Registry Tweaks PT 4 beta update

**tain** · October 27, 2006

Your ideas are great and I think we are mostly on the same page. To me, "unattended tweaks" are ones such as these:

; don't display the Welcome Screen on first account startup
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer]
"NoWelcomeScreen"=dword:00000001

; Recognize hard drives greater than 137Gig
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Atapi\Parameters\]
"EnableBigLba"=dword:00000001

;Set information to appear above name/password fields in logon prompt
;[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]

which are useful from an administrator's perspective because they add capability or make setup/boot/login faster.

Whereas I think "Windows Tips & Tweaks" is more about custom desktop stuff like:

;Wrap Icon Titles
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics]
"IconTitleWrap"="1"

;Display High Color Icons
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics]
"Shell Icon BPP"="32"

So we basically agree on keeping one thread will do as long as people know where to look for ideas.

I am not a reg tweak authority and my thoughts on this may not line up with the rest of the reg tweaking folks. You seem to be the new champion here

I'd like to see more reg tweakers chime in with their thoughts on what changes they would like to see, if any.

**Camarade_Tux** · October 27, 2006

...I have tried to clean up the layout and add an explanation to each tweak. I did plan to split the reg tweaks into separate files for example a file containing "Log on" related tweaks and another for "Internet explorer" etc. I would be grateful if someone could finish the work and start a new thread
That is "the work" he is referring to; not necessarily publishing an exhaustive product.

Since I've already done that for my own purpose (see sig, thanks Notepad++), I may redo it in a cleaner way (I deleted some entries that didn't fit)

ATM, I have:

Associations.reg
context menu
explorer
IE
kernel
ie
logon
network
search
service
a special file to switch caps on/off with shift or CAPS LOCK
start menu
user relateds
visuals
Jein, Ja/Nein : don't really know if they are good or bad
Other softs.reg
Others
and others I have deleted cause they are bad (iopagelocklimit, alwaysunloaddll and another one have no effect on NT)

Is everybody OK with this sorting ?

Having the tweaks spread over different files let me find nearly all duplicates, if only I had noted them.

**gugutz** · October 28, 2006

I´ve made a new package of the collection.

Check out http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=85466

**k10n9** · November 18, 2006

Could anyone confirm if im doing this correctly?

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar
"LinksFolderName"=" "

I want the String Value to be blank.

**soporific** · November 22, 2006

OK, lets see if we can't clear away some deadwood... its like a battle between the myth makers and myth destroyers, choose your side now!! -- most of these discoveries come from this site: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/XPMyths.html

*****************************************************************************************

Tweak - Increase IoPageLockLimit (disk cache)

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]

"IoPageLockLimit"=dword:00020000

Myth - "Increasing the IO Page Lock Limit will lock more memory for exclusive access by the kernel, improving performance."

Reality - "Indeed, it does do this but only in an RTM Windows 2000 machine. It does absolutely nothing in Windows 2000 Service Pack 1 and up, and absolutely nothing in Windows XP. This makes it effectively useless, since no one in their right minds would be running RTM Windows 2000. The RTM kernel references IoPageLockLimit. The SP1 kernel does not. Neither do any subsequent editions of the kernel; neither does the XP kernel in any of its incarnations."

Sources - http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...amp;mode=linear, http://www.thegline.com/win2k/issues/2003/16.html

*****************************************************************************************

Tweak - Prioritize CMOS Real-Time Clock Using IRQ8

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\PriorityControl]

"IRQ8Priority"=dword:00000001

Myth - "Adjusting the Priority of IRQs especially IRQ 8 improves system performance."

Reality - "IRQs don't even HAVE a concept of "priority" in the NT family; they do have something called "IRQL" (interrupt request level) associated with them. But the interval timer interrupt is already assigned a higher IRQL than any I/O devices, second only to the inter-processor interrupt used in an MP machine. The NT family of OSes don't even use the real-time clock (IRQ 8) for time keeping in the first place! They use programmable interval timer (8254, on IRQ 0) for driving system time keeping, CPU time accounting, and so on. IRQ 8 is used for profiling, but profiling is almost never turned on except in very rare development environments. Even if it was possible it doesn't even make sense why adjusting the real-time clock priority would boost performance? The real-time clock is associated with time keeping not CPU frequency. I would not be surprised if this originated in an overclocking forum somewhere. This "tweak" can be found in most XP all-in-one tweaking applications. This is a perfect example of why they are not recommended."

