Windows 95 Tips

Send To

Want a quick and easy way to view text files, batch files and such? Heres a quick and easy tip open explorer and go into the windows directory and then the SendTo folder. Once inside the SendTo folder right click on any open area and then click on new, then shortcut. Windows will bring up the create shortcut dialog box, click on browse and then select the notepad program in the windows directory click on next and then finish. Now you should be able to right click on any file, go to sendto and click on notepad, and notepad opens the file, you can edit, read it, whatever. You should be able to do this with any word processor, although the bigger the program the slower it will be...

Send To 'SEND TO'

If you use the Send To menu a lot, put a shortcut to the SendTo folder into the SendTo folder. Whenever you want to put a Send To destination on your context menu, just use the Send To function.

Desktop Cycler

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).

Fast Network Properties

Most people get at their Network Properties by launching Control Panel, then double-clicking on the Network icon. There's a faster way: Right-click on the Network Neighborhood icon and select Properties.

Find Your Path, Part I

By default, Windows 95 hides from you the paths of files and folders. If you want the full paths spelled out on your window title bars (the colored area at the top of all open file and folder windows), double-click on My Computer, select View/Options, click on the View tab and select "Display the full MS-DOS path in the title bar."

Find Your Path, Part II

Here's another trick for finding out the path of a file: Launch the Run command dialog (Start/Run), clear the Open box by hitting the Backspace key, and then drag and drop the file of your choice into the Open box. Windows will type the full path of the file into the box.

Enlarge Your Pointers

It's easy to miss Win95's pointer schemes. But if you want bigger pointers and cursors, here's the easiest way to get them. Just double-click on the Mouse item in the Control Panel, click on the Pointers tab, then click on the drop-down Scheme menu. Choose from 3-D, Animated Hourglasses, Large and Extra Large pointer schemes.

Take the Right Cab

If you need a fresh copy of a Win95 file, you'll find it in one of the CAB files. But which one? To find out, open Explorer and select the Win95 folder on the CD-ROM. Now open the Tools menu, select Find\Files or Folders and type *.CAB in the Named box on the Name & Location tab. Now click on the Advanced tab, type the name of the file you want in the Containing Text box and click on the Find Now button.

Use Your ClipBook

There's a free utility that comes with Windows 95 called ClipBook. It lets you store items from the Clipboard and share them across the network. You can view text, graphics or anything else that can be copied to the Clipboard in thumbnail view-and you can copy as many items as you like. To install it, open the OTHER folder on the Win95 CD, then drag the CLIPBOOK folder from the CD to your C: drive. Open the new folder, drag the file CLIPBRD.EXE and drop it on your Start menu.

Find Files Faster

Use Win95's Find utility to search for several files at once. Type in as many filenames as you like in Find's Named box, each separated by a space.

Neither Rain Nor Sleet ...

If you find yourself checking often for new messages in Exchange, put a button on your toolbar that sends and receives mail when clicked. Double-click on the toolbar to bring up the Customize Toolbar dialog. Scroll down in the left window until you find the Tools - Deliver Now button and double-click on it to move it to the right window, which indicates it's been included on the toolbar. Now double-click on the button in the right window and use Move Up or Move Down to place the new button where you want it on your toolbar. When you're done, click on Close.

Edit Docs Menu

The items on your Documents menu (Start/Documents) are really just shortcuts in your C:\WINDOWS\RECENT folder. You can selectively delete items there by opening the folder and deleting the shortcuts you don't want.

Tell Docs Where to Go

A well-behaved Windows 95 application lets you pick the folder your documents are dumped into by default. You can do the same thing for all other documents as well. Just give each application a shortcut, right-click on the shortcut and select Properties from the context menu. Select the Shortcut tab and type in the path to the folder of your choice in the Start In box.

