10 essential Registry tweaks for Windows

Editing the Windows Registry is considered a dark art by many PC users but sometimes it's the only way of tailoring system settings to exact specifications. We've chosen ten of the very best edits you can make to give your PC a boost in terms of speed, security and reliability. We also show you where to look for them in that huge branch structure that is the Windows Registry. And remember if you use these tips or a Registry cleaner always back up your Registry file first.

1: Quiet UAC
Vista UAC never seems to stop nagging, but you don’t need to disable it, just gag it. Change HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > Microsoft > CurrentVersion > Policies > System > ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin to 0.

2: Stop update restarts
You’re browsing online  and bang! Vista is updated, restarting. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > sotware > Policies > Microsoft > Windows > WindowsUpdate > AU create a 32DWORD and call it NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers set it to 1.

3: Copy Faster
Speed up file transfers by prioritising them HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > Microsoft > WindowsNT > CurrentVersion > Multimedia > SystemProfile, set NetworkThrottlingIndex to 50 or so.

4: CPU processing time
Vista switches between tasks regularly so it can multitask, reduce the frequency with HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > CurrentControlSet > Control > PriorityControl > Win32PrioritySeparation set it to 16 (hexadecimal).

5: Clear the page file
The Windows page file contains lots of data of you PC usage, clear and secure it with HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > CurrentControlSet > Control > Session Manager > Memory Management > ClearPageFileAtShutdown set to 1.

6: Troubleshooting startup
If Vista is having trouble starting up, find out why with HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > Microsoft > CurrentVersion > Policies > System, then create the DWORD verbosestatus and set it to 1.

7: Right click encrypt
Encrypted data is very secure, if you want to encrypt quickly, get the right click option, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Explorer > Advanced, create DWORD EncryptionContextMenu and set it to 1

8: Disable Autorun
After the USB key virus that went around it’s understandable to want to stop autorun. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > Microsoft > WindowsNT > CurrentVersion > IniFileMapping, create the key Autorun.inf and set the default to @SYS:DoesNotExist, finally delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > Microsoft > CurrentVersion > Explorer > MountPoints2

9: Display Settings
Change the display settings via right clicking the desktop: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT > Directory > Background > Shell, create a new key called Display Settings and change default to Display Settings, then create another key inside that called command and set it to: rundll32 shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL DESK,CPL,@0,3

10: Numerical file sorting
Is 20 before 2? File sorting thinks so, make windows get it right: HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Explorer, create a DWORD called NoStrCmpLogical and set it to 1.