Hacking windows xp (extremetech)
- 379 trang
- file .pdf
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - ht
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Hacking Windows® XP
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Hacking Windows® XP
Steve Sinchak
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Hacking Windows® XP
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
10475 Crosspoint Boulevard
Indianapolis, IN 46256
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2004 by Steve Sinchak
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
eISBN: 0-7645-7722-0
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States
Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy
fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the
Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN
46256, (317) 572-3447, fax (317) 572-4447, E-Mail: [email protected].
LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY : THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO
REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE
CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT
LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR
EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN
MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE
PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF
PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON
SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES
ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEB SITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS
A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE
AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY
PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET
WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK
WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.
For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department
within the U.S. at (800) 762-2974, outside the U.S. at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Available from Publisher
Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the
property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
About the Author
Steve Sinchak is an entrepreneur that has started several technology-related businesses and is
currently running a Web development firm known as SSMGi that owns and operates several
Web sites. As president of the small company, he is responsible for financial, as well as techni-
cal, aspects of the business, such as application programming and infrastructure design and
maintenance.
Steve has been working with computers for more than 10 years. Starting with a desktop which
had a 286-based processor, 1MB of RAM, and was running DOS & Windows 3.1, he taught
himself how to make his computer run faster on the outdated hardware. Driven by curiosity to
customize Windows and make it run faster, he spent countless hours researching and experi-
menting with the inner workings and features of Windows. His primary claim-to-fame in this
subject matter is as the creator of TweakXP.com, the number-one site for tweaking Windows
XP. What started out as an idea for a new Web site that combined his interest in tweaking
Windows and Web programming has grown into a massive database of tweaks and tips for
Windows XP that attracts more than 3 million visitors a year.
Currently, Steve is a senior at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI, studying management
IT and computer science. He splits his spare time between classes, running his businesses, and
spending time with his family and friends.
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Credits
Executive Editor Vice President and Executive Publisher
Chris Webb Bob Ipsen
Development Editor Vice President and Publisher
Scott Amerman Joseph B. Wikert
Production Editor Executive Editorial Director
Gabrielle Nabi Mary Bednarek
Project Coordinator
Technical Editors
Erin Smith
Greg Guntle
Wiley-Dreamtech India Pvt. Ltd. Permissions Editor
Laura Moss
Copy Editor
TechBooks Media Development Specialist
Kit Malone
Editorial Manager
Kathryn A. Malm Proofreading and Indexing
TechBooks Production Services
Vice President & Executive Group
Publisher Cover Image
Richard Swadley Anthony Bunyan
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
This book is dedicated to my parents Larry and Mary Jo, my brothers Jason and David,
my sisters Jackie and Kimberly, and my girlfriend Emily.
viii Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Acknowledgments
Writing this book while juggling classes and my business was often pretty difficult. Almost all
of my free time for the last four months has been consumed by writing, leaving very little time
for my girlfriend and friends. First, I would like to thank my girlfriend, Emily, for her love,
support, understanding, and help when things got really tight. Thank you so much. You mean
the world to me.
I’d also like to thank everyone in my family for the love, support, and motivation that they have
always shown me. Dad, thanks for bringing home that old IBM AT from work many years
ago. Who would have thought it could start something that would lead me to eventually write
a book? Mom, thank you for your constant motivation and love throughout all of the challenges
in my life.
I’d like to thank my close friends, Paul and Tom. Although they made writing this book very
difficult at times, with their constant distractions, I wouldn’t want it any other way. Going to
Miller Time pub with you two to take breaks from writing was priceless.
Next, I’d like to thank everyone at Wiley for their work on this book. Chris Webb, thanks for
giving me this opportunity and for your suggestions in the early stages. Scott Amerman, thank
you very much for your help and suggestions with writing the chapters. Thank you for turning
me into an author.
Everyone at TweakXP.com also deserves a big thank you—especially Allan Grossman, the
forum administrator of the TweakXP.com support forums. Thank you very much for helping
me with the site and for turning the forum into one of the best support forums for Windows
XP. I would also like to thank all of the forum moderators, news posters, active members, and
daily visitors. You have all played an essential role in the success of TweakXP.com. Thank you
very much!
