Speed Up the Windows 2000 Professional Workstation User Interface -
I have made these same adjustments in every version
of Windows I have run (Win95, Win98, Win98 2nd Ed & WinME) - The edits on
this page all speed up the display of menus - If you make them all exactly as
described here, you may find that Windows becomes 'too lively' - You can
modify, 'temper' or reverse any of these adjustments to suit your taste - I
have also listed my Task Bar & Start Menu settings here – They remove the
scrolling Programs Menu, add a cascading Control Panel and My Documents folder
and remove personalized menus - You might prefer the way they work over the
default Windows Settings -
·
Click
Start|Settings|Control Panel
·
Click on Display
·
Click the Effects Tab
·
Uncheck "Use
transition effects for menus and tool tips"
·
Click Apply
·
Click OK
MS TweakUI 1.33 is compatible with Windows 2000
Professional Workstation (and many other versions of Windows as well - Don't
let the description fool that it is for use ONLY by Power Users - It makes
registry settings a snap using a simple GUI and is much better than hand
editing the registry - it is available here -
http://www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/downloads/powertoys/networking/nttweakui.asp
After you install it, I make the following changes
using TweakUI -
·
Click on
Start|Settings|Control Panel
·
Click on TweakUI
·
Mouse Tab (Click on it
if you have to bring it to the front)
·
Slide the Menu speed
slider all the way to the left (Fast)
·
Click on the General
Tab
·
Clear all check boxes -
Beep
On Errors
Cursor
Shadow
Menu
Fading
Mouse
hot tracking effects
Tooltip
fade
While you are at it,
·
Click the Explorer Tab
·
Check the None Check
box, if you'd like to remove the arrow that is added to short cuts when they
are created
·
Uncheck Prefix
"Shortcut to" in new shortcuts
·
Click Apply
·
Click OK
Lastly,
·
Click Start|Settings
·
Click on Taskbar &
Start Menu ...
·
Uncheck Personalized
menus [see note at end]
·
Click the Advanced Tab
·
Check all the 'Expand
...' choices
I like the Control Panel
and the others to 'cascade' - why have to click on CP, open an Explorer window
and the click on the CP item of interest? -
·
Uncheck Scroll the
Programs menu
·
Click Ok
The personalized menus 'hide' lesser used Start menu items
- I find this annoying - Things keep moving around and I can't find the one I
am looking for - I prefer the entire Start Menu to open like it used to in
Windows 95 - I put a copy of constantly used shortcuts in the Quick Launch bar
and frequently used items into folders I create and add directly to the Start
Menu - Folders like Applications for
Word, Excel - Utilities for ClipMate, Notepad, etc - File Tools for WinZip,
WS-FTP, etc - and so on - In essence I create my own personalized menu, but
whenever I want to find something I can go to the Programs menu and everything
is there –
Here is a low res picture of my Quick Launch bar
which has the applications that I use several times a day, like the TV,
Outlook, my internet connection, Copernic Search, Quicken, etc
And here is a picture of my Start Menu – All my
personalized items are listed here – besides those mentioned above, the
Graphics folder contains, Paint Shop Pro, ACDSee picture browser and so on –
the Programs Folder has everything in it, in case there is some lesser used
application I need to access – the Common Folders toolbar (described in the Quick Access to Commonly
Used Folders article) is underneath the start
menu at the minute
