Tuesday, December 4, 2007
WINDOWS XP TRICKS (Learn Part 3)
Windows Xp Tricks
07. Enable write caching on disk and improve disk performance
I have enabled write caching on my disk and this does have helped improve disk performance to a significant degree. Now you may ask why ?. WriteCache is nothing else but implementation of
concept of delayed write.
As we all know I/O activities are generally slow and hence if they are
synchronous can significantly reduce the system performance. Hence if system performance has to be improved we have to reduce I/O activities. Now practically we can not ask you to change your habits (meaning start typing like a superman or robot etc.) but we can have a solution. We can control the frequency of diskwrite by specifying regular intervals.
All that needs to be written between the intervals would be writen in a write buffer which would be maintained in RAM. This write buffer would be written to the disk at regular intervals or whenever it gets full. This is a smart concept with one drawback.
There is a chance that you may loose some data in case of critical power loss or system
failure but this is not an issue for me and should not be to most of the users. Such things become an
issue for Mission Critical Business Servers.
To enable write cache on your disk, go to DEVICE MANAGER. Then select hard disk in the disk
drives and right click on it and select properties. Go to policies tab and select checkbox which say "Enable write caching on the disk". Close out everything and you are done.
08. MFT manipulations to improve disk performance
MFT stands for Master File Table. Typically in Windows XP , if you are using NTFS ( I would
recommend it if you don't) then by default,NTFS would reserve 12.5% of your free diskspace for
MFT. MFT fragmentation could also cause a significant slow down.
Let me discuss size first. Now if you have installed tons of different programs on your hard disk (or intend to do so), MFT utilization is going to be high.
Under such situation, it may be beneficial to increase this percentage to say 25%. If
you want to do this, here is the the trick. Open Registry by going to START-RUN and entering
REGEDIT and Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\System\\ currentControlSet\\Control\\FileSystem.
In right pane, Add one more key by the name "NtfsMftZoneReservation" with the
REG_DWORD value of 2. DWORD value of 1 is interpreted as 12.5% ,2 as 25% and so on.
09. Improve system performance by disabling DOS convention
In tip number 46, I briefly mentioned MFT fragmentation. So what is the cause of fragmentation.
Well most common cause is too much use. As with anything excessive use causes fragmentation.
Activities of add/update/delete to a section of disk would invariable cause it to fragment. So there is no permanent solution as we can not avoid these acts. As such it is a good idea to use disk defragmenter regularly.
Contiguous data which results from defragmenting disk, improves system
performance considerably. But what I am suggesting you here would prolong intervals between
defragmentations resulting in more time for your own productive work. OK! This tip is for those folks would never be using a DOS based program or don't care for connection from DOS based operating systems (example: old games and all things before windows 95).
In Windows XP, two file names are created for each file one is the actual name and another one is 8.3 version of that file name for compatibility with DOS based programs. Now this work name in the name of compatibility takes quite a lot of system resources specifically CPU time and disk space.But this is not it, it also increases your MFT utilization and fragmentation.
So the solution is to disable it. How to do this ? Open Registry by
going to START-RUN and entering REGEDIT and Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Control\\FileSystem.
In right pane, look forkey by the name "NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation" and sets its value to 1. Thats it. You would see
improvement in system performance for sure.
warning : All the Tricks which had shown in this site is just for Teaching and Learning purpose.
use all tricks on your personal risk.
Mail me at masteragarwal@yahoo.com to receive latest updates and source cods and be in touch.
WINDOWS XP-TRICK ( Learn part 2)
02. Stop XP from displaying unread messages count on Welcome Screen?
Welcome Screen.
To stop XP from displaying count of unread messages, Open registry and navigate to
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\UnreadMail] and look for
the data key "MessageExpiryDays". If you do not see this key, create one DWORD key by the name
"MessageExpiryDays". Setting its value to 0 would stop Windows XP from displaying the count of
unread mesages.
03. How to rollback a device driver ?
There are times when you install an ungrade to a device driver but instead of getting an upgrade you
get downgraded in the sense that either you loose on performance or its stoping functioning at all.
Insituation like this where you are still able to logon with System priviledges, you can roll back thedriver. Even though this can not be considered as a tweak, but it could save you a good deal of timeand disappointment.
