The caps lock key, next to num lock, was the culprit here most of the time. Most computer users do not need the caps lock key on the keyboard anymore. The following guide explains how you can disable the caps lock key permanently.

Here is how it is done. Open the Windows Registry the following way: Hold down Windows-r to bring up the run box, enter regedit into the box and tap on the enter key. This opens the Windows Registry Editor. Navigate to the following Registry key in the folder browser on the left.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout

Right-click on Keyboard Layout and select New > Binary from the context menu. Enter Scancode Map and press enter to add the key. Double-click on the newly created key afterwards and enter the following information.

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
02 00 00 00 00 00 3A 00
00 00 00 00

Take a look at the following screenshot to see how it should look like in the Registry editor.

You need to restart your PC after you have made the changes. Once you have done that you will notice that the caps lock key will no longer function under Windows. Nothing happens if you tap on the key.

Please note that some applications may make use of the caps lock key. If that is the case you may break some or all of their functionality. You can re-enable the caps lock by deleting the Scancode Map Registry key and restarting the Windows PC.

Keyboard remapping software like Sharp Keys can also be used to remap the caps lock key so that it no longer functions at all or offers a different function.

Are you using Caps Lock? If so, for what?

The items on the context menu are all in the registry and a simple registry hack can easily remove them. Note that this is for the more experienced user and there are registry management utilities available for those who are inexperienced with accessing the Windows registry directly. Also, before digging into the registry and making any changes; create a restore point so that if you cause any undue problems you will be able to reverse the changes.
To clean up the context menu by hacking the registry, open regedit.exe from the Start menu. The unfortunate part of this is that context menu items are not stored in one location in the registry. You can find most of the menu items for various files and folders by searching one of the following registry keys:

• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell
• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFileSystemObjects\ShellEx

If the menu items are associated with specific folders, they can be found in one of the following two registry keys:

• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell
• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

Items in the context menu will need to be changed differently depending on the location in the registry. Shell items are the easiest to find. For example, browse to the shell key under Directory.

To hide an item, use Shift+Right-Click and add a new string value in the right pane. Name the new string “Extended”.

This will hide the item from the context menu. You can also enter “LegacyDisable” for the new string value and this will disable the key. If you choose to delete the key entirely, export and save a copy first.

When dealing with “shellex” items, you will go to one of the keys listed above:

• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

Determine the correct item by the key name in the left pane. Disable it by inserting a few dashes before the value item. This will not delete the item. In this example, SUPERAntiSpyware is disabled from the context menu in this manner.

Each key location indicated above will need to be searched to find the items you wish to remove (disable) from the context menu. For specific file types, use the Extended or LegacyDisable string values to disable. You will only need to edit the string with dashes for shellex items. This may seem tedious to some users while others may prefer these methods.

You can actually learn a lot by perusing the registry but it should always be done with great care. If you are inexperienced with this, create a full backup of the registry before playing around and, as mentioned, create a restore point

Windows stores the information in the Registry, which means that there are manual and automatic ways of manipulating the data. You could run a program like CCleaner, AppCleaner or SlimCleaner to remove the entries automatically, or open the Windows Registry Editor to edit single entries or all manually. That is, if you know where Windows saves the Run MRU information. MRU stands for Most Recently Used.

The Windows Registry location of the Run MRU is:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU

Windows Run History Editor is a free portable editor that allows you to edit, add or remove Run MRU entries. All existing commands are displayed automatically on program start.

Each command is listed in its own editable field. To edit an existing command, click into the field and use the keyboard to change it. You can also remove commands by clearing their fields, or clear all data automatically with a click on the clear all data button.

A click on Save writes the changes to the Windows Registry, so that they become available immediately on the system. There is also a reload button to load the active settings again in case you made an editing mistake and want to load the current settings again without saving the edits.

The program basically acts as a frontend for the Registry Editor which is not that comfortable to edit.

Windows Run History Editor is a free program that is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system. It requires the Microsoft .NET Framework to be installed on the system. The developer does not mention which version on the project homepage. The program can be downloaded from Sourceforge.

It is sometimes in the best interest of companies, organizations and individuals to protect the data on their computer from being copied this way.

