Untold windows registry tips!!

madushan92

Active member
  • Apr 11, 2009
    683
    44
    28
    33
    Nugegoda, SL
    Hello guys, if u know something special in windows, that many others may not know, post them here!

    Better backup ur registry before making alternations.

    How to backup?

    Before you edit the registry, export the keys in the registry that you plan to edit, or back up the whole registry. If a problem occurs, you can then follow the steps how-to restore the registry to its previous state.


    How to Export Registry Keys

    Click Start, and then click Run.

    In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.

    On the File menu, click Export.

    In the Save in box, select the boxs at the bottom the bottom according to weather you want to export all or only selected branches of the registry.

    Next select a location in which to save the backup .reg file. In the File name box, type a file name, and then click Save.


    How to Restore the Registry

    To restore registry keys that you exported, double-click the .reg file that you saved.
     
    Last edited:

    madushan92

    Active member
  • Apr 11, 2009
    683
    44
    28
    33
    Nugegoda, SL
    So here goes the 1st!

    To pop a banner which can contain any message you want to display just before a user is going to log on
    , go to the key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WinLogon

    Now create a new string Value in the right pane named LegalNoticeCaption and enter the value that you want to see in the Menu Bar. Now create yet another new string value and name it: LegalNoticeText. Modify it and insert the message you want to display each time Windows boots. This can be effectively used to display the company's private policy each time the user logs on to his NT box. It's .reg file would be:

    REGEDIT4

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]

    "LegalNoticeCaption"="Caption here."
     

    madushan92

    Active member
  • Apr 11, 2009
    683
    44
    28
    33
    Nugegoda, SL
    Exiting Windows the Cool and Quick Way

    Normally it takes a hell lot of time just Shutting down Windows, you have to move your mouse to the Start Button, click on it, move it again over Shut Down, click, then move it over the necessary option and click, then move the cursor over the OK button and once again (you guessed it) click.This whole process can be shortened by creating shortcuts on the Desktop which will shut down Windows at the click of a button. Start by creating a new shortcut( right click and select New> Shortcut). Then in the command line box, type (without the quotes.)

    'C:\windows\rundll.exe user.exe,exitwindowsexec'

    This Shortcut on clicking will restart Windows immediately without any Warning. To create a Shortcut to Restarting Windows, type the following in the Command Line box:

    'c:\windows\rundll.exe user.exe,exitwindows'

    This Shortcut on clicking will shut down Windows immediately without any Warning.
     

    madushan92

    Active member
  • Apr 11, 2009
    683
    44
    28
    33
    Nugegoda, SL
    Ban Shutdowns : A trick to Play on Lamers

    This is a neat trick you can play on that lamer, how to disable the Shut Down option in the Shut Down Dialog Box. This trick involves editing the registry, so please make backups. Launch regedit.exe and go to :

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

    In the right pane look for the NoClose Key. If it is not already there then create it by right clicking in the right pane and selecting New > String Value.(Name it NoCloseKey ) Now once you see the NoCloseKey in the right pane, right click on it and select Modify. Then Type 1 in the Value Data Box.

    Doing the above on a Win98 system disables the Shut Down option in the Shut Down Dialog Box. But on a Win95 machine if the value of NoCloseKey is set to 1 then click on the Start > Shut Down button displays the following error message:

    This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator.

    You can enable the shut down option by changing the value of NoCloseKey to 0 or simply deleting the particular entry i.e. deleting NoCloseKey.

    Instead of performing the above difficult to remember process, simply save the following with an extension of .reg and add it's contents to the registry by double clicking on it.

    REGEDIT4

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]

    "NoClose"="1"
     

    madushan92

    Active member
  • Apr 11, 2009
    683
    44
    28
    33
    Nugegoda, SL
    Disabling Display of Drives in My Computer

    This is yet another trick you can play on your geek friend. To disable the display of local or networked drives when you click My Computer go to :

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

    Now in the right pane create a new DWORD item and name it NoDrives. Now modify it's value and set it to 3FFFFFF (Hexadecimal) Now press F5 to refresh. When you click on My Computer, no drives will be shown. To enable display of drives in My Computer, simply delete this DWORD item. It's .reg file is as follows:

    REGEDIT4

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]

    "NoDrives"=dword:03ffffff
     

    madushan92

    Active member
  • Apr 11, 2009
    683
    44
    28
    33
    Nugegoda, SL
    Take Over the Screen Saver

    To activate and deactivate the screen saver whenever you want, goto the following registry key:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ScreenSavers

