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An * before a tip indicates it was updated on 22 Jul 00 ** indicates 18 Sep 00 *ENABLING DUN'S IDLE DISCONNECT SETTING. There are four places in the system (W98SE) where the “disconnect when idle” modem setting can be set; however, these settings invoke changes in different ways. Use this method: Open Explorer to the DUN folder and left-click it once. Right-click the ISP connection, properties, configure button, connections tab. Be aware that the idle function can be affected by an email program checking for new mail or if the browser is open to a page that frequently refreshes.
ESCAPING FROM A HANG. Press the control, alt and del keys at the same time to bring up the Close Program screen. See if a program is listed as not responding and, if so, do an end task on it. If nothing is shown, close the screen, wait a few seconds and bring it up again.
EXITING CUT AND PASTE. To exit out of a cut and paste or drag and drop
operation, hit the Esc key.
EXPANDING SUBFOLDERS. Use the asterisk (*) key on the number pad (right side of keyboard) to expand all subfolders of the highlighted folder in Explorer.
EXPLORER "DETAILS" ARE INCOMPLETE. Left click in the Explorer's right panel. Press Control and the plus (+) in the numeric keypad (right side of keyboard). If this doesn't work, read this article:
Windows Explorer Does Not Display Item's Contents in Right Pane [Q179875]
support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q179/8/75.asp
EXPLORER WINDOW APPEARS UPON BOOTING. Ensure Explorer windows are closed before shutting down Windows since they can open upon rebooting. Check in Windows/StartMenu/Programs/StartUp folder (or sub-folders) and look for any reference that could start Explorer. Use Notepad to view the "Load=" and "Run=" lines in the Win.ini file. Look for an entry which could cause the Explorer to open (ie, C:\Windows), see if two or more spaces separate commands on the lines or look for a comma at the end of the lines. If any of these conditions exist, use Notepad to alter the Win.ini file. For two or more spaces, change it to one space. Delete any commas at the end of a line or any reference to Explorer. After making the changes, save the file, close Notepad and reboot. See if there are references to Explorer in the seven run keys in the registry that are used to start programs:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
RunServices
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
RunServicesOnce
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
RunOnce\Setup FASTER BOOTING. Faster booting for Desktop PCs with fixed floppy drives can be achieved by going to the Control Panel, System, Performance tab, click File System, click the Floppy Disk tab and remove the mark from the "search" box. For further details on how this works, left-click the ? and then click the “search” box.
FILES IN ROOT DIRECTORY. MS Knowledge Base Article Q151667 provides a list and a description of the files in the root directory.
FINDING FILES IN .CAB FILES. To find a file in a .cab, open Explorer and select the folder containing the .cab files. Open the Tools menu, click Find, Files and type: *.Cab in the Named box. Type the name of the wanted file in the Containing Text box and click Find Now.
FINDING LOST FILES. Use the Start Menu’s Find function to see if the files were inadvertently moved into another folder.
FINDING MULTIPLE FILES. Use the Find function to search for multiple files by typing the filenames, separated by a space, in the Named box.
FLOPPY DRIVE GRINDS ON SHUTDOWN. Check the settings on your antivirus program to see if the floppy drive is being checked on shutdown and disable it. *FLOPPY DRIVE RANDOMLY GRINDS. Open the registry editor and do a find on: A:\ but before deleting the entry, export the key so you can restore the registry should problems occur. Most likely a reference will be in an MRU key. Be sure to use F3 to continue the search as there could be multiple entries. Here are articles on other causes:
Floppy Disk Drive Is Active When Opening or Saving Files [Q216752]
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q216/7/52.asp
Floppy Drive Is Accessed When You Open My Computer [Q272242]
support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q272/2/42.asp
FORCING EXPLORER TO OPEN AT A PARTICULAR FOLDER. Go to the Windows folder, right-click Explorer.exe, create a shortcut and drag the shortcut to the desktop. Right-click the shortcut and select properties and the shortcut tab. Change the target so it reads: C:\Windows\Explorer.exe /e, C:\XXX (C:\XXX being the path to the folder you want to open at). If you wanted it to open at the first folder in your D:\ partition, you would substitute D:\ for C:\XXX.
