12 useful Registry tips to optimize the Windows 10 experience

The Windows Registry contains all the tweaks to customize the Windows experience and handle minor annoyances that Microsoft thinks every user will love. From changing the Windows design, to unlocking hidden features, there will be Registry tweaks suitable for everything. To help you improve your Windows 10 experience, here are a bunch of Windows 10 registry tips worth trying.

Warning : Clutter caused with Registry may damage Windows. The article recommends following the instructions exactly and should not do anything if you are unsure. For safety, make a copy of the registry before making any changes.

1. Use Windows Photo Viewer instead of Photos

Use Windows Photo Viewer instead of Photos

People sometimes have problems with the Photos app in Windows 10. On the contrary, Windows Photo Viewer from Windows 7 has done a great job, but it has been deleted since the Windows 10 update a few years ago. .

But the code for Photo Viewer is still in Windows 10. You just need to create a fairly complicated registry entry to unlock. This is a little different than regular registry tweaks and TipsMake.com has created a tutorial on how to use the registry to turn Windows Photo Viewer into the default photo application in Windows 10.

2. Turn off the lock screen

Turn off the lock screen

The lock screen is an extra layer of security on your Windows PC, requiring a password or PIN for you to log in again. If you feel safe, then you can turn off the lock screen completely.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindows

Once here, right-click on Windows in the left panel, select New> Key and name the new key Personalization.

Select Personalization , then in the right panel, right-click an empty spot and select New> DWORD (32-bit) Value , name the value NoLockScreen , change the Value data to 1 , and then click OK.

3. Display detailed information on startup

If your PC is experiencing unexplainable slowdowns or is slowing down, then you should prioritize diagnosing what is causing the problem. A viable way to do this is to set your Windows 10 boot to Verbose Mode , which will give you more detailed information about the processes that take place on your PC when you boot.

To enable this, go to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREWow6432NodeMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem

Next, right-click an empty space in the right panel, then select New> DWORD (32-bit) Value .

Display startup details

Name the value VerboseStatus , right-click it, then choose Modify , and in the Modify box , enter 1 .

4. Open the latest activity window in the taskbar

The way Windows 10 organizes open apps is to gather all open windows of a given app under the same icon on the taskbar, then you can click to show a thumbnail of all both open windows in it.

This is quite useful, but you might also like clicking on the taskbar icon that takes you straight to the nearest window you have opened in the application, removing the thumbnail.

Refer to the article: How to enable Last Active Click for Windows 10 Taskbar for more details.

5. Turn off the 'shake' feature to minimize the windows

Aero Shake is a feature introduced in Windows 7 that allows you to minimize windows by holding the window you want to open and shaking it. You may not know this feature. Even if you're dead, you might not want to use this feature. To remove it, visit regedit and navigate to:

ComputerHKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerAdvanced

Here, right-click an empty space in the right panel, select New> DWORD (32-bit) , then call it DisallowShaking.

Turn off the 'shake' feature to minimize the windows

Double click the newly created entry, then change the value in the Value box to 1 and click OK.

6. Add your own applications to the context menu

The context menu is interesting, but to really control it, you can create registry keys to add specific applications to it. Take Notepad as an example.

B1: Navigate to:

ComputerHKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryBackgroundshell

B2: In the shell directory , right-click and create a new key named Notepad , which creates a key named command.

In the key command directory , right-click the Default string , and then in the Value box , type notepad.exe.

Now, close the Registry Editor, right click on the screen and you will see Notepad appear right in the context menu.

7. Change Windows application and settings to Dark Mode

You can use the registry to enable Dark Mode on Windows. Refer to the article: Turn on Dark Mode on Windows 10 for more details.

8. Delete Windows 10 Action Center Sidebar

Windows 10 Action Center Sidebar provides handy quick access buttons and notifications. However, if you find these buttons unnecessary and uncomfortable with the sidebar taking up half of the screen when opening, you can simply disable it. In Registry Editor, visit:

ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionImmersiveShell

Double-click UseActionCenterExperience on the right panel, then change the value to 0 . Then restart your PC and you'll see the Action Center Sidebar disappear, the notification panel will be clean and smaller in size.

Delete Windows 10 Action Center Sidebar

9. Delete the OneDrive button from File Explorer

If you don't use OneDrive or switch to another cloud storage service after Microsoft decides to downgrade your storage plans, you can delete the OneDrive button from File Explorer.

Refer to the article: How to hide OneDrive from File Explorer in Windows 10 for more details.

10. Automatically delete Pagefile.sys when shutdown

Pagefile.sys acts like a virtual RAM that Windows uses to store unused programs, thus reducing the pressure on actual RAM. Although Pagefile.sys should not be turned off, you can delete it to save space and also avoid any security holes.

Refer to the article: Clear the trace of Pagefile every time you turn off your Windows 10 computer for details on how to do it.

11. Disable background login screen blur on Windows 10

You can also disable background blur to make the lock screen wallpaper clear. Reference: How to disable background login screen blur on Windows 10 for more details.

12. Disable Windows Startup Delay

Windows sets a small delay at startup to help Windows startup applications work smoothly and thus you can start with a smooth, slow-down desktop. However, if you do not have a lot of startup applications, then this delay may not be necessary. You can disable this delay to speed up Windows startup. Reference: How to disable Startup Delay in Windows 10 for more details.

Editing the registry is not the only way to speed up the Windows 10 experience. TipsMake.com also has a list of other Windows 10 tweaks for your reference.