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Miscellaneous New User Tips 95 and 98 |
Learn right away to save your "system.1st" file in your root directory.
And most important,
BACKUP YOUR REGISTRY. YOU WILL BE VERY HAPPY YOU DID THIS 1ST.
WRPV3.ZIP is the Best and easiest Backup/Restore I've Seen.
Download HERE
Install it, then make your 1st registry backup. Now you're safe.
You can do this in windows, I think Dos is a better way.
Boot and Shutdown To Real Dos Mode
First, configure your system to boot to DOS: At you Dos Prompt
type; ATTRIB -H -S -R -S MSDOS.SYS
Then type: Edit MSDOS.SYS.
In the MSDOS.SYS file, make this changes.
[Options]
BootGUI=0
BootKeys=1
BootMenu=1
LOGO=0
BootDelay=0
After you save and exit EDIT Type ATTRIB +H +S +R +S
Reboot to a new menu.
To see what version is loaded on your PC, go toControl Panel, Systems,
General tab. There are currently three versions of W95:
4.00.950 Win 95
4.00.950a Win 95 plus Service Pack 1. See MS Sys Updates on Download
page.
4.00.950b Win 95a plus all sys patches and Fat32. See OSR2 FAQ.
There are also numerous system patches, some of which are “must have”
items. See W95 System
Updates on the Download page and check them out.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/info/updates.htm
The new Windows 95 GUI was really exciting when it first appeared on
the market. The "Welcome to Microsoft's Windows 95" splash screen was quite
impressive the first few times we booted up our newly installed Windows
95 operating system.
But, now I'm sick of it and I am really tired of hitting the ESC key
to see what is being processed behind the splash screen during start up!
If you are like me you'll really enjoy this tip. It requires a little fooling
around with the ever important MSDOS.SYS file, so be careful! Happy hacking...
1. Open your C Drive from "MY COMPUTER".
2. From the VIEW | OPTIONS menu, select the VIEW tab.
3. Select "SHOW ALL FILES", from the dialog box and click on OK.
4. Find the MSDOS.SYS file in your C Drive and right click on it. Choose
PROPERTIES.
5. Remove the READ ONLY attribute from the file and click on OK.
6. Right click on the file and select COPY.
7. Paste the copy of MSDOS.SYS into the C drive and rename it MSDOS.OLD.
8. Double click on the MSDOS.SYS file to open it and select NOTEPAD
from the dialog box.
9. Under the [OPTIONS] category in the MSDOS.SYS file, add the line
LOGO=0.
10. Close and save the MSDOS.SYS file.
The next time you boot up your machine, you will not see the Windows
95 splash screen and you'll be able to watch your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT
files process without having to press the ESC key!
Although many of your old DOS files were irradicated from your DOS folder
when you installed Windows 95, most of your old DOS commands still work
and work effectively. A question that is often raised about a problem that
confuses many Windows 3.1 users is "Why does Windows 95 shutdown into a
screen that says IT IS NOW SAFE TO TURN OFF YOUR COMPUTER, what if I want
to shut down into DOS?" There is hope for you Windows 3.1 users! Here's
how to shut down into "DOS 7.0" to finish your days work from the command
prompt if needed.
1. This will require editing your MSDOS.SYS file. If this is your first
time editing this file, make a copy of it first in your root directory
called MSDOS.OLD and have a startup disk handy in case a mistake is made.
2. Remove the READ ONLY attribute from C:\MSDOS.SYS
3. Open the file C:\MSDOS.SYS into NOTEPAD to be edited. (Sending files
directly to the NOTEPAD)
4. Under the [OPTIONS] heading add the line BootGUI=0.
5. Close and Save MSDOS.SYS.
6. Find the file C:\WINDOWS\LOGOS.SYS and rename it to LOGOS.BMP.
7. Open the Autoexec.bat file with Your favorite text editor.
8. In the last line of the Autoexec.bat file add WIN.
9. Reboot and then SHUTDOWN to try out your new OS. (Type VER at the
C:\ prompt)
If your (bad) typing habits are as well formed as mine, this tip will
come as a big relief. Remember in the article Is It Still DOS? I explained
that most of your old DOS apps are still available and working as fine
as ever under Windows 95. One such application is DOSKEY. In the DOS days
this application could be started from a pesky batch file at system startup
or right from the command line. In Windows 95 it's even easier, here's
how:
1. Start a DOS prompt from START | PROGRAMS.
2. Find and click on the icon of a hand holding a piece of paper in
the tool bar.
