Context
I have a Windows app printing PDF files by forwarding the file paths to ShellExecuteEx and the verb print. Adobe Reader is installed and registered for that verb. Reader by default creates a LNK shortcut file in the start menu:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Adobe Acrobat DC.lnk
Hide windows
By default, reader shows a GUI window when printing a PDF. Some customer doesn't want that window and simply tried to "hide" it by changing the LNK file content using Windows Explorer properties to at least minimize the windows by default. That customer didn't know if that works or not, one simply tried.
To my surprise this worked, changing the minimize vs. non-minimize/default setting of the LNK file made the reader windows being visible or minimized.
No changes in registry
I've searched the registry for changed settings regarding the print verb, but couldn't find any. The new setting really seemed to be only stored within the LNK file:
The registry contained references to the actual EXE only, not the LNK file. Pretty much like expected, I've never came across any shell verb registration using LNK files at all.
"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat DC\Acrobat\Acrobat.exe" /p /h "%1"
Though, all invocations of the verb print seemed to recognize that setting, either manually using the context menu of some PDF in Windows Explorer or executing things on the shell:
powershell -Command "Start-Process -Verb print '\\?\C:\[...].pdf'"
Why is that important?
Adobe Reader provides the command line argument /h to minimize itself as well, but using that doesn't fully hide a window at all. Instead, a window is shown for a second or so and afterwards minimized, e.g. like Adobe is doing that itself. OTOH, with the changed LNK file things are different: Either really now window is shown at all or only some artifacts like the window title or alike for less than a second.
It really seems that the difference is between Adobe doing something on it own after it has loaded and stuff vs. Windows itself creating the minimized window already.
Additionally, if possible at all I would like to avoid customers needing to change the LNK file themself. The problem with that change is that it's not tied to the print verb only, but whenever Adobe Reader gets opened. And sometimes customers really need to have a look at PDFs themself instead of automatic printing only.
So, how does that work?
Is Windows itself using the setting of that LNK file or is this something implemented by Adobe Reader?
Using ProcMon, I couldn't find any hint about that Adobe Reader itself reads the LNK file. As well, I couldn't find this behaviour documented in the topics about shell verbs, ShellExecuteEx etc. It's totally unexpected to me, as the LNK file is some arbitrary file in theory, which might not exist at all, can be named as one likes, even multiple of those could exist in theory starting different apps of some package or the same app with different arguments etc.
Thanks for any insights.
Can you execute a VBS file as a screen saver? I have managed to rename cmd.exe to *.scr and this works, but I need to be able to run a VBS file as the screen saver if this is possible.
No, this is not possible.
In Windows, screen savers (*.scr files) are a special type of executable (.exe) file. That is why renaming a program like cmd.exe to cmd.scr causes it to sort of "work" as a screen saver. In particular, screen savers respond to certain command line switches (or parameters), which is how the OS gets them to do things like show the configuration dialog or display a preview.
But you can't compile VBScript files into executables, so there's no way to make this trick work for them.
You might be able to migrate the VBScript code to a VB 6 application, which you could then compile into an executable and run as a screen saver, but I can't imagine that this would be worth the development time. If you're interested in such a thing (and can get your hands on an old copy of VB 6!), you can probably find several how-to guides online, like this one.
But I'm honestly having a hard time imagining why one would ever want to run a VBScript script as a screen saver, or what it would display on the screen. You don't have very much control over what gets displayed on the screen, and you can't call down to native Windows API functions from VBScript. You'd end up relying upon some external library, so you might as well just use that library in the first place.
You can simply write a batch file that starts your vb script:
CD "%SystemRoot%\System32"
Start /Wait Wscript.exe "c:\program files\myscript.vbs"
Exit
Then compile the batch to exe, rename the exe to scr.
When I get a vanilla Windows system, there's a bunch of stuff I change to make it more developer-friendly.
Some of it I remember every time, other stuff I only do as and when.
Examples:
Show extensions of all file types
Make hidden and system file visible
Turn off Windows Defender
I seem to remember a blog post from Jeff on this topic, but can't locate it!
What else do you do, and do you have any tools that automate this process?
