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Registry Tweaks


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Here is a couple of regtweaks I picked up recently from a MaximumPC issue. Some useful, some not so useful, IMHO. Searched the thread as best I could without parsing through the whole thing line by line to see if they were already posted and didn't see them. Sorry if they are reposts.

Please be advised that I have not necessarily tested all of these myself. Use caution when implementing them.

;Minimize Outlook to the System Tray
[HKEY_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\Preferences]
"MinToTray"=dword:00000001


;Change the "Grace Period" for password-protected screen savers
;This value is listed in seconds
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"ScreenSaverGracePeriod"=dword:00000001


;Erase contents of pagefile on shutdown. This will not take effect until after
;the PC has been rebooted once. Be aware that shutdown will take longer to
;complete with this option enabled.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]
"ClearPageFileAtShutdown":=dword:00000001


;Remove compression options from Disk Cleanup Wizard
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Compress old files]
@=""


;Hide (remove) ALL System Tray icons
;This is another tweak that will not take effect until after reboot.
[HKEY_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoTrayItemsDisplay"=dword:00000001

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That last one about hiding all tray icons is interesting. It'd be useful for me if there was some way to forcibly do an "Always Hide" on all tray icons (so that its not seen, but if you click the arrow in tray ("Show hidden icons") you will be able to see the icons.

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Just to clarify:

That final tweak is not the same as enabling "Always Hide" for all system tray icons. I have just tested it for myself to make sure I was correctly interpreting the description given in the magazine. What it does is block icons from getting generated in the systray in the first place. After rebooting, the only thing in my system tray was the clock, no icons there at all. All processes still run as they should, there's just no system tray icons. I will quote the text from the magazine (and hopefully not get sued for copyright infringement ;)) in case some people are still confused.

Hide system tray icons

Want to make it look like you have no apps running in the background? Or maybe you just need to hide one or two more, um, private apps down in the Systray? Enter Regedit and navigate to...(instructions for entering tweak manually via regedit)... Close Regedit, reboot the system, and the icons should be gone. If you need to call them up, just bring up the Windows Task Manager.

Hopefully this will clear up and confusion. If I stumble across any tweaks that will allow for mass settings of "Always hide" icons in the systray, I will be sure to post them.

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Maximum PC is a good magazine but be careful using their tweaks and advice. Always test on another maching or in virtual pc/vmware if you can.

Sometime last year they published a tell-all guide to the group policy manager and told what every service is, and what it does. Then they said which ones didn't need to be ran at all. Well, I followed their guide and XP Pro promptly quit working right. A few days later I had to do a clean install to fix everything. Then I wrote them a nasty email about it, and never got a response. :D

In fact, if you search the net a bit for a particular registry tweak, you may notice difference sources giving different info. Best thing to do, is run a clean install in virtual pc and use something like RegShot to monitor changes to the registry so you can see for yourself exactly what keys and values are being changed.

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Good advice, SyntaxError. I always try to test things out for myself either on a virtual machine or on a box I don't mind having to reformat before installing on any important machines.

Don't think I have ever had any trouble with their (MaximumPC's) tweaks as of yet, but it still doesn't hurt to be careful. Just because they've never steared me wrong before doesn't mean they're always 100% accurate. Better safe than sorry, as they say.

That's also why I made a point of saying in my original post that I have not, as of yet, tested all of the tweaks myself. Since I haven't tested them myself, I don't want anyone else implementing them on their live machines based on the assumption that I said the tweaks are safe.

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Maximum PC is a good magazine but be careful using their tweaks and advice. Always test on another maching or in virtual pc/vmware if you can.

I don't *EVER* do anything for the first time on my real machine. Everything has to be tested before going "live" once in VMware for me - it wasn't bought to lie unused! :D

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First time here. I've been reading up and testing out XPCreate and all these reg tweaks. It's awesome. But I got some questions I can't seem to find answers for.

By the way, all of my tweaks are in a reg file.

1st, the following does not seem to work:

;Configure Automatic Updates

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update]

"AUOptions"=dword:00000002

"AUState"=dword:00000007

I want Automatic Updates to be on the "Notify Me" setting.

2nd, can anyone tell me how (if it's possible) to change the arrangement of the "All Programs" menu? Can I set it up however I want it (i.e. Remove MSN icon, Add a Multimedia Folder, etc...) and then use those settings from a key to make the install cd recreate them?

3rd, what numbers should I pick for the Lottery :D

Any help would be much appreciated.

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Anyone haveing the **** explorer refresh bug?

Some tweak here is causing it.

