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An * before a tip indicates it was updated on 30 Mar 02 ** indicates 16 Feb 01 ALPHABETICAL SORT ON IE4/IE5 START MENU. After left-clicking and dragging items to different positions on the IE4 start menu, the alphabetical sort for newly added items may quit working. If so, open the registry to this key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
MenuOrder\Start Menu\Menu In the right pane, there may be a value named Order and if so, right-click it and delete it. If the Menu subkey is not present, right-click the Start Menu key, select new key and name it Menu. For IE5, right click a menu item and select, Sort By Name.
**CDROM AUTORUN NOT WORKING. Try these things in the order listed. Go to control panel, system, device manager, double click CDRom, double click your CDRom, settings tab and make sure the auto insert box is marked. If you have Tweak UI installed, go to the Paranoia tab and make sure the CDRom entries are marked. Open the registry editor (regedit.exe) to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
In the right hand pane is an entry: NoDriveTypeAutoRun. If the value for this entry is not the same as the following, right click the entry and modify it: 95 00 00 00
How to Disable the Feature That Allows CD-ROMs and Audio CDs to [Q126025]
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q126/0/25.asp
CHANGING CLOCK’S TIME DISPLAY. The clock will display time in several formats. For W95 choices, open the Control Panel, Regional Settings, Time tab. Click on the question mark and then the Time Style box. For W98 choices, see the help file.
CHANGING EXPLORER'S FONT. Right-click the Desktop and click Properties and the Appearance tab. Select Icon in the Item box and set the font and font size. The icon text and Explorer fonts/size are both changed with this procedure.
CHANGING FILE ASSOCIATIONS. Open Explorer, left-click once the file type of the association to be changed, hold down the shift key while right-clicking the file, choose Open With, select the program that you want to open the file and make sure the save box is checked.
CHANGING GRADIENT COLOR IN TITLE BAR. Right-click the desktop, select properties, click appearance tab and in the item box, select either the active or inactive title bar. There are two color choices--pick what you desire.
CHANGING ICON DISPLAY DEFAULT IN DUAL-PANE WINDOWS. The default icon view that displays in the right panel of the Explorer can be changed by modifying the registry. Open the registry to this key: HKEY_CURRENT_ USER\Software\ Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion \Explorer\ExpView and highlight the ExpView folder. In the right pane there should be an entry named Settings. Right-click Settings and select modify. Move the cursor down to the 6th row of numbers and move it to the position in front of the fifth column. This is the 45th byte of data and it controls how the icons are displayed: large icons = 01, small icons = 02, list = 03 and details = 04. To make a change, hit the delete key once, enter the appropriate two-digit number and click OK.
CHANGING ICON DISPLAY DEFAULT IN SINGLE-PANE WINDOWS. The default icon view of the control panel, windows opened with the "Open" command on the context menu and other single-pane windows can be changed by modifying the registry. The normal cautions about updating the registry apply. Open the registry to this key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer \Streams and highlight the Streams folder. In the right panel, there may be a Settings entry and, if so, right-click it and select modify. Move the cursor to the position in front of the fifth group of numbers which controls how the icons are displayed: large icons = 01, small icons = 02, list = 03 and details = 04. Hit the delete key once, enter the two-digit number and click OK.
CHANGING MY COMPUTER TO TWO-PANE EXPLORER SCREEN. To switch from a single-pane window to a dual-pane window, hold down the Shift key while double-clicking My Computer. For a permanent change, open View to Options, click the File Types tab and scroll to Folder. Highlight Explore and click the default button. Note: This change switches the Recycle Bin to two panes also.
CHANGING OWNER/COMPANY NAME. To change the owner or company names in W98, open the registry editor and do a find on the incorrect name as reflected on the Control Panel, System, General tab. When you find it, double-click the icon preceding the name and enter the correct name. If poking around in the registry isn’t for you, go to the Reg File page.
