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Win 98 tips. :-) 15-Minute Info Updates Category: Windows 98 All One of the annoying "features" of the Win98 Active Desktop is that the highest frequency for refreshing active content is every hour. NewsHub (http://www.newshub.com) offers a cool workaround. It's a service that updates links to a wide variety of news and information every 15 minutes. Use NewsHub as active content, and you won't have to rely on Win98's subscription update schedule. 3D Games Need Memory Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Performance Windows 98 All Windows 98 Performance For maximum memory in a DOS session, add the following line to the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI: LocalLoadHigh=1. Players of games that use 32-bit DOS extender software will reap the benefit of that much more memory. A Great Source of Win98 Info Category: Windows 98 All For an online forum in which Win98 beta testers swap tips, ideas and advice, point your browser to our Win98 super site at http://www.winmag.com/win98 and click on the Discussion link. A Quicker Quick View Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Quick View is an underused, under-appreciated feature of Windows; it lets you quickly and safely see the contents of documents without opening their associated applications. To make it even quicker, create a shortcut to it, C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VIEWERS\QUIKVIEW.EXE, and then drag and drop a file onto the icon to view it. Add QuickRes to the System Tray Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Installation You can add an icon for QuickRes to the System Tray. QuickRes allows on-the-fly display resolution changes. To enable QuickRes, launch the Display applet; on the Settings tab, click on Advanced and choose "Show Settings icon on taskbar." Add Your Printer to SendTo Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Print documents without opening them by adding your printer to the Win9x SendTo menu (accessed when you highlight and right-click on any file in a Windows Explorer or My Computer window). Open C:\WINDOWS\SENDTO and create a shortcut there for your printer. Your printer will now appear the next time you access the SendTo menu. Adding Links by Drag and Drop Category: Internet Explorer 4.0 Internet Explorer 5.0 Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface To add new links to the Links toolbar, drag and drop from any of these sources: the icon in the address bar, the icon in the upper left corner of the browser window, an entry in the Favorites menu or a hyperlink on a page. Aggregate Your Bandwidth Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Networking If you have more than one telephone line, and an extra modem, you can potentially double your connection speed when using Windows 98 Dial-Up Networking by adding the second modem to your original connection. Once the second modem is installed, open the Properties dialog of the desired Windows Dial-Up Networking connection profile, click the tab that says Multilink and add the second modem to the connection. (Your ISP or dial-up server must support Multilink PPP.) You can use both modems to support one connection at an aggregated bandwidth. Your modems do not have to be from the same vendor or even connect at the same speed. Always Show File Attributes Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface You can display file attributes in the Details view for folders and dual-paned Explorer windows. Select View/Folder Options and click on the View tab. In the Advanced Settings box, select "Show file attributes in detail view" and then click on OK. Another One-Minute Life Saver Category: Windows 98 All The One-Minute Life Saver (OMLS)-a tip we previously published for Windows 95 (see August 1998)-is a simple way to back up key system files. The OMLS batch file was written so it can run on either Win95 or Win98, but we recommend minor changes for Win98 users. The lines below should be included in the OMLS batch file to specifically tailor it for Win98. Remember to replace each instance of e:\vault with whatever drive, path and folder name that points to the destination folder you created. copy c:\autoexec.bat e:\vault copy c:\autoexec.dos e:\vault copy c:\config.sys e:\vault copy c:\config.dos e:\vault copy c:\windows\control.ini e:\vault copy c:\windows\system.ini e:\vault copy c:\windows\win.ini e:\vault attrib -r -h -s c:\msdos.sys attrib -r -h c:\windows\user.dat attrib -r -h c:\windows\system.dat copy c:\msdos.sys e:\vault copy c:\windows\system.dat e:\vault copy c:\windows\user.dat e:\vault attrib +r +h +s c:\msdos.sys attrib +r +h c:\windows\user.dat attrib +r +h c:\windows\system.dat AutoComplete Everywhere Category: Windows 98 All 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. AutoComplete for Local Folders Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface You probably know about the AutoComplete feature in the browser Address box, but did you know it also works for local folders? Start typing a pathname, and AutoComplete will guess. Once it guesses right, stop typing and press Enter. Autolaunch DOS Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Keep the MS-DOS Prompt readily available. Right-click on the Start button and select Open. Double-click on the Programs icon, then drag the MS-DOS Prompt shortcut and drop it on the StartUp icon. Now double-click on the StartUp icon, right-click on the MS-DOS Prompt shortcut and select Properties. Select Minimized, then click once in the Shortcut Key box and type in the hotkey of your choice (say, Ctrl+D). From now on, a minimized MS-DOS Prompt will launch at start-up. Whenever you want to enter a quick command, press your shortcut key to bring up the prompt. Automate Disk Maintenance Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface The Win98 Maintenance Wizard (Start/Programs/Accessories/Systems Tools) will make your programs run faster, check your hard disk for problems and free up hard disk space by auto-running Disk Defragmenter, ScanDisk and DiskCleanup according to a schedule you set. If you leave your computer on, you can schedule maintenance at off-hours (such as midnight to 3 a.m.) to minimize downtime during work hours. Back Out to Windows 95 Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Installation If a Win98 upgrade does not complete successfully, you can restore your saved, previous version of Windows, by running UNINSTAL.EXE from a DOS command prompt. The file is in the C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND folder. If you opted to save your previous system files to a drive other than C: during the setup, use the /W switch to specify that drive: UNINSTAL /W x: Back Up to Your Network Category: Windows 98 All The new Seagate-based BACKUP.EXE utility included with Windows 98 can back up Win98 drives to network disks faster than any other device or method. You can choose the network location to back up to, and locate the backup data easily. You can choose the verification option for a backup to a network, but it will 50 percent or more time to the process; but because of the reliability of network media, verification shouldn’t be necessary with disk-based backups. Keep in mind that a backup operation can clog network lines and affect performance for other users. Back Up Your Backup Category: Windows 98 All 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 RB000.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. Backup Selected Files on Bootup Category: Windows 98 All 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\SYSTEM 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. Bail Out of Setup Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Installation Cancel your Win98 installation at any time by pressing F3. If the file copy phase started, use the Win98 Uninstall utility to recover your previous Windows version. Before you Reinstall Win98 Category: Windows 98 All Here's what to do if you've saved your Win95 configuration and want to reinstall Win98-and retain the option of uninstalling it and returning to Win95. Search for WINUNDO.* using the Find utility; you should see the two files that store your Win95 configuration: WINUNDO.DAT and WINUNDO.INI. Note their folder, then close Find and reboot your PC. When Windows first boots, hold down the Ctrl key to open the Startup menu. Select Command Prompt Only. At the prompt, navigate to the directory for the WINUNDO files, then create a folder named UNDO on your drive using the MD command. Type attrib -r -s -h WINUNDO.* at the prompt to remove the attributes of the WINUNDO files. Use the DOS MOVE command to move the WINUNDO.* files into the UNDO folder. Restart and reinstall Win98. Now the Win98 installation program won't know where to find your Win95 undo files, and they'll be safe. Big (or Small) Help Category: Windows 98 All To change the size of text in Win98 Help, you need to modify your Internet browsing settings, because the new Help is based on HTML. Launch the Internet Control Panel applet, click on the Accessibility button and then on the "Ignore font sizes specified on Web pages" item. Click on OK. Now click on the Fonts button and select anything from the Smallest to Largest option, using the Font Size drop-down menu. Big, Bold Letters Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Override the fonts used on a Web page by telling IE to always use the text style you prefer. Select Tools/Internet Options. Click on the Fonts button, then pick a font and size. Click on OK, then on the Accessibility button. Check the two buttons telling IE to ignore font styles and sizes specified on Web pages. Boost CD-ROM Performance Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Performance Windows 98 All Windows 98 Performance In Control Panel/System/Performance, select File System and the CD-ROM tab. Move the Supplemental Cache Size slider to the right to allocate more RAM for caching data from the CD-ROM drive, or to the left to allocate less. Multimedia programs perform better with a smaller cache because they seldom reuse data. For reading continuous data, such as AVI files, use a higher setting for Optimize Access Pattern. For reading random data, increase the Supplemental Cache Size and decrease the Optimize Access Pattern. Bring Order to Shortcuts Category: Windows 98 All If you drag and drop a file onto the Start button, Win98 and the IE 4.0 Windows Desktop Update add a shortcut to the top of the Start menu. But if you just drag the file over the Start button without dropping it, the Start menu will open and you can position the new shortcut exactly where you want it. You can also hover over submenus to open them and then drop the shortcut. Broken Windows Update Category: Windows 98 All If the Windows Update item on your Win98 Start menu stops working, here's how to fix it. First, delete the Windows Update entry on the Start menu by right-clicking on it and choosing Delete. Now replace it with a shortcut to C:\WINDOWS\WUPDMGR.EXE. Name the shortcut Windows Update. Build a Better Backup Category: Windows 98 All 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. Bypass the Connect Button Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Networking Windows 98 All Windows 98 Networking Bypass Dial-Up Networking’s Connect button when you dial your ISP. Open Programs/Accessories/Dial-Up Networking from the Start menu and click on the Connections menu. Under Settings, clear the “Prompt for information before dialing” box Be sure your browser’s default dial-up connection saves and reuses your password automatically, so you can initiate a connection just by launching your browser. Can't Uninstall Win98? Category: Windows 98 All If you reinstall Win98, make sure you do not choose Yes when the installation program asks if you want to save your Win95 system files. Otherwise, the re-installation will wipe them out-if you chose the save option when you originally upgraded from Win95 to Win98. In addition, you can't uninstall Win98 if you've compressed your disk or converted to FAT32. What's more, if your disk was compressed before you installed Win98, you also won't be able to uninstall the operating system. Cap Internet Temp Files Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities If your disk space is at a premium, limit space allotted to temporary Internet files. In Internet Explorer, select View/Internet Options/General and click on Settings. A slider bar lets you decrease the percentage of your hard disk space that can be taken over by these files. In Navigator, select Edit/Preferences, click on the plus sign next to the Advanced item in the left pane, then click on Cache. Adjust the settings for Memory Cache and Disk Cache to suit your needs. Cascading Submenus on Start Menu Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface You can create a cascading folder for Control Panel and Printers (and for Dial-Up Networking under Win95). Right-click on Start and select Open, right-click on the folder background and choose New/Folder and then enter one of the following lines: Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} Printers.