Chandresh Computer Services
101-9 Venkteshwara Nagar Cabin Road Bhayandar (E) Bombay - 400 105 Maharashtra India
Phone : 819 57 88 Pager : 9622 324 122 Email : [email protected]
Tips & Tricks in Windows 9X
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Avoiding Logo At Startup
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Either press [Esc] during bootup, or edit MSDOS.SYS (remember to change properties before
and after doing this) and add the line LOGO=0 to the Options section.
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Bitmap as Icon
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This is how to make individual icons for bitmaps look like a miniature of the bitmap . . .
To make the change:
1. Start REGEDIT.EXE
2. Locate \ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ .BMP and find the value of the
“default key (usually “Paint.Picture)
3. Locate \ HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \“the value you found, such as \
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \Paint.Picture
4. Open or create the key “ DefaultIcon from this point; modify or
create the string value “Default from this key to equal “%1 (without quotes)
NOTE: This looks best in 16-bit color or higher.
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Change Exit Screens
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You can change those lovely screens you see as you exit Windows95! Simply start up
paintbrush and load up the files LOGOS.SYS and LOGOW.SYS. Change them to whatever you want
- theyre just bitmaps with a different extension!
For a very quick exit - convert the file to Black and White and make the entire picture
black.
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MUST be authorized.
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Changing The Startup Logo
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If you want to have a different “Start-Logo, place a file named LOGO.SYS in your root
directory. NOTE: LOGO.SYS must have the same format as the LOGOW.SYS and LOGOS.SYS (320 x
400,256) bitmap.
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MUST be authorized.
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Completely defragment your Harddrive
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How to completely defragment the hard drive that Win95 is installed on, and clean out
Win95 file droppings:
1. Disable Virtual Memory under Win95.
2. Reboot; when rebooting press [Shift] + [F5] to go to DOS.
3. type “ attrib -r -s -h -a /s , to strip off all attributes from
all files. (While youre at it, you might want to clean all that previously hidden crap
that Win95 put in your Root, as well as delete all those .GID files strewn about your
drive.)
4. Flush your TMP and TEMP directories by doing a DEL. in it.
5. Reboot into Win95.
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MUST be authorized.
6) Delete Immediately
If you hold down [Shift] while dragging items into the Recycle Bin they will be DELETED
immediately rather than being placed in the bin. Just be careful not to accidentally
multi-select more files than you wanted! Incidentally, pressing [Shift] + [Del] gives you
the same effect.
This file is Copyright by Eneuman / Hanar SoftWare. Printing or publishing of this file
MUST be authorized.
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Escaping from a hang
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If you get hung up in Win95 and the usual [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Del] does not respond, press
[Ctrl] + [Esc]. This may bring up the START menu from which you can shut down the system.
This file is Copyright by Eneuman / Hanar SoftWare. Printing or publishing of this file
MUST be authorized.
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Increase modem speed
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To increase modem performance when connecting to the Internet with Win95 . . .
1. Disable compression on your modem
2. Under the 386Enh section put:
COMxBuffer=1024
(where x is the Comport #); you can disable error correction by un-checking that box under
the modem settings and adding the string:
“AT%C0
to the extra settings area in the modem settings.
We have been able to boost a 28.8k connection to an average of 3.3k a second on most URLs.
In Windows 95, the speed of your modem may seem not to work, but the true fact is the baud
rate for you COM Port doesnt allow you to reach top-speed.
To improve your ports speed, go to “ Control Panel | System | Communication Ports ,
then double-click the port your modems in, then click the Properties tab and set the Port
Speed to 921600 BPS; that way you wont have a sort of filter on the Port.
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MUST be authorized.
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Free up some more memory.
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We have noticed in the Control Panel -> System Icon, “Performance Section ->
“File System, under the CD-ROM Tab is a setting for “Supplemental Cache, which
on a machine was defaulted to 1 MB! That is a lot of memory to use up when you rarely use
the CD-ROM.
If this setting is lowered Windows may use less memory at StartUp or during operation
(though we have not had time to test this theory yet).
