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Remove Shared Documents And User Documents From My Computer

Martin — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 14:13:48 +0000

The Windows XP operating system displays several user related system folders in the My Computer overview. These system folders include Shared Documents and user folders. Some users, especially those who are working on single user computer systems, might want to get rid of these folders to receive a better overview of the connected hard drives and other hardware devices.

A simple Registry tweak can remove these folders from the My Computer display. The system folders remain on the computer system and are not modified in any way by the following procedure. Only their links that are automatically added in My Computer is removed.

To remove the Shared Documents and user document folders from My Computer do the following:

Press the keyboard shortcut [Windows R] to open the run dialog box. Enter regedit and hit enter to open the Windows Registry editor. Now locate for the following Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\DelegateFolders\{59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}

This can be done by manually navigating in the Registry or searching for part of the key. Please check the complete key as it might appear several times in the Registry. Deleting that Registry key will remove the Shared Documents and user documents folder from My Computer. It is recommended to create a backup of the Registry key before deleting it. This can be done my selecting the key in the Registry editor and opening the Export option under the File header menu.

The changes are immediately visible although a refresh might be needed if the My Computer folder was open during the procedure. The changes can be undone by double-clicking on the Registry backup file that was created in the process. Another option is to simply created the Registry key manually using the information above.

Tags: my computer, registry tips, shared documents, user documents, Windows, windows registry, windows-xp

Windows Cannot Find Msconfig

Martin — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 14:22:01 +0000

MSConfig, which stands for Microsoft System Configuration Utility, is a administrative tool that gets distributed with the Windows operating system. It has been designed by Microsoft to provide quick access to several system settings, files and parameters like startup items, Windows services or ini files like boot.ini or system.ini.

MSConfig can be accessed from the run command [Windows R] by typing in [msconfig]. It happens in rare cases that Windows cannot start the application displaying the message that “Windows cannot find MSConfig” which can be the cause of a virus infection or corrupt entries in the Windows Registry or file system.

There are basically two possibilities why Windows is displaying the error message. The first is that the file is no longer in the default directory on the hard drive; The second that the file path in the Registry is linking to a wrong location or not existing at all.

Finding MSConfig.exe

The first task is to locate msconfig.exe on the computer system. The default directory where Microsoft is placing the file is
WINDOWS\pchealth\helpctr\binaries on Windows XP systems and Windows\system32\ on Windows Vista systems.

If the file turns out to be in that directory skip ahead to step 2 which will check the correct file path in the Windows Registry. If the file is not there at all you need to add it back there. The easiest way to do that is by extracting it again from the Windows installation CD or DVD.

To extract it from the Windows CD you need to run a command from the command line. Press [Windows R], enter [cmd] and hit [enter].

Type in the following command if you are running Windows XP: (assuming E is the letter of the drive containing the Windows CD and C:\WINDOWS\ the location of the Windows installation.

EXPAND -R E:\I386\MSCONFIG.EX_ C:\WINDOWS\PCHEALTH\HELPCTR\BINARIES

Windows Vista users run the following command instead: (again assuming E is the DVD drive and C:\Windows the Windows installation directory)

EXPAND -R E:\I386\MSCONFIG.EX_ C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

Correcting the msconfig path

Windows stores path information about selected applications in the Windows Registry. Start the Windows Registry by typing [Windows R], [regedit], [enter]. Then navigate to the following Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths

Check if an entry named msconfig.exe exists. If it does check the default value which should be the path information pointing right to the location of msconfig.exe in the Windows directory. You can double-click the default entry to change the path if it is the wrong one.

If the msconfig.exe key does not exist in the Windows Registry do the following:

Right-click the App Paths key and select New > Key from the menu that is appearing.
Name the new key MSCONFIG.EXE.
Double-click the default value in the right window and add the full path to msconfig.exe as the value.

The changes are immediately which means it is possible to try to run msconfig again to see if the changes have fixed the problem.

Tags: microsoft-windows, msconfig, msconfig.exe, registry tips, Windows, windows tips

USB Flash Drive Write Protection

Martin — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:00:56 +0000

System administrators might want to limit the use of external USB flash drives by making them read only. This can actually be useful in several situations like preventing users from copying local data to the external device or preventing malicious software from spreading on a computer network using those flash drives.

The Windows operating system has a Registry setting that can add USB write protection to a computer system. It is like a switch that can be enabled to make use of the write protection or disabled to allow write processes.

