Windows 98 and ie tips

Windows 98/IE 4.0 Tips

These tips come from "Winmag" http://www.winmag.com

Browse Without Ads
A shareware utility called No More Ads blocks advertising from your browser while you surf the Web with IE 4.0.

The AutoComplete Picture
For a site you've previously visited, you can type an incomplete URL into Internet Explorer's Address bar, and the browser's AutoComplete feature will fill in the rest. However, it only searches for entries with .com, .org and .edu extensions by default. You can edit the Registry to make it also search for .gov and .net URL extensions. Run Regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\UrlTemplate. You'll find six strings with these value names and data:

1 "www.%s.com"
2 "www.%s.edu"
3 "www.%s.org"
4 "%s.com"
5 "%s.edu"
6 "%s.org"
Select Edit/New/String Value and add the following values and data: 7 "www.%s.net"
8 "www.%s.gov"
9 "%s.net"
10 "%s.gov"

Add Your Own Channels
To add a local HTML file to the Channels bar, open C:\WINDOWS\ FAVORITES\CHANNELS and create a shortcut to any HTML file.

Redecorate Your Folders
You can change the default wallpaper within an open folder by selecting View/Customize This Folder. Click "Choose a background picture" and follow the wizard to select either a solid color or image for your wallpaper.

Show Me the Desktop
If you accidentally delete the Show Desktop shortcut from the taskbar's Quick Launch toolbar, here's how to restore it: In C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch, create a new text file with the following contents:

[Shell]
Command=
IconFile=explorer.exe,3

[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

Save the file as ShowDesktop.SCF. This will put the shortcut back on your Quick Launch toolbar.

Save Your Search Engine
You can change the default Web search engine that IE 4.0 opens when you select Find/On the Internet from the Start menu. Run Regedit and open the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main key. Double-click on SearchPage and in the Value Data box, enter the URL of the search engine you want.

Get Ready to Shop
IE 4.0 comes with an Internet wallet that lets you securely store your credit-card payment information. Select View/Internet Options/Content. Click on the Payments button (if you're prompted to load the CreditCard wallet extension, click Install). In the next dialog box, pick Add and follow the wizard to load your credit-card information.

More Search Shortcuts
You can choose the search engine displayed in the Search Explorer Bar. Click on the Search button in IE 4.0's standard toolbar, and in the left-hand pane that appears, click on the drop-down menu labeled Choose Provider. You can select either AOL NetFind, Excite, Infoseek, Lycos, Yahoo or a Provider-of-the-day.

See More While You Surf
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 has a Full-Screen mode that's just two clicks away. Choose the Full Screen button on the toolbar (or select View/Full Screen), then right-click on the remaining standard toolbar and select Auto Hide. The Windows taskbar, the links and address toolbars, the menu bar, and the status and title areas should all be hidden. Toggle back to Normal view by moving the mouse to the top edge of the screen and selecting View/Full Screen again (you'll notice a check mark in the drop-down menu when Full Screen is enabled)

Do You Have All of IE4?
The easiest way to update missing or out-of-date IE4 components is to select Microsoft on the Web/Free Stuff from the IE4 Help menu. Once you're at the Microsoft site, find and click on the link that says "Click here to go to the 4.0 Add-Ons page." Then click on the Internet Explorer 4.0 Components link. Finally, let it scan your hard drive; it will tell you the status of each component and give you the option to upgrade any combination of items.

IE4 Easter Egg
Under Windows 95, select Help/About Internet Explorer from IE4's main menu. A dialog box will pop up. While holding down the Ctrl and Shift keys, use your left mouse button to select the IE "e" logo and then drag it all the way to the left. Next, while still holding the keys down, move the logo to the right, going over the Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 black text. An Unlock button will be revealed. Click it, and the globe graphic should start to shake. Hold down the Ctrl and Shift keys again and drag the IE4 logo over the globe.

Fastest Active Content
You probably already know that dragging and dropping a URL or hyperlink from your browser window onto the Desktop creates a shortcut to the site. If you use the right mouse button to drag it, a menu will appear and give you the additional option of saving the page as active content.

There's No Turning Back
If you're using Internet Explorer 4.0, don't try to install a previous version on top of it. Version 3.02 doesn't detect version 4.0, and installing the old on top of the new can cause a major lockup. Also beware of other applications that install version 3.02 as part of their installations.

Fast Subscriptions
The fastest way to subscribe to a bunch of sites is to simply visit the sites, open the History pane or folder, and drag and drop the sites you want onto the Subscriptions folder.

Multiple Subscription Updates
In your Subscriptions folder, select any group of subscriptions by highlighting them with your mouse, right-clicking on one of them and selecting Update Now. Doing this will update all of the selected sites.

Launch Apps from Your Browser
Presumably, you've got your favorite applications on the Start menu, so they're just two clicks away. Here's how to make them only one click away: Right-click on the Start button and select Open from the Context menu. Select all the shortcuts you want, and drag and drop all of them onto the Links toolbar.

Fast Security
The fastest way to change your security settings is to double-click on the lower right-hand part of the browser's Status bar. This will launch the Internet Security Properties dialog box. From there, you can specify high, medium, low and custom security levels for different zones.

Change Channels
IE4's channel bar comes loaded with shortcuts to channels from Microsoft business partners. You can easily clear them off your channel bar by selecting Channels from the toolbar, highlighting each channel, then right-clicking and picking Delete from the Context menu. You can also make any Web site a channel by browsing to the site and then dragging and dropping the URL icon from the address bar to the channel bar.

