Warning, this page is getting more and more obsolete as I continue to never update it.
Warning, these tips are only for windows 7 or lower.
Disclaimer, these tips mainly fit my way of using Windows, your mileage may vary.
This page contains small tips for Windows users who want a faster system, and who want to minimize unneeded stuff going on. You should be somewhat confident at fiddling with the system (for instance, using regedit) in order to use these tips. This is an evolving list where stuff will be added.
I take no responsibility whatsoever for disasters happening on your end as a cause of following these tips.
Warning: I don't claim to be an expert at windows at all. There are surely a ton of features and useful programs I don't know about. The solutions below might be too dependent on my way of using windows. There might be much better solutions than the ones described below. If you have any suggestions, send an email to me at bronnoymafia (at) hotmail (dot) com.
I'm lazy and haven't posted links to the recommended programs, use a search engine and find them yourself.
| PDF viewer | SumatraPDF | It's quite fast and well-behaving. It can also view .djvu and comic book (cbr, cbz etc) files. |
| Music player | Winamp 5 (lite) | It's as fast and small as winamp 2. |
| Picture format conversion | Imagemagick (convert) | Becomes quite powerful indeed when combined with shell commands. Unfortunately, .lbm is not supported (get an utility for this here). Just be aware that ImageMagick might create an excessive amount of temp files, which aren't necessarily cleaned up afterwards. |
| Simple painting program | Paint.net | Doesn't seem to behave deterministic when repeatedly called from scripts |
| MS Paint | Great program for simple drawing. If you can't stand ribbons, stay away from post-xp versions. Not sure if the png support is good. | |
| IDE | Notepad++ | Simple and lightweight, but you need to compile elsewhere |
| Text editor | Notepad2 | A very lightweight text editor. No multitabbing, but it has syntax highlighting. A good replacement for notepad, as it supports linux line endings, has overwrite mode and can show line numbers. I recommend replacing the built-in notepad with this. |
| Audio editing | Audacity | |
| Telnet/SSH | Putty | |
| (S)FTP | WinSCP | |
| Video viewer | Potplayer | Can step through single frames. Startup time can be very slow. |
| Word processor | MiKTeX | If you really must use a program similar to word, use LibreOffice. TexnicCenter is a decent IDE apart from lack of UTF-8 support (just don't use non-ASCII characters literally). If you can't stand the package mess of LaTeX, use plain TeX and maintain a personal library of macros. |
| Compression | 7-Zip | This is free, unlike winrar. You can unpack from subdirectories without creating the entire path which is very nice (which winrar couldn't do last time I checked). Please avoid using the rar format as it is not free. |
| Email client | Mozilla Thunderbird | Please use a master password (or else the passwords will be stored in plaintext), or install the program in a truecrypt volume. If you use newsgroups, avoid the newest versions (38 or higher) as they introduced new bugs. |
| Web browser | Mozilla Firefox | Has good functionality and is very customizable. It's a resource hog, but all browsers are. |
| Web browser plugins | Adblock Plus (Firefox) | Get rid of ads and distractions. Easy to use and easy to customize. |
| Image viewer | TODO | |
| Antivirus | Microsoft security essentials | Beware that it can come in conflict with other programs and slow down the system significantly. I recommend turning off real-time protection and scanning in directories where development executables are built, as well as turning off real-time protection when doing large-scale file copying. |
| File copying | TODO | Need a program to do file copying with more control. Teracopy is removed from this list because it crashes too often. |
| C compiler | MinGW-64 with a recent gcc | Because Visual Studio doesn't have good support for C. |
| MinGW(32) with a recent gcc | Use this if you need to support 32-bit platforms, or if you want to use libraries not available in MinGW-64. | |
| Show drive info | Windirstat | Nice little program that shows what's taking how much space on a drive, and displays it graphically. |
| View .chm files | xchm | |
| View comic book files (.cbr/.cbz) | TODO | Looking for a dedicated program without crapware. |
| Encryption of files | Truecrypt | Creates an encrypted volume. Don't create very small volumes, as overhead of around 10 MB will eat some space. Not sure about how this works on windows 8 and newer. |
| Password management | KeePass | Store passwords behind a master password. Passwords are stored locally, not on the internet. |
| Key/mouse macro recording/playback | AutoIt | Quite powerful and programmable macro program. This program can be hard to learn, though. |
| USB stick formatting | bootice | Can format USB sticks if Windows refuses to do it. |
| Windows explorer enhancement | Classic Shell |
I recommend portable versions of programs whenever possible. The main advantages are that the programs can be run from any machine, and all files are kept within the program directory.
