Block USB Devices in XP

All students in our college received our laptops few weeks back, and the biggest problem we face that everybody seems to take everybody’s data. As nobody is well versed of using laptops, and they are a bit careless about their data security. Pen drives becoming a handy tool to get data is the biggest problem we all face today. Not only in our college, it is part of everybody’s life that. To this what can be done is that the USB can be blocked and then stopping the use of USB drives. Here is a simple registry hack to do so, try it with care.

1. Go to Start –> Run, type Regedit.
2. Go to Hkey_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlset\Services\USBStor
3. In the right pane, look for value Start and have value as 0000000(3)
4. Double click on that and change that value to 4.

You might be required to restart the PC, and then you are done with it, USB is now blocked.
In case if you want to get the USB unblocked, just change the value again to 3.

Set Xp Online Registration as Complete

When you install a fresh copy of Windows Xp, it continuously asks for Online registration, and if it is not done, you might not be able to access your desktop, as windows blocks it from the welcome screen. In that case you need to format the computer. Now, by a small registry hack you can easily set the online registration as complete. Follow these steps.

1. Go to Start –> Run, Type Regedit.
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
3. Create a new string Value named as “RegDone” (without quotes)
4. Give it value as 1

By this registry update, windows will not ask for Online Registration again.

Missing “Folder Options” in Windows Xp?

Recently, I came across with a virus, which simply makes you “Folder Options” invisible, and creating great troubles for me. Firstly I thought that it was some windows file that could have gone corrupt, and then i thought of running the setup once again. But when I saw what changes have been made to my registry, I saw a small change, a new DWORD value was created. Changing the value did the trick and i was successfully able to see the Folder Options and do the desired changes. If you are facing this problem too, Here is what I did.

1. Go to Start –> Run, type Regedit.
2. Go to HKEY CURRENT USER / SOFTWARE / MICROSOFT / WINDOWS /
   CURRENTVERSION / POLICIES / EXPLORER
3. You will find a DWORD value “NoFolderOptions” and its value as “1“.
4. Change its value from “1” to “0“.

The folder options should now work properly. If in case you need to hide Folder Options then this is a cool trick as well.

Changing Thumbnail Size and Quality in Xp

Windows Vista has an option to increase or decrease your thumbnail size, but Xp doesn’t. So what, we have registry to play with and do the desired. Yes, with some registry editing you can change the thumbnail size of windows too. Follow them to get your desired size and quality.

1. Go to Start –> Run, type Regedit.
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer
3. Create a new DWORD value named “ThumbnailSize“.
4. You can value it between 32 to 256.

To Set the Quality Level:

5. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer
6. Create a new DWORD value named “ThumbnailQuality“.
7. You can value it between 50 to 100.

You might not get the desired results at once, and as it is a immediate result, you can play with it, But be carefull.

Remove Shortcut Arrow from Icons

Creating shortcuts is easy, but creating shortcuts looking like executable files is difficult. Well now its not, shortcuts can be identified by the small arrow we see in bottom left of the icon. This can be removed and thus giving an impression that the file is running from its original position. Follow this registry setting, and you will have desired results.

1. Go to Start –> Run, type Regedit.
2. GO to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ lnkfile (It’s Link File, not Ink File, as many people get confused.)
3. On the Right pane look for “IsShortcut” and delete this entry.
4. Reboot and done.

A simple way to remove the shortcut arrow from icon.