What changes do YOU make to every Windows?

[maniacOTaku]

Hi, I just wanted to know what changes you make to a generic Windows Installation.

I don't mean installing DirectX, drivers and progs or whatsoever only changes one would make to System files.

I'll start with a few examples:

*MSconfig.sys: Deactivate everything, but ScanRegistry and LoadPowerProfile.

*MSDOS.sys: Logo=0

*Win386.swp: Set Max and Min to the amount of 3 x Installed RAM in MB.

(Right click My Computer / Properties / Performance tab / Virtual Memory)

* Deactivating Auto Insert Notification

(My Computer / Properties / Device Manager / CD-ROM, choose the drive, click Properties, then the Settings tab, and remove the checkmark from Auto Insert Notification.)

* Win.ini: Load= Run= (meaning blank after "=")

* Autoexec.bat and Config.sys: Rename them, if you don't encounter any problems you can safely delete them.

* Reduce the color depth: by right clicking the Desktop / Properties / Settings. "High Color (16 bit)"

I think that's about it.

Please don't post any of those convenience tips (like "one-click-shutdown" and so on).

c u

[glocK_94]

Hi man.

Reduce to 16bits and delete autoexec? No way for me (I need good graphics and azerty keyboard support)! What I do:

Delete the "Applog" folder and "common files" folder (empty since the french "fichiers communs" is used instead)

Turn off those useless "Schedule tasks".

Use a small start menu.

I probably forget a lot of things...

[BenoitRen]

Not much. An IE-free Windows 95 install is as good as crap-free and I'm not really into tweaking system files and internal stuff. However, recently I found and used some good stuff thanks to MDGx and Nathan Lineback:

MSDOS.SYS: BootDelay=0 (default in Win98, in Win95 the default is 2)

Registry: MenuShowDelay -1

I have always been clicking submenus to open them, so doing this made sense, and stops other submenus from opening out of the blue.

Registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\desktop\WindowMetrics

Create Shell Icon BPP string, set to value 16. Now you have 256-colour icons in Windows 95 without the Plus! Pack!

[ZaPbUzZ]

I have done a lot of things.

I have packed in 1.300 files into win98se from winme, replaced the win98se shell with win95b therefore removing all ie integration, I have killed it with the so called me2xp utility even though i used all instructions and yeah it wucked up the media player.

oh i also used 98 sp1.

basically its still not as good as winme.

i have done the above to winme wucked up mp9, shell swap, removed system restore ive also put qemm97 on it and for windows both os's page to disk so much less but winme still has better memory management no matter what i pack into 98se it still has less tcp connections etc.

win98se is so fast on my p4 and ive used advanced config on firefox to obtain up to 50 connections to the web at once and omg it makes anything else suck eggs.

Seriously don't try the utility me2xp it is crqap and will kill mp9. period.

Edited February 2, 2007 by ZaPbUzZ

[Fredledingue]

I'v done much of what you did ManiacOtaku, except deleting Autoexec.bat and the color depth (why do you do that if you have good graphics?).

+replaced Notepad by an alternative one (Metapad) (I did so long before uSP2.1 included metapad)

+replaced Calc by another one (finaly wrote one myslef)

+replaced Explorer by Xplorer2 (well not realy replaced, but notusing it anymore)

+deleted all Netscape and AOL references in registry and files (quite a big work if you ask me)

+Added Eppie

+Created and Added BigOpenBox (see my site on my sig)

+Added Maxthon (I know the new religion tells you to install Firefox, but I like maxthon even if ituses the IE core)

+Mounted up a virtual ramd disk for all the temp files, Caches and stuffs that I don't need on the long term

+Left only the "Show desktop" shortcut in Quick Launch (very useful)

and maybe other things I forgot...

[BenoitRen]

I know the new religion tells you to install Firefox, but I like maxthon even if ituses the IE core

Religion? Yeah, there are a lot of Firefox advocates, but here is the core idea: any browser but IE-based ones. Why? Insecure, and has bad support for web standards, even promoting the use of non-standard ones (what do you think those coloured scroll bars and ActiveX are?). When you use IE, you're holding the web back and causing a lot of grief to web developers who have to keep their sites compatible with IE because of its browser user share.

