2.3 Regaining Control of the Desktop
Microsoft has positioned the Desktop as the root of all other
objects in the imaginary hierarchy depicted by Explorer's tree. This includes
all drives, the Control Panel, My Network Places, My Documents,
and — in terms of the layout of the interface—the Start Menu and all running
applications.
The following topics cover some fundamental tasks when
dealing with the desktop and other aspects of the shell, such as making sure
your desktop layout remains intact and tweaking the Start Menu.
2.3.1 Dealing with Themes, Schemes, Styles, and
Skins
Windows XP has a bunch of ways for you to save—and later
retrieve—your preferences, but the inconsistent way Microsoft uses and names
these features can be confusing and irritating. The best way to deal with
schemes, styles, and themes is to understand their scope and learn when to use
them.
2.3.1.1 Part 1: Schemes
A scheme is a saved collection of settings in a
single dialog box. For example, you can save
your current mouse pointer selections under a scheme name by going to
Control Panel
Mouse
Pointers. This not only makes it easier to
quickly switch between multiple sets of mouse pointers (such as one for when
you're wearing your glasses and when when you're not), but it allows you to
quickly undo changes made by Windows and other applications.
Other dialogs that use schemes include
Control Panel
Power Options
Power Schemes tab and
Control Panel
Sounds and Audio Devices
Sounds tab. In previous versions of Windows,
you could also save your Display Settings into a scheme, but in Windows XP, this
functionality has been replaced with "themes."
2.3.1.2 Part 2: Themes
Themes work similarly to schemes, described above, in that
several individual settings can be saved under a single theme name. The
difference is that there's only one place in Windows to save and retrieve
themes, and your theme selection affects settings in several dialogs.
Themes can be managed by going to
Control Panel
Display
Themes. To load a theme and replace your
current settings with those found therein, select a theme from the
Theme list, and click
Apply.
To save your current settings into a new theme (or replace an
existing theme), click Save As. Another
difference between themes and schemes is that while schemes are saved in the
Registry, themes are saved in individual .theme
files. By default, new themes are saved in the My Documents folder,
although only themes found in the
\Windows\Resources\Themes folder are used to populate the
Theme list, so that's where you really should
be placing your custom .theme files.
Settings saved with the current theme include your wallpaper,
your custom desktop icons (Desktop tab
Customize Desktop), your screen saver, your
current style (see below), and color selections. Themes essentially cover all of
the tabs in the Display Properties dialog, except for the
Settings tab.
 |
According to the Windows documentation, themes are
supposed to also encapsulate your mouse pointers, sounds, and Windows
Media Player skin settings. Unfortunately, this simply doesn't work as
it's supposed to. When you save a custom theme, these extra settings are
ignored. But when you subsequently load a theme, the mouse pointers,
sounds, and WMP skins are all simply reverted to their defaults. You'll
need to use schemes (as described earlier) to save your mouse and sound
settings and protect them from the themes feature. |
|
The format of .theme files, should you need to ever
edit them, is the same as for standard .ini files, discussed in Section
3.2.4.
2.3.1.3 Part 3: Styles and skins
Styles (sometimes called "skins") are what are responsible
for the new, cartoonish interface in Windows XP. They also have the capability
to "skin" Windows XP, wherein a new custom look can be given to all Windows and
controls. Rather than a way to save multiple settings, though, the current style
is a single setting, found in Control Panel
Display
Appearance, in the
Windows and buttons drop-down list.
By default in Windows XP, you have a choice between two
styles: Windows Classic style and
Windows XP style, both of which are pretty
self-explanatory.
What isn't obvious is how to customize the new styles
feature. Sure, if you select Windows Classic Style,
and then click Advanced, you can choose colors
for just about any screen element. However, many of the options in the Advanced
Appearance dialog have no effect when used with the
Windows XP style, and, of course, there's no hint to this fact in the
interface. About half of the settings in the Item
list have meaning with the Windows XP style;
for example, if you choose Active Title Bar,
you'll be able to change the titlbar thickness (size) but not the color.
The only other choice you have when it comes to style
customization is the Color scheme (see the
discussion of schemes, earlier). Regardless of the currently selected style, the
Color scheme list contains several
preconfigured color combinations. When used with the
Windows Classic Style, you can select from 22 available color schemes and
then customize your choice by clicking Advanced.
But when used with the Windows XP style, your
choice is restricted to three measly color schemes, none of which can be
customized as much as the Windows Classic Style.
Fortunately, all hope is not lost. It is indeed possible to
add new styles to Windows XP or even create your own, but only with a
third-party add-on. Probably the best such utility is WindowBlinds (available at
http://www.windowblinds.net/), which extends the default selection of styles
with about a dozen new entries and allows you to install any number of freely
available skins made by other users (check out
http://www.wincustomize.com/). WindowBlinds is not free, but you can try it
before you buy. Figure 2-7 shows an example of a dialog with a custom skin.
|
I've found WindowBlinds and other such utilities to
be somewhat buggy. Once Windows is "skinned" with one of these tools,
you may find that applications don't display correctly, and even Windows
itself may behave strangely. Typically, the problems aren't that bad,
but you may want to play with the software's list of exclusions, so that
you can disable skins for applications that don't support them. |
|
But many of you will want to create your own styles (skins),
and fortunately, there are at least two ways to do it.
