Platinum Edition Using® Microsoft® Windows® XP

Hacking the Registry

Okay, I know I've told you over and over in this chapter that you shouldn't dink around with the Registry unless absolutely necessary because your changes can't be easily undone and some mistakes could keep your system from booting. That said (again), you can implement many useful hacks through careful manipulation of the Registry. Several such modifications are scattered throughout this book as part of coverage of other topics. And sometimes a registry hack turns up that doesn't quite qualify under the “unless absolutely necessary” litmus test, but it is fairly useful, so I'll tell you about it anyway.

Create Your Own Program Aliases

I don't know about you, but I have a lot of programs showing up under my Start, Programs ...