software tricks & tips

windows 7 shorcut keys

2010-09-02T06:18:00.000-07:00

Keyboard shortcuts are most important for power computer users. If you want to increase your productivity then you must know all windows keyboard shortcut which is required to carry out your day to day computing activity. Windows Vista and XP have almost same keyboard shortcuts but microsoft latest operating system windows 7 has got many new keyboard shortcuts.

Here is a list of all new as well as old windows 7 keyboard shortcut which will be definitely helpful for all Windows 7 users experimenting with first windows 7 beta.

Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcut List

Win+UP Arrow :- Maximize the current window

Win+Down Arrow :- If the current window is maximized, restore it; if the current window is restored, minimize it

Win+Left Arrow :- Dock the current window to the left half of the screen

Win+Right Arrrow :- Dock the current window to the right half of the screen

Win+Home :- Minimize all but the current window

Win+P :- Open the projection menu (generally used for laptops connected to projectors)

Alt+F4 :- Close the active window

Alt+Tab :- Switch to previous active window

Alt+Esc :- Cycle through all open windows

Win+Tab :- Flip 3D

Ctrl+Win+Tab :- Persistent Flip 3D

Win+T :- Cycle through applications on taskbar (showing its live preview)

Win+M :- Minimize all open windows

Win+Shift+M :- Undo all window minimization

Win+D :- Toggle showing the desktop

Win+Up Arrow :- Maximize the current window

Win+Down Arrow :- If the current window is maximized, restore it; if the current window is restored, minimize it

Win+Left Arrow :- Dock the current window to the left half of the screen

Win+Right Arrow :- Dock the current window to the right half of the screen

Win+Home :- Minimize all but the current window

I will update this list as an when I get more keyboard shortcuts for windows 7.

window 7 best tricks

2010-08-31T00:47:00.000-07:00

It’s great to see Windows 7 Beta finally released to the world! We're very proud of what has been accomplished over the last months; in many ways, it sets a new quality bar for a beta operating system release. Building on top of the Windows Vista foundation, Windows 7 adds a great deal of polish and refinement to both the user interface and the underlying architecture, while at the same time introducing many new features and improvements that support new hardware, give power users and casual users alike better tools to manage their digital lives, and enable new classes of application experience.

Over future blog entries, I’ll spend time drilling into some of those areas in more detail; of course, there are plenty of articles already out there that dissect Windows 7 in some depth, with the Windows SuperSite and Ars Technica providing notably comprehensive entries. I’d also like to draw particular attention to the series of Windows 7 interviewsthat Yochay Kiriaty has been posting on Channel 9, which give the inside scoop on the development of many of the most significant new features.

For now, though, I want to focus in on some of “secrets” of Windows 7: the many little tweaks and enhancements that we’ve made in this release that I’ve discovered and collated over the last few months of using Windows 7 across my home and work machines. These are the things that are too small to appear in any marketing document as “features”, but that you quickly miss when you switch to an older version of Windows. There are some who think that we’re arbitrarily hiding functionality to make Windows easy for casual users, but I’d argue that a great deal of effort has been put into this release to satisfy power users. In homage to those of us who enjoy discovering the nooks and crannies of a new operating system list, I’ve put together the longest blog post that I’ve ever written. If you’ve downloaded and installed Windows 7 Beta recently, I think you’ll enjoy this list of my thirty favorite secrets. Have fun!

Windows Management. By now, you’ve probably seen that Windows 7 does a lot to make window management easier: you can “dock” a window to the left or right half of the screen by simply dragging it to the edge; similarly, you can drag the window to the top of the screen to maximize it, and double-click the window top / bottom border to maximize it vertically with the same horizontal width. What you might not know is that all these actions are also available with keyboard shortcuts:
- Win+Left Arrow and Win+Right Arrow dock;
- Win+Up Arrow and Win+Down Arrow maximizes and restores / minimizes;
- Win+Shift+Up Arrow and Win+Shift+Down Arrow maximizes and restores the vertical size.
This side-by-side docking feature is particularly invaluable on widescreen monitors – it makes the old Windows way of shift-clicking on two items in the taskbar and then using the context menu to arrange them feel really painful.
Display Projection. Had enough of messing around with weird and wonderful OEM display driver utilities to get your notebook display onto an external projector? In that case, you’ll be pleased to know that projection is really quick and simple with Windows 7. Just hit Win+P, and you’ll be rewarded by the following pop-up window:

Use the arrow keys (or keep hitting Win+P) to switch to “clone”, “extend” or “external only” display settings. You can also access the application asdisplayswitch.exe.

If you want broader control over presentation settings, you can also press Win+X to open the Windows Mobility Center, which allows you to turn on a presentation “mode” that switches IM clients to do not disturb, disables screensavers, sets a neutral wallpaper etc. (Note that this feature is also available in Windows Vista.)
Cut Out The Clutter. Working on a document in a window and want to get rid of all the extraneous background noise? Simply hit Win+Home to minimize all the non-active background windows, keeping the window you’re using in its current position. When you’re ready, simply press Win+Home again to restore the background windows to their original locations.
Multi-Monitor Windows Management. The earlier tip on window management showed how you can dock windows within a monitor. One refinement of those shortcuts is that you can use Win+Shift+Left Arrow and Win+Shift+Right Arrow to move windows from one monitor to another – keeping them in the same relative location to the monitor’s top-left origin.
Command Junkies Only. One of the most popular power toys in Windows XP was “Open Command Prompt Here”, which enabled you to use the graphical shell to browse around the file system and then use the context menu to open a command prompt at the current working directory. In Windows 7 (and in Windows Vista, incidentally – although not many folk knew about it), you can simply hold the Shift key down while selecting the context menu to get exactly the same effect. If the current working directory is a network location, it will automatically map a drive letter for you.
It’s a Global Village. If you’ve tried to change your desktop wallpaper, you’ve probably noticed that there’s a set of wallpapers there that match the locale you selected when you installed Windows. (If you picked US, you’ll see beautiful views of Crater Lake in Oregon, the Arches National Park, a beach in Hawai’i, etc.) In fact, there are several sets of themed wallpapers installed based on the language you choose, but the others are in a hidden directory. If you’re feeling in an international mood, simply browse to C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT and you’ll see a series of pictures under the Wallpaper directory for each country. Just double-click on the theme file in the Theme directory to display a rotation through all the pictures for that country. (Note that some countries contain a generic set of placeholder art for now.)
The Black Box Recorder. Every developer wishes there was a way that an end-users could quickly and simply record a repro for the problem that they’re running into that is unique to their machine. Windows 7 comes to the rescue! Part of the in-built diagnostic tools that we use internally to send feedback on the product, the Problem Steps Recorder provides a simple screen capture tool that enables you to record a series of actions. Once you hit “record”, it tracks your mouse and keyboard and captures screenshots with any comments you choose to associate alongside them. Once you stop recording, it saves the whole thing to a ZIP file, containing an HTML-based “slide show” of the steps. It’s a really neat little tool and I can’t wait for it to become ubiquitous on every desktop! The program is called psr.exe; you can also search for it from Control Panel under “Record steps to reproduce a problem”.
The Font of All Knowledge. Long Zheng will be happy: we’ve got rid of the Add Fonts dialog that has served Windows faithfully for the last twenty years. (Of course, for most of that time, it’s been deprecated – the easy way to install a set of fonts has simply been to drag them into the Fonts folder via Control Panel.) But now font installation is really easy – we’ve added an “Install” button to the font viewer applet that takes care of the installation process:

There are lots of other new features built into Windows 7 that will satisfy those of a typographic bent, incidentally – grouping multiple weights together, the ability to hide fonts based on regional settings, a new text rendering engine built into the DirectWrite API, and support in the Font common file dialog for more than the four “standard” weights. For example:
Gabriola. As well as the other typographic features mentioned above, Windows 7 includes Gabriola, an elaborate display type from the Tiro Typeworks foundry that takes advantage of OpenType Layout to provide a variety of stylistic sets, flourishes and ornamentation ligatures:
Who Stole My Browser? If you feel like Internet Explorer is taking a long time to load your page, it’s worth taking a look at the add-ons you have installed. One of the more helpful little additions in Internet Explorer 8 is instrumentation for add-on initialization, allowing you to quickly see whether you’re sitting around waiting for plug-ins to load. Just click Tools / Manage Add-ons, and then scroll right in the list view to see the load time. On my machine, I noticed that the Research add-on that Office 2007 installs was a particular culprit, and since I never use it, it was simple to disable it from the same dialog box.
Rearranging the Furniture. Unless you’ve seen it demonstrated, you may not know that the icons in the new taskbar aren’t fixed in-place. You can reorder them to suit your needs, whether they’re pinned shortcuts or running applications. What’s particularly nice is that once they’re reordered, you can start a new instance of any of the first five icons by pressing Win+1, Win+2, Win+3 etc. I love that I can quickly fire up a Notepad2 instance on my machine with a simple Win+5 keystroke, for instance.

