Tips on Using Explorer For Windows NT General All Staff
Add New Options to That Right Click in Windows NT 4.0
When you right click on a file in Explorer, the valid choices for that extension are presented. To add a new choice, select view/options/File Types. Scroll to the file type you wish to amend, select it and click the Edit button. Click the New button. Type the "Action" (Edit, Smile, Print, view, ...) and the full path to the application (and any command line switches/parametets) required to perform the "Action". If you want to change an "Action", click "Edit" instead of "New". I suggest you edit the "Actions" of "Text Document", "Write Document" and any type that uses DDE such as "Microsoft Word Document" to see the possibilities.
Adding Applications to Your Send To Folder
When you right click on a file in explorer, you can choose to Open with .. or Send To. You can add applications to your Send To.
Create a Shortcut to your application (right click the ProgramName.exe) and copy (or cut) the Shortcut to:
%windir%\Profiles\YourUserId\SendTo
Now, when you right click on that file with a non-standard extension, you can Send To your application.
Does Your Desktop Disappear, Requiring Logoff/Logon?
By default, if your shell (Explorer.exe) crashes it will automatically restart. But if your shell crashes (icons/Taskbar disappear) and you must logoff/logon to restore them, edit the following Registry entry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion \Winlogon Look at AutoRestartShell (a REG_DWORD) in the right hand pane.
If it is 0 (do not restart), set it to 1(automatically restart).
Explorer Shortcut and Command Line Switches
You can execute Explorer from the command line or from a shortcut and use switches to control the view. The syntax is: EXPLORER.EXE [/n] [/e] [,/root,{object}] [[,/select],{sub object}] /n.................................Opens a new "My Computer" view of the object, even if already open. /e.................................Opens an "Explorer" view of the object. /root,{object}................The specified root for the display. Explorer.exe /e,/root,D:\ will open an "Explorer" view of the D: drive. /select,{sub object}.......The specified folder or file receives focus. Explorer.exe /select,C:\WinNT\System32\Regedt32.exe will open a window view of C:\WinNT\System32 and the NT Registry Editor will receive focus. To do the same with an "Explorer" view, Explorer.exe /e,/select,C:\WinNT\System32\Regedt32.exe
How do I Change the Shell for Selected Users?
As mentioned in "Locking down that Desktop", you can replace the shell by editing: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft \WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\ and replacing Explorer.exe with YourOwnShell.exe in the Shell value. This, however, is a global change and affects all users.
To effect only certain users, create a batch file %windir%\System32\userinit.bat in which you select the lucky users, running YourOwnShell.exe, but running Userinit.exe for everyone else. Edit:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT \CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Userinit and replace Userinit with Userinit.bat. Do not change the Shell, leaving it as Explorer.exe.
Here is a sample Userinit.bat (I have chosen to identify the "lucky" users by creating a %username%.lucky file on \\YourPDC\Lucky$ to which everyone has list permission, but you can choose whatever mechanism you wish):
@echo off if exists \\YourPDC\Lucky$\%username%.lucky goto YourS \\YourPDC\C$\winnt\system32\userinit.exe goto end :YourS \\YourPDC\C$\winnt\system32\YourOwnShell.exe :end exit
If you mess up while testing this (I did) and only a partial desktop loads: CTRL+ALT+DEL, choose Task Manager / File / New Task / userinit.exe.