Some programs install unwanted software (crapware) by hoping that the user forgets to uncheck it during install (or worse, the user never gets the option). Please do not support any developer that does this, use other programs instead.
If you want windows to sort file names as strings (and ignore numerical order), do the following procedure:
Yet another silly default setting in windows. Windows will by default hide the extension of the file names. To change this, open explorer and from the menu, select Tools -> Folder options -> View and turn off "Hide extensions for known file types" under "Advanced settings."
If explorer is slow at displaying the contents of directories with files of type .exe (or possibly other types), go to the root of that particular drive, select view -> customize this folder, and select "optimize this folder for documents" and check "also apply this template to all subfolders". Do this for every drive provoking this behaviour. This setting might be reverted automatically after some weeks or months, so beware. Apparently it's not possible to do this on the system drive, so do this on each subdirectory instead. (source)
This will eliminate the delay when accessing program menus with the mouse. (This does not apply to the start menu, unfortunately.)
Regedit -> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop Set MenuShowDelay to 0. Restart windows.
(This doesn't affect keyboard navigation of menus, where there is no delay already.) (In previous windows versions this was accomplished via power tools/tweakui.)
Hibernation is on by default in windows 7, even on stationary PC's, and even if you have a small SSD and lots of ram, which is rather silly. Anyway, to get rid of it, run cmd as administrator and type "powercfg -h off".
If you have lots of ram, you might want to take a stab at the page file as well, and further liberate your SSD (this is easily done via the control panel).
In regedit, locate
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WDI\DiagnosticModules\
Then, dispose of the following entries:
{5EE64AFB-398D-4edb-AF71-3B830219ABF7}
{45DE1EA9-10BC-4f96-9B21-4B6B83DBF476}
{C0F51D84-11B9-4e74-B083-99F11BA2DB0A}
Reboot for the changes to take effect. You will need to obtain permissions first, see the "remove zip treated as directories" for the procedure. (source: source)
(I haven't found a way yet to change the threshold.)
To turn this off, start windows update, go to change settings, and under "important updates", select "download updates but let me choose whether to install them".
Unfortunately, this procedure is much harder in windows 7 than earlier OSes. Anyway, here are the steps:
Open regedit, and locate the following key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{E88DCCE0-B7B3-11d1-A9F0-00AA0060FA31} Unfortunately, you probably don't have the required access to delete it. Right-click on the key -> permissions -> advanced -> owner (tab), click your username, check "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects", press Apply and OK. Then select "Users (...\Users)" in the upper box, check Full control: allow in the lower box, and then press OK. You are now free to dispose of the offending registry key.
Repeat the procedure on the following key to get rid of .cab filed being treated as directories:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{0CD7A5C0-9F37-11CE-AE65-08002B2E1262}
Finally, a reboot of the system is required. Unfortunately, .zip files will still be shown as directories in file dialog boxes in some programs.
The explorer will close if you happened to view the removable drive when it is removed, wiping out all your current expandings, possibly deep in the directory hierarchy. In Vista and earlier, the focus was moved to the directory below. Unfortunately, I haven't found a way to change this behaviour. Unfortunately, Classicshell will apparently never have this feature. Unfortunately, microsoft ignored a suggestion to fix this. Also, a slightly sad discussion here.
[Apparently this is fixed in windows 8, where the behaviour from windows xp is exhibited (focus is changed to the root of the next drive). Not confirmed, as I haven't tested this since I don't have windows 8 on any of my computers.]
Around 01:00 o'clock on sundays a task named winsat might start, eating up CPU time for a couple of minutes, for the purpose of calculating a performance rating for your system. This is rather pointless (not to mention rude and CPU-wasting) for most users, so here is how to disable it: Start task scheduler (control panel -> schedule tasks), browse to Microsoft/Windows/Maintenance, then select "disable" from the right pane.
This will tremendously speed up the operation of searching for files on the harddisk if you happen to have a lot of .zip files, and will also eliminate the annoyance of seeing files displayed among the directories.
[open cmd] regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll
Warning! This change might be reverted when you run windows update.
Turn off yet another wizard.
