Since Vista, Microsoft has decided to hide the bar, by default. In Windows 7, here’s what Windows Explorer looks like:

While the menu bar is no longer visible, it hasn’t been completely removed from the operating system. You can simply press ALT to make it appear. Once visible, it is designed to disappear whenever you left-click the Windows Explorer window. If you actually click the menu, you can execute one action, and then the bar will disappear again. In this manner, Windows ensures that the menu bar is never left to waste window space. Here’s a video illustrating this behavior:

I really like this approach, and actually found that other applications feature the same logic. For example, Internet Explorer 8, Windows Live Messenger, and Firefox 4 Beta 1 also show/hide the menu bar whenever ALT is pressed. I’m hoping it becomes a global standard for applications.

You also have the option of permanently showing menus… an option I don’t personally like. If you want to try that option, follow these steps:

1. Click Organize > Folder and search options in Windows Explorer.
2. In the Folder Options dialog, click the View tab.
3. In the Advanced Settings section, you’ll find an option titled Always show menus. Enable the checkbox.
4. Click OK.

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As an example, consider the following screenshot:

Bing's wallpaper for July 5th, 2009.

Great image – the type of image that makes me want to know more. This brings us to the problem, though. Bing doesn’t actually tell you anything about what you’re seeing – other than the copyright information. They do give you more information if you are using the United States version of the site – but I’m Canadian. Not only that, but they don’t have the same images on the United States version of the site. Essentially, this means I’m stuck trying to figure out what the photo is depicting, by myself. I found a pretty simple, albeit manual solution: looking at the source code of the page. The background image filename is actually prefixed with some text, in this case, “CalabriaCoast”:

http://www.bing.com/fd/hpk2/CalabriaCoast_EN-CA1974044658.jpg

Once you have that name, you’re in business – search for that text on the web, and you’ll likely find some informative pages among the top results. Worse case, if you don’t have anything useful on the first few pages, at least you have a lead to work with. In my experience, once you have that name – you have it all. That is, of course, if the picture is of something unique, rather than yesterday’s photo: “Zebras”. If you were interested in where the zebras were, you’d have to guess based on the photo alone.

Now… as for how to actually find that name – I have a pretty quick process. I’ll explain how to do it here – covering the major browsers – but keep in mind, these methods aren’t very elegant – some of them require the use of developer tools. I hope Microsoft eventually makes this easier for regular users… and while they’re at it, people that don’t live in the United States.

How to Find the Bing Background Filename Using Your Browser

Google Chrome 2

Using Google Chrome

1) Right-click the background image.

2) Select “Inspect Element”.

A window appears with the element selected – notice on the right sidebar, you’ll see a URL that is partially cut off. Hover your mouse over this URL, and a tooltip will appear – revealing the whole thing. You can even right-click it, and copy it from there. See the screenshot.

Internet Explorer 8

1) Right-click the background image.

2) Select “Save Background As”.

A window pops up asking you to save the file. Take note of the name it is suggesting, as that is the name of the background image.

Mozilla Firefox 3.5

Using Mozilla Firefox

1) Right-click anywhere on the Bing page.

2) Select “View Page Info”.

3) Click the “Media” tab.

You’ll see the background listed along with other images. See the screenshot.

Safari 4

1) Right-click anywhere on the Bing page, and select “View Source”.

2) Click CTRL+F, and then type in “.jpg” as the search term.

Cycle through the search results – there should only be three. You will find that one of them is actually background image URL.

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When I first received my laptop from Dell, I quickly noticed something different in Internet Explorer:

Apparently, my copy of Internet Explorer was provided by Dell. I immediately disliked the idea that this reminder would be present every time I used Internet Explorer. I began looking for a way to remove it, and it turned out to be pretty simple. All you need to do is change a registry key, located here:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Internet Explorer/Main

and depicted here:

Solution

Some of the instructions found in this article involve modifying the Windows registry. If modified incorrectly, serious problems may occur. It is highly recommended by both the author of this article, and by Microsoft – that you back up the registry before you modify it. For information on how to do this, please see the following Microsoft Knowledge article:

MSKB 322756 –  How to back up and restore the registry in Windows.

To remove the Dell branding, all you need to do is:

1. Click Start – Run (or press Windows Key + R). Type regedit.exe in the “Run” dialog, and press Enter.
2. Navigate to “HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerMain” using the Registry Editor.
3. Right-click the “Window Title” key.
4. Select “Modify”.
5. Select the “provided by Dell” text in the “Value Data” textbox, and press Delete.
6. Click OK.
7. Close and re-open Internet Explorer.

If you would prefer a quicker way, and have Windows Vista, you can download and execute this registry file:

remove-dell-branding-in-ie7-titlebar.reg (right-click, save link/target as)

Executing this file will change the window title automatically. Keep in mind, I only tested it with a system that is running Windows Vista and Internet Explorer 7. Using this file in a different environment is discouraged.

See Also

MSKB 176497 - How to Change the Internet Explorer Window Title

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