Please be careful when in BIOS and Registry (Regedit)

GETTING INTO BIOS

Here's a common list of most manufacturer's:

Acer: - Ctrl+Alt+Esc

ALR PC: (F2) or (Ctrl)(Alt)Esc)

AMI BIOS: (Del), (F1) or (F2)

AST, Advantage, Award, Tandon: - Ctrl + Alt + Esc

Award BIOS: (Del) or (Ctrl)(Alt)(Esc)

Compaq: (F10) (do this when the cursor is in the upper right corner of the screen blinking)

Dell: - F2 or Del.

Dell: - Some require pressing reset twice

Dell: - Ctrl + Alt + Enter

DTK BIOS: (Esc)

Gateway 2000: - F1

Hewlett Packard: - F1 or F2 or F10

IBM: Older Models - In order to get into the configuration of the IBM setup screen (CMOS) screen you need to hold down both mouse buttons during bootup.

Aptiva - Press F1

IBM PS/2: (Ctrl)(Alt)(Ins) after (Ctrl)(Alt)(Del)

IBM PS/2 with reference partition: - Press Ins during boot

Some PS/2s, such as 75 and 90: - Ctrl Alt ?

Some PS/2s when pointer at top right of screen: - Ctrl + Ins

NEC: - F2

Packard Bell: - F1 or F2

Phoenix BIOS: (F1), (F2), or (Ctrl)(Alt)(Esc)

Phoenix BIOS: - Ctrl Alt S

Phoenix BIOS: - Ctrl S

Phoenix BIOS: - Ctrl Alt Ins

Sharp Laptop 9020: - F2

Sony: (F3) while you are starting the PC, then (F2) or (F1)

Tandon computers: - Hold down the key after turning on power

Tandon: - Ctrl + Shift + Esc

Toshiba Laptops: - Toshiba Utility

Toshiba: - Press Esc during boot

Toshiba, Phoenix, late model PS/1 Value Point and 330s: - Press F1 during boot

Olivetti PC Pro: - Shift Ctrl Alt + Num Pad Del

Miscellaneous PC's: - Ctrl + Esc or Ctrl and Alt and +

Zenith: - Ctrl Alt Ins


When in the BIOS be careful DO NOT change anything you do not understand.





TO GET INTO SAFE MODE

Hit F8 as computer is booting.



IMPROVE XP SHUTDOWN SPEED

This tweak reduces the time XP waits before automatically closing any running programs when you give it the command to shutdown.

1. Go to Start then select Run

2. Type: Regedit and click ok

3. Find: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Select: WaitToKillAppTimeout

4. Right click and select: Modify

5. Change the value to 1000

6. Click OK

7. Now select: HungAppTimeout

8. Right click and select: Modify

9. Change the value to 1000

10. Click OK

11. Now find: HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop
Select: WaitToKillAppTimeout

12. Right click and select Modify

13. Change the value to 1000

14. Click OK

15. Now find: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control

Select: WaitToKillServiceTimeout

16. Right click and select Modify

17. Change the value to 1000

18. Click OK



That's it. I hope you find these tips useful - you should now see a noticeable speed improvement if you make all of these changes correctly. Hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised!



CHANGING USER NAME IN XP


These data fields can be easily changed in XP without reinstallation.

After purchasing a computer with XP already installed, many people want to change the registered owner and organization names on their system. This can be easily done without a lot of trouble.

This does require playing with the registry. If you are not comfortable and experienced with this, back up your system first.

1. Click Start

2. Click Run

3. Type regedit in the textbox and click OK.

4. Regedit should load. Browse to this registry key:

HKEY LOCAL MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion


5. In the right panel, double click RegisteredOwner

6. In the value data field, change the name to whatever you wish

7. Click OK
8. In the right panel, double click RegisteredOrganization

9. In the value data field, change the name to whatever you wish. You may also delete this text and just leave this field blank.

10. Exit regedit and log off or reboot