Non-Registry Windows Tweaks

Article from MakeUseOf.com

1. Edit / customize the “Send To” right-click option

When you right-click on a file in Windows Explorer, you have a “send to” option which can launch a program or send that file to another folder.

You can delete or add new destinations by going to the following Explorer destination

C:\Documents andSettings\username\SendTo (replace “username” with your Windows account username).

Then open a new instance of Windows Explorer, go to the program folder that you want to have included in the “send to” folder. Right click on the program file (normally the .exe file), choose the shortcut option and then drag the shortcut into the “send to” folder. Now when you right-click on a file, your new shortcut will show up in the “send to” folder.

You can also navigate to ‘C:\Documents andSettings\username\SendTo‘ to delete “send to” shortcuts you don’t need.

2. Change the size of the icons and text

Are the icons on the desktop too big or too small? Would you prefer a different font for program windows and browser messages? Would you like to change the desktop background colour? All this and more can be changed by right-clicking on the desktop, click on ‘Properties’ then Appearance then Advanced.

3. Create a desktop shortcut to the Windows User Accounts window

Right-click on the desktop, choose New then shortcut. In the target box, type ‘C:\WINDOWS\system32\nusrmgr.cpl’ then save. Then right-click on the box that appears, choose Properties and you can add a proper icon. Double-clicking the desktop icon now takes you to the Windows user accounts (very handy if you are an administrator who makes and manages lots of other user accounts).

4. Change the file associations

When you click on a MP3 and Windows Media Player opens, do you want Winamp to open instead? This is quite an easy one but you’d be amazed at how many people don’t know how to change a file association. Just right-click on the file, choose “open with” and then “choose program”. Choose your program from the list then tick the box so it remembers your choice. From now on, the file will open with the program you prefer rather than the one Windows wants to use.

5. Tweak your trash bin

If you right-click on your trash bin and choose “properties”, you can tweak a few trash features. For example, you can turn off the eternally annoying “are you sure you want to delete this?” dialogue (I love being rid of this stupid feature). You can also reduce the space in your trash bin (to prevent it from filling up too much) and you can even disable the trash bin so that anything you delete bypasses the trash and gets deleted off the system immediately (I would use this one with caution though).

5. Turn off the stupid boot up and log off music

When you turn your computer on and off, Windows gives you a stupid tune. You can easily disable this music (as well as other sound effects) by going to your system set-up (in your start menu) and choosing the sounds & audio devices option. Clicking on the “sounds” tab, you can see a list of all the sound effects and you can either change them or disable them. Now you can have a silent boot up in the morning!

7. Delete hidden “thumbs.db” files

when you have pictures on your hard drive, Windows makes a cache to make the picture load faster next time. The cache is called “thumbs.db” and is normally cloaked so you have no idea it is there. But these “thumbs.db” files build up and up and it takes up a lot of hard-drive space.

To reveal them and delete them, go to your Windows Explorer and choose Tools, Folder Options, and make sure that Show common tasks in folders (in XP) is selected under the General tab. This will give you a Windows warning that doing this may potentially hurt your system but in my opinion, it’s safe enough. This will then reveal the hidden system files, including the “thumbs.db” caches in each folder. Deleting them will free up some disk space and some folder clutter. But when you load the pictures again, the “thumbs.db” cache will return so you need to keep on top of this and delete them on a regular basis.

If you’d rather not change anything in your Windows Explorer, you can also view and delete the hidden files by viewing each folder in a FTP client such as FileZilla.

8. Right-clicking the start menu

If you right-click on your start menu button and choose “properties” and then “task list”, you can change a few irritating features. For example, XP normally hides “inactive program icons” in the system tray. You can easily disable that irritating feature so they ALL show up. You can also remove the clock if you don’t need it.

9. Have Windows Explorer show the information YOU want

When you open a folder in Explorer, in the right hand pane, you have headers such as “name”, “size”, “type”, etc. If you right-click on one of these headers, you can untick what you don’t need and Explorer remembers for next time.

10. Change the folder icons

Tired of the same icons in your Windows Explorer or desktop? Then right-click on the icon, choose properties and then the “customize” tab. You can choose from one of Windows pre-set icons or you can download your own.

This only really works for hard-drive folders and self-made desktop shortcuts. I’ve yet to see a software program that allows you to change their default icon.