Windows 95 Tips
QUICKLY RESTARTING WINDOWS 95
If you want to quickly restart Windows 95 from the Shut Down Windows dialog
box, select the Restart the computer radio button and hold down
the [Shift] key while you click Yes.
When you do, Windows 95 will restart without
rebooting the computer.
TRACKING YOUR MOUSE POINTER
If you're using a laptop system, you should be using the Pointer trails
feature, which adds a trail to your mouse pointer. Adding the trail
makes it easier for you to track your mouse pointer
when you move it across the screen. To enable
the Pointer trails feature, access Control Panel and
double-click the Mouse icon. When the Mouse Properties sheet appears,
click on the Motion tab and select the Show pointer
trails check box in the Pointer trail panel.
The slider in the Pointer trail panel lets you easily
adjust the length of the pointer trail to your
liking. Best of all, you can test the setting on the
fly - as soon as you adjust the slider, move your mouse pointer around
the screen to sample the setting.
If you're using a Microsoft mouse and have installed the
Intellipoint software, you'll find this feature
on the Visibility tab in the Trails panel.
BYPASSING THE STARTUP FOLDER
If you want to quickly load Windows 95 without loading any of the programs
in the Startup folder, type your password and click OK in the Welcome
to Windows dialog box, then press and hold down
the [Shift] key.
If you're on a network, type your password and click OK
in the Enter Network Password dialog box, then
press and hold down the [Shift] key.
If you're not logging into Windows 95 or a network, press
and hold down the [Shift] key, when you see the
Windows 95 splash screen appear.
MAKE THE [CAPS LOCK] KEY SOUND OFF
How many times have you been typing along only to look up and notice that
while you were typing, you accidentally hit the [Caps Lock] key
and everything you've typed since then is in
uppercase? Of course, to clean up this mess you
have to press [Backspace] and then retype the words.
Fortunately, we've discovered a feature that helps you
avoid this situation by assigning a sound to
the [Caps Lock] key so that it beeps when you press
it. To use this feature, you must have the Accessibility Options
installed.
To assign a sound to the [Caps Lock] key, access Control
Panel and double-click the Accessibility Options
icon. When the Accessibility Properties sheet
appears, select the Use ToggleKeys check box in the
ToggleKeys panel, as shown below. Then, to enable the setting, click
the OK.
Now whenever you press the [Caps Lock] key, you'll hear
a beep from your system's tiny built-in speaker.
The beep will be louder when you turn [Caps Lock]
on than when you turn it off.
EXPLORE IT FAST
Have you ever been working with some files in a My Computer folder window
and realized that you really needed to be using Windows Explorer?
If so, chances are you closed My Computer, opened
Windows Explorer, and then tracked down the folder
again. However, there's an easier way to access Windows
Explorer from a My Computer folder window. To do so, just
right-click on the folder and select Explore from the context menu.
CHECKING THE STATUS OF YOUR WINDOWS 95 OPERATIONS
You'll find status bars in many of your Windows 95 applications' windows.
Status bars, which you'll find at the bottom of windows, are useful
tools for providing you with information about
the command or operation you're currently performing.
For example, if you open a folder in My Computer and select
several files, the status bar will tell you how
many files you've selected. It will also tell
you the combined size of the selected files.
When you pull down a menu in a Windows 95 application
and position the pointer over a command, the
status bar describes the purpose of the command.
For example, if you pull down the Insert menu in WordPad and hold
the pointer over the Object... command, you'll see a description
of that command in the status bar.
In those applications that have toolbars, the status bar
works in conjunction with tool tips, pop-up text
boxes that display the command name associated
with the toolbar button in question. For example, if you
position your cursor over the undo button on WordPad's toolbar,
you'll see
a tool tip telling you this button performs an Undo operation.
When Windows 95 displays the tool tip, you'll
also find more detailed information about the
Undo command in the status bar.
USING THE DOCUMENTS MENU
When you open the Documents menu, you'll see a list of the documents you've
worked with most recently. You can open any one of these documents
and the application associated with it simply
by selecting the item from the menu.
The Documents menu can display the last 15 documents you've
worked with. If you continue to open and save
documents beyond that, Windows 95 will remove the
older documents from the menu.
FORMATTING FLOPPY DISKS
Formatting floppy disks in Windows 95 is easy. In either Windows Explorer
or My Computer, simply right-click on the floppy disk drive icon
and select the Format... command from the context
menu. When you do, you'll see the Format dialog
box where you can configure the format procedure.
MUTING YOUR SOUND SYSTEM
Have you ever turned the volume control on your speakers all the way down
to mute the sound? While turning the control on the speaker is easy
enough, there's another way to quickly mute the
sound: Just click the speaker icon in the taskbar
and when the pop-up volume control window appears, select
the Mute check box.
Now, click anywhere on the desktop to close this pop-up
window. When the sound is muted, you'll see that
the speaker icon has a red circle around it and
a slash through it to indicate that the sound is turned off.
QUICKLY ACCESSING THE DISPLAY PROPERTIES SHEET
When you need to access the Display Properties sheet, to change the screen
saver or wallpaper for example, do you open Control Panel and double-click
the Display icon? If so, you're not taking advantage of one of Windows
95's many built-in shortcuts. To quickly access
the Display Properties sheet, right-click anywhere
on the desktop and select Properties from the context
menu.
REMOVING THE PASSWORD PROMPT
Are you the only person in your house who uses your Windows 95 system?
If so, entering a password to start
Windows 95 each time you turn on your system
may seem rather silly. Fortunately, you can remove the default
password prompt by making your password blank. When you do, Windows
95 will automatically start up without prompting
you for a password. Let's take a closer look
at this procedure.
Windows 95 stores your password in a file that has the
extension PWL. The first part of the filename
will be the same as your user name. For example, if
your user name is Bob, then your password will be stored in a file
called BOB.PWL. You'll find this file in the Windows folder.
To remove the password prompt, begin by deleting your
PWL file. Next, restart your system, and you'll
see the Enter Windows Password dialog box.
At this point, simply click OK--don't type anything in
the Password text box. You'll never be prompted
for a password again.
RELOCATING THE TASKBAR
By default, the Windows 95 installation procedure places the taskbar at
the bottom your screen where it's
always visible--even when you run an application
in a maximized window. However, if you don't like the taskbar's
default location, you can easily move it.
To begin, place your mouse pointer anywhere on the taskbar
except on the Start button or on a task button.
If your taskbar is full, you can place the mouse
pointer on the clock. Now, press the left mouse button while you
move the pointer to any edge of the desktop where you'd like to
place the taskbar. When you do, you'll see an
outline of the taskbar on that edge of the desktop.
Once you have the taskbar outline where you want, simply
release the mouse button and the taskbar will move to that location.
PLACING A DRIVE ICON ON THE DESKTOP
If you frequently access files from a particular drive, you might find
it useful to place an icon for
that drive on your desktop. You can do so easily
by creating a shortcut to the drive. Start by opening My Computer or
Windows Explorer. Next, right-click the target drive's icon and
drag it to the desktop. When you drop the icon
on the desktop, you'll see a context menu. At
this point, select the Create Shortcut(s) Here command and a new
shortcut to the drive will appear. You'll now be able to easily
access your drive by double-clicking the new
drive icon.
CONFIGURING YOUR DRIVE ICON TO USE WINDOWS EXPLORER VIEW
Last week we showed you how you can easily access a drive by creating a
shortcut to it on the desktop. If you use that technique, you'll
get a My Computer view of the drive. But what
if you really want a Windows Explorer view of
the drive?
Fortunately, configuring the shortcut to use a Windows
Explorer view rather than a My Computer view
is a snap. To begin, right-click the drive icon and
select the Properties command from the Context menu. When the properties
sheet appears, select the Shortcut tab. At this point, click inside
the Target text box once and then position the
cursor in front of the text indicating the drive.
Now, type
c:\windows\explorer.exe /n,/e,
For example, if the shortcut is for drive C, the Target
text box should now read
c:\windows\explorer.exe /n,/e,c:\
USING PAINT AS A BITMAP VIEWER
Trying to choose a bitmap can be tedious if you have to open each file
just to see what it looks like.
However, you don't have to go through this hassle
to see each file. Instead, you can simply display your list of BMP
files in My Computer or Windows Explorer and then drag and drop
a file you want to view onto an open Paint window.
Doing so automatically displays the bitmap. Dragging
and dropping a subsequent bitmap into Paint removes the
old file from the window and displays the new one.
BYPASSING THE RECYCLE BIN
As you know, the Recycle Bin saves copies of every file you delete so that
you can easily retrieve the file if you need to. However, there
are probably times you know that you'll never
need a particular file again. In this case, why
store it in the Recycle Bin and waste hard disk space? You
can bypass the Recycle Bin and really delete a file by selecting
it and pressing [Shift][Del].
If you have the toolbar open in either My Computer or
Windows Explorer, you can also permanently delete
a file by selecting the file and pressing and holding
down the [Shift] key while you click the Delete button on the toolbar.
When you delete files in this way, Windows 95 will display
a Confirm File Delete message box and prompt
you to confirm the operation. The graphic for the
Confirm File Delete message box is a disintegrating file icon. This is
your visual cue that you won't be able to retrieve the file.
PRINTING YOUR SCREEN
In the old days, if you ever wanted to print the contents of your screen,
you pressed the [Print Scrn] key on your keyboard and your printer
would begin printing. However, Windows 95 redirects
the destination of the [Print Scrn] key to the
Clipboard. This means that if you want to print the
contents of your screen after pressing [Print Scrn], you have to
open Paint, pull down the Edit menu and select
the Paste command. Then, pull down the File menu
and select the Print command..
If you only want a printed copy of the active window or
dialog box on your screen, press [Alt][Print
Scrn].
THE TASKBAR ALTERNATIVE
If you'd like to experiment with an alternative to the taskbar, try the
Tasks tool. To access the Tasks tool, open the Run dialog box from
the Start menu, type taskman in the Run text
box, and click OK. When you do, you'll see the
Tasks window on your screen.
You can use the Tasks tool to perform many of the same
operations you perform using the taskbar as well
as several others you can't. For example, you
can switch tasks just like from the taskbar or you can eliminate text
leaving only the buttons, which you can't do from the taskbar.
USING THE TRIPLE-CLICK
Have you have ever needed to select an entire paragraph in a document?
