WinXP Tweaking Guides

[T3RM1N4T0R]

we have had enough of that discussion already. read more in this thread...

http://forums.tweaktown.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9264

now either abide or...

read on http://www.tweaktown.com/document.ph...=guide&dId=350
Yes TWEAKTOWN ...

[asklepios]

i don't know what is so difficult for you to understand? i gave you the link to the thread where this thing has been explained. just to repeat...

it is as simple as this that we are not going to discuss key-changes, warez, and activation here in the forums even if it is mentioned on tweaktown's main site.

if someone can't use the search function and find the solution he requires FOR THE PIRACY from all the threads already exisiting in the windows forums and the vast amount of information already there regarding key-change, then its better that he/she buys the original software rather than trying to fiddle around with their OS.

we had to take this decision only because we were experiencing more and more people coming to tweaktown forums just to ask one question i.e. "How to change windows key?". I hope you understand our situation and will co-operate. there are huge number of topics other than key-change that we would like you to participate in. this is a forum for-you and by-you but please think how many threads there will be if every one is allowed just to ask this one question.

now don't keep pushing...

[minibubba]

that 'guide' was written well over a year ago, things change.

[T3RM1N4T0R]

that 'guide' was written well over a year ago, things change.

well, *del*...

But k, it's a pity I can't install anymore updates but I can understand you 2... But a world without warez will never exist! Admit!

Greetz...

[minibubba]

But a world without warez will never exist! Admit!

that may be true to a degree, but that doesn't mean we have to help promote it. :)

I'd much rather promote open-source or freeware alternatives, which I do ;)

[PersianImmortal]

And whether warez exist or not, a website which continually provides piracy-related information quickly loses legitimate advertisers and may also find itself in a lot of hot water legally, so it's not worth the risk.

[ChunichiDragon]

I've followed PersianImmortal's tweak guides since day 1 and they've made a noticeable speed and performance difference without fail.

Personally,I run a registry cleaner and a junk file cleaner twice daily, and it makes a big difference in overall speed.

For the sake of experimentation, Ive tried many of the newer registry and junk file cleaners since the original tweak guide was written, and ran a bunch of a/b comparisons with the original software PersianImmortal reccomended (AShampoo & RegCleaner). The brand new version of AShampoo (Platinum) blows - It's slow & bulky and doesn't find near as many junk files as the 1.32 version, which is still the best junk file cleaner I've found.

The guy who created RegCleaner has a new reg cleaning software (RegSupreme) that absolutely blows away the original RegCleaner. It's not free, but on a typical reg scan, RegSupreme found 779(!) invalid entries compared to RegCleaners 19.

Most of the Systweak software I've tried (such as BoostXP) is average. They include a number of tweaks (best done manually through the guides) in addition to typical disc cleaning tools. Nothing to get fired up about. TuneUp Utilities 2003 is another popular, but underperforming utility.

Probably the most solid piece of utility software Ive discovered is Ace Utilities. An excellent junk & registry cleaner, as well as a good recycle bin shredder and supplementary tools for TweakUI. Not free, but a great piece of software.

I'm running AShampoo, Ace Utilities and RegSupreme with no conflict or performance issues, and my PC's flying along faster than ever.

Thanks again to PI for the guides, its changed my mind about XP.

(Well...it still kinda sucks...but it sucks FASTER!)

[PersianImmortal]

Thanks for the feedback! You're correct in saying that there probably are a bunch of utilities out there which could do as good, if not a better job than Regcleaner or WinOptimizer.

However I like WinOptimizer because its Drive Cleaner tends to find all the left over useless temporary and backup files and so on very quickly, and there's not much room for improvement in newer versions.