This file is Copyright by Eneuman / Hanar SoftWare. Printing or publishing of this file
MUST be authorized.
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Nice Mouse Tip
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Do you have a Logitech mouse? This hack will let you use the middle mouse button as a
double-click! Save this as “midclick.reg and double-click it!
**start of midclick.reg**
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Logitech\MouseWare\CurrentVersion\SerialV\0000]
“DoubleClick=“001
**end of midclick.reg**
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MUST be authorized.
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Have you forgotten your Logon Password?
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If you ever forget your Windows Logon Password, simply hit cancel at the logon screen.
This will open the default desktop. Now open Explorer and, under the Windows directory,
find the PWL file with your logon name. For example, if your logon name is Bill, then
there will be a file called BILL.PWL. Delete this file. Go to Shut Down, and click on
“close all programs and log on as another user. Then when the logon screen comes up,
use the same logon name, put in a password, and Windows will ask you to retype the
password for verification. You are back in!!
Also handy if you want to get to someone elses desktop!!!
This file is Copyright by Eneuman / Hanar SoftWare. Printing or publishing of this file
MUST be authorized.
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Print Screen With Win95
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If you are used to using Print Screen (or whatever your keyboard calls it) to print what
you see, and you try to do this with Windows 95, do not expect much. In fact, do not
expect anything - it just will not work.
Now for the good news. There is still a way to print what you see - its just not as
direct. When you hit Print Screen, Windows 95 copies the screen to your clipboard. From
there you can paste the screen into Paint and print from there.
After you hit the Print Screen key, open Paint (Start | Programs | Accessories | Paint),
and choose Edit | Paste. See your screen? File | Print it!
MINI-TIP: If you only want to print an open window, and not the whole screen, hit [Alt] +
[Print Screen].
This file is Copyright by Eneuman / Hanar SoftWare. Printing or publishing of this file
MUST be authorized.
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Tricks To Speed Up Win95
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1) Dont use wallpaper. Just as in Win 3.x, fancy wallpaper can slow down
the system. This probably has more to do with what kind of video card is installed as
opposed to how much RAM you have.
2) Dont use more colors than you really need. We have personally found
256 colors on most systems are adequate to meet most users needs. Some people need more
colors than this; on the other hand there are those that can make-do with just 16 colors.
Again, this probably has more to do with your video card than how much RAM you have.
3) Dont use animated cursors. We doubt this has as much impact as does
wallpaper, but it still can effect overall system performance.
4) Set up your CD-ROM settings according to your needs. If you dont
access your CD-ROM heavily, dont go overboard on the caching or the optimization pattern
(for 2x, 3x, 4x, etc.).
5) Avoid using the Sound schemes that came with Win95, as well as any
system themes from the Plus! Pack or third party contributors.
6) Take advantage of the well-documented registry hack that speeds up
the response of your Start menu. To do this, open the system registry using REGEDIT and
open
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Pane
Highlight Desktop. Right-click on the right-hand window pane and chose New - String Value.
Give the new string value a label of MenuShowDelay. Now double-click on the new string and
enter a value from 1 to 10.
7) Closely scrutinize your AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI, and
SYSTEM.INI files. Determine what, if any, entries are no longer necessary in these files
and delete them. Look especially for the loading of 16 bit real mode drivers that are no
longer required.
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MUST be authorized.
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Support Company logo
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Create a logo bitmap for your company that is 160 x 120 pixels. Save it as:
c:\ windows \ system \ oemlogo.bmp
Create a text file in the following format:
[general]
Manufacturer=My Company
Model=My Version & Model
[Support Information]
Line1=For Technical Support call 1-888-888-8888
Line2=
Line3=Technical Support hours:
Line4=Monday-Friday 7am to 7pm
Line5=Saturday 8am to 5pm
Line6=
Save it as:
c:\windows\system\oeminfo.ini
Now double-click the System applet in Control Panel. The logo appears in the first panel
and the information under [General] appears to the right of the logo. The information
under [Support Information] appears when you press the Support Information button.
