To quickly access Windows 95's Find utility without going through the Start menu maze, simply click once in a blank spot on your taskbar and then press [F3]. When you do, you'll immediately see the Find window and can quickly initiate your search.
If you've lost the Windows 95 cardboard envelope that had the CD Key on the back of it and need to reinstall Windows 95, you can track down your CD Key by peering into the Registry. To begin, select the Run command on the Start menu and launch the Registry Editor by typing Regedit in the Open dropdown list box. Once you have the Registry Editor up and running, locate and double-click on the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key. When this subtree is visible, open each of the following subkeys in succession:
Even though you can format floppy disks from within Windows Explorer or My Computer, it's better to format them from a DOS prompt. The reason being that Windows 98 will be able to multitask better when the format operation is occurring in an MS-DOS Prompt window than when it occurs in Windows Explorer or My Computer. In other words, you'll be able to run other applications better while the floppy disk is being formatted in the background.
If you like to keep your desktop free from unnecessary clutter,
you may have wondered if you could remove the Internet
Explorer 5.0 icon from your desktop. After all, it's much easier
to launch Internet Explorer by clicking its icon in the Quick
Launch tool bar.
To remove the Internet Explorer icon from your desktop, launch Internet Explorer, pull down the Tools menu, and select the Internet Options command. When you see the Internet Options dialog box, select the Advanced tab. Then, scroll though the Settings list until you locate the Show Internet Explorer On the Desktop check box. Now, click the check box to clear it. Finally, click OK to close the Internet Options dialog box.
Netscape allows you to bypass search engines
completely with its Internet Keywords feature.
Here's how it works:
Instead of a URL, type the word SEARCH (no caps)
into the address window of your browser,
followed by whatever it is you want to find.
For example, if you're looking for information
on whales, type SEARCH WHALES. Then press Return.
You may have noticed a bunch of 0-byte hidden files called Mscreate.dir in various folders on your system and wondered what these files are and where they come from? You probably have also wondered if you can safely delete them. Here's the scoop:
Mscreate.dir files are special files that let Microsoft applications remove all appropriate folders during an uninstall operation. When you install a Microsoft application, such as Office 97, the Setup program creates one of these innocuous files in each folder it places on your hard disk. If you later run Setup in maintenance or uninstall mode, it looks for the Mscreate.dir files to determine whether it can delete the folder.
If you delete these files now and someday run Setup in uninstall mode, Setup won't delete the empty folder. Since these hidden files don't take up any hard disk space and are important to the uninstall procedure, we suggest you leave them where they are.
Assigning a volume label to a hard or floppy disk from Windows 95 is easy. To do so, right-click on the drive icon in Explorer's All Folders pane and select the Properties command from the context menu. When the drive's properties sheet appears, simply type a name in the Label text box and click OK.
Have you ever started dragging a file from one location to another and then discovered that you grabbed the wrong file? If so, chances are that you dragged the file back to it original location in order to cancel the operation. While this technique works, there's a quicker way to cancel a drag-and-drop operation--just press [Esc]. When you do, the operation is immediately cancelled.
If you're like most Windows 95 users, chances are that you only use a few of the utilities in the Control Panel, but quickly locating them can be difficult due to all the other utilities. Fortunately, you can clean up the Control Panel. To do so, launch Find and search for *.CPL. When find displays all the Control Panel files, simply move the ones that you don't regularly use to another folder on your hard drive. If you have trouble identifying which CPL file is associated with which Control Panel utility, simply double-click the CPL file to launch the utility.
If you use Phone dialer, you know that it keeps a history list of all the numbers that you've recently called. If you want to clear the history list, you can do so easily. To do so, launch Notepad and edit the Dialer.ini file, which you can find in the C:\Windows folder.
If you have your computer positioned in a location that makes it difficult to easily access your CD-ROM drive's eject button, you can use the Eject command. To do so, open My Computer, right-click on the CD-ROM drive icon, and select the Eject command from the shortcut menu.
Trying to locate a particular folder or file on a large 2 GB hard disk (or even on a small 500 MB hard disk) can be frustrating. Fortunately, Windows 95's disk navigation tools make it easy to quickly locate a specific file or folder by using a feature that we call Quick Locate.
When you open either My Computer or Windows Explorer, you can activate the Quick Locate feature by typing the first letter of the filename or folder name that you're looking for. If you're using the dual-pane Windows Explorer, you'll have to click in the pane that you want to search through. When you begin typing, the Quick Locate feature immediately advances the respective pane to a folder or file whose name begins with the letter that you typed. If this isn't the folder or file you're looking for, you can type the letter again to advance to the next match. If the letter doesn't match the name of a folder or file, you'll hear an error beep.
If you'd like to spice up your documents with interesting characters, don't forget about Windows 95's Marlett, Symbol, and Wingdings fonts. You can view the characters in these fonts by using Character Map, which you can find by clicking Start, choosing Programs, and then choosing Accessories. If you don't find Character Map on your Accessories menu, you can add it easily using the Add/Remove Programs utility in the Control Panel.
If the CD-ROM eject button on your computer is difficult to reach, you can use a shortcut. Simply right-click on the CD-ROM drive icon in My Computer and select the Eject command from the shortcut menu. On some systems, selecting this command will allow you to open, as well as close, the CD-ROM drive.
8/15/00
Select all but a few files.
If you're working in Windows Explorer or My Computer and want to select all but a few files in the current folder, there's a quick way to do it. Instead of selecting the majority of files one by one, simply select the files you don't want included in the selection by holding down the [Ctrl] key and clicking on each one. Once you've selected the files you don't want, choose the Edit menu's Invert Selection command. Now the files you initially selected will be deselected, and the rest of the folder's files will be highlighted.
When you come across an AVI movie file on your hard drive and can't remember what's in it, you don't have to launch Media Play to view it. Simply right-click on the AVI file and select Properties command from the shortcut menu. When the Properties dialog box appears, select the Preview tab and click the Play button to preview the AVI file.
When you need to see more files in Windows Explorer, chances are that you click on the Maximize button to expand the window. While this does indeed give you a more room to work with your files, we recently discovered how to really get the big picture.
If you've installed Internet Explorer 4.x or 5.0 and have enabled the Active Desktop feature, you have another option. The next time you open Windows Explorer, press the [F11] key. When you do, you activate a full-screen feature similar to the one found in Internet Explorer. This feature is available in Windows Explorer because of the tight integration between Internet Explorer and the Windows 95 operating system. To return the screen to normal size, simply press the [F11] key again. The hidden full screen feature is also available in My Computer.
Taking [Ctrl] of your system
When you're working in a document or with files and need to move or copy text or files, make sure that you take control of your system with the [Ctrl] key. Use [Ctrl]X for cutting, [Ctrl]C for copying, [Ctrl]V for pasting, and [Ctrl]Z for undoing any operation.
If you format many floppy disks, you know how tedious it is to get to the Format command. You have to first open either Windows Explorer or My Computer, then right-click on the floppy disk drive icon, and select the Format command from the shortcut menu.
Wouldn't it be neat if you could cut down this three-step procedure to a single double-click? Fortunately, we've discovered how to create a shortcut to the Format dialog box. To begin, right-click on the desktop and select the New/Shortcut command from the shortcut menu. When you see the Create Shortcut wizard, type the command
Rundll32.exe shell32.dll,SHFormatDrive
in the Command Line text box . To continue, click Next and give the shortcut an appropriate name, such as Floppy Format. Then, click the Finish button.
If you're using Internet Explorer 5.x, you should know about a hidden feature that allows the browser to automatically clear its cache each time you close the program. To activate this feature, pull down the Tools menu and select the Internet Options command. When you see the Internet Options dialog box, select the Advanced tab and scroll down the Settings list box until you see the Security section. Then, select the Empty Temporary Internet Files Folder When Browser is Closed check box.
If you open the control menu of a window that isn't maximized, you'll see a command called Move. It enables you to move a window using the arrow keys on your keyboard when the mouse is unavailable or it's inconvenient to use. To use this command, click on the control menu icon (in the upper-left corner of the window) to open the menu. Then use the down arrow key to select the Move command and press [Enter]. The mouse pointer changes to a four-headed arrow. Use your arrow keys to move the window to where you want it. Then press [Enter] to fix the window position.
Maybe you haven't noticed, but Windows Explorer doesn't show the exact size of a file in the Size column. Instead, it rounds the size to the nearest kilobyte. For example, a 203 byte file is listed as 1 KB. To find the exact size of the file, select it and check the Status Bar. The exact size is displayed in the Status Bar. If the Status Bar isn't displayed, choose View | Status Bar to show it.
The reason we create desktop shortcuts is to make it easier to access a document, folder or application. But if you have to minimize all your windows just to get to the shortcut, it defeats the purpose of making things easier. To work around this, add the desktop icon to your Start Menu. Then it's always available. To do this, drag your desktop shortcut to the Start button. The shortcut stays on your desktop and is added to the Start Menu.
When you drag a file to the Recycle Bin, Windows 95 always displays the Confirm File Delete dialog box and requires you to click Yes before the file is moved to the Recycle Bin.
However, since you can easily retrieve a file from the Recycle Bin, this extra step could be considered overkill. Fortunately, you can disable this confirmation dialog box. To do so, right-click the Recycle Bin icon and select Properties from the shortcut menu. When the Recycle Bin Properties dialog box appears, select the Display Delete Confirmation Dialog check box to disable this feature. Then click OK.
As you probably know, you can right-click on any drive icon in Windows 95's My Computer window, select Properties from the context menu, and see a graphical display of the used and free space on that disk. However, if you have multiple disk drives, performing this operation on each one can be time consuming. Fortunately, Windows 95 can display the same information about all your disk drives in one tabbed properties sheet. Here's how: Open My Computer, select all the disk drives that show up in the window, right-click on the last one, and select Properties from the context menu. This technique can be used with network drives, removable disk drives, and floppy disk drives as well.
Have you ever needed to keep a log with the date and time of every entry? You might look for a shareware product that does this, but better yet, use Notepad and a special command. Just create a file in Notepad and type the command .LOG at the top of the document. (The command must be in all capital letters to work.) Now save and close the file. Each time you open that file, Notepad inserts the date and time in the file.
One of the most commonly used Windows 95 applets is probably Add/Remove Programs. But because it's several levels deep into the Start menu, inexperienced users may have difficulty finding it. If you're setting up a PC for a novice user, put Add/Remove Programs within easier reach by dragging it from Control Panel and dropping it on the user's Start button. Now the applet is accessible with a single mouse click, which will probably help reduce the number of unnecessary support calls when a user tries to install new software.
If you've ever had a printing problem in Windows 95, you've undoubtedly stumbled across the Print Troubleshooter. You've probably also discovered that unless you're a complete PC neophyte, the troubleshooter is anything but useful. To assist you with more advanced problems, Microsoft includes an enhanced version of the Print Troubleshooter; but curiously, it's hidden on the Windows 95 CD-ROM.
A typical troubleshooter deals with a limited list of problem situations and offers fairly obvious solutions to these problems by drawing its suggestions from a list of predefined solutions (such as, "Did you turn on the printer?"). In contrast, the Enhanced Print Troubleshooter (EPTS) uses a probability table that takes into account the system configuration, the printer model, and symptoms you report to generate a tailored list of possible solutions. As you proceed through the diagnostic, the EPTS continues to track system conditions and reevaluate possible causes after each user input.
Though the EPTS may not solve all your printing problems, it can help narrow things down. To access it, go to the Other/Misc/EPTS folder on your Win 95 CD, and double-click on the EPTS.EXE file. If you run the program with the /ry switch, EPTS offers you a list of recommended courses of action, ranked by order of likelihood.
Did you know that you can open a file with an application other than the one it's associated with? For example, a text document (with the extension TXT) is associated with Notepad by default. However, if you need to open the document with another text editor or word processor, you can do so by following this technique.
First, launch Windows Explorer or My Computer and find the file you wish to open. Next, highlight the file by clicking once with the left mouse button. Now, hold down the [Shift] key and right-click on the file. From the shortcut menu that results, choose the Open With. Then select the application you wish to use from the resulting dialog box and click OK.
In a recent tip (shown below), we explained how to move your windows
by opening the control menu and using your keyboard. Several tip
subscribers caught our slip-up when we started out by opening the
control menu using the mouse. You can open the control menu of the
active window using the keyboard by pressing [Alt][spacebar]. To close
the control menu, press [Esc]. Thanks for all of you for keeping us on
our toes.
****************************Original tip****************************
I
If you open the control menu of a window that isn't maximized, you'll see a command called Move. It enables you to move a window using the arrow keys on your keyboard when the mouse is unavailable or it's inconvenient to use. To use this command, click on the control menu icon (in the upper-left corner of the window) to open the menu. Then use the down arrow key to select the Move command and press [Enter]. The mouse pointer changes to a four-headed arrow. Use your arrow keys to move the window to where you want it. Then press [Enter] to fix the window position.
7/24/01
If you frequently access files from a particular drive, you might find it useful to place an icon for that drive on your desktop. You can do so easily by creating a shortcut to the drive. Start by opening My Computer or Windows Explorer. Next, using the right mouse button, drag the target drive's icon to the desktop. When you drop the icon on the desktop, select the Create Shortcut(s) Here command from the shortcut menu. A new desktop shortcut to the drive appears. You'll now be able to easily access your drive by double-clicking on the new drive icon.
As you probably know, pressing [Ctrl]A selects everything in a folder. However, when you only want most of the items selected, but not all of them, it's still faster to select everything and then deselect the few items you don't want. To deselect an item, hold the [Ctrl] key and click on the items you want to remove from the selection.
Did you know that in many applications you can drag scraps of text or graphics to the desktop for later use in their original or another application? For example, let's say that you're working on a report in Microsoft Word and you decide to cut a paragraph. However, you may want to use that paragraph later in the document or even in another file. To create a scrap, select the text you wish to use and then drag it onto the desktop with the right mouse button. When you release the button, select the Move Scrap Here command from the context menu (dragging with the left mouse button will automatically copy the scrap). Now when you want to copy the scrap into a document, just drag it from the desktop into the text.
As you may know, when you connect to your Internet Service Provider via Dial-Up Networking, your computer is dynamically assigned an IP (Internet Protocol) address. If you've ever wanted to know what IP address you've been assigned, you'll be happy to know that Windows 95 comes with an undocumented utility called WINIPCFG.EXE, that can help. To use this program, choose the Run command from the Start Menu and type WINIPCFG.EXE in the Run dialog box and click OK. When you do, the IP Configuration dialog box will appear, displaying your computer's IP address.
Are your window scroll bars too wide or too narrow? If they're too wide they may take up valuable space. If they're too narrow they may be hard to use. Fortunately, you can easily adjust the width of your scroll bars. To do so, right-click on the desktop and choose Properties from the shortcut menu. When the Display Properties sheet appears, click on the Appearance tab, and then click on the scroll bar in the example window. You can now easily adjust the size of the scrollbar by using the Size spin button.
There is a shortcut feature that is often overlooked--creating shortcut keystrokes to desktop icons. Each shortcut on your desktop can be modified so that you can launch the application by pressing a keystroke ([Ctrl][Alt]letter) rather then having to double-click on the icon.
To do so, right-click on the desktop icon to which you want to create a shortcut keystroke and select the Properties command from the shortcut menu. Once the Properties dialog box appears, select the shortcut tab. Then, simply type a letter in the Shortcut key field. The "Ctrl+Alt+" automatically gets added in the field. Click OK. Now whenever you want to start that application, just press the keystroke Ctrl+Alt+[letter]. You don't even need to "see" the desktop for this to work.
Do you frequently need access to registry data that is buried deep within the folder tree? Here's a quick way to open all branches beneath a registry node so you can get to editing the data more quickly.
Simply open the Registry Editor and highlight the node whose branches you want to display. Now press [Alt]* (the asterisk on the numeric keyboard). The node will expand to reveal all its branches. To collapse all the branches below a node, click its minus sign, highlight the node, and then press [F5].
If you're tired of seeing "Shortcut to" as the first part of your desktop shortcuts' names, you can easily teach Windows 95 to remove this text automatically from your newly created shortcuts.
To do this, simply place one new shortcut after another on your desktop, and then after you place each one, edit the name of the shortcut by removing the "Shortcut to" text. After you've done this to seven or eight shortcuts, Windows 95 smartens up and will no longer include this text when you create shortcuts.
Have you ever been working with some files in a My Computer folder window and realized that you really needed to be using Windows Explorer? If so, chances are you closed My Computer, opened Windows Explorer, and then tracked down the folder again. However, there's an easier way to access Windows Explorer from a My Computer folder window. To do so, just right-click on the folder and select Explore from the context menu.
