NW Doc

Tweaks- for change in Windows Desktop and My Computer Context Menu

* For Change in Desktop Context Menu

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell

* For Change in My Computer Context Menu

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\shell

Add your name at top of the menu and can open any program, Explorer, Documents folder or User Accounts by clicking on it in Windows 7 Desktop Context Menu

Steps:

1. Type regedit in RUN or startmenu search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell

3. Now we'll need to create a new key under "Shell" key. Right-click on "Shell" key and select "New -> Key". Give the new key any desired name e.g. "Yash" (without quotes).

4. Now in right-side pane, change value of "Default" to your desired name which you want to show in Desktop context menu. We have chosen !!~~YASH~~!! in our example.

5. Now right-click on the new key which we created in step 3, e.g. Yash and select "New -> Key". Give the new key name of command.

6. In right-side pane, change value of "Default" to explorer.exe if you want to open Explorer by clicking on it.

7. To set an icon for the shortcut, select the key created in Step 3 and in right-side pane, create a new String value "Icon". Set its value to your desired icon. We have set it to imageres.dll,207.

*To set its position in the context menu, create a new String value "Position" and set its value to:

Top (To show it at top)
Bottom (To show it at bottom)

Add "System Properties", "Task Manager" and Many Other Useful Shortcuts in Windows 7 Desktop Context Menu

Steps:

1. & 2. are same

3. Now we'll need to create a new key under "Shell" key. Right-click on "Shell" key and select "New -> Key". Give the new key any desired name e.g. "Folder Options" (without quotes).

4. Now we'll need to create another new key. Right-click on the new key which we created in the last step e.g. Folder Options and select "New -> Key". Give the new key name of "command".

5. Now select "command" key and in right-side pane, you'll see "Default" String value. Double-click on it and set its value to as following:

control folders

6. That's it. Now you'll have a new option "Folder Options" in Desktop context menu.

7. You can use the same steps 3-5 to add other options. Simply give the desired option label in Step 3 and set the required command in Step 5. Following are the required codes which you'll need to provide as "command" in step 5:

Administrative Tools: control admintools

Change Cursor: control main.cpl,,1

Change Date / Time: control timedate.cpl

Change Regional Settings: control intl.cpl

Folder Options: control folders

Fonts: control fonts

Internet Options: control inetcpl.cpl

Network Connections:control ncpa.cpl

Power Options: control powercfg.cpl

Printers: control printers

Programs and Features: control appwiz.cpl

Registry Editor: regedit

Security Center: control wscui.cpl

Security Configuration: msconfig

System Properties: control sysdm.cpl

Task Manager: taskmgr

Task Scheduler: Control schedtasks

Turn Firewall On / Off: control firewall.cpl

User Accounts: Control userpasswords

User Accounts Classic: Control userpasswords2

8. That's it.

9. You can add any other desired control panel applet using the same way.

Add any application shortcut in desktop context menu of Windows

Steps:

1. to 4. are same

5. Now select "command" key and in right-side pane, you'll see "Default" String value. Double-click on it and set its value to as following:

C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe
C:\Program Files\Winamp\winamp.exe
etc...

6. Thats it. Now you can check your favorite application shortcut in desktop context menu.

7. You can create as many shortcut as you want. Simply create a separate key for all the applications.

Add Cascading Menus in Desktop Context Menu:

PART 1: Creating cascading menus and adding programs shortcuts

1. & 2. are same

3. Now we'll need to create a new key under "Shell" key. Right-click on "Shell" key and select "New -> Key". Give the new key any desired name e.g. "Menu1" (without quotes).

4. Now select this newly created key "Menu1" and in right-side pane, we'll need to create following 4 String values:
MUIVerb
SubCommands
Icon
Position

* Icon and Position are optional but MUIVerb and SubCommands are compulsory.

* MUIVerb contains the name of cascading menu which will be displayed in the context menu. You can set its value to any desired name like Apps, Browsers, etc. Feel free to set any name.

* SubCommands contains list of commands separated by semi-colon (;) which you want to show under cascading menu. You can't add any program shortcut directly. First you'll need to give any desired command name in this list and after that you'll need to register it using PART 2 so that it can start working.

