The forgotten feature: Active Desktop (XP)

That's right, good old Active Desktop is fairly forgotten. But, it's still a neat feature! All you need is a internet connection, and you're ready! Neat, huh? Well, here's how to do it!

Right-click the desktop, then select properties. In this dialog box that pops up, select the Desktop tab. Click on the Customize Desktop... button, which will pop up another dialog box. On the web tab, select New... then type in the URL of the site. I like Google for this. Once you click okay to all of the dialog boxes, you're done! A little box showing the website should appear. If you want it to be bigger, hover over the edge, then drag as you wish. If you want it to be full screen, no problem! Hover over the top, and a tiny bar will come up. Click on the first button there to make it full screen.

If you know JavaScript, you can make a webpage for yourself that has some neat stuff! For example, you can make a webpage with a roll-over image for the i-Candy. The possibilities are endless!





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Speed up your computer's shutdown time 2

This hack will effectively speed up your shut down time. Have you ever clicked the Restart button, then, after 30 minutes or so, come back to see a dialog box saying "Do you want to End this program?" Or something like that, giving you the End Now or cancel box? How rude! It doesn't even turn off my computer when it is told to! Then, you have to click End Now to a series of dialog boxes before it actually turns off. This hack will automatically end these programs for you, so you don't have to waste time clicking a bunch of buttons:

1. Click Start > Run, type regedit, followed by enter.

2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop.

3. Double-click the value AutoEndTasks and then change the value to 1.

4. Close regedit.

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Speed up your computer's shutdown time

This hack will effectively speed up your shut down time.

1. Click Start > Run, then type regedit, followed by enter.

This is the registry. Don't touch it beyond what I tell you to, or else you might do something really harmful to your computer.

2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. Select WaitToKillAppTimeout and set the value to 1000. (1 second)

3. Select the HungAppTimeout value and set it to 1000 as well.

4. Navigate to HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop. Set the WaitToKillAppTimeout and HungAppTimeout values to 1000.

5. And, finally, Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control select the WaitToKillServiceTimeout value and set that to 1000 as well.



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How to login automatically to windows

This is a real time-saver if you have an account that you rarely use, and want to speed up your boot time. Have you ever had the annoyance of turning on your computer, then forgetting about it, then coming back to see that you still have to login and wait for it to load the computer? Been there, done that. This will save you time:

1. Log on with an administrator account, then Click Start > Run, type control userpasswords2 and click ok or press enter.

2. Clear the "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" check box, and then click Apply.

3. In the Automatically Log On window, type the account that you want to automatically log onto's password, confirm it, then press enter.

CAUTION: If you don't want people in your account, this is not for you. This will automatically log on, so if you have a password for your account, it will bypass the password. (In other words, you don't have to put the password for it to log on).

Hack your XP desktop: get back the beloved icons!

If you've come from Windows 2000 to Windows XP, you'll probably notice that the icons that used to be on the desktop are no longer there! Well, here's a quick hack to get them back.

1. Right-click the desktop

2. Select Properties

3. Go to the Desktop tab

4. Select Customize Desktop...

5. Check the boxes next to the icons you want back on your desktop, and you're done!



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Quick Speed Hack

If you have a slow computer and are looking for speed, this hack will definitely speed up your computer. In this post I will talk about two things you can do:

First Thing


The first thing to do is go back to the windows 2000 look. If you're protesting, like I first did, just try it out! I now like the windows 2000 look even more than XP. (I really don't know why) To switch back to the windows 2000 look, (which I did, and trust me, it really does speed up your computer),

For XP: {

1. Right-click the desktop and select Properties.

}

For Vista and Windows 7: {

2. (Alternative to step 1) Right-click the desktop, select personalize.

}

For XP: {

3. By default, you're on the themes tab, which is what we want. In the drop down menu, select Windows Classic, and then apply. Your screen will darken for a little bit, and then your new theme will be set in place.

}

For Vista and Windows 7: {

4. (Alternative to 3) Scroll down until you see several previews of possible themes. Click on the second one, "Windows Classic", to set it back to the Windows 2000 look.

Congratulations, you're now back to Y2K. Don't get all discouraged by the "horrible looking theme", it's really not that bad when you get used to it. As I said, I like it more than the XP, Vista and Windows 7 themes now. This hack will work even better with Vista and Windows 7, especially Vista.

Second Thing


The second one also cuts down on eye candy, but not as much. (Sorry, I only know the XP way of doing this.)

1. Click Start, then Right-click my computer and select properties.

2. Select the Advanced tab, then, in the Performance section, select settings.

3. Now, uncheck everything inside the box, and click ok until you close both windows.

TIP: You'll notice that the text might be hard to read. If you don't mind, then you're good, but if you can't stand it, (which I can't), recheck the box that says Smooth edges of Screen Fonts.


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