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MUST be authorized.
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Use Quick View with Any File
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A handy tool that comes with Windows95 is the Quick View application. By right-clicking on
some files, youll see an option called “Quick View which will allow you to view the
contents of a file without actually opening the application. The problem is that this
doesnt work with just any file. To get your favorite files to work with the Quick Viewer,
follow these steps:
Solution #1:
1. Double-click on the My Computer icon, and choose Options . . . from
the View menu.
2. Click on the File Types, then choose a file type or extension from
the list.
3. Click Edit . . . , turn on the “Enable Quick View: option, and
press OK.
4.
If the file you want to add to Quick View is not listed, press New Type . . . to add the
extension of the desired file to the list.
Youll have to do this for every file you want to use with Quick View. Note that Quick View
may not have a filter for every file you view, but sometimes viewing the raw data is
better than nothing at all.
Solution #2:
Add a Shortcut to QUIKVIEW.EXE (in your \ WINDOWS \ SYSTEM \ folder) to your \ WINDOWS \
SENDTO \ folder.
This way, Quick Viewer will be accessible from the Send To submenu when you right click on
any file.
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MUST be authorized.
Fine Tune Windows 9X
* Prevent file corruption problems:
Run Scandisk whenever you suspect a problem. This
includes if the system crashes whenever you try to
perform a particular action, and if a particular program
or driver refuses to load. It's also good practice to run
Scandisk and the Disk Defragmenter after a serious crash
of any kind, as well as on a regular basis (such as at
the end of the week). Additionally, running the Disk
Defragmenter will improve disk performance under many
circumstances.
* Get the latest drivers:
It's good practice to check with the manufacturers of
your various hardware and software for any updates they
may have. Companies frequently come out with new drivers
for hardware, and new updates for software, and since
most of them are now on the World Wide Web, it's easy to
do so. See Obtaining Technical Support and Drivers for
more information and links.
* Search the registry:
You can learn a lot from using the Search command in the
Registry Editor. Even if you don't edit any information
(it's good to play it safe), just looking at your
registry can provide valuable insight to nagging
problems. Watch this site for an entire section on the
structure and use of the registry.
* Clean up your hard disk:
By erasing unneeded files and folders on your hard disk,
you'll not only get more space, but make it faster and
more responsive. Additionally, removing drivers and
applications that are no longer used will clear more
memory for your other applications, which can
substantially improve overall system performance. Be
careful, however - removing files that are still needed
can cause some applications, or even Windows95 itself, to
stop functioning. It's always good practice to move any
files in question to a different directory or drive (or
just simply rename them) before deleting them entirely.
Again, backing up your entire hard disk is very
important. See What to Throw Away for details, and a good
place to start.
Specific Tips:
* Display your file extensions:
* Open My Computer, and select Options from the View
Menu.
* Click on the View tab, turn off Hide MS-DOS file
extensions for file types that are registered, and press
OK.
* Speed up the Start Menu:
In the Registry Editor, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Control
Panel\ desktop, and add a string value named
MenuShowDelay, with a value specifying the number of
miliseconds (400 is default, smaller numbers are faster).
* Load DosKey in a DOS box automatically:
* Right-click on DOSPRMPT.PIF (in your Windows
directory), and select Properties.
* Click on the Program tab, and enter "DOSKEY" in the
field labelled Batch File. (FYI, I use Keyboost, an
antique version of DOSKEY)
* Change a file association on the fly:
* Hold Shift while right-clicking on a file, and select
Open With....
* Edit the "Send To" menu:
The Send To menu is simply a directory on your hard disk
(usually C:\Windows\SendTo). Just drag-drop any folders,
programs, or drive icons into this folder to add their
shortcuts to the Send To menu.
Hint: if you drag a shortcut for the Send To folder into
the Send To folder itself, it makes it easy to add new
objects later on!
* Things that slow down system bootup:
* You don't have enough free RAM - you should have a
minimum of 8 megabytes, but 16 is better.
