Extra Topics (Joe’s Blog Site)

Gpedit.msc is a Group Policy editor in Windows which allows you to easily edit registry-based policy settings. Unfortunately, some Windows releases have incomplete and outdated policy entries, that’s why there are Administrative Template files (.adm files) used to populate user interface settings in the Group Policy editor.

Before, Windows users could obtain the recent .adm files by getting the latest service packs or operating systems. But now, you can simply download these .adm files to add or populate your Group Policy editor.

Download appropriate .adm files from this page.

Windows registry is a directory which stores settings and options for your Windows operating system. When you install programs on your computer, they add a lot of entries on your Windows registry. If you later decide to uninstall them, some registry entries are left behind. As these entries build-up, they tend to slow things down on your machine. You should remove them using RegCleaner.

RegCleaner screen shot

RegCleaner is a FREE tool which allows you to view the author and the name of the software. Simply find the name of the uninstalled program, select them and click “Remove Selected”. It’s that simple.

In addition, RegCleaner also has an automatic registry cleaner (under the Tools->Registry Cleanup menu) which would remove invalid registry entries from your system. Invalid entries are one of the major causes of system crashes. By cleaning up your registry, your system should not only be more stable but it will also help improve your system performance.

RegCleaner has the following key features:

• Remove file types
• Remove entries of old software
• Uninstall and remove Software from the Add/Remove list
• Remove unused DLL files
• Remove unused Shared DLLs (Automatically detected)
• Automatic backup feature

Download RegCleaner from this page (541 KB)

You may have noticed that whenever you open “My Computer” to browse files, there is a slight delay. That is because Windows XP automatically searches for network files and printers each time you open Windows Explorer. You can significantly increase browsing speed by doing the following:

1. Double-click on My Computer
2. Click the Tools menu
3. Select Folder Options
4. Click on the View tab
5. Uncheck the Automatically search for network folders and printers
6. Click OK

Uncheck the "Automatically search for network folders and printers" in Folder Options

A codec is software that is used to compress or decompress a digital media file, such as a song or video. When you play a digital media file, Windows Media Player uses a codec to decompress the file. Codecs are used to create and play nearly all music or video files on your computer or on web sites.

In other words, you don’t need to install different players for different formats on your computer. But some people prefer a different player other than Windows Media Player for their interface features and functionalities. Whatever your player is, you can use that player to play any video and audio formats as long as you have to right codecs.

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I have created an article on How to speed up boot time using Sysinternals Autoruns. I strongly suggest that you read that article first. A lot of people are asking which startup program items can be deleted or unchecked in Sysinternals Autoruns that slows down the boot sequence and those harmful items added by trojans and spywares.

Well I found a great website that have a database of startup programs. It currently has 23,403 startup items on its database at the time of this writing. It allows you to search for programs that you find starting automatically on your computer and determine if they are considered to be harmful, optional, unnecessary, or necessary to run.

The database is alphabetically organized so you can browse through using its index. You can also use its search feature to find the program you want to know.

Each entry in the database will have a Status assigned to it. The key to this status is the following:

• Y - This status flag means that this entry should be left alone and be allowed to run as if it is unchecked it may break the functionality or use of a particular program.
• N - This status flag means it is unnecessary to run this program automatically when Windows starts as you can run it manually when necessary.
• U - This status flag means it is up to you whether or not you feel this program needs to run automatically.
• X - This status flags means the item should definitely not start up automatically. Items that have this flag are generally malware such as viruses, trojans, hijackers, spyware, etc.
• ? - This status flag means the status of this entry is unknown at this time and more research is necessary.

Link to list of startup program items: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/