Modifying the registry in XP

A friend of mine just recently modified some registry entries regarding speeding up the boot-up and start-up of his notebook which runs on vista. He said that now that he has successfully modified the necessary registry entries and currently reaping the positive effects, he told me that I could also try doing the same with my XP. I am really not experiencing any problems in my XP's boot-up or start-up time, but I want to trying modifying my registry too and just switch to its default settings if no dramatic change really occurred. Could I opt to that? What do you think?

Thanks in advance

 

Please don't. You're not having any issues. While the danger of registery tweaking is sometimes overstated, the benefits are always overstated--and yes, you can kill your computer.

BTW, your friend is imagining the 'benefits' derived from his tweaking in Vista. It just feels faster because he wants to believe it. Tweaks are incremental in nature, and by Vista, pretty useless

 

No, it's not BS.
There is a good tweak for vista that will take 20 secs or so from your shutdown time. Search this forum, "vista tweaks" thread or something.

 

You mean this one:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=166532

First, cutting shutdown time by 20 seconds is not really a "performance" tweak--it is a forcibly shutting down services hack that has been around forever. It does nothing to increase your performance while you are working on your computer.

Second, do you really turn off your computer and wait around until it's off before you go on with your day just to say, "Ohh, my computer shuts down fast!" That's pretty sad.

Third, there's a reason this default is set at a certain level--it's to allow as graceful an exit as possible; forced exits can to lead to problems. Whenever I work on a computer, I ALWAYS run a chkdsk on them. Invariably, chkdsk finds hundreds or thousands of filesystem errors. Sometimes, computers will not even start up reporting that sucha nd such a file is missing when it is actually there. When the owner asks, how come I have all these file system errors, the answer is, when Windows shuts down, it does a lot of system maintenance. It cleans up temp files, turns of programs, etc. During this process it opens and closes hundreds of files even though you think your computer is doing nothing (download filemon from system internals and watch what your computer does when you think it is doing nothing for an eye opening experience--now multiply that by 10,000-fold for a shutdown). If your computer shutdown without properly closing a file, filesystem errors and system corruption occurs. MOST of the time, these are minor issues.

I'm not saying tweaks are always bad--I am saying they are of dubious value most of the time--even for XP. Even though I have tweaked computers and still tweak computers (ever shutdown an exchange server? Takes a half hour and I don't always have a half hour to watch a computer turn off).

My post was based on the fact that the OP strikes me a being not too knowledgeable about computers. Registry diving can be educational, but it should not be done for the placebo affect of "my computer is faster than yours" teaking.

 

I agree that xp is already good enough and you wont get anywhere with "tweaks".

I was just saying there are some tweaks that will actually be noticible, i.e. not a placebo.

 

Have you read the post?
Its the same as attaching a jet engine to a car - yes, its faster but it will most likely self destruct at some point.

You "see" its faster at the cost of data safety and system safety... if you want that... your choice...

 

I read the post.

But I don't think anyone read my posts.

I'm not saying that the tweaks are good, I'm just saying that "placebo" is the wrong word to use in this case.

Maybe nobody here actually knows what placebo means:
http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=define:placebo&=&aq=f&oq=

I don't do any of these tweaks to my OS (and never will).

 

A Placebo is a positive effect observed without scientific reason
(E.g. sugar pill reducing a headache because the person thought he/she swallowed Aspirin)

So the "feeling faster" is a placebo effect.

Something like increased shutdown... another example is driving a car into things to stop it quicker - yes, it stops quicker, you feel it, but would you call it a placebo effect?

 

no I would not!

You not only feel it, but it actually is happening.

Driving a car into things, then feeling like the car has slowed down is not a placebo effect.

Punching your self in the face while driving, then feeling like the car has slowed is a placebo effect, unless you hit the brakes or took your foot of the gas.

Having a faster shutdown time is not the same as "feeling like it shut down faster". THE NOTEBOOK WILL ACTUALLY SHUT DOWN FASTER, HENCE NOT THE PLACEBO EFFECT!

Also, is the placebo effect even bad at all?
Are you not just as happy when you think your notebook is fast (even if it may be the same speed as before)?

 

Actually, in a way - were both getting off the track here - true faster shutdown isn't a placebo effect.
Agreed.

On the placebo - it can be harmful in a case where you think you're getting worse, and start to feel better while you are medically speaking getting worse.


But where are we heading:

"Tweaking" is bad and results mainly in placebo effects.

In some cases effects can be observed e.g. "fast shutdown" but can lead to data corruption and loss - e.g. like stopping a car by driving into things.
(Will work if you are slow enough )

Agreed? Or not?

 

I'm on board with those that recommend you forgo such tweaks. The best and safest way to improve startup time is to eliminate unneeded programs and services from system startup. The free program CCleaner has a nice GUI for allowing you to disable startup programs. Alternatively you can use MSCONFIG. Also check that the "Startup" folder in the Start Menu doesn't contain any links that don't need to be running at boot. To disable unneeded services, refer to this guide. Note that the guide is rather old but still the source I turn to when doing a clean install. Note also that installed programs will also run services at startup. Whether it is safe to disable them is up to your judgment, but you may limit functionality by doing so. For example, don't disable any services that your anti-virus program runs. Alternatively, disabling Java's quick startup service is likely safe. Refer to Google for information on any particular service before disabling it.

If you're still incline to use tweaks, refer to this guide. However I highly suggest you perform a full system image before proceeding with any in-depth tweaks.

 

That's true, it was 2am where I am.

Agreed

 

He's mostly likely going to try to tweak it so you guys better get prepared for the thread titled ' HELPZ my computerz is showing only DA BLAXXX, GHEY DX'

 

-thanks for giving time to reply with this lengthy explanation, Gerry. Not only did I learn something new about the processes a computer undergoes upon shutting down, but I was enlightened about the risks of tweaking Thanks a lot

 

You mean like this: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=443360

lol