Enable Chinese/Japanese in XP/Vista

Vista MUI – Simplified Chinese
http://www.download.windowsupdate.com/msdownload/update/software/updt/2008/04/lp-zh-cn_f59ef0c461e6ab07aa10364fb7476ecdbfac8087.exe

Vista MUI – Japanese
http://www.download.windowsupdate.com/msdownload/update/software/updt/2008/04/lp-ja-jp_838e72b9b4c1d046199bb0a16df22dc54de78b78.exe

Vista MUI – Traditional Chinese
http://www.download.windowsupdate.com/msdownload/update/software/updt/2008/04/lp-zh-hk_a59ac6fa31646c85dc0f4a17c4c235c8a56b4c9f.exe

Chinese in XP Vista
http://www.pinyinjoe.com

How to change MUI Language Pack for Vista basic/home/business? (Officially, MUI is only for Vista Ultimate/Enterprise only)
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/03/06/vista-sp1-multilingual-user-interface-mui-language-pack-install-tool-for-business-home-premium-and-basic-edition

Speed up network browsing in Windows XP

1) Removing all shortcuts from ‘My Network Places’ will return the system response to normal.

Every time you open a file via a UNC name, Windows XP will automatically add another shortcut to the ‘My Network Places’ folder – so the issue tends to get worse over time.

2) You can prevent the automatic addition of shortcuts by setting HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoRecentDocsNetHood to 1.Method 1
Create a drive map and use this to browse the network files.

Method 2
Create a shortcut to explorer.exe and pass the UNC name of the resource.
e.g.
explorer /e, \\Server\FileShare

3) Browsing Network Neighbourhood is slow
Workstations which don’t need Peer-to-Peer File, Print, or named-pipe sharing can disable the server service to reduce browse master traffic. This will also disable use of the admin$ share.

A second issue that will also slow down browsing is the desktop.ini feature

How To Change Windows XP Home to Windows XP Pro?

1. Copy the root directory and the i386 directory of the WindowsXP CD
to your harddisk
2. Extract the Bootsector of your WindowsXP CD
3. Change 2 Bytes in i386\Setupreg.hiv :
a) Open Regedit
b) Highlight HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
c) Menu: File -> Load Structure -> i386\Setupreg.hiv
d) Assign an arbitrary name to the imported structure e.g. “Homekey?
e) Goto HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Homekey\ControlSet001\Services\setupdd
f) edit the binary key “default?and change ?1?to ?0?and ?2?to
?0?
g) Highlight “Homekey?and select menu: File -> unload structure
4. Burn your new XP Pro CD
5. Install WindowsXP as usual. Your XP Home Key will work.Note: You cannot apply SP2 to such a WindowsXP Pro, so step 1.b)
might be to integrate SP2 in your Installation CD

How to install the Recovery Console?

• Boot into Windows 2000/XP.

• Insert the installation CD.

• From a command prompt move to the I386 directory and type:
  C:\> winnt32 /cmdcons
  A dialog will be displayed asking for confirmation. Click Yes.
  File will be copied to the computer and an extra item added to the boot menu.
  C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT=”Microsoft Windows 2000 Command Console” /cmdcons
  A completion message will be displayed. Click OK

• Rebooting the computer will enable the option “Microsoft Windows 2000/XP Command Console” to be selected and start Windows 2000/XP in command mode.

How to install the application in the background without restarting the computer?

(the computer should be restarted manually after installation), enter:
msiexec /i <package_name> /qn
To install the application in the background and then restart the computer, enter:
msiexec /i <package_name> ALLOWREBOOT=1 /qn
�
/qn – quiet installation without rebooting
/qn ALLOWREBOOT=1 – quiet installation with rebooting (without asking)
/qb – install without rebooting (only progress bar)
/qb ALLOWREBOOT=1 – installation and request a reboot�
 

To get uninstall string – http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/myuninst.zip