The default appearance settings of Windows irritate me with its dumbing down of the interface and I always modify Windows Explorer with
- launch by default to My Computer %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
- Always show icons, never thumbnails
- Show hidden files and folders
- Display the full path in the title bar
- uncheck Hide extensions for known file types
- uncheck Hide protected operating system files
- uncheck Remember each folder's view settings
- uncheck Use sharing wizard
I also customise the Start menu
- System administrative tools - Display on the All Programs and the Start menu
- Control Panel - Display as a menu
- Number of recent programs to display = 12 - 24
Even multiple settings in Task Manager
- Processes with PID (and Command Line) columns; columns rearranged
- uncheck Always on Top
- Hide on minimize
- Minimize on Use
- Networking show Bytes sent per interval, Bytes Received per interval
- View graph as Bytes Sent and Bytes Received, but not Bytes Total
That is just a subset of alterations I make to every Windows system i bring up. I was wondering if there is a scriptable manner to this. Does anybody know where WE and Start settings are stored and edited?
Below is my default set, I run this reg file at the T-13 phase of Windows 2003 setup so that it can be run as the default user, that way every subsequent user inherits the settings. I build all of my systems via a scripted Windows install DVD/ISO. You could do the same with a disk image. I prefer the scripted approach as just one DVD will work with every systems I own and the changes I need can be stored in an SCM system. If you use ImageX as your disk imaging tool you can store versions of sort.
You can also use reg.exe to make changes.
What I do when I really want to find, how/where this settings are kept is, I use process monitor from Sysinternals website and check for any registry setting changed by explorer or whatever is associated process. That way you can 99% percent find the setting you want.
Most of the things you list here are registry tweaks at lower levels, and you can script registry tweaks. Telling you everything would take a very very long time, so I will link you to a couple websites that should help. The first is a list of registry tweaks, and where the values are and what to change them to to get the desired effect. The second is a Msoft KB article on scripting registry changes. Good luck, hope this helps.