To, make Windows Explorer view you hidden file, just choose Show hidden files and folders option. Unfortunately, usually virus has hidden the Folder Options menu. So, you can’t access that option.

The secret to open it, locate in NoFolderOptions value on HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer in registry. Usually, user is using Registry Editor application. But unfortunately, in most cases, the regedit application is disabled as well.

So, you can try this way. The way is using reg command. Just type this command in your Run menu box or DOS console: REG DELETE HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer /v NoFolderOptions.

You can type it in Run box menu directly

Or, in DOS prompt console

If you ask a confirmation, just type Y then press Enter. And then restart your computer to apply the new registry setting.

The Folder Options menu is appearing again.

Actually, the solution to cancel it is very easy, just press your Esc button to cancel it. So, when your finger still press and  hold the mouse button to drop the object, just press Esc key on your keyboard to cancel it and I don’t need to put it on statusbar anymore.

And here are commands those I use them almost everyday:

1. %TEMP%. This command will open your temporary files folder. I open it everyday to make my computer clean from trash files. Instead of open this folder by open C:\Documents and Settings\<user_name>\Local Settings\Temp manually, use this way.
2. %WINDIR%, this command will open your Windows folder.
3. %PROGRAMFILES%, this command will open your Program Files folder where almost your entire application installed.
4. %USERPROFILE%, this command will open your profile folder.
5. winword, open Microsoft Word.
6. excel, open Microsoft Excel.
7. notepad, to open notepad. I use it everyday to make a temporary note such us my friend’s phone number.
8. calc, to open calculator (Windows built-in application). I calculate something every day
9. firefox, to open my best internet browser is Firefox.
10. regedit, to open Registry Editor. I like to browse my registry structure and its values and to otak atik (read: learn) them.

What’s your favourite command?

So, if you want make your computer be more secure you can hide it when you leave your computer and show it again if you use the computer.

And if you edit it through Registry Editor, I think that’s not a efficient way. But if you want do to that just look here to get the trick. But if you want make it easier just write several script line but after write it you’ll get a shorter way to hide/show it.

1. Open Notepad with click Start -> Run and then type notepad in box.
   
2. And type this script in notepad:
   

Dim otakatik
ShowHideRun()
Sub ShowHideRun()
Set otakatik=WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
describe="Type 0 or 1 : " & VbCrLf &_
"[0] -> Show Run Menu." & VbCrLf &_
"[1] -> Hide Run Menu."

question=InputBox(describe, "Manage Run Menu",0)

otakatik.RegWrite "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion" &_
"\Policies\Explorer\NoRun",question,"REG_DWORD"

If question=1 Then
MsgBox "Run menu has hidden.",VbInformation, "Hide"
Else
If question=0 Then
Msgbox "Run menu has shown",VbInformation, "Show"
otakatik.RegDelete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion" &_
"\Policies\Explorer\NoRun"
Else
Msgbox "Input 0 or 1 only !",VbInformation, "Wrong Input"
ShowHideRun()
End If
End If
End Sub

3. Save it with click File -> Save As menu and then give it file name: managerun.vbs (you may change it with your favorite name and don’t forget to change Save as type combo to All Files), choose your favorite folder then click OK button.
   
4. Open the folder where the managerun.vbs was put.
   
5. Double click the file, and Manage Run Menu window will opened.
   
6. Give it value 0 to show your Run menu.
   
   
7. Or give it value 1 to hide it.
   
8. Restart your computer and try to click Start menu, if you was hid it so, Run menu will hid.
   
9. And if you try to press Windows key + R to force open Run menu, you’ll get a noticed message box.
   
10. To show it again, just open your script and give it value 0.

(article no:0093)

And I am set the configuration of restriction from registry. As you know registry is Windows configuration collection. But be careful; don’t restrict the important softwares that may be disturbing your system.

1. Open Registry Editor, click Start -> Run menu and then type regedit then press Enter.
   
2. After Registry Editor is opened pointing to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
   
3. Highlight the Explorer key.
   
4. Right click at right panel then choose New -> DWORD key, and replace the value with DisallowRun.
   
5. Double click DisallowRun value and change the value from 0 to 1.
   
6. And you must be look the result like picture below.
   
7. Right click again on empty space and choose New -> Key menu then give it name DisallowRun.
   
8. Highlight DisallowRun key and right click on the right panel and choose String Value.
   
9. Give it name with whatever you want name then double click it and in textbox write down then filename of software that you want restricted, for example if I want restrict Microsoft Word, I type winword.exe.
   
10. And appearance of registry will look like picture below.
    
11. Add your whises software list to restrict with repeat step 8 & 9.
12. If you’re done, close Registry Editor and logoff.
13. Login again and try to open your restricted software, you’ll get error message like picture below.
    

note : To remove the restriction, remove the string key that contain its software file name.

(article no:0090)

Registry Editor is a powerful tool to editing or display Windows Registry system. But Windows XP had given us another great tool to edit it; the tool is reg command line. Yup, you have to type it and sure in command line environment. This time, I want write about how to use the reg command.

As you know Registry is windows configuration collections and Windows can’t run without it.
The Registry is composed of mainly two sub trees: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and
HKEY_USERS. But in order to make it easy to find a particular sub tree, they are displayed
as five subtrees in the Registry Editor, three of which are actually aliases of the other sub trees.
Here are the contents of the main subtree of the Registry, as displayed in the Registry
Editor:

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Stores information about the hardware, operating system, and other information such as the device drivers and startup configuration of the local computer.
• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT Contains information used by various object linking and embedding (OLE) technologies and file class associations.
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER Contains the profile of the currently logged-on user.
• HKEY_USERS Contains information about all user profiles and the default profile on the computer. Profiles of users connected remotely are not included in this subtree.
• HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG Contains information about the hardware profile that the local computer loaded at startup.

As its default Windows has give us two tools to edit or display the registry, Two tools are Registry Editor you can open it with click Start – Run and type regedit in textbox and second tool is Reg command line, you can open it in command prompt/line environment.

This time I just write down about the second tool, Reg command line. To open it just click Start – Run and type cmd in textbox then press Enter key. After your command prompt has opened you’re ready to work.
Reg command has several sub commands and they are :

1. Reg Add, Used to add a new subkey or an entry to the Registry.
2. Reg Compare, Used to compare subkeys or entries in the Registry.
3. Reg Copy, Used to copy a Registry entry to a specified location on a local or remote computer.
4. Reg Delete, Used to delete a subkey or an entry from the Registry.
5. Reg Export, Used to copy a subkey, a Registry entry, or a value on the local computer into a file so that it can be transferred to other computers.
6. Reg Import, Used to copy the contents of a file containing an exported subkey, a Registry entry, or a value from another computer to the Registry of the local computer.
7. Reg Load, Used to write saved subkeys of the Registry into a different subkey in the Registry. This command is intended for use in troubleshooting Registry problems.
8. Reg Query, Used to display a list of the next tier of subkeys located directly under the specified subkey in the Registry.
9. Reg Restore Used to restore saved copies of Registry subkeys.
10. Reg Save, Used to save a copy of the specified subkeys, entries, and values of the Registry to a specified file.
11. Reg Unload, Used to delete a part of the Registry that was previously loaded with the Reg Load command.

When you’re work with Reg command the handle key must write with its notations and these are the notations :

1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> HKLM
2. HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT -> HKCR
3. HKEY_CURRENT USER -> HKCU
4. HKEY_USERS -> HKU
5. HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG -> HKCC

Registry has several data type and you can look the data type lists here.
For each sub command has its own parameters to combine with them. And to know about their parameters you can tyoe Reg /?. For example Reg query /?
Now, after we are know about the handle key, sub commands, and parameters then you can try it now.
I will write some examples so you can understand how to using it.

• To display all sub key under Windows key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE : Reg query HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows /s
• To compare two keys : Reg Compare HLKM\Software\Microsoft\DeviceManager HLKM\Software\Microsoft\DeviceManager1 /os
• To save a key and its subkey : Reg Save HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows my_backup.reg
• To restore from backup key : Reg restore HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows my_backup.reg

You can also remote your client computer, for example if you want backup registry from you client you can type : Reg Save \\client_1\HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows my_backup.reg or you can restore it : Reg restore \\client_1\HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows my_backup.reg.
Hopefully, this article may help you…

(article no:0089)

