Turn on Classic Shell
The "Turn on Classic Shell" check box, when checked, will remove Active Desktop and Web view features. Also single-clicking to open items will be disabled. As a result, the user interface looks and operates much like the Windows 2000 user interface.
Note: Changing this setting
requires a logoff.
Disable Tools > Folder Options
The "Disable Tools > Folder Options" check box lets you disable access to the "Folder Options" on the "Tools" menu. It will also remove the "Folder Options" from the Control Panel.
Note: Changing this setting
requires a logoff.
Remove Network Drive functions
The "Remove Network Drive functions" check box lets you remove the "Map Network Drive" and "Disconnect Network Drive" from the "Tools" menu.
Note: Changing this setting requires a logoff.
Remove Search button
The "Remove Search button" check box lets you remove the "Search" button.
Note I: Changing this setting requires a logoff.
Note II: This does not disable F3
Disable Find (F3)
The "Disable Find (F3)" check box disables using the F3 key to search in Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer.
Remove context menu
The "Remove context menu" check box lets you disable the (right-click) context menu from the Desktop & Windows Explorer.
Note: Changing this setting requires a logoff.
Hide Manage
The "Hide Manage" check box lets you hide "Manage" from the Windows Explorer context menu (when right-clicking "My Computer")
Note: Changing this setting requires a logoff.
Disable view block on system directories
The "Disable view block on system directories" check box lets you remove the "These files are hidden" message from certain system directories and shows the files in those directories.
Remove Hardware tab
The "Remove Hardware tab" check box lets you remove the "Hardware" tab from Mouse, Keyboard and "Sounds and Audio Devices" in Control Panel. It also removes the "Hardware" tab from the "Properties" dialog box for all local drives, including hard drives, floppy disk drives and CD-ROM drives. As a result, users cannot use the "Hardware" tab to view or change the device list or device properties or use the "Troubleshoot" button to resolve problems with the device.
Note: Changing this setting requires a logoff.
Remove Security tab (Professional only)
The "Remove Security tab (Professional only)" check box lets you remove the "Security" tab from the "Properties" dialog box for all file system objects, including folders, files, shortcuts and drives. As a result, users will be able to neither change the security settings nor view a list of all users that have access to the resource in question.
Note I: The security tab is only available on NTFS file systems.
Note II: Only applies to Windows XP Professional.
Remove CD Burning capabilities
The "Remove CD Burning capabilities" check box lets you remove all features in
Windows Explorer that allows you to use your CD writer.
Note: This setting does not prevent users from using third-party applications to create or modify CDs using a CD writer.
Disable Recycle Bin
When enabled, the "Disable Recycle Bin" setting, files and folders that are deleted using Windows Explorer will not be placed in the Recycle Bin and will therefore be permanently deleted.
Note: Changing this setting requires a logoff.
Remove "Shared Documents" from My Computer
The "Remove "Shared Documents" from My Computer" check box lets you remove the "Shared Documents" folders from "My Computer".
When a Windows client is in a workgroup, a Shared Documents icon appears in the Windows Explorer Web view under "Other Places" and also under "Files Stored on This Computer" in My Computer.
If you enable this setting, the Shared Documents folders is not displayed in the Web view or in My Computer.
Note: Changing this setting requires a logoff.
Disable thumbnail cache
When checked, the "Disable thumbnail cache" setting will not cache thumbnail views.
Note: For shared corporate workstations or computers where security is a top concern, you should enable this setting to turn off the thumbnail view cache, because the thumbnail cache can be read by everyone. Also note that an existing thumbnail cache has to be deleted manually.
Force Classic style Search
The "Force Classic style Search" check box lets you disable the "Internet Search" in
Search Companion.
Detect accidental double clicks
When selecting the "Detect accidental double clicks" check box, and Explorer is in
single-click mode, a double click will be treated as a single click.
Enable smooth scroll
The "Enable smooth scroll" check box lets you enable animated window scrolling in Explorer and other programs.
Enable Windows + X hotkeys
The "Enable Windows + X hotkeys" check box lets you control whether hotkeys such as Windows+E are enabled.
