11 Most Useful XP Tips and Tricks

Even after the launch of Windows Vista,  Windows XP is still very popular Operating System worldwide. There are probably hundreds of tips and tricks for Windows XP but most of them have nothing to do with a common user. So I have listed 11 tips which can prove to be extremely beneficial for users.

1. Block any website you want, without any software

A website can be easily blocked without using any software. Just follow these steps

a). Browse C:Windowssystem32driversetc

b). Find and open the file named “hosts” in notepad

c). There you will see a line “127.0.0.1       localhost”

d). Just under this line add “127.0.0.2       www.sitenameuwanttoblock.com” , without quotes.

Save the changes and the mentioned site will no longer be accessible.

2. Automatically optimize your hard disk

We generally use windows defragmenter to optimize our hard drives but with a little change in registry settings, windows will automatically optimize the location of files in your hard drive when the pc is idle. Here’s the trick

a) Go to start and open run, type regedit and enter  to open registry settings.

b) When regedit is opened browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersion OptimalLayout

c) There you will find a string called EnableAutoLayout, change its data value to 1. If the string is not present the create it and set its data value to 1.

Now exit regedit and reboot your PC and its done.

3. Force “Not Responding” programs to shutdown automatically

Sometimes when we try to shutdown our PC a message is displayed saying that it cant because        some program is not responding and then we have to manually click on the end now button to close it. But here’s a little registry trick which will automatically close the Not Responding programs

a). Go to start and open run, type regedit and enter  to open registry settings.

b).When regedit is opened browse to HKEY_USERS.DEFAULTControl PanelDesktop and select Desktop

c). There you will find the string called EnableAutoLayout, right-click it select modify from the pop-up menu and change the data value from 0 to 1. If there is no key of such name then create it by selecting Edit > New > String Value and set the data value to 1.

Now exit regedit and reboot your PC and its done.

4. Disable “Send error report to Microsoft” message

This message is displayed every time after any program ends in an unusual way. Most of us find this message very annoying especially those people who don’t have Internet connections. Here’s a method to get rid of this problem.

a) Open control panel, click on system( in classic view ) or open control panel and choose performance and maintenance and then click system( in category view) or just right click on my computer and click on properties.

b) Then choose “Advanced tab” and click on “error reporting button” on the bottom of the window

c) Select disable error reporting and click ok.

5. Prevent all opened folders from closing when one of them crashes

If you have opened many folders together in xp, and one of them stops responding then all folders will also close with it. This is very irritating for users. Here’s a solution to the problem

a) Open control panel and choose folder options.

b) Click on view tab and scroll down until you find the option “Launch folder windows in  a separate process”. Now place a tick next to it and click OK.

This will solve your problem.

6. Access your folders from taskbar

Accessing folders from taskbar saves a lot of time as we don’t have to open the windows explorer window and browse to the required folder through along path.

a). Right click an empty spot on your taskbar between start button and system tray.

b) Click Toolbars and then choose the “New Toolbar” option from it.

c) Then a small window will open which allows you to choose the folder that you wish to make a toolbar.

7. Save main memory of your pc

Saving main memory will definitely speed up your PC to some extent. When you run any application on your PC,  xp stores files known as DLLs in memory and even if you close the program, xp will leave it there for later use which slows down your PC. Here’s a registry fix for this problem

a). Go to start and open run, type regedit and enter  to open registry settings.

b).When regedit is opened browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrent Version.

c). Select the explorer folder.

d). Now click Edit->New->DWORD value and name it AlwaysUnloadDll, press enter.

e).Now double click it and assign it a value of 1.

Exit regedit and reboot.

8. Speed up opening start menu

a). Go to start and open run, type regedit and enter  to open registry settings.

b). When regedit is opened browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop and select Desktop.

c). Now find the key MenuShowDelay, change its value to 150 whose earlier value would most probably be 400.

Exit regedit and reboot.

9. Change the default location of My Documents

Many people have a habit of dropping items into My Documents from the desktop. But when they re-install windows they generally forget to copy data from My Documents and as a result they loose all the data. Here’s a simple way to change My Documents default location.

a). Right click on my documents and click on properties.

b). Click on move and a dialog box will open which will ask for the new destination of My Documents.

Choose the new destination and click OK.

10. Make your drives invisible

Well this one can be used as a prank on your friends’ PC. With this trick you will be able to disable the display of drives when you click on my computer.

a). Go to start and open run, type regedit and enter  to open registry settings.

b). When regedit is opened browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesExplorer select explorer.

c).Now click Edit->New->DWORD value and name it as NoDrives and press enter.

d).Now double click it and enter the decimal number corresponding to the drive(s) you want to hide as listed in the table below, but don’t forget to choose decimal value after double clicking NoDrives.

Drive Number to hide
A: 1
B: 2
C: 4
D: 8
E: 16
F: 32
G: 64
H: 128
I: 256
J: 512
K: 1024
L: 2048
M: 4096
N: 8192
O: 16384
P: 32768
Q: 65536
R: 131072
S: 262144
T: 524288
U: 1048576
V: 2097152
W: 4194304
X: 8388608
Y: 16777216
Z: 33554432
All drives 67108863

If you want to hide more than one drive than simply add the decimal values of both. For example if you want to hide c drive and drive then add 4 and 8 i.e. you will have to  enter 12. You will have to reboot your pc to see the changes. To show the drive again simply delete NoDrives.

11. Sort Start Menu alphabetically

This tweak will help you to find your programs easily in start menu as they will be sorted by name. It is extremely useful for the users who have lots and lots of programs installed.

a). Go to start and open run, type regedit and enter  to open registry settings.

b). When regedit is opened browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerMenuOrder select MenuOrder

c). Delete the MenuOrder key, and close the Registry Editor.

Now all the folders in the start menu will be sorted.

I hope these tricks will help you make your windows system more easy to use and less annoying than before. If you know of any more tips and tricks like this which others may find useful, do discuss them in comments below.

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