Take Inventory

Chances are, you have useful programs on your computer you didn't even know were there. And just as likely, you have programs you don't want that are eating up valuable hard disk real estate. The solution? Take an inventory! It's easy. Just create a folder on your desktop called PROGRAM SHORTCUTS, launch the Win95 Find utility (Start/Find/Files or Folders), type *.EXE *.COM in the Named box, then click on the Find Now button. After Find is finished with the search, choose Select All from the Edit menu and drag and drop all the files in the Find window into your new desktop folder. Now you have a folder with shortcuts to every program on your Windows PC. (Before proceeding, make sure you have a good backup.) Now, one at a time, double-click on each shortcut to find out what it is. Once it's identified, you can find and delete the program if you don't want it or move the shortcut to another folder if you do. Remember, if you're not absolutely sure, don't delete it.

Open Dialog

Right-click on the command line of any dialog box and you'll get a handy context menu with options to Undo, Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete and Select All.

Faster than E-mail

Here's how to set up a convenient routing system for documents in a small workgroup. Each person in the workgroup should do the following: 1) Create a folder on your desktop and label it "IN" 2) right-click on the IN folder and select Properties, then the Sharing tab. Click on the "Shared As" radio button and put your own name in the "Share Name" box, then click OK. 3) After all in the group have completed step two, open the Network Neighborhood, find all the "IN" folders your co-workers shared, and create shortcuts to each of them in your C:\WINDOWS\SENDTO folder (use the right mouse button to drag and drop them from Network Neighborhood and select "Create shortcut here" from the context menu). Now, whenever you want to send a document to a member of your workgroup, just right-click on it, select Send To, then the name of the person.

Good Things in Small Packages

Are those icons that are cluttering your desktop getting you down? Bring them down to size and give yourself more room. Right-click on the Desktop and select Properties. Click on the Appearance tab, then the Icon drop-down menu. Select Icon, then pick a size of 16 (the default is 32). Click on OK. (This works best if you make the words under the icons as short as possible).

Know Your Computer

Windows 95 comes with a utility called MS-Info that tells you more about your computer than you'll ever want to know. It lists detailed information on all your DLLs, drivers, fonts, memory, hardware and much more. Just launch the Find utility (Start/Find/Files or Folders) and search for the executable: MSINFO32.EXE.

NT Power Toys

Some Power Toys previously mentioned in WinTips are now supporting Windows NT 4.0. These include Find X 1.2, Send To X 1.4, Shortcut Target Menu 1.2, Tweak UI 1.1 and Explore From Here as well as Command Prompt Here 1.1.

'Web' Your Schedule

Internet Assistant for Microsoft Schedule+ lets you save your schedule as an HTML document you can publish on your company intranet or on the Internet. You choose which information is available or hidden. Download the software free from WinMag's Web site at http://www.winmag.com/win95/software.htm.

Cool CoolSwitch Tip

The most recently "CoolSwitched" application is always the first choice. That means that by selecting via Alt+Tab item A, then item B, you can toggle between them regardless of how many applications or folders you have open by repeatedly pressing Alt+Tab and letting go.

Remove Read-Only

We've run tips in the past that involved editing the MSDOS.SYS file. Some readers sent mail saying the file is "read-only" so they couldn't edit it. Here's how to remove the read-only and other attributes of MSDOS.SYS. Open Explorer, select View/Options and click on the View tab. Select "Show All Files" and then OK. Now, use Find to search for the MSDOS.SYS file. When you find it, right-click on it and select Properties from the Context menu. When the Properties dialog appears, remove all the check marks in the Attributes section at the bottom. Then use the instructions above to "Hide these types of files."

Cheap Microphone

Instead of buying a microphone for your PC, you can use any available "Sony Walkman" style headphones instead. Just plug them into your sound card's microphone plug, and talk into the speakers.

Faster Keyboard

You can determine how fast your keyboard repeats characters and moves the cursor in a document by launching the Keyboard item in Control Panel, then experimenting with the speed settings on the Speed tab.

Fast Find

Sometimes simple tricks are the most useful. If you want to search for a file and you know roughly where it is, just right-click on the folder it's in and select Find from the Context menu. Find will search the folder and all the subfolders within, based on the search criteria you specify.

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.

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://resa2.k12.wv.us).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.)

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. Hapy recoloring!

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.

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.

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}

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.)

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).

