Mastering Windows - gpedit

Group policy is a setting that is made for a particular group of users.
An example is, if you want to disallow users from changing the firewall settings for your internet.
To do this Windows provides a tool called "Group Policy Editor". Go to your Run box (Start > Run) and type "gpedit.msc", you will see a window like the one above.

You will see two main configuration options

• Computer Configuration (for general settings like firewalls, error reporting etc.)
  
• User Configuration (for user specific settings like folder sharing, display options etc.)

In the "Administrative templates" key of each section you will find a host of settings that can be changed, along with detailed a explanation. For e.g. if you wish to change your settings so that users cannot change firewall settings, you can go to :
"Computer Configuration > Administrative templates > Network > Network Connections > Standard Profile"

and change...

Windows Firewall: Protect all connections - Enabled
Windows Firewal: Do not allow exceptions - Enabled

Let the tinkerer in you free, you can change a variety of settings in both sections that allow you to modify the way your Windows runs.

Mastering Windows - User Accounts

Most Windows users are familiar with the adjoining screen. Windows XP provides very easy ways of administering "User Accounts".



Office users usually find this system adequate, as it allows administrators to install software and change system settings and non-Administrators to do pretty much everything else.

Home users however are not so happy with it; you generally want to allow your mom and dad to install software, but not let them do stupid things to your system.
Well, Windows XP does provide for this option, though you want find it in their online help anywhere!

Go to the Run Box (Start > Run) and type "control userpasswords2". You will get a dialog box that looks like this :

Double-click the name of the user whose privileges you want to change. In the "Group Membership" tab, select your choice. The choices are :

1. Administrators : Change system settings, install software, view non-private documents, create accounts.


2. Power Users : Install software, cannot change system settings or view Administrator's documents.
3. Users : Cannot install software or change system settings. Can change personal settings only.
4. Guests : Can only use computer as a guest, cannot change settings or install software.

So next time your mom asks why she cant install her favourite recipe book, you have an answer ready!

Mastering Windows - The Registry

Windows settings are encoded in various system files. These being a system files are not directly editable but can be edited via a Windows utility called Registry Editor.



Open the Run box (Start Menu > Run)
Type 'regedit'
Hit Enter...you will see a window that looks like this

Terminology : The left pane of the Registry Editor contains "keys" which is basically registry terminology for folders. The right pane has different kinds of "variables" which are assigned some "data". The data in the registry is of 3 types

1. String
2. Binary
3. DWORD (Hexadecimal)

The Registry : The significance of this data is that it is a record of all the settings that are incorporated in your operating system. For example, if you change the Desktop wallpaper in "Display properties" you will find that data in the "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\ConvertedWallpaper" variable has changed to the url of your new wallpaper.

Any change that you make to the system is thus reflected in the registry and even more importantly, vice versa! So you can even change settings for which Windows provides no option in the Control Panel!

The registry has 5 main sections as is obvious:

1. HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
2. HKEY_CURRENT_USER
3. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
4. HKEY_USERS
5. HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG

Of which the first three are most important - they contain most of the modifiable settings. Before making changes to the registry make sure you backup your system, just in case you do something stupid. Here are a few things you can try out...

1. Uninstalling Software : Everytime you install a software, a key is created in it's name in the "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software" sectionof the registry. However every uninstaller is not kind enough to do the reverse. Especially stuff like adware which constantly afflicts Windows users has a nagging habit of cluttering the registry. So if a program makes its presence felt even after you've removed it go to the registry and delete its key from "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software" as well as "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE" sections.



2. Startup programs : Ever wondered how so many useless programs run at your system starup slowing down staring times to frustrating levels? Most of which you don't really need. Here's the trick - go to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
   CurrentVersion\Run" and "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
   CurrentVersion\Run" and delete all the variables you don't need to run at startup! But remember don't remove system variables like "MSkernel32" or "ctfmon".



3. Disable Autorun : The Windows Autorun function is one of the most irritating around. Even if you really just want to browse the CD, Autorun starts up its initiation program. To disable it go to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\
   Services\CDRom" and change to value of 'Autorun', or create a new DWORD value if it doesn't already exist, and set the data to equal '0' (zero).

These tips are just the tip of the iceberg, you can metamorphose your Windows just by knowing right registry key! To get an elaborate list of all the tricks you can do with the registry download the Registry Guide.