2.3.1.4 Solution 1: Create your own styles with
WindowBlinds
This solution uses one of the skins that comes with the
WindowBlinds program as a template for creating a new skin. It takes a
considerable amount of time to customize a skin, but with a little patience and
some skill with an image editor, you can give Windows XP a completely unique
interface.
-
Install the WindowBlinds software (discussed previously),
but leave it disabled for the time being. If it's already running, go to
Control Panel
Display
Appearance and choose
Windows Classic style to ensure that it's not
currently loaded.
-
Open Explorer and navigate to the WindowsBlinds program
folder (e.g., c:\Program Files\WindowBlinds). In this folder, you'll
see several sub-folders, one for each of the example skins that come with the
program. Choose a skin you'd like to customize, create a duplicate of the
corresponding folder (see Section 2.2.3, earlier in this chapter for details),
choose a descriptive name for the new folder, and then open it in Explorer.
-
Each WindowsBlinds skin folder has a .uis file that
defines the skin. Start by renaming the existing .uis
file so that it matches the folder name. For example, if you're in \Program
Files\WindowBlinds\Annoyances, then the skin definition file would be
named Annoyances.uis.
-
Open the Annoyances.uis file (or whatever you've
named it) in your favorite text editor (or Notepad). The syntax of this file
is the same as for standard .ini files, documented in Section 3.2.4.
Most of the fields in the first section, TitlebarSkin,
should be self-explanatory. For example, set the SkinName entry to
the name you wish to give to the skin you're customizing. Change the other
entries here as needed.
-
Each screen element (titlebar, title buttons,
Start button, etc.) is represented by a
single .bmp file. For example, the file, checkbox.bmp, contains
the images used for standard checkbox controls in dialog boxes.
Using your favorite image editor (or MS Paint), open the
bitmap you wish to change. Most .bmp files here will actually contain
several images, each corresponding to a different state of the control. For
instance, the aforementioned checkbox.bmp file contains four images,
side-by-side: unchecked with focus, checked with focus, unchecked without
focus, and checked without focus. Use the existing .bmp file as a
template; naturally, some experimentation will be required.
To make things easier, your custom images should all be the
same size as the images they're replacing. If, however, you wish to have, say,
larger checkboxes than the skin you've used as a template, you'll have to make
the appropriate change in the .uis file discussed in Step 3 as well.
Just search the file for checkbox.bmp (or whatever filename you're
changing), and enter new values for the TopHeight, BottomHeight,
LeftWidth, and RightWidth entries.
-
When you're at a good stopping place, test your new skin.
Enable WindowBlinds by going to Control Panel
Display
Appearance tab, and selecting your newly
created skin. Note that new skins may have to be added using the main
WindowBlinds window.
Continue to edit the files that comprise the skin until you
achieve the desired results. Create backups as you work.
2.3.1.5 Solution 2: Poor-man's custom styles
This next solution also requires third-party add-on programs,
but utilizes only freely available utilities. It would've been nice if Microsoft
provided some way to customize the styles (skins) in Windows XP without having
to purchase additional products, but until they get around to adding the
functionality to Windows, the following will allow you to customize a skin
without spending any money.
-
Another program that allows you to add additional styles to
Windows XP is StyleXP (available at
http://www.tgtsoft.com/). Like WindowBlinds, StyleXP is not free, but
TGTSoft does make a free "preview" version of the software available. Download
and install one of the previews available on their web site.
-
Open Explorer, and create a new working folder in which to
save the files associated with your new custom skin. Place the folder
somewhere convenient, such as on your Desktop or in your My Documents
folder.
-
Then, navigate to the \Windows\Resources\Themes
folder in Explorer. There should be at least two subfolders here: Luna,
corresponding to the default "Windows XP style," and styleXP_1,
corresponding to the newly installed StyleXP preview. Open the styleXP_1
folder. (Note that the folder name may be different for the preview you've
downloaded.)
In the styleXP_1 folder, you'll find a single file,
stylexp_1.msstyles. Place a copy of this file in the working folder you
created in the previous step.
-
Download and install the free Resource Hacker utility
(available at
http://www.annoyances.org/). Resource Hacker allows you to modify the
bitmaps embedded in certain types of files, including .exe and .dll
files, as well as the stylexp_1.msstyles file that concerns us here.
Start Resource Hacker, and drag-drop the newly-created copy
of stylexp_1.msstyles onto the Resource Hacker window to open it (or
use File
Open).
-
Highlight the Bitmap
branch in the left pane, and if you like, expand the branch to see the entries
contained therein.
-
Select Save [Bitmap] resources
from the Action menu, and then specify a new
filename in the folder you created above. In addition to the filename you
specify, all of the bitmaps in the stylexp_1.msstyles file will be
saved into individual .bmp files. The new .bmp files will have
generic filenames (such as Bitmap_1.bmp), but the .rc file you
saved contains a "map" that links each file with its proper location in the
Resource Hacker, and will be used later.
-
Edit the newly-created .bmp files using your
favorite image editor (or MS Paint). See the previous solution in this section
for more information on the format of these files.
-
When you've modified all the bitmaps, return to Resource
Hacker, and select Replace Bitmap from the
Action menu. Select the first entry in the
Select bitmap to replace list, click
Open file with the new bitmap, and select the
Bitmap_1.bmp file. Finally, click Replace
to update the library with the new .bmp file.
Repeat this step for each of the bitmaps you've modified.
They're in order, so it should go fairly quickly: Bitmap_2.bmp
corresponds to the second entry in the list, Bitmap_3.bmp corresponds
to the third, and so-on. If you get confused, open the .rc file you
created in Step 6 using your favorite text editor (or Notepad), and look up
the filename associated with the names of the bitmap entries in the Resource
Hacker.
