52 Win95 Tip Pickup for Instructors Before you teach the Windows 95 classes, you might like to check these out! 1. Right mouse is Power!! 2. If you need the Control Panel often, try dragging it to the Start button. You find it in My Computer. 3. Right Click the Start button to quickly start the Explorer, or right click any object to explore. If you right click a document on your menu you have SendTo this is a great feature to get something to a special folder or another computer. 4. Sent To: Sending Objects with "Send To" Right-click a document or folder icon, select "Send To", then select a destination item from the drop down menu. (Note: You can add or delete Send To destinations by entering "send to" in the Run command line. The active "Send To" folder will be opened. Drag the desired shortcut icon(s) - printer, fax, drive, Windows application - to the "Send To" folder and it will appear in the "Send To" menu.) 5. How would you like to send any document in any folder to a special folder, another computer, printer or even a fax machine? If you can make a short cut of any item you can add it to your SendTo menu. Here is how: Open explorer, go to Windows folder, open SendTo folder and drag your short cut to the right side of the sendto folder. 6. To expand all the folders in a selected folder; select it and then press the Asterisk on the number pad. Yes, if you select the drive everything expands. Use the + key to expand one level and the - key to collapse one level. 7. Multi-deletes - If you delete many documents/items at one time (one after the other) you can undelete one after the other also. 8. Drag selected text to the desktop and you have scrap. 9. To bypass the Recycle Bin, hold down the Shift key when you select delete from the shortcut menu. 10. If you open the Explorer and right click a DOS program, you can select the memory tab at the top and tell it to have 640K. 11. You can still copy text from a DOS windows the same way you did in Windows 3.1. Click once on the icon in the top left corner of a DOS window and select edit - mark. There is another way! You’ll see. 12. Keeping Win95 running smooth is a good tip, pass on to others that copying the Scandisk file to the startup folder is a good thing. If you add the switches /a /n it will check all local drives and exit when it is done. The DOS file name is scandskw.exe. Don’t forget System Agent with Plus Pack! Caution: the old DOS version of scandisk.exe may cause problems with Win95, don’t use it! 13. Quick View is a new utility that allows the viewing of any file format without opening the file. It will not load with a normal (Typical) install. You need to do a custom install to select it and other (like backup) special programs. These are the two that I found the most helpful. Remember if you have the floppy disk for win95 and not the CD, you will need to download Quick View from MS BBS. It is not included with the floppies. 14. QEMM is a No No when installing Win95. Warning Warning Warning Mr. Smith 15. You can uninstall Win95 but you must “Save system files” when the install process ask you. 16. If after you install Win95 you change something and when you restart your computer it will not start or starts in “safe mode”. You might remember that you can press F8 when you see “Starting Windows 95......” on the screen and you can select the mode you want to restart your computer in. 17. You do have a back up of your system called System.da0 and User.da0. They are hidden files. Remember that last character is a zero (number). The originals are system.dat and user.dat that Win95 uses; so if anything goes wrong you can copy the backups over the originals, with the correct name of course. At the DOS prompt the command is: Copy c:\windows\system.da0 c:\windows\system.dat For user.dat: Copy c:\windows\user.da0 c:\windows\user.dat 18. Adjusting Memory Cache Size for CD-ROM's: Go to Control Panel and select systems. Choose the Performance Tab and then select File System. Finally, choose the CD-ROM Tab. Here you can adjust the memory cache size for your CD-ROM drive. 19. Deactivating Autorun On Audio CD's: There are two options to deactivate Autorun: 1. Hold down the shift key when you insert the CD-ROM. 2. Open any folder and select the View drop-down menu. Then choose Options, then File Types. Choose Select AudioCD and click Edit. Click once on Play from the Action listbox. Then click on Set Default - this toggles the Autorun default. If Play is bolded, the CD will play when inserted. If it is not bolded, it will not play. 20. Opening the Media Player from an .AVI: When an .AVI file is playing, you can bring up the Media Player by double-clicking the title bar of the .AVI. Double-clicking the Media Player title bar will make it disappear. 21. System Configuration Editor: From the Start button, choose the Run command. In the command line type: Sysedit. This will launch the System Configuration Editor which will allow you to edit the following files: system.ini, win.ini, config.sys, autoexec.bat and protocol.ini (if you have a network). Remember these are the leftovers from windows 3.11, you don’t need config.sys and autoexec.bat. You can delete those two but make sure you keep the INI files for win95. Remember this if you have the old version of windows. 22. Customize the Start button. Click and drag any object from the desktop and drop it on the Start button to add it to the Start Menu. 23. Display Properties Right click anywhere on the desktop and choose properties. The Display Properties dialog box appears, and allows you to adjust the color scheme, fonts, font and window sizes, screen saver, monitor resolution, and monitor type for your computer. (For global font changes: Change the icon font on the Appearance page of the Display Properties dialog). 