Users who experience problems writing to USB devices might want to take a look at this setting as well if they have the proper rights to do so to see if it is the cause for their difficulties.

Start by opening the run dialog box with the keyboard shortcut [Windows R]. Type [regedit] and hit [enter]. This should open the Windows Registry editor.

Navigate to the following Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\

Look at the sub-keys and see if a key named StorageDevicePolicies is listed. If it is skip this paragraph and read the next. If it is not create the key by right-clicking Control and selecting New > Key

See if there is an entry named WriteProtect. It can be easily created if it is not present by right-clicking in the right window and selecting New > DWord from the menu. The following values are allowed for this entry:

0 – This will allow write processes on USB Flash Drives
1- This will block write processes on USB Flash Drives.

An alternative would be to delete the Registry key WriteProtect completely to enable both read and write processes. A restart or log off is required before the changes take effect.

Tags: registry, registry tips, usb, usb devices, usb tips, usb write protect, window usb, windows registry, windows tips

New Entry In Right Windows XP Start Menu

Martin — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:23:40 +0000

The Windows XP Start Menu is divided into two parts. The left part can contain custom links to folders and applications while the right part is more or less static. It points to user folders like My Documents or the Control Panel of the Windows operating system. It is possible to change some of the folders so that they point to different directories. (see replace my music and my pictures in windows startmenu). There is however a possibility to add a new entry to the right Windows XP start menu. Microsoft reserved space for OEM links in the right location. The following article explains how to add a link to a folder of the operating system to the right Windows XP Start Menu.

Start by opening the Windows Registry with [windows R], typing [regedit] and hitting [enter]. Search for the key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}

Double-click on the Default entry in the right window and replace the value with a name of your own. If you want to link to a downloads directory name it downloads.

Create a new key by right-clicking and selecting New > Key from the menu. Name the key DefaultIcon. Double-click on Default again and enter a path to an icon on the computer system. You can for instance use shell icons. To use the generic folder icon you give the key the following value:

%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll,-4

Click here for a full list of possible values.

Open the subkey Instance\InitPropertyBag. Right-click and select New > String from the menu and name it command. Give the string the same name that you have chosen in the first step. We will name it downloads so that it matches the name that we have selected.

Create two additional strings by right-clicking and selecting New > String. Name the strings param1 and param2. Double-click param1 and give it the value explorer.exe. Double-click param2 and enter a path on the computer system, e.g. c:\downloads\.

Navigate to the following Registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Create or edit the DWORD entry Start_ShowOEMLink. Double-click it afterwards and give it the value 1.

Now restart the computer, log off or kill and restart the explorer.exe process. The new entry in the Windows Start Menu should appear.

Tags: registry tips, start-menu, windows registry, windows registry tips, windows start menu, windows tips, windows xp start menu, windows-xp

How To Change The Edit Application In Windows

Martin — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 09:47:25 +0000

The Edit option pops up in Windows after right-clicking a file type in Windows Explorer. Windows associated one software program that can be used to edit that file type. For image files it is usually Microsoft Paint while text documents are usually opened in Notepad. Those applications are set in the Windows Registry where they can be changed so that Edit will open a different application.

It is actually pretty easy to change the default edit application in Windows to another one providing you got the location in the Registry to do so. Now, to change the default Edit application open the Windows Registry by pressing [Windows R], typing [regedit] and hitting [enter]. Locate the following Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\SystemFileAssociations

In there you find all the different file types and they association. The order is filetype > shell > edit > command. Not every filetype has that chain but the most common ones do. To edit the default text editor in Windows you need to locate the text subkey and follow the path mentioned above until you reach the command key. There should be only one Default entry in there:

%SystemRoot%\system32\NOTEPAD.EXE %1

To change the program that opens when clicking on the Edit option in the right-click menu simply change the path so that it leads to the application that you want to use, for example

"c:\program files\notepad++\notepad++.exe" "%1"

Tags: default application, edit application, registry, registry tips, Windows, windows edit, windows registry, windows tips

Remove Deleted DLLs In The Windows Registry

Martin — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 09:09:53 +0000

Some software uninstallers leave lots of traces behind. This can be files in the program directory, in a Windows folder but also in the Windows Registry. There are uninstallers like Revo Uninstaller that will automatically scan the Registry and specific folders in Windows for traces of an uninstalled program helping the user to get rid of traces left behind by the software.

