Share your Tweaking Tips here

[Raaabo]

Let's see how you guys out there tweak your hardware / software to get the max out of your systems...


Anything goes, from overclocking to even taking the babies way out and installing TweakXP...

Let us know about it...

[ujjwal]

The fun of playing games comes only when you have to tweak them to make them run. Then you can enjoy, even if you lose.

[super_ferrari]

Special thanks to Deejay(news poster--> www.tech-arena.com)

A huge collection of WinXP tweaks. Enjoy!
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp.htm

Regards,

[ice]

Yeah...cource..

umm search for this post where ive posted losta tweaks.. it was between me and mariner.

[ice]

http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/view...hp?p=8525#8525

[Raaabo]

That's it? Nothing special and weird...

[it_waaznt_me]

Hmmm.... I was searching for my Services related post and Ice helped me find it .. This forum's search system sucks ...
Raabo you should convert this forum to vBulletin ..

[Raaabo]

Ok, post what you think is the best way to tweak your computer/internet connection/games and the best tweak gets your name in digit

maybe that will bring a better response

[blade_runner]

TCP optimizer from www.speedguide.net does the trick for my connection.

For my gaming tweaks i am using Nvhardpage from here

also have overclocked my Geforce 4 MX440 for performance gain !
core @ 250 Mhz overclocked @ 275 Mhz
memory @ 333 Mhz overclocked @ 378 Mhz

Hope this helps !!

[it_waaznt_me]

Ok .. Here I go ..

Blocking Unwanted Content From the Net

This can be done by editing a file called Hosts used by MS TCP/Ip for locating IP addresses for typed urls ..
What happens is Windows keeps tracks of IP address of sites visited by you in this file so it wont have to query the DNS service every time you open the website .. When you put an address in the address bar the address is first resolved to an IP address .. So Window keeps this file to list known IP addresses . ..
What we will do is to put a 127.0.0.1 for each site you wanna block .. like common ad servers and spysites .. When request to this site is found Windows will search for their entry in the Hosts file and it will found this (127.0.0.1) address and it will try to connect this site which is your Localhost address .. So it wont find the ad images and ad popups and the like .. Your computer will then give up calling the ad server and no ads will be loaded, nor will any tracking take place. Your choices for blocking sites are not just limited to blocking ad servers. You may block sites that serve advertisements, sites that serve objectionable content, or any other site that you choose to block...

This HOSTS file is located here:

Windows 95/98/Me c:\windows\
Windows XP c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\
Windows NT/2000/ c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\

This Hosts file doesnt have any extension .. You may find Hosts.sam in Win 98 but it is only a dummy file ... You should save the Hosts file corresponding to ur Operating System ...

So a small example Hosts file :

# localhost: Needs to stay like this to work
127.0.0.1   localhost

127.0.0.1 123banners.com
127.0.0.1 ad.adsmart.net
127.0.0.1 ad.ca.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.de.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.es.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.fr.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.free6.com
127.0.0.1 ad.it.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.iwin.com
127.0.0.1 ad.jp.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.kr.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.linkexchange.com
127.0.0.1 ad.linksynergy.com
# and so on ...

The # sign denotes a comment ..

You can find a sample Hosts file here ..
(The file contains many entries I found at www.mvps.org)

PS .. When ad image is blocked a red cross box is visible (page not found messages) .. There is a program called eDexter availible to replace the error message with transparent image ..

And yes .. I have read that putting 0.0.0.0 instead of 127.0.0.1 also works but it creates problem with proxy servers thats why I am not suggesting it ..

[Raaabo]

Finally some cool tips...

[club_pranay]

Thanx Raaabo for this "sticky"

This might not be a tip, but if U R not connected & not using CD or floppy, disable Antivirus to gain app launching speed

For dial-up users, download Tz Connection booster, best one I have seen

To change the name of Application installed in ADD\remove Applet simply

1) Go to HKEY Local Machine -> Microsoft -> Windows -> Current Version -> Uninstall

2) look at the rite side pane for each key, look for the string, Display Name & change it to whatever U want

2) To change the icon, a 16x16 only, enter the string, Display Icon & enter the path for the icon

These are only aplicable for Windows 2000/XP

[icecoolz]

found this extremely useful as I use the command prompt a lot in Windows:

The following registry entry will add one more menu option when you right click on folder to open up a command prompt :

Put the following in notepad or something:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd]
@="Open Command Window Here"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd\command]
@="cmd.exe /k \"cd %L\""

save it as a .reg file somewhere. Now double click on it and import the contents into the windows registry and voila! Goto windows explorer right click on any folder and u will have "open command window here" in the option!

[ujjwal]

Nice to see this thread revived.