24. Remember Global changes are made in the control panel also and they effect applications you work with. If Regional settings gets change to another country your currency will no longer be dollars in Excel. Be aware! 25. TaskBar: Right-click the Start menu and select Open or Explore to view and modify its contents. Putting a new folder in your start menu directory will allow additional hierarchies off of the Start menu. Hiding the Taskbar Choose Taskbar properties (from the Start button or by right-clicking the Taskbar), and enable the Auto Hide feature from the Taskbar Options property page. The Taskbar will now be hidden until the mouse moves near the Taskbar area. 26. Changing Languages and Keyboard Layouts Open the Keyboard control panel applet. Choose the Language tab, and add some other languages to your keyboard layout. Check the 'Enable indicator on Taskbar' option. A Language layout icon will appear on the Taskbar. Clicking this icon will expand a menu of installed Languages from which to choose. “Okay who cares.” 27. Alt-Tab Many PC users use Alt-Tab as the method to switch between open applications. While Windows 95 has new features that make going from application to application easier and more intuitive, the Alt-Tab function still works for those who prefer it. 28. Suppressing Startup Shortcuts Hold down the CTRL key while entering Windows. This will keep items in the Startup folder from launching. 29. Master Volume Control Panel On the Audio page of the Multimedia control panel applet, select the 'Show volume control on Taskbar' option. Once enabled, clicking the speaker icon on the Taskbar will launch the volume control slider. Double-clicking the speaker icon will launch the full volume control applet. 30. Create shortcuts on the desktop Right click on the desktop, choose "New" from the drop down list, and select "Shortcut". After providing the path and shortcut name, the new shortcut will be created on the desktop. 31. Copying and Moving Files Select the files you want to copy or move, right-click and select "Copy" or "Cut". Open the destination location, right-click and select "Paste". Or just right drag to the new location. 32. Moving the Taskbar If you don't like where the Taskbar is located (it is at the bottom of the screen by default), you can drag it to one of the other 3 edges of the desktop 33. Artistic Icons Windows 95 lets you turn icons of bit-map files (those with the BMP extension) into thumbnail illustrations of the bit map itself. To do this, launch REGISTRY.EXE from Windows’ System subdirectory. In Registry, double-click the Paint Picture item under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. Click on the Default Icon entry, the double-click the default item in the right-hand window. In the Default Data box, enter %1, which causes the icon image to refer to the file itself. Restart your machine, and you’ll see that the BMP icon now looks like little samples of the actual images. 34. Custom Icons To pick from Windows 95’s slush fund of icons, right-click on the default icon, (in the Explorer) select Properties from the context menu, and then click the Shortcut tab. Click the Change Icon button, and click Browse in the Change Icon box. Find the PIFMGR.DLL and SHELL32.DLL file in Windows’ System subdirectory to get a scrollable selection of new icons. 35. Make the Most of Explorer Are you tired of Explorer opening to the wrong folder all the time. Create a Shortcut that opens Windows 95’s Explorer applet to a specific folder or container window. For example, to create a Shortcut that explores a subdirectory called DATA, right-click the desktop and select New/Shortcut. In the command line, type Explorer/e/root, c:\data. When you double-click the Shortcut icon, you’ll immediately launch Explorer into that spot (c:\data). 36. The command line is not dead—it’s just been repackaged. Click the Start button and select the Run command to get a dialog box that lets you enter the name of any program or folder, whether it’s on your computer or another one on the network. Windows 95 saves up to 25 previously run commands in a scrollable list, so you can select them later. 37. What you see is not what you get, always. To make an on-screen inch reflect reality, right-click on the desktop, and in the Desktop Area box make sure the resolution is set to higher than 640 by 480 pixels. In the Font Size area, click Custom. Hold a ruler up to the ruler on your screen, and then drag the screen ruler to match the one you are holding. This also makes the print on your screen a lot easier to read. 38. Are you tried of all the folders opening with one window? Like every folder to open like Explorer? Double-click any folder, click View from the window menu, and select Options. Click the File Types tab, then scroll down the list of registered file types and select Folder. Click on the Edit button to get the Actions list, which should contain Explore and Open. Click Explore, then click the Set Default button. (The word “explore” will now be bold.) Next time you double-click a folder, you’ll launch Windows’ Explorer. You can change default settings for any recognized file type, including AVI and WAV. 39. For the Gamer! Most Gamers like working with their games in the DOS mode. They don’t need the GUI for Windows. You can make Windows 95 boot straight to a DOS prompt - with a simple edit to the MSDOS.SYS text file found in the root directory. First, copy the file to another directory to serve as a backup, since your system won’t boot without it. Then open MSDOS.SYS in a text editor and change the number following the word BOOTGUI from 1 to 0. Restart your system, and watch as it dumps you into familiar command-line territory. 40. As any gamer knows, DOS is not dead. MS achieved compatibility with older DOS applications and even some Windows programs by retaining those familiar devils, CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT, just in case a program needed to use them. Windows 95 even gives you a spin on the multiple-boot feature available in DOS 6.0 and above, letting you set up custom boot files for DOS games. In the Properties box for the game icon, select the Program tab, Click the Advanced button, and then click the MS-DOS Mode check box to access individual CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT settings. Make the changes you need in the two text boxes, and close the window. Now when you start the game, your machine will restart into DOS, using the settings you specified to configure memory and resources. 41. Give yourself time. Anyone who has used the F8 key for custom boot options knows that Windows 95 gives you only scant seconds to interdict with the command. In fact, by default you get two of them. Buy a little time by changing the BootDelay= line found in MSDOS.SYS to a higher number—say, 5 or 8, for the changes to take effect. 42. Hot keys: Ctrl - Shift - Right-click Will give you Open With option so you can pick the program you want to open the file with. 43. For the wonderful technicians that keep all of our PC rolling along, please pass this one to them. If you right click the icon My Computer (by now you have probable renamed it), select Properties: Device Manager; click the Print button and select System Summary for one page printout. Or......All devices and system summary for about 14 to 15 pages of technical notes on your PC. Believe me they will love you for it. 44. Want to move your task bar from the bottom? Place your pointer in the middle of your task bar; press and hold your button down and drag it to the top. Or left Or right. 45.Would you like to move the START button? Yes you can. Press Ctrl + ESC Then Press ESC (again)Your Start button should now have little dots around the flag and word. Press Alt + spacebar. A small menu pops up; select move (with the mouse), then using the arrows you can move the start button to the right side of the task bar. 46. Are you not a clouds type.......? There are two files in Windows, one start up and one shut down. Logow.sys and the logos.sys are the two files you have been looking for. The logow.sys is the clouds and the other is the “It is safe to turn off you computer now” one. First you must have a .bmp file that will work to replace it. Load your picture/image into paint, then select Image: Strectch/Skew. In the resulting dialog box, select Horizontal in the Strectch section and enter 50% . Press Enter to compress the image. Now we need to shrink the image vertically 83.33 %, something paint won’t let you do (integers only, please). As a workaround, use the Image: Stretch/Skew dialog box to first stretch it vertically by 104%, the shrink it vertically by 80%, closing the reentering the dialog box each time. The final image should be 320 by 400 with 256 colors. Save the file in the .bmp format. Now rename the file to logow.sys and copy it to the Windows directroy. It will of course over write the original. 47. If you would like to drag something to a close application on the task bar do-it! Hold it there for a moment, the application opens then drop it in the document/paint/spreadsheet etc. But if at the last moment you change your mind (you can do that), while still holding the left mouse down click the right mouse down. Your mouse will abort the mission. 48. Did you ever wish that everything was off your desktop and stayed that way? You can do that, it is Windows 95 isn’t it? Open the Policy Editor, then click on File: Open Registry. Double-click the Local User icon and Navigate through the tree to the Shell/Restrictions section. Under Restrictions branch, check Hide all items on Desktop. Click OK, then exit the Policy Editor, saving your changes. No I am not going to tell you where the Policy Editor is - you find it. By the way, this is how you control the PC so others do not mess it up. Great tool for Administrators/IM departments. 49. Great for Class setup: You want to quickly restore Programs menu everything that Windows95 added during installation. Select Start: Run: type grpconv /s press Enter. 50. Do you really want to buy that Microsoft Windows 95 Resource Kit for $29.95 or more? You know the one you have heard so much about? Well don’t do “I repeat Don’t Do it!”. It is on your CD- ROM for Windows 95. Surprise! 51. Shortcuts are a great way to get to the areas you use most. Make a folder and name it something like “Most used Applications”, and right drag each application that you find in the Explorer to this folder. When you let go of the mouse select Create shortcut here. 52. In Win95 when you delete a lot of files you might want to get them back real fast. Double-click the Recycle Bin and use Ctrl or Shift to select your files. Then click on Edit: Undo Delete from the menu across the top of the recycle bin. I hope everyone can get something out of this. Remember my saying: “ Tips are a dime a dozen; but if you find one you can use it’s GOLD!”