Wiki editor / XP Tweaks

[IG-88]

I figured out a couple cool tricks to help hide winXP and wondered if someone would like to try them and then add them to the Wiki.

[Cakemeister]

Please dive in and edit. Sounds like a good contribution.

[dkubarek]

just curious. what are some things you discovered?

[IG-88]

Please dive in and edit. Sounds like a good contribution.

Well, I thought about editing it myself but it was easier to figure out the xp tricks than figuring out that thing.

dk: It wasn't nothing really. I wanted an opinion on HORM which I love the idea but thought of a way that might be easier to do it. And then I found a tiny little program that lets you hide the start/taskbar at the bottom yet still lets you access it if needed. It's really slick and it runs in the background. You never see the taskbar at all if you want.

With all the "optimizations" that I did to one of my old comp (1ghz, 384 mb, Tinyxp) I can get it to boot in about 16 seconds, which I didn't think was too bad. 

[blind_dado]

So, what's the program?

[IG-88]

Here it is.

http://tinyurl.com/dzlyp3

Thing works like a champ.

As for the HORM (Hibernate Once Restart Many?) There is an option in XP that makes the computer go into hibernation when the power button is pressed. Therefore when turning it back on it comes right up. Isn't this basically what the HORM is all about?

After doing all the other tweaks shown in the wiki thats how I got the 16 sec boot. All I have left is too do is hide/change the boot and shut down screens and you wont even know windows is on the machine. Pretty easy I thought. 

[jasonbar]

As for the HORM (Hibernate Once Restart Many?) There is an option in XP that makes the computer go into hibernation when the power button is pressed. Therefore when turning it back on it comes right up. Isn't this basically what the HORM is all about?

Interesting.  Yes, it *does* seem obvious.  I've been researching HORM a little bit & it appears to be well over my head.

The only downside that I can see to having your PC power switch do hibernate/un-hibernate vs. shut down/boot is that you'd essentially never shut down your PC & Windows would be running "forever".  Doesn't Windows require rebooting every now & then to clear wasted memory or purge cache files or whatnot, or else it will start running slower/buggier?

Yes, I'm clearly not a computer guru...

Thanks,
-Jason

[IG-88]

Hey Jason,

I've heard that myself but with the cutdown version of xp I'm running I'm wondering if thats a big of an issue.....

On a side note, I went to your site an read a little of your bio. So when are you gonna apply your talents too designing a low cost rotating monitor for us little guys? 

[jasonbar]

I didn't get too hardcore w/ my XP Pro trimming.  I turned off lots of services, removed tons of fonts, etc.  But I kept out of the registry.  The longest part of my boot process is before Windows even starts loading--the BIOS screen & then the SCSI card finding & mounting the SCSI drive takes a while before Windows even starts up.

Oddly, I had some Windows glitches the other day & my Windows boot screen has now dissappeared--just black--guess I don't have to worry about hiding it now!      


On your side note, unfortunately, I've spent the last 4+ years designing things HIGH cost, so I'm of no help to you: 
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/science_ra.php
http://msl-scicorner.jpl.nasa.gov/Instruments/Mastcam/
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/rover/arm/

-Jason