As you probably know, the Documents menu can display up to 15 documents. When the Documents menu contains this many items, however, it can be difficult to quickly find the one you're looking for. To remedy this situation, you can remove all items from the Documents menu to start fresh. To do so, click the Start button and select the Taskbar command from the Settings menu. When the Taskbar Properties sheet appears, select the Start Menu Programs tab, and then click the Clear button.
As you probably know, you can right-click on any drive icon in Windows 95's My Computer window, select Properties from the context menu, and see a graphical display of the used and free space on that disk. However, if you have multiple disk drives, performing this operation on each one can be time consuming. Fortunately, Windows 95 can display the same information about all your disk drives in one tabbed properties sheet. Here's how: Open My Computer, select all the disk drives that show up in the window, right-click on the last one, and select Properties from the context menu. This technique can be used with network drives, removable disk drives and floppy disk drives as well.
While reading Windows 95 help files, have you ever wanted to write a comment, perhaps something you remember or understand now but believe you won't remember or understand later? Here's a little-known tip that can make this task a breeze. In the Help file window, choose Edit | Annotate. In the Annotate dialog box, you can type in your desired comments and then click the Save button when you are done. Now, whenever you reload the Help file, a paperclip will appear in the Help topic that you annotated. Double-click on the paperclip to read your comments.
Have you ever wished that you could create your own toolbar containing the applications you use most often? Fortunately, if you're using Internet Explorer's Active Desktop, you can do so easily. To begin, create a folder on your hard drive called Applications Toolbar. Then, copy shortcuts to the applications you use most often to the Application Toolbar folder.
To begin, locate and right-click on an empty spot on the taskbar. When the taskbar's shortcut menu appears, select Toolbars | New Toolbar. In the New Toolbar dialog box select the Application Toolbar folder and click OK. When the new toolbar appears on your taskbar, place your mouse pointer over the vertical toolbar handle at the front of the toolbar. When the pointer turns into a double-headed arrow, click and drag the toolbar to the very top of the desktop and drop it. When you do, the new toolbar anchors itself to the top of the desktop. Once you resize it, you'll have a convenient toolbar that you can use to launch the applications you use most frequently.
To quickly access Windows 95's Find utility without going through the Start menu maze, simply click once in a blank spot on your taskbar and then press [F3]. When you do, you'll immediately see the Find window and can quickly initiate your search.
If you want to be able to quickly and easily delete files, you can create a shortcut to the Recycle Bin and then move it to the Send To folder. To do so, right-click on the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop and select the Create Shortcut command from the shortcut menu. Now, open either My Computer or Windows Explorer and locate the Windows SendTo folder. Then, move the shortcut to the Recycle Bin from the desktop to the Windows SendTo folder. Now, you can easily delete any file by right-clicking on it and selecting the Send To Recycle Bin command.
In a hurry to create a new file? If so, you're in luck because Windows 95 will let you do so right from the desktop. Just right-click anywhere on the desktop and choose New from the shortcut menu. In addition to the usual Folder and Shortcut options, you'll find file types for many of the applications installed on your computer. When you choose a file type, a new icon will appear on your desktop indicating a new file of the selected type. At this point, the icon name is selected, so you can name the file by just typing the name. Then, double-click on this icon to open the application and the new file.
By default, the Windows 95 installation procedure places the taskbar at the bottom your screen where it's always visible--even when you run an application in a maximized window. However, if you don't like the taskbar's default location, you can easily move it.
To begin, place your mouse pointer anywhere on the taskbar except on the Start button or on a task button. If your taskbar is full, you can place the mouse pointer on the clock. Now, press the left mouse button while you move the pointer to any edge of the desktop where you'd like to place the taskbar. When you do, you'll see an outline of the taskbar on that edge of the desktop. Once you have the taskbar outline where you want, simply release the mouse button and the taskbar will move to that location.
In the old days, if you ever wanted to print the contents of your screen, you pressed the [Print Scrn] key on your keyboard and your printer would begin printing. However, Windows 95 redirects the destination of the [Print Scrn] key to the Clipboard. This means that if you want to print the contents of your screen after pressing [Print Scrn], you have to open Paint, pull down the Edit menu and select the Paste command. Then, pull down the File menu and select the Print command. If you only want a printed copy of the active window or dialog box on your screen, press [Alt][Print Scrn].