Speed-up Modem and Serial Connections (Windows 95/98/Me)

Windows is normally limited to a default maximum speed of 115,200 bps for serial communications. By using compression and high-speed UARTS modern modems may reach this limit and not be allowed to operate at full speed. This tweak allows Windows to communicate with speeds of 230400, 460800 and 921600 bps.

System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\Modem\0000]
Value Name: Properties
Data Type: REG_BINARY (Binary Value)

Make a backup of "Properties" value before it is modified. Then double-click on "Properties" and notice that the 51st, 52nd, 53rd and 54th digits will currently show "C2 01" or "84 03". Highlight these digits and then change them to "10 0e", do not change any other digits.

Click OK and exit the registry editor.

Now if you open "Control Panel -> Modems -> Your Modem -> Properties -> General" three new Maximum speed settings will be available: 230400, 460800 and 921600. Select the required speed and test with you modem to make sure it is compatible with the higher speed.

Note: Once enabled open Control Panel -> Modems -> Your Modem -> Properties -> General and set the required maximum speed.

Note: Some older slower modems may not be able to operate at these speeds, if your modem experiences problems switch back to a lower speed.

參照 -> http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/1164/

贊助商連結

Reset the Screen Saver Password (Windows 95/98/Me)

If you have misplaced your Windows screen saver password you can reset it by using this tweak.

User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
Value Name: ScreenSave_Data
Data Type: REG_BINARY (Binary Value)
Value Data: Encoded Password

Delete the value "ScreenSave_Data" to reset the password.

參照 -> http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/1130/

Optimize Internet Connection Speed (Windows 95/98/Me)

By optimizing the MaxMTU & MaxMSS settings along with the RWIN and TTL settings you can increase dialup modem and broadband connection reliability and performance by as much as 200%.

What is the MTU and MSS?

MTU stands for Maximum Transmission Unit and in basic terms, it defines the maximum size of a packet that can be transferred in one frame over a network.

MSS or Maximum Segment Size defines how much actual data can put in that packet, and it is therefore a marginally smaller value than MTU to allow for packet addressing and other information.

Why do the default values need to be changed?

By default Windows hard codes the value of MTU to equal 1500 bytes. This value is adequate for normal LAN networking, but when your connecting to the Internet with a modem this value is too high. This can show itself in different ways, the most noticeable affect is less than peak performance.

By adjusting this value to more closely match the requirements of a modem Internet connection huge performance gains can be achieved.

Below are the instructions on how to modify these values for yourself. Please remember though, modifying the Windows registry is not for the faint hearted. Always remember to back it up first!

To change the settings you first have to find the details of your Dial-Up Adapter. Open your registry and find the key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum\Root\Net] and within there will be one or more sub-keys such as 0000, 0001 ... 000x

Open each sub-key and find the one that contains the value of 'DeviceDesc' equal to 'Dial-Up Adapter'.

Within that key there will also be another sub-key named 'Bindings'. Open the 'Bindings' sub-key and you will find a string name like 'MSTCP\0000'. Take note of the four digit number after 'MSTCP' (in this case 0000) and use it in the next step.

Now go to the key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum\Network\MSTCP] and expand the sub-key with the same four digit number as from the previous step.

In this key you will find a value called 'Driver' and it will be equal to something similar to 'NetTrans\0002'. Take note of this four digit number (in this case 0002) and use it in the next step.

Now open the key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\NetTrans] below there will be one or more sub-key's. Expand the key with the name equal to the four digit number from the previous step.

Within this key create two new string value named 'MaxMTU' and 'MaxMSS' and set them to the values from the list below. Note: MaxMSS is usually equal to MaxMTU - 40 (the standard IP header size).

Dialup Modem
MaxMTU = "576", MaxMSS = "536"
Broadband Cable or DSL
MaxMTU = "1500", MaxMSS = "1460"
Broadband (with PPPOE)
MaxMTU = "1492", MaxMSS = "1452"

System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\NetTrans]
Value Name: MaxMTU, MaxMSS
Data Type: REG_SZ (String Value)

參照 -> http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/30/

Change the Startup and Shutdown Screens (Windows 95/98/Me)

Microsoft has a knack for making the Windows startup and shutdown screens pretty boring. Luckily it's relatively easy to replace these images with pictures of your own.