If so, you probably put your cursor
in front of the first word in the paragraph and highlighted the
whole paragraph using a drag motion. However, there's a quicker
way. Simply, position your cursor in the middle
of the paragraph and triple-click.
OPTIMIZING COLUMN WIDTH
As you probably know, you can adjust the width of the Name, Size, Type,
and Modified columns in Windows
Explorer's Details view using your mouse. To do so,
you first position your mouse cursor over the column border. When the
mouse pointer turns into a doubled-headed arrow, just drag the pointer
to enlarge or shrink the column.
To quickly set the optimal column width, when the mouse
pointer turns into a doubled-headed arrow, double-click
the column border. When you do, the column width
will be set to a size large enough, or small enough, to
display all the data in the column.
This tip also works in Microsoft Exchange and in the Find
tool's results window.
BEEF UP THE SECURITY
Many of you have asked for an easy way to protect files and folders from
snooping eyes. The ideal solution would be to password-protect these items,
but we've yet to find shareware that does this (if you have, please let
us know). However, certain programs, such as Secure-iT 32,
enable a user to lock/unlock or encrypt/decrypt specific files.
Point your web browser at the above URL, click the floppy disk icon,
and click Download 32bit. When the ZIP file finishes downloading, extract
its contents to a folder on your hard drive, then click the SEC32373.EXE
file to start the Setup program.
To open Secure-iT 32, double click the .exe file. Enter a password for
Admin (that's you) twice, click OK, and you're in. To set up access for
additional users, click the Users icon, click New, and enter that person's
Name and Password.
In our next tip, we'll show you how to use this security guard.
BEEF UP THE SECURITY
http://www.issol.co.uk/
In our last tip, we told you about Secure-iT 32, shareware
that locks people out of specific files or folders on your system. This
utility is available for download at the above address.
Start by opening Secure-iT. In the Secure-iT 32 window,
select a file you'd like to lock or encrypt, then click the Lock or Encrypt
button.
(Note: A gray padlock indicates a file that's currently
in use or locked by someone else; these files can't be locked or encrypted.)
Close Secure-iT 32, and rest assured that no one can access these files.
To unlock or decrypt files (which you'll have to do any
time you want to access them) open Secure-iT and navigate your way to the
file(s). Select the file(s) and click the Unlock or Decrypt button, as
the case may be.
To adjust Secure-iT 32's options, click the Preferences
icon. For more information on most of them, hit F1 on your keyboard (or
choose Contents under the Help menu).
(Tip-in-a-tip: Place all the files you want to keep locked
or encrypted in one folder. Then place a shortcut to Secure-iT 32 in your
Startup folder. That way, every time you start Windows 95, Secure-iT 32
will open to the last folder visited, where you can unlock or decrypt what
you need. )
IF APPLICATIONS COULD TALK...
Windows 95 lets you attach sounds to the events of any application on your
system. Just add the applications and their events to the Sounds dialog
box first, using the Registry.
Open the Registry Editor (after backing it up) and navigate your way
to HKEY-CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps. There, you'll see a list of
all the applications whose events are currently listed in the Sounds dialog
box. (.Default is Windows.)
Let's say you want to associate sounds with Microsoft Word events.
Right-mouse click the Apps key, choose New, and then select Key. Rename
the new key using the name of the program's EXE file (WINWORD.EXE, for
Microsoft Word), without the extension or path. With the new key selected,
right-mouse click (Default) in the right pane, choose Modify, and on the
Value data line, type the application name. Click OK.
Now to add specific events. Click the new application key with the right
mouse button, choose New and then Key, and rename the key with the name
of an event (for a list of possible event names, double-click the .Default
key under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps). Hit Enter and repeat
these steps for each event with which you'd like to associate a sound.
Close the Registry Editor when you're done.
In our next tip, we'll show you how to associate sounds with your new
application events.
IF APPLICATIONS COULD TALK...
In our last tip, we showed you how to make new application events appear
in the Sounds dialog box: In the Registry Editor, add a new application
key (such as WINWORD.EXE, for Microsoft Word) to HKEY-CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps.
Then add event keys, such as Minimize or RestoreDown, to this new application
key.
Once you've used the Registry to add all the applications and events
you want to be able to access from the Sounds dialog box, head on over
there and associate your sounds. Open the Control Panel and double-click
Sounds. Select an event, then click the down arrow next to Name and take
your pick of sounds. (If the sound you'd like to use isn't in the list,
click Browse, navigate your way to the file you want to use, select it,
and click OK.) Repeat these steps for every event with which you'd like
to associate a sound, and when you're done click OK.
BACK IT UP--I'LL TAKE IT
Lots of our tips involve editing the Registry. To be on the safe side,
we recommend backing up the Registry before making any changes to it, just
in case something goes wrong. Here's a quick review on making *partial*
Registry backups, so you'll have no excuse not to protect
yourself:
1. Open the Registry Editor.
2. Navigate your way to the branch you'd like to back up.
3. Choose Export Registry File under Registry. (Selected Branch will
be selected under Export range.)
4. Navigate to where you'd like to store the backup file, type in a
name for the file, and click Save.
When you do a partial backup, the result is a REG file. There are two
ways to restore this information to the Registry:
1. Double-click the REG file.
2. Choose Import Registry File under Registry, navigate your way to
the REG file, and click Open.
MORE IS BETTER
The title bar of an open window does more than just tell you the name of
the open file/application/window. It acts just like the button to the left
of the 'X' in its upper right corner.
If a window is currently maximized, double-click its title bar to size
it down. Double-click the title bar of a sized-down window to restore it
to full-screen.
NOT SO FAST
Don't you hate it when you hit the Caps Lock or Num Lock key by mistake?
Windows 95's Accessibility options can keep them from sneaking up
on you.
Open the Control Panel, choose Accessibility Options and
select Use Toggle Keys. Click OK, and now if you hit Caps Lock or Num Lock,
you'll hear a warning tone.
GOOD STORAGE WITH CLIPBOOK
There's some amazing, little-known stuff on the Windows 95 CD-ROM--for
instance, a better version of Clipboard. When you copy or cut something
to the usual Clipboard, you lose the last thing that was there. Few people
know it, but Windows 95 also has a ClipBook where you can save clippings
and reuse them. To install it, insert the Windows 95 CD-ROM, and in the
resulting window select Add/Remove Software. Go to the Windows Setup tab,
click Have Disk, click Browse, and navigate your way to d:\Other\Clipbook
(where d is your CD-ROM drive letter). With the clipbook.inf file the only
thing in the file name box, click OK twice.
Check ClipBook Viewer, then click Install. You'll now be able to open
the program by selecting Start*Programs*Accessories*ClipBook Viewer.
BACK UP!
All sorts of installation programs mess with the Windows Registry, so it's
a good idea to make regular backup copies of the two files, user.dat and
system.dat. Unfortunately, you can't use Explorer or DOS to copy these
files. Buried on the Windows 95 installation CD-ROM is a program that lets
you make up to nine backups of your Registry.
Just copy Cfgback.exe from the CD-ROM's \Other\Misc\Cfgback folder to
c:\windows, and then copy the Cfgback.hlp file to c:\windows\help.
To make a backup, double-click Cfgback.exe and follow the detailed instructions.
KEEP POLICY EDITOR OFF YOUR HARD DRIVE
Don't want someone else changing your Windows environment?
Use the System Policy Editor, located on the Win 95 installation CD-ROM.
Don't put the Policy Editor on your own hard drive or you'll make it
too easy for others to change your configuration. When you need it, pop
in the CD-ROM, select Start*Run, and run the command d:\admin\apptools\poledit\poledit.exe,
where d is your CD-ROM drive.
EMERGENCY RECOVERY UTILITY, PART 1
There's a hidden program on the Windows 95 CD-ROM for creating a emergency
boot disk that can restore your system to the way you've configured it.
Before running the program, format a floppy, making sureto check the Copy
system files option in the Format dialog box. Then place the CD-ROM in
your drive, browse to the d:\other\misc\eru folder (where d is your CD-ROM
drive), and double-click eru.exe. Just follow the directions from there.
In case of disaster, reboot your system with the ERU-created floppy, and
it will automatically restore some of your Windows 95 settings.
EMERGENCY RECOVERY UTILITY, PART 2
If you use the Emergency Recovery Utility found on the Windows 95 CD-ROM
to create an emergency boot disk, be aware that some of the configuration
files can be huge, making it impossible to fit them all on a floppy (and
ERU can't handle multiple floppies). When ERU shows the files it will back
up, click Custom to see the files
it will skip. You can choose to skip other files, or
you can make a note of the ones not being copied and back them up manually.
LONGEST BATTERY LIFE
You can conserve battery power on a notebook PC by setting Windows 95 to
do a minimal amount of disk caching. Right-click My Computer and select
Properties. From the Performance tab, click File System. On the Hard Disk
tab, make sure Mobile or docking system is selected under 'Typical role
of this machine'. Your system won't be as fast as it was before, but it
will last longer on a battery charge.
SEVEN MEGABYTES RICHER
Looking to free up some disk space? Check your Windows\Help folder for
AVI files--you could have as much as 7MB of them left over from Windows'
tutorial. Unless you're using Windows 95 for the first time, you don't
need them.
DATA CENTRAL, PART 1
For easy backups, keep all of your data files in a single directory (folder).
To organize your data, put it in subdirectories within that directory,
by project or whatever other division makes sense to you.
DATA CENTRAL, PART 2.
Once you're keeping your data in a single directory (folder), tell your
applications that's the default location where they should save new files.
How you do this varies from application to application, and it may take
a bit of looking to figure it out. For instance, in Microsoft Word for
Windows, select Tools*Options, click the File Locations tab, and modify
the Documents option. In Excel, it's again Tools*Options, but you click
the General tab and enter the correct path into the Default File Location
field. In Lotus Approach, you select File*User Setup*Approach Preferences,
click the General tab, click Default Directories, and fill in the information.
DATA CENTRAL, PART 3.
If an application doesn't offer a way to change its working directory (folder),
try telling Windows to open it where you want it to save files. In Windows
3.1, switch to Program Manager, select the application, and press <Alt>-<Enter>.
Type in a new working directory, such as c:\data, and click OK.
In Windows 95 or NT, right-click the Start button and select Explorer,
then find the Shortcut to the application--if the Shortcut is on the desktop,
you don't have to open Explorer. Right-click the Shortcut, select Properties,
go to the Shortcut tab, and type the desired working folder in the 'Start
in' field.
