Truth Behind Hidden Secret “God Mode” (aka Master Control Panel) Found in Windows 7 and Windows 8

by softwere enginier mayur khokhar

UPDATE: This so called "God Mode" can also be created in Microsoft's latest  control penal setting OS Windows 8.

So everyone is talking about the new "God Mode" found in Windows 7. Is it really new to Windows 7? Is it really a hidden secret thing? Lets understand it with the help of a very simple story.
2 persons are discussing about "GodMode":
Person 1: Did you know Windows 7 contains a hidden secret "God Mode"?
Person 2: (Surprised...) Really? I didn't. Can you please let me know how to access it?
Person 1: Sure. Just create a new folder anywhere in Windows 7. You can create it on Desktop or within Windows Explorer and give it following name:

God Mode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Voilla. Now you'll have access to all Control Panel settings page in a single place as shown in following screenshot:

Person 2: (Excited...) Wow. Amazing. Its too cool. But hey! I tried to use my name instead of "God Mode" while renaming the folder and its still working. So what's so special about giving it name "God Mode"?
Person 1: (Confused and looking at the front wall...) Hmmm. Guess what, you are right. I checked and it works for any string but the code given after the decimal point is must and should not be changed.
Person 2: Yeah. So "God Mode" has nothing to do with this special Control Panel page. I investigated and found that actually this page is called "All Tasks" and you can get more information about it from Windows Registry.
Type regedit in RUN or Start Menu Searchbox and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor. Now go to following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Or press "Ctrl+F" in Registry Editor and search for {ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} string. It'll open the same key for you.
Now you can see, this key have "All Tasks" as default value.

Person 1: True mate.
Person 2: Actually this special "All Tasks" page is neither any easter egg nor any hidden secret thing. It was developed by Windows developers to show search results. Whenever you search for any term in control panel window, the "All Tasks" page is searched for the term and if any search result is found, its shown to the user.
In fact, there is no need to create a new folder to access it. You can directly access it using following command in RUN or Windows Explorer addressbar:

shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

You can also create a shortcut using following command:

explorer.exe shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

And its not any new thing in Windows 7. It was also present in Windows Vista.
Person 1: Says nothing and leaves the room...
PS: If you want a ready-made "Windows 7 God Mode" shortcut, download following ZIP file, extract it and run the extracted file. It'll directly launch the so called hidden secret GodMode:

Backup Data Without Booting I

How To Backup Data Without Booting Into Windows (The Easy Way)

Posted May 23, 2012 – 7:08 pm in: Windows 8 & 7, guide

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At times, we come across Windows boot issues that prevent us from booting into Windows. Sure, one can use Windows recovery tools to fix most of startup related issues but there are some errors that can’t be fixed through recovery environment.

If you’re having boot problems on your Windows PC and can’t fix them even after using recovery tools (see how to fix boot problems using startup repair) present under System Recovery Options, you may want to backup your documents, pictures, music and other data before reinstalling Windows.

While there are advanced methods and software available to backup data,  not everyone is comfortable using command line tools and paid software. So, in this guide, we are going show you a smart way to backup data from your Windows and other drives to a USB drive when you are unable to boot into Windows.

Step 1: Turn on your PC, press F8 key during the startup and then select Repair Your Computer option under Advanced Boot Options to boot into the recovery environment. If you can’t see Repair Your Computer option under Advanced Boot Options you will need to use the installation media.

If the above method doesn’t work, place your Windows installation DVD in the optical drive, reboot your PC. Make necessary changes to the BIOS to make PC boot from CD/DVD. You can also use bootable Windows USB as installation media.

Step 2: Users who aren’t booting from DVD or USB can simply skip this step. Press any key when are asked to do so. When you press a key, Windows starts loading files from the DVD you will see “Windows is loading files” message.

Step 3: In a while, you will see Install Windows screen. Here, select your language, keyboard type, language, and then click Next button.

Users who have used Repair Your Computer under Advanced Boot Options will see the following screen:

Select keyboard input method and click Next button and type in the password and then skip to Step 5.

Step 4: In the following screen, you will see Install now button. Don’t click Install now button as dong so will take you to the next screen. Click Repair your computer option located in the lower left corner to start System Recovery Options. System Recovery Options will search for Windows installations and list them. Select the operating system, click Next button to see available recovery tools.

Step 5: In this screen, you will all available System Recovery Options.

