33.
Move libraries
Windows uses default locations, also called
libraries, to store some user data. Folders such as Documents, Pictures and
Music are found here. By default, these are located in the Users folder on the
OS drive. This can be an problem, because it fills up your operating system's
volume, so it's best to change this.
To do so, open Explorer and make your way
to the Users folder and go into your own account folder. Select the various
folders you want to move and copy and paste them to a new location, preferably
on another drive, of course.
With these copied, return to the original
folders and right-click one. Select Properties > Location and then click
'Move'. Browse to the new folder location and click 'Select Folder'. Repeat for
each folder you moved.
Move
you standard user folders off Windows’ drive to limit OS slowdown
34.
Enable God Mode
Although it's not a cheat that'll give you
infinite health or everlasting ammo, Windows' 'God Mode' tip is still useful
and helps speed up your PC by putting a large assortment of controls into one
easy-to- use collection.
To use this trick, right-click on the
desktop and select 'New folder'. Name it 'God
Mode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01 C}' and create the folder. The icon
will change to a system tool icon, and if you double-click it, you'll find a
host of useful tools.
Also note, if you replace the 'God Mode'
part of the folder name, you can call the icon whatever you like.
Windows’
God Mode can be very useful and can save you having to wade through menus
35.
Create your own Start menu
Although a third-party tool can fully
restore the old-style Start menu, you may not want to use such an app. After
all, more apps means more resources are required. Instead, you can create a
cut-down menu of sorts. To do this, ensure you can view hidden files and
folders by going to Explorer and View > Options. Click the View tab and make
sure the option to 'Show hidden files, folders and drives' is checked.
Now, right-click the desktop's taskbar and
select Toolbars > New Toolbar. In the dialogue box that opens, navigate to
C:\Users\your username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu, where
'your username' is your own user folder.
Click the 'Select Folder' button and you'll
now have a Start menu located on the taskbar. This will contain anything found
in the selected folder. It can be the location mentioned here or any other
folder, so you can create an all-encompassing Ober-menu if you like.
36.
Remove Windows 8's lock screen
Windows 8's new lock screen is useful for
obvious security reasons, but can slow you down. If you'd rather simply go
straight to the login screen, you can get rid of it by editing the registry.
Open the registry editor and navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Personalization (you
may need to create the Personalization folder). Create a new DWORD value in the
Personalization folder and call it 'NoLockScreen'. Give this a value of 1.
You're done; the lock screen should now be history. To re-enable it, change the
value to 0 or delete the DWORD value.
37.
Restart Explorer
Windows Explorer is the main GUI you see
when you're using Windows, it's also one of the elements of Windows most prone
to problems. Occasionally, especially after a long heavy session of use, it can
slow down to a crawl. To alleviate this, it's worth killing it off and
restarting it.
In older versions of Windows this is done
by going to Task Manager (Ctrl+ Alt+ Del) selecting Processes and killing the
Explorer entry. To restart it, you select New Task and type 'explorer' in the
box. This will start a fresh instance of Explorer. In Windows 8, simply go to
Task Manager, highlight Windows Explorer, click 'Restart' and it'll take care
of itself.
38.
Turn off UAC
User Access Control began life in Windows
Vista and is still present in Windows 8, where it's no less annoying for those
that are experienced enough to know better, and it also slows down so many
tasks as you have to keep confirming your actions.
To stop this, you can lower UAC's security
or even disable it. To do so, locate User Access Control in the Control Panel
(a simple Windows search should do the trick) and then use the slider bar to
reduce the severity of the checks or drop it to the bottom to never notify you.
Obviously, changing this lowers your system's security, so do so at your own
risk.
Lower
or disable User Access Control settings to stop system prompts slowing you down
39.
Bypass 'Metro'
When Windows 8 boots up, it takes you to
the Metro UI first and not the desktop, which many would prefer. This can be
changed with some tweaking and there's a simple way to go about it.
First, create a 'Show Desktop' icon in the
Startup folder. To do this, go to C:\Users\Your
Username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\ Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup and
create a new shortcut. Enter 'C:\Windows\explorer.exe shell:::{3080F90D-D7AD-1
1 D9- BD98-000094780257}' as the location and click 'OK'. Now, when you next
log in, the task should be fired off and will go straight to the desktop.
Don’t
want Metro to boot up when you log in? Bypass it and go straight to the desktop
40.
Disable file and folder compression
NTFS file systems can compress data to save
space, and although this is useful if you're running with limited storage, if
you' have a large capacity disk, you'll probably be okay without the feature,
especially as it can also hit your system with a performance drain.
Check your hard disks by right-clicking
them in Explorer and removing the option to 'Compress this drive to save disk
space'.
