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I love the Command Prompt. As a power user, it’s the fastest way to access just about everything you need to do on your Windows system and the Control Panel is a perfect example of this! Most of the Control Panel applets are actually files with a .CPL extension, and those that are, would be located in the %systemroot%\system32 folder.

You can access these applets by hitting the Windows Key+R and typing Control and the app that you want. Example:
control hdwwiz.cpl

The List

I wrote the list in alphabetical order for your viewing pleasure (you could call this list the third in the Saman’s Big Ole List Of Windows… series). Just remember that some of these might not work on your machine - things like the Bluetooth manager won’t work if you don’t have Bluetooth installed!

Accessibility Options
access.cpl

Add/Remove Programs
appwiz.cpl

Add Hardware Wizard
hdwwiz.cpl

Administrative Tools
admintools

Automatic Updates
wuaucpl.cpl

Bluetooth Properties
bthprops.cpl

Control Panel
panel

Desktop Properties
desktop

Desktop Appearances Properties
color

Display Properties
desk.cpl

Fastfind Properties
findfast.cpl

Firewall Properties
firewall.cpl

Fonts Folder
fonts

Game Controllers
joy.cpl

Infrared Properties
infrared

Internet Options
inetcpl.cpl

iSCSI Initiator
iscsicpl.cpl

Java Control Panel
jpicpl32.cpl

Keyboard Properties
main.cpl keyboard

Licensing Mode
liccpa.cpl

Mouse Properties
main.cpl

Network Connections
ncpa.cpl

Network Setup Wizard
netsetup.cpl

ODBC Properties
odbccp32.cpl

Power Options
powercfg.cpl

Printers Folder
printers

Regional and Language Options
intl.cpl

Scanners and Camera Properties
sticpl.cpl

Schedule Tasks
schedtasks

Sound and Audio Devices
mmsys.cpl

Stored Passwords
keymgr.cpl

System Properties
sysdm.cpl

Telephone and Modem Properties
telephon.cpl

Time and Date Settings
timedate.cpl

User Accounts
nusrmgr.cpl

User Accounts Advances
userpasswords2

User Passwords
userpasswords

Windows Security Center
wscui.cpl

Wireless Link
irprops.cpl

Guile Says 'Read These Related Posts!'

Welcome!

First off, I wanted to extend a little “Hello!!” to all of the new RSS subscribers! Last Thursday (7/5/07) 330 people accessed the Samanathon.com feed - THAT’S A RECORD HIGH! I have noticed that there is a lot of traffic coming in from StumbleUpon, apparently a number of my articles have been submitted - Thank you to whoever is hooking me up! In the last seven days, the site has received 30,000 visitors and 60,000 page views!

What Is This Site All About?

Samanathon.com is all about making Windows XP and Vista work the way you want! We have a ton of article ranging from Hacking The Windows Registry to Writing A Batch File To Set Your IP Address to Funny Japanese Videos. We also encourage commenting: You Comment, I Follow! - Each comment gives you a free link from a PageRank 6 site, so comment away! Also, we do have forums on the site (just another way for you to get free linkbacks!).

Each week we post a Speedy Links article featuring links to posts from the week’s top commentators and users from the boards so you get free, deep links just from participating on Samanathon.com!

For those who are new, here is a very short list of a few of my favorite articles:

Registry Hacks

• Disable Disk Cleanup Wizard Compression Calculation
• Automatically Sort The Programs Menu Alphabetically

Tips And Tricks

• Have Firefox And Thunderbird Use The Same Profiles On A Mutli-Booting Machine
• Clean And Organize Your Start Menu
• Bash The XP Search Companion And Use The Windows 2000 Search

Browsers

• Internet Explorer 7’s Kiosk Mode
• Delete Firefox 2’s Temporary Files Automatically When It Closes
• Delete Internet Explorer 7’s Temporary Internet Files Automatically When It Closes

Windows Tips

• Shrink Your Recycle Bin
• Automate Hard Drive Cleaning

Stats

For my regular readers out there, the site has had a huge jump in traffic, so much so that the site was down for an hour last week because my host told me that my site was consuming too much system resources on the server - not bandwidth, but actual CPU and memory!

