Suppress Error Messages When Booting - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

This hack will suppress all pop-ups informing you that a device is not working or is causing an error. You might want to temporarily apply this edit if you know that a certain device isn’t working, and you don’t want to keep getting reminded.

Navigate to:

HLM\ SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Control\ Windows

Change the value of the DWORD called NoPopupsOnBoot to 1. This will suppress all error messages, but remember, you will not be warned even if the error is serious. If the pop-up is too annoying and you can’t do anything about it, go ahead and suppress the error messages, but ensure that you periodically review the event logs to see that there’s nothing going seriously wrong with your system.

If you do wish to be warned of critical errors, you can use another setting called “Error Mode”. Set the DWORD Value to 0 for no error suppression, 1 for suppressing system errors, and 2 for suppressing all errors.

Remove Pinned Programs - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

Don’t like the pinned program list in the Start Menu? We do—so we don’t need to scroll—but some people don’t like it. Use this Registry edit to get rid of it.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer

And to:

HLM\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer

Change the DWORD value of NoStartMenuPinnedList to 1 to remove the pinned programs list. The default is 0. The hange should happen immediately, but as usual, if it doesn’t, just restart!

This will also remove the Internet and E-mail Programs. Also, it only applies to the XP Start Menu and not the Classic Start Menu.

Disable The Frequent Programs List - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

Use this hack if you don’t want the list of frequently used programs in the Start Menu to show up.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer

And to:

HLM\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer

Change the DWORD value of NoStartMenuMFUprogramsList to 1 to disable the display of the frequent programs list. If that DWORD doesn’t exist, create it.

This will only work with the XP Start Menu, not the Classic Start Menu.

Don’t Show Common Program Groups - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

If you don’t want to see the “common groups” in the Start Menu, use this hack to disable it from getting displayed.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer

And to:

HLM\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer

The first value above, as you know by now, is user-specific, and the second is the system-wide setting.

Change the DWORD Value of NoCommonGroups to 0 to disable the display, and to 1 to re-enable it.

Start Menu: Scrolling Or Columns? - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

By default, Start Menu items are cascaded as columns across the screen. This can get annoying and inconvenient when your Start Menu list becomes large. This hack will enable you to switch the default Start Menu display mode to a scrolling menu.

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

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

To enable Start Menu scrolling, change the value of StartMenuScrollPrograms to “Yes”. Set the value to “No” for the default multiple-column display. Reboot or log out and back in for the change to take effect.

Display Attributes - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

This is something *nix folks have had all the time—the Attributes of files and folders. In Windows, if you want to see the file and folder attributes in Detailed View in Explorer, you’ll need to use this hack.

Navigate to:

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

Set the DWORD Value called ShowAttribCol to 1 to enable a spanking new “Attributes” column.

Control Capitalisation In File And Folders Names - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

With this hack, if you enter a file or folder name in upper case, Windows will change the entry to upper and lower case to make it more visually appealing.

Navigate to:

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

Modify the DWORD Value Don’tPrettyPath to 0, and Windows will adjust the capitalisation. Set it to 1 and Windows will accept the capitalisation as entered. A restart might be required for the change to take effect.

Add A Command-Prompt Right-Click To Every Folder - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

If you use the command line window a lot, this hack will let you open a command prompt at the selected directory.

Navigate to:

HCR\Directory\shell

Create a new sub-key called Command under the main key (that is, the new key will be HCR\Directory\shell\Command). Change the value of “(Default)” within that key to the text you’d like on the right-click menu, for example, “Open A Prompt Here!”

Create another, new sub-key under the key created above, again called “command” (so this key will be HCR\Directory\shell\Command\command). Change the value of “(Default)” here to “cmd.exe /k cd %1”, without the quotes. Now right-click on a folder, and voila!

Implement A User-Based Custom Shell - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

Windows allows you to selectively specify the system shell based on the logged-in user. For example, this allows one user to use the standard Explorer interface, and another to use the legacy “progman” shell.

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

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

The second value is the system-wide setting, and the first value is for the currently logged-in user.

Create or modify the String Value called Shell and set it to the filename of the replacement shell.

Get Rid Of The Hand - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

When you share a local resource on the network, a “hand” icon is placed under the item to show that it’s shared. You can remove the icon if you want to.

Navigate to:

HCR\Network\SharingHandler

Find the SharingHandler key. To remove the “hand,” clear the current data from the “(Default)” value, which is a String Value. To restore the icon to the default, enter “ntshrui.dll” there. Restart Windows for the change to take effect.

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.”

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.”

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).