WINDOWS Magazine. 2,501 Tips. The content of this file is Copyright © 1997 CMP Media Inc. and is the property of CMP Media, Inc. This material is not freeware or shareware. It may not be resold for compensation of any kind or redistributed in print or electronically or by any other means without prior written permission from CMP Media, Inc. If you have any questions about these terms, or would like information about licensing materials from Windows Magazine, please contact: psilverm@cmp.com, or write to: Paul Silverman Attn: TIPS (REQUIRED) WINDOWS Magazine One Jericho Plaza, 3rd Floor Jericho, NY 11753 2,501 Tips - INSTALLATION -- Windows 95 It's been more than a year since Microsoft introduced this popular operating system. That means we've uncovered even more great ways to help you use it to its fullest potential. Installation Upgrade Your BIOS in a Flash If your computer's more than a year old, chances are there's a flash BIOS upgrade available from the manufacturer. Get it (usually via download from a BBS, Web site, or on CompuServe or America Online) and do the upgrade before you run the Windows 95 setup procedure. Preflight Checklist Make sure all your system components work properly before taking off on your first setup flight. If something "isn't quite right" before you install Win95, fix it or get rid of it. Don't Upgrade to Win95 If you have the space, install Win95 into a fresh directory. It will take a bit longer to reinstall all the applications you want to keep, but you won't be stuck with all that stuff you don't want to keep. (For more on this, see "Optimizing Windows," December.) Come Clean If you do decide to upgrade over Windows 3.x, delete anything on the load= and run= lines in the [windows] section of WIN.INI. If you've been using a non-Windows shell extension, open SYSTEM.INI and restore the following line in the [boot] section: shell=progman. exe. Next, reboot the system and hold down the Ctrl key to bypass the Startup group applets (if any). Do It the Hard Way Resist the temptation to let Win95 decide what you need. Choose custom setup and take the time to select just the options you want. Note that Win95 usually has trouble finding a PS/2 mouse, and may think you have a standard serial mouse connected to COM1 even if you don't. It may also think you have an unknown monitor. In either case, highlight the appropriate device, click on the Change button and select the correct hardware. Run Setup in Unprotected Mode If your Startup files load any kind of virus protection, disable it and reboot. Some virus watchers will get quite upset at the Win95 setup procedure, so put them to sleep before starting the installation. Power to the Peripherals If you have any external devices you want Win95 to discover, turn them on before you run the setup procedure. It's Not Over 'til it's Over When Win95 finally opens at the conclusion of a successful setup procedure, select Control Panel/System and then the Device Manager tab. Scan the list of devices under the Computer icon and check for missing hardware (CD-ROM drive, for example), an incorrect modem or monitor, duplicate entries (especially under the Mouse icon), warning icons overlaid on other icons and anything else that doesn't look quite right. With luck, everything will be in order, but if not, now's the time to make the necessary corrections. Once that's done, the setup procedure is truly over. Enjoy! Close Everything Both Win3.1x and Win95 run a lot of little programs that don't shown up on the task list or the task bar. In Win3.1x, you couldn't shut them down if they were running properly. In Win95, you can see a list of these "behind the scenes" programs by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete. This brings up a Close Program dialog box. Your installation may go more smoothly if you close or shut down everything but Explorer. When you're done with your install, use Alt+F4 to shut down Windows. When it's safe to do so, turn off the power to your computer and restart. Options? Just Say No When reviewing the various lists of installable options, if you're not sure what something is, don't select it. Do you really need the Calculator? Screen Savers? If you don't, clear the appropriate check boxes to save a bit of space. If you guess wrong, you can always use Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs applet later on. Select the Windows Setup tab and you'll find a complete list of components waiting to be installed. Don't Overlook Accessibility The Accessibility Options are a series of enhancements for users with various physical impairments. Even if you don't need them, install them anyway. They don't need much space, and the ToggleKeys option on the Keyboard tab is a welcome addition to anyone's system. It discreetly beeps at you if you hit the Caps Lock, Num Lock or Scroll Lock keys, accidentally or on purpose. Check out the Mouse tab, as well. What's the Password? When prompted to enter a user name (required) and password (optional), don't enter the latter unless you really want password protection. That way you won't be pestered for a password every time you start Windows. You can always disable the password prompt later, but if you know you don't want it, skip it now and be done with it. Let Win95 Help In Win95, you're never alone at installation time, particularly when you install new 32-bit apps. To access the installation wizard, select Start/Settings/Control Panel, then double-click on the Add/Remove Programs icon. The Install/Uninstall tab is the default. Click on the Install button. Win95 searches for an install program on removable media, and will ask for your help if it can't find one. Create a Rescue Diskette In Win95, as in Win3.1x, installation of new applications sometimes renders your system unbootable. To help in these situations, create a bootable "rescue" floppy disk. Insert a diskette that's either blank or contains nothing you need. Select Start/Settings/Control Panel and double-click on the Add/Remove Programs icon. Click on the Startup Disk tab then click on Create Disk. When Win95 is done, make the disk read-only, label it and test it to be sure you can boot your computer from it. To