Set up the start menu in such a way that you have everything at hand (Tips for WINDOWS WINDOWS XP,VISTA,7)

The shareware tool Start Menu 7 offers a good alternative to the standard start menu; this can be downloaded from startmenu7.com. 

                  According to the developers, Start Menu 7 runs on both XP and Vista in addition to Windows 7 as its name suggests. For installation, double-click on the downloaded file in Windows Explorer and follow the instructions given by the setup wizard. You have to have a user account with administrator rights during the process as the setup routine involves accessing important system files. Once the installation is complete start the Program using the command ‘Start I All programs I Start Menu 7 Start Menu 7’.

                Now, when you click on ‘Start’ you will not see the usual start menu provided by Windows, but instead, a

menu that has an extensive collection of links: It has a different visual effect and enables direct access to all the programs and files on your system in an alphabetically sorted sub-menu format, for instance ‘Programs’, ‘My Documents’ or ‘Computer’. In addition to this, the various entries use additional sorting and display tools. Thus, for instance ‘Program’ offers the structure known as ‘All programs’ as seen in the usual Windows Start menu and on the other hand, the ‘Program’ links can be found under headings such as ‘Quick start’ and ‘Autorun’. You can add your own menus and commands using the option ‘Add entries to the menu’.

              Click on ‘Options’ and ‘Configuration’ so as to complete the experience as per your own taste. Use the option ‘System integration’ and remove the tick in front of ‘Start the Start Menu 7 with Windows’ if you do not wish to activate the tool automatically at every system start. You can add more power management buttons in Start Menu 7 using the option ‘Buttons’; this is done to turn off the computer, to restart it, or to enable the use of power management commands in a time-controlled fashion. For this, click on the corresponding button in the Start menu, select the desired function in a menu, for instance ‘Turn off the computer’, and define the period for action in a simple and an intuitive dialog. Finally, click the ‘Start’ button to save the settings.

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Accentuate active folder in Explorer/Registry structure(Windows Vista, 7)

              For better orientation in the Explorer or in the registry keys, you would like the currently open elements to appear differently since there is hardly any difference in the icons in the standard setting.
              In the system, there is no direct setting for the used folder. But since Windows differentiates between the states, different icons can at least be assigned for this through the registry.
              Type ‘regedit’ in the search field of the Start menu and press enter. Confirm the query of the user accounts manager with ‘Yes’ or ‘Continue’. Then, navigate to the key ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer’.
              There, search for the sub-key ‘Shell Icons’ or create the same with the command ‘Edit | New | Key’. Now, open this and in there add the value ‘4’ with the command ‘Edit | New | Character string’. That is the internal key for the system icon of an open folder. Double click on this new entry for editing.
               As ‘Value’, you can assign any icon you wish. For example, use ‘shell32.dll,-46’ here. This entry points to a folder symbol within the library with an additional green arrow. You can add an even more conspicuous symbol like ‘shell32.dll,-290’ or any other. But remember to always put a minus sign in front of the index number of the symbol. For searching for an appropriate symbol, you can use a tool like IconsExtract. Confirm the entry with ‘OK’ and close the registry. When you start Windows Explorer or the Registry editor the next time, the change will become effective.

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Sort last used documents chronologically(Windows Vista, 7)

              In the Start menu, the entry ‘Recent items’ makes quick access to recently used documents and files easy. However, Windows does not sort the entries in chronological order.
              The sequence of the icons shown in the Start menu cannot be changed. However, a small detour through the Windows Explorer can help you in your search for particular files, for example, in order of last modified. For this, right click on ‘Start | Last used’ and select the context command ‘Open’. The folder ‘Recent’ appears in Windows Explorer and there you can see last used files and folders like normal links. ‘Recent’ is the memory location for the menu ‘Last used’.
               Click on ‘Change view’ and select ‘Details’. Then, click on ‘Date modified’ in the sub-menu in order to sort the entries chronologically according to when they were last changed. After this, you will find the last edited Excel tables or the last written Word file higher in the list.
               By the way: You can determine the number of files shown in the Start menu in the registry with the DWORD value ‘MaxRecentDocs’ in the key ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ExplorerAeroSnap’.

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Hide user names while logging in to Windows(Windows 7)

               Windows shows all the user accounts on the welcome screen and in this way gives away the names of the users even to unknown and curious third parties. You want to prevent that from happening.

               In order to prevent unauthorized persons from having to guess just your password, click on ‘Start’ and type ‘regedit’ under ‘Programs’. Windows shows the results of the search directly in the Start menu. Double click under ‘Programs’ on ‘regedit.exe’ to start the registration editor. If you are working under an account without the administrator rights, you will have to first get them. For this, click with the right mouse button on ‘regedit.exe’ and in the context menu select ‘Run as administrator’.
               Navigate in the tree structure on the left side of the application to the key ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System’. Now, on the right side, you will find the value ‘dontdisplaylastusername’ among others. Open this with a double click for editing and in the following dialogue box set its ‘Value’ to ‘1’. Confirm this entry with ‘OK’.
               From now on, you will have to enter the name for the user account in addition to the password on the welcome screen. In this way, you make it harder for unauthorized users to start your system since they would need to know or guess the name of the user account also besides the password.

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Include ‘Run’ in the Windows Start menu(Windows Vista, 7)

           The Start menu earlier had the command ‘Run’. You can start programs via ‘Programs/Search files’ or ‘Start search’, but you also want to execute commands directly.

