Remove Or Change The Shortcut Arrow Icon - Miscellaneous Windows XP Registry Hack

A tiny little modification to XP. If you prefer not to see the shortcut arrow icon in the bottom corner of the shortcut, use this hack to change it—or even remove it.

To delete the icon, remove the entry IsShortCut from the following keys:

HCR\lnkfile (in “lnkfile”, it’s a small “ell,” not an “I”)

HCR\piffile

HCR\InternetShortcut

To change the icon, go to:

HLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\

CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons

Change the String Value entries for the setting “29” to the path and filename of the new icon. Setting this value to blank has the same effect as deleting them, but without any side effects.

By deleting the icon, Windows no longer considers these shortcuts as shortcuts. There maybe some side effect in using the shortcuts after this change: in some cases, deleting the arrow for .LNK files leads to duplicate items in the Explorer context menu. Ideally, rather than deleting the icon, just remove the file path to be on the safe side.

Beep On Print Job Errors

Ever wished you’d get some kind of warning when there’s a job error on a remote print server? Here’s the hack to make your computer
beep repeatedly when this happens.

Navigate to
HLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print

Here, a (new or existing) DWORD value called BeepEnabled needs to be set to 1. Log off and log back in, or restart, for the change to take effect.

Add A Custom Folder To My Computer Or The Desktop - Miscellaneous Windows XP Registry Hack

This hack will create a custom folder—like the special My Documents folder—and one that cannot be deleted or renamed!

Navigate to:

HCR\CLSID

Create a new key with a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID). The GUID is a 128-bit identifier that is usually generated by Windows. This can be a random number that is used to uniquely identify COM objects when required for a Registry entry. Examples of GUIDs are:

{25892e17-80f6-415f-9c65-7395632f0223}

{a53e98e4-0197-4513-be6d-49836e406aaa}

{e33898de-6302-4756-8f0c-5f6c5218e02e}

These GUIDs should only be used on personal machines as their uniqueness cannot be guaranteed. GUIDs are usually generated by Windows, and not manually entered as we’re doing here. If the GUID is distributed in runtime apps, there is the probability— however remote—of it clashing with the existing GUIDs.

For this example, we’ll use a random GUID:

{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345}.

Hence, the key value will be:

HCR\CLSID\{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345}

Set the value of the “(Default)” setting for this key to the name of the folder—say “Computer Gurus Archive”. Create a new sub-key under the main key and call it “DefaultIcon”. That is, create a key called:

HCR\CLSID\{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE

-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345}\DefaultIcon

Set the value of the “(Default)” setting to the filename and path of the icon file you want to use for this folder. For example, “C:\Computer Gurusicon.ico”, without the quotes. If you don’t specify a path to an icon file, Windows will use its default folder icon.

Create another sub-key under the main key called

“InProcServer32”, that is, create the key called:

HCR\CLSID\{FD4DF9E0-E3DE–11CE-

BFCF-ABCD1DE12345}\InProcServer32

Set the “(Default)” setting here to “shell32.dll”. Create another String Value called ThreadingModel, with the value set to “Apartment”.

There’s more! Create another sub-key called

HCR\CLSID\{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF–

ABCD1DE12345}\Shell\Open My Folder\Command

Set the “(Default)” value here to the command that should be executed when the folder is clicked. In this case, it would be “explorer /root, c:\Computer Gurus Archive”

Create another set of sub-keys called

HCR\CLSID\{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF

-ABCD1DE12345}\ShellEx\PropertySheetHandlers\

{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345}

Then create another sub-key called

HCR\CLSID\{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF

-ABCD1DE12345}\ShellFolder

Under this key, create a new Binary Value called Attributes with the value “00 00 00 00”.

To put the folder on the Desktop, add the following key:

HLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\

CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\

{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCFABCD1DE12345}

To place the folder in My Computer, add the following key:

HLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\

CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\

{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CEBFCF-ABCD1DE12345}

The folder cannot now be removed or renamed without reversing the above steps.

Hide The Username On The Start Menu - Miscellaneous Windows XP Registry Hack

Use this hack to hide the Username that is usually displayed in the XP start menu—not the Classic Start Menu, where the username is not displayed.

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

Change the DWORD Value NoUserNameInStartMenu to 1 to hide the username display. The default is 0.

Print Scheduler Priority - Hardware Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

Here’s how to control the priority of the Print Scheduler. Navigate to

HLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print

Create a new DWORD value called SchedulerThreadPriority and set it to one of the following. Note that the value might already exist.
0 is for Normal
1 is for Above Normal
ffffffff (eight “F”s) is for Less Than Normal
Log off and log back in, or restart, for the change to take effect.

Change The Location Of The Windows Installation Files - Performance Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

If you installed XP from a CD and then copied the installation discs to your hard disk, use this hack to change the default installation folder that XP will look for when it searches for additional setup files later.

Navigate to:

HLM\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Setup

Change the String Value called SourcePath to one specifying the path to where the XP setup files are now stored. When you next need to access any setup files, XP will first look in this new location, instead of you having to click “browse” and browsing to there.

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.