Editing registry settings without restarting | Windows XP Performance Tips

Once you have made a change to the registry in Windows XP, you generally have to reboot the computer in order for your change to take effect. This is not actually necessary, as with a simple set of commands, you can cause the system to reload the registry by stopping and restarting the 'Explorer' process.

To do this:

1. Save and close all open files you might be working on. For example, if you are writing a document, you'll need to close this before reloading the registry.
2. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to bring up the task manager.
3. In the 'processes' tab, highlight 'explorer.exe' and click 'end process.' All windows and desktop icons will disappear except for task manager.
4. Now go to the 'file' menu in task manager and select 'new task (run…).' Type 'explorer' into the text box. This will relaunch explorer and load your new registry settings without restarting.

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