Getting  Along With Your Computer Column Archive

More XP Tweaks
By Cate Eales

Appeared January 25, 2007 on castanet.net

This week we have a few more ways you can make Windows XP behave the way you like.


Remove the ad from your start menu
I love my Toshiba Satellite laptop computer. I love the big, bright screen. But I'm well aware that it's a Toshiba, and I don't need to be reminded every time I click on the Start menu to open a program.

If you have an HP, a Dell, a Toshiba, or many other "brand name" computers, there's a clickable item on your Start menu with an opportunity to browse the manufacturer's website and maybe purchase an accessory or some software. Enough already! Want to turn that off?

Turn off Indexing to improve speed
XP tries to keep track of every file on your computer all the time in case you ever search for it. If you rarely use the Windows "Search" tool to locate files on your computer (NOT internet sites; that's a different "Search" tool), you can turn off indexing. You should notice an improvement in performance. If you don't, you will on the next reboot.

Move "My Documents" folder
"My Documents" is one of several Windows folders with special properties. Many programs simply save things to that folder or to a subfolder of "My Documents," so people often want to move that folder to another drive or partition. And "My Documents" doesn't want to go quietly! Unlike normal folders, you can't just drag "My Documents" over to the D: drive and expect all the other programs to find it. If they don't find it on C:\, they'll just create another one. But you can move it gracefully, and everything else should be able to find it.

Better still, download and install the free TweakUI Powertoy from Microsoft, available here and you can easily change the location of any special folder. There are plenty of other settings to change and explore in TweakUI, too.


Thank you once again to everyone who emailed questions, comments, and suggestions. They are all very helpful; please keep them coming to cate@rlis.com.  Remember, you can browse the column archives at any time, subscribe to the column by email, or add the RSS feed to your feed reader.


Links
TweakUI http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
Getting Along With Your Computer Column Archives http://rlis.com/column.htm
Get Cate's column by email http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=20618
RSS Feed: http://rlis.com/rlis.xml
Cate's list of good, free software http://rlis.com/columns/column75list.htm


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Cate Eales has been helping people make online computing safe, accessible and fun for over 20 years. She lives in Kelowna with her husband, Eric, and her dog, Sandy. Cate is a partner in Real Life Internet Solutions, helping individuals and small businesses with virus, spyware and malware eradication; personal computer training and management; digital image management; music transfer; and website design, hosting and management. Email Cate at cate@rlis.com with your comments, suggestions, or questions. To browse the column archives, visit the Real Life Internet Solutions website at www.rlis.com.