           Right click ‘Start’ and select the ‘Properties’ command in the next context menu. Then click the ‘Modify’ button in the ‘Start menu’ tab in the ‘Properties of taskbar and start menu’ dialog. Then check the box against ‘Command: Run’ in the list from the ‘Customize’ dialog. Confirm this action with ‘OK’ and exit all dialog boxes with ‘OK’. Now you will again have the ‘Run’ command that you have come to like for direct access in the start menu.

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Make drives invisible in Windows Explorer(Windows XP, Vista, 7)

             You save private data on an extra drive that is supposed to be kept away from nosy people. The optional password protection that you can install is however not sufficient as a security measure. You can make certain drives invisible. This will still allow you to access them, but these volumes are absolutely not visible in Explorer. This can be done via Windows tools via a registry entry.

              For that, enter ‘regedit’ in the search field of the Start menu and press the [Enter] key. Confirm the user account control question with ‘Yes’ or ‘Next’. Navigate to the key ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer’. Then click in the right part of the dialog and generate the entry ‘NoDrives’ with the command ‘Edit | New | DWORD-value’. Then open this entry for editing by double clicking.
               The value required now depends on which drive or drives you want to hide. This basically functions as per a bit pattern, wherein every bit stands for a drive starting with ‘A:’. To hide a specific drive, first determine which letter of the alphabet the drive name is. For the ‘H:’ drive, it is the eighth letter. As the value, you will now require the eighth bit, which decimally corresponds to the value 2(8-1) = 128. You can thus determine a corresponding value for every drive. To hide multiple drives, add all individual values. For example, if you want to hide the B, H and J drives, you will need the following values: 2(2-1)=2, 2(8-1)=128 and 2(10-1)=512. These add up to 642. For that, activate the ‘Decimal’ option in the dialog for ‘Base’ and then enter the calculated value. Confirm your entries with ‘OK’ and close the registry. The drives will no longer be visible when you start Windows Explorer next.
Note: Hiding the drives does not have any effect on the ability of programs to access them. Moreover, it will still be possible to access the hidden drives by directly entering the relevant drive letter in the address bar in Windows Explorer.

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Use a desktop keyboard in case of emergency or for security purposes(Windows Vista, 7)

                Your wireless keyboard is not working as the batteries are unexpectedly empty. Still, it’s urgent: you quickly need a different method to enter text to finish an important document.

               While shutting down the computer is easiest with a mouse, it becomes considerably slower when entering text using a mouse. For emergency cases, Windows offers a seldom-used aid to carry out all processes using the mouse: the desktop keyboard.
                To activate it, you will have to activate the tablet PC input field. For that, right click a free area of the taskbar and select the command ‘Toolbar | Tablet PC input panel’. You will first see the additional writing pad symbol to the right in the taskbar, which superimposes the window for entering text or desktop keyboard after a click on it. Both modes can be switched over using the icons to the left in the title bar of this window. The input aid remains in the foreground and enables cursive writing using the mouse. The clicks are directly implemented as keystrokes in other open windows and applications. By closing the window, you can only minimize it wherein it is shifted to the left margin of the screen where you can always access it easily. Moreover, you will have to ‘Display extended keyboard’ via ‘Tools’ to get access to the scrolling control elements. You can close the tool completely only via the ‘Tools | End’ entry.
Note: The desktop keyboard is also useful for safe entry of passwords and the rejection of monitoring by keylogging tools, since no keyboard entries pass through a hardware interface.

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Reduce the waiting time of taskbar preview considerably(Windows 7)

               When the mouse pointer hovers over an icon in the taskbar for some time, Win7 shows a preview of the relevant window(s) in Aero style, to simplify correct selection.

               The window preview in the taskbar normally appears with a delay of 0.4 seconds so that it does not open with every inadvertent movement of the mouse, though this makes the system feel slow. At least on a fast computer, you can reduce the waiting time without problems. An additional Registry value makes it possible.
                To modify it, enter ‘regedit’ in the search field from the Start menu and press [Enter]. Confirm the question of user account permsiions with ‘Yes’. Then navigate to the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced’. With ‘Edit | New | DWORD-value’, now create the new entry ‘ExtendedUIHoverTime’ and open it for editing by double clicking.
                As ‘Basis’, select the ‘Decimal’ option. Then enter the desired ‘Value’ in milliseconds. ‘100’ milliseconds are sufficient on a fast computer. At the same time, you should increase the value to at least ‘1000’ on a slow laptop or netbook. The default 400 milliseconds set by the system are only an arbitrary basic setting.
               Confirm the new specifications with ‘OK’ and close the registry. The change will take effect after restarting the computer.

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Display drive letters before the names in Explorer(Windows XP, Vista, 7)

             Explorer displays the names of drives first followed by the alphabets assigned to them in brackets. Since you identify drive letters better, you want to place them before the names.
            Just like the previous versions, even Windows 7 does not provide any direct option for the display of the drive letters. You thus need to do this via the registry. For this, start ‘regedit’ via the search field of the Start menu.
            Navigate to the ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Currentversion\Explorer’ key and create a new entry ‘ShowDriveLettersFirst’ there via ‘Edit | New | DWORD Value’. Now open this entry for editing by double clicking it, set the ‘Value’ to ‘4’ and confirm with ‘OK’. The default value ‘0’ shows the drive letter after the name and ‘2’ does not show it at all. Now close the registry and restart Explorer.

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