CHANGING PATH FOR CAB FILES. Open the registry to this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup
In the right pane, there is an item called SourcePath. Modify the value so it shows the path that leads to your W95\98 files. For example, my .cab files are in a folder named Win98 which is in a folder named Tools on my E: partition so my path is: E:\Tools\Win98
CHANGING SIZE OF TRAY ICONS. Right-click the desktop, select properties and click the appearance tab. In the Item box, select Caption Buttons. The default size is 18.
CLEARING DOCUMENTS MENU. To easily clear out the shortcuts in the Documents Menu, download a neat little application named Flush. Use it with a shortcut or a tray icon.
CLICKING FOLDER IN EXPLORER'S RIGHT PANE MAKES NEW WINDOW. This occurs when you change the default in folders to Explore; however, changing the option back to Open doesn't always reverse the process. Tweak UI, Repair tab, Association Repair, will fix it.
CLOSING MULTIPLE OPEN WINDOWS. Hold down the ctrl key while left-clicking the minimized buttons on the taskbar of open windows. Right-click a button and select close. To close down all open windows using an icon in the system tray, click here to download CloseAll.
COMPUTER INFORMATION. Do a find on MSInfo32.exe and double-click it to see information on memory, .dlls, hardware, etc.
CONTROL PANEL (.Cpl) FILES. An applet appears in Control Panel when a .Cpl file is placed in the Windows\System folder by a program's Setup tool. Third-party software and hardware manufacturers can add Control Panel applets for configuring options on their products. Check article Q149648 for a description of the standard files.
COPYING FLOPPY DISK TO A FLOPPY DISK. Double-click My Computer, right-click the floppy drive, select Copy Disk, insert the disk to be copied, click start, insert the destination disk when prompted, click start and click close when finished.
CREATING CASCADING CONTROL PANEL. Right-click the desktop, select New Folder and name it "Control Panel." On the start menu, open the Control Panel, hold down the Ctrl key and left-click once each Control Panel applet you want in the new Control Panel folder. When all you want are highlighted, use the left mouse button to drag them to the new folder. Click "Yes" to have Windows create shortcuts. If desired, you can rename them and change the icons. You can add non-Control Panel items like Dialup Networking if desired. Close the Control Panel, open Explorer to Desktop and cut and paste the new Control Panel folder to the desired location on the Start Menu.
CREATING CUSTOM DESKTOP SHORTCUT FOLDER. Open Explorer to the root directory (C:). Right-click the right panel, create a new folder and name it whatever you desire. Drag the folder to the desktop to create a shortcut, right-click it and select properties. Select the shortcut tab, change the icon and then rename the shortcut if desired. In the folder in C:, drop shortcuts to the programs you want in the desktop ”folder.”
CREATING "FIND" SHORTCUT. On the Start Menu, select Find Files. When the Find screen comes up, go to File and click on Save Search. Move the All files.fnd file that is created to a folder of your choice. Right-click All files.fnd and create a shortcut. Rename the shortcut and change its icon to whatever you choose. Move the shortcut to the desktop, Quick Launch area or the start menu as you desire.
CREATING NO NAME ICONS FOR THE DESKTOP. Rename each desktop icon by holding down the alt key while typing 0160. Enter. For the next icon, hold down the alt key while typing 0160, release alt, add one space and enter. For the next icons, add two spaces, three spaces and so on until all are renamed. The spaces are what preclude assigning duplicate names. To get rid of the color bar that surrounds the text, use Transparent--a freeware version is available here. To see an example, click here.
CREATING SCREEN SNAPSHOTS. Press the PrintScrn key to load the entire screen to the clipboard. Press Alt + PrintScrn to capture the active window only. Open MS Paint, Word, Paint Shop, Wordpad or any OLE compatible program, right-click the application's screen and click Paste. Then, as appropriate, use Save or Save As. There are several good shareware programs that make this task much easier. HyperSnap, http://www.hyperionics.com, is one of the better ones.
CREATING START MENU SHORTCUT. Right-click the desktop and select New Shortcut. Use cut and paste to add the following to the command line box: C:\Windows\Explorer.exe /e, c:\Windows\start menu Click finish. Right-click the shortcut, select properties and the shortcut tab and change the icon. Rename the shortcut.