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Contents at a Glance
Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Part I: Customizing Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 1: Customizing the Look of the Startup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter 2: Customizing User Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Chapter 3: Hacking the Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Chapter 4: Customizing the Appearance of the Windows Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Chapter 5: Hacking Windows Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Chapter 6: Exploring Other Windows Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Part II: Increasing Your System’s Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Chapter 7: Analyzing Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Chapter 8: Speeding Up the System Boot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Chapter 9: Making Your Computer Load Faster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Chapter 10: Making Your Computer More Responsive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Chapter 11: Speeding Up Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Part III: Securing Your System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Chapter 12: Protecting Your Computer from Intruders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Chapter 13: Fighting Spam, Spyware, and Viruses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Chapter 14: Protecting Your Privacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Appendix A: What’s on the CD-ROM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
End-User License Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Part I: Customizing Your System 1
Chapter 1: Customizing the Look of the Startup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Customizing the Windows XP Boot Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Changing the boot screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Customizing the Logon Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Working with the Welcome screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Working with the classic logon screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Global logon/Welcome settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Chapter 2: Customizing User Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Customizing the Start Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Using Group Policy Editor to customize the Start panel . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Adding and removing navigation icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Switching to small icons for frequently run apps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Increasing number of recently run programs
displayed on the Start panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Hiding programs from appearing in the Start panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Pinning your programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Adding Web site links to your Start panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Customizing the Classic Start Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Turning the classic Start Menu back on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Customizing the classic Start Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Customizing the Start Menu/Panel Program Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Changing program listing display options for
users of the Start panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Changing program listing display options for users
of the classic Start Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Removing pop-up Help for users of both the Start
panel and Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Customizing the Taskbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Using and adjusting program grouping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Quick Launching your programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Hacking the Start button to replace the Start text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
xiv Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Contents
Modifying the taskbar location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Using the Taskbar Magnifier PowerToy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Removing the notification area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Removing the clock from the taskbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Chapter 3: Hacking the Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Customizing Desktop Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Removing all icons from the desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Customizing the icon drop shadow effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Displaying the traditional Windows icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Enabling large icons on the desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Removing the text below the icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Renaming the Recycle Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Removing the shortcut arrow from icons on the desktop . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Changing the icons on the desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Customizing the Behavior of the Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Using the Virtual Desktop Manager PowerToy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Fun with Active Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Using the wallpaper PowerToy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Chapter 4: Customizing the Appearance of the Windows Interface . . . 91
Working with Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Changing the current theme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Making your own themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Modifying the Visual Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Installing new visual styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Tweaking the visual styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Making your own visual styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Visual Style Alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Using WindowBlinds to change the
way Windows XP looks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Installing additional Windows XP skins for WindowBlinds . . . . . . . . . 114
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Chapter 5: Hacking Windows Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Hacking File Associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Changing the default launch app . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Changing the icon of any file type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Hacking the Context Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Removing items from the context menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Adding your own items to the context menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Modifying the Send To menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Contents xv
Customizing Your Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Changing a folder icon and picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Changing the template of a folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Customizing the view folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Applying your folder settings to all folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Working with Hidden Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Unhiding hidden files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Revealing the super hidden files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Disabling the Common Tasks Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Chapter 6: Exploring Other Windows Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . 137
Modding Internet Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Changing the logo animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Changing the toolbar background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Making your own quick search address command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Other Visual Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Replacing the task switcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Adding Special Effects to your Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Fine-Tuning ClearType . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Branding Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Part II: Increasing Your System’s Performance 157
Chapter 7: Analyzing Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Monitoring Your System Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Using performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Using Bootvis to analyze your system start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Using Task Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Benchmarking Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
How to benchmark your system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Chapter 8: Speeding Up the System Boot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Working with BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Changing the boot order of your drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Using the quick boot feature of the BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Modifying the Operating System Boot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Lowering OS timeout values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Disabling the system boot screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Disabling unneeded hardware devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Removing extra fonts for speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
