In my last post, I talked about one way in which you can speed up computer performance by disabling the User Account Control warning messages found in Windows Vista and Windows XP. The change to the registry setting doesn’t speed up the processor in any way, but instead eliminates delays and interruptions. On the negative side, disabling the messages leaves you open to engaging in actions that are possibly dangerous to your computer.

Today, I have another registry change that will speed up your computer by eliminating a delay. Once again, I don’t advocate editing the registry if you’re a complete novice when it comes to using a computer. Editing the registry is highly effective at changing the behavior of your computer, but it makes the changes you ask for immediately, and there’s no way to “undo” what you’ve done short of restoring an unchanged copy of your registry.

I’ll again recommend that you back up your registry before you make any changes of any kind. RegCure creates a registry backup each time it operates and before it makes any changes to the computer. It will also restore registry backups if a change puts your computer into a bind.

Today’s registry edit will disable the autoplay feature that is turned on by default for CDs and DVDs that are inserted into the drive. In some cases, this feature is useful, but you may find that reading and playing a disc takes an unacceptably long time, especially if you don’t really want the disc to start playing in the first place!

This particular registry change won’t affect your ability to play discs you’ve inse rted. You’ll just have to start the discs manually. To disable the autoplay feature:

Start RegEdit
Within RegEdit, find:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer
Right-click New, then Key. Name the new key NoDriveTypeAutoRun. Press Enter. Right click the key you just created and select New/DWORD Value.
Enter a name for the DWORD Value and press enter.
Double-click the DWORD to open the Edit DWORD Value dialog box. Enter 000000FF into the DWORD Value box. Click OK and then close RegEdit. This change will take effect when the computer is restarted.

The computer will not autoplay discs that have been inserted in the drive. You’ll need to manually start each disc. To return to the default behavior (autoplay), use RegEdit to remove the registry key.

Photo Credit: In Veritas Lux, via Flickr

If you read this blog regularly, you know that the Windows Registry controls just about everything that happens in the operating system. The registry comes set with many default values that work perfectly well for the average person, but may not suit your needs very well. If you’re up to fooling around with the Windows Registry at all, you can personalize your computer a bit, speed up your computer, and make it behave in ways that may be more compatible with the type of work you do.

Editing The Registry Isn’t For Novices

I don’t advocate registry editing for the complete novice. It’s very possible to make a mistake, or change something inadvertently that will affect the way your computer works in an unexpected and unpredictable way. Editing the registry by hand is to be strictly avoided unless you have a feel for what you’re doing. Keep in mind that changes to the registry are immediate and unforgiving.

As always, you’ll want to back up the registry before you make any changes at all. RegCure makes a registry backup each time it makes a change to the registry, and that’s a good habit to get into if you’re of a mind to make changes to this all-important part of your computer.

Disable User Account Control One “feature” of Vista that users really complained to Microsoft about is the User Account Control (UAC) messages that Windows Vista will place on the screen when you ask the computer to do something that could be dangerous. The UAC prompts must be cleared before the computer will initiate the action the user has requested. For novice users, these prompts may cause them an unnecessary amount of angst because more often than not, the UAC warning sounds a lot more dire than it needs to. The UAC is designed to alert users to potential unsafe actions, but it does tend to become annoying. You can speed up your computer by disabling the UAC prompts. Keep in mind, however, that this change in the registry is universal; it will apply to every user.

Open RegEdit. Within RegEdit, find:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\System
Find ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin and change its value to 00000000.
This setting suppresses the UAC warning messages.

Keep in mind that if you make this change, the system will not alert you to potentially dangerous actions you might otherwise take without thinking. In future posts, I’ll have more tips that involve customizing the registry to boost your system’s performance.

Photo Credit: Richard Keen, via Flickr