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Editing the Registry: DWORD & Binary Values

Disabling Start Menu items:

You can remove some of the items from the Start Menu, as well as alter other Windows properties by editing values in the Policies section of the Registry. This is to be found at:

HKEY_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

The values there are Binary and DWORD, rather than String Values. Below are explanations on how to edit these types of values, with useful examples found in the Policies key.

Please note that some of these will not work on original Windows 95 machines (though they won't do any harm, either), but will on OSR2 and Windows 98 PCs. Most should work in Windows NT.

Click here for Registry Introduction & Basics if you are unfamiliar with this territory.

Editing DWORD Values

DWORD Values require hexidecimal values, which may look daunting to some. We will just look at changing simple ones - "no" (0) and "yes" (1) values - which are represented differently from String Values, but just as easy to edit.

For example "NoSetTaskbar" is set to 0x00000000 (0), but when you double-click the value, there is just a 0 that you can easily change to 1. The altered value will appear as 0x00000001 (1), and has the function of removing "Taskbar" from the "Settings" menu on the Start Menu. Therefore NoSetTaskbar=0 returns this item to the Start Menu. The following values are edited the same way, but will be listed simply, like NoSetTaskbar=1.

NoDesktop=1 removes the desktop icons from view, though they can still be accessed if you have a link to c:\windows\desktop (or the appropriate desktop folder under c:\windows\profiles\UserProfileName).

NoViewContextMenu=1 removes right-click functionality (ie: context menus) from Desktop, folders, and results pane (right pane) in Explorer. I suggest this is for OSR2 (and higher... and maybe NT), as it does nothing on a Win95a machine.

NoClose=1 does not allow Shutdown of Windows to occur without disabling this.

NoTrayContextMenu=1 removes context menus from all Taskbar items. I suggest this is for OSR2 (and higher... and maybe NT), as it does nothing on a Win95a machine.

NoFileMenu=1 will remove the File menu from Explorer (in OSR2 or higher in Windows 95, Service Pack 2 or higher in NT, or Windows 98).

NoRun=1 removes the Run option from the Start Menu.

Editing Binary Values

The editing of Binary Values is not as straight forward as with DWORD values. The negative values displayed (00 00 00 00) are cut down versions of the numbers displayed in the editing box (0000 00 00 00 00), so it could get confusing. Using the "NoNetHood" value (which removes the Network Neighbourhood icon from the desktop) as an example, we will look at how to edit the binary values.

Positive values are represented by 01 00 00 00, which means that the sixth zero in the editing box has to be changed to a 1 (0000 01 00 00 00). When you go to edit it, you may get confused, as you cannot select the zero needed. All you have to do is open the dialog box, hit your Delete key once and the first two zeros (or fifth and sixth if you want to get technical about it) will vanish. Simply type in 01 and hit Enter.

So to get rid of the Network Neighbourhood icon from the desktop, the value would be NoNetHood=01 00 00 00. The following values are edited the same way, but will be listed simply, like NoNetHood=1.

NoFind=1 will remove the Find menu from the Start Menu.

NoSetFolders=1 removes the Control Panel and Printers from Start Menu/Settings.

NoStartBanner=1 disables "Click here to begin" on the Taskbar (which appears when there is room).

NoSaveSettings=1 will force Windows not to save its settings.

NoDriveTypeAutoRun=95 00 00 00 means that Autoplay/Autorun is enabled. To disable this, change the 95 to B5 and reboot the computer.