{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D} Dial-Up Net.{992CFFA0-F557-101A-88EC-00DD010CCC48} Change Power Settings Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities Win98 will power down Energy Star-compliant monitors after 15 minutes of idle time, and hard drives after one hour. Change these settings by launching Power Management from Control Panel. Change the default for REG files Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Registry Windows 98 All Windows 98 Registry If you export a Registry key to disk or create a special RegEdit script, double-clicking the file automatically merges its content with the Registry. You can prevent inadvertent merging of REG files by changing the default action to display a REG file in Notepad. Select View/Options/Filetypes (Folder Options in Win98). Then select Registration Entries from the Registered Filetype list and click Edit. Choose Edit and Set Default. When you do want to merge a file into the Registry, right-click it and select Merge from the popup menu. Change the DOS Window Font Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface You can set the type size that appears in the DOS window from the MS-DOS Prompt Properties dialog box. Click on the Font tab and choose a set of font dimensions from the scrolling window. You set the font size for individual MS-DOS Prompt windows, so if you have two or more running, they can use different type sizes. Change the Folder View Fast Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface You can change folder views--large icons, small icons, list or details--fast with Win98. To cycle through the views, click on the Views button. To select a view from a drop-down menu, click on the down arrow next to the button and choose a view. Change the Help Fonts Category: Internet Explorer 4.0 Internet Explorer 5.0 Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities In the browser window, select View/Internet Options/General. Under Fonts, select the options you want. Then choose Accessibility the options you want under Formatting. (This changes the font only in the right pane of the Help window.) Change the Printing Order Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Utilities Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities When you have a number of documents in your printing pipeline, you can rearrange the print queue (except for the document currently being printed). Choose Start/Settings/Printers and double-click on the printer whose queue you want to manage. Change Views Faster Category: Windows 98 All Do you sometimes change folder views (Large Icons, Small Icons, List, Details) while navigating through Windows? IE 4.0's Windows Desktop Update and Win98 replace the four separate Views buttons on the old Win95 toolbar with a single button. To cycle from view to view in order, click on the Views button on the main toolbar. To access the views from a drop-down menu, click on the down arrow next to the Views button. Channel Screen Saver Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Win98 includes a screen saver that displays a slide show of selected Active Channel content. 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. The Channels box will list your channels; select the ones you want in the screen saver, and click on OK. Check TCP/IP Configuration Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Networking Windows 98 All Windows 98 Networking Windows comes with two helpful network-troubleshooting utilities. WINIPCFG.EXE, a Windows app, displays TCP/IP settings such as your IP address, default gateway, DNS servers and more. IPCONFIG.EXE is a DOS-based application that performs the same functions. Check Your Graphics Card Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Performance Windows 98 All Windows 98 Performance To find out what type of graphics card you have, right-click on My Computer, select Properties, click on the Device Manager tab and double-click on Display Adapters. The card and vendor will be listed. To check the driver, double-click on the card name and choose the Driver tab. In Win98, open the Components section of the System Information utility (Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Information). Check Your Registry Category: Windows 98 All 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. Choose Your CD-ROM Drive Letter Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Installation To pick the drive letter for your CD-ROM, go to Control Panel/System/Device Manager/CD-ROM, choose your specific CD-ROM drive and then select Properties/Settings. You can assign a range of letters or a single letter by making the Start and End letters the same. Columns Are a Drag Category: Windows 98 All The Details view of the browser interface lists name, size, type and modification date. You can rearrange this list by dragging the column headers and adjust the column widths by dragging the column dividers. Comm Combos Boost Speed Category: Windows 98 All Multilink isn’t just for ISDN channels anymore. The new Dial-Up Networking utility lets you combine communication devices for faster comm speeds. First, create a Dial-Up Networking connection using a single device. Then right-click on its icon, select Properties and click on the Multilink tab. Click on the "Use Additional Devices" button, then add as many devices as your computer can support. If the host you’re connecting to supports "hunt group," "rotary" or "rollover" connections for multi-line access, you can use the same phone number for each new device. Otherwise, you’ll need to check with the host administrator for phone numbers for each answering device. To use the multilink connection, just double-click on its icon. DUN will start the first connection and, once linked, will initiate calls from the additional devices. To see how many devices you’ve actually connected with, click the "Connected" icon in the System Tray. Compress Removable Media Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Maintenance Spending too much for removable media? Use DriveSpace or a similar compression utility to compress your disks. Though a good solution for backups, it can be a problem sharing data with others, unless they have the same compression routine. Cool Close Trick Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface You can close a bunch of open programs, folders and documents all at once in Win98 and IE 4.0: Press and hold the Ctrl key, click on the taskbar icon of each program you want to close, then right-click on any one of them and select Close from the Context menu. Cool Close Trick Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface You can close a bunch of open programs, folders and documents all at once in Win98 and IE 4.0: Press and hold the Ctrl key, click on the taskbar icon of each program you want to close, then right-click on any one of them and select Close from the Context menu. Cool Free Tools Category: Windows 98 All The Win98 CD comes loaded with tools from the Resource Kit sampler. You'll find their installation files in your CD's TOOLS\RESKIT folder. Run SETUP.EXE, and the utilities will be installed in Start/Programs/Windows 98 Resource Kit/Tools Management Console. Copy Some Connections in Win98 Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 makes it even easier to copy connectoids between two Win98 PCs. You can drag and drop a connectoid over a network (or via a floppy disk) to another PC's root directory or Desktop, and then drag and drop the connectoid into the Dial-Up Networking folder. Right-click on the new connectoid and make sure your local modem-not the one from the original machine-is selected. You will also have to reenter the user name and password, and you may have to connect twice to save the password. CPU Sleuth Category: Windows 98 All 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\DescriptionSystem\CentralProcessor\0 Double-click on VendorIdentifier 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.) Create a New Folder by Keyboard Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Windows NT All Windows NT User Interface Open a folder in which you want to place a new folder and press Alt+F,Enter,Enter. Create Shortcuts From Start Menu Items Category: Windows 98 All 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. - Daniel Mueller Ctrl Key to Boot Menu Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Win98 changes the way you boot to a DOS prompt. Hold down the Ctrl key while your PC is booting. This takes you directly to the Boot Menu, including Safe Mode and "Boot to command prompt only." Cure for Compression Depression Category: Windows 98 All Win98 adds a new way to look at and manage a compressed disk. Open My Computer, right-click on the C: drive and select Properties. Click on the Compression tab (not available on FAT32 partitions). If your disk is not compressed, you'll see two options for compressing it: Compress Drive and Create New Drive. If your disk is compressed, the tab gives details on what's compressed and how, plus options for customizing how data is compressed. Custom DOS Configurations Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Performance Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 Performance Windows 98 User Interface DOS applications and games can be finicky about system configuration and drivers, so give each DOS program a custom setup. Create a shortcut, right-click on it and select Properties. Choose the Program tab, then Advanced. Click on MS-DOS Mode, then the “Specify a new MS-DOS configuration” button. Now type in whatever AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS commands your DOS program needs; you can launch batch files from AUTOEXEC.BAT Customize Win98 ScanReg Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Registry ScanReg is a built-in utility that, by default, monitors and backs up the Windows 98 Registry at least once a day. The default behavior of ScanReg can be controlled through settings listed in SCANREG.INI. It allows you to increase or decrease the number of saved Registry backups on disk (the default is five), change where Registry backups are stored, specify additional files (such as AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS) to be saved with each Registry backup, and disable automatic backups or automatic optimization. Customize Win98 Setup Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Installation The Win98 Setup program supports a number of command-line options: Setup /ID: skips the check for minimum disk space Setup /IM: skips the check for low conventional memory Setup /NR: skips the integrity check on the current Windows Registry Setup /S {Filename}: specifies an automatic configuration script The Win98 Resource Kit Book on the Win98 CD lists all Setup options in the "Choosing a Method to Run Setup" section. Customize Your Taskbar Category: Windows 98 All In Windows 98, you can customize the taskbar to give you access to programs, documents and the Web from one central location. Right-click on the background of the taskbar (located along the bottom of your screen) and choose Toolbars. Then select the specific toolbar you want to view. Choose from a URL Address bar, a Web Links bar, a Desktop bar containing all the items on your Desktop and a Quick Launch bar, which lets you launch specific programs from the taskbar. You can also create your own taskbar toolbars. Right-click on the taskbar background, select Toolbars and then click New Toolbar. You'll be presented with an Explorer-like view of the folders on your system. Select a folder you would like to access from the taskbar. You can drag the new toolbar to any location on your Desktop, or remove a toolbar by right-clicking on the taskbar and selecting the toolbar again. Decrease