TweakHound's Super XP Tweaking Guide

Creating Your Own Registry Files

My Registry Settings

This is divided into 3 sections The first is the non-services tweaks, the second is XP Pro Services, the third is XP Home Services. If you choose to copy & paste, select the portions between the dotted lines. And folks, I formatted this and applied the labels. If you post a tweak or two here or there please give credit where it is due. If you see a tweak/reg entry formatted like this, it came from here.

------------------------------------non-services tweaks---------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; usually 0 = disable (off/no), 1 = enable (on/yes)

; VISUAL TWEAKS

; Use Classic Start Menu
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoSimpleStartMenu"=dword:00000001

; Remove "Shortcut To" text on shortcuts
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
"link"=hex:00,00,00,00

; Remove Shortcut Arrows on shortcuts
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile]
"IsShortcut"=-

; Show translucent selection rectangle
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"ListviewAlphaSelect"=dword:00000000

;Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"ListviewShadow"=dword:00000001

; Use background image for each folder type
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"ListviewWatermark"=dword:00000000

; Slide taskbar buttons
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"TaskbarAnimations"=dword:00000000

; Smooth Edges Of Screen Fonts 0=no, 2=yes
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"FontSmoothing"="2"

; Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics]
"MinAnimate"="0"

; Use this to keep the registry in-line with the above changes
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects]
"VisualFXSetting"=dword:00000003

; Themes 00000002=Automatic,00000004=Disabled
; Same effect as Use Visual Styles On Windows And Buttons
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Themes]
"Start"=dword:00000004

; XP Visual Effects "adjust for..."
; mine = to TweakUI General Section Options, all off except optimize hard disk
;UserPreferencesMask appearance=1e,2c,07,80, performance=10,00,01,80, mine=10,00,03,80
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"UserPreferencesMask"=hex:10,00,03,80

; Disable Ballon Tips
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"EnableBalloonTips"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"StartButtonBalloonTip"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"ShowInfoTip"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\tips]
"Show"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"FolderContentsInfoTip"=dword:00000000

; Start Menu Tweaks

; Add Admin Tools To Start Menu
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"StartMenuAdminTools"="YES"

; Add/Remove Favorites To Start Menu
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"StartMenuFavorites"=dword:00000000

; Expand Control Panel
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"CascadeControlPanel"="YES"

; Use Personalized menus
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"IntelliMenus"=dword:00000000

; Recent docs history
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoRecentDocsHistory"=hex:01,00,00,00

; Remove Recent Documents from the start menu
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoRecentDocsMenu"=dword:00000001

; Don't Group Similar Taskbar Buttons
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"TaskbarGlomming"=dword:00000000

; Explorer tweaks
; Don't Cache Thumbnails
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"DisableThumbnailCache"=dword:00000001

; show hidden files
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"SuperHidden"=dword:00000001
"ShowSuperHidden"=dword:00000001

; show hidden file ext
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"HideFileExt"=dword:00000000

; TURN OFF ANNOYING WINDOWS STUFF and misc. tweaks

; Turn Off Windows Key (gamers)
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,00,00,5b,e0,00,00,5c,e0,\
00,00,00,00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoWinKeys"=dword:00000000

;Disable Desktop Cleanup Wizard
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\CleanupWiz]
"NoRun"=dword:00000001

; Disable Error Reporting
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PCHealth\ErrorReporting]
"DoReport"=dword:00000000

; Disable Fast User Switching
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\]
"AllowMultipleTSSessions"=dword:00000000

; Disable Low Disk Space Warning
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoLowDiskSpaceChecks"=dword:00000001

; Auto Retsart Explorer After Crash
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"AutoRestartShell"=dword:00000001

; Beep On Errors
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Sound]
"Beep"="No"
"ExtendedSounds"="no"

; Show hidden devices in device manager
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment]
"DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES"="1"

; Add Print drive and folder contents Context menu.
; When you use "Print Contents" option it will create a file called
; "contents.txt" in the same folder or drive
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\PrintHere]
@="Print Contents"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\PrintHere\Command]
@="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\cmd.exe /c dir /a \"%1\" > contents.txt"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\PrintHere]
@="Print Contents"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\PrintHere\Command]
@="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\cmd.exe /c dir /a \"%1\" > contents.txt"

; PERFORMANCE and STABILITY TWEAKS

; Set CPU Priority
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\PriorityControl]
"Win32PrioritySeparation"=dword:00000026

; These allow you to end tasks faster, shut down faster and speed up the menu display.
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"ForegroundLockTimeout"=dword:00000000
"HungAppTimeout"="4000"
"MenuShowDelay"="200"
"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="5000"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]
"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="5000"

; Run 16-bit applications in their own process (stability)
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WOW]
"DefaultSeparateVDM"="Yes"

; Launch Folder windows in separate process (stability)
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"SeparateProcess"=dword:00000000

; Explorer Fast Update
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Update]
"UpdateMode"=hex:00

; Disable User Tracking
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoInstrumentation"=dword:00000001

; Disable 8.3 Name Creation
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem]
"NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation"=dword:00000001

; Disable Last Access Time Stamp
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem]
"NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate"=dword:00000001

; Stop Windows from looking for Scheduled Tasks when browsing network
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\

RemoteComputer\NameSpace\{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00A
A0060F5BF}]
@="Scheduled Tasks"

; Prevent messenger from being run
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Messenger\Client]
"PreventAutoRun"=dword:00000001
"PreventRun"=dword:00000001

; Make the "Find Files" Interface Cleaner and TURN THAT DAMN DOG OFF
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CabinetState]
"Use Search Asst"="no"

; Make IE Behave
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Infodelivery\Restrictions]
"NoUpdateCheck"=dword:00000001

; Make WMP Behave
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPlayer]
"EnableAutoUpgrade"="no"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsMediaPlayer]
"DisableAutoUpdate"=dword:00000001

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