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Disinfect Your System First
Run a thorough virus-check first, then disable the anti-virus software and reboot without it. Otherwise, the virus-checker will get very upset as Win95 attempts to run its setup procedure.
Scrutinise Your Setup
Right-click on My Computer and select Properties. This dialog box is your hardware's Rosetta Stone. By exploring it, you can find out about all the devices installed on your system.
Let Your CD-ROM Drive Be Last
If the MSCDEX.EXE line in your current AUTOEXEC.BAT file specifies a drive letter, delete that switch (/L:x, where x is some letter beyond the actual last physical drive letter) and then reboot. Otherwise Win95 may "forget" its instructions midway through setup and let the CD-ROM disc drop down to the next available drive letter. Then it can no longer find what it wants on drive x, and you'll have to redirect it to the new drive.
Don't Overaccessorise
Make a minimalist fashion statement by carefully reviewing the accessories list and not installing anything you don't absolutely need. You can always add something later.
What's the Password?
If you don't want to use a password, leave that entry blank when you're prompted for a user name and password, and you won't be asked again. To get rid of a password you've already entered, select Control Panel/Passwords, click on the Change Windows Password button, enter your current password in the Old password box and click on OK.
Surf Your CD-ROM
The setup procedure finds what it wants in the \Win95 and \Win98 folders, but that's only a small corner of this world. Open some of the other folders and see what's in them. You may find something interesting.
Easy Come ...
Sometimes the setup procedure doesn't find everything in your system. If an installed hardware device is missing, select Control Panel/Add New Hardware and let the Hardware wizard search for whatever it is. To speed up the search, click on the No button and narrow the search to a specific device type. If it's a missing modem. Control Panel's Modem applet may find it faster.
... Easy Go
Setup sometimes "finds" things that aren't really there, such as a non-existent serial mouse and a standard PS/2 port mouse. If the Device Manager shows this or any other such ghost, highlight it and click on the Remove button.
Don't Leave Windows To Its Own Devices
As soon as Setup is finished and Windows opens successfully, select Control Panel/System. Select the Device Manager tab and review the list of devices. If you see a device with a small exclamation mark on a yellow background, highlight that device and click on the Properties button to learn more about the configuration conflict. If you're not sure how to resolve it, click on the Remove button and then restart. Windows will probably get it right the second time.
Moving Day For Your StartUp Files
After Win95 has been up and running for a week or so, open your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files in any text editor. You'll probably discover Win95 has disabled quite a few items by inserting REM at the beginning of the lines. If you don't see anything important on the other lines, move the entire file into a C:\TEMP folder for a few days. If Windows doesn't miss them, neither wilt you.
Out with the Old
If you upgraded over Windows 3.x and saved your old system files as part of the Windows 95 setup procedure, here's how to reclaim some disk space if you don't want to go back again. Select Control Panel/Add/Remove Programs, highlight the Old Windows 3.X/MS-DOS line and click on the Remove button.
There's No Turning Back
If you're using Internet Explorer 4.0, don't try to install a previous version on top of it. Version 3.02 doesn't detect version 4.0, and installing the old on top of the new can cause a major lockup. Also beware of other applications that install version 3.02 as part of their installations.
Before Reinstalling Win95
Reinstalling Win95 can cause all kinds of problems if you have Internet Explorer 4.0 installed. That's because the IE 4.0 installation replaces several key Windows system files with new ones. The solution is to unin-stall IE 4.0, reinstall Win95/ then reinstall IE4.
Show Me the Desktop
If you accidentally delete the Show Desktop shortcut from the taskbar's Quick Launch toolbar, here's how to restore it: In C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Microsoft\lnternet Explorer\Quick Launch, create a new text file with the following contents:
[Shell]Command= IconFile=explorer.exe,3 [Taskbar] Command=ToggleDesktop
Save the file as ShowDesktop.SCF. This will put the shortcut back on your Quick Launch toolbar.
Fast Security
The fastest way to change your security settings is to double-click on the lower right-hand part of the browser's Status bar. This will launch the Internet Security Properties dialog box. From there, you can specify high, medium, low and custom security levels for different zones.