This does not work either or any thing close to it:

http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/628/

You know like for example if u delete a file and it goes to the receycle bin, well explorer should refresh automatticly so the icon changes to the full and then when you delte it goes back to empty icon of course. Well this is not happening since its not refreshing. And its very very annorying since its not just the recycle bin. Thats just an example.

Thanks for any help,

  Will

Well figured it out.

Wrong and causes refresh bug:

Change Recycle Bin Icons
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\DefaultIcon]
@=hex(2):25,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,64,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,65,\
 00,25,00,5c,00,69,00,63,00,6f,00,6e,00,73,00,5c,00,42,00,69,00,6e,00,20,00,\
 46,00,75,00,6c,00,6c,00,2e,00,69,00,63,00,6f,00,00,00
"Full"=hex(2):25,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,64,00,72,00,69,00,76,\
 00,65,00,25,00,5c,00,69,00,63,00,6f,00,6e,00,73,00,5c,00,42,00,69,00,6e,00,\
 20,00,46,00,75,00,6c,00,6c,00,2e,00,69,00,63,00,6f,00,00,00
"Empty"=hex(2):25,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,64,00,72,00,69,00,76,\
 00,65,00,25,00,5c,00,69,00,63,00,6f,00,6e,00,73,00,5c,00,42,00,69,00,6e,00,\
 20,00,45,00,6d,00,70,00,74,00,79,00,2e,00,69,00,63,00,6f,00,00,00

Correct:

Change Recycle Bin Icons
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\DefaultIcon]
@="%WinDir%\\system32\\shell32.dll,31"
"Full"="%WinDir%\\system32\\shell32.dll,32"
"Empty"="%WinDir%\\system32\\shell32.dll,31"

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Change Recycle Bin Icons
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\DefaultIcon]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,44,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,65,\
 00,25,00,5c,00,69,00,63,00,6f,00,6e,00,73,00,5c,00,42,00,69,00,6e,00,20,00,\
 45,00,6d,00,70,00,74,00,79,00,2e,00,69,00,63,00,6f,00,2c,00,30,00,00,00
"Full"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,44,00,72,00,69,00,76,\
 00,65,00,25,00,5c,00,69,00,63,00,6f,00,6e,00,73,00,5c,00,42,00,69,00,6e,00,\
 20,00,46,00,75,00,6c,00,6c,00,2e,00,69,00,63,00,6f,00,2c,00,30,00,00,00
"Empty"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,44,00,72,00,69,00,76,\
 00,65,00,25,00,5c,00,69,00,63,00,6f,00,6e,00,73,00,5c,00,42,00,69,00,6e,00,\
 20,00,45,00,6d,00,70,00,74,00,79,00,2e,00,69,00,63,00,6f,00,2c,00,30,00,00,\
 00

@war59321

Your corrected tweak causes my recyclebin icons to completely disappear!

Instead the "unknown" type icon appears.

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Change Recycle Bin Icons
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\DefaultIcon]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,44,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,65,\
 00,25,00,5c,00,69,00,63,00,6f,00,6e,00,73,00,5c,00,42,00,69,00,6e,00,20,00,\
 45,00,6d,00,70,00,74,00,79,00,2e,00,69,00,63,00,6f,00,2c,00,30,00,00,00
"Full"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,44,00,72,00,69,00,76,\
 00,65,00,25,00,5c,00,69,00,63,00,6f,00,6e,00,73,00,5c,00,42,00,69,00,6e,00,\
 20,00,46,00,75,00,6c,00,6c,00,2e,00,69,00,63,00,6f,00,2c,00,30,00,00,00
"Empty"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,44,00,72,00,69,00,76,\
 00,65,00,25,00,5c,00,69,00,63,00,6f,00,6e,00,73,00,5c,00,42,00,69,00,6e,00,\
 20,00,45,00,6d,00,70,00,74,00,79,00,2e,00,69,00,63,00,6f,00,2c,00,30,00,00,\
 00

@war59321

Your corrected tweak causes my recyclebin icons to completely disappear!

Instead the "unknown" type icon appears.

Hey,

Yeah whoops I posted it with my icons. Sorry.

Just edited the post. So its correct now.

Take Care,

Will

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Here is a good one for Windows Server 2003.

;Disable Shutdown Event Tracker
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Reliability]
"ShutdownReasonOn"=dword:00000000
"ShutdownReasonUI"=dword:00000000

Sick of having to push ctrl+alt+del to login using windows server 2003?

;Disable the need to push ctrl+alt+del to login
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer]
"DisableCAD"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer]
"DisableCAD"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system]
"disablecad"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system]
"disablecad"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"DisableCAD"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"DisableCAD"=dword:00000001

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