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Tech Tip of the Week: Enable Windows 7's Hidden "God Mode"

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January 11, 2010, 3:00 PM EST

As indicated by enthusiasts around the Web, there is a simple way to access a hidden "God Mode" in Windows 7 and Vista. With a name like that, your expectations might be a little high -- and no, Windows is not secretly invincible -- but the trick is awesome nevertheless.

"God Mode" simply provides users with a centralized Control Panel for all of Windows' settings, from changing your desktop background to setting up a VPN or partitioning your hard drive. In all, there are nearly 50 categories and most have several entries.

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19 comments

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dividebyzero on January 11, 2010 3:06 PM	Many thanks....time to experiment I think ! Reply \| Quote
burty117 on January 11, 2010 3:35 PM	I known about this for a while and it can be the most useful piece of info ever! if you just can't be bothered to trawl trough control panel open this up and what your looking for is already there! good stuff. Reply \| Quote
compdata on January 11, 2010 3:47 PM	Useful, but hardly "God Mode" other then the folder name which isn't even required. Reply \| Quote
kevork on January 11, 2010 3:48 PM	Many Thanks! Reply \| Quote
Kibaruk on January 11, 2010 5:02 PM	Mmm sort of neat, for one thing you can access everything in a single click, although there is no option you can't access with a couple of clicks so it kinds of loose its neatness :P Reply \| Quote
slh28 on January 11, 2010 5:32 PM	I was expecting something awesome when reading the title from the RSS feed... but anyway I guess this is still pretty useful Reply \| Quote
Tekkaraiden on January 11, 2010 7:32 PM	That's really kewl. Reply \| Quote
tengeta on January 11, 2010 7:46 PM	Makes it a little more like OSX's system preferences, so I'm all for it. Why the heck isn't it available as a standard option though? Seems stupid, but thanks for showing it I had no idea. Reply \| Quote
deadmongol on January 11, 2010 8:49 PM	wow. this was really helpful i think.. thanks for the tip, lets do a little tweaking here and there . Reply \| Quote
Puiu on January 12, 2010 12:17 AM	This is really useful for those that work a lot with those settings. Reply \| Quote
Decimae on January 12, 2010 1:59 AM	There are a lot more of these folders. These are all of which I know(n is network, but that name changes automatically in windows explorer. I combined all that them of in one archive: http://www.mediafire.com/?mdkd2lzndiz (it's just an archive with folders, if you extract it you'll see configuration icons) These were originally meant for developers. Reply \| Quote
TorturedChaos on January 12, 2010 10:10 AM	I came across this the other day playing around with Stumble but haven't done anything with it. Although the site I found it on said it may screw with windows vista. Something about not being able to open the folder this is saved in without crashing explore.exe, so if its saved on your desktop you are kinda screwed :P. Reply \| Quote
Guest on January 13, 2010 4:16 PM	I tried this on Vista 64bit and ended up reinstalling OS 5 min later. Reply \| Quote
Archean on January 14, 2010 11:27 PM	I've tried these on 7x64 and works like a charm ...... i guess i can give few tips to our new IT Admin (the post once i occupied ) and show him he still need to learn few tricks lol Reply \| Quote
Guest on March 4, 2010 7:47 PM	Wow, thanks for the great tip! I have heard that you can enable "Robo Mode" on Windows 7, which is like God Mode, but more powerful, can anyone here tell me how to enable Robo Mode on my new rig? Reply \| Quote
InsaneVr6 on March 4, 2010 8:58 PM	Guest said: Wow, thanks for the great tip! I have heard that you can enable "Robo Mode" on Windows 7, which is like God Mode, but more powerful, can anyone here tell me how to enable Robo Mode on my new rig? Never heard of robo mode.. When I read the title the first thing I thought of the God mode in Doom...but for Windows. Yeah I know. I use this alot makes stuff easy to get too, even though most of it doesn't bring you directly to where the settings can be changed. Some navigating is required, but it is better than being lost in the control panel. Reply \| Quote
Guest on March 4, 2010 10:39 PM	On my old rig I voice activated Robo mode by leaning in really close to the PC speaker and constantly chanting GZZZ, GZZZ, GZZZ, GZZZ, GZZZ, GZZZ. Once Robo Mode is activated, your rig will announce "Access Granted, Welcome to Robo Mode". You can then use your rig to remote control your garden hose attachments. Reply \| Quote
Guest on July 4, 2010 9:49 AM	I wish the writer of the article would put "may crash Windows Vista" in the beginning of the article, guess what: I saved it on my desktop. Curses. Reply \| Quote
Guest on February 9, 2011 4:53 PM	I solved it this way: 1. Hit ctrl+alt+del and select Task Manager. 2. At the top of Task Manager, highlight File, and select “New Task (Run…)”. This will open up the Run window. 3. In the Run window, type “cmd”. This will open the Command Prompt. 4. If you put the folder on your desktop, type “cd C:\Users[Your Username Here]\Desktop”. 5. Type “rd “ then hit Tab until the folder name appears. Then hit enter. This removes the folder 6. Type in “cd C:\Windows\System32”. 7. Type in “shutdown –r” in order to restart your computer. Hope it helps. Reply \| Quote