TWEAK: Customized Right-Click Menu

I often get asked by colleagues how I setup a customized right-click menu for my Desktop. Don't get me wrong, I still use the notebook that the company issues but I ask for limited administrative privileges to be able to customize the notebook to my working style as I like to access my often used software on the right-click menu. It is a quick access menu and you will see how it looks in a bit.

Other than this "menu", I also leave my desktop with very minimal contents, icons, or shortcuts. This makes access my Desktop quick and very responsive. If you feel like your computer is bogging down, try removing stuff from your Desktop (trust me, it goes a long way).

For you to have an idea what I'm talking about, here's a screenshot of my Desktop.

The question then is: How did I add several lines to the right-click menu? Good question, read on as I will outline how this gets done.

WARNING! This involves making changes to the registry and could potentially end up in disaster. Proceed at your own risk!

Now that you have ample warning, open the registry editor.. Head down to "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell" or "HKCR\Directory\Background\shell". This requires Administrator privileges, so if you don't have it on your notebook, ask for it first. Otherwise, this will not work for you.

Right-click on "shell", and select "New" --> "Key". Name this key with what you want to appear on the right-click menu. In my case, I used the key "anaconda update" specifically for updating my anaconda3 install in my notebook.

Next, right-click on the newly created and key create another key. This time name it "command" (do not use any other name). On the data pane, fill up the "(Default)" field with the command used to run the created key. In my example above, commands specific to "anaconda update" -- "conda update --all --yes".

You should have something similar to the screenshot below. I already have several entries in my Desktop so the existing Keys on your registry might appear different. In my set-up, I also added another key to launch "jupyter notebook" with the same command among several additions.

The change takes effect immediately, so check by right-clicking your Desktop and see the menu appear. If it doesn't appear, re-check the steps executed.

 RELATED: TOO MANY USER/GDI objects are being used..

This setup has also helped me a lot in uncluttering my Desktop from icons/shortcuts that would slow it down. Not to mention, give it a very simple, clean look.

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HOW-TO: Protect Yourself Against Malicious Autorun.INF Code

Laziness has its price.. One brain-child of what I consider laziness is autorun.inf. I call it a vulnerability rather than a feature. This is just my two-cents. The rationale behind this line of reasoning is that, viruses and malicious software take advantage of this so-called feature to install and infect your machine before you are aware it hit you. The actual payload installed varies from viruses to trojans, and likewise the damage it could inflict varies.

The most common mode by which malicious code propagates is by USB flash drives (others call them thumb drives or external storage device). They all mean the same thing. Before viruses, trojans and other malicious software lurking in these devices hit you, do something about it. Protect yourself! Autorun.INF is an inherent security hole that needs to be plugged. And the way circumvent this vulnerability is a simple task to do.

Just so you get an idea what AUTORUN.INF functionality is, whenever you plug an external storage and an application Window automatically opens that is AUTORUN.INF at work. Below is an example of what it looks like. Only that in cases of malicious code, this application Window might or might not be visible.

The solution to this problem is a registry hack. So before you proceed, ensure you have a backup of your machine. This hack works for me and am confident it works but I will not be held liable for consequences that may arise when you execute this procedure on your machine.

As "Administrator", open the registry editor and go to this key: HKLM > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows NT > CurrentVersion > IniFileMapping > Autorun.INF. The "Autorun.INF" key does not exist by default, so you have to create it. Change the "(Default)" value to @SYS:XXXXXXX.

This simply means instead of looking for Autorun.INF (case-insensitive) on plugged external storage devices, it will look for the string you substituted on after the colon. Now, that is quite difficult to guess than "Autorun.INF".

 RELATED: Automatically Disable WIFI on LAN Connectivity

Making your computer a less vulnerable to malicious code will give you confidence in plugging an external storage device from a colleague for whatever purposes you deem necessary.

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