5. If you are confused about "SubCommands" String value, this point will clear all your doubts.

Suppose you have created a cascading menu "Apps" using Step 3 and now you want to add Notepad and Calculator shortcuts under it. In this case, you'll need to set following as "SubCommands" value:

notepad;calc

Above value can be changed according to your requirement. You can use np;ca instead of notepad;calc. But you'll have to use the same name while registering those commands using PART 2.

* If you want to put a separator between menus, just use Pipe symbol (|) between commands. For example, notepad;|;calc.

6. Icon String value can be used to show an icon for your cascading menu. We have set its value to explorer.exe that's why its showing Windows Explorer icon for the "Apps" cascading menu.

7. Position String value can be used to define the position of cascading menu in the context menu. By default the cascading menu is shown in the middle but you can set its position at Top or Bottom with the help of "Position" String value.

8. You can create more than one cascading menus using Step 3 and 4.

PART 2: Adding functionality to the shortcuts by registering them

Once you have added the program shortcuts to cascading menus, you'll need to register the commands mentioned in "SubCommands" String value using following method:

1. Go to following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CommandStore\Shell

2. Under this key, we'll need to create new keys for each command mentioned in "SubCommands" String value.

We used 2 commands : notepad and calc, so we'll need to create 2 keys under "CommandStore\Shell" key with the same names notepad and calc.

3. Once you create the key, select it and in right-side pane set value of "(Default)" to the name which you want to show in cascading menu. For example set its value to Notepad or Calculator or any other desired string.

4. If you also want to show an icon for it, create a new String value with the name icon and set its value to program's EXE file path or any other desired icon. For example, to show Notepad icon for Notepad shortcut, you can set value of Icon to notepad.exe

5. Now final step! Create a new key under the recently created keys, e.g. notepad or calc and give it name command.

Click on it and in right-side pane, set value of "(Default)" to the path of your desired program's EXE file. For example, if you want to open Notepad when you click on "Notepad" entry in cascading menu, set value of "Command" to notepad.exe

* Notepad is a Windows application, so you can omit the full path but if you want to execute any 3rd party program, you should give full path of its EXE file.

That's it. Now you'll see your desired cascading menus containing your favorite programs shortcuts in Desktop context menus.

* Define the shortcut icon and position.

To set an icon for the shortcut, select the key created in Step 3 and in right-side pane, create a new String value "Icon". Set its value to your desired icon or simply put the path of program's EXE file and it'll automatically show its default icon.

To set its position in the context menu, create a new String value "Position" and set its value to:

Top (To show it at top)
Bottom (To show it at bottom)

*To remove any option, simply delete its key.

Set Background Image To Folder

When you open drive or folder, You see white background.Even, if you change your theme, your window explorer background remains white and its very common.Now you can Add or Change background of any folde rs or Drives.
This Trick will let you add images as bac kground of the folders or drives.It will set as wallpaper to that folder windows or drives.

[{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]
IconArea_Image=images\1.JPG

IconArea_Text=0*000080FFf

The three line of code should on separate line as shown above.

3.} Save it as "Desktop.ini" without quotes .

4.}Save this file where you need image background.

5.} Now,You need image for background.Create a folder named Images and Copy images in that folder.Now give the directory of the image location in the second line of coding. Suppose your image name is my image.jpg which is inside the images folder,Then the directory for this will be Images\my image.jpg.I have named my images with serial number which make more easy to change images.

6.} Now, we have two files.First files is the code saved as Desktop.ini and other one is a Folder named Images,Contains the images used for background.

7.} Make Sure you specify, Correct Directories in Second Line of the code.
i.e IconArea_Image=IMAGES\7.Jpg
Third line of code specify icon text color.If background is black, Then change the text color to white.

Use this trick to any folder or drive, Even to Portable drives,Flash drives,Pen drives.Just Copy the image folder and desktop.ini, where u need image background.

Source

This guide shows some ways to customize Windows 7 using the Windows Registry Editor by modifying settings that can't be changed from the "Personalization" window. Since these tweaks modify the Windows Registry, it is advisable to perform a backup of your registry.

To open the Windows Registry Editor:

• Click on the Start
• Type "regedit" in the search bar
• Choose "Yes" if a "User Account Controlâ" message appears

To go to a specific key in the windows registry:

• Click on the arrow sign next to the key's name to expand it.
• For example if you want to open "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software": Click on the arrow next to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER" then click on "Software"

To create a new value:

• Right-click anywhere on the right side in the Registry Editor
• Choose "New"
• Click on the type of value that you want to insert

To modify a value:

• Right-click the value
• Choose "Modify…"

The following tables contain information about the values that need to be added/modified to apply the tweaks:

Windows 7 Task Switcher

The task switcher allows users to switch between open windows using the keyboard shortcut: ALT+Tab

Go to : HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

Value	Type	What it does affects	Data
CoolSwitchColumns	String	Sets the number of columns of the cool switch	NUMBERDefault= 7
CoolSwitchRows	String	Sets the maximum number of rows in the cool switch	NUMBERDefault = 3

Windows 7 Desktop Slideshow (64-bit)

The desktop slideshow automatically changes the wallpaper after a set time interval. The user selects the images he/she wants to use in the slide show, the time interval and whether or not to shuffle their order. All this can be modified through the "Desktop Background" window, however the following can't:

AnimationDuration - In 64-bit versions of Windows 7, there is a 'fade' animation that occurs as a transition between the images. This animation takes about 1 second.

Go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Personalization\Desktop Slideshow

Value	Type	What it does affects	Data
AnimationDuration	DWORD (32-bit)	Sets the time taken by the animation in milliseconds	NUMBERRemember: 1000 gives 1 second

There's another DWORD (32-bit) value called "Interval" that sets the time at which the images change, however it seems to only work when data entered is the same as those available in the "Personalization" window. If a value given is "1000″ for example, which means the desktop background has to change every second (crazy! I know), it still takes 10s to change. I think this is deliberately done by Microsoft, because if people were able to set the time interval to a very short period of time (below 10 seconds), it would overload the computer's memory.

Windows 7 Logon Screen Background

See Customizing the Windows 7 Logon Screen…

Slow Motion Aero (64-bit)

This tweak shows the aero animation, such as the transition that appears when minimizing a window, in slow motion when a user holds the SHIFT key. It works with Windows Vista as well.

Go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM

Value	Type	What it does affects	Data
AnimationsShiftKey	DWORD (32-bit)	Whether or not to show aero animations in slow motion when the SHIFT key is held	0 = Disabled 1 = Enabled

After changing the data of the DWORD value, the "Desktop Window Manager" has to be restarted for the tweak to take effect. Here's how:

• Click on the Start
• Type "cmd" in the search bar
• Under "Programs", right-click on "cmd.exe"
• Choose "Run as administrator"
• Choose "œYes" if a "User Account Control" message appears
• Type in the Command Prompt window: "net stop uxsms & net start uxsms" (without quotes)

PLEASE NOTE: For this tweak to work, animations should be enabled.

If you need any help or have difficulties, just ask in the Comments.

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The Windows 7 Logon Screen Rotator is a computer program for the Windows 7 operating system that is much easier to use. It has been designed to rotate the logon screen on every logon. The main benefit of using this program is that it does not require the user to tamper with the Windows Registry at all. Up to ten different logon screen images can be added to the software program that get then rotated automatically.

New logon screen images can be added by clicking on the Choose Image buttons which will open a file browser window. The application itself will take care of the rest and rotate the logon screen images from then on.

Download

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There is certainly no shortage of logon screen editors for the Windows 7 operating system. We here at Windows 7 News have reviewed several in the past (see: Windows 7 Logon Changer, Windows 7 Logon Background Changer or Customizing the Windows 7 Logon Screen) and the Windows 7 Logon Screen Editor is another program that falls right into that category.

The portable software program needs to be started with administrative rights but that's the only requirement. The application offers two main functions: To change the background image and to change the shadow type of the logon screen

The background image can be easily changed by selecting another image from the local computer system. The shadow type by clicking on the + icon in the lower right corner of the screen. The program comes with an option to reset the logon background. The Windows 7 Logon Screen Editor can be downloaded from Deviant Art.

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Windows 7 Logon Background Changer is a similar program as Windows 7 Logon Changer which we reviewed earlier this week. The software program which is compatible with both the release candidate and RTM release of Windows 7 can turn images that are located on the local computer system into logon background wallpapers that can then be shown during the Windows 7 logon process.

