T 'n' T: Top Five Turn-Offs Save Time and Hassle By Disabling Windows Defaults Gregg Keizer
Mon 3/18/02 -- Windows has more options than the fanciest car on your dealer's lot -- and unless you really love the way Redmond does things, many are items you don't need or want. Happily, you can disable a slew of Windows' default gadgets and gewgaws, as long as you know where Microsoft's hidden the off switch. Enter this week's tips 'n' tricks.
Turn off the Recycle Bin's delete confirmation. When I delete a file, I want to delete it -- but Windows is eager to ask, every blasted time, "Are you sure you want to send 'yada-yada.doc' to the Recycle Bin?" The ability to reclaim recently deleted files from the Bin is protection enough, thanks; I don't need this nagging.
Spiking the extra step is easy: Right-click the Recycle Bin and select Properties from the pop-up menu. Click on the Global tab, clear the "Display delete confirmation dialog" box, and click OK.
Turn off window animations. Our favorite operating system has an array of snazzy interface tricks, but some -- while perhaps nice to look at -- can chew up performance, especially on older PCs with slower graphics cards. My favorite target? Windows animation, which livens up the process of maximizing and minimizing windows: Rather than simply popping into place, windows shrink and then fly to the Taskbar when minimized, and leap from the taskbar like inflating balloons when maximized. Whoopee!
After the first few times you see this effect, you can switch it off for a slight gain in desktop speed. In Windows 98 and Me, right-click anywhere on the desktop, pick Properties, then click the Effects tab. In Win 98, clear the "Animate windows, menus and lists" box; in Millennium, clear "Use transition effects for menus and tooltips." Click OK.
Windows XP users must take a slightly different tack. Launch the System applet (via Start/Settings/Control Panel), then click the Advanced tab. Under the Performance section, click Settings, then make sure the Visual Effects tab is at the front. Clear the "Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing" box, then click OK there and in the next dialog.
Turn off the screen saver. Sometimes you want your screen saver to just stay out of the way -- not only are today's monitors almost impervious to the phosphor burn-in that plagued '80s displays, but a saver can disrupt a long download or get in the way when you're doing time-intensive housekeeping such as defragmenting a hard disk.
Launch the Display control panel (either from Start/Settings/Control Panel, or by right-clicking the desktop and selecting Properties); click the Screen Saver tab, and select None from the drop-down list. A slicker shareware way to do the same -- and do it much faster -- is Screen Control, a $29 program that sits in the system tray and lets you turn any screensaver off or on.
Turn off CD AutoPlay. Windows thinks it knows what I want. It is to laugh. Rather than let it start playing a music CD as soon as I stick it in the drive -- hey, sometimes I'm not ready to crank up "Lola" till I get off the phone -- I've turned off AutoPlay, Windows' irritating habit of launching Media Player as soon as the disc hits the drive.
If your PC's on the desk and easily accessible, you can press the Shift key as the CD tray slides in -- presto, AutoPlay's disabled. That's tough to do when your computer's under the desk, however, so in Windows XP, right-click the My Computer icon for your CD drive, pick Properties, then click on the AutoPlay tab. Select Music CD from the list at the top; check the "Select an action to perform" box, and pick "Take no action." Click OK.
In Windows 95, 98, or Me, right-click the My Computer icon, pick Properties, and click the Device Manager tab. Right-click your CD drive, choose Properties, click the Settings tab, and clear the "Auto insert notification" box. Click OK here and in the next dialog (you'll need to restart Windows for the change to take effect).
Turn off XP's Guest account. Windows XP -- both Home and Professional versions -- have the network-like ability to let guests (people not already enrolled as designated users) access the computer. But while guests are somewhat limited in what they can do -- they can't, for example, install or uninstall programs -- their access is a security hole you might want to plug, even at home (to keep your kids from using your work computer, say).
To disable Win XP's guest abilities, click Start/Settings/Control Panels and then open User Accounts. Look at the bottom left; if it says "Guest account is off," you're set -- just close this window and go back to whatever you were doing. If it says "Guest account is on," click there, then on the "Turn off the guest account" link in the next dialog.
