Removing Unnecessary Programs from Starting Automatically

Many programs add portions of themselves starting automatically on every login.
This can be either in the Startup Folder or the Registry.

One easy way to tell is by looking at how many icons are in your system tray. If you have a large number, perhaps unnecessary resources are being allocated them as well as increasing your boot time.

Typical examples are Microsoft Office, Office FindFast, Real Player, ATI Video setting etc.

You can remove them in one of three main ways:

In the Start / Programs / Startup Folder

In the Registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Run

If you have Win98, WinME or Windows2000 you can use MSCONFIG to easily remove programs. This is my preference since it allows you to toggle them back on again in case you make a mistake

CD-ROM

The maximum a floppy disk can contain is 1.44 MB. To play a game with around 200 MB you are stuck with 100 over diskettes. The CD-ROM is a revolutionary invention that allows up to 625 MB at one time. However, it is read only, which means you can’t store in anything.

Buttons Fun
Although most CD-ROMs comes with only 2 buttons, do you know you can also skip, play previous track and play the next track as well with a proper combination? Check properly on your instruction manual for additional functions. You just might be surprised what it can do.

Clean Thoroughly
It is important to clean the CR-ROM at least once every month. Get a CD lens cleaner. If possible, choose one with an alcohol solution drop. This should ensure that your CD-ROM will always be able to read properly.

Clean You CDs
It is just as important to clean your CDs often. Why? Because if you have a speck of dust on the surface of one of your CDs, once spinning at high-speed in the drive, the speck of dust is enough to produce scratches on your precious CD.

Running In DOS
One of the common problems with CD-ROMs is unable to access it under DOS. This might be because the protected-mode CD-ROM driver isn’t available. You’ll need to add the real-mode device driver, usually included with your CD-ROM drive, in CONFIG.SYS and load MSCDEX.EXE, which is available in the Windows\Command folder. You should also make sure both files are on your startup disk.

Run List
Like those cool expensive hi-fi systems, you can customize the run list of your Audio CD, only not with the CD-ROM itself. Use Windows’ CD player to customize the run list and you can have your CD running in any track order you like.

Read Ahead
The read ahead buffer is useful to speed up things. Go to Control Panel, System. Click on the Performance tab. Click on the File System… button. On the File System Properties, click on CD-ROM. Make sure you have the fullest cache. Even if you have a CD-ROM with less than Quad speed, just move ahead. You’ll be surprised to find your CD-ROM running faster.

Erase Your Data Trail

Start the Registry Editor by clicking Start, Run, and type “regedit” (without quotes).

Go to this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\
Session Manager\Memory Management

On the right, locate the ClearPageFileAtShutdown value.
Right-click the value, select modify, and change the data value of the registry key to 1.

If the ClearPageFileAtShutdown value doesn’t exist, add it. Right-click the right side of your specified key and add it as a DWORD value. Then change the data value to 1.

Restart for your changes to take effect.

Note: Your shutdown time may slightly increase.

Change the ports of WinVNC Server

Although Windows XP have remote desktop function, most people still like to use VNC to remote control their machine, however you may need to change the port to bypass the firewall of your office/school. Here’s the way to change the port settings.

- If you want to set port > 5900:
1. Run WinVNC (App Mode)
2. Right click and select “Properties” on the VNC tray icon
3. Check “Accept Socket Connections” but DO NOT check “Auto”
4. Calculate display number: if you want to set to port 6900, then your display number will be: 6900 – 5900 = 1000
5. Enter 1000 in the display number field
6. Done

- If you want to set port < 5900 (e.g. port 2000), this reqire a few more steps:
1. Run WinVNC (App Mode)
2. Right click and select “Properties” on the VNC tray icon
3. Tick “Accept Socket Connections” but DO NOT click “Auto”, enter “0″ to the “Display Number” field.
4. Exit VNC server
5. Start -> Run -> regedit -> OK, Find “\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ORL\WinVNC3″
6. Find value of “PortNumber”
7. edit the value, change the DEC value of 5900 to the port number you want
8. restart VNC Server, Done!