What’s less well-known is that you can similarly drag the system tray icons around to rearrange their order, or move them in and out of the hidden icon list. It’s an easy way to customize your system to show the things you want, where you want them.
Installing from a USB Memory Stick. My wife has a Samsung NC10 netbook (very nice machine, by the way), and we wanted to install Windows 7 Beta on this machine to replace the pre-installed Windows XP environment. Like most netbook-class devices, this machine has no built-in media drive, and nor did I have an external USB DVD drive available to boot off. The solution: I took a spare 4GB USB 2.0 thumbdrive, reformatted it as FAT32, and simply copied the contents of the Windows 7 Beta ISO image to the memory stick using xcopy e:\ f:\ /e /f (where e: was the DVD drive and f: was the removable drive location). Not only was it easy to boot and install from the thumbdrive, it was also blindingly fast: quicker than the corresponding DVD install on my desktop machine.

It’s also worth noting in passing that Windows 7 is far better suited to a netbook than any previous operating system: it has a much lighter hard drive and memory footprint than Windows Vista, while also being able to optimize for solid state drives (for example, it switches off disk defragmentation since random read access is as fast as sequential read access, and it handles file deletions differently to minimize wear on the solid state drive).
I Want My Quick Launch Toolbar Back! You might have noticed that the old faithful Quick Launch toolbar is not only disabled by default in Windows 7, it’s actually missing from the list of toolbars. As is probably obvious, the concept of having a set of pinned shortcut icons is now integrated directly into the new taskbar. Based on early user interface testing, we think that the vast majority of users out there (i.e. not the kind of folk who read this blog, with the exception of my mother) will be quite happy with the new model, but if you’re after the retro behavior, you’ll be pleased to know that the old shortcuts are all still there. To re-enable it, do the following:
- Right-click the taskbar, choose Toolbars / New Toolbar
- In the folder selection dialog, enter the following string and hit OK:
  %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch
- Turn off the “lock the taskbar” setting, and right-click on the divider. Make sure that “Show text” and “Show title” are disabled and the view is set to “small icons”.
- Use the dividers to rearrange the toolbar ordering to choice, and then lock the taskbar again.
If it’s not obvious by the semi-tortuous steps above, it’s worth noting that this isn’t something we’re exactly desperate for folks to re-enable, but it’s there if you really need it for some reason. Incidentally, we’d love you to really try the new model first and give us feedback on why you felt the new taskbar didn’t suit your needs.
It’s a Drag. Much play has been made of the Jump Lists feature in Windows 7, allowing applications like Windows Live Messenger to offer an easy task-based entry point. Jump lists replace the default right-click context menu in the new taskbar; another way to access them (particularly useful if you’re running Windows 7 on a one-button MacBook) is by left-clicking and dragging up in a kind of “swooshing” motion. This was designed for touch-enabled devices like the beautiful HP TouchSmart all-in-one PC, where the same gesture applies.

Another place where you can “swoosh” (not an official Microsoft term) is the IE 8 address bar, where the downward drag gesture brings up an expanded list containing the browser history, favorites and similar entries. The slower you drag, the cooler the animation!
Standards Support. Every review of Windows 7 that I’ve seen has noted the revamped WordPad and Paint applets that add an Office-like ribbon to expose their functionality. Few, however, have noticed one small but hopefully appreciated feature: WordPad can now read and write both the Word 2007-compatible Office Open XML file format but also the OpenDocument specification that IBM and Sun have been advocating:
Windows Vista-Style Taskbar. I wasn’t initially a fan of the Windows 7 taskbar when it was first introduced in early Windows 7 builds, but as the design was refined in the run up to the beta, I was converted and now actively prefer the new look, particularly when I’ve got lots of windows open simultaneously. For those who really would prefer a look more reminiscent of Windows Vista, the good news is that it’s easy to customize the look of the taskbar to more closely mirror the old version:

To achieve this look, right-click on the taskbar and choose the properties dialog. Select the “small icons” checkbox and under the “taskbar buttons” setting, choose “combine when taskbar is full”. It’s not pixel-perfect in accuracy, but it’s close from a functionality point of view.
Peeking at the Desktop. While we’re on the taskbar, it’s worth noting a few subtleties. You’ve probably seen the small rectangle in the bottom right hand corner: this is the feature we call “Aero Peek”, which enables you to see any gadgets or icons you’ve got on your desktop. I wanted to note that there’s a keyboard shortcut that does the same thing – just press Win+Space.
Running with Elevated Rights. Want to quickly launch a taskbar-docked application as an administrator? It’s easy – hold down Ctrl+Shift while you click on the icon, and you’ll immediately launch it with full administrative rights (assuming your account has the necessary permissions, of course!)
One More of the Same, Please. I’ve seen a few folk caught out by this one. If you’ve already got an application open on your desktop (for example, a command prompt window), and you want to open a second instance of the same application, you don’t have to go back to the start menu. You can simply hold down the Shiftkey while clicking on the taskbar icon, and it will open a new instance of the application rather than switching to the existing application. For a keyboard-free shortcut, you can middle-click with the third mouse button to do the same thing. (This trick assumes that your application supports multiple running instances, naturally.)
Specialized Windows Switching. Another feature that power users will love is the ability to do a kind of “Alt+Tab” switching across windows that belong to just one application. For example, if you’ve got five Outlook message windows open along with ten other windows, you can quickly tab through just the Outlook windows by holding down the Ctrl key while you repeatedly click on the single Outlook icon. This will toggle through each of the five Outlook windows in order, and is way faster than opening Alt+Tab and trying to figure out which of the tiny thumbnail images relates to the specific message you’re trying to find.
Walking Through the Taskbar. Another “secret” Windows shortcut: press Win+T to move the focus to the taskbar. Once you’re there, you can use the arrow keys to select a particular window or group and then hit Enter to launch or activate it. As ever, you can cancel out of this mode by hitting the Esc key. I don’t know for sure, but I presume this shortcut was introduced for those with accessibility needs. However, it’s equally valuable to power users – another good reason for all developers to care about ensuring their code is accessible.
The Widescreen Tip. Almost every display sold these days is widescreen, whether you’re buying a notebook computer or a monitor. While it might be great for watching DVDs, when you’re trying to get work done it can sometimes feel like you’re a little squeezed for vertical space.

As a result, the first thing I do when I set up any new computer is to dock the taskbar to the left hand side of the screen. I can understand why we don’t set this by default – can you imagine the complaints from enterprise IT departments who have to retrain all their staff – but there’s no reason why you as a power user should have to suffer from default settings introduced when the average screen resolution was 800x600.

In the past, Windows did an indifferent job of supporting “side dockers” like myself. Sure, you could move the taskbar, but it felt like an afterthought – the gradients would be wrong, the Start menu had a few idiosyncrasies, and you’d feel like something of a second-class citizen. The Windows 7 taskbar feels almost as if it was designed with vertical mode as the default – the icons work well on the side of the screen, shortcuts like the Win+T trick mentioned previously automatically switch from left/right arrows to up/down arrows, and so on. The net effect is that you wind up with a much better proportioned working space.

Try it – in particular, if you’ve got a netbook computer that has a 1024x600 display, you’ll immediately appreciate the extra space for browsing the Internet. For the first day you’ll feel a little out of sync, but then I guarantee you’ll become an enthusiastic convert!
Pin Your Favorite Folders. If you’re always working in the same four or five folders, you can quickly pin them with the Explorer icon on the taskbar. Hold the right-click button down and drag the folder to the taskbar, and it will be automatically pinned in the Explorer Jump List.
Starting Explorer from “My Computer”. If you spend more time manipulating files outside of the documents folders than inside, you might want to change the default starting directory for Windows Explorer so that it opens at the Computer node:

To do this, navigate to Windows Explorer in the Start Menu (it’s in the Accessories folder). Then edit the properties and change the target to read:
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
If you want the change to affect the icon on the taskbar, you’ll need to unpin and repin it to the taskbar so that the new shortcut takes affect. It’s worth noting thatWin+E will continue to display the documents library as the default view: I’ve not found a way to change this from the shell at this time.
ClearType Text Tuning and Display Color Calibration. If you want to tune up your display for image or text display, we have the tools included out of the box. It’s amazing what a difference this makes: by slightly darkening the color of the text and adjusting the gamma back a little, my laptop display looks much crisper than it did before. You’d adjust the brightness and contrast settings on that fancy 42” HDTV you’ve just bought: why wouldn’t you do the same for the computer displays that you stare at every day?

Check out cttune.exe and dccw.exe respectively, or run the applets from Control Panel.
ISO Burning. Easy to miss if you’re not looking for it: you can double-click on any DVD or CD .ISO image and you’ll see a helpful little applet that will enable you to burn the image to a blank disc. No more grappling for shareware utilities of questionable parentage!
Windows Movie Maker. Windows 7 doesn’t include a movie editing tool – it’s been moved to the Windows Live Essentials package, along with Photo Gallery, Mail and Messenger. Unfortunately, Windows Live Movie Maker is currently still in an early beta that is missing most of the old feature set (we’re reworking the application), and so you might be feeling a little bereft of options. It goes without saying that we intend to have a better solution by the time we ship Windows 7, but in the meantime the best solution for us early adopters is to use Windows Movie Maker 2.6 (which is essentially the same as the most recent update to the Windows XP version). It’s missing the full set of effects and transitions from the Windows Vista version, and doesn’t support HD editing, but it’s pretty functional for the typical usage scenario of home movie editing.