I'm sorry for this off-topic post, but I can't stand this kind of ignorance/undeserved bashing.

Edited February 4, 2007 by BenoitRen

[Atmosphere XG]

This is the only thing that I make it my business to do

MSCONFIG -> Startup -> Uncheck everything except Load Power Profile.

[Fredledingue]

I know the new religion tells you to install Firefox, but I like maxthon even if ituses the IE core

Religion? Yeah, there are a lot of Firefox advocates, but here is the core idea: any browser but IE-based ones. Why? Insecure, and has bad support for web standards, even promoting the use of non-standard ones (what do you think those coloured scroll bars and ActiveX are?). When you use IE, you're holding the web back and causing a lot of grief to web developers who have to keep their sites compatible with IE because of its browser user share.

I'm sorry for this off-topic post, but I can't stand this kind of ignorance/undeserved bashing.

I'm not bashing Firefox.

I'm just saying that I feel good with Maxthon (which is safer than plain IE). Displays well so far.

[BenoitRen]

Yes, safer. But not as safe as a real browser, Maxthon is just a shell.

Of course it displays well, IE is still the dominant web browser, so everyone has to make their sites compatible with it, which leads to a lot of headaches. Please be respectful and switch to a browser that doesn't use the IE engine.

Look at http://www.seamonkey.be/ (which I didn't bother to get to display fine in IE6), and tell me if it displays well. It won't.

[Drugwash]

First thing I do is move the taskbar at the top of the screen and auto-hide it.

One of the first things I do on a fresh install is disable Recycle Bin and remove it from the desktop. Then I replace the My Computer icon with a blank one and rename the shortcut to a blank non-printable character (ALT+0160).

I set my Logitech mouse's middle button to double-click, install TweakUI 1.33, Mike Lin's StartupCPL 2.8 and CodeStuff Starter and disable unnedeed startup items, optical drives' autorun and other available tweaks.

I also add the following lines to autoexec.bat (can't disable it, it's needed for regional and keyboard locale):

@deltree /y c:\windows\cookies

@deltree /y c:\windows\history

@deltree /y c:\windows\tempor~1

@deltree /y c:\windows\temp

@md c:\windows\temp

There are other registry tweaks I perform, such as maximize icon cache, HDD read-ahead cache, CD-ROM cache, disable Low Disk Space warning and so on.

[BenoitRen]

Then I replace the My Computer icon with a blank one and rename the shortcut to a blank non-printable character (ALT+0160).

Why would you want to do that?

disable Low Disk Space warning

Heh, I thought that was a new feature of WinXP.

[Drugwash]

Why would you want to do that?

Because I don't use it, and it's ugly. Usually I have no icons on my desktop whatsoever, although sometimes I create some text file to paste temporary info.

Heh, I thought that [disable Low Disk Space warning] was a new feature of WinXP.

It may be, but I'm talking about Win98SE here. There's no way XP would ever make it on my machine.

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem]
"DisableLowDiskSpaceBroadcast"=dword:03ffffff

Oh and my browser is SlimBrowser, an IE front-end. Has been for about 5 years, IIRC, and will be as long as I use Windows. It's my choice, whatever others may say.

Edited February 8, 2007 by Drugwash

[BenoitRen]

Using the IE engine is like raping the Internet (and indirectly, its developers).

[maniacOTaku]

Hey-ho.

thx for the comments.

plz don't start one of these "which browser is the best"-threads. it's annoying and absolutely off-topic.

@ drugwash

right-click your desktop. properties -> effects "hide symbols when displaying as a website" has the same effect.

when I started this thread I meant something like

"There are other registry tweaks I perform, such as maximize icon cache, HDD read-ahead cache, CD-ROM cache, disable Low Disk Space warning and so on."

plz state exactly what you mean and how it is done. thx

[Drugwash]

Well, the above-mentioned tricks are known around and can be found on MDGx' site. There's quite a bunch of them, just pick the ones you need. Do you really want me to post them here?

What were you reffering to, regarding the "hide symbols when..." ? I never use Active Desktop or View desktop as a web page and AFAIK removing My Computer icon from the normal desktop may lead to unpredictable results.

Edited February 11, 2007 by Drugwash