One of our favorite tips of days gone by for Windows 98, ME, 2000 and Windows XP was to install Tweak UI - the little, unsanctioned Windows tweaker created and distributed by Microsoft although never officially supported by Microsoft. We're guessing they were a little concerned that people would damage their computers with it and sue Microsoft (Heaven forbid!). But, actually TweakUI was a tame tweaker that never did anyone any harm. In fact, it did a lot of people a great deal of good because it made it easy for ordinary folks to tweak some of Windows hidden settings that should have never been hidden to begin with.

Times have changed and Windows Vista is Microsoft's version du jour and sadly there's no TweakUI for Windows Vista. But, there sure are a lot of hidden settings we always wanted to get our hands on. We could have drilled down into the core of the system and figured it out, but that's time consuming and we don't have an abundance of free time as it is.

Then we discovered WinBubble - it's like TweakUI for Vista. While it's not a Microsoft product it makes many of the same sort of system tweaks to Vista that TweakUI makes to Windows 98, ME, 2000 and Windows XP. Fun! Educational! Best of all you don't need to be a geek to use the darn thing.

WinBubble description (by the author):
Customize and tweak your Windows Vista with ease. In just two clicks, WinBubble will help you to customize and tweak your Windows Vista easily. WinBubble's features cover Security Optimization and Customization.

Main features:

Windows Customizations:
· Add/Edit OEM Logo and Information
· Edit Owner Information
· Context Menu Customizations: Move To, Copy To, Take Ownership, Pin To, Turn OFF/ON Aero, Disk Clean-up and
· Winbubble launcher
· Customize Screensaver (Bubbles, Ribbon and Mystify)
· Customize and Remove the Arrow on Shortcut icons
· Desktop Icons: Show IE, Computer, Network, Control Panel, Username folder and Public Folder to Desktop.
· Hacking Windows Experience Score
· Re-enable Hibernation
· Enable Aurora Bootscreen
guide
· Launch WinSAT Aurora
· Show Windows Vista Build on Desktop
· Enable Slow-Down Animations
· Enable/Disable Welcome Center

IE Customizations:
· Internet Explorer Window Title
· Start Pages
· Enable/Disable Pop-up Blocker
· Enable/Disable Phishing Filter
· Enable/Disable Download Complete Notification
· Enable/Disable ClearType font
· Remove Search Box
· Hide Command Bar

Optimizations:
· Speed-up Start menu search (Stops searching the File index, Favorites and History, and Communication files)
· Clear Multiple Monitor Configuration
· 3 ways to turn off Windows Aero, Increases Performance for Gaming and Battery Usage

Security:
· Remove "New" in Explorer's Context Menu
· Remove "Folder Options"
· Disable Task manager
· Disable AutoPlay in All type of media
· Disable access to Display Property
· Disable access to Control Panel
· Increasing security by forcing to input the Username before entering the windows
· Add Encrypt/Decrypt to Explorer's Right-Click Menu (Context Menu)
· Enable/Disable UAC
· Disable RUN command in the Start Menu and Task manager
· Hide ALL Fixed Drives
· Hide a specific Drive
· Hide Shutdown button and options in the Start Menu
· Internet Explorer Security settings 1: Disable File->New, File-> Open, Save As, View Source, Favorites, Right-Click, Download, Tools->Internet Options.
· Internet Explorer Security settings 2: Internet Options Window, Hide General Tab, Security Tab, Privacy Tab, Content Tab, connections Tab, Programs Tab, Advanced Tab

Wow! WinBubble makes it easy to change lots of settings and make lots of customizations. But, beware! Be careful what you do with it. There are some settings changes like hiding your hard drives that may not be wise, unless you have reasons for hiding them - whatever those might be:)

You can read more about and download WinBubble from here. The page is really a jumbled mess - so you might have a hard time finding the download link. If so, then here is the direct download link. WinBubble is distributed as a 362KB zip file. It will take you about 3 minutes to download on a dial-up connection and an eye blink on high-speed connections.

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