Wednesday, June 14, 2006

How to Remove Active Desktop in Windows XP



The desktop is an integral component of the Windows operating system
and cannot be removed. However, you do have the option of disabling the
resource-hungry Active Desktop and using the classic user interface
instead. The biggest advantage of doing this is that your PC will feel
much snappier. Unfortunately, it is much harder to disable the Active
Desktop in Windows XP than it was in previous versions of the operating
system - it requires a change to the registry.




To open the registry editor, go to "Start, Run", type regedit
and hit "OK". Find the entry
"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer"
and create the DWORD values ForceActiveDesktopOn and NoActiveDesktop
. To do so, right-click into the right-hand window and select "New,
DWORD". Then change the binary value of the registry key called
"ForceActiveDesktopOn" to 0 and that of "NoActiveDesktop" to 1. Now
quit the program and restart your computer.



Warning: Manipulating the registry can easily damage your installation of Windows. It is crucial that you create a backup
copy of your registry before making any changes to the Windows
registry. Once again, open the registry editor as described above and
go to "File, Export". Choose a memorable name for your backup file,
select a suitable destination on your hard drive and click "Save".

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks man.. Was of great help!!

You can be assured of atleast one vote when you contest for elections..
in india!! :)

pauline26 said...

Glad you liked it Bharath.

Anonymous said...

thanks for this!

Unknown said...

Trying this out now, this problem has been plaguing me FOREVER! Thank you for posting this information.

Anonymous said...

thanks a lot!!

Unknown said...

Sick to death of this bastard "feature" constantly malfunctioning even though I'm not even using it, and refusing to let me have my wallpaper instead of the its ugly white error screen. Thanks a million for this!

Anonymous said...

Funny how this random function keeps getting activated when I never actually enabled it! thanks a lot for your help.

Anonymous said...

Nice!!! First Google search result is this and it worked beautifully! The others were directing me to go to the control panel and manipulate the display settings...duh...if that had worked in the first place I wouldn't be looking at the registry to get rid of this wonderful 'feature' that MS has so graciously honored us with.
Thanks!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks tried all sorts of things from other websites but this one worked.

pauline26 said...

Glad this article helped.

Tracy said...

thanks, but there's an easier and quicker way:
1. Open the Control Panel.
2. Open the Display icon.
3. Click the Desktop tab.
4. Click the Customize Desktop button.
5. Click the Web tab in the Desktop Items window.

ClintJCL said...

Isn't active desktop required if you want to have a desktop background with more than 256 colors? At least in Windows XP?