How to rename files using F2 on Windows XP, without the extension being selected?

Question

On Windows Vista & 7, when you select a file and press F2, only the file name is automatically selected without spanning the extension. Then you can write the new file name and hit enter. It is a useful feature as you don't have to select the file name apart from the extension by hand. On the other hand, Windows XP behaves old fashioned by selecting both file name and extension. Is it possible to do this by tweaking the registry of XP?

Note: Please do not propose to hide extensions for known file types.

Answer 1

AutoHotkey is of course again a possible answer to this question :-) .

LifeHacker had an article about exactly this issue: Mimic Vista's File Rename Feature in XP

It's available as the AutoHotkey source script or as a compiled executable name "Better Rename".

Answer 2

I don't know of a registry hack, but xplorer² renames files with F2 like this.

Answer 3

I use successfully the freeware application "Pitaschio", try it , it works much better than any other application