Windows XP 100 tips tricks (1)

Stop Jerky Graphics
If you are connected to a LAN and have problems with jerky graphics, this might be the solution:
· Right-click "My Computer".
· 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.

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.

Speeding Up Your Pentium 2 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.
Here's how to disable the feature:
· Open Media Player.
· Make sure the Now Playing tab on the left is selected.
· Click the View menu along the top.
· Go down to Now Playing Tools.
· In the sub-menu that has just 'popped-out', uncheck Show Visualization.

Speed Up Detailed View in Explorer
If you like to view your files in Windows Explorer using the "Details" view here is a tweak to speed up the listing of file attributes: Viewing files in Windows Explorer using the "Details" mode shows various attributes associated with each file shown. Some of these must be retrieved from the individual files when you click on the directory for viewing. For a directory with numerous and relatively large files (such as a folder in which one stores media, eg: *.mp3's, *.avi's etc.), Windows Explorer lags as it reads through each one. Here's how to disable viewing of unwanted attributes and speed up file browsing:
· Open Windows Explorer.
· Navigate to the folder which you wish to optimize.
· In "Details" mode right-click the bar at the top which displays the names of the
attribute columns.
· Uncheck any that are unwanted/unneeded.
Explorer will apply your preferences immediately, and longs lists of unnecessary
attributes will not be displayed. Likewise, one may choose to display any information which is regarded as needed, getting more out of Explorer.

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.

source:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/191328/Windows-Xp-100-Tips-Tricks