-
When you're done, close the Replace bitmap dialog, and then
go to File
Save to save your changes.
-
The next step is to replace the existing
stylexp_1.msstyles file (located in the \Windows\Resources\Themes\styleXP_1
folder discussed at the beginning of this procedure) with the modified
version. Note that if the style you're modifying is active, you'll have to
select a different style before you can replace the file.
-
Finally, go to Control Panel
Display
Appearance tab, and select your newly
modified style from the list to see the new changes.
2.3.1.6 Special case: When an application ignores
your selected style
The style you choose in Control
Panel
Display
Appearance tab affects not only the title bars
of your applications, but also the push buttons, menus, toolbars, drop-down
lists, and other screen elements. Some older applications, however, may not
utilize the style you've chosen to its fullest extent.
To force a single application to update all of its push
buttons, menus, etc., follow this procedure:
-
Start by typing the following into a plain text editor,
such as Notepad:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<
assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.
0"><assemblyIdentity version="1.0.0.0" processorArchitecture="X86"
name="COMPANYNAME.PRODUCTNAME.PROGRAMNAME" type="win32"/><description>MY
DESCRIPTION</description>
<dependency><dependentAssembly><assemblyIdentity type="win32"
name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls" version="6.0.0.0"
processorArchitecture="X86" publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"
language="*" /></dependentAssembly></dependency></assembly>
Note that the bits of text appearing in ALL CAPS can be
customized, although the rest must appear exactly as shown. If you don't feel
like typing all this yourself, you can simply download it from:
http://www.annoyances.org/downloads/manifest.txt
-
The name into which this text is to be saved is based on
the main application executable (.exe file) of the program you wish to
update, followed by .manifest.
For example, if you're trying to update Adobe Photoshop,
and it has been installed in c:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop, then the
application executable filename would be c:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop\Photoshp.exe
In this case, the filename you'd type would be
photoshp.exe.manifest, and you'd place it in the c:\Program
Files\Adobe\Photoshop\ folder.
-
The next time you start the application, all of its screen
elements should now utilize the selected style.
Note that not all programs can be forced to use styles in
this way, and of those that support it, not all will do it properly.
2.3.2 Make the Control Panel More Accessible
The settings accessible from the Control Panel affect all
parts of the Windows interface, everything from your fonts and screen colors to
your computer's network IP address and the refresh rate of your monitor. You may
find yourself repeatedly returning to some Control Panel dialogs, while never
opening others.
The Control Panel is a system folder, which means that it
looks and behaves like a normal folder, but it doesn't actually exist as a
folder on your hard drive, nor does it contain any files. That's why you can't
easily add to, rename, or delete any of the Control Panel's contents.
Each icon in your Control Panel is really just a separate
program or folder on your system, which means the Control Panel itself is
nothing more than a glorified menu. Look through the solutions in this section
for ways to exploit the Control Panel's flexibility.
See Appendix A for an alphabetical index of settings, many of
which can be found in the Control Panel.
2.3.2.1 Part 1: Categories
A new addition in Windows XP is the way Control Panel icons,
by default, are organized into categories. On the surface, it appears as though
categories make Control Panel easier, but all they end up doing is adding an
extra, unnecessary step to any task involving the Control Panel. Instead of
simply opening the icon for the setting you wish to change, you now have to hunt
for the icon by trying to guess how it has been categorized. And some icons
don't even have categories, which means you'll need to know the "back-door"
method for getting to those items (discussed below).
Probably the most confusing aspect of this new design is that
categories are only used under certain circumstances. In other words, depending
on how you access the Control Panel, you may or may not have to make a category
selection. For example, if you open the Control Panel in a single-folder window
(the default when launched from the Start Menu), you'll only see the category
view. But if you view the Control Panel folder in Explorer (with the folder tree
pane) or if you've configured Control Panel to display as a menu in the Start
Menu (see Part 3), there will be no sign of categories.
To turn off categories in Control Panel, and make its
interface more consistent, you'll need to have the task pane visible: go to
Control Panel
Folder Options
General tab, and select
Show common tasks in folders. Then, open the
Control Panel in a single-folder window and click
Switch to Classic View at the top of the task pane. You can then turn off
the task pane or leave it enabled as desired.
For the sake of simplicity, the category selection is simply
omitted in the solutions in this book. For example, if a solution instructs you
to open Control Panel
System, and you have categories enabled, you'll
need to open the Performance and Mantenance
category before opening System. For the
locations of each of the Control Panel icons in the category interface, see
Table 2-3, later in this topic.
2.3.2.2 Part 2: Make shortcuts to Control Panel
icons
Creating a shortcut to an individual Control Panel icon is an
easy way to provide quick access to commonly used settings. This solution is
really easy to do, but it's fairly limited. Part 3 offers more flexibility, at
the expense of some simplicty.
-
Open any view of the Control Panel.
-
Drag any item onto your desktop or into an open folder
window.
-
Windows will complain that it can't copy or move the item;
confirm that you'll settle for a shortcut.
-
Double-click on the shortcut to quickly access the specific
Control Panel icon.
2.3.2.3 Part 3: Search tips
Many Control Panel applets have multiple tabs, each with its
own collection of settings and sub-dialog boxes. Anything you can do to decrease
the steps in a repetitive task can be helpful. Here's how to make a shortcut to
a particular tab of a particular dialog box:
-
Right-click in an empty area of your desktop or an open
folder window, select New, then select
Shortcut.
