Pinoy Tech Guy

Written on Monday, 31st of Mar 2008 – 4:15 am | by sylv3rblade | 227 views

If you’ve always hated how windows works then this guide is for you.

Very few people are content with how their operating system looks and feels which is why there are so many programs that give users the ability to customize their computers. After all, who likes having is computer look and feel like the next guy’s?

But just because the operating system doesn’t look and work the way you want doesn’t mean that you’re stuck with it as is. Windows is extremely tweakable; if you dig a little, you’ll find that you can customize it in almost any way you want.

I’ve put together this guide to giving your Windows a complete overhaul (whether it’s XP or Vista) to help you add a bit of personality to your machine. Read the indiator (XP only, Vista only or XP and Vista) to see which tips work in which OS. Note that not all are readily applicable. You may need to whipout the registry editor to apply some of them or install a third party program. In most cases though it’s just some option hidden somewhere you’ve never thought of looking.

Speed up Windows Flip 3D - Vista only

One of the biggest sellers of Vista, the Windows Flip 3D feature, appears sluggish even on some decent hardware. Sure it’s cool to have a pop-up preview of all your open windows but we’d all rather have our PCs up and running smoothly right?

You can speed it up using this Registry tweak:

• Type regedit at the Start Search box or a command prompt to launch the Registry Editor.
• Look for HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM
• Create a new DWORD value named Max3Dwindows.
• Set the value to the maximum number of windows you want displayed. Set it at 4 if you don’t feel that your hardware is up to it; you can always re-edit later.

Restart your PC or restart Vista’s Desktop Windows Manager (DWM) for the changes to take effect. To restart DWM, launch a command prompt with administrator rights by typing cmd in the search box and pressing Ctrl-Shift-Enter. Enter the command net stop uxsms then net startuxsms.

Note that the number you’ve specified with the Registry tweak will limit the number of windows Windows Flip 3D can display. Say you have six windows open and your maximum is ony four, only four will be displayed at a time. As you scroll through your windows, each new one will replace an old one.

Improve Explorer’s Send To menu - XP and Vista

The right click function of Windows Explorer, when used on a file or folder, displays a menu that lets you take a variety of actions. One of these is Send To, allowing you to send the file to any one of a list of locations.

Like many windows options though, the list you see many not be the ones you want to send things to. To add destinations or programs or remove them you just need to edit the items on a special Windows folder.

In Windows Vista, go to C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo where username is your username.

In Windows XP, go to C:\Documents and Settings\username\SendTo where username is your username.

In both cases, the folder will be filled with shortcuts to all the locations you find on your Send To context menu.

To remove an item from the Send To menu, delete it’s icon or shortcut from the folder. To add an item to the menu, just add a shortcut within the folder by highlighting the folder, choosing File > New > Shortcut (on Vista, you’ll need to press Alt to get the File menu to appear) and following the Wizard.

Note that this takes effect immediately. No need to restart anything.

Resize desktop icons - XP and Vista

Vista gives you easy access to changing the size of the icons on your desktop and Windows Explorer. Hold the Ctrl key and scroll your mouse wheel (or trackpad equivalent just like scrolling on your browser) forward to enlarge the icons, or back you to shrink them.

If you don’t have a wheel on your mouse or trackpad (seriously?), you can still change the size of the icons by right-clicking the desktop and select View. You can now choose small, medium or large icons. Not much of a list of options so if you want more, right-click the desktop and choose Personalization. Click Open Classic Appearance properties for more color options, click the Advanced button, choose Icon from the drop-down list, and use the Size control to change the size.

In Windows XP, right-click the desktop and choose Properties. Click the Appearance tab, then the Advanced button. Choose Icon from the drop-down list, and use the Size control to change the size of the icons. Click OK, then keep clicking OK until all menus disappear.

Remove shortcut arrows from your icons - XP and Vista

If you’re like me, having the shortcut arrow on the icons of my desktop is annoying for some reason. To remove them in Windows Vista you can use Vista Overlay Remover (also called FxVisor, it’s free don’t worry). You can choose to either make the shortcut arrow smaller and lighter or remove it altogether.

XP Users won’t feel left out though as this option is available with Microsoft’s TweakUI. After installation Just run it , choose the option that you like (Light arrows or no arrows) then log off and then log on again for your changes to take effect.

Unclutter the XP Control Panel - XP only

It’s a mess to simply sum it up, cluttered with many applets that we rarely use. You can tweak it, however, to hide many applets.

