Windows XP Tips: Create a Startup Menu Even If You Have Only One OS

Even if you have only one operating system, you can create a boot menu that will let you choose to load your operating system with different parameters.multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Trace Problems XP Home Edition"  /fastdetect /bootlog /sos This entry creates a startup log and displays information about the drivers and other operating system information as it loads. 

For the version of the operating system that loads in Safe Mode but that still allows networking, you could create this entry:

 multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Safe Start XP Home Edition" / fastdetect /safeboot:network 

The boot.ini file would look like this, assuming that you want the menu to display for 30 seconds and you want normal XP startup to be the default: 

[boot loader]

 timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS 

[operating systems]

 multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home  Edition" /fastdetect 

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Trace Problems XP Home 

Edition"  /fastdetect /bootlog /sos multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Safe Start XP Home 

Edition" / fastdetect /safeboot:network. 

"Windows XP Tips: Create a Startup Menu Even If You Have Only One OS"

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Windows XP Tips: Customize Multiboot Startup Options

Edit or create a startup menu that lets you choose which operating system to boot into in multiboot systems, or create a menu that lets you choose different startup options for your single operating system if you have only XP installed. If you've installed another operating system (in addition to XP) on your system, your 

PC starts up with a multiboot menu, which allows you to choose the operating system you want to run. The menu stays live for 30 seconds, and a screen countdown tells you how long you have to make a choice from the menu. After the 30 seconds elapse, it  boots  into  your  default  operating  system,  which is  generally 

the  last  operating system you installed. 

You  can  customize  that  multiboot  menu  and  how  your PC  starts  by  editing  the boot.ini file, a hidden system file, to control a variety of startup options, including how long to display the menu, which operating system should be the default, whether to use the XP splash screen when XP starts, and similar features. And 

as you'll see later in this hack, you can also use the file to create a startup menu that will allow you to choose from different versions of your operating systemfor example, one that you'll use for tracking down startup problems, and another for starting in Safe Mode. 

The boot.ini file is a plain-text file found in your root C:\ folder. You might not be able to see it because it's a system file, and if you can see it, you might not be able to edit it because it's a read-only file. To make it visible, launch Windows Explorer, choose View Tools Folder Options View. Select the Show Hidden Files and Folders  radio  button.  To  make  it  a  file  you  can  edit,  right-click  it  in  Windows Explorer, choose Properties, uncheck the Read-Only box, and click. 

To edit the file, open it with a text editor such as Notepad. Following is a typical boot.ini file for a PC that has two operating systems installed on itWindows XP Home Edition and Windows 2000 Professional: 

[boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] 

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect 

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect 

As you can see, there are two sections in the file: [bootloader] and [operating systems].  To  customize  your  menu  and  startup  options,edit  the  entries  in  each section. Before editing boot.ini, make a copy of it and save it under a different name (such as boot.ini.old) so that you can revert to it if you cause problems when you edit the file. 

Following are details about how to edit the entries in each section: [boot loader]  This  section  controls  how  the  boot  process  works;  it  specifies  the  default operating system and how long a user has to make a selection from a boot menu,  if  a  boot  menu  has  been  enabled.

The timeout  value  specifies,  in seconds, how long to display the menu and wait for a selection before 

loading the default operating system. If you want a delay of 15 seconds, for example, enter 15 for the value. Use a value of 0 if you want the default operating system to boot immediately. If you want the menu to be displayed indefinitely and stay on-screen until a selection is made, use a value of -1.

 The default value specifies which entry in the [operating system] section is the default operating  system.  (The default  value  is  used  even  if  there  is  only  one operating system in the [operating system] section.) 

