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Disable or stop Automatic Updates to increase resources for high-performance tasks.

Automatic Updates are Windows XP’s way of keeping your computer up-to-date, in the background, by automatically checking for, downloading, and even installing updates that Microsoft releases. It’s best to leave this setting on Automatic, but if you want to increase performance for a computer used for gaming or other high-performance needs, you can disable (or stop) Automatic Updates.

To disable Automatic Updates:

1. In the Services console, double-click Automatic Updates.

2. To stop the service temporarily, on the General tab, click Stop.

3. To disable the service, on the General tab, in the Startup Type

options, click Disable.

4. Click OK.

If you have multiple profiles created, for instance a gaming profile, you can disable services for that specific profile only. If you do use your computer for gaming, you’ll probably want to disable as many services as possible for the best performance possible. To disable a service for a specific hardware profile, click the Log On tab in Step 3, select the profile to apply the change to, and click Disable.

You don’t have to keep an open and updated list of recent documents if you don’t want to.

As with other Start menu options, right-clicking the Start button and selecting Properties allows you to configure the My Recent Documents item that appears on the Start menu. You can choose to show all your recent

documents or show none at all, or to manually clear the list yourself. If you want the list to be cleared automatically when you log off, you have to open the Group Policy Editor, locate the appropriate setting, and enable the option to clear the My Recent Documents history on exit. Here’s how:

1. Click Start | Run and type gpedit.msc. Click OK.

2. Under Local Computer Policy, expand User Configuration |

Administrative Templates and select Start Menu And Taskbar.

3. Scroll down about halfway through the list and double-click Clear

History Of Recently Opened Documents On Exit.

4. Select Enabled, and click OK.

You can also turn off the My Recent Documents feature permanently, which may be a better solution. If you prefer not to use the Group Policy Editor, just right-click Start, choose Properties | Customized | Advanced, and uncheck List My Most Recently Opened Documents.

Change the keyboard layout to suit your needs and preferences, or just to play a trick on friends and family.

Perhaps this doesn’t belong here, or even in this book, but if you want to have a little fun with your friends and family, especially those that use your computer without your permission, consider changing the keyboard and

mouse setup to something only you understand and prefer. Here’s how.

If your keyboard comes with command keys, like Favorites, Cut, Copy, Paste, Media, or other options:

1. Open TweakUI.

2. Expand Explorer.

3. Select Command Keys.

You’ll see options here for personalizing those keys. Change the Favorites button to open Solitaire, change the Lower Microphone button to open Windows Media Player, or use Mute Volume to turn up the volume instead.

Chances are these little changes will help you catch that midnight snooper who has been using your computer without your authorization!

Balloon tips are those annoying little pop-ups from XP; get rid of them with TweakUI.

This is a pretty easy one, but you can amaze your friends and family by easily disabling (turning off) those annoying pop-up balloon tips that appear in the right corner of the Taskbar. These balloon tips tell you various

things—you should take a tour of XP, get a .NET passport, etc.—and after a month or two they can get pretty annoying.

To disable balloon tips:

1. Open TweakUI.

2. Click the Taskbar option.

3. Clear the Disable Balloon Tips check box.

If you want to see just how many balloon tips appear for a new user of Windows XP or for a clean installation, log on as an administrator, open Control Panel and User Accounts, create a new user, and then log on as that user. You’ll see why TweakUI’s Disable Balloon Tips option is necessary.

TweakUI offers an easy way to set image quality and thumbnail size.

You can tweak the size and quality of the thumbnails you see in the My Pictures, My Documents, and similar folders. Image quality can be lessened for better performance, as can size. Larger thumbnails require more memory and disk space. Both settings are per-user settings, meaning they change when a different user logs on.

To use TweakUI to configure image quality for thumbnails in Windows Explorer:

1. Open TweakUI and expand Explorer.

2. Click Thumbnails.

3. For a higher-quality thumbnail, move the Image Quality slider to the

right.

4. To change the size of the thumbnails, select a new size in the Thumbnail, Size (Pixels) option.

A larger thumbnail is useful in certain circumstances—a person with poor eyesight or one who sits far away from the monitor, for instance. A high-quality thumbnail may also be important to an artist or photographer. But keep in mind that larger images require the computer to work harder. Since big images require more memory and disk space, they should only be used if absolutely necessary. The largest and highest-quality settings will offer a noticeable performance hit when opening the Explorer folder. On the other hand, smaller sizes and quality use less resources, and may be beneficial to those with limited reserves.

