Explore from “My Computer”

Windows Explorer’s default landing folder is the Libraries directory, but some of us are more comfortable with using “My Computer” as the default node, especially if we use multiple hard drives and external storage devices.

To change the default node, find Windows Explorer in the Start Menu by typing “explorer” in the Start Menu search field and right click the first result. Select “Properties”. Under the Shortcut tab, the Target location should read: %SystemRoot% and the Target should be: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe

Paste the following in the Target field: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

New instances of Explorer will open up to “My Computer”. You’ll need to unpin and replace the existing Explorer shortcut from the Taskbar to complete the transition. Just right-click the icon, hit, “Unpin this program from the taskbar” to remove it, and then drag Explorer from the Start Menu back into place.

Unlock Hidden Windows 7 Wallpapers

To access these international wallpapers, bring up the Start Menu search bar and type “Globalization”. The only result should be a folder located in the main Windows directory. You should only be able to see “ELS and “Sorting” folders here so far. Next, search for “MCT” in the top right search bar. This will display five new unindexed folders, each corresponding to a different global region. Browse these folders for extra themes and wallpapers!

Get Windows XP Styled Classic “Alt+Tab” Switcher Screen in Windows Vista and 7

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

2. Now go to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

3. In right-side pane, create a new DWORD value AltTabSettings and set its value to 1

4. That's it. Now whenever you'll press "Alt+Tab" keys together, it'll show Windows XP styled classic "Alt+Tab" Switcher screen instead of the new screen.

5. To restore default Aero enabled "Alt+Tab" Switcher screen, simply delete the AltTabSettings DWORD value created in step 3. Log off and login again to take effect.

“God Mode” Shortcut to Taskbar

1. First you'll need to create a new shortcut. To do this, right-click on Desktop and select "New -> Shortcut":

2. It'll launch "Create Shortcut" wizard. Now enter following string in location box:

explorer shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

3. After entering the location, click on "Next" button. Now type God Mode in name box and click on "Finish" button. It'll create a new shortcut on Desktop.

4. Now its time to change the icon. Right-click on the shortcut and select "Properties". Click on "Change Icon" button. Type control.exe in text box and press Enter. Select the Control panel icon, click on OK button and then Apply the changes.

5. Now you just need to pin this new shortcut to Taskbar. You can either drag-n-drop the shortcut to Taskbar or right-click on the shortcut and select "Pin to Taskbar" option:

6. That's it. Now you can enjoy the "God Mode" shortcut in Taskbar:

“God Mode” Shortcut in My Computer Context Menu

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

2. Now go to:

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

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. "GodMode" (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 God Mode in our example.

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

6. In right-side pane, change value of "Default" to:

explorer shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

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 control.exe in our example to show Control panel icon for it.

8. That's it. Now you can have "God Mode" shortcut with an icon in My Computer context menu.

“God Mode” Shortcut in Desktop Context Menu

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. "GodMode" (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 God Mode in our example.

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

6. In right-side pane, change value of "Default" to:

explorer shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

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 control.exe in our example to show Control panel icon for it.

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)

8. That's it. Now you can have "God Mode" shortcut with an icon in Desktop context menu.

Prevent Themes to Change Desktop Icons & Mouse Pointers

1. Type regedit in RUN or Startmenu Searchbox and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes

3. In right-side pane, create or modify following 2 DWORD values:

ThemeChangesDesktopIcons
ThemeChangesMousePointers

And set their values to 0

4. That's it. Now themes will not change Desktop icons and mouse cursors automatically.

Unlock Hidden Windows 7 Themes

Accessing all the themes is easy to do once you know where to find them. The trick is to navigate to the C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT directory. The MCT directory within the Globalization directory is super hidden so it will not display even if show hidden files and folders is enabled. Just click on the address bar of any folder and manually type in or copy and paste in C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT and hit Enter.

Once you have reached the MCT folder you will see five directories as listed below:

• MCT-AU
• MCT-CA
• MCT-GB
• MCT-US
• MCT-ZA

To view and use the theme for each region just navigate into each MCT-Region directory, enter the Theme sub-directory and double click the theme file.

Start Explorer in Drive View

Many users like to start explorer in drive view to directly access their data instead of the document folders. This tweak will show you how to modify the Windows Explorer shortcuts to launch directly in drive view.

Update the Start Menu Shortcut

1. Click on the Start Button and type in Windows Explorer.
   
2. Right click on the shortcut when it appears in the search results and select Properties.
3. On the Shortcut tab, change the target to:
   %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
4. Click Ok to save the changes.

Update the TaskBar Shortcut

1. Right click on the Windows Explorer TaskBar icon.
2. Then Right click on the Windows Explorer shortcut in the Jump List and select Properties.
   
3. On the Shortcut tab, change the target to:
   %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
4. Click Ok to save the changes.

Restore Start Menu Internet Search

1. Click on the Start Button, type in gpedit.msc and hit Enter.
2. One the Local Group Policy Editor has loaded navigate through User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Start Menu and Taskbar, and locate Add Search Internet link to Start Menu near the top.
   
3. Right click on Add Search Internet link to Start Menu and select Edit.
4. On the edit screen select Enabled and click OK.
   
5. Close the Local Group Policy Editor. You should now see the link restored on the Start Menu.

Restore Quick Launch Toolbar

First, right click on the taskbar and select Toolbars and then New Toolbar.