* Your hard disk is too slow - try optimizing it using
Defrag. If you have some money burning a hole in your
pocket, you might want to invest in a new, fast, huge
hard disk.
* You don't have enough free disk space for a swapfile -
you should have 20 to 40 megabytes of free disk space
(including the size of the swapfile, Win386.swp), or see
(b.).
* You have 850 fonts installed. If you can survive
without all those fonts, try removing 600-700 of them to
see if that makes a difference.
* Your network drivers (LAN, Dial-up Networking) take too
long to load - try disabling them to see if it makes a
difference.
* Index all the files on your system:
Select Find and then Files or Folders from the Start
Menu, select a drive (or use My Computer for all drives),
and click Find Now without specifying anything in the
Named field.
You can then sort the results by clicking on the
appropriate column heading (useful for finding the
largest or most recent file on your system).
Unfortunately, there's no way to save or print out these
results, but we're working on it...
* Useful Windows 3.x programs not included in Windows95:
The following 16-bit Windows 3.x programs can be used in
Windows95 to provide functionality that otherwise isn't
supported by Windows95.
* Cardfile (cardfile.exe) - a simple electronic
addressbook
* Macro Recorder (recorder.exe) - record and playback
mouse movements and keystrokes
* Write (write.exe) - although Windows95 comes with
Wordpad, it can't save Write files.
* Better Floppy Formats:
Although you can right-click on a floppy drive in
Explorer or My Computer and select Format to format a
floppy, there's a better way.
* Type Format a: /u at the MS-DOS prompt (substitute A:
for whatever drive letter you wish). Using DOS instead of
Windows to format floppies will yield better
multitasking, meaning you'll be able to do other things
while formatting floppies (strange how it multitasks DOS
better than Windows). Furthermore, using the /u paramter
specifies an unconditional format, meaning that it won't
save unformat information, yielding a faster format and
more free diskette space.
* To simply erase a floppy, type Format a: /u/q - this is
much quicker than a full format, but will not ensure an
error-free disk (see General Troubleshooting Techniques
for more information). Remember, if Format reports any
bad sectors, throw away that floppy immediately.
Advanced Tips:
* Speed up system restart:
Add BootDelay=0 to the [Options] section of C:\MSDOS.SYS
Note: For more information, see Contents of the Windows95
MSDOS.SYS File.
* More free memory in DOS windows:
Add LocalLoadHigh=1 to the [386Enh] section of
SYSTEM.INI. - Warning: this may cause unpredictable
results if you are not using the EMM386 memory manager.
Keyboard Shortcuts:
* Switch between running applications:
Press Tab repeatedly while holding Alt.
* Switch easily between a full-screen and windowed command
prompt:
Press Alt - Enter.
* Open the Start Menu:
Press Ctrl - ESC.
* Tab (move from one control to another) in reverse:
Hold Shift while pressing Tab.
* Send the active window to the back:
Press Alt - ESC.
* Move to the next tab in a tabbed dialog box:
Hold Ctrl while pressing Tab.
* Send the focus to the menu:
Press Alt by itself, and use the cursor keys to navigate.
* Keyboard equivalents of Undo, Cut, Copy, and Paste:
Hold Ctrl while pressing Z, X, C, and V, respectively. In
many applications, the following will also work:
Alt-Backspace, Shift-Del, Ctrl-Ins, and Shift-Ins,
respectively.
* Expand all the directories in a a branch in Explorer:
Select the desired branch in Explorer, and press * (the
asterisk key). If Desktop is selected, all directories in
all drives will be expanded.
* Switch to the TaskBar
* Press Ctrl-ESC at any time to bring up the Start Menu.
* Once the Start Menu appears, press ESC to close the
menu while keeping the Taskbar active.
* Then, press Tab to switch to the row(s) of running
applications on the Taskbar.
* Switch to the Desktop:
* Follow the above directions to Switch to the Taskbar.
* Press Tab again to switch to the Desktop.
* Right-click (display an object's context menu):
Make sure the desired object has the focus, and press
Shift-F10.
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