There are three files which makeup the startup and shutdown screens, they are:

LOGO.SYS - The startup screen, usually located in your C:\ directory.
LOGOW.SYS - The 'Please wait...' screen, usually located in your c:\windows directory.
LOGOS.SYS - The 'It's now safe to turn off your computer.' screen, usually located in your c:\windows directory.

These files are standard 256 color Windows bitmap files with dimensions of 320(w) x 400(h). You can use basically any image editing program to change them (as long as it supports BMP files).

Warning: Before getting started make sure to take a backup copy of all three files (LOGO.SYS may or may not already exist).

1. Copy LOGOW.SYS and LOGOS.SYS to a temporary folder, and rename their extensions to .BMP

2. Using your favorite graphics editor, open the files and modify them to your liking.

3. Once your finished, save the files, change their extensions back to .SYS, and copy them back over the original files in the Windows directory (which you've already backed-up) and you're done.

Alternatively you can create three new BMP files for each screen, just make sure that the proportions of 320(w) x 400(h) are maintained. The file once finished should be 129,078 bytes.

參照 -> http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/254/

Disable Network Messenger Service (Windows NT/2000/XP)

The Messenger service is normally used to transmit net send and Alerter service messages between clients and servers. Recently it has been employed by marketers for sending unsolicited advertising popups (SPAM) over the Internet. This tweak allows you to disable this service.

System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Messenger]
Value Name: Start
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (2 = automatic, 3 = enabled, 4 = disabled)

參照 -> http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/1228/

Restrict Shortcut and WinHelp Commands (Windows NT/2000/XP)

This restriction can be used to specify which directories contain Help files that can use the Shortcut and WinHelp commands. By clearing this setting you can also completely disable the help commands on the system.

System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System]
Value Name: HelpQualifiedRootDir
Data Type: REG_EXPAND_SZ (Expanded String Value)
Value Data: Allowed Help File Directories (semi-colon delimiter)

Note: With features in HTML Help, you can run executable programs from a help (.chm) file. The Shortcut command is used to run an executable program that is external to the Help file. The WinHelp command is used to run Winhlp32.exe to display a Winhelp (.hlp) file. This article describes how to restrict the Help files that are allowed to use the Shortcut and WinHelp commands.

參照 -> http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/1229/

Backup Outlook Express Blocked Senders and Mail Rules

The Blocked Senders List

Open your registry and find the key below where GUID represents the unique user identifier.
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{GUID}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Block Senders]

On the Registry menu, click Export Registry File.
Save the file to a location where it can be easily restored.

Other Mail Rules

Open your registry and find the key below where GUID represents the unique user identifier.
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{GUID}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Rules\Mail]

On the Registry menu, click Export Registry File.
Save the file to a location where it can be easily restored.

Note: If multiple Identities are in use for Outlook Express, these steps should be repeated for each Identity, and the backup data segregated accordingly.

瀏覽 -> http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/1230/

Configure the Network Path Preference in Word

This setting allows you to configure Microsoft Word to retain file path information when you work with files on a network server, either as a mapped drive (Z:\Folder_Name\File_Name) or as Universal Naming Convention (\\Share_Name\File_Name).

User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\[Version]\Word\Options]
Value Name: VolumePref
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: 0 (default), 1 or 2

0 - Use the drive letter or UNC as typed (default)
1 - Convert UNC to drive letter if a drive is mapped
2 - Convert the drive letter to UNC

瀏覽 -> http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/1232/

Disable the Windows XP Tour

After installing Windows XP you are prompted to run the Tour the first three times you log into the system. This tweak can be used to suppress the ballon prompts.

User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Tour]
System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Tour]
Value Name: RunCount
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: Remaining times to prompt (0 = disabled)

瀏覽 -> http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/1234/

Disable SSDP Discovery in Windows Messenger (Windows 2000/XP)

Windows Messenger uses the Simple Service Discovery Protocol (SSDP) to attempt to locate upstream Internet gateways on UDP port 1900. This tweak allows you to disable Universal Plug and Play Network Address Translation discovery to reduce bandwidth and increase security.

System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectPlayNATHelp\DPNHUPnP]
Value Name: UPnPMode
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (2 = disable UPnP broadcasts)

瀏覽 -> http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/1235/