5 TOP-SECRET REGISTRY HACKS
AUGUST 2004 MAXIMUMPC 3
Adding new functionality to
Windows is as easy as opening
regedit.exe and making some
minor changes. Changes here
can break Windows, so make
sure to back up your system
before you touch anything!- MINIMIZE OUTLOOK TO THE
SYSTEM TRAY: Browse to HKEY_
CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Office\10.0\Outlook\Preferences. Add a
new DWORD value named MinToTray, and
set it to 1. Next time you restart Outlook , it
will minimize to the System Tray! - MAKE PASSWORD PROTECTED
SCREENSAVERS LESS ANNOYING:
You enable a password protected screen-
saver to help keep meddlers out of your
machine, but you’re annoyed when the
screensaver starts and you’re locked out.
The solution: Add a grace period. If the
screensaver activates, but you move the
mouse during the grace period, you can
get right back to work, without typing your
password again. Browse to HKEYLOCAL
MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon and modify
ScreenSaverGracePeriod. The value is
stored in seconds. We like to set the value
somewhere between 5 and 30 seconds.- SECURE YOUR PAGEFILE: The page-
file can contain anything that might be in
RAM, including sensitive data like pass-
words. To set XP to automatically erase any
info contained in it, go to HKEYLOCAL
MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\
Control\Session Manager\Memory
Management and add a DWORD value
named ClearPageFileAtShutdown. Set it to
1, reboot your PC, and your machine will
automatically erase the contents of your
pagefile when you shut down. Be aware
that this will make your PC take longer to
shut down. - REMOVE THE ANNOYING COM-
PRESSION OPTIONS FROM THE
DISK CLEANUP WIZARD: The Disk
Cleanup wizard is a handy way to find
out what unused files you can get rid
of, but it also calculates the space you’ll
save by compressing your drive. We
don’t like to use compression, so we’re
going to disable it by browsing to HKEY_
LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
VolumeCaches\Compress old files. Clear
the value from the Default key. The next
time you start Disk Cleanup, it will skip
the compression analysis.- CUSTOMIZE THE FOLDERS LISTED
IN YOUR OPEN DIALOG BOXES:
Whenever you open a file in Notepad or
Paint , there’s a default list of folders on
the left side of the Window.
Unfortunately, those folders are just not
that useful for most people. To customize
them, point Regedit to HKEYCURRENT
USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
Current Version\Policies\comdlg32 and
create a new key called Placesbar. Inside
that new key, create a String called
Place0 and point it to the folder you want
to appear on the open dialog, say, C:\
CurrentWork. Create another String called
Place1 and point it to another location on
your drive. You can use variables
(%USERPROFILE% will point the folder to
the profile of a currently logged-in user)
or URL’s, so you can even use network
shares. This hack won’t change the same
dialogs in Office , but if you have Office
XP, you can add new folders to the
Placesbar by going to File, Open, and
browsing to the folder you want to add.
Once you have it selected, go to Tools
and click “Add to My Places.”
5 SOFTWARE TOOLS EVERY PC SHOULD HAVE
1
COMPRESSION UTILITIES:
Winzip is the best utility around for managing
pesky zip files. You don’t have to settle for the
puny Compressed Files tool built into XP any-
more! Get it at winzip.com.ANTIVIRUS:
In today’s dog-eat-dog Internet world, you must
have antivirus software. We recommend Norton
AntiVirus 2004 ( http://www.norton.com ). It’s easy to use
and provides excellent protection.FIREWALL:
Running a PC without a firewall is like using a blood-
based sunscreen in shark infested waters. We rec-
ommend Zone Alarm ( http://www.zonelabs.com ).BROWSER:
Only schmucks are still using Internet Explorer.
Download Mozilla Firefox 0.8 ( http://www.mozilla.org ) and
browse with the power users. See our feature on
page 34.One of the best ways to keep your PC purring along at peak per-
formance is to frequently defragment your drive. You can even set
Diskeeper (shown here) to run automatically!2
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DEFRAG:
The hard drive defragging utility built into Windows XP
is acceptable for your grandmother, but if you want to
keep your disks in tip-top shape, you need a more pow-
erful tool. Get Diskeeper from http://www.executivesoftware.com.