'Run' Your Favorite Web Sites
If you're a fan of the Windows command line, you can use it to launch a Web site by keying in a URL. Open Start/Run, specify the site (if you've visited the site before, the AutoComplete feature should complete the URL for you), and it will automatically load in IE4.

New Version of IE4
Microsoft recently issued a major update to IE4 that fixes significant bugs, includes a much-improved setup routine and adds accessibility features. Download the free file from Microsoft's Web site.

Reorganize Your Start Menu
You can permanently move any item on your Start menu (with the exception of the "hard-wired" items, such as the Documents or Programs menu labels) simply by dragging and dropping the item to the new Start menu location of your choice.

Delete Start Menu Items
While you're reorganizing your Start menu, delete any unwanted item (again, with the exception of any Windows default items) by dragging it from the menu to the Recycle Bin.

Create Shortcuts From Start Menu Items
Copy or move Start menu items you've created by dragging and dropping them to the Desktop or to the folder of your choice. If you simply drag and drop, you'll move them. If you'd like to create a shortcut or copy a Start menu item, either use the right mouse button to drag it, or press and hold Ctrl+Shift when you drag and drop.

Change New IE4 Icons
The other default items in the toolbar, including the View Channels icon, aren't called by ordinary shortcuts. They're actually specified by a new SCF file format, which is a simple text file that you can edit. To change the icon in a SCF file, launch Notepad, choose File/Open, go to your C:\WINDOWS\APPLICATION DATA\MICROSOFT\INTERNET EXPLORER\QUICK LAUNCH directory and select the SCF file you want to edit. Find the IconFile= line and point it to the path and filename of the icon you want. You can also add new items to the Quick Launch toolbar by dragging and dropping a file or folder icon from an Explorer window onto the toolbar.

Make Changes To Start Menu Items
As you may have noticed by now, items that you add to IE4's Start menu behave just like regular folders and files. By right-clicking on any Start menu item you've added, you'll get a Context menu, which, among other options, lets you modify the item's properties.

New Keyboard Shortcut
With IE4, you gain a new keyboard shortcut. Press the WinKey+D, and you'll immediately minimize all windows, giving you instant access to your Desktop.

Eliminate Underlines
If you enabled the Web-style, single-click Desktop and want to get rid of all the underlines that show up every time you open a folder, you can customize your view so that you only see the underline when you move your mouse pointer over an icon. Click Start, then select Settings/Folders and Icons. Open the General tab, select Custom and click on the Settings button. Choose the option labeled "Single-click to open an item [point to select]," and then pick the suboption titled "Underline icon titles only when I point at them."

Auto Incomplete
If you find it annoying when IE4's AutoComplete feature fills in URLs for you on the address bar, you can turn it off by selecting View/Internet Options. Open the Advanced tab, and in the Browsing section, remove the check mark from the box labeled Use AutoComplete.

IE4 PowerToys
Just like it did for Win95, Microsoft has created a free PowerToys utility for Internet Explorer 4.0. The program adds custom frames (you can view multiple sites at once), QuickSearch’s power searching capabilities and many other features. Download the IE4 PowerToys from WinMag’s Free Win98 Software site at http://www.winmag.com/win98/software.htm

Browse Without Ads
A shareware utility called No More Ads blocks advertising from your browser while you surf the Web with IE 4.0.

1 "www.%s.com"
2 "www.%s.edu"
3 "www.%s.org"
4 "%s.com"
5 "%s.edu"
6 "%s.org"
Select Edit/New/String Value and add the following values and data:
7 "www.%s.net"
8 "www.%s.gov"
9 "%s.net"
10 "%s.gov"

Add Your Own Channels
To add a local HTML file to the Channels bar, open C:\WINDOWS\ FAVORITES\CHANNELS and create a shortcut to any HTML file.

[Shell]
Command=
IconFile=explorer.exe,3

[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

Save the file as ShowDesktop.SCF. This will put the shortcut back on your Quick Launch toolbar.

Keep IE 4.0 to a Minimum
If you want the Internet Explorer 4.0 browser, but don't want the new taskbar, Web View, Active Desktop or any other "integrated browser" features, here's how to set this up. If IE 4.0 is already installed, uninstall it using Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs. Go to http://www.microsoft.com/outlook/outlook98, download Microsoft's free Outlook 98 beta and install it. In addition to the standard mail/PIM program, Outlook 98 will install a bare-bones version of IE 4.0. The beta expires May 1, but this trick should also work with the shipping version.

Uninstall IE First
Reinstalling Win95 can cause all kinds of problems if you have Internet Explorer 4.0 installed. That's because the IE 4.0 installation replaces several key Windows system files with new ones. The solution is to uninstall IE 4.0, reinstall Win95, then reinstall IE4.

Drag, Drop and Drill
In a dual-pane Explorer view, if you're dragging a file or folder from the right pane to a buried folder in the left pane, you don't need to expand the folders first. Select the files or folders you want to copy, drag them to the left pane, and hold them over the contracted folder for a second or two. The folder will expand automatically, so you can drop the files into the folder or continue drilling down.

Add a 'Hover Color'
You can tell IE 4.0 to change the color of any link when the mouse pointer hovers over it. Select View/Internet Options and click on the General tab's Colors button. Check Use Hover Color and click on the color box to select your desired color.

Channel Screen Saver
IE 4.0 comes with a screen saver that displays a slide show of all Active Channel content you select. Right-click on the Desktop and select Properties. Click on the Screen Saver tab and select the Channel Screen Saver. Click on the Settings button and a list of all your channels will appear in the Channels box. Select the ones you want in the screen saver and click on