Microsoft has added options to the Windows operating system (more precisely to Windows XP and newer operating systems) to write protect all USB devices that are connected to it. This indicates that it may not always be possible to protect the computer this way, for instance if data needs to be written to USB devices regularly.

Write Protection adds another layer of defense to the computer. The system is not fool proof on its own, as it is still possible to copy data, for instance by uploading it to the Internet or a network connection.

Write Protecting USB Devices

You can enable or disable write protection of all USB devices that are connected to the Windows operating system. Both settings are configured in the Windows Registry. Here is how this is done.

Open the Windows Registry editor with the shortcut Windows-r, enter regedit into the form and press the return key on the keyboard.

Navigate to the following Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies

Please note that you may need to create the key StorageDevicePolicies if it does not exist. Select the key afterwards and right-click into the right window. Select New > Dword (32-bit) Value from the context menu and name the entry WriteProtect.

Double-click the new entry afterwards and change the value from 0 to 1. A value of 1 disables writing to all connected USB devices. If you want to enable writing again you need to change the value of the key to 0.

The new setting takes effect immediately. Every user who tries to copy data to USB devices with write protection enabled receives the following notification window.

It reads

Copy File
The disk is write-protected
Remove the write-protection or use another disk.

I have created two Registry files to enable or disable write protection. You can download a zip file that contains both files here: write protect

This way you can disable write protection with a click on a file, and enable it again when you have copied files to the USB device.

The search for instance is not really that usable as it offers barely any search options. It lacks for example options to find only specific data types or sizes.

Registry Commander is an advanced Windows Registry editor that uses a completely different layout than the default editor. That’s a problem as it means that users need to get used to the new layout first before they can make full use of the editor.

The biggest difference is the folder view of Registry Commander. It displays the Registry hive at the top and its folders in a Windows Explorer like mode.

Each folder is listed with its name and value which includes the number of subkeys and values. A double-click displays the new keys and values in the interface. It is possible to change the hive with a right-click on the path at the top. The application can connect to remote Registry hives as well.

The search is one of the strengths of the portable application.Another interesting feature is the ability to set bookmarks which can then be accessed directly whenever the program is opened. Handy for users who often work with the same set of Registry keys.

Registry Commander is a handy portable software designed for users who need more control over the Windows Registry. The software is available for download at the developer website. It is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Microsoft Windows operating system.

It offers to search the entire Registry or only part of it. Filters are available to only display data that matches specific parameters defined by the user.

Why would you want to hide a drive in first place? Maybe you have private documents on it, and you do not want to risk the kids editing or deleting them, or you have some nsfw contents that you want to hide.

Better options exist in the form of disk encryption, check out our Securing Your PC With True Crypt guide for a walkthrough.

There are several options in Windows to hide a disk in the operating system. Lets start:

Hide A Hard Drive or Partition: Command Prompt

This is one of the easiest options to hide drives in Windows. Open the command prompt to start the process. The easiest way is to press Windows-R, type cmd and hit enter.

Now enter diskpart into the command prompt and hit enter. This may display an User Account Control prompt, make sure to allow it by selecting Yes. Diskpart is the built-in Disk Partitioning program in Windows.

It is a good idea to display a list of all partitions on the drive. To do that enter list volume in the prompt and press enter.

Locate the hard drive that you want to hide and select it in the command prompt. This can be done with the command select volume number, e.g. select volume 4 to select the fourth volume.

You can now use the command remove letter to hide the partition in the operating system. For the above example, remove letter e would remove the drive e from the operating system. The drive becomes inaccessible in Windows Explorer and other programs.

To unhide a drive use the command assign letter, in this case assign letter e. The drive becomes immediately accessible again in Windows.

Hide A Hard Drive or Partition: Windows Registry

The second method of hiding drives in Windows is by manipulating the Windows Registry. Open the Windows Registry with Windows-R, regedit and enter.

Now locate the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer and create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value by right-clicking in the right pane.

Name the new parameter NoDrives and double-click it afterwards. Switch to decimal and enter the following values to hide the specified drive:

• A: 1
• B: 2
• C: 4
• D: 8
• E: 16
• F: 32
• G: 64
• H: 128
• I: 256
• J: 512
• K: 1024
• L: 2048
• M: 4096
• N: 8192
• O: 16384
• P: 32768
• Q: 65536
• R: 131072
• S: 262144
• T: 524288
• U: 1048576
• V: 2097152
• W: 4194304
• X: 8388608
• Y: 16777216
• Z: 33554432
• ALL: 67108863

But what if you want to hide more than one drive letter in Windows? Simple! Just add the values of the drive letters that you want to hide. If you want to hide the drive letters A,B,D and H you would enter 139 (1+2+8+128) as the Decimal value.

