Although Windows 7 has been around for a while, and Windows 10 is on the horizon, there are still many systems running the older OS. My new laptop came with Windows 8, and after a few months of frustration I installed Windows 7 on here. Here are the main registry tweaks I really noticed I was missing with the new Win7 install.
Add “Open with Notepad” to Context menu
There are times I’ve just wanted a quick look at a file without wading through the Open With… choices. Using Notepad is a quick and easy way of viewing the file.
Run the registry editor by pressing Win+R, type regedit and hit Enter. If you get an account control pop-up, just click Yes.
- Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell
- Right-click on shell > create new key, name it Open with Notepad
- Create a new key under that one and name it command
- In the right-pane, double-click on (Default) and type notepad.exe %1
This value will be added to the context menu immediately without the need to reboot.
Change Registered Owner name
If you buy a used PC and would like to see your name as the registered owner there is an easy fix for this. Run the registry editor by pressing Win+R, type regedit and hit Enter. If you get an account control pop-up, just click Yes.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion. In the right-hand pane, double-click the value RegisteredOwner and change it to whatever you’d like. This change is immediate and doesn’t require restarting Windows. You can check your work quickly by pressing Win+R and typing winver and pressing Enter.
Increase Maximum Internet Connections
Run the registry editor by pressing Win+R, type regedit and hit Enter. If you get an account control pop-up, just click Yes. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings.
In the right-hand pane, right-click and Add new DWORD entry, name it MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server. Right-click in the right-hand pane, right-click and Add new DWORD entry, and name this one MaxConnectionsPerServer. With each of these new keys, double-click them and set their Values to 12. For this registry tweak you will have to reboot your computer for the settings to take effect.
Association Selection
Didn’t really know what to call this section, but I’m sure most have seen this. You double-click an icon that doesn’t have an application associated with it, and you are presented this window:
Chances are that you select the option to Select a program from a list of installed programs? So wouldn’t it be much easier to have this window presented when you double-click an application with an unknown file association?
Run the registry editor by pressing Win+R, type regedit and hit Enter. If you get an account control pop-up, just click Yes. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Policies\\Explorer.
In the right-hand pane, right-click and create a new DWORD called NoInternetOpenWith. Double-click NoInternetOpenWith and give it a value of 1. If you find that don’t have an application installed that can open this file you can still select the look for an appropriate program on the Web link at the bottom of the Open With window.
Drop a message below if you think there are any tweaks or tips missing 🙂