, scroll the list to Upload Manager. Right-click and select Properties, then in the center of the next screen in the Startup type: use the arrow to set it to Automatic. This will allow use of the bug filing program.

Burning CD's

Burning CDs in Windows XP
Compact Disc Recorded in Windows XP Is Missing Files or Folders, or Is Unreadable

Burning CD's - Disable

Start/Run/Regedit

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Policies\Explorer Value Name: NoCDBurning Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value) Value Data: (0 = Allow CDR, 1 = Disable CDR) Create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value, called 'NoCDBurning' and edit the value according to the settings above.

CD Burning - Disable Native CD Burning in XP

Right click the CD in My Computer/Properties/Recording/Uncheck "Enable CD recording on this drive."
Disable Native CD Burning and Allow Limited Users Access to CD Burning

CD-Rom Burning - Allow limited users access to CD Burning:

For XP Home: To allow Limited User's to burn CD's, click Start, Run and enter REGEDIT. Go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

Look in the right pane for AllocateDASD and double click the entry. Set the value to 2.

On PRO, this is exposed in Local Security Policy under Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options "Devices: Allowed to format and eject removable media"

A REG file can be used to set this value as well.  It is available here.  Download the REG file and save it to your hard disk.  Double click the file you just saved and answer yes to the import prompt.  REG files can be viewed in Notepad by right clicking them and selecting Edit.

For XP Pro: You can do this by clicking Start, Run and entering SECPOL.MSC.

Go to Local Policies, Security Options, look in the right pane for Devices: Allowed to Format and eject removable media. Set this option to Administrators and Interactive Users. 

Buttons and Menus

Microsoft has been experimenting a lot with flat buttons and all different kinds of 3D looks. This tweak introduces a new kind of flat look for buttons and menus and the like.  Go to Start/Run/Regedit and navigate to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Colors.  Look for the following values: ButtonHilight and ButtonShadow

These values will probably exist. If not, create them as REG_SZ values.  Set ButtonHilight to the following value:
128 128 128 and set ButtonShadow to the following value: 255 255 255.  You will need to restart or log off for the new settings to take effect.