Changing the default Windows Shell in Windows 7
The default Windows shell in Windows 7 is the Windows Explorer, however you can replace it with other shells such as, the command prompt, Windows PowerShell or custom built shells. This may become handy when computers are running specific tasks and you want to restrict their usage or free up resources taken by the default shell. However, remember that if for example you set the command prompt as the default shell, users can still load the default shell and other hidden applications.
Categories: Admin, GUI, Tweaks Tags: command prompt, PowerShell, regedit, registry, shell, windows explorer
Hiding Drives in Windows 7
This simple registry hack allows you to hide drives from appearing in the Windows Explorer shell. Users will not be able to select or see the drive in the applications’ open and save dialogs, My Computer and Windows Explorer but it remains visible from other shells such as, the command prompt. Therefore, applications can still access the hidden drive, even though it is invisible to end users! A hidden drive may be useful when backing files to a network or local drive and you would like to restrict that drive just for backup purposes. The risk of filling up that drive with unrelated data is limited by making it invisible to users including you, while it remains available to the backup application. Obviously, first set the backup destination drive from the backup application and then hide the drive as explained below.
Categories: Admin, Tweaks Tags: backup, binary, drives, hack, hide, NoDrives, registry, shell, tweak, windows explorer
Windows Remote Management Service
Windows Remote Management service allows you to execute commands on a remote computer, either from the command prompt using WinRS or from Windows PowerShell. However, you need to configure the remote computer before performing any remote management tasks!
Categories: Management Tags: HTTPS, Kerberos, listener, PowerShell, shell, Windows Remote, Windows Remote Shell, WinRM, WinRS, WS-Man
Tweaking Windows Explorer default behavior
Opening Windows explorer from the taskbar icon takes you to the Library location by default. If you are annoyed with this behavior you can easily change the default location by following these steps:
