Hide Control Panel Applets - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

There are so many applets in the Control Panel that you never use! This hack will let you hide any of the applets in the Control Panel.

Navigate to:

HCU\Control Panel\don’t load

(Yes, surprisingly, that key has an apostrophe!)

To hide the applets, you need to create a String Value for the filename of the applet in question, and set the value of the setting to No—or delete the key entirely to display the applet. The filenames of most of the common applets are as below, for quick reference. You might or might not find all the following on your system, and conversely, there could be applets on your system not mentioned here.

access.cpl - Accessibility Applet

appwiz.cpl - Add/Remove Programs Applet

console.cpl - Console Applet

timedate.cpl - Date and Time Applet

desk.cpl - Display Properties Applet

fax.cpl - Fax Applet

hdwwiz.cpl - Hardware Wizard Applet

irprops.cpl - Infrared Port Applet

intl.cpl - International and Regional Settings Applet

inetcpl.cpl - Internet Settings Applet

joy.cpl - Joystick Applet

liccpa.cpl - Licensing Applet

main.cpl - Mouse and Keyboard Applet

mlcfg32.cpl - Mail Applet

mmsys.cpl - Sound and Multimedia Applet

modem.cpl - Modem and Phone Applet

ncpa.cpl - Network and Connectivity Applet

netcpl.cpl - Network and Dial-up Connectivity Applet

nwc.cpl - Netware Client Applet

odbccp32.cpl - ODBC Applet

devapps.cpl - PC Card Applet

ports.cpl - Ports Applet

powercfg.cpl - Power Management Applet

sticpl.cpl - Scanner and Camera Applet

srvmgr.cpl - Server Manager Applet

sapi.cpl - Speech Properties Applet

sysdm.cpl - System Applet

telephon.cpl - Telephony Applet

tweakui.cpl - TweakUI Applet (if you have TweakUI installed)

nusrmgr.cpl - User Manager Applet

wspcpl32.cpl - WSP Client Applet

quicktime.cpl - QuickTime Applet

S32LUCP1.cpl - Norton Live Update Applet

Disable The Passport Balloon Reminder - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

A balloon reminder will annoyingly keep popping up asking you to enter your MSN Messenger username and password. Once you enter it, it will be stored—forever! If you don’t want to be nagged by the balloon, use this hack to disable the reminder forever.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ MessengerService

Change the Binary Value PassportBalloon to “0a 00 00 00” to permanently disable the reminder.

Restore Folders Upon Startup - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

Another very useful hack! You can specify whether the folders that were open at the point of the last shutdown should re-open when the system starts up next. You can now reboot in the middle of exploring your computer, safe in the knowledge that all the windows will come back up when you restart.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ Advanced

Change the DWORD value PersistBrowsers to 0 to not re-open the folders when the system restarts. A value of 1 should be specified if the folders are to be re-opened.

A Command Line Command Completion Hotkey - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

This is a hack of the UNIX shell command completion feature. You can type in the first few characters of a file name and then press a key to have the system complete it.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Command Processor

And to:

HLM\ Software\ Microsoft\ Command Processor

Set the DWORD Value CompletionChar to equal the hexadecimal value of the control character for the required keyboard stroke. The hex values for the key combinations are as in “A Hotkey For Command Line Directory Completion.”

Use any hex values corresponding to the desired control character. The complete list of possible control characters can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII. The representation is in the form ^letter, where ^ represents the [Ctrl] key. Thus ^Z = [Ctrl] + [Z], and has a hex value of 26.

Type in the first few characters of the filename and press the key to complete it. If you have multiple files that begin with the same character string, press the [Ctrl] key multiple times to cycle through the available list of files.

Use this in conjunction with “A Hotkey For Command Line Directory Completion.”

Change The Program Files And Common Files Directory - Performance Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

Change the default location where software will be installed and where the “common files” will be stored. These are normally found in C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files\Common Files\. Both can be on independent volumes. This can be useful if, say, you’re running out of space on the C: drive, and want to instruct Windows to forever look elsewhere while installing programs. Removes the burden of pressing “browse” and browsing to the desired location.

Navigate to:

HLM\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion

Specify the String Value of the path of the new directories. For Common Files the setting is CommonFilesDir, and for Program Files the setting is ProgramFilesDir. All new software that is installed will refer to this key to identify where the common files and program files should be stored by default.

A Hotkey For Command Line Directory Completion - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

If you work at the command line for a considerable length of time, you will want this hack. Specify a key, which when pressed, will complete the directory name.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Command Processor

And to:

HLM\ Software\ Microsoft\ Command Processor

The first key above is user-specific, the second is system-wide. Change the setting of PathCompletionChar to the DWORD hexadecimal value of the control character. For example, the value for the [Tab] key is 9, [Ctrl] + [D] is 4, and so on… each key or key combination has a value associated.

The complete list of possible control characters can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII. The representation is in the form ^letter, where the caret character represents the [Ctrl] key. Thus ^Z = [Ctrl] + [Z], and has a hexadecimal value of 26.

At the command prompt, when you type in the first letter or letters of a directory and press the completion key, it will display the first directory path matching your entry. Press the key multiple times to scroll through the choices.

Use this in conjunction with “A Command Line Command Completion Hotkey.”