To hide unused applets in Windows XP:

1. Launch the Registry Editor by typing regedit using the Run command or a command prompt.
2. Look for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ControlPanel\don’t load. If the don’t load key does not exist, create it by choosing Edit > New > Key and name it don’t load.
3. Create a new string value with a the exact name of the applet you want to hide (for example main.cpl for Mouse options). To create a string value, have your cursor on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\don’t load. Check here for a list of the applets with .cpl extension.
4. Select the new String then choose Edit > New > String Value, and use the file name of the applet you want to hide.

Note that although they’re hidden, you can still access then via the command line and even XP’s Common Tasks list.

Display Control Panel applets in a cascading menu - XP and Vista

Aside from removing the clutter, you can also make the Control Panel appear as a cascading menu when you choose Control Panel from the Start button. This makes a great shortcut if you hate opening the Control Panel when changing options.

In Windows XP, right-click the taskbar and choose Properties > Start Menu > Choose the Start menu radio button, click the Customize, and choose the Advanced tab. Under the Control Panel heading, select Display as a menu.

In Windows Vista, right-click the taskbar and choose Properties > Start Menu. Then click the Customize button and under the Control Panel heading, select Display as a menu

Open the command prompt from the right-click menu - XP and Vista

Many Linux and Windows Power users love the functionality of the command line (terminal for Linux) which is why you may want to open the command prompt at the folder that’s your current location in Explorer (eg. on C:\Stuff folder, you could then open a command prompt at C:\Stuff). How? The right-click menu.

In Vista, just hold down Shift when you right-click in a folder window, and a new option appears on the context menu: Open Command Window Here. Select it and it works as if you’ve opened the command prompt and used the proper command to switch locations.

In XP, you manually add it with a Registry tweak.

1. Launch the Registry Editor by typing regedit at the Start Search box or a command prompt
2. Look for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Folder\shell
3. Create a new key called Command Prompt with a default value of whatever text you want to appear when you right-click a folder.
4. Create a new subkey beneath the Command Prompt key called Command. Set the default value to Cmd.exe /k pushd %L

The option shows up immediately without the need for a restart. It’ll shows up only when you right-click a folder, not a file though.

Animate Vista’s network icon - Vista Only

Ever wondered why Vista’s network Icon is stagnant? Wonder no more and animate it to see if you’re sending or receiving data over your network or the Internet.

To this, right-click the network icon and select Turn on activity animation. Now whenever data moving along the network, the icon will subtly light up.

Have Windows warn you when you hit Caps Lock - XP and Vista

If you’re used to typing then you’ve learn to do it without looking at your keyboard. At times you end up accidentally hitting the Caps Lock key and typing all capital letters so either need to delete all those capped letters or spam the Undo button. Windows has a built-in function to stop this from happening. There’s a simple way that you can have Windows beep at you when you’ve accidentally hit it.

In Windows XP, go to Control Panel > Accessibility Options, > check Use ToggleKeys .

In Windows Vista, go to Control Panel > Ease of Access > Change how your keyboard works > check Use ToggleKeys.

Change your Windows boot screen

In Windows Vista:

1. Create or find a graphic in 24-bit .bmp format for your new boot screen. You’ll need two versions of the graphic, one 1024 by 768 pixels, and one 800 by 600 pixels.
2. Download and install Vista Boot Logo Generator and use it to select the images you’ve got ready.
3. Select File > Save Boot Screen As > save to any location on your hard disk. Note that it’s saved as winload.exe.mui.
4. Go to C:\Windows\System32\en-US, look for winload.exe.mui and rename it to winload-bak.exe.mui.
5. Copy winload.exe.mui to C:\Windows\System32\en-US.
6. Launch the MS Config by typing msconfig at the Start Search box or a command prompt
7. Click the Boot tab, select No GUI boot, and click OK.
8. Restart Windows

You’ll then see your new boot screen in living, full-color glory.

If you can’t overwrite winload.exe.mui:

1. Run the command prompt as an administrator.
2. Enter the command takeown /f C:\Windows\System32\en-US\winload.exe.mui.
3. Enter this command cacls C:\Windows\System32\en-US\winload.exe.mui /G username:F where username is your username.
4. Choose Yes (by entering y)

Now you can proceed to copying winload.exe.mui

In Windows XP:
XP users have it easy. Just install Bootskin (again it’s free) and run it. There’s a few boot screens available upon installation but if you want more, just pop out a google search. If you found one during your search, download the file and open it. It’ll be available in BootSkin to waiting to be selected and applied.

That’s it for this guide.

Sorry for the lack of updates. I was having a busy (and bad) week.

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