ISP Log-On Time Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Networking Windows 95 Performance Windows 98 All Windows 98 Networking Windows 98 Performance Speed up the process of dialing your ISP. Open the Dial-Up Networking folder, right-click the connectoid for your ISP and choose Properties. Choose Server Type, then Advanced Options. Uncheck "Log on to network." Under Allowed Network Protocols, uncheck NetBEUI and IPX/SPX Compatible. Leave the network protocols as they are for remote-access connections. Dedicate a Drive to Music Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface If you have more than one CD-ROM drive on your PC, designate one for music. Go to the Control Panel, double-click on Multimedia and select the CD Music tab. Choose the appropriate drive letter for the "Default CD-ROM drive for playing music" option. Defrag Often Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Performance Windows 98 All Windows 98 Performance Defrag your hard disk at least once a month for optimum performance. In normal operations, individual files become fragmented or scattered in numerous locations around the disc. Performance slows down as the system waits for the heads to jump to the next position. Defragmenting places individual files all together in contiguous blocks on the disk and erases contiguous blank areas on the disk. You’ll find Defrag in Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools. Delete Start Menu Items Category: Windows 98 All While you're reorganizing 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. Desktop Refresh Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface To refresh the Desktop-including Active Desktop Web pages-press F5. Dial-Up Somewhere Else Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Networking Windows 98 Registry The log-in, telephone number and IP address information for all your Dial-Up Networking profiles are stored in the Registry. You can back these settings up or transfer them to another Win98 computer. Open RegEdit to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\RemoteAccess key and highlight it in the left pane. Use the Registry/Export Registry File command to back up this branch of the Registry. (Choose the Selected branch option and assign a name, such as MY DUN.REG.) You can use this trick to transfer your Dial-Up Networking profiles to a second PC. Copy MY DUN.REG to a diskette, run RegEdit on the second machine and import this file into the second computer’s Registry. Disable Anti-Virus Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Installation Before you install Win98, be sure to uninstall all antivirus software and remove DOS-based TSR programs that your AUTOEXEC.BAT loads. Disable Them with Tweak UI Category: Windows 98 All If you like either of the last two tips but don't want to dive into the Registry, you can implement them using Tweak UI for Win98. Install Tweak UI from the Win98 CD's \TOOLS\RESKIT\POWERTOY folder. (Right-click on TWEAKUI.INF and choose Install to launch the setup process.) Then open the Tweak UI Control Panel, click on the IE4 tab and uncheck the "Show Documents on Start menu" option to remove the Documents menu and the RECENT folder. Uncheck the "Show Favorites on Start menu" option to remove the Favorites menu. Click on OK and reboot. Ditch Office Utilities for Speed Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Performance Windows 98 All Windows 98 Performance Office Startup and Find Fast boost performance for various Office tasks, but they tend to drag down Windows performance. To remove them, delete both icons from your StartUp folder. In addition, because Find Fast is a Control Panel applet, your best bet for fully removing it is to insert your Office CD and use Add/Remove Programs to open the Office Setup tool. Find Fast is listed in Office 97 under Office Tools in the Setup program. Uncheck the box beside it, click OK and Continue-Office Setup will take over from there. You might also have to remove the FINDFAST.CPL file from your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory to permanently delete the tool after rebooting your system. Document Your Configuration Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities Be prepared for a system problem before it happens: Use MSINFO (C:\PROGRAM FILES\COMMON FILES\MICROSOFT SHARED\MSINFO\MSINFO32.EXE) to save a system configuration "snapshot" to a floppy disk. Refresh the file whenever you install or uninstall hardware or software. Drag to Recycle Bin Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface You can delete any unwanted Start menu item (except Windows default items) by dragging it to the Recycle Bin. Drag, Drop and Drill Category: Windows 98 All 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. Driver Updates Not Automatic Category: Windows 98 All When you go to the Windows Update Web page (Start/Windows Update) and run the standard update, it won't automatically scan for outdated device drivers. Just click on the Device Drivers link on the left side of the page and follow the online instructions. Dump the Log File Category: Windows 98 All The Task Scheduler is a handy tool, but you can't delete content from its log file unless you first close or disable the utility: Select Advanced/Stop Using Task Scheduler, then launch the log and delete to your heart's content. Easy Access to Web Pages Category: Windows 98 All Is there a Web page you check several times a day? Put it in a Win98 toolbar to make it easy to access. Right-click on the taskbar and choose Toolbars/New Toolbar, then enter the full URL in the dialog box that opens and click on OK. The new toolbar will appear on the taskbar. Drag it off the taskbar and hold the mouse pointer at the right edge of the screen until the toolbar automatically mounts itself there. Now drag the left edge of the toolbar to the width of the Web page. Finally, right-click on the toolbar's gray title bar and choose Auto Hide. (You can also choose Always On Top.) Whenever you move your mouse pointer to the extreme right side of your screen, the Web page will open; move the pointer off the toolbar, and it will automatically close. Eliminate Underlines Category: Windows 98 All 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 labeled "Single-click to open an item [point to select]," and then pick the suboption titled "Underline icon titles only when I point at them." Enforce longer Passwords Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Networking Windows 98 Registry Your password need only be three or more characters long. To require each user to create a longer password, open this Registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Network. Open the Edit menu and select New/DWORD Value. In the Name column enter MinPwdLen and in the Data column enter xx. Replace xx with the new minimum length-remember the value is by default hexadecimal. So, a length of 10 means 16 decimal characters are required. To avoid accidents, click on the Decimal button before entering the Value data. Every Window Is an FTP Client Category: Internet Explorer 4.0 Internet Explorer 5.0 Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Type an FTP address in the Address box of any Explorer view to go to the site and use the window as an FTP client. Expand/Collapse the Explorer Tree Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Windows NT All Windows NT User Interface Select a branch in Explorer and press * (on the numeric keypad). If you select Desktop, all directories expand; if you select the C: drive, all folders on the C: drive expand. Experiment with Refresh Rates Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Installation The wrong setting on a video card (even the one called Optimal) can sometimes cause programs to run more slowly. To set refresh rates, select Control Panel/Display/Settings/Advanced Properties/Adapter. Try different settings (75MHz or above) to see if performance improves. If there is no selection for refresh rates, it could mean you never properly installed your monitor. Select Control Panel/Display/Settings/Advanced/Monitor/Change and choose your monitor. Note: Your video driver may have set up its own properties in Display’s control panel. Explorer Bars Everywhere Category: Windows 98 All When viewing your local file hierarchy, the browser interface acts like Internet Explorer, so you can also display Explorer Bars in a left-hand pane. Select View/Explorer Bars, and pick which one you want—Search, Favorites, History or Channels. Fast Folder Toolbars Category: Internet Explorer 4.0 Internet Explorer 5.0 Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface You probably know you can drag the Network Neighborhood and My Computer icons to any edge of the Desktop to automatically format them as toolbars in Win98 or IE 4.0. But did you also know that you can do the same with any folder? Just drag the target folder to any edge, hold it there for a second or two, then let go. Windows will create a toolbar containing links to every file and subfolder in the folder you dragged. Any items added to or deleted from the folder are instantly reflected on the toolbar. Fast Folder Toolbars Category: Internet Explorer 4.0 Internet Explorer 5.0 Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface You probably know you can drag the Network Neighborhood and My Computer icons to any edge of the Desktop to automatically format them as toolbars in Win98 or IE 4.0. But did you also know that you can do the same with any folder? Just drag the target folder to any edge, hold it there for a second or two, then let go. Windows will create a toolbar containing links to every file and subfolder in the folder you dragged. Any items added to or deleted from the folder are instantly reflected on the toolbar. Fast Start Menu Scrolling Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface If your Start menus in Win95 are too big to fit on the screen, the menus spill over into adjacent space and create a real mess. The good news is Win98 cleans that up a bit by hiding excess parts of overgrown Start menus and making the excess available with scrolling arrows. The bad news is scrolling is slow. You can speed it up dramatically with an undocumented keystroke: Press and hold the Ctrl key while you scroll. Faster CD Commands Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Windows 9x supports up to four periods for moving up the path. For example, from the DOS prompt in Windows, typing CD .... changes the directory to four levels up the path; three periods changes to three levels toward the root and so on. You can use this information to copy and move files, too. For example, if you want to move a file from C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\COLOR to the root directory, the command is MOVE ... substituting for the name of the file you want to move. Faster Document Access Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Keep all your frequently used documents in a folder. Right-click on Start and choose Open. Right-click in the background, choose New/Folder and give it a name like HOT DOCS. For permanent documents, drag and drop shortcuts into the new folder. Or just copy or build new documents right in your HOT DOCS folder. All you have to do is click on Start and hold the mouse pointer over HOT DOCS to open the cascading menu to your most important files. Faster Setup Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Installation Facing another Win9x setup chore? Save yourself some time and toil by entering these Setup switches at either a DOS command line or in the Run dialog box before you begin: Setup /is to defeat the automatic ScanDisk check Setup /id to sidestep the disk-space check Setup /iq to disable the test for cross-linked files and folder integrity Setup /in to skip the network setup module Setup /iw to skip the Microsoft legal warnings. Faster Startup Category: Windows 98 All You can speed up your boot process by telling Windows not to search for your floppy drive. (You'll still be able to use the drive, but Win98 will search for it only when you click on its icon in My Computer.) Right-click on My Computer, choose Properties and select the Performance tab. Click on the File System button, then on the Floppy Disk tab. Deselect the option to "Search for new floppy disk drives each time your computer starts." Faster than the Start Menu Category: Windows 98 All If you find the Start menu slow and annoying, right-click on the taskbar and select Toolbars/New Toolbar. 