be extra safe, make two boot disks. General Be a Leftist You already know that when you drag an object to or from the desktop using the right mouse button, you're given the option to Move, Copy, Create Shortcut or Cancel when you let go of the button. If you don't want to use the right mouse button (or you don't have one), you can accomplish the same thing by pressing and holding Ctrl+Shift, and using the left mouse button. Your Disk Toolbox Most of us use the Start menu to find ScanDisk, Disk Defragmenter or Backup. But there's a better way. In My Computer, right-click on a drive and select Properties. Click on the Tools tab. Here you'll get information on the last time you performed each operation, with launch buttons for each. Better Backup Win95 shipped with a backup utility that was not quite ready for prime time. Fortunately, Microsoft now offers a free update that fixes several known bugs in the original utility. It's faster, too. Download it from the WinMag Free Win95 Software page at http://www.winmag.com/win95/software.htm. Put Things in Context By right-clicking on folders, documents, programs and desktop objects, you can bring up the Context menu for that item. Using the Context menu, you can invoke the Properties dialog, as well as do file management tasks. Good Memories If you ever want to know what's happening with your system's use of memory, just select Start/Run and type MEM. You Send Me If you've put lots of destinations into your SendTo folder, you may want to organize them into cascading menus. Open the SendTo folder, which you'll find in the Windows folder. Select New/Folder, then place your shortcuts in the new folders. Hindsight Your Win95 CD contains a utility called LOGVIEW.EXE in \OTHER\MISC\LOGVIEW, which lets you view and edit your SCANDISK, CALLLOG, MODEMDET and NDISLOG files. These files can be helpful when you're troubleshooting some parts of your system. You can move LOGVIEW onto your hard disk, or just leave it on the CD. Before You Lift a Finger ... When you drag and drop a file, it's moved, copied or given a shortcut, depending on where you're dragging it from and dropping it to. The easiest and safest way to tell what it's going to do is to look at the lower- right corner of the icon you're dragging, right before you let go of the mouse button. A plus sign means the file will be copied. An arrow means you'll create a shortcut. If you see nothing, the file will be moved. Copy My Move If you press and hold the Ctrl key while you drag and drop a file or folder on the same storage device (say, from one location on your hard disk to another), the object is copied to the new location. Get with the Program If the object you're dragging and dropping is a program file, Windows will go ahead and create a shortcut in the new location by default. A Clean Slate Is Great! Whether your PC is brand new or three years old, there's probably unnecessary muck in your WINDOWS folders and Registry that's slowing things down. When you first buy a PC and every year thereafter, you should reformat your hard disk and start over. But before you do, make sure you have a full system backup and all your application installation diskettes or CDs, plus a Win95 boot disk that contains your CD driver (if you don't have the CD Driver, you can't install Win95 from a CD). It's also a good time to visit your PC vendor's Web site and grab all your hardware's updated drivers. But before you do any of this... Get System Info on Paper Right-click on the My Computer icon and select Properties from the context menu. Click on the Device Manager tab, then the Print button. Select the "All devices and system summary" radio button, then click on OK. This will give you more information about your hardware, IRQs, ports, memory usage, devices and drivers than you ever wanted to know. It would be a good idea to keep this printout handy for future reference. Easy File Associations There's an easy way and a hard way to change file associations. Here's the easy way. Click on a document to select it, then hold the Shift key while right-clicking on it and select Open With from the context menu. In the Open With dialog, make sure there's a check mark in the "Always use this program to open this type of file" box, then double-click on an application in the Choose window. Warning: Once you've done this, the box will be checked by default next time the dialog comes up. Forget Your Password? If you forget your Win95 password, just hit Escape at the password box, bring up the MS DOS Prompt and enter dir *.PWL at the WINDOWS directory to find your PWL files. Delete the one with your name in front of it. Restart your system and enter a new password when prompted (Win95 will ask you to verify it). Pay No Attention To the Man Behind the Curtain! Temporarily remove the Win95 screen that pops up during bootup by pressing the Escape key. You'll see what's going on behind the Win95 curtain. Multiple File Associations Normally, when you double-click on a document type, the system tells Windows to open the document in a specific application. Here's how to expand your options. Double-click on My Computer, select View/Options and click on the File Types tab. Choose the document type you'd like to open in other apps in the Registered File Types list. Click on Edit, then on New. Click on the Browse button to choose an application. Type something like Open in name of application in the Action field. Click on OK, Close, then Close again. Now, whenever you right-click on that document type, you'll see the option you typed in. Get Familiar with Your Faces Print out all the fonts on your system by opening Control Panel, double-clicking on the Fonts icon, then on the font of your choice and clicking on the Print button. You should do this for each of the fonts you want to take a good look at. ScanDisk Disaster The Windows 95 Resource Kit contains the following gem: "To remove long filenames from removable disks, include the drive letter with the command; for example, scandskw /o a:" However, it doesn't mention that this will automatically strip long filenames from the hard drive as well. More BMP Icons Any bitmap file can serve as an icon, and