xvi Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Contents
Disabling unneeded services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Optimizing the location of the boot files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Chapter 9: Making Your Computer Load Faster . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Speeding Up the Logon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Enabling automatic logon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Removing user passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Adjust the startup programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Customizing startup programs for different users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Other Time-Saving Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Assigning alternative IP addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Turning off the logon music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Chapter 10: Making Your Computer More Responsive . . . . . . . . . . 231
Speeding up file browsing and access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Disabling the file access timestamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Disabling legacy filename creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Speeding Up the User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Reducing the menu delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Working with the performance options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Disable Indexing Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Chapter 11: Speeding Up Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Working with the Windows Prefetcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Hacking the registry to optimize the Prefetcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Accelerate specific applications with prefetch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Using the Intel Application Accelerator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
How well does the Intel Application Accelerator work? . . . . . . . . . . . 253
What are the system requirements? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
How to install Intel Application Accelerator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Fine-Tuning the Windows Paging File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Disabling the paging file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Adjusting the size of the paging file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Changing the location of the paging file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Defragmenting Your Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Defragmenting the Windows paging file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Defragmenting the NTFS master file table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Adjusting Your Application Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Using Task Manager to adjust priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Starting applications with a user set priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Using WinTasks to profile your priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Speeding Up Your Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Increasing network browsing speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Contents xvii
Disabling unneeded protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Tweaking your Internet connection for speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Part III: Securing Your System 277
Chapter 12: Protecting Your Computer from Intruders . . . . . . . . . . 279
How Vulnerable Is Your System? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Testing your Internet security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Updating your computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Firewalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Using the Windows firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Using ZoneAlarm personal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Using Sygate Personal Firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Disabling Unneeded Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Disabling Remote Desktop connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Disabling Messenger Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Disabling Universal Plug and Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Disabling Remote Registry Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Disable DCOM support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Wireless Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
Using WEP for secure communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Using WPA for a more secure wireless connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Controlling access to your computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Managing user accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Chapter 13: Fighting Spam, Spyware, and Viruses . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Eliminating Spam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Stopping spam in the first place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
Using filtering software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Blocking external links in HTML mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Defending Spyware and Adware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Detecting and removing spyware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Locking down Internet Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Immunizing your computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Defending against Viruses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Use an antivirus program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
Chapter 14: Protecting Your Privacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Internet Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Removing address bar suggestions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Clearing visited Web sites history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Clearing temporary Internet files and cookies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
xviiiSimpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Contents
Adjusting your cookie security policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Saying no to encrypted Web pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Disabling AutoComplete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Clearing Temporary Internet Files automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
Windows Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Clearing Frequently Run Programs list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Clearing the recently opened document list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
Removing temporary files from your hard drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Removing saved passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Setting file and folder permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Encrypting Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
Appendix A: What’s on the CD-ROM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
End-User License Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Contents xix
Introduction
W
indows XP is a great operating system. It is faster and more secure than any other
version of Windows. However, for some, it is not fast and secure enough. By picking
up this book, you have started a three-part journey that will guide you through all of
the steps of customizing, optimizing for performance, and securing Windows XP. I am not
talking about minor little tweaks; this book is going to show you how to conduct major surgery
on your Windows XP box.
Visually, Windows XP is superior to all other Windows versions. No other version of
Windows has ever looked this good. So how could you make it look better? Customize it!
Impress your friends and refresh your dull desktop with a cool new look. I am going to
show you how to completely change the way Windows XP looks during all stages of its
operation.
Performance-wise, Windows XP has made great advances. However, for some computer users
of older hardware, running Windows XP can be like trying to pull a 100-foot yacht behind a
tiny import car. Although Windows XP will not bust your CPU quite so much as a yacht
would, it can slow down the operation of your computer because there are so many new fea-
tures. To help you out, I am going to show you how to get the new features under control; I’ll
also tell you about some tricks that I have found to speed up the operation of Windows XP. If
you already have the V12 4 x 4 of computers, and you have no problem pulling the 100-foot
yacht, then you will still benefit from the performance tips.
Windows XP is a lot more secure than prior Windows operating systems. However, as we all
know from recent history, it has not been doing very well. This book is going to show you how
to use some of the new features of Windows XP Service Pack 2, as well as many other cool
security tips, to make Windows XP much securer. Congratulations on starting your journey.
Your computer will be in better shape than ever in no time!
About This Book
This book is the result of several years of research into the subject of the Windows oper-
ating system. It is a more polished and portable companion to the author’s Web site,
TweakXP.com, which is located at www.TweakXP.com. Most of the information con-
tained in this book is completely new content that was never before published on
TweakXP.com.
This book is meant to be read from start to finish in order. However, it was also written
so that it can be used as a reference manual of different hacks. Feel free to skip around
if you do not want to take the full journey of customizing, optimizing, and securing
Windows XP.