DETAILS, DETAILS
When you view a window's contents in Details mode (select Details under
the View menu), you can adjust the width of any column. Just hold
the cursor over the line between two column titles, and when it changes
to a double-pointed arrow, click and drag in either direction. Changes
affect the column to the left of the pointer.
You can also adjust a column's width to fit its widest
entry. Hold thecursor over the line to the left of the column you'd like
to size, and when it changes to a double-pointed
arrow, double-click.
PUT YOUR TWO CENTS IN
Windows 95 Help menus are helpful, but they don't always speak your language.
You can put in your own two cents by annotating any topic.
It's like pasting a sticky note right on it.
Right-mouse click the window of an open topic and choose
Annotate. Speak (type) your mind in the box that pops up and click Save.
From now on, you'll see a little paper clip any time you open that topic.
Click the paper clip to read your notes. To get rid of the note, open it
and click the Delete button.
OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW
If you're viewing the contents of a floppy disk, and then insert another
disk into your floppy drive, how do you view the new disk's contents? We
hope not by opening My Computer and double-clicking the Floppy Drive
icon. There's a much faster way. Simply hit F5 to refresh the open
floppy disk window's contents. The contents of the old disk will
disappear from the window, replaced by those of the new one.
TAKE ALL THE EXTENSIONS YOU NEED
Most of the time, icons are all you need to recognize a file's type; but
sometimes you want to see that extension in plain black and white.
That's why Windows 95 allows you to view files with and without their
extensions. With any Windows 95 window open, choose Options in the View
menu. Click the View tab and, asssuming you want to display extensions,
deselect the option, "Hide MS-DOS file extensions for file types
that are registered." Click Apply or OK.
HAVE SOME CTRL OVER YOUR WINDOWS
Windows 95 lets you choose to see either one or many non-application
windows open on screen at once. From any Windows 95 window, select
Options under View, click the Folder tab, and switch your browsing option.
For the no-dialog box method, think Ctrl. It toggles you
between one window or many. Just hold down Ctrl
when you open a window and Windows 95 does exactly
the opposite of what it's been told on the Folder tab of the Options dialog
box.
GET FONT-SY
Want to see what every number and letter looks like in a particular font,
in different sizes? The Control Panel offers a sneak preview. Open the
Control Panel, double-click Fonts, then open any font by double-clicking
it. To see how that font will look on your printer, click the Print
button.
WHAT'S THIS?
If you don't understand a button or an option in a Windows 95 dialog
box, get some help--and we don't mean by choosing Help in the Start
menu and weeding through the index. Right-mouse
click the button or option, and in most cases,
you'll see a What's This? button. Click it for the inside scoop.
QUICK SWITCHES
When you have a number of applications open at once, chances are a quick
way to switch from one to the next always would be handy. Sure, you can
use the Taskbar, but then you have to get the mouse involved.
Try this instead: press Alt+Tab to bring up a box of icons representing
every open application. Without letting go of the Alt button, continue
to press Tab to highlight each icon in sequence. When you get to the one
you want, let go, and you're there.
FLOPPY COPIES
Need to copy a floppy disk? It's easy. Insert the disk you want to copy
into your floppy drive. In Explorer or My Computer right-mouse click your
floppy drive icon, select Copy Disk, and click Start. After Windows 95
has read everything on the original disk, it will ask for the destination
disk. (Tip-in-a-tip: Make sure you don't need anything that's on the destination
disk.) Insert the second disk, click OK, and wait while it copies all the
information from the first disk to the second one. When it finishes, you'll
get a message telling you the operation's been a success.
MAKE SPACE ON THE DESKTOP
If you tend to work with windows that are taller than they are wide, move
the Taskbar to the side of the screen.
BEAUTIFY YOUR DESKTOP
Find an attractive picture and turn it into wallpaper. Convert it into
a .bmp file and save it in c:\windows. Click the desktop, select Properties,
click the Background tab, and make your selection.
A FEW QUICK POINTERS
How does that arrow pointer grab you? Boring? That's what we thought. Why
not change it to something a little more interesting? (Note: You'll need
to install the Windows 95 pointers first. Open the Control Panel (Start|Settings|Control
Panel), select Add/Remove Programs, and on the Windows Setup tab, double-click
Accessories. Select Mouse Pointers, click OK twice, and insert the Windows
95 installation CD if it asks.)
Open the Control Panel, double-click Mouse, and select the Pointers
tab. Select the pointer you'd like to change, click the Browse button and
pick a pointer. Click Open, then back at the Pointers list, click Apply
or OK to make it stick.
TRASH COME BACK
If you've sent an item to the Recycle Bin that you suddenly decide you
need back. Well, you're in luck-as long as you haven't emptied the Recycle
Bin since you deleted that item.
Double-click the Recycle Bin desktop icon to display its contents. When
you find the item you'd like back, right-mouse click it and choose
Restore. Windows 95 returns the item to its original location.
OUT OF CTRL SELECTIONS
If you need to select more than one item in a folder or on the desktop,
and they're all next to each other, use the mouse to rope 'em all in at
once. Click once on a blank area next to the first item you want to select,
then drag to create a box around the whole group of items you want. Let
go, and every item within the box will be highlighted. (Note: If you miss
a few items that aren't with the rest of the group, hold down Ctrl as you
click each one.)
RIGHT EXPLORING
You can view a folder's contents in an Explorer view instead of a standard
window view. Just right-mouse click the folder and select Explore. For
the keyboard lovers in the group, with the folder icon selected, hold down
Shift and double-click it.
BRANCHING OUT
Need to expand every branch of a folder in an Explorer view? Don't waste
time clicking all those plus signs (+). Highlight the folder, then press
the asterisk key (*) on your numeric keypad. The contents of every folder
within will unfold before your eyes.
THE BIG COLLAPSE
In our last tip, we showed you how to fully expand a folder's contents
in an Explorer window: Press the asterisk key (*) on your numeric keypad.
Ready to collapse it again? Don't bother with all those minus signs (-).
Simply click the plus sign next to the top of the branch, then press F5.
MAKE YOUR WINDOWS BEHAVE
Don't like the arrangement of your open windows?
Windows 95 can fix that. Right-mouse click the Taskbar on any blank
area and choose from three window arranging options -- Tile Horizontally,
Tile Vertically or Cascade.If you aren't happy with the arrangement you've
selected, right-mouse click the Taskbar and choose Undo Tile (or Undo Cascade,
as the case may be). You'll be right back where you started.
MUTING YOUR SOUND SYSTEM
Have you ever turned the volume control on your speakers all the way down
to mute the sound? While turning the control on the speaker is easy enough,
there's another way to quickly mute the sound: Just click the speaker icon
in the taskbar and when the pop-up volume control window appears, select
the Mute check box.
Now, click anywhere on the desktop to close this pop-up window. When
the sound is muted, you'll see that the speaker icon has a red circle around
it and a slash through it to indicate that the sound is turned off.
INSTANTLY CREATING NEW DOCUMENTS
Windows 95 lets you instantly create new documents without having to open
an application. To do so, right-click the background in any folder or on
the desktop and select New from the context menu. Once the New submenu
opens, you can select from the available document types. Windows 95 responds
by creating a new document of the type you've chosen, without your having
to launch the application. As part of the process, Windows 95 highlights
the document's default name so that you can quickly name it.
For example, suppose you right-click on the desktop and select Bitmap
Image from the New submenu. When you do, you'll see a BMP file icon on
the desktop and the default name of the file, New Bitmap Image.bmp, will
be highlighted so that you can easily rename it.
As you do, make sure that you don't overwrite the BMP file extension.
If you do this, Windows 95 will display a message box to warn you of the
consequences.
DISABLING DELETE CONFIRMATION
When you drag a file to the Recycle Bin, Windows 95 always displays the
Confirm File Delete dialog box and requires you to click Yes before the
file is moved to the Recycle Bin.
However, since you can easily retrieve a file from the Recycle Bin,
this extra step could be considered overkill. Fortunately, you can disable
this confirmation dialog box. To do so, right-click the Recycle Bin icon
and select Properties from the context menu. When the Recycle Bin Properties
sheet appears, click the Display delete confirmation dialog check box to
disable this feature. Then click OK.
QUICKLY ACCESSING THE PROPERTIES SHEET
As you may know, you can access an icon's properties sheet by right-clicking
on the icon and selecting the Properties command from the context menu.
However, here's a shortcut that will let you instantly open an icon's properties
sheet: Just press and hold down the [Alt] key while you double-click the
icon.
INSTALLING THE ACCESSIBILITY OPTIONS
If you ran a typical installation for Windows 95, you probably won't find
the Accessibility Options on your system, since Setup doesn't automatically
install them. However, installing them is easy.
To do so, load your Windows 95 CD or floppy disks and open the Add/Remove
Programs utility in Control Panel. Next, click the Windows Setup tab to
bring it to the forefront. Then, select the Accessibility Options check
box in the Components list and click OK. You must restart your computer
before you can use the Accessibility Options.
BUY YOURSELF MORE REAL ESTATE
Looking to increase your desktop real estate? You can change your screen
resolution, or the number of dots displayed per inch without restarting
your system. The higher the resolution, the more you can fit on screen.
Right-mouse click the desktop, choose Properties, and click the Settings
tab. Slide the lever under Desktop area towards Less or More to see the
resolution settings available for your system. As you do, you'll see a
preview of each. When you find one you like, click OK twice to see the
change in real life. Then choose Yes or No to confirm or cancel the change.
SPACED-OUT ICONS
When you use the Auto Arrange or Line Up Icons option on the desktop or
in an open window, you'll notice that Windows 95 lines up all the icons
in neat little rows, the same distance from one another. If you'd rather
they line up closer together, or further apart, change your icon spacing.
Right-mouse click the desktop, select Properties, and click the Appearance
tab. Under Item, select Icon Spacing (Horizontal) or Icon Spacing (Vertical)
and type a new number next to Size. (The default for horizontal is 60,
for vertical 43.) Click Apply or OK to make your new settings stick.
FINDERS KEEPERS
When you choose Help in the Windows 95 Start menu, you see a dialog box
with three tabs--Contents, Index, and Find. Most likely, you click the
Index tab, enter the topic you're searching for, and hope that it's in
the list. But often, it isn't. Windows 95 Help offers another feature that
lets you search by keyword, called Find. Just enter a word, and as long
as the word appears in a Help topic, Windows "Finds" it for you.
