Windows registry hacks

Check Disk (chkdsk) Runs Every Time Windows Starts

Check Disk (chkdsk) Runs Every Time Windows Starts

Microsoft, Tips/Troubleshooting, Windows , 35 Comments

Sometimes it happens that disk check always starts to check the file system on one or more drives for consistency on Windows Startup. If any key is pressed, the disk checking is aborted. In this article, we will prevent chkdsk from running every time Windows starts.

Actually this is because some data structure of the drive or some file is corrupted which can not be recovered and check disk is always run at Windows Startup. Or sometimes it may take several hours for disk checking to scan all the drives. So disabling it or postponing disk check is better. There are several methods to disable disk checking at Windows Startup. Two of them are given below:

Method 1: Using CHKNTFS utility

Disable check disk at Windows boot

CHKNTFS is a utility that has been developed by Microsoft to disable disk checking on certain drives at Windows startup. To use this utility go to Start –> Run –> cmd.

If you want to disable check disk on C: drive, use the following command on command prompt.

chkntfs /X C:

If you want to disable check disk on two or more drives, just keep on adding the drives:

chkntfs /X C: D: E:

This will disable check disk on C, D and E drives.

If you want to restore what you have done, that is, enable automatic disk checking on all the drives again, just run the following command:

chkntfs /D

This will restore all the drives to automatic disk checkup.

Method 2: Using Registry

To disable automatic disk checking at Windows startup through registry, go to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager

In the right hand pane, double click BootExecute.

The default value of the key is autocheck autochk *

* means every drive is checked for consistency. Just add /K:C at the end before *. /K switch will disable autocheck on C: drive at Windows startup. So the final value should look like this:

autocheck autochk /k:C *

If you want to add more drives, the key should look like this: (disabling C and D drives)

autocheck autochk /k:C /k:D *

If you want to restore everything to default, just replace the key with the default one i.e.,

autocheck autochk *

Shutdown Windows Faster With Shutti Shutdown Booster

Shutdown Windows Faster With Shutti Shutdown Booster

Software 0 Comments

Although Microsoft has done a lot of work to speed up shutdown and startup times of Windows, it can still take a while if you are using an application which does not respond when Windows shuts down. For example, I have installed Skype on my Windows 8 PC. Windows 8 will not shutdown until Skype does all its work like saving data and logging off and then giving a clear signal to Windows.

There are a few settings in Windows which can be altered if you don’t want to wait for a hanged or busy application on shutdown. These settings can be altered through the registry but it is always safe to use a software utility for make the changes to avoid any problems.

Shutti Shutdown Booster makes Windows shutdown process faster by altering a few timeout settings. These timeout settings include the following:

WaitToKillAppTimeout – Windows waits for the app to respond for a certain amount of time before killing it and proceeding to the shutdown process.

The registry key location for this setting is:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop –> WaitToKillAppTimeout

HungAppTimeout – Windows waits for the app to respond for a certain time. If the app does not respond, it is labeled as hanged application.

The registry key location for this setting is:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop –> HungAppTimeout

WaitToKillServiceTimeout – This particular setting is the same as WaitToKillAppTimeout but is for services.

The registry key location for this setting is:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop –>

ClearPageFileAtShutdown – I think you should keep this as default and enable it only when you are having problems with the page file.

The registry key location for this setting is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management –> ClearPageFileAtShutdown

That’s it. All these values are adjusted by Shutti Shutdown Booster. The app comes in portable form with a very simple interface.

Shutti Shutdown Booster

You will get all the options on one screen. You only have to change the values of the registry keys mentioned above. You can revert to default Windows settings but clicking on the “Windows default” button (Alt + D). Just change the values and click on “Apply Changes” (Alt + A).

Overall Shutti Shutdown Booster does not actually boost the shutdown process, it will just adjust the shutdown settings to make sure no hanging application or service gets in the way of the shutdown process.

One thing to note here is that the publisher mentions that this application is not fully tested with Windows 8. I can confirm that Shutti Shutdown Booster works well in Windows 8. It works perfectly on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. It requires .NET Framework 3.5 or higher to run.

Download Shutti Shutdown Booster

[download id=”56″]

Three Ways To Enable Windows 8 Hibernate Option

Three Ways To Enable Windows 8 Hibernate Option

Featured, Microsoft , , , 0 Comments

Hibernation is a great feature of Windows which was introduced in Windows XP. Hibernation enables Windows to save all the data in RAM to the hard drive so that the computer can be shutdown without losing the current state of the system. When the user wants to start the computer again, Windows will attempt to restore the the state of RAM that was saved when hibernating.

Windows 8 also comes with the hibernate option which comes in handy when a user wants to shutdown the system without losing the present state of his work. But the hibernate option in Windows 8 is not enabled by default. You will need to enable the option in order to make it visible in the Power options. We discuss three ways to enable Windows 8 hibernation option.

If you enable hibernate option in Windows 8, it will create a file called hyberfil.sys. This file’s size is equal to that of your RAM. You will need to make sure that there is free space in your system drive at least equal to the RAM memory size.

Using Command line

powercfg hibernate on in Windows 8

The easiest way to enable or disable hibernation option in Windows 8 is through command line.  Follow the steps below to enable hibernation through command line:

Open command prompt with administrative privileges and issue the following command:

powercfg -h on

This should enable hibernate option instantly without restarting your computer. You can confirm this by expanding  Windows 8 power button and see if the hibernate button is available.

