This tip is for tweakers and power users who are looking to take complete control over their Windows installation. If this sounds like you then take a look at XP Smoker (also available for Vista users).

XP Smoker allows you to change various settings in the Windows Registry. These settings can improve the performance for your computer drastically. You can also stop and disable useless services in Windows XP. And in the end, you will reduce subsystem bottlenecks, increase application and boot speeds, and ultimately increase the stability of your system.

While their description sounds like many optimization utilities out there, this tool combines everything into one (performance, UI, functionality, etc). Additionally, XP Smoker offers an ‘Internet Optimizer’ (not sure exactly what that means though) that claims to increase your browsing speed up to 100% regardless of your connection speed.

The only drawback to this application, is it is not free. There is a 7 day/50 use trial period to see if you like the program, but after that you have to purchase the program to continue use. If you don’t like having to dig in the registry yourself, this tool might be for you.

Windows XP users who have taken advantage of the excellent user interface control tool, Tweak UI are probably well aware of the fine tuning it offers. Now Windows Vista users have a similar tool available at their disposal: Ultimate Windows Tweaker.

The author themselves title the tool ‘Tweak UI For Windows Vista’:

Ultimate Windows Tweaker is a Tweak UI Utility for tweaking and optimizing Windows Vista, 32-bit & 64-bit. It can simply be downloaded and used as a portable application to customize your Windows Vista to meet your requirements. With judicious tweaking, It can make your system faster, more stable, and more secure with just a few mouse clicks. The tweaker detects whether you have IE 7 or IE 8 installed and accordingly offers you the relevant tweaks only.

There are over 125 tweaks at your disposal. Additionally, the program does not require you to install it so you can copy it to a flash drive and carry it anywhere.

Nothing much else I can really say here except Windows Vista users will definitely want to give this tool a download.

There is a lot of information available out there on what certain Windows services do and whether or not they can be safely disabled. For an excellent and actively updated guide for services in each of the current Windows releases, check out these guides on BlackViper’s web site:

• Windows Vista SP1
• Windows XP SP3 – 32 Bit
• Windows XP SP2 – 64 Bit
• Windows 2000 SP4

While there are many other sites out there which offer the same information, I have found these guides to be the most concise and helpful.

One word of advice regarding tweaking services: while a few are hogs (i.e. the indexing service), most services do not consume a noticeable amount of system resources so disabling them wouldn’t really give you much benefit. If you are unsure if you need it, just leave it on.

For Windows Vista users wanting to make modifications to some of the user interface and security settings, check out WinBubble. You can think of WinBubble as a TweakUI for Vista which allows you to:

• Customize OEM information.
• Customize screensavers.
• Tweak security settings (disable task manager, control panel, etc.).
• Activate a hidden Aurora boot screen.

This program is 100% free and worth a look for Vista users.