it doesn't have to be moved, resized or renamed. From within any shortcut's Change Icon dialog box, click on the Browse button, select All Files from the Files of Type box and double-click on the BMP file of your choice. Be a Control Freak If you're always launching Control Panel to fiddle with your system settings, make your life a little easier by putting Control Panel on your Start menu. Drag CONTROL.EXE from your WINDOWS folder and drop it on your Start button. Free Net Utility #1 Win95 ships with a free Internet utility called IP Configuration that lets you check out all the vital stats of your Internet setup. Launch Start/Run and type WINIPCFG, then click on the More Info button. Just Take a CAB If you're like us, and like to install, uninstall and reinstall Win95 components often"and if you have 34MB to burn"copy all the CAB files from the Win95 folder of your CD to a folder on your hard disk. When you install components, from Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs item, click on the Windows Setup tab, select the components you want to add, click on the Have Disk button and just point it at the new folder that contains your CAB files. Free Net Utility #2 Win95 also ships with a DOS program called Tracert that traces an Internet connection so you can see where the packets are hopping over the Net. Launch the MS-DOS Prompt window and type TRACERT followed by the Internet location (say, http://www.winmag.com). Disable Call Waiting If incoming phone calls disconnect you from your online sessions, you probably have call waiting. To disable it, open the Control Panel, double-click on the Modems icon and select Dialing Properties. Choose the code that disables call waiting on your phone line. Shred Files Without a Mouse Hold down the Shift key when you press the Delete key to delete a file instead of sending it to the Recycle Bin. Cascading Control Panel Place a cascading Control Panel menu on your Start menu by right-clicking on the Start button and selecting Open. Create a new folder and give it the following name: Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} Call Up Dial-Up Networking Folder You can place your Dial-Up Networking folder and its contents on the Start menu by adding a folder with this name: Dial Up Net.{992CFFA0-F557-101A-88EC-00DD010CCC48} Pick a Printer Pronto And likewise with your Contol Panel/Printers item. Give the file the following name: Printers.{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D} Bail Out! BAIL OUT!! If you're halfway through a drag-and-drop operation and change your mind, just bang on the Esc key to bail out. Take a Look at Your Hardware Right-click on your My Computer icon and select Properties. This tabbed dialog is your hardware's Rosetta Stone. By exploring the various tabs and items, you can find out about all the devices installed on your system, as well as your memory and port settings. No Questions Asked If you use the ERASE *.* command in an MS Command Prompt window, it asks you if you're sure, and you have to answer Y or N. Here's an undocumented Win95 feature: By omitting the period and simply typing ERASE **, it deletes the contents of the folder"no questions asked. This is great for batch files, which you want to run without human intervention, or whenever you don't want to be bothered by questions. Maximize and Restore Double-click on the title bar of any application, document or folder windows to toggle between maximized and restored states. Close Minimized Apps Right-click on the Taskbar buttons of minimized applications and select Close from the menu to exit them quickly. Be a Copycat Ctrl+C copies the currently selected file, folder, text or picture to the Clipboard. A Cut Above Ctrl+X cuts the currently selected file, folder, text or picture to the Clipboard. Quick Setup If you're like us and install a lot of software, save yourself some time by creating shortcuts on your desktop to A:\SETUP.EXE and A:\INSTALL.EXE. It Pays to Paste Ctrl+V pastes the contents of the Clipboard"files, folders, text or pictures"to the currently selected object. Get a Quick Start Dragging any application or document onto the Start button will place that item on the Start menu. Survey Your Properties Bring up the Properties dialog fast by holding down the Alt key and double-clicking on the object of your choice. Out With the Old Win95 could very well be loading your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files unnecessarily. It will do so if it thinks you still need them. To find out if you do, make backup copies of each, and make sure you have an emergency boot diskette handy. Change the name of CONFIG.SYS to CONFIG.OLD by right-clicking on the file (you'll find it in the root directory of your hard disk), selecting Rename and typing in the new name. Now, shut down your system and restart. If everything works, then do the same with your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Start Menu Secret Here's how to put top-level Start menu items in the order you want and also launch them with keystrokes: Right-click on the Start button and select Open. Rename each item by placing a number in front of it. Now you can open the Start menu by pressing Ctrl+Esc, and launch a program by pressing its associated number. Pack Your Briefcase Quickly! Choose the files or folders you want to put in your Briefcase, right-click on one of them and select Send To/Briefcase. Running with the Pack If you haven't done so already, download the Win95 Service Pack (http://www.winmag.com/win95/software.htm). Posted in late February, the Service Pack contains bug fixes, new device drivers and other goodies that bring your copy of Win95 fully up to date. And it's free. Find Your Way Back From the View menu of any open folder, select Toolbar to bring up the folder toolbar. The button on the left is the Up One Level button. Click on the button repeatedly to move toward the root. Change Your Name Press F2 to change the name of a selected file or folder. Double-click Closing You can double-click on the mini icon in the upper-left corner of an application to make a quick exit. CoolSwitching is Cool Press Alt+Tab to bring up the CoolSwitch box. By