Here are the steps:
Step:2 Right click on My Computer
Step:3 Select Properties
Step:4 Click on the Hardware tab
Step:5 Click on the Device Manager button
Step:6 Select the device you want to rollback or reconfigure
Step:7 Click on the Driver tab and then click on the Roll Back Drive button
04. Windows XP Command Line Reference
You would be surprised to know what you can do from command line of Windows XP Pro. Windows
XP Pro comes equipped with a powerful set of command line utilities. If you want to know what they
are and how to run them and a good decription of each of them...go no futher.. Its available right in your computer. This is again not a tip or trick or tweak of any kind but information that is as powerful as any of the tips/tricks.
Open START-RUN window and type C:\\WINDOWS\\Help\\ntcmds.chm
Also you may not know that .chm is the windows help file extension. I find the Windows Help to be a very good starting point to learn all the power and resources of Windows environment. I like section Windows scripting host among other things. You can read most of it in the reference
but here I am doing a cut/paste of the new command line tools.
The following table lists the new Windows XP Professional command-line tools.
Command Feature
bootcfg: Configures, queries, or changes Boot.ini file settings.
defrag : Locates and consolidates fragmented boot files, data files, and folders on local volumes.
diskpart : Manages disks, partitions, or volumes.
driverquery : Queries for a list of drivers and driver properties.
eventcreate : Enables an administrator to create a custom event in a specified event log.
eventquery Lists the events and event properties from one or more event logs.
eventtriggers Displays and configures event triggers on local or remote machines.
fsutil Manages reparse points, managing sparse files, dismounting a volume, or extending a volume.
getmac Obtains the media access control (MAC) address and list of network protocols
helpctr Starts Help and Support Center.
ipseccmd Configures Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) policies in the directory service, or in a local or remote registry. Ipseccmd is a command-line version of the IP Security Policies Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in.
logman Manages and schedules performance counter and event trace log collections on local and
remote systems.
openfiles Queries, displays, or disconnects open files.
pagefileconfig Displays and configures the paging file Virtual Memory settings of a system.
perfmon Enables you to open a Performance console configured with settings files from Windows NT 4.0 version of Performance Monitor.
prncnfg Configures or displays configuration information about a printer.
prndrvr Adds, deletes, and lists printer drivers from local or remote print servers.
prnjobs Pauses, resumes, cancels, and lists print jobs.
prnmngr Adds, deletes, and lists printers or printer connections, in addition to setting and displaying the default printer.
prnport Creates, deletes, and lists standard TCP/IP printer ports, in addition to displaying and
changing port configuration.
prnqctl Prints a test page, pauses or resumes a printer, and clears a printer queue.
relog Extracts performance counters from performance counter logs into other formats, such as text- TSV (for tab-delimited text), text-CSV (for comma-delimited text), binary-BIN, or SQL.
sc Retrieves and sets information about services.
Tests and debugs service programs. schtasks Schedules commands and programs to run periodically or at a specific time. Adds and removes tasks from the schedule, starts and stops tasks on demand, and displays and changes scheduled tasks.
shutdown Shuts down or restarts a local or remote computer.
systeminfo Queries the system for basic system configuration information.
taskkill Ends one or more tasks or processes.
tasklist Displays a list of applications, services, and the Process ID (PID) currently running on either a local or a remote computer. tracerpt Processes event trace logs or real-time data from instrumented event trace providers and allows you to generate trace analysis reports and CSV (comma-delimited) files for the events generated.
typeperf Writes performance counter data to the command window or to a supported log file format.
WMIC Eases the use of Windows Management Insturmentation (WMI) and systems managedthrough WMI.
05. Customize Internet. Explorer Title bar
This tip won't make your computer any faster but may help personalize your computer experience.
Open Registry by going to START-RUN and typing REGEDIT. Navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Microsoft\\Internet. Explorer\\Main. In right hand panel look for
string "Window Title" and change its value to whatever custom text you want to see. That is it.
06. Add ability to rip MP3 songs in Windows Media Player
I am not that great a fan of MP3 but do appreciate its power. If you have a truckload of CDs that you
would like to listen to but do not want to carry all of them at the same time, you can rip them into
MP3. Yes it can be done technically and that too from Windows Media Player even though make sure
you have legally on right side of fence, meaning you own the CD that you would rip MP3 from. That
said here is the little tweak in registry. Open Registry by going to START-RUN and typing REGEDIT.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\
MediaPlayerSettings\\MP3Encoding] and adding following entries
"LowRate"=dword:0000dac0
"MediumRate"=dword:0000fa00
"MediumHighRate"=dword:0001f400
"HighRate"=dword:0002ee00
which corresponds to 56, 64, 128 and 192 Kbps. Following table would help with other settings as
well:
320 Kbps = dword:0004e200
256 Kbps = dword:0003e800
224 Kbps = dword:00036b00
160 Kbps = dword:00027100
112 Kbps = dword:0001b580
Mail me at masteragarwal@yahoo.com to receive latest updates and source cods and be in touch.
