To remove the Recycle Bin from you desktop, follow these steps:

1. Click on the Start button and select Run
2. Type in 'regedit' and press OK
3. Look for this string:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\Namespace

4. Click on the 'Namespace' string in the left pane
5. Delete the 'Recycle Bin' string in the right pane.
6. Close regedit and reboot your computer

Click to Read More »

One way to run a chkdsk (this is like Scandisk that was with Win9X), is to

1. Double click on My Computer
2. Right click on the drive you want to check
3. Select Properties
4. Click on the Tools tab
5. Click on the Check Now button
6. Check to Automatically fix file system errors - This is the same as running chkdsk /f
7. If you want to Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors, check that box - This is the same as running chkdsk /R. It can also add a lot of time to the scan
8. Reboot if necessary
You can also run chkdsk from the command line with will give you more options.

The following switches are available:
/F - fix any errors
/R - identifies bad sectors
/V - with FAT32, displays a verbose output
With NTFS Volumes:
/I - Performs simpler check (stage 2)
/C - Skips the checking of cycles within folder structures
/X - Forces the volume to dismount if necessary. Intended for server administrators and should be avoided for normal use.

Click to Read More »

If you share your computer with other people in your house and they have a habit of uninstalling programs from the Add/Remove list, or you don't want them seeing what is installed on your computer, you can take out any program from the list without actually uninstalling it. Just follow these steps.

  1. Click on your Start button, select Run and type in regedit
  2. Look for this key:
     HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Uninstall
  3. Look for the program you want to hide under the Uninstall
     subkey and highlight it (If you see all numbers and
     letters, highlight that key and look in the right pane
     for the programs name)
  4. Select Export from the File menu and select a name and
     location for the .reg file that will be created
  5. Now delete the program under the Uninstall subkey
If you ever decide to uninstall a program, simply double-click on the .reg file to restore the uninstall data then launch the Add/Remove Programs.

Click to Read More »

If you want to remove those irritating arrows from your desktop shortcut icons and not change their properties, follow these steps:

1. Right-click on an empty space on the Desktop
2. Select 'Properties'
3. Click on the 'Appearance' tab
4. Select 'Item' then Scroll for 'Icon'
5. Change the default size of 32 to 30
6. Click 'Apply'

Click to Read More »

1. Take a moment to defrag

To improve performance in applications, including booting, is to make sure the drive is defragged. When a drive is fragmented, chunks of each file are scattered so in order to read them, the hdd's read/write head has to jump all over the platters wich takes time. By defragging, your files are arranged in sequential order. Use any defragmentation utility like Diskeeper.

2. Clean the rest of the startup folders

To find which apps are loading every startup, click Start, Run then type MSCONFIG, then click the startup tab. Every item in this tab checked runs every time you boot, so cleaning the list will shave your boot time especially on systems with tons of apps. Anything having to do with your display, antivirus or spyware utilities can stay. If you dont know something, it is better to leave it be. If you are sure it is junk, delete it.



3. Prefetch (For Windows XP only)

Whenever you run a program or open a file, Windows will add bits of the file to the prefetch folder on your harddrive so the next time you open that app, Windows can deliver it to you faster. Sometimes Windows prefetches items you do not need, sucking system resources. You can see what Windows is prefetching by going to C:\Windows\Prefetch. Go to the prefetch folder by clicking start, run and type prefetch. Delete all files that are there. Next, open Regedit then navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters. Look for the “EnablePrefetcher” in the right side pane. Right click & click Modify. If you change the value to 2, it will prefetch only boot items. Type in 3 and it will prefetch apps and boot items. I recommend typing 2. Close Regedit then restart your computer to save your changes.

(Note: Backup this key first before you edit your registry)

4. Disable the splash screen (For Windows XP only)

Every time you boot, you see the same XP splash screen since 2001. Disable this and get a couple seconds of your boot time. To disable, open MSCONFIG, and go to the boot.ini tab. Check the /NOGUIBOOT box, click apply then ok, then restart your pc.
(Note: it will just affect the logo of WinXP on startup, no damage will be made)

5. Tweak your BIOS

The last of relatively simple tweaks will require you to enter your computer's BIOS. To enter it, you must press F2 or DEL key as soon as you turn onyour pc. IF you dont have a floppy drive, it is reccomended to disable your floppy controller. Also. for max boot speed, your hard drive (C:) must be the first boot device. Enable the Quick POST and Fast Boot. Then, disable any unused I/O devices, such as parallel ports, save changes, then reboot your pc.
(remember to backup your old bios settings first)


5. Upgrade your hardware!

If you have gone through all the tweaks listed here, and your machine is still slow, the only way to improve performance is to buy a faster hard drive. Because much of the boot process involve disk reads, a 10,000rpm hard drive will speed things along.

Click to Read More »