As for Regcleaner, well I directed people to use the free version because I don't want them to think they have to pay to get a basic registry cleaner. However I'm sure that RegSupreme is even better, but of course most people won't fork out the cash for it :)

You're also right in saying that there are utilities like TweakUI, Ace Utilities, TweakXP etc. which perform system tweaks automatically, or with a press of a button, but again my guide is there to show people how to do it completely free, and most importantly, to see which tweak does what and perhaps give users the confidence to learn and experiment with Windows themselves instead of just trusted tools to make changes for em :thumb:

[ChunichiDragon]

"However I like WinOptimizer because its Drive Cleaner tends to find all the left over useless temporary and backup files and so on very quickly, and there's not much room for improvement in newer versions"

Agreed. The WinOptimizer version that was out at the time you wrote the first tweak guide is STILL the best all around junk cleaner out there, and all my comparison tests confirm it. Ace Utilities is a close second. The new WinOptimizer Platinum has regressed from the previous version, sacrificing speed and thoroughness for looks. It doesnt find near as many junk files as the original version.

"and perhaps give users the confidence to learn and experiment with Windows themselves instead of just trusted tools to make changes for em"

Yep-that's an interesting side benefit to going through both 'Reformat To...' tweak guides. You'll learn a helluva lot of the hidden features of XP.

[PersianImmortal]

The guy who created RegCleaner has a new reg cleaning software (RegSupreme) that absolutely blows away the original RegCleaner. It's not free, but on a typical reg scan, RegSupreme found 779(!) invalid entries compared to RegCleaners 19.

I finally installed RegSupreme (on the 30 day trial atm), and although it finds more entries, 90% of them are MRU (most recently used) lists. That means they're not really "invalid" or broken/bad entries at all...just a record of the most recent files you've opened in various applications. Removing them will give no real speed difference.

RegCleaner 4.3 is still my favorite as it allows you to look through the various registry entries, and highlights recently added entries in the Software tab. The cleaner function is still very powerful as it catches most genuine registry faults and dead entries and best of all you can set it to automatically remove all the bad entries it finds. And it has other useful features like being able to view and uninstall all software.

So on the whole, I'll still recommend Regcleaner 4.3 over Regsupreme in my guide, especially since RegSupreme is not free.

[gillmacca]

Hi, this is my first post.
Thanks for a great tweaking guide. It has helped speed up my system alot.
I dont know which tweak it was, but one of them removed my welcome screen (when you press windows key and L, and when on screensaver), i just get the login screen.
How do I get the welcome screen back?

Many thanks for your help

[PersianImmortal]

Make sure you have "Use Welcome Screen" ticked under the User Accounts screen (see top of Page 3), and on Page 8 see the "Remove Shutdown/Logoff/Restart messages" section, and set it to Disabled.

[Yawgm0th]

I didn't bother to read through this whole post (in fact I read almost none of it) for obvious reasons, so I hope this hasn't been pointed out. After going through the MSConfig and Services section of Reformat to Relax, users will be unable to view and share files of other network computers. This is because by following the advice and setting all of the unlisted services to manual, 3 services neccesary to share files and view shared files are no longer set to automatic as they need to be. The guide should probably be edited to mention that without the following services set to automatic you will be unable to share and view files with Explorer on Local Area Networks:

Network Location Awareness (NLA)
Server
Workstation

I just thought I would tell you about this because there have been several threads in both Windows and Networking relating to not being able to see and share files in Windows XP that might have been brought about this guide. Great guide but it personally put me through hell :devil win at LAN parties after I used it because I had no idea why the network wasn't working properly. Luckily I managed to figure it out after a while, but I'm sure other people won't be as lucky. Just tell people to disable those 3 if they don't have a LAN of some sort or regularly connect to LANs.

[PersianImmortal]

There are many tweaks in that guide which may disable specific functionality which a user wants/needs. The guide does mention, especially in the services section, that what I've provided are basic recommendations, and that users should refer to the Blackviper services guide (linked on that page) for more detailed instructions.

Warnings aren't much use though. I put a warning next to Print Spooler a while back saying people with printers should set that service to automatic, and yet I still get emails from people asking why their printer stopped working, and of course it turns out they disabled Print Spooler (despite the explicit instructions).

[syx]

Can i get a printable version of those guides??