Objetivos

You can also force the operating system to display your exact version and build of XP on your desktop by using a Registry hack. Run the Registry Editor [Hack #68]. go to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop, and find the DWORD value

PaintDesktopVersion. Change the value to 1. Exit the Registry and reboot. To remove the version and build number, change the value back to 0. In beta versions of XP, the value was turned on by default, but when the product shipped, it was turned off.

Hide Desktop icons that apparently can't be deleted from the Desktop, such as the Internet Explorer, Microsoft Outlook, My Computer, My Documents, My Network Places, and the Recycle Bin. To do this, go to the Desktop section and uncheck the boxes next to the icon you want to vanish. You won't have to log off for the changes to take effect. (You can force the Registry to do the same thing: see [Hack #13].)

In the Explorer section, customize the Taskbar and Desktop by enabling or disabling balloon tips and determining which programs will be allowed to show up on the Frequently Used Programs list, among other customizations.

Customize how Windows Explorer looks and functions by controlling the quality of image thumbnails; changing the way that shortcuts look; determining whether to include Help, Recent Documents, and Logoff on the Start menu; and many similar options.

There's a lot more as well—to find it all, download it and try it all out.

2.2.1 Create a Speedy, Stripped-Down Interface with Tweak UI

While it may be fun to use TweakUI to fiddle with the UI, its real power becomes apparent when you use it to create your own customized XP interfaces. For example, you may be the type who is concerned about only one thing when you use your PC: pure functionality. You want to get your work done fast, and you don't want to be bothered by the extra frou-frous that XP throws in your way and that slow down your system. Here's how to create a speedy, stripped-down interface using TweakUI:

Turn off animations, fades, and similar features

Animations and fades are pretty, but they require system resources and slow down your system. You can turn off a wide variety of these animations and fades from the General section of TweakUI. Uncheck the boxes next to all of them, such as Enable menu animation, Enable menu selection fading, Enable tooltip animation, and the many others listed there. Speed up right-click menu displays, hovers, and other mouse actions

If you want menus to appear with absolutely no delay when you right-click on an object or icon, go to the Mouse section and move the Menu speed slider all the way to the left. Test how fast the menus will display by right-clicking on the test icon.

From this section, you can also increase your mouse sensitivity so that it responds more quickly to your clicks and drags. In the Mouse sensitivity section, decrease the numbers next to Double-Click and Drag, and see the results by double-clicking the test icon.

The Mouse section also lets you change the mouse's sensitivity to "hovering"—for example, displaying a tool tip when you hover your mouse over an icon. To speed up the hover display, highlight Hover underneath the Mouse section, then decrease the numbers next to Hover sensitivity and Hover time. Test out your settings using the test icon.

Decrease the image quality of thumbnails in Windows Explorer

Windows Explorer uses up RAM when it displays thumbnails, which can slow down your system, because the RAM could instead be used for your applications or the operating system itself. Use TweakUI to give thumbnails the minimum amount of RAM only. Go to the Explorer\Thumbnails section and in the Image Quality area, move the slider all the way to the left, to the lowest setting for image quality. Decrease the thumbnail size, in pixels.

You can also completely turn off thumbnails so that they aren't displayed in Windows Explorer. From Windows Explorer, choose View Details, or choose View List.

Delete unnecessary desktop icons

Desktop icons take up RAM, and clutter your interface, so you want as few of them as possible on your desktop if you want a stripped-down version of XP. You can delete most desktop icons, but some of them such as Outlook and Internet Explorer apparently can't be deleted. However, TweakUI lets you delete them. Go to the Desktop section and uncheck the boxes next to the icons that you want off the Desktop, as shown in Figure 2-3. (You can force the Registry to do the same thing—see

[Hack #13].)

Hide Control Panel applets

The Control Panel is filled with applets that you will rarely, if ever, use, and they clutter up the interface, making it more difficult to find the applets you do want to use. To hide applets, go to the Control Panel section and uncheck the boxes next to the applets that you want to hide. (You can force the Registry to do the same thing—see [Hack #9]. That hack also shows you how you can run the applets, even after you've removed their icons.)

Clean up the right-click "New" menu

When you right-click on the desktop and choose New, you can automatically create a new document by choosing from a submenu. That submenu may offer many choices of which document types to create, depending on the applications you have installed on your PC, and how those applications handle their installation process. In many instances, those choices may be little more than clutter, because you may rarely need to create new documents of certain types. Strip down that submenu to the essentials, so that it has only those document types that you frequently create. Choose Templates, and uncheck the boxes next to the document types you rarely create. For example, most people rarely use the Briefcase [Hack #30], but that is one of your choices, so remove that unless you regularly move files using it. (For a hack on how to add power to the right-click context menu in Explorer, see [Hack #29].

Enable autologon

If you're the primary person who uses your PC, you can enable autologon so that you're logged in automatically when the system starts and don't have to log on manually each time. Choose Autologon from the Logon section, check the box next to "Log on automatically at system startup," and make sure that your username, domain, and password are correct.

[ Team LiB ]

[ Team LiB ]

Hack 9 Control the Control Panel

Whether you're a fan of the new Control Panel or not, there's a lot you can do to make it more palatable—like hiding applets you never use, re-categorizing the ones you do use, and displaying all applets in a simple-to-use cascading menu.

When I first started using XP, one of the things that annoyed me most was its new Control Panel. Yes, the big new icons for running applets are certainly pretty, but the Control Panel's several-layer organization forces you to click far too many times in order to get to the applet that you want. And its clutter of applets that I rarely if ever use make it even more difficult and confusing.

My first reaction was to click on the Switch to Classic View button, to do away with the new design, but the Classic View has its problems as well: its long, alphabetized list of thumbnails is just as difficult to navigate as the new Control Panel.

The solution? Start by cleaning up the Control Panel, hiding applets that you rarely if ever use. Note that when you hide the applets, you can still use them; you just won't see their icons in the Control Panel.

In this hack, you'll not only find out ways that you can control the Control Panel—you'll also see how you can apply that knowledge to create different customized Control Panels.

2.3.1 Hide Unused Applets with the Registry

To hide unused applets using the Registry, run the Registry Editor [Hack #68] and go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\don't load.

The key, as its name implies, determines which Control Panel applet icons are not loaded into the Control Panel. You'll still be able to run those applets from the command line after you hide them (as explained later in this hack); you just won't be able to see their icons in the Control Panel.

To hide an applet, create a new String value whose name is the filename of the applet that you want to hide. For example, to hide the Mouse Control dialog box, the String value would be main.cpl. See Table 2-1 for a list of Control Panel applets and their filenames.