Here is an image of my latest stats:

What’s Next?

There are plenty of Registry Hacks and Japanese videos coming up - I love doing both of these and have strayed away from them lately!

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The other day, I wrote a post on Setting Your IP Address Via Batch File. In this post, I’ll teach you how to reset your IP information from a different batch file.

This command will work in both Windows XP and Windows Vista

Why Would I Use This?

Lets say you transport your laptop to and from work. At work you use a static IP and at home you use DHCP. This batch file will automatically change your network settings to DHCP.

How To

Create a net text file, copy/paste this code and save the new text file with a .bat extension!

The Code

Download

You can download the raw code for this batch file, just make sure that you save it with a .bat extension!

Kuribo Mario Hops For These Related Posts:

You all know that I love the Command Prompt and creating fanciness through Batch Files - and here’s a good one for you: Set your IP address via a batch file!

This command will work in both Windows XP and Windows Vista

Why Should I Bother?

This can be useful for a few reasons:

• You use DHCP at home and a Static IP at work (assuming you transport your laptop)
• You need to set the IP address for multiple computers
• You are in a hotel
• etc

Basically, if you transport your laptop into different environments that require different network settings.

How To

I’ll first post the code, then I’ll explain what’s going on.

The code:

Now, I realize that it looks like there is a lot going on there but there really isn’t. The way I have written the code, the user will not see all of the coding when the batch file is run, but they will see feedback as to what is going on. Also, you don’t really have to declare all of the variables first, you could just pass them directly from that line. Example:

But, I created this so that you (or whoever you give this to) wont have to go searching through the code if the variables need to be changed - plus, it’s better programing practice to declare your variables first!

How To I Use This Code?

Open a new text file and copy/paste the code, then save the file as a .bat. You will need to change all of the variables (the six at the top of the code) to meet your networking needs!

Download

You can download the raw code - again, you must save the file with a .bat extension.

What’s Going On?

It really is pretty self explanatory, all of the netsh int commands set the corresponding network connection information. The second-to-last command (the one for setting the home page) sets a registry key with the value that you declared earlier (%varhome%). It may not be necessary for your application, but I thought I should include it for you anyway!

How To Reset To DHCP

I have written another article and posted the code to Reset Your IP Address Via Batch File.

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Yesterday, we learned about Environmental Variables. Today I’ll show you how to create your own and edit the ones that ship with Windows!

Why Should I Make My Own?

Creating your own Environmental Variables can be very useful! Let’s say you want a quick and easy way to access the same folder repeatedly, we’ll use the example of a backup drive: We can create a variable to point to a specific folder. We’ll use this example: You have a second hard drive in your machine, this drive’s sole purpose is to store backups for all users on your computer. The path to your documents in the backup folder on this drive is:

n:\backup\users\john\documents

This address is not very long, but it can be a pain when you have to type or navigate to it repeatedly - and we’re geeks, we like the quickest, easiest way to do everything! Wouldn’t it be easier to just type:

%backupdocs%

Of course it would! Start off by hitting the Windows Key+R and typing this command:

sysdm.cpl

You can also reach this location by navigating to Control Panel->Performance and Maintenance->System or right-click on My Computer and choose “Properties” - but remember: Geeks=Fast (just don’t tell my wife ). Click the Advanced tab, then click the “Environmental Variables” button.

In the Environmental Variables dialog, under “User Variables for <User Name>”, click the “New” button.

Type the variable name (what you’ll type when you want to call the variable) and the value (what the variable points to).

Click the “OK” button in all dialogs. Changes should be immediate!

Vista Only Tip Permanently Change A Variable Via The Command Prompt

Vista

Using the set command from the command prompt (read: in a batch file), you can make permanent changes to environment variables. Example: to change to location of the %backupdocs% variable to G:\john, the command would be:

setx path "%backupdocs%;G:\john"

Again, this permanently changes the location of the variable, so be careful!

Edit: XP

Apparently you can use the set command with a command-line tool called setx.exe which is included in the Windows XP Service Pack 2 Support Tools. I haven’t tested this so your mileage may vary!

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