Note I: Not all hotkeys respect this setting.
Note II: Changing this setting requires a logoff.
Prefix 'Shortcut to' on new shortcuts
The "Prefix 'Shortcut to' on new shortcuts" check box, when checked, will put the phrase "Shortcut to" at the beginning of newly-created shortcuts.
Note: Changing this setting requires a logoff.
Show 'View workgroup computers' in Net places
The "Show 'View workgroup computers' in Net places" check box lets you control the "View workgroup computers" task in the "Common Tasks" pane of the "Network Places" folder. This pane will be
available when you are on a home network.
Note: Changing this setting requires a logoff.
Add 'Copy To Folder...' to context menu
When checked, this setting adds a 'Copy To Folder' option to the context menu of Windows Explorer.
Add 'Move To Folder...' to context menu
When checked, this setting adds a 'Move To Folder' option to the context menu of Windows Explorer.
Add 'Send To' to context menu
When checked, this setting adds a 'Send To' option to the context menu of Windows Explorer.
Disable changing of file associations
The "Disable changing of file associations" check box allows you to prevent users from changing the file associations ( i.e. which program opens which file type). This is a "per user" setting. For a system wide setting, use "Disable changing of file associations" located under "System & Security > System Settings"
Under "Hide drives" you'll see check boxes for all drive letters on your system. Checking a box in front of a specific drive letter removes the selected drive from "My Computer" and Windows Explorer. Also, the drive letters representing the selected drives do not appear in the standard "Open" dialog box.
Note I: This does not prevent user access via other ways (such as RUN box or Command window)
Note II: Changing this setting requires a logoff.
Explorer > Prevent access to drives
Under "Prevent access to specified drives" you'll see check boxes for all drive letters on your system. Checking a box in front of a specific drive letter prevents users from using "My Computer" to gain access to the
content of selected drives.
If you enable this setting, users cannot view the contents of the selected drives in "My Computer" or Windows Explorer. Also, they cannot use the "Run" dialog box, the "Map Network Drive" dialog box or the "Dir" command to view the directories on these drives.
Note: Changing this setting requires a logoff.
Shortcut overlay
The
"Shortcut overlay" lets you customize the "overlay" used by Explorer to indicate that an icon represents a shortcut. Choose one of the predefined overlays, or
your custom overlay by selecting "Custom".
Note: This is a system-wide setting.
Compressed files
Click the colored button to change the color Explorer uses to display compressed files.
For this to work, Explorer has to be configured to show compressed files in a different color. You can access this setting from Control Panel > Folder Options > View tab and checking the item Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color.
Hot tracking
Click the colored button to change the color Explorer uses to display items as you hover your mouse pointer over them.
For this to work, Explorer has to be configured into single-click mode. You can access this setting from Control Panel > Folder Options > General tab and checking the item Single-click to open an item (point to select).
Encrypted files
Click the colored button to change the color Explorer uses to display encrypted files.
For this to work, Explorer has to be configured to show encrypted files in a different color. You can access this setting from Control Panel > Folder Options > View tab and checking the item Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color.
The "Thumbnail size" settings lets you choose the size of the thumbnails shown by Explorer when using thumbnail view. The size is determined here by the width of the thumbnail..
The "Templates" section allows you to select the items which will be displayed when you right-click and select the New menu.
Special Folders
Changing the location of a special folder will not move the contents of that folder to the new location. To change the location of a special folder and simultaneously move the contents of the folder, select the folder you want to move, click and hold down the right mouse button, and point to the location where you want to move the folder. When you release the right mouse button, choose "Move Here" from the context pop-up menu.
Note: Changing location of some of the folders requires a logoff.
Show User and Computer Name
When enabled, "Show User and Computer Name" will rename "My Computer" to "Username on Computername", whereby Username is the name of the currently logged on user, and Computername is the name of the computer.
While this is trivial in a home environment, it might be of some use in larger networks, making it simple to determine which computer you are logged on to and which username you are logged on as.
"My Computer" shows on the Desktop (not by default in a new Windows XP install), the Start menu and in Windows Explorer.