Useful Registry Tweaks

Useful Registry Tweaks 

As these are Registry Tweaks...these may spoil your Operating System if not done correctly. So if you do these tweaks, you do it on your own risk. I take no responsibility whatsoever for any damage to your Operating System (If any).

Launch Regedit and go to the following Registry Key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/CurrentVersion/Policies

Under this key, there will definitely be a key named Explorer. Now under this explorer key we can create new DWORD values and modify it's value to 1 in order to impose the restriction. If you want to remove the Restriction, then you can simply delete the respective DWORD values or instead change their values to 0. The following is a list of DWORD values that can be created under the Explorer Key-:

NoDeletePrinter: Disables Deletion of already installed Printers
NoAddPrinter: Disables Addition of new Printers
NoRun : Disables or hides the Run Command
NoSetFolders: Removes Folders from the Settings option on Start Menu (Control Panel, Printers, Taskbar)
NoSetTaskbar: Removes Taskbar system folder from the Settings option on Start Menu
NoFind: Removes the Find Tool (Start >Find)
NoDrives: Hides and does not display any Drives in My Computer
NoNetHood: Hides or removes the Network Neighborhood icon from the desktop
NoDesktop: Hides all items including, file, folders and system folders from the Desktop
NoClose: Disables Shutdown and prevents the user from normally shutting down Windows.
NoSaveSettings: Means to say, 'Don't save settings on exit'
DisableRegistryTools: Disable Registry Editing Tools (If you disable this option, the Windows Registry Editor(regedit.exe) too will not work.)
NoRecentDocsHistory: Removes Recent Document system folder from the Start Menu (IE 4 and above)
ClearRecentDocsOnExit: Clears the Recent Documents system folder on Exit.
Nolnternetlcon: Removes the Internet (system folder) icon from the Desktop

Under the same key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/CurrentVersion/Policies you can create new subkeys other than the already existing Explorer key. Now create a new key and name it System. Under this new key, (System) we can create the following new DWORD values (1 for enabling the particular option and 0 for disabling the particular option):

NODispCPL: Hides Control Panel
NoDispBackgroundPage: Hides Background page.
NoDispScrsavPage: Hides Screen Saver Page
NoDispAppearancePage: Hides Appearance Page
NoDispSettingsPage: Hides Settings Page
NoSecCPL: Disables Password Control Panel
NoPwdPage: Hides Password Change Page
NoAdminPaqe: Hides Remote Administration Page
NoProfilePage: Hides User Profiles Page
NoDevMgrPage: Hides Device Manager Page
NoConfigPage: Hides Hardware Profiles Page
NoFileSysPage: Hides File System Button
NoVirtMemPage: Hides Virtual Memory Button

Similarly, if we create a new subkey named WinOldApp, we can add the following DWORD values under it(1 for enabling the particular option and 0 for disabling the particular option): Disabled: Disable MS-DOS Prompt
NoRealMode: Disable Single-Mode MS-DOS.

Posted in: Tips and Tricks, XP Registry Tweak