Tweak Windows XP

Last Updated: July 28, 2006

Here is a list of sites to make Windows work better and faster.

20 Things You Didn't Know Your PC Could Do, PC World, March 2003.

104 Ways To Make Windows Work Better, PC Magazine, Nov 2002.

The Insider's Guide to Fixing Windows, PC World, Nov 2002.

How to Fix the Biggest PC Annoyances, PC World, Oct 2002.

Tweak Windows XP, at TweakXP.com.

My Favorites for Windows XP

• Start Menu
• Organize the Start Menu
• Sort the Start Menu alphabetically
• Speed up the Start Menu display


• Reduce Boot Up Time
• 15 icons you can dump from your system tray
• Disable unnecessary programs (similar to above)
• Reduce boot time with msconfig
• Disable unnecessary services and learn what they do (archived version)


• Speed Tweaks
• DMA mode on IDE devices
• Increase bandwidth
• Tweaking MTU
• Turn off some graphics (fades, slides, shadows)
• Search faster with indexing


• Miscellaneous
• Create a restore point to backup critical system files
• Find your IP address with ipconfig /all


• Show all Menu Items in Microsoft Office
• In Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Access, right click on any toolbar.  Click on Customize at the bottom of the list.  Click on the Options tab.  Click the white box next to Always Show Full Menus to add a check mark.  Click on the Close button.


• Show the Function Key Toolbar in Word
• On the menu, click on Tools, Customize.  On the Toolbars tab, click on Function Key Display.  Notice how the toolbar buttons change when you press Ctrl, Alt or Shift.


• Turn Off Windows Messenger
• In Instant Messenger, click on Tools and then Options.  Click on the Preferences tab.  Remove the check mark next to "Run this program when Windows starts."

Add and Arrange the Quick Launch Toolbar

Does your desktop look like this?

Change it to look like this.  This setup allows the fastest way to launch applications, keeps my desktop icon free, shows the date/day/time all at once, and shows longer descriptions of open applications.

Show the Quick Launch toolbar:  Anywhere in the blue area, single click the right mouse button to bring up a shortcut menu.  Click on toolbars.  If the check mark next to Quick Launch is missing, then single left mouse click on top of Quick Launch.

Enlarge to double height:  On the blue bar above the green Start Menu button, click and drag the blue bar upward so the bottom section is twice as high as it used to be.

Stack the toolbars:  Click and drag the left edge of the toolbar and drag it so the toolbars are stacked on top of each other like the picture above.

Add icons from the Start Menu to the Quick Launch toolbar:  Single right mouse click on the Start Menu to bring up the shortcut menu and click on Open.  Click on the yellow folders until you see an icon you want to copy.  Click and drag an icon to the Quick Launch toolbar.  On the toolbar, click and drag the icons in any order.

Do you need to see your desktop quickly?  Click on the left icon called Show Desktop to minimize all applications.  When you are done, click on the icon again to restore the windows back to their original size.  Pressing the Windows key (between the Alt and Ctrl keys) and the letter D key (for Desktop) will do the same thing.

Try moving the Start menu to the top of the screen.  Click on a blue area and drag it from the bottom to the top of the screen.  Since all of the menu items are at the top of the screen, why not put everything to the top?  It prevents a lot of top of the screen to the bottom of the screen mouse movements..