Windows Registry is a registry that stores configuration information about many important parts of this operating system. By editing you can tune Windows to behave the way you want.

STEPS:

• Type win+r to open run application launching window and then type regedit (then enter) to start the registry editing program. The registry editor should start.

POSSIBLE EDITS

Uninstall Programs Manually

• Just because Windows XP has the Add/Remove Programs feature it doesn't mean your application will appear in the list. Furthermore, even if it does appear, it's no guarantee that the uninstall feature will work. When you run across one of these situations the items listed below will help in getting rid of the application. Be aware that these steps may not remove everything associated with the application and can impact other applications on the computer. Have a backup or restore point and use caution.
• Find the directory for the application and delete all the files in the directory. Delete the directory.
• Open regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE and find the folder for the application. Delete the folder.
• Open regedit and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE and find the folder for the application. Delete the folder.
  • To remove the application entry from Add/Remove Programs (if present), open regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall and find the folder for the application. Delete the folder.
  • Some applications have Services attached to them. If this is the case, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services, locate and delete the service.
• In Windows Explorer, navigate to the individual user settings and delete program references. Common places to check would be:
  • C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs and delete relevant entries.
  • C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup and delete relevant entries.
  • C:\Documents and Settings\%YourUserID%\Start Menu\Programs and delete relevant entries. [Do this for each User ID listed]
  • C:\Documents and Settings\%YourUserID%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup and delete relevant entries.[Do this for each User ID listed]
• If no entries were found in the previous step and the application launches automatically, navigate to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows and delete the entry.

Move Location of History Folder

• By default, History files (the URL to sites that you have visited, organized by day) are stored at in the folder %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\History. You can redirect these files to any folder using the following Registry changes:
  • Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER
  • Key: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\UserShellFolders
  • Name: History
  • Data Type: REG_SZ
  • Value: path to new folder

Clear Pagefile on Shutdown

• When Windows shuts down, it leaves the pagefile intact on the hard drive. Some programs may store sensitive information in clear text format in memory (which in turn may be paged out to disk). You may wish to empty this file for security reasons, or to help speed a boot time defrag, or because you dual boot, and you don't want to share the file, or just as part of troubleshooting a problem. Making the following registry change (or create the following entry) will clear your page file when rebooting.
  • Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
  • Key: SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory
  • Management
  • Name: ClearPageFileAtShutdown
  • Data Type: REG_DWORD
  • Value: 1

Disable Changing Passwords

• If, for some reason, you decided that you didn't want users of a Windows 2000 computer to be able to change their password unless prompted to, you can make this Registry change to implement that:
  • Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER
  • Key: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
  • Name: DisableChangePassword
  • Data Type: REG_DWORD
  • Value: 1
• A value of 0 means they can change their password whenever they want to. A value of 1 means that users will not be able to change their password unless prompted (by the password expiring, or by the box next to "User Must Change Password at Next Logon" being checked). Please use caution and frequent backups when working with the Registry.

Get Rid of Shared Documents

• New to Windows XP is a "Shared Documents" folder that appears in My Computer. This is really just a pointer to another area on disk. You can keep this from appearing by deleting the following Subkey from the Registry:
  • Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
  • Key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\My
    Computer\NameSpace\DelegateFolders
  • Subkey: {59031a47-3f72- 44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}
  • Delete the whole Subkey and all that it contains.
• You may wish to right-click this Subkey and export it before deleting it, just to be safe. This also will prevent the current users "My Documents" from showing up in the same area of My Computer. Use caution and frequent backups when editing the Registry.

Shutdown XP Faster

• When a user shuts down Windows XP, first the system has to kill all services currently running. Every once in a while the service does not shut down instantly and windows give it a change to shut down on its own before it kills it. This amount of time that windows wait is stored in the system registry. If you modify this setting, then windows will kill the service earlier. To modify the setting, follow the directions below:
  • Start Regedit.
  • Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control.
  • Click on the "Control" Folder.
  • Select "WaitToKillServiceTimeout"
  • Right click on it and select Modify.
  • Set it a value lower than 2000 (Mine is set to 200).
  • Or
  • Like previous versions of windows, it takes long time to restart or shutdown windows
• xp when the "Exit Windows" sound is enabled. To solve this problem you must disable this useless sound. Click start button then go to settings -> control panel -> Sound, Speech and Audio devices -> Sounds and Audio Devices -> Sounds, then under program events and windows menu click on "Exit Windows" sub-menu and highlight it. Now from sounds you can select, choose "none" and then click apply and ok. Now you can see some improvements when shutting down your system.

Warnings

• Editing the registry can be very dangerous, and can cause permanent damage to your system!
• Write down the your changes and initial values. You may need to restore the registry as it was.
• Registry editing may not be possible in some Windows versions.
• A few words about clearing the pagefile on shutdown. Doing this has no performance benefits whatsoever. This does not delete the file but overwrites every byte with zero's. A boot time defrag will not be sped up by doing this. Clearing the pagefile is sometimes done as a security measure. But unless it is a part of a well thought out security policy it will avail you little. There are many other ways to obtain access to sensitive data and most of them require less effort. It should also be noted that this will considerably lengthen shutdown times.

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posted by V3N0M . WIKIHOW . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED .