All Hacks and Cracks part-4

Topics

C. DESKTOP, START MENU & TASKBAR

1. Prevents users from shutting down or restarting Windows
2. Force use of classic start menu
3. Removes the "Log OFF” item from the Startmenu
4. Disable Recent Documents
5. Reduce start menu delay
6. Disable right click on start button
7. Hide All Programs
8. Hide the username on start menu
9. Removing Start Menu Options
10. No more system tray
11. Missing Desktop icon in quick launch
12. Remove Templates
13. Disable right click on desktop
14. Lock icons of desktop
15. Hide Desktop icon’s
16. Hiding Recycle Bin
17. Recycle bin Attributes

ANSWERS

1. PREVENTS USERS FROM SHUTTING DOWN OR
RESTARTING WINDOWS

This tweak will remove Turn Off button from Start menu as well as from Task manager also. This setting removes the Shut Downoption from the Start menu and disables the Shut Down button on the Windows Security dialog box, which appears when you press CTRL+ALT+DEL.

This setting prevents users from using the Windows user interface to shut down the system, although it does not prevent them from running programs that shut down Windows. For enabling this tweak go to

User Configuration> Administrative Template> Start Menu &Taskbar

On right pane double click on Remove and Prevents access to the shut down command and enable the setting.

Or

Navigate to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

And to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Here, create or modify the DWORD called NoClose and set its value to 1.

Reset it to 0 to enable shutdown.

2. FORCE USE OF CLASSIC START MENU

This tweak loads the Classic Start Menu and makes it impossible to change back to
the Windows XP version
Go to
1. Start > Run > Regedit
2. Navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
3. Modify/Create the DWORD Value of Data type REG_DWORD Named
NoSimpleStartMenu

Value Data: [0 = Default / 1 = Force Classic Start Menu]

3. REMOVES THE "LOG OFF” ITEM FROM THE
START MENU

If you enable this setting, the Log Off item does not appear in the Start menu. This setting also removes the Display Logoff item from Start Menu Options. As a result, users cannot restore the Log Off item to the Start Menu.

This setting affects the Start menu only. It does not affect the Log Off item on the Windows Security dialog box that appears when you press Ctrl+Alt+Del, and it does not prevent users from using other methods to log off.

To enable this setting go to

User Configuration> Administrative Template> Start Menu & Taskbar

And on the right pane double click on Remove Log Off on the start menu
And enable it.

Tip: To add or remove the Log Off item on a computer, click Start, click Settings, click Taskbar and Start Menu, click the Start MenuOptions tab and, in the Start Menu Settings box, click Display Logoff.

4. DISABLE RECENT DOCUMENTS

1. Go to
HKEY_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
2. Create a DWORD named NoRecentDocsMenu and set its value to 1. To stop
Windows from tracking recent documents, create a DWORD value named
NoRecentDocsHistory and set it to 1.

5. REDUCE START MENU DELAY

Navigate to
HCU\ControlPanel\Desktop
Simply change the value of MenuShowDelay to 0.

6. DISABLE RIGHT CLICK ON START BUTTON

Navigate to
HCR\Directory\Shell
And to
HCR\Folder\Shell
In both these keys rename shell to shell._
To re-enable simply again rename it back to shell

7. HIDE ALL PROGRAMS

You can hide All Programs menu from start menu by using the following hack
Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
And to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Create a DWORD named NoStratMenuMorePrograms and set its value to 1.

8. HIDE THE USERNAME ON START MENU

Use this hack to hide username which is displayed in the start menu, to disable it
navigate through
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
And to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Create a DWORD named NoUserNameInStratMenu and set its value to 1.

Or

Got to

User Configuration> Administrative Template> Start Menu & Taskbar

And double click on Remove user name from start menu and Enable it.

9. REMOVING START MENU OPTIONS

Many of the options on the Start menu can be removed. To delete the option shown below, add the indicated DWORD registrysetting, with a value of 1, to

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Start Menu Option- Registry Setting
Documents- NoRecentDocsMenu
Favorites- NoFavoritesMenu
Run- NoRun
Shut Down- NoClose
Log Off- NoLogOff
Control Panel- NoSetFolders
Printers- NoSetFolders
Taskbar & Start Menu- NoSetTaskbar
Folder Options- NoFolderOptions
Active Desktop- NoSetActiveDesktop

10. NO MORE SYSTEM TRAY

You will find the setting under (open gpedit.msc)
User Configuration> Administrative Template> Start Menu & Taskbar
Double click on
Hide the Notification area
And choose enabled. When you logon next, you will see the system clock in the tray, which you can also remove by right clicking on the taskbar, selecting Properties and un-checking show the clock

Or

Navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
And to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Create a new DWORD value in both locations calledNoTrayItemsDisplay. Set its
value to 1 to destroy the system tray.

11. MISSING DESKTOP ICON IN QUICK LAUNCH

Type the following lines in Notepad as it is and save the file asDesktop.scf
[Shell]
Common=2
IconFile=Explorer.exe
[Taskbar]
Common=Toggle Desktop

12. REMOVE TEMPLATES

When you right click on desktop and go to new then a large list of programs installed in your system are displayed in front of you allowing you to create files. If you want to remove those unwanted templates navigate to

For WordPad HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.doc\WordPad.Document.1\ShellNew

For wav files HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.wav\ShellNew
For rich text document HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rtf\ShellNew
For zip files HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.zip\ShellNew
For briefcase HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.bfc\ShellNew
For bitmaps HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.bmp\ShellNew
For text file HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt\ShellNew
And Renme ShellNew to ShellNew_

Also if you have any more templates which I had not mentioned than just go to the extension of the template and renameShellNew to ShellNew_

13. DISABLE RIGHT CLICK ON DESKTOP

Navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
And to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Create a new DWORD value in both locations calledNoViewContextMenu Set its
value to 1 to disable right clicking on desktop altogether.

14. LOCK ICONS OF DESKTOP

Want to make your desktop icons setting intact from other users navigate through
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
On right pane create anew DWORD and name it NoSaveSettingsand modify its value to 1(in dec)

15. HIDE DESKTOP ICON’S

This tweak will hide desktop icons and even disable right click on the desktop
Navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Create a new DWORD name it NoDesktop and set its value to 1 to enable it.

16. PREVENT ACCESS TO CERTAIN DRIVE

To hide recycle bin from desktop go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace
And delete the subkey named {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

17. RECYCLE BIN ATTRIBUTES

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-
00AA002F954E}\ShellFolder

On the right pane click on a BINARY value attribute and edit its value to the following

Rename 50 01 00 20
Delete 60 01 00 20
Rename and Delete 70 01 00 20
Copy 41 01 00 20
Cut 42 01 00 20
Cut and Copy 43 01 00 20
Paste 44 01 00 20
Copy and Paste 45 01 00 20
Cut and Paste 46 01 00 20
Cut, Copy and Paste 47 01 00 20

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