WINDOWS TRICKS & SHORTCUTS

June 5th, 2007, 3:00 am

Change Internet Explorer Logo (2000, XP 2003)



When you purchase a computer from a company such as Dell or Gateway they may brand your copy of Internet Explorer with their own logo. This is the logo that appears the upper right hand corner of the browser window. To change this logo back to the default Windows logo make the following modifications in the registry.

Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER | Software | Microsoft | Internet Explorer | Toolbar and delete the BrandBitmap and SmBrandBitmap string values.
Also navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE | SOFTWARE | Microsoft | Internet Explorer |Main delete the SmallBitmap and BigBitmap string values.
Exit the registry and restart Internet Explorer for the changes to take effect.

June 5th, 2007, 3:04 am

Disable Desktop Save Settings on Exit (2000, XP, 2003)


By default whenever you exit Windows all desktop layout changes such as icon locations are saved. However if you have a public computer where you want the same desktop layout to appear everytime Windows starts you can disable the save settings feature by utilizing the following registry hack.

Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER | Software | Microsoft | Windows | CurrentVersion | Policies | Explorer.
Right click on the right side pane and select New-->DWORD Value and name it NoSaveSettings .
Double click on NoSaveSettings and assign it a Value data of 1 .
Close the registry editor and restart for the effects to take place.

June 5th, 2007, 3:05 am

Change Number of Applications in Group Similar Taskbar Buttons (XP and 2003)


Windows XP and 2003 incorporates a new feature that groups multiple instances of the same application within a single button on the Taskbar. For example, instead of having a Taskbar button for each instance of Internet Explorer, XP and 2003 will group all the IE open windows within a single Taskbar button. This is very useful in that it saves valuable space on the Taskbar. This feature is enabled by default and can be toggled on and off by right-clicking on the Taskbar and selecting Properties and checking the Group similar taskbar buttons option. The problem is that you cannot control how many instances of a particular application need to be open before they are grouped together. The following registry hack will give you control over the number of instances of an application that need to be launched before they are grouped together.

Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER | SOFTWARE | Microsoft | Windows | CurrentVersion | Explorer | Advanced.
Right click on the right side pane and select New-->DWORD Value and name it TaskbarGroupSize.
Double click on TaskbarGroupSize and assign it a Value data corresponding to the number of open instances that you desire. This example will use 3.
Close the registry editor and logoff Windows for the effects to take place.

June 5th, 2007, 3:07 am

Restrict Access to Specified Applications (2000, XP 2003)


There are many situations where an administrator needs to restrict access to certain applications. For example, you may want to restrict users from running Internet Explorer, FTP Clients or Command Prompt. In order to accomplish this you need to make the following changes to the registry.

Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER | Software | Microsoft | Windows | CurrentVersion | Policies | Explorer.
Right click on the right side pane and select New-->DWORD Value and name it DisallowRun.
Double click on DisallowRun and assign it a value data of 1.
With the HKEY_CURRENT_USER | Software | Microsoft | Windows | CurrentVersion | Policies | Explorer key highlighted right click on Explorer and select New-->Key. Name the new key DisallowRun.
Now right click in the right side panel and create a New String Value called 1 and assign it the value of the executable file you want to restrict access to. For each additional application use consecutive numbers with value set to the name of the executables you want to restrict access to.
Close the registry editor and logoff Windows for the effects to take place.

June 5th, 2007, 3:09 am

Disable Desktop Cleanup Wizard (XP)


Windows XP includes a new feature that is used to move all unused icons to a single folder so your desktop does not be become overly cluttered. By default this wizard will run every 60 days asking if you want Windows to automatically cleanup your desktop. If you find this behavior irritating you can disable it by implementing the following steps.

Right click on the desktop and select Properties.
Select the Desktop tab.
Click the Customize Desktop button.
On the General Tab uncheck Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard every 60 days.

June 5th, 2007, 3:12 am

Remove Shared Documents Folder from My Computer (XP)


Windows XP includes a new folder called Shared Documents that appears in My Computer. This feature is used to provide an easy mechanism for multiple users on a single workstation to share files with each other. However this can create a potential security risk in a networked environment. To disable this share make the following change in the registry.

Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER | Software | Microsoft | Windows | CurrentVersion | Policies | Explorer.
Right click in the right side pane and select New-->DWORD Value and name it NoSharedDocuments .
Double click on NoSharedDocuments and assign it a value data of 1 .
Close the registry editor and restart Windows for the effects to take place..

