Accessibility Utilities 2

tweaker

WinBubble

installable and portable versions.

graphical tweaks including setting the OEM branding/logo information and a customizing the the welcome screen, editing core system icons, customize the screensaver, and also adjust the Windows appearance settings like turning on/off Aero and window animations.

More advanced options are customizing the Explorer context menu entries, editing UAC, hiding drives in Explorer, file indexing, user account editing, customizing Internet Explorer and a few general Windows performance tweaks. If you want to go the other way and lock down a computer for less experienced users, there are several options to do that also. If you change too much there’s an option to reset back to Windows defaults.

Vista4Experts

to quickly configure or turn on and off a number of settings that a more advanced user is going to want to change. a portable executable and you simply run it and scroll through a list of the 20 or so options that will appear. You can edit features such as disable User Account Control, turn off Windows Indexing, always show file extensions, disable Aero, check for but don’t download or install updates, always show the Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer menu, and several more.

Just right click and choose to check, uncheck and disable the feature. Note that some options like the IE default search will do one thing for Check and another for Uncheck. Click Perform Actions when you’re ready to apply the settings, a logoff may be required if the setting requires it. Any options that can be reversed, just use uncheck and then apply.

XdN Tweaker

Many of the options it does have are perhaps a little less for “expert” users but there are enough to make it similar to the tools above. has more options available than Vista4Experts but nowhere near as many as WinBubble. Functions such as controlling hibernation, changing Windows Update settings, adding some right click menu entries (including take ownership), and a few interface related tweaks are available. For more substantial tweaks you will have to look elsewhere, a portable and setup installer are available.

GIGATweaker

a startup manager, uninstall manager and a Windows Utilities section that has many of the built in Windows tools and snap-ins located in one place. The section even has a Windows rearm option to reset the Windows evaluation period and the ability to create the Windows God Mode shortcut for you. selection of options in the Administration, Display and Customization sections. There are several tweaks to adjust logon and logoff, User Account Control, Action Center, Windows Update, System and OEM information, Explorer, Taskbar and Start menu tweaks, and also Windows visual effects. Open the Console at the bottom to show what the tweaks are doing to the registry etc. a portable version is available.