3. What you now see is Windows 95 version of PIF editor. In BATCH FILE
type the following: C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\DOSKEY
4. Select OK and close your MSDOS window.
5. When you re-open your MSDOS window, you should see a DOSKEY INSTALLED
prompt.
Doskey has several useful functions, but the most convenient is its
ability to cache your keystrokes from the command line. For example, if
you were to type DIR at the command line and press enter, you can then
hit the up arrow key to restore DIR to the command line. You can use the
up and down arrows to scroll through as many commands as your computer
has cached with DOSKEY.
This is one of the most useful tips I have ever learned. I use this
tip on average 3 or 4 times a day! If you need to edit a *.BAT file or
a *.INI file or your MSDOS.SYS file, you have to do one of two things:
1) Right click on the file and choose OPEN WITH..., then choose notepad
from the bottom of your file association list OR 2) Double click on the
file (If it is not a *.BAT file) and again choose notepad from the file
association list. There is a much easier method! Try this tip and then
customize your own SEND TO folder adding printers, network computers,etc.!
1. Open your C:\WINDOWS directory and find the NOTEPAD.EXE application.
2. Right click on NOTEPAD.EXE and choose COPY from the shortcut menu.
3. Find C:\WINDOWS\SEND TO, right click on the SEND TO folder and choose
PASTE.
Simple wasn't it, now go find yourself a *.bat file or a *.ini file
that you edit frequently. Right click on that file and select SEND TO |
NOTEPAD. You can now edit ANY text file at the click of the mouse.
If you have more than one printer or several network printers, add them
to your send to folder! If you are frequently sending files to a colleague
on your network, add their network computer shortcut to your SEND TO folder!
In My Humble Opinion, Forget "Notepad". Get "UltraEdit32" amd follow
the same instrutions. You'll Thank Me For This! It's well worth the price
and it makes Notepad look like a "Scratch Pad". http://www.idmcomp.com/
The restart option takes the machine all the way back to the POST and
restarts from there. Most configuration changes only require the user to
restart the Windows 95 operating system.
Here's how:
1. If you are prompted to "Restart your computer", select "NO".
2. Select the "Shutdown" option from the Start menu.
3. Select "Restart the Computer?"
4. Depress the "Shift" key on the keyboard while "clicking" on the
"YES" option
When your computer "restarts" you should see "Windows is now restarting..."
in the upper left hand corner of the screen. Any changes you may have made
before the restart should have taken effect and you just saved yourself
a little bit of time!
There are three .BMP files that Windows 95 disguises as .SYS files and
uses for those awful start up and shut down screens. All three of these
files may be viewed in MSPAINT. LOGOS.SYS is the shutdown screen that says
"It is now safe to shutdown" and LOGOW.SYS is the shutdown screen that
says "Please wait while Windows shuts down." Both files are located in
the WINDOWS directory. If you have installed Microsoft Plus you will find
one more file called LOGO.SYS that is located in the root directory and
is the start up graphic. By editing LOGO.SYS you will destroy the annoying
blue scrolling at the bottom of the start up screen.To create custom start
up and shut down screens follow these directions:
1. Using MY COMPUTER or WINDOWS EXPLORER, open the Windows directory.
2. To edit the Shut Down screens, find the file LOGOS.SYS or LOGOW.SYS and open them in MSPAINT.
3. To create a custom Start Up screen, open MSPAINT to create an image that is 320 wide and 400 pixels high.
4. Save the image as LOGO.SYS in your Root directory. If PLUS! is installed, rename the existing LOGO.SYS as LOGO.BMP before saving your custom LOGO.SYS. If PLUS! is not installed you will not have a previous version of LOGO.SYS.
