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Category: Windows 7 support

  • Windows 7 Tips

    Remove “Shortcut” Text From New Shortcuts in Windows 7

    A source of annoyance for many Windows users is the ” – Shortcut” text that is added to the name of newly created shortcuts, and every time you have to manually edit the shortcut and remove that text. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a registry hack for this?
    Notice the ” – Shortcut” added to my pidgin icon.
    Manual Registry Hack
    Open up regedit.exe through the start menu search box, and then browse down to the following registry key:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
    On the right-hand side you’ll find a key that is just called “link”, with a default value of 1e 00 00 00. Open this key up and change the 1e to 00 instead, leaving you with 00 00 00 00.
    You’ll have to log off and then back on to make this change take effect. Please note that this won’t affect existing shortcuts, only shortcuts that you create from now on.

    To change the setting back, just change back to the 1e value, log off and back on.

  • Windows 7 Tips

    Remove Gadgets and Screen Resolution on Windows 7 Desktop Context Menu

    One of the first things you might notice in Windows 7 is the addition of the new Gadgets and Screen Resolution items to the context menu. The only problem is that you might not really want them there—so we’ll explain how to get rid of them.
    No clue what we’re talking about? If you are using Windows 7 and you right-click on the desktop, you’ll see a bunch of new items at the bottom:
    Remove Gadgets and Screen Resolution Items
    Normally removing items from a menu should be a simple registry hack. The problem, in this case, is that the new Windows 7 items are actually protected by special permissions making them annoying to remove—but using registry editor we can do it.
    Note: Before making any changes to registry always take a backup of registry.
    You’ll want to open up regedit.exe through the start menu search or run box, and then browse down to the following registry key:
    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell
    Once you’re there, you might notice that while you can see the three new items, you can’t remove or rename them.
    What we’ll need to do is give ourselves permission to the keys, starting by right-clicking on the DesktopBackground key and choosing Permissions.
    Now you’ll want to pretty much ignore everything in here, and click the Advanced button.
    Head to the Owner tab, click on Administrators in the list, and then check the box for “Replace owner on subcontainers and objects”.
    Make absolutely certain you’ve checked that box before you click Apply
    Now head back to the Permissions tab, and select Administrators in the list (which should say Full Control already), and check the box for “Replace all child object permissions with inheritable permissions from this object”.
    Make absolutely certain you select that checkbox before clicking Apply

    You’ll be prompted by Windows, asking if you really want to proceed. Click on Yes.
    And now, you should be able to rename or delete any of the keys.
    For example, to remove Gadgets and Screen Resolution from the menu, I’ve deleted both of those keys (after making a backup, of course).
    We now have a nice, clean desktop menu.

  • Windows 7 Tips

    Change Monitor Timeout From Command Line

    It drives me crazy when my monitors turn off while I’m watching a movie. If you want to quickly change the monitor timeout using the command line, it’s actually pretty simple.
    The powercfg utility can be used on the command line to change power configuration settings, including the monitor timeout, which is what we’ll use here.
    The command syntax:
    powercfg -Change -monitor-timeout-ac 120

    This will change the monitor setting to stay on for 120 minutes while on AC power. You can use -dc at the end to change the setting for when you are on battery power.

  • Windows 7 Tips

    Allow Only Certain Items or Hide them All

    The method below works well for removing certain items from the Control Panel. But if you only want to show a few items, you don’t want to type them all in. So instead select Show only specified Control Panel items.
    Then type in only the items you want to be shown. For example we only want Programs and Features, System, and Sound to be displayed.
    Now when you open Control Panel, only the items you want will be displayed.
    If you don’t want anything displayed at all for some reason you can do that as well. If you try to keep the value field empty, you’ll get the following error.
    So in the value field type in null then OK and close out of Group Policy Editor.
    Then when you open Control Panel.There’s nothing to see here.
    Removing items from Control Panel can be useful if you you no longer need an icon for an uninstalled item, want to clean out the clutter, or just don’t want users to see them.

    Again, always remember to create a Restore Point or backup the registry before making any changes to it!

  • Windows 7 Tips

    Turn Off Games in Windows 7

    If you’re happy with the features in Windows 7, but find no use for the games included by default, they can be turned off. In this quick tip we show you how it’s done.
    The games in any version of Windows are mediocre at best, and you might want to turn them off so you’re not bothered by them. Or, maybe someone in the family or office likes them too much and is wasting time playing them.
    Turn off Games
    First type windows features into the Search box in the Start Menu and hit Enter.
    This will open the Windows Features screen where you can turn different default features on or off. Uncheck the Games folder.
    Alternately you can expand the Games folder and pick and choose which games to turn off. For instance you might just want to turn off Internet Games when you’re done click OK.
    Now give it a few moments while the Games are turned off.
    Now when you launch Games from the Start Menu there will be none listed.
    Remove Games from the Start Menu
    Now that the default games are turned off, you might want to remove it from the Start Menu. Right-click on Start and select Properties.
    The Taskbar and Start Menu Properties window opens up. Click on Customize.
    Scroll down to Games and select Don’t display this item and click OK.
    Now when you open the Start Menu, Games is no longer listed.
    If you see no need for games on your Windows 7 machine, or you want to prevent a user from playing, turning them off and removing it from the Start Menu is a good start.

  • Windows 7 Tips

    Prevent Windows Asking for a Password on Wake Up from Sleep/Standby

    If you’ve configured Windows to automatically log you in rather than having to enter a password, you might find it annoying that you still need to enter a password when your PC comes out of sleep mode. Here’s the quick fix.
    Make Windows 7 Not Require a Password on Wake
    Windows 7 makes the whole thing a lot easier—just head into Power Options in Control Panel, then click the “Require a password on wakeup” on the left-hand side.
    Then click the “Change settings that are currently unavailable” link

    Then you can click the “Don’t require a password” radio button, and make sure to Save your changes.

