A Few Useful Tweaks

Since this is a subject we have touched on a couple of times recently I decided to share a a few useful registry tweaks. These apply to Windows Vista.

1) Stop UAC being so annoying

Yes, I leave User Account Control on. I find it bearable with time and its just one extra security caution. However the most annoying thing about it for me is not the popup requiring you to proceed, but the way it blocks out the rest of the desktop.

With time I found it begins to slow down and become increasingly frustrating. Luckily it’s easy to fix:

• Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
  Policies\System\PromptOnSecureDesktop
• Change from 1 to 0

2) Auto Logon

Maybe not so secure a tip, but seeing as I have to reset Windows so often I wish sometimes it could just logon automatically so I could go off and do something else. This is a registry tweak to do jut that:

• Registry Key: HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\winlogon\AutoAdminLogon
• Now create a new String Value and call it DefaultPassword
  Set: DefaultPassword = "[email protected]"
• Check for a REG_SZ called DefaultUserName. If it’s not there, then right-click in the right pane > New > REG_SZ and name it, DefaultUserName.  Set the string value to the required UserName to be auto logged in.

3) Simultaneous Downloads

This is a fantastic little tweak as I’ve run into trouble with this before… by default you cannot download more then 2 files from one web server.

• Registry Key: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings
• Create two DWORDS (Right Click > New> DWORD (32-Bit) Value)
• MaxConnectionsPerServer and MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server
• Set the value of the first to 000000a and the value of the second to 0000000a