Click Taskbar To Minimise
In Win95, clicking on a running program or open folder in the taskbar restores it and puts it in front of the other open windows. Once you've installed IE4, however, the button on the taskbar toggles between open and minimised.
By the Book
If you have been using Microsoft Exchange, Eudora or Netscape Mail and you've built up an address book, you don't have to re-enter those Contacts when you switch to Outlook Express. Open Outlook Express and select File/Import/Address Book. You'll get a dialog box asking you to pick the format of your former address book; select a format, then click the Import button.
Make Changes To Start Menu
Items As you may have noticed by now, items that you add to IE4's Start menu behave just like regular folders and files. By right-clicking on any Start menu item you've added, you'll get a Context menu, which, among other options, lets you modify the item's properties.
New Keyboard Shortcut
With IE4, you gain a new keyboard shortcut. Press the WinKey+D, and you'll immediately minimise all windows, giving you instant access to your Desktop.
Drag, Drop and Drill
In a dual-pane Explorer view, if you're dragging a file or folder from the right pane to a buried folder in the left pane, you don't need to expand the folders first. Select the files or folders you want to copy, drag them to the left pane, and hold them over the contracted folder for a second or two. The folder will expand automatically, so you can drop the files into the folder or continue drilling down.
Free IE 4.0 Tips
Use the Find utility (Start/Find/Files and Folders) to search for IE4.TXT files. You'll find browser tips and pitfalls to avoid, including information about odd installation problems. If you find more than one version of this file, use the newest one.
Universal Viewer
Internet Explorer has built-in players that let you view graphics files stored in JPEG and GIF formats, play sound files with WAV or AU extensions, and view AVI/ MOV or MPEG video clips. Just drag the file into the browser window, click on "Open this file from the current location" and let it run.
Rest Your Mouse
Internet Explorer has keyboard shortcuts that will jump you to most places on a Web page. Tab moves you from link to link (top to bottom of a page), while Shift+Tab scrolls you through links from bottom to top. Ctrl+Tab cycles you to form elements within a page.
Drag-and-Drop URLs
Each URL in the Address box is accompanied by a small icon. By dragging and dropping the icon, you can put that URL just about anywhere.
Watch Out for Sliding Bars
If the IE4 Address and Links bars are both visible, double-click on the word "Address" or "Links" quickly slide that bar into or out of view. If both bars share the same horizontal space, double-click the one on the left to slide the other one out of the way.
Old DOS Command Has New Life
You already know that the IE4 Address box doubles as a guide to your local desktop. What you may not know is that the old DOS command ".." works to navigate up the directory tree. Enter it repeatedly to work your way all the way back to the Desktop icon.
Arrange It Your Way
When you select Details from the Explorer's View menu, you can sort the contents by Name, Size, Type or Modified (date and time). Here's a neat trick: You can rearrange the horizontal order of these items by dragging and dropping the header bars at the top of the Contents pane.
Inactive Desktop
If you find IE 4.0's Active Desktop slows your system down, especially during CPU-intensive tasks, you can disable it. Right-click anywhere on the desktop and select Active Desktop from the context menu. To turn it back on, repeat the same procedure.
AutoComplete Everywhere
You probably already know about the AutoComplete feature in the IE4 browser's Address box, but did you know it works for local folders as well? Start to type the pathname to the folder you want to open, and AutoComplete will guess. Once it guesses the right one, stop typing and press Enter.
CD Shortcut
You probably already know creating shortcuts on your Desktop to diskette, network and CD-ROM drives is an easy way to fast access. But Win95 does something special with shortcuts to the CD-ROM drive: The icon changes to reflect the CD you've installed, just as it does in My Computer.
Sort Your Recycling
The Recycle Bin lets you view items you've tossed the same way you would an ordinary Windows folder. If you're looking for something in the Recycle Bin, select View/Details and click on a column (Name, Original Location, Date Deleted, Type or Size) to sort by that category.
Hail a CAB
Copying all the CAB (Windows 95 installation files) from the Win95 CD to your hard disk is a great way to save time when re-installing components or the whole shebang. You can make this even quicker by modifying the Registry to point to the CAB files during installation. Open the Registry Editor drill down to HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Setup and single-click on the SETUP folder. Right-click on the SourcePath item and select Modify from the context menu. Enter the path of the folder that contains your CAB files.
