rootninja

What’s a Registry?

The Windows Registry is a hierarchical database that stores settings for low-level operating system components, kernel, drivers, services, and user interface along with 3rd party applications installed on the platform.

The registry consists of keys and values. Keys are like folders (directories). Values are name-data pairs stored in a key. Just like files in a folder, you can have multiple values and keys within a key. See wikipedia for a detailed explanation of hives, how to edit the registry, and other details. If you don’t feel comfortable editing the registry on your desktop machine, load Sun VirtualBox, VMware, or similar, and install Windows 7 on a virtual machine. With snapshots you fearlessly muck with the registry and easily revert to a working state.

If you’re still confused about what to do, just quit now. I won’t recommend a registry defrag or cleaner program because you may well end up with a virus/trojan/spyware cesspool. But who needs to learn gun safety, just point and shoot right? If you really want to take a gamble, here’s a few choices:

http://www.ccleaner.com/
http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm
http://www.tune-up.com/products/tuneup-utilities/

Before you dabble, it might be a good idea to backup your registry using a restore point or exporting the registry to a file. But be warned, if you merge a .reg file backup, any additions to the registry since that backup was created will not get modified. If you introduce a problem by adding a new key, merging the .reg file will not fix it. Restoring to a previous restore point works best but requires you to have a functional Windows environment to do it without using the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), Windows 7 disc, or other intervention.

On to the Registry Tweaks!

Speed up the Desktop

The Windows default setting is to have a small delay between your mouse click and the display of the menu and sub menus. Shorten the delays and it will feel much more responsive, just like the menus in Eve. Ignore that last bit if you don’t know what I mean.

I hate it when programs die but don’t die. I just end up having to manually end the processes myself. But did you know you can have them automatically killed? You even get to choose precisely how long they’re allowed to go off to la-la land before they get the Hogan style boot to the face.

1. Open regedit.
2. Find HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
3. Right click AutoEndTasks and set it to 1
4. Right click HungAppTimeout and set it to 1000
5. Right click MenuShowDelay and set it to 75
6. Right click WaitToKillAppTimeout and set it to 2500
7. Right click LowLevelHooksTimeout and set it to 1000
8. Click OK.

Disable the Low Disk Space Monitoring

A new feature of Windows is to continuously check your storage to make sure you’re not running out of space. This is a complete waste of time and resources when you’ve got, for example, a 1TB drive and you’re only using 30% of it. It also wastes timing looking for programs that no longer exist. Turn all that crap off.

1. Open regedit.
2. Find HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
3. If the Key named Explorer was missing, right click in the window and create it first.
4. If any of the following values are missing, right click and create a DWORD for each.
5. Right click NoLowDiskSpaceChecks and set it to 1
6. Right click LinkResolveIgnoreLinkInfo and set it to 1
7. Right click NoResolveSearch and set it to 1
8. Right click NoResolveTrack and set it to 1
9. Right click NoInternetOpenWith and set it to 1
10. Click OK.