CUSTOMIZING GENERAL TAB OF CONTROL PANEL, SYSTEM. You can customize the General tab using OEMInfo.ini and OEMLogo.bmp files which may be located in the Windows/System folder. So you don’t lose your original files (if any), change both file names by adding Old in front of the existing names. You can then add a .bmp file and name it OEMLogo.bmp. You can experiment with the size but you will find that 120 x 120 is about right. Download a copy (click here) of an OEMInfo.ini file that I have edited and included instructions in. Make a copy of the .ini file and customize it as you desire. It may take some trial and error to get what you want within the confines of what is possible. Click here to see my General Tab and here to see the Support Button information. Use the browser’s back button to return. DEFRAG DOESN’T WORK PROPERLY. See the How To page. If you want an optional defrag utility that is fast and works good, see the Vopt 7.22: http://goldenbow.com I used a version of this program for several years and never a problem.
DELAYING START OF PROGRAMS IN THE START UP FOLDER. There’s no W95 solution; however, the Delayer at http://www.cottonwoodsw.com/ may be the answer to your problem. Click here to download.
DELETING EXTRA ENTRIES ON FIND MENU. Various programs add items to the Find entry on the start menu. Open the registry editor to this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ FindExtensions\Static
Look in the subkey folders for the unwanted entries and then delete the entire folder.
DELETING FILES IMMEDIATELY. Hold down the shift key when deleting items and they won't go into recycle bin.
DELETING SCREENSAVER PASSWORD. Right-click the desktop and click on properties, screen saver tab and the change button. Leave the two password boxes empty and click OK twice. Click the password protected box and OK. On some systems this won’t work and a registry change is required. Open the registry editor to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop In the right pane, delete the ScreenSave_Data entry. Then right-click ScreenSaveUsePassword, select modify and change the value to 0 (zero).
DETERMINING WASTED SPACE ON HARD DRIVE. Cluster size is the amount of space used to store a file. For example, if the cluster size is 16 kb, a 1 kb file will take up 16 kb of space on a hard drive. The 15 kb that is lost is known as slack space. The cluster size used by the system is determined by the size of the partition. Here is a chart that will give approximate space lost for an average user. Partition Type and Size Partition Type and Size Cluster Typical Amount
Size of Wasted Space
Fat 16 Fat 32
128 MB - 255 MB 512 MB - 8191 MB 4K 4%
256 MB - 511 MB 8192 MB - 16383 MB 8K 10%
512 MB - 1023 MB 16384 MB - 32767 MB 16K 25%
1024 MB - 2048 MB Larger than 32768 MB 32K 40% **DISABLING CONTEXT MENU IN EXPLORER AND DESKTOP. To disable the context menu, open regedit.exe to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer. In the right panel, right-click and select New DWORD Value and name it NoViewContextMenu. Double-click it and type in the new window: 1 and click OK. DISABLING DISPLAY PROPERTIES: Open Regedit to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
Right-click the right panel, select New Binary Value and rename it: NoDispCpl Right-click NoDispCpl, select modify and enter: 01 00 00 00
DISABLING LOGO SCREEN ON BOOT. Use Tweak UI, Boot tab or modify the msdos.sys file by adding the line Logo=0 to the Options section. This is something everyone should do as Trojans can be run in silent mode and hide behind this screen. DISABLING W98 TASK SCHEDULER IN TRAY. In My Computer, double-click Scheduled Tasks, on the Toolbar click Advanced and click Stop Using Task Scheduler. If it reappears after rebooting, uninstall Critical Update Notification in Control Panel, Add-Remove Programs. **DISABLING WINDOWS FOLDER WARNING, WEB PAGE VIEW: When opening the Windows folder in Web Page view, a warning appears. To disable it, rename the folder.htt file in the Windows folder to folder.old. Copy and paste the folder.htt in the Web folder to the Windows folder.
*DRIVES RUNNING IN MOS-DOS COMPATIBILITY MODE. These KB articles may help:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q151/9/11.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q130/1/79.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q175/6/29.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q152/7/01.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q131/6/90.asp
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