A TweakUI for Vista
TotalIdea’s TweakVI (free basic edition) makes up for the lack of a “TweakUI” for Vista.
TweakUI is a Microsoft “PowerToy” for Windows XP (not Vista). It allows you to change all kinds of settings for how the operating system works. See the “Hit Parade” below, to get an idea of the kinds of settings I’m talking about. (Note: Microsoft makes this tool available without any warranty or support. Use it at your own risk.)
Microsoft does not offer a TweakUI equivalent for Vista, but a company called TotalIdea comes to the rescue. Their TweakVI comes in three editions (basic, premium, and ultimate). The basic version is free and it is roughly the equivalent of TweakUI for XP. For XP users, TotalIdea also offers Tweak-XP Pro, which goes beyond what TweakUI can do. Tweak-XP Pro has a free trial that’s good for 30 executions. Perhaps the most interesting feature of Tweak-XP Pro are the cleanup functions (unnecessary registry entries and unnecessary files).
The TweakUI Hit Parade: Here are a few of the more useful settings in the original TweakUI (for XP):
- Disable Animations - for performance or if you just find them annoying (General)
- Mouse wheel scroll speed (Mouse | Wheel)
- Use classic search in Explorer - jumps directly into searching for files when you hit F3 (Explorer)
- Increase size of thumbnails (Explorer | Thumbnails)
- Whether or not system icons like My Computer and the Recycle Bin appear on the desktop (Desktop)
- The Locations of special folders (My Documents, My Music, Document templates) (My Computer | Special Folders)
- Disabling Autoplay by type (e.g. enable autoplay for CDs & DVDs, but not other removables) (My Computer | Autoplay | Types)
- Disabling Autoplay by specific drive letter (My Computer | Autoplay | Drives)
- Hiding control panel items that are not used (Control Panel)
- Changing which text editor program is invoked for viewing page source (Internet Explorer | View Source)
- Windows command prompt filename & directory completion (Tab key) (Command Prompt)
- Screen saver grace period before locking workstation (Logon | Screen Saver)
- Misc. repair functions (rebuild icons, repair font folder, etc.)
TweakUI
Latest Version: 2.10.0.0
Platform: Windows XP
Author: Microsoft
Price: Free (unsupported)
Download Link: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
TweakVI v1.x for Windows Vista
Latest Version: 1.0 build 1052
Platform: Windows Vista
Author: TotalIdea
Price: Free (Basic), $30 (Premium), $40 (Ultimate)
Download Link: http://www.totalidea.com/content/downloads.php
Tweak-XP Pro v1.x for Windows XP
Latest Version: 4.0.8
Platform: Windows XP
Author: TotalIdea
Price: Trial, $30 (Premium), $40 (Ultimate)
Download Link: http://www.totalidea.com/content/downloads.php
Read more: Windows, Productivity
Carol Emery wrote:
I wanted to try the Tweak VI basic for Windows Vista. I downloaded and when trying to install it said if you do not wish to register just put SKIP in the name field. I did that and it would not let me go on without entering my e-mail address which I did. Then it said my e-mail address was not valid. I tried everything including leaving the e-mail off but to no avail. I turned off firewall and allowed the program to download. If anyone else has this problem they (totalida) should know about it.
Posted 09 Sep 2007 at 6:01 pm ¶
n8barber wrote:
There is a way to get the Tweak UI for XP to work in Vista. I don’t know how wise it is to force it to work this way, because you’re effectively changing the Vista registry with an XP registry editing program, but it does work. Here’s how:
FIRST
RECOGNIZE THAT YOU’RE FOLLOWING THESE INSTRUCTIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!
SECOND
Get the tweakui.exe file.
a. You might already have it if you upgraded from XP and used Tweak UI in the good old days. If so, just move the file to anywhere but the C:\Windows\System32 directory … Vista really doesn’t like tweakui there. I put it in C:\Program Files\Microsoft.
b. If you don’t have the tweakui.exe file already, you have two options:
i. Get it from a computer that has it. Simply copy the file (i.e. to a thumb drive or over a network) and slap it anywhere on your Vista machine (except the C:\Windows\System32 directory).
ii. There’s a rumor that you can extract tweakui.exe from the installation file available at the XP PowerToys site using WinRAR or some other such archiving program. I haven’t tried this, though, but it might be worth trying?
THIRD
Set the tweakui.exe file to run with XP compatability.
a. Right-click the file -> Properties -> Compatability tab -> check the CheckBox next to “Run this program in compatability mode for:” [Windows XP (Service Pack 2) -> Click OK.
FOURTH
Run tweakui.exe as an Administrator
a. Right-click the file -> Run as administrator -> Continue -> Run program
b. TweakUI might popup behind other windows (it always does for me!)
b. If you don’t run as administrator, UAC will thwart your every change!
c. If you have UAC turned off, you don’t need to run as administrator. You also won’t have to click “Continue” in step (a) above.
FIFTH
Don’t break your computer! I created AutoPlay handlers, I changed the places bar, and I changed the Templates successfully using this method. However, I can’t guarantee the safety of these or any other changes you make with TweakUI!
Posted 04 Oct 2007 at 10:40 am ¶