Tell Your Apps Where to Go
Here's how to tell any application where to look for documents and where to save them by default: Find the shortcut to the app on your Desktop or Start menu (for Start menu shortcuts, right-click on the Start button and select open, then drill your way to the shortcut). Right-click on the shortcut and select Properties. Click on the Shortcut tab. Now type the path to the folder of your choice in the Start In box.
Shrewd Moves
When you drag and drop a file, you're moving, copying or making a shortcut to that file, depending on where you're dragging it from and dropping it to. Look at the lower right corner of the icon you're dragging, right before you let go of the mouse button, to find out what it's going to do. 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.
Save-As Trick
If you're using real Win95 applications, you can do some neat things in the Save As dialog box (File/Save As). Right-click in the dialog's white space, and you'll get the familiar context menus for the folder you're working in. Right-click on individual files to cut, copy, delete, rename and see properties.
The X Files
If you want to keep files-or even folders full of files-from prying eyes, just right-click on each file and select Hidden in the Attributes box at the bottom of the Properties dialog. To see the files you've hidden, double-click on My Computer, select View/Options, click on the View tab and select Show All Files.
Suspend Your Screen Saver
Here's the fastest way to disable your screen saver temporarily (if you're defragmenting a drive or doing something similar). Click on the Start button and bring up the Start menu. When the menu is up, your screen saver won't launch.
Selection Shortcut
You can select a bunch of files by clicking near them and dragging the cursor over them. If you do that with the right mouse button, however, you automatically get a context menu that offers the Open, Send To, Cut, Copy, Delete, Rename, Create Shortcut and Properties commands.
Put All Programs Together
Most well-behaved 32-bit Win95 apps install by default into your Program Files folder. Because the folder uses a long filename, you can't install 16-bit Win3.x apps there-or so it seems. You can do it by using its truncated name, C:\PROGRA~1, during installation.
Fast Move
When you use Win95's Send To feature (right-click on the item, then select Send To from the Context menu) to place something on a floppy disk or on a drive other than your C: drive, the file is copied. To move it, hold down the Shift key while clicking on the Send To item.
Data Doggie Bag
Whenever you copy text or graphics using Ctrl+C or another method, the data goes into your Windows Clipboard until you copy something else. To hang on to the contents of your Clipboard, simply launch the Clipboard Viewer applet, select File/Save As and name the file. Next time you want the data, launch the Clipboard Viewer, select File/Open, then find and double-click on the file you saved. Once it's in the Clipboard, you can paste away. If you don't have Clipboard Viewer, install it from the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel item. Warning: a saved Clipboard file is huge, because the data is saved in multiple formats.
Launch Control I
Some programs tell Windows to launch them at startup by placing a shortcut in the StartUp folder. To remove start-up programs, right-click on the Start button and select Open. Double-click on the Programs folder, then the StartUp folder. Delete shortcuts to programs you don't want to run at start-up. Or Just drag the shortcut out to the Desktop to temporarily remove it from the StartUp folder. You can drag it back later or delete it.
Launch Control II
Other programs tell Windows to launch them at start-up by editing the Windows Registry. (This tip is for the advanced user with a backed-up Registry.) To remove these programs, open the Registry Editor, and then open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Run. Delete any programs from the Name column that you don't want to run at startup.
Launch Control III
To temporarily abort all Startup folder launches, hold down the Shift key as Windows opens. Programs listed in the StartUp folder won't open this time, but will be there next time. To selectively launch these unopened programs, open the StartUp folder and double-click on any icon.
Mouseless Moves
You can move or resize open Windows applications using only your keyboard. First, press Alt+Spacebar to bring up a menu. Press S, then use the arrow keys to resize the window. Press M and move the window using the arrow keys. Press Enter to keep the window change or Esc to return the window to its previous state.
Get It 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 probably want to know, but it can be handy for future reference or troubleshooting.
Recycling Hazards
The Win95 Recycle Bin can give you a false sense of security. You know you can retrieve items you move there, so you might dump stuff 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.
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. Press Enter, and the file will open.
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.
Lurk in the Background
If you want documents and programs you double-click on to open in the background, rather than in the foreground, hold the Ctrl key when you double-click.