Step 6: Click on Command Prompt. No, we are not going to use the command line to backup data but we are using the Command Prompt to launch an application with GUI so we can easily move or backup files from a familiar user interface.

In the Command Prompt, type Notepad.exe and press Enter key to launch our favorite Notepad application. Once the application is launched, click on File > Save As (you use Ctrl + S keys as well) to launch Save As dialog.

Step 7: Save As dialog is what we wanted as from here we can easily browse all drives and folders without a problem. Simply click on Computer icon in the left pane and then browse to the drive or folder that you want to backup and then copy your files to a USB drive. That’s it!

Please note when you are browsing a drive or folder, all files may not appear as Save As dialog is showing only text files. To view all files, simply select All Files in Save as type drop down menu. Also note that the Send to function in the context menu may not work. You may need to manually copy and paste required files onto the USB drive. Good luck!

Hidden Secret Control Panel

Enable Hidden Secret Control Panel Items in Windows Vista and 7

by mayur khokhar

Did you know Windows Vista and 7 hide some important items in Control Panel from you? Surprised? Lets talk in details!
Actually Windows allows you to show or hide specific items in Control Panel using simple registry trick which is described in details in following tutorial:
How to Hide / Show Specific Control Panel Applets / Icons in Windows?
Using the same trick Microsoft has disabled some items in Control Panel in Windows Vista and 7 for no reason. Really, those hidden items are useful and might be very important for some users but for some unknown reason, those are hidden by default.
Today in this tutorial, we'll tell you how to enable those hidden items in Control Panel so that you can access them whenever you want.
1. Type regedit in RUN or Startmenu Search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.
2. Now go to following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\don't load

3. The above mentioned key contains some .CPL entries in right-side pane which makes them hidden in Control Panel.

4. You can simply delete the "don't load" key and all hidden items will be enabled in Control Panel.
PS: Windows 7 users! Please read NOTE 1, NOTE 2 and NOTE 3 given at the end of this tutorial before deleting the key.

As you can see in the above screenshot, the items pointed in dark were hidden by default but now they are enabled using this registry trick.
NOTE 1: If you delete the whole "don't load" key in Windows 7, you might get some duplicate items in Control Panel e.g., you'll get 2 Keyboard, 2 Mouse, 2 Sound entries in Control Panel. To fix this issue, don't delete the whole key, instead only delete following entries from right-side pane:

hdwwiz.cpl
appwiz.cpl
ncpa.cpl
sysdm.cpl
desk.cpl
joy.cpl
Firewall.cpl
collab.cpl
irprops.cpl
tabletpc.cpl
bthprops.cpl
infocardcpl.cpl

NOTE 2: Windows Vista allows you to delete the registry key but Windows 7 will not allow you. You'll need to take permission on the key before deleting it. You can use following simple steps to take permission:
[Guide] How to Take Ownership (Permission) of a Registry Key in Windows?
NOTE 3: If by any chance you deleted the whole "don't load" key in Windows 7 and getting duplicate items in Control Panel, you can download following ZIP file, extract it and run the extracted .REG file. It'll fix the issue and you'll no longer get duplicate items:
Download Registry Script

How To Get The New Windows 8 Start Screen In Windows 7

Now that Microsoft has officially unveiled the new user interface (UI) of the upcoming Windows 8 OS (check out the official preview video) with some great new features, you might want to get the tile-based Windows 8 Start screen in your Windows 7 OS as well.

Unlike Windows 7 or any other desktop OS, Windows 8 includes tile-based Start screen (just like in Windows Phone 7), which replaces Windows Start menu with a customizable, scalable full-screen view of apps. These live tiles provide notifications, up-to-date information from installed apps.

Getting the new Metro UI based Start menu is pretty easy if you follow the steps given below.

How to get it:

1. Start the procedure by downloading and installing Rainmeter software.

2. Once you are done with Rainmeter installation, download Omnimo 3.1 skin for Rainmeter.

3. Extract the contents of the zip pack and then double-click on Omnimo.rmskin file to start installing the skin.

4. Once installed, add new panels and arrange them one by one to get the Windows 8 Start screen look.

5. Good luck!

NOTE: The developer of Omnimo Rainmeter skin, fediafedia, is working on a new version of the skin which will bring the exact Windows 8 Tablet UI Start menu to Windows 7 (with Start at the top left and user picture at the top right of the screen) and the skin will be released within a week or two. Until then, you can follow the above procedure to get similar Start screen in Windows 7.

