Jan 17, 2011 16:01 GMT  ·  By

If you read our latest articles about tweaking Microsoft Windows XP by modifying the registry, we surely know we’ve covered the customization of the Internet Options window. On the other hand, if this is your read about the XP registry tweaks saga, here’s the basic idea: we provide an absolutely free, easy to perform tutorial on how to unlock hidden secrete inside good-old XP, just by using Microsoft Notepad. Internet users will also be interested in another important XP application: Outlook Express. OE is the default email client integrated into Windows XP and covers the basic functions for this of software. In this article will cover a few Outlook Express tweaks that will ease your work with this program or at least improve it a bit.

Let’s start with the preparations: as always, you’ll have to create a .reg file that must run after adding the customizations. This process is described in detail in the first article about Windows XP tweaks, so take a look here for all the details. Now that you’ve created your tweaks.reg file and added in Notepad Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 at its beginning, you can choose of the following tweaks and paste it below that line.

As opposed to previous articles, this one will require your OEID, Outlook Express global unique identifier. To find, just type regedit in Run... and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Identities and copy the id ( which should look like this {BE72803F-096D-4D60-A713-38D3BF0C7CA1} ) for later use. We’ll start with tweaks that will enhance the look and feel of your Windows XP email client and continue to those related to its functionality and security.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\OEID \Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Trident\Main] "SmoothScroll"=dword:00000001 As you’ve probably already guessed, by adding the two lines above to your tweaking file, you’ll enable smooth scrolling when viewing emails in Outlook Express. You can always reverse the change, by setting it to 0 instead of 1.

[HKCU\Identities\OEID \Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0] "WindowTitle"="The title you’d like to appear" This tweak also speaks for itself: by replacing WindowTitle’s value and adding the lines to tweaks.reg, you can easily replace the Outlook Express title to any text you want.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\OEID\Software\Microsoft\ Outlook Express\5.0] "FrontPagePath"= "http://www.softpedia.com" This small optimization is pretty obvious. By adding the two lines above to your tweaking file, you can change the Outlook Express’ start page (the webpage loading in the right-hand pane at OE start-up)

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Identities\OEID\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0] "NoSplash"=dword:00000001 One of the most annoying things about Outlook Express is the splash screen you’ll notice when running the program. If you’re interested in getting rid of it, just add the two lines above to your tweaks.reg file and after running it, Outlook Express will reveal its main window without ever showing its splash screen.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express] "Hide Messenger"=dword:00000002 As you probably know, Outlook Express offers MSN and AOL 5 Instant Messenger integration and functionality. If you were looking for a way to remove it, here’s the easy fix: just add the lines above the messenger functionality will no longer be available.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express] "BlockExeAttachments"=dword:00000001 Here’s one Outlook Express security tweak that could help stay out of trouble. After running the tweaks.reg file containing the two lines above, OE will block all executable attachments.

This is where our Outlook Express tweaking tour ends. We hope the enhancements listed above we’ll make your life easier while working with Microsoft Windows XP’s integrated email client.