Windows Hacks

Swap Ctrl and Caps Lock:

Windows XP:

run regedit, go to key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout

Add a binary value (type REG_BINARY) called 'Scancode Map' with the following format:

So, a scancode mapping 0x1D003A00 would map left control (1D) to caps lock (3A). The total Scancode Map value to do this swap would be:

0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000003 0x3A001D00 0x1D003A00 0x00000000

with the interpretation:

Start Windows Explorer in Different Folder

Right-clicking the shortcut and changing the 'start in' folder doesn't work -- in order to change the folder that explorer starts in, it is necessary to use the command line arguments. The following command will open up explorer and expand it to the c:\temp folder:

explorer /e, c:\temp

Add 'Open Command Window Here' to right-click menu in explorer

On WinXP_64 I had some problems with the Windows PowerToys, so here's a method for adding the 'open command window here' function to the context menu in Explorer:

1. Navigate in your Registry to

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Classes/Folder/Shell

   and create a key called "Command Prompt" without the quotes.
2. Set the default string to whatever text you want to appear in the right-click menu.
3. Create a new key within your newly created command prompt named "command," and set the default string to

   Cmd.exe /k pushd %L

4. You may need to add %SystemRoot%/ before the Cmd.exe if the executable can't be found.
5. The changes should take place immediately. Right click a folder and your new menu item should appear.