To change the default operating  system,  edit  the  setting,  in  our  example,  to default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT. So, in our example, if you change the menu settings so that the screen appears for 10 seconds before loading the default operating system, and the default 

operating system is Windows 2000 Professional, the section reads: [boot loader] timeout=10 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT 

[operating system]  

This section specifies which operating systems are present on the computer, and detailed options for each one. XP uses the Advanced RISC Computing (ARC) path to specify the location of the boot partition. In our example, the ARC path is: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS 

The  first  parameter,  which  identifies  the  disk  controller,  should  be 0. The second parameter, the disk parameter, should also be 0.The rdisk parameter specifies the disk number on the controller that has the boot partition. The numbers start at 0. So, if you have three hard disks installed and the second 

hard  disk  has  the  boot  partition,  the  setting  is rdisk(1).

 The  partition parameter identifies the partition number of the boot partition. Partitions start with  the  number 1.  The  final  section,  which  in  our  example  is  \WINDOWS, specifies the path to the folder where the operating system is installed. 

To the right of the ARC path in the example is ="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect. The words within quotes are what will appear on the boot menu next to the entry. To customize the text on the menu you can change these words to whatever you wishfor example, "My Favorite Operating 

System." The /fastdetect switch disables the detection of serial and parallel devices, which allows for faster booting. The detection of these devices isn't normally required in XP because the functions are performed by Plug and Play drivers, so as a general rule it's a good idea to use the /fastdetect switch. 

The /fastdetect switch is only one of many switches that you can use in the boot.ini file to customize how the operating system loads.

When you've finished editing the boot.ini file, save it. The next time you start your computer, its settings will go into effect. In our example, if we want the menu to appear for 45 seconds, the default operating 

system to be Windows 2000, and the XP splash screen to be turned off when we 

choose to load XP, the boot.ini file should look like this: 

[boot loader] 

timeout=45 

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT 

[operating systems] 

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP 

Home  

Edition" /fastdetect /noguiboot multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows 2000 Professional" 

/fastdetect.

"Windows XP Tips: Customize Multiboot Startup Options"

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Windows XP Tips: Control User Logins by Hacking the Registry

To  control  logon  options,  run  the  Registry  Editor  [Hack  #83]  and  go  to  the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows  NT\CurrentVersion Winlogon subkey, which contains a variety of logon settings (as well as some settings not having to do directly with logons). Following are the most important values you can edit to customize logons. 

DontDisplayLastUserName This setting lets you control how the system logon dialog box is used. If this String value is present and set to 1, all users will have to enter both their username and password to log on. If the value is 0, the name of the last user to log on will be displayed in the system logon dialog box. 

DefaultUserName This  String  value  contains  the  name  of  the  last  user  who  logged  on.  It  will  be 

displayed only if the DontDisplayLastUserName value is not present or is set to 0. 

LegalNoticeCaption and LegalNoticeText// Already discussed PasswordExpiryWarning  This DWORD value lets you display a warning message to users a certain number of days before their passwords are set to expire. It lets you determine how many days ahead of time the warning  should  be issued.  To  edit the  value, click the decimal button and enter the number of days. 

ShutdownWithoutLogon This String value enables or disables a button on the XP logon dialog box that lets the system shut down. A value of 1 enables the button (so that it is shown); a value of 0 

disables the button (so that it is not shown). 

Shell It  determines  the  shellthe  user  interfacethat  will be  used  by  XP.The  default  is Explorer.exe, but it can be another shell as wellfor example, the Program Manager from  older  Windows  versions.  Type  in  the  name  of  the  program;  for  example, Progman.exe for the Program Manager, or Taskman.exe for the Task Manager. 

AutoRestartShell This DWORD value doesn't have to do with logons either, but it's another good one to 

know. It sets whether to automatically restart the Windows shell if the shell crashes. A value of 1 automatically restarts the shell. A value of 0 tells XP not to restart the shell, forcing you to log off and then back on again to restart it.