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Hacking Windows® XP
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Hacking Windows® XP
Steve Sinchak
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Hacking Windows® XP
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
10475 Crosspoint Boulevard
Indianapolis, IN 46256
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2004 by Steve Sinchak
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
eISBN: 0-7645-7722-0
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States
Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy
fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the
Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN
46256, (317) 572-3447, fax (317) 572-4447, E-Mail: [email protected].
LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY : THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO
REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE
CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT
LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR
EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN
MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE
PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF
PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON
SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES
ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEB SITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS
A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE
AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY
PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET
WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK
WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.
For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department
within the U.S. at (800) 762-2974, outside the U.S. at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Available from Publisher
Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the
property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
About the Author
Steve Sinchak is an entrepreneur that has started several technology-related businesses and is
currently running a Web development firm known as SSMGi that owns and operates several
Web sites. As president of the small company, he is responsible for financial, as well as techni-
cal, aspects of the business, such as application programming and infrastructure design and
maintenance.
Steve has been working with computers for more than 10 years. Starting with a desktop which
had a 286-based processor, 1MB of RAM, and was running DOS & Windows 3.1, he taught
himself how to make his computer run faster on the outdated hardware. Driven by curiosity to
customize Windows and make it run faster, he spent countless hours researching and experi-
menting with the inner workings and features of Windows. His primary claim-to-fame in this
subject matter is as the creator of TweakXP.com, the number-one site for tweaking Windows
XP. What started out as an idea for a new Web site that combined his interest in tweaking
Windows and Web programming has grown into a massive database of tweaks and tips for
Windows XP that attracts more than 3 million visitors a year.
Currently, Steve is a senior at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI, studying management
IT and computer science. He splits his spare time between classes, running his businesses, and
spending time with his family and friends.
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Credits
Executive Editor Vice President and Executive Publisher
Chris Webb Bob Ipsen
Development Editor Vice President and Publisher
Scott Amerman Joseph B. Wikert
Production Editor Executive Editorial Director
Gabrielle Nabi Mary Bednarek
Project Coordinator
Technical Editors
Erin Smith
Greg Guntle
Wiley-Dreamtech India Pvt. Ltd. Permissions Editor
Laura Moss
Copy Editor
TechBooks Media Development Specialist
Kit Malone
Editorial Manager
Kathryn A. Malm Proofreading and Indexing
TechBooks Production Services
Vice President & Executive Group
Publisher Cover Image
Richard Swadley Anthony Bunyan
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
This book is dedicated to my parents Larry and Mary Jo, my brothers Jason and David,
my sisters Jackie and Kimberly, and my girlfriend Emily.
viii Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Acknowledgments
Writing this book while juggling classes and my business was often pretty difficult. Almost all
of my free time for the last four months has been consumed by writing, leaving very little time
for my girlfriend and friends. First, I would like to thank my girlfriend, Emily, for her love,
support, understanding, and help when things got really tight. Thank you so much. You mean
the world to me.
I’d also like to thank everyone in my family for the love, support, and motivation that they have
always shown me. Dad, thanks for bringing home that old IBM AT from work many years
ago. Who would have thought it could start something that would lead me to eventually write
a book? Mom, thank you for your constant motivation and love throughout all of the challenges
in my life.
I’d like to thank my close friends, Paul and Tom. Although they made writing this book very
difficult at times, with their constant distractions, I wouldn’t want it any other way. Going to
Miller Time pub with you two to take breaks from writing was priceless.
Next, I’d like to thank everyone at Wiley for their work on this book. Chris Webb, thanks for
giving me this opportunity and for your suggestions in the early stages. Scott Amerman, thank
you very much for your help and suggestions with writing the chapters. Thank you for turning
me into an author.
Everyone at TweakXP.com also deserves a big thank you—especially Allan Grossman, the
forum administrator of the TweakXP.com support forums. Thank you very much for helping
me with the site and for turning the forum into one of the best support forums for Windows
XP. I would also like to thank all of the forum moderators, news posters, active members, and
daily visitors. You have all played an essential role in the success of TweakXP.com. Thank you
very much!
