Section B.2. Regedit Examples

B.2. Regedit Examples

Here are three typical regedit tweaks, spelled out for you step by step.

B.2.1. Encrypt/Decrypt from the Shortcut Menu

As you know from page 633, one of the perks of using Vista (Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate) is that you can encrypt files and folders, protecting them from people who try to open them from across the network or using a different account.

If you use this feature quite a bit, however, you'll quickly grow tired of opening the Properties box every time you want to encrypt something. Wouldn't it be much more convenient if the Encrypt and Decrypt commands were right there in the shortcut menu that appears when you right-click an icon?

Of course it would. To make it so, do this:

• Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Explorer Advanced.

  Now, for this trick, you're going to need a key that doesn't actually exist yet. Fortunately, it's very easy to create a new key. In this case, just right-click the Advanced "folder," and then, from the shortcut menu, choose New DWORD (32-bit) Value. Youll see "New Value #1" appear in the right side of the window, ready to be renamed ; type EncryptionContextMenu , and then press Enter.

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  Tip: The birth of a new Registry entry is a good opportunity to name it, but you can rename any value or key at any time, just the way you'd rename a file icon. That is, you can open the renaming rectangle by right-clicking or by pressing F2.

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• Double-click this value on the right side: EncryptionContextMenu.

• Make this change: in the "Value data" box, type 1.

• Wrap up: click OK and quit regedit. When you right-click any file or folder icon, you'll see the new Encrypt command in the shortcut menu. (Or, if it's already encrypted, you'll see a Decrypt command.)

B.2.2. A Really, Really Clean Desktop

Windows XP used to nag you every now and then to get unused icons off your desktop. (Mercifully, the Desktop Cleanup Wizard isn't part of Vista.)

But why stop there? If you've got the world's most beautiful desktop wallpaper set up, you might not want any icons marring its majesty.

If you think about it, you can get by just fine without a single icon on the desktop. The Computer and similar icons are waiting in your Start menu. You can put things into the Recycle Bin without dragging them to its icon. (Just highlight icons and then press the Delete key, for instance.)

The following regedit hack doesn't actually remove anything from your desktop. It just hides them. You can still work with the icons on your desktop by using Windows Explorer to view the contents of your Desktop folder, for example.

• Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Policies Explorer.

• Double-click this value on the right side: NoDesktop. (If you don't see this value, create it. Right-click the Explorer folder, choose New Binary Value, and name the new value NoDesktop.)

• Make this change: In the "Value data" box, type 01 00 00 00 . (Regedit puts the spaces in automatically.) Click OK.

• Wrap up: click OK, quit regedit, and then restart the PC. (To reverse the procedure, just delete the NoDesktop value you created.)

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Tip: If you find your pulse racing with the illicit thrill of making tweaks to your system, why stop here? You can find hundreds more regedit "recipes" in books, computer magazines, and Web sites. A quick search of regedit hacks on Google will unearth plenty of them.

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B.2.3. Slow Down the Animations

Vista's window animations and other eye candy are very cool. But they happen fast; Microsoft didn't want them to get in your way. That's a shame if you want to study the visual-FX majesty of these animations in more detail.

If you make this regedit tweak, though, you can make the window animation slow down on commandspecifically, whenever you're pressing the Shift key.

• Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Windows DWM.

• Right-click the DWM folder. From the shortcut menu, choose New DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the new value AnimationsShiftKey.

• Double-click this value on the right side: The AnimationsShiftKey entry you just made. In the "Value data" box, type 1. Click OK.

• Wrap up: Quit regedit and then restart the PC. (To reverse the procedure, just delete the AnimationsShiftKey value you created.)

To see the effects in slow motion, press the Shift key just before they start to occur. For example, Shift-click a window's Close boxand watch in amazement as it slowwwwly fades into total transparency, like a ghost returning to the world beyond.

Or summon the Flip3D effect (page 90) by pressing +Tab. Then, once the "deck of cards" window effect appears, hold down Shift as you tap your arrow keys, or click windows, to shuffle through them.