Customizing Windows 7 Using The Windows Registry

Mustafa | Jun 21, 2009 | Comments

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According to the Engineering Windows 7 blog:

Only 15% of the beta users kept the default theme. 77% of the beta users created a custom theme by changing one or more elements of the inbox themes.

This means that the majority of people want to customize their computers to suite them… (Nothing new!)

This guide shows some ways to customize Windows 7 using the Windows Registry Editor by modifying settings that can’t be changed from the “Personalization” window. Since these tweaks modify the Windows Registry, it is advisable to perform a backup of your registry using ERUNT (or any other means you use).

To open the Windows Registry Editor:

Click on the Start
Type “regedit” in the search bar
Choose “Yes” if a “User Account Controlâ” message appears

To go to a specific key in the windows registry:

Click on the arrow sign next to the key’s name to expand it.
For example if you want to open “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software”: Click on the arrow next to “HKEY_CURRENT_USER” then click on “Software”

To create a new value:

Right-click anywhere on the right side in the Registry Editor
Choose “New”
Click on the type of value that you want to insert

To modify a value:

Right-click the value
Choose “Modify…”

The following tables contain information about the values that need to be added/modified to apply the tweaks:

Windows 7 Task Switcher

The task switcher allows users to switch between open windows using the keyboard shortcut: ALT+Tab

Cool Switch (32-bit)

Go to : HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

Value	Type	What it does affects	Data
CoolSwitchColumns	String	Sets the number of columns of the cool switch	NUMBERDefault= 7
CoolSwitchRows	String	Sets the maximum number of rows in the cool switch	NUMBERDefault = 3

Windows 7 Desktop Slideshow (64-bit)

The desktop slideshow automatically changes the wallpaper after a set time interval. The user selects the images he/she wants to use in the slide show, the time interval and whether or not to shuffle their order. All this can be modified through the “Desktop Background” window, however the following can’t:

AnimationDuration – In 64-bit versions of Windows 7, there is a ‘fade’ animation that occurs as a transition between the images. This animation takes about 1 second.

Go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Personalization\Desktop Slideshow

Value	Type	What it does affects	Data
AnimationDuration	DWORD (32-bit)	Sets the time taken by the animation in milliseconds	NUMBERRemember: 1000 gives 1 second

There’s another DWORD (32-bit) value called “Interval” that sets the time at which the images change, however it seems to only work when data entered is the same as those available in the “Personalization” window. If a value given is “1000″ for example, which means the desktop background has to change every second (crazy! I know), it still takes 10s to change. I think this is deliberately done by Microsoft, because if people were able to set the time interval to a very short period of time (below 10 seconds), it would overload the computer’s memory.

Windows 7 Logon Screen Background

See Customizing the Windows 7 Logon Screen…

Slow Motion Aero (64-bit)

Slow Motion Aero

This tweak shows the aero animation, such as the transition that appears when minimizing a window, in slow motion when a user holds the SHIFT key. It works with Windows Vista as well.

Go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM

Value	Type	What it does affects	Data
AnimationsShiftKey	DWORD (32-bit)	Whether or not to show aero animations in slow motion when the SHIFT key is held	0 = Disabled 1 = Enabled

After changing the data of the DWORD value, the “Desktop Window Manager” has to be restarted for the tweak to take effect. Here’s how:

Click on the Start
Type “cmd” in the search bar
Under “Programs”, right-click on “cmd.exe”
Choose “Run as administrator”
Choose “œYes” if a “User Account Control” message appears
Type in the Command Prompt window: “net stop uxsms & net start uxsms” (without quotes)

PLEASE NOTE: For this tweak to work, animations should be enabled.

If you need any help or have difficulties, just ask in the Comments.

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