Windows Tips
Windows
Tips & Tricks
=====================
Avoiding
Startup Applications
As you know, if you press the SHIFT key on the Windows 9X/Me booting process, no
applications in the Startup folder will be activated. Unfortunately, if you
perform this process too fast then Windows 9X/Me will be executed on the Safe
mode. The better method is holding the CTRL key when the hourglass pointer
appears on the screen.
Ctrl+Alt+Del
for the Not Responding Applications
If you open too many applications on your computer, sometimes one of those
applications will make your computer stop responding. To get around this
problem, press Ctrl+Alt+Del. The Close Program dialog box will appear on the
screen. Select the not responding application and then click End Task.
Faster
Shutdown
How long the time that you spend to end your Windows session? So much time
wasted only to play the Exit Windows's sound. To get faster shutdown or restart,
you can delete that sound. To do so, open Control Panel, double click the Sound
icon, in the Events list find the "Exit Windows" item, and then choose
None in the Name column.
More
Choices at Windows Setup
If you want to reinstall Windows 9X/Me, type "setup" followed by one
or more of these parameters:
/is to run setup without checking the system /id to run setup without checking
available free space /IQ to run setup without checking cross-linked file and
directory integrity /in to run setup without Network Setup Module /iw to run
setup without copyright confirmation
Presentation
at Booting
If you use PowerPoint as your presentation application, you may want to try this
tip. First, create your presentation by using PowerPoint. When you have
finished, save its file. Run Windows Explorer, go to PowerPoint folder, and then
right-click on the POWERPNT.EXE file. Select Create Shortcut, right-click this
new shortcut, select Properties, and then go to Shortcut section. To open the
presentation in the slide show mode, in the Target column you need add the name
of presentation file followed by /s. Move this shortcut into the
C:\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp folder. From now on, your presentation
will be automatically opened on Windows Startup.
Printing
the BIOS Screen
Make sure that you have turned on your printer. Click on the Start button, click
Shut Down, choose Restart the computer, and then click Yes. On the first screen
after rebooting, press Del, F1, or F2 depending on what kind of computer that
you use. When the BIOS information has appeared on the screen, press PrintScreen
button on the keyboard. Your printer will print the information that appears on
the screen.
Quick
Startup to the DOS mode
If you want to enter the DOS mode on Windows 9X/Me Startup, usually you have to
press F8 key when "Starting Windows …" message appears on the
screen. From this menu then you choose "Command prompt only" option.
To get faster process, try to press Alt+F5 when the "Starting Windows
…" message appears on the screen.
Quick
Warm Boot
Normally, if you choose Restart on the Shut Down menu, your computer will do the
warm boot process. To save the booting time, hold down Shift key while clicking
the Yes option.
Removing
the Annoying Password
As you know, you can create two or more desktop settings, each one accessed by
using a specific password. If this password is annoying, then you can perform
these steps to delete the password:
First, open Control Panel, double-click Password icon, click User Profiles tab,
and then click the All users of this PC use the same preferences and desktop
setting option. Click Change Password tab, and then click Change Windows
Passwords. Type your old password and leave the other boxes empty. Click OK,
click Close, and then restart Windows 9X/Me
If the first step above fails to delete the password then open Control Panel,
double-click Network icon. Click Primary Network Logon list, and then select
Windows Logon. Click OK, and then restart your computer.
Showing
the Welcome Screen
When you install Windows 9X for the first time, the Welcome dialog box that
appears on the screen offers you to read the tips and Windows 9X tour. If you
uncheck the "Show this Welcome Screen next time you start Windows"
check box, then this dialog box will never shows up anymore. From now on, if you
want to show the Welcome screen just click the Start-Run menus, type welcome,
and then click OK.
Speeds
Up the Booting of the PC
To speeds up the booting of your PC, you can disable the scans for the presence
of new floppy drives when Windows starts. To do so, right-click My Computer,
click Properties, and then click the Performance tab. Click file system, click
the floppy disk tab, and then uncheck search for new floppy drives each time
your computer starts. Click OK and OK again.
The
Secrets Behind Windows Startup Logo
What is happening behind the scenes while you're looking at the Windows startup
logo? You can easily find out by pressing the Esc key when the logo appears. You
will see the Windows boot process being narrated by a lot of rapidly scrolling
text. You can temporarily stop the boot process by pressing the Pause key on
your keyboard. Take your time to read the whole text. To get things rolling
again, just press any key on your keyboard.
Tracking the Startup Process
Tracking the startup process is useful to find out why the Windows startup
failed. To do so, use WordPad applications to open the BOOTLOG.TXT file in C:\.
Click Edit, Find menu to open the Find dialog box. Type "fail"
(without quotation mark) in the appropriate box and then click Find Next button.
If the Find process stops on a sentence that has the word "fail", you
have found the problem that caused Windows startup process failure.
