Some Computer Hints


Windows - Registry Settings

WARNING: The following hints suggest some updates to your Windows Registry. If you make a mistake, you may damage your Windows. So, do not forget to back up your Registry before proceeding. I accept no responsibility!


If you set the File Name Completion Character in Registry to Tab (whose decimal ASCII code is 9) you can enter the first few letters of a file or directory name in Windows Command Prompt (cmd.exe) and press Tab key to cycle through all file or directory names starting with these letters:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor]
"CompletionChar"=dword:00000009

This is enabled by default in modern versions of Windows.


For security reasons, if you do not want the last entered user name to be displayed in the Windows logon dialog box, set:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"DontDisplayLastUserName"="1"

To disable Auto Insert Notification for CD-ROMs inserted into a drive, set:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom]
"AutoRun"=dword:00000000

Suppose you are in Windows Explorer on a specific directory and you want to start Windows Command Prompt (cmd.exe) and go immediately to this directory. If you add the following into your Registry, you can right click on a directory and select Command Prompt Here from the pop-up menu:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\DosHere]
@="Command &Prompt Here"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\DosHere\command]
@="C:\\Windows\\System32\\cmd.exe /k cd /d \"%1\""

For security reasons, if you want to remove Windows Page File at shutdown, set:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]
"ClearPageFileAtShutdown"=dword:00000001

If you want to change the default application installation directory from C:\Program Files to, say something like D:\opt, set:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion]
"ProgramFilesDir"="D:\\opt"

Other important default directories can be found under the CurrentVersion branch.


The display of xbitmaps is disabled in Internet Explorer SP2. To enable the display, set:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Security]
"BlockXBM"=dword:00000000

Windows Remote Desktop is used to connect a Windows computer to another Windows computer. The default listening port is 3389 (hexadecimal 0D3D). To change this to say 1234 (hexadecimal 04D2), set:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp]
"PortNumber"=dword:000004D2