holding down the Alt key and repeatedly pressing the Tab key, you can move through your running applications. When you let go, the currently selected item will come to the foreground. Find Your Path, Grasshopper To see the path of a folder or file, right-click on it and select Properties. Hold your mouse pointer over whatever is shown in the Location field. A tool tip will pop up with the DOS path. Fast Screen Savers To launch your favorite screen saver without navigating dialog boxes, drag and drop your screen saver files from the Windows/System folder (they're the ones with the SCR extensions) using your right mouse button and make shortcuts for them on the desktop. In the future, whenever you want to launch your favorite screen saver, all you have to do is double-click on its file on your desktop. Make a Quick Escape By pressing the Esc key, you can quickly close any open dialog box. Make Good Time Double-click on the time in the Taskbar tray to bring up the Data/Time Properties dialog. From there you can change your system's time and date settings. Customize Startup Screens LOGO.SYS is the "wait" screen you see when you boot Win95, LOGOW.SYS is the "wait" screen you see after you shut down Win95, and LOGOS.SYS is the "It's now safe to turn off your computer" screen. Although they have a SYS extension, these files are standard bitmaps you can modify with the Paint applet for custom start-up and shutdown screens. Surgical Selection You can select files or folders "surgically" by pressing and holding the Ctrl key as you click. You'll select the files or folders you click on without selecting those between. Click on a file or folder once and it's selected. Click on it again and it's de-selected. Semisurgical Selection By pressing and holding the Shift key while you click on two files or folders, you select the files or folders plus all those between the two. Cycle Through Apps Press Alt+Esc to move from one open application or folder to the next. Use Your Keyboard as a Mouse Win95 comes with a few options designed to make it more accessible to handicapped users. One option, MouseKeys, lets you use your numeric keypad to move your mouse pointer. This is useful if you have a notebook on which you don't want to install a mouse, or if you're recovering from a repetitive stress injury caused by the use of your mouse. Double-click on Control Panel's Accessibility Options icon, click on the Mouse tab and check the Use MouseKeys box. Watch Your Download If you're using Win95-compliant communications software, double-click on the modem icon in your Taskbar's "Tray" (the indented area where the time is displayed) while you're online. This will show you your total connect time and file download status. Dialog Box Navigation Move from one item to the next in a dialog box by pressing the Tab key. Dialog Box Navigation, Part II In dialog boxes with multiple tabs, move from one tab to the next by pressing Crtl+Tab. Dialog Box Navigation, Part III Select the highlighted item by pressing the Spacebar. Make Icons from Bitmaps If you have Microsoft Plus, you can create an icon from any bitmap image. Open Control Panel and double-click on Display. Select the Plus Tab, then select the icon you want to change. Press Change Icon, then press Browse. Find a bitmap, click on Open, and then on OK for both dialog boxes. Share Folders Secretly You can share folders on a network without making them visible to others by adding a dollar sign ($) to the end of the folder name. Just tell those you'd like to share them with the names of the folders, and they can type them in. I Need My Space To find out how much hard disk space you have, double-click on the My Computer icon, right-click on the C: drive icon and select Properties. This dialog will show you how much available storage you have. Close All Apps Fast Here's a quick trick to close all your running programs: Select Shutdown from the Start menu and pick the "Close all programs and log on as a different user?" option. Then log back on as the same user. Take Charge of Your Battery On your portable Win95 PC, hold the mouse pointer over the battery (or, if it's plugged in, the plug) icon in your Taskbar. It'll tell you how much of a charge is left in your battery. Find Out What's What If you hold the mouse pointer over minimized folders or Win95 applications on your task bar, a ToolTip will pop up and give you the folder or application, along with document names. Eject! EJECT! Right-click on the CD-ROM icon in My Computer and select Eject from the context menu to eject the CD in the drive (or, if the drive is open the eject menu item will close it). What Was the Question? Some Win95 dialog boxes have a question mark button next to the close button in the upper right-hand corner. Click on it and your mouse pointer gains a question mark. Click on anything in the dialog box, and a description and explanation of the item pops up. Double-click Your Docs Away Here's how to blast the contents of the Documents cascading menu from your Start menu (for those of you who know how to create batch files). Create a batch file that deletes all files in the C:/WINDOWS/RECENT folder. Now create a shortcut on the desktop to the batch file (make sure you tell the shortcut to close on exit). Double-clicking on the shortcut in the future will clear your Documents menu. Return to the Desktop Here's a tip for those of you who prefer the keyboard. Sometimes you'd like to select items on the desktop, but the desktop isn't the currently selected "folder." With your desktop visible, Press Ctrl+Esc to bring up the Start menu, hit Esc, then Shift+Tab. Now your arrow keys will let you navigate items on the desktop. Top to Bottom Folder Tip If you've got a folder window open and want to get to the bottom of it, don't use the scroll bar. Just press Ctrl+End. And of course, if you're at the bottom or somewhere in the middle of a folder window and want to return to the top, press Ctrl+Home. Seeing Double We sometimes hear complaints from longtime Windows 3.1x users about Explorer's inability to open multiple windows. Solve the problem by opening two instances of Explorer. Choose How They Run If you want applications to run minimized, maximized or in a normal window, create a shortcut for the app, right-click on the shortcut icon, select Properties from the context menu, click on the Shortcut tab and make your selection in the Run item. Clear Start Menu Clutter Empty the contents of the Documents item on your Start menu by selecting Start/Settings/Taskbar and clicking on the Start Menu Programs tab. Under Documents menu, click on the Clear button. Fun with Run You can drag documents and folders into the Run dialog. Windows will type the path for you. You can then modify and launch with your changes. Fun with Run, Part II Sometimes it's hard to tell what a document's DOS file extension is (Win95 does a good job hiding that information from you). An easy way to find out is to drag the file to the Run command dialog as described above. The entire path-including the file extension-will be revealed. Fun with Run, Part III The four most recently launched Run commands are still available by clicking on the down arrow in the Run dialog or by using the down-arrow key. Fun with Run, Part IV You can type the UNC path to a folder on the server (if you're on a network, of course) into the Run command line. Do the Right Thing Admit it. In your haste and excitement, you didn't make a startup disk when you installed Win95. Don't worry. You can still redeem yourself. Open the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel item and click on the Startup Disk tab. Then just put a diskette in your diskette drive and click on the Create Disk button. DriveSpace Isn't Just for Hard Drives Use DriveSpace for diskettes. Just remember if you need to format them in the future, you must do so from the DriveSpace utility. Whither ProgMan, FileMan? Program Manager and File Manager are part of Win95, and they work in Win95 exactly as they did in the previous versions of Windows. Both sport unique advantages. For example, File Manager is much faster than Explorer. If you miss Program Manager and File Manager, you can find PROGMAN.EXE and WINFILE.EXE in the WINDOWS folder and create shortcuts to them on your desktop. Free Phone Tips Microsoft offers free tips and information by phone: 800-936-4200. Customization Root Around To keep shortcuts to your favorite folders handy, set up permanent shortcuts that open a "rooted Explorer" view with your folder at the topmost level of a hierarchical tree. Right-click on the shortcut, select Properties and then the Shortcut tab. Place your cursor at the beginning of the Target field and add C:\windows\explorer /e,/root, (include the final comma) to the beginning of the command line. By double-clicking on the new shortcut, you'll get an Explorer window, with the folder you selected at the top. What Color Is Your Desktop? What better way to express your sense of taste"or lack thereof"than by customizing the look of your desktop? Select Control Panel/Display or right-click anywhere on your desktop and select Properties. Now change your desktop pattern, wallpaper, screen saver or color scheme to whatever your heart desires. You Know Where to Send That When you right-click on most objects, you'll usually see a Send To option. This offers you a number of locations you can send the item you've selected. The default locations are useful, but why not throw your own favorites in there? Just open the SendTo folder in the Windows directory, or select Run from the Start menu and type sendto. Anything you put in the SendTo folder (preferably shortcuts) will then appear on the Send To menu. Drag-and-Print Create a shortcut to a printer by opening the Printers folder (Settings/Control Panel/Printers) and dragging a printer icon to the Desktop. You can then drag documents onto the shortcut and print instantly. You can also put a printer shortcut in your Send To folder so printing is always a right-click away. Send It to the Desktop Moving files to the desktop is a good way to keep them in sight, but a pain when your desktop is covered by open windows. A simple workaround is to create a shortcut to the Desktop folder in the Send To folder. Now, whenever you right-click on an object, the Desktop will appear in the Send To menu. Return to Send To If you keep finding yourself adding new items to the Send To menu, save some time by creating a shortcut in the menu that points to the Send To menu. Just open the Send To folder, located in the Windows directory. Right-click in the folder and select Create New Shortcut. For the shortcut pathname, just type sendto. This seemingly recursive action lets you add in your favorite folders on the fly. Desktop on Top If you like to work on your applications full-screen, but still want to get at your desktop icons quickly, this tip's for you. Create a shortcut to the Desktop folder"you'll find it in your Windows directory"and put it in your Start menu. You can also keep the folder continuously open and minimized on your Taskbar simply by minimizing it. The folder will stay there through all your reboots, as long as you never close it. Get Right to the Root You can pop up rooted Explorer views on the fly by creating an option for them in the right-click menu for folders. Edit the action list for the Folder file type, as in the previous tip, and create a new action called Explore from Here. For the application path, type C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE /E,/ROOT,%1. You can also set this up automatically with Microsoft's Power Toys, available on WinMag's Web site. Carpe DOS Here's a way to bring up DOS windows faster. Follow the same steps as in the previous tip to bring up the action list for the Folder file type and create an action called Open MS-DOS. In the Application Used to Perform Action field, type C:\WINDOWS\DOSPRMPT.PIF. Now, right-clicking on any folder will bring you to a DOS prompt, with the folder you selected as the current directory. Exploit Explorer You probably find the Windows Explorer view more useful than the default window view, so why not make Explorer the default? Bring up the View/Options menu from any folder within Explorer, go to the File Types tab and double-click on Folder in the list of registered file types. Select explore from the list