Windows XP - Disable support for old file names and gain speed

The many advantages of security and speed also come with a small disadvantage. Reading and writing data is slightly slowed down by the support for Windows 3.1/DOS file names, which only consist of 8 letters. You can safely take off this inhibitor if you do not use such an operating system on the side or are not a member of a network with Windows 3.1/DOS computers. And this is how it works:

(Note the warning below before you start)

Note: With the help of these instructions, you can also carry out the optimization somewhat more easily via the command line!

1. Click one after the other on Start and select Execute. A window opens immediately with the command line regedit and press Ok confirm.

2. The Windows registration opens up. Work your way through the following keys step by step: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem.

3. In the right-hand pane, double-click on NtfsDisable8Dot3NameCreation and enter in the command line that appears a 1 inside.
Now confirm with Ok and restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Warning I: We have noticed that some users are complaining about difficulties with DOS programs, resulting in the following error messages:

If you still often use very old programs that use the old file notation, we strongly advise against this tweak, as it can no longer be undone.

This error message is particularly serious if you try to install the Via4in1 driver, which takes over the configuration for the hard disk controller and mainboard control. I received interesting information about this topic by e-mail (from Mr. Blei): If you install the corresponding program in a directory that is based on 8+3 (e.g. C:\Prog\VIA\setup.exe), the installation can be carried out smoothly. This was confirmed in a test.

Update problems with Norton AntiVirus 2004 have also been reported occasionally: If NAV is installed with deactivated 8+3 file names (value 1), the setup runs smoothly, but the program update (not the virus definition update) is later no longer operational. Even the temporary activation of these file names no longer helps (value 0). The solution is a complete reinstallation with 8+3 file names switched on (restart required). Pay attention to this during installation! Afterwards it does not matter whether 0 or 1, because the update works in both cases.

Many thanks for the NAV hint to Mr. Orlowski, who took the great trouble to test this symptom and provided me with the results by e-mail.
Warning II: Thanks to a reader's letter from Mr. Kaltenecker, I found out that some shared objects via network are no longer displayed after deactivating the 3.1 file names. So if you have problems finding network folders and files, we recommend that you do not use this setting.