Enter in the following folder location and then click Select Folder:

%AppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

The quick launch toolbar will now be displayed but you will need to move it to the correct location on the taskbar. Just click on the Quick Launch label and drag it all the way to the left.

After you adjusted the width of the quick launch bar the last step is to remove the Quick Launch label. Right click on the text and click on Show Title to remove the option.

You have now restored the classic Windows Quick Launch toolbar.

Remove Send Feedback Link from Window Title

With the help of a quick registry tweak it is possible to remove the titlebar Send Feedback link permanently:

1. Click on the start button and start up the Registry Editor by typing in regedit and hitting Enter.
2. Once RegEdit is open, navigate through HKEY_Current_User, Control Panel and Desktop.
3. Modify FeedbackToolEnable and set the value to 0.
4. Restart.

Pin Recycle Bin on the Taskbar

The secret is creating a special shortcut that you can pin to the taskbar that points to the recycle bin:

1. Right click anywhere on your desktop and select New and then shortcut.
   
2. In the location of the item box type in:
   
   %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe shell:RecycleBinFolder
   
3. Click Next.
4. For the name type in Recycle Bin.
   
5. Then click Finish.
6. Now your shortcut will be created but it will not have the right icon. Right click on the shortcut, select Properties. Then, click Change Icon
7. Change the icon file to:
   %SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll
   
   Hit Enter and select the Recycle Bin Icon and click OK.
   
8. Finally, drag the new shortcut onto the taskbar and it will be pinned directly. Once the shortcut is pinned, you can delete the original on the desktop.

Hide Background Windows with Aero Shake

Aero Shake is one of the lesser known features included in Windows 7. It offers a unique way to minimize all the open windows on your screen while leaving one up that you want to work with.
All you need to do is shake a window with your mouse. Just like you are trying to move it but only shake it.

Hidden Send To Menu in Windows 7

When you right click on an file or folder in Windows Explorer the default Send To menu contains only a few locations.
What many users do not know is that it is possible to expand the Windows 7 Send To menu by pressing Shift before right-clicking on a file or folder. Pressing the Shift key before right-clicking will expand the Send To menu with more than ten new entries like My Documents folders, Downloads or Contacts.

Fix Aero Glass in Windows 7

If you want the full Windows 7 experience the Aero glass interface is a must. Without the slick glass interface a number of key features will be disabled such as taskbar thumbnails and Aero Peek. According to Microsoft the bare minimum requirements for Aero is a graphics card that supports DirectX 9.0 or newer and a native WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model) driver. In most cases when you install Windows 7 Aero will be enabled but on some configurations various issues prevent the feature from starting.

The most common issue I have seen is a lack of compatible WDDM drivers. When Windows 7 was installed compatible drivers were not found on the installation media. In this scenario Windows will search on Windows Update for compatible drivers once an internet connection is established. To make Windows search for new drivers manually just click on the Start Button and type in Windows Update. Then, click Check for updates.

If no WDDM compatible drivers are found for your video adapter on Windows update try looking on the manufacturers Web site.

After you have, or your system has automatically updated your video adpater drivers to compatible WDDM drivers it is best to refresh the Windows Experience Index. This will run the Windows Experience performance tool to benchmark your computer and identify what features should be turned on and off. Click on the Start Button and type in check the windows experience index and hit Enter. Next, click Refresh Now.

If you still have problems try running the Aero Troubleshooting utility by clicking on the Start Button and typing in Find an fix problems with transparency and then hit Enter.

As a last resort you can try the old Windows Vista registry hack to enable Aero glass on low end systems.

Fine Tune ClearType Font Smoothing

Everyone has a different idea of good font smoothing. What is nice and smooth to you may be blurry to someone else. That is why Microsoft included the ClearType Text Tuner in Windows 7.

Start the ClearType Text Tuner by clicking on the Start Button and typing in cttune and then hit Enter.

Then just follow the wizard and select the options that look best to you on your LCD monitor.

Click Finish to save your changes.

Enable Aero Glass in Windows Virtual PC

After you have installed Windows 7 in your virtual machine you need to install the integration components. Click on Tools and then Install Integration Components.
Click through the installation on your virtual machine. After the virtual machine reboots, the final step involves enabling the integration components. Click on the Tools again and select Enable Integration Features.
After you type in the user name and password for the virtual machine you should see the Aero Glass interface. If for some reason you do not simply select an Aero Glass theme by right clicking on the desktop and selecting Personalize.

Disable Taskbar Jump Lists

To disable the jump lists right click on the Taskbar and select Properties.

Then, click on the Start Menu tab and uncheck Store and display recently opened items in the Start menu and the taskbar.

Click OK and you are finished.

Customizing the Windows 7 Taskbar

By default when you install Windows 7 you will see the Taskbar with big icons and with program combining enabled.
One easy way to save screen space is to turn on small Icons which will shrink the height of the taskbar but keep the new program combining features (no text displayed & program grouping) enabled.

1. Right click on the taskbar and select Properties
2. Then, on the taskbar tab check Use small icons and hit OK.

Are you a fan of the classic Windows taskbar with the program labels? Microsoft did not forget about you. It is very easy to turn program labels back on in taskbar properties.

1. Right click on the taskbar and select Properties.
2. Next to Taskbar Buttons, select Never Combine and hit OK.

For the true classic taskbar look enable small icons as well.