Removing Programs from the Control Panel

Removing Programs from the Control Panel


Easier way to remove control panel programs.

Edit your control.ini file in your Windows directory.
Under the section [don't load] add the appropriate .cpl file.
For example to get rid of Network add netcpl.cpl=no
This will disable users from accessing the network control panel.
Submitted by Dennis Riddick

You can remove seected icons in your Control Panel by simply moving, deleting or renaming the *.cpl file in your C:\WINDOWS\SYSETM directory.
The icon or file will still work even if it is not on the control panel screen.
At list of the CPL files can be found in this section at Control Panel CPL Files

Powering on the Computer With Your Mouse

Powering on the Computer With Your Mouse

If you have ATX Main Board, ATX case Award Bios, or any Bios that supports PS/2 Mouse Power On, then you can power on your computer with a double click.

To activate this feature:

Restart your computer
Then press Del when the BIOS message appears to enter your CMOS configuration
Select Integrated Peripherals from main menu
If PS/2 mouse power on disabled, activate it by press page up/ page down key it will became Double-Click
Press Esc key to exit
Press F10 to save and exit Power off your PC
Now double-click the left mouse button,.. Your PC will turn on

Changing the Colors of the Blue Screen of Death

Changing the Colors of the Blue Screen of Death

You can change the normal colors of the background and text when you get a Blue Screen of Death.

Edit the SYSTEM.INI file in the Windows directory

In the [386Enh] add the entries:

MessageTextColor=X
MessageBackColor=X

Where X is replace by the number for each of the following colors:

Black = 0
Blue = 1
Green = 2
Cyan = 3
Red = 4
Magenta = 5
Yellow/Brown = 6
White = 7
Gray = 8
Bright Blue = 9
Bright Green = A
Bright Cyan = B
Bright Red = C
Bright Magenta = D
Bright Yellow = E
Bright White = F

Renaming CD ROM Drive Letter

Renaming CD ROM Drive Letter

Rename the drive letters of your CD drive(s) from the back of the alphabet, eg, Z, Y. This way, if you add extra hard disks, your CD drives do not get re-lettered.

Submitted by Stephen Lee

Note from Bob:

You can do this from the Device Manager.
Open up the CD ROM section
Open the CD ROM you want to change
Under Settings, change the Start Drive Letter to higher in the alphabet.

Saving File Searches

Saving File Searches

If you want to review the results of a file search at a later time:

While on the Desktop or with the Explorer, press F3 to start the search
Click Options / Save Results
Do the search
After the search select File / Save Search
An icon will be placed on the desktop with the search results.

Deleting the TEMP Directory at Bootup

Deleting the TEMP Directory at Bootup

Normally your TEMP directory can fill with .tmp files, files left over from installs etc.
An easy way to delete it each time you boot is to add the following lines to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:

@C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\DelTree /Y C:\WINDOWS\Temp\

Swapping the Mouse Buttons for Left Hand from the Command Line

Swapping the Mouse Buttons for Left Hand from the Command Line

If you want to swap the mouse buttons for a left handed person,
you can do this from the command line.

Win9x:
RUNDLL user.exe,SwapMouseButton

Win2000:
RUNDLL32 user32.dll,SwapMouseButton

To swap it back again to a right-hand mouse, you need to run the mouse icon from the Control Panel.

Determining Your Processor's Speed

Determining Your Processor's Speed

You can also The tool can be accessed directly by executing WINREP.EXE

To find out how fast the processor is, while in Win95/98,

Go to Accessories / System Tools / System Information
Click on Tools
Select Windows Report Tool
Click on the blue Change System File Selections towards the bottom of the window
This will perform a short scan of your system files

Your processor speed, memory, hard drives will then show up

Changing the Directory for the Internet Explorer Cache

Changing the Directory for the Internet Explorer Cache

By default, the Internet Explorer creates four directories Cache1-4 where it places all the HTML pages, graphics, AVI's etc that you view
If you want to move this location or even have only one cache that points to a directory of your choice:

Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SOFTWARE / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion / Internet Settings / Cache / Path / Path1-4
Change the value of the paths to a single location or any location of your choice
You can even just have PATH1 and delete the other three
The next time you start the Internet Explorer, the cache files will only be placed in the directories of your choice
This can be useful if you want to delete the files often. You can then just delete the files in the single directory

Having IE Load a Default Page Other Than BLANK.HTM

Having IE Load a Default Page Other Than BLANK.HTM

Normally, if a web site can't be found, IE will load the file C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\BLANK.HTM
To have it load another file:

Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Internet Explorer\ Main
Double click on Local Page
Enter the file you want to use

Creating Hidden URL Shortcuts

Creating Hidden URL Shortcuts

If you want to create shortcuts to your favorite URLS but don't want them to show in your Favorites folder:

Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINES / Software / Microsoft / InternetExplorer / AboutURLs
Add String Values with the shortcut name you want to use
Give them the value of the URL you want the shortcut to go to
Then from the Internet Explorer, simply type about:shortcut_name

Clearing Previous Entries from the Drop Down List

Clearing Previous Entries from the Drop Down List

If you want to clear the list of entries that shows up in the drop down list of the address bar,

Go to Tools / Internet Options
Click on the Content tab
Click on the AutoComplete button
At least highlight Web Addresses
Click on Clear Forms