Sources - http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/XPMyths.html

*****************************************************************************************

Tweak - HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\PriorityControl] "Win32PrioritySeparation"

Myth - "Setting this value to 26 gives a boost to the priority of foreground applications."

Reality - "This is already the default and optimal setting in Windows XP.

Myth - "Setting this value to 38 gives a boost to the priority of foreground applications."

Reality - "People are confusing the Hexadecimal and Decimal value settings of this Registry Key. By Default Windows XP already sets this value optimally to 26 Hexadecimal = 0x00000026 which is automatically translated to 38 Decimal = (38). This is shown as 0x00000026 (38) in this registry key. The Windows XP Registry Editor defaults to changing the Hexadecimal Value when you go to modify a Registry Key. The problems is it is commonly recommended to change this value to "38" with no mention of this being the Decimal value and instead the Hexadecimal Value is changed because it is the default. This makes the key show 0x00000038 (56). This is not one of this key's functional values and setting a bit field in Win32PrioritySeparation to values other than those shown in the table will result in the default option being selected (26 Hexadecimal). Thus this does absolutely nothing." - Source

Functional Values - source: http://blogs.msdn.com/embedded/archive/200.../04/543141.aspx

Win32PrioritySeparation ... Foreground ... Background

0x28, 0x29, 0x2A ................. 18 ..................... 18

0x18, 0x19, 0x1A ................. 36 ..................... 36

0x24 ................................... 6 ....................... 6

0x25, 0x14 ......................... 12 ....................... 6

0x26 (default) ..................... 18 ....................... 6

0x15 ................................. 24 ....................... 6

0x16 ................................. 36 ....................... 6

*****************************************************************************************

Tweak - HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\MemoryManagement] "LargeSystemCache"

Myth - "Enabling LargeSystemCache improves desktop/workstation performance."

Reality - "LargeSystemCache determines whether the system maintains a standard size or a large size file system cache, and influences how often the system writes changed pages to disk. Increasing the size of the file system cache generally improves file server performance, but it reduces the physical memory space available to applications and services. Similarly, writing system data less frequently minimizes use of the disk subsystem, but the changed pages occupy memory that might otherwise be used by applications. On workstations this increases paging and causes longer delays whenever you start a new app. Simply put enable this on a file server and disable it on everything else." - Source

"System cache mode is designed for use with Windows server products that act as servers. System cache mode is also designed for limited use with Windows XP, when you use Windows XP as a file server. This mode is not designed for everyday desktop use. When you enable System cache mode on a computer that uses Unified Memory Architecture (UMA)-based video hardware or an Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP), you may experience a severe and random decrease in performance. For example, this decrease in performance can include very slow system performance, stop errors, an inability to start the computer, devices or applications that do not load, and system instability. The drivers for these components consume a large part of the remaining application memory when they are initialized during startup. Also, in this scenario, the system may have insufficient RAM when the following conditions occur:

- Other drivers and desktop user services request additional resources.

- Desktop users transfer large files.

By default LargeSystemCache is disabled in Microsoft Windows XP." - Source

*****************************************************************************************

Tweak - [HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\MemoryManagement] "SecondLevelDataCache"

Myth - "Adjusting the SecondLevelDataCache Registry value to match your CPU's L2 Cache size improves performance."