[Start] [Run] [Regedit] Registry Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Explorer\Desktop\CleanupWiz
Modify/Create the Value Data Type(s) and Value Name(s) as detailed below.
Data Type: REG_DWORD [Dword Value] // Value Name: NoRun Setting for Value Data: [0 = enabled, 1= disable wizard] Exit Registry and Reboot
If you have a lot of directories and subdirectories on your computer, when you access a directory xp wastes a lot of time updating the time stamp showing the last access time for that directory and for ALL subdirectories. To stop xp from doing this you need to edit the registry.
[start] [run] [regedit] HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem
Create new DWORD value, "NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate", modify value to 1
Apparently, this trick is no longer needed in vista, and it appears so for windows 7 as well.
If you happen to rename files using f2 often in explorer, you probably mishit f1 often, bringing up the bloated help window. Here's how to render this key inactive. Using your favourite C compiler, compile the following program:
int main(){return 0;}
Call it, for instance, dummy.exe.
Copy the executable to c:\windows or wherever your OS is. Then, open regedit, and find this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\HELPCTR.EXE
Change the "default" value to "c:\windows\dummy.exe".
If you don't have a C compiler, use these instructions instead.
Warning! This change might be reverted when you run windows update, though I'm not 100% sure about it.
The bloated help window appears to be much less bloated in windows 7, and upon a mishit on f1 it can be disposed of within a matter of a fraction of a second. This tip doesn't work in windows 7 either, as it is not allowed to change the system files. The windows users are gradually losing control of their own machines.
Download powertools (tweakui) and remove all menu delays (windows xp and earlier)
Yet another wrongly set default option with non-intuitive name. In explorer, select Tools -> Folder options -> View, and under Advanced settings, turn off "Use simple file sharing (recommended)". Now you will be able to set permissions for shared directories.
For instance, you might want to change some totally useless mapping like shift-4 (from ¤ to $), which occur in Norwegian keyboard layouts.
Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator
Unfortunately, applying the keymaps is a nightmare and I'm looking for alternative programs.
If you run windows update, windows will nag you until you reboot the machine. To prevent the restart dialog from popping up every 5 minutes, do this:
Run -> CMD -> sc stop wuauserv
To remove facebook social buttons from other websites without affecting facebook itself, go to Tools -> Adblock plus -> Filter preferences (in Firefox), choose the Custom filters tab, and click the Add filter button and add the following rule:
||facebook.com^$domain=~facebook.com|~facebook.net|~fbcdn.com|~fbcdn.net ||facebook.net^$domain=~facebook.com|~facebook.net|~fbcdn.com|~fbcdn.net ||fbcdn.com^$domain=~facebook.com|~facebook.net|~fbcdn.com|~fbcdn.net ||fbcdn.net^$domain=~facebook.com|~facebook.net|~fbcdn.com|~fbcdn.net
Source: source
There are several reasons for not wanting to update to a newer version of Skype, like not wanting ads or not wanting the metro (modern) UI. First of all, turn off automatic updates:
Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Automatic updates -> Turn off automatic updates
Unfortunately, this causes a barrage of update popups to appear. Locate the file [windows drive]:/users/[your login name]/AppData/Local/Temp/SkypeSetup.exe, right-click and choose properties, go to the security tab and click edit. Highlight your name and click "deny" and OK. Unfortunately, even if the program is portable, this procedure must be repeated for every machine that runs the shared program.
Source: source
When visiting web sites, are you tired of seeing the message "waiting for google-analytics.com" in your browser? Add the following lines to windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts:
127.0.0.1 www.google-analytics.com 127.0.0.1 ssl.google-analytics.com
This tip is mainly given from a performance standpoint. I also sympathize strongly with the privacy concerns.
(I'm not totally convinced that this tip works. I'm not seeing fantastic speedups. But I still recommend this for privacy reasons.)
Just a note: If you have a shortcut to this file on the desktop Microsoft Security Essentials will think it's a threat. Just put the shortcut on "allowed".
An even better solution: Block this with NoScript in Firefox.
In newer versions of Thunderbird (at least in v8.0), fonts can be rendered in an ugly, aliased way by default. To fix this, go to Tools -> Options -> Advanced tab, click Config Editor and press OK to get rid of the nag screen (you might as well uncheck the checkbox).
Then, set the following options to true by double-clicking on them. (Use the filter to avoid scrolling through the huge list.)