IT-SOLUTIONS
BRIEFINTRODUCTION ABOUT OUR TARGET'S
We are here to give you our best knowledge about computers andother Accounting ways. We want that each person get knowledge about everyfield and specially about our faster growing IT-Fields.
So we will try our level best to give you knowledgewhatever we can provide to you.
Not only this we are here to solve all problems ofyours, related to computer Accounting and other Topics too.
We will consternate on Solvingcomputer problems and providing you the knowledge about computer programminglike C, C++, Visual Basic Programming., Windows Tips and Tricks , How toStop Hacking in your personal computer. learning about Java Scripts and othermany languages.
In this site we will not onlyteach you how to use but also going to provide you the programming codes Best ofour knowledge.
Here before, Istart sharing my knowledge with you all, I want to warn you that this siteis made for sharing knowledge for helping other, not for creating problems . Soplease help other's with the knowledge.
warning:This Site is not responsible for any type of miss- use of knowledge and also forany harm made to you.
Now we will start with some useful Triks.
Howto disable Enable or use System Restore for Windows
Every time you download or install a new game, application, or softwareupdate, you make changes to your computer. Sometimes that change may make yoursystem unstable. Have you ever wanted to go back to the way it was? With SystemRestore, you can.
How does System restore work?
Windows XP periodically records a snapshot of your computer. These snapshotsare called restore points. Windows XP also creates restore points at the time ofsignificant system events (such as when an application or driver is installed)or you can create and name your own restore points at any time. If you?€?veinstalled a program that has made your computer unstable, you can open systemrestore, choose a restore point, and return your computer to its previous stablestate.
How to Enable or Disable System restore?
Properties My Computer Locate System Restore tap
If you want turn off system restore on all drives please check enable it or if you want turn off each drive click drive and click setting.
How to Restore windows by System Restore?
Click Start Menu > Programs > Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click System Restore. System Restore starts.
On First page click Restore my computer to an earlier time (if it is not already selected), and then click Next.
On the Select a Restore Point page, click the most recent system checkpoint in the
On this list, click a restore point list, and then click Next. A System Restore message may appear that lists configuration changes that System Restore will make.
Click OK.
Confirm Restore Point Selection, click Next. System Restore will restore the previous Windows XP, and then restarts the computer.
Note: you must log in as Administrators member
If you want start windows normally you will use system restore in safe mode.
Restart your computer, and then press F8 during the initial startup to start your computer in Safe Mode with a command prompt.
Type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exeFollow the instructions that appear on the screen torestore your computer to an earlier state.
Ihope u liked the Trick don't you, Be careful and read all post properly beforeusing practically.
howto send instant message dialog to someone on network
This method help you send a message dialog to any user on network by NET SENDcommand line.
Open command prompt by going to .. start > run > and type cmd
use command “net send”
Example:1You want to send message “hello this is test msg from IT” to computermachine name “pc1″
follow this commandnet send /DOMAIN:pc1 “hello this is test msg from IT” andpress Enter
Example:2You want to send same message to everyone on the network use this command
net send * “hello this is test msg from IT”
The message will be send to everyone
Remark
You can send a message only to a name that is active on the network. If you send the message to a user name, that user must be logged on and running the Messenger service to receive the message.The Messenger service must be running for messages tobe received. For more information about how to start a service.
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01. How to disable screen saver in Windows XP ?
One of the easiest things that you can do to remove screen saver is to simply select none from the
Screen Saver tab of Desktop properties window. This should help. Doing this would be all that most
of us would ever need for those few who want to go one more level, here is what you can do.
Windows has a default screen saver called login.scr, which runs even if no screen saver has been
selected. There is a potential security risk here as login.scr can be removed and replaced with
malicious screen saver with system priviledges.
To resolve this, Open registry and navigate to [HKEY_USERS\\.DEFAULT\\Control Panel\\Desktop]
and look for the data key "ScreenSaveActive". Setting its value to 0 would disable screen saver (you
can always enable it by setting it back to 1). You may as well change the login.scr that is goes as the
value of data key 'SCRNSAVE.EXE' .Try clearing out the value for 'SCRNSAVE.EXE' to completelyremove the screen saver or replace it with some thing of your own
**************************************
Mail me at masteragarwal@yahoo.com to receive latest updates and source cods and be in touch.
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