If windows detects 32 MB (?) or more RAM on your system, it automatically enables a feature called browse new process for internet explorer windows, such that each IE window is opened under a seperate process. However, on some systems this may be a slow down particularly with multiple windows as more space in the memory would be occupied by each. It's useful on systems with 64MB or less RAM to disable this. Go to start>run>regedit and browse to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer\BrowseNewProcess]
and create a string value (or modify the old one) called BrowseNewProcess and give it a value of Yes or No and restart windows. Note this will mean if one instance of explorer crashes all others are affected.

[ujjwal]

Linux: Enabling DMA with the hdparm utility

Most distro's come with the hdparm util, so you dont need to recompile the kernel to enable DMA. Use this command

hdparm -d1 /dev/hda

where hda is your hard drive

A good idea to check what settings are being used before

type hdparm /dev/hda

And hdparm -Tt /dev/hda to test performance

[prakashaka]

hey nice trics u guis...

is there any trics to boost up dial up modems speed?

pleeeeeez

[ujjwal]

Optimising registry (win9x i think)

Restart in DOS mode and run scanreg /opt

[koolbluez]

X-Setup Pro is a so-called "tweaker" program; it allows you to change settings that are normally hidden deeply in Windows fast and easily.

X-Setup Pro knows more than 1,700 of these settings and displays them in an easy to use interface, grouped by several aspects.

The best thing is that it's free.

Get it @ http://www.x-setup.net/downloads/home.asp?lang=EN

[Ashis]

Small Trick !!!

1) U Guys must be using the Up arrow key in the windows explorer ToolBar (To Move to the parient Directory). Now try Clicking It With Ur Ctrl Key Pressed (U get the parient Directory In a new Window)


Wanna More.... Later!
If U Knew it.. Spread It, If U Don't.. nJoy !!!

[suhas_sm]

Xp users simply use tweak xp
earlier i used to do all those manually not anymore after using tweak xp pro

[[flAsh]]

use coolbits to hack advanced settings of nVidia GFX card and used the nForce3 favour for nVidia cards. Rise in performance till 3% (of course in games)

[anusoni]

Originally Posted by [flAsh

]use coolbits to hack advanced settings of nVidia GFX card and used the nForce3 favour for nVidia cards. Rise in performance till 3% (of course in games)

are you talking about the registry tweak ?
Anyway well there is a registry tweak for this ...i read this somewhere ...i did not discover it...
anyway
-->
1) goto HKLM(Local Machine)\Software\Nvidia Corporation\Global\NVTweak
2) make a new DWORD value called "Coolbits" and set its value to 3.

And Wallah you have a new tab in your advanced graphics card properties wid clock frequencies and memory frquencies ....overclock all you want

Note this worked for me with the latest nvidia's driver ...might not work with other customized drivers..

-->
Okay another Xp/2000 trick...not basically a tweak...if anyone thinks that his/her system files integrity has been compromised, you can run the system file checker utility to check system file integrity and restore any damaged system files...
here is how it goes

Type SFC /scannow at the run prompt(start-> run) or the command prompt. make sure u have the setup disk handy !

-->
okay this one relates to networking and is actually an option in XP but i was not aware of it , until i started preparing to take my MCSE exam...anyway
when we share a folder, we dont have much control over permissions(assuming a workgroup environment in network), to get some more control, in explorer, goto tools, folder options, click the view tab and in the advanced settings box, scroll right to the bottom ...there is an option that says .."use simple file sharing", well it is normally checked, when u disable it, click okays to get out of dialog boxes and check the sharing tab...u'll see manyyy more advanced options including permissions etc etc....try it out if u havent already done so.

-->
I searched a lot for the registry trick for this ..but could not find it, there is a utlity called MPTweak or media player tweak ...a powertoy by ms...well an option which makes the full screen controls only appear when the mouse pointer is at the top or bottom of the screen, not everytime the mouse pointer moves(a big irritant)...also has various options like
1)time out when until controls are hidden
2) time out until mouse pointer is hidden
3) transition style
4) transition speed
its basically a skin in Media player which somehow when changed to displays all these options...
available free from MS get it here
http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...oy_TweakMP.EXE
basically for WMP9 but also works with WMP10

[ShekharPalash]

Here's how to launch any program directly from Start>Run

Go here in registry

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\App Paths

Now create a new key of program you want to launch, for example Winamp.exe

Now in its Default String Value paste the path

C:\Program Files\Winamp\Winamp.exe

Done!

Now you can lauch progs like Winamp who's entries are not addred to run directly by Run command during installation...

Most of Windows Installer applications are by default written to launch directly from Run C\command but progs which comes with NSIS, Inno, Old version of WISE... don't write their entries to lauch directly from Run command...