Adding
More Files in Startup Disk
Some times you need to add several more files into your Windows Startup Disk,
such as device driver files or customized batch files. Normally you need to do
this by adding those files manually into the standard Startup disk Windows
creates. Here is the quick way, first copy all necessary files or folders to the
\Windows\Command\EBD directory. When you want to create a new floppy, run
\Windows\Command\Bootdisk.bat. This will format the floppy and copy all the
files in the EBD directory.
CD-ROM
Access in Safe Mode
Some people think that it is impossible to access CD-ROM while they are in the
Windows Safe Mode. Well, they almost correct. The secret is: depress the CTRL
key to access the Startup menu right before your PC begins booting up into
Windows. Select 'Command Prompt Only,' type "win /d:m" (without the
quotation marks) and then press ENTER. Now, Windows should start in Safe Mode
with your CD-ROM drivers. However please notice that if you still can't access
your CD-ROM drive, it means you need to install the real mode CD-ROM drivers.
Automatic
Power On with Double Click
The latest main board and BIOS support ATX facility, it means you can power on
your computer with just a double click. To activate this feature: first restart
your computer, press Del when the BIOS message appears to enter your CMOS
configuration, and then select Integrated Peripherals from main menu. If PS/2
mouse power on disabled, activate it by press page up/ page down key it will
became Double-Click. Press Esc key to exit, press F10 to save and exit, and then
power off your PC. Now double-click the left mouse button to turn on your PC.
Express
Shortcuts
Most people use their computers for several repetitive tasks, such as checking
their e-mail boxes, read the latest breaking news or weather reports from
Internet. Now you can save your time by placing these tasks shortcuts into a
folder in Windows Startup folder. Just make and name a folder on your hard
drive, for example 'Express Shortcuts'. Move all the shortcut icons out of the
Windows Startup folder and into the 'Express Shortcuts' one. Then, place an
'Express Shortcuts' folder shortcut into the 'Startup' folder; it should be the
only shortcut in there. From now on, when Windows boots up, you'll see a small
window with all your 'Startup' shortcuts displayed. You can pick and choose
which ones you want to launch at that time.
Install
Logo as Startup Logo
Still remember with the logo that appears when you first booted into your
freshly installed Windows? Now you can have that logo displayed as your Windows
Startup logo. All you have to do is extracting the file called SULOGO.SYS from
the WIN95_10.CAB cabinet file found in the \WIN95 folder of your Windows 95
installation CD. Or from WIN98_52.CAB cabinet file found in the \WIN98 folder of
your Windows installation CD. Use WinZip utility to extract it into your hard
disk, and then use "Edit Windows Logo" setting on WinBoost to put it
as a Windows Startup Logo.
Starting
Sequence in the Startup Folder
Normally you cannot arrange the starting sequence in the Startup folder. To get
around this situation you must write a batch file. For example you want to
activate ScanDisk (minimized) and Windows Explorer (maximized) on Windows
Startup. First run Notepad or other similar text editor applications and enter:
start /min scandisk.exe start /max explorer. exe
From the menu bar select Choose File, Save As and give it a name using the BAT
extension, for example Startseq.bat. Select a location and then click Save.
Right-click Start and choose Open. When the Start window opens, double-click
Programs to open it. You should now see the StartUp folder. Now, run Windows
Explorer and locate your batch file. Use the right-mouse button to drag its icon
to your StartUp folder and choose Create Shortcut(s) Here from the pop-up menu.
In the StartUp folder, right-click the new shortcut and choose Properties. When
the Properties dialog box opens, click the Shortcut tab. Click the arrow at the
right side of the Run list box to expand the list and then select Minimized from
the list. Click OK to close the dialog box and save your changes. When you
restart the computer, ScanDisk will start first and then followed by Windows
Explorer.
Bonus tip: Another method, rename all the shortcuts using numbers (1, 2, 3, …)
and put the number in front of the original name.
Automated
Restarts or Shutdown
Want to shutdown or restart your Windows automatically at a specific time you
have defined before? Just follow these simple steps:
Click on Start - Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Scheduled Task to open
Task Scheduler. In the Scheduled Task Wizard, use the Browse option and navigate
to C:\Windows\Rundll32.exe. Click OK and finish the wizard including select the
start time (time to restart your Windows). Once it's done, right click on the
newly created task, click Properties, and add the following parameters in the
Run line:
C:\Windows\Rundll32.exe shell32.dll,SHExitWindowsEx 0x2
Make sure the "Start In:" box contains C:\Windows. Also the
"Enabled" box at the bottom of the dialog has checked. Click OK and
you have finished the job.
Note: If you want an automatic shutdown instead of an automatic restart, use the
same procedure to locate C:\Windows\Rundll.exe file. And then add the following
parameters in the Run line:
C:\Windows\Rundll.exe user.exe,exitwindows
One
Profile for One Purpose
If you've got your Windows login box enabled, you can create different user
profiles. Normally this feature useful if the same computer used by several
people. Even if you're the only one using your PC, you can take a benefit from
it. Simply set up logins for "School", "Work",
"Games", or "Entertainment." Each Desktop could be laid out
with a different set of files, folders, and shortcuts.
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