Windows 10 How-To's

[GuidoLS]

The following are some tips and tricks I've picked up that either add functionality, restore functionality, or simply make Windows 10 easier to use. They all work on my system. I won't guarantee they work on yours. All of these, especially the ones that may alter the registry, are used at your own risk. Some are new. Some are old, and work across multiple versions of Windows. None are exclusively mine (although I've had to alter a few to make them work with 10), and none have any attribution, because they appear all over the place, in many forms. I'm just posting them here, in one place, for user ease.

Unless there's an objection by Hexus staff, each how-to will have it's own post (not thread).

1) God Mode
2) Games Explorer Restoration
3) Add/Remove Pin to Quick access option
4) Disable/Remove OneDrive

[GuidoLS]

The first in this series - God Mode.

No, this is not a new discovery - it has been around since Windows XP, but was semi-deactivated in Windows 7 and 8/8.1. This trick restores full functionality.

1. Right-click on your desktop and select New Folder

2. Type in or copy and paste the following as the name:

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

3. Hit Enter and the folder icon will change to GodMode

4. Enjoy easy access to all Windows 10 settings.

If you have to ask, then perhaps you shouldn't use this one

[GuidoLS]

How to restore the Games Explorer

Yep. This one is simple too.

1. Right-click on your desktop and select New Folder

2. Type in or copy and paste the following as the name:

Games Explorer.{ED228FDF-9EA8-4870-83b1-96b02CFE0D52}

3. Hit Enter and the folder will change to the familiar Games Explorer Icon.

4. Enjoy

You'll note that in addition to your games library, it also displays your WEI. I'm looking for a reasonable way for people to run that assessment for themselves, instead of in the background. So far, I've only found some command-line stuff, and I've seen the letters DOS make a grown man cry, so until then, I'll not post a manual method. Also, the Learn more about these scores link goes to a general Windows Help web page, and not WEI specific page. That part isn't perfect, but it wasn't the point of this how-to.

[GuidoLS]

3) How to remove the Pin to Quick Access option from right clicking on icons -

I saw this question scrolling through the forums, and saw it was never answered - here's the answer now. This one is courtesy of TenForums, and does work.

To remove the functionality, download and install THIS.

To add the functionality back, download and install THIS.

Both of these are .reg files - they do change your registry file.

Also, unlike Windows 8/8.1, there's currently no way to remove the Pin to Start option (that I've found).

[GuidoLS]

4) How to disable or remove OneDrive

There is a registry setting you can manipulate to disable OneDrive. At this time, I'm not going to post it, as it's a bit complicated, and there's no .reg key to just click. I may or may not make one.

The easiest way is to set a group policy, as that handles everyone that touches your computer, intentionally or otherwise.

1) Hit the Win Key and R at the same time (or however you desire to call up the run command)
2) Type in gpedit.msc and hit Enter (Group Policy Editor program).
3) Under the Local Computer Policy section, scroll down to Computer Configuration, and under that scroll down to Administrative Templates, and then down to Windows Components, and finally, down to OneDrive. Click on OneDrive. You'll get a screen that looks like this -



Right click on the blue highlighted area. You'll get a screen that should look like this -



It sounds counter-intuitive, but hit enable. The policy is to deny access, not enable access. Doing so shuts off OneDrive, full stop.

There is a nuclear option, which I do not recommend. That involves the removal of OneDrive completely. Simply copy/paste this batch file (OMG, DOS...) and either save it as a .cmd or .bat file. It's on you completely if you do this.

@echo off
cls

set x86="%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\OneDriveSetup.exe"
set x64="%SYSTEMROOT%\SysWOW64\OneDriveSetup.exe"

echo Closing OneDrive process.
echo.
taskkill /f /im OneDrive.exe > NUL 2>&1
ping 127.0.0.1 -n 5 > NUL 2>&1

echo Uninstalling OneDrive.
echo.
if exist %x64% (
%x64% /uninstall
) else (
%x86% /uninstall
)
ping 127.0.0.1 -n 5 > NUL 2>&1

echo Removing OneDrive leftovers.
echo.
rd "%USERPROFILE%\OneDrive" /Q /S > NUL 2>&1
rd "C:\OneDriveTemp" /Q /S > NUL 2>&1
rd "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\OneDrive" /Q /S > NUL 2>&1
rd "%PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft OneDrive" /Q /S > NUL 2>&1 

echo Removeing OneDrive from the Explorer Side Panel.
echo.
REG DELETE "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6}" /f > NUL 2>&1
REG DELETE "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6}" /f > NUL 2>&1

pause