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                                                        Windows 98 tips and tricks

                                    Prepared By:   tcagafoor othukkungal

WIN98 Installation Tips:

These options are used with the Windows 98 SETUP.EXE program and change the way Windows can be installed. While case is not normally important, if the option is in upper case, the option MUST be in upper case to work.

/?

Show some but not all switches available

 

 

/c

Bypass running the disk cache program SMARTDrive

 

 

/d

Ignore the current Windows configuration if present (like WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI)

 

 

/l

Use Logitech mouse during setup

 

 

/n

Run setup without a mouse

 

 

-s

Use an alternate SETUP.INF file

 

 

/t:

Specify the folder to store setup temporary files (any files that exist in the specified folder are deleted)

 

 

/id

Skip check for free space

 

 

/ie

Bypass the prompts for making the EBD (Emergency boot diskette) and do not create the EBD directory

 

 

/ig

Special support for older Gateway and Micron computers with older BIOS

 

 

/ih

Run SCANDISK in the foreground /im Ignore memory check

 

 

/im

Ignore memory check

 

 

/iq

Do not check for crosslinked files if SCANDISK fails, or is disabled from running by using the /is switch

 

 

/is

Do not run SCANDISK during setup

 

 

/it

Do not check for TSRs that normally interfere with Windows Setup

 

 

/iv

Do not display setup screens during an upgrade within Windows.

 

 

/IW

Skip question for license agreement

 

 

/m

Bypass playing the setup sound files.

 

 

/nf

Do not prompt user to remove the bootable floppy diskette (when using bootable CD-ROM).

 

 

/nh

Bypass running the Hwinfo.exe program at 0 percent files and RunOnce.

 

 

/nm

Ignore the CPU type check and install anyway. For example, Windows 98 will complain if the processor is a 486SX (like anyone is using one today), this option lets Windows install anyway

 

 

/nx

Bypass the check for which version of SETUP.EXE is running.

 

 

/NTLDR

Allow installation even if a prior version of Windows is not found. This is typically used when installing a new drive, and the PC came with a crippled OEM version of Windows that will refuse to install.

 

 

/p

Pass a string of one or more options onto the Setup detection manager, separated by semicolons. See Microsoft switches document for more details. Some of the more useful options include:

/p b Prompt before running each detection module
/p f Ignore the current registry and rebuild a completely new one. This is very useful if the registry is completely corrupted, and you have no backup to use.
/p g=3 Verbose progress - so you can see what hardware detection hangs during setup and possibly exclude it.

 

 

Easter Eggs

Product Team - Right click on the desktop, click properties, then click on the Screen Saver tab, Choose 3-D text as the screen saver, and click on settings. In the Display Text box type "volcano", and then click Ok.

Multimedia Product Team show - Using Windows Explorer, go to the directory:

c:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Welcome.

Right-drag the program file Weldata.exe to the desktop. A dialog box appears - select Create shortcut(s) here. Right click on the new Weldata shortcut, and select properties. On the shortcut tab, in the target box, add to the end (after the double-quote) You_are_a_real_rascal and then tab down in the same dialog box to the run box. Change the pull-down run choice to minimized. Click on Ok. Now launch the Weldata shortcut on the desktop.

 

Startup/Shutdown screens


To remove the startup screen, unhide the file C:\MSDOS.SYS. In the DOS box, type ATTRIB -H -R -S C:\MSDOS.SYS. Exit the DOS box. Edit the file and under the [Options] section add (or change the line if present) to LOGO=0

To change the shutdown graphic screen, you can substitute a 320x400 pixel bitmap of your choice (no other size will work). The files to replace reside in your Windows directory, and have the non-bmp names:

"Please wait while Windows is shutting down" - logow.sys
"It is now safe to shut off your computer" - logos.sys

You may wish to save the originals first by renaming the file you plan to replace. For example, change LOGOW.SYS to LOGOW.BMP. Then copy your own bitmap (bmp) file, renamed and relocated to the Windows directory.

The startup screen is embedded in the IO.SYS file in a compressed format and cannot be changed to a different screen.

 

Installation Not on the First Drive


For expert users, Windows, in some situations, can run and boot from a second drive. Be aware this may not work. If you want to try it, the process is to first install Windows on the first physical hard disk C. This disk drive is then switched with another drive (usually changing drive jumpers if IDE). The new "first drive" without Windows must not have any extended or logical partitions.

Using System Commander to boot the OS, specific under Settings, OS Specific options, be sure that all partitions on the first drive are hidden. When Windows on the second drive is selected from the System Commander OS selection menu, it will boot properly and appear as drive C: (even though it is running from the second drive).

Microsoft does not support this configuration. We've seen it work on systems, but it also may fail to boot on your specific system (although it will not hurt anything). Please be aware that V Communications can't help you, should it not boot properly, as it appears Windows is sensitive to some hardware configurations. It may be one of the reasons Microsoft does not support it.

 

Uncommon Keyboard shortcuts

 

Shift-F10

Right-click selected item

Alt-Esc

Switch to Taskbar's "next" open window

Alt-F4

Close active window

Alt-Spacebar-C

Close active window

Alt-Spacebar-N

Minimize active window

Alt-Spacebar-R

Restore closed active window

Alt-Spacebar-X

Maximize active window

Alt-Tab

Show and Switch between open windows (hold Alt and continue to press Tab)

Ctrl-Alt-Del

Display the Close Program dialog box (with end task and shutdown options)

Ctrl-Esc

Display Start menu

Ctrl-F10

Switch focus to menu commands (in any Explorer window)

Ctrl-Shift-Tab

Rotate through dialog box tabs in reverse

Ctrl-Tab

Rotate through dialog box tabs

Ctrl-+

Autosize the columns in Explorer and some other applications (use Num-pad "+")

Windows-D

Minimize all open applications or if all minimized applications, then expand

Windows-E

Open Explorer

Windows-F

Open the find dialog box

Windows-R

Open the run dialog box

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