Simple Way to Share
Here's how to set up a convenient document routing system for a small workgroup. Each person in the workgroup should: 1) Create a folder on his or her desktop and label it "IN"; 2) Right-click on the IN folder, select Properties and Sharing, click on the "Shared As" radio button and type his or her name in the "Share Name" box, then click on OK; 3) After everyone completes 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). 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.
Know Thy Computer
Many Microsoft applications come with a utility called MS-Info that tells you more about your computer than you'll ever want to know. MS-Info lists detailed information on all your DLLs, drivers, fonts, memory, hardware and much more. Use the Find utility (Start/Find/Files or Folders) to search for the executable: MSINF032.EXE.
Easy File Associations
Here's an easy way to change file associations. Click on a document to select it, then hold the Shift key while right-clicking on it; 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, launch the MS DOS Prompt and enter dir *.PWL in 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).
Redecorate Your Folders
You can change the default wallpaper within an open folder by selecting View/Customize This Folder. Click "Choose a background picture" and follow the wizard to select either a solid colour or image for your wallpaper.
More BMP Icons
Any bitmap file can serve as an icon without moving, resizing or renaming. 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.
Launch Apps from Your Browser
Presumably, you've got your favourite applications on the Start menu, so they're just two clicks away. Here's how to make them only one click away: Right-click on the Start button and select Open from the Context menu. Select all the shortcuts you want, and drag and drop all of them onto the Links toolbar.
Change Channels
IE4's channel bar comes loaded with shortcuts to channels from Microsoft business partners. You can easily clear them off your channel bar by selecting Channels from the toolbar, highlighting each channel, then right-clicking and picking Delete from the Context menu. You can also make any Web site a channel by browsing to the site and then dragging and dropping the URL icon from the address bar to the channel bar.
Reorganise Your Start Menu
You can permanently move any item on your Start menu (with the exception of the "hard-wired" items, such as the Documents or Programs menu labels) simply by dragging and dropping the item to the new Start menu location of your choice.
Delete Start Menu Items
While you're reorganising your Start menu, delete any unwanted item (again, with the exception of any Windows default items) by dragging it from the menu to the Recycle Bin.
Create Shortcuts From Start Menu Items
Copy or move Start menu items you've created by dragging and dropping them to the Desktop or to the folder of your choice. If you simply drag and drop, you'll move them. If you'd like to create a shortcut or copy a Start menu item, either use the right mouse button to drag it, or press and hold Ctrl+Shift when you drag and drop.
Change New IE4 Icons
Previously, we showed you how to restore the Show Desktop icon to the taskbar's Quick Launch toolbar. The other default items in the toolbar, including the View Channels icon, aren't called by ordinary shortcuts. They're actually specified by a new SCF file format, which is a simple text file that you can edit. To change the icon in a SCF file, launch Notepad, choose File/Open, go to your C:\WINDOWS\APPLICATION DATA\MICROSOFT\INTERNET EXPLOR-ER\QUICK LAUNCH directory and select the SCF file you want to edit. Find the lconFile= line and point it to the path and filename of the icon you want. You can also add new items to the Quick Launch toolbar by dragging and dropping a file or folder icon from an Explorer window onto the toolbar.
Eliminate Underlines
If you enabled the Web-style, single-click Desktop and want to get rid of all the underlines that show up every time you open a folder, you can customize your view so that you only see the underline when you move your mouse pointer over an icon. Click Start, then select Settings/Folders and Icons. Open the General tab, select Custom and click on the Settings button. Choose the option labelled "Single-click to open an item [point to select]," and then pick the suboption titled "Underline icon titles only when I point at them."
Auto Incomplete
If you find it annoying when IE4's Auto-Complete feature fills in URLs for you on the address bar, you can turn it off by selecting View/Internet Options. Open the Advanced tab, and in the Browsing section, remove the check mark from the box labelled Use AutoComplete.
Add a 'Hover Colour'
You can tell IE 4.0 to change the colour of any link when the mouse pointer hovers over it. Select View/Internet Options and click on the General tab's Colors button. Check Use Hover Colour and click on the colour box to select your desired colour.
Channel Screen Saver
IE 4.0 comes with a screen saver that displays a slide show of all Active Channel content you select. Right-click on the Desktop and select Properties. Click on the Screen Saver tab and select the Channel Screen Saver. Click on the Settings button and a list of all your channels will appear in the Channels box. Select the ones you want in the screen saver and click on OK.
Reactivate Your Active Desktop
If you haven't been to the Microsoft Active Desktop Gallery for a while, it's time to go back. Microsoft has added lots of free and cool new active content, including an address finder (just type in the address, and it pulls up a map) and a comic-strip-of-the-day clock. To add it to the wallpaper on your computer, just click on the "Add to Active Desktop" button on the preview page of the component you want. You can get to the Gallery at http://www.microsoft.com/ie/ie40/gallery.
Where to Put the Taskbar
Most people leave the taskbar at the bottom of the screen; others like it at the top. IE 4.0 lets you put it on both the top and the bottom. Simply drag and drop the individual toolbars you want to the top, and leave minimised apps at the bottom. Right-click on the items you have at the top, select Properties and check Always on Top so maximised windows don't cover it. You can also check the Auto Hide option.
Subscriptions on the Start Menu
Place your Internet Explorer 4.0 Subscriptions folder and its contents on the Start menu by adding a folder with this name: Subscriptions.{F51 75861-2688-11d0-9C5E-OOAAOOA45957}.
Change Links Icons
You can change the icons on the IE4 Links toolbar the same way you change shortcut icons: Right-click on the button, select Properties, click on the Change Icon button, then the Browse button. Find the file that contains the icon you want and double-click on it.
Add Shortcuts To Toolbar
Use the right mouse button to drag and drop folders to the IE4 Links toolbar to give yourself push-button access to your favourite folders.
Ultimate Power Launcher
One of IE4's most powerful hidden gems is a universal command line, where you can launch programs, open folders, go to Web sites and more. Right-click on the taskbar and select Toolbars/Address. When the Address box shows up on your toolbar, click and hold on the word "Address" and drag it to the top of your desktop. Right-click on it and select Always on Top. Now, when you maximise applications, they'll expand between your Address bar at the top and your taskbar at the bottom.
No Icons on the Desktop
Here's a neat trick if you like a clean Desktop. Open My Computer and select Folder Options from the View menu, then click on the View tab. Find the item "Hide icons when desktop is viewed as a Web page" and select it, then click OK. Drag each icon on your desktop to your Quick Launch Toolbar (if you don't have one, right click on the taskbar and select Toolbars/Quick Launch). Finally, right-click on your Desktop and make sure the item Active Desktop/View as a Web page is selected.
Small Icons on the Desktop
After doing the previous tip, click on your Quick Launch bar's slider handle and drag it onto your Desktop. Resize it and place it where you want. Right-click on the title bar and select Always on Top.
Clear Control Panel Clutter
If your Control Panel is cluttered with icons you don't need, clean it up. In the C:\WIN-DOWS\SYSTEM directory, you'll find a corresponding CPL file for each Control Panel item. Move the ones you don't want to a safe place on your hard disk. When you open Control Panel, those icons won't appear.
Name Change
When you install Win95, it asks for your name. From that point on, the computer recognises the entered name as the official registered owner. Here's how to change it: Launch the Registry Editor. Drill down to and click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version. In the right pane, find the RegisteredOwner entry and double-click on it. In the Value Data box of the Edit String dialog that pops up, change the name to whatever you wish and click on the OK button. To change the company name, repeat the procedure for the Registered-Organization entry.
Quick Keys
You can determine how fast your keyboard repeats characters and moves the cursor. Launch the Keyboard applet in Control Panel, then experiment with the speed settings on the Speed tab.
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).
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 applications 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 be able to see the option you typed in.
IE4 PowerToys
Just like it did for Win95/ Microsoft has created a free PowerToys utility for Internet Explorer 4.0. The program adds custom frames (you can view multiple sites at once), QuickSearch's power searching capabilities and many other features. Download the 1E4 PowerToys from Microsoft's Web site.
Faster than the Start Menu
If you find the Start menu slow and annoying, right-click on the taskbar and select Toolbars / NewToolbar. In the dialog box that opens, navigate to and open the C:\WINDOWS\START MENU folder, then choose the item you want to access. Now you'll have single-click access to it right from the taskbar.
