Greetings
    Out of the box, Windows is configured for ease of use by the "Average User", ...What ever that is, I've never met one have you?

    So... tweaks, tips, tricks, or whatever you prefer to call them are just directions to settings that are hidden or just not real easy to find. This website is (part of) my collection of "directions" to get various Windows "features" to stop, start, or just do something else that might actually be useful.

    Most of these settings are accessed by using one of the Windows Registry Editors, or by modifying the Group Policy templates. Most of the registry edits can be done with the standard registry editor regedit.exe, but on Windows NT/2000 any changes to a registry key's access permissions will require using regedt32.exe. Windows XP/2003 however does not require using regedt32.exe to modify a registry key's access permission and running either command will load the same application. The simplest way to access the group policy editor is to open the run dialog and type gpedit.msc (don't forget the .msc file extension or it won't work), and press [Enter].

    Even if you just grab a pencil and jot down a few notes about what the configuration settings were when you started (which is recommended by the way...), make some kind of backup before making any changes to your computers configuration. If you don't:

1. You'll have no way of resetting the defaults/previous configuration if something goes wrong.

2. It's self defeating, because taking it to a "shop" is what you were trying to avoid in the first place...

3. You'll hate yourself.

4. I'll laugh at you.

    Security & performance are two of my favorite areas of research so the tweaks on this site have all been checked to make sure that they won't adversely effect either, and yes this is the "disclaimer" part that stipulates that if your computer explodes you can't  yell at me.