Windows XP Vista Theme Patcher - Download
January 13, 2008
If you want to install any of our vista themes or skins onto Windows XP (all versions), you need will need this theme patcher. This will tell your system that your running Windows Vista instead of Windows XP, so you will then be able to switch themes. Setup should take no longer than a minute. We have included instructions with the download.
Start downloading all your favorite skins and themes now.
Download:
Download Windows XP Vista Theme Patcher
Hide Drives from Your Computer
January 12, 2008
There are so many drives in My Computer. It can be very difficult to find certain things you are not positive of their location amongst them all. Certain ones that you never access, perhaps a USB Flash drive that you are using solely for ReadyBoost, a network drives that is only used for one piece of software of a floppy drive, you may want to hide to make things tidier.
Even better, this tip only hides the drive from being displayed. You can still access it through applications and the command prompt and manually browse the folder if you type in the path.
For this example we will use the floppy drive.
Configure the Hidden Drives:
1.In the Start menu search box, open up “regedit.exe”.
2.Browse down to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
(If you cannot find this key, then you can right-click on “Policies” and choose New Key, then name it “Explorer”.)
For the next step, it is unlikely the NoDrives key already exists by default. Instead you will have to create it following:
- Right-click.
- Choose new 32-bit DWORD.
- Name it “NoDrives”.
32-bit is the value of a 32 bit number. The bits are arranged in REVERSE order. Value of 1 equals that drive being hidden.
So for our example to hide drives through from A: to F: they would be arranged like this:
After converting 10001 to decimal we are left with a decimal value of 33 or a hex value of 0×21. So now you must:
3. Double-click on the key in the registry editor
4. Select “Decimal”
5. Enter “33” into the Value data field.
To see the changes you have made, you must restart explorer.exe. Do this from Task Manager or simply log off and back on again.
Uninstall Tweak
To REVERSE the tweak, removes the NoDrives registry key.
Reference Info
This table shows a number of values you can enter for different drive letters.
To hide multiple amounts of drives, use the table of ALL the drive letters so that you can figure out the correct binary code and then CONVERT that into decimal or hex.
Our result! The floppy drive has been removed.
This tip is also valid to use in Windows XP.
Customizing AutoPlay
November 25, 2007
AutoPlay will let you choose which programs you want to use for different types of digital media, for example audio CDs, movie DVDs or images from a digital camera.Finding AutoPlay settings
Go to the Start Menu and type in “autoplay” in the search box.
Click the “AutoPlay” result, this will then open a new window.
Here, you can customize AutoPlay settings according to your personal preferences.
Turning AutoPlay On and Off
When AutoPlay is enabled but you want to disable it, simply uncheck the little box next to “Use AutoPlay for all media and devices“.
Click on the Save button located at the bottom of the window.
If it is disabled and you now want to enable it, just check the option and click Save.
Customizing your settings
If you want an audio CD to be played automatically once you insert it, choose the first option on the list. If you are unsure what to choose, just select “Ask me every time” and you will be able to choose any of the options when an audio CD is inserted.
When you inserting a DVD or CD that contains image, you can just choose to “Import the pictures using Windows” or “View pictures using Windows.”
In “Software and games category”, you got the option to “Install or run program” this is useful if you have many CDs or DVDs with and programs you want to use.
Probably the most useful feature in AutoPlay is the ability to choose what player will open movies stored on DVD or CD.
Reseting AutoPlay to default settings
If you are not happy with your configuration of AutoPlay, you can just click on the “Reset all defaults” button, then click Save.