If you've never used Find before, you'll need to set it up. Click the
Find tab and select one of the three setup options (we chose minimized
database, as recommended). Click Next, and wait a few minutes as Windows
95 sets up your new index. When it finishes, try Find-ing what you're looking
for by following the three steps Find gives you.
SAME NAME, NEW GAME
Back in the days of Windows 3.x, when you wanted to end a task, you pressed
Ctrl+Esc to open the End Task dialog box. Now, pressing that keyboard combo
simply opens the Start menu. To end a task in Windows 95, you need to press
Ctrl+Alt+Del.
"What?!" you exclaim. "I have to reboot my system?" No, no, no. Pressing
Ctrl+Alt+Del in Windows 95 opens the Close Program dialog box, the equivalent
of Windows 3.x?s End Task dialog. After pressing the combo, select the
task you want to end (especially if it says "not responding" in parentheses
next to its name) and click End Task.
So now the question is, if Ctrl+Alt+Del opens the Close Program dialog
box, how do you reboot? Simple. Just press the combo one more time.
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Know how to change the name of your Recycle Bin? Right-mouse click it,
choose Re--oops, no Rename command. But that doesn't mean it can't be done.
You'll just need to venture into the Registry. (As always, back up the
Registry before making any changes to it.)
First, open the Registry Editor: Choose Run on the Start menu, type
"regedit" and click OK. Select Find under Edit, type "Recycle Bin" on the
Find What line, and click Find Next. When the finder stops, right-mouse
click the highlighted item in the right pane and choose Modify. In the
Edit String dialog box, highlight only the words "Recycle Bin" on the Value
data line (even if they're within a long line of words), and replace them
with the name you want to use. Click OK, hit F3 (or choose Find Next under
Edit), and repeat these steps as the finder continues to locate instances
of "Recycle Bin."
Eventually (somewhere around eight to 10 changes later), you'll see
a dialog box telling you it's finished searching the Registry. Close the
Registry Editor, then hit F5 to refresh the desktop. And there's your new
name!
BYPASSING FILE ASSOCIATIONS
Did you know that you can open a file with an application other than the
one it's associated with? For example, text document (with the extension
TXT) is associated with Notepad by default. However, if you need to open
the document with another text editor or word processor, you can do so
by following this technique.
First, launch Windows Explorer or My Computer and find the file you
wish to open. Next, highlight the file by clicking once with the left mouse
button. Now, hold down the [Shift] key and right-click the file, and a
context menu will appear that includes a new option called Open With. Finally,
choose the Open With... option and select the application you wish to use
from the resulting dialog box.
RESTORING AND MAXIMIZING WINDOWS THE EASY WAY
Have you ever clicked the Close button when you meant to click the Restore
or Maximize button? (This button toggles between the Restore and Maximize
controls depending on the state of the window.) If so, you'll be glad to
know that you can bypass this obstacle and easily perform the restore and
maximize operations simply by double-clicking the window's title bar.
DROP IN ON YOUR START MENU
Need to add an application to your Start menu? You could right-mouse click
Start, choose Open, and then click and drag the application icon into the
Start Menu window, but there's an easier way. From an Explorer or My Computer
window, drag and drop the application's .EXE file on the Start button and
let go. (Or, drag and drop an application on the Start menu.) Click Start,
and there's your new shortcut!
ALL IN THE FAMILY WINDOW CLOSING
Do you often end up with a lot of related windows together on screen --
for example, after double-clicking a folder, then double-clicking one inside
of that, and so on? When you're ready to close them all, don't waste time
clicking each and every X caption button (the one in the upper-right corner
of each window). Just hold down Shift as you click the X of the last window
you opened. Doing so closes that window and all of its "parents" in one
fell swoop.
GIMME DETAILS
When you open Explorer and switch to Details view (select Details under
the View menu), you'll see columns of information in the right pane. And
the nice thing is, the arrangement of those details isn't carved in stone.
You can sort by any column or change the width of any or all columns to
get the details look you want.
To sort information by a particular column, click its gray column heading
once. Click it again to sort by that column, but in reverse order.
To change a column's width, hold the cursor over the black line to the
right of the column's heading, and when it changes to a double-pointed
arrow, click and drag left or right.
(Note: These same techniques work in a regular window in Details view.)
THE LITTLE YELLOW SPEAKER THAT COULD
The next time you want to change your system's volume, don't waste time
opening the Control Panel, double-clicking Multimedia, and adjusting the
volume on the Audio tab. The control you need is right inside that little
yellow speaker on the Taskbar. Click it once to access volume control,
or for a full-featured control panel, right-mouse click the speaker and
choose Volume Controls.
HIDE-AND-SEEK COLUMNS
If you're looking at an Explorer window (or regular window) in Details
view, you have the option of hiding any of the columns of information.
This trick is especially useful if you need more room to display the
columns you really do want to see.
Hold the cursor over the black line (on the gray column headings) to
the right of the column you want to get rid of, and when it changes to
a double-pointed arrow, drag it all the way left. The column simply disappears.
To display the column again, click just to the right of where you left
it (you'll know you're in the right place because a double-pointed arrow
with two black lines appears) and drag right.
QUICKLY RESTARTING WINDOWS 95
If you want to quickly restart Windows 95 from the Shut Down Windows dialog
box, select the Restart the computer radio button and hold down the [Shift]
key while you click Yes. When you do, Windows 95 will restart without rebooting
the computer.
CREATING NEW FOLDERS THE QUICK WAY
Creating new folders in Windows Explorer can be done quickly from either
Windows Explorer or My Computer with the keystroke combination [Alt]F+W+F
In this keystroke combination, [Alt]F activates the File menu, W selects
the New submenu, and F selects the Folder command. To use this shortcut,
just press [Alt]F, then W, and then F again. While it may sound awkward,
it's really handy once you get used to it.
OPENING ALL FOLDERS
Have you ever wanted to be able to see all the folders on your hard drive?
If so, open Windows Explorer, select the drive icon, and press the asterisk
(*) key on the numeric keypad. When you do, every folder on the drive will
open. To close all the open f olders, double-click the drive icon, to close
the tree, and press [F5].
RESTORING AN MS-DOS WINDOW
Have you ever maximized an MS-DOS Prompt window to full screen and then
wanted to restore it to a window? While it might appear to be an impossible
task, you can do so by pressing [Alt][Enter].
FOCUS ON EXPLORER
Do you have a Windows Explorer shortcut on your desktop? (If not, put one
there--you'll be amazed how handy it is.) You can tell that shortcut to
open Explorer with its focus on the folder of your choice.
Right-mouse click the shortcut, select Properties, and click the Shortcut
tab. The information after the last comma in the Target line's contents
(for example, C:\) tells Explorer on which folder's contents to focus when
it opens. Add the name of any folder to the end of that line (for example,
it might now read C:\MYDATA\PERSONAL after the last comma). Click OK, and
try out your newly focused shortcut.
THE NIGHT THE LIGHTS WENT OUT IN MS-DOS
When you choose Start|Programs|MS-DOS Prompt, DOS opens in a Windows 95
window, complete with borders and a toolbar across the top. (Note: If you
don't see the toolbar, click the MS-DOS icon in the upper-left corner of
the screen and select Toolbar.) If you prefer to work in the old-fashioned
DOS view -- nothing on screen but text and darkness -- press Alt+Enter
on your keyboard. You're still running DOS under Windows 95; it just doesn't
look that way. If and when you want to return to the window view, press
the same keyboard combo.
START YOUR DAY WITH A SONG
Want something more than a sound to play every time you start Windows 95?
Then start off with your favorite jingle (*.MID file).
First, make sure that no sound is set to play upon starting Windows
95. Open the Control Panel, double-click Sounds, select the Start Windows
event, and select None in the list of sounds under Name.
Then add a shortcut to the jingle you have in mind to the StartUp folder.
Right-mouse click the shortcut, choose Properties, and click the Shortcut
tab. On the Target line, the path should read: "c:\windows\mplayer.exe
/play /close c:\windows\jingle.mid" (where C is your Windows drive and
jingle is the name of the midi file you want to play). Click OK, rename
the shortcut, if you wish, and restart Windows 95 to test it out.
RESTART, DON'T REBOOT
There are a number of ways to reboot your computer: Press Ctrl+Alt+Del
twice, press the Restart button on your system (you know where it is),
or choose Start|Shut Down, select Restart the computer, and click OK. But
did you know you can restart Windows 95 without rebooting your entire system?
(This trick comes in handy after making Registry changes for which you
need to restart Windows 95.) Choose Start|Shut Down, select Restart the
computer, then--and here's the trick--hold down Shift as you click OK.
QUICKLY ACCESSING THE DESKTOP
How many times have you needed to access an application or a document located
on the desktop? When you do, you probably minimize each one of the applications
you currently have open until you can see the desktop.
However, there's a much easier way. Simply right click on the taskbar
and choose the Minimize All command from the context menu to close all
open windows. Once you access the item on the desktop, you can restore
all your open windows simply by right clicking on the taskbar again and
selecting the Undo Minimize All command.
PINBALL WIZARDS, TAKE NOTE
If you have the Windows 95 Plus! CD, you've surely tried out 3D Pinball.
Wish you knew a little more about mastering the Space Cadet table? The
Help file offers some assistance, but for more extensive information, there
are two hidden sources.
Navigate your way to the Program Files\Plus!\Pinball folder and open
PINBALL.DOC for the "Space Cadet table Rules and Game Strategy." Then,
check out TABLE.BMP in the same folder for the name of every nook and cranny
on the table (you may need it to follow along with the instructions). Who
knew? (We did.)
PUT SOME MEAT ON YOUR SCROLLBARS
If a window's contents can't fit in that window all at once, Windows 95
provides you with scrollbars on its left and lower edges to scroll through
the contents. Think those bars are too small? If you'd like a little more
to grab nto, make them bigger.
Right-mouse click the desktop and choose Properties to open the Display
Properties dialog box. On the Appearance tab, select Scrollbar under Item
(or click the scrollbar in the preview) and change its Size to whatever
you'd like (the defaults for most of the color schemes are 13 or 16). You'll
see the effect of your change right in the preview. When you're happy with
the new size, click Apply or OK.
PREPARE FOR EMERGENCIES
If you have a Windows 95 installation CD, you can create an Emergency Recovery
disk to help you recover important files in the event of a disaster. Once
created, this disk includes system and configuration files, plus the Emergency
Recovery Utility, the program that restores these files to your system.