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. File Extension Turn-Ons Category: Windows 98 All By default, Windows 98 hides filename extensions, which is fine if you're viewing in Details mode, since this lists each file's type. However, you may want to view extensions, too. To do so, launch Windows Explorer and select View/Folder Options. Click on the View tab and clear the "Hide file extensions for known file types" check box. You can also deselect this option for individual folders by opening the folder and following the same steps. Finally, Real Help Category: Windows 98 All general, we find the Win95 Help system pretty unhelpful. Fortunately, help is on the way in Win98. By launching Help from the Start menu and clicking on the Web Help button, you'll be transported to a world of improved help and troubleshooting information. Find Old Drivers Category: Windows 98 All 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. Find Out about Tools Category: Windows 98 All You can get help with and find out more about Resource Kit tools without even launching them. Right-click on the tool about which you'd like more information, and select Help. Find Problems Category: Windows 98 All 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. Find Troublesome Hardware Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities In the System Information 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. Fine-Tune the QuickLaunch Bar Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface All the default Win98 QuickLaunch icons (except Show Desktop) are specified by a new SCF file format; SCF is a simple text file you can edit. To change an icon, go to the C:\WINDOWS\APPLICATION DATA\MICROSOFT\INTERNET EXPLORER\QUICK LAUNCH directory and open the desired SCF file with Notepad. Find the IconFile= line and point it to the path and filename of the icon you want. Add new items to the Quick Launch toolbar by dragging and dropping a file or folder icon from an Explorer window onto the toolbar. Forge a New Installation Path Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Registry Windows 98 All Windows 98 Registry When you make modifications to Windows 95 or 98, such as adding new programs or hardware, the OS always looks in the original source path for the CAB installation files. If you copy the files to a new location, you can modify the internal pointer to the directory that contains all of the CABs. Open RegEdit, and use the Edit/Find command to search for the text string Sourcepath, or go directly to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup. Double-click the Sourcepath entry in the right RegEdit pane and enter the new location for the Windows 98 installation files. Free Desktop Themes Category: Windows 98 All Microsoft makes some of the themes from its Plus for Windows 98 product available as free downloads. To get them, go to the Windows Update site (see the previous tip for instructions) and allow it to scan for recommended downloads; you'll see a list of available themes. Get Rid of Win98's Log-On Screen ... Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 users take a slightly different route for the same results: Tweak UI comes right on the Windows 98 CD, in the \TOOLS\RESKIT\POWERTOY folder. Right-click on TWEAKUI.INF and choose Install from the Context menu that pops up. Then follow the instructions in the previous tip to automate the log-on screen. Get There Fast Category: Internet Explorer 4.0 Windows 98 All You may have already discovered that typing the main part of a URL (for example "winmag" instead of "http://www.winmag.com") is the easiest way to go to a web site---but it's not the fastest way. The reason for this is that the browser tries all the varies possible prefixes and suffixes. If you know the URL has "http://www" in the front and ".com" in the back, then type in the main part (again: "winmag") and hit Ctrl+Enter. The browser will add the rest instantly. Grab Bag Category: Windows 98 All You can grab any quick launch bar, pull it free of the taskbar and place it anywhere on the screen. Help with Uninstalls Category: Windows 98 All Just before it shipped Win98, Microsoft removed the UNINSTAL.EXE file from the Emergency Startup Disk you create as part of setup. If you upgraded a previous Windows installation when you installed Win98 and answered Yes to the Save System Files option during setup, you should find UNINSTAL.EXE in \WINDOWS\COMMAND on your hard drive. Copy it to your Emergency Setup Disk in case your hard drive fails and you need to uninstall Win98. You can also retrieve UNINSTAL.EXE from your CD. Make sure the startup files on your Emergency Startup Disk support your CD drive, then use it to boot your system. Insert your Win98 CD in the drive. At the A: prompt, type extract X:\win98\win98_42.cab uninstal.exe a: (where X: is your CD drive) to extract UNINSTAL.EXE to your Emergency Startup Disk. Warning: Do not run UNINSTAL.EXE if you converted your Windows boot drive to FAT32 after installing Win98. Serious data loss could result. Microsoft warns that other unspecified problems might occur, too. Use the command-line version of UNINSTAL.EXE only as a last resort. Helpful Help Category: Windows 98 All For immediate assistance, the Start menu’s Help option isn’t much help. If you haven’t done so already, it will make you run through the Internet Connection Wizard first, just in case you might want to try the Internet instead of your own local help system. To skip the Web and get fast local help, open the C:\Windows\Help folder, highlight the WINDOWS.HLP file and drag a shortcut out to the desktop. Then, click on that shortcut when you need help. Hidden Win95 Tools Category: Windows 98 All If you used Microsoft Fax, Exchange or Windows Messaging under Win95, you can still access them under Win98. If you upgrade a Win95 installation when setting up Win98, Fax, Exchange and Messaging will remain intact. But these programs and services aren't included in a clean installation; you need to manually install them from your Win98 CD's \TOOLS\OLDWIN95\MESSAGE\US folder. Double-click on WMS.EXE to install Windows Messaging (Exchange) and then on AWFAX.EXE to add Microsoft Fax. Also, check WMS-FAX.TXT for more information. Hide Share Names Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Networking Windows 98 All Windows 98 Networking By simply hiding your Win9x resources, you can share them with others on the network without making all of them visible to everyone. All share names ending in $ will not appear in a Network Neighborhood view. Users must know their UNC name to access the share, and password protection can also be added for extra security Hit the Hot Spots Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface To view all the hot spots in a Help window, hold down Ctrl+Tab. The hot spots appear with their colors reversed. Improve IntelliMouse Support Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Win98 offers only basic support for the Microsoft IntelliMouse with a scroll wheel; you should first install the IntelliPoint software that came with the mouse. Download the latest version at http://www.microsoft.com/products/hardware/mouse/driver/default.htm. Choose the Retail version of the download if you bought the mouse separately or if it has a shiny surface; choose the OEM version if the mouse came with your PC or if it has a dull, matte finish. Insert the IntelliPoint driver diskette (1.1 or later) and double-click on the file you downloaded. Improve Registry Backup Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities An undocumented SCANREG.INI file entry automatically backs up the files you choose along with the other Registry Checker files, but only if they reside in the root, C:\WINDOWS or C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directories. To specify the files to back up, open SCANREG.INI in Notepad and add the line Files= followed by the folder code (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 add multiple files within a folder; simply separate them with commas. For example, to add the SCANDISK.LOG and CONFIG.SYS files to the backup, add the following line to SCANREG.INI: Files=30, scandisk.log,config.sys Increase Registry Backups Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Maintenance Windows 98 Utilities Win98 keeps the last five backups Registry Checker creates. To save more backups, open \WINDOWS\SCANREG.INI with Notepad and change the MaxBackupCopies= value from 5 to a higher number. Increase Saved Backups Category: Windows 98 All 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. Install the New Tweak UI Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Windows 98 Utilities Win98 comes with a new version of Tweak UI. To install it, insert the Win98 CD; from the opening screen, choose Browse This CD. Navigate to the \TOOLS\RESKIT\POWERTOY folder. (Some computer vendors do not provide TweakUI on their CDs; if this is the case you can download it from http://www.winmag.com/download.) Right-click on the TWEAKUI.INF file and choose Install from the pop-up menu. Setup is done when a Help screen opens. Click on the X in the corner to finish the installation and then launch Tweak UI from the Control Panel. Install the Resource Kit Sampler Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities The Resource Kit Sampler is a Win98 CD freebie. To install it, run SETUP.EXE in the \TOOLS\RESKIT folder on the CD. Interchangeable Icons Category: Windows 98 All You can change the program icons in the Quick Launch bar by right-clicking on them, opening the Shortcut tab, and clicking on the Change Icon button. You can pick one of the displayed icons or browse for more choices. Internet Help Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Maintenance Click on Web Help on the Help toolbar to get late-breaking tips, technical support and a Win98 FAQ (and answers). Just Say No Category: Windows 98 All 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 realize you need one of the items you deselected, go back and reselect it. Keep Help on Top Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Keep an open Help file displayed on top of the application you’re using so you can refer to it as you work. In the Help window, select Options/Keep Help on Top/On Top. Keep the StartUp Folder Lean Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Performance Windows 98 All Windows 98 Performance Windows launches slower the more programs run automatically on start-up. Move programs out of your StartUp folder into a new folder named StartUp Holds. Or remove entries you may find on the LOAD= or RUN= line in the WIN.INI file. (Open WIN.INI from your WINDOWS folder using Notepad.) You can also place a semicolon at the head of either line to prevent Windows from reading it while preserving your previous settings. Keep Your Window Settings Category: Windows 98 All By pressing Ctrl key while closing a window, the window size and position are automatically saved. Launch Explorer Windows Faster Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Windows NT All Windows NT User Interface Did you know you can open any folder icon as a two-paned window with a navigation tree? Just right-click on the folder and choose Explore. You can launch any folder as an Explorer window by holding down the Shift key and double-clicking on the folder. If you really just prefer the two-paned Explorer windows, you can make that type of window open by default: Open any folder and choose View/Options (or Folder Options under IE4/IE5/Win98/NT). Choose the File Types tab. Select Folder and click on Edit. Under Actions, highlight Explore. Click on Set Default. The Explore entry becomes bold, making it the default operation for a double-click. If you want to reverse the setting, follow the same steps, but highlight Open instead of Explore. Local Favorites Category: Internet Explorer 4.0 Internet Explorer 5.0 Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface You can use the Explorer Bar to browse your local disks. Open My Computer and select View/Explorer Bar/Favorites. You can use the left pane to jump to folders and open applications and documents. To add an item to your Favorites menu, drag it to the Explorer Bar or click on the item and select Favorites/Add to Favorites. Lock Down Your Screen Category: Internet Explorer 4.0 Windows 98 All Use a screen saver to obscure and secure the contents of your PC's screen from prying