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Contents at a Glance
Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Part I: Customizing Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 1: Customizing the Look of the Startup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter 2: Customizing User Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Chapter 3: Hacking the Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Chapter 4: Customizing the Appearance of the Windows Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Chapter 5: Hacking Windows Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Chapter 6: Exploring Other Windows Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Part II: Increasing Your System’s Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Chapter 7: Analyzing Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Chapter 8: Speeding Up the System Boot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Chapter 9: Making Your Computer Load Faster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Chapter 10: Making Your Computer More Responsive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Chapter 11: Speeding Up Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Part III: Securing Your System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Chapter 12: Protecting Your Computer from Intruders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Chapter 13: Fighting Spam, Spyware, and Viruses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Chapter 14: Protecting Your Privacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Appendix A: What’s on the CD-ROM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
End-User License Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Part I: Customizing Your System 1
Chapter 1: Customizing the Look of the Startup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Customizing the Windows XP Boot Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Changing the boot screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Customizing the Logon Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Working with the Welcome screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Working with the classic logon screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Global logon/Welcome settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Chapter 2: Customizing User Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Customizing the Start Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Using Group Policy Editor to customize the Start panel . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Adding and removing navigation icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Switching to small icons for frequently run apps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Increasing number of recently run programs
displayed on the Start panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Hiding programs from appearing in the Start panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Pinning your programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Adding Web site links to your Start panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Customizing the Classic Start Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Turning the classic Start Menu back on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Customizing the classic Start Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Customizing the Start Menu/Panel Program Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Changing program listing display options for
users of the Start panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Changing program listing display options for users
of the classic Start Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Removing pop-up Help for users of both the Start
panel and Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Customizing the Taskbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Using and adjusting program grouping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Quick Launching your programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Hacking the Start button to replace the Start text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
xiv Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Contents
Modifying the taskbar location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Using the Taskbar Magnifier PowerToy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Removing the notification area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Removing the clock from the taskbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Chapter 3: Hacking the Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Customizing Desktop Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Removing all icons from the desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Customizing the icon drop shadow effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Displaying the traditional Windows icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Enabling large icons on the desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Removing the text below the icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Renaming the Recycle Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Removing the shortcut arrow from icons on the desktop . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Changing the icons on the desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Customizing the Behavior of the Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Using the Virtual Desktop Manager PowerToy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Fun with Active Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Using the wallpaper PowerToy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Chapter 4: Customizing the Appearance of the Windows Interface . . . 91
Working with Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Changing the current theme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Making your own themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Modifying the Visual Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Installing new visual styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Tweaking the visual styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Making your own visual styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Visual Style Alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Using WindowBlinds to change the
way Windows XP looks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Installing additional Windows XP skins for WindowBlinds . . . . . . . . . 114
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Chapter 5: Hacking Windows Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Hacking File Associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Changing the default launch app . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Changing the icon of any file type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Hacking the Context Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Removing items from the context menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Adding your own items to the context menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Modifying the Send To menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Contents xv
Customizing Your Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Changing a folder icon and picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Changing the template of a folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Customizing the view folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Applying your folder settings to all folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Working with Hidden Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Unhiding hidden files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Revealing the super hidden files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Disabling the Common Tasks Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Chapter 6: Exploring Other Windows Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . 137
Modding Internet Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Changing the logo animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Changing the toolbar background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Making your own quick search address command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Other Visual Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Replacing the task switcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Adding Special Effects to your Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Fine-Tuning ClearType . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Branding Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Part II: Increasing Your System’s Performance 157
Chapter 7: Analyzing Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Monitoring Your System Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Using performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Using Bootvis to analyze your system start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Using Task Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Benchmarking Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
How to benchmark your system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Chapter 8: Speeding Up the System Boot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Working with BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Changing the boot order of your drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Using the quick boot feature of the BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Modifying the Operating System Boot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Lowering OS timeout values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Disabling the system boot screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Disabling unneeded hardware devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Removing extra fonts for speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