So by the above tewak you can add an entry for your favorite program and launch it directly from Run command...

enjoy.

[s4saurabh]

Check my new site of forums for tweaks
www.s4saurabh.hollosite.com

[cheetah]

Just visit http://www.mdgx.com

Its the biggest tweaks site ever made.

All the tweaks available for download in a single zip.
To download the zip you can visit my site www.cheetahonline.tk

[Gaurav]

thought that this will be help for those using opera 7 (found it on the opera's website.
What's this about?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Using Opera 7.x one is able to customize the rightclick menus. That in
mind it's possible to add a menu item for "Download using FlashGet".
First you need to know, that every kind of menu entry in Opera is
saved as plaintext in standard_menu.ini in the Opera defaults folder
(normally C:\Program Files\Opera7\defaults). So, we need to modify this
file in order to add our FlashGet menu extension.



Requirements
~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Opera 7.0 or above
- FlashGet 1.60 or above



Here we go!
~~~~~~~~~~~
1) Get the folder where Opera is installed. See the registry at

[HKLM\SOFTWARE\Netscape\Netscape Navigator\5.0, Opera\Main]
"Install Directory"="C:\\Program Files\\Opera7"

From here on I will use %opera% instead of the whole path we got
from the registry since we need to save this info into a variable
to use it in our program.

ATTENTION! Be sure to not use this variable in any files we modify!
Always use the whole path we got from the registry. Otherwise it
will mess up your Opera installation!


2) Goto this folder and copy

%opera%\defaults\standard_menu.ini

to

%opera%\profile\menu\standard_menu.ini


3) Open this file with a text editor and change the following:

- change the name (line 7) into "Opera Standard with FlashGet extension"
- search for the categories

"[Link Popup Menu]" and "[Image Link Popup Menu]"

and add the following line to both categories:

Item, "Download using FlashGet" = Execute program, "C:\Program Files\FlashGet\flashget.exe","%l"

That is a lowercase L after the last %

- save the file and start Opera


4) Goto "File/Preferences/Toolbars and Menus". In newer versions
it's called "Extra's/Preferences/Toolbars and Menus" and highlight
the new entry "Opera Standard with FlashGet extension" in the field
"Menu setup"


5) Press "OK" and that's it! Now you can download link-targets (both
text- AND image-links) by right-clicking on a link and choose
"Download using FlashGet".



Hint:
~~~~~
You can skip 4) and 5) if you add the following line into section [User Prefs]
of the file %opera%\profile\opera6.ini

Menu Configuration=%opera%\profile\menu\standard_menu.i ni

This can easily be done using Nullsoft's NSIS Installer 2.0.
Get it from www.nullsoft.com



Legal
~~~~~
This tutorial has been written by ACiD StOUt from DJS Productions Inc.
Copyright 2004 DJS Productions Inc.
www.acidstout.tk
All rights reserved.

[Thilak]

Hai ,

Do it and save ur time ,

Fast Shutdown and/or Restart From Quick Launch Buttons
------------------------------------------------------------
This tip will enable you to create buttons in your quick launch toolbar to quickly and easily shut down and/or restart your computer.

1. Right click on your desktop, scroll to new..... shortcut
2. In the location line, for shutdown type; shutdown -s -t 0 ie: shutdown(space)-s(space)-t(space)number zero
3. Name the shortcut "Shut Down PC" or whatever u want
4. The new shortcut is now sitting on your desktop, right click on it and go to properties, then click on "change icon". Click OK, then pick a suitable icon, there is a red "off button" icon available, then click apply and ok.
5. Now drag the icon from your desktop into the quick launch toolbar, resize the toolbar so all the buttons are visible, then delete the shortcut from your desktop.

To create a restart button the location line should read shutdown -r -t 0 name it restart pc and give it a suitable icon for restart.

Now you can shut down or restart your pc in 1 mouse click without having to go through the startup menu.
THILAK

[vcrl82]

WINner Tweak SE-2

WINner Tweak is a tools suite for tweaking, optimizing and tuning of Windows 2000/XP. It helps you increase performance and manage your system using various tweaks and utilities for settings including Windows, Hardware, Security, Network and Software. In addition to the tweaks, the program also offers several additional tools (Power Utilities) that include a Disk Cleaner, Registry Cleaner, Shortcut Cleaner, Uninstall manager, File Shredder, Start-up Manager, Popup Blocker, Password Generator, and a Folder Protector to prevent access to selected folders.

[Ashish]

I don't know about hardware but i am using flexy and system mechanic for tweaking hidden features in win98.
They are easy and quite powerful to use.