Right click Start>Properties (context menu)>Start Menu tab, select Customize Start Menu>Advanced tab.
Under the heading: Start menu items>locate Control Panel, select Display as a menu>OK.
Folders and Directories-Zipping and Unzipping
Here’s how to conserve space on your hard drive:
Right click on a folder you want to compress, and select Properties (context menu)>click the General tab>click Advanced Attributes.
Under the heading: Compress or Encrypt attributes, select Compress contents to save disk space>OK.
Disable Special Effects to Increase Performance
When XP was released there was a big deal about its graphical user interface (GUI.) By default, XP has numerous visual effects, but XP lets you adjust your system for best performance or best appearance. You can also let XP make the adjustments for you. Best choice? You take control. Here’s how:
- Click Start, and then open the Control Panel. NOTE: If you’re using the “Classic view” setting, you’ll find Control Panel in the sub-menu under Settings on the Start menu list. If you’re using the “Category view” setting, open up the “Performance and Maintenance” icon, and then open the System icon applet.
- Click the Advanced tab (if not already selected.)
- In the Performance section, click the Settings button.
- In the Performance Options (dialog box), click on the Visual Effects tab (if not already selected.)
In the Performance Options window, you have four choices:
- Let Windows choose what’s best for my computer.
- Adjust for best appearance.
- Adjust from best performance.
- Custom:
CD AutoPlay Feature
When you insert a CD into a CD drive in XP, you get that annoying AutoPlay dialog box that asks what you’d like to do with that CD, giving you several options depending on the CD’s actual content (data, music, etc.) The fact is, that you can take control of how XP deals with different CD’s every time, here’s how:
Click on Start and then open My Computer. Right click on your CD drives icon, and then select Properties (context menu)>click the AutoPlay tab (dialog box)>click the radio button (small circle) to the right of “Select an action to perform:” (Actions section.)
In the Actions section, click on the down arrow, and from there, select a content type. Select the action you want XP to take, and then click Apply.
Repeat the process for any content type (music, data, etc.) you want to automate.
Adjust Special Effects For Better Performance or Appearance
XP, by default is full of various visual effects, and XP let’s you adjust your system for best performance, or best visual look, or you can turn the job over to XP and let the XP operating system make the adjustments for you. Best choice? You take control! Here’s how:
Click on Start, and then open the Control Panel. NOTE: If you’re using the Classic view in your Control Panel, double click on the System icon. If you’re using the Category view, double click on the Performance and Maintenance icon, and then open the System icon.
Open the Advanced tab (dialog box), and then click on the Settings button (located in the Performance section.)
In the Performance Options window you have four choices. You can either select:
Let Windows make the choice.
Adjust for best appearance.
Adjust for best performance.
Custom: In this category, you can control the settings.
Adjust For Better Performance
One of the things that Microsoft made a big deal about when XP was released was its look and feel, as in the way things looked on your monitor as you went from one window to another. However, XP’s good looks will slow XP’s performance. Here’s how to control the situation:
Click on Start, and then open the Control Panel. NOTE: If you’re using the Classic view in your Control Panel, double click on the System icon. If you’re using the Category view, double click on the Performance and Maintenance icon, and then open the System icon.
Click on the Advanced tab (System Properties dialog box), and then on the Settings button (Performance section). Select Adjust for best performance. Click OK twice to close out and return to the Desktop.
Start Menu-Creating Personal Cascading Folders
If you frequently use a particular folder, it can be frustrating to have to open Windows Explorer and navigate to that folder each time you want to open a file inside. There’s a quicker way – read on. You can display a folder as a Cascading Menu on the Start menu. One of a series of menus that opens to the right of the Start menu as you make a selection. Note: A Cascading Menu is a menu that leads to another menu, which in turns leads to another menu, in a Cascading Fashion. For the sake of this example, let’s suppose that you keep most of your documents in a folder called “Personal.” The trick is to put Personal (or any other folder you want to display as a Cascading Menu on the Start menu for easier reference) in the All Programs folder. Then when you want to open any of the files in it, simply choose…
- Click Start,
- All Programs,
- Personal…
Another Cascading Menu appears with the contents of that folder, which gives you faster access to your files.
To display a folder as a Cascading Menu on the Start menu:
- Open Explorer (by right clicking the Start menu, and then seklectining Explorer (from the context menu), and then,
- Find the Icon or name for the folder you want to add to the All Programs Menu, and then,
- Drag it to the Start menu, and then HOLD it there until/while the Start menu opens.
The Start menu will eventually pop up as if you had clicked it. Placing a folder on the All Programs portion of the Start menu gives you instant access to its contents.
Note: Bear in mind that this exercise in readily being able to quickly find your most often used folders is only an easy shortcut to your most often used folders, you can just as easily eliminate the shortcut, by right clicking on the shortcut and selecting “Delete” (from the context menu). REMEMBER THIS! Deleting Shortcuts.” DOES NOT” eliminate the files you’re (shortcutting/referencing to), but rather-the shortcut itself. In other words… don’t worry… the original file you’re (referencing to/shortcutting to) will live a long and healthy life.
For more information… drop me a line at dave@gyzmodave.com
User Account-Use Your Own Personal Picture
You can use any picture you want to appear in your “User Account” as long as it’s first converted into one of the formats as follows: .gif, .jpeg, .png, or .bmp. Once you’ve converted the picture you want to use, save it to the Desktop, so you can easily find it in Step 8. Here’s the drill:
- Click Start, and then navigate to,
- Control Panel, and then click on,
- User Accounts.
- Select your User Account.
- Select “Change my picture.”
- Click on “Browse for more pictures.”
- Select Desktop (from the drop-down arrow).
- Click on your picture.
- Click OK
For more information… drop me a line at dave@gyzmodave.com
Startup (Splash Screen) Elimination
XP presents you with a “Splash Screen” every time you start your computer. Here’s how to eliminate that annoyance.
- Hold down the Windows key, and then press the R key on your keyboard to invoke the Run dialog box.
- Type: msconfig
- Press the Enter key (on your keyboard).
- Select the BOOT.INI tab (System Configuration Utility dialog box).
- Place a check mark to the left of NOGUIBOOT
- Click OK.
Want it back? Repeat Steps 1 through 4. In Step 5, remove the check mark to the left of NOGUIBOOT, and then click OK.
For more information… drop me a line at dave@gyzmodave.com
XP – Speed Up
1. Click on Start > Run, and then type: regedit and then press the Enter key.
2. Double click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and navigate down the tree as follows:
- \System
- \CurrentControlSet
- \Control
- \Session Manager
- \Memory Management
3. Right click on the DisablePagingExecutive entry located in the right pane of your screen and select Modify.
4. In the Edit DWORD Value dialog box, type the number 1 (one) in the Value data field.
5. Click ON and then close out of the Registry Editor.
6. Restart your computer so that the changes you made can take effect.
Note: A really fast restart can be performed by pressing and releasing the Windows key and then tapping the letters U and R on your keyboard.
For more information… drop me a line at dave@gyzmodave.com
