Cover HolidayM.indd

http://www.maximumpc.com

X P

use TweakUI to set the use TweakUI to set the

number of customized number of customized

folders in Explorerfolders in Explorer

Many users want photo folders to show up with thumbnails Many users want photo folders to show up with thumbnails

in Explorer and have, say, everything else default to the list-

based detail view. But if you have a large number of folders,

Windows won’t keep track of them all, and if you go over the default of 400, Windows won’t keep track of them all, and if you go over the default of 400,

some will revert to the standard view. This can be tweaked in the registry

but it’s easier with TweakUI: You can get Windows to remember up to a

maximum of 65,527 customized folders with a simple change.

D O ITIn TweakUI, scroll to Explorer > Customizations. Change the

“Folders to remember” to whatever number you’d like.

X P

disabling the

last-access

timestamp

will boost

performance

A total bust. Turning

off the mechanism

that stamps a date and

time on a fi le every time you access it

(via a command-prompt instruction)

does nothing for performance what-

soever. It may actually have negative

consequences: Some sources worry

that turning off these timestamps can

wreak havoc on programs that rely on

them, like incremental backups. Skip

this one altogether.

D O N’T D O IT

X P/V I S T A

turning off support for 8.3 filenames

will improve performance

To maintain backward compatibility, Windows keeps an alias of every fi le and folder

name in the old 8.3 format, even on NTFS partitions that support long fi lenames. The

odds that you will ever need to use this format to access a fi le are incredibly small, so

you can turn it off via a registry hack. The tip does nothing for general performance, but it can shorten

the time it takes to open and display folders, though you’ll notice a difference only with extremely full

folders (1,000 items or more) and usually only the fi rst time they are opened.

D O IT Run regedit and browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\

FileSystem. Select NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation and change the value to 1.

http://www.maximumpc.comwww.maximumpc.com | HOLIDAY 08 |MAMAMAXIMXIMXIMXIMUUUUMMPPPCC|(*

X P/V I S T A

a registry hack lets

you alphabetize the All

Programs list automatically

One of Windows’s little eccentricities is that when you install a

new application it places it in the All Programs list at the bot-

tom, not in alphabetic order where it belongs. You can manu-

ally reorder the list by right-clicking on one of its entries and clicking Sort by

Name, but you’ll need a complicated registry hack to automate things every

time you install an app.

D O ITRun regedit and browse

to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\

Software\Microsoft\Windows\

CurrentVersion\Explorer. Right-

click the MenuOrder key (in

the left-hand pane) and select

Permissions. Click Advanced.

Deselect “Include inheritable

permissions...” (Vista) or “Include

from parent the permission...”

(XP). Click Copy at the Security

pop-up. Click OK. Now, back in

the Permissions view, select your

user name and deselect “Allow”

next to Full Control in the Permissions pane at the bottom of the window.

Repeat this step for any groups you are part of (Administrators, etc.). Reboot.

Now when you install apps, they’ll be alphabetized automatically. Whew!

X P/V I S T A

a registry hack lets

you keep Windows from

rebooting automatically

after installing updates
Another huge nuisance in Windows. There’s just
nothing quite like leaving a fi le open overnight, then
returning to your PC in the morning to fi nd that
Microsoft has helpfully restarted your machine for you, shoving all
your work into digital limbo and leaving an evil calling card: “This
update required an automatic restart.” It’s possible to stop auto-
reboots, but it’ll take a registry hack.

D O ITRun regedit and browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
SOFTWARE\Polices\Microsoft\Windows. Create a new key under
Windows and call it WindowsUpdate. Now create another new
key under WindowsUpdate called AU. With AU selected, in the
right-hand pane right-click and create a New DWORD. Call it
NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers. Double-click the DWORD
and give it a value of 1. Reboot, and Windows’s death grip over your
system will be ended.