-
In the field labeled Type the
location of the item (they're really looking for the full path and
filename of the item, not just the location), type:
control.exe sysdm.cpl ,3
This command has three parts. The first, control.exe,
is the executable that opens the Control Panel (the .exe extension is
optional). The second, sysdm.cpl, is the Control Panel module you'd
like to open, as listed in Table 2-3; omit the module name to open the
standard Control Panel folder. Finally the number is the tab you'd like to
switch to, where 0 is the first, 1 is the second, and so on
— note the space before the required comma.
The command in this example opens the fourth tab of the System dialog box,
Advanced.
-
Click Next, type whatever
you like for the name of this shortcut, and click
Finish when you're done. To make any changes or to choose an icon for
the shortcut, right-click on the shortcut and select
Properties.
Table 2-3 shows all the standard Control Panel icons, the
categories in which they're located, and the associated command line
equivalents.
Table 2-3. How to find each of the standard Control
Panel icons using Categories or the Command Prompt
|
Accessibility Options |
Accessibility Options |
control access.cpl |
|
Add Hardware |
n/a - see Notes |
control hdwwiz.cpl |
|
Add or Remove Programs |
Add or Remove Programs |
control appwiz.cpl |
|
Administrative Tools |
Performance and Maintenance |
control admintools |
|
Date and Time |
Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options |
control timedate.cpl
or
control date/time |
|
Display |
Appearance and Themes |
control desk.cpl
or
control desktop
or
control color (opens the Appearance tab
automatically) |
|
Folder Options |
Appearance and Themes |
control folders |
|
Fonts |
n/a - just open \Windows\Fonts
in Explorer |
control fonts |
|
Game Controllers |
Printers and Other Hardware |
control joy.cpl |
|
Internet Options |
Network and Internet Connections |
control inetcpl.cpl |
|
Keyboard |
Printers and Other Hardware |
control main.cpl Keyboard
or
control keyboard |
|
Mouse |
Printers and Other Hardware |
control main.cpl
or
control mouse |
|
Network Connections |
Network and Internet Connections |
control ncpa.cpl
or
control netconnections |
|
Phone and Modem Options |
Printers and Other Hardware |
control telephon.cpl
or
control telephony |
|
Power Options |
Performance and Maintenance |
control powercfg.cpl |
|
Printers and Faxes |
Printers and Other Hardware |
control printers |
|
Regional and Language Options |
Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options |
control intl.cpl
or
control international |
|
Scanners and Cameras |
Printers and Other Hardware |
n/a |
|
Scheduled Tasks |
Performance and Maintenance |
control sticpl.cpl
or
control schedtasks |
|
Sounds and Audio Devices |
Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices |
control mmsys.cpl |
|
Speech |
Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices |
control speech |
|
System |
Performance and Maintenance |
control sysdm.cpl |
|
Taskbar and Start Menu |
Appearance and Themes |
n/a |
|
User Accounts |
User Accounts |
control nusrmgr.cpl
or
control userpasswords |
2.3.2.4 Solution 4: Remove unwanted Control Panel
icons
To remove almost any icon from the Control Panel, follow
these steps:
-
Open TweakUI (see Appendix A) in Control Panel, and choose
the Control Panel category.
-
Uncheck any entries you'd prefer weren't displayed in the
Control Panel. Since TweakUI's descriptions aren't very good, you may want to
look up any questionable items in Table 2-3. Unfortunately, only those entries
that have .cpl files can be hidden here, which means you're stuck with
such items as Fonts and
Scheduled Tasks, whether you want them or
not.
-
Click OK when you're done.
Your changes will take effect immediately in the Control Panel folder, but you
may need to log out and log back in to see the change in the Control Panel
menu in the Start Menu (next).
2.3.2.5 Part 5: Add a cascading Control Panel menu
to the Start Menu
The following simple solution allows you to turn your Control
Panel into a menu in your Start Menu, providing quicker access to Control Panel
icons.
-
Go to Control Panel
Taskbar and Start Menu, and choose the
Start Menu tab.
-
Click the currently-enabled
Customize button.
-
If you're using the new Windows XP-style Start Menu (Start
menu in the last dialog), choose the Advanced
tab, and then select Display as a menu under
the Control Panel entry.
If you're using the Classic Start
menu, turn on the Expand Control Panel
option in the Advanced Start menu options
list.
-
Either way, click OK when
you're done.
Now, instead of a single menu item in the Start Menu, all the
Control Panel icons will be listed individually. To open the separate Control
Panel folder window from this interface, simply right-click
Control Panel and select
Open. The same goes for its sub-menus, such as
Fonts, Network
Connections, and Scheduled Tasks.
Another way to get a Control Panel menu in your Start Menu is
to make a new Start Menu folder called Control Panel, and then create
shortcuts to some or all Control Panel icons in the new folder, as described in
the previous solutions in this section. This also affords you the opportunity to
add additional icons for items that should've been included in the Start Menu,
such as Device Manager (devmgmt.msc), Disk Manager (diskmgmt.msc),
and the Volume Control (sndvol32.exe).
2.3.3 Massaging the Start Menu
It's unfortunate that, by default, so many of Windows XP's
functions and components are accessible only through the Start Menu, because
strictly speaking, it's not a very good interface. Now, I never liked the Start
Menu found in earlier versions of Windows, now referred to as the "Classic"
Start Menu, but I'm starting to miss it. The new Windows XP version is just a
mess.
