The ultimate tweaker's guide to Windows

Our tips, tricks and hacks will let you customize XP and Vista in a multitude of ways.

You'll be asked whether you want to proceed. Press the y key and then press Enter. After that, you'll get this message:

processed file: C:\Windows\System32\en-US\
winload.exe.mui

You can now go ahead and copy winload.exe.mui to C:\Windows\System32\en-US, and then proceed with the rest of the tweak.

XP

With the help of a third-party app, Windows XP users can change their boot screens as well. Download, install and run the free program BootSkin. Scroll to any boot screen and click Preview to see a larger view of it. Once you've found one you want to use as your boot screen, click Apply.

The next time you boot, it will use your new boot screen. But you're not limited to just the boot screens in the program. Click Browse boot screen library, and you'll be brought to a page from the WinCustomize BootSkins Gallery that has literally thousands of boot skins. Choose one (or create your own), and you'll be set with a new boot screen.

10. Speed up Vista search

Windows Vista's search can bog down if you've got a lot of files, e-mails, contacts and more on your hard disk. But there's a simple way to make searching zippy again.

Most of the time when you do searches, you use the Search box on the Start menu, and those are most likely the times when you're looking for fast results. So I'll show you how to speed up searches launched from the Start menu.

First, decide what type of information you're usually looking for when you do a search from the Start menu's search box. Are you always looking to run a program? For a file? For an e-mail message?

After you decide that, right-click the Start button and choose Properties. Click Customize next to the Start menu entry, and the Customize Start Menu dialog box appears.

Uncheck the boxes next to any type of content you don't want to search. For example, if you only want to search for programs, uncheck the boxes next to Search communications and Search favorites and history and select Don't search for files.

If you only want to search for files, uncheck the boxes next to Search programs, Search communications and Search favorites and history. Click OK when you're done, and OK again. Search will be sped up considerably.

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