TRACING PAPER

Want to find out what kind of route your system takes to get to a specific site? Try this: While logged on to the Internet, open an MS-DOS prompt and type "Tracert," followed by the URL you want to track, like this:

Press Enter. You'll get a complete report on your signal's route. When you finish with your tracing, type exit at the command prompt to close the MS-DOS window

FINDERS KEEPERS

If you've just completed a Find that you know you'll need again, keep it around for future use. It's a lot quicker than having to type in all those conditions again.

Once you've completed your search, pull down the File menu and choose Save Search. Doing so places an icon that represents that find on the desktop. (Of course, you can move it wherever you want, such as into a folder you've set up just for finds.)

To conduct the same search in the future, double-click the shortcut. Find will open with all the conditions set--all you have to do is click Find Now.

YOU'RE OFF THE LIST

When you right-mouse click the desktop or a window and select New, Windows 95 presents you with a menu of file types for which you can create a new item. Is there an item there that refers to an application you don't even have on your system anymore? Then remove it from the list.

In a My Computer or Explorer window, select Options under the View menu and click the File Types tab. Scroll through the list of Registered file types, select the one that refers to the item you want to remove from the New list, and click Remove. Click Yes to confirm, click Close, and go check out your revised New list.

I'LL NEVER EMPTY THE TRASH AGAIN

If you never, ever retrieve items from the Recycle Bin, you may want to disable it altogether. Once you do, you'll never have to worry about emptying it again. (Of course, the trade-off is that you don't have a safety net in the event that you delete something inadvertently.)

Right-mouse click the Recycle Bin, select Properties and select "Do not move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately upon delete." Click OK.

ALWAYS CHOOSE DOUBLE-PANED WINDOWS

When you double-click a folder, it opens in a regular window view. But if you prefer, you can make every folder open in an Explorer view.

In an Explorer or My Computer window, select Options under View and click the File Types tab. Select Folder in the list of Registered file types, then click the Edit button. Select Explore in the Actions list, click the Set Default button, and click Close. Click Close one more time and go try out your change--double- click any folder and its contents appear in an Explorer view. (Note: To open a folder in a regular window view, right-mouse click it and select Open.)

A PICTURE'S WORTH A THOUSAND FILENAMES

You can turn the icons that represent bitmap files into the bitmaps themselves. Then, even if you can't tell a bitmap's identity by its name, you can certainly tell it by its icon. (This tip involves editing the Windows 95 Registry. As always, we recommend making a backup before proceeding.)

Open the Registry Editor (click Start, select Run, type "regedit," and click OK) and navigate your way to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Paint.Picture\DefaultIcon. In the right pane, right-mouse click Default (under Name) and select Modify. Replace all of the text on the Value data line with "%1" (with no quotes). Click OK and close the Registry Editor.

There's no need to restart Windows 95. Open a folder that includes bitmap file icons, and you'll see that each icon looks like the bitmap file it represents. (Note: The quality of the icons will vary depending on your color palette setting, but at least you'll have an idea of what's what.)

"CLICK ON START TO BEGIN" WELL, DUH.

Does your system display an arrow that points to your Start button, with a "Click on Start to begin" message, every time you start Windows 95? With a little Registry editing, you can turn off this annoying reminder. (Remember, back up the Registry before you follow this technique.)

First, open the Registry Editor by selecting Run in the Start Menu, then type "regedit," and click OK. Navigate your way to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curren tVersion\Policies\Explor er. Right-mouse click a blank area in the right pane, select New, then select Binary Value in the popup menu. Name the new item NoStartBanner.

Right-mouse click NoStartBanner and select Modify to open the Edit Binary Value dialog box. The cursor will appear after the four zeros under Value data. Type "01 00 00 00." (No spaces, quotes or period--Windows puts in the spaces for you automatically.)Click OK. Close the Registry Editor, restart Windows 95, and that annoying arrow and message are gone!

OUT-OF-PLACE APPLICATIONS

Are there applications in the Install/Uninstall list (in the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box) that you've already deleted from your system? Or that, when you select them and click the Add/Remove button, give you a message that the uninstallation can't proceed? Sure, you could leave them there and forget about them, but if you like to keep things neat and tidy, you'll be happy to know you can remove unwanted items from this list.