RegDllView is a portable software by Nirsoft that has been primarily designed to view the registered dlls (to be more precise dll, ocx and exe).It will display various information about each dll including its location, day it was registered and company.

The software can be used to unregister dlls but also to remove entries that point to dlls that have been already deleted on the computer system. Will it have a positive effect on system stability or performance? That’s unlikely but if you like your system clean and shiny you might want to remove the dll files anyway as they are no longer needed on the system.

Actually, it could be that some are still needed but have been removed from the computer system. It is therefor a good idea to check the missing dlls first before starting to delete their references in the Windows Registry.

RegDllView will display all known dynamic link libraries; Those that are no longer on the computer system are displayed with a red background to make identification easier. Selecting one or multiple of those removed dll files and right-clicking the background afterwards will display a menu with the option to “Delete All Entries For Selected Files”.

This will remove those deleted entries from the Windows Registry.

Tags: nirsoft, portable software, regdllview, registry software, registry tips, remove-dll, windows registry

Windows Registry Protection

Martin — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:12:27 +0000

The Windows Registry is of uttermost importance to the Windows operating system. Malicious software makes use of the capacities of the Windows Registry regularly by changing system settings and adding malicious scripts to the system startup process. Many security software programs do not protect the Windows Registry from those dangers which is why running an program for additional protection might make sense.

Registry Prot is a tiny program that protects important Registry keys from being manipulated without the user’s knowledge. It barely uses 200 Kilobytes of computer memory while running and will only become active when programs try to make changes or new additions to the Windows Registry. There is no list of all the Registry locations that are monitored by Registry Protection. Among the known locations are the various possibilities to add system startup items and the default applications for known file types.

Registry Prot might not be something for inexperienced users as the informational dialogs are sometimes hard to understand without the proper knowledge. A web search can aid in the decision making process.

Registry Prot Download

Tags: registry, registry protection, registry tips, windows registry, windows registry protection, windows software

Export Internet Explorer Security Zone Information

Martin — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:40:19 +0000

Internet Explorer assigns a security zone to any website that the user is visiting. Next to the two generic zones Internet (all that are not in another zone), Local Intranet (local sites) are Trusted sites and Restricted Sites. Trusted sites will usually have a lower security level than restricted sites. One could for instance move financial sites or sites from companies like eBay or Amazon into the Trusted sites list. Restricted sites are those that should be accessed with lower permissions. Good for websites that need to be accessed but are not that trusted.

If a user accesses the Internet with multiple computers he might want to use the same security zone settings on all of them. The easiest way to do that would be to export the security zones on one computer and export them to all others instead of adding sites to the zones manually on all computers.

Internet Explorer is storing the security zone information in the Windows Registry. To export the settings of the currently logged in user one would have to open the Registry with [Windows R], typing [regedit] and hitting [Enter].

The Registry key is located at:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains

A left click on Domains will select that key. The next step would be to open the File Menu and select Export. Enter a name and save the data as a file on the computer.

The newly created file has to be transferred to another computer. A right-click on the file at the new computer will open a context menu. The entry Merge will add the data to the correct Registry key so that the zone information of the first computer will be added to it as well.

Tags: ie, internet explorer security, internet explorer tips, internet-explorer, registry tips, security zone, windows registry

Prevent Windows Registry from remembering last key viewed

Martin — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:54:00 +0000

“This is a guest post by Aseem Kishore, the lead blogger for HelpDeskGeek.com, which focuses on providing Help Desk tips to IT Professionals.”

One of the things that bothers me the most is when I open the Windows Registry to edit a key and it loads up showing me the last key I had viewed. I normally go into the Registry to make one change and that’s it. I never go back and edit the same key. Wouldn’t it be great if you could open the registry and all the hives would load up collapsed like you opened it for the first time ever?

Luckily, there’s a little shortcut you can create to the registry that will get rid of that annoying little feature. It’s actually a script with a few lines of code. Just open Notepad and paste in the following lines of code:

Dim objShell, RegKey, Q


Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
strQuote = chr(34)      
RegKey = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Regedit"
RegKey = RegKey & "\LastKey"
objShell.RegWrite RegKey, ""

objShell.Run "regedit"

Save the file with a .VBS extension, which stands for Visual Basic Script. To do this in Notepad, choose All Files for the Save as type combo box and name the file “Registry.vbs” without the quotes.

