Top 10 Registry Tips for Windows XP

Tip 1 - Modifying the name of Processor in the system properties, (e.g. Intel ® Pentium ® 4 CPU 2.93 GHz)

Solution:
1.Go to:
2.Start | Run and type "Regedit" (of course without quotes) to open Registry editor.
(From now onwards the above process is written as: "Regedit |" or "regedit |")
3.Now navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System\CentralProcessor\0

4.Now find the key named as "ProcessorNameString" and right click it and then select "modify"
5.Now write down the name you like.
6.Open the system properties.
7.You will find the processor name changed there.

Tip 2 -Increase the waiting time to terminate a process

Solution:

1.Go to:

Regedit | HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control

2.Now in the right pane search for the key "WaitToKillServiceTimeout".
3.Right click it and enter a value in milliseconds.

Tip 3: Hiding "search", "Run", "My Computer", "my documents", "my pictures", "my music", "Control Panel" etc. from the start menu

Solution:

1.Go to:

Regedit |HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

2.Now in right pane search for the entry named as: "Start_ShowHelp". Modify its data to '0'.This will hide the "Run" option in the start menu. You can do the same for other items on the start menu too according to the list that relates the entries to the items on start menu:

Start_ShowControlPanel > Control Panel
Start_ShowHelp > Help
Start_ShowMyComputer > My computer
Start_ShowMyDocs > My Documents
Start_ShowMyMusic > My Music
Start_ShowMyPics > My Pictures
Start_ShowPrinters > Printers and Faxes
Start_ShowRecentDocs > Recent Documents
Start_ShowRun > Run
Start_ShowSearch > Search

3.For every item to be displayed give their values as '1' and for hiding them modify their data to '0'. Disabling every item will make the right hand side of your start menu blank!!!!!

Also you may restrict Drag -drop Functionality in the start menu.
4.To do this in the same registry branch search for the entry: "Start_EnableDragDrop" and give it a value of '0'.
5.Refresh the desktop to get the results.

Tip 4: To disable the automatic updates using registry

Solution:

1.Go to:
Regedit | HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate
Change the value of "UserRequestedUpdate" to '0'.

Tip 5: Disable your CD-Drive using registry

Solution:

1.Go to:
Regedit | HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Cdrom\Enum in the right pane find the entry "NextInstance" and give it a value '0'.

This will disable your CD-Drive.

Tip 6: Finding out how many programs are working in background

Solution:

1.Go to:
Regedit | HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SessionInformation
Now in the right pane search for the entry "ProgramCount".

2.The number written in brackets besides its value displays the number of programs working in the background. This can be used to find out whether there is some program running in the background without your notice? As you open more programs, the number will increase after you refresh [F5].

Tip 7: Deleting the 'Recycle bin from desktop

Solution:

To delete the recycle bin you need to right click it and select 'delete'. This is the first thing that your mind would tell you. But when you right click it, you will see no 'delete' option in the context menu. So how do you delete it? To delete 'Recycle bin', you must know its CLSID value (or Class ID Value). The CLSID value of recycle bin is '645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E'. To be sure, do one thing: right click on the desktop, select 'properties' and under the 'themes' tab click the 'save as' button. The theme will get saved at a location determined by you. Now open this saved file with notepad. In the very first part, you will find a line as:

; Recycle Bin
[CLSID\ {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\DefaultIcon]

So here you see the CLSID value of the 'Recycle Bin'.

1.Now switch to the following Registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\explorer\Desktop\Namespace

2.Find a key with the value of that of the CLSID value of 'Recycle Bin'.
3.Delete this key.
4.Remember to Kindly EXPORT THIS KEY FOR THE TIME WHEN YOU NEED THE RECYCLE BIN AGAIN ON DESKTOP.
5.After a log off and a log back in, you will find no 'Recycle Bin' on the Desktop.

NOTE: Please, please do take a complete backup of the registry before making any changes because this will come handy in case of any failures.

Tip 8: Renaming the 'Recycle Bin (Only Windows XP)

Solution:

You must have also seen that in the right click context menu of 'Recycle Bin' there is no 'Rename' option. Of course those having 'Norton Antivirus' will change the name by using the antivirus software itself. But that can be done even without that software.

1.Go to the following Key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\ {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

2.As you would be noticing that again the CLSID value comes in use here. Now in the right pane, search for the entry "LocalizedString".
3.Right click it and select 'Modify'.
4.Now in the 'Value Data' field and write the new name you want to give to the 'Recycle Bin'.
5.Now Exit the registry editor and refresh your desktop.
6.The new name should appear. If it doesn't, you will need to restart the computer

Tip 9: Renaming My Computer and changing its icon

Solution:

1.Renaming can be done just by right clicking 'My Computer' in the start menu and selecting 'Rename'. Alternatively you may go to registry at the following location and enter you name of choice in the "(Default)" entry's 'Value Data' filed:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID\ {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

2.For changing Icons,

Go to:
Regedit |
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID\ {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\DefaultIcon

3.In the "(Default)" entries change the value to the 'location and file name of your choice'.
4.Suppose the icon you want to assign is located at 'D:\Icons' and has got a filename of 'Icon_1.ico'. In this case you will need to type down "D:\Icons\Icon_1.ico" in the 'value data" field.

Tip 10: Moving the default locations of 'My Music', 'My Pictures' and 'My Videos' folders

Solution:

1.Go to the following Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders

2.And look for the name of the folder that you want to move the Location of.
3.Now right click the folder name and select "Modify" and in the 'Value data' field type the full path to the location where you want to shift the folders.
4.Using this tip you may free up some of the space on the installation drive in case you don't want to move the whole "My Documents" folder.