Color space

A simple set of numbers, in either RGB or Good color management starts with a color profile, a cross-platform file that describes CMYK, does not provide enough information a particular device’s color characteristics. When a printer, scanner, or digital camera to define and reproduce exact color on is connected to your system, ColorSync automatically assigns an ICC profile to that different devices. For example, an RGB value device. In most cases, this is a profile that the device’s manufacturer has supplied—a of R10, G100, B10 does not define how that color should appear; it is just the ratio of the factory profile. While many devices come with ICC profiles that ColorSync can automatically assign, By specifying a scale for these RGB values others will need you to specify the ICC profile. Some manufacturers provide ICC within the range of human vision, R10, G100, profiles on their websites, and service providers often supply ICC profiles particular B10 can replicate how this green should to their devices. Professional users may want to create their own, as the accuracy of appear. This scale is called a color space.

Quartz is the PDF-based graphics system in Mac OS X that draws graphic elements on displays and output devices. Quartz Filters give users the ability to apply color management, effects, and other processes when creating a PDF file or printing. You can create your own Quartz Filters using the controls in the Filters pane in ColorSync Utility. More information about Quartz Filters is included in the “Using Quartz Filters” section.

Using the Calculator tool in ColorSync Utility, you can compare the impac t of color models, color spaces, rendering intents, and the translations that occur when color transformations are performed by the CMM. This tool provides a way to empirically see the impact that each element has in color transformations.

ColorSync Utility can also be used as a tool for color space conversions on images. When you open an image in ColorSync Utility, you see the image along with additional options at the bottom of the screen. For example, to apply a sepia-tone profile to the image, choose Apply Profile from the left pop-up menu, Abstract from the middle pop- up menu, then select Sepia Tone. You can also convert an image for an output device by selecting the Output menu and the appropriate printer profile. When converting to an output color space, you can choose a rendering intent for the color space conversion using the Intent pop-up menu. Click Apply to see a soft proof of how the image will appear after conversion. Choose the rendering intent that produces your preferred color appearance based on the image and the profiles being used. Choose Save As from the File menu to apply the conversion and save the new file to your hard drive, ready for output to that particular output device.

Image processing tasks like embedding color profiles can be performed easily with Automator. For example, to create a workflow that changes the color profile for a series of images, select Preview in the Automator Library and drag the “Apply ColorSync Profile to Images” action into the workflow area. You will be asked if you want to add a Copy Finder Items action so the original files are not permanently altered; if you want to apply actions on a copy of the original file, click Add. In the Copy Finder Items pane, choose any folder you wish or use the default (Desktop). In the “Apply ColorSync Profile to Images” ac tion, select an ICC profile from the pop-up
menu to use for the color conversion. This workflow can now be saved as an application. However, the real power comes into play if you save a group of actions as a plug-in. You can select different types of plug-ins depending on how you want to utilize them.

Automator plug-ins include:

Finder.

Adds the Automator workflow to the contextual menu accessible in the Finder.

Folder Actions.

Allow you to select a folder on your hard drive that will run the Automator workflow when items are added.

iCal Alarm.

Runs the workflow at times and dates specified in iCal, the easy-to-use calendaring application in Mac OS X.

Image Capture.

Runs the workflow using the Automated Tasks option in Image Capture.

Print Workflow.

Integrates your Automator workflow into the PDF Services of the Print dialog in Mac OS X, giving you access to PDF-based workflows from most applications.

Script Menu.

If you have enabled the AppleScript Script Menu, your workflow will also be accessible from the AppleScript menu in all applications. Creating an Automator workflow for assigning color profiles to images.

PDF documents in Mac OS X Tiger can be further refined using Quartz Filters. These filters let you apply color management, color effects, and other processing options such as compression or creation of files in PDF/X-3 format. To access Quartz Filters, click Filters in the toolbar of ColorSync Utility. Here you see the Quartz Filters that ship with Mac OS X Tiger. You can duplicate and modify these filters or create your own using ColorSync Utility. To create your own Quartz Filter, click the Add (+) button in the bottom left of the window and enter a name for the Quartz Filter. Press the Enter key and ColorSync Utility saves the name of your Quartz Filter. Click the triangle to the right of the name to see the Quartz Filter options. You can assign ICC profiles; convert to a new color space using profiles; apply color effects; change the bit depth, dimensions, and compression; or add comments to a PDF document. Your Quartz Filter can now be accessed from the Mac OS X Print dialog. Quartz Filters can also be accessed in Automator