by Gina Trapani
After I wiped my hard drive clean and reinstalled Windows XP last week, I booted up into an pristine, default operating system - that felt a lot like a hotel room just before I rolled my luggage in, tossed my jacket on the couch, unmade the bed and set my toothbrush next to the sink. I had no idea how many changes I'd made to Windows to fit my preferences over the years until they were all undone.
Today I've got a list of the most important Windows customizations that make my PC feel like a place I can get work done in more smoothly and easily. Hop in for a quick ride around Windows dialogs, tabs, menus and toolbars to get your XP fitting like a glove.
Re-locate the taskbar
I've got a wide screen and I like to see as much information vertically as possible, so I drag and drop the Windows taskbar to the left hand side of my screen (not right, because it interferes with scrolling) to maximize vertical space. The pleasant side effect is that open windows stack on top of one another, freeing up more real estate for viewing and working with them in the taskbar. See also: Ask Lifehacker: Moving your Windows taskbar.
Enable Quick Launch with large buttons
It's probably because my love affair with Mac OS X has gotten me fond of large buttons on a dock, but I can't live without the Quick Launch toolbar on Windows taskbar. I'm a no-icons-on-the-desktop girl, so my top dozen or so programs and documents go in Quick Launch: including the "Show Desktop" button and a shortcut to the "My Documents" folder. To enable Quick Launch, right click on your task bar and from the Toolbars menu choose "Quick Launch." Drag shortcuts to programs, files and folders onto Quick Launch to add 'em and use the right-click context menu to delete items.
To enable the large button setting, unlock the toolbars (right click on the taskbar, and uncheck "Lock the taskbar"). Then right-click within the Quick Launch bar and from the View menu choose "Large Icons." Since my taskbar is vertical, I like to create two columns of big fat Quick Launch icons so I can read open windows' title bars, too.
Remove MSN Messenger, MSN Explorer and Outlook Express
Ever since Windows Update had its way with me, the little green MSN Messenger guys moved into my system tray, showing up every boot-up without ever asking. I don't use MSN Messenger (currently Trillian and GAIM are battling it out for my IM client of choice), yet right-clicking on the MSN guys in my systray offered no "Quit and don't automatically start up again" option. (Shame on you, Windows, that's just so TACKY.) To evict 'em (and the other two MS-specific programs I don't use, Outlook Express and MSN Explorer), from Control Panel's Add and Remove Programs, go to "Add/Remove Windows Components" and uninstall those suckas.
Install Windows PowerToys: ClearType Tuner and Alt-Tab replacement
Also as a result of my Mac affair, somewhere down the road I became a complete font diva. Windows default font settings are atrocious and pixelly; I had no idea how bad we had it until I saw the other side. Now I can't live without ClearType. The ClearType Tuner Windows Power Toy - a free download from Microsoft - smooths out your fonts all pretty-like and lets you tune the settings for maximum font gorgeousness. Once the Tuner's installed, hit up the Control Panel and select the ClearType Tuner applet to turn on Clear Type and get it working perfectly for your monitor configuration.
While they're all good, the other essential Windows PowerToy is the Alt-Tab replacement. I'm a big program switcher using the Alt-Tab key combination, so I really appreciate this PowerToy, which displays a preview of the program window you're tabbing to and over, instead of just the program icon. Very useful for tabbing to exactly where you want to go.
Download the ClearType Tuner and Alt-Tab Replacement at Microsoft's web site.
Set Start menu to classic view
I don't like my Start menu all big and fat and different every time I look at it, because I'm cranky like that. Right-click on the Start menu and choose Properties to switcherback to the Classic view (my preference), or, if you're of a more tolerant persuasion, wade around the the XP Start menu's Customize dialogs to get your menu just how you like it.
Disable Error reporting when programs crash
Windows developers who deal with what I imagine are millions of program crash reports every day reported from Windows? I truly appreciate what you do to improve the computing world's experience every day. However, I never send error reports to Microsoft after a program has crashed - at that moment of utter frustration I'm feeling less than helpful, you see - so I disable the dialog which says "This program just ended unexpectedly. Send an error report to Microsoft?"
To do so, from the Advanced tab of the System dialog box in Control Panel, check off the "Disable Error Reporting" radio button.
Show the underlying file system, no matter what
I love that Windows tries to save me from breaking any of the delicate china by hiding file extensions, special system files and the operating system's internal folders. Actually, that's a lie. I despise it. It's my computer, and I want to know what's happening under the hood, even if it means a file ends in "ini."
To set Windows to display exactly what's going on in every nook and cranny of your hard drive, from Explorer's Tools menu, choose Folder Options. From the View tab, uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types," check "Show hidden files and folders," check "Display the contents of system folders," and uncheck "Hide protected operating system files" (XP will ask AGAIN about this, but just tell it you're indeed sure).
Last, since I'm the type of girl who really likes to sink her teeth into the dark troublesome world of (gasp!) file systems - with such complex and confusing concepts as file paths and extensions - I also check "Display the full path in the title bar" so when I'm Explorering around my hard drive I know where I am at all times.
This list is not exhaustive, and obviously these are all a matter of personal preference. I'd love to hear what unique Windows settings work for you and why, so let us know how you customize your Windows desktop in the comments or in an email to tips at lifehacker.com.
Gina Trapani, the editor of Lifehacker, is concerned she just offended all her friends who work at Microsoft. Her semi-weekly feature, Geek to Live, appears every Wednesday and Friday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Geek to Live feed to get new installments in your newsreader.