Figure 2-8 shows the two different Start Menus supported by
Windows XP. You can choose between the two by going to
Control Panel
Taskbar and Start Menu
Start Menu tab. Note that this option has no
effect on the appearance of the Start button or
taskbar; to change these, you'll need to go to Control
Panel
Display
Appearance tab, as explained in Section 2.3.1,
earlier in this chapter.
2.3.3.1 Customizing the new XP-style Start Menu
While the Classic Start Menu is a simple, single-column list,
the new Start Menu is an overblown hodge-podge of icons and buttons that, like
the rest of Windows XP, tries too hard to be friendly.
In addition to the new problems it introduces, it fortunately
fixes several problems with the Classic Start Menu. For example, by placing more
items in the main menu, Microsoft has reduced the need to delve into the awkward
cascading All Programs menus. Also, the Control
Panel has its own menu, rather than being buried in the
Settings menu. Finally, dissimilar items such
as Shut Down and
Control Panel are physically separated and more easily distinguishable,
which helps prevent accidentally clicking the wrong item.
The contents of the new XP-style Start Menu are divided into
seven sections:
-
Across the top is a huge banner simply containing the name
of the currently-logged-in user. This cannot be turned off or customized,
except for the name and (optional) picture specified in the User Accounts
window, described in Chapter 8.
-
The Log Off and
Shut Down commands are found along the
bottom. Instead of Shut Down, you may see
Turn off Computer here instead, depending on
your user account settings of all things (see Chapter 8). Or, you may see
Disconnect if you're using the Remote Desktop
feature discussed in Chapter 7.
-
On your left, above the horizontal line, are
permanently-installed shortcuts to programs. You can add new entries here by
right-clicking any program executable (.exe file) or any Shortcut to a
program and selecting Pin to Start menu. Such
programs can be subsequently removed by right-clicking and selecting
Unpin from Start menu.
Although you can place shortcuts to programs here, you
can't pin folders to your Start Menu, which means that the only way to
organize your programs in folders is to bury them in the
All Programs menu.
By default, you'll see two special icons in this section
that aren't pinned or unpinned like other shortcuts: Internet Explorer and
Outlook Express. These items can be changed by going to
Control Panel
Taskbar and Start Menu
Start Menu tab
Customize
General tab
Show on Start menu section, and changing the
Internet and E-mail
options.
-
Below the permanent program shortcuts on the left side is a
dynamic list of recently-used programs. The problem with this list is that it
is always changing—never a good sign of a well-thought-out interface. You can
control how many programs are shown here in the
Programs section of the Customize Start Menu dialog. Set this option to
zero (0) to hide the list completely.
-
At the very bottom of the left column is a single entry,
All Programs, which has the distinction of
being the only menu item here that can't easily be removed from the Start Menu
(for good reason). The contents of this menu mirror the \Documents and
Settings\{username}\Start Menu\Programs folder, and can be easily
customized by dragging and dropping, either in the menu itself or in Explorer.
To quickly open the Start Menu folder in Explorer, right-click any of
the folders in the All Progams menu and
select Explore.
The All Progams menu is
the counterpart to the Programs menu found in
the Classic Start Menu. In the Classic Start Menu, described in the next
section, any shortcuts placed directly in the Start Menu folder (as
opposed to the Programs folder) are shown at the top of the Start Menu
itself. In the new XP-style Start Menu, any such shortcuts are placed at the
top of the All Progams menu instead,
separated from the rest of the menu's contents by a horizontal bar.
To remove the All Programs
item from the Start Menu, open the Group Policy editor (gpedit.msc),
and expand the branches to User Configuration\Administrative
Templates\Start Menu and Taskbar. Double click
Remove All Programs list from the Start menu, select
Enabled, and click
OK. You'll have to log out and then log back in for this change to take
effect.
-
At the top of the right column are all of the Start Menu
elements that begin with "My," which, I suppose, is Microsoft's way of being
cute. These items don't necesssarily belong together, and all can be
selectively removed in the Advanced tab of
the Customize Start Menu dialog. See Chapter 4 for more information on the
My Recent Documents menu and the My Computer
icon on the Desktop. See Chapter 7 for more information on
My Network Places.
-
Finally, the standard Windows features are shown in the
lower-right, such as Run,
Search, and Control
Panel. Although every one of these items can be turned off (a welcome
change from the Classic Start Menu), resulting in a completely empty righthand
column (as shown in Figure 2-9), there's no way to remove the second column
from the Start Menu.
Regardless of the Start Menu style you prefer, spending a
little time clearing out the junk you don't use will result in a simpler,
cleaner interface. Figure 2-9 shows an extreme example of this; you'll probably
want to either keep a few of the more useful items here, such as
Run, Search,
and Control Panel, or revert to the Classic
Start Menu.
2.3.3.2 Customizing the Classic Start Menu
The Classic Start Menu style is not quite as flexible as the
new XP-style Start Menu in terms of the items that can be removed, but it's much
more flexible in the custom items that can be added. The Classic Start Menu also
has the advantage of greater simplicity and a smaller footprint, both good for
the minimalists among us. Figure 2-10 shows a somewhat slimmed-down Classic
Start Menu.
The Classic Start Menu is divided into only three sections:
-
The lower part contains the seemingly "hard-coded" portions
of the menu, corresponding to such features as
Search, Settings, and
Run. If you go to
Control Panel
Taskbar and Start Menu
Start Menu tab
Customize, you'll be able to turn off the
Favorites, Log Off,
and Run entries.
