How Do You Tweak your Windows?

[U.C.]

I am in the process of my Tri Monthly Reformat, and was wondering if there is anything better than TweakXP by totalidea. So here I am. Post your fav tweakers/tweaks for XP.

[U.C.]

Anyone???

[(MoC)]

Yes, myself included.

 

Use your expertise and a little proggie called SpeedUP My PC

It works because you dont have to manually delete {censored}.

 

Then you can, prune services, startup proggies, and Defrag your drive!

[scj312]

Manual tweaks through regedit ftw.

[asstastic]

For someone who reformats as often as you do I would highly suggest creating a custom install disk with nLite. It should allow you to make a windows installation with many of the TweakXP tweaks already included. I made a custom CD that I could use to help friends when they get new computers or need to reformat. It works great and even let me install windows with my own custom skin preloaded, very cool.

[U.C.]

I have always had issues with nLite. It just never worked right. I tried 3-4 Times before and gave up. Plus somehow the nLite-d CD feels contaminated to me, if it is modified. I prefer my Original ISO form MSDN.

[fatshitcat]

Disable startup items and services with the built-in msconfig.

Start>Run>[msconfig]>Startup tab

but WATCH OUT! This is poweruser territory! Only disable items you exactly know what they are doing.

[apowerr]

Disable startup items and services with the built-in msconfig.

Start>Run>[msconfig]>Startup tab

but WATCH OUT! This is poweruser territory! Only disable items you exactly know what they are doing.

I used to do that with my Vista x64 install. Boot ups were a lot quicker. Then I disabled every service I didn't use period, and it was idling at like 29% RAM usage (of 2GB) which is quite light for Vista.

[Colonel]

How Do You Tweak your Windows?

Usually curtains and blinds. On the occasion i'll apply windex to them..

[U.C.]

^^ LOL

 

 

Services and MSCONFIG, I dont even consider them as tweaks. PFFFFT.

 

 

I cant believe you guys have nothing better

[Baliw]

Here is BlackViper guides , good for removing services you dont need.

 

HTH

[Metrogirl]

I've developed a whole bunch of .reg files, mostly auto'd up by a batch process nowadays. I fix all of IE7 settings in one .reg file, kill services and other {censored} with another .reg file, set a lot of defaults and add features with another couple. I've posted a few of them here in the past. Here's another example for you:

 

Kill Autorun on all drives:

 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoDriveTypeAutoRun"=dword:00000091
"NoDriveAutoRun"=hex:ff,ff,ff,03

 

Enjoy!

[U.C.]

That script is nice. Will save from going into gpedit.msc everytime

[fredouille]

hello, i use Xp SWEET made by KAL thanks to Nlite, wich include : ( dvdfabplatinum, dvd decrypter, dvd shrink, office 2003, nero 7, virtualdaemon, flah fxp, grabit, winamp, all codecs and plenty software that i even don't know what it's for !! LOL .... on a 700 mb cd !!!!!

I put it on my cd reader and 30 minutes after , I enjoy a fully and fonctionnaly OS ( so usefull when you "format so often as I do !"

then to customize a bit:

vista inspirat( for vista look, whitout the slowness), yod'm3d ( to have cube like mandriva linux), bootvis ( to speedup the boot), and tuneup utility 2006 ( the one of 200 mb)

[.nomac]

Heyho... my first post. ;-)

 

The first thing I do before installing Windows XP is modifying the disk with nLite, so I'll have the "basic tweaks" already integrated.

After installing Windows and the needed drivers I usually take Microsofts TweakUI to set up the installation just like I need it and that's basically it. From time to time I let some programs (NOD32; Spybot; Ad-Aware) scan my harddisk for viruses and spyware and after that it's O&O Defrag's work to rearrange the files on my disk.

 

This method worked for 4 years and there was never a problem.

 

 

.nomac

[djXtreme]

[sarcasm] I cant belive so many people tweak such a great OS [/sarcasm]

 

On a serious note, Ive gone through lots of tweak fads in my XP lifetime. I used to apply a full skinning at one point, Objectdocks etc etc etc. Used to take ages to get right, but I loved my minimal theme!

 

On recent machines though I must admit i dont tweak much no more. Usually just a fresh load, minimal drivers and stuff, adobe reader, AV, VLC, wham bam thankyou man. Sometimes I fly Acronis True Image on, and create a secure zone + backup file when done. At least subsequent reloads are done in 10-15 minutes fully finished!

[SpeedfreaK]

i disable all useless startup programs, install tune up, install NOD32 (very light weight anti virus), the necessary drivers and programs and that's it. i tried almost all combinations of xp tweaking and i think that's my fastest one (and it stays clean for 4 months)

[Enrox]

Kill Autorun on all drives:

There is a much better way: just open the control panel and click on "Play CDs or other media automatically" and deselect the option

 

In case you need more help:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vis...-windows-vista/