Shutting Down Faster

For security reasons, you can have XP clear your paging file (pagefile.sys) of its contents whenever you

shut down. Your paging file is used to store temporary files and data, but when your system shuts down,information stays in the file. Some people prefer to have the paging file cleared at shutdown because sensitive information, such as unencrypted passwords, sometimes ends up in the file. However, clearing the paging file can slow shutdown times significantly, so if extreme security isn’t a high priority, you might not want to clear it. To shut down XP without clearing your paging file, run the Registry Editor and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\MemoryManagement. Change the value of ClearPageFileAtShutdown to “0”. Exit the Registry Editor and restart your computer. Whenever you turn off XP from now on, the paging file won’t be cleared, and you should be able to shut down more quickly.

Media Players

 Your favourite media players might not play nice under Windows Vista. Specifically, most of the players out there force Vista to throttle down the Aero interface to the plain Vista Basic. Players that have been known to do this include VLC player and Media Player Classic. I recommend using the GOM player from Gretech Corporation (www.gomplayer.com): it is freeware and comes pre-installed with most of the codecs you might need to play your videos. You can always revert to the program of your choice once Vista support is added.