To remove the Documents
menu, see Section 4.2.1. Some additional entries, such as
Search and some of the items in the
Settings menu can be turned off by opening
the Group Policy editor (gpedit.msc), and expanding the branches to
User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Start Menu and Taskbar.
The naming of the options here (in the right pane) is typically
self-explanatory. To enable any of these options, double-click, select
Enable, and then click
OK. Depending on the option, you may have to
log out and then log back in for the change to take effect.
-
Above the so-called "hard-coded" entries is a single entry,
Programs, which is the "classic" counterpart
to the All Programs menu in the new XP-style
Start Menu. The contents of this menu mirror the \Documents and
Settings\{username}\Start Menu\Programs folder, and can be easily
customized by dragging and dropping, either in the menu itself or in Explorer.
To quickly open the Start Menu folder in Explorer, right-click
Progams and select
Explore.
-
Finally, the space above the horizontal bar is a
fully-customizable free-for-all, which can be thought of as the saving grace
of the Classic Start Menu. In the example shown in Figure 2-10, there's on a
single shortcut to Explorer here, but you can place any type of shortcut here,
and even include folders for further organization. This portion of the Start
Menu mirrors the \Documents and Settings\{username}\Start Menu folder,
with the exception of the Programs folder, discussed earlier.
This compares to the top-left portion of the new XP-style
Start Menu, discussed in the previous section, which can only accept programs
(no folders or other file types are allowed there).
Unlike the new XP-style Start Menu, you can drag icons from
the Desktop or an open folder window and drop them on any part of the Classic
Start Menu above the horizontal line, or anywhere in the
Programs menu.
|
One of the biggest flaws in the Classic Start Menu is a
feature called Personalized Menus, which is turned on by default. This
remarkably awful feature made its debut in Microsoft Office 2000 and,
unfortunately, found its way into Windows 2000 and Me, and yes, Windows XP.
It's a design by which certain Start Menu entries indiscriminately and
suddenly disappear, based on how recently those options have been used.
It's best to turn off this feature, and then manually and
intentionally hide only those items which you know you never use. Go to
Control Panel
Taskbar and Start Menu
Start Menu tab
Customize, and turn off the
Use Personalized Menus option.
Note that this option isn't available if you're using the
new XP-style Start Menu. Instead of the Personalized Menus fiasco, there is
a slightly-more-acceptible feature that changes only specific and
well-defined regions of the Start Menu to reflect the most recently used
entries. See "Customizing the new XP-style Start Menu," earlier in this
topic, for details. |
2.3.3.3 Sorting Start Menu items
One thing you can do to streamline your Start Menu,
regardless of the style you've chosen, is to rearrange items in the Start Menu,
eliminating all the unnecessary levels and superfluous shortcuts. For example,
instead of the Photoshop shortcut appearing in Start
Programs
Adobe
Photoshop (four levels deep), you can simply
move the shortcut so it appears in the Programs
menu. This isn't a great solution, but it's a good place to start.
A consequence of being able to drag-drop Start Menu items in
place is that new items are added to the ends of menus, rather than sorted
alphabetically with the existing entries. To manually resort any single menu in
the Start Menu, right-click on any menu item, and select
Sort by Name. To sort all your Start Menu
folders in one step, you'll need to write a script: see Section 9.16 for
details.
2.3.3.4 Dealing with overflow: scrolling vs.
multiple columns
When there are too many items in a Programs folder to fit on
the screen, one of two things can happen. The default is to "scroll" the menu,
forcing you to click the arrow at the bottom of the menu to see more items. The
alternative is to display the overflow in multiple columns, which can be a very
clumsy interface. Neither choice is a perfect solution, but everyone has a
preference.
If you prefer multiple columns to scrolling, go to
Control Panel
Taskbar and Start Menu
Start Menu tab
Customize. If you're using the Classic Start
Menu, turn off the Scroll Programs option in
the Advanced Start menu options list; if using
the new XP-style Start Menu, choose the Advanced tab, and turn off the
Scroll Programs option in the
Start menu items list.
2.3.3.5 Alternatives to the Start Menu
The best thing about the Start Menu is that you don't have to
use it. You can start programs by opening associated documents, double-clicking
shortcuts on the desktop, or any number of other means:
-
Although the desktop is certainly not a great place to
store a shortcut to every program on your computer, it's a great location for
the most frequently used programs, and certainly better than burying them
under several layers of menus. If you only use your computer for a handful of
applications, you can move their shortcuts onto the Desktop by dragging (hold
the Ctrl key to copy) and forget about the
Start Menu entirely.
-
As a partial fix for the inaccessibility of items in the
Start Menu, Windows has configurable, dockable toolbars. Like the
All Programs and
Programs menus in the Start Menu, these toolbars just reflect the
contents of one or more folders on your hard disk. By placing icons for your
most frequently used applications, folders, and documents in these tiny
toolbars, you can make it easier and quicker to open the tasks you need. You
can drag toolbars anywhere on the screen, docking them to the taskbar or any
other edge of your desktop.
To display one of the preconfigured toolbars, right-click
on an empty area of the taskbar, select Toolbars,
and choose the one you want. In addition to the
Address and Links toolbars, similar to
those found in Internet Explorer, there's a Desktop
toolbar that mirrors the contents of your desktop (good for when the desktop
is covered by other windows), and the customizable Quick Launch
toolbar. Select New Toolbar to make a new,
blank toolbar.