Mastering Windows

Don't you wish you could shut down all those nagging programs that run when you start up your PC? Or remove spyware that has no uninstaller? Or stop other users of your Windows PC from changing critical system settings, while still letting them install software? All you need to know are a few hidden and mostly undocumented tricks in Windows, and you too can Master Windows!

Some of the tools essential for Windows Administration are:

1. Registry Editor : For editing System Settings.
2. User Accounts 2 : For editing User Settings.
3. Group Policy Editor : For setting Group policies, common to all users.
4. System Configuration Utility : For troubleshooting and Startup options.
5. Command Prompt : For Administering Networks.

I'll tell you about each one of these separately, so keep watching this space...

The Transfomation - 3

And now for the final part of the Tranformation. First of all, for the "Finder bar" like feel, drag your taskbar to the top of your screen (first right click it and uncheck "Lock the Taskbar"). Download a Mac OS X style dock for Windows XP. I recommend MobyDock. If you do use Mobydock, you'll need a OS X style background. You can download one here.
Change the icons to emulate OS X and there you have it...your Transformation is complete!

The Transfomation - 2

Now that your windows are looking all dapper you're probably worried about the crappy looking windows icons. Download Icon Tweaker to change icons for your folders, disk drives and system devices. To download the icons go to Deviantart.com and search for Mac OS X icons.
I recommend Layered Folders and Vanilla Cream.

The Tranformation - 1

Looks like a lot of people liked my conversion of Windows XP to Mac OS X. So here's the first step if you want to do it yourself. Go here and download the zip file.

1. COPY UXTHEME.DLL TO THE C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 FOLDER.
2. IMMEDIATELY RUN THE PATCH.
3. IF WINDOWS FILE PROTECTION ASKS YOU IF YOU WANT TO REPLACE SYSTEM FILE, CLICK YES.
4. GO HERE AND DOWNLOAD AN OS X STYLE THEME FROM THE VISUAL STYLES SECTION. MAKE SURE YOU DOWLOAD ONE FOR "VS" AND NOT FOR "WB", I RECOMMEND "TIGER".
5. APPLY THE THEME AND WALLAH! THE FIRST STEP IS COMPLETE.

Firefox and the Myths Website

I just read this post about Firefox Myths

It reminded me of the story...

One day a Physicist, Statistician and a Mathematician are roaming around the countryside when they notice a black sheep.

The Statistician immediately says "All the sheep in this coutry are black", taken aback by this hasty conclusion the Physicist tries to correct him. He says "My man, don't you mean some of the sheep in the country are probably black?"

The Mathematician looks contemptuously at both of them and says "All we can really say is that one sheep in this country is black on one side of its body!"

So the approach that we use to judge anything seems to be either that of the Statistician (FF is God's creation, all those who condemn it be doomed) or the Mathematician (Put forward completely true but utterly useless facts about the browser, just to make one's point).

When really IMHO 90% are absolutely true, but the site misses the main issue. No one is claiming that FF is a perfect browser, it's just the best one around. Most of the criteria included in the site are frivolous and the ones that are not are twisted to sound inconclusive.

So our approach should really be that of the Physicist. Concentrate on what is really neccessary in a browser, look at what we have rather than what we don't. What we have is a reasonably fast, very secure browser that is more standards compliant than any other commercial browser.

A little tip

To all the Bloggers,
If you have visited my blog before and clicked on any of the various links (if you haven't please do, clicking on them gets me brownie points at Spreadfirefox), you may have noticed that they open in new windows. The simple html for that is to add "target=_blank" after the anchor tag.

For eg. <a target=_blank href="http://www.spreadfirefox.com" >Spreadfirefox</a>

It will be a lot less irritating to readers if your links open in a new window (or new tab in case of Firefox 1.5). That way people can still continue going through your blog, without having to reload the page.

Windows XP = OS X

This is my first post, so I'm just gonna copy the last post on my other blog (which should have been here anyway!)

I spent 2 hours converting my Windows XP to look like a Mac OS X...I must say I have outdone myself this time! Cheers...
(The screen captures are grainy because I've compressed them beyond reasonable levels.)

Desktop
(click to enlarge)

Taskbar on top (like a Finder bar) and Animated Dock at the bottom.

Explorer

Tiger OS X Desktop theme and OS X like icons for Folders, Drives and Toolbar.

Firefox

Firefox, showing glass finish buttons and OS X style drop shadow behind window.