Windows XP registry tweaks

Remove the low disk space warning

Probably you have seen the irritating 'low on disk space'-warning before, if your hard disk reaches full capacity. This warning message can be turned off by adding the DWORD-value NoLowDiskSpaceChecks with value 1 in the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MicroSoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer


Disable the useless Security Center warnings

If your Windows is not provided with one of the well known virus scan and/or firewall software, the Security Center will come with useless repeating reminders. The reminders can be disabled by changing the values AntiVirusDisableNotify and FirewallDisableNotify to the DWORD-value 1 in the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center


Disabling the blocking of pop-ups from secured sites

By default Internet Explorer blocks the pop-ups because they are mostly used for irritating advertising purposes. For secured pages (e.g. the login to a bank account), this behavior is not wished. The URL of a secured page is preceded by HTTPS instead of HTTP. The blocking of pop-ups for these HTTPS-pages can be disabled by changing the DWORD-value Allow HTTPS to 1 in the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\New Windows


A faster Windows shutdown

Shutting down Windows can take a long time. You can speed this up (at your own risk) with the following tweaks in the registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Change the following String values:
AutoEndTasks=1
HungAppTimeout=4000
WaitToKillAppTimeout=4000
WaitToKillServiceTimeout=4000
(the last registry value is also present in HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control)


Fix for shutting down your computer automatically

In most cases, automatically shutting down can be fixed by installing the motherboard drivers (if not done already). If your computer still doesn't shut down correctly, try this registry tweak. Change the value PowerdownAfterShutdown to 1 in the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon