registry

It really drives me nuts that you can’t delete Notepad.exe in Windows 2000. Oh, you can, but only if you really muck around with your files. Here is a tutorial on getting rid of the pesky application. Note that you must delete the notepad.ex_ file from your I386 directory before you try to delete the copies in C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DLLCACHE, C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32, and C:\WINNT. If you don’t, it will just keep raising itself from the dead. I love the fact that when you finally manage to rid yourself of the world’s least-feature-packed text-editor, the Windows 2000 Operating System makes a dire warning that a file integral to system stability has been replaced with a different version. And then, when you tell it that you did it on purpose and you’re not just a bozo screwing around in your system files, it warns you that you’re being a bad, bad little hacker. Great Caesar’s Ghost! It’s not like I’m trying to get into the Pentagon, y’know? I just like EditPad better.

Note that mucking around with your registry is most likely not going to help much. I’ve tried several times to change registry settings to simply avoid notepad instead of deleting the file. Doesn’t work. As long as the file exists in the above locations (in Win2000, at least) it will ignore and / or undo whatever changes you make to the registry. Crazy, huh? If you do want to try to change your notepad registry settings, look for the strings “C:\WINNT\notepad.exe %1″ and “%SystemRoot%\System32\NOTEPAD.EXE %1″.

Here’s a pretty cool trick from the January 1997 issue of PCComputing.Com:

The Windows Start Menu has a built-in stutter, a brief delay in the appearance of the Programs, Documents, Settings, and Find fly-out menus that’s supposed to make Windows easier for mouse newbies. If you tend to think of any intentional PC delay as a mortal sin, getting rid of the stutter couldn’t be simpler. Go into the Registry Editor and look at HKCU\Control Panel\desktop for a value called MenuShowDelay. If it isn’t there, you can add it. Just click on Edit and then New String Value, type MenuShowDelay, and hit Enter twice. Set the value to “0″. You have to restart Windows for the change to take effect.

Reghacks - Tips, Tricks and Registry Hacks for Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP

Two great tips from annoyances.org:
Restart Windows without Restarting your Computer
Speed up system restart

The Windows Registry Guide is full of registry tweaks, tricks, and hacks to optimize, enhance, and secure Microsoft Windows. This is really a wonderful site. There are dozens of mini-tutorials to make Windows do all sorts of nifty things. I really like this place.

Here’s a workaround for one of Windows 9x’s annoyances. Sometimes when you make a change in a window — for example, when you create a new folder through an open application — you won’t see it until you refresh the window by pressing F5 or until you close and reopen that folder.
To have Windows refresh its display automatically, start RegEdit (Select Start | Run; type “regedit”; and press Enter.) and go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ System\ CurrentControlSet\ control\ Update

Double-click UpdateMode in the right pane and change the value from 01 to 00.
Click OK and close RegEdit (choose Registry, Exit).
You’ll have to restart the computer to see the change.

Are there applications in your Install / Uninstall list (in the Add/Remove Programs dialog box) that you’ve already deleted from your system? Or that, when you select them and click the Add / Remove button, give you a message that the uninstallation can’t proceed? Sure, you could leave them there and forget about them, but if you like to keep things neat and tidy, you’ll be happy to know you can remove unwanted items from this list.

The easiest way to remove items is using Tweak UI, one of the Microsoft PowerToys. You can download it from the MS web site. If you don’t have Tweak UI, or you want to learn how to be really cool, you can remove items from the Install / Uninstall list by editing the Windows 95 Registry. (As always, back it up first. If you don’t know how to back up your registry, either a. be superhumanly careful screwing around in there or b. learn how and back it up first!)

Open the Registry Editor (Select Start | Run, type “regedit” and click OK.) and navigate your way to

HKEY_LOCAL MACHINE\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Uninstall

Under the Uninstall key, right-mouse click the item you want to get rid of, and select Delete. Click Yes to confirm, then repeat these steps to delete other items.
When you’re finished, close the Registry Editor. The next time you open the Add / Remove Programs dialog box, you’ll find that those unwanted items are gone.

If you want to show the door to the InBox, Recycle Bin, or Microsoft Network, here’s how:

Run REGEDIT and drill down through the layers to find

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ Desktop\ NameSpace

Click the plus sign (+) next to NameSpace to reveal several numeric fields. Clicking on any one of these will tell you what it is in the right window pane under the Data field. If you decide you really don’t want the Inbox, for example, identify it, highlight its numeric string in the left pane, and press Delete. There you go!

I’ve written a little tutorial. If you’re in a group / community blog at blogger and can’t access the “Settings” page to give yourself the right-click “Blog This!” menu, here’s how.

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