Ultimate Guide to Create a Fully Customized Windows XP Installation Disk with all the Tweaks & Hacks you can Imagine! (Part2)

Posted by Jawwad

February 24, 2008

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As promised here is the follow-up to my previous article “Ultimate Guide to Create a Fully Customized Windows XP Installation Disk with all the Tweaks & Hacks you can Imagine!”. Today, I will present you all the recommended tweaks that you can apply during your customized Windows XP boot CD/DVD creation as explained to great length in my previous article. Please note that these tweaks are not necessary in the actual boot CD creation process as I said in my previous article. But most of these will be helpful in the further optimization of the customized Windows XP that we are building and will avoid the time and hassle to apply them later (after installation) manually in the Windows XP. Also note that you will apply these tweaks in the Step 12 of boot CD creation process as explained in my previous article.

All the tweaks are mentioned in the order you will apply them in the nLite during customized XP boot CD creation. So here are these tweaks:

Desktop -> Internet Explorer icon -> Show
Desktop -> My Computer icon -> Show
Desktop -> My Documents icon -> Show
Desktop -> My Network Places icon -> Show
Desktop -> Recycle Bin icon -> Show
Explorer -> Add (un)register libraries in Context Menu
Explorer -> Advanced Search: preconfigure options
Explorer -> Associate additional file types with Notepad
Explorer -> Classic Control Panel
Explorer -> Disable Prefix: Shortcut to
Explorer -> Disable Web Files and Folders connection
Explorer -> Display the contents of system folders
Explorer -> Recycle Bin: delete files directly
Explorer -> Show extensions of known file-types
Explorer -> Show hidden files and folders
Explorer -> Show Statusbar in all windows
Explorer -> Show the full path in the Address Bar
Internet Explorer -> Disable Market Place bookmark
Internet Explorer -> Disable sound when popup is blocked
Internet Explorer -> Enable Google URL-Search
Internet Explorer -> Keep IE URL-History for-50 Days (max recommended)
Internet Explorer -> Set Homepage -> about:blank
Internet Explorer -> Set IE-Cache limit to -> 200 MB
Internet Explorer -> Set Internet Explorer to accept 10 connects at a time
My Computer -> Add Administrative Tools
My Computer -> Add Control Panel
My Computer -> Add Control Panel to Context Menu
My Computer -> Add Device Manager to Context Menu
My Computer -> Add Software to Context Menu
Network -> Allow receiving Remote Assistance-Disable
Network -> Disable administrative shares
Network -> Disable Simple File Sharing
Network -> Remote Desktop-Disable
Performance -> Disable Last accessed Timestamp on files
Performance -> Use Windows classic folders / No Tasks Sidepanel
Privacy -> Disable Error Reporting
Privacy -> Remove Alexa
Security -> Disable Web Open With prompt
Start Menu -> Network Connections -> Display as Connect to menu
Taskbar -> Disable Group similar Taskbar buttons
Taskbar -> Disable Hide inactive icons
Taskbar -> Disable Language-Bar
Taskbar -> Lock the Taskbar -> Yes
Visual Effects -> Active window tracking -> Disable
Visual Effects -> Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing -> Disable
Visual Effects -> Combo box animation -> Enable
Visual Effects -> Cursor shadow -> Enable
Visual Effects -> Display mouse pointer trails -> Disable
Visual Effects -> Fade out selection -> Enable
Visual Effects -> Gradient captions in windows -> Enable
Visual Effects -> Keyboard shortcut underline -> Enable
Visual Effects -> Menu animation -> Fade
Visual Effects -> Menu shadows -> Enable
Visual Effects -> Show translucent selection rectangle -> Enable
Visual Effects -> Show window contents while dragging -> Enable
Visual Effects -> Tooltip animation -> Fade
Visual Effects -> Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop -> Enable
Windows Media Player -> Accept Privacy Statement
Windows Media Player -> Disable silent acqusition
Windows Media Player -> Enhanced privacy settings
Windows Media Player -> Optimize fullscreen mode behavior
Windows Media Player -> Remove all context menu entries

I again want to emphasize that you may just want to enable a subset of the recommended tweaks that I listed above, it is entirely up to you but these are just the ones that I prefer to enable.

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Tags: bootable, burning, nlite, Software, Windows, windowsxp

Guides, Software, Windows

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