Reality - "SecondLevelDataCache records the size of the processor cache, also known as the secondary or L2 cache. If the value of this entry is 0, the system attempts to retrieve the L2 cache size from the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) for the platform. If it fails, it uses a default L2 cache size of 256 KB. If the value of this entry is not 0, it uses this value as the L2 cache size. This entry is designed as a secondary source of cache size information for computers on which the HAL cannot detect the L2 cache. This is not related to the hardware; it is only useful for computers with direct-mapped L2 caches. Pentium II and later processors do not have direct- mapped L2 caches. SecondLevelDataCache can increase performance by approximately 2 percent in certain cases for older computers with ample memory (more than 64 MB) by scattering physical pages better in the address space so there are not so many L2 cache collisions. Setting SecondLevelDataCache to 256 KB rather than 2 MB (when the computer has a 2 MB L2 cache) would probably have about a 0.4% performance penalty." - Source - Source 2

*****************************************************************************************

**jbm** · November 22, 2006

This tweak adds a right click option to a file to

open a dos prompt in the containing folder.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\DosHere]
@="Command Prompt in containing folder"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\DosHere\Command]
@="cmd.exe /t:70 cd %~d1%~p1"

**jbm** · November 23, 2006

Found the following error

;Change the Transition Effect for Menus and Tooltips

;Fade

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]

"UserPreferencesMask"=hex:9e,3e,80

;OR

;Scroll

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]

"UserPreferencesMask"=hex:9e,28,80

should be

;Change the Transition Effect for Menus and Tooltips

;Fade

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]

"UserPreferencesMask"=hex:9e,3e,07,80

;OR

;Scroll

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]

"UserPreferencesMask"=hex:9e,28,07,80

**coucou** · December 15, 2006

Hi,

I prepared an UA WinXP and appz supporting several languages.

I use to install the appz in the required language then i check all the files one by one for Properties/Version/Language, until i found all the files concerned by that language. Then simply by replacing those "language files" i get the normal appz in the required language. This method is valid for almost all softwares, but very "laborius" to check manualy file by file.

Is there any how to add a "language" column in Windows Explorer as well as Name, Size, Type, Date, Version... columns like in Vista??

Regards

coucou

**Speeddymon** · December 16, 2006

Is there any how to add a "language" column in Windows Explorer as well as Name, Size, Type, Date, Version... columns like in Vista??

This does not pertain to this topic, however I will answer the question.

No there is no Language column that can be viewed in XP.

If you right click on one of the column headers under XP you can see what columns can be enabled and disabled. If you click more at the bottom, you can see that there is no way to add any other columns.

The reason that there is no Language column is because not every file includes language information in the file info, and even when it is included, that language information most of the time says en_US even when it is in some other language.

**coucou** · December 17, 2006

TNX Speeddymon for yr reply...

No news under the sun

Can't beleive that nobody can help with this. Is ther NO registry enabling language???

Regards

coucou

**Speeddymon** · December 18, 2006

TNX Speeddymon for yr reply...
No news under the sun
Can't beleive that nobody can help with this. Is ther NO registry enabling language???
Regards
coucou

That is exactly what I just said dude. There is NO way to enable a language column under XP. Period.

**MGadAllah** · December 21, 2006

I don't know if this has been posted before.

Customized Explorer Toolbar.

It shows more buttons on the Toolbar.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar]
"{710EB7A1-45ED-11D0-924A-0020AFC7AC4D}"=hex:07,00,00,00,ee,03,00,00,7e,69,79,1e,c5,9c,d1,11,a8,3f,00,c0,4f,c9,9d,61,20,01,00,00,04,00,00,00,
ef,03,00,00,7e,69,79,1e,c5,9c,d1,11,a8,3f,00,c0,4f,c9,9d,61,21,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,f3,03,00,00,7e,6
9,79,1e,c5,9c,d1,11,a8,3f,00,c0,4f,c9,9d,61,30,01,00,00,04,00,00,00,f6,03,00,00,7e,69,79,1e,c5,9c,d1
,11,a8,3f,00,c0,4f,c9,9d,61,23,01,00,00,04,00,00,00,ff,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,04,00,00,a1,b7,0e,71,ed,45,d0,11,92,4a,00,20,af,c7,ac,4d,19,7
0,00,00,04,00,00,00,01,04,00,00,a1,b7,0e,71,ed,45,d0,11,92,4a,00,20,af,c7,ac,4d,18,70,00,00,04,00,00
,00,03,04,00,00,a1,b7,0e,71,ed,45,d0,11,92,4a,00,20,af,c7,ac,4d,1a,70,00,00,04,00,00,00,ff,ff,ff,ff,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,ff,03,00,00,a1,b7,0e,71,ed,4
5,d0,11,92,4a,00,20,af,c7,ac,4d,1b,70,00,00,04,00,00,00,fe,03,00,00,a1,b7,0e,71,ed,45,d0,11,92,4a,00
,20,af,c7,ac,4d,11,70,00,00,04,00,00,00,ff,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,fb,03,00,00,a1,b7,0e,71,ed,45,d0,11,92,4a,00,20,af,c7,ac,4d,31,70,00,00,04,0
0,00,00,00,04,00,00,a1,b7,0e,71,ed,45,d0,11,92,4a,00,20,af,c7,ac,4d,13,70,00,00,04,00,00,00,