June 5th, 2007, 3:13 am

Remove Username from Start Menu (XP 2003)

Windows XP and Server 2003 will list the name of the currently logged on user at the top of the Start menu. This can represent a potential security risk since it will quickly reveal the name of a valid user account. An attacker who learns of a valid user account already has gained 50% of the information needed to gain unauthorized access to a network. Therefore, it is best to remove this bit of information by implementing the following registry hack. This can also be done using Group Policy by navigating to User Configuration | Administrative Template | Start Menu and Taskbar and enabling Remove user name from Start Menu.

Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER | Software | Microsoft | Windows | CurrentVersion | Policies | Explorer.
Right click in the right side pane and select New-->DWORD Value and name it NoUserNameInStartMenu.
Double click on NoUserNameInStartMenu and enter a Value data of 1 .
Close the registry editor and logoff Windows for effects to take place.

June 5th, 2007, 3:15 am

Remove Programs from the Add/Remove Programs List (2000, XP, 2003)


Sometimes when you uninstall a program using an applications built-in uninstaller it may not remove the entry from the list in the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel. In other cases you may wish to hide a certain program so no one knows that it is installed on your computer. Interestingly, many people will go to great lengths to hide the program folder and rename the process but will forget that the program name will still appear in the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel list. The following registry hack can be used to remove these program names from this list.

Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE | Software | Microsoft | Windows | CurrentVersion | Uninstall . Under this key you will see a list of all the program that are in the Add/Remove Programs list. Some of the key name may be very cryptic. To see what applications these keys correspond to, click on the key and look at the DisplayName value in the right side pane.
To remove a program from the list simply right click on the key value and select Delete. For those users who are attempting to hide applications you may want to first right click on the key and select Export in Windows XP and 2003. For Windows 2000 highlight the key and select Registry | Export Registry File.. from the Toolbar. Make sure Selected branch is selected. Save the REG file to a floppy or another secure location so if you ever need to uninstall the program you can quickly re-enter the application name on the Add/Remove Programs list by simply double clicking on this file. Another option that can be employed to hide the program name from appearing in this list is to simply change the DisplayName value in the right side pane.
Close the registry editor for the effects to take place.

June 5th, 2007, 3:19 am

Change Default Screensaver at Login (2000, XP, 2003)


Windows will present the user with a default login screensaver that is different from the screensaver that is set in the Display Control Panel. If you want to change the login screensaver make the following changes in the registry.

Navigate HKEY_USERS | .DEFAULT | Control Panel | Desktop and double click on SCRNSAVE.EXE and change the value of login.scr to the path of the screensaver file you want to use. For example, if you want to use the blank screensaver file enter scrnsave.scr for the Value data.
You can also change the value of the ScreenSaveTimeOut string to equal the same time that you have your desktop screensaver set at. Make sure you enter the value in seconds.

June 7th, 2007, 9:47 am

Some of those are useful...but why so many posts?

June 11th, 2007, 12:35 am

so many posts bcos they were all interesting and i wanted to share them with u guys!

July 6th, 2007, 2:55 am

[thanks[/b]

July 11th, 2007, 9:44 am

ATNO/TW wrote:

Since I have at times as many as 10 or more windows open at once a nifty little keyboard shortcut that instantly minimizes all open windows:

Ctrl+Esc immediately followed by Alt+M

That's my alltime favorite. I also like Windowskey+E to bring up the Windows Explorer and Windowskey+R to bring up Run. I also use Ctrl+A to select all, Ctrl+C to copy Ctrl+Z to Cut, and Ctrl+V to paste. Very convenient shortcuts when copying code and hypertext links.

one can use "windows +m " to minimize all windows and pressing same again to restore it

July 16th, 2007, 12:59 pm

ATNO/TW wrote:

I've recently thought that we at OZZU should all get together and just write a brand new operating system that actually works. I do like your macro idea though.

I know this is an old post by you, but it's completely possible.

I was reading a tutorial, and made a VERY simple version of DOS, that opened paint, and paint only. But it still took me 3 weeks.

Dude, we could name it OZZU 2007 (or 2008, or V1, it doesnt matter).

You know what? I would be completely interested in accomplishing such a task.

July 17th, 2007, 12:05 am

Hi,
Try all these commands

Windowskey + M --> Minimise all the windows opened
CTRL + N --> to open a another IE explore
WindowKey + R --> open the run windows
WindowKey + E --> open the explorer
F3 function is used to "find" option in the existing page.
ALT + Sapcebar then press x is used to maximize the window
ALT + Sapcebar then press n to minimise the existing window
etc.............

Interesting!