There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of ways to tweak Windows and everybody has their favorites. Here’s an easy way to make many of your favorite tweaks in Windows 8/8.1 and possibly discover some new ones as well.
There’s a new release of the utility called the Ultimate Windows Tweaker (UWT) and it is designed for the newest Windows operating systems. A similar tool has been available for Vista/Windows 7 and was previously chosen as best free portable Windows tweaker. The latest release of UWT is version 3. The description and download link are at this page. It is a small portable tool with an executable of only 340 KB. Because of its nature it will trigger a UAC challenge when run. When it is first run, the program interface may not appear immediately, presumably because it is doing a system analysis.
Update 1 May. 2014 - A new version 3.1 is now available. See this link.
There are over 170 different tweaks available. The interface offers the following categories
- System Information
- Customization
- User Accounts
- Performance tweaks
- Security tweaks
- Internet Explorer tweaks
As always, when tweaking a system, it is essential to make a system restore point or other backup first. The interface for UWT offers a convenient button for creating a restore point. There is also a button to restore default settings. Personally, I do not think that every one of the available tweaks is suitable for all PC users. Before making any tweak, be sure you understand what it does. The complete list of available tweaks for Windows 8.1 can be found here
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Comments
Hi Joe,
(1) UWT 3.0.x.x puts the file in correct folder. However issue related with the same feature has been fixed in the latest version i.e v3.1.
(2) UWT requires admin rights to work. However you need not open it again and again in admin mode. UWT automatically opens in admin mode by default. Just create the shortcut and run.
(3) This is the problem with me and not TWC. I am the developer and being a student, I was busy in my exams. Hence I couldn't respond in the required time. But now I will try to answer the queries within 24 hours.
Paras, I can understand if you cannot answer queries quickly BUT my follow-up posts are NOT even visible in the thread at TWC!! Also, I know there was nothing whatsoever in those posts that can even be remotely construed as abusive. That is how I know it's a moderating problem. I think it will be in your own interest to investigate and discuss the matter with whoever is responsible at TWC because it is reflecting very badly on yourself.
Also, just to see if the issue with the empty.ico has been fixed, I deleted UWT on my computer and downloaded the latest version only to discover the empty.ico file is now being sent elsewhere!!
Paras, it won't be proper go into this matter further here as this is not the right place to carry on such a discussion, however, I'll be keeping an eye (for a reasonable time) on the thread at TWC. If you do find the time to answer then it could become interesting because I think found more bugs.
Joe, you can directly contact me via email which can be found here: http://www.downloadinformer.com/p/contact-us_06.html
Regarding moderation, I will investigate if something is left without being moderated. But from my side, I will try to repond quickly if I receive any email or support post regarding my software.
UWT 3.1 copies empty.ico to C:\ProgramData\empty.ico. However path doesn't matter. I hope this tweak will go fine for you now. If you have found more bugs, please contact me either via email or support forums, it would be my pleasure to solve them asap
Done!
(1) UWT (wrongly) puts the empty.ico file in C:\Windows\System32 instead of C:\Windows. Because of this bug if you try to remove shortcut arrows with UWT it won't work. If you manually move the ico file to the latter folder/directory it then begins to work.
(2) Because of the nature of UWT's tweaks it should be run as an Administrator otherwise the tweaks won't work. Likewise, if you create a desktop shortcut you must change its properties to run as an Administrator. To do this, right-click the shortcut, select Properties-->Compatibility and put a check mark in the box to "Run this program as an Administrator".
(3) If you ever need support don't even bother to seek help from the forum at The Windows Club otherwise you will have a VERY long wait. Getting approval from a moderator takes a LONG time. There are queries that were answered up to 2 months after their original posting. If you doubt me just have a look at http://forum.thewindowsclub.com/twc-windows-freeware/35684-support-ultim...