Indeed I do the above, plus deactivating Zip support (regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll), activating the underscore on Alt shortcuts (Advanced Appearance), replacing Courier New by Andale Mono (replace with your favorite font) in all program settings (after installing it, of course), installing my favorite utilities (UnxUtils, Sysinternals', SciTE, FileMenu Tools which has Command line here and lot of other goodies, etc.) and so on.
Oh, and indeed also deactivate dual keyboard support (French/English), deactivate task grouping, install VirtuaWin (4 desktops), CLCL (clipboard manager), AutoHotkey and my favorite macros, and lot of other freewares, more or less must have.
No automation, alas.
I install Cygwin to have *nix command line tools and Xemacs to have a useful editor.
I install:
The usual suspects: Visual Studio, Sql Management Studio, Firefox, Chrome, etc...
Paint.Net
Notepad++
Launchy
The first thing I do is open a command prompt and then open the properties for it:
Switch on Quick Edit. Why is this off by default?
Increase the window size. Why limit it to the size of a postage stamp?
Increase the vertical buffer to the maximum possible. Why limit it to a few hundred lines?
Change the foreground colour to white instead of grey. Why make it less readable than it could be?
In summary: WHY?
Using the Add\Remove Windows Components in Control Panel, I always remove...
Games
Document Templates
MSN Explorer
Outlook Express
For the look and feel I...
Revert to the classic start menu; however, if it's Vista, I leave it as is because I like the indexed search feature.
Revert to a classic desktop with large icons and make sure that My Computer is the first icon (versus My Documents)
I also perform the things you mentioned above
Before installing any software I...
Install any outstanding Windows updates
Run a Disk Clean Up
Run Disk Defrag
Setup scheduled tasks for Clean Up, Defrag, and other personal tools
For tools (outside of my IDEs and other necessary development tools), I install..
TweakUI
IE6, IE7, Safari, Chrome, Opera, and Firefox
Install the set of Firefox plug-ins I always use for development
'Open Command Prompt Here' shell extension
Install Consolas and set it as the default font for my editors (IDEs, Notepad++, etc)
I wipe it and install Linux. Everyone is always amazed by how productive I can be. It's because I don't spend half my time fighting with the machine.
Install Consolas font and turn on (and tune) ClearType.
Install ZoomIt to magnify display during presentations.
Install FireFox/Firebug
Install XYplorer Win Explorer alternative (can't live without it!)
Install DeskPins to be able to make any Window temporarily topmost.
Make sure OneNote got installed with Office.
Install Visio.
Install favorite editor (whatever it is at the time, currently SCiTE).
Install 7Zip.
Fix Windows colors to suit me and put picture of RatPack (Dean's my hero) as wallpaper.
Disable shortcuts to FilterKeys, StickyKeys, and ToggleKeys - nothing frustrates me more than having to deal with that cruddy feature because I push the shift key down several times while I'm thinking or hold it down for eight seconds (again, while thinking) before I start typing!
Change the default action for Folder to explore instead of open.
over the years i have arrived to the decision that i do as little customization as possible since workplaces change and computers change (both at home and at work).
i used to do all kinds of crazy tweaks with litestep, setting up partitions, etc. these days i pare it down to the basics, and it does not take me long to setup a machine and have a familiar environment.
in addition to the usual "win32dev" setup (classic scheme, optimized for performance, no special effects, show all files, details in explorer views, blue background, etc) i have the following stack:
cygwin (gcc, vim, curl, wget, perl/ruby/python, svn, git, ssh, netcat, etc; rxvt for terminal)
ffox + adblock + dev plugins
clipx for simple stack-like clipboard with previews
textpad + a few basics syntax highlighters
virtuawin - the only minimal window manager that does all i need and nothing more
autoHotKey for basic app shortcuts
procexp to replace task manager
all other sysinternals tools
tortoise svn
putty + agent + keys
7zip
keepass
wireshark
everything i install by hand goes into c:\programs (for easy no-space, lowercase paths).
