Alan Le

Windows XP Customizations

Today's post includes some of the small tweaks that I do when I personalize and customize my Windows XP environment. Of course all of the changes are up to your personal preference. Here are some of the Windows options that I change.

Taskbar and Start Menu Changes
These changes are to remove some of the clutter on on the Start Menu and to allow quick access for certain tasks.

1. Right click the windows taskbar, and select properties
2. Uncheck the "group similar taskbar buttons" checkbox
3. Click on the Start Menu tab and click on the Customize button
4. Depending on your screen resolution, I usually up the numbers of programs to display in the start menu to 8 as I like knowing the programs I use regularly.
5. Click on the Advance tab
   • Control Panel - display as a menu
   • Enable dragging and dropping - checked (default)
   • Favorites menu - unchecked (default)
   • Help and Support - unchecked
   • My Computer - Display as a link (default)
   • My Documents - Display as a link (default)
   • My Music - don't display this item
   • My Network places - unchecked
   • My Pictures - don't display this item
   • Network connections - display as connect to menu (default)
   • Printers and Faxes - unchecked
   • Run command - checked (default)
   • Scroll Programs - unchecked (default)
   • Search - Unchecked
   • Set Program Access and Defaults - Unchecked
   • System Administrative Tools - Display on the All Programs menu and the Start menu
6. List my most recently opened documents - Checked

Folder Options Changes
I find it quicker to scan files and get to them using the details view over the default thumbnails view.  It's also helpful to know the extensions for the files that I using.

1. Open Windows Explorer by using the Windows Key - E or going to the Start Menu/Accessories/Windows Explorer
2. From the View menu, select Details
3. From the Tools menu, select Folder Options
4. Click on the View tab
5. Under Hidden files and folders, select the Show hidden files and folders radio button
6. Uncheck the hide extensions for known files types checkbox
7. Click on the Apply to All Folders button and click Yes to the confirmation message box.
8. Click Ok to finish

Enabling Remote Desktop
Throughout the day I may use several computers and my need to quickly access one or another.  Remote Desktop is also great for logging in from home through VPN.

1. From the start menu, Right-click My Computer and select properties
2. Click on the Remote tab
3. Check the "Allow users to connect remotely to this computer" checkbox

Disabling the Windows Indexing Service

1. Go to My Computer
2. Right-click your hard-drive and select Properties
3. In the General tab, uncheck the "Allow Indexing Service to index this drive for fast file searching"
4. Repeat if you have more than one drive.

Change your desktop resolution

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop and select Properties
2. In the Display Properties window, click on the Settings tab
3. Modify your screen resolution to your like or to your monitor native resolution.
4. If you're using a CRT, you might want to set your monitor to a higher refresh rate to prevent it from flickering.
   • From the Settings tab, click the Advanced button
   • Click on the Monitor tab
   • Change the Screen refresh rate to something higher than 60 Hertz that your monitor supports.

Are there any additional tweaks or changes you that you do when personalizing your desktop? I'd love to hear about them.