The AWESOME AND TOTALLY COOL AND GOOD WINDOWS 2000 OPTIMIZATION ARTICLE.

A comglomeration of tips and tricks from my thread that i started over in Overclockers Australia.

Ok some of these tips come from me, some are from contributers on the forum.

I will put credit wherever its possible to the contributes of the forums.

So lets go.

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1. Use NTFS. it IS faster with drives about 5 gig or bigger, and above 64gig, its basically the only thing you can use.
With smaller drives, leave it as FAT32. its faster and takes up less disk space then NTFS.

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2. By default, win2k logs the amount of data being read and written to your drive. To disable this logging go to your run cmd line and type in.
"diskperf -n". reboot.

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3. Disable any IDE channels that dont have anything on them, everytime win2k boots, it does a autodetect on each of those channels and takes up a lot of time.

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4. If you have a NIC, and no network, assign it a manual IP address, and it will quicken the boot time.

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5. Open the registry editor and create a backup.

Locate the following directory:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters

In the right hand pane, add a new REG_DWORD and call it : EnablePMTUDiscovery

Add a decimal value of 1 and click ok.

Upon rebooting the system, this setting will force Windows 2000 to automatically detect the Max MTU to your ISP and allow faster downloads and uploads. It will also allow file transfer on lans to be faster.

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6. Notice when browsing for computers on a lan, and it takes ages to see the computers?
Normally, it takes up to 30 seconds for all computers to appear since Win2k feels the need to check for scheduled services on all PCs.
Run "regedit". Open the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Explorer \RemoteComputer \NameSpace \
and delete the branch:
{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}
Also if you dont feel the need to browse their printers as well, the key just above that one is a key that detects shared printers. Delete that key as well, and your lan browsing will become super fast.

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7. Got an nvidia card and you have that horrible refresh rate problem? here is a link to a program that fixes it. Perfectly.
http://www.pagehosting.co.uk/rf/
This program also fixes it for ANY video card. Just make sure you have your monitor autodetected.

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8. Compatability Update.
TO get the older games like NFS3 to run, get the "MS compatibility update"
It has a feature in it that allows you to run an install program in a mode that makes it THINK its running in win98, or 95. (or nt if you need it.)

For me to get NFS3 HP to work ( i know its an old game but its still fun), i have to copy a shortcut of the install program to my hard drive, and then right click it and changes its properties, i then set it to "think" its running in win98. It then runs, installes NFS3, and all is good.

Now if you have already installed SP3, then this tip is useless.

Thanks to "sushimoo" for this update....

You can enable it fairly easily in sp3 and sp4. Using Windows run type:

regsvr32 %systemroot%\apppatch\slayerui.dll

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9. Install IE6.01 sp1. Hasnt crashed on me. ever.

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10. Allocate a FIXED swap file, and at least make it on another partition, if not another drive. I have got mine on a ata100 7200rpm WD80gig

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11. Kill of excess services!!!
Services like distributed link tracking client, remote registry service, etc etc.
In my machine, which surfs the net over both a lan, and modem, does file sharing, and plays all games perfectly has the following services running. (note i DONT have a printer, if you have a printer, DONT KILL SPOOLSV.exe)

Sorted alpha:
Computer Browser.
DHCP client.
DNS client.
Event log.
Logical disk manager.
Network Connections.
NVIDIA driver helper ( i think i can nuke that.. not sure)
Plug and Play.
Protected Storage.
Remote Access Connection Manager (dialup)
Remote Procedure Call
Removable Storage.
Security Accounts Manager.
Server.
TCP/IP Netbios helper service.
Telephony
Windows Management Instrumentation.
Windows Management Instrumentation Driver Extensions.
Workstation.

Kill off the other services (unless you know you need them, and you can always re-enable them) By setting them to "DISABLED" and then rebooting. Dont press stop because you get issues with dependencies. Reboot, and see if everything works.

if you just have a stand alone machine with no lan, computer browser and client/server services can be killed, or at least set to "Manual" so that if your machine DOES need them they can be turned on. I dont know what COM+ plus does, but everything works with it disabled.

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12. Open the file sysoc.inf in your winnt/inf/ folder. Delete every occurence of the word hide and the comma after it, save the file(Back it up first). Now check the windows tab of the add/remove software dialog, there should be way more things listed there that you can remove to reduce clutter.

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13. Registry hacks. There are hundreds, probably thousands of things you can do to your registry.
here are some popular ones.

You can do this manually through regedit, just look for that tree, and add/remove the key indicated.
I am pasting these keys in as regedit entries, IE you can paste that text into a txt file, and rename it to ".reg" and then merge it straight in.

