Handy Registry Tweaks for CarPC's

**gork** · 08-11-2004, 03:36 PM

This thread is designed to aggregate registry tweaks and/or other software tweaks that are handy for use in windows-based CarPC's (ie that make operation of an in-car computer easier). Please limit your posts to a description of what the tweak does and how to perform it. Please post questions about tweaks in another thread. Please discuss utility applications in another thread.

**gork** · 08-11-2004, 03:39 PM

Automatically Close Applications Not Responding at Shutdown

A lot of applications (CoPilot seems to be the worst about this) for one reason or another hang or deny windows the ability to shut down requiring you to manually push "OK" or "End task" before you can continue. More than once I've gotten back in my car to a carpc still running after a few minutes because something held up the shutdown. Here's a tweak to prevent that (taken from here). It forces applications to close when a shutdown is taking place.

When an application fails to respond during shutdown a dialog box is displayed prompting the user to either end it now or to wait. Enabling the value AutoEndTasks will take care of the non-responding application without user intervention. This is often referred to as “Force Exit”.

To Implement for All Users

[Start] [Run] [Regedit]
Registry Key: HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop
Data Type: REG_SZ [String Value] // Value Name: AutoEndTasks
Modify/Create the Value Name [AutoEndTasks] according to the Value Data listed below.
Value Data: [0 = AutoEndTasks Disabled / 1 = AutoEndTasks Enabled]
Exit Registry and Reboot

To Implement for Individual Users

[Start] [Run] [Regedit]
Registry Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Data Type: REG_SZ [String Value] // Value Name: AutoEndTasks
Modify/Create the Value Name [AutoEndTasks] according to the Value Data listed below.
Value Data: [0 = AutoEndTasks Disabled / 1 = AutoEndTasks Enabled]
Exit Registry and Reboot

**ddogg_777** · 08-11-2004, 05:27 PM

Thanks!

**cyber** · 08-11-2004, 07:29 PM

Disable the "helpful" taskbar balloon hints such as the "Click here to increase your resolution"

User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer\
Advanced]
Value Name: EnableBalloonTips
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: 0 (0 = disabled, 1 = enabled)

**cenwesi** · 08-12-2004, 01:01 PM

Good idea. here are a couple...have a bunch more even for win9x/me

///---This tweak allows you to disable the ability to use Windows Update to locate updated drivers for hardware in Device Manager.
RegistrySet("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer","NoDevMgrUpdate ",ReguLong!,1)

///----Disable PC Card Removal Warnings (All Windows)
///---his setting can be used to disable the PC Card warning messages shown when a PCMCIA device is removed from the socket without first being stopped.
RegistrySet("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\SysTray","PCMCIAFlags",Reg uLong!,0)

///---Disable Media Player Upgrade Message (All Windows)
///---This setting allows you to disable the automatic Media Player upgrade message that appears when a new version of the player has been released
RegistrySet("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\PlayerUpgrade","AskMeAgain" ,RegString!,"no")

///---daylight saving time crap
RegistrySet("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentCont rolSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation","DisableAutoDa ylightTimeSet",ReguLong!,1)

///---Disable Status Messages During Boot, Logon, Logoff, Shutdown
RegistrySet("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System","DisableStatusMes sages",ReguLong!,1)

///---Disable Error Reporting
RegistrySet("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PCHealth\ErrorReporting","DoReport",Reg uLong!,0)

**jaeger** · 08-15-2004, 11:14 AM

here is a set of tweaks to your system configuration files that will help with boot times dramatically

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=641

There are several, very simple tweaks that can be performed that will significantly decrease the amount of time it takes your computer to boot up. Not only that, but several of them will also increase the speed of your system as well. To begin with, there are four main files which all versions of Windows use to a varying degree while booting up. These four files are autoexec.bat, config.sys, system.ini, and msdos.sys. For the most part, unless you are running a command-line virus scanner, autoexec.bat should be empty. However, the other files can be modified to increase system boot time and performance.

For example, adding the line stacks=0,0 to the config.sys file can significantly speed up a computer. However, the two files I really want to focus on here are system.ini and msdos.sys. Within system.ini, add the following lines under [386Enh]:

LocalLoadHigh=1 - This setting tells the computer to load everything the operating system needs into upper memory by default, freeing up as much conventional memory as possible (the first 640K). Microsoft would like us to believe that this no longer effects the system, but they are lying.

DMABufferSize=64 - This setting tells the computer to leave as much memory available for DMA data transfers as possible, speeding up not only the boot process but the system in general.

There are some even more exciting settings available within the msdos.sys file for optimizing the boot process. Before you can modify the msdos.sys file (which is a hidden file, by the way, so you'll have to set Windows to show hidden files from within Windows Explorer), you will need to remove its read-only attribute. To do this, right click on the file, enter its properties menu, and uncheck read-only. Now that you've done that, open the file in notepad and add the following lines:

Logo=0 - This setting turns off the silly Windows splash screen during startup. Disabling this will shave a few seconds off your boot time.

Drvspace=0 - This setting turns off support for Drivespace-compressed FAT16 drives. Since no one uses this anymore, it is safe to disable. Disabling it will not only speed up your boot time, but it will also free up some extra resources as well

Dblspace=0 - Same as above, but this time for Doublespace-compressed FAT16 drives.

DisableLog=1 - This setting disables the log file which Windows creates by default when booting up. Disabling this will shave a few seconds off your boot time, and since no one ever uses the log file for anything anyway, it won't be missed.

AutoScan=0 - This line disables the automatic scandisk that is run if the computer is improperly shutdown - saving a bunch of time if you are constantly restarting your computer using the power button instead of the 'correct' way. Sadly, however, this doesn't appear to work with Windows Me.

Applying these tweaks should dramatically decrease the amount of time it takes for your computer to start up or reboot. Hopefully, these tweaks will help your computer boot up faster, and give you a slight performance boost as well.

**jaeger** · 08-15-2004, 11:18 AM

plus, in winXP, when you decide to modify the services that start, you should set most of them to manual, so that the computer will start them only if absolutely necessary. i found that the computer doesn't even find most of them neccessary to start, and i brought a 3 second bios, 40 second xp boot down to a 3 second bios, 27 second xp boot.

try it

EDIT: about the above tweaks, the ones to the system files - i haven't done those yet; but when i do i'll post the new times

**Defiler** · 08-15-2004, 11:25 AM

Anyone know how to disable that annoying bubble that shows up now after an SP2 install to activate the automatic update?

**jaeger** · 08-15-2004, 11:25 AM

sorry to post 3 times in a row, but

is one of my best friends.

i highly recommend using something like the bootvis.exe [a microsoft tool] to analyze your boot times and move forward from there.

http://www.windows-help.net/WindowsXP/tune-19.html

**jaeger** · 08-15-2004, 11:28 AM

@ defiler

Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.

Look for Security Center and change the startup properties to Disabled.

This is a trouble-free tweak, since that feature is just a notifier.