Alexander’s Blog

In Windows Vista, when you use the search feature, Windows automatically includes the file index search, which can be huge because it includes all the searchable files on your computer. To speed the search process in Windows Vista, you can modify the registry per instructions below.

1. Start the registry editor (regedit.exe).
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced.
3. Double-click Start_SearchFiles in the right-hand pane.
4. Set Value data to 0.
5. Restart your computer.

Keep in mind that by modifying the search this way you are reducing the scope of the search to exclude hard drive files. If this is not what you want to do, then you may want to leave the registry setting to the default.

To encrypt a file in Windows XP, most people right-click the file, go to the Properties, click on Advanced, then click Encrypt contents to secure data. However, there’s an easier method. You can add the Encrypt or Decrypt option to the shortcut menu so all you have to do is right-click on a file or folder and select Encrypt. If the file is already encrypted, the available option will change to Decrypt. You must be logged on with an account with administrator privileges and the volume must be formatted with NTFS in order for you to configure your computer for this feature.

1. Start the registry editor by typing regedit.exe in Start, Run.
2. Locate the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion \Explorer\Advanced
3. On the Edit menu, click New, DWORD VALUE.
4. Type EncryptionContextMenu as a name for the value.
5. Type 1 for the value date.
6. Close the registry editor. You do not need to reboot for the changes to be in affect.
7 Go to Windows Explorer and right-click a file or folder on the NTFS partition. You should see the Encrypt option on the shortcut menu.

By default Outlook blocks several types of attachments for security reasons. There are two levels of attachment security in Microsoft Outlook 2003. Access to Level 1 files is blocked and you can’t changed that. When you receive an attachment with a Level 2 file type, you will be prompted to save the file to your hard disk. There are no Level 2 files by default but you can add or remove Level 2 type files if you are an administrator. There are dozens of Level 1 type files. For a list of Level 1 file types that are blocked by Outlook, click here.

If you wish to allow certain types of attachments in Outlook 2003, e.g. URLs, you can modify the registry as described below.

1. Clik, Start, Run, and type regedit.exe to start the registry editor.
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Your Version Number\Outlook\Security. The version number will be something like 10.0 or 11.0, depending on your version.
3. Click Edit, New, String Value.
4. For Value name type Level1Remove and press Enter.
5. Double-click the new entry and set the Value data to a list of extensions seperated by semicolon that you want to allow. For example, if you want to allow URLs, EXE and VBS files, enter url;exe;vbs in lowercase. Do not enter a period before file types.
5. Restart Outlook for the changes to take effect.

If you don’t see the Security tab on your Exchange organization’s Properties tab, obviously you won’t be able to modify the security.

Here’s how you can enable the Security tab by modifying the registry.

1. Start the registry editor (regedit.exe).
2. Locate the following subkey: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Exchange\EXAdmin.
3. From the Edit menu, select New, and then select DWORD value.
4. Type ShowSecurityPage and press Enter.
5. Double-click the entry you just created and set the value to 1.

Close the registry editor. You should now have the Security tab in the Properties of your Exchange organization.

If you want to quickly empty your recycle bin, instead of minimizing the desktop and going to the Recycle Bin you can simply right click any file on your computer and select Empty Recycle Bin. Here’s how.

Save the following entries in a text editor as a .REG file (e.g. emptybin.reg). Logon with an account that has administrative privileges. Double-click the .reg file to modify the registry. You will be prompted to add the information to the registry. You should see the Empty Recycle Bin added to the context menu for all files.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Empty Recycle Bin]
@=”{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}”

I’ve tested this successfully on Windows XP Professional computers. If you can’t get it to work, feel free to contact me.

Update: May 23, 2007: I tested the .reg file successfully on 32-bit Windows Vista.