It has to be noted that this will hide the drive for the current user, not all users of the operating system. The changes become visible after restarting the computer, or logging off and on again.

Hide A Hard Drive or Partition: Group Policy

The Group Policy is not available in all editions of the Windows operating system. To find out if it is try to launch it. This is done by pressing Windows-R, typing gpedit.msc and hitting enter. This will only remove the disk icon, but not access to the drive. Programs can still access the drives for instance.

Navigate to the following template in the Local Group Policy Editor:

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Component > Windows Explorer

Locate the template Hide these specified drives in My Computer. and double-click it.

Removes the icons representing selected hard drives from My Computer and Windows Explorer. Also, the drive letters representing the selected drives do not appear in the standard Open dialog box.

To use this setting, select a drive or combination of drives in the drop-down list. To display all drives, disable this setting or select the “Do not restrict drives” option in the drop-down list.

Note: This setting removes the drive icons. Users can still gain access to drive contents by using other methods, such as by typing the path to a directory on the drive in the Map Network Drive dialog box, in the Run dialog box, or in a command window.

Also, this setting does not prevent users from using programs to access these drives or their contents. And, it does not prevent users from using the Disk Management snap-in to view and change drive characteristics.

Also, see the “Prevent access to drives from My Computer” setting.

Note: It is a requirement for third-party applications with Windows 2000 or later certification to adhere to this setting.

Switch from Not Configured to Enabled and select one of the following combinations from the pull down menu that becomes active afterwards:

There is no option to hide a specific drive with a drive letter of e or up. The only option in this case is to restrict all drives.

Restart the computer, or log off and on to see the changes you have made. The modification can be reverted by disabling the setting in the Group Policy editor.

Software to hide drives in Windows

Numerous programs are available to hide drives and partitions in Windows. One of the most convenient applications is the portable software DriveMan.

Simply right-click the drive that you want to hide after starting DriveMan and select Hide Selected Drive from the context menu.

Optimizing the Windows Registry, which often is referred to as defragmenting it, is an option to reduce the size of the system file to speed up the boot process of the system.

Registry Life is a free software program for Windows that can not only optimize the Registry, but also clean it.

Cleaning the Registry involves removing invalid entries and other problems from the it, to avoid problems, and remove Registry keys that are not longer needed. This can again reduce the final size of an optimized Registry.

Registry life scans the Windows Registry on startup and displays a number of problems as a result of the scan. This first check is a fast check to see whether problems exist in the Registry. A click on Run Registry cleanup or Registry Cleanup in the sidebar opens the Automatic Registry Cleanup module to perform a thorough scan and cleanup of the Registry.

The program scans various groups in the Registry, including file type associations, shared libraries, MUI cache, registered applications or control parameter sets. A click on Fix creates a backup of the corrected Registry entries and removes or correct the Registry settings from the system.

Registry optimization defragments and compresses the Windows Registry. The program will analyze the Registry which can take a moment, and start the defragmentation and compression afterwards.

The program reduced the size of the Registry on our Windows 7 Professional 64-bit system from 75 Megabytes to 65 Megabytes, which has a visible impact on the system’s startup time. A restart of the system is required after the procedure.

Windows users can download Registry 4 Life from the developer’s website. The program is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 2000 to Windows 7.

Windows has a 200 second limit set for cases like this, which means that the operating system waits more than 3 minutes before the window waiting for input is pulled to the front.

Sure, it is possible to minimize all other windows to see if a window waiting for user input is delaying the software installation.

Changing the default interval from 200 seconds to a shorter interval is often a better option. Windows stores the value in the Windows Registry. To change the value, press Windows-R, type regedit, and hit the enter key on the keyboard.

Navigate to the Registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop and locate the parameter ForegroundLockTimeout on the right side of the Registry editor.

foreground lock timeout

Definition: ForegroundLockTimeout, Specifies the time in milliseconds, following user input, during which the system keeps applications from moving into the foreground.

Double-click that parameter to edit it. Switching from hexadecimal to decimal makes the value changing easier. The values are listed in milliseconds, the default 200000. Change the value to one between 10000 and 50000, which equals 10 to 50 seconds.

It is not recommended to change it to less than 10 seconds, considering that it will bring all windows requiring input to the front in that time, not only installation windows.

The changes are immediately active. It is always possible to go back and adjust the interval if the window changing is happening to fast or to slow.

It is not possible to uninstall software in Safe Mode if the service is not running, that is highly problematic if a software is responsible for PC issues.

There is however an option to start the Windows Installer Service in Safe Mode, so that software can be uninstalled afterwards.

windows installer service error

The Windows Installer Service can’t be started immediately, it is necessary to patch the Registry first.

Open the Windows Registry Editor with the keyboard combination Windows-R, type regedit and hit enter. It can also be launched by clicking on the start orb, and entering regedit in the run box in the Start Menu followed by enter.

Locate the following Registry key

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\

Right-click on Minimal and select New > Key. Name the key MSIService and change the default value to Service by double-clicking it.

windows safe mode

This makes the Windows Installer Service available in minimal Safe Mode. You may want to repeat the steps for the networking Safe Mode as well. All steps are the same, except for the starting Registry key.

HKLM\SYSTEM#92;CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network\

The Windows Installer Service needs to be started afterwards, this can be done by clicking on the start orb again, entering services.msc and hitting enter.

Locate Windows Installer in the services listing, right-click it and select start. Alternatively execute the following command via the command line:

net start msiserver

It is furthermore possible to issue all commands via the command line. To enable Windows Installer in minimal Safe Mode execute the following command:

REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\MSIServer" /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D "Service"


For Safe Mode with network:

REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network\MSIServer" /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D "Service"


The freeware SafeMSI offers to automate the Registry editing and service starting. Just double-click the program in Safe Mode to enable Windows Installer.

The command line tool reg.exe can be used to manage the Registry from the command line. It not only provides access to delete or add but also other options like exporting or importing keys.

Entering reg /? into the command line will display all possible options that are available.

Delete a Registry key from the command line

The reg delete command can be used on local and remote machines. The basic command looks like the following

reg delete keyname valuename parameters

To delete a key with all its values and subkeys a user would have to issue the following command

reg delete HKLM\Software\Test

That’s the most basic form of deleting a Registry key from the command line. This will delete the key Test with all its subkeys and values.

reg delete \\RemoteSystem\HKLM\Software\Test /v Testvalue

This example deletes the Registry value Testvalue under Test on the remote machine RemoteSystem.

Add a Registry key from the command line

The add parameter uses a similar order. The basic command

reg add HKLM\Software\Test

adds the key Test to HKLM\Software\

Important here are the \t and \d parameters which define the Regkey data type and the value that is assigned.

reg add HKLM\Software\Test /v Testdata /t REG_BINARY \d ffffff

Adds the value Testdata to the key Test that is of type reg_binary and contains the data ffffff.

Using the /? parameter will explain every command in great detail. This concludes the little tutorial on how to delete and add Registry keys from the command line.

All that needs to be done to add the copy to and move to entries to Windows Explorer is to add a new key to the Windows Registry. To start open the Windows Registry editor by pressing [Windows R], typing [regedit] and hitting [enter].

Now locate HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers, right-click the key and select New > Key from the context menu.

To add Copy To add this key name:

{C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

To add Move To add this key name:

{C2FBB631-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

The new entries to the right-click menu of Windows Explorer will become immediately visible in the file manager. Files and folders can now be copied and moved by right-clicking the selected files and selecting one of options that have been added in the Registry. This will open a folder browser so that the target directory can be selected comfortable without having to open a second Windows Explorer window or moving away from the root folder the files are copied from.

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.

Registry hives can be loaded into the software program by clicking on File > Open Registry Files.

A click on File > Create Report or pressing CTRL R will create the report of the selected Registry hive. The report will display various information about the hive which can be summed up as various system settings. Depending on the hives that are loaded in the software information such as Windows accounts and users, Windows services, printers, firewalls, network settings and various other information.

