Phr33x Tw33x #26

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Faster networking

TWEAK: You can speed up network and possibly Internet browsing by going to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace in the registry and deleting the key '{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}'.

Tony Meman

REPLY: It seems there is a neat little 'feature' in all 32-bit flavours of Windows, which causes Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer to scan remote or shared files and folders over networks. This feature is related to Scheduled Tasks and is nothing more than a pain in the butt, causing annoying delays when traversing network directories and shares.
By removing the offending registry entry, jumping around networks can be a much less frustrating experience.

Some important advice though. Before you delete anything from the registry, you should always export the Registry Key to a file first, so you can restore it later, should things turn ugly.

Open Regedit and go hunting for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace. If you have Windows XP, then right click on {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF} where you will have the option to export that key to a file. If you are using Windows 2000, you will need to highlight the key then click 'Registry' on the tool bar, then 'Export Registry File'. Follow the prompts and save the file somewhere convenient.

Now delete that key from the registry. The good news is you won't need to reboot. The change is effective immediately. Should you start having some problems, double click on the backup file you created to restore the registry entry.

This tweak should work across all versions of Windows although it was only tested on Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP Professional. If, after you apply this tweak, you upgrade or reinstall Internet Explorer, you will find that the value has been recreated, so you will need to go through this process again.

Rating 8/10

NetBEUI for XP

TWEAK: Windows XP doesn't allow you to add the NetBEUI protocol easily, although the files you need are on the XP CD-ROM. Use the following steps to install it:

In the properties for you Local Area Connection, click 'Install', double click 'Protocol' and then click 'Have disk'. Make sure your Windows XP CD-ROM is in your drive and browse to the /Valueadd/msft/net/netbeui folder. Open Netnbf.inf and follow the prompts.

Sm3agoL

REPLY: NetBEUI was the default network protocol back in the days of Windows 95. Today, TCP/IP is the standard. NetBEUI is seeing less and less support due to its lack of routing capabilities. It is not an ideal protocol for large networks, but for small LANs it is just fine, particularly for accessing shared resources, and is actually the fastest protocol in most situations. Netnbf.inf and Nbf.sys are the only two files you need to install the NetBEUI protocol, and Microsoft have at least seen fit to provide those file on the Windows XP CD-ROM.

Rating 6/10

Getting to the Administrator account

TWEAK: To allow the Windows XP Welcome/Logon screen to show the Administrator account you can edit the registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/Winlogon/SpecialAccounts/UserList.

Enrazz

REPLY: A default installation of Windows XP does not display the Administrator account on the Login page. To log in as Administrator from that page you would need to press Ctrl+Alt+Del then while still holding down Ctrl+Alt, press the Del key again. It is far easier to have the Administrator account already available on the Login page.

All the usual warnings about screwing with your registry still apply, but fire up Regedit or Regedt32 and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/Winlogon/SpecialAccounts/UserList/. If it isn't already there, create a new Value called Administrator. Double click on it, give it a key value of one and select 'decimal' for the base. Close and reboot.

This tweak does nothing to improve your overall performance, but makes things just that little bit easier for Administrators.

Rating 5/10