Windows is a great operating system which gives everything a user needs with a good interface while allowing them a little bit of customization. A lot of settings in Windows are hidden from users so as to prevent them from unknowingly messing with settings. But, if you know what you are doing, you can make a few tweaks. Here are some examples:
If you want to make any changes to the registry, type “regedit” in the search box provided in your taskbar and then launch the highlighted application. It is very important to note that you should follow the tutorial at your own risk. While you are not supposed to make changes to the registry as it could cause a serious problem, it is very fun to play around.
1. Switch to dark theme
Windows 10 allows you to choose a dark theme. To get this, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Themes and then create a Personalized key. Now create a new DWORD value inside this named AppsUseLightTheme and leave the value as default which is 0.
Repeat this process for the HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Themes and now when you restart your PC, the new theme appears. Delete the two AppsUseLightTheme DWORD values to go back to the light theme.
To get back to the old theme, delete the two AppsUseLightTheme DWORD values to go back to the light theme.
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2. Increase the Transparency of taskbar
Using the general Personalization settings, you can make the taskbar transparent. But, if you want to make it more transparent then here is a registry tweak for you.
The registry key needed is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ Advanced (note Regedit does have a Find function). Now make a UseOLEDTaskbarTransparency DWORD value inside it, and then set it to 1. If you wish to undo the changes, just remove the same DWORD value.
3. Increase startup speed
Whenever you start your Windows OS, it puts a delay to any apps that boot with Windows. If you want, you can disable this. This setting is especially useful if you do not have many apps which start along with Windows boot up.
For this, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ Serialize, now create a new DWORD value named StartupDelayInMSec and set it to 0. If you want to go back, delete the Serialize key.
4. Hide OneDrive from File Explorer
If you do not like OneDrive to be in your navigation panel, you can easily remove it using this registry tweak. The registry key to open is HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ CLSID\ {018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6}.
5. Disable the login image
Whenever you turn on your device, you’ll see a default image created by Microsoft in your login screen, but you can easily disable this. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Policies\ Microsoft\ Windows\ System and then create a new DWORD value.
Call this value DisableLogonBackgroundImage and then set its value to 1. The same solid colour you have set for the accents elsewhere in Windows will be set on the login screen too. You can read this great read guide from geeks for geeks to know more.
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