The easiest way to remove items is using Tweak UI, one of the Microsoft PowerToys. (Point your web browser to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/software/powertoy.htm and follow the Download Instructions.) Assuming they're installed, in the Control Panel, double-click Tweak UI. On the Add/Remove tab, select an item you want to remove and click Remove.

If you don't have Tweak UI, you can remove items from the Install/Uninstall list by editing the Windows 95 Registry. (As always, back it up first.) Open the Registry Editor--select Start, Run, type "regedit" and click OK--and navigate your way to
HKEY_LOCAL MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

Under the Uninstall key, right-mouse click the item you want to get rid of, and select Delete. Click Yes to confirm, then repeat these steps to delete other items.

When you're finished, close the Registry Editor. The next time you open the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box, you'll find that those unwanted items are gone.

BIGGER BUTTONS

See those three buttons at the top right of every Windows 95 window that allow you to minimize, restore (up or down), or close a window? If you find them a little too small to grab onto, you can change their size.

Right-mouse click the desktop and select Properties to open the Display Properties dialog box. Click the Appearance tab, and in the Item list, select Caption Buttons (or click any caption button in the preview). Adjust its Size, and watch the preview to see the resulting buttons. When you like what you see, click Apply or OK. (Note: Changes affect the Taskbar, too.)

YOUR TYPING TEACHER WOULD BE SO PROUD OF YOU

In an open Explorer or My Computer window, you can jump to your file or folder of choice by typing its first few letters. The trick is not to type too slowly. If you do, you'll end up at the first file or folder that starts with the first letter you type, then the first file or folder that starts with the second letter you type, and so on. But if you type fast, Windows 95 reads the whole combination of letters together.

THERE'S A PLACE FOR .TMP FILES--THE TRASH

As you use Windows 95 and the applications on your system, temporary files (*.TMP) are created for various purposes. During the Windows 95 shut down, most of these files are deleted, but inevitably some get left behind. These stragglers take up disk space and aren't necessary to the proper functioning of your system. Delete them to recover valuable disk space.

First locate all the .TMP files on your system: Click Start, select Find, then choose Files or Folders in the popup list; type "*.TMP" on the Named line; select the drive you want to search; and click Find Now. When Find comes back with a list of all the .TMP files, sort them by date (View|Arrange Icons|by Date) and delete all but those dated today.

NEW LOOKS FOR TRASH

You can change the icons that Windows 95 uses to represent the Recycle Bin when it's full or empty. All it takes is a quick trip to the Registry. (As always, we recommend backing up the Registry first)

Open the Registry Editor (select Start, Run, type "regedit," and click OK) and navigate your way to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ CLSID\ {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ DefaultIcon. Right-mouse click "empty" in the right pane; select Modify; and on the Value data line, type the path and number of the icon you want to use for an empty Recycle Bin using the following format: "path, ##." For example, if you were using the seventeenth icon in the c:\Windows\System\Pifmgr.dll file (the red crayon and paper), you would type:
c:\Windows\System\Pifmgr.dll, 16
(Why 16? Because the numbering in an icon file always starts with 0.) Click OK and repeat these steps for the "Full" string value, assuming you want to change that icon as well. Close the Registry Editor.

To see your icon changes in effect, send any item to the Recycle Bin (to display the Full icon). Then empty the Recycle Bin (to display the Empty icon).

STRAIGHTEN UP AND FIND RIGHT

When you click Start, select Find, then choose Files and Folders from the popup menu, Find opens with its focus on your hard drive. If you want to narrow your search, you then have to click Browse, navigate your way to the folder you have in mind, click OK, and so on.

Why not start your search from the right location the first time around? In an Explorer or My Computer window, right-mouse click the folder you want to search and select Find. The Find dialog box opens with its focus on that folder.

MORE EFFICIENT FILE MANAGEMENT

If you're working in a Windows 95-savvy application, such as Microsoft Word 7.0, you can manage your files right from its Save As or Open dialog box. Try it to see what we mean. Open up either one of these dialog boxes and right-mouse click a file. You'll see all the commands you would see if you right-mouse clicked the file on the desktop or in an Explorer window. For example, you can delete or rename files, all without ever leaving your application!