can you post any screen shot?

Because I've integrated it but did not realized any change so what is the change I should look at?

Thanks

**RaGhul** · December 23, 2006

Hi, guys.

New to the forum, here. But I've been floating around Ryan's forum's for a few months now.

I use both Integrator and nLite.

Can I apply this patch with nLite? Integrator? Does it matter?

Should I apply this after all others, or doesn't matter?

(PLZ forgive the 'noob' factor...)

**Sgt_Strider** · December 24, 2006

OK, lets see if we can't clear away some deadwood... its like a battle between the myth makers and myth destroyers, choose your side now!! -- most of these discoveries come from this site: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/XPMyths.html
*****************************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************************
Tweak - Increase IoPageLockLimit (disk cache)
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]
"IoPageLockLimit"=dword:00020000
Myth - "Increasing the IO Page Lock Limit will lock more memory for exclusive access by the kernel, improving performance."
Reality - "Indeed, it does do this but only in an RTM Windows 2000 machine. It does absolutely nothing in Windows 2000 Service Pack 1 and up, and absolutely nothing in Windows XP. This makes it effectively useless, since no one in their right minds would be running RTM Windows 2000. The RTM kernel references IoPageLockLimit. The SP1 kernel does not. Neither do any subsequent editions of the kernel; neither does the XP kernel in any of its incarnations."
Sources - http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...amp;mode=linear, http://www.thegline.com/win2k/issues/2003/16.html
*****************************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************************
Tweak - Prioritize CMOS Real-Time Clock Using IRQ8
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\PriorityControl]
"IRQ8Priority"=dword:00000001
Myth - "Adjusting the Priority of IRQs especially IRQ 8 improves system performance."
Reality - "IRQs don't even HAVE a concept of "priority" in the NT family; they do have something called "IRQL" (interrupt request level) associated with them. But the interval timer interrupt is already assigned a higher IRQL than any I/O devices, second only to the inter-processor interrupt used in an MP machine. The NT family of OSes don't even use the real-time clock (IRQ 8) for time keeping in the first place! They use programmable interval timer (8254, on IRQ 0) for driving system time keeping, CPU time accounting, and so on. IRQ 8 is used for profiling, but profiling is almost never turned on except in very rare development environments. Even if it was possible it doesn't even make sense why adjusting the real-time clock priority would boost performance? The real-time clock is associated with time keeping not CPU frequency. I would not be surprised if this originated in an overclocking forum somewhere. This "tweak" can be found in most XP all-in-one tweaking applications. This is a perfect example of why they are not recommended."
Sources - http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/XPMyths.html
*****************************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************************
Tweak - HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\PriorityControl] "Win32PrioritySeparation"
Myth - "Setting this value to 26 gives a boost to the priority of foreground applications."
Reality - "This is already the default and optimal setting in Windows XP.
Myth - "Setting this value to 38 gives a boost to the priority of foreground applications."
Reality - "People are confusing the Hexadecimal and Decimal value settings of this Registry Key. By Default Windows XP already sets this value optimally to 26 Hexadecimal = 0x00000026 which is automatically translated to 38 Decimal = (38). This is shown as 0x00000026 (38) in this registry key. The Windows XP Registry Editor defaults to changing the Hexadecimal Value when you go to modify a Registry Key. The problems is it is commonly recommended to change this value to "38" with no mention of this being the Decimal value and instead the Hexadecimal Value is changed because it is the default. This makes the key show 0x00000038 (56). This is not one of this key's functional values and setting a bit field in Win32PrioritySeparation to values other than those shown in the table will result in the default option being selected (26 Hexadecimal). Thus this does absolutely nothing." - Source
Functional Values - source: http://blogs.msdn.com/embedded/archive/200.../04/543141.aspx
Win32PrioritySeparation ... Foreground ... Background
0x28, 0x29, 0x2A ................. 18 ..................... 18
0x18, 0x19, 0x1A ................. 36 ..................... 36
0x24 ................................... 6 ....................... 6
0x25, 0x14 ......................... 12 ....................... 6
