The tweaker's guide to the Windows Registry

Want to hack Windows? Better get familiar with the Registry first. Here's what you need to know

Now double-click DoubleClickSpeed. The Edit String box appears, as shown below, and the number 500 is highlighted.

Type in a number larger than 500, and Windows will let you be more leisurely in your double-clicks; type in a smaller number, and you'll have to double-click more quickly. (Windows, by the way, recognizes only a range of between 100 and 900 for this value.)

Change the number, click OK and then exit the Registry. Your change should go into effect immediately, although you may have to reboot or log off and then on again for it to take effect.

Adding keys and values

Editing the Registry often requires that you add new keys and values. Let's take an example. Say you're going to add a new key under

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Classes/Folder/shell

called Command Prompt.

This key, as I describe in the story The ultimate tweaker's guide to Windows, will let you open a command prompt from the Windows Explorer right-click menu, and the command prompt will be at your current folder location.

First, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Classes/Folder/shell. Highlight the key and select Edit --> New --> Key, as shown to the right.

When you create a new key, it will be added as New Key #1, which will be highlighted with your cursor next to it, as you can see below. (If for some reason New Key #1 isn't highlighted, right-click it and choose Rename, and you'll be able to rename it.)

Replace the highlighted text with the name of the key you want to create, in this instance, Command Prompt.

Once you've created the new key, you can add values to it as you can any other key. Create new values in a similar way to the way in which you create new keys. Navigate to the key for which you want to create a new value, choose Edit --> New and then choose the type of value you want to create, such as String Value.

The new value will appear as New Value #1 in the right-hand pane, and there will be no value yet associated with it. Rename your new value, then edit it as outlined earlier in this article.

Deleting keys and values

Deleting a key or value is even easier: Select it and press the Delete key.

Read Preston's Ultimate Tweaker's Guide to Windows here

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