IT PhD Computer Journal

Old rascal Billy keeps adding a bunch of idiotic interf*c* elements like Home and Gallery, which any sane person would want to burn away with holy water. Let’s get started.

Remove Home

1. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{f874310e-b6b7-47dc-bc84-b9e6b38f5903}
2. Rename {f874310e-b6b7-47dc-bc84-b9e6b38f5903} to DISABLE_HOME_BUTTON={f874310e-b6b7-47dc-bc84-b9e6b38f5903} (you can revert it later if needed by renaming it back)
3. Restart Explorer.

Remove Gallery

1. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID\{e88865ea-0e1c-4e20-9aa6-edcd0212c87c}
2. If {e88865ea-0e1c-4e20-9aa6-edcd0212c87c} doesn’t exist, create it (right-click → New → Key)
3. Inside it, create a DWORD (32-bit) parameter named System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree
4. Done! The default value of the newly created DWORD is 0, which is exactly what we need
5. Restart Explorer.

And so… another mischief by old Billy has been defeated. Goodness triumphs, and Billy slithers away to brew up some new nastiness for the next version of Windows.

For a dozen years, Windows has had a setting – “what to display in the tray”. It’s called: “Select which icons appear on the taskbar“. And now in Windows 11, it’s gone. WHAT TO DO?

No need to panic. Billy has “improved” our life once again. I already went into

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify

to pull out the hexadecimal values of the apocalypse… by the way, here’s a script… note that you need to have the app you want already opened in the tray to extract its ID:

# Export the TrayNotify key
$regPath = "HKCU:\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify"
$exportPath = "C:\path\to\output\TrayNotifyBackup.reg"
Reg export $regPath $exportPath
Write-Output "TrayNotify key exported to $exportPath"

And then you need to insert this ID:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify]
"YourAppIdentifier"=dword:00000002

But… it TURNED OUT, that Billy kind of made a convenient thing. You can DRAG icons from hidden to the active tray WITH A MOUSE. @#$%in mouse. And why couldn’t they write about this in the place where this setting was removed?

I apologize for the tone, but when you’re dealing with Billy – it’s hard to write any other way.