eyes. Pick a screen saver by right-clicking on the Desktop and choosing Properties/Screen Saver. For extra protection, give the screen saver a password. Next, run the Find Files or Folders utility from the Start menu, and type *.SCR in the Named field. Click on the Browse button, locate your C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM folder and click on Find Now. Find the screen saver filename that matches the screen saver you picked, and drag and drop it from the Find window to your Desktop. Rename the new shortcut icon LockDown. Just double-click on it to launch instant protection. Add a keyboard shortcut to the icon or place it on the Internet Explorer 4.0/Win98 Quick Launch bar for faster access. Look at the Small Picture Category: Windows 98 All One of the cool things about IE 4.0 and Win98 is that when you view open folders as Web pages (My Computer/View/As Web Page), you can see image thumbnails on the left side of the window when you hover the mouse pointer over the files. Unfortunately, some JPEGs don't show up, because JPEGs come in two types-RGB and CMYK-and Win98 can read only RGB. The fix is to use your favorite graphics utility to convert your CMYK JPEGs to RGB. Lower Internet Access Costs with NAT Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Networking Windows 98 All Windows 98 Networking It is possible for two PCs to share the same dial-up connection through a method known as Network Address Translation (NAT). Using NAT routing software on a PC that is connected to the Internet will allow all other networked PCs to independently share the same connection and IP address at the ISP without requiring separate dial-up accounts or multiple connections. Lower Your Phone Bills Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Networking Windows 98 All Windows 98 Networking Many organizations have 800 numbers with extensions that lead to dial-up access lines. Navigate to the dial-in modem line by using commas in your dial string. For example, 1-800-111-2222,,,,,3542 will call the corporate main menu. It will take several seconds to pick up and patch you through to the correct modem extension. The number of commas depends on the speed of your system. Experiment to find out how many will work: Five is a good starting point. Make Mine MMX Category: Windows 98 All If you have a system with an MMX-enhanced processor (Intel’s P55C Pentium and Pentium II, AMD’s K6 or Cyrix’s 6x86MX) you can take advantage of Win98’s operating system level MMX support for improved performance for image processing, video, audio, video conferencing and similar functions. What’s the catch? You need MMX-enable apps, too, and few are currently available. Many Monitors, Bar One Category: Windows 98 All When using Win98’s multiple monitor support, you can choose which monitor will display the taskbar. Monitor System Performance Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities System Monitor (C:\WINDOWS\SYSMON.EXE) lets you track an array of performance measures for your system and network. You can save the results to a text log. Mountain Climbing Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface If exploding mountains are your thing, find this screen saver Easter Egg in Win98 and later versions of Win95. Right-click on the Desktop and choose Properties. Select the Screen Saver tab, and choose 3D Text from the Screen Saver drop-down menu. Click on the Settings button and type volcano in the Text field under the Display heading; click on OK. Click on Preview to see the Easter Egg-a series of names of explosive North American mountains. -Dave Sterling Mountain Climbing Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface If exploding mountains are your thing, find this screen saver Easter Egg in Win98 and later versions of Win95. Right-click on the Desktop and choose Properties. Select the Screen Saver tab, and choose 3D Text from the Screen Saver drop-down menu. Click on the Settings button and type volcano in the Text field under the Display heading; click on OK. Click on Preview to see the Easter Egg-a series of names of explosive North American mountains. -Dave Sterling Mouse-Free Help Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Select text and graphics hot spots in a Help file by pressing Shift+Tab; this highlights a hot spot. Press Enter to open the hot spot or Shift+Tab again to move to the next one. Need Space? Try Disk Cleanup Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities The Disk Cleanup utility (Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Cleanup) will find and delete unnecessary and unused files that are cluttering your hard disk. New Boot Route Category: Windows 98 All Win98 changes the way you boot your system directly to an MS-DOS command prompt. Instead of waiting for the Starting Windows screen and then pressing F8 (like you did under Win95), just hold down the Ctrl key when you first see any text on the screen during boot. You'll be offered the usual options (Safe Mode, Command Prompt Only and so on). Pressing F8 still works, but Win98 doesn't include a Starting Windows 98 prompt, so it's hard to know when to press the key. (Note: If you receive a keyboard error during your system tests, try holding down the Ctrl key after the keyboard test.) No Close Button? Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Some secondary Help windows lack a Close button. To close them, double-click on the horizontal bar in the upper left corner of the window. Close pop-up screens with a single mouse click or by pressing any key. No Icons on the Desktop Category: Windows 98 All 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. No More Space Warning Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Constant warnings about low disk space on your Win98 PC can be annoying, especially if they refer to your host drive on a compressed disk. To get rid of the warning, open Disk Cleanup (Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools) and click on the Settings tab. Deselect the check box labeled "If this drive runs low on disk space, automatically run Disk Cleanup," then click on OK. No More Space Warning Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Constant warnings about low disk space on your Win98 PC can be annoying, especially if they refer to your host drive on a compressed disk. To get rid of the warning, open Disk Cleanup (Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools) and click on the Settings tab. Deselect the check box labeled "If this drive runs low on disk space, automatically run Disk Cleanup," then click on OK. Not Too Many Toolbars Category: Windows 98 All If you're using Microsoft Office 97 with Windows 98, you might want to use Windows 98's Quick Launch bar in lieu of Office 97's Shortcut bar. The Quick Launch bar appears to the right of the Start button on the taskbar. You can add Office application buttons to it and move the Quick Launch bar to any part of your Desktop for convenience. To move shortcuts from the Office Shortcut bar to the Quick Launch bar, simply open Windows Explorer and go to C:\PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT OFFICE\OFFICE\SHORTCUT BAR. Then just drag any shortcuts you want to the taskbar, right-click a blank area of the Office Shortcut bar and select Exit. Windows will ask if you want the Office Shortcut bar to run when you restart Windows; select No. Painless Extraction Category: Windows 98 All If you need to extract a fresh copy of a file, the Windows 98 File Checker will do that too. Click the "Extract one file from installation disk" radio button, then specify the name of the file you want. Enter x:\Win98 (where x is your CD-ROM drive letter) in the Restore from box. Then enter the destination in the Save file in box. The utility will search the CAB files in the \Win98 directory for the file and extract it into the desired folder. Painless Extraction Category: Windows 98 All If you need to extract a fresh copy of any file, the Windows 98 System File Checker will do it for you. Go to Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System File Checker, and in the dialog box that opens, click on the "Extract one file from installation disk" radio button, then specify the name of the file you want. Enter X:\WIN98 (where X is your CD-ROM drive letter) in the Restore From box. Then enter the destination in the Save File In box. The utility will search the CAB files in the \WIN98 directory for the file and extract it into the desired folder. Play Favorites with Programs Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Maintenance Do you have a few programs that you use far more than any others? If so, you can make those programs more quickly accessible. The improved Disk Defragmenter in Windows 98 can gather the program files you use most often and move them to the faster parts of your hard disk. To run Disk Defragmenter, click Start and select Programs/Accessories/System Tools and then select Disk Defragmenter. Click on the Settings button and make sure that the option labeled "Rearrange program files so my programs start faster" is selected. Click OK twice to begin defragmentation. Post-Installation Problems Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Installation If you run into problems after a Win98 upgrade, check two areas: hardware device drivers and programs that run automatically at boot-up. Open the System control panel and check the Device Manager tab to track down device problems. If you see double entries for a single device, try deleting the top one and rebooting. The System Configuration Utility (the MSCONFIG.EXE program in your C: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM folder) offers a tab called Startup that lets you selectively disable auto-launching programs by removing their check marks. Power Troubleshooting Category: Windows 98 All 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. Pre-Install Preparation Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Installation Before installing Win98, run a disk maintenance utility on your hard disk, such as SCANDISK.EXE, and use a virus checker. Put Task Scheduler on Hold Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities To put all scheduled tasks on hold without disabling the scheduler entirely, right-click on the Task Scheduler icon in the system tray and select Pause Task Scheduler. This will remain in effect until you reboot or right-click and select Continue Task Scheduler. Put the Squeeze on Compression Category: Windows 98 All During an upgrade to Windows 98, you may experience an extremely long installation time if you’re upgrading a Win95 machine that’s using Drivespace3 for disk compression. You should decompress the system after backing it up. Note that you need to have at least half of the uncompressed disk area available to do this successfully with or without Windows 98. Put Your Printer on Your Desktop Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Place a shortcut to your printer right on your Desktop. Right-click on the printer you want in your Printer folder and drag it to your Desktop, choosing the Create Shortcut Here option. Then drag and drop documents to the shortcut to print them. Quick Keys to the Desktop Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface You can also get to your Desktop by holding down the WinKey (the one with the Windows logo on it) and pressing D. Quit Task Scheduler Entirely Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities Stop Task Scheduler from running at startup: Open the Scheduled Tasks window and pick Advanced/Stop Using Task Scheduler. Rapid Dial-Up Access Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Networking Windows 98 All Windows 98 Networking Place a shortcut to your Dial-Up Networking profile on the Start menu by dragging your Dial-Up connection icon from the DIAL-UP NETWORKING folder to the Start button. Read Text and HTML Fast Category: Windows 98 All A simple but useful utility in the Resource Kit sampler is the Text File Viewer. It's like a special, dual-pane Explorer window, but it lets you select a file extension, then flip through only those files on your system. By selecting the files in the left pane, you can read the contents on the right. Note that for HTML files, the Text File Viewer displays the source code, not the page as it would appear in a browser. Register Later Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Installation You can register your copy of Win98 when you install