Part 2 of Tips and Tricks taken from The Window Advisor Manual.

Add Control Panel to your Start Menu

If you access the Control Panel a great deal on your computer, you can move this so it is more easily accessible via the Start button on your desktop. With this simple change you will then be able to move directly to the icon within Control Panel as easily as you choose a program from your Start Menu list. Follow these steps to add a Control Panel folder to your Start Menu:

1. Right-click Start > Explorer
2. Navigate to the Start Menu folder. You will find this within the Windows folder
3. Click File > New > Folder
4. Enter the following name for the folder. Pay special attention to where the hyphens appear:
Control Panel. {21EC2020-3AEA-1060-A2DD-08002B30309D}
5. Press Enter on your keyboard. A new folder will now be created in the Start Menu folder. If you now Click the Start button again, you will see that this new folder is now visible. If you use your mouse to move to the folder, it will open allowing you to choose just the feature you would like to use.

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Identifying File Types More Easily

Usually by default you cannot see the extension of the files that you have on your computer. This can be a great inconvenience as you cannot tell from just the file name what kind of file it is. You can make a simple change to your Windows setup so that all your file extensions are visible by following these steps:

1. Double-click My Computer.
2. Click View (Tools under Windows XP) > Folder Options.
3. Click on the View tab.
4. Make sure that the settings for Hide file extensions for known types is unchecked.

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Open any File in Notepad

If you are browsing the files on your computer and come across one that you don't recognise you can usually just double-click it and it will open in the program that created it. However if this program is not installed on your computer, then you won't be able to easily open the file as you would then have to systematically go through each of your installed programs until you found one that would open the file. It would be much better to be able to select a default program to open these files with.
One of the best is Notepad. With the registry change below you will see Open in Notepad appear whenever you right-click on any file. If the file isn't text of course, Notepad will not be able to open it as it only handles text based documents, but if the file is a graphic or photograph for example , you'll then know that you need to open that particular file with a graphics program.

1. Open the Registry Editor  and find the key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\* (it will be right at the top of the root key).

2. Open the key named shell if it exists, or right-click on the * key and create a new key named shell.

3. Open or create a new key within shell called open.

4. With the open key selected, double-click the (Default) item in the right panel and type open in notepad. This is the text that will appear on the menu when you right-click a file.

5. Open or create a new key within the open key, named command.

6. With the command key selected, double-click the (Default) item in the right panel and type:
notepad.exe  "%1". Remember to include a double-quote, and to leave a space before the first double-quote.

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Viewing your Desktop

After you have been using your computer for a while, your desktop can become cluttered with windows that you have left open. If you then need to use an icon that is on your desktop, you have to laboriously close or minimise all the windows that are open on your desktop with this command:

Right-click anywhere on the taskbar and choose Minimize All Windows (this is called Show the Desktop under Windows XP).


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How to Stop a Drag and Drop Action

If you are moving files and folders around on your computer by using the drag and drop method, you may sometimes inadvertently pick up the wrong file, or change your mind about the action. Y ou can cancel the drag and drop easily before you let go of the left mouse button by pressing the Esc.


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Hide the Picture Toolbar in Internet Explorer

When you hover the mouse over large images in Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6, a small toolbar pops open containing buttons that let you save or print the picture, email it to someone, or open the My Pictures folder. If this toolbar annoys you, you can use the registry to prevent it from appearing.

1. Click Start > Run and type regedit.exe, press Enter.

2. Go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\ Microsoft

3. Open the key named Internet Explorer, if it exists, or right-click on the Microsoft key and create a new key named Internet Explorer.

4. Inside the Internet Explorer key open the key named PhotoSupport if it exists or right-click the Internet Explorer key and create a new key named PhotoSupport.

5. In the right-hand panel of the PhotoSupport Key, create a new value named MyPics_Hoverbar ( if it doesn't already exist) by right-clicking a blank space and choosing New > DWORD Value.

6. Double-click the MyPics_Hoverbar item and give it the value of 1. (To revert to showing the picture toolbar in future, return to this key and change the value of MyPics_Hoverbar to 0).

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Thanks Man!!
Good Post