0x26 (default) ..................... 18 ....................... 6
0x15 ................................. 24 ....................... 6
0x16 ................................. 36 ....................... 6
*****************************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************************
Tweak - HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\MemoryManagement] "LargeSystemCache"
Myth - "Enabling LargeSystemCache improves desktop/workstation performance."
Reality - "LargeSystemCache determines whether the system maintains a standard size or a large size file system cache, and influences how often the system writes changed pages to disk. Increasing the size of the file system cache generally improves file server performance, but it reduces the physical memory space available to applications and services. Similarly, writing system data less frequently minimizes use of the disk subsystem, but the changed pages occupy memory that might otherwise be used by applications. On workstations this increases paging and causes longer delays whenever you start a new app. Simply put enable this on a file server and disable it on everything else." - Source
"System cache mode is designed for use with Windows server products that act as servers. System cache mode is also designed for limited use with Windows XP, when you use Windows XP as a file server. This mode is not designed for everyday desktop use. When you enable System cache mode on a computer that uses Unified Memory Architecture (UMA)-based video hardware or an Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP), you may experience a severe and random decrease in performance. For example, this decrease in performance can include very slow system performance, stop errors, an inability to start the computer, devices or applications that do not load, and system instability. The drivers for these components consume a large part of the remaining application memory when they are initialized during startup. Also, in this scenario, the system may have insufficient RAM when the following conditions occur:
- Other drivers and desktop user services request additional resources.
- Desktop users transfer large files.
By default LargeSystemCache is disabled in Microsoft Windows XP." - Source
*****************************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************************
Tweak - [HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\MemoryManagement] "SecondLevelDataCache"
Myth - "Adjusting the SecondLevelDataCache Registry value to match your CPU's L2 Cache size improves performance."
Reality - "SecondLevelDataCache records the size of the processor cache, also known as the secondary or L2 cache. If the value of this entry is 0, the system attempts to retrieve the L2 cache size from the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) for the platform. If it fails, it uses a default L2 cache size of 256 KB. If the value of this entry is not 0, it uses this value as the L2 cache size. This entry is designed as a secondary source of cache size information for computers on which the HAL cannot detect the L2 cache. This is not related to the hardware; it is only useful for computers with direct-mapped L2 caches. Pentium II and later processors do not have direct- mapped L2 caches. SecondLevelDataCache can increase performance by approximately 2 percent in certain cases for older computers with ample memory (more than 64 MB) by scattering physical pages better in the address space so there are not so many L2 cache collisions. Setting SecondLevelDataCache to 256 KB rather than 2 MB (when the computer has a 2 MB L2 cache) would probably have about a 0.4% performance penalty." - Source - Source 2
*****************************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************************

Thanks for the information. Are there any other registry tweaks that are myths and should be removed?

**Camarade_Tux** · December 26, 2006

I just found some errors in the file.

; Programs: Set Notepad as default HTML viewer

;[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Default HTML Editor]
;"Description"="Notepad"

;[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Default HTML Editor\shell\edit]
;"@"="&Edit"

;[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Default HTML Editor\shell\edit\command]
;"@"="C:\\WINDOWS\\notepad.exe %1"

There should be no hyphen around the @ character:

; Programs: Set Notepad as default HTML viewer

;[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Default HTML Editor]
;"Description"="Notepad"

;[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Default HTML Editor\shell\edit]
;@="&Edit"

;[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Default HTML Editor\shell\edit\command]
;@="C:\\WINDOWS\\notepad.exe %1"

@= sets the "default value".

"@"= creates a new key.

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