Annoyances &
Solutions
Computers in general and (arguably)
Microsoft Windows in particular, are full of annoying little quirks and
traits seemingly designed to drive their users crazy. On this page I'll
be listing solutions to the most common complaints I've struck from
people in the past.
If the solution to your pet hate isn't covered here, feel free to use
the "Contact Us" link above to request help in finding a solution..
Warning - Many of the suggestions here involve modifying the Registry and other critical components of the Windows operating system. Whilst all the solutions provided here have been tested and found to work harmlessly on our test systems, it is impossible to take every possible configuration of your computer into account. Ergo, you should only download and use these solutions with the knowledge that you do so at your own risk. Everything offered here is to be considered unsupported and without warranty.
Caps Lock Key
Turn it into a Shift Key
Desktop Cleanup Wizard
How to turn the silly thing off
Shared Printers and Folders
How to stop them "Auto" installing
CAPS LOCK KEY - Accidentally leaving the caps lock key on while
typing into a word document or email can be frustrating. How many times
have you found yourself tempted to pull that key out of your keyboard
and toss it into the bin? No need now..
The following solution should work for both Windows XP and Windows 2000
based systems. It basically tells windows to treat the Caps Lock key
like your Shift key instead.
1. Click the
makecapslockashiftkey.reg to download and save the file to a
temporary location on your computer's hard drive.
2. Once downloaded, browse to where you saved it and double
click (or run) the file. Windows will ask if you're sure you want to add
the information in the .reg file to the registry. Click yes, reboot the
computer and you're done. The Caps Lock key should now behave like a
shift key.
To reverse the change, download, save and run makecapslockundo.reg - Reboot the computer and your caps lock key should be right to annoy you all over again.
Desktop Cleanup Wizard - This is one of those annoying "seemed like a good idea at the time" things that should have been left OFF by default, instead of on.. Every 60 days, Windows XP pops up a dialog box offering to clean up your desktop of unused icons and dump them into a folder for you. Most of us have our desktops just as we like them, so the following steps should get rid of this annoyance once and for all..
1. Right click the Desktop
2. Select Properties
3. Select the "Desktop" Tab
4. Click the "Customize Desktop" button
5. Deselect (take tick off) the "Run Desktop Wizard Every
60 Days" checkbox
6. Click Apply and then OK.
Done!
Shared Printers and Folders - Every time you share a new network resource on your network, Windows XP decides everyone in the place will want access to it. Wrong! If you're sick of Windows XP automatically installing newly shared printers or directories to your workstations, the following steps should provide some relief..
1. Open up an instance of Windows Explorer
2. Select "Tools > Folder Options" from the menu bar
3. Select the View tab to bring it to the front
4. In Advanced Settings, clear the "Automatically search
for network folders and printers" checkbox
5. Click Apply and then OK
Done!