- gfx.direct2d.disabled - layers.acceleration.disabled
Source: source
I'm not sure if this tip actually saves any loading time, but the splash screen can be annoying after a while anyway.
To remove it, copy the [programname]Portable.ini from Other/Source/ into the program's root directory. Then, locate the line
DisableSplashScreen=false
and change false to true. It's a rather ugly fix (you'll end up with two copies of the .ini file), but it works.
First off, to prevent this popup from ever appearing, go to
Tools -> Advanced settings -> Update and select "Update upon next computer restart".
To remove a popup, just "End task" it.
(I recommend going further and getting rid of avg in favour of microsoft security essentials, for instance.)
The following operations among other perform extremely slowly when MSE runs with its default settings:
1 and 3 take 5 seconds longer on my machine, and while doing 2 a process called MsMpEng.exe clogs up the cpu, making the copy take much longer.
To fix all of these, go to settings->real-time protection and turn off "Monitor file and program activity on your computer". Or at the very least exclude the directories containing programs you want to launch fast. (If you're a programmer, you'd want to exclude your project directories.)
It's up to you to consider the balance between security and a fast-responding computer.
Some web pages have javascript code that steals the focus and thusly disrupt the user. It is a bad thing when another tab steals focus.
Anyway, here's how to turn it off.
Tools -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Content -> JavaScript options -> Allow raising of windows.
Firefox has a tendency to freeze for long periods when trying to download files. To fix this temporarily, close Firefox, go to where Firefox stores the data files, locate the "profile" directory and delete the file "downloads.sqlite". If you installed a portable version, the path is [installation directory]/Firefox/Data/profile. Repeat every time Firefox freezes, which unfortunately is too often.
(I haven't encountered this problem yet in Firefox 20 and later, so it might have been fixed. It's about time, as it has been present since version 3 or so.)
After a download has finished, Firefox will perform a virus scan on the file, potentially freezing up firefox for several seconds (or minutes). To turn it off, enter
about:configin the address bar, locate
browser.download.manager.scanWhenDoneand double-click the entry to set it to false. It seems that Firefox uses the antivirus program that's already installed, but it is still unnecessary if you have real-time protection on.
about:configin the address bar, locate
browser.urlbar.trimURLsand double-click the entry to turn it to false.
Sometimes some webpages are displayed with a font with hideously ugly aliasing. (It used to happen on all my machines (winxp, win7) in Firefox, Opera and Chrome, and in all browser versions I've tested. However, in all versions of IE I've tried the font looks good. The cause might be that I've messed with the appearance options in the past.)
The only solution I've found so far is rather system-wide:
In windows xp: Right-click on the desktop and choose properties. Then, select Appearence -> Effects, and check "Use the following method to smooth edges on screen fonts". It's fine to leave the option as standard, though you might try ClearType. ClearType seems to have a huge effect on many programs.
In windows 7: Go to the control panel, search for "appearance", click "Adjust the appearence and performance of Windows", check "Smooth edges of screen fonts". To turn on/off ClearType and fine-tune, right-click the desktop, select "personalize", select "display" (in the lower left corner), select "Adjust ClearType text" and go through the steps.
The look in windows xp (if ClearType is selected) can be tuned by using the powertoy ClearType Tuner.
This feature existed in earlier windows versions, but was removed for extremely silly reasons.
One way to get it back is to install classicshell. If you are satisfied with the start menu in windows 7 (which actually is decent) you need only select the windows explorer shell. You'll also get back the useful up button.
Link: classicshell
Not a software tip as such, but as I keep forgetting this, I'm writing this here. To change theme, go to My TopCoder -> Theme preference (under the column Preferences) and change to the desired one. This will cause the cookie "oldtheme" to be set to "true".
These sneaky popups can't be blocked by filtering out its address, and Opera's popup blocker doesn't block them by default. You need to block its source. They come from the "free" webstat providers nedstat and webstats4u. Using the content block or adblock function in your favourite browser, block these addresses:
http://*.nedstatbasic.net/* http://*.webstats4u.com/*
If you are not using a browser that is capable of blocking: Shame on you! Please upgrade/change immediately!
By the way, there seems to be a lot of misinformation on the internet about these popups. Many people apparently believe these popups come from spyware that has infected the computer. This is NOT the case.
I haven't applied this tip on systems I've acquired since 2009 or so. It seems these popups are not a problem any more.
Disclaimer: Some of these tips are taken from various sites on the internet, not all sources are given.