of actions and click on the Set Default button. Double-clicking on a folder will now bring up Explorer, every time. A File With a View For a light-and-fast file viewing utility, check out Quick View, which ships with Windows 95 (you won't see it if you opted for a typical Win95 install). By default, Quick View only pops up as an option for certain types of files, so if you change a TXT file extension, Quick View will no longer show up as an option. But you can enable QuickView for any file type you want by going to View/Options in any folder window and selecting File Types. Select the file type you want to change, click on the Edit button, and check the box marked Enable Quick View. You can also put Quick View in the SendTo folder to view any compatible document on the fly. One-Click Wonder If you always refer to the same documents, and they're compatible with Quick View, create a shortcut that will open them with Quick View instead of the default application. For each file you want to set up, create a shortcut to the document; a good location would be in the Start menu or on the desktop. Then bring up the Properties window for the shortcut and click on the Shortcut tab. In the Target field, append C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VIEWERS\ QUIKVIEW.EXE to the front of the path. Picture, If You Will Turn your favorite BMP image into a Windows 95 icon. Change the file extension from BMP to .ICO, and Win95 will automatically replace its generic icon with a miniature version of the actual BMP, converted to 32x32 pixels and 16 colors. To use the new icon, bring up the Properties page for any shortcut you want to change, and go to the Shortcut tab. Click on the Change Icon button and browse until you find your new icon file. You Can Show Them All To turn all your BMP images' icons into miniature versions of themselves, run REGEDIT, then drill down to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Paint.Picture/DefaultIcon. Now, double-click on (Default) in the right pane and change the value of DefaultIcon to %1. Now all your BMP images will be represented in Explorer by icon versions of themselves. Start Somewhere Else To move your taskbar to another part of the screen, click on an empty spot on the taskbar and drag it to any edge of your screen. Your desktop will automatically resize itself to accommodate the change. You can also expand or contract the taskbar by clicking on its edge (look for the double arrows) and dragging it to the desired height. Register to Note Make it easier to open unrecognized file types by making them all default to Notepad. Create a new document on your desktop (right-click and select New/Text Document) and double-click on it. Then type the following lines into the file:REGEDIT4 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\ open] @="&Notepad"[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\ open\command] @="Notepad. exe %1" Next, save the file with a REG extension, rather than TXT. Finally, double-click on the file to add an entry into your Registry file (to see the actual changes, open up the Registry and look under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell). Now, all file types will have a Notepad option in their right-click menus, and unregistered files will open with Notepad by default. Take Your Bar to Task Right-clicking on a blank space on the taskbar and going to Properties brings up a dialog box that lets you customize the bar. Selecting Auto Hide will make the taskbar appear only when you place the cursor at the very edge of the screen. Always on top is the default, but you can deselect it if you want windows to overlap the bar. You can reduce the size of icons in the Start menu, or get rid of the clock in the corner of the bar. To add or remove programs from your Start menu, click on the Start Menu Programs tab and click on Add or Remove. One for All If you have several people working on one computer, or you like to work in different Windows environments for different jobs, there's an easy way to store and access different configurations. Go to Control Panel/Passwords and select the User Profiles tab. Check the option "Users can customize their preferences and desktop settings" and the appropriate User Profile Settings checkboxes. To switch from one user to another, go to Shut Down on the Start menu and select Close All Programs and Log On as a Different User. The user name you enter when you log on determines what configuration Windows 95 will assume. To create a new personality, specify a new user name during the next log in, and customize at will. Recycle This Change the name of the Recycle Bin to one more to your liking. (Attempt this only if you have some familiarity with the Registry.) Run Regedit, then click on the plus sign next to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. Then select Edit/Find and search for the phrase Recycle Bin. In the resulting window, double-click on (Default) and type in the name of your choice. You can also change the icon by expanding the selected folder in the left pane (it will be the one with an open folder icon and a long name beginning with {645FF040...) and clicking on the folder DefaultIcon. The right pane will then list three keys for Default, Empty and Full, representing the various states of the Recycle Bin. To change any one of them, double-click on the icon to bring up the Edit String dialog. Replace the text in the Value Data field with FILENAME,xx where FILENAME is the complete path to the file containing the icon you want, and xx is the icon number (00 if there's only one icon in the file). To see your changes take effect, hit F5 to refresh the desktop. You can also change the icons easily with the Microsoft Plus Pack. You and Your Shadow In certain circumstances, you may get increased performance out of Windows 95 by turning off ROM shadowing. Note that this is usually effective only for systems with no 16-bit drivers. It's a good idea to experiment to see which settings get the best results. It's Only Temporary Some programs, like Adobe Photoshop, use a large number of temporary files. If you've got more than one hard drive in your system, try to direct