The program comes with the option to automatically resize images of a selected folder into the supported size so that they can be used as Windows 7 logon backgrounds. The processed images will be saved using a good balance between compression and image quality.

The Windows 7 user can then select one of the available backgrounds for the Windows 7 logon process. No system files are altered by the program and admin rights are only required to create a folder and an initial Registry key.

Windows 7 Logon Background Changer is more comfortable than the previously reviewed Windows 7 Logon Changer. The program is based on the Windows Presentation Foundation which means it requires a decent video card to display the 3D animations smoothly. The software program can be downloaded from the developer's website.

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Change the Taskbar buttons

Using the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box you can the look of the buttons. The default option is "Always combine, hide labels".

Let us look at the three Taskbar options.

Option 1 Always combine, hide labels

This is the default setting for the Taskbar. Windows 7 combines multiple files from the same application, for example Word, by hiding the labels, preserving valuable space on the Taskbar.

Option 2 Combine when taskbar is full

1. In the section labelled, "Taskbar buttons", click the down arrow button.

2. 

3. This opens displaying a drop-down list of options.
4. Select the second option, "Combine when taskbar is full".

5. 

6. Click the Apply button followed by the Ok button.
7. With multiple files active in several programs, Word, Paintbrush, Notepad, Paint and WordPad, the Taskbar would be too crowded. So, Windows 7 combines the files from the same application.

Note: Another aspect of the option, "Combine when taskbar is full", is that the icons display their labels except when the Taskbar is too crowded. The example below shows the labels for each application.

Option 3 Never Combine

1. Re-open the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box.
2. In the section labelled, "Taskbar buttons", click the down arrow button.
3. Select the third option, "Never combine".
4. The Taskbar displays several files from the same applications.

What happens if you have too many applications pinned to the Taskbar?

When you have more application windows open than fit comfortably on the Taskbar, Windows 7 activates the Toggle button.

1. Click the down arrow button on the Toggle button.
2. The additional icons appear on the Taskbar.

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Those who want to slipstream their own login screens into their Windows 7 releases in order to make it a one step process. Even though this feature was almost certainly intended for OEMs to use, it is actually quite easy for any average end-user to customize their login screen using only default Windows 7 tools.

Please take note that the desired background must be under 256kB and in the jpg format.

1. First, you will need to open the registry editor (REGEDIT) and browse to this branch:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background

If a DWORD value named OEMBackground already exists, change the value to 1 unless it is already set to 1. If you do not see it, right click and create a new DWORD that's named OEMBackground and set the value to 1.

2. Afterwards, navigate to the following directory:

%systemdir%\oobe\info\backgrounds

It's possible that the info and backgrounds folder will not exist by default; if not, then you may have to create the folders yourself.

3. You will then need to rename your desired background to one of the following, depending on your resolution and place it in the new directory:
background768Ã-1280.jpg

background900Ã-1440.jpg
background960Ã-1280.jpg
background1024Ã-1280.jpg
background1280Ã-1024.jpg
background1024Ã-768.jpg
background1280Ã-960.jpg
background1600Ã-1200.jpg
background1440Ã-900.jpg
background1920Ã-1200.jpg
background1280Ã-768.jpg
background1360Ã-768.jpg

The idea is that Windows 7 will check your current resolution and select the appropriate background to display; so if there's a chance that the resolution may be changed from the initial setting, it's a good idea to create your background for multiple resolutions and save it with each name.

However, there is one save all solution:
backgroundDefault.jpg

If Windows 7 cannot find an appropriate image for use, it will use that background and either stretch it or shrink it as needed in order to fit the screen.

Again, you can use any jpg image that is less than 256kB. You can then view your changes simply by logging out or restarting your computer.

4. Rafael later discovered that Windows 7 also supports changing the button set for the login UI in order to improve readability on differing wallpapers, examples of which can be seen below:

In order to change the button set, navigate to the following registry branch:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI

Create a DWORD value (or modify an existing one) named ButtonSet and set the value between 0 and 2. An explanation of each is provided below,

0. Lighter text shadows, darker (more opaque) buttons (Windows default)

1. Darker text shadows, lighter (more translucent) buttons (for lighter backgrounds)
2. No text shadows, opaque buttons (for darker backgrounds)

5. Again, you can view your changes by logging out or restarting your computer.

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