IDE ATA and ATAPI disks use PIO mode after multiple time-out or CRC errors occur

These notes are taken from here

1. In regedit.exe search for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
   
2. Expand the registry node. You should see entries labeled "0000", "0001", "0002", etc.
   
3. Double-click on each key entry and in the right side panel look for the subkey "DriverDesc". Verify that the "DriverDesc" reads "Primary IDE Channel" or "Secondary IDE Channel".
   
4. Check to see if the registry entry "ResetErrorCountersOnSuccess" is already present and set to 1 (ie. "0x00000001"). If it is set to 0, double-click on "RestErrorCounterOnSuccess" and change the value to 1, close regedit, reboot your system, and after reboot check to see if DMA mode has been enabled.
   
5. If "ResetErrorCountersOnSuccess" it is not present, then select the "Edit" menu, select "New" and click on "DWORD value".
   
6. Enter the name "ResetErrorCountersOnSuccess" and press enter.
   
7. Double-click on "ResetErrorCountersOnSuccess" and enter the value 1.
   
8. Close regedit and reboot the system. After reboot, check the value of "Current Transfer Mode" for the channel(s) updated.

Disable Auto Play

Put the following in a registry file and execute it to disable AutoPlay on all drives
See more details here

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer]
"NoDriveTypeAutoRun"=dword:000000ff

You can selectively drives with the following values (that can be 'Or'ed together)

Value Meaning
0x1 Disables AutoPlay on drives of unknown type
0x4 Disables AutoPlay on removable drives
0x8 Disables AutoPlay on fixed drives
0x10 Disables AutoPlay on network drives
0x20 Disables AutoPlay on CD-ROM drives
0x40 Disables AutoPlay on RAM disks
0x80 Disables AutoPlay on drives of unknown type
0xFF Disables AutoPlay on all kinds of drives 

Manually Installing/Uninstalling a Codec In Windows

To install

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32]
"something.XXX"="XXX.acm"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\drivers.desc]
"XXX.acm"="Some textual description here"

To uninstall

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32]
"something.XXX"=-

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\drivers.desc]
"XXX.acm"=-

CACLS

Give full rights permissions to users on a directory

cacls {dir} /E /G BUILTIN\Users:F

For more details see here

Speed Up Windows Shut Down

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\desktop]
"HungAppTimeout"="5000"
"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="4000"
"AutoEndTasks"="1"
"MenuShowDelay"="100"

[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop]
"HungAppTimeout"="5000"
"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="4000"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\]
"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="4000"

Clear Page File At Shutdown

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]
"ClearPageFileAtShutdown"=dword:00000001

Disabling AutoRun

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom]
"AutoRun"=dword:00000000