these temporary files as far as possible from existing swap space. If your swap space is in a partition of its own, but on the same drive as your system files, put the temporary files there for rapid access. Watch Your Defrag Avoid using any defragmentation program that isn't aware of long filenames. You can not only destroy your long filename space, you might wind up corrupting the drive's data as well, especially on volumes that are 1GB to 2GB in size. Make That Video Fly If video performance on your system is slow, make sure you're not using more colors or a higher screen resolution than you need to. Also make sure you're using the correct video driver for the exact make and model of your video card. A "generic" driver, while workable, often can't take advantage of chip- and card-specific hardware. Check the manufacturer's Web page for the most recent drivers. Adjust Graphics Settings Another possible solution to video trouble: Open the Control Panel, click on the System tab, then the Graphics button. Try moving the slider to different settings to selectively disable video options. Clean the System Tray Having icons in the system tray uses not only memory for the applications in the tray, but memory for the tray itself. The most common program in the system tray is the Volume Control, which can be turned off using Control Panel/Multimedia. In the Playback section of the Audio tab, turn off the "Show volume control on the taskbar" checkbox. PowerToys The Mother of All Win95 Utilities If you download and install only one Win95 utility, make it Tweak UI. This incredibly handy tool lets you customize Win95 like nobody's business. Just check out the following tips to find out all the amazing things you can do with Tweak UI. How to Install Tweak UI Make a folder on your desktop called TWEAK, go to the WinMag Free Win95 Software page (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/software/powertoy.htm) and click on the Tweak UI item to download the file TWEAKUI.EXE to your new folder. Double-click on the file to auto-extract its contents. Right-click on the file TWEAKUI.INF and select Install from the context menu. A Help file will come up during installation. After you close the Help file, Tweak UI will be installed. You can then delete the TWEAK folder and everything that's in it. Snap Windows Shut To make windows snap rather than zoom shut, select the General tab from Tweak UI and deselect the Window Animation box under Effects. Tips From The Top -- Take the Express Route to Productivity By Fred Langa Editorial Director, Start columnist Information @ Your Fingertips You probably already know how to create a shortcut to a document. Here's how to create a shortcut to a specific place in a document. Make sure you can see the desktop from the open document, then simply drag and drop any part of the document (say, a sentence in a word processing document or a range of cells in a spreadsheet) to the desktop using the right mouse button. When you let go, choose Create Document Shortcut Here and close the document. The next time you want to open the document to that place, double-click on the new shortcut. This will launch the document and take you right to the selected text, which will be highlighted. Letter-Perfect Selection In any open folder, type the first letter of the name of the file you want to select, and you'll go right to the first file in the folder that begins with that letter. Type the letter again, and you'll go to the next file and so on. When you press Enter, that file will open. Too Many Modems? After you install a new modem, sometimes one or more incorrect modems appear in Control Panel's Modems item. Just remove the modem(s) from the list and restart Windows. If Windows doesn't tell you it detected new hardware, go back into Control Panel and double-click on Add New Hardware. Follow the instructions and have Windows search for the hardware. When the search is complete, click on Details and see if it detected the right modem. If not, correct it. Whither Welcome Screen? When you first installed Win95, a Welcome Screen popped up, offering tips, a guided Win95 tour and a few other things. If you deselected the "Show this Welcome Screen next time you start Windows" option, you haven't seen it since. To get it back, simply call up the Run dialog (Start/Run), type welcome and click on the OK button. Recycle Bin Warning The Win95 Recycle Bin can give you a false sense of security. You know you can retrieve items you move there, so you feel comfortable dumping stuff in there without a second thought. But beware! Items from other drives (say, the network or floppy disk drives) you place in the Recycle Bin are permanently and instantly deleted, not stored. Don't Overextend Your Files If you create a new file in WordPad or Notepad and save it, these applets add a TXT extension regardless of whether you add an extension yourself. You can end up with filenames like REPORT.TXT.TXT. To prevent them from adding the extension, simply put quotation marks around your filename ("REPORT.TXT") in the SaveAs dialog. Do the same in Word if you've chosen an extension other than DOC. Fastest Restart Restarting Win95 is a four-step process (Click on the Start button, select Shut Down, click on Restart the Computer, then click on OK). You can make it a one-step process by creating an icon on your desktop that restarts Win95. Open Notepad and type @exit. Close the document and give it a name with a BAT extension. Now stash the file away somewhere on your hard disk. Create a shortcut to the file by using the right mouse button to drag it to the desktop, and selecting Create Shortcut(s) Here. Right-click on the shortcut and select Properties. Click on the Program tab and select the Close on Exit box. Now click on the Advanced button and make sure "MS-DOS mode" is selected and "Warn before entering MS-DOS mode" is not. Click on the OK button and on the OK button again. Give your new shortcut a unique icon and name. Now, whenever you double-click on the icon, Win95 will restart, no questions asked. Encircle 'em with Squares You can select icons or folders on the desktop or within folders in large numbers by clicking