Tweak Windows XP or Vista with XdN Tweaker

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware

Tweak Windows XP or Vista with XdN Tweaker

by Brad Linder Aug 27th 2007

We're big fans of little applications that let you tweak your Windows system settings without mucking around in the registry. Stardock's TweakVista has a pretty comprehensive set of registry hacks, but only some are available in the free version. And it's kind of nice to have a tiny file that works with no installation required.

While XdN Tweaker doesn't offer as many options as the free Vispa, XdN Tweaker weighs in at just 516KB. It supports Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista and has a handful of tweaks including:

Enable or disable the User Account Control for different users
Enable or disable right-click Windows Media Player context menus
Restore the file menu in Internet Explorer 7
Change the default number of folder views (personalized settings for how to view folders) that Windows remembers
Add a "take ownership" option to Vista right-click menus that lets you change files that read "you need permission to perform this action."

As with any of these tweaking programs, it's possible to achieve most of the same results with a few registry hacks. But XdN Tweaker is a lot more user-friendly than the Windows registry. And more importantly, most of the hacks can be undone from within the program's interface.

[via gHacks]

Tags: tweakvista, vispa, windows vista, windows xp, WindowsVista, WindowsXp, xdn, xdn tweaker, XdnTweaker

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

danielgreenb said 9:24AM on 8-28-2007

I usually update my twitter from my 8hands tag line, so I don't think I'll find any use in TweakVista.

crystal said 10:14PM on 9-15-2007

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

View more Time Wasters