"Windows XP Tips: Control User Logins by Hacking the Registry"

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Windows XP Tips: Automatically Turn On Num Lock,Scroll Lock,and Caps Lock

When you start your PC, Num Lock, Scroll Lock, and Caps Lock don't automatically toggle on. You can automatically turn each of them on or off whenever your PC starts, for all accounts on the PC. As a practical matter, most people probably want to have only Num Lock automatically turned on, but this Registry hack 

allows you to force any combination of keys on or off. Run the Registry Editor [Hack #83] and go 

to  HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control  Panel\Keyboard.  

Find  the  String  value InitialKeyboardIndicators. By default, it is set to 0, which means that Num Lock, Scroll Lock, and Caps Lock are all turned off. Set it to any of the following values, depending on the combination of keys you want turned on or off: 

0-Turns off Num Lock, Caps Lock, and Scroll Lock

1-Turns on Caps Lock 

2-Turns on Num Lock 

3-Turns on Caps Lock and Num Lock 

4-Turns on Scroll Lock 

5-Turns on Caps Lock and Scroll Lock 

6-Turns on Num Lock and Scroll Lock 

7-Turns on Caps Lock, Num Lock, and Scroll Lock 

Exit the Registry. When you restart, the new setting will take effect.

"Windows XP Tips: Automatically Turn On Num Lock,Scroll Lock,and Caps Lock"

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Windows XP Tips: Play around registry-More Options

Launch Regedit and go to the following Registry Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER /Software/Microsoft/CurrentVersion/Policies Under this key, there will definitely be a key named explorer. Now under this explorer key we can create new DWORD values and modify it's value to 1 in order to impose the restriction. If you want to remove the Restriction, then you can simply  delete the respective DWORD values  or instead change their values to 0.

 The following is a list of DWORD values that can be created under the Explorer Key: 

NoDeletePrinter: Disables Deletion of already installed Printers  

NoAddPrinter: Disables Addition of new Printers  

NoRun : Disables or hides the Run Command  

NoSetFolders:  Removes  Folders  from  the  Settings  option  on  Start  Menu  (Control Panel, Printers, Taskbar)  

NoSetTaskbar:  Removes  Taskbar  system  folder  from  the  Settings  option  on  Start Menu  

NoFind: Removes the Find Tool (Start >Find)  

NoDrives: Hides and does not display any Drives in My Computer  

NoNetHood: Hides or removes the Network Neighborhood icon from the desktop  

NoDesktop:  Hides  all  items  including,  file,  folders  and  system  folders  from  the Desktop  

NoClose:  Disables  Shutdown  and  prevents  the  user  from  normally  shutting  down Windows. 

NoSaveSettings: Means to say, 'Don't save settings on exit'  DisableRegistryTools: Disable Registry Editing Tools (If you disable this option, the Windows Registry Editor(regedit.exe) too will not work.)  

NoRecentDocsHistory:  Removes  Recent  Document  system  folder  from  the  Start Menu (IE 4 and above)  

ClearRecentDocsOnExit: Clears the Recent Documents system folder on Exit.  

Nolnternetlcon: Removes the Internet (system folder) icon from the Desktop  

Now create a new key and name it System. Under this new key, system we can create the following new DWORD values  

NODispCPL: Hides Control Panel  

NoDispBackgroundPage: Hides Background page.  

NoDispScrsavPage: Hides Screen Saver Page  

NoDispAppearancePage: Hides Appearance Page  

NoDispSettingsPage: Hides Settings Page  

NoSecCPL: Disables Password Control Panel  

NoPwdPage: Hides Password Change Page  

NoAdminPaqe: Hides Remote Administration Page  

NoProfilePage: Hides User Profiles Page  

NoDevMgrPage: Hides Device Manager Page  

NoConfigPage: Hides Hardware Profiles Page 

NoFileSysPage: Hides File System Button  

NoVirtMemPage: Hides Virtual Memory Button  

Similarly, if  we create a  new subkey named Network, we can add the following DWORD values under it: 

NoNetSetupSecurityPage: Hides Network Security Page  

NoNelSetup: Hides or disables the Network option in the Control Panel  

NoNetSetupIDPage: Hides the Identification Page  

NoNetSetupSecurityPage: Hides the Access Control Page  

NoFileSharingControl: Disables File Sharing Controls  

NoPrintSharing: Disables Print Sharing Controls. 

