Introduction

XP Tweak Fest 2001

No blathering. No wasted space. This is going to be a visual walkthrough of how to tweak out Windows XP Home so that the thing works the way you want them to. You may not like all the goodies in here, but most of us are looking for speed and efficiency with our OS. If you find a procedure you don't like, just don't do it. Now sit back and enjoy the pretty pictures and "When you grab the pebble from my hands, you will have learned, Grasshopper..."

Ever Have That "Bloated" Feeling?

First things first. There is a legit way to get rid of some of the most annoying junk in XP, like the nagging MSN passport prompts. This won't work for some of the big guns, but it is a good start.

Annoying Little Doggie

Turn Off Doggie

Hide Nothing

You want to be able to search for files, but you don't want to have to deal with that lame little doggie guide, right? Go to the Start menu and choose Search. See Doggie. Click on Doggie. Turn off Doggie. Pretty simple. Next, from the Start menu open My Computer. Go to Tools, Folder Options and choose the View tab. Configure the advanced settings so the system hides nothing. Display the contents of system folders, and launch folders in a separate process. Click the Apply button and then the Apply To All Folders button. Click OK to close out the dialog and close My Computer. Now you should be ready for the next step.

Find SYSOC.INF File

Open File For Editing

View Full-Size in another window."> Replace "Hide" With Nothing

Open up My Computer, click on the Folders button and look for the SYSOC.INF file. If you can't find it, search for it without the lame little doggie. Then open that file for editing (middle pic shows a right-click menu option) and then in Notepad from the Edit menu choose Replace. In the dialog, type "Hide" in the Find box and leave the Replace box blank. Click on Replace All.