Download Windows Movie Maker 2.6 from here:
http://microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d6ba5972-328e-4df7-8f9d-068fc0f80cfc
Hiding the Windows Live Messenger Icon. Hopefully your first act after Windows 7 setup completed was to download and install the Windows Live Essentials suite of applications (if not, then you’re missing out on a significant part of the Windows experience). If you’re a heavy user of IM, you may love the way that Windows Live Messenger is front and central on the taskbar, where you can easily change status and quickly send an IM to someone:

On the other hand, you may prefer to keep Windows Live Messenger in the system tray where it’s been for previous releases. If so, you can fool the application into the old style of behavior. To do this, close Windows Live Messenger, edit the shortcut properties and set the application to run in Windows Vista compatibility mode. Bingo!
Enjoy The Fish. I’m surprised that not many people seem to have caught the subtle joke with the Siamese fighting fish that is part of the default background, so I’ll do my part at keeping the secret hidden. Check out wikipedia for a clue.
When All Else Fails… There are always those times when you’re in a really bad spot – you can’t boot up properly, and what you really want is something you can quickly use to get at a command prompt so you can properly troubleshoot. Windows 7 now includes the ability to create a system repair disc, which is essentially a CD-bootable version of Windows that just includes the command prompt and a suite of system tools. Just type “system repair disc” in the Start Menu search box, and you’ll be led to the utility.

registry tricks

2010-08-21T23:38:00.000-07:00

Backup / Restore the Registry

To Backup/Restore the Windows Registry: Windows 9x For XP 2000 click here

If you are in MSDOS, at the C:\Windows prompt type
Attrib -s -r -h C:\Windows\System.dat (press Enter)
Attrib -s -r -h C:\Windows\User.dat (press Enter)
To make the backup copies type:

copy C:\Windows\System.dat C:\Windows\System.000 (press Enter)
copy C:\Windows\User.dat C:\Windows\user.000 (press Enter)
To Restore the Registry

copy C:\Windows\System.000 C:\Windows\System.dat (press Enter)
copy C:\Windows\User.000 C:\Windows\user.dat (press Enter)
Add Open With to all files

You can add "Open With..." to the Right click context menu of all files.This is great for when you have several programs you want to open the same file types with. I use three different text editors so I added it to the ".txt" key.

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\Shell
3. Add a new Key named "OpenWith" by right clicking the "Shell" Key and selecting new
4. Set the (Default) to "Op&en With..."
5. Add a new Key named "Command" by right clicking the "OpenWith" Key and selecting new
6. Set the (Default) to "C:\Windows\rundll32.exe shell32.dll,OpenAs_RunDLL %1", C:\ being your Windows drive. You must enter the "OpenAs_RunDLL %1" exactly this way.

Customize the System Tray

You can add your name or anything you like that consists of 8 characters or less. This will replace the AM or PM next to the system time. But you can corrupt some trial licenses of software that you may have downloaded.

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International
3. Add two new String values, "s1159" and "s2359"
4. Right click the new value name and modify. Enter anything you like up to 8 characters.

If you enter two different values when modifying, you can have the system tray display the two different values in the AM and PM.

Lock Out Unwanted Users

Want to keep people from accessing Windows, even as the default user? If you do not have a domain do not attempt this.

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Network\Logon
3. Create a dword value "MustBeValidated"
4. Set the value to 1
This forced logon can be bypassed in Safe Mode on Windows 9x

Disable the Outlook Express Splash Screen

You can make OutLook Express load quicker by disabling the splash screen:

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\OutLook Express
3. Add a string value "NoSplash"
4. Set the value data to 1 as a Dword value

Multiple Columns For the Start Menu

To make Windows use multiple Start Menu Columns instead of a single scrolling column, like Windows 9x had, Also if you are using Classic Mode in XP

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ Advanced
3. Create a string value "StartMenuScrollPrograms"
4. Right click the new string value and select modify
5. Set the value to "FALSE"

Changing Windows' Icons

You can change the Icons Windows uses for folders, the Start Menu, opened and closed folder in the Explorer, and many more.

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ Shell Icons
3. Add a string value for each Icon you wish to change.
Example: "3" ="C:\Windows\Icons\MyIcon.ico,0" This will change the closed folders in the Explorer to "MyIcon.ico". Here is a complete list for each value.

0= Unknown file type
1= MSN file types
2= Applications Generic
3= Closed Folder
4= Open Folder
5= 5.25" Drive
6= 3.25" Drive
7= Removable Drive
8= Hard Drive
9= NetWork Drive
10= Network Drive Offline
11= CD-ROM Drive
12= RAM Drive
13= Entire Network 14= Network Hub
15= My Computer
16= Printer
17= Network Neighborhood
18= Network Workgroup
19= Start Menu's Program Folders
20= Start Menu's Documents
21= Start Menu's Setting
22= Start Menu's Find
23= Start Menu's Help
24= Start Menu's Run
25= Start Menu's Suspend
26= Start Menu's PC Undock
27= Start Menu's Shutdown 28= Shared
29= Shortcut Arrow
30= (Unknown Overlay)
31= Recycle Bin Empty
32= Recycle Bin Full
33= Dial-up Network
34= DeskTop
35= Control Panel
36= Start Menu's Programs
37= Printer Folder
38= Fonts Folder
39= Taskbar Icon
40= Audio CD
You need to reboot after making changes. You may need to delete the hidden file ShellIconCache if after rebooting the desired Icons are not displayed.

Change Default Folder Locations

You can change or delete the Windows mandatory locations of folder like My Documents:

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ Shell Folders
3. Change the desired folder location, My Documents is normally list as "Personal"
4. Open the Explorer and rename or create the folder you wish.

To change the desired location of the Program Files folder
1. Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
2. Change the value of "ProgramFiles", or "ProgramFilesDir"
Now when you install a new program it will default to the new location you have selected.

Change the Registered Change the User Information

You can change the Registered Owner or Registered Organization to anything you want even after Windows is installed.

1) Open RegEdit
2) Got to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion.
3) Change the value of "RegisteredOrganization" or "RegisteredOwner", to what ever you want

Opening a DOS Window to either the Drive or Directory in Explorer

Add the following Registry Keys for a Directory:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\opennew
@="Dos Prompt in that Directory"

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\opennew\command
@="command.com /k cd %1"

Add or Edit the following Registry Keys for a Drive:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\opennew
@="Dos Prompt in that Drive"

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\opennew\command
@="command.com /k cd %1"

These will allow you to right click on either the drive or the directory and the option of starting the dos prompt will pop up.

Changing Exchange/Outlook Mailbox Location

To change the location of your mailbox for Exchange:
1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ Microsoft\Windows Messaging Subsystem\ Profiles
3. Go to the profile you want to change
4. Go to the value name that has the file location for your mailbox (*.PST) file
5. Make the change to file location or name

To change the location of your mailbox for Outlook
1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Outlook (or Outlook Express if Outlook Express)
3. Go to the section "Store Root"
4. Make the change to file location

Add/Remove Sound Events from Control Panel

You can Add and delete sounds events in the Control Panel. In order to do that:

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Eventlabels. If this key does not exist you can create it and add events.
3. You can add/delete any items you want to or delete the ones you no longer want.

Adding an Application to the Right Click on Every Folder

Here is how to add any application to the Context Menu when you right click on any Folder. This way you do not have to always go to the Start Menu. When you right click on any folder, you can have access to that application, the same as using Sent To.

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell
3. Add a new Key to the "Shell" Key and name it anything you like.
4. Give it a default value that will appear when you right click a folder, i.e. NewKey (use an "&" without the quotes, in front of any character and it will allow you to use the keyboard)
5. Click on the Key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\NewKey
6. Add a New Key named Command
7. Set the (Default) value of the application you want to run
8. For example: c:\program files\internet explorer\iexplore.exe (Include the full path and parameters if you need them)

Adding Explore From Here to Every Folder

When you want to right click on any folder and want to open up an Explorer window of that folder.

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell
3. Add a new Key "RootExplore " under the "Shell" Key
4. Set the (Default) value to "E&xplore From Here "
5. Right Click the "RootExplore " Key and add a new Key "Command"to the RootExplore
6. Set the (Default) value of Explorer.exe /e,/root,/idlist,%i

Changing the Location of Windows' Installation Files

If you need to change the drive and or path where Windows looks for its installation files:
1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Setup
3.Edit the value next to SourcePath

Creating a Logon Banner

If you want to create a Logon Banner: A message box to appear below your logon on.

1.Open RegEdit
2.Go To
For Windows 9x and ME -
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Winlogon

For Windows 2000 XP 2003 Vista -
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Winlogon

3.Create a new String value"LegalNoticeCaption "
4. Enter the Title of the window. What is displayed in the Title Bar.
5. Create a new string value "LegalNoticeText"
6. Enter the text for your message box that will appear even before the Logon window.

Creating a Default File Opener

If you have a un-registered file type and want to view it instead of having to select Open With. Use Explorer's Right-click and add your program to the right-click options by:
1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\Shell
3. Right click on "Shell" and create a New Key and name it "Open "
4. Create a New Key under the "Open" key you just created and name it "Command"
5. Set the (Default) value to the path and filename of the program you want to use to open the file type
6. For example: C:\Windows\NOTEPAD.EXE %1
You must use the "%1" for this to work.and a space between the exe and the %1

Deleting Registry Keys from the Command Line

There are two ways to delete a key from the Registry from the Command line. At the Windows Command line:

RegEdit /l location of System.dat /R location of User.dat /D Registry key to delete
You cannot be in Windows at the time you use this switch.

Or you can create a reg file as such:
REGEDIT4

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\the key you want to delete]
Note the negative sign just behind the[
Then at the Command line type:
1. RegEdit C:\Windows\(name of the regfile).

Change/Add Restrictions And Features

If you want to make restrictions to what users can do or use on their computer without having to run Poledit, you can edit the Registry. You can add and delete Windows features in this Key shown below.

Zero is Off and the value 1 is On. Example: to Save Windows settings add or modify the value name NoSaveSettings to 0, if set to1 Windows will not save settings. And NoDeletePrinter set to 1 will prevent the user from deleting a printer.

The same key shows up at:
HKEY_USERS\(yourprofilename)\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer so change it there also if you are using different profiles.

1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ CurrentVersion\ Policies
3.Go to the Explorer Key (Additional keys that can be created under Policies are System, Explorer, Network and WinOldApp )
4.You can then add DWORD or binary values set to 1 in the appropriate keys for ON and 0 for off.
NoDeletePrinter - Disables Deletion of Printers
NoAddPrinter - Disables Addition of Printers
NoRun - Disables Run Command
NoSetFolders - Removes Folders from Settings on Start Menu
NoSetTaskbar - Removes Taskbar from Settings on Start Menu
NoFind - Removes the Find Command
NoDrives - Hides Drives in My Computers
NoNetHood - Hides the Network Neighborhood
NoDesktop - Hides all icons on the Desktop
NoClose - Disables Shutdown
NoSaveSettings - Don't save settings on exit
DisableRegistryTools - Disable Registry Editing Tools
NoRecentDocsMenu - Hides the Documents shortcut at the Start button
NoRecentDocsHistory- Clears history of Documents
NoFileMenu _ Hides the Files Menu in Explorer
NoActiveDesktop - No Active Desktop
NoActiveDesktopChanges- No changes allowed
NoInternetIcon - No Internet Explorer Icon on the Desktop
NoFavoritesMenu - Hides the Favorites menu
NoChangeStartMenu _ Disables changes to the Start Menu
NoFolderOptions _ Hides the Folder Options in the Explorer
ClearRecentDocsOnExit - Empty the recent Docs folder on reboot
NoLogoff - Hides the Log Off .... in the Start Menu

And here are a few more you can play with
ShowInfoTip
NoTrayContextMenu
NoStartMenuSubFolders
NoWindowsUpdate
NoViewContextMenu
EnforceShellExtensionSecurity
LinkResolveIgnoreLinkInfo
NoDriveTypeAutoRun
NoStartBanner
NoSetActiveDesktop
EditLevel
NoNetConnectDisconnect
RestrictRun - Disables all exe programs except those listed in the RestrictRun subkey
This key has many other available keys, there is one to even hide the taskbar, one to hide the control panel and more. I'm not telling you how, as someone may want to play a trick on you. The policies key has a great deal of control over how and what program can run and how one can access what feature.

In the System key you can enter:
NoDispCPL - Disable Display Control Panel
NoDispBackgroundPage - Hide Background Page
NoDispScrSavPage - Hide Screen Saver Page
NoDispAppearancePage - Hide Appearance Page
NoDispSettingsPage - Hide Settings Page
NoSecCPL - Disable Password Control Panel
NoPwdPage - Hide Password Change Page
NoAdminPage - Hide Remote Administration Page
NoProfilePage - Hide User Profiles Page
NoDevMgrPage - Hide Device Manager Page
NoConfigPage - Hide Hardware Profiles Page
NoFileSysPage - Hide File System Button
NoVirtMemPage - Hide Virtual Memory Button

In the Network key you can enter:
NoNetSetup - Disable the Network Control Panel
NoNetSetupIDPage - Hide Identification Page
NoNetSetupSecurityPage - Hide Access Control Page
NoFileSharingControl - Disable File Sharing Controls
NoPrintSharing - Disable Print Sharing Controls

In the WinOldApp key you can enter:
Disabled - Disable MS-DOS Prompt
NoRealMode - Disables Single-Mode MS-DOS

Automatic Screen Refresh

When you make changes to your file system and use Explorer, the changes are not usually displayed until you press the F5 key
To refresh automatically:
1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Update
3. Set the value name "UpdateMode" to 1

Disable Password Caching

To disable password caching, which allows for the single Network login and eliminates the secondary Windows logon screen. Either use the same password or:

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE \Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Network
3. Add a Dword value "DisablePwdCaching" and set the value to 1

Changing the MaxMTU for faster Downloads

There are four Internet settings that can be configured, you can get greater throughput (faster Internet downloads) by modifying a few settings.
They are the MaxMTU, MaxMSS and DefaultRcvWindow, and DefaultTTL

1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlset\ Services\ Class\ net\ 000x
(where x is your particular network adapter binding.)
3.Right click on the right panel
4.Select New\String Value and create the value name IPMTU
5.Double click on it and enter then the number you want. The usual change is to 576
6.Similarly, you can add IPMSS and give it a value of 536

(Windows 9X)You can set DefaultRcvWindow, and DefaultTTL by adding these string values to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ System\ CurrentControlset\ Services\ VXD\ MSTCP
Set the DefaultRcvWindow to"5840"and the DefaultTTL to "128"

Note: These settings will slow down your network access speed slightly, but you will probably not even see the difference if you are using a network card. If you are using Direct Cable you should see a sight difference.

Adding Items to the Start Button

To add items when you right-click on the Start Button:
1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell
3.Right-click on Shell and select New Key
4.Type in the name of the key and press the Enter key
5.In the Default name that shows in the right hand panel, you can add a title with a "&" character in front of the letter for a shortcut
6.Right-click on the key you just created and create another key under it called command
7.For the value of this command, enter the full path and program you want to execute
8.Now when you right click on the Start Button, your new program will be there.
9.For example, if you want Word to be added, you would add that as the first key, the default in the right panel would be &Word so when you right click on the Start Button, the W would be the Hot Key on your keyboard. The value of the key would be C:\Program Files\Office\Winword\Winword.exe

Remove Open, Explore & Find from Start Button

When you right click on the Start Button, you can select Open, Explore or Find.
Open shows your Programs folder. Explore starts the Explorer and allows access to all drives.
Find allows you to search and then run programs. In certain situations you might want to disable this feature.
To remove them:
1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell\Find
3.Delete Find
4.Scroll down below Directory to Folder
5.Expand this section under shell
6.Delete Explore and Open
Caution: - When you remove Open, you cannot open any folders.

Removing Items from NEW Context Menu

When you right-click on the desktop and select New, or use the File Menu item in the Explore and select New a list of default templates you can open up are listed.
To remove items from that list:
1. Open RegEdit
2. Do a Search for the string ShellNew in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT Hive
3. Delete the ShellNew command key for the items you want to remove.

Changing Telnet Window

You can view more data if you increase the line count of Telnet. By Default it has a window size of 25 lines. To increase this so you can scroll back and look at a larger number on lines:
1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Telnet
3. Modify the value data of "Rows"

Changing the Tips of the Day

You can edit the Tips of the day in the Registry by going to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ explorer\ Tips

Disabling Drives in My Computer

To turn off the display of local or networked drives when you click on My Computer:
1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer
3.Add a New DWORD item and name it NoDrives
4.Give it a value of 3FFFFFF
5.Now when you click on My Computer, none of your drives will show.

Changing the caption on the Title Bar

Change the Caption on the Title Bar for OutLook Express or the Internet Explorer:
For Outlook Express:
1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\OutLook Express
For IE5 and up use:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\IDENTITIES \{9DDDACCO-38F2-11D6-93CA-812B1F3493B}\ SOFTWARE\ MICROSOFT\ OUTLOOK EXPRESS\5.0
3. Add a string value "WindowTitle" (no space)
4. Modify the value to what ever you like.

For no splash screen, add a dword value "NoSplash" set to 1
The Key {9DDDACCO-38F2-11D6-93CA-812B1F3493B} can be any key you find here. Each user has his own Key number.
The Key 5.0 is whatever version of IE you have

For Internet Explorer:
1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
3. Add a string value "Window Title" (use a space)
4. Modify the value to what ever you like.

Disabling the Right-Click on the Start Button

Normally, when you right button click on the Start button, it allows you to open your programs folder, the Explorer and run Find.
In situations where you don't want to allow users to be able to do this in order to secure your computer.
1.Open RegEdit
2.Search for Desktop
3.This should bring you to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory
4.Expand this section
5.Under Shell is Find
6.Delete Find
7.Move down a little in the Registry to Folder
8.Expand this section and remove Explore and Open
Now when you right click on the Start button, nothing should happen.
You can delete only those items that you need.
Note: - On Microsoft keyboards, this also disables the Window-E (for Explorer) and Window-F
(for Find) keys.
See the section on Installation in the RESKIT to see how to do this automatically during an install.

Disabling My Computer

In areas where you are trying to restrict what users can do on the computer, it might be beneficial to disable the ability to click on My Computer and have access to the drives, control panel etc.
To disable this:
1.Open RegEdit
2.Search for 20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D
3.This should bring you to the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID section
4.Delete the entire section.
Now when you click on My Computer, nothing will happen.
You might want to export this section to a Registry file before deleting it just in case you want to enable it again. Or you can rename it to 20D0HideMyComputer4FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D. You can also hide all the Desktop Icons, see Change/Add restrictions.

Opening Explorer from My Computer

By default, when you click on the My Computer icon, you get a display of all your drives, the Control Panel etc. If you would like to have this open the Explorer:
1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\ {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\ Shell
3 . Add a new Key named "Open" if it does not exists by right clicking "Shell" and selecting new.
4. . Add a new Key named "Command" by right clicking "Open" and selecting new
5. Set the (Default) value for the Command Key to "Explorer.exe" or "C:\Windows\Explorer.exe"

Recycle Bin Edits

Fooling with the recycle bin. Why not make the icon context menu act like other icon context menus.
Add rename to the menu:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\ {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ ShellFolder
"Attributes"=hex:50,01,00,20
Add delete to the menu:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\ {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ ShellFolder
"Attributes"=hex:60,01,00,20
Add rename and delete to the menu:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\ {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} \ShellFolder
"Attributes"=hex:70,01,00,20
Restore the recycle bin to Windows defaults including un-deleting the icon after deletion:
Restore the icon.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows \CurrentVersion\ explorer\
Desktop\NameSpace\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
@="Recycle Bin"
Reset Windows defaults.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\ {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} \ShellFolder
"Attributes"=hex:40,01,00,20
Other edits to the recycle bin icon:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\ {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ ShellFolder
"Attributes"=hex:40,01,01,20 ... standard shortcut arrow
"Attributes"=hex:40,01,02,20 ... a different shortcut arrow
"Attributes"=hex:40,01,04,20 ... and still another shortcut arrow
"Attributes"=hex:40,01,08,20 ... make it look disabled (like it's been cut)

For Windows XP and 2000 also edit HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ CLSID\ {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
For Windows ME also edit HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software\ Classes\ CLSID\ {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
Setting the Minimum Password Length

1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Network
3. Now, choose the Edit/New/Binary value command and call the new value MinPwdLen. Press Enter twice and Assign it a value equal to your minimum password length.

Add\delete programs to run every time Windows starts

You can start or stop programs from executing at boot up by adding or deleting them to/from the run Keys in the Registry. Windows loads programs to start in the following order; Program listed in the Local Machine hive, then the Current User hive, then theWin.ini Run= and Load = lines. then finally programs in your Start Up folder.

To add or remove programs in the Registry
1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to the desired Key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows \CurrentVersion \Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows \CurrentVersion \RunServices
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows \CurrentVersion \Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows \CurrentVersion \RunServices
3. Add a new String Value and name it anything you like
4. For the value data, enter the path and executable for the program you want to run.

By adding the value to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive instead allows the program to start only when that user is logged on.

If you add the value to the RunOnce key the program will run once and be removed from the key by Windows.

Removing the Shortcut Icon Arrows

1.Open RegEdit
2.Open the Key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
3.Open the Key LNKFILE
4.Delete the value IsShortcut
5.Open the next Key PIFFILE
6.Delete the value IsShortcut
7.Restart the Windows

Turn Off Window Animation

You can shut off the animation displayed when you minimize and maximize Windows.
1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control panel \Desktop\ WindowMetrics
3. Create a new string value "MinAnimate".
4. Set the value data of 0 for Off or 1 for On

Changing your Modem's Initialization String

1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet \Services \Class \Modem \0000 \Init
3.Change the settings to the new values

Increasing the Modem Timeout

If your modem it is timing out during file transfers or loading Web Pages, you might try increasing the timeout period. To change the Time Out::
1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\ Services\ Class\ Modem\ XXXX\ Settings Where XXXX is the number of your modem
3. In the right panel and double click on Inactivity Timeout
4.The number of minutes for a timeout should be entered between the brackets.
5.For example, a setting could have S19=<10> to set it to 10 minutes.

Removing Programs from Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs Section

If you uninstalled a program by deleting the files, it may still show up in the Add/Remove programs list in the Control Panel.
In order to remove it from the list.
1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Uninstall
3.Delete any programs here.
If you have a problem locating the desired program open each key and view the DisplayName value

The Fix for Grayed Out Boxes

The File Types tab in Explorer's View / Options menu lets you edit most of your file types, but certain settings cannot be changed. The default action for a batch file, for instance, runs the batch file instead of opening it via Notepad or Wordpad. Thus, when you double-click on AUTOEXEC.BAT, a DOS window opens, and the file executes. If you want to change this default action and edit a batch file when you double-click on it, however, the File Types tab does not let you do so; the Set Default button for the file type called MS-DOS Batch File is always grayed out.

The button is grayed out because HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT's batfile key contains an EditFlag value entry. Such entries are used throughout the Registry to prevent novice users from altering certain system settings. The binary data in batfile's EditFlag reads d0 04 00 00. If you change this value to 00 00 00 00, you can then change any of the batch file settings. Do not, however, indiscriminately zero out EditFlag; if you do so in a system ProgID such as Drive or AudioCD, it completely disappears from the File Types list. For ProgIDs that are linked to extensions, set all EditFlags to 00 00 00 00. For system ProgIDs, replace EditFlag data with 02 00 00 00.

If you wish to have access to some buttons while leaving others grayed out, you must know the function of each EditFlag bit. The last two bytes of data are always zero, but most bits within the first two bytes have a specific effect:

Byte 1, bit 1: Removes the file type from the master list in the File Types tab (select View / Options under Explorer) if it has an associated extension.
Byte 1, bit 2: Adds the file type to the File Types tab if it does not have an associated extension.
Byte 1, bit 3: Identifies a type with no associated extension.
Byte 1, bit 4: Grays out the Edit button in the File Types tab.
Byte 1, bit 5: Grays out the Remove button in the File Types tab.
Byte 1, bit 6: Grays out the New button in the Edit File Type dialog (select the Edit button in the File Types tab).
Byte 1, bit 7: Grays out the Edit button in the Edit File Type dialog.
Byte 1, bit 8: Grays out the Remove button in the Edit File Type dialog.
Byte 2, bit 1: Prevents you from editing a file type's description in the Edit File Type dialog.
Byte 2, bit 2: Grays out the Change Icon button in the Edit File Type dialog.
Byte 2, bit 3: Grays out the SetDefault button in the Edit File Type dialog.
Byte 2, bit 4: Prevents you from editing an action's description in the Edit Action dialog (select the Edit button in the Edit File Type dialog).
Byte 2, bit 5: Prevents you from editing the command line in the Edit Action dialog.
Byte 2, bit 6: Prevents you from setting DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange) fields in the Edit Action dialog.
The EditFlags value for Drive, for instance, is d2 01 00 00 in Hex (1101 0010 0000 0001 in binary). Bits 2, 5, 7, and 8 are on in byte 1, and bit 1 is on in byte 2. The EditFlag for batfile is d0 04 00 00 in Hex or 1101 0000 0000 0100 in binary. In this case, bits 5, 7, and 8 are on in byte 1, and bit 3 is on in byte 2.

Bits 4, 5, and 6 of byte 2 apply only to actions that are protected. EditFlags with action keys (such as HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\batfile\shell\open) determine protection. If byte 1, bit 1 of such an EditFlag is 0 (or if there is no EditFlag), then the action is protected. If byte 1, bit 1 is 1, then the action is unprotected.

Protection on system files

To enable protection on system files such as the KnownDLLs list, add the following value;

1. Open RegEdit
2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\ Control\ SessionManager
3. Create the a Dword value and name it "ProtectionMode "
4. Set the Value to1

all cmd commands

2010-08-21T03:54:00.001-07:00

User-agent: *
Allow: /

/
An A-Z Index of the Windows XP command line

ADDUSERS Add or list users to/from a CSV file
   ARP      Address Resolution Protocol
   ASSOC    Change file extension associations•
   ASSOCIAT One step file association
   ATTRIB   Change file attributes
b
   BOOTCFG  Edit Windows boot settings
   BROWSTAT Get domain, browser and PDC info
c
   CACLS    Change file permissions
   CALL     Call one batch program from another•
   CD       Change Directory - move to a specific Folder•
   CHANGE   Change Terminal Server Session properties
   CHKDSK   Check Disk - check and repair disk problems
   CHKNTFS  Check the NTFS file system
   CHOICE   Accept keyboard input to a batch file
   CIPHER   Encrypt or Decrypt files/folders
   CleanMgr Automated cleanup of Temp files, recycle bin
   CLEARMEM Clear memory leaks
   CLIP     Copy STDIN to the Windows clipboard.
   CLS      Clear the screen•
   CLUSTER  Windows Clustering
   CMD      Start a new CMD shell
   CMDKEY   Manage stored usernames/passwords
   COLOR    Change colors of the CMD window•
   COMP     Compare the contents of two files or sets of files
   COMPACT  Compress files or folders on an NTFS partition
   COMPRESS Compress individual files on an NTFS partition
   CON2PRT  Connect or disconnect a Printer
   CONVERT  Convert a FAT drive to NTFS.
   COPY     Copy one or more files to another location•
   CSCcmd   Client-side caching (Offline Files)
   CSVDE    Import or Export Active Directory data 
d
   DATE     Display or set the date•
   DEFRAG   Defragment hard drive
   DEL      Delete one or more files•
   DELPROF  Delete NT user profiles
   DELTREE  Delete a folder and all subfolders
   DevCon   Device Manager Command Line Utility 
   DIR      Display a list of files and folders•
   DIRUSE   Display disk usage
   DISKCOMP Compare the contents of two floppy disks
   DISKCOPY Copy the contents of one floppy disk to another
   DISKPART Disk Administration
   DNSSTAT  DNS Statistics
   DOSKEY   Edit command line, recall commands, and create macros
   DSACLs   Active Directory ACLs
   DSAdd    Add items to active directory (user group computer) 
   DSGet    View items in active directory (user group computer)
   DSQuery  Search for items in active directory (user group computer)
   DSMod    Modify items in active directory (user group computer)
   DSMove   Move an Active directory Object
   DSRM     Remove items from Active Directory
e
   ECHO     Display message on screen•
   ENDLOCAL End localisation of environment changes in a batch file•
   ERASE    Delete one or more files•
   EVENTCREATE Add a message to the Windows event log
   EXIT     Quit the current script/routine and set an errorlevel•
   EXPAND   Uncompress files
   EXTRACT  Uncompress CAB files
f
   FC       Compare two files
   FIND     Search for a text string in a file
   FINDSTR  Search for strings in files
   FOR /F   Loop command: against a set of files•
   FOR /F   Loop command: against the results of another command•
   FOR      Loop command: all options Files, Directory, List•
   FORFILES Batch process multiple files
   FORMAT   Format a disk
   FREEDISK Check free disk space (in bytes)
   FSUTIL   File and Volume utilities
   FTP      File Transfer Protocol
   FTYPE    Display or modify file types used in file extension associations•
g
   GLOBAL   Display membership of global groups
   GOTO     Direct a batch program to jump to a labelled line•
   GPUPDATE Update Group Policy settings
h
   HELP     Online Help
i
   iCACLS   Change file and folder permissions
   IF       Conditionally perform a command•
   IFMEMBER Is the current user in an NT Workgroup
   IPCONFIG Configure IP
k
   KILL     Remove a program from memory
l
   LABEL    Edit a disk label
   LOCAL    Display membership of local groups
   LOGEVENT Write text to the NT event viewer
   LOGOFF   Log a user off
   LOGTIME  Log the date and time in a file
m
   MAPISEND Send email from the command line
   MBSAcli  Baseline Security Analyzer. 
   MEM      Display memory usage
   MD       Create new folders•
   MKLINK   Create a symbolic link (linkd)
   MODE     Configure a system device
   MORE     Display output, one screen at a time
   MOUNTVOL Manage a volume mount point
   MOVE     Move files from one folder to another•
   MOVEUSER Move a user from one domain to another
   MSG      Send a message
   MSIEXEC  Microsoft Windows Installer
   MSINFO   Windows NT diagnostics
   MSTSC    Terminal Server Connection (Remote Desktop Protocol)
   MUNGE    Find and Replace text within file(s)
   MV       Copy in-use files
n
   NET      Manage network resources
   NETDOM   Domain Manager
   NETSH    Configure Network Interfaces, Windows Firewall & Remote access
   NETSVC   Command-line Service Controller
   NBTSTAT  Display networking statistics (NetBIOS over TCP/IP)
   NETSTAT  Display networking statistics (TCP/IP)
   NOW      Display the current Date and Time 
   NSLOOKUP Name server lookup
   NTBACKUP Backup folders to tape
   NTRIGHTS Edit user account rights
o
   OPENFILES Query or display open files
p
   PATH     Display or set a search path for executable files•
   PATHPING Trace route plus network latency and packet loss
   PAUSE    Suspend processing of a batch file and display a message•
   PERMS    Show permissions for a user
   PERFMON  Performance Monitor
   PING     Test a network connection
   POPD     Restore the previous value of the current directory saved by PUSHD•
   PORTQRY  Display the status of ports and services
   POWERCFG Configure power settings
   PRINT    Print a text file
   PRNCNFG  Display, configure or rename a printer
   PRNMNGR  Add, delete, list printers set the default printer
   PROMPT   Change the command prompt•
   PsExec     Execute process remotely
   PsFile     Show files opened remotely
   PsGetSid   Display the SID of a computer or a user
   PsInfo     List information about a system
   PsKill     Kill processes by name or process ID
   PsList     List detailed information about processes
   PsLoggedOn Who's logged on (locally or via resource sharing)
   PsLogList  Event log records
   PsPasswd   Change account password
   PsService  View and control services
   PsShutdown Shutdown or reboot a computer
   PsSuspend  Suspend processes
   PUSHD    Save and then change the current directory•
q
   QGREP    Search file(s) for lines that match a given pattern.
r
   RASDIAL  Manage RAS connections
   RASPHONE Manage RAS connections
   RECOVER  Recover a damaged file from a defective disk.
   REG      Registry: Read, Set, Export, Delete keys and values
   REGEDIT  Import or export registry settings
   REGSVR32 Register or unregister a DLL
   REGINI   Change Registry Permissions
   REM      Record comments (remarks) in a batch file•
   REN      Rename a file or files•
   REPLACE  Replace or update one file with another
   RD       Delete folder(s)•
   RMTSHARE Share a folder or a printer
   ROBOCOPY Robust File and Folder Copy
   ROUTE    Manipulate network routing tables
   RUNAS    Execute a program under a different user account
   RUNDLL32 Run a DLL command (add/remove print connections)
s
   SC       Service Control
   SCHTASKS Schedule a command to run at a specific time
   SCLIST   Display NT Services
   SET      Display, set, or remove environment variables•
   SETLOCAL Control the visibility of environment variables•
   SETX     Set environment variables permanently
   SFC      System File Checker 
   SHARE    List or edit a file share or print share
   SHIFT    Shift the position of replaceable parameters in a batch file•
   SHORTCUT Create a windows shortcut (.LNK file)
   SHOWGRPS List the NT Workgroups a user has joined
   SHOWMBRS List the Users who are members of a Workgroup
   SHUTDOWN Shutdown the computer
   SLEEP    Wait for x seconds
   SLMGR    Software Licensing Management (Vista/2008)
   SOON     Schedule a command to run in the near future
   SORT     Sort input
   START    Start a program or command in a separate window•
   SU       Switch User
   SUBINACL Edit file and folder Permissions, Ownership and Domain
   SUBST    Associate a path with a drive letter
   SYSTEMINFO List system configuration
t
   TASKLIST List running applications and services
   TASKKILL Remove a running process from memory
   TIME     Display or set the system time•
   TIMEOUT  Delay processing of a batch file
   TITLE    Set the window title for a CMD.EXE session•
   TLIST    Task list with full path
   TOUCH    Change file timestamps    
   TRACERT  Trace route to a remote host
   TREE     Graphical display of folder structure
   TYPE     Display the contents of a text file•
u
   USRSTAT  List domain usernames and last login
v
   VER      Display version information•
   VERIFY   Verify that files have been saved•
   VOL      Display a disk label•
w
   WHERE    Locate and display files in a directory tree
   WHOAMI   Output the current UserName and domain
   WINDIFF  Compare the contents of two files or sets of files
   WINMSD   Windows system diagnostics
   WINMSDP  Windows system diagnostics II
   WINRM    Windows Remote Management
   WINRS    Windows Remote Shell
   WMIC     WMI Commands
x
   XCACLS   Change file and folder permissions
   XCOPY    Copy files and folders
   ::       Comment / Remark•

Commands marked • are Internal commands only available within the CMD shell.
All other commands (not marked with •) are external commands which may be used under the CMD shell, PowerShell, or directly from START-RUN.

Windows RUN Commands, Microsoft Help pages: Windows XP - 2003 Server - 2008 Server

windows xp professional tricks

2010-08-17T02:48:00.003-07:00

Easter Eggs (Definition) - A hidden message or feature in an application. This guide covers unknown features in Windows XP, some are carryovers from older versions of Windows, all were tested in Windows XP only. Windows XP is still supported by Microsoft through April 8, 2014.

google_protectAndRun("ads_core.google_render_ad", google_handleError, google_render_ad);
Notes - This is not a performance related guide, use the Optimize XP Guide to improve system performance and the Diagnose XP Guide to troubleshoot a system problem. Technically, Windows XP does not include any easter eggs - "to supply certain government agencies with software, Microsoft can't include undocumented features, including Easter eggs". - WindowsITPro - MicrosoftLegal Notice - Reproduction of this page in whole or in part is strictly forbidden. This guide and ALL versions thereof are protected by copyright under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Feel free to link to this Guide. ^ TOP
Application Secrets

google_protectAndRun("ads_core.google_render_ad", google_handleError, google_render_ad);
DefragSecret - Hidden Command Line SwitchInstructions - Go to "Start", "Run" and Type defrag c: -b to defragment the Boot and Application Prefetch information. Notes - Windows XP will run this automatically every three days or so, during system idle periods. BootVis will evoke this when you run the "Optimize System" function. There is no need to manually run this unless you wish to immediately optimize a newly installed application's load time. IExpressSecret - Hidden Install CreatorInstructions - Go to Start, Run, type iexpress - SourceNotes - IExpress is a technology designed to simplify creation of a setup program. Using the step-by-step IExpress Wizard, you can create self-extracting files that automatically run the setup program contained inside. The setup program can be an .inf file or an executable program. IExpress technology automatically removes the setup files after installation, saving the user time and frustration. MS-DOS EditorSecret - Hidden Text EditorInstructions - Go to Start, Run, type edit - SourceNotes - Windows XP comes with another text editor besides Notepad - it's called the MS-DOS Editor, and it's commonly referred to simply as Edit. It has features similar to Notepad, as well as additional features such as the ability to work with multiple text files and change the background and text colors. NetmeetingSecret - Hidden Internet Conference ApplicationInstructions - Go to Start, Run, type conf - SourceNotes - Windows XP is the last version of Microsoft Windows to include NetMeeting. NetMeeting delivers a complete Internet conferencing solution for all Windows users with multi-point data conferencing, text chat, whiteboard, and file transfer, as well as point-to-point audio and video. NotepadSecret - Create a Log FileInstructions - Launch Notepad, Type .LOG on the first line, and then press Enter to move to the next line. On the File menu, click Save As, type a descriptive name for your file in the File name box, and then click OK. When you next open the file, note that the date and time have been appended to the end of the log, immediately preceding the place where new text can be added. You can use this functionality to automatically add the current date and time to each log entry. - Source PaintSecret - Image TrailsInstructions - Open an image and hold down Shift then drag the image around to create an image trail.Secret - 10x ZoomInstructions - Open an image and select the magnifying glass icon. Left-Click exactly on the line below the 8x. Private Character EditorSecret - Hidden Font EditorInstructions - Go to Start, Run, type eudcedit - SourceNotes - You can use Private Character Editor to create unique letters and logos for your font library. Windows ChatSecret - Hidden Windows Chat ProgramInstructions - Go to Start, Run, type winchat - SourceNotes - You can use Windows Chat on your computer to communicate with someone on another computer. Both computers must be connected to the same network (for example, a local area network [LAN] or the Internet). Also, each computer must be running a similar protocol, such as TCP/IP. Windows Media Player 5.1Secret - Hidden Windows Media PlayerInstructions - Go to Start, Run, type mplay32 Windows Media Player 6.4Secret - Hidden Windows Media PlayerInstructions - Go to Start, Run, type mplayer2 - SourceNotes - Windows Media Player 6.4 (Classic) is installed along with Windows Media Player 7. The only update is that it now supports the latest codecs. ^ TOP
Game Secrets
FreeCellSecret - Instant WinInstructions - Hold down Ctrl + Shift + F10 during game play. Then you will be asked if you want to Abort, Retry or Ignore. Choose Abort, then move any card to instantly win.Secret - Hidden Game ModesInstructions - In the "Game" menu choose "Select Game". Enter -1 or -2 to activate the hidden game modes. HeartsSecret - Show All CardsInstructions - Go to Start, Run, Type: 'Regedit', OK. Edit this registry key:HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\HeartsRight click on the Hearts folder, select New, String Value and name it ZB. Right-click on ZB, select Modify and enter a Value Data of 42, OK and close Regedit. Start Hearts (not Internet Hearts). Once in a game Press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + F12 to show all the cards.Background - This secret is a reference to Douglas Adams' book the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. 'ZB' is the initials of the character Zaphod Beeblebrox, the Galactic President. '42' is the answer to The Ultimate Question Of Life, the Universe and Everything. MinesweeperSecret - Reveal MinesInstructions - Minimize or close all running applications. Launch Minesweeper, then type xyzzy. Next hold down either shift key for one second. Now when you move the mouse cursor over a Minesweeper square you will see a tiny white pixel in the top left corner of your desktop screen. This pixel will change to black when your mouse moves over a mine. You may need to change you desktop background to a solid color other than white or black to see the pixel.Secret - Stop TimerInstructions - Launch Minesweeper and start a game so the timer starts counting, then press the Windows Key + D to show the desktop. Now when you select minesweeper from the taskbar you can continue playing with the timer stopped. PinballSecret - Extra BallsInstructions - Type 1max at the start of a new ball to get extra balls.Secret - Gravity WellInstructions - Type gmax at the start of a new game to activate the Gravity Well.Secret - Instant PromotionInstructions - Type rmax at the start of a new game to go up in ranks.Secret - Skill ShotInstructions - Launch the ball partially up the chute past the third yellow light bar so it falls back down to get 75,000 points. There are six yellow light bars that are worth a varying amount of points:First: 15,000 pointsSecond: 30,000 pointsThird: 75,000 pointsFourth: 30,000 pointsFifth: 15,000 pointsSixth: 7,500 pointsSecret - Test ModeInstructions - Type hidden test at the start of a new ball to activate Test Mode. No notification will be given that this is activated but you can now left-click the mouse button and drag the ball around. While in test mode press the following keys for more secrets:H - Get a 1,000,000,000 High ScoreM - Shows the amount of system memoryR - Increases your rank in gameY - Shows the Frames/sec rateSecret - Unlimited BallsInstructions - Type bmax at the start of a new ball. No notification will be given that this is activated but when a ball is lost a new ball will appear from the yellow wormhole indefinitely. Once this is activated you will be unable to activate other secrets without restarting the game. SolitaireSecret - Instant WinInstructions - Press Alt + Shift + 2 during game play to instantly win.Secret - Draw single cards in a Draw Three gameInstructions - Hold down CTRL + ALT + SHIFT while drawing a new card. Instead of drawing three cards you will only draw one. ^ TOP
OS Secrets
Add/RemoveSecret - Hidden Uninstall OptionsInstructions - Warning: Proceed at your own risk! Browse to C:\Windows\inf\ and make a backup copy of sysoc.inf. Then open the original file C:\Windows\inf\sysoc.inf in notepad. Go to "Edit" and select "Replace". In "Find what:" type ,hide and in "Replace with:" type , then select "Replace All", save and close the file. Go to the "Control Panel", "Add/Remove", select "Add/Remove Windows Components". You will now see many more Windows components to uninstall. Do not remove anything with no label or that you do not recognize or fully understand what it does. Doing so can break certain functionality in Windows. Control PanelSecret - Hidden Control Panel ExtensionsInstructions - Download and install TweakUI, launch, go to "Control Panel" and check any item not selected, then "Apply" and "OK". You will now see the hidden control panel extensions. Device ManagerSecret - Hidden DevicesInstructions - Go to the "Control Panel", "System" icon, "Hardware" tab and select "Device Manager". Select "View" and Show hidden devices.Secret - Phantom DevicesInstructions - Go to "Start", "Programs", "Accessories" and select "Command Prompt". At the command prompt, type "set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1" and press Enter. At the command prompt, type "start devmgmt.msc" and press Enter. Select "View" and Show hidden devices. You can see devices that are not connected to the computer. - SourceNotes - When you close the command prompt window, Windows clears the "devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1" variable that you set and prevents phantom devices from being displayed when you select "Show hidden devices". MIDI FilesSecret - Hidden MIDI FilesInstructions - Browse to C:\Windows\Media and you will find 3 hidden MIDI files:flourish.midonestop.midtown.midNotes - "MIDI" stands for "Musical Instrument Digital Interface" - A compression format for encoding music. MusicSecret - Music from the InstallerInstructions - Browse to C:\Windows\system32\oobe\images\title.wma and play.Notes - "OOBE" stands for "Out-of-Box Experience". ShutdownSecret - Display Hibernate Option on the Shut Down dialogInstructions - Go to "Start", "Turn Off Computer..." and press either Shift key to change the "Stand By" button to "Hibernate". Support ToolsSecret - Over 100 Windows XP Support Utilities are on the install CDInstructions for Pre-SP2 users - If you do not have SP2 installed, put the original Windows XP CD in the CD-ROM Drive, run the D:\Support\Tools\setup.exe file.Instructions for SP2 users - If you have SP2 installed, Download the Windows XP Service Pack 2 Support Tools and install. ^ TOP
End
This page will be revised as new Secrets are discovered and added. Feel free to submit suggestions or comments to mailto:OptimizeXP@comcast.net?subject=XP. Do not send Technical Support Questions.The following are not secrets, do not submit them:C:\Windows\clock.aviC:\Windows\0.log - "0" fileThe following are Myths, do not submit them:'CON' Folder - 'CON' is a reserved file name so is AUX, COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4, LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, PRN and NUL.Notepad Phrases - This is an encoding issue, any combination of characters in the same order 4-3-3-5 will cause the same problem.Telnet Star Wars - No hidden version of Star Wars exists in Windows. These can be viewed online at ASCIIMATION.co.nz. To prove this does not exist disconnect your internet connection from your computer and try it again.

xp tricks

2010-08-17T02:48:00.001-07:00

Easter Eggs (Definition) - A hidden message or feature in an application. This guide covers unknown features in Windows XP, some are carryovers from older versions of Windows, all were tested in Windows XP only. Windows XP is still supported by Microsoft through April 8, 2014.

google_protectAndRun("ads_core.google_render_ad", google_handleError, google_render_ad);
Notes - This is not a performance related guide, use the Optimize XP Guide to improve system performance and the Diagnose XP Guide to troubleshoot a system problem. Technically, Windows XP does not include any easter eggs - "to supply certain government agencies with software, Microsoft can't include undocumented features, including Easter eggs". - WindowsITPro - MicrosoftLegal Notice - Reproduction of this page in whole or in part is strictly forbidden. This guide and ALL versions thereof are protected by copyright under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Feel free to link to this Guide. ^ TOP
Application Secrets

google_protectAndRun("ads_core.google_render_ad", google_handleError, google_render_ad);
DefragSecret - Hidden Command Line SwitchInstructions - Go to "Start", "Run" and Type defrag c: -b to defragment the Boot and Application Prefetch information. Notes - Windows XP will run this automatically every three days or so, during system idle periods. BootVis will evoke this when you run the "Optimize System" function. There is no need to manually run this unless you wish to immediately optimize a newly installed application's load time. IExpressSecret - Hidden Install CreatorInstructions - Go to Start, Run, type iexpress - SourceNotes - IExpress is a technology designed to simplify creation of a setup program. Using the step-by-step IExpress Wizard, you can create self-extracting files that automatically run the setup program contained inside. The setup program can be an .inf file or an executable program. IExpress technology automatically removes the setup files after installation, saving the user time and frustration. MS-DOS EditorSecret - Hidden Text EditorInstructions - Go to Start, Run, type edit - SourceNotes - Windows XP comes with another text editor besides Notepad - it's called the MS-DOS Editor, and it's commonly referred to simply as Edit. It has features similar to Notepad, as well as additional features such as the ability to work with multiple text files and change the background and text colors. NetmeetingSecret - Hidden Internet Conference ApplicationInstructions - Go to Start, Run, type conf - SourceNotes - Windows XP is the last version of Microsoft Windows to include NetMeeting. NetMeeting delivers a complete Internet conferencing solution for all Windows users with multi-point data conferencing, text chat, whiteboard, and file transfer, as well as point-to-point audio and video. NotepadSecret - Create a Log FileInstructions - Launch Notepad, Type .LOG on the first line, and then press Enter to move to the next line. On the File menu, click Save As, type a descriptive name for your file in the File name box, and then click OK. When you next open the file, note that the date and time have been appended to the end of the log, immediately preceding the place where new text can be added. You can use this functionality to automatically add the current date and time to each log entry. - Source PaintSecret - Image TrailsInstructions - Open an image and hold down Shift then drag the image around to create an image trail.Secret - 10x ZoomInstructions - Open an image and select the magnifying glass icon. Left-Click exactly on the line below the 8x. Private Character EditorSecret - Hidden Font EditorInstructions - Go to Start, Run, type eudcedit - SourceNotes - You can use Private Character Editor to create unique letters and logos for your font library. Windows ChatSecret - Hidden Windows Chat ProgramInstructions - Go to Start, Run, type winchat - SourceNotes - You can use Windows Chat on your computer to communicate with someone on another computer. Both computers must be connected to the same network (for example, a local area network [LAN] or the Internet). Also, each computer must be running a similar protocol, such as TCP/IP. Windows Media Player 5.1Secret - Hidden Windows Media PlayerInstructions - Go to Start, Run, type mplay32 Windows Media Player 6.4Secret - Hidden Windows Media PlayerInstructions - Go to Start, Run, type mplayer2 - SourceNotes - Windows Media Player 6.4 (Classic) is installed along with Windows Media Player 7. The only update is that it now supports the latest codecs. ^ TOP
Game Secrets
FreeCellSecret - Instant WinInstructions - Hold down Ctrl + Shift + F10 during game play. Then you will be asked if you want to Abort, Retry or Ignore. Choose Abort, then move any card to instantly win.Secret - Hidden Game ModesInstructions - In the "Game" menu choose "Select Game". Enter -1 or -2 to activate the hidden game modes. HeartsSecret - Show All CardsInstructions - Go to Start, Run, Type: 'Regedit', OK. Edit this registry key:HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\HeartsRight click on the Hearts folder, select New, String Value and name it ZB. Right-click on ZB, select Modify and enter a Value Data of 42, OK and close Regedit. Start Hearts (not Internet Hearts). Once in a game Press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + F12 to show all the cards.Background - This secret is a reference to Douglas Adams' book the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. 'ZB' is the initials of the character Zaphod Beeblebrox, the Galactic President. '42' is the answer to The Ultimate Question Of Life, the Universe and Everything. MinesweeperSecret - Reveal MinesInstructions - Minimize or close all running applications. Launch Minesweeper, then type xyzzy. Next hold down either shift key for one second. Now when you move the mouse cursor over a Minesweeper square you will see a tiny white pixel in the top left corner of your desktop screen. This pixel will change to black when your mouse moves over a mine. You may need to change you desktop background to a solid color other than white or black to see the pixel.Secret - Stop TimerInstructions - Launch Minesweeper and start a game so the timer starts counting, then press the Windows Key + D to show the desktop. Now when you select minesweeper from the taskbar you can continue playing with the timer stopped. PinballSecret - Extra BallsInstructions - Type 1max at the start of a new ball to get extra balls.Secret - Gravity WellInstructions - Type gmax at the start of a new game to activate the Gravity Well.Secret - Instant PromotionInstructions - Type rmax at the start of a new game to go up in ranks.Secret - Skill ShotInstructions - Launch the ball partially up the chute past the third yellow light bar so it falls back down to get 75,000 points. There are six yellow light bars that are worth a varying amount of points:First: 15,000 pointsSecond: 30,000 pointsThird: 75,000 pointsFourth: 30,000 pointsFifth: 15,000 pointsSixth: 7,500 pointsSecret - Test ModeInstructions - Type hidden test at the start of a new ball to activate Test Mode. No notification will be given that this is activated but you can now left-click the mouse button and drag the ball around. While in test mode press the following keys for more secrets:H - Get a 1,000,000,000 High ScoreM - Shows the amount of system memoryR - Increases your rank in gameY - Shows the Frames/sec rateSecret - Unlimited BallsInstructions - Type bmax at the start of a new ball. No notification will be given that this is activated but when a ball is lost a new ball will appear from the yellow wormhole indefinitely. Once this is activated you will be unable to activate other secrets without restarting the game. SolitaireSecret - Instant WinInstructions - Press Alt + Shift + 2 during game play to instantly win.Secret - Draw single cards in a Draw Three gameInstructions - Hold down CTRL + ALT + SHIFT while drawing a new card. Instead of drawing three cards you will only draw one. ^ TOP
OS Secrets
Add/RemoveSecret - Hidden Uninstall OptionsInstructions - Warning: Proceed at your own risk! Browse to C:\Windows\inf\ and make a backup copy of sysoc.inf. Then open the original file C:\Windows\inf\sysoc.inf in notepad. Go to "Edit" and select "Replace". In "Find what:" type ,hide and in "Replace with:" type , then select "Replace All", save and close the file. Go to the "Control Panel", "Add/Remove", select "Add/Remove Windows Components". You will now see many more Windows components to uninstall. Do not remove anything with no label or that you do not recognize or fully understand what it does. Doing so can break certain functionality in Windows. Control PanelSecret - Hidden Control Panel ExtensionsInstructions - Download and install TweakUI, launch, go to "Control Panel" and check any item not selected, then "Apply" and "OK". You will now see the hidden control panel extensions. Device ManagerSecret - Hidden DevicesInstructions - Go to the "Control Panel", "System" icon, "Hardware" tab and select "Device Manager". Select "View" and Show hidden devices.Secret - Phantom DevicesInstructions - Go to "Start", "Programs", "Accessories" and select "Command Prompt". At the command prompt, type "set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1" and press Enter. At the command prompt, type "start devmgmt.msc" and press Enter. Select "View" and Show hidden devices. You can see devices that are not connected to the computer. - SourceNotes - When you close the command prompt window, Windows clears the "devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1" variable that you set and prevents phantom devices from being displayed when you select "Show hidden devices". MIDI FilesSecret - Hidden MIDI FilesInstructions - Browse to C:\Windows\Media and you will find 3 hidden MIDI files:flourish.midonestop.midtown.midNotes - "MIDI" stands for "Musical Instrument Digital Interface" - A compression format for encoding music. MusicSecret - Music from the InstallerInstructions - Browse to C:\Windows\system32\oobe\images\title.wma and play.Notes - "OOBE" stands for "Out-of-Box Experience". ShutdownSecret - Display Hibernate Option on the Shut Down dialogInstructions - Go to "Start", "Turn Off Computer..." and press either Shift key to change the "Stand By" button to "Hibernate". Support ToolsSecret - Over 100 Windows XP Support Utilities are on the install CDInstructions for Pre-SP2 users - If you do not have SP2 installed, put the original Windows XP CD in the CD-ROM Drive, run the D:\Support\Tools\setup.exe file.Instructions for SP2 users - If you have SP2 installed, Download the Windows XP Service Pack 2 Support Tools and install. ^ TOP
End
This page will be revised as new Secrets are discovered and added. Feel free to submit suggestions or comments to OptimizeXP@comcast.net. Do not send Technical Support Questions.The following are not secrets, do not submit them:C:\Windows\clock.aviC:\Windows\0.log - "0" fileThe following are Myths, do not submit them:'CON' Folder - 'CON' is a reserved file name so is AUX, COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4, LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, PRN and NUL.Notepad Phrases - This is an encoding issue, any combination of characters in the same order 4-3-3-5 will cause the same problem.Telnet Star Wars - No hidden version of Star Wars exists in Windows. These can be viewed online at ASCIIMATION.co.nz. To prove this does not exist disconnect your internet connection from your computer and try it again.