Windows 8 power button expanded

Similarly, you can easily disable the hibernate option from the command line by using the following command.

powercfg -h off

Please make sure that you are issuing these commands in command prompt with administrative privileges. Otherwise the commands will not run.

Using Registry

You can also enable or disable Hibernate option in Windows 8 through registry. This can be useful especially if you are in a network and want to replicate this behavior in all the computers across the network.

enabling Hibernate option through registry editor

To enable hibernate using the registry, follow the steps below.

  1. Go to Run (WinKey + R) –> regedit
  2. Go to the following registry key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power
  3. In the right hand pane, double click “HibernateEnabled” and set its value to 1.
  4. You will need to restart your computer in order for the changes to take effect.

Please note that editing Windows registry is an advanced task. You should only do it if you are confident about using the registry editor. You should always backup Windows registry before performing any operations.

Using Power Options (Visual)

To enable the hibernate option visually, go to Control Panel –> Hardware and Sound –> Power Options.

If you are using a laptop, you can simply right click on the Power icon in system tray and select Power Options.

choose what the power buttons do

Check the Hibernate option on the next screen and save changes. This should enable the hibernate option immediately.

Power options system settings

Sometimes you will  find that all or some of the shutdown settings are grayed out like the screenshot below:

Power options system settings greyed out

You can simply click on the link at the top that says “Change settings that are currently unavailable”.

Change settings that are currently unavailable

I hope this will be helpful for you. Which method will you prefer to enable or disable hibernation in Windows 8? If you know of any other way to do this trick, please let us know through comments.

Download Free Registry Cleaner For Windows 8

Download Free Registry Cleaner For Windows 8

Software , , 0 Comments

Registry cleaners have always been controversial and their effectiveness has been questioned by so many experts. But one thing is for sure, registry cleaners, as the name implies, are for cleaning the Windows Registry which gets overloaded with invalid file references and other issues left by the programs we keep on installing regularly in Windows.

Since working with Windows Registry is a sensitive job as Windows will get corrupt if anything important gets deleted, it should be dealt with care. We should not try all the registry cleaners. One feature that we should be looking for in any Windows Registry cleaner is that it should have a backup and restore system so that if anything goes wrong, we can immediately revert back to the original state.

Cleaning the Windows Registry can make your system faster and more robust only if it’s done with care. Otherwise it is only destined to ruin the system.

Eusing Free Registry Cleaner is a Windows Registry cleaner which promises to safely clean and repair registry problems with simplicity and ease of use. The best feature of Eusing Free Registry Cleaner is that it can backup Windows Registry before scanning the registry and fixing issues in it. Not only can it backup registry, it can also start Windows Backup for you so that you can create a restore point before proceeding to the next steps.

Registry backup

Windows Backup and Registry backup options can be accessed through Eusing Free Registry Cleaner file menu.

Eusing Free Registry Cleaner for Windows 8

The Windows Backup doesn’t seem to work in Windows 8 so you’ll need to be content with the full registry backup in Windows 8.

Using Eusing Free Registry Cleaner is very easy. It has only three options to work with.

  1. Scan registry issues
  2. Repair registry issues
  3. Restore previous registry

To start the scanning process, click on the "Scan registry issues" link. This will start the scanning process. You will see the problematic registry keys being found in the right hand pane. You can select or de-select any specific keys which you want to be repaired or not.

After the scanning process is complete, you can click on the "Repair registry issues" in order to start the repairing process. The repairing process takes a few seconds and will show the finishing dialog box about the repair process.

Finished repairing

Although Eusing website does not list Windows 8 in the supported platforms section, I can confirm that I have used Eusing Free Registry Cleaner on two of my Windows 8 computers and have yet to encounter any problems.

Download Eusing Free Registry Cleaner

Do you use any registry cleaners for your system? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

How To Remove System Tray Icons In Windows 7

How To Remove System Tray Icons In Windows 7

Microsoft, Software, Windows 7 , , 4 Comments

We tend to install and uninstall applications in Windows and this list of apps becomes quite large with the passage of time. Windows system tray is an area where applications can install their icons and display notifications about their status. Windows 7 remembers all the items and their display settings which were installed in the system tray. You can access all the notification area items from the “Notification Area Items” or from the Customize link in the system tray.

When you open the notification area list, you will notice that it even contains the items which you have already uninstalled or are not using for quite a long time. There is no direct way to clean the system tray icons in Windows. But the system tray icons can be removed by editing the registry. Let’s see how this can be done with ease.

remove tray notification items from registry

Go to the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareClassesLocal SettingsSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionTrayNotify

In the right hand pane, delete the following keys:

  • IconStreams
  • PastIconsStream

After deleting the above keys, you will need to restart Windows Explorer by killing it from the Task Manager and then restarting it.

The registry key is the same for Windows 7 and Windows 8. So you can safely follow this method for remove system tray icons in Windows 7 and in Windows 8.

Notification Area Cleaner for Windows 7

Apart from using the manual registry method, you can also use a software called Notification Area Cleaner for Windows 7. This software will let you only delete the obsolete items from the system tray notification area. Running this tool will reset the notification area in Windows 7. Notification Area Cleaner does not have any configuration settings. You only need to run the program and it will automatically do it job.

Download Notification Area Cleaner for Windows 7