JC Windows Scripts
JC Windows Scripts is a collection of scripts for quickly disabling some of
the most annoying Windows features.
Usage
Simply run each script on a Windows machine to disable each feature. Some scripts may require you to be an Administrator.
Version History
- 11/30/2004 - Second release
I added a new script to my collection of Windows scripts that will disable
the useless Windows file association web service dialog. Instead of being
prompted to "Use the web service to find the appropriate program" when you try
to open a file with an unknown extension, Windows will go straight to the Choose
Program dialog.
- 10/11/2004 - First release
The first annoying feature disabled in this release is simple file sharing in Windows XP. Simple file
sharing is on by default for systems not on a domain and turning it off is
hidden all the way at the bottom of the View tab in Windows Explorer's Folder
Options dialog. This feature hides all the Security tabs in Explorer, wreaks
havoc when trying to use authentication in IIS, and basically makes it
impossible to share files with anyone that has the setting turned off. Save
yourself a lot of headaches and confusion by disabling simple file sharing.
The second annoying feature is called hide file extensions for known file types.
This brilliant feature makes it so half your files (the "known file types") have
extensions and half of them don't. For the half that don't, you're expected to
look at the tiny little icons to figure out what kind of files they are. Someone
working on Windows must have thought having ".doc" on the end of document files
was too confusing. This feature is especially concerning since a malicious
person can send you a file with double extensions and Windows will actually help
them hide the real file extension. Thus, a file that looks like "budget.xls"
could actually be "budget.xls.js" which, when opened, could run code to install
spyware, delete your My Documents folder, or anything else. I can't understand
how hiding file extensions could be useful to anyone and I'd be more than happy
if this "feature" were eliminated in Longhorn.
Requirements
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