  • Windows 7 Tips

    Hide Control Panel Items Through Group Policy


    Sometimes you might want to hide an item in the Control Panel permanently or for a short period of time. Here we take a look at hiding them through Local Group Policy Editor.
    Note: Keep in mind Group Policy is not available in Home versions of Windows. For this demonstration we’re going to hide QuickTime & Sync Center since we never use them.
    To open Group Policy type gpedit.msc into the Search bar in the Start Menu and hit Enter.
    Local Group Policy Editor opens and you want to navigate to 

    User Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Control Panel. 

    In the right pane double-click on Hide specified Control Panel items.

    Select Enabled and under Options you will see List of disallowed Control Panel items. Click on the Show button.
    This will bring up a window where you can enter in the items you don’t want displayed in the Control Panel. In each Value field we’ll type in QuickTime and Sync Center then click OK.
    Note: You might want to use proper Canonical names so for example Microsoft.SyncCenter. In our tests we had success without using the Canonical names. If you experience problems not using Canonical names leave a comment and let us know.
    Click OK again and close out of Group Policy Editor. If you already had Control Panel open close and reopen it again to refresh the view. As you can see, QuickTime and Sync Center is no longer listed.
    The neat thing about using Group Policy Editor is that you can unhide an item if you need to by going back and deleting a certain value. For instance we want to show QuickTime again, so we’ll delete the Value.

    All you need to do is highlight the value and clear the field and we’re done. The QuickTime icon is back.

  • Windows 7 Tips

    Remove Unwanted Items From the Control Panel in Windows 7

    Have you ever opened the Control Panel in Windows 7 and thought there is no reason to have some of the icons listed? Today we take a look at how to remove unwanted or unneeded items from Control Panel in Windows 7.

    Delete CPL Files

    In this example we want to remove the Realtek HD Audio Manager because we have a new sound card and don’t use the integrated sound that came with it.
    We can delete the CPL file associated with the icon. You will need to have administrator privileges so make sure you’re logged in as Admin. Then navigate to the following directory.
    C:\Windows\System32
    Once there instead of scrolling through everything to find what you need, simply type *.cpl into the Search field in Explorer. This is a “wildcard” search that will bring up all the CPL items in the directory.
    This should easily allow you to scroll through and find the one you want to remove. For this instance it’s RTSnMg64.cpl for Realtek Sound Manager. You might want to backup the file or create a System Restore Point before deleting it.
    After deleting the file you need to close out of Control Panel and when you open it back up, the item will be gone.

  • Windows 7 Tips

    Remove Shutdown and Restart Buttons In Windows 7
    Sometimes you might have a shared computer where you don’t want the users to be able to do a Shutdown or Restart. Today we take a look at using Local Group Policy Editor to remove those buttons from the Start Menu in Windows 7.
    Note: This process uses Local Group Policy Editor which is not available in Starter or Home versions of Windows 7.
    Disable Shutdown, Restart, Sleep, and Hibernate Buttons
    To open Local Group Policy Editor, click on Start and type in gpedit.msc and hit Enter.
    In Local Group Policy Editor navigate to User Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Start Menu and Taskbar and double click on Remove and prevent access to the Shut Down, Restart, Sleep, and Hibernate commands.
    Now you want to enable this setting and click Apply and OK. You can leave a note to yourself in the comment box, which I find comes in handy when changing a lot of settings in Group Policy.
    Now when you look at the Power options in the Start Menu, the only options available are Log off, Switch user, and Lock.
    The setting goes into effect right away for all users of the machine. The button to turn off the computer if the user hits Ctrl+Alt+Del will be gone as well.

  • Windows 7 Tips

    Manage the Delete Confirmation Dialog box in Windows 7

    The confirmation dialog box that pops up when you want to delete a file or folder is meant to prevent accidental deletion of data. It can be a great thing in some situations, and very annoying in others. Let’s take a look at managing the messages and how to prevent users from turning it off.
    Turn Off Delete Confirmation Dialog Box
    If you’re a system administrator or a power user, having Windows pop up a confirmation screen every time you want to delete a file becomes annoying. To turn the messages off, simply right-click the Recycle Bin and select Properties.
    In the Recycle Bin Properties screen uncheck the box next to Display delete confirmation dialog the click Apply and OK.
    Prevent Users from Turning off Delete Confirmation Dialog Box
    Unless you know what you’re doing, it isn’t recommended to turn off the delete confirmation dialog box, as it can prevent accidental deletions. For beginner and novice users, taking the extra step of answering the confirmation message is quite important. We can change a setting in Local Group Policy Editor to make sure this safeguard is always on and can’t be turned off.
    Click on Start and type in gpedit.msc into the search box.
    Navigate to User Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Windows Components \ Windows Explorer then double click on Display confirmation dialog when deleting files.
    You will want to Enable it to make sure it is always on and users can’t turn it off.
    After you close out of Local Group Policy Editor, go back to the Recycle Bin properties and you’ll see the dialog is enabled and grayed out so users cannot change it.
    You can also achieve the same setting through the Registry. Click Start and type regedit into the search box and hit Enter.
    In Registry Editor navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer then right-click and create a new DWORD value.

    Name it ConfirmFileDelete and give it a value of “1”. You’ll need to log off and back on again for the setting to go into effect.

    Again, these steps are not meant for beginners and unless you know what you’re doing there is no reason for you to try this. However, if you’re an experienced user and annoyed by the Delete confirmation box but want to make sure it stays enabled for others, these steps will help you out.