Obligatory Preamble

A word of warning: Some of these tips involve editing the Windows Registry, which can completely ruin your day. So before you touch the Registry, use System Restore to create a restore point so that you can revert to the previous version of the Registry if something goes awry.

Open with Notepad

Do you use notepad very frequently to open all types of text files? This quick tweak will add "Open with Notepad" to all of your file context menus. Whenever you right click on a file, you will have the option to open it in Notepad.

Copy and paste the code below into Notepad. Then save it as a .reg file and import it by clicking on it.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Open with Notepad]
@=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Open with Notepad\command]
@="notepad.exe %1"

Changed Registered Owner

Would you like the change the registered owner and organization for your Windows Vista installation? Follow these steps below to make the registry changes necessary:

1. Click on the Start Button and type in regedit and hit Enter
2. Navigate through HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SOFTWARE, Microsoft, Windows NT and CurrentVersion
3. Right click on RegisteredOwner and select Properties
4. Enter in the new RegisteredOwner value
5. Right click on RegisteredOrganization and select Properties
6. Enter in the new RegisteredOrganization value
7. Close Registry Editor.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
RegisteredOwner
RegisteredOrganization

Instructions for Setting AutoAdminLogon

The idea behind AutoAdminLogon is that a user(name) can logon at a computer without having to type a password.  A typical scenario would be a test machine on a private network.  With AutoAdminLogon enabled, when you restart the machine it automatically logs on a named user.  The trick, which also its liability, is to set a value for DefaultPassword in the registry.

1. Launch Regedit
2. Navigate to:
   HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\winlogon
3. Set: AutoAdminLogon = 1 (one means on, zero means off)
   Tip: Try Regedit's 'Find': AutoAdminLogon
4. Create a new String Value called DefaultPassword
5. Set: DefaultPassword = "P@ssw0rd"
6. Check for the existence of a REG_SZ called DefaultUserName. The value should reflect the user who you wish to logon automatically. If this value does not exist, then right-click in the right pane, New, REG_SZ, name it, DefaultUserName. Set the string value to the required UserName
7. Optional Item: If your Vista Machine has joined a domain, then create a String Value called DefaultDomainName.
   Set: DefaultDomainName = "OnlyYouKnowDomain"

Here is a summary of the four key registry settings:

• "AutoAdminLogon"="1"
• "DefaultUserName"="xxx"
• "DefaultPassword"="xxxx0xxxx"
• "DefaultDomainName"="xxx.xxx"

Registry Instructions for NoDriveTypeAutoRun

One interesting feature of NoDriveTypeAutoRun is that you can set the value in either HKLM** or HKCU. If you go overboard and configure both, then the Local_Machine over-rides the Current_User.

1. Type 'regedit' in the Start Search dialog box
   Navigate to this path:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
2. If necessary create a dword called NoDriveTypeAutoRun
3. Set NoDriveTypeAutoRun = 000000FF
   A value of 000000FF (decimal 255) disables AutoRun on all drives.
4. Refer to the above table, and use a Hexadecimal calculator to compute the most suitable value for your machine.
5. There is no need to logoff; the NoDriveTypeAutoRun setting should take effect straightaway

Change the Name of your Computer Icon

The idea behind this registry tweak is to adjust the label under the computer icon, which you see on the Vista desktop. The result is that the name reflects the true username and computername. Please note, unlike the cheap-shot where you just rename the Computer icon; this tip dynamically adjusts the name for each user who logs on.

The mission is to find a specific class id (CLSID) in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, and then change the value for LocalizedString from 'Computer' to a variable which will reflect the user who logs on to this particular computer.

1. Launch Regedit and navigate
2. Precaution: Rename the existing value:
   Locate with regedit HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\
   {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} rename LocalizedString to LocalizedString.Old
3. Create a new VALUE. Note type should be Expanded String Value. Name it: LocalizedString
4. Edit the 'Value data'. I double click LocalizedString, then click in the dialog box and type: %Username% at %Computername%
5. Incidentally, you could choose more creative words in place of 'at'. For example, 'Spunk Monkey'
6. To see the fruits of your labours, just press F5 to refresh the desktop, your computer icon should now say the equivalent of: YourName at YourComputer

ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin

This is the situation: you are logged on at a Vista computer as administrator, and you wish to make a configuration change. Up pops the UAC (User account Control) and ask, 'If you started this action, continue'. You must click on that 'Continue' button before Vista completes your configuration. If you want to go ahead and change the behavior of the Windows Security dialog using the registry, this is how you alter ConsentPromptBehavior.

1. Launch regedit and navigate to:
   HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
   Trap: When you navigate to : HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
   Beware, at first I overlooked the \System sub folder
2. The default value is : "ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin" = dword:00000002
   This means: Display the UAC dialog box
3. Change to: "ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin" = dword:00000000
4. Setting the value of "ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin" to zero bypasses the new UAC interface and the administrative task completes without further user interaction
5. In Vista there is no need to even logoff, changes to "ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin" are applied straight away

RegisteredOwner and RegisteredOrganization

When you buy a machine with Vista pre-installed, sometimes OEM's leave their name in your copy of Vista (or XP). A little research reveals that such names are stored in registry values called: RegisteredOwner and RegisteredOrganization. Here is a registry hack to edit the value to reflect your organization.

1. Launch Regedit
   Navigate to:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\. Alternatively, in Regedit, click the Edit menu, Find, and then type: RegisteredOwner in the dialog box
2. Double click on the REG_SZ called RegisteredOwner
3. Change the value to a name of your choice
4. Repeat the above instructions for RegisteredOrganization
5. Exit Regedit and launch Start Search, type winver in the dialog box

Pin a Folder to the Start Menu

By default in Vista, you are only able to pin a program or a program shortcut to the left white side of the Start Menu. This will show you how to also allow a folder or a folder shortcut to be pinned to the Start Menu.

1. Open Start Menu
2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type regedit and press Enter
3. Click Continue for UAC prompt
4. In regedit, go to:
   HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
5. To Add the Pin Folder Option
   • In the left pane, right click on ContextMenuHandlers and click New and click Key
   • Type {a2a9545d-a0c2-42b4-9708-a0b2badd77c8} and press Enter

Add "Open with Notepad" to the Context Menu for All Files

The default method of opening unknown files forces you to go through a list of known applications and is generally a pain to deal with. That's why it's nice to have a context menu option for "Open with Notepad" so that you can quickly open up files without having to go through a lot of trouble. This registry hack is nothing new, it's been around forever... think of this as a refresher course. Also note that you can use this same technique to substitute any other application that you'd like by adjusting the path in the registry to point to the different editor.

1. Open regedit.exe through the start menu search or run box, and then browse down to the following key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell
2. Right-click on "shell" folder and choose to create a new key, calling it "Open with Notepad". Create a new key below that one called "command". Double-click on the (Default) value in the right-hand pane and enter in the following: notepad.exe %1
3. The change should take effect immediately.
4. Right-click on any file and you'll see the next menu entry.