Remove delay in LAN games under Windows 7

I find it weird when last time playing Warcraft III LAN game with my housemate, we both feel a bit of delay on the client side (joining one). After doing some search on web, we found that by modifying a bit of registry, the strange delay was removed. This only happens under Windows 7.

1. Open up Registry Editor, navigate to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\
2. Look for a subkey name similar to this: {E3CF3EE3-AE61-4A50-8121-2A6CF502EF0F}
3. Inside the subkey, there is a value DhcpIPAddress, check if it is the IP Address given by your router. If so, add 2 new DWORD (32-bit) keys with value as follows:
     TcpAskFrequency    1
     TCPNoDelay    1
4. Restart your PC.

Repair Windows unable to show hidden files

In some cases, Windows will not be able to show hidden files upon request. In Windows Explorer > Tools > Folder Options... > View Tab > Advanced settings, check on Show hidden files and folders and hit Apply. But after these steps the hidden files are still not shown, and the next time you go in to the same setting, you'll see the setting is set to Do not show hidden files and folders. This is probably caused by your Windows registry being modified by certain virus.

 

Here are the way to manually fix this problem and re-enable the showing of hidden files in Windows system.

1. Go to Start > Run > type in regedit.
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL
3. Delete the key CheckedValue in the right hand window.
4. Create a new DWORD Value named CheckedValue.
5. Double click on it and set the value data to 1.

Now, restart your computer and everything should be working fine.


Alternatively, you can open up notepad, copy-paste following code and save as .reg file and run it.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL]
"CheckedValue"=dword:1

Download: Re-Enable Hidden Folder.zip

Disable autorun in Windows

"Autorun.inf" virus are commonly infected in flash drives nowadays. Especially when you plug your flash drives into public computers such as school computers or work computers, your flash drives are probably been infected by the virus.

After you back to your personal computer and plug the infected flash drive, your computer may also be infected (unless your antivirus program is able to detect and prevent it). This is due to the autorun function for flash drives plugged into computer USB port. The "Autorun.inf" file is actually a system file which uses to indicate which file or program to be run once an flash drive is plugged in. But this file now are commonly used by virus spreaders to spread virus. So, I would highly recommend any of you to turn the windows default autorun function off to avoid the infection (in case your antivirus is not able to detect).

For Windows 7:

1. Start -> Control Panel
2. Click on Hardware and Sound
3. Click on AutoPlay
4. Uncheck the option Use AutoPlay for all media and device
5. Click Save and exit. You're done.

For Windows Vista:

1. Click Start -> type in gpedit.msc in the search box, then hit Enter
   

   If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or click Allow

2. Under Computer Configuration, expand Administrative Templates, expand Windows Components, and then click Autoplay Policies.
3. In the Details pane, double-click Turn off Autoplay.
4. Click Enabled, and then select All drives in the Turn off Autoplay box to disable Autorun on all drives.
   
5. Restart the computer.

For Windows XP Professional:

1. Click Start, click Run, type "gpedit.msc" in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Under Computer Configuration, expand Administrative Templates, and then click System.
3. In the Settings pane, right-click Turn off Autoplay, and then click Properties.
4. Click Enabled, and then select All drives in the Turn off Autoplay box to disable Autorun on all drives.
5. Click OK to close the Turn off Autoplay Properties dialog box and restart the computer.

For Windows XP Home Edition or other operating systems that do not include gpedit.msc:
Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs.

1. Click Start, click Run, type in "regedit" in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following entry in the registry:
   

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer\NoDriveTypeAutorun

3. Right-click NoDriveTypeAutoRun, and then click Modify.
4. In the Value data box, type 0xFF to disable all types of drives.
5. Click OK, and then exit Registry Editor.
6. Restart the computer.

Change Warcraft III resolution to ANY resolution

I believe most of you know what Warcraft III is. The Warcraft game comes with a variety of screen resolutions, but too bad Warcraft did not support for widescreen resolution.


As time goes, widescreen monitors had became more and more common. The 4:3 ratio resolutions are looking terrible in the stretched "widescreen".

Here, I'm going to show you a method to change Warcraft III resolution to custom resolution which cannot be found in the game options.

Below are the steps:

1. Identify your screen resolution (Either is 1280x800 or 1440x900 or any other resolutions).
   
2. Start -> type "regedit" in the search box and hit Enter (Windows XP: Click on Run, then type in "regedit" and hit OK). Locate the following registry key:
   

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Blizzard Entertainment\Warcraft III\Video

3. In the right-handed pane, locate the key "reshight" and "reswidth".
4. Double click on this two keys and type in the appropriate value (according to your screen resolution) for each key (resheight: Height; reswidth: Width) as follows:
   
   
   Note: Remember to change the "Base" to "Decimal" instead of "Hexadecimal".
5. Click OK after the changes.
6. Exit the Registry Editor and restart Warcraft III.

Now you will see your Warcraft game in the resolution you wanted. The Warcraft game Option -> Video page now shows like this:


No worry, just leave it and enjoy your game in widescreen :)

One thing to note, after this change, you should not change any settings in the Warcraft game option page. If you do so, the resolution of the game will revert back to default at the next start and you are required to perform the above method once again (because the game will rewrite the registry). Hence, I'll recommend you to change all the other settings to your preferred values then only perform the above method. This will ensure you get all the options you want for your Warcraft III.

However, if you're not familiar with Registry Editor, I advise you not to use this method. Messing up registry key would really troubles you. There's a lot of programs out there allowing you to do the same thing with single click or what, just Google it. This method is mainly for those who does not want to use 3rd party software or who loves manual works. :)