By default, if you open the Windows Explorer you will get the standard sidebar like picture below

and if you want to add more shortcut (Administrative Tools, Schedule Tasks, Printers and Faxes, Network Connections or Fonts) at there, follow these steps:

1. Open Notepad, to open it you just click Start -> Run menu and then type notepad in textbox.
   
2. And fill the Notepad with this script(you may copy – paste it):
   Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
MyComputer\NameSpace\{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}]
@=”Printers and Faxes”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
MyComputer\NameSpace\{D20EA4E1-3957-11D2-A40B-0C5020524153}]
@=”Administrative Tools”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
MyComputer\NameSpace\{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}]
@=”scheduled Tasks”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
MyComputer\NameSpace\{7007ACC7-3202-11D1-AAD2-00805FC1270E}]
@=”Network Connections”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
MyComputer\NameSpace\{D20EA4E1-3957-11D2-A40B-0C5020524152}]
@=”Fonts”


3. Save it and give the name that whatever you like and I give it the name ExtrasOptions.reg.
   
4. And open the folder that contain you saved file from notepad and double click it.
   
5. You’ll get a confirmation box and click Yes button.
   
6. And you will get success message box.
   
7. Restart you computer.
8. Reopen your Windows Explorer and you can see the result like these both pictures.
   

   

(article no:0079)

In this case I will set it to 8 charaters (So, you must enter 8 characters for password every time you set a new user and password).
And here are the steps to configure it:

1. Open Control Panel via Start -> Control Panel menu.
   
2. Open Administrative Tools, you can open it by double click Administrative Tools icon that located inside Control Panel.
   
3. After Administrative Tools is open, double click Local Security Policy.
   
4. Inside Local Security Policy, click Password Options.
   
5. Find Minimum password length (as you see Windows XP has set it to 0 charaters as default value), double click it to open its properties window.
   
6. After Minimum password length Properties is opened,
   
   replace with value that you want, click OK button (in this case, I give it value: 8).
7. You’ll bring back to main screen and you will see that the value has changed to value as you enter.
   
8. Now, try to make a new account by open Computer Management that located in Administrative Tools too.
   
9. And click User folder that located at left panel of Computer Management.
   
10. Right click an empty space on right panel.
    
11. Enter the account name and the other required fields, when you enter the password try to enter with 3 characters,
    
    you’ll get a error message.
    
12. Now, try to enter password with 8 characters or more… then the new account will save successfully.

(article no:0065)

1. Check your Add/Remove program at Control Panel to make sure that your list still available at there, click Start -> Control Panel.
   
2. Click Add/Remove Programs icon.
   
3. And find your troubled program at lists, if you don’t find it it means you have been uninstalled the program successfully but if you don’t, you have to remove it manually.
   
4. To remove it manually, I will using Registry Editor tool, to open it just click Start -> Run, enter regedit in textbox and then press Enter key.
   
5. And locate the path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE | SOFTWARE | Microsoft | Windows | CurrentVersion | Uninstall.
   
6. Start to find your program and pay attention at DisplayName value, for example if you want to remove CorelDraw Graphics Suite 12 you must find it until you get it on DisplayName like picture below:
   
7. And if you have found it, just right click on registry string and then choose Delete or you can press your Delete button directly.
   
8. You will confirm to delete it, click Yes.
   
9. Your program has been gone…

(article no: 0055)

OK, follow these steps:

1. To see the icon from the standard .dll files you can open it in the system32 folder in the Windows folder (usually located at C:\Windows\system32)
   
2. Open Registry Editor, with click Start -> Run menu then type regedit in textbox, press Enter key.
   
3. After the Registry Editor is open,
   
   navigate your cursor to registry path: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT | dllfiles | DefaultIcon
   
4. Double click the (Default) key that located on right panel.
   
5. After Edit String dialog is open, replace the original (%SystemRoot%\System32\shell32.dll,-154) value
   
   with %1 value and then click OK.
   
6. You will see the value that it has changed
   
7. Close your Registry Editor and then restart your computer.
8. Your .dll files icon has changed
   
9. And I know the dfrgres.dll has link with defragment utility quickly now.
10. If you want restore the original setting just replaces, the (Default) key value from %1 to %SystemRoot%\System32\shell32.dll,-154 and then restart your computer.

(article no:0057)