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2 weeks back, we started a series of 15 posts about tips and tricks for Windows to make it more usable. Here’s the complete list of 15 different tweaks fro Windows XP that make your Windows experience more satisfying.

1. Add Folders to Send To Context Menu:

Remember that Send To context menu when you right click any folder or file in your Explorer. It lists a few locations by default so that you can directly copy files or folders to specified locations. In case, you use one particular folder to keep a copy of your important files or folders, wouldn’t it be nice to have that folder in Send To context menu.

2. How to say ‘No To All’ When copying files?

Did you ever notice that while copying files from one folder to other, if the files you are copying already exist with same name in the new location, Windows XP will give you an alert to whether replace all existing files with new ones using ‘Yes to All’ option, but the downside is it does not provide any ‘No To All’ option. This article explains how to do that.

3. Create a shortcut on your desktop to shutdown your PC

Are you annoyed by the location of Shutdown option in Windows? Whether its XP or Vista, you always need to click on Start Button and then on Turn off and then it will give you an option to shutdown PC. Ah!! it’s so time consuming, isn’t it? If yes, then why not create a desktop shortcut to immediately shutdown your PC with a click.

4. How to Turn Off Thumbs.db?

Thumbs.db are files which are created in folders consisting of image or video files so that you can have thumbnail view of your images or videos. It caches the thumbnails so that they need not be generated again if you visit that folder again.

5. Speed Up Opening of My Computer

Are you annoyed by the delay when you open My Computer?? The delay is caused due to Windows looking for network folders and devices. But if you are not on a network which is true for most cases, why should Windows look for network folders and devices. Here’s how to stop Windows from doing that.

6. Disable Indexing Service to Speed up Performance

If you are the type who seldom uses Windows inbuilt search functionality, then you should be aware of the fact that in order to make searches faster, Windows uses an indexing service which constantly runs in the background to index files and cache results for better searches. But if you do not use Search function, then why waste resources on Indexing service.

7. How to Speed up Menu Display?

Did you ever notice a delay between different tiers of Start Menu hierarchy? There is a delay period set by default between different tiers of the start menu. Here’s how to make them appear instantly:

8. How to Open Folders in a new Explorer Window?

This one’s pretty basic trick. If you need to open a folder in a new Explorer Window, simply double-click(or single click based on your setting) on that folder with Ctrl key pressed.

9. How to Pin Programs To Start Menu?

Do you know that besides listing frequently used programs list and programs for Internet and e-mail, Start Menu also lets you add your own favorite programs to Start Menu permanently i.e. pinned to Start Menu.

10. How to Hide Notification Area and Clock from Taskbar?

The notification area is on the right side of the Taskbar where the little system tray icons are located. The notification area can be removed from Taskbar if you want more room for open programs or other toolbars

11. Make All Programs list Single Paned Scrolling List

If you do not like your All Programs List to take up lot of space in case you have installed a lot of softwares and All Programs list becomes two or three paned, then you can change the behavior of All Programs list under Start Menu to a single paned scrolling list.

12. Hide Common Tasks Pane in Explorer

Though it looks good but how many times have you used any link on Common Tasks Pane. I don’t think I’ve ever used that Common Tasks pane. If you also seldom use that Common Tasks Pane, why not remove it to provide more space to icons.

13. Hide Programs From Frequently Used Programs List in Start Menu

So you have a top-secret program that you do not want anyone else to know you have. Every time you run a program on your computer, Windows keeps track of it and will place it on your frequently run programs list as a convenience to you.

14. How to Clean Up Windows Start Menu?

Windows Start Menu contains a lot of entries like Pictures, Music, Games etc. which are seldom used in case you store your pictures and movies in different drives or folders. If these entries are not to be used, then why not remove them to clean up Start Menu and keep only those entries which are used.

15. How to Rename Multiple Files or Folders in Windows Explorer?

When you download photos from your digital camera, they often have unrecognizable names. You can rename several similar files at once with the following procedure. This also works for renaming other types of files and folders.

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