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Window 98 Tips
by Edited by John S. Krill NOCCC - July 27, 1999 at 00:33:53:
Your Favorite Windows Tips—Do you have a favorite tip? Let me know what it is. Use my e-mail, jskrill@jps.net, with the subject: favorite tip, and put the full tip in the message. I will publish the top 10 in the November 1999 Orange Bytes.Where Do These Tips Come From?—These Windows tips come from two locations: Windows Magazine’s e-mail Tip Of The Day and PC World Magazine’s e-mail Tip Of The Day.
If you desire to get these tips when they’re actually broadcast then go to their respective web sites and sign up.
For Windows Magazine: www.winmag.com
For PC World go to: www.tipworld.com
Remember that there is no testing by anyone at NOCCC. Use these tips with a bit of caution and a lot of care.
Now for the tips.
Windows 9X—Put “Open With.” Everywhere—You can quickly add the Open With command to the right-click Context menu of all or most icons in Windows 9x. In the Registry Editor, go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects and make a new key called shell. (Do this by right-clicking on the AllFilesystemObjects folder and choosing New/Key from the pop-up menu.) In the shell key, make the new key open as. In the openas key, make a key called command. Now double-click on the Default icon in the command key and, in the Value data field, enter C:\WINDOWS\rundll32.exe shell32.dll, OpenAs_RunDLL %1 and click on OK. Close the Registry Editor. You’ll now find the Open With menu item on the pop-up menus of most file and folder objects.
Eject, Eject!—Right-click on the CD-ROM icon in My Computer and select Eject from the Context menu to eject the CD from the drive.
A Smart Restart—Sometimes you need to restart Windows to make a settings change take effect. But there’s a faster way. Select Shut Down from the Start menu, then press and hold the Shift key when you click on Restart the Computer, then (still holding down the Shift key) click OK. When the screen prompt reads, “Windows is now restarting,” you can let go of the Shift key. Performing this action bypasses the boot sequence.
A Refreshing Change—Win95 and Win98 don’t refresh your view of files and folders as often as you might like. Here’s how to make Windows refresh constantly (make sure you back up your system before editing the Registry). Launch the Registry Editor by selecting Start/Run, typing REGEDIT in the Run dialog and pressing Enter. Click on the plus sign next to HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE, then on the plus sign next to System, and then on CurrentControlSet. Select Control, then Update. In the right pane, right-click on UpdateMode and select Modify. Select the 01 reading and change it to 00. Click on OK, exit the Registry Editor and restart.
Registry Refresh Shortcut—Some Registry changes require restarting Windows before the changes take effect. However, there’s a way to reinitialize your Registry and refresh your Desktop without fully restarting the OS. Save your work, then press Ctrl+Alt+Del to bring up the Windows task list. Select the Explorer entry and click on End Task. If the Shutdown screen appears, click on Cancel. After a few seconds an error message will appear. Click on End Task, and Windows Explorer will reload with any new Registry settings.
Stuff Your Start Menu—When you “add a folder” to your Start menu by dragging and dropping it onto the Start button, you’re really just adding a shortcut to the folder. It’s usually better to put the actual folder there instead of a shortcut. The Start menu is just a special folder in the Windows folder called, unsurprisingly, “Start Menu.” If you put folders that contain your documents into this folder, you gain three advantages. First, what you see on the Start menu is always correct; delete a folder, for example, and it disappears from the Start menu as well, while a shortcut would remain. Second, actual folders appear on the Start menu as cascading menu items, whereas shortcuts to folders just open the folder on your Desktop when selected. And finally, the Start menu is always available, even if your Desktop is packed with clutter.
Oust The Update Folder—When you install Internet Explorer 5 over Win9x, you’ll find a new folder called “Windows Update Setup Files” in your root directory. This folder is filled with setup files that take up between 10Mb and 20Mb of space on your hard disk. It’s a good idea to save them for a while after installing IE5 to make sure it’s running properly. That way, you won’t have to download the app again if you run into trouble and want to reinstall. After using IE5 for a while without encountering any problems, you can delete these files to regain the disk space.
Mouseless Moves—You can move or resize open Windows applications by using only your keyboard. First, press Alt+Spacebar to bring up a menu. Press S, and 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.
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 Item 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)
Fixing “File Not Found”—It’s not uncommon in Windows to encounter a “File Not Found” error while booting up. The message indicates that a particular file—usually a DLL or VXD—is missing. Chances are, the file was improperly removed when you uninstalled an application. The file may be gone, but one or more lines in your System Registry or SYSTEM.INI could still be trying to load it. To fix the problem, reboot and note the exact name of the errant file. From the Windows taskbar, select Start/Find/Files and Folders to search for the missing file. If you find it, copy it to your WINDOWS or WINDOWS\SYSTEM folder. If you think you might have moved or renamed a program folder, make a new folder with the old name, and copy the offending file there. Reboot and see if the message goes away.
If you don’t find the file, you must find a reference in your Registry or SYSTEM.INI to a program that no longer exists on your system. Use the Registry Editor’s search function to find the filename, then use Notepad to open and search SYSTEM.INI for the same file. When you find any references to the file, carefully note where it is and the exact settings in case you have to reinstate it, then delete the references. (Back up your Registry before making any changes.) Also, check the WINDOWS\STARTUP folder for any shortcuts that call the file, and delete them.
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