Regarding:
Show extensions of all file types
Make hidden and system file visible
I don't like making hidden files visible all the time (it makes two desktop.ini visible on my windows Vista desktop for starters) so I use an explorer extension to make it easy to toggle this on and off. There's also a corresponding one for file extensions:
HiddenFilesToggle Context-Menu Shell Extension
FileExtensionToggle Context-Menu Shell Extension
Command line scripts
For storing scripts that I use from the command line I create a Command Line Scripts directory under Program Files and add it to the PATH environment variable. I use the following batch file for listing and editing those scripts:
#echo off
setlocal
set UTILPATH=C:\Program Files\System Tools\Command Line Utilities
if not "x%1"=="x" (
start "" "notepad" "%UTILPATH%\%1.bat"
) else (
dir /b "%UTILPATH%" | grep -v com.bat | grep -P "(exe|bat|cmd)" | sed "s/\.\(exe\|bat\|cmd\)//"
echo.
)
(note that the filtering of the directory listing depends on some unix commands I have installed via Cygwin)
I give it the name com.bat, (short for command) then I can:
list the scripts in that directory by typing com at the command prompt
edit any script in the list by typing com script-name at the command prompt*, similarly:
create new scripts in that directory by typeing com new-script-name at the command prompt*
and if I ever need to edit com.bat I just type com com
* As I'm running Vista I have to use an elevated command prompt as directories under Program Files are protected.
For a quick way to launch an elevated command prompt, simply press the Win key; type cmd; press Ctrl+Shift+Enter; and then hit Alt+C to confirm the elevation prompt. Six keystrokes to an elevated command prompt! ([via][4])
Startup Script
One of the scripts I store in my Command Line Scripts directory is a script that is run when I log in to windows (via the Task Scheduler, type Task in the Vista start menu). I use that script to set up several virtual drives using the subst command to directories I access frequently or want a quick way to access on the command prompt or for shortening path names in compiler warnings, logs or debug output.
My Startup script looks something like this:
#setlocal
#set _MYDOCS_=%USERPROFILE%\Documents
#REM Note: first delete the drives so I can run script again
#REM to fix drives that failed to get mapped
subst /d W:
subst /d T:
subst /d S:
subst /d R:
subst /d N:
subst /d L:
subst /d H:
subst W: "%_MYDOCS_%\Work\SVN Working Copy\Website\trunk\www"
subst T: "%_MYDOCS_%\Work\SVN Working Copy\project 1\trunk"
subst S: "%_MYDOCS_%\Work\SVN Working Copy"
subst R: "%_MYDOCS_%\Work\SVN Working Copy\project 2\branches\12.50"
subst N: "%_MYDOCS_%\Work\SVN Working Copy\project 2\trunk"
subst L: "%_MYDOCS_%\Work\"
subst H: "%_MYDOCS_%\My Projects\Haslers.info\Working Copy"
Note that subst can be a little temperamental and occasionally the drives don't get created and I have to run the startup script again manually.
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned ClipX. I find that I can't develop without this clipboard history tool.
Step 1: Fix windows
Turn off System Restore
Turn off Windows Defender
Uninstall any OEM-supplied antivirus or other crapware if it's an OEM box
Get SysInternals AutoRuns and lay the smackdown to all the 8000 useless startup items and services vista inflicts upon you, including the slow and useless vista search indexing service.
Step 2: Install stuff.
Now that my shiny new Core 2 Duo PC isn't bogged down with useless crap running like a 386, I can build it up again
Install Firefox
Install FlashPlayer firefox plugin (why oh why isn't this bundled with FF?)
Run windows update and let it do it's download/reboot cycle 50 times until it's happy
While this is happening I can use firefox to browse stackoverflow and read reddit :-)
Get UnixUtils and either unzip them to system32, or otherwise make sure they are in the path.
This is neccessary because I can't stand cygwin, yet my muscle memory keeps typing ls when I try to type dir, and windows still hasn't heard of grep yet
Install Droid Sans Mono and Monaco fonts for programming
Install E-TextEditor
If I'm installing visual studio, do that. If not install the .NET framework runtime instead
Install Firefox addons (firebug, fission, web developer, adblock)
I add Wordpad to the Send To context menu. Instructions for XP here. Works in Vista, as well.
Someone gave me a 'Delete all SVN folders' registry script - that is a must have for me, now (it's somewhere on this thread).
I leave UAC on - last thing I want is to write code that works with UAC off, but fails miserably with it on. Before I started to use Virtual PC to set up test environments for my code, I tried to leave my desktop as 'vanilla' as possible - I wanted to test under conditions reasonably similar to an everyday non-developer user.
All of the above is for my home development system. I try to do the same at work, within reason. Except for the SVN stuff, because we use TFS at my office.
