The “New” Right-Click Command Goes Missing - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

After a Windows update, the much-used “New” option in the rightclick could go missing. This hack will fix it.

Navigate to:

HCR\ Directory\ Background\ shellex\ ContextMenuHandlers\ New

Add the following String Value:

{D969A300-E7FF-11d0-A93B-00A0C90F2719} to the “(Default)” setting under that key. If the “New” key is not present, create it and add the value.

Control The Behaviour Of The Logon Screensaver - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

At the logon screen, Windows launches the specified (or default) screen saver after a specified timeout. Use this hack to disable, change or adjust the timeout of the screensaver.

Navigate to:

HKEY_USERS\ .DEFAULT\ Control Panel\ Desktop

Modify the value of ScreenSaveActive to 1 or 0 to enable or disable the screensaver. Under “SCRNSAVE.EXE”, change the path to the .scr screensaver file you want. Adjust the value of the screensaver timeout in ScreenSaveTimeOut to your desired number (in seconds).

Control CPU Task Priorities - Performance Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

It is not possible to explain this tweak without getting into many technical details. But what it does is, it forces short processor timeslices to be allocated to foreground processes three times more often than the time-slices given to background processes.

Navigate to:

HLM\ SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Control\ PriorityControl

Set the DWORD Win32PrioritySeparation to, well, any of a number of values.

3 (the default): Foreground and background tasks have equal priority.

2: Foreground tasks have higher priority than background Tasks

1: Foreground tasks have maximum priority

0 (not recommended): Foreground tasks run in real-time. This will most likely make your system hang, and is primarily to be used in mission-critical environments with supporting hardware.

This particular tweak should not be applied to a system running either SQL Server or IIS unless you’re certain that you want to slow down those background processes.

Make DLLs Display Their Icons - Miscellaneous Windows XP Registry Hack

By default, Windows Explorer displays a generic icon for all DLL files. Some poor DLLs actually offer their own icons. So if you'd like to know at a glance which ones have icons, you'll need to go through the following procedure. Remember that this tweak will cause the first icon contained in a DLL to be displayed in Windows Explorer.

Navigate to:
HCR\dllfile\DefaultIcon

Back up the key you are about to modify: highlight "(Default)" in the right frame and select Export Registry File... . Save the file to the location of your choice, so if you don't like the results of this tweak, double-click the exported file to undo the changes you are about to make.

Then, right click "(Default)" and choose Modify. Replace all the information contained in the Value data: field with %1. Now reboot and launch Windows Explorer. Look at the file called Shell.dll in C:\Windows\System and note that it - and many other DLLs - now display an icon of their own!

Increase Balloon Tip Notify Time - Miscellaneous Windows XP Registry Hack

Frankly, a silly hack - just for fun! This one will, of course, increase the time for which balloon tips will be displayed.

Navigate to:
HCR\Software\Microsoft\Windows
\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify

Create or modify the DWORD called BalloonTip to reflect a value of 0000000a. You might need to restart for the change to take effect.

Add Copy to / Move to To The Right-Click - Miscellaneous Windows XP Registry Hack

An extremely useful hack, which adds "Copy to folder" and "Move to folder" to the right-click menu of every file and folder. When you select, say, "Copy to folder," you'll get an Explorer-style menu where you can navigate and choose the destination folder.

Navigate to:

HCR\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\

ContextMenuHandlers

Create a new key here called "Copy To". Change the "(default)" value to

{C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

Then, in the same key (HCR \AllFilesystemObjects \shellex \ContextMenuHandlers), create a new key called "Move To". Change its "(default)" value to

{C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

The change will be effective immediately.

Remove Items From The System Tray - Miscellaneous Windows XP Registry Hack

We can't think of a really good use for this one, and it's just for fun that we're including it here. We all use the System Tray in the Taskbar, but you can get prevent any items from appearing there - except the time, if you've set the clock to appear in the System Tray! So once you apply this hack, the System Tray will be blank except for the time.

Navigate to:
HCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

And to:
HLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows
\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Create a DWORD Value in both locations called NoTrayItemsDisplay. Set it to 1 to make items in the System Tray vanish. Come to think of it, this is a cool prank hack! Just log out and back on for the change to take effect.

Remove "File" From Explorer - Miscellaneous Windows XP Registry Hack

Ever used the File menu in a Windows Explorer window? We're guessing not. In fact, did you even know it was there? It's useless. But equally useless is this hack, which removes the menu.

Navigate to:

HCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows

\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

And to:

HLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows

\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Create a DWORD Value in both locations called NoFileMenu. Set it to 1, or back to 0 if you want the File menu to reappear.

Create Your Own Tips - Miscellaneous Windows XP Registry Hack

If you are getting bored of the Windows tutorial tips that appear when you log in to windows, use this hack to change and add your own tips.

Navigate to:
HLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\Tips

The tips are listed in alphabetical or numerical sequence. You can either replace the string values in the existing tips, or create your own tips, or increment the existing letters or numbers and enter a string value with your own tip. For example, if the last tip is designated “Y”, the next tip could be “Z” with your String Value text.

You can use any message in the String Value; it needn’t be a tip! For example, try “Don’t forget to call home!” as a tip and see how it appears when you next log in.

Modify The Default Search Options - Performance Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

An incredibly useful hack! You’ve probably gone through the drill more than once—search, then specify that it’s case-sensitive, then specify that you want to search subfolders, and so on and so forth. Use this hack to specify the search parameters that makes it most omfortable for you to search your system.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer

Set any of the following DWORD Values to 1 or to 0. What to set them to is obvious.

CaseSensitive: Do a case-sensitive search

IncludeSubFolders: Search subfolders

SearchHidden: Search hidden files and folders

SearchSlowFiles: Search tape backup

SearchSystemDirs: Search system folders

The next time you conduct a search, you won’t need to enter a single parameter!

Disable The Search Assistant - Performance Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

The new search assistant is an annoyance to many people. Not only does it have a weird number of counter-intuitive search options, it also connects to the Microsoft site without the user’s permission, opening a potential door for compromise of privacy. Use this hack to disable the new search assistant and use the classic search interface.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Internet Explorer\ Main

Set the String value for Use Search Asst to “no”. The default is “yes”.