XP Tweak Time - 1

Teaching Windows XP to sing your tune.

There is an ancient legend about Windows 95 and Steve Ballmer, head honcho at Microsoft. It is said that before the OS was launched, he decided to beta-check it out on his mum. And it is alleged that she went through the drag-drop-click-shick routine with a hitch. However, when she had had enough and wanted to end the 95 session, Mama Ballmer just couldn't figure out how. So she asked her son. The peeved Steve told her to use the Start button. Quizzed his puzzled mother, "You go to the Start to stop this thing?"

Eleven path breaking, life-altering years and several upgraded avatars later, it's still the same story: We use Start to stop the OS. While we may not be able change that, here are some things in Windows XP which we can. Hope you recall my previous warnings about the consequences of tampering with your OS. And my life insurance policy from your firearms, fisticuffs and flamethowers. Same holds true this time too maibaap! So please backup (and pray) before proceeding.

See what lies beneath
XP like to conceal some system programs and components. To make it disclose everything, using Notepad find and open a text file called "sysoc.inf". You will find it nesting in "inf" folder of the Windows directory. Search for the word 'hide' and delete it. Then via Control Panel, go to Add or Remove Programs. Here, select Add/Remove Windows Components remove whatever Windows component you don't want. CAREFUL!

Dump the Temp load
IE 6 graciously deletes temporary Internet files. But only if you tell it to--and that's tad tedious. Wanna automate? Follow me. Launch IE. Choose Tools and then Internet Options. Next click on the Advanced tab. Scroll down to Security section. Here, check the box next to "Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed". That's it.

Let Zipped files lie
This is for those with older clunky PCs. All Zip files in XP are treated like folders. This can be agonising on slow PCs. You can force XP to ignore Zip files by typing 'regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll' at the command line (Start* Programs * Accessories * Command Prompt). And whenever you wish to reverse the process, just type 'regsvr32 zipfldr.dll' at the command line.

Lock your PC with a double-click
Right click on your desktop and create a new shortcut. In the location field enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation'. Name the short whatever you want. Now whenever you want your comp locked, just double click to activate. Another shortcut: Windows key + L.

Use ClearType
Notebookwalas and myopics like me, heed this. XP can deploy ClearType, Microsoft's special anti-aliasing font display technology to help you see onscreen text more clearly. Right click on your desktop. Choose Properties * Appearance * Effects. Then select ClearType from the lower drop-down menu and enable the selection.

Lots aur gum bhi hai XP kae zamane mein… which we want to fix. So stick around for more XP tweaking and tuning next week.