HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTCLSID{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-
00AA002F954E}ShellFolder

Set the Attributes value to 70 01 00 20 for Delete and Rename, or 50 01 00 20 for Rename only (the default is 40 01 00 20). Then, right-click the Recycle Bin and select Rename or Delete.

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindows
CurrentVersionPoliciesExplorer

Create a binary value called NoDesktop and set it to 01 00 00 00 to hide all Desktop icons. Delete the NoDesktop value to restore the Desktop icons.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTCLSID{20D04FE03AEA-1069-A2D8-
08002B30309D}shell

Set the (Default) value to Open. Then, create a key named Open, and then another named Command (inside Open). Set the (Default) value to the command line to launch (such as WindowsExplorer.exe).

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows
CurrentVersionExplorerMyComputerNameSpace
DelegateFolders

Under this branch, you should see several subkeys, each named for a different Class ID. Delete the one named {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT{some file type key}
                           

Delete the ShellNew key under any file type key to remove that file type from Explorer's New menu.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT{some file type key}
                           

Set the EditFlags value as specified in Table 5-1 to change which aspects of a file type can be modified in the File Types window (Control Panel → Folder Options → File Types tab). Note that EditFlags values can be added to combine several restrictions (01 00 00 00 + 02 00 00 00 = 03 00 00 00).

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTSystemFileAssociationsimage
ShellExContextMenuHandlers

Delete the ShellImagePreview key to disable the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer as the default application for most image file types.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTFolderDefaultIcon

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDriveDefaultIcon

Set the (Default) value to the full path and filename of the file containing the icon to use, followed by a comma, and then a number specifying the index of the icon to use (0 being the first icon, 1 being the second, and so on). The file you use can be an icon file (*.ico), a bitmap (*.bmp), a .dll file, an application executable (*.exe), or any other valid icon file. The default for folders is %SystemRoot%System32shell32.dll,3, and the default for drives is %SystemRoot%System32shell32.dll,8.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows
CurrentVersionExplorerAdvanced

Create a new DWORD value called EncryptionContextMenu, and set it to 1. Then, right-click any file (or group of files) and select Encrypt to turn on NTFS encryption for the file(s) or Decrypt to turn it off.

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindows
CurrentVersionExplorerShell Folders

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindows
CurrentVersionExplorerUser Shell Folders

Double-click any value and type the full path of the folder you wish to be the new location of the corresponding system folder. Note that you'll have to manually move any existing files from the old location to the new one.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryshell

Create a new key named cmd, and then set its (Default) to:

Open Command &Prompt Here

Next, create a new key under cmd named command, and set its (Default) value to:

cmd.exe /k "cd %L && ver"

Finally, right-click any folder and select Open Command Prompt Here to open a command prompt window rooted in the selected folder.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSet
ServicesCdrom

Set the Autorun DWORD value to 0 to disable CD AutoPlay.

HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop

Set the MenuShowDelay string value to the number of milliseconds (thousanths of a second) Windows will wait before opening a menu. The default is 400 (a little less than half-a-second); enter 0 (zero) here to eliminate the delay completely or a very large value (65534 is the maximum) to disable the automatic opening of menus.

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows
CurrentVersionRun

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows
CurrentVersionRunOnce

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows
CurrentVersionRun

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows
CurrentVersionRunOnce

Each value in these four keys represents a different program; simply delete the entry corresponding to the startup program you wish to disable. Note that values stored in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER branch are for the currently logged-in user, while entries in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE apply to all users.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSet
ControlSession Manager

Set the AutoChkTimeOut DWORD value to the number of seconds Chkdsk should wait before scanning your hard disk during Windows startup.

HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop

Set the HungAppTimeout string value to the number of milliseconds (thousanths of a second) Windows will wait before it considers an application to be "Not Responding."

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindows
CurrentVersionUnreadMail

Set the MessageExpiryDays DWORD value to 0 (zero) to turn off the notification of unread messages for each user on the Welcome screen.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows
NTCurrentVersionWinlogon

Set the DontDisplayLastUserName string value to 1 (one) to stop Windows from filling the username field with the last logged-in user (has no effect when used with the Welcome screen).

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows
NTCurrentVersionWinlogon

Set the LogonPrompt string value to whatever text you'd like to appear at the top of the standard Windows logon dialog (has no effect when used with the Welcome screen).

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows
CurrentVersionExplorerRemoteComputerNameSpace

Delete the {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF} key to stop sharing the Scheduled Tasks folder with other computers on your network, which will dramatically improve network browsing performance.