I always install the following to make it easier to manage and interact with windows
Taskix - Reorder buttons in your Windows taskbar
KatMouse - scroll the window directly beneath the mouse cursor
WinSplit Revolution - organize your windows by tiling, resizing and positioning them
allSnap - windows automatically snap to window edges and (optionally) the edges of other windows
I like to:
Make the taskbar larger so that it can hold two rows of applications
Disable personalized menus in the start menu
Disable grouping of similar taskbar items
I also randomly open a lot of PuTTY sessions to various machines, so I like to create a "bin" directory in my home folder, add it to the PATH, and then create a shortcut to PuTTY in it named "p" (among other shortcuts). I can then easily Windows-R (run) and type p [putty-session-name] to open the session. This has saved me tons of time / mouse clicks.
I follow the extensive recipe for making a Windows system useful built and maintained by Simon Peyton Jones.
Turn off Autorun so that I'm not accidentally installing malware or crapware.
Here's a couple of links, out of many:
http://antivirus.about.com/od/securitytips/ht/autorun.htm
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13554_3-9894970-33.html?tag=mncol;txt
Couple of things no-one else mentioned
Install Console2 for tabbed cmd windows
Install Powershell
Completely replace Notepad with Notepad2
Install the full IIS.
Set the resolution high enough.
Set the background to Grey.
Show hidden and system files.
Toolbar 2 or 3 high (I run one monitor sideways).
Always show file extentions.
I install some set of *nix command utilities and process explorer at a bare minimum.
Also, on XP systems I disable any theming and use the windows classic coloration. Vista just doesn't look or work right without the Aero theme so I can't do that on Vista without going almost completely nuts.
Also forgot, I install Chrome. (Used to be Firefox but Chrome is nicer out of the box)
I use nLite to prepare the windows installation disk in order to have some typical settings already set right after the installation.
For example:
Explorer-Associate additional file types with Notepad
Explorer-Classic Control Panel
Explorer-Disable Beep on errors
Explorer-Disable Prefix: Shortcut to
Explorer-Show extensions of known file-types
Explorer-Show hidden files and folders
Explorer-Show the full path in the Title Bar
Performance-Disable Info Tips on Files and Folders
Performance-Disable Last accessed Timestamp on files
Taskbar-Disable Group similar Taskbar buttons
Taskbar-Disable Language-Bar
Taskbar-Lock the Taskbar-Yes
You can also remove useless parts of the system:
Accessibility Options
Briefcase
ClipBook Viewer
I install all of the shell extensions I normally use (TortoiseSVN and CommandHere for example).
Also, one of the first things I do after I reimage a machine is make sure it's hooked to all of my network shares properly. Few things derail my work as quickly as having to fight with the network to get a file at an inopportune time.
Install emacs + a selection of gnuwin32 packages.
Also proexp to replace task manager.
Edi Weitz has a nice writeup of his customizations: Making Windows usable for old Linux farts
Switch to classic menu
Increase the taskbar hight to have more shortcuts & lock the taskbar
Performance options -> Adjust for best performance
Copy all the backed up shortcuts files to Favorites folder
Install necessary software (JDK, DBMS stuff, Editplus, MS Office etc.)
Driver for soundcard
New network connection for Broadband ...
I generally leave Windows Defender online but I don't use an antivirus so....
I set my start menu to display small icons and to have no "most recently used programs" active. Instead I pin everything to my start menu:
My start menu http://www.robpaveza.net/pub/startmenu.png
I also make sure that all the extension menus are actual menus, not just links, and that my computer and user files icons are shown on the desktop.
I download and install Cygwin and Xming.
Wow, this is a really good thread... I'm going to have to go through all the suggestions and see what I'm mission out on :)
Off the bat, I install:
Google Chrome
Visual Studio 2008
aShampoo CD Burning suite (or whatever my current favorite burning suite is)
IZArc (or whatever my current favorite is)
RocketDock - I use it to replace Quick Launch.
Songbird
When I used XP (I'm on Vista now) I'd always install Tweak UI and tweak everything to my liking. Like listing My Computer before My Documents.
I remove the Help icon from the start menu.
I make it so Network Neighborhood was displayed in the start menu.
I have it show file extensions and show hidden files/folders.