Ok.
COOlBITS.
-cut-
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\NVTweak]
"CoolBits"=dword:00000003
-end cut-

folder refresh, makes folders refresh quicker.
-cut-
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Update]
"UpdateMode"=hex:00
-end cut-

IEname. I hate the "internet explorer by microsoft" shite on IE, or if its been branded the "Internet exploder by my isp.com"
So i change it. To "IE"
-cut-
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"Window Title"="IE"
-end cut-

with ntfs, every time a file is accessed, the last access time is written to the hard drive. if you dont care, or want to save a few more cycles, use this key to disable that.
-cut-
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem]
"NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation"=dword:00000000
"NtfsEncryptionService"="Efs"
"Win31FileSystem"=dword:00000000
"Win95TruncatedExtensions"=dword:00000001
"NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate"=dword:00000001

-end cut-

if you have the ram and memory, you can reduce some disk accesses by keeping the windows 2k kernel in memory. Normally, it pages unused bits of it out, but as soon as you need it, its gotta read it back in. DONT USE THIS IF YOU USE "HIBERNATE"

-cut-
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]
"DisablePagingExecutive"=dword:00000001
-end cut-

normally win2k stores 512 icons in its cache. This is all the dlls and icons used when you are viewing folders. Now, if sometimes you notice that the icons are flashing, or WRONG, you need to increase your icon cache.
this is to increase icon cache to 8 megabytes.
-cut-
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer]
"Max Cached Icons"="8192"
-end cut-

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14.
get tweakui!
Its great and allows you some serious custimization.

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15. Disable extra stuff that loads when you boot, and the
icons that sit in your taskbar.
A lot of programs install "startups" in the startup folder, or the registry, MSMN is a bastard at this, and XP is the worse one at it.
There are 3 places where these programs are linked to.

1, is the startup folder in your menu. Kill off things like "Office startup" you dont need it, and actually SLOWS DOWN the system.
Kill of fastfind as well. its a big resource hog.
Any tools, or shortcuts like ocr scanners, realplayer, quicktime, media managers, crap like that that is useless cos its installed already and you can access it from the start menu.

2. Its stored in the machines run profile.... where?
here. Get into the registry and look for this key.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run
In there you will see a LOT of stuff, especially if its a family computer, or its an old install.
In my machine all i have is POINTER.EXE which is intellipoint, and the tweakui stub program that loads the custimizations i have set.

3. its stored in your USER profile.
go look for THIS key.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run
in there will be the ICQ start program and DAMN ASS STUPID microsoft messenger!! KILL IT!!!

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16. DONT RUN VIRUS SCANNERS IN THE BACKGROUND.
its stupid. Why? because... it takes resources, it scans everything that is read/written, downloaded, uploaded and really hogs machines. Also, with new viruses, it takes companies at least several days to get updates out, and for those days your scanner is useless.
If you use a scanner, use an ONLINE one, or install it but only RUN it every now and then, and only after you have updated it.
here is an online scanner that is updated quite often and is great cos it doesnt remain on your system.
http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_pcc.asp

tricks and tips to get away without scanners......
1. Update outlook express, and turn of preview pane, and turn on the securty settings, OR dont even USE it. thats 99.999 of the worlds virus problems. OUTLOOK EXPRESS.

2. A email is received and you dont know who its from. Dont open it FFS. ok do it, because ppl who run computer repair stores need the money.

3. DONT use other ppls floppy disks.

4. If unsure dont open it.

5. If its free, dont open it. If its some email saying that they have the cure for a virus, its crap. Virus companies never ever send out updates to ppl. The scanners update themselves from the virus scanner company.

6. if its from someone telling you that its a free virus scanner..... dont open it. Email them back asking for the LINK they downloaded it from, and then YOU go download it if its from a site like symantec or norman. if its "http:\\freehost.redirector.com/joe_blow/virus_remover.exe" DONT open it.

7. In the years and years i have been online, i have never run virus scanners. I have only ever gotten ONE virus, and it was klez.
how? some other DICK used my computer and ran an infected file.

i receive viruses in OE all the time, i am getting SICK of "hahahaha@sexyfun.net" sending me klez. If you turn of preview, and turn on your security settings so that it "Restricts access to attatchments" you wont have a problem. If you DONT know who it came from delete it. Dont even open it.

file scanners and the like that run in that taskbar take up resources, and slow down your machine. it also slows boot. Dont use them because you just dont have to, if you NEED a virus scanned, install one that gives you right click context menu checking. Kill it off if its sitting in the corner. Or uninstall it. Reinstall it as a command only scanner.

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17. Drivers... be careful. experiment.
For example the latest drivers for my IDE card make my mouse skip.
For me with my system (axp, via mboard)
I use the via 4in1 ver 4.38
and for my promise card, the drivers that came on the disk.

