WINDOWS XP USEFULL TIPS ,TRICKS AND TWEAKS

10) Shutdown XP Faster Like previous versions of windows, it takes long time to restart or shutdown windows XP when the "Exit Windows" sound is enabled. To solve this problem you must disable this useless sound. Click Start button. Go to settings > Control Panel > Sound, Speech and Audio devices > Sounds and Audio Devices > Sounds. Then under program events and windows menu click on "Exit Windows" sub-menu and highlight it. Now from sounds you can select, choose "none" and then click Apply and OK. Now you should see some improvements when shutting down your system.
11 )Easily Disable Messenger Go into: C:/Program Files/Messenger. Rename the Messenger folder to "MessengerOFF". This does not slow down Outlook Express or hinder system performance.
12) Turn Off Autoplay for Program CDs How can you stop Windows XP from launching program CDs? Click Start, click Run, type GPEDIT.MSC to open Group Policy in the Microsoft Management Console. Double- click Computer Configuration, double-click Administrative templates, double-click System, and then click Turn off autoplay. The instructions on your screen describe how to configure this setting. Click Properties to display the setting dialog. Click Enabled, and choose CD-ROM drives, then click OK, to stop CD autoplay. This setting does not prevent Autoplay for music CDs.
13) Synchronize Your Computer Clock with an Internet Time Server Does your computer have the right time? If your computer is not part of a domain, you can synchronize your computer clock with an Internet time server. To do so: Double-click the time on your task bar. Click the Internet Time tab. Select the time server you want to use and make sure to select the Automatically synchronize with an Internet time server check box.
14) Win XP Won't Completely Shutdown Go to Control Panel, then go to Power Options. Click on the APM tab, then check the "Enable Advanced Power Management support." Shut down your PC. It should now successfully complete the Shut Down process.
15) Adjust Various Visual Effects Open up the Control Panel. Go under System and click on the Advanced tab. Click settings under Performance options. You can now change various graphical effects (mainly animations and shadows).
16) Disable Error Reporting Open Control Panel. Click on Performance and Maintenance. Click on System. Then click on the Advanced tab. Click on the error-reporting button on the bottom of the windows. Select Disable error reporting. Click OK. Click OK.
17) Increase Your Cable Modem or DSL Speed in XP This tweak is for broad band cable connections on stand alone machines with WinXP professional version - might work on Home version also. It may also work with networked machines as well. This tweak assumes that you have let WinXP create a connection on install for your cable modem/NIC combination and that your connection has tcp/ip - QoS - file and print sharing - and client for Microsoft networks, only, installed. It also assumes that WinXP will detect your NIC and has in-box drivers for it. If it doesn't do not try this. In the "My Network Places" properties (right-click on the desktop icon and choose properties), highlight the connection then at the menu bar choose "Advanced" then "Advanced Settings". Uncheck the two boxes in the lower half for the bindings for File and Printer sharing and Client for MS networks. Click OK.
18) Stop Jerkey Graphics If you are connected to a LAN and have problems with jerkey graphics, this might be the solution: Right-click "MyComputer". Select "Manage". Click on "Device Manager". Double-click on your NIC under "Network Adapters". In the new window, select the "Advanced" tab. Select "Connection Type" and manually set the value of your NIC. (Not "Auto Sense" which is default.). You should reboot.
19) Speeding Up Your Old Shit Pentium by 50% We all know that you really shouldn't try to run Windows XP on anything less that about a Pentium 3 of some sort if you are out for speedy operations and amazing reaction times, but for those of us with the good old Pentium 2's who want to see just how well we can run XP, we have to tweak as much as we can where-ever we can. A real killer to the system's performance is Windows Media Player. Although it may look desirable and fancy with it's rounded off edges and 3rd- Dimensional appearance, the truth is, it takes up a large amount of that precious processing power. All of these troubles however, lead to one thing in particular with this 'new-look' over-rated music and video player...the Visualizations. The look-great I'll admit but like a lot of software these days, it has no purpose. If you run the task manager, and click the Performance tab along the top, you'll see that when Windows Media Player is running and nothing else is active, it takes up around 50 % of the processors power. Once these visualizations are turned off, it barely takes up 2-3% of the processors power, which leaves much more room for other applications to work efficiently.