"Windows XP Tips: Play around registry-More Options"

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Windows XP Tips: Change Internet Explorer's Caption

Open  the  registry  editor  and  go  to  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Internet Explorer\Main. In the right pane create a new String Value names Window Title (Note the space between Window and Title).

 Right click on this newly created String Value and select Modify. Type in the new caption you want to be 

displayed. Restart for the settings to take place.

" Windows XP Tips: Change Internet Explorer's Caption"

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Windows XP Tips: Shutdown and Reboot in Style

Turning off or rebooting XP involves a several-step process: click the Start menu, choose Shut Down, and then select Shut Down or Restart. If you want, however, you can exit or reboot much more quickly, by creating a shortcut that enables one-click shutdowns. You can also use the shortcut to customize the shutdown or reboot for example,  by  displaying  a  specific  message  or  automatically  shutting  down  any programs that are running. 

First, create a shortcut on your desktop by right-clicking the desktop, choosing New, and then choosing Shortcut. The Create Shortcut Wizard appears. In the box asking for the location of the shortcut, type shutdown. After you create the shortcut, double-clicking it will shut down your PC. 

But you can do much more with a shutdown shortcut than merely shut down your PC. You can add any combination of several switches to do extra duty, like this: shutdown -r -t 01 -c "Rebooting your PC" 

Double-clicking  that  shortcut  will  reboot  your  PC  after  a  one-second  delay  and display the message "Rebooting your PC." The shutdown command includes a variety of switches you can use to customize it.

Here are the ones I use for shutdowns and restarts:

Shutdown -s -t 03 -c "See you later!"  shutdown -r -t 03 -c "You can't get rid of me that quickly!"

You always have to turn from the CPU after running this command. (Same with AT and  ATX powered machines.) If  you want to turn down  power  of ATX  machine automatically,  run  the  following  commnd  "c:\windows\system32\tsshutdn.exe  00  / POWERDOWN / DELAY:00" This is used to turn off a server. Even though you don't have networked computers attached to your computer, this works.

"Windows XP Tips: Shutdown and Reboot in Style"

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Windows XP Tips: Disabling Drives in My Computer

To disable the display of local or networked drives when you click My Computer go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion \Policies \Explorer Now in the right pane create a new DWORD item and name it NoDrives. 

Now modify it's value and set it to 3FFFFFF (Hexadecimal). Now press F5 to refresh. When you click on My Computer, no drives will be shown. To enable display of drives in My Computer, simply delete this DWORD item. 

"Windows XP Tips: Disabling Drives in My Computer"

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Windows XP Tips: Increasing Band-Width By 20%

Microsoft  reserves  20%  of  your  available  bandwidth for  their  own  purposes  like Windows  Updates  and  interrogating  your  PC  etc.  Click  Start  then  Run  and  type "gpedit.msc" without quotes. This opens the group policy editor. 

Then go to: Local Computer Policy - Computer Configuration- Administrative Templates- Network  QOS Packet Scheduler and then to LimitReservableBandwidth. Double click on Limit Reservable bandwidth. It will say it is not configured, but the truth is under the 'Explain' tab i.e.

"By default, the Packet Scheduler limits the system to 20 percent of the bandwidth of a connection, but you can use this setting to override the default." So the trick is to ENABLE reservable bandwidth, then set it to ZERO. This will allow the system to reserve nothing, rather than the default 20%.It works on Win 2000 as well.

" Windows XP Tips: Increasing Band-Width By 20% "

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Windows XP Tips: Internet Explorer As Fast As FireFox

Open registry editor by going to Start then Run and entering regedit. Once in registry, navigateto  key  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\microsoft\Windows\  Current Version \InternetSettings. Right click on the right windows  > New > DWORD.

