REGISTRI

Win7
[Email address]
Contents
Back Up the Registry .....................................................................................................................................................3
Add Copy/Move Menus to Windows Explorer .............................................................................................................4
Turn Off Aero Snap .......................................................................................................................................................5
Tweak Thumbnail Preview on Mouse-Over ..................................................................................................................6
Prevent Windows Update from Forcibly Rebooting Your Computer ...........................................................................6
Stop Windows Update from Hijacking the Sleep/Shutdown Button .............................................................................7
Add “Take Ownership” to Explorer Right-Click Menu in Win 7 or Vista ....................................................................9
Add “Take Ownership” by Editing the Registry Manually .......................................................................................9
Add the “Take Ownership” Command to the Context Menu for Files ............................................................... 10
Add the “Take Ownership” Command to the Context Menu for Folders ........................................................... 15
Disable Aero Shake in Windows 7 .............................................................................................................................. 20
Disable Aero Shake by Editing the Registry Manually ........................................................................................... 21
Add “Open with Notepad” to the Context Menu for All Files .................................................................................... 24
Add “Open with Notepad” to the Context Menu by Editing the Registry Manually .............................................. 24
Disable All Notification Balloons in Windows 7 or Vista ................................................................................... 29
Change the Registered Owner in Windows ........................................................................................................ 29
Kill Windows with the Blue Screen of Death in 3 Keystrokes ........................................................................... 29
How to Add Any Application to the Windows Desktop Right-Click Menu ..................................................... 30
How to Add Google Documents to the Windows Explorer “New” Menu ........................................................ 30
How to Add Registry Editor to Control Panel .................................................................................................... 31
Remove “Shortcut” Text From New Shortcuts in Windows 7 or Vista ........................................................... 31
Disable Win+X Shortcut Keys on Windows 7 or Vista ...................................................................................... 31
Stupid Geek Tricks: Enable the Secret “How-To Geek” Mode in Windows 7 ................................................ 32
Disable Windows Mobility Center in Windows 7 or Vista ................................................................................ 32
Hide Drives from Your Computer in Windows 7 or Vista ................................................................................ 32
How to Put a Real Libraries Icon On Your Windows 7 Desktop...................................................................... 33
How to Restore Previous Versions of the Registry in Windows 7 ..................................................................... 33
Remove or Hide Unwanted Items From the Control Panel in Windows 7....................................................... 34
Make the Taskbar Buttons Switch to the Last Active Window in Windows 7 ................................................ 34
Make Aero Peek Display Instantly (or Disable it) in Windows 7 ...................................................................... 34
Why Doesn’t Disk Cleanup Delete Everything from the Temp Folder? .......................................................... 35
Remove “Troubleshoot Compatibility” from the Windows Context Menu ..................................................... 35
Show the Classic “All Programs” Menu in the Start Menu in Windows 7 ...................................................... 36
How To Add Recycle Bin to “My Computer” in Windows 7 or Vista .............................................................. 36
Remove Gadgets and Screen Resolution on Windows 7 Desktop Context Menu ............................................ 36
Stupid Geek Tricks: Enable More Fonts for the Windows Command Prompt............................................... 37
Remove ATI Catalyst Control Center from the Desktop Right-Click Menu...................................................37
Remove NVIDIA Control Panel from Desktop Right-Click Menu ................................................................... 38
Make “Command Prompt Here” Always Display for Folders in Windows ..................................................... 38
Add Encrypt / Decrypt Options to Windows 7 / Vista Right-Click Menu ....................................................... 38
Customize the Default Screensavers in Windows 7 and Vista .......................................................................... 39
Skip the Annoying “Use the Web service to find the correct program” Dialog............................................... 39
Disable Caps Lock Key in Windows 7 or Vista .................................................................................................. 39
Add Defragment to the Right-Click Menu for a Drive ...................................................................................... 40
Add Control Panel to the Desktop Right-Click Menu in Vista ......................................................................... 40
Use Verbose Boot Messages to Troubleshoot Windows Startup Problems ...................................................... 41
How to Enable or Disable TortoiseSVN Menus Easily ...................................................................................... 41
How to Add Control Panel to “My Computer” in Windows 7 or Vista ........................................................... 41
Increase the Speed of the Aero Taskbar Thumbnails in Windows 7 ................................................................ 42
Remove Programs from the Open With Menu in Explorer .............................................................................. 42
Add “Run as Administrator” to Any File Type in Windows 7 or Vista ........................................................... 43
Create a Context Menu Item to Copy a Text File To the Clipboard in Windows 7 / Vista / XP .................... 43
Disable the “Send To” Folder on the Windows Explorer Context Menu ......................................................... 43
Remove “Map Network Drive” Menu Item from Windows Vista or XP ......................................................... 44
Enable or Disable Task Manager......................................................................................................................... 44
How to Clean Up Your Messy Internet Explorer Context Menu...................................................................... 45
How to Restore the Real Internet Explorer Desktop Icon in Windows 7 ......................................................... 45
Enable or Disable Displaying a Message During the Boot Process ................................................................... 45
Back Up the Registry

Setting a Restore Point will help you

recover your PC if you make minor Registry errors.Before you start playing around in the Registry,
you must back up your system's precious information. We have to warn you once more: Mess up
your Registry tweaking, and you might not even be able to boot into Windows to correct things.

To back up the Registry the easy way, simply open Control Panel, click System, and
then click System protection on the left sidebar. Click the big Create button to have
Windows walk you through the straightforward process of creating a System Restore
Point--it's as easy as that.

You can also fire up the Registry Editor--the tool you'll be using to make your tweaks--
by typing regedit into the 'Search Programs and Files' box, which you can find by
clicking the Start button. Once you're in, right-click Computerand select Export, which
will dump all of your Registry settings as one giant, importable .reg file.
Add Copy/Move Menus to Windows Explorer
Add new menus to Windows Explorer.

If drag-and-drop has never really been your thing, you can manage files more effectively by editing
the Registry to add new 'Copy to' and 'Move to' options within the standard Windows Explorer right-
click context menu. Clicking either new menu item will pull up a fresh listing of your drives and
folders, and you need only choose the folder to which you want the selected files to go.
In the Registry Editor, navigate down to the following
key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers.
Once there, right-click the ContextMenuHandlers key and select New, Key; call the
key Copy to. Double-click the (Default) value in the window on the right and
enter {C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13} for its data.

To create the 'Move to' command, perform the same steps (but call the key Move to)
and use {C2FBB631-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13} for the value data.
Turn Off Aero Snap
Turn off Aero Snap with this Registry tweak.

In Windows' Aero environment, windows snap to the sides of the screen by default. But what if you
just want to drag windows near the edge of the screen without letting the operating system take
control of their size and placement? Don't turn off Aero entirely: Just turn off the Aero Snapfunction
via the Windows Registry.
Navigate to the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_ USER\Control Panel\Desktop. Once
there, look for the value called WindowArrangementActive. By default, the value data is
set to 1. Double-click the value and change it to 0, and your windows will Aero Snap no
more.
Tweak Thumbnail Preview on Mouse-Over

Roll your mouse over an icon on the taskbar

and wait a few fractions of a second, and you'll see a thumbnail preview of the exact contents of the
corresponding window. Neat, huh? But you're impatient: You want your thumbnail to pop up the
second you hover the pointer over the icon. As luck might have it, the Windows Registry offers a way
to tweak this delay time.
In the Registry Editor, look for the following
key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced. Right-click anywhere within the sidebar on the right,
and select New, DWORD. Enter ExtendedUIHoverTime as the name. Double-click on
your new value and replace the 0 with a 1, and change the Base to Decimal.

Prevent Windows Update from Forcibly Rebooting Your Computer

We’ve all been at our computer when the Windows
Update dialog pops up and tells us to reboot our
computer. I’ve become convinced that this dialog
has been designed to detect when we are most
busy and only prompt us at that moment.

There’s a couple of ways that we can disable this

behavior, however. You’ll still get the prompt, but it
won’t force you to shut down. Here’s how to do it.

Manual Registry Hack

Open up regedit.exe through the start menu search box or run dialog, and navigate
down to the following key, creating new keys if they don’t exist.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUp
date\AU
Create a new 32-bit DWORD value named NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers and
give it a value of 1 to prevent automatic reboot while users are logged on. Delete the
value to put things back to the way they were.

Stop Windows Update from Hijacking the Sleep/Shutdown Button

As an avid user of the Sleep function on my laptop,
I’ve been more than irritated with Windows 7 or
Vista’s habit of changing the Sleep/Shutdown button
into an “Install Updates and Shut Down” button
whenever there are updates from Windows Update.

After the last time I accidentally clicked this stupid

button when I just wanted to enter sleep mode, I decided to look for a solution.

Stop Windows Update from Hijacking the Sleep/Shutdown Button

Manual Registry Hack

If you’d like to manually create this hack, you can open up regedit.exe using the start
menu search box and then browse down to the following key, creating the key if it
doesn’t exist.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpd
ate\AU
Add a 32-bit DWORD value called NoAUAsDefaultShutdownOption with a value of 1.
No reboot should be necessary.

Now our Sleep button should be back to the way it was, but if you wanted to use the
Install Updates and Shut Down option, it’s still available via the shutdown menu:
Add “Take Ownership” to Explorer Right-Click Menu in Win 7 or Vista
Taking ownership of system files or folders in
Windows 7 or Vista is not a simple task. Whether
you use the GUI or the command line, it takes far
too many steps.

Here’s a registry hack that adds an item to the menu

that will let you take ownership of the files in a single
step, so you can delete, move, or otherwise modify the file.

Add “Take Ownership” to Explorer Right-Click Menu in Win 7 or Vista

Add “Take Ownership” by Editing the Registry Manually

To add a “Take Ownership” command to the context menu in any version of Windows,
you just need to make some changes in the Windows Registry. It’s a fair list of changes,
and you’ll be working in two separate Registry locations. But take your time, follow the
steps, and you’ll get there. And if you’d rather not make the changes yourself, you can
skip ahead and just download our one-step hacks. We would recommend at least
skimming this section, though, so you understand the changes getting made.

Standard warning: Registry Editor is a powerful tool and misusing it can render your
system unstable or even inoperable. This is a pretty simple hack and as long as you
stick to the instructions, you shouldn’t have any problems. That said, if you’ve never
worked with it before, consider reading about how to use the Registry Editor before you
get started. And definitely back up the Registry (and your computer!) before making
changes.

Open the Registry Editor by hitting Start and typing “regedit.” Press Enter to open
Registry Editor and give it permission to make changes to your PC.
You’re going to make the same set of changes in two locations in the Registry. The first
location adds the “Take Ownership” to the context menu for files of any type and the
second location adds the command to the context menu for folders.

Add the “Take Ownership” Command to the Context Menu for Files

In the Registry Editor, use the left sidebar to navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell
Next, you’ll create a new key inside the shell key. Right-click the shell key and choose
New > Key. Name the new key “runas.” If you already see a runas key inside
the shellkey, you can skip this step.

Next, you’re going to change the (Default) value inside the runas key. With
the runas key selected, double-click the (Default) value to open its properties window.
In the properties window, type “Take Ownership” into the “Value data” box and then
click “OK.” The value you type here will become the command you see on your context
menu, so feel free to change this to whatever you want.

Next, you’re going to create a new value inside the runas key. Right-click the runas key
and choose New > String Value. Name the new value “NoWorkingDirectory.”

Now, you’re going to create a new key inside the runas key. Right-click the runas key
and choose New > Key. Name the new key “command.”
With the new command key selected, double-click the (Default)value in the right pane to
open it’s properties window.

In the “Value data” box, type (or copy and paste) the following text and then click “OK.”

cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F

Now, you need to create a new value inside the command key. Right-click the
command key and choose New > String Value. Name the new value
“IsolatedCommand” and then double-click it to open its properties window.

In the “Value data” box, type (or copy and paste) the following text and then click “OK.”
Note that this is the same command we just added to the (Default) value.

cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F

And that adds the “Take Ownership” command to the context menu for files. Let’s move
on to the changes you need to make to get the command onto the menu for folders.

Add the “Take Ownership” Command to the Context Menu for Folders

To add the “Take Ownership” command folders, you’re going to make essentially the
same changes you just made in the previous section, but to a different location in the
Registry. In Registry Editor, use the left sidebar to navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell

Next, you’ll create a new key inside the shell key. Right-click the shell key and choose
New > Key. Name the new key “runas.” If you already see a runas key inside
the shellkey, you can skip this step.
Next, you’re going to change the (Default) value inside the runas key. With
the runas key selected, double-click the (Default) value to open its properties window.

In the properties window, type “Take Ownership” into the “Value data” box and then
click “OK.” The value you type here will become the command you see on your context
menu, so feel free to change this to whatever you want.
Next, you’re going to create a new value inside the runas key. Right-click the runas key
and choose New > String Value. Name the new value “NoWorkingDirectory.”

Now, you’re going to create a new key inside the runas key. Right-click the runas key
and choose New > Key. Name the new key “command.”
With the new command key selected, double-click the (Default)value in the right pane to
open it’s properties window.

In the “Value data” box, type (or copy and paste) the following text and then click “OK.”

cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F

/t
Now, you need to create a new value inside the command key. Right-click the
command key and choose New > String Value. Name the new value
“IsolatedCommand” and then double-click it to open its properties window.

In the “Value data” box, type (or copy and paste) the following text and then click “OK.”
Note that this is the same command we just added to the (Default) value.

cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F

/t
And you’re finally done. You can close Registry Editor. These changes should take
place immediately, so test it out by right-clicking any file or folder and making sure you
see the “Take Ownership” command.

Disable Aero Shake in Windows 7

One of the interesting new features in Windows 7 is
the way you can grab a window by the title bar and
“shake” it back and forth to minimize everything else.
It’s a fun feature, but just in case you want to disable
it we’ve got the solution for you.

All you’ll have to do is apply a simple registry hack,

and that

Disable Aero Shake in Windows 7

Disable Aero Shake by Editing the Registry Manually
To disable Aero Shake on any PC running Windows 7, 8, or 10, you just need to make
an adjustment to one setting in the Windows Registry.

Standard warning: Registry Editor is a powerful tool and misusing it can render your
system unstable or even inoperable. This is a pretty simple hack and as long as you
stick to the instructions, you shouldn’t have any problems. That said, if you’ve never
worked with it before, consider reading about how to use the Registry Editorbefore you
get started. And definitely back up the Registry (and your computer!) before making
changes.

Open the Registry Editor by hitting Start and typing “regedit.” Press Enter to open
Registry Editor and give it permission to make changes to your PC.
In the Registry Editor, use the left sidebar to navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
Next,you’re going to create a new value in the Advanced key. Right-click the Advanced key
and choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the new value DisallowShaking .

Double-click the new DisallowShaking value to open its properties window. Change the
value from 0 to 1 in the “Value data” box and then click “OK.”
You can now close Registry Editor. The change should take place immediately, so test
it out by shaking a window while some other windows are open. The action will no
longer cause other windows to minimize. If you want to reverse the change later, you
can go back into Registry Editor and either set the DisallowShaking value back to 0 or
delete the value entirely if you don’t think you’ll need to turn it back on again.

Add “Open with Notepad” to the Context Menu for All Files
The default method of opening unknown files forces
you to go through a list of known applications and is
generally a pain to deal with.

That’s why I like to have a context menu option for

“Open with Notepad” so that I can quickly open up
files without having to go through a lot of trouble.

Add “Open with Notepad” to the Context Menu for All Files

Add “Open with Notepad” to the Context Menu by Editing the

Registry Manually
To add the “Open with Notepad” option to the context menu, you just need to make a
couple of quick edits in the Windows Registry.

Standard warning: Registry Editor is a powerful tool and misusing it can render your
system unstable or even inoperable. This is a pretty simple hack and as long as you
stick to the instructions, you shouldn’t have any problems. That said, if you’ve never
worked with it before, consider reading about how to use the Registry Editor before you
get started. And definitely back up the Registry (and your computer!) before making
changes.
Open the Registry Editor by hitting Start and typing “regedit.” Press Enter to open
Registry Editor and give it permission to make changes to your PC.

In the Registry Editor, use the left sidebar to navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell
Next, you’ll create a new key inside the shell key. Right-click the shell key and choose
New > Key. Name the new key “Open with Notepad.”

Now, you’re going to create another new key inside that one. Right-click the new Open
with Notepad key and choose New > Key. Name the new key “command.”
With the new command key selected, in the right-hand pane, double-click
the (Default)value to open it’s properties page.

In the “Value data” box, type the following text and then click “OK.”

notepad.exe %1
The changes should take place immediately. To test it out, just right-click any file and
see if you see the “Open with Notepad” command.

If you want to reverse the changes at any time, just head back into the Registry and
delete the Open with Notepad key you created. This will also delete the command key you
created inside.
Disable All Notification Balloons in Windows 7 or Vista
If you find the popup notification balloons in the
Windows system tray to be too annoying, you might
be interested to know that you can completely
disable them. This would be an extreme option, of
course… typically you can just turn them off in any
offending applications, but if you want to disable
them across the board, this is the solution.

Disable All Notification Balloons in Windows 7 or Vista

Change the Registered Owner in Windows

If you’ve ever wondered how to change the name of
the person that Windows is registered to, this is the
quick tip for you. It’s not all that useful for most
people, but it might come in handy if you got a
computer from somebody else.

To show off the new changes, just type winver.exe

into the start menu search box to see the About
Windows box.

Quick Tip: Change the Registered Owner in Windows

Kill Windows with the Blue Screen of Death in 3 Keystrokes

Have you ever wanted to show off your keyboard
ninja skills by taking down Windows with just a
couple of keystrokes? All you have to do is add one
registry key, and then you can impress your
friends… or use it to convince people to switch to
Linux.
This isn’t a bug, it’s a “feature” in Windows that is designed to let users trigger a crash
dump for testing purposes. Note: this one doesn’t work in Windows 7 anymore. Also, it
clearly doesn’t make Windows better, but we included it because it’s lots of fun.

Keyboard Ninja: Kill Windows with the Blue Screen of Death in 3 Keystrokes

How to Add Any Application to the Windows Desktop Right-

Click Menu
If you want really quick access to launch a frequently
used application without putting extra icons on your
desktop, you can add that application to the context
menu for the desktop with a simple registry hack.
Here’s how to do it.

For today’s lesson we’ll show you how to add Notepad to the menu, but you could add
any applications you want instead.

How to Add Any Application to the Windows Desktop Right-Click Menu

How to Add Google Documents to the Windows Explorer

“New” Menu
We’ve already shown you how to create shortcuts to
create new Google Docs easily, but what if you want
total Windows integration? Here’s how to add them
to the Windows Explorer “New” menu for easier
access.

This should work for all versions of Windows, and

you can modify it to work with Google Apps for your Domain as well. Keep reading for
the full instructions.

How to Add Google Documents to the Windows Explorer “New” Menu

How to Add Registry Editor to Control Panel
It’s always struck me as odd that system tweakers
use the registry editor all the time to fix annoyances
in Windows, but nobody has created a tweak to add
the registry editor to the control panel… until now.

I’ve created a registry hack to add the registry editor

as another option in the Control Panel in any version
of Windows.

How to Add Registry Editor to Control Panel

Remove “Shortcut” Text From New Shortcuts in Windows 7

or Vista
A source of annoyance for many Windows users is
the ” – Shortcut” text that is added to the name of
newly created shortcuts, and every time you have to
manually edit the shortcut and remove that text.
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a registry hack for
this?

Most long-time geeks will remember that there was a hack for Windows XP, and
probably already know that the same hack works in Windows 7 or Vista as well.

Remove “Shortcut” Text From New Shortcuts in Windows 7 or Vista

Disable Win+X Shortcut Keys on Windows 7 or Vista

Windows 7 and Vista have all the same Windows+X
shortcut keys as other versions of Windows, such as
Win+E for explorer and Win+D for the desktop, but
adds in all of the Win+<num> keys to launch the
shortcuts in the Vista Quick Launch menu (or switch
to apps in Windows 7), as well as Win+X for mobility
center, etc.
But what if you want to disable all these extra keys?

Disable Win+X Shortcut Keys on Windows 7 or Vista

Stupid Geek Tricks: Enable the Secret “How-To Geek” Mode

in Windows 7
We haven’t told anybody before, but Windows has a
hidden “How-To Geek Mode” that you can enable
which gives you access to every Control Panel tool
on a single page—and we’ve documented the secret
method for you here.

NOTE: Do not use this on Vista or XP: things will break.

Stupid Geek Tricks: Enable the Secret “How-To Geek” Mode in Windows 7

Disable Windows Mobility Center in Windows 7 or Vista

Windows Mobility Center is a fairly useful tool for
those of us using Windows 7 or Vista on a laptop
computer, but might not be for everybody, especially
since it takes over the Win+X keyboard shortcut.

If you would rather disable Windows Mobility Center,

all it takes is a single registry tweak.

Disable Windows Mobility Center in Windows 7 or Vista

Hide Drives from Your Computer in Windows 7 or Vista

If you’ve got drives in My Computer that you never
access, such as a USB Flash drive that you are
using solely for ReadyBoost, a floppy drive, or a
network drive only used for a particular piece of
software, then you might want to simply hide the
drive from your computer.

This tip will only hide the drive from being displayed, applications and the command
prompt will still have access to it, and you can still manually browse to the folder if you
type in the path.

Hide Drives from Your Computer in Windows 7 or Vista

How to Put a Real Libraries Icon On Your Windows 7 Desktop

We’re big fans of hidden registry hacks around here,
so when our friend Justin showed how to put a real,
working Libraries icon on the desktop, we figured it
would make a perfect article for for a few extra geek
points.

Yeah, you can always create a shortcut icon for

anything on the desktop, but this one is the actual
icon without the shortcut overlay. Plus it’s a geeky hidden trick—what’s not to like?

How to Put a Real Libraries Icon On Your Windows 7 Desktop

How to Restore Previous Versions of the Registry in

Windows 7
If you want to manually restore a specific section of
the registry from a previous System Restore
snapshot, or access some specific keys from an
older version of the registry, you can do so by
getting access to those files and then exporting
sections from them. Here’s how to do it in Windows
7 or Vista.

How to Restore Previous Versions of the Registry in Windows 7

Remove or Hide Unwanted Items From the Control Panel in
Windows 7
Have you ever opened the Control Panel in
Windows 7 and thought there is no reason to have
some of the icons listed? Today we take a look at
how to remove unwanted or unneeded items from
Control Panel in Windows 7.

For some items you won’t be able to easily delete

the CPL file if it’s a Windows system file or in use.
You could use a program like Unlocker, but we can tweak the Registry to hide items in
Control Panel.

Remove or Hide Unwanted Items From the Control Panel in Windows 7

Make the Taskbar Buttons Switch to the Last Active Window

in Windows 7
The new Windows 7 taskbar’s Aero Peek feature,
with the live thumbnails of every window, is
awesome… but sometimes you just want to be able
to click the taskbar button and have the last open
window show up instead. Here’s a quick hack to
make it work better.

Make the Taskbar Buttons Switch to the Last Active Window in Windows 7

Make Aero Peek Display Instantly (or Disable it) in Windows 7

Aero Peek is one of the more useful new features in
Windows 7… just move your mouse to the taskbar
for half a second, and everything else hides so you
can see the desktop or application window. But why
does it take half a second?

There’s a simple little registry hack that will change

the amount of time between hovering your mouse
over the show desktop button in the lower right-hand
corner, and the Aero Peek display showing up. The same thing should work for when
you hover over an application window on the taskbar.

Make Aero Peek Display Instantly (or Disable it) in Windows 7

Why Doesn’t Disk Cleanup Delete Everything from the Temp

Folder?
After you’ve used Disk Cleanup, you probably
expect every temporary file to be completely
deleted, but that’s not actually the case. Files are
only deleted if they are older than 7 days old, but
you can tweak that number to something else.

Why Doesn’t Disk Cleanup Delete Everything from the Temp Folder?

Remove “Troubleshoot Compatibility” from the Windows

Context Menu
Reader Jeevus wrote in asking how to remove the
“Troubleshoot Compatibility” item from the Windows
context menu whenever you right-click on an
application—naturally, we were happy to explain
how to do it, and share with the rest of you.

You’ll want to note that we’re not necessarily recommending that you remove this item,
since it could be useful if you’re having compatibility issues with an application, but
we’re fans of showing how to do something—also, we just like tinkering in the registry.
Remove “Troubleshoot Compatibility” from the Windows Context Menu

Show the Classic “All Programs” Menu in the Start Menu in

Windows 7
There are a lot of new users to Windows 7 who are
not happy with the new Start Menu and wish they
could revert to the Classic menu. Here is how to at
least get back the Classic “All Programs” Menu.

While it’s not quite the same as the good old XP

days, if you’re looking to get the All Programs Menu
back, this Registry hack will do the trick without installing 3rd party software.

Show the Classic “All Programs” Menu in the Start Menu in Windows 7

How To Add Recycle Bin to “My Computer” in Windows 7 or

Vista
Have you ever wanted to add the Recycle Bin to
your My Computer screen? Yeah, it’s probably not
the most common request, but here’s how to do it
anyway with a simple registry hack.

To make this tweak, we’ll be doing a quick registry

hack, but there’s a downloadable version provided
as well.

How To Add Recycle Bin to “My Computer” in Windows 7 or Vista

Remove Gadgets and Screen Resolution on Windows 7

Desktop Context Menu
One of the first things you might notice in Windows 7
is the addition of the new Gadgets and Screen
Resolution items to the context menu. The only
problem is that you might not really want them
there—so we’ll explain how to get rid of them.

No clue what we’re talking about? If you are using

Windows 7 and you right-click on the desktop, you’ll see a bunch of new items at the
bottom:

Remove Gadgets and Screen Resolution on Windows 7 Desktop Context Menu

Stupid Geek Tricks: Enable More Fonts for the Windows

Command Prompt
Have you ever noticed that there are only two fonts
to choose from in the Command prompt properties
window? What you might not know is that you can
use a simple registry hack to enable alternate fonts,
including a very readable font that comes with
Windows 7, Vista, or Office 2007.

But that’s not all… you can enable a number of fixed width fonts if you really want to.
We’ll cover how this works, as well as one of my favorite “interesting” fonts for the
command prompt.

Stupid Geek Tricks: Enable More Fonts for the Windows Command Prompt

Remove ATI Catalyst Control Center from the Desktop Right-

Click Menu
Have you ever wondered how to remove the
“Catalyst(TM) Control Center” item from the desktop
context menu? Here’s the simple registry hack to
remove it.

Remove ATI Catalyst Control Center from the

Desktop Right-Click Menu
Remove NVIDIA Control Panel from Desktop Right-Click
Menu
Have you ever wondered how to remove the
“NVIDIA Control Panel” item from the desktop
context menu? If so, you probably didn’t realize that
it’s trivially easy to remove.

Remove NVIDIA Control Panel from Desktop Right-

Click Menu

Make “Command Prompt Here” Always Display for Folders in

Windows
We’ve previously explained how you can open a
command prompt by holding down the Shift key and
right-clicking on a folder or the desktop… but how do
you make that item show up without having to hold
down the shift key?

There’s a simple registry hack you can do that will

enable “Open Command Window Here” item without holding down the shift key:

Make “Command Prompt Here” Always Display for Folders in Windows

Add Encrypt / Decrypt Options to Windows 7 / Vista Right-

Click Menu
If you use the built-in file encryption in Windows 7 or
Vista, you might be interested in adding an option to
the right-click menu to more easily encrypt and
decrypt your files, rather than having to use the file
properties dialog.

Adding this to the menu couldn’t be simpler – there’s

only a single registry key to add.
Add Encrypt / Decrypt Options to Windows 7 / Vista Right-Click Menu

Customize the Default Screensavers in Windows 7 and Vista

Windows 7 and Vista include a nice set of
backgrounds, but unfortunately most of them aren’t
configurable by default. Thanks to a free app and
some registry changes, however, you can make the
default screensavers uniquely yours!

You can customize the Bubbles, Ribbons, and

Mystify screensaver to enable hidden options with this registry hack.

Customize the Default Screensavers in Windows 7 and Vista

Skip the Annoying “Use the Web service to find the correct
program” Dialog
If you’ve used Windows for any length of time,
you’ve likely tried to open a file with an unknown
extension. Instead of getting a list of programs to
open the file with, you get an annoying dialog asking
you to use a web service to find a program. So how
do we change this?

You can use a registry hack to force Windows to skip this dialog altogether, and give
you a list of applications to use to open the file instead, just as if you had selected the
second option.

Skip the Annoying “Use the Web service to find the correct program” Dialog

Disable Caps Lock Key in Windows 7 or Vista

The caps lock key is one of those remnants of
another age of computers, back when people used
to shout at each other more often. Since it’s not
entirely useful anymore we’ll learn how to disable it.
If you aren’t interested in the explanation you can
skip to the bottom for the registry files.

Windows doesn’t have a default setting to allow for disabling the key, so what we have
to do is re-map the key to something non-existent so as to completely disable it.

Disable Caps Lock Key in Windows 7 or Vista

Add Defragment to the Right-Click Menu for a Drive

We’ve received lots of requests to add Defrag to the
right-click menu for a drive, so we created a simple
registry hack that can be easily added that does just
that.

After manually applying or downloading the hack,

you’ll have a new item on the right-click menu for
your drives…

Add Defragment to the Right-Click Menu for a Drive

Add Control Panel to the Desktop Right-Click Menu in Vista

A couple of days ago I noticed a thread on our forum
asking how to add Control Panel to the desktop
context menu, so I decided to write up the solution
for everybody, since it seems like a really useful
hack.

There’s a manual registry hack that you can apply if

you’d like, or you can download the reghack version and apply it easily.

Add Control Panel to the Desktop Right-Click Menu in Vista

Use Verbose Boot Messages to Troubleshoot Windows
Startup Problems
If you’ve ever had problems with your PC starting up
or shutting down slowly, there’s lots of different
troubleshooting techniques that you can use—today
we’ll talk about how to enable verbose messages.

Enabling these verbose messages is not going to magically solve your problems, of
course—the point is to use this to identify a problem, which you can then solve through
other means, generally by uninstalling a problem application or upgrading a faulty
driver.

Use Verbose Boot Messages to Troubleshoot Windows Startup Problems

How to Enable or Disable TortoiseSVN Menus Easily

If you’re a programmer that uses TortoiseSVN to
manage your Subversion source control project, you
might wonder how to easily disable the menu items
without completely uninstalling. Here’s a quick way
to do it.

The general idea is that we’ll remove the Windows Explorer context menu items from
the registry with one script, and then add the registry entries back with another script.

How to Enable or Disable TortoiseSVN Menus Easily

How to Add Control Panel to “My Computer” in Windows 7 or

Vista
Back in the Windows XP days, you could easily add
Control Panel to My Computer with a simple
checkbox in the folder view settings. Windows 7 and
Vista don’t make this quite as easy, but there’s still a
way to get it back.

To make this tweak, we’ll be doing a quick registry

hack, but there’s a downloadable version provided
as well.

How to Add Control Panel to “My Computer” in Windows 7 or Vista

Increase the Speed of the Aero Taskbar Thumbnails in

Windows 7
By default you may notice that there is a slight delay
when hovering your mouse over a Taskbar
Thumbnail. Here is a neat registry hack that will
allow you to speed it up.

Once you apply the hack, you’ll notice when you

hover your mouse over a thumbnail of an open app
on the Taskbar the preview pops up instantly with no delay.

Increase the Speed of the Aero Taskbar Thumbnails in Windows 7

Remove Programs from the Open With Menu in Explorer

Would you like to clean up the Open with menu in
Windows Explorer? Here’s how you can remove
program entries you don’t want in this menu on any
version of Windows.

This simple trick can help you keep your Open

withmenu tidy, and only show the programs you
want in the list.

Remove Programs from the Open With Menu in Explorer

Add “Run as Administrator” to Any File Type in Windows 7
or Vista
Have you ever tried to unzip a file to the Program
Files directory in Windows 7 or Vista? You’ll get all
sorts of permission denied errors, and generally be
unsuccessful. So how do we open up the zipfile as
an administrator? For that matter, how do you open
any file as administrator?

There’s a simple registry tweak that will let us specify the action to run as administrator
for a file type. Unfortunately you’ll have to make the tweak manually, but we’ll walk you
through it.

Add “Run as Administrator” to Any File Type in Windows 7 or Vista

Create a Context Menu Item to Copy a Text File To the

Clipboard in Windows 7 / Vista / XP
If you are the type of person that likes to keep a lot
of information stored in text-format files on your
drive, you’ve probably encountered a scenario
where you want to copy that information to the
clipboard… so you open the file in notepad, select
all, then copy to the clipboard. What if you could do
it with a simple context menu item instead?

Using a little registry hacking and the clip.exe utility built into Windows 7 and Vista, we
can do just that, and we can even hide it behind the Shift + Right-Click menu so that it
won’t waste space on the menu unless you hold down the shift key.

Create a Context Menu Item to Copy a Text File To the Clipboard in Windows 7 / Vista /
XP

Disable the “Send To” Folder on the Windows Explorer

Context Menu
After writing the article about adding Notepad to the
context menu I noticed all the comments from users
that prefer to use a shortcut in the Send To menu,
which got me thinking… I wonder if you can disable
the Send To folder?

Of course you can easily disable it… naturally it’s a registry hack, so standard
disclaimers apply.

Disable the “Send To” Folder on the Windows Explorer Context Menu

Remove “Map Network Drive” Menu Item from Windows Vista

or XP
If you have never used the “Map Network Drive”
dialog box, do you ever wonder how to get rid of it?
Personally I only map drives from the command line
so I never use it either… so I’m thankful there’s a
registry hack that can remove the menu items.

If you are unfamiliar with what I’m talking about, just right-click on the Computer icon
and you’ll see it.

Remove “Map Network Drive” Menu Item from Windows Vista or XP

Enable or Disable Task Manager

Some time ago I received an email from a reader
curious why their Task Manager option was grayed
out on the taskbar right-click menu. After a bit of
research his problem was solved, and now I’m
sharing the solution with everybody.

There is a registry key that will disable Task

Manager, although it’s not always clear how or why it was set to disable. In many cases
the problem is related to spyware, so you should also scan your computer. Here’s how
to enable or disable it.
Why is Task Manager Disabled?

How to Clean Up Your Messy Internet Explorer Context Menu

Is your Internet Explorer context menu completely out
of control? Is it so long that it actually runs off the
screen? Here’s how to quickly take a few steps to get
rid of all that ridiculous clutter without installing Google
Chrome instead.

Sometimes you can remove the items just by using the

Manage Add-ons screen, but other add-ons embed
themselves a lot deeper, and you’ll need to use a
registry hack to get rid of them. Here’s how to do that.

How to Clean Up Your Messy Internet Explorer Context Menu

How to Restore the Real Internet Explorer Desktop Icon in

Windows 7
Remember how previous versions of Windows had
an Internet Explorer icon on the desktop, and you
could right-click it to quickly access the Internet
Options screen? It’s completely gone in Windows 7,
but a geeky hack can bring it back.

Microsoft removed this feature to comply with all

those murky legal battles they’ve had, and their alternate suggestion is to create a
standard shortcut to iexplore.exe on the Desktop, but it’s not the same thing. We’ve got
a registry hack to bring it back.

How to Restore the Real Internet Explorer Desktop Icon in Windows 7

Enable or Disable Displaying a Message During the Boot

Process
If you’ve ever had a corporate laptop, there’s a good
chance that you’ve seen a message before you login
that talks about the corporate policies and all of that
stuff.

Here’s how to enable or disable that login message

using a registry hack.

Display a Text Message During Bootup of Windows 7

That was a lot of registry hacks… guessing nobody will even read far enough to see this
line.