Windows XP Tweaks

When you choose a wallpaper using the standard method (selecting a background on the desktop tab, in the properties window), Windows converts this image to a huge .bmp file (even if you selected a .jpg). Then instead of having a nice 220K wallpaper, you get a 3,15MB wallpaper. To get rid of this, try using active desktop's web capabilities, like this:

To disable the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, unregister shimgvw.dll. This can be done from command prompt: regsvr32 /u shimgvw.dll

Simply visit http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/cleartypeactivate.htm and follow on screen directions!

Just go to the Microsoft ClearType website and follow the directions. It is very cool how you can choose between six different ClearType settings.

Thumbs.db is a file which is created in a folder with Movies or Pictures so that you can view a piece of their content without actualy opening them (you can't see thumbnails unless you have the option to view system files turned on). Thumbs.db is there so that you don't need to reload a thumbnail everytime you browse that folder. Sad fact is, is Thumbs.db takes up about ...

1. Go to Start->Run->gpedit.msc 2. Computer Config -> Administrative Template -> System

I'm sure some of you have noticed that in Windows Explorer, whenever you click a folder in the left pane, it automatically expands to show all subfolders. If you find this annoying, follow these steps... 1) close Windows Explorer if it's running

Do you need to hide a program running in the background that shows in your System Tray? Try this reg hack to hide all tray icons. It’s not anything like the Windows XP tray icon hider, this one shows no trace of any icons. It would look like someone closed all background programs.

Would you like to turn filenames off to make more space for thumbnails? Did your thumbnail view unexpectedly stop displaying filenames?

The thumbnail view in windows explorer gives you easy access to a portfolio of images, but the default image size may not be to your liking. To control the thumbnail dimensions, go to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer.