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Tweak UI PowerToy Improves Microsoft Windows XP

Little-Known Microsoft Freebie Allows You to Customize Windows XP

An easy-to-use software utility makes your Microsoft Windows XP experience better. Here are just a few of the many ways you can personalize your Windows XP desktop.

With Windows 7 on its way this Fall, a story about XP might seem to have “missed the bus.” Not so fast!

The Microsoft Vista operating system was given the cold shoulder, with relatively few Windows XP users upgrading. Despite the fact that Apple is making inroads into the overall operating system market share and Linux, as well, seems to be flourishing regardless of its limited uptake in the consumer sector, hopes are high at Microsoft that Windows 7 will take back some of the glamour (and customers) it once had, but failed to capture with Vista.

XP Lives

No matter what happens this Fall, there will still be many millions of consumers and business users who will continue to use Windows XP system, out of choice, company policies, inertia, or perhaps a sense of comfort with XP developed over many years.

For those of us (yes, me too!) who are among those millions that will continue to use Windows XP, Microsoft some years ago created a collection of wonderfully useful little software utilities called PowerToys that can greatly improve your computing experience and enhance your productivity. The PowerToys are available free of charge, direct from Microsoft (see Get The PowerToys at the end of the article). Although Microsoft warns on the download page that, “they are not part of Windows and are not supported by Microsoft. For this reason, Microsoft Technical Support is unable to answer questions about PowerToys,” these little gems really are straightforward to use and in my experience, extremely stable and reliable. You really don’t have to worry about one of these guys crashing your PC.

Say HI to Tweak UI

According to Microsoft, the Tweak UI PowerToy “gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.” This is not rocket science, but as the saying goes, “it’s the little things that count.”

Tweak UI enables you to take the rough edges off the XP interface, to boost your productivity, to enjoy using your computer a little bit more.

Fast Download — Easy Install — Start

After a super fast download and a straightforward installation procedure, Figure 1 below shows Tweak UI in operation. Its user interface (the “UI” in Tweak UI) is clean and simple. On the left are the areas of the operating system you can customize with this PowerToy, and on the right are your options for each of those areas.

Figure 1

Figure 2 displays a few of the many General changes you can make to your XP system. Don’t like all those beeps? Just turn ’em off.

Figure 2

One of my favorite areas of settings, shown below in Figure 3, enables you to adjust how your mouse reacts. This may seem insignificant if you’ve never adjusted the default mouse settings before, but trust me: this adjustment can completely change your relationship with your computer.

Figure 3

The settings in Figure 4 are particularly helpful, if you often work in a software coding editor, web development software, or the like. Being able to scroll a line at a time through text or code with your mouse wheel (instead of the default 3 lines at a time) makes a huge difference in your daily work. Again…a tiny change with a big impact.

Figure 4

If you’re a web builder or someone who is simply curious to see the code “beneath” the web page, you can choose which program you will use to View Source in your Internet Explorer web browser. If you use another web browser, you won’t need this.

Figure 5

The Autoplay settings shown below in Figure 6 are more important than you may realize. Leaving these turned on is certainly more convenient; whenever you put in a CD or DVD, it will automatically begin installing or playing or whatever it’s designed to do.

However, this default action may leave your computer open to security breaches. Best to use Tweak UI to turn off Autoplay, and you can manually start a new CD or DVD when the occasion arises.

Figure 6

Figure 7 shows how Tweak UI lets you choose which action your computer should take when you put a CD or DVD into its drive, or when you attach a USB stick to your computer (assuming you choose to leave Autoplay turned on). By customizing your Autoplay Handlers here, you will save time down the road whenever you deal with discs, USB sticks, external hard drives, or whatever else you may attach to your computer, because you won’t have to make this choice every single time the computer needs to know what to do.

Figure 7

Figure 8 below shows in more detail the types of choices you have available to you concerning the Autoplay Handler feature.

Figure 8

The next set of options, shown below in Figure 9, is useful in trimming down all the various program listings that build up over time in your Frequently Used Programs area of the Program menus. Deselect any program you wish to automatically exclude from your Frequently Used Programs — especially those programs you don’t actually use frequently — and you’ll keep your Start menus clean and spiffy. Even more important, you’ll be able to find those programs you really do need instant access to.

Figure 9

The final four screenshots (Figures 10-13) deal with one of my pet peeves with the default XP user interface. I just hate those little arrows on the desktop icons. They cause an unnecessary visual busyness that I find terribly distracting.

Figure 10 shows the default appearance of desktop icons in Windows XP. I already know that desktop icons can initiate an action such as opening up one of my software programs, so Microsoft really doesn’t need to put that demonic little arrow there to show me!

Figure 10

Tweak UI gives me several choices for how to adjust the appearance of these little arrows, as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11

I’ll choose “None” in Figure 12, so that the arrows will disappear.

Figure 12

After making my selection of “None” in Figure 12, the arrows are gone, the desktop is less cluttered, and I can finally get past the distraction of the arrows to go about accomplishing my mission.

Figure 13 has turned out to be my lucky number after all!

Figure 13

This brief article has just scratched the surface of the many customizations you can make to your own Windows XP system using one of the Microsoft PowerToys. As you can see, Tweak UI provides some pretty powerful features for a tiny, and free, software application.

Microsoft PowerToys are available for Windows XP, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, and Windows XP Media Center Edition operating systems.

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