Computer and Software Support


Mail Notification on Windows welcome screen 

This article is from Microsoft's knowledge base. The article number is 304148. You can click on the article to go to Microsoft's website to read the article. If the link does not work, you can read the article below.
 
IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry.
 
If you do not want to touch the registry and you have Windows XP. Microsoft has PowerToys software that will do this. The software is called TweakUI.EXE and it is on the PowerToys page. Click the link below to access it
 
Microsoft PowerToys (This is a link to an external website. Therefore I cannot guarantee that this link will stay valid. If it doesn't work, you will need to go to Microsoft.com to see if they still have this program available)
 
Click here for instructions on backing up the registry
 
The Welcome Screen is displayed by default on Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional-based computers that are not members of a domain. Under your name on the Welcome screen, there is a hyperlink that indicates the number of unread e-mail messages, which, if you click it, reveals which account the messages are from, and how many each e-mail provider contains. For example, if you have three unread e-mail messages, and you click the hyperlink under your name, you see the following information where UserID is your user name for the corresponding e-mail account:


UserID@msn.com (2)
UserID@hotmail.com (1)

The hyperlink is only displayed if you have an e-mail client running on your computer that is capable of updating the Welcome screen. Currently, there are only two applications that support this feature, Microsoft Outlook Express and Windows Messenger.

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

This e-mail hyperlink is only displayed if the e-mail client that your computer is running populates the following registry key:


HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft \Windows\CurrentVersion\ UnreadMail


You cannot disable this feature in the user interface nor can you configure the Welcome Screen to populate the unread message count from only a particular e-mail application. For example, you do not want your e-mail messages from UserID@hotmail.com displayed on the Welcome screen. However, to work around this behavior, you can set the permissions on the following registry key to read-only for the System account:


HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft \Windows\CurrentVersion\ UnreadMail


When the application attempts to update the registry key as new mail arrives, it will not have sufficient permission to do so and the Welcome Screen will not be updated.

  1. Access REGEDIT (The page will open in a separate window)

  2. Double-click HKEY_CURRENT_USER

  3. Double-click Software

  4. Double-click Microsoft

  5. Double-click Windows

  6. Double-click CurrentVersion

  7. Double-click UnreadMail

  8. Right click the UnreadMail folder

  9. Click Permissions

  10. Click the System account

  11. Check the Deny checkbox for full control

  12. Click OK

  13. Close Registry Editor

To block only one of the e-mail clients from updating the Welcome screen, permissions to the registry key under "UnreadMail" specifying the e-mail account must have System permissions set to read-only. For example, you have the two following registry keys under the UnreadMail key:


UserID@msn.com
UserID@hotmail.com


To block UserID@msn.com from being displayed on the screen and to retain UserID@hotmail.com, set the permissions on the UserID@msn.com key:

  1. Access REGEDIT (The page will open in a separate window)

  2. Double-click HKEY_CURRENT_USER

  3. Double-click Software

  4. Double-click Microsoft

  5. Double-click Windows

  6. Double-click CurrentVersion

  7. Double-click UnreadMail

  8. Click the e-mail provider that you do not want to be displayed on the Welcome screen.

  9. Right click the folder

  10. Click Permissions

  11. Click the System account

  12. Check the Deny check box for full control

  13. Click OK

  14. Close Registry Editor