The problem with these toolbars is that they're rather
inflexible, and, by default, are extremely small. And although they may be
convenient for three or four items, they become clumsier with more icons.
 |
If you find that you can't drag toolbars on or off
the taskbar, your taskbar may be locked. Right-click an empty area of
the taskbar, and turn off the Lock the
taskbar option to allow the dragging and resizing the taskbar
toolbars. |
|
-
Keyboard shortcuts are a convenient way to supplement
whatever scheme you decide to use. Just right-click on any shortcut file,
Start Menu entry, or taskbar toolbar icon, and select
Properties. Click in the
Shortcut key field, and press the desired
keystroke combination. For example, you can set up
Ctrl-Shift-E to open an Explorer window.
-
There's nothing stopping you from using another program to
augment or replace the Start Menu. In fact, I urge you to explore alternatives
to all of the components Microsoft puts in the box, including Notepad, Outlook
Express, and Internet Explorer. See
http://www.annoyances.org for a few suggestions.
For example, Route 1 Pro (available at
http://www.creativelement.com/route1pro/) implements one or more simple
rows of buttons providing quick access to all your programs and files. It's
quite a bit slicker and more flexible than either the Start Menu or the
taskbar toolbars mentioned earlier.
2.3.4 Refresh the Desktop Without Restarting
Windows
When Windows starts, it loads the Explorer application, which
provides several services, including the desktop and the Start Menu. While it's
loading, Explorer reads its settings from the Registry (see Chapter 3). If you
make a change to the Registry, such as when following one of the procedures in
this book, it might not take effect until you reload Explorer, which usually
means restarting Windows.
However, restarting Windows can take several minutes and will
mean shutting down all running applications, which can be a real pain. In many
cases, you can put your changes into effect without restarting Windows, as
explained in the following solutions. Whether any of these solutions work
depends on the type of setting you've changed.
2.3.4.1 Solution 1
This, the simplest of the solutions in this topic, can be
useful to force Explorer to update the contents of the Desktop with any changes,
such as newly added or deleted icons.
-
Click on any empty area of your Desktop or select any
Desktop icon
-
Press the F5 key.
Note that F5 can be used to
refresh most other Windows, such as folders in Explorer, Registry keys in the
Registry Editor, and even web pages in Internet Explorer.
2.3.4.2 Solution 2
In cases where Solution 1 is not sufficient to implement your
changes, you can force Explorer to reload without restarting:
-
Open the Windows Task Manager by right-clicking an empty
area of your taskbar and selecting Task Manager.
-
Choose the Processes tab.
-
Select explorer.exe from
the list, and click End Process.
If you see more than one instance of
explorer.exe, it means that one or more
Explorer or single-folder windows are open and you've enabled the
Launch folder windows in a separate process
option described in Section 2.1.1, earlier in this chapter. The one with the
largest value in the Mem Usage column is the
one responsible for the Start Menu and Desktop. If you're still not sure,
close the extra Explorer windows and then return to the Task Manager window.
-
Your Desktop and Taskbar will disappear, and then reappear
after a few seconds. This means that Explorer has been shut down and that
Windows has automatically loaded it back into memory.
If the desktop doesn't reappear, you'll have to relaunch
Explorer as explained in the
What Happens When Explorer Crashes sidebar in the beginning of this
chapter.
2.3.4.3 Solution 3
In cases where Solution 2 is not sufficient to implement your
changes, the following solution will not only reload Explorer, but reinitialize
all your user settings for all applications. Unfortunately, it will cause all
your running applications to close, but it still doesn't take nearly as long as
restarting your computer:
-
Open your Start Menu, and click
Log Off. If you see a warning message, confirm that you indeed wish to
log off by answering Yes.
If the Log Off option
doesn't appear in your Start Menu, go to Control
Panel
Taskbar and Start Menu
Start Menu tab
Customize and turn on the
Display Logoff option.
-
Depending on your user account settings, explained in
Chapter 8, either of several different "log on" boxes will appear. Just log on
as you normally would at this point.
Typically, the only time when none of these solutions will
work is when you've installed a new hardware driver or application that must
restart in order to replace one or more in-use files. See Section 2.2.6, earlier
in this chapter, for details.
2.3.5 Customize the Windows Startup Logo
The pompous Microsoft Windows XP logo that appears for the 30
seconds or so it takes to boot your computer can be replaced with any image you
choose; it just takes a little hacking.
In some previous versions of Windows, the logo was stored in
an ordinary .bmp file, but in Windows XP, that bitmap is embedded in a
system file. The following procedure shows how to extract the bitmap, modify it,
and then re-insert it so it will appear the next time you start up. On the
surface, it's a rather long process, but it's actually simpler than it looks.
-
Open Explorer, and navigate to your \Windows\System32
folder.
-
Place a copy of the file, ntoskrnl.exe somewhere
convenient, such as on your Desktop or in your My Documents folder.
Then, make another copy of the file, to be used as a backup in case something
goes wrong.
-
Download and install the free Resource Hacker utility
(available at
http://www.annoyances.org/). Resource Hacker allows you to modify the
bitmaps embedded in certain types of files, including .exe and .dll
files.
Start Resource Hacker, and drag-drop the newly-created copy
of ntoskrnl.exe onto the Resource Hacker window to open it (or use
File
Open).