*HARD DRIVE IN MS-DOS COMPATIBILITY MODE. Here are three KB articles that may help you troubleshoot this problem:
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
HIDING TASKBAR. To hide the taskbar, right-click it and select properties. Check the auto hide box and OK. Resize the taskbar until it disappears and release the mouse button. To make the task bar appear, position the cursor over the hidden area. **HIDING MY COMPUTER. To remove the color around the icon text and to remove the icon name, see the tip: Creating No Name Icons for the Desktop. Download a blank icon by clicking here. Substitute the blank icon for the My Computer Icon. With W98, right click the desktop, properties, effects tab. Once this is done, left click the icon and drag it down below the taskbar so it is out of the way. If you want, you can create a shortcut to My Computer and place it on the start menu.
ICON RESOURCES. The following files contain icons: Cool.dll (W95 Plus! and W98) Moricons.dll, Pifmgr.dll, Progman.exe and Shell32.dll.
INCREASING FLOPPY DISK CAPACITY. To format floppy disks so they will hold .cab files, download a shareware program called MaxiDisk which will format and copy DMF disks. It is available from: http://www.herne.com/down.htm INSTALLING TWEAK UI. The latest version of Tweak UI, a freeware system tweaker, which works with all versions of Windows from W95 to W2K is available from: www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/downloads/PowerToys/Networking/NTTweakUI.asp
Right-click the TweakUI.inf file and select install. Should a notice appear saying a disk is required, click OK and another screen appears. Click browse, go to the folder containing Tweak, OK and OK. LISTING CONTENTS OF CAB FILES. Download CabWiz by clicking here. This little application will allow you to see in cab files and write them to a text document.
MINIMIZING ALL WINDOWS. To minimize all windows, right-click a blank spot on the taskbar and make that selection.
MODEM DOESN’T REPORT RIGHT CONNECTION SPEED. You either need to obtain an updated driver (.inf file) for your modem or you need to enter an extra setting--see your modem manual for details. For more information on this problem or modems in general, go to: http://modemfaq.home.att.net
MODIFYING LOGO SCREENS. Three files, they may be hidden if you have that option set in Explorer, comprise the start and shutdown screens. Logo.sys (start screen) is in the C:\ directory either as its own file or it is imbedded in the io.sys file. The imbedded file displays unless there is an actual logo.sys file present in which case it displays. The logow.sys (wait screen) and logos.sys (shut off screen) are located in the C:\Windows folder. Remove the later two files and the first one if it is not the imbedded one to a safe place so you don't overwrite them. Replacement screens must be in a .bmp format, be sized or resized to 320 X 400 X 256 colors and renamed as the appropriate screen name. For animated logo screens, see: http://www.nucleus.com/~kmcmurdo/win95logo.html Click here to download a little application that randomly swaps logo screens at boot.
MODIFYING OSR2 AND W98 SCANDISK BEHAVIOR. To modify the default behavior that occurs if the PC is not closed correctly, use the following settings in the [Options] section of the Msdos.sys file:
AUTOSCAN=0 Turns the feature off completely.
AUTOSCAN=1 This is the default behavior--asks about running Scandisk.
AUTOSCAN=2 ScanDisks starts automatically.
MOVING NOTEPAD TO TOP OF "OPEN WITH" LIST. Open Explorer to the Windows folder and make a copy of notepad.exe by right clicking it, selecting copy and then pasting it to a blank area. Rename the file _notepad.exe. (Note. In W98, I had to extract a copy from the .cab file, rename it and then move it to the Windows folder.) Open the registry to this key: HKEY_Classes_Root, right-click it and select add key. Name the key: Ronfile. In the right panel, right-click Default, select modify and in the value box, enter Ronfile. In the left panel, right-click Ronfile and select new key. Name it Shell. Right-click Shell and select new key. Name it Open. Right-click Open and select new key. Name it Command. In the left panel, right click Default, select modify and in the value box, enter C:\Windows\_notepad.exe Note: This will work with Notepad replacement applications and the .exe file you alter need not be located in C:\ directory. You can keep it in the same folder where the original .exe file is maintained--just alter the path that is entered.
MOVING TASKBAR. Left-click the clock and drag drag the taskbar where you want--right, left, top or bottom--and release the mouse button. It appears that it won't move but it does.
OPEN AND EXPLORE GREYED OUT, RIGHT-CLICKING START BUTTON. When this occurs, the most likely cause is that drives are being hidden with Tweak UI. Open Tweak UI to My Computer tab and ensure each drive has a mark in its box.
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