SHORTCUT TO YOUR OWN DEVICES

If you frequently open the Device Manager, place a shortcut to it right on your Start menu for one-click access. It beats having to open the Control Panel, double-click System and select the Device Manager tab every time.

Right-mouse click the Start button and select Open to open the Start Menu folder. Right-mouse click inside the window, select New, then select Shortcut.

where c:\Windows is your Windows 95 directory. Click the Next button, name the shortcut Device Manager, and click Finish. The next time you want to open the Device Manager, click Start and select your new shortcut.

WHO NEEDS YA, MOUSE? (PART 1 OF 2)

If you're a keyboard person and a mousephobe, you'll be happy to know there's a keyboard equivalent to pressing the right mouse button: with an item selected, press Shif+F10. Once the context menu is expanded, just use your up or down cursor keys to highlight the command you want, then press Enter.

And here's another keyboard tip: In an open window, pressing F10 shifts the cursors focus to the first menu (typically, File). Press the down cursor key to expand the highlighted menu, or press the left or right cursor keys to select another menu.

WHO NEEDS YA, MOUSE? (PART 2 OF 2)

We've got another keyboard shortcut for you. Tired of clicking that straight-line caption button every time you want to minimize a window? Press Alt+Spacebard+N instead.

To minimize all open windows, press Ctrl_Esc (to open the Start menu) then Esc (to close it), and finally, press Alt+M. It seems like a lot of steps, but after a couple of times, you'll get the hang of it.

EXPLORER REFRESHMENTS

Want to restart Explorer? You could do it by restarting Windows 95 (select Start, Shut Down, select "Restart the computer," and then hold down Shift while clicking Yes) but there's an even faster way.

Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to open the End Task dialog box. Select Explorer, click End Task, and when you're asked if you want to shut down, click No. After a short wait, you'll be presented with an Explorer dialog box. Click End Task, and Explorer is officially restarted.

EXCESS BAGGAGE

We receive a lot of requests for tips on freeing up hard disk space. One suggestion is to search your system for *.ZIP and *.AVI files (and other types of video files you might have), and delete the ones you don't need. ZIP files are typically left over from Internet downloads. Once an application is installed, you probably don't need the ZIP file it was packaged in (unless it's something you know you'll need to reinstall).

Video files (*.AVI) also take up quite a bit of space. For example, you can regain 7 MB of precious space by deleting the *.AVI files from your c:\Windows\System folder.

SOLVE YOUR IDENTITY CRISIS

When you installed Windows 95, you entered your name and organization. You can change this registered user information using the Registry Editor. (As always, back up the Registry before making this change.)

Click Start, select Run, type "regedit" and click OK to open the Registry Editor. Navigate your way to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion. In the right pane, you'll notice RegisteredOrganization and RegisteredOwner string values (among others). To change one of these values, right-mouse click it, select Modify, and type new information on the Value data line. Click OK and close the Registry Editor.

DOS BOOTS

You can boot directly to MS-DOS every time you start your computer. All it takes is a simple change to the MSDOS.SYS file. (You'll need to remove MSDOS.SYS's Hidden and Read- only attributes first. In an Explorer window, find MSDOS.SYS [right on your hard drive]; right-mouse click it and select Properties; deselect Hidden and Read-only; and click OK. (And of course, use the reverse technique to reapply these attributes when you're done.)

Open MSDOS.SYS in Notepad. Find the line that reads BootGUI=1, and change it to BootGUI=0. Select Save under the File menu, reboot your computer, and it's DOS-ville all the way. To start Windows 95, just type WIN.

I'M IN THE MODE FOR DOS

In our last tip, we showed you how to boot directly to DOS: In the MSDOS.SYS file, change the line BootGUI=1 to BootGUI=0. Would you like to exit to MS-DOS? Simply selecting "Restart the computer in MSDOS mode" at shut-down won't get you out of Windows 95 completely.

In order for this technique to work, you need to have configured your system to boot to DOS, as explained in the previous tip. In this case, you'll start Windows 95 by typing "WIN" at the DOS prompt (or perhaps you've added the line "WIN" to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file). Once this condition has been met, you can exit to DOS during the shut down process. As soon as you see the "It is now safe to turn off your system" screen, type MODE CO80 and press Enter.