    Now add a new string value and name it Mouse Corners. Edit this new value to -Y-N. Press F5 to refresh the registry. Voila! Now you can activate your screensaver by simply placing the mouse cursor at the top right corner of the screen and if you take the mouse to the bottom left corner of the screen, the screensaver will deactivate.
     

    madushan92

    Active member
  • Apr 11, 2009
    683
    44
    28
    33
    Nugegoda, SL
    Delete An "undeletable" File

    Open a Command Prompt window and leave it open.
    Close all open programs.
    Click Start, Run and enter TASKMGR.EXE
    Go to the Processes tab and End Process on Explorer.exe.
    Leave Task Manager open.
    Go back to the Command Prompt window and change to the directory the AVI (or other undeletable file) is located in.
    At the command prompt type DEL <filename> where <filename> is the file you wish to delete.
    Go back to Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart the GUI shell.
    Close Task Manager.


    Or you can try this

    Open Notepad.exe

    Click File>Save As..>

    locate the folder where ur undeletable file is

    Choose 'All files' from the file type box

    click once on the file u wanna delete so its name appears in the 'filename' box

    put a " at the start and end of the filename
    (the filename should have the extension of the undeletable file so it will overwrite it)

    click save,

    It should ask u to overwrite the existing file, choose yes and u can delete it as normal


    Here's a manual way of doing it. I'll take this off once you put into your first post zain.

    1. Start
    2. Run
    3. Type: command
    4. To move into a directory type: cd c:\*** (The stars stand for your folder)
    5. If you cannot access the folder because it has spaces for example Program Files or Kazaa Lite folder you have to do the following. instead of typing in the full folder name only take the first 6 letters then put a ~ and then 1 without spaces. Example: cd c:\progra~1\kazaal~1
    6. Once your in the folder the non-deletable file it in type in dir - a list will come up with everything inside.
    7. Now to delete the file type in del ***.bmp, txt, jpg, avi, etc... And if the file name has spaces you would use the special 1st 6 letters followed by a ~ and a 1 rule. Example: if your file name was bad file.bmp you would type once in the specific folder thorugh command, del badfil~1.bmp and your file should be gone. Make sure to type in the correct extension.
     

    madushan92

    Active member
  • Apr 11, 2009
    683
    44
    28
    33
    Nugegoda, SL
    These settings allow you to boost the speed of your broadband Internet connection when using a Cable Modem or DSL Router with Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

    Open your registry and find the key below.

    Create the following DWORD values, as most of these values will not already exist you will need to create them by clicking on 'Edit -> New -> DWORD Value' and then set the value as shown below.

    DefaultTTL = "80" hex (or 128 decimal)
    Specifies the default time to live (TTL) for TCP/IP packets. The default is 32.

    EnablePMTUBHDetect = "0"
    Specifies whether the stack will attempt to detect Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) routers that do not send back ICMP fragmentation-needed messages. The default is 0.

    EnablePMTUDiscovery = "1"
    Specifies whether the TCP/IP stack will attempt to perform path MTU discovery as specified in RFC 1191. The default is 1.

    GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize = "7FFF" hex (or 32767 decimal)
    Specifies the system maximum receive window size advertised by the TCP/IP stack.

    TcpMaxDupAcks = "2"
    Determines the number of duplicate ACKs that must be received for the same sequence number of sent data before "fast retransmit" is triggered.

    SackOpts = "1"
    Enables support for selective acknowledgements as documented by Request for Comment (RFC) 2018. Default is 0.

    Tcp1323Opts = "1"
    Controls RFC 1323 time stamps and window scaling options. Possible values are: "0" = disable RFC 1323 options, "1" = window scale enabled only, "2" = time stamps enabled only and "3" = both options enabled.

    TcpWindowSize = "7FFF" hex (or 32767 decimal)
    Specifies the receive window size advertised by the TCP/IP stack. If you have a latent network you can try increasing the value to 93440, 186880, or 372300.

    Exit your registry and restart Windows for the changes to take effect.

    If you don’t want to edit the registry, here's a little TCP utility that is ideal...


    http://www.broadbandreports.com/front/doctorping.zip
     

    madushan92

    Active member
  • Apr 11, 2009
    683
    44
    28
    33
    Nugegoda, SL
    Yahoo messenger, no adds any more!



    Yahoo! IM no longer uses 'YUrl', but uses 'View' instead. You gotta click on each key inside of 'View' and edit the 'banner url' string to anything you want... I simply cleared mine out completely and it works flawlessly!

    Here is what you gotta do:

    Run regedit
    Goto HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Software -> Yahoo -> Pager -> View

    Inside the 'View' key there are a several other keys... go through each one and edit the 'banner url' string to your liking. It even works if the string is left blank (this causes it to look as if ads were never even implemented)!

