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shanmuga
09-15-2003, 03:52 AM
INCREASING CONNECTION SPEED

Some of us may find that after installing windows xp, the internet connection gets slower. A possible reason for this is the qos (quality of service) installed. This service reserves 20 per cent of the bandwidth for itself, even with qos disabled. In order to remove this reserved quota, you will have to make sure you are logged on as administrator. Go to
start > run and type gpedit.Msc. Expand the 'local computer policy' branch, the
'administrative templates' branch, and the 'network' branch. Highlight the 'qos
packet scheduler' in the left window. In the right window, double-click the
'limit reservable bandwidth' setting. Then, on the setting tab, check 'enabled',
and change the 'bandwidth limit %' to read 0. After doing this, you should
immediately notice a boost in your internet connection speed.

USING ONSCREEN KEYBOARD

An onscreen keyboard is in-built in windows xp. It can be useful if you
are using a tablet pc or if your keyboard goes on the blink. To access the
keyboard, go to start > run, type ok and press [enter]. The keyboard opens up on
your computer screen, featuring three typing modes that you can use to type
data: Clicking mode: you click the on-screen keys. Scanning mode: you press a
hot key, or use a switch-input device, to type highlighted characters. Hovering
mode: you use a mouse or joystick to point to a key, which is then typed.

RENAMING MULTIPLE FILES

In Windows XP you can easily rename multiple files at a single go and save a lot of time. Click Start and click My Pictures or the
folder where you have saved the pictures. Switch the view from the default
Filmstrip to Thumbnails by clicking the Views button on the toolbar. Select all
the pictures you want to rename, right click the first picture, and then click
Rename. Rename the first picture, and then click in the white space next to one
of the pictures. The pictures are renamed all at once! For example, if you
select 10 JPEG pictures, and name them XYZ, the files will be named: XYZ.JPG,
XYZ (1).JPG, XYZ (2).JPG, and so on to XYZ (9).JPG.

CHANGE THE PICTURE ON THE WELCOME SCREEN

Want to add your own picture in the Startup menu? Go to Start >
Control Panel > User account and click on the user name. There you will see an
option to change the picture on the welcome screen. On clicking it, you will see
an option from which you can select the picture already present or you can
browse to the folder where you've saved your photograph.

GROUP POLICY EDITOR

In Windows XP Professional, there is a utility that allows you to change almost
every setting of the OS, without having to manually edit the registry. In order
to access the program, go to Start > Run and type gpedit.msc and press [Enter].
Now you can navigate and change the options as you wish.

REDUCING BOOT TIME

You can minimise the time your computer takes to boot, by tweaking a few basic
settings. Enter the BIOS by holding down the [Delete] key, just after you switch
on your computer. Go to the Advanced BIOS options of the main BIOS menu. Begin
by ensuring that the Quick POST (Power-On Self Test) is enabled. Disable the
Boot up Floppy seek option, and set the first boot device as your hard drive-the
system wastes time attempting to boot from another device, such as the floppy or
CD-ROM. These steps alone can cast-off up to 15 seconds of boot time. CA

CACHE IS THE KEY

A cache is nothing more than a digital scratchpad used for storing
frequently-accessed information. It works the same way as memory, except that it's faster. A CPU sports a dedicated cache, where it jots down its calculations. If you remove the cache, the CPU reverts to RAM, with a performance hit that's easily noticeable.
System memory also moonlights as a cache. It's slower than the CPU cache, but faster than BIOS firmware. Enabling the system and video BIOS caching copies the firmware into the main memory, where it can be accessed rapidly.

Digit

sleddog
09-15-2003, 07:39 AM
The first item -- about the 20% reserved bandwidth -- created a big stir first when XP came out, but has been shown to be inacurrate. There isn't a "20% reserved bandwidth". I belive XP will use up to 20% of the bandwidth for QOS if present, but otherwise 100% of the bandwidth is available for general purpose use.

nubs
09-15-2003, 07:51 AM
Hey, I just want to know if anyone else tried increasing connection speed by changing the QoS to 0 and also, tried changing the boot order for faster boot.

Neither of these items worked for me. My connection speed stayed the same. I timed the boot process using different boot orders and they all booted at the same speed.

I like the tips, I just wished these two worked.

pentachris
09-16-2003, 03:38 PM
Ever searched for a file that you're pretty sure is on your hard drive, but you can't find? If it's a "rogue" file with an unregistered extension, and you're using Windows XP, the search utility won't find it without a little registry tweak.

In your registry, go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\ContentIndex

and find or create a dword value called

FilterFilesWithUnknownExtensions

It's value defaults to "0"; set it to "1" and restart Windows to examine all files during a search.

jjsa3
10-02-2003, 03:58 AM
Thanks for the xp tips and i am going to try out a few my biggets problem is getting messages that my virtual memory is low and windows is expands the size and some things will be denied for ex:- i have a new pc xp home edition yet if try to play a dvd it will only play in Black and white??? and i cannot find a program that will enlarge my page file for me any ideas computer pals ty jjsa
new user

Budfred
10-02-2003, 08:35 AM
jjsa3,

Welcome to http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif

I am guessing that you don't have more than about 128 Mb RAM??? Is this the case? WinXP is a real RAM hog and most people do best with at least 256 Mb.

There is a way to increase the Page file, but it may not help much if your RAM is limited....

jjsa3
10-02-2003, 10:20 AM
Thanks for your reply i do have 256 mb of memory my pc is barely 6 months old its pretty new( ish) things change so fast

Budfred
10-02-2003, 03:29 PM
Then I would suggest checking out Black Viper's website (http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm) for more ideas about setting up the Page File in WinXP and other tweaks. If that doesn't do it, check the MS Knowledge Base. Also, you might want to consider picking up another 286 Mb of RAM (or more). WinXP will use pretty much whatever you give it and many programs that are RAM intensive will run much more smoothly.

Jhorner1
10-03-2003, 11:22 PM
To set the size of the page file (virtual memory)- Start, settings, control panel, system, advanced, performance options, change. select the drive you want the file to be on, and set your min and max values. A good starting point is to set both at 2-3 times your RAM.