Navigate your way to the OTHER\ MISC\ERU folder on the CD and double-click
ERU.EXE. Then just follow along as Windows 95 walks you through the disk-creation
process. (You can save the recovery files on a disk or a drive, such as
on a network.) When the setup program finishes copying the files, you'll
see a box of instructions for using the disk in the event of a disaster.
(Note: Sometimes the files the Emergency Recovery Utility tries to copy
are larger than a floppy disk, and the utility won't warn you that not
all the files will be copied. To see exactly how much space the files will
take up, select the Custom option during setup and check the Current ERU
Size. If it's larger than your disk size, you have a couple of choices:
If you're comfortable doing so, deselect files until the Current ERU Size
can be accommodated by your disk, or if you have access to a network, save
the files there instead.)
A DESKTOP OF STICKY NOTES
Do you have little yellow sticky notes all over your desk and calendar,
filled with phone numbers, addresses, or any other information you use
all the time? How about turning it into desktop wallpaper? Then the information
will always be at your fingertips.
Just as you can use any picture as desktop wallpaper, you can place
information there, too. Open up Paint, type (or paste) in all the information
you'd like to see on your desktop's background, and save it as a graphics
(*.BMP) file. Choose Set As Wallpaper (Centered) under the File menu, and
that information is stuck on your desktop for good (or until you change
it to include new information).
Tips-in-a-tip: To paste text into a Paint file, click the text ("A")
icon, click and drag to create a text box, then paste the text inside.
Also, you'll probably want to use a colored background--a white desktop
background can be pretty blinding.)
TRAVELLING TOOLBARS
Tired of WordPad's toolbars taking up all that space at the top of its
screen? Then move 'em. As in Microsoft Word, you can rearrange the toolbars'
location or turn them into floating palettes.
Click on a blank area of the Toolbar or Format bar, and drag to the
left or right to change the location of the tools on the current bar. Or
drag and drop the top bar just below the bottom one to switch the placement
of the two bars.
To turn a bar into a floating palette, click (again, on a blank area)
and drag it to any new location on the screen. At any time, you can snap
the bar back into place at the top of the screen: Just drag it back to
the toolbar area, and when the dotted outline changes to a solid line,
let go.
OUT OF THE DARK EXCHANGE AGE
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/software/exupd.htm
Still using the version of Microsoft Exchange that came with Windows
95 way back when? For shame, for shame. There's an update on the Microsoft
site--called Windows Messaging--that significantly improves the performance
of this turtle-slow, bug-ridden program.
Among other things, the update increases the program's startup time
and updates Internet mail service. Point your web browser at the above
URL to read about and download this "complete update for the Exchange components
that shipped with Windows 95."
TITLE BAR OPTIONS IN MS-DOS-BASED PROGRAMS
When you right-click on the title bar of any open window, Windows 95 will
open a menu that lets you restore, minimize, or close the application.
However, if you right click on the title bar of an MS-DOS-based program,
you'll have several extra options. In addition to being able to change
the window size, you can choose to copy and paste text. You can also use
this menu to edit the program's properties, such as the amount of memory
Windows 95 allocates to the program.
EXPRESS DELIVERY
When you right-mouse click a file and choose Send To, you see a menu of
possible destinations. Did you know you can add items to this list? Just
add a folder or application's shortcut to the C:\Windows\SendTo folder.
Suppose you want to add the Start menu to the Send To list (doing so
makes it easy to send any item directly to the Start menu). In an Explorer
window, navigate your way to C:\Windows\SendTo, so that the right pane
displays its contents. Right-mouse click on the Start Menu folder (which
just happens to be in plain view), drag it into the right pane, and when
you let go, choose Create Shortcut(s) Here. Close Explorer.
Now for the big test. Right-mouse click any file or folder, choose Send
To, and select Start Menu from the list. Click the Start button, and there's
that item.
GET SOME CHARACTER
Need to add a fancy character to your document? No matter what application
you're working in, the Windows 95 Character Map is at your service.
Click the Start button, choose Programs, then Accessories, and then
Character Map to display this great little applet. Select a font in the
drop-down list, double-click the character you'd like to use (to place
it in the "Characters to copy" box), and click Copy. The character is now
on the Windows 95 Clipboard. Switch back to your document and paste that
character wherever you'd like it.
CHARACTER COMBOS
In our last tip, we showed you how to add fancy characters to your documents:
Open the Character Map, double-click the character you want to use, click
Copy, then switch to your document and paste it in. If you're a keyboard-phile
and a mouse-phobe, you can add a character using your numeric keypad--that
is, as long as you know the secret combination: the Alt key plus a four-digit
number. Where do you find the right number? Why, in the Character Map,
of course.
For oft-used characters, it's worth the research. Open the Character
Map, select the character you have in mind, and you'll see its "Keystroke"
in the lower-right corner of the dialog box.
Close the Character Map and remember that number. To add the character
to a document, turn on Num Lock, then hold down Alt and type the number
using the numeric keypad. Look, ma! No dialog boxes!
ADD UP YOUR PROPERTIES
Want to know how much space a selection of folders and/or files takes up
on your hard drive? (Knowing this would come in handy if, for example,
you've selected items to copy to a floppy disk.)
In an Explorer or My Computer window, hold down Ctrl as you select each
item you'd like to tally. Then right-mouse click on any selected item and
choose Properties. The resulting dialog box will display the total size
of all selected items, including a count of each item type (files or folders).
ADD UP YOUR PROPERTIES
Want to know how much space a selection of folders and/or files takes up
on your hard drive? (Knowing this would come in handy if, for example,
you've selected items to copy to a floppy disk.)
In an Explorer or My Computer window, hold down Ctrl as you select each
item you'd like to tally. Then right-mouse click on any selected item and
choose Properties. The resulting dialog box will display the total size
of all selected items, including a count of each item type (files or folders).
ADDING PROGRAMS TO THE START MENU
Is there a program, file, or folder that you use often and would like to
access from the Start menu? If so, there's an easy way to accomplish this.
First, launch Windows Explorer or My Computer and locate the file you
want to add to the Start menu. Next, drag and drop the file onto the Start
menu.
A shortcut to that program will appear at the top of the Start menu
in alphabetical order. Remember, this technique works not only with program
files, but with other file types and folders as well.
TAKE THAT PALETTE OVER THE RAINBOW
In our last tip, we showed you how to recolor the wallpaper bitmaps that
come with Windows 95: Open the file in Paint, save it under a new name,
and start recoloring. You'll notice, however, that when you open some of
the wallpaper bitmaps, a very limited color palette appears. If you want
more color options, save the file as a 256-Color Bitmap.
In Paint, open a bitmap with a limited palette, such as Bubbles.BMP.
Choose Save As under the File menu, select 256-Color Bitmap in the Save
as type drop-down list, give the file a new name, and click Save. Now select
Save As under the File menu one more time, and click Save. (Don't ask us
why--you need to do this to get the colors to show up in the palette.)
You'll now have a much larger palette from which to choose. Happy recoloring!
COULD YOU TRY THAT NUMBER AGAIN?
Do you often get a busy signal when you try to connect to your Internet
service provider? As long as the connection was initiated by you (as opposed
to an automatic dialing response from an application, such as your Web
browser), Dial-Up Networking will redial the number if it can't connect
the first time. This feature saves you from having to attempt the connection
again manually.
Open up My Computer and double-click Dial-Up Networking. Select Settings
in the Connections menu, and select Redial. Fill in the Between tries wait
option to set the timing between each redial, then select a number next
to Before giving up retry. Click OK to make the settings stick.
WALLPAPER REDECORATING
Windows 95 comes with a whole slew of ready-made wallpapers from which
to choose. But is there one you would like, if only it were a different
color? Using Paint, you can recolor any wallpaper.
Choose Start|Programs|Accessories|Paint, select Open under the File
menu, and navigate your way to the C:\Windows folder. Select the wallpaper
you'd like to recolor (an easy one is Rivets.BMP), then save it under a
different name (you don't want to mess up the original).
Ready to start painting? First you need to be able to see what you're
doing, so select Zoom under the View menu, and select Large Size. From
there, pick a tool, pick a color, and start coloring. (The easiest tools
to use are the pencil, for individual dots, or the paint can, for larger
areas.) Sure, it's tedious, but if it's your favorite wallpaper, it's worth
it!
When you're finished coloring, be sure to select Save under the File
menu. From now on, you'll be able to select it by name in the Display Properties
dialog box.
(Note: Some wallpapers have very few colors in their palette, meaning
you don't have many options for recoloring. In our next tip, we'll show
you how to expand that palette.)
THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING WINDOW
If you want an application to start upon launching Windows 95, then you
just add its shortcut to the StartUp menu. Simple enough.
So what happens if you're really picky and want the application to start,
but shrink to the Taskbar the minute it opens? No problem. Just tell Windows
95 to start the program minimized. Assuming you already have a shortcut
in the StartUp folder, all you need to do is change its Properties.Right-mouse
click the shortcut, choose Properties, and click the Shortcut tab. On the
Run line, click the drop-down arrow to display your three possible options--Normal
window, Minimized, or Maximized. Select Minimized, click OK, and from now
on, that application will shrink out of site when it opens at start up.
KEEPING TRACK OF PATHS
If you like to keep track of the full DOS path of the folders you explore,
you can configure Windows 95 to give you this information in the title
bar of your folder windows in Windows Explorer and My Computer. To do so,
double-click the My Computer icon on your desktop. Next, pull down the
View menu and select the Options... command. In the resulting Options window,
click the View tab, then click the Display the full MS-DOS path in the
title bar check box. Finally, click the OK button to implement the change.
Now the full DOS path of the current folder will appear in the title bar
of your Windows Explorer and My Computer windows.
NEW LOOKS FOR ICONS
You can change the font and size of your desktop and window icons. These
settings are part of your Windows 95 current appearance scheme and are
accessible through the Display Properties dialog box.
Right-mouse click the desktop, select Properties, and click the Appearance
tab. In the drop-down list next to Item, select Icon. Now make all the
changes you want to their appearance. To the right of the Item box, the
Size option changes the actual icon size. Below the Item list, you'll find
options for changing the font of the icon names, as well as its size. Play
around with different options, clicking Apply after each to see if you
like what you see. When you're done, click OK.
SEE WHAT'S FREE
If you want to see how much space is left on your hard drive, there are
a few places you can look.
One, you can open a My Computer window and select your hard drive icon.
The status bar will display its Free Space and Capacity.
