Windows® 2000 Tweak Guide

The Windows® 2000 Tweak Guide provides an extensive range of registry tweaks, tricks and hacks for optimizing and tweaking the Windows® 2000 operating system. Get started by exploring the tweaks below:

Registry Tweaks

Use double-pane Explorer when opening network drives (Windows 98/Me/2000/XP) New
By default when opening network drives (UNC) the Explorer window opens with a single-pane which does not show the Folders section on the left-hand side. This tweak changes the default behavior to open network drives with a double-pane view.

Restrict Installations from Removable Media (Windows 2000/XP)
This tweak stops users from attempting to install a program (with an .msi extension) from removable media, such as CD-ROMs, floppy disks, and DVDs.

Disable Windows Installer Rollback (Windows 2000/XP) Popular
This restriction stops Windows Installer from recording the original state of the system and sequence of changes it makes during installations. This restriction is designed to reduce the amount of temporary disk space required to install programs.

Restrict use of Management Console (MMC) Snap-ins (Windows 2000/XP)
Enable this setting, to restrict access to all snap-ins, except those that you explicitly permit via the Group Policy Restricted/Permitted snap-ins setting folder.

Restrict Author Mode in Management Console (MMC) (Windows 2000/XP)
This restriction stops users from opening the Microsoft Management Console and relevant .mmc console files in author mode.

Disable the Recycle Bin Properties Option (Windows 2000/XP)
This tweak allows you to restrict access to the "Properties" option on the Recycle Bin right-click context menu.

More registry tweaks...

Security Alerts

Flaw in Windows 2000 Network Connection Manager New
A security vulnerability exists in the Windows 2000 Network Connection Manager which could allow an unprivileged user to run code of their choice with full system privileges.

Opening Group Policy Files Blocks Policy Application New
A vulnerability exists in the ability to lock Group Policy files and prevent other users from reading them. Without the ability to read Group Policy files, new policy settings could not be applied to the computer or to a user's session.

Unchecked Buffer in Telnet Server Could Lead to Arbitrary Code Execution New
A security vulnerability exists in the Telnet service of Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft Interix 2.2 which could allow a remote user to cause a denial of service or to execute code of their choice on the system.

More security information...

Community Forums

Can't find what you're looking for here? Try posting a message on our Community Forums.

Discuss Windows 2000 security issues here.

Discuss general Windows 2000 issues here.