For those of us who like customizing our computer configuration, Tweak UI is a useful tool. I believe this is something that all owners should have on their computers. Don't ask me why it doesn't automatically come with it. It gives you more customization options on your PC that doesn't normally come with Windows. Albeit, it's totally useless for the people who own a computer and do not know the first thing about them.

I would say the best feature of Tweak UI is for people who have more than one user. It enables you to have the Windows login box empty so you don't have to erase the last user's name just to enter yours. It especially goes for the owners who have others using their computer that have no idea about Windows.

The worst feature is the "My Computer" tab where you control what drives are shown when exploring the "My Computer" icon from your desktop. I guess if you have a drive you don't want others to be able to search through if you have explicit pictures or whatever, then this is actually useful. Besides that, it's okay to have access to another feature.

The first feature it has is the Mouse. You normally have options to change your mouse around, but this gives you the ability to control how long for the interface to recognize you are dragging the icon or file.

The second feature gives you the ability for while you're working in Windows. This includes seeing contents while dragging or resizing, smooth window scrolling, and beeping on errors. The special folders is meant as for the default setting when downloading files. It is the first place set to where you want to choose to download the file to. The Internet Explorer box lets you choose an AOL search type but you get to select which engine you want. The only thing useful is the very first box.

The third tab's most useful item is the ability to change what a shortcut item looks like. I prefer a shortcut icon to look exactly like a normal icon instead of having that little boxed arrow in it. Guess I'm weird like that. The startup box is useless, but you can make your START button animate the "Click here to Begin" pop up box. The last one I'm not sure the point of adjusting the case of an 8.3 filenames.

The Fourth tab is pretty useful. It allows you to control what default icons you have on your desktop. Of course you always need to "My Computer" icon. But what use is the "Network Neighborhood" icon when it's a home PC and you're not networking with other computers.

The Fifth, "My Computer", is the one I stated as useless earlier as the worst feature.

The Sixth is called "Network". It enables you to set your computer to a default log in. This is useful for a network, but useless for home PC's regardless if they have one or more users.

The Seventh is a pretty useful tab. It is called "New". Whenever you right click, you will see an option called "New". This is when you want to make a new file of some sort. If you have a lot of programs, you will have a lot of New files you can make. If there are any files you know you'll never make starting from a new empty file, you can take it off that pop-up list. It's good to do that because if you have a long "New" list, it may take up to 2 seconds before it pops up. If you're like me, computer lagging is not accepted!

The Eighth, Add/Remove, is the same ability as the Add/Remove programs in the Control Panel. It's pretty useless if you go to the Control Panel to use Tweak UI, but good if you have a shortcut to Tweak UI on your desktop.

The Ninth, boot, is a very necessary function for users like me. If you check the "Function keys avail for X seconds," it'll pop up a screen while booting Windows to let you choose if you want your computer to boot normally, boot in safe-mode, safe-mode with network support, or custom-wise where it'll ask you yes or no to run each driver. Very neat function. You can also set how long it will display before continuing booting.

The Tenth, "Repair", is exactly what it says. This is not a special miracle maker here, so don't think of it as fixing your computer when breaking down. Anyhow, sometimes you'll see an icon wrong next to a file or the little "E" icon next to the address in your Explorer bar. Usually it's a glitch, especially if your computer is on at all times. Hit "Rebuild Icons" and 'Walla' it fixes it most of the time. You can also fix the Font Folder, System Files, Regedit, and File Associations. Regedit is something I can't clearly explain, but it's a Windows manager for the programs you use...very hard to explain. In File Associations, use this if you (for example) use WinAmp to listen to mp3's. When you click on an mp3 file and it brings up your paint program, you know what to do... But, if you anything other that Rebuild Icons, you most likely will be told to reboot your computer to continue.

The last one (finally!!) is called "Paranoia". It means basically what it says. You can clear your history for what you type in the Run, Find, My Documents, Internet Explorer, and Last User histories. Whenever you type something in one of those fields and continue, the next time you use it, it will still have what you typed last time. The thing is, you can clear it while you're using Tweak UI, or have it clear what boxes you've checked every time someone logs in to Windows. The other feature it has is called "Things that Happen behind your Back"....also self explanatory. If you put an Audio CD in and want the CD player to pop up automatically, check this box. If you put a data cd in, and you want the program to automatically run, check that one. It makes you wonder what else happens behind your back!! ha ha...anyhow, the final part is for mid to advanced users. It's the ability to log applications (programs) that don't function or start correctly. It'll put it in file called FAULTLOG.TXT that you can find when accessing your Windows hard drive.

I hope this epinion is helpful and understandable for beginners who want to learn more about how to start becoming a computer wiz. After becoming a configuration junkie, try "X-teq Setup" for the above average user and advanced!!



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