Here is the preview of next version of the skin with exact Windows 8 Start screen look:

  Tags: Windows 7

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How To Change Windows Photo Viewer Background Color

by :mayur khokhar

The beauty of Windows operating system is that we have plenty of tools to tweak and customize every department to our desire. Hundreds of free tweaking and customization tools out there for Windows 7 and Windows 8. In the past, we have covered free tools to change Windows Media Player library background, Start screen background, and Windows Explorer background (Windows 7).

This time around, we have a free tool that lets you easily replace the default white background color of Windows Photo Viewer and Windows Live Photo Gallery programs.

Windows Photo Viewer is one of the programs that we use very often. While users always open pictures in Photo Viewer and hardly get a chance to see the background of the Photo Viewer, users who don’t like the white background may want to set a custom color as background.

Photo Viewer Background Changer is a free utility to the customize the background of Photo Viewer and Live Photo Gallery. It’s compatible with Photo Viewer in Windows 7 & Windows 8, Windows Live Gallery in Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. It supports both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows. Please note that you need to have installed .NET Framework 3.5 on Windows XP and Vista to be able to run and use this tool.

Even though Photo Viewer Background changer comes with an option to restore the original white background, we suggest you create a system restore point before altering original system files. A separate executable file is included in the zip file for Windows 7, Vista, and Windows XP. Be sure to run the right version.

In Windows 8, you may see “Windows SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app from starting. Running this app might put your PC at risk” message while launching the tool. Simply click More info and then click Run anyway button to run the tool.

Download Photo Viewer Background Changer

  Tags: Customize Windows, Freeware

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Windows 8: How to re-enable the classic start menu

  mayur khokhar softwere enginier

The Windows 8 developer preview is now out in the wild. Many have you, including almost all the Neowin staff, have downloaded the new preview and are getting used to the many new features in the OS.
One common request that has hit our forum (and inboxes) is how to bring back the classic start button in the developers preview. If you find that you want to experience Windows 8 DP without the new start button interface, follow the steps below to regain the classic start button functionality.

To get back the old start menu, open regedit, goto

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

change value of RPEnabled from "1" to "0"

close regedit, you get your old start menu......the catch is, no more metro UI because you just disabled it. To get back the Metro UI, change the value back to "1"

We should note that the DP is not intended to be an everyday OS, it is far from complete and there are many bugs and other logistical issues to be resolved.
Making changes to the registry is always a risky adventure and you should not do so unless you are confident in your ability to make the correct adjustments.
While the classic start menu is not present in the DP, it is speculated that Microsoft intentionally did not make the option available to force developers to adopt the new UI. The classic start menu could return in native fashion at a later date.
Thanks for the tip

How To Open Control Panel In Windows 8

Posted March 9, 2012 – 8:04 pm in: Windows 8 Guides

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The first thing you notice when you power on a Windows 8 PC is the new Start screen. And the first thing you notice when you switch to the desktop is the missing good old Start menu and Start orb/button. For years, Windows users have been using the Start menu to launch programs, My Documents, My Pictures and also Control Panel. But in Windows 8, opening the Control Panel is not that easy if you don’t know the new ways.

In Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7, one could open the Control Panel by clicking on Control Panel button present on the Start menu. As you all know, Microsoft has removed the Start menu and Start orb from Windows 8. So, how to open Control Panel in Windows 8? It’s easy, just follow one of the methods mentioned below to open Control Panel in Windows 8.

Method 1: Move the mouse cursor to the lower right corner of the screen and then right click to bring up a small menu. The menu gives you quick access to some common administrative tasks, including Control Panel.

Method 2: Switch to the Start screen, type Control Panel and then press enter key to launch the same. Note that in Windows 8, you don’t need to open the search pane to search for an application. Switch to the Start screen and start typing to search for the item.

Method 3: Simultaneously press Windows + R keys to open Run dialog. In the box, type control.exe and then press enter key to launch Control Panel.

Method 4: Move the mouse cursor to the upper or lower right corner of the screen to see the Charms Bar, click on Settings charm, and then click on Control Panel to launch the same. If you are running Windows 8 on a tablet or touch device, swipe from the right-edge of the screen to see the Charms Bar.

Method 5: You can also pin the Control Panel to the Start screen for the quick access. To pin it to the Start, type Control Panel when you are in Start screen, right-click on Control Panel search result, and then select Pin to Start option. You can also pin Control Panel to the taskbar.