it-or later. To register later, select Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Welcome to Windows. Registry Checker Backups Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities When Win98 boots, the Registry Checker backs up the Registry, including the SYSTEM.DAT, SYSTEM.INI, USER.DAT and WIN.INI files. The backups are in CAB files in C:\WINDOWS\SYSBACKUP, named RB000.CAB, RB001.CAB and so on. (Turn on Show All Files to see the files.) Save current backups on a diskette before editing the Registry or installing software. Removing Online Services In Win98 Category: Windows 98 All Though the Online Services folder uses less than 1MB in Win98, it's still annoying. The best way to remove it in Win98 is to open Add/Remove Programs from the Control Panel and click on the Windows Setup tab. Scroll down to the Online Services entry and remove the check mark. Click on OK. Then drag the Online Services folder from your Desktop to the Recycle Bin. Rename "My Documents" Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Win98 puts a My Documents shortcut on your Desktop that links to a C:\MY DOCUMENTS folder; you can change both. In Explorer, right-click on the folder, select Rename and type a new name. To have the shortcut point to a different folder on disk, right-click on it, choose Properties and type the new name in the Target box. Reorganize Your Start Menu Category: Windows 98 All 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. Repair Your Windows 98 Registry Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Registry Normally, if ScanReg detects a corrupt Registry at boot time, the bad version is replaced with a good backup. This can sometimes be inconvenient. If your Windows 98 setup is missing recent configuration changes after a Registry replacement, you can attempt to repair and reinstall the corrupted version. Create a temporary directory (for example, C:\TEMP), then open Explorer to the WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP folder. Right-click RBBAD.CAB (the archived version of your old defective Registry) and select View. Select all the files in the RBBAD.CAB window. Right-click and choose Extract. Extract the contents of RBBAD.CAB to the temporary folder you’ve created. Exit Windows to MS-DOS mode. Go to the \WINDOWS directory and issue the DOS command: ATTRIB -R -H -S *.DAT. Copy the corrupted versions of WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI, SYSTEM.DAT. and USER.DAT from the temporary directory to the \WINDOWS directory. Don’t worry about losing the “good” Registry. If the repair attempt fails, ScanReg can unpack and restore it again. Enter SCANREG /FIX at the DOS command line. ScanReg will examine the “corrupted” SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT files you’ve placed in the \WINDOWS directory and attempt to repair them. After ScanReg completes its work, reboot the computer. Reset Telnet Defaults Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Networking Windows 98 All Windows 98 Networking The Windows 95/98 Telnet application automatically saves its last window size and Desktop location in the Registry. Unfortunately, it can sometimes disappear from the Desktop, particularly if you switch screen resolutions. To reset its default screen coordinates, open RegEdit and scroll to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Telnet. In the right RegEdit pane, delete the WinPosLeft and WinPosTop values. Resurrect Your Speaker Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Did you lose the yellow speaker on your taskbar? To reinstate it, open the Multimedia control panel and click on Audio. Check "Show volume control on the taskbar." Right-Click Backup Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Registry Windows 98 All Windows 98 Registry Add a right-click command that performs a quick file backup on any selected folder. Open RegEdit to the HKEY_CLASSES_ ROOT\Directory\shell\ key. Create a key under Shell called Backup. Create a subkey under Backup called Command. To back up the folder to a hard disk directory or floppy drive, modify the default value for the Command key to read COMMAND.COM /C XCOPY /S %1 C:\BACKUPS or COMMAND.COM /C XCOPY /S %1 A:. You can append XCOPY parameters to customize a backup by date, reset file attributes and so forth. Run Disk Defragmenter and ScanDisk Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities Win98 provides several utilities in Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools to keep your hard disk in peak condition. Use Disk Defragmenter and ScanDisk regularly to speed up performance and optimize unused space. Compression Agent automatically compresses files; DiskCleanup gives you advice on deleting unneeded files. Safe CDs Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Installation Microsoft CD cases have white stickers with disk assembly numbers on them. You can use the number to order a new CD if the original is lost or stolen. You must, however, show a photocopy of the back of the CD case to get the replacement, so make copies of all your CD cases-just in "case." -Matt Penney Safe CDs Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Installation Microsoft CD cases have white stickers with disk assembly numbers on them. You can use the number to order a new CD if the original is lost or stolen. You must, however, show a photocopy of the back of the CD case to get the replacement, so make copies of all your CD cases-just in "case." -Matt Penney Safe Steps to a Smaller Registry Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Registry Windows 98 All Windows 98 Registry Here is a safe technique that can reduce the size of the Registry up to 10 percent. Make a backup of the current Registry. Under Windows 95, use the ERU program located on the Windows 95 CD. Under Windows 98, run ScanReg by entering SCANREGW.EXE in the Start/Run menu. In Windows 95/98, open the Registry Editor and export the current Registry to a REG file, such as C:\MYREG.REG, by selecting the Registry/Export Registry File command with the All button highlighted. Restart Windows in an MS-DOS Mode session. Or reboot, press Ctrl at boot time and select Command Prompt from the Windows 98 Startup menu. Enter SMARTDRV at the C: prompt to load the DOS disk cache. After the successful creation of the MYREG.REG export file, run RegEdit once more from C: as follows: REGEDIT /C MYREG.REG This will recreate a new compact version of the Registry in the \WINDOWS directory. Save System Settings Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities The System Information Utility lets you save all your system settings and information--and we mean all--to a text file. Just select File/Export. Always keep a current copy of your settings; if your computer goes south, it can help with troubleshooting. Save System Settings Category: Windows 98 All The MSI utility has another neat feature: It lets you save all your system settings and information-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. ScanDisk Settings Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities Before running ScanDisk, click on Advanced. In the Check Files For section, select "Invalid dates and times" and Duplicate Names. You should also check off "Report MS-DOS mode name length errors." Schedule Reminders Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities Use the Task Scheduler as a reminder system: Create a Reminders folder where you can put small documents, each containing a reminder of a task you need to do. Then schedule each document to open at an appropriate time; the documents will be displayed in their native applications. Search System Info Category: Windows 98 All 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. Secret Maximize with Win98 Category: Windows 98 All You already know that clicking on the maximize button (the middle square in the upper-right corner) in an Explorer window opens the window full screen. But if you're running Win98, try pressing F11. The window will go truly full screen, covering even the taskbar, and shrinking the buttons and toolbars of the open window. Press F11 again to toggle back to the original window size. (Note: This won't work in most application windows.) -Bill Wolf Setup Options Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Installation By adding specific switches to the Win98 setup command, you can control certain aspects of the installation. Typing SETUP /IW at the command line or DOS prompt, for instance, bypasses the licensing screen. Typing SETUP /iv runs setup without the annoying advertising screens. Find out the other options by typing SETUP /?. Shortcut to Desktop Shortcuts Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Win98 offers an easy way to make Desktop shortcuts. From any folder window, right-click on an icon and choose Send To/Desktop as Shortcut. Shortcut to Desktop Shortcuts Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 offers a new and improved way to create Desktop shortcuts. From any folder window, right-click on the icon for which you'd like to create a shortcut and choose Send To/Desktop As Shortcut from the Context menu that pops up. Win98 makes a decent attempt at naming the new shortcut (better than Win95's "Shortcut to ..." format), but you can rename it to suit your needs. Shortcuts to Nowhere? Category: Windows 98 All The Checklinks Resource Kit tool scans your hard disk for shortcuts that don't point to anything and lets you blast 'em. Before you do, you can get more information about the phantom file with a simple right click. Silence Registry Updates Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Registry If you import data into the Registry, you know the "Information ... entered into the Registry" message that tells you the job is done. To dispense with the message, write a shortcut with the following command line: REGEDIT/S WHATEVER.REG, where WHATEVER.REG is the name of the file you want to import. Drag the shortcut into the Startup group; WHATEVER.REG is silently imported every time Windows opens, so you can routinely reset various Registry entries without pausing the start-up operation. Silence the Speaker Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Windows NT All Windows NT User Interface Need silence from your PC? Click on the little yellow speaker on your taskbar and check the Mute box. Silence Your Modem Category: Internet Explorer 4.0 Internet Explorer 5.0 Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface To turn down the volume on your modem (or silence it completely), open the Control Panel and double-click on Modems. Select your modem, click on the Properties button and adjust the Speaker Volume slider bar to the desired setting. (Some modems offer on and off settings; others provide intermediate levels.) Silence Your Modem Category: Internet Explorer 4.0 Internet Explorer 5.0 Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface To turn down the volume on your modem (or silence it completely), open the Control Panel and double-click on Modems. Select your modem, click on the Properties button and adjust the Speaker Volume slider bar to the desired setting. (Some modems offer on and off settings; others provide intermediate levels.) Skip the Shut Down Dialog Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface You can skip the Shut Down Windows dialog that pops up each time you choose Start/Shut Down. First, create a new shortcut and add C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL32.EXE User,ExitWindows to the command line. Name, save and store the shortcut in an easily accessible location (your QuickLaunch bar is a good place). When you launch the shortcut in the future, Windows will shut down, no questions asked. (If an application is open, you will be asked if you want to save any open files.) Skip the Shut Down Dialog Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface You can skip the Shut Down Windows dialog that pops up each time you choose Start/Shut Down. First, create a new shortcut and add C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL32.EXE User,ExitWindows to the command line. Name, save and store the shortcut in an easily accessible location (your QuickLaunch bar is a good place). When you launch the shortcut in the future, Windows will shut down, no questions asked. (If an application is open, you will be asked if you want to save any open files.) Slick Setup for SCSI Devices Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Installation