The Ntuser.dat file is probably the most interesting hive that can be loaded in the Registry software as it displays recently opened documents, recently opened applications and last typed applications. The settings can be used to add or remove data from the report. Various modules are not enabled by default. Enabling them can increase the depth of the report. Registry Report can be downloaded from the developer’s website.

A fix for the issue is to edit the path in the Windows Registry so that it points again at the right location. The following has only been tested in Windows XP. Windows Vista (and Windows 7) users are encouraged to let us know if it is also working in their operating system.

Press [CTRL R], type [regedit] and hit [enter]. Now navigate to the Windows Registry path

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup

and look for the key [SourcePath]. If the key is listed there check the drive letter and path that is listed as the value. If the key is not there you can simply create it by right-clicking and selecting New > String. The value needs to be the full path to the i386 folder of the Windows installation. This can be on a local hard drive, network drive or removable drive.

Another solution is the portable Setup Source computer program. It can be used to quickly change the setup source of Windows XP and the Windows XP service pack 3. The user only needs to enter the drive letters and path that points to the setup source. A click on the Go button will save the settings to the Registry.

Update: The developer is no longer offering the program for download. I have uploaded the latest available version here.

Only portable applications are problematic. A portable software is by default one that can be run from a folder without installation. It works out of the box and will not write data to the Windows Registry. But without changing the file associations it means that the user has to use the Open With dialog or drag and drop to open files on the computer system with a portable application.

The creation of PEM, Pure Enigmatic Magic, changes this. It has been created to fill the gap. The software program acts as a proxy that can be configured to associated certain file extensions with programs on the computer system. It could for example be configured to direct requests to open mp3 with AIMP2 instead of the default iTunes or Windows Media Player.

PEM is a tiny portable software program that runs quietly in the system tray upon execution. It uses about 400 Kilobytes of computer memory while doing so and will direct all requests to open the configured file types to applications that have been added by the user.

The user needs to type in a file extension and a relative path to an application that should open that file extension. PEM will then ensure that the file type will be opened by the program configured in its options instead of the default program that has been associated with the file type in the Windows Registry.

The software program is very helpful for users who work with portable software and makes a perfect fit for any USB software collection.

The program can be executed right from the location where it was unpacked to after download. It will display a list of all processes that are currently running on the computer system given the user the choice to monitor one of them. Every write to the Windows Registry will be recorded in the program’s interface afterwards with the option to stop the monitoring at any time.

The Registry changes that have been discovered can be exported as .reg. It is furthermore possible to copy selected entries only which could then be stored in .reg files or regular text files as well. The program can be configured to either show the last modified values which is the default display mode or the original values in its interface. RegFromApp is monitoring both as long as the monitoring process is running. A command line version is available to run the program with parameters from the command line.

RegFromApp is compatible with Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista

Expert mode allows a user to configure some of the scan rules before the scan is conducted. It provides access to four different configuration settings including a slider to change scan performance, words to ignore or search for and advanced options like removing all found errors automatically or ignoring entries that get recreated by the computer system.

PowerTools Lite will display its findings in four different categories: Registry Errors, Registry Junk, MRU and History Data and Temp Files. It is possible to take a closer look at every entry and deselect some or all of them in the process. The actual items that have been found will display the location of the item, the severity and description.

The program can create backups on the user’s request. It will also suggest to create a backup before starting the cleanup.

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.

Windows Registry Watcher is resource friendly portable software program for the Windows operating system that monitors thousands of values and Registry keys but also files and directory with the option to add, delete or edit any of the monitored locations easily. The Windows Registry monitoring application will update the information every 30 seconds by default. This value can be changed to another time in seconds between 0 and 9999.

The software can be started right away in Windows XP while Windows Vista users need to run it with administrator privileges. Some of the more interesting options besides the wealth of information that it provides are the option to configure custom or pre-defined security settings that range from light to highest security. The security settings define for example the frequency in which the keys are analyzed for changes.

The Windows Registry software can be used to backup and quarantine files. It supports audio notifications but can also be configured to send email notifications. The software can also be started from the command line using various parameters like starting the application with a specific security setting. The Registry watcher is probably not the easiest to understand if you do not know what you are looking for or how to configure the alert process.

MJ Registry Watcher is using less than 2 Megabytes of computer memory when running minimized in the Windows system tray.

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.