Type MaxConnectionsPerServer > You can set value (the more higher the no, the more good speed eg:99). Create another DWORD >type MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server.  Then put a high value as mentioned above. Restart I.E and you are done.

"Windows XP Tips: Internet Explorer As Fast As FireFox"

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Windows XP Tips: Delete INDEX.DAT "Faster Browsing"

First of all open up the command prompt. For that go Start -Run - cmd. Now press CTRL + ALT + DELETE to bring up the task manager. In the task manager, go to processes and click on explorer.exe. End the “explorer.exe” task. All the windows will be closed down. Don’t panic. You can still see the command prompt. In the command prompt type the following command exactly as it is: 

Del "C:\Documents and Settings\<your_log_in_name>\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat" 

Note <your_log_in_name> is the name that you use to log in to your windows. Some log in as “administrator” while some with another name eg: Sandeep. Whatever it is, type  that  name.  This  will  also  help  in  fixing  all  the  issues  related  to  browser performance, especially the ones that cause browser to hang frequently.

"Windows XP Tips: Delete INDEX.DAT "Faster Browsing""

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Windows XP Tips: Speed up IE Start Up

This tweak tells Internet Explorer to simply 'run', without loading any webpages. If you use a 'blank' page, that is still a page, and slows access. Notice the 'about:blank' in the address bar. The blank html page must still be loaded.

 To load IE with 'nothing' [nothing is different than blank]: 

1. Right-click on any shortcut you have to IE [You should create a shortcut out of your desktop IE icon, and delete the original icon] 

2. Click Properties 

3. Add  -nohome [with a space before the dash] after the endquotes in the Target field. 

4. Click OK

" Windows XP Tips: Speed up IE Start Up"

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Windows XP Tips: DMA Mode for CD-ROMs

Like Windows 2000, Windows XP still fails to set the DMA mode correctly for the IDE device designated as the slaves on the primary IDE and secondary IDE channels. Most CD- ROMS are capable of supporting DMA mode, but the default in XP is still PIO.

 Setting it to DMA won't make your CD-ROM faster, but it will consume less CPU cycles. Here's how: Open the Device Manager. One way to do that is to right click  on  "My  Computer",  select  the  Hardware  tab,  and  Select  Device  Manager. Expand "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" and double-click on "Primary IDE Channel".

Under the "Advanced Settings" tab, check the "Device 1" setting. More than likely, your current transfer mode is set to PIO. Set it to "DMA if available". Repeat the step for the "Secondary IDE Channel" if you have devices attached to it. Reboot. 

"Windows XP Tips: DMA Mode for CD-ROMs"

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Windows XP Tips: Cleaning Recent Docs Menu and RUN

The Recent Docs menu can be easily disabled by editing the Registry. To do this go to the  following  Key:  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\  Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer. Now in the right pane, create a new DWORD value by the name: NoRecentDocsMenu and set it's value to 1. Restart Explorer to save the changes.

You can also clear the RUN MRU history. All the listings are stored in the key:HKEY_USERS\.Default\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\  Explorer \ RunMRU. You can delete individual listings or the entire listing.

To delete History of  Find  listings  go  to:  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\  Microsoft  \  Windows
\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Doc Find Spec MRUand delete.

"Windows XP Tips: Cleaning Recent Docs Menu and RUN"

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Windows XP Tips: Disable 8.3 Name Creation in NTFS

Files  that  use  the  8.3  naming  convention  can  degrade  NTFS  drive  performance. Unless you have a good reason for keeping the 8.3 naming convention intact (such as if you’re using 16-bit programs), a performance gain can be achieved by disabling it. 

Set  the  Registry  DWORD  key  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\  SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\Control\ FileSystem\NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation to 1. Exit the Registry and reboot.

"Windows XP Tips: Disable 8.3 Name Creation in NTFS"

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