Wednesday, July 24, 2013

How to hide drive from my computer in XP

In this article we would cover following tips and tricks of XP
  • How to hide drive from my computer
  • How to show icon on my computer
  • How to change the location of Desktop, My documents, program, start menu
  • How to disable auto play of drive
  • How to add program in auto play menu
  • How to hide drive letter
  • How to hide option from control panel
We need Power Toy Software for these tips. We have installed power toys in our previous article.
Launch power toys tweak UI
Start ==> program ==> power ==> toys Tweak UI
power-toys tweak UI

To Show My computer icons.

With this option you can choose which options should appear in my computer. You can show or hide control panel options in my computer. As well as you can also choose whether "Files stored on this computer" should appear in my computer or not.
Select the icon which you want to display in my computer.

If you select these options
both icon will display in my computer

If you uncheck these options
Both options will remove from my computer

To hide any drive from my computer

Following option would be helpful if you want to hide any drive from my computer.
Just uncheck the drive you want to hide

We hide c drive for example, result you can see in my computer

To change the location of Desktop, My documents, program , start menu

If want to change the locations of Desktop, My documents, program , start menu. This option can do it for you. Choose special folder sub key from my computer main key. Select the folder from left side which location you want to change.
Select special folder and click on change locations

To disable auto play

Whenever you attach external drive with system it would try to play it. This feature is called auto play with this trick you can stop any particular device form auto play to removable media.
Uncheck the drive on which you do not want auto play facility.

If you just want to disable auto play for CD DVD or Removable media uncheck these options despite of above options

To add program in auto play menu

Whenever you insert any CD DVD or removable media in computer XP try to play it. After reading its content XP opens a auto play menu. With this trick you can add any special program which you want to handle the removable devices.
Use create button to select the new program

To hide drive letter

With these option you can show all drive letter after the label, show all drive letters before the label, show network drive letters before the label, and show local drive letter after the label, or never show drive letters.
To choose customized drive latter select the radio button of you choice.

To hide option from control panel.

Sometimes you want hide some particular options form control panel so other user can not access these options. With this trick you can remove options from control panel.
To remove option from control panel remove the trick.

How to remove program from start menu in XP

Please follow below steps

  • How to show desktop icon.
  • How to disable balloon tips
  • Hide name for start menu
  • How to disable balloon tips
  • How to hide notification icon box
  • How to hide low disk space warning
  • How to remove program from start menu
To perform these tasks you need tweak UI software (We have installed it in our previous article).
Launch power toys tweak UI
Start ==> program ==> power ==> toys Tweak UI
power-toys tweak UI

How to show desktop icon.

To show any icons on desktop use this option. To show icon tick mark the check box. You can choose from internet explorer, my computer, my documents, my network place and recycle bin.
Check the icon :- which you want to display on desktop.
show desktop icon

How to disable balloon tips

To disable balloon tips which occur in all applications that supports windows themes.
Uncheck this box :- enable balloon tips
Hide name for start menu

Hide name for start menu

If you want to use new start menu in XP and same time do not want to display user name in start menu use this option.
If you check the show name on start menu box your name will be displayed at the top of the start menu. Not available in classic menu.

How to hide notification icon box

If you unchecked the show taskbar notification icons box then all taskbar notification icons will be hidden overriding a any setting you may have customized .

How to hide low disk space warning

If window detect low space in any drive it would start popping a low space message in task bar. You can remove this message.
Uncheck this options :- warning on low disk space

How to remove program from start menu

With this option you can control which program should be appear in start menu list or which not. Just uncheck the unwanted program.
Allow the following applications to appears in the most frequently used programs section of the start menu. remove program from start menu

How to select first icon on desktop

After changing this setting you may need to select arrange by name from the desktop context to take effect.
Select the icon you wish to appear first on the desktop.
select first icon on desktop

How to install power toy ui in XP



With Power Toy Tweak UI software you could easily access the settings those are difficult to access for normal user. You need not be computer geek to use our tips and tricks as I promised in this section.
Login from administrator account and double click on downloaded software
power-toys tweak UI
On welcome click next
power-toys tweak UI
On license agreement screen select I accept and click on next
power-toys tweak UI
To complete setup click on finish
power-toys tweak UI
To launch power toys tweak UI
Start ==> program ==> power ==> toys Tweak UI
power-toys tweak UI
In our next articles we would use Power Toys to optimize xp.