xvi Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Contents
Disabling unneeded services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Optimizing the location of the boot files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Chapter 9: Making Your Computer Load Faster . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Speeding Up the Logon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Enabling automatic logon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Removing user passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Adjust the startup programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Customizing startup programs for different users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Other Time-Saving Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Assigning alternative IP addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Turning off the logon music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Chapter 10: Making Your Computer More Responsive . . . . . . . . . . 231
Speeding up file browsing and access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Disabling the file access timestamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Disabling legacy filename creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Speeding Up the User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Reducing the menu delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Working with the performance options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Disable Indexing Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Chapter 11: Speeding Up Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Working with the Windows Prefetcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Hacking the registry to optimize the Prefetcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Accelerate specific applications with prefetch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Using the Intel Application Accelerator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
How well does the Intel Application Accelerator work? . . . . . . . . . . . 253
What are the system requirements? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
How to install Intel Application Accelerator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Fine-Tuning the Windows Paging File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Disabling the paging file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Adjusting the size of the paging file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Changing the location of the paging file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Defragmenting Your Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Defragmenting the Windows paging file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Defragmenting the NTFS master file table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Adjusting Your Application Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Using Task Manager to adjust priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Starting applications with a user set priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Using WinTasks to profile your priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Speeding Up Your Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Increasing network browsing speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Contents xvii
Disabling unneeded protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Tweaking your Internet connection for speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Part III: Securing Your System 277
Chapter 12: Protecting Your Computer from Intruders . . . . . . . . . . 279
How Vulnerable Is Your System? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Testing your Internet security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Updating your computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Firewalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Using the Windows firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Using ZoneAlarm personal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Using Sygate Personal Firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Disabling Unneeded Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Disabling Remote Desktop connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Disabling Messenger Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Disabling Universal Plug and Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Disabling Remote Registry Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Disable DCOM support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Wireless Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
Using WEP for secure communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Using WPA for a more secure wireless connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Controlling access to your computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Managing user accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Chapter 13: Fighting Spam, Spyware, and Viruses . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Eliminating Spam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Stopping spam in the first place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
Using filtering software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Blocking external links in HTML mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Defending Spyware and Adware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Detecting and removing spyware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Locking down Internet Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Immunizing your computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Defending against Viruses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Use an antivirus program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
Chapter 14: Protecting Your Privacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Internet Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Removing address bar suggestions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Clearing visited Web sites history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Clearing temporary Internet files and cookies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
xviiiSimpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Contents
Adjusting your cookie security policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Saying no to encrypted Web pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Disabling AutoComplete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Clearing Temporary Internet Files automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
Windows Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Clearing Frequently Run Programs list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Clearing the recently opened document list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
Removing temporary files from your hard drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Removing saved passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Setting file and folder permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Encrypting Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
Appendix A: What’s on the CD-ROM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
End-User License Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
Simpo PDF Merge and Split Unregistered Version - http://www.simpopdf.com
Contents xix
Introduction
W
indows XP is a great operating system. It is faster and more secure than any other
version of Windows. However, for some, it is not fast and secure enough. By picking
up this book, you have started a three-part journey that will guide you through all of
the steps of customizing, optimizing for performance, and securing Windows XP. I am not
talking about minor little tweaks; this book is going to show you how to conduct major surgery
on your Windows XP box.
Visually, Windows XP is superior to all other Windows versions. No other version of
Windows has ever looked this good. So how could you make it look better? Customize it!
Impress your friends and refresh your dull desktop with a cool new look. I am going to
show you how to completely change the way Windows XP looks during all stages of its
operation.
Performance-wise, Windows XP has made great advances. However, for some computer users
of older hardware, running Windows XP can be like trying to pull a 100-foot yacht behind a
tiny import car. Although Windows XP will not bust your CPU quite so much as a yacht
would, it can slow down the operation of your computer because there are so many new fea-
tures. To help you out, I am going to show you how to get the new features under control; I’ll
also tell you about some tricks that I have found to speed up the operation of Windows XP. If
you already have the V12 4 x 4 of computers, and you have no problem pulling the 100-foot
yacht, then you will still benefit from the performance tips.
Windows XP is a lot more secure than prior Windows operating systems. However, as we all
know from recent history, it has not been doing very well. This book is going to show you how
to use some of the new features of Windows XP Service Pack 2, as well as many other cool
security tips, to make Windows XP much securer. Congratulations on starting your journey.
Your computer will be in better shape than ever in no time!
About This Book
This book is the result of several years of research into the subject of the Windows oper-
ating system. It is a more polished and portable companion to the author’s Web site,
TweakXP.com, which is located at www.TweakXP.com. Most of the information con-
tained in this book is completely new content that was never before published on
TweakXP.com.
This book is meant to be read from start to finish in order. However, it was also written
so that it can be used as a reference manual of different hacks. Feel free to skip around
if you do not want to take the full journey of customizing, optimizing, and securing
Windows XP.