outside the body of icons, pressing and holding the left mouse button, dragging the pointer so that the square surrounds all the icons you want to select, then letting go. Once they're all selected, you can move, copy or delete them en masse. Turbocharge your Start Menu To launch folders quickly, open My Computer and find the programs you use most. Drag and drop the executables onto the Start button. That will put all your most frequently used programs right on the Start menu. Tips From The Top Quick-and-Dirty Installation Guide By John D. Ruley Senior Technology Editor Here are some simple-yet-sound tips for upgrading from Windows 3.1x to Windows 95. Make two complete backups of your hard drive. Make sure you have the original installation disks for all your essential software. Make on-disk copies of all critical system files (INI, GRP, DAT and PWD files, plus your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files). Use MSD (Microsoft System Diagnostic) or a similar program to completely document your system setup. Record all system and application passwords and software registration, validation or unlocking codes. Choose one of the following options:Aggressive"Reformat your hard drive, reinstall minimal DOS and Windows. Conservative"Pare your CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI to the bare essentials, eliminating as many nonstandard, third-party or unusual items as possible. Delete or move your Startup group's contents. Switch to a temporary swap file. Switch to vanilla VGA or SVGA video. Take special care to make sure you can get your e-mail connections back if you encounter some incompatibility. Verify that everything's working properly. Back out to DOS, run SCANDISK.EXE and fix any errors you may encounter. Once you have as plain a setup as possible, you can install Windows 95 without the likelihood of running into problems. After your new operating system is running and stable, you can add or restore whatever unusual, custom or third-party items you desire. Windows 95 TASK SHORTCUT Windows Help F1 Go to menu mode F10 Switch active DOS program between full screen and window operation. Alt+Enter Save with a new name Alt+F+A Quit current program Alt+F4 Print file in current program Alt+F+P Minimize all windows Alt+M (when taskbar is selected) Put the active window on Clipboard Alt+Print Screen Control menu Alt+Spacebar Minimize active window Alt+Spacebar+N Reduce window size Alt+Spacebar+R Enlarge window Alt+Spacebar+X Switch among active programs on Taskbar Alt+Tab Select all Ctrl+A Reboot or end task Ctrl+Alt+Delete Go to end of document Ctrl+End Open the Start menu Ctrl+Esc Go to beginning of document Ctrl+Home Move forward through tabs in dialog box Ctrl+Tab Close current folder and its parents Shift+File/Close Bypass Autorun Shift while inserting CD Win95 Etiquette It's enough to make Miss Manners Mad! Those ill-behaved Win 3.x apps sometimes just don't mind their manners in Win95. Fortunately, Win95 comes with a handy utility that forces good behavior. Select Start/Run and type MKCOMPAT. Bring the heel to heel by selecting File/Choose Program, then clicking on the behaviors you'd like to induce. The Secret Icons Whenever you change an icon, you'll be offered the default source of icons. It's a file called SHELL32.DLL that lives in the Systems subfolder of your Windows folder. But there's another file hidden in the System folder called PIFMGR.DLL that contains Win95's secret stash of cool icons. More Windows 95 Shortcuts TASK SHORTCUT Selected Objects Display Properties dialog box Alt+Enter Bold Ctrl+B Copy Ctrl+C Italics Ctrl+I Underline Ctrl+U Paste Ctrl+V Cut Ctrl+X Display an alternate context menu Ctrl+Right-Click Place in Recycle Bin Delete Rename selected file F2 Delete immediately without putting in Recycle Bin Shift+Delete Context menu for selected item Shift+F10 Managing Folders in Explorer Select all Ctrl+A Find F3 Refresh F5 Switch between panes F6 Go to the parent folder Backspace Go To Folder Ctrl+G Undo Ctrl+Z Find the Secret Win95 Tips File In your WINDOWS folder, you'll find a text file called TIPS.TXT full of tips and tricks written by the Microsoft's Windows 95 development team. And Even More Windows 95 Shortcuts TASK SHORTCUT Explorer Tree Scroll without moving the selection Ctrl+Arrow key Expand everything under the selection Num Lock+Asterisk (on numeric keypad) Collapse the selection Num Lock+Minus sign (on numeric keypad) Expand the selection Num Lock+Plus sign (on numeric keypad) Expand current selection if it's collapsed, otherwise select first subfolder Right Arrow Collapse current selection if it's expanded, otherwise select parent folder Left Arrow Accessibility Options (Shortcut keys must be enabled. See "Accessibility, shortcut keys" Help.) Toggle StickyKeys on and off Tap Shift 5 times Toggle FilterKeys on and off Hold down Right Shift for 8 seconds Turn ToggleKeys on and off Hold down NumLock for 5 seconds Toggle MouseKeys on and off Left Alt+Left Shift+Num Lock Toggle High Contrast on and off Left Alt+Left Shift+Print Screen Put It in Context If Win95's context-sensitive menus don't have the commands you want, change them. Go to View/Options in any folder or Explorer window, click on the File Types tab, select any type of file and click on the Edit button. You'll see a dialog with the list of Actions showing the commands that will appear in the menu for that file type. Click on the New button, then type a name for your command in the Action field. In the field labeled "Application used to perform action," type the command line to the application you want to launch, or click "Browse..." to locate it. One of our favorite custom commands: an "Edit" command that opens HTML files in Notepad or any editor, rather than opening it in a browser. ********************************************** Copyright © 1997 CMP Media Inc. WINDOWS Magazine (ISSN 1060-1066) is published monthly with two bonus issues a year for $24.94 per year by CMP Media Inc., 600 Community Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030. Periodicals postage paid at Manhasset, NY, and additional mailing offices. 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