5. Using MSPAINT you may edit the existing shutdown screens or go to
EDIT | SELECT ALL | DELETE to clear the screen and create your own image.
Be sure you set the IMAGE | ATTRIBUTES to 320 wide X 400 pixels high or
your .bmp will not work. Be sure to check your MSDOS.SYS file for the LOGO=0
line, if it exists change it to LOGO=1.
Open Explorer and click Views, Options and File Types tab. Click on
Setup Information and Edit. There should be three actions listed: Install,
Open and Print. If they are missing, click New which brings up the New
Action screen. Enter the actions listed above and enter these corresponding
applications as the ones to be used:
C:\Windows\rundll.exe setupx.dll,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall
132
C:\Windows\Notepad.exe
C:\Windows\Notepad.exe/p Do not mark the DDE block. OK your way out.
Remove the associated file types and the associated applications should
disappear. Open Explorer, View, Options, File Types, highlight the file
type and click remove. If you still use the file type but with a different
application, you will have to add the file type back so be sure to check
out the information closely before deleting it. Note: While this is the
preferred method, I’ve removed the entry by doing a registry search on
the application name as it appears in the Open With list and deleting it.
If the file extension is no longer being used, you will have to search
for and remove it from the registry also.
Reboot the PC, press F8 when "Starting Windows 95" appears and select
Command Prompt Only. Switch to the Windows directory using the command:
CD WINDOWS.
Next, remove the hidden, read-only and system attributes from both
Registry files (*.DAT) and their backups (*.DA0).
Type the following at the DOS prompt: ATTRIB -H -R -S SYSTEM.DAT AND
ENTER.
Repeat it for the other three files, substituting their names.
Copy the SYSTEM.DA0 and USER.DA0 files over the SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT
files using these commands:
COPY SYSTEM.DA0 SYSTEM.DAT and COPY USER.DA0 USER.DAT
Replace the attributes using attrib +H +R +S SYSTEM.DAT (do it for
the other three files) and reboot the PC.
To select multiple consecutive files for operations like cut and paste
or delete, click the first file, press the shift key, click the last file
and right-click the last file to select the operation. Nonconsecutive multiple
files are selected by clicking the first file, pressing the control key,
clicking the remaining files and right-clicking the last file to select
the operation.
You need to write a batch file containing the following line:
echo y| del c:\windows\recent\*.*
You can call it anything you like as long as it has the extension .bat.
Now you can make a shortcut on the desktop for this and change it's properties
to run minimized and close on exit. Whenever you click on your shortcut,
files will be deleted from the documents list.
To see all the folders on your hard drive open Windows Explorer, select the drive icon, and press the asterisk (*) key on the numeric keypad. Now, every folder on the drive will open. To close all the open folders, double-click the drive icon.
You must use a dos mouse driver in your autoexec.bat file. ie mouse.com.
What you need to do ..is 1. shut down to DOS mode
2. Type 'cd\windows'
3. Type 'attrib +s fonts'
4. Type 'win' OR reboot you system. You will now have the "install
new fonts" option under FILE and you can reinstall your fonts.
Lets say you have a 3.2G drive, but it only shows a formatted capacity of 3.05G
The operating system reports the capacity of the hard drive using the assumption that 1MB is equal to 1,048,576 bytes. This is technically correct.
The hardware manufacturers compute the size a bit differently. They
consider 1MB to be equal to 1,000,000 bytes. You can see where this can
cause confusion! If the drive is advertised as 3.2GB (3,200,000,000 bytes),
the operating system will see it as approximately 3.05GB (3,200,000,000
/ 1,048,576 / 1000=3.051758125). So the full 3,200,000,000 bytes are there
- it's just the shorthand way of talking about them that is causing the
confusion.
To Access the Registry, click start\run and type REGEDIT.