You often have to reboot after connecting SCSI devices. With some PCs, you can force Win98 to recognize such devices right after you plug them in. Right-click on My Computer and choose Properties. Click on the Device Manager tab, highlight the Computer entry and click on the Refresh button. The device should appear in Device Manager and begin working properly. Slow (but Sure) Shutdown Category: Windows 98 All Win98 shuts down faster than Win95, but it achieves this dubious benefit by pulling the plug on running applications without shutting them down first. If you're uncomfortable with that, disable it. Launch the System Configuration Utility (Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Information; click on the Tools menu). Click on the Advanced button and check the Disable Fast Shutdown item. Small Icons on the Desktop Category: Windows 98 All 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. Speedier Start-Up Category: Windows 98 All After you install several applications or Win98 options that automatically run at start-up, you may have so many apps running that Win98 appears to hang up. If this happens, the best way to check out all running start-up programs-and temporarily or permanently disable them-is with the System Configuration Utility (SCU). You'll find the SCU under the Tools menu of System Information (Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools). Click on its Startup tab. All the services and programs launched automatically at Windows boot are listed on this page, and you can selectively turn them on or off. Stop a Scheduled Task Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities To disable a task, start Task Scheduler, right-click on the task and select Properties. Deselect Enabled on the Task tab and click on OK. (To restore it, select Enabled.) Stop Modem Time-Outs Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Networking Windows 98 All Windows 98 Networking If the modem times out during long delays, file transfers or Web downloads, you can reset the timeout variable. From RegEdit, open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/System/CurrentControlSet/Services/Class/Modem/(Modem Number)/Settings. Double-click on Inactivity Timeout and change the number in the brackets to the amount of minutes you want the inactivity time to allow. For example, enter S19=<25> for a 25-minute toleration before timing out. Streamline DOS Programs Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Create a shortcut for a DOS program by right-clicking on the shortcut icon and selecting Properties. Select the Program tab and Advanced, then check the MS-DOS Mode box. Win95 will run the app in real DOS, quitting all current Windows and DOS-box apps and restarting automatically when you exit the app. Super Win98 Setup Options Category: Windows 98 All By adding specific switches to the Win98 setup command, you can control certain aspects of the installation. Type SETUP /iw at the command line or DOS prompt to bypass the licensing screen. Type SETUP /iv to run setup without the advertising screens, and type SETUP /is to run setup without running ScanDisk. You can also type SETUP /? to find other options. Swift Apps Switcher Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Windows NT All Windows NT User Interface Although the taskbar has a great design, Task Switcher, available in all Windows versions, is still the fastest way to switch among running programs or open windows. Just hold down the Alt key and press Tab repeatedly to cycle through running programs. The selector box shows an icon for each program or window; a square outline around an icon makes it active when you release the Alt key. System Information Utility Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities The System Information Utility is an all-in-one toolbox for finding and fixing problems. Select Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools System Information to find everything you need to know about your installed hardware and software. The Tools menu has links to great troubleshooting aids like the System Configuration Utility, System File Checker, Registry Checker, Automatic Skip Driver Agent, Update Wizard Uninstall, Dr. Watson, Version Conflict Manager and others. System Properties Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface To activate the System control panel quickly, hold down Alt and double-click on My Computer. You can also right-click on My Computer and choose Properties. Take a Quick Glance at Disk Space Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Wonder how much free disk space you have? In Win98, open My Computer and select the "View as Web page" option under the View menu. Click on your hard drive, and the status of the drive (including total capacity, free space and used space) will be displayed on the left side of the screen. Taskbar Positioning Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Windows NT All Windows NT User Interface By default, the taskbar runs along the bottom of your screen. To move it to another edge, click on a blank area of the taskbar and drag it toward the edge you have in mind. When the mouse pointer gets close enough, the taskbar will automatically move into its new spot. Text File Viewer Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities The Text File Viewer (in the Win98 Resource Kit sampler) is like a special, dual-pane Explorer window, but it lets you select a file extension, then flip through only those files on your system. By selecting the files in the left pane, you can read the contents on the right. For HTML files, the Text File Viewer displays the source code. The Best Tools and Apps Category: Windows 98 All Many of the best utilities and applets on the Windows 98 CD are located in the TOOLS\RESKIT directory. To get at these, insert your Windows 98 CD with Windows already running and click on Browse This CD when the CD's screen appears. Navigate to TOOLS\RESKIT and run the SETUP.EXE file in that folder. Afterward, you can sample a raft of interesting utilities by running the Tools Management Console program, which you'll find on the new Start/Programs/Windows 98 Resource Kit submenu. Two other popular utilities are also on the Win98 CD. TweakUI is in the TOOLS\RESKIT\POWERTOY directory, and the System Policy Editor is at TOOLS\RESKIT\NETADMINPOLEDIT\POLEDIT.EXE. This Tip Is a Stretch Category: Windows 98 All One of Win98's more subtle capabilities is support for stretchable dialogs: You can expand some dialog boxes by dragging their corners or edges to show more information. This is especially useful in IE 4.0's Favorites/Organize Favorites dialog box, which in Win95 forces you to scroll if your Favorites list doesn't fit in the default view. Three Clicks to a Form Letter Category: Windows 98 All Do you find yourself typing the same thing over and over? If so, the Resource Kit includes the perfect utility for you: ClipTray. Open it and click on Add to add and name items of text you commonly type. In the future, when you need a block of prewritten text for, say, an e-mail message, simply right-click on the ClipTray icon, and select the desired item from the menu. It'll go right into your Clipboard; you can then paste the text into your desired application. Place ClipTray in your WINDOWS\STARTUP folder so it's always open when you need it. Time Warp Category: Windows 98 All You can use the Time Zone Editor in the Resource Kit to change the properties of any time zone (including Daylight Savings), what the zone is called (for example, we changed "Eastern Standard Time" to "Long Island Standard Time") and more. You can also delete time zones. Top TweakUI Tips Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Performance Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 Performance Windows 98 User Interface Double-click on the Tweak UI icon in Control Panel and select the Tweak UI Explorer tab. Check Light Arrow in the Shortcut Overlay section. Deselect the animated "Click here to begin (if room)" and "Tip of the Day" items in the Startup area. And get rid of the prefix Shortcut To on New Shortcuts items in Settings. Click on the Mouse tab and slide the Menu speed slider all the way to the left to make menus appear instantaneously.Then click the Tips button for more Tweak UI tips in Windows Help format. You can make windows snap rather than zoom when you minimize, maximize or restore them. Select the General tab and deselect the Window Animation box under Effects. Trace Network Problems Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Networking Windows 98 All Windows 98 Networking Troubleshoot your ISP connection with a powerful utility called TRACERT.EXE (it installs with Win9x). Tracert traces every hop (router on the Internet) a packet takes to reach its destination, giving the path and amount of time taken between each. Track Changes Category: Windows 98 All Filewise in the Resource Kit is designed for programmers, but it's useful for any power user. Just tell it what files or folders to track, and it will document changes to selected file characteristics. This is a great tool for troubleshooting, managing changes to Web sites and more. Track Install Changes Category: Windows 98 All Find out exactly what a program does when you install it by using the System File Checker's log feature. After installing a program, open the log by launching the System Information utility (Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Information), choosing System File Checker from the Tools menu, clicking on the Settings button and then on the View Log button. The log will tell you exactly which files were added to your computer and which were updated with a newer version. Troubleshooting Problems Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Maintenance Windows 98 Utilities Win98 troubleshooters are step-by-step problem solvers that cover hardware conflicts, device failures, DirectX and more. To get to them from the Help menu, type troubleshooting in the Index. Troubleshooting to Boot Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Utilities Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities If Windows fails to boot properly, press F8 for the Windows StartUp menu, and pick the Logged (\BOOTLOG.TXT) option. It attempts a normal boot but records the status of every step Windows takes during the process. You can use this option to log a failed boot. Then, reboot to Safe mode if necessary and use a text editor to open BOOTLOG.TXT (in your root directory). Search for "fail" to find the boot steps Windows had trouble with. Failed steps are often excellent clues to the cause of the problem. Try a Default Modem Driver Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Installation Sometimes the generic modem driver that ships with Windows 95 is the best choice. If you’re having problems getting a new modem to work, select the Add New Hardware icon in Control Panel. Tell it not to search for a new device. Select Modem, and then check the box labeled “Don’t detect my modem.” Then choose Standard Modem Types (or Voice View Types). Next, select your modem’s speed. Use the modem’s Properties dialog to enter any initialization string that may be required. Turn Icons into Toolbars Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface The two main hard-wired Win98 Desktop icons, My Computer and Network Neighborhood, will magically transform into toolbars if you drag them to one of the four edges of your screen and let go. You can "stack" the two on the same edge, drag the new toolbars to the taskbar or drag them to the center of the Desktop to create floating toolbars. Turn Off Call Waiting Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Networking Windows 98 All Windows 98 Networking Those background beeps caused by call waiting are enough to bounce you from a connection. Turn call waiting off by typing *70 before the number you wish to call (in some areas, the turn-off code is 1170). Call waiting is restored when you disconnect. Un-Update Online, Too Category: Windows 98 All 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 you wish to uninstall. Undocumented WinAlign Info, Part I Category: Windows 98 All Win98's new WinAlign feature speeds up application launches by placing key files on the fast part of the disk during a defrag; it also rewrites programs so they use memory more efficiently. What you may not know is that only applications that have been specifically designed to work with