Two, you can open an Explorer window and select any item on your hard
drive. Again, the status bar displays your Disk free space. (To display
the status bar in either window, select Status Bar under the View menu.)
If you relate better to graphics, however, you'll love this third option
--a pie graph that displays free vs. used space. To display this graph,
in a My Computer or Explorer window, right-mouse click your hard drive
icon and select Properties.
QUEUE-ING OFF
Are you hooked up to a network printer? You can check out how many jobs
are ahead of yours right from your desktop. Just look inside the printer
queue.
Click Start|Settings|Printers and double-click the icon that represents
your network printer. The resulting dialog box shows a list of all the
print jobs that still need to make their way through the printer. If you
see lots of jobs pending, you may just want to wait a little while before
making that long trek down the hall.
GETCHER FREE PLUS! TAB HERE!
http://www.microsoft.com/truetype/grayscal/smoother.htm
If you have Microsoft Plus!, you have a page of Display Properties options
that non-users don't. This tab, called Plus!, includes options for using
larger icons, showing window contents while dragging, and smoothing the
edges of screen fonts, among other things.
Even if you don't have Plus!, you can get your hands on these goodies.
Microsoft is giving them away for free. Point your web browser at the above
URL and download w95gray.EXE. You may think you're only getting the font
smoothing feature, but the rest of the Plus! tab comes with it!
WHEN HISTORY REPEATS
In past tips, we've shown you how to add Control Panel, Dial-Up Networking
(DUN), and Printers folders to your Start menu (see the end of this tip
for a quick review). If you use Internet Explorer, try adding an Internet
History folder to your Start menu. Selecting an item inside the folder
launches Internet Explorer and takes you directly to that site. (Note:
You'll probably want to empty your History folder on a regular basis, to
keep this list under control.)
To create an Internet History folder, create a new folder in your Start
menu named exactly (and we mean exactly--your best bet is to copy and paste
it from this tip):
Internet History.{FF393560-C2A7-11CF-BFF4-444553540000}
In case you didn't see the previous tips, here are the names of other
folders you can create:
Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}
DUN.{992CFFA0-F557-101A-88EC-00DD010CCC48}
Printers.{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}
YOU CAN QUOTE THAT
In a past tip, we told you that if a command you type at the DOS prompt
includes a filename with a space in it, DOS simply won't recognize the
file. The solution? Place the path of the file in quotes.
Well, did you know the same thing applies to the Run command line? It
may seem like part of the I-recognize-and-understand-every-aspect-of-long-filenames
Windows 95, but it isn't. Here, too, you'll need to use quotes around a
command line that includes a filename with spaces in it.
BE PREPARED
Upon installing Windows 95, you're given the opportunity to create a Startup
Disk--a boot disk that, should you have trouble starting Windows 95, gets
you to MS-DOS, where you can check key files and run utilities in an attempt
to figure out what's up. If you're impatient like the rest of us, you probably
opted not to make the disk at the moment and figured you'd get to it later.
Well, later is here (you never know when something's going to go wrong),
so let's make that disk.
Open the Control Panel and double-click Add/Remove Programs. Select
the Startup Disk tab and click the Create Disk button. When prompted to
do so, insert a blank formatted disk into your floppy drive, then wait
as Windows 95 copies all the necessary information to the disk. Better
safe than sorry, you know.
FAKE THE AUTOPLAY
Do you have a CD-ROM drive without AutoPlay capability? (Meaning, when
you pop an audio CD into the drive, it doesn't play automatically.) You
can't add this feature, but you can get one step closer to it. Whereas
you normally have to open the CD Player and press Play, you can set the
CD Player to automatically play your audio CD when you open this program.
Open Explorer and navigate your way to the shortcut you use to start
the CD Player. Right-mouse click it and select Properties. Place your cursor
at the end of the text on the Target line, type a space, and then type:
"/PLAY" (without the quotes). Click OK. To test out your handiwork, insert
an audio CD, start the CD Player using the shortcut whose target line you
just changed, and listen up!
CHECK YOUR RESOURCES
If you're itching to get into the meat and potatoes of Windows 95--we're
talking the nerdiest of nerdy stuff, mostly for administrators--then you
need the Windows 95 Resource Kit. If you have the Windows 95 installation
CD, you already have this technical resource. If not, you can download
the Resource Kit from Microsoft's Web site, or purchase it in your local
bookstore.
Pop the installation CD into your CD-ROM drive and navigate your way
to D:\ADMIN\RESKIT\HELPFILE. To view the Help files right off the CD, double-click
WIN95RK.HLP. To access the Resource Kit from your hard drive, copy the
WIN95RK.HLP and WIN95RK.CNT files to your C:\WINDOWS\HELP folder, then
create a shortcut to WIN95RK.HLP. Either way, the Resource Kit's contents
appear in a Help Topics window, complete with Contents, Index and Find
tabs.
(If you don't have the Windows 95 installation CD, you can download
the Complete Windows 95 Resource Kit Help File from
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/software/reskit.htm.
Or you can purchase the Resource Kit in stores or by calling (800) MS-PRESS.)
SETTING THE DATE AND TIME
You can easily change your computer's date and time by using the clock
on the right side of the taskbar. To begin, double-click the clock on the
taskbar, and you'll see the Date & Time tab of the resulting Date/Time
Properties sheet. This tab allows you to adjust your computer's date and
time. You can also select your time zone and set the clock to automatically
adjust for Daylight Savings Time in the Time Zone tab.
USING DEVICE MANAGER TO TROUBLESHOOT CONFLICTS
If "plug" isn't plugging and "play" isn't playing with the hardware you're
trying to install, your installation instructions may require you to determine
what interrupts your system is using so you can assign a free interrupt
to the new device. Using Device Manager, you can do this painlessly. First,
right-click on the My Computer icon on your desktop and select Properties
from the resulting context menu. Then, in the System Properties dialog
box, select the Device Manager tab. When you do, you'll see a list of devices
attached to your computer. With Computer highlighted, click the Properties
button at the bottom of the dialog box. This will bring up the Computer
Properties dialog box which lists settings and the hardware devices currently
using the settings. By clicking on the radio buttons above the list, you
can view the settings for Interrupt requests (IRQ), Input/output (I/O),
Direct memory access (DMA), and Memory settings.
UNDERLINED SHORTCUTS:
The underlined letters in menus are shortcuts.
Press ALT + the underlined letter to choose the item.
DESKTOP DISPLAY PROPERTIES:
To quickly adjust your display properties,
right click anywhere on the desktop and choose properties.
DESKTOP DISPLAY PROPERTIES:
To quickly adjust your display properties,
right click anywhere on the desktop and choose properties.
SCANDISK:
You can use ScanDisk, in the System Tools
folder, to check your hard disk for errors.
SYNCHRONIZING FILES:
To synchronize files between portable
and desktop machines, drag the documents from your portable to the Briefcase
on your desktop machine.
CONTROL PANEL IN A MENU:
To put the contents of the Control Panel
on your Start menu (or in any folder), create a folder and paste in Control
Panel.
ANOTHER EASTER EGG:
1. While at your desktop, press [F1],
to display the Help Topics: Windows Help dialog box.
2. Click on the find Tab. (If you haven't
done the mumbo - jumbo before, follow the Wizard along...)
3. Click the Options... button, then
select the All the words you typed in any order radio button.
4. In the Show words that dropdown
list, make sure the begin with the characters you type options is selected,
then click OK.
5. Once you return to the Find tab,
select the text box at the top and type Who knows who built this tool?
(Make sure you capitalize the W and include the question mark.)
6. Hold down the [Shift][Ctrl] key
combination as you click the Clear button.
7. Now, click the Options... button
once more, only this time, select the radio buton titled At least one of
the words you typed.
8. In the Show words that dropdown
list, choose the contain the characters you type option, then click OK.
9. In the Find tab, type The Shadow
knows! in the text box at the top. Make sure you capitalize the letters
T and S and that you include the exclamation point.
10. Finally, hold down the [Shift][Ctrl]
key combination as you click the Clear button. You should now see the Easter
Egg in action.
CHANGING THE PROPERTIES OF FORBIDDEN FOLDERS:
Go into the registry editor and type in
the name of the folder (or shortcut) that you wish to change. The file
should appear under: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\. Now go over to the side,
where it should say Default Information and the name of the folder or icon.
So if you are looking to change the name of the icon that starts IE, which
is on your desktop under the name "The Internet", you would search for
The Internet. Then in the information area, you double click on the icon,
and it will bring up a dialog to change the information. Change it to the
name you wish. To change an icon, under where it says "SHELL32.DLL,3" or
whatever it says, change it to the name of the DLL or the name of the icon.
If in a DLL, add a comma, and the number of the icon. (Count from the left,
first icon counts as 0).
HIDING DIRECTORIES IN DOS AND EXPLORER:
To hide a directory in DOS and Windows
95 Explorer, create a directory using the following method: 1. Type mkdir
and space. 2. hold down the ALT key and on the numeric keypad type 0255
and release the ALT key followed directly by the new directory name. This
will only work with the numeric keypad. To change to the directory type
1. cd and space hold down the ALT key and on the numeric keypad type 0255
and release the ALT key. Explorer will not display the directories contents.
QUICK INTERNET SITE ACCESS:
To go directly to a web site, click on
the Start button and then Run. Type in the web address (such as www.windows95.com)
and hit enter. Your default browser will load and open the web site.
EASY ICONS:
To create an icon in Win95, simply select
a *.bmp-file that you find suitable. Change the extension from .BMP to
.ICO. That is all there is to it.
PREVENT HAVING TO REBOOT!
Have you ever clicked Shutdown and remembered
something else you wanted to do on the system? Don't want to wait for the
PC to power back up and go through self test? You don't have to - when
you get the screen that says "It is now safe for you to turn off you computer"
just type "win" and hit enter! Want to be in the DOS mode? Type "mode co80"
and there you go. A Windows 95 system shutdown closes the registry, and
drops you back to a DOS session, but displays a graphics message for you
to turn off your computer.
Behind the scenes, your PC is really
sitting at the familiar C: prompt!
UPDATE THE REGISTRY WITHOUT REBOOTING!
Here's how to update the Registry without
rebooting Windows - Press Ctr-Alt-Del, select Explorer, and click End Task.
When Windows asks if you want to Shut Down, click no, then click End Task
at the next prompt. Soon you should see the Start menu and Task Bar reappear
as Windows starts the Explorer shell again. Also, to turn off the Auto-Run
feature of CDs, go to Settings, Control Panel, System, Device Manager.
