I have been using XP for a long time. I have tried and sorted out many interesting registry modification techniques. I will write them here for your reference. When it comes to registry modification, there is one thing that we always have to mention: be careful. You must back up before modification, and one mistake may make your machine turn aside. In the following description, if the specified position does not have the key/value mentioned here, then you have to create a new one yourself. Unless otherwise specified, all the values mentioned here are of type REG_DWORD.
1. Improve the response speed of XP
Find the HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop subkey and modify the HungAppTimeout value. The HungAppTimeout value indicates the time limit for the system to require the user to manually end the suspended task. The default value is 5000 and the type is REG_SZ. Reducing this value can reduce the system's response delay in some special cases. For example, the value can be set to 1000. When adjusting this key value, you should note: If some software runs slowly on your system, setting the key value too small may cause XP to mistakenly believe that the running software has been suspended. If this happens, you can gradually increase the HungAppTimeout value, increasing by 1000 each time until XP no longer mistakes the running software for "stop responding".
2. Improve the display speed of the submenu of the "Start" menu
Reduce MenuShowDelay value (same position as above). The value type is REG_SZ, default is 400, and you can set it to 50. If this value is set too small, for example, 0, the submenu will be displayed immediately when the mouse pointer passes through the menu, interfering with the user's selection operation. After testing, setting to 50 can not only make the submenu appear as soon as possible, but also avoids the submenu that jumps out quickly and interferes with the line of sight.
3. Reduce the delay time of browsing LANs
Like Windows 2000, XP also has annoying latency issues when browsing LANs, but information about this problem is difficult to find. If you browse a Win 9x machine, for example, enter "\computername" in the address bar of your neighbor online, the XP machine will check the "task plan" on the machine it is connecting to. This search process can cause delays of up to 30 seconds. If you open a shared resource directly, for example, enter "\computernameshare" in the address bar of an online neighbor, there will be no delay process. To avoid XP search for "task plan" and improve the speed of browsing the network, you can delete the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoft WindowsCurrentVersionExplorerRemoteComputerNameSpace{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF} subkey. The type of this key is REG_SZ.
4. Balloon-shaped pop-up information is prohibited
Find the HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerAdvanced subkey and set the hexadecimal value EnableBalloonTips to 0.
5. Show hidden files
Under the HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrent VersionExplorerAdvanced subkey, there are several values that affect the display of hidden files and folders. To make XP display hidden files and folders, set Hidden to 1. To display the file extension, set HideFileExt to 0. To display the protected operating system file, set ShowSuperHidden to 1. Note: This part of the settings can also be modified through the View tab of the Folder Options dialog box.
6. Display buttons that map network drives
Find the HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerAdvanced subkey and set MapNetDrvBtn to 1. The button that maps the network drive will appear on the Windows Explorer and My Computer toolbar.
7. Clean the Start menu
Find the HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesExplorer subkey. If you want to clear all user folders except "My Documents", then set NoStartMenuMyMusic, NoSMMyPictures, NoFavoritesMenu and NoRecentDocsMenu to 1. If you also want to disable the My Documents menu, set NoSMMyDocs to 1 as well.
8. Prohibit modifying user folders
Find HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesExplorer. If you want to lock the physical locations of user folders such as "Picture Collection", "My Documents", "Favorites", and "My Music", set the following keys to 1: DisableMyPicturesDirChange, DisablePersonalDirChange, DisableFavoritesDirChange, and DisableMyMusicDirChange.
9. Clear virtual memory page file when shutting down
This operation of modifying the registry is mainly for data security, but it is of little practical significance in many occasions. Find the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerMemory Management subkey and set ClearPageFileAtShutdown to 1.
10. Run the program in different memory spaces
Find the HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesExplorer subkey, set MemCheckBoxInRunDlg to 1, and the "Run dialog" in the "Start" menu will add a "Run in separate memory space" option.
Finally, I would like to remind you not to forget to use the favorites function of the XP registry editor. You can use the "Favorite" function to mark a certain position in Regedit, so you don't have to look for subkeys down layer by layer in the future. The specific usage is: run Regedit, find the target key (for example, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoft Windows), select the subkey to add to favorites (for example, CurrentVersion), click the menu "Favorites Add to Favorites", give the name that is easy to remember for the favorites, and then click "OK". It is recommended to adopt some naming scheme that can help you identify the location of the subkey, such as "HKLM...CurrentVersion", or "HKLMSMSWinCV".