Windows Registry Tips

These settings and restrictions allow you to selectively control a range of features available in Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 and 6.

Open your registry and find or create the key below.

Create a new DWORD value based on the options below, and set the new value to "1" to enable the restriction or "0" to disable the restriction.

AlwaysPromptWhenDownload - Always prompt user when downloading files.
NoBrowserBars - Disable changes to browsers bars.
NoBrowserClose - Disable the option of closing Internet Explorer.
NoBrowserContextMenu - Disable right-click context menu.
NoBrowserOptions - Disable the Tools > Internet Options menu.
NoBrowserSaveAs - Disable the ability to Save As.
NoFavorites - Disable the Favorites.
NoFileNew - Disable the File > New command.
NoFileOpen - Disable the File > Open command.
NoFindFiles - Disable the Find Files command.
NoNavButtons - Disables the Forward and Back navigation buttons
NoOpeninNewWnd - Disable Open in New Window option.
NoPrinting - Remove Print and Print Preview from the File menu.
NoSelectDownloadDir - Disable the option of selecting a download directory.
NoTheaterMode - Disable the Full Screen view option.
NoViewSource - Disable the ability to view the page source HTML.
RestGoMenu - Remove Mail and News menu item.
Restart Internet Explorer for the restrictions to take effect.

Settings: User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\
Restrictions]
System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\
Restrictions]
Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value: (0 = disable restriction, 1 = enable restriction)

Windows XP can run slowly when attempting to access a folder that contains a large number of AVI (Audio Video Interleave) media files. This tweak speeds the process up by stopping Windows from extracting file information from AVIs.

Open you registry and find the key below.

To disable file information extraction rename the key and place a minus sign infront of the current name (i.e. "-{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}").

Restart Windows for the change to take effect.

Settings: System Key: [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}]

This setting controls whether hidden files and folders are displayed in explorer when browsing the file system.

Open your registry and find the key below.

Create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value called 'Hidden' using the settings below.

Exit your registry, you may need to restart or log out of Windows for the change to take effect.

Settings:
User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
Advanced]
Name: Hidden
Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value: (1 = show hidden, 2 = do not show)

Windows Me and XP include a built-in feature to manage compressed ZIP files and folders. This tweak allows you to disable it and install a third-party application.

To disable the compressed folder feature click on Start -> Run and enter the following command:

regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll
To enable ZIP folder support run this command:

regsvr32 zipfldr.dll

Restart Windows for the change to take effect.

This command allows you to create a shortcut or execute from a batch file a Windows DLL that will bypass the standard Start Menu method of shutdown and initiate a Log Off, Shutdown or Restart.

For Windows 98 & Me
Either execute the following command from a batch file or create a new shortcut, by right-clicking on the descktop and selecting New -> Shortcut. With the command:

C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL32.EXE shell32.dll,SHExitWindowsEx x

Where x is either 0, 1, 2, 4 or 8 (or a combination) based on the following table:

0 - Log off: Shuts down all running processes, then logs the user off.
1 - Shutdown: Shuts down the system to a point at which it is safe to turn off the power. All file buffers have been flushed to disk, and all running processes have stopped.
2 - Reboot: Shut down and restart the system.
4 - Force (Win98 Only): Forces processes to terminate. When this flag is set, Windows does not query running applications to inform them that Windows is shutting down. This can cause the applications to lose data, therefore, you should only use this flag in an emergency.
8 - Power Off (Win98 Only): Shuts down the system and turns off the power. The system must support the power-off feature.

Click Next and enter the name you want to call the icon (e.g. Shutdown).

For Windows 95
Repeat the steps above but use the command below for the target.

C:\WINDOWS\Rundll32.exe User,ExitWindows

Note: The values above can be combined together to achieve different results. For example, to restart Windows forcefully, without querying any running programs, use the following command line: "rundll32.exe shell32.dll,SHExitWindowsEx 6" (i.e. 2 + 4)

This tweak can be used to hide specific usernames from the logon screen, without removing the account completely.

Open your registry and find the key below.

For each user you want to hide create a new DWORD value named after the username and set the value to "0".

Restart Windows for the change to take effect.

Settings:
System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\
SpecialAccounts\UserList]
Name:
Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value: 0 = hide the account

Windows machine is configured to automatically logon to a specified account users can bypass this and enter alternate account information. This tweak forces the machine to auto logon and to ignore any bypass attempts.

Open your registry and find the key below.

Create a new string value called "ForceAutoLogon" and set it to equal "1" to force automatic logons or "0" to allow alternate users.

Restart Windows for the change to take effect.

Settings:
System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
Name: ForceAutoLogon
Type: REG_SZ (String Value)
Value: (0 = disabled, 1 = enabled)