Windows Configurator

Windows Configurator

All too frequently we look for ways to manipulate and control Windows 95, 98 and ME without having to be either a Windows or programming guru. We want to do it, get it done and then move on to something else. Of course Microsoft has made Tweak UI available to customize many of the features in Windows, but for the uninitiated even Tweak UI can present problems.

Windows Configurator is a registry tweaking program that lets you change different settings in the Windows 95/98/Me system, and it’s is freeware.

You can:

• Prevent users from doing many things you may not want them to do
• Hide the Start Menu items
• Hide icons from desktop or completely disable it
• Hide drives
• Disable registry editing
• Disable properies of many Control Panel applets
• Change hints for My Computer, My Documents etc
• Change registered user and organisation
• Change 38 system icons
• Remove Add/Remove entries
• And many many more!

There are over 100 options that you can change!

General – applying changes
Windows Configurator ONLY applies options which were really can be changed and so they are displayed in BLUE. When you check and then uncheck again a check box, the program WILL NOT apply any change. If you check a check box and then click the “Apply” button, the appropriate value is saved into the registry. If you uncheck a check box and then click the “Apply” button, the appropriate value is deleted from the registry.

Operating system
Windows Configurator was primarily written for Windows 98, however it works fine with Windows 95 and ME, although some options may not work under certain systems configurations. This program was not designed for the Windows NT/2000 family.

Profiles
You can save and then load your own profile with all the options you checked. You can run Windows Configurator from a diskette and read your profile to quickly apply changes on several computers. Profiles have “WCP” extension.

Detailed description tab by tab

Start menu
On this tab you can hide Start Menu items like ‘Favorites’, ‘Documents’ etc., change submenu display delay, disable context menu and edition of Start Menu.

Desktop
On this tab you can disable Active Desktop features, hide different icons from desktop, allow user to change recycle bin name, completely disable desktop etc.

Explorer
On this tab you can force Explorer to show bitmap thumbnails, restrict user access to File and Folder Options menu items, hide all drives, as well as entire network and workgroup contents.

Restrictions
On this tab you can disable registry editing tools, prevent users to run MS-DOS mode, disable context menus of Taskbar, Desktop and Explorer, change Windows Update settings and disable Network Properties window.

Restrictions 2
On this tab you can hide tabs or completely disable such Control Panel windows as System, Printers, Display and Passwords.

You can access the Windows Configurator FAQ by Clicking Here

Here are some screenshots from the 0.5 version.

Windows Configurator is available with and without its own install / uninstall program, so there should be no problems with it. Here are the versions with the Installer/Uninstaller.

Download Windows Configurator – Server 1 (with Install/Uninstall v0.5.0.24 – 537 kb)

Download Windows Configurator – Server 2 (with Install/Uninstall v0.5.0.24 – 537 kb

Download Windows Configurator – Server 3 (with Install/Uninstall v0.5.0.24 – 537 kb

Here are the versions without the installer in zipped format. All you need to do is to unzip it to a folder of your choice and then run it.

Download Windows Configurator – Server 1 (zipped v0.5.0.24 – 280 kb)

Download Windows Configurator – Server 2 (zipped v0.5.0.24 – 280 kb)

Download Windows Configurator – Server 3 (zipped v0.5.0.24 – 280 kb)

This program has various language capabilities and has been translated into the following languages: Polish: by the author Leszek Skorczyński, Italian by Marco D’Amato, German by Markus Walser, Swedish by Leif Larsson, French by Anthony Debelle, Danish by Jens Mortensen, Russian by Zaitcev Igor Ivanovith, Dutch by Peter Passchier, Spanish by José Henriques and Portuguese by Paulo Neto.

Windows Configurator is a copyrighted product of Leszek Skorczyński.

This page updated: 01/16/2001