Windows XP Tweaks Info

Windows XP Tweaks - We all do it: Lets face it we all love to have a tinker with our PC's. It could be adding better hardware or installing the latest "must have" software. But the biggest thrill most folks get, is changing the way their operating system behaves. Windows XP is no exception. There are MANY Windows XP Tweaks that can be applied to just about every aspect of the operating system, only you won't find Microsoft telling you about them!

A Word of Caution: Before you attempt ANY of the countless Windows XP Tweaks you MUST make a back up of your system. If you do not have any software that can make a complete backup of your system then, as a minimum, you should back up the registry data and any other data you have created and stored on your machine. Failure to do so may mean many problems for you if you need to restore your machine because any of these Windows XP Tweaks causes a problem with your machine. I firmly believe that every serious PC user should be able to back up there systems. I have seen to many PC's have to be rebuilt and the owner did not have any back up of the data on their machine. Heck, some folks I have helped in the past did not even have an operating system CD! Quite how they thought they were going to recover from a serious PC failure I will never know...My motto is "always expect a system failure when you least expect a system failure - and be prepared for it!"

The Windows XP Registry: ALL Windows XP Tweaks come down to one thing, altering the Registry. So what is the registry and why is it so important? Every time you make a change to a desktop icon, move a setting on your start menu, add software etc... ALL these changes are stored in a central database. The registry is a central store of all the settings of Windows XP. So if you are going to apply any Windows XP Tweaks then you need to understand the XP registry!However, this central database is not actually all stored in one file. The registry is a collection files on your hard drive. It does however have a single hierarchical structure and can be viewed using a program that is installed on your XP machine. This piece of software is called the "registry editor" and is located on your machine as a program called "regedit.exe". The easiest way to run this program is to go to the "Run" command on the XP start menu and type "regedit" (without the quotes). This will then bring up all the registry information held on your PC.PLEASE read the help file that comes with this program BEFORE you touch anything...... You need to be familiar with the registry before using any manual Windows XP Tweaks!!!