This is for those Windows 10 users that don’t have or don’t use the Group Policy Editor and rely on Registry edits to get the customizations they want.
There are many such Registry edit customizations available, but I routinely setup 12 of these edits on other PCs. Rather than entering the Registry entries for these customizations one at a time on each PC, I created a .bat file that would enter all the Registry edits at the same time. To be safe I placed commands in the .bat file to backup the Registry keys and save to file before changing the keys. The PC can already have some of the Registry edits and may not have some function such as Copilot or Outlook, but entering the keys causes no problems or harm. I do not know if these Registry edits will work for Windows 11, but it runs great on Windows 10.
I offer this .bat file = CustomRegistryKeys.bat for those that want these same common customizations. Review the list of customizations below to determine if you want the same customizations. Also, you can right click the downloaded file and select Edit to see the commands in the .bat file with the individual keys being added.
If you decide you want these customizations:
Download CustomRegistryKeys.bat file
Right click CustomRegistryKeys.bat and select Run as administrator
YES to UAC query.
When Command window closes, reboot the PC.
What Running CustomRegistryKeys.bat does?
Creates two files RegistryBackupA.reg and RegistryBackupB.reg and places them on your Desktop. These two files are backup of the registry keys before any changes are made. Merging these two files back into the Registry will undo any changes made by running this .bat file.
Registry keys are added or changed to get the following customizations:
- Add the Control Panel to the Navigation pane (left pane) in File Explorer’s window.
- Limit searches in the Taskbar Search box (next to Start Menu icon) to drives and networks on the PC which prevents web page search results.
- Remove the Shortcut arrow icon Windows places on all shortcut icons.
- Increase an open windows handle area to make it easier to grab a window’s border.
- Remove the 24 hour limit for Restore Points to allow you to make more than one restore point in a 24 hour period.
- Increase Network speed by increasing the IRPStackSize.
- Disable the PC-Phone link – link to finish what started on Phone on PC and edit does not affect any file transferring functions between a Phone and the PC.
- Disable Fast Boot – Fast Boot defeats purpose of rebooting to fix a glitch by reloading the same glitch on restart. Disabled Fast Boot will start components afresh and fix the glitch.
- Allow Outlook to logout and not hang (processes still running in the background with Outlook closed) if folders fail to sync with the server. Outlook will not function unless background process is manually stopped and this Registry key makes the background process stop when Outlook stops.
- Disable Cortana
- Disable CoPilot
- Disable CoPilot in Edge
There are third party apps that can make these customizations, but the .bat file is quick, simple, and doesn’t require any software to be installed or learned how to use.
HTH, Dana:))