When you connect to your machine by VNCViewer, type “your-ip:PortNumber” to connect (e.g. “192.168.10.51:2000″)

And the web port is the value of PortNumber – 100, so if PortNumber = 5900, http port = 5800, then you can access your desktop in a browser by “http://your-ip:PortNumber”, (e.g. “http://192.168.10.51:1900″)

Hope this can help

Services You Can Disable

There are quite a few services you can disable from starting automatically.
This would be to speed up your boot time and free resources.
They are only suggestions so I suggestion you read the description of each one when you run Services
and that you turn them off one at a time.

Some possibilities are:
Alerter – Sends alert messages to specified users that are connected to the server computer.
Application Management – Allows software to tap directly into the Add/Remove Programs feature via the Windows Installer technology.
Background Intelligent Transfer Service – The Background Intelligent Transfer service is used by programs (such as Windows AutoUpdate) to download files by using spare bandwidth.
Clipbook – ClipBook permits you to cut and paste text and graphics over the network.
Error Reporting Service – Allows applications to send error reports to Microsoft in the event of an application fault.
Fast User Switching – Windows XP allows users to switch quickly between accounts, without requiring them to log off.
Help and Support – Allows the XP Built-in Help and Support Center to run.
IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service – You don’t need this if you have other software to create CDs.
Indexing Service – Indexes contents and properties of files on local and remote computers; provides rapid access to files through flexible querying language.
IP SEC – Manages IP security policy and starts the ISAKMP/Oakley (IKE) and the IP security driver. If you are not on a domain, you likely don’t need this running.
Messenger – Transmits net send and Alerter service messages between clients and servers. This is how a lot of pop-up windows start appearing on your desktop.
Net Logon – Supports pass-through authentication of account logon events for computers in a domain. If you are not on a domain, you don’t need this running
Network DDE – Provides network transport and security for Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) for programs running on the same computer or on different computers.
NT LM Security Support Provider – Provides security to remote procedure call (RPC) programs that use transports other than named pipes.
Performance Logs and Alerts – Collects performance data from local or remote computers based on preconfigured schedule parameters, then writes the data to a log or triggers an alert. If you don’t need to monitor your performance logs, then you don’t need this service.
Portable Media Serial Number – Retrieves the serial number of any portable music player connected to your computer
QOS RSVP – Provides network signaling and local traffic control setup functionality for QoS-aware programs and control applets.
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager – Manages and controls Remote Assistance. If you are not using Remote Desktop you don’t need this service.
Remote Registry – Enables remote users to modify registry settings on this computer.
Routing & Remote Access – Offers routing services to businesses in local area and wide area network environments. Allows dial-in access.
Secondary Login – Enables starting processes under alternate credentials. This is what allows you to run an application as another user.
Smart Card – Manages access to smart cards read by this computer.
Smart Card Helper – Enables support for legacy non-plug and play smart-card readers used by this computer.
SSDP Discovery Service – Enables discovery of UPnP devices on your home network.
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper – Enables support for NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) service and NetBIOS name resolution. This should not be needed in today’s network environment.
Telnet – Enables a remote user to log on to this computer and run programs, and supports various TCP/IP Telnet clients.
Uninterruptible Power Supply Service – Manages an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) connected to the computer.
Universal Plug and Play Device Host – Provides support to host Universal Plug and Play devices
Upload Manager – Manages synchronous and asynchronous file transfers between clients and servers on the network.
Volume Shadow Copy Service – Manages and implements Volume Shadow Copies used for backup and other purposes.
Web Client – Enables Windows-based programs to create, access, and modify non-local files across the Internet.
Wireless Zero Configuration – Provides automatic configuration for the 802.11 adapters
WMI Performance Adapter – Provides performance library information from WMI HiPerf providers.