Windows® XP Tweak Guide

The Windows® XP Tweak Guide provides an extensive range of registry tweaks, tricks and hacks for optimizing and tweaking the Windows® XP operating system. Get started by exploring the tweaks below:

Registry Tweaks

Stop the system automatically rebooting after Windows Updates (Windows XP/Vista) New
Normally Windows Update will automatically reboot the system when you have your system configured to "Automatically download recommended updates for my computer and install them" and one or more of those updates requires a reboot. This settings changes the behavior so when users are logged in the system will not automatically reboot.

Use double-pane Explorer when opening network drives (Windows 98/Me/2000/XP) New
By default when opening network drives (UNC) the Explorer window opens with a single-pane which does not show the Folders section on the left-hand side. This tweak changes the default behavior to open network drives with a double-pane view.

Optimize Hard Disk when idle (Windows XP/.NET)
This setting will rearrange files on the hard drive when the computer is idle thus improving the performance of the system.

Restrict Installations from Removable Media (Windows 2000/XP)
This tweak stops users from attempting to install a program (with an .msi extension) from removable media, such as CD-ROMs, floppy disks, and DVDs.

Disable Windows Installer Rollback (Windows 2000/XP) Popular
This restriction stops Windows Installer from recording the original state of the system and sequence of changes it makes during installations. This restriction is designed to reduce the amount of temporary disk space required to install programs.

Restrict use of Management Console (MMC) Snap-ins (Windows 2000/XP)
Enable this setting, to restrict access to all snap-ins, except those that you explicitly permit via the Group Policy Restricted/Permitted snap-ins setting folder.

More registry tweaks...

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