So now instead of opening the Registry and getting something that looks like this:

You can easily start from the very top of the Registry hives like normal!

If you want to make if more official, you can change the icon for the VBS script file to the Registry icon. In order to do this, you have to create a shortcut to the script. Just right-click on Registry.vbs, click on Send To, and then click on Desktop (create shortcut).

Now right-click on the shortcut icon and click on Rename. Name the shortcut Registry. Next right-click again and go to Properties. Click on the Change Icon button.

Choose the Registry icon from the list of icons. Finally you can copy your shortcut to the Start Menu for easy acce

Tags: registry, registry hives, registry tips, Windows, windows registry, windows script

Enhance The Right-Click Context Menu

Martin — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:27:20 +0000

Moo0 RightClicker is a software tool that enhances the Windows right-click context menu in many ways. The software program is compatible to Windows XP and Windows Vista and provides some of the functionality that the shareware version of Moo0 RightClicker provides. The tool adds several new entries to the right-click menu that opens when right-clicking on files or folders in Windows.

All new functions can be easily identified by their light-green icons. The software program adds five new key features to the right-click menu. Move To Folder and Copy To Folder entries have been added which make use of bookmarked folders and the system folders. The Delete menu entry was enhanced as well. It provides access to moving the deleted files and folders to the trashbin or to delete them permanently. Experienced users already know that it is possible to delete files and folders permanently by holding down the shift key before choosing to delete them.

The fourth addition provides functions to copy the name or path of a folder or file and to open the command prompt from the selected folder.

The last addition is the customize menu which provides tools to hide entries from the right-click menu. It’s apparent that the free version was cut down in functionality to have a selling point for the shareware version. The free version does add a few entries to the right-click menu which might make it interesting for some users. Most of the functions can also be added (or removed) by editing the Registry manually.

Tags: registry tips, right-click, right-clicker, software, software program, windows software, windows tips

Fix Windows Vista Resetting Folder View Settings

Martin — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:25:47 +0000

Users with many folders on their system might experience an annoying problem in Windows Vista which has already plagued many Windows XP users as well. Windows remembers by default the folder view settings of 200 local folders and 200 network folders initially. Windows Vista remembers 5000 folders which are usually enough for most users.

Some users have more than 5000 folders on their system and they will experience that the folder view is resetting itself whenever the limit is reached. It works like a first in first out cache once the limit has been reached.

Here is what you need to do to fix it (via Redmond Pie): Open the Windows Registry by pressing Windows R, typing in regedit and hitting enter. Now navigate to the Registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Classes \Local Settings \Software \Microsoft \Windows \Shell and create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it BagMRU Size. Double-click the entry and give it a value of 10000, double the default amount.

Work with your system for a while and see if all folder view settings are remembered. If it is not enough increase the number a second time to 15000 or even 20000. The same can be applied to Windows XP, the limit in XP seems to be 8000 though.

Tags: registry tips, vista-tips, Windows, windows tips, windows-vista, windows-xp

Do not move Special Folders in Windows to root

Martin — Tue, 27 May 2008 10:56:13 +0000

Users can move the special folders from their default location to another folder or drive in Windows XP and Windows Vista. Special folders are for example the pictures and music folders in My documents. Their directory can be changed using the Location tab in the Property menu. It is recommended to add the full path as the location when moving those folders. If you want to move the Downloads special folder to drive the downloads folder on drive e: you should enter the full path which is e:\downloads in this case.

The reason why this is important is that Windows does not automatically append the folder name to the path. This means that if you enter e: as the path Windows Vista will assume that this is the path to the download folder. The problem arises when a user tries to change the location again because Windows will move all files on that partition to the new location. Think of it, if e: is the special folder then all contents on that drive have to be moved.

This process will not complete because of System Volume Information and $Recycle.Bin which cannot be moved. The only way to fix this is to change the path of those folders manually in the Registry.

The location of all special folders is stored in the Registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ User Shell Folders

Just change the value of the special folders that you have changed to the root folder and restart the computer afterwards so that the changes take effect.

Tags: registry tips, windows tips, windows-vista, windows-xp

Block installation of Windows XP SP3 and Vista SP1

Martin — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:45:19 +0000

Several users encounter problems and difficulties during and after installation of the two new Windows service packs that Microsoft released earlier this year. Both service packs will be automatically downloaded later this year to computers that have automatic updates enabled which could prove disastrous for companies who cannot afford that they computers stop working after the update.