Hkey_Classes_Root
This key displays information about OLE and associated mappings to
support drag-and-drop operations.
Hkey_Current_User
This points to a branch of Hkey_Users for the currently logged on user.
Hkey_Local_Machine This contains computer specific information including
installed hardware and software. This is the one I tend to spend the most
time in.
Hkey_Users
This contains information about users that have logged on to the computer.
Hkey_Current_Config
This key points to a branch of Hkey_Local_Machine \ Config and has
information such as display fonts and printers.
Hkey_Dyn_Data
This key points to a branch of Hkey_Local_Machine that has information
about Plug and Play devices. You can start clicking on the + sign
next to HKey_Local_Machine and get used to
moving around the registry.
To clean the list in the Start\run menu.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/Runmru
Programs that stays running after win95 starts.
When you hit ctrl+alt+del, Explorer should only be running, Systray
may also appear if you have items added to the Systray other than the Time.
Antivirus, Logitech mouse, MS Intelli mouse, System agent are some
of the programs that could use resources and be running when starting Win95.
For optimal performance have the minimum running.
HKey_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell
Folders
Check these too, be very carefull.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServicesOnce
Remove Programs in the Add Remove program list
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
Software that are uninstalled already, can be safely deleted
HKey_Current_User\Software
To speedup or slowdown the Startmenu
Click the+ HKEY-CURRENT- USER\control panel\desktop\menu show delay
and click edit values up to two seconds=2000, best is 500, type the value.
Stop windows animation:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics\Right Mouse Click
an empty space in the right panel.Select new/string value.
1. Name the new value MinAnimate.
2. Doubleclick on the new string value (MinAnimate) and click on "Modify"
3. Enter a value of 0 for Off or 1 for On
In HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.scr:
Set it equal to "scrfile"
Autocad extension problem .scr and the win95 screensaver extension
.scr.
Check out the Microsoft Download Wizard
If you're envious of Windows 98's Windows Update tool and wish there
were a similar tool for Windows 95, you're going to love the Microsoft
Download Wizard. The Download Wizard checks your computer for existing
Microsoft software files and then makes suggestions for any patches and
updates that may be appropriate for your system's configuration. After
it suggests the files, you can specify which ones you want to download.
To access the Microsoft Download Wizard, point your browser to the Microsoft
Support Online site at support.microsoft.com/support/downwiz.
Keep in mind that the Download Wizard works only with U.S. and Canadian
versions of Windows 95 running Internet Explorer 3.x or later.
Making Windows Explorer the default
If you prefer viewing your folders with Windows Explorer rather than
My Computer, you can easily make the Windows Explorer view the default
for all folders. To begin, open any folder, pull down the View menu, and
select the Options... command. (If you've installed Internet Explorer 4.0,
the command will be called Folder Options....) Next, select the File Types
tab, scroll through the Registered File Types list, and choose the Folder
item.
Locate the Folder item in the Registered File Types list.
Once you access the Folder file type, click the Edit... button. Then,
select Explore in the Actions list box and click the Set Default button.
When you do, the Explore entry will become bold.
Click Close twice to effect the change. (If you ever want to reverse
the setting, follow the same steps, but highlight Open instead of Explore
to set it as the default.)
Click the Set Default button to make Explore the default view for a
folder.
Open any file type by right-clicking
You probably know that when you double-click a filename (or right-click it and select Open), Windows 95 will launch whichever application is associated with the file type. The application will in turn open the file. This provides a particularly easy way of opening files directly from a folder window or Windows Explorer. But what if the file you want to open isn't associated with an application? It would be nice if you could specify a default application, which could be used to open any type of file, even if it doesn't have an association. Unfortunately, this isn't possible. But here's a technique that's nearly as good.
To demonstrate it, let's assume that you use the DOS-based shareware utility List.com. This is a generic viewer that displays any file's contents as either text or hexadecimal. You want a quick way of opening files in List.com, but you don't want to associate it with specific file types.