    Restart Yahoo! IM for the effect to take hold.

    This is great for Yahoo! IM 5.6 users who don't want to be bothered with ads.
     

    madushan92

    Active member
  • Apr 11, 2009
    683
    44
    28
    33
    Nugegoda, SL
    To disable the stupid feature in WinXP which tries to send a report to microsoft every time a program crashes you will have to do this:

    *************************************************************************

    Open Control Panel
    Click on Preformance and Maintenance.
    Click on System.
    Then click on the Advanced tab
    Click on the error reporting button on the bottom of the windows.
    Select Disable error reporting.
    Click OK
    Click OK
     

    madushan92

    Active member
  • Apr 11, 2009
    683
    44
    28
    33
    Nugegoda, SL
    How do u Test ur VirusScan Installation? (Eicar)


    After installing VirusScan, you may logically wonder, how do I know if it's working? The answer is a test virus. The EICAR Standard AntiVirus Test File is a combined effort by anti-virus vendors throughout the world to implement one standard by which customers can verify their anti-virus installations.

    To test your installation, copy the following line into its own file, then save the file with the name EICAR.COM.

    X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*

    The file size will be 68 or 70 bytes.

    If VirusScan is running and configured correctly, when you try to save the file, VirusScan will detect the virus. If VirusScan is not running, start it and scan the directory that contains EICAR.COM. When your software scans this file, it will report finding the EICAR test file.

    Note that this file is NOT A VIRUS. Delete the file when you have finished testing your installation to avoid alarming unsuspecting
    users.

    The eicar test virus is available for download from the following website:
    http://www.eicar.org/download/eicar.com

    Creating Eicar.com

    1. Click on Start.
    2. Select Run.
    3. In the Open box type: notepad
    4. Maximize the window.
    5. Highlight the following on the following line of text:
    X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*
    6. Right click on the highlighted text and choose 'copy'.
    7. Switch back to Notepad.
    8. Right click anywhere inside of Notepad and select 'paste'.
    9. Click the File menu and select 'save as'.
    10. Change the 'Save as Type' to 'all files'.
    11. Name the file eicar.com.
     

    madushan92

    Active member
  • Apr 11, 2009
    683
    44
    28
    33
    Nugegoda, SL
    Keep Folders Hidden

    first create a new folder somewhere on your hard drive
    when you name it hold down "Alt" and press "0160" this will create and invisible space so it will apper as if it has no name.
    then right click in and select "Properties" select the tab "coustimize" and select "change icon" scroll along and you should a few blanc spaces click on any one and click ok when you hav saved the settings the folder will be invisible to hide all your personal files
     

    madushan92

    Active member
  • Apr 11, 2009
    683
    44
    28
    33
    Nugegoda, SL
    No Text Icons

    If you would like your desktop Icons to have no text underneath then try this tweak:

    Right click the icon and select "Rename"

    Now hold the "Alt" key and type "255" and hit Enter

    NOTE : It may only work with the keypad numbers and not the number keys on top of the keyboard.
     

    madushan92

    Active member
  • Apr 11, 2009
    683
    44
    28
    33
    Nugegoda, SL
    Make XP faster, really faster!

    First of all, this tweak only apply to those who only have one HDD on their primary IDE channel (nothing else on device 0 or 1) and a CD-ROM and/or DVD-ROM on the secondary IDE channel. Each time you boot Windows XP, there's an updated file called NTOSBOOT-*.pf who appears in your prefetch directory (%SystemRoot%Prefetch) and there's no need to erease any other files as the new prefetch option in XP really improves loading time of installed programs. We only want WindowsXP to boot faster and not decrease its performance.

    1. Open notepad.exe, type "del c:windowsprefetch tosboot-*.* /q" (without the quotes) & save as "ntosboot.bat" in c:
    2. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "gpedit.msc".
    3. Double click "Windows Settings" under "Computer Configuration" and double click again on "Shutdown" in the right window.
    4. In the new window, click "add", "Browse", locate your "ntosboot.bat" file & click "Open".
    5. Click "OK", "Apply" & "OK" once again to exit.
    6. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "devmgmt.msc".
    7. Double click on "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers"
    8. Right click on "Primary IDE Channel" and select "Properties".
    9. Select the "Advanced Settings" tab then on the device 0 or 1 that doesn't have 'device type' greyed out select 'none' instead of 'autodetect' & click "OK".
    10. Right click on "Secondary IDE channel", select "Properties" and repeat step 9.
    11. Reboot your computer.

    WindowsXP should now boot REALLY faster.