Folder Settings for Power Users
IE 4.0's default folder settings are for novices. Here's how to turn on the power-user interface features. Open My Computer and select View/Folder Options/View. Check the options "Display the full path in title bar," "Show Map Network Drive button in toolbar" and "Allow all uppercase names."
Boot Up Faster
Win95 pauses for about two seconds during boot-up to give you the opportunity to press a start-up key such as F8. To remove the pause and make boot-up faster, open the MSDOS.SYS file in Notepad and add the entry BootDelay=0 to the [Options] section.
Out, Out Temp Files!
Win95 creates a lot of "temporary" files when it opens documents. It puts these files in the C:\WINDOWS\TEMP folder and intends to close them when the application is finished with them. But sometimes, temp files can become permanent. Open the folder periodically (after you shut down all your apps) and delete these files.
Hardware Housecleaning
Sometimes Win95 thinks you have more hardware than you do. This can lead to problems. Here's how to troubleshoot: First, make sure you have a good backup. Restart Windows and press F8 at the beginning of the boot cycle to bring up the Mode menu. Select Safe mode and open the Device Manager by right-clicking on My Computer, selecting Properties and clicking on the Device Manager tab. Expand all the categories and look for hardware that shouldn't be there. If you find duplicates within a single category, delete them all and restart; let Win95 identify and reinstall the drivers. Remember, don't delete hardware from the list unless you're sure it shouldn't be there.
Expedite E-Mail
To launch e-mail from your Run dialog, create a batch file (which is just a text file with a BAT extension) called SEND.BAT and type START "mailto:%1". Close the batch file and put it in your WINDOWS folder. (If you prefer, create a shortcut to SEND.BAT in the WINDOWS folder, right-click on the shortcut, select the Program tab and "Close on exit.") Now, whenever you want to dash off a quick message, just open the Run dialog (Start/Run). Type Send followed by the e-mail address of the intended person (send mat@itpmedia. com, for example) and hit Enter. If a wizard pops up, fill it in, then send your mail.
Fast, Fresh 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. Next, click on the Advanced button and make sure "MS-DOS mode" is selected and "Warn before entering MS-DOS mode" is not. Click on OK and on OK again. Give your new shortcut a unique icon and name. Whenever you double-click on the icon, Win95 will restart, no questions asked.
The following is for Win98 only
CPU Sleuth
The General tab on the My Computer Properties sheet probably reports that your computer is a Genuineintel (one word) Pentium(r.) Processor (or similar). For more details, open the following Registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE\Hardware\Description\System\CentralProcessor\0 Double-click on Vendorldentifier and put a space between "Genuine" and "Intel" or make some other edit in this line. Now re-open the Properties sheet. Underneath the Genuine Intel line, you'll see that your CPU comes from the "x86 Family X Model Y Stepping [version] Z," where X, Y, Z are the appropriate values in your system. Close the Properties sheet, reopen the Registry key and the same information will be seen on the Identifier line. Restart Windows 98 and the default information will be restored. (This tip has not been tested on non-Intel systems.)
Pump Up the Volume
To quickly reach the utility that lets you fiddle with your computer's volume, go to Control Panel/ Multimedia. Open the Audio tab. Place a check mark in the box next to the line "Show volume control on the taskbar." A speaker icon will appear in your tray; double-click on it to adjust your volume controls.
Wandering Win98-ers
If the display is distorted when you use suspend/resume on your notebook PC, right-click on the desktop and select Settings/Advanced/Monitor and make sure "Reset display on suspend/resume" is checked.
Un-Update Online, Too
If you install a patch or driver from the System Update Manager Web site and the results are what you had anticipated, you can uninstall, or "rollback" less-than-perfect updates. System Update Manager and its associated Web site maintain a history of the fixes they've made to your PC, and let you choose, in any order, the ones to uninstall.
REGEDIT Without Regrets
Windows 95's Registry offered unprecedented opportunities to get under the hood and tinker with the inner workings of the operating system, but its organisation and cryptic codes also offered unprecedented opportunities to throw a monkey wrench into the works. With Windows 98, you make your REGEDIT maneuvers directly from the System Information utility, where entries are better-organised and easier to find. Sl adds (finally) the ability to cut-and-paste, export and print Registry entries.