Start by launching Explorer or opening My Computer. Navigate to a folder called Send To, which is contained within the Windows folder. Now, open another folder window and navigate to the program that you want to use to open the files--List.com in this example. Drag that program to the Send To folder. When you do, Windows 95 will recognize it as an executable program and will create a shortcut to it rather than move it. So the Send To folder will now contain a shortcut to List.com.
From now on, you can open any type of file in List.com by right-clicking on the filename, selecting Send To, then selecting List.com. That's not quite as easy as double-clicking, but it's a lot more convenient than launching the program first and then using it to open the file. Of course, we've used List.com just as an example here. The technique will work just as well with any DOS or Windows program, provided that it's capable of opening a file from its command line.
The new RegClean
Microsoft recently upgraded its Registry cleaning utility, called RegClean,
after problems were discovered with the utility. The new version is labeled
4.1a Build 7364. If you have an older version, you should delete it and
download the upgrade from Microsoft's FTP site at ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/mslfiles/regclean.exe.
The utility scans the Registry and fixes common entry problems for several
Microsoft operating systems and applications, including Windows 95, Windows
NT, Internet Explorer 3.0 and 4.0x, all versions of Office, and Visual
Basic. For more detailed information about how RegClean works, read the
Microsoft Knowledge Base article "RegClean 4.1a Description and General
Issues" on Microsoft's Web site at
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q147/7/69.asp.
Bypassing ScanDisk after a crash
If your Windows 95 system has ever crashed, you'll have discovered that, when you reboot the computer, it automatically runs ScanDisk. This utility verifies the integrity of your hard disk and gives you a chance to deal with any corrupted data, which the crash might have caused. Running ScanDisk in this way is time-consuming, but, for most users, it's a necessary step and shouldn't be skipped. However, if you're an experienced user and understand the issues involved, you might prefer not to run ScanDisk after a crash. For example, you might work in a development environment where system crashes are frequent, and you prefer to deal with any corrupted data at a more convenient time.
There's a simple technique you can use to disable the automatic running of ScanDisk after a crash. We stress that you shouldn't do this unless you feel confident of what you're doing. (This information only applies to Windows 95 Service Release 2 or later. Earlier versions don't run ScanDisk automatically. If you bought a new PC with Windows 95 pre-installed after the beginning of 1997, you probably have this service release.)
Start by locating the Msdos.sys file in the root directory of your boot drive. This is a hidden file, so you might need to select Show All Files from the folder window's View options in order to see it. This is a vital file, so make sure you have a backup of it before going any further.
Next, open the file's properties sheet and clear the read-only attribute. Then, open the file in a text editor, such as Notepad. Scroll down to the [Options] section, and insert the following command:
AUTOSCAN=0
Finally, close the file and reset the read-only attribute. From now on, AutoScan will no longer run automatically after a crash. Of course, you'll still be able to run it in the normal way at another time. To restore the automatic running, simply remove the above line from the file.
Outlook 98 is FREE
The newest version of Outlook is available as a free upgrade to current
registered users of Outlook 97, Office 97, or Exchange Server. Your only
cost is shipping and handling. Outlook 98 runs faster; combines features
of Outlook 97 and Outlook Express; and has a slightly new, more intuitive
interface. The new version handles in-line HTML and integrates NetMeeting
2.0 and Internet Explorer 4.0. For more information about Outlook 98, check
out Microsoft's Outlook site at
http://www.microsoft.com/outlook/outlook98.
Moving your swap file
If you have two physical hard disks in your system, you can boost Windows 95's performance by putting your swap file on the second hard disk. To do so, first right-click My Computer and choose Properties from the shortcut menu. In the resulting dialog box, select the Performance tab and then click the Virtual Memory... button. Now, select the Let Me Specify My Own Virtual Memory Settings option, click the Hard Disk dropdown arrow, and select your second hard disk. You'll notice that the Hard Disk text box lists free space for each drive. If there's less free space on your second hard disk, you can either delete some of its files to clear space or you can just leave the swap file where it is. Also, leave the Minimum and Maximum settings as they are.
