Using GNOME/Configuration Editor

The Configuration Editor, technically known as GConfg-editor is a special tool to change hidden settings within GNOME. They are usually hidden because they are not missed by non-power users but power users may appreciate them.

The Configuration Editor is easy to get to grips with, yet learning all the Key's hard.

There are two ways to launch Configuration Editor.

Menu, Preferences, Advanced, Configuration Editor.
Type gconf-editor from Run Application.

The configuration editor screen

The screen is split in to three panes, key tree (left), key list (top right ), key info (bottom right).

Key Tree. There are four main key categories in the key tree.

apps
desktop
schemas
system

In each category there is a collection of folders which can contain sub folders and keys.

Keys each have a name, value and description. Make sure you try all the keys to see what they do. This guide has references to popular keys. Look out for them in Tip boxes!