Click on the plus sign plus sign of your CD-ROM controller, then double-click
it's icon to bring up the Properties. Under Settings, turn off the Auto
insert notification box and click OK. You will have to SHIFT+RESTART for
this to take effect.
ACCESS THE DESKTOP QUICKLY
How do you access your darn desktop when
you have a ton of applications open? Well you could right click on the
taskbar and do a minimize all, but on a 486-50 that's pretty darn slow.
Instead, open a browser window (double-click on "My Computer") If there
is no toolbar, select View from the menu and select Toolbar. Then from
the dropdown list-box in the toolbar select desktop. Now minimize it and
forget about it. The next time you want to access your desktop just click
the desktop window on the taskbar. As long as you don't close the window
when you shutdown, it will reopen when you start windows again.
USE LONG FILENAMES AT THE COMMAND PROMPT
Now that you can have long directory names,
and particularly now that you can have directory names with spaces in them,
how do you deal with that at the DOS command line? You can enter long file
names, even those with spaces in them, by enclosing them in quotes:
dir "Cool Windows Utilities" or cd
"cool windows utilities"\insteasy Note that, as with "real" DOS, case doesn't
count.
MAPPING REMOTE SYSTEMS AS NETWORK DRIVES
If you have a TCP/IP connection, and do
a lot of FTPing from a specific site, why not add that site as a drive
icon on your desktop?
First, you must create a file called
LMHOSTS in your Windows directory. It has the following structure:
ip-address alias # the octothorpe starts
a comment
e.g.:
198.105.232.1 MSFTP # Microsoft's FTP
site
Next, right-click on My Computer and
select Map Network Drive... Select a drive letter, and in the Path: text
box, type the alias and a directory:
\\msftp\data
Select OK, wait, and you're on! Note
that this works best with Windows 95 and Windows NT FTP sites. It works
more or less with other FTP servers. It works just as well over PPP as
over a direct connection. Your mileage may vary.
ADD SHORTCUTS TO THE START MENU QUICKLY
To quickly add a shortcut to the top layer
of the start menu, drag it from an open folder or from the explorer onto
the start button, and it will be placed at the top of the start menu.
ADD MAIL SIGNATURES WITH MS MAIL
When using Microsoft Exchange with Word
Mail running (Word Mail is included with Office 95) an easy way to put
a signature into your mail is to use the AutoText option. Create your signature,
highlight it all, select AutoText from the Edit Menu and add it in. When
you want to use it just type in the first few letters and hit F3 and your
signature will be added to your E-mail.
MANAGE YOUR TASKS
Windows 95 comes with a replacement/supplement
for the Taskbar. Look in your \windows directory for TASKMAN.EXE This program
works a lot like the taskbar except you can select programs just like you
would select files in Explorer. Select the programs you want to close,
and select Windows | End Task from the menu and Voila! all those programs
go away!
QUICK ACCESS TO THE DESKTOP
You can get quick access to the desktop
(if you have lots of windows open) by right clicking on the task bar and
choosing Minimize All Windows. After you have completed the task you wanted
to perform, you can restore all the windows to their original state by
again right clicking on the task bar and choosing Undo Minimize all.
MAKE A SHORTCUT TO THE START MENU
To put the "Programs" from your Start
menu onto your desktop do this:
1. Open up Explorer
2. Make a shortcut from "windows/start
menu" to "Desktop"
This makes it a lot easier and quicker
to get to the programs in your start menu faster.
CLEANING UP OPENED WINDOWS
To close Windows left open from browsing
through "My Computer," you can take the following steps of action:
1. Hold the shift key when you click
on the "X" button of the first window you want to close.
2. This will close any and all windows
preceding the one you clicked on.
This helps to clean up your cluttered
desktop considerably.
CLEAR THE RECENT DOCUMENTS MENU QUICKLY
It seems as though everyone hates having
to do all that clicking to clear the recent documents menu in the start
menu. Here's a quick and dirty way to be able to clear them with a double-click:
1. Create a batch file with the line:
echo y| del \windows\recent\*.*
2. Save the batch file into a convenient
directory.
3. Create a shortcut to the batch file
on the desktop.
4. Right-click the shortcut and choose
properties.
5. Choose the Program tab.
6. Under Run, choose Minimized.
7. Check the Close on Exit box.
8. Click OK.
Now just double click on the shortcut's
icon to clear the document menu.
USE THE RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON AND THE SHIFT KEY
People used to working with Windows 3.1
or NT often become very "leftbutton-centric." To use Windows 95 productively,
use the right mouse button liberally. In addition, the shift key often
adds powerful features to a mouse click.
* To format a disk drive, right click
on the drive's icon in the Explorer or in My Computer.
* To minimize, cascade, or tile all
windows, right click on the taskbar.
* To empty the recycle bin quickly,
right click on its icon.
* To close, restore, maximize, or minimize
a window, right click on its button on the taskbar.
* If a file has an associated application,
but you want to open it with a different application, hold down the shift
key and right click on its icon.
* To restart windows without rebooting
the computer, go to the shutdown menu and choose restart the computer.
When you click OK, hold down the shift key.
* To launch Explorer on a drive or
folder, right click on it instead of doubleclicking.
USING THE COMMAND PROMPT
Here are some tips for people who don't
want to leave behind their command prompts.
* In addition to the MS-DOS standards
. and .., there are two new directory symbols:
* ... is the parent directory, once
removed
.... is the parent directory, twice
removed
* You can drag and drop files to the
Command Prompt. The file name appears in the keyboard buffer.
* To have a batch file run each time
you enter the Command Prompt, click properties for the Command Prompt and
enter its name under program/batch file. Then put your favorite utilities,
for example Doskey, into the batch file.
* You can run windows programs from
the Command Prompt. You can also open folders by typing "start ." or "start
.." at the prompt. The start command can even run programs or documents.
SPEED UP THE WINDOWS REFRESH RATE!
Every time I added a new folder, or I
deleted something from a window, I needed to hit F5, Refresh, to see the
results. This became quite an annoyance. Here is a little tip to change
it so that the screen refreshes automatically.
1. Start Regedit.
2. Go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE folder
and open it.
3. Open the System folder, and then
the CurrentControlSet folder.
4. Select the Control folder, and then
the Update folder.
5. Go to the right window and right-click
with your mouse on Update.
6. Select Modify, and change the value
from 01 to 00.
7. Click on OK.
The changes will take place next time
Windows 95 is started.
REDUCE THE START/RUN DROP DOWN LIST!
Here's how to reduce the Run Drop Down
list.
1. From the 'Start' button choose 'Run'
and type 'regedit'.
2. Click on the + to 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER'
3. Click on the + to 'Software'
4. Click on the + to 'Microsoft'
5. Click on the + to 'Windows'
6. Click on the + to 'CurrentVersion'
7. Click on the + to 'Explorer'
8. Click on the 'RunMRU'
*On the right hand side you'll see
a list of the names being used by the 'Run' command.
9. Click on the name you want to erase
and press the delete key. (Be sure NOT to delete the first or last entries.)
10. Exit the Registry Editor and restart
Windows to make your changes take affect.
REMOVE ANNOYING ARROWS ON SHORTCUTS
1. Run REGEDIT
2. There are 2 'IsShortcut' keys you
need to remove One is under a 'lnkfile' branch, the other is under a 'piffile'
branch. Search in whatever method you think is best
3. Delete the IsShortcut keys!
4. Restart explorer
Now live free without those stupid
looking shortcut arrows
ADD ITEMS TO THE NEW MENU
* First, in the program that creates the
file type you are adding, create a "blank" document. To do that, enter
the program, start a new file, and save it right away (note that you could
save any normally used preferences here - useful for programs that don't
support templates).
* Copy this file to the \windows\ShellNew
folder (it's a hidden folder).
Remember the filename!
* Now enter the system registry. Under
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, find the extension for that filetype.
* Add a new key called ShellNew.
* Under this new key, add a new string
value called "FileName".
* Modify the value of this string (double-click
it to bring up a Modify panel) to be the filename of the blank template
file you created. You need to include the extension, but the path is not
necessary (the /windows/ShellNew folder is the default).
* Presto, your New file menu contains
an option for your new file type.
Note that there are some applications
that do their registry entries a little different, so you may have to modify
the procedure a little...of course most of those programs are Windows 95
programs, so they should probably appear anyway on the menu (if they set
up a ShellNew entry as they should). Note that depending on the application,
this may not work.
TURN OFF WINDOW ANIMATION
You can shut off the animation displayed
when you minimize and maximize windows. This tip makes navigating Windows
95 a lot faster especially for those that don't have super fast video cards.
1. Open Regedit
2. HKEY_CURRENT_USER
3. Control panel
4. Desktop
5. WindowMetrics
6. Right Mouse Click an empty space
in the right pane.
7. Select new/string value.
8. Name the new value MinAnimate.
9. Doubleclick on the new string value
(MinAnimate) and click on "Modify"
10. Enter a value of 0 for Off or 1
for On then hit
11. Close Regedit and all programs
then reboot.
ADD SOUNDS TO APPLICATION EVENTS
An overview on how to add sounds to program
actions:
1. Open registry editor
2. Go to folder HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps
3. There are two folders, .Default
and Explorer
4. Click on Apps with the right mouse
button. Choose NEW - KEY. key name: name of the EXE file you want sounds
for. For better reading change the key Default from "none" to the name
of the application.
5. Click on the key you created in
4 with the right mouse button. Choose NEW - KEY. key name: Open
6. Do the same with key name: Close
7. Go to control panel \ sound events.
There is a new item and two subitems, Open program and Close program, for
the program you just added to the registry.
8. Add sound files to them.
9. The next time you start/close the
EXE file the sound will play.
10. Because there is no limitation
in the registry database you can add all programs and events you like.
For every program you can add all of the standard events:
1. AppGPFault (not very funny)
Close
Maximize
MenuCommand
MenuPopup
Minimize
Open
RestoreDown
RestoreUp
SystemAsterisk
SystemExclamation
SystemHand
SystemQuestion
Other events may be possible; it depends
on the events the application generates. The ribbon buttons in Winword
are NOT such events.
ENHANCE LOGITECH MICE
You can enable the double-click feature
of the middle mouse-button of Logitech mice. Run regedit and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/software/logitech/version???/.
Change the value of double click from 000 to 001.
