Some Internet Speed Incresing Tweaks

The below compilation is solely my own work and I hope ayone utilising it to put it on their blogs, e-mails etc. mention me as it is a result of some serous time-wasting browsing to increse the internet speed and I hope this who find more, better and free ways (but legal) to speed up the net give me some links to whatever they have got.

I don't exactly know why but I was having some problems with my internet speed so I started searching for ways to speed it up. In a post I published some time back (Windows XP Tricks) there was a method to increase the bandwidth by about 20% and now I have come across more methods to increase the speed and am willing to share it about now.

First of all ditch Internet Explorer. Now choose a fast browser, preferable Firefox (latest version) or maybe Safari. I prefer Firefox as all the images always load in it (there isn't a cross like in IE or a question mark as in Safari) and moreover Firefox's download file (7.8 MB) is much smaller as compared to that of Safari(18.6 MB). This will bring about some change in speed. Don't use Opera as it is a bit slow and moreover I don't like the fact that in it for a few seconds the page (which you are visiting) seems unresponsive and then suddenly everything appears.

Next increase the cache size of your browser. In Firefox navigate to Tools, then Options. Now go to Advanced. There will be a box in which the default cache size is given. Increase it. I keep it at 1024 MB. This lets the pages you have visited some time earlier (or maybe longer than some) load faster. Also remove all unnecessary add-ons as this may slow down your browsing speed.

Now download a file by googling it called TCP/IP Configurations or by clicking here as after I got the file the first time I couldn't find it later.

Now download a Firefox extension called Fasterfox. This is similar to Google Web accelerator but is specific to Firefox and updated to the latest version of Firefox.

All these features help in increasing the browsing speed (except the the TCP/IP Configurations I think). In order to increase download speed of file use Download Accelerator. This has free and paid-for versions. The free version is more than enough but if you are still hungry for more speed you can download the premium version as it has some features as well as it is add-free. This one of the few free download accelerators present (or maybe the only one) and I always use it. It integrates into most of the major browsers. To increase the video buffering speed you can use SpeedBit Video Accelerator. This speeds up buffering from all the major sites you are likely to visit in this lifetime and removes those annoying freezes.
Both the above accelerators increase speed by increasing connections to the associated site.

So there's as much I could find. If someone has more please tell me by atleast commenting on this post or mailing me at hazmahsa@gmail.com.

Exams Over

My exams are finally over today. But I didn't feel much difficulty this time. The only exam on which I worked really hard. The other exams just came and went by. Today was Arabic. I did almost everything in it except a 10-mark composition which doesn't worry me much as everything else went well. I have started watching movies now; starting with The Incredible Hulk and Jaanue Tu....Ya Jaane Na. But I have more ready. I have a flight to India on Thursday and I will be there by Friday. The packin is almost done but some things are left.

I hope to enjoy this time too in India

Windows XP Tricks

This is something I copied off my cousins blog (http://aymenn.wordpress.com). Click here for the exact article.

Deleting System Softwares:
XP hides some system software you might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can tickle it and make it disgorge everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/ sysoc.inf, search for the word ‘hide’ and remove it. You can then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Windows Components and there will be your prey, exposed and vulnerable.

Creating Shutdown Icon or One Click Shutdown: Navigate to your desktop. On the desktop, right-click and go to New, then to Shortcut (in other words, create a new shortcut). You should now see a pop-up window instructing you to enter a command line path. Use this path in “Type Location of the Item”
SHUTDOWN -s -t 01 If the C: drive is not your local hard drive, then replace “C” with the correct letter of the hard drive. Click the “Next” button. Name the shortcut and click the “Finish” button. Now whenever you want to shut down, just click on this shortcut and you’re done.

Increasing Band-Width By 20%:
Microsoft reserves 20% of your available bandwidth for their own purposes like Windows Updates and interrogating your PC etc To get it back:

Click Start then Run and type ” gpedit.msc” without quotes.This opens the group policy editor. Then go to:
Local Computer Policy then Computer Configuration then Administrative Templates then Network then QOS Packet Scheduler and then to Limit Reservable Bandwidth.
Double click on Limit Reservable bandwidth. It will say it is not configured, but the truth is under the ‘Explain’ tab i.e.”By default, the Packet Scheduler limits the system to 20 percent of the bandwidth of a connection, but you can use this setting to override the default.”
So the trick is to ENABLE reservable bandwidth, then set it to ZERO. This will allow the system to reserve nothing, rather than the default 20%.It works on Win 2000 as well.

Renaming The Recycle Bin icon:

To change the name of the Recycle Bin desktop icon, click Start then goto Run, write Regedit and press Enter. It opens Registry Editor. Now in Registry Editor go to: HKEY_CLASSES_ ROOT/CLSID/ {645FF040- 5081-101B- 9F08-00AA002F954 E} and change the name “Recycle Bin” to whatever you want (don’t type any quotes).

Managing Tasks:You can at last get rid of tasks on the computer from the command line by using ‘tas

kkill /pid’ and the task number, or just ‘tskill’ and the process number. Find that out by typing ‘tasklist’, which will also tell you a lot about what’s going on in your system.

