Changing XP Prefetch settings

To change settings for your Prefetch folder run Regedit.

You can change the way that Prefetch behaves by making a change in the registry. This is helpful when you want to alter Prefetch or disable Prefetch completely. Low resource (memory, hard disk space, etc) systems may need this functionality disabled to get the system to run more efficiently.

Navigate to this value:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters

In the right side pane, look for the key named EnablePrefetcher. The value of this key represents how Prefetch will operate.

Values you can choose from include:

0: Disable
1: Application Launch Prefetch
2: Boot Prefetch
3: Prefetch everything

Simply type the number in that you want (keep all other settings the same) and click OK. Rebooting the system will give you the new Prefetch setting.

Address Bar removed in Windows XP SP3

Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) removes the "Address bar" option as an available Taskbar tool. It's believed that Microsoft removed this option so not to be in violation of certain antitrust rulings, especially in the European Union.

Getting it back -

The file modified by the installation of SP3 is browseui.dll. The trick is to replace this file with the SP2 version of the file. The older version of the file can be found in C:\Windows\System32 on any non-SP3 machine.

Copy this file to the root directory of the SP3 machine or to some other location that the SP3 PC can access.

Here is where it gets a little tricky. The browseui.dll file is a system file and is therefore protected whenever Windows is running. That means you cannot just copy the SP2 version file over the SP3 version file. You will need to start the PC in "Safe Mode with a command prompt" or boot to a bootable CD, i.e. WinPE.

Once there issue the following command:
copy browseui.dll C:\Windows\System32\

Reboot the PC. If all went well, you should now have the option to add the Address Bar toolbar.