93. Opening a Command Prompt to a Particular Directory from Explorer

One of the annoying features of Windows operating systems in general is that the command prompt is not too well integrated with the desktop. This means that any time you drop to the command prompt, you will have to navigate to the directory you need manually, instead of being able to drop into any folder you want from the desktop interface. Since at some point you will likely find yourself in need of the command prompt to perform some function on your CP system, we thought we'd show you a quick registry hack that will enable you to call up a command prompt from any folder.

Start Regedit.

Navigate to 'HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Directory \ shell'

Create a new key called 'Command.'

Edit the default REG_SZ value for this new key with the text you wish to see when you right click a folder to open the command prompt window. Assign it a name that's appropriate, for example: 'open command prompt in this folder' or something similar.

Under the new 'command' key, create another key called 'command.'

Give the default value in this key the value of 'cmd.exe /k "cd %L"'

After you restart your computer, you will be able to right click on any folder and select your new command to instantly open a command prompt window to that specific folder.

94. Disable error reporting on program crash

By default, when a program crashes in Windows XP, A window pop up asking you if you wish to send an error report to Microsoft. This tends to add extra irritation to the already annoying fact of a program crash. To disable this behaviour, a slight registry change is in order:

Open REGEDIT

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PCHealth\ErrorReporting.

Edit the following value:

Value Name: DoReport

Value: 0 to disable the error report prompt.

95. Automatically close non-responsive programs

With a small registry tweak, Windows XP can be set to automatically close any program that 'stops responding' (crashes), eliminating the need for you to use the task manager to close down the offending software manually.

To do this:

Open REGEDIT and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\ Desktop

Modify the REG_SZ entry AutoEndTasks with a value of 1