A solution would obviously be to disable automatic updates but that’s probably not a preferred solution by many as well. The easiest way to block the automatic download and installation of both Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is a Registry key that has to be added to the Registry that prevents the installation for twelve months.

The update problems should be sorted out by that time and if they have not been it is still possible to disable automatic updates. To add the entry to the Registry do the following. Press Windows R, type regedit, hit enter.

The Registry opens and we need to navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate and create a new DWORD named DoNotAllowSP there. The value of the DWORD has to be set to 1.

An alternative would be to create a new text document, paste the following three lines into it and rename the document to block.reg afterwards.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate] "DoNotAllowSP"=dword:00000001

A double-click creates the new Registry key automatically. The block can be removed by either deleting the Registry key again or by setting the dword value to 0 instead.

Tags: block service pack, microsoft, registry tips, vista sp1, window xp, Windows, windows-vista, xp sp3

Enable DVD Library in Windows Media Center

Martin — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:28:23 +0000

I came in contact with a Windows Media Center PC only recently, specifically with Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. I noticed that it did not recognize DVDs that were stored on the hard drive of the computer which was kinda odd for a Media Center.

Well a little research revealed a Registry setting that would enable the option to enable the DVD library in Windows Media Center 2005. That DVD Library can store the DVDs that are stored on the hard drive in a Video_TS folder.

Here are the steps that are needed to enable the DVD Library feature. Exit the Media Center application and start the Windows Registry Editor by using the shortcut Windows R, regedit, enter.

Now navigate to the Registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Media Center \Settings \DvdSettings and edit the value ShowGallery. Change the value from Play to Gallery.

Tags: dvd library, media center, media center tips, microsoft, registry tips, video_ts

Defrag the Registry with Regdefrag

Martin — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:05:17 +0000

The Windows Registry is not defragmented if you defragment your hard drive. This can be quite a problem for users who regularly install and uninstall applications on their system because uninstallers tend to “forget” to remove entries in the Registry during the uninstallation process. It’s astonishing that even the Registry of my brand new system which has been setup only a week ago was highly fragmented.

Defragmenting the Registry with Regdefrag (via Genbeta) would reduce the size from 28904 Kilobyte to 27160 Kilobyte, a reduction of more than 6%. A smaller Registry tends to increase performance on the system and even decrease the time it takes to boot a system. I remember that the Registry on my old computer had a size of 55 Megabytes, that’s twice the size of the current Registry.

The process or defragmentation works exactly the same way as the defragmentation of a hard drive by removing gaps, fragments and wasted space in Windows Registry files.

Analysis and Defragmentation did only take a matter of seconds on my computer, it probably will take longer on slower computers with a larger Registry.

Tags: registry, registry tips, Windows, windows boot time, windows performance, windows registry, windows tips

Regalyzer Advanced Registry Editor

Martin — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:04:37 +0000

One could say that Regalyzer starts there where the default Windows Registry editor and Regscanner stop. Don’t get me wrong, Regscanner is a great program but it has one great weakness and that is the fact that you cannot edit the Registry in the software directly but have to rely on Regedit to edit the entries that you have found with Regscanner. Regalyzer on the other hand provides the advanced search capabilities of Regscanner with the option to edit Registry keys directly.

The main window of Regalyzer resembles that of Regedit but you will notice the bar at the top that contains the search and a history function that displays the Registry keys that have been used lately. It also offers a way of pasting a Registry key into it to jump directly to that key, very handy if you quickly want to change a setting and have the full key at hand.

The search is independent from the main program and opens up in a new window. It displays the result just like Regscanner does which means that all search results are displayed immediately and you are not forced to jump from result to result like in Regedit. Four Search Styles are available: Simple Search, Wildcard Search, Boolean Search and Regular Expressions.

You can also limit the search to specific range, certain data types and several other options. There is also a find and replace feature build in. Once you have selected a key you will notice the additional tabs that contain Security Information, Additional Information and a Change Log besides the default display of the values of that key.

Tags: regalyzer, regedit, registry editor, registry tips, regscanner, Windows

Prevent applications from stealing focus

Martin — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:07:57 +0000

It happens several times a day that some applications steal the focus of the active window by popping up. This can happen for a number of reasons, when I extract files or a transfer finishes for instance. It does not matter most of the time when this happens but sometimes I’m writing an article and it does not only mean that I have to type some words again but also that I lost concentration and have to click to regain focus.

