Display DLL files with separate icon(Windows XP, Vista, 7)

               As a standard, all DLLs are given a single icon by the system. You would rather like to use a unique icon contained within each DLL file for display in the Explorer.
              With a small change in the registry, you can change the appearance of the standard icons. In order to change the DLL icons, type ‘regedit’ in the search field of the start menu or in the ‘Run’ dialogue and if necessary confirm the query of the user accounts manager with ‘Yes’ or ‘Continue’. Then, navigate to the key ‘HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\dllfile\defaulticon’. On the right, the character string ‘Standard’ is defined which symbol is used by the Windows system for display. For editing this, double click on this entry. Change ‘Value’ to ‘%1’ and confirm with ‘OK’. Through this parameter, the particular file will itself be referred to for the icon. Then, close the registry and open Windows Explorer.
               In the future, you will immediately recognize in the Explorer if a certain DLL contains any icons at all. All other DLL files will only get an standard empty icon.

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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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Call up user account control dialogs without interrupting Windows(Windows Vista, 7)

                When the user account control dialog pops up, the screen automatically darkens and Windows deactivates the currently running process. You would like to turn off this irritating behavior.

                In order to change the system behaviour when the user account control is called up, an entry in the registry is necessary. For this, open the registration editor with the key combination [Win]+[R], followed by the command ‘regedit’ in the dialogue ‘Run’. Then, navigate to the key ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system’. Now, in the right side of the window, open the entry ‘PromptOnSecureDesktop’ for editing.
               Set the value from ‘1’ to ‘0’ and confirm this with ‘OK’. The change is effective immediately without having to restart the system. You can try it out by starting the Registry editor again because the user accounts manager kicks in every time with this. To activate the standard settings again later, just change the value from ‘0’ to ‘1’.

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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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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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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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Deactivate the new Windows function called Aero Shake(Windows 7)

               Shaking inactive windows away with a couple of clicks is a practical feature, but it is annoying when you accidentally activate it when moving windows around.

               Windows does not have an option to disable Aero Shake. You can however still manage this by means of an additional entry in the registry. For this, enter ‘regedit’ in the search field of the Start menu and press Enter. Confirm the user account control query with ‘Yes’. Then navigate to the ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced’ key. Click in the right part of the window and go to ‘Edit | New | DWORD Value’. Enter the name ‘DisallowShaking’ and press Enter. Now open the new entry for editing by double clicking it, set the ‘Value’ to ‘1’ and confirm the change with ‘OK’. Now close the registry. Aero Shake is now completely deactivated and can no longer be called up with usual key combination [Win]+[Home] either.
Note: If Aero Shake is activated, you can also restore the windows that you have accidentally shaken away. For this, just shake the active window or press [Win]+[Home] again.

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Show preview images in Explorer as attractive film strips(Windows XP, Vista, 7)

              You use the integrated image preview of Windows Explorer and ask yourself how you can improve the display.
              Simple built-in Windows tools can help you create individual frames to the image preview in Explorer. You can thus equip the icons with film strips for instance. You can find the setting for this in the registry.

             Enter ‘regedit’ in the search field of the start menu and press [Enter]. In case of XP, go to ‘Run’ and then enter ‘regedit’. Now navigate to the ‘HKEY_CLASSES_ ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\image’ key. Here, ensure that the spellings are accurate. Then in the right side of the window, double click the DWORD value ‘Treatment’ for editing. If it is not present, create it with the command ‘Edit | New | DWORD Value’. Now enter the value ‘3’ and confirm with ‘OK’. Every image now gets a border that looks like a film strip. The border can be completely disabled using the value ‘0’ but even the narrow borders resulting from the values ‘1’ and ‘2’ are hardly visible and thus unsuitable.
            Close the registry and restart Windows Explorer. Individual images now have perforated borders in the Tiles and Thumbnails views, just like classic film strips.

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