Win XP Tips

Clean out Prefetch: Run on the Start menu and type "prefetch" and an Explorer-type dialogue box will open. Press Ctrl A to highlight all of the shortcuts and hit the Delete key to zap them.

Information about PC and XP, including the time system has been running since it was last booted up: Go to Start > Programs > Accessories and click on Command Prompt to open a DOS type window, at the flashing cursor type "systeminfo" and all will be revealed.
To keep a permanent record of this data type instead "systeminfo > info.txt" and this creates a text document in whatever directory you launched Systeminfo from.


File search: Go to Change Preferences again and this time click on "Change Files and Folders Search Behaviour" then select "Advanced - includes options to manually enter", and the Search window will return to the traditional layout.


Remove unnecessary services: Go to Run on the Start menu and type 'services.msc'. This will bring up a list of all of the programs that can run or are presently running in the background. To find out what each one does simply right click on it and this will display a dialogue box with a description and a 'Start Type' drop-down menu with Automatic, Manual or Disable options. Here are some Services that you may find, these are not usually needed by non-networked home PCs and can be safely disabled:
Alerter
Clipbook
Computer Browser
DHCP Client
Distributed Link Tracking Client
DNS Client
Fast User Switching
FTP Publishing Service
Human Interface Access Devices
IIS Admin Service
IPSEC Policy Agent
Indexing Service
Messenger
Net Logon
Remote Procedure Call Locator
Remote Registry Service
RIP Service
Run As Service
Server
SSDP Discovery Service
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Upload Manager
Windows Time
Wireless Zero Configuration
World Wide Web Publishing Service
Workstation


Edit the Send To Menu: When you right-click on a file and choose Send To, menu options let you copy that file to the A: drive, the My Documents folder, or various other places. You can add a menu item that will send files to any folder you want. Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\username\SendTo for Windows 2000 and XP, or C:\Windows\SendTo for Windows 98 and Me. If you don't see the folder you want, select Folder Options from the Tools menu, click on the View tab, and check Show hidden files and folders. In a second Explorer window, select the folder in question. Right-drag it into the Send To folder and choose Create Shortcuts Here. Rename the shortcut as you want to see it in the Send To menu.

Control Launch Order: You may need to launch multiple start-up programs in order, perhaps to connect to a VPN before launching a program that needs that connection. Create a new folder called C:\Ordered Launch and drag any shortcuts that currently reside in Start | All Programs | Startup to this new folder. If the shortcuts don't already exist, create them in the new folder.

Open a command prompt, navigate to C:\Ordered Launch, and issue the command DIR /B /S > ordered.bat. Enter notepad ordered.bat to open the resulting batch file in Notepad. Copy and paste the lines in the desired launch order. Surround each line with quotes and precede it with the start command and a space; for example, start "C: \Ordered Launch\First Program.lnk".
Double-click on the batch file to test it. The programs will start in the specified order, but if one takes longer to initialize, it may appear out of order. In that case, insert a delay line after the slow-starting program. This line will insert a 5- second delay: ping -n 5 127.0.0.1 > nul. Edit the value after -n to set a different delay. After testing the file, open Windows Explorer and right-drag it to the Startup folder, selecting Create Shortcuts Here.


Move the My Documents Folder: Keeping the My Documents folder on a partition separate from the operating-system files can save you pain if you have to reformat the boot partition. You may also want to store it on a network share that gets backed up regularly. Right-click on My Documents on the desktop or in the Start menu and choose Properties. Click on Find Target to select the new location, and click on OK. In the Move Documents box, click on Yes to move the documents.


Restore a Lost Status Bar: When you open Windows Explorer, the Status bar may be absent even if you previously checked View | Status Bar in the menu. To make Windows remember that setting, first close all Windows Explorer windows and launch just one. Size it the way you want and put a check next to Status Bar in the View menu. Now close the window by holding down the Shift key while clicking on the X icon at top right. This also works in Internet Explorer.


Specify a Starting Folder for Windows Explorer: Windows XP launches Windows Explorer in My Documents by default. To make Windows Explorer start in another folder, edit the shortcut that launches it. Right-click on the shortcut and choose Properties. Click in the Target field on the Shortcut tab and press the Right Arrow key. Append this text " /e,C:\"—that is, space, slash, e, comma, C, colon, backslash—to the existing command. You can substitute another folder for C:.


Shut off Indexing System: Launch Services.msc from the Start menu's Run dialog. Find the Indexing Service (Cidaemon.exe) and double-click. Click on the Stop button and then set Startup type to Disabled.


Disable Recent Documents History: 
1. Open the Registry Editor (select Start/Run, type regedit, and click OK).
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
3. Create a NoRecentDocsHistory D_WORD key. Double-click the value to open it once it is created.
4. Set the Data Value to 1 to enable the restriction.
5. Click OK and close the Registry Editor. You'll need to restart the computer for the change to take effect.

Remove unwanted fonts:
1. Open the Fonts folder in Control Panel.
2. Select Edit/Select All and then Edit/Copy.
3. Create a new folder on your desktop, open it, and select Edit/Paste.
4. In this new folder, delete any of the fonts you do not want.
5. Return to the Fonts folder in Control Panel. Right-click the selected fonts and click Delete.
6. Go back to your new desktop folder and click Edit/Select All.
7. Return to your Fonts folder and click Edit/Paste. You now have only the desired fonts in the Fonts folder.