The Pro Reviewer website has a tip on how to prevent this from happening. The easiest way of preventing focus stealing is to use Tweak UI which has a setting that is called “Prevent applications from stealing focus”. Checking this option prevents that other applications pop up suddenly and steal the focus of the window you are currently working in.

This only works when the application has been minimized before. Instead of stealing the focus it will flash a number of times which can be defined in the same menu in Tweak UI. If you do not want to use Tweak UI you can change the setting in the Windows Registry.

Navigate to the Registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Control Panel > Desktop and change the ForegroundLockTimeout value to 30d40 (Hexadecimal) or 200000 (Decimal). The key ForeGroundFlashCount defines the amount of flashes of a window to alert the user where 0 means unlimited.

Tags: application focus, registry tips, Windows, windows registry, windows tips

Disable Recent Documents Listing in Registry

Martin — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 08:16:47 +0000

Windows is keeping track of which programs you opened recently. It is using two locations to store those information. The first are the 15 most recently opened documents that are stored in the user profile and I already wrote an article on how to disable the recent documents listing in Windows.

There is however another place that stores the most recent documents. This one is located in the Registry and it stores way more information. The Registry key is called OpenSaveMRU and stores a history of files that have been opened in a common dialog box. All information are stored in sub-keys. The * sub-key contains a list of all files while the keys with file extensions contain only information about files with that extension.

The only way that I discovered to remove those information is to clear all sub-keys of this Registry key. There is probably a more elegant way to do this, maybe a hidden Registry setting that disables it but I was not able to discover it yet.

You can open the Windows Registry to take a look at the key. To do that press Windows R, type regedit and hit enter. Now navigate to the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Explorer \ComDlg32 and left-click on the key OpenSaveMRU.

The easiest way is to use a Registry file that clears all the sub-keys immediately. I did create and upload the Registry script for you. Just download the registry script and double-click it (or execute it with regedit /s edit.reg). You could also save it and take a look at it before you execute it which is always a good precaution.

It seems that the sub-keys will not be regenerated after a restart.

Tags: privacy, recent documents, registry tips, Security, Windows, windows tips

Disable Recent Documents Listing in Windows

Martin — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:57:18 +0000

I reviewed the Nirsoft application Recent Files View yesterday which brought two possible privacy leaks to my attention. Windows is keeping a record of files that have been previously opened, to be precise of the 15 most recent files that have been opened and stores them as shortcuts in the hidden folder Recent [My Recent Documents] in the user profile.

Maybe you feel the same way I do about this “feature” and don’t need and want it on your system. I managed to find a way to disable it completely which has the effect that Windows is not recording the most recent files that are opened. I first tried to disable it in the Group Policy Editor but it was only possible to reduce it to 1 record which was not sufficient.

I discovered a Registry key however that disables the Recent Documents completely. To access it you need to open the Registry Editor by pressing Windows R, typing regedit and hitting enter.

Now navigate to the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Policies \Explorer and right-click in the right pane. Select New > Dword and name it NoRecentDocsHistory. Change the value of that setting to 1 to disable the Recent Documents.

I did use Recent Files View to verify that Windows is not storing any information about recently opened documents anymore.

Tags: privacy, recent documents, registry tips, Security, windows tips

Windows Tip: Edit User Registry of other users

Martin — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:22:26 +0000

When you make changes in the Windows Registry you normally can only make them for all users or the user account that is currently logged in. But what if you want to make them in another user account ? There is an easy way to do that by loading the Registry hive of the user into the Registry.

Here is how this is done: Start the Windows Registry with the shortcut Windows R, typing regedit and pressing enter. Now mark the HKEY_Users folder in the Registry and click on File > Load Hive afterwards. The default directory that opens is the directory of the current user. Navigate to the user directory of the user that you want to make changes for, all available ones are listed in Document and Settings.

Enter that folder and look for the file ntuser.dat. That file is hidden, if you can’t locate it change the folder settings so that you can see hidden files and folders in Windows. A double-click on the file loads the Registry hive as a subfolder of HKEY_Users with the name that you have selected after clicking on the ntusers.dat file.

Tags: ntuser.dat, registry tips, windows tips

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