Removing Shared Documents folder From My Computer window:

Open registry editor by going to Start then Run and entering regedit. Once in registry, navigate to key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ My Computer \ NameSpace \ DelegateFolders You must see a sub-key named {59031a47-3f72- 44a7-89c5- 5595fe6b30ee} . If you delete this key, you have effectively removed the my shared documents folder.

Making Google the Default Search Engine in Internet Explorer:
Open registry editor by going to Start then Run and entering regedit and navigate to following three keys separately and change it as shown below:[HKEY_CURRENT_ USER\Software\ Microsoft\ Internet Explorer\Main]
“Search Page”=”http://www.google. com“
“Search Bar”=” http://www.google. com/ie“
[HKEY_CURRENT_ USER\Software\ Microsoft\ Internet Explorer\SearchURL]
“”=” http://www.google. com/keyword/ %s“
[HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE\SOFTWARE \Microsoft\ Internet Explorer\Search]
“SearchAssistant” =” http://www.google. com/ie” .

Improving the Slow Boot up time:

There are a variety of reasons why your windows XP system would boot slowly. Most of the times it this has to do with the startup applications. If you would like to speed up the bootup sequence, consider removing some of the startup applications that you do not need. Easiest way to remove startup apps is through System Configuration Utility. Go to Start then Run and enter MSCONFIG and go to the Startup tab. Deselect/UnCheck application( s) that you do not want to startup at boot time.

Customize Logon prompt with your Own Words:

Open Registry by going to Start then Run, entering regedit and Navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE\SOFTWARE \Microsoft\ Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ Winlogon] . In right pane, look for key by the name “LogonPrompt” . Set its value to whatever text you want to see displayed at login screen.

IP address of your connection:Go to Start then Run. Enter ‘cmd’ and then enter ‘ipconfig’

.Add the ‘/all’ switch for more info.

Making Folders Private:

Open My Computer Double-click the drive where Windows is installed (usually drive (C:), unless you have more than one drive on your computer). If the contents of the drive are hidden, under System Tasks, click Show the contents of this drive.
Double-click the Documents and Settings folder. Double-click your user folder. Right-click any folder in your user profile, and then click Properties. On the Sharing tab, select the Make this folder private so that only I have access to it check box.

To change Drive Letters:

Go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management, Disk Management, then right-click the partition whose name you want to change (click in the white area just below the word “Volume”) and select “change drive letter and paths.”
From here you can add, remove or change drive letters and paths to the partition.

Removing the Shortcut arrow from Desktop Icons: Goto Start then Run and Enter regedit. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ ROOTlnkfile. Delete the IsShortcut registry value. You may need to restart Windows XP.

Get Drivers for your Devices:

Visit Windows Update (XP Only)
Look at the left hand pane and under Other Options click Personalize Windows Update.
Now in the right hand pane check the box - Display the link to the Windows Update Catalog under See Also
Below Choose which categories and updates to display on Windows Update - make sure you check all the boxes you want shown.
Click Save Settings
Now look in the left hand pane under See Also click Windows Update Catalog and choose what you’re looking for. Choose either MS updates or drivers for hardware devices.
Start the Wizard and off you go.

Customize Internet Explorer’s Title Bar:

Open Registry by going to Start then Run and Enter regedit. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_ USER\Software\ Microsoft\ Internet. Explorer\Main. In right hand panel look for string “Window Title” and change its value to whatever custom text you want to see.

Disabling the use of Win Key:

If your are a gaming freak then you must be sick of the Win key in your keyboard. To disable use of Win key, open registry by going to Start then Run and entering regedit. Navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE\SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSe t\Control\ Keyboard Layout] . In this look for value of “Scancode Map”. Its binary data so be extra careful:
Set its value to “00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 5B E0 00 00 5C E0 00 00 00 00″ to disable the win key.

Restarting Windows without Restarting the Computer:

This one is again is. When you click on the SHUTDOWN button, make sure to simultaneous press SHIFT Button. If you hold the Shift key down while clicking on SHUTDOWN button, you computer would restart without restarting the Computer. This is equivalent to term “HOT REBOOT”.

Stopping XP from displaying unread messages count on Welcome Screen:

To stop XP from displaying count of unread messages, Open registry and navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_ USER\Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentV ersion\UnreadMai l] and look for the data key “MessageExpiryDays” . If you do not see this key, create one DWORD key by the name “MessageExpiryDays” . Setting its value to 0 would stop Windows XP from displaying the count of unread messages.

Modify Color Selection of Default Theme:Open registry by going to Start then Run. Entering regedit, navigate to [HKEY_USERS\ .DEFAULT\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentV ersion\ThemeMana ger] and locate the key “ColorName”.
Right Click on it and select modify its value from “NormalColor” to “Metallic”
Click Ok, and exit regedit and restart your computer.

Removing the Recycle Bin from the Desktop: If you don’t use the Recycle Bin to store deleted files , you can get rid of its desktop icon all together. Run Regedit and go to:

Busy, busy, busy

These days have been very (and also are being) extremely busy for me. My exams ave sarted and I have been studying a lot. Thats a reason why I am updating my blog after such a long time. Another reason for it is because my parents unplugged my computer because of my brother's addiction of sitting for hours on the it playing online games for the whole time. My exams are ending on the 22nd of July and Inshallah I will be in India by 25th. The most I am doing these days is listening to songs on my 30 GB Zune which I bought a few months ago and sometimes watching something on TV if its worth wasting the time.