New Win98 Tweak UI
The CD of Win98 comes with an improved Tweak UI utility. It offers all the features bundled in the old version, plus an Activation Follows Mouse item that will select any window or dialog box that's under your mouse pointer, the ability to toggle window animation effects (each effect is individually selectable) and a new IE 4.0 tab that lets you control which IE items show up on the Start menu. You'll also find a cool "Clear typed URL history on exit" item and a Control Panel tab that lets you add or remove icons in the Control Panel.
Just Say No
When you hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete, you'll see a list of what's running on your system. Chances are, you'll discover drivers and programs running that you don't need or want. To find out, launch the Win98 System Configuration utility by typing MSCONFIG in the Run command line and pressing Enter. Click on the StartUp tab and deselect the items you think you might be able to live without. Click on OK and reboot. If you later realise you need one of the items you deselected, go back and reselect it.
Power Troubleshooting
And speaking of the System Configuration utility, you'll find a cool gem in there called Advanced Troubleshooting Settings. Launch MSCONFIG from the Run command line and click on the Advanced button under the General tab. You'll have the option to disable features such as fast shutdown, and to limit memory to any size.
Check Your Registry
Win98 comes with a handy way to check your Registry for errors. Launch the Microsoft System Information (MSI) utility from Start/Accessories/System Tools/System Information, then select the Registry Checker from the Tools menu.
Find Problems
In the MSI utility, click through each item and look for the message, "This device has a problem." If you see it, check into the problem and seek a remedy.
Save System Settings
The MSI utility has another neat feature: It lets you save all your system settings and in-formation-and we mean all your system information-to a text file. Just select File/Export. It's a good idea to always keep a current copy of your settings; if your computer goes south, it can help with troubleshooting.
Search System Info
The MSI utility doesn't have a search function, but we found a workaround: Export your information to a text file using the previous tip, open the file in WordPad and use WordPad's search function to find what you're looking for.
Find Old Drivers
You'll notice that Win98's MSI utility lists not only the installed drivers for every device, but the dates of those drivers as well. Use the previous tip to search for dates starting with 1990, then 1991 and so on. If you find a relatively old driver associated with a key piece of hardware such as a modem, NIC or video board, back up your system, then head over to the relevant company's Web site and search for an updated driver. Download and install it.
Back Up Your Backup
The first time Win98 boots each day, it runs the Registry Checker utility to look for errors, then backs up your Registry and SYSTEM.DAT, SYSTEM.INI, USER.DAT and WIN.INI files. The backups are stored in CAB files in C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP and named RBOOO.CAB, RB001.CAB and so on. You can't see them unless you set Explorer to Show All Files in My Computer/View/ Folder Options/View. If you don't frequently back up your system, you should at least put a recent backup on a diskette before making Registry changes or installing new software.
Increase Saved Backups
By default, Win98 keeps the five most recent backups that Registry Checker creates. To increase the number of stored backups-which is always a good idea if you have available disk space-find the file SCANREG.INI, open it in Notepad and change the MaxBackupCopies= value from 5 to the number of your choice.
And While You're at It...
An undocumented SCANREG.INI file entry automatically backs up the files of your choice along with the other Registry Checker files, but only if those files reside in your root, C:\WINDOWS or C:\WINDOWS\SYS-TEM directories. To specify the files to back up, open SCANREG.INI in Notepad and add the line Files= followed by the folder code (enter 30 for the root directory, 10 for the Windows directory or 11 for the System directory) and the filename, separated by a comma. You can also add multiple files within a folder; simply separate them with commas. For example, if you wanted to add the SCANDISK.LOG and CONFIG.SYS files (located in your root directory) to your Registry Checker backup, add the following line to your SCANREG.INI file: Files=30, scandisk.log,config.sys.
Build a Better Backup
Win98 comes with an improved Backup utility. If you want to use it for automatic backups launched by the Win98 Task Scheduler, you'll need to make a change. Open the Backup utility (Start/Programs/ Accessories/System Tools/Backup) and click on the Open button. Click on the Options button at the bottom of the window and open the Report tab. Select the "Perform an unattended backup" option.