-
Expand the branches to Bitmap\1\1033 (click the
plus sign next to Bitmap, then
1, then 1033),
and then highlight the 1033 entry. In the
right pane, you'll see a large black rectangle. You can't see it yet, but this
is the startup logo.
-
Select Save [Bitmap : 1 : 1033]
from the Action menu, and then specify a
filename for the logo file, such as Startup Logo.bmp.
-
Next, you'll need an image editor that has good control
over palettes, such as Adobe Photoshop (http://www.adobe.com)
or Paint Shop Pro (available at
http://www.jasc.com). MS Paint, the rudimentary image editor included with
Windows XP, is insufficient for this task.
The subsequent steps assume you're using Paint Shop Pro,
since you can download an evaluation copy for free from the Jasc web site. I'm
also including instructions for Photoshop for the graphics nuts among us. If
you're using a different image editor, you'll have to adjust the next few
steps for the specific features available in your software.
-
Open the newly-saved Startup Logo.bmp file in your
image editor. The image will appear all black at first; this is normal.
-
In Paint Shop Pro, select Save
Palette from the Colors menu, and save
the current color pallete as Black.pal.
Or, in Photoshop, go to Image
Mode
Color Table, and click
Save. Save the palette into Black.act.
Either way, you'll need this later to revert the image when
you're done editing.
-
In Paint Shop Pro, select Edit
Palette from the Colors menu.
Or, in Photoshop, go to Image
Mode
Color Table.
You'll need to change the colors in the palette so that you
can distinguish one color from another. The first two entries will remain
black. Double-click the third entry (Palette index 2), and change the
Red, Green,
and Blue values to 32, 26,
and 21, respectively. Repeat this step for the other thirteen colors
in this image, using the values in Table 2-4.
Table 2-4. The required color palette entries in
order to view and edit the Windows XP startup logo
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
2 |
32 |
26 |
21 |
|
3 |
45 |
62 |
210 |
|
4 |
83 |
101 |
1 |
|
5 |
178 |
53 |
5 |
|
6 |
70 |
70 |
70 |
|
7 |
137 |
146 |
0 |
|
8 |
74 |
127 |
252 |
|
9 |
247 |
107 |
32 |
|
10 |
141 |
166 |
255 |
|
11 |
142 |
220 |
4 |
|
12 |
243 |
188 |
27 |
|
13 |
188 |
188 |
188 |
|
14 |
255 |
255 |
255 |
|
15 |
255 |
255 |
255 |
If you prefer, you can download the required palette file
instead of hand-entering it:
- Paint Shop Pro
-
Download the palette file from
http://www.annoyances.org/download/startuplogo.pal, then select
Load Palette from Paint Shop Pro's
Colors menu. Choose the
startuplogo.pal file you just downloaded, make sure that the
Maintain indexes option is selected below,
and click Open.
- Photoshop
-
Download the palette file from
http://www.annoyances.org/download/startuplogo.act. In Photoshop, go to
Image
Mode
Color Table, and click
Load. Choose the startuplogo.act file you
just downloaded and click Load.
If you're using an image editor other than Paint Shop Pro
or Photoshop, you'll have to hand-enter the palette as described ealier.
-
Either way you do it, when you're done updating the
palette, the Startup logo will be fully visible. If you hand-entered the
palette in the previous step, take this opportunity to save the palette for
later use:
In Paint Shop Pro, go to Colors
Save Palette.
Or, in Photoshop, go to Image
Mode
Color Table, and click
Save.
-
Modify the image to your heart's content. Note that since
this is only 16-color image, you won't be able to get nice photographic tones
or even gradients, but your logos should appear nice and crisp!
Make sure not to alter the palette of the image. Also, make
sure to accomodate the revolving blue stripe (which incidentally is another
bitmap in the ntoskrnl.exe file). Figure 2-11 shows an example of a
customized startup logo.
-
When you're done editing, you'll need to revert the color
palette back to the all-black palette we saved at the beginning of this
procedure (Black.pal):
In Paint Shop Pro, select Load
Palette from the Colors menu. Choose
the Black.pal file, make sure that the Maintain
indexes option is selected below, and click
Open.
In Photoshop, go to Image
Mode
Color Table, and click
Load. Choose the Black.act file and click
Load.
-
If you haven't done so already, save your work. Then,
return to Resource Hacker, and select Replace Bitmap
from the Action menu. Select the first entry
in the Select bitmap to replace list (1),
click Open file with the new bitmap, and
select the Startup Logo.bmp file you modified. Finally, click
Replace to update the library with the new
image.
-
Close the Replace bitmap dialog, and then go to
File
Save to save your changes.
|
If you are wise, you will take this opportunity to
make sure you have a safe backup of the original ntoskrnl.exe
before you replace it. That way, if the modified version is corrupted
in any way, you'll be able to repair your system without having to
reinstall. |
|
-
The last step is to replace the in-use version of
ntoskrnl.exe with the one you've just modified. You should be able to just
drag the modified version right into your \Windows\System32 folder,
replacing the one that's there.
If Windows complains that the file is in use and can't be
replaced, you'll have to follow the steps outlined in Section 2.2.6, earlier
in this chapter.
-
The new logo should appear the time you start Windows. If,
for some reason, the logo doesn't appear or Windows won't start, the problem
is most likely caused by a corrupt ntoskrnl.exe file. This can be
repaired by using the instructions in the previous step to replace the
modified version with the original version you backed up—you did back it up,
didn't you?
See Section 8.1.4 for a related solution.
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