Activating and Using Win 7 Godmode

What is GodMode?

GodMode is the name given to the process of creating a special folder in Windows to give you direct access to a lot of different Control Panel settings from one single point of access. Previous versions of Windows have had similar tools, but thanks to the increasingly different way in which the Windows Control Panel is organized, accessing the various settings via GodMode has become more popular.

With GodMode activated in Windows 7, you can quickly find settings for altering your mouse pointer or partitioning your hard disk drive. These are not new tools and do not circumvent security privileges; rather they are settings that have been gathered in one place.

How Do I Access Windows 7 GodMode?

Gaining access to the Windows 7 GodMode can be achieved in several ways. Most common is the creation of a new folder on your desktop.

We can setup GodMode by right-clicking on an empty portion of the Desktop and selecting New > Folder. With the New Folder name text highlighted, paste in the following:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

This will name the folder as GodMode, and when you open the folder you will see that settings for Action Center, Administrative Tools, AutoPlay and much more are listed. With GodMode you can quickly adjust settings for various Windows and Microsoft applications such as Internet Explorer. By scrolling down to Internet Options you can quickly delete your browsing history without opening the application, and manage Windows Firewall and Windows Defender.

(Note that this also works in 32-bit versions of Windows Vista.)

However, there is more to GodMode than this collection of tools.

Access Tools for Other Windows Versions

What GodMode demonstrates is that Windows applications and utilities are all accessible via different views. The process listed above demonstrates how these views can be compiled into one easy to access folder view, but we can take this further by accessing other views in Windows 7, even for Windows 7 versions that we don’t have.

Before proceeding, note that GodMode doesn’t have to be run in a folder. Into the Start > Search box or into the address bar of an Explorer window you might enter:

Shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

This difference in approach shows that GodMode is nothing more than a name, with a GUID code added after the fullstop in order to deliver the required view:

NAME.{GUID}

The long string of letters and numbers that comprise the GUID code can be used to display other options. For instance you can view Tablet PC settings (regardless of your computer type) with:

shell:::{80F3F1D5-FECA-45F3-BC32-752C152E456E}

You can also access more familiar places, such as Recent Places:

shell:::{22877a6d-37a1-461a-91b0-dbda5aaebc99}

And what view is used more regularly than My Computer?

shell:::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

Finally you can also view some useful Control Panel items in their own folders:

shell:::{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D} (Printers)

shell:::{15eae92e-f17a-4431-9f28-805e482dafd4} (Install network programs)

shell:::{1FA9085F-25A2-489B-85D4-86326EEDCD87} (Manage wireless networks)