REMOVING SYSTEM ICONS FROM YOUR DESKTOP.
1. Run regedit.
2. Find one of the above (example:
"Inbox"). You may find multiple occurrences.. The one you want will have
long strings of numbers and letters in the left pane.
3. Hit tab to go to the left pane
4. Hit "+" to expand the tree
5. Select "ShellFolder"
There should be two records: default
(value not set) and attributes (a clump of four two digit numbers).
6. Select attributes.
7. Hit delete (or from the edit menu).
8. Hit F5 to refresh, and you are done.
You can now remove or move what you
would like. This is very helpful on multi-user machines in which you don't
want users to have access to browse the hard drive. It also cleans your
desktop of programs you don't use often.
REAPPEARING VALUES?
If you seem to have problems with Values
and Keys reappearing in your registry, try deleting the offending programs
from your win.ini file!
MAKE THE TASKBAR FASTER
A lot of people find the speed at which
the menus on the taskbar and pull-down menus pop out too slow. To change
this, you need to edit the registry:
1. From the Start menu, choose Run.
Type in 'regedit' and click OK.
2. Open the HKEY_CURRENT_USER folder.
3. Open the Control Panel folder.
4. Open the Desktop folder.
5. From the Edit menu, choose New->String
Value
6. Call the new item MenuShowDelay.
7. Doubleclick on the new item and
give it a value from 1 to 10, 1 being fastest.
8. Exit the Registry Editor and restart
Windows.
MAKE .BMP FILES BE THEIR OWN ICONS
1. Run the Registry Editor (regedit.exe)
2. Open the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT folder
3. Open the Paint.Picture folder
4. Open the DefaultIcon folder
5. Double click on the "default" item
6. Change the value to "%1"
7. Exit the Registry Editor
VIEW YOUR TCP/IP CONFIGURATION
In order to see your present TCP/IP configuration,
Microsoft has included a program called winipcfg which gives you details
of your setup. Start it using the Run command.
TRACE INTERNET ROUTES
Included with Windows 95 is a program
called Trace Route. Open a dos window and type tracert location name. The
location name can be any ip address or number, for example www.process.com.
The program will the trace the route from your internet provider to that
location, and show you every computer system along the way. Watch as you
jump from cost to cost and over oceans via satelites and high speed connections
instantly. Also very useful for when you can't connect to a site - it will
show you if something is down along the way.
INSTALLING INTERNET DIALUP
The following tip applies to those of
you setting up Windows 95 to connect to an ISP, and only using a computer
at home, not connected to another network, and using a modem connection:
The 2 components needed for this capability
are the Dail-up adapter and TCP/IP Protocol settings. When only selecting
the above 2 components, you must reenter the password every time you start
to dial, and also when you connect to the ISP. To prevent the above from
happening and saving you a few more things to type in, follow the below
steps....
1. Go into your network settings, in
control panel
2. Click on the Add button, Click on
Client, Click on Microsoft, and choose Client for Microsoft Networks, and
after you have installed the proper drivers from the disks, goto the Primary
network Logon and choose Windows Logon.
After you reboot your computer and
the next time you dial up to your ISP, you will be given the option to
save your password, and also you will not have to reenter the password
the second time also......
FOR FTPing A LOT OF STUFF!
The FTP client that comes with Windows
95 allows for a text file for a list of commands that you would like it
to run.
1. Create a text file with a list of
commands that you would like to be run
2. Type ftp -s:mytextfile
This tip helps speed up tedious file
transfers.
COMMAND LINE MULTI-TASKING
Sometimes I resort to the command line
to do things quickly and "the old way". Its really handy to be able to
multitask on the command line, and for that I've written this small batch
file.
-- listing for bg.bat ---
start /m command /c %1 %2 %3 %4 %5
%6 %7 %8 %9
--- end listing ----
By putting this batch file on my path,
I can run any dos (or windows) command or program in the background. For
example, bg pkunzip data.zip c:\datadir -d will unzip my data in the background.
It's very handy and I use it often.
Anybody that uses UNIX or OS/2 will
be used to this feature.
MAKE AN OPEN NEW FOLDER CONTEXT ENTRY
Sometimes I want to open a new folder
so I can copy or move files around.
Open your notepad and copy this exactly
into it.
---
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\opennew]
@="Open New &Window"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\opennew\command]
@="explorer %1"
---
Do not copy the '---', just the text
between them. Now save the document as Open New Folder.reg. You can call
it anything you want, just be sure to put the .reg extension after it.
I usually allow it to save on the desktop to find it quickly. Now double
click on the new icon that has appeared. The registry hack will update
automatically. Now right click on a folder and you will see a new option
called 'Open New Window'
CHANGING DEFAULT FROM 'OPEN' TO 'EXPLORE'
Here is a useful tip and you need not
edit the registry to do it! If you always want explorer to come up when
you click on something and not just the ever-useful "My Computer" Window,
here's how: Click on the View Menu/Options/file types/ and then choose
"Folder" from the list. Click on the "Edit" button and then click the "Set
Default" button to change the default action from "Open" to "Explore".
It is much better this way!
CONVERTING FROM NETSCAPE TO MICROSOFT'S INTERNET EXPLORER?
Migrating from Netscape Navigator to Microsoft's
Internet Explorer? If you've made your mind to do that, try to save your
bookmarks by drag them from tree view of bookmarks to the 'Favorites' folder.
CHANGING THE FONTS IN MS INTERNET EXPLORER
If you ever wanted control over the fonts
used by Microsoft's Internet Explorer, here's how.
1. Start the Regestry editor
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / Software
/ Microsoft / Internet Explorer / Styles
A. A list of all the possible combinations
will come up
B. On the right panel is the Style
Name on the left, followed by its value on the right.
C. Double click on a Style Name and
change its font, size, or weight.
D. Repeat this for all the fonts available
for the style you would like.
E. There are 13 settings to change
which only takes a few minutes.
3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Software
/ Microsoft / Internet Explorer / Styles
A. Change the Default_Style_Sheet to
be the one you just edited.
4. Restart the Internet Explorer
ENHANCE THE START MENU
Create a new folder on your desktop..
Rename it - call it:
Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}
Now it should look like a normal Control
Panel icon you see in My Computer (not a shortcut). Now right click on
the Start button, click on open. Move the new folder we just created to
the start menu folder. Close the Start Menu folder. Now when you click
on Start, you should see Control Panel on it. Click on it and it will expand
to show all the items, fast! You can do the same thing with Printers and
Dial-Up Networking - here's the names you need:
Printers.{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}
Dial Up Net.{992CFFA0-F557-101A-88EC-00DD010CCC48}
FIX BROKEN START MENUS
Sometimes people experience the problem
of having a Start menu which is empty and cannot be modified. One possible
cause: If the c:\windows\"Start Menu" directory is modified (particularly
if anything is deleted) from the MSDOS prompt, Windows 95 will decide that
the start menu is invalid. The Start Menu is empty, and if you try to add
anything to it, you get "Unable to add to Start Menu" or a similar message.
Solution:
1. If there are still subfolders and
links in c:\windows\"Start Menu" that you can access from the Explorer,
copy these to another folder as backup.
2. Restart the computer, and when you
see "Starting Windows 95..." press F8 to get to the startup menu. Choose
"Command Prompt Only."
3. At the c:\ prompt, change to the
windows directory and "deltree startm~1". Reboot the computer.
4. When Windows 95 reloads, it will
find that rather than being invalid, the Start Menu simply isn't there.
It will then create a valid (but empty) Start Menu.
5. At this point you can go to Start
/ Settings / Taskbar / Start Menu / Advanced and start copying back in
the shortcuts you backed up in step one, or you can run GRPCONV.EXE to
get your basic icons back, and reinstall or create the other links by hand
to get your icons back.
6. You're done. You have a Start Menu
again.
KEEP FONTS FROM DISAPPEARING
If you install a generic Textmode Printer
into Windows 95 and choose it as default you will not see any of your TrueType
Fonts in programs like Word 6.0 or Wordpad.
Delete the Printer or Install another
one like HP Deskjet and make it the default printer to regain access to
your fonts.
CUSTOMIZE MS-DOS MODE
If you want to be able to completely control
the settings used when you choose 'Restart Computer in MS-DOS Mode,' use
Explorer to go to your Windows directory and find a file called 'Exit To
DOS.' (It might or might not show the extension .PIF depending on your
settings for Explorer).
Right-click this file, choose properties,
and go to the Program tab. Click the Advanced button, and you can enter
custom CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT commands to be executed. Save your changes,
and they will go into effect whenever you reboot into DOS-mode from the
Shut-Down menu.
MAKE WINDOWS 3.1 PROGRAMS BEHAVE
If you're having compatibility trouble
with old Windows 3.1 programs try using mkcompat.exe. Start it using the
Run command. Just choose a file in the file menu that you want to fix compatibility
with and begin selecting options such as:
Lie about Windows version #
Delay comm handshake
Increase Stack Size
etc.
TIRED OF A GUI INTERFACE?
If you want Windows 95 to boot up like
a regular MS-DOS session, do the following:
1. Edit your msdos.sys file
2. Add the line "BootGUI=0" to the
file.
This will bring a regular DOS session
up upon reboot.
FOR THE MULTI-BOOT USERS
Tired of hitting "F8" every time you boot
to change your settings?
1. If you edit your msdos.sys file
2. In the "Options" section
3. Add the line "BootMenu=1"
This will always present you with a
boot menu, removing the need to hit F8 every time.
TURN OFF THE WINDOWS 95 LOGO WHEN BOOTING
To remove the Windows 95 logo on startup,
you can do the following:
1. Open file msdos.sys in Notepad.
2. Find the [Options] section.
3. Add this line in the Options section:
Logo=0
Reboot your machine and there should
be no logo on startup.
NO-CLOUD STARTUPS
Tired of seeing that cloud StartUp logo every time you boot Windows 95?
You can get rid of it by editing your MSDOS.SYS file.
The first thing you need to do is remove this file's hidden and read-only
attributes: Open up Explorer and locate MSDOS.SYS, right-mouse click it
and select Properties, deselect Read-only and hidden, and click OK. Next,
open MSDOS.SYS in Notepad and add the line "LOGO=0" to the [Options] section
(or change the line LOGO=1 to LOGO=0). >Select Save under the File menu
and close Notepad.
Return the hidden and read-only attributes to MSDOS.SYS (using the same
technique you did to remove them). Try restarting your system, and those
clouds are gone with the wind(ows).