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18. Memory settings, especially with via boards.
memory interleave to 4.
if you have it, burst width to 8, not 4.
you will notice the difference!

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19. Install SP3!!!

Then disable the auto update service, and remote registry service.
SP3 has a lot of bug fixes, and performance updates. Just make sure you disable the extra services that you dont need.

However if you install this before the compatability update, you wont be able to install the compatability update. BUT thanks to "sushiMOO"...
Compatibility Mode is not always enabled on Windows 2000 SP2/SP3. However, you can enable it fairly easily. Using Windows run type:

regsvr32 %systemroot%\apppatch\slayerui.dll

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20. Get Xteq system setup. It allows you to change really whacked things, like the colour of the login screen, you can change it to the normal windows background so you dont get that aweful MS blue and white colour scheme.

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21. Get reshack, and if you are curious enough you can change all the icons in your win2k. I personally HATE the yellow folder icon, so i have changed mine to an icon i made a while ago.

Like this.

You will also notice that i have changed the background on my toolbars. You can use xteq for that.

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22. for customization, and changing of your start button REALLY easily, get Tclock.

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23. Make sure that your CDroms have got DMA enabled, especially important for DVD drives. Also if you turn on "Digital Audio" you will be able to play music cdroms in any of your roms, and without needing a cdrom audio cable. Its better quality because the D to A conversion is done in your sound card.
Be careful, because some older CDroms wont like DMA, and some can even cause crashing.

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24. For quicker booting, change your boot order to put your boot hard drive first. Just saves a few more seconds.

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25. Another tip to decrease boot times is to turn of the boot menu. You can do this in advanced computer properties.

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26. To allow quicker browsing for files, especially if you have a lot of drives/directories, you can make a folder in your start menu and call it "Drives". In there, put a shortcut to each drive/folder that you want to browse quickly, and then you can find files as quick as selecting a menu item.

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27. Never forget the power of the Search program. great also for having large/full drives, if you dont know where a program is, search is GREAT. Also great for deleting files of a certain type too, IE thumbnail files in directories. and tmp files, just do a search for them and then select them all and delete them.
THIS however will turn up one of the bugs in win2k. Delete all the files in the search window and sometimes files will remain. They ARE deleted, but this sometimes takes a while to appear to the system. Just close that search window and all will be ok. Thank bill gates for that! That bug is still around even with SP3.

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28. Following tip thanks to "thedriver"
Random Reboots - does your pc reboot randomly? This means your are getting a Blue Screen Stop error. However Win2K by default does not show the error and automatically reboots. To turn this off - Select the properties of "My Computer", then "Advanced" tab, "Startup and Recovery" button, then uncheck the "Automatically Reboot" option.

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29.

Following tip thanks to "chaosx123"
Systray Icons.
Win2k suffers from an issue where tray icons are displayed at a reduced colour depth. Go here to download the appropriate file to patch explorer.exe and join the land of full colour tray icons.
Addendum by rainwulf.
If you do this patch and the test icon doesnt come up full colour, then the windows file protection has erased your changes. BEFORE you alter/copy the new explorer.exe, do a search for other copies of it in your winnt directory, and delete all the backups of explorer.exe. Now, make a new backup of the original explorer.exe in some other directory like c:\backup, and NOW do the final switch to the modified explorer. Otherwise win2k will copy over yours with an unaltered version and its very frustrating.

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30. DONT USE MEDIA PLAYER 8!!!
and dont ever upgrade it!!!!

MS can track what you watch, and what sites you visit with it

also if you upgrade it, it says so in the EULA, MS can update media player to restrict access to copyrighted materials!

not advocating piracy, only privacy here.

Only use mplayer2.exe

and also, goto mplayer2.exe
goto View
goto Options
goto the player tab
and UNCLICK "allow internet sites to identify your player"
which basically means "allow my habits to be watched". I hate MS and their DRM crap.

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31.

With the variety of codecs out there for media player, i find the best solution is to do the following.

-Install the krystal KS codecs (divx3.12a) which takes care of the mpeg4 codec that MS wants to install. The MS codec is shit.
-install divx4.12, and click no to use divx4 to run divx3
-install divx5.0.3, click no to use divx5 to run divx3
-install the ac3 filters
-install the xvid codec. (good little codec this)
-install the radium mp3 codec.
-install any remaining codecs that you have yourself.
-install a dvd player. preferably windvd. even if you DONT have a dvd drive, it installs some more audio/vid codecs.
-install directx8 to upgrade the directshow filters.

I have found that the best way to get media player to play all the avi files i have. Everynow and then, mp will want to download another codec from MS, let it, there are so many stupid little avi codecs, you can never find them all.

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Well thats it for now, will add more as they come!!!