WinAlign, such as Microsoft's Office programs, are supported by the feature. Undocumented WinAlign Info, Part II Category: Windows 98 All You can find out exactly which files are boosted by WinAlign by checking your WINALI.INI file (in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM). You can try adding programs, DLLs and other files to this list to tell Win98 to "WinAlign" them, but they may or may not work (see the previous tip). If you're going to add unsupported applications, first make sure you have a full system backup. Use Any Web Page as Wallpaper Category: Windows 98 All Right-click on the Desktop and select Properties. Click on the Browse button in the Background dialog box and hunt through your hard disk for the HTM or HTML file of your choice. Double-click on it. You can also use an HTM or HTML file from the Internet as your wallpaper by browsing to the page and selecting File/Save As to save the file locally. However, if you want to display the graphics from a Web page, you’ll have to right-click on each graphic, select Save Image As and save them to your local drive. Then modify the tags in the saved HTML file to reference the local graphics. (Note: To use any HTML file as wallpaper, you must first enable the Active Desktop by right-clicking on the Desktop and selecting Active Desktop/View As Web Page.) Use Dr. Watson Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities Get Dr. Watson on the case early. Put a shortcut to this utility (C:\WINDOWS\DRWATSON.EXE) in your StartUp folder. Use Long Filenames in DOS Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface To launch Win9x programs or folders with long filenames from the DOS command prompt, enclose the file or folder name you want to launch in quotation marks. For example, type Start "My Favorite Folder" and press Enter. Use ScanDisk Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Performance Windows 98 All Windows 98 Performance Data fragments, bad sectors and other disk anomalies accumulate with surprising speed. Run ScanDisk’s Standard Inspection once a week to correct these deficiencies before they become major problems. You’ll find it in Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools. Occasionally run the Thorough Inspection to look for physical defects on the surface of the drive. ScanDisk will be able to repair many problems. Use the HOSTS file Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Networking Windows 98 All Windows 98 Networking You can map a machine’s IP to any hostname you want by editing the HOSTS.SAM file in your WINDOWS directory. The file must be renamed HOSTS with no extension, and you must reboot for the changes to take effect. Use the Maintenance Wizard Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Installation For the best Win98 performance, select Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Welcome to Windows 98, and choose Maintain Your Computer. Follow the wizard to set up a maintenance schedule. Use The SFC Options Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Utilities Run System File Checker, click on Settings and make sure the two check boxes are selected to force the utility check for both changed and deleted files. By default, the utility only checks for corrupt files. Use Two Pointers Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface You can easily attach two mice to your system-useful for right-handed folks who share a computer with a southpaw-or a mouse and a trackball. Both devices must use the same driver. Attach one to the serial port, the other to the PS/2 port. Wandering Win98-ers Category: Windows 98 All 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. Web Page To Taskbar Category: Internet Explorer 4.0 Internet Explorer 5.0 Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface To add a Web page to your taskbar, right-click on any blank area of the taskbar. Select Toolbars/ New Toolbar from the pop-up menu. In the New Toolbar dialog box, type (or copy and paste from your browser) a URL. What You Don't Know... Category: Windows 98 All If you're using the Task Scheduler to automate disk maintenance and other tasks, here's how to make sure you know if one of your scheduled tasks didn't happen. Open the Task Scheduler by double-clicking on the system tray icon and select "Notify me of missed tasks" from the Advanced menu. What's the Difference? Category: Windows 98 All The Resource Kit's WinDiff utility lets you quickly compare files or even whole folders and tells you how they differ. To use it, select either Compare Files or Compare Directories from WinDiff's File menu. When Start-Up Stumbles ... Category: Windows 98 All If some or all of the start-up files you've disabled using Win98's System Configuration Utility (Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Information; click on the Tools menu) continue to load at boot, your AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI or WINSTART.BAT files are probably write-protected (you may not have WINSTART.BAT). This could also cause print failures from Windows (for example, a write-protected WIN.INI file causes a WordPad error message reading "The printer could not be found"). Here's a fix: Shut down your PC using the "Restart in MS-DOS mode" option. From the DOS prompt, type the following commands, pressing Enter after each: attrib c:\config.sys -r attrib c:\autoexec.bat -r attrib c:\windows\win.ini -r attrib c:\windows\system.ini -r attrib c:\windows\winstart.bat -r Type exit to re-enter Windows. Win95 CD May Help Install Win98 Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 Installation During a clean install of Win98, the setup program will accept your Win95 CD-ROM as your proof of ownership of a previous Microsoft OS. Win98's Handy Toolbox Category: Windows 98 All The System Information utility is an all-in-one toolbox for finding and fixing problems in Windows 98. You'll find everything you need to know about your installed hardware and software, plus links to the Windows Report Tool, System File Checker, Registry Checker, Automatic Skip Driver Agent, Dr. Watson, System Configuration Utility, ScanDisk and the Version Conflict Manager. Windows Accessibility Keyboard Shortcuts Category: Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface See Windows Help / Accessibility for information on how to activate. TASK SHORTCUT Switch FilterKeys on and off Right Shift for 8 seconds Switch High Contrast on and off Left Alt+Left Shift+Print Screen Switch MouseKeys on and off Left Alt+Left Shift+Num Lock Switch StickyKeys on and off Shift five times Switch ToggleKeys on and off Num Lock for 5 seconds Microsoft Magnifier Increase magnification Windows Key+Up Arrow Decrease magnification Windows Key+Down Arrow Copy the magnified screen and the mouse cursor to the Clipboard Windows Key+Print Screen Copy the magnified screen to the Clipboard without the mouse cursor Windows Key+Scroll Lock Toggle Invert Colors Windows Key+Page Up Toggle Follow Mouse Cursor Windows Key+Page Down Windows Desktop/Explorer Keyboard Shortcuts Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Windows NT All Windows NT User Interface TASK SHORTCUT View an item's properties Alt+Enter or Alt+double-click Delete an item without placing it in Recycle Bin Shift+Delete Rename an item F2 Select all items Ctrl+A Copy a file Ctrl while dragging a file Create a shortcut Ctrl+Shift while dragging a file Refresh a window's contents F5 Bypass AutoPlay when inserting a CD Shift while inserting the CD Open Find: All Files F3 Windows Key Display Find: All Files Windows Key+F Display Find: Computer Ctrl+Windows Key+F Display Help Windows Key+F1 Display the Run command Windows Key+R Display the Start menu Windows Key Display the System Properties dialog box Windows Key+Pause Display Windows Explorer Windows Key+E Minimize or restore all windows Windows Key+D Minimize all open windows Windows Key+M Undo minimize all windows Shift+Windows Key+M Cycle through buttons on the taskbar Windows Key+Tab Open an item's Context menu Application Key Windows Explorer Folder Keyboard Shortcuts Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Windows NT All Windows NT User Interface TASK SHORTCUT Close the selected folder and all parent folders Shift while clicking on the Close button (My Computer only) Move backward to a previous view Alt+Left Arrow Move forward to a previous view Alt+Right Arrow View the folder one level up Backspace Collapse the current selection if it's expanded Left Arrow Select the parent folder Left Arrow Collapse the selected folder Num Lock+- (minus sign) Expand the current selection if it's collapsed Right Arrow Select the first subfolder Right Arrow Expand all folders below the current selection Num Lock+* (asterisk) Expand the selected folder Num Lock++ (plus sign) Switch among left and right panes and menu bars F6 Windows General Keyboard Shortcuts Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 User Interface Windows 98 All Windows 98 User Interface Windows NT All Windows NT User Interface TASK SHORTCUT Activate the menu bar in programs F10 Close the current window in Multiple Document Interface (MDI) programs Ctrl+F4 Close the active window or program Alt+F4 Display the current window's system menu Alt+Spacebar Minimize active window Alt+Spacebar+N Maximize active window Alt+Spacebar+X Restore active window Alt+Spacebar+R Close active window Alt+Spacebar+C Display the Context menu for a selected item Shift+F10 Display the Start menu Ctrl+Esc Display the system menu for MDI programs Alt+ -(hyphen) Display the Properties dialog box for a selected item Alt+Enter Minimize all windows Alt+M (when taskbar is selected) Select a menu item or dialog option containing underlined letter Alt+[underlined letter] Cycle through taskbar programs or windows Alt+Esc Use Task Switcher to cycle through open programs or windows Alt+Tab Reverse direction of cycle through Task Switcher Alt+Shift+Tab Open a selected folder or program Ctrl+Enter Open a selected folder as a two-paned Explorer window Ctrl+Shift+Enter Display Close Program dialog box Ctrl+Alt+Del Dialog Box Display Help on a selected dialog box item F1 Cancel the current task Esc Click on a highlighted button Spacebar or Enter Select or clear a highlighted check box Spacebar Click on a highlighted option Spacebar Move forward through options Tab Move backward through options Shift+Tab Move forward through tabs Ctrl+Tab Move backward through tabs Ctrl+Shift+Tab In a "Save as or open" dialog box, open a selected folder one level up Backspace In a "Save as or open" dialog box, open Save In or Look In F4 Refresh the "Save as or open" dialog box F5 Yet Another One-Minute Life Saver Category: Windows 95 All Windows 95 Troubleshooting Windows 98 All Windows 98 Troubleshooting The One-Minute Life Saver (OMLS)-a tip we previously published for Windows 95 (see August 1998)-is a simple way to back up key system files. The OMLS batch file was written so it can run on either Win95 or Win98, but we recommend minor changes for Win98 users. The lines below should be included in the OMLS batch file to specifically tailor it for Win98. Remember to replace each instance of e:\vault with whatever drive, path and folder name that points to the destination folder you created. copy c:\autoexec.bat e:\vault copy c:\autoexec.dos e:\vault copy c:\config.sys e:\vault copy c:\config.dos e:\vault copy c:\windows\control.ini e:\vault copy c:\windows\system.ini e:\vault copy c:\windows\win.ini e:\vault attrib -r -h -s c:\msdos.sys attrib -r -h c:\windows\user.dat attrib -r -h c:\windows\system.dat copy c:\msdos.sys e:\vault copy c:\windows\system.dat e:\vault copy c:\windows\user.dat e:\vault attrib +r +h +s c:\msdos.sys attrib +r +h c:\windows\user.dat attrib +r +h c:\windows\system.dat Your Own Private Network Category: Windows 98 All Virtual Private Networking (VPN) lets you use the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) via the Internet to create a connection that mimics a traditional LAN. VPN requires a PPTP-capable Windows client at one end and a PPTP server such as NT 4.0 at the other. To use PPTP you need version 1.2 of the Dial-Up Networking client, with the TCP/IP and VPN adapters in your network configuration. When you set up the adapter, you enter the address of the VPN host you want to access instead of a phone number. To use the VPN link, first establish an Internet connection, then go back and establish a "tunnel" to the host using this second DUN connection.