To continue, click OK and let Windows 95 restart. Once it does, check the virtual memory screen again to make sure that the Let Windows Manage My Virtual Memory Settings option is selected. If it isn't, select it and click OK.
Use the mouse for DOS-prompt editing
Have you ever wanted to use your mouse to make DOS-prompt editing easier? If so, all you have to do is activate the QuickEdit mode. Start by opening an MS-DOS Prompt window. Then, click the Properties button and select the Misc tab. Next, select the QuickEdit check box in the Mouse panel and close the dialog box. You can now use the mouse to select and copy text from a DOS window. To do so, simply open a DOS window, move the mouse pointer to the top-left or bottom-right corner of the text you want to copy, and then drag to the opposite corner. Once you've highlighted the desired text, you can copy it to the Clipboard by right-clicking your mouse. You can treat your copied text the same as any other text you copy to the Clipboard--for example, you can paste it into a Windows application by pressing [Ctrl]V.
Note that when you activate QuickEdit mode, it becomes the default mode for future MS-DOS sessions. This means that any DOS applications you run in a DOS window won't be able to use the mouse normally. If you want the mouse to function normally, you can start the application by typing
Start application at the DOS prompt instead of typing just application
Making Windows 95 remember folder settings
As you may know, Windows 95 has a habit of forgetting the settings for My Computer and Windows Explorer windows. These settings include the size, position, sort order, toolbar status, and icon view style. If you want Windows 95 to remember these settings, first arrange a My Computer or Windows Explorer window the way that you want it. Then, hold down the [Ctrl][Alt][Shift] key combination while you click the close box. Keep in mind that there's a limit to how many specific folder instances Windows 95 can keep track of, and eventually it will forget the folder settings.
Quickly opening folders
When you want to quickly open folders, you might want to use the Run
dialog box. For most local files, you need the full DOS path, but you can
skip that step when opening a folder under the Windows hierarchy. For example,
you can open the SendTo, System, or Start Menu folder by typing just the
name in the Run dialog box and pressing [Enter]. (Use quotation marks if
the name includes a space.) To instantly open a folder view of everything
on the desktop, open the Run dialog box and type desktop. To browse the
root directory of your C: drive, type \.
Your video card is capabale of producting images on the screen at different resolutions and colors. The "" determine how large the dots on your screen become, hence the more dots on the screen, the better your picture, the better your resolution. Resolutions are classified by the number of dots represented on your screen. There are four resolutions that are common in today's computers:
640x480
800x600
1024x768
1280x1024
Computers also have color settings that can be changed. The color setting determines how many colors can be displayed on the screen at any one time. Usual settings for color are as follows:
4 Color
16 Color
256 Color
Hi-Color, Approx. 32,000 colors, or 16-Bit
True-Color, Approx. 1.5 Million colors or 24-Bit
Most computers come shipped with their settings set at a 640x480 resolution
using a 256 color pallette. This is called VGA. VGA was the industry standard
for a very long time until SVGA came around toward the middle of the 486
period, for some reason dealers do not ship the computers with the higher
settings.
But you bought an SVGA monitor and a SVGA card video card with around
2 megabytes of RAM, so why not use it... Here's how:
Windows 95
1. Click the right mouse button on the desktop
2. Select "Properties"
3. Select the "Settings" Tab
4. Use the pulldown menu under "Color Pallette" to select "High-Color
(16-Bit)"
5. Use the slide bar under "Desktop Area" to select "800 x 600 pixels"
Note: Not all video cards and monitors can support these settings although any Windows 95 computer, if set up correctly, can support 800x600 in 16-Bit color mode.
Note: Your computer will then either change the display automatically
or ask for you to re-boot your system. In the event that the computer does
not reboot to Windows 95 you must boot in "Safe-Mode" and restore your
original settings. Errors of this nature are caused by an incorrect installation
of your video card and its corresponding software. If this is the case
and you know you have an SVGA video card and monitor then have your computer
looked at by a technician.