Tweak Windows XP using Handy Tweakers

Handy Tweakers is a freeware tool that you can use to tweak various Windows behaviors. It includes the following functions: Turn off tool, Start Menu tool, Miscellaneous, and the History tool. You can download the 209K executable here.

Also, be sure to check out my other posts on tweaking Windows, such as tweaking Windows Vista and using Tune-Up Utilites to tweak Windows XP. Also, check out cool and useful tweaks for Firefox.

The Turn off tool tab is used to schedule your system shutdown, Restart, Log off, and Hibernate on any specified time you want. You just need to enter the duration or time and date you want the program to execute the task you have selected then click the enable button.

In the Start Menu tab you can enable or disable the recent documents tracking of windows. You can also hide or show windows start menu items such as shutdown, Run, Recent Documents, Log Off, and Favorites. Take note that you need to restart your computer for these changes to take effect.

In the Miscellaneous tab you can add the notepad program and the command prompt of Windows to the right click menu with just a click. You can also use it to lock your computer and put your monitor into standby mode.

See below example of the right click menu upon adding “Command Prompt here”

The History tab is used to clear Recent Documents, Files Search history, Mapped Network Drive history, and Internet Explorer history.

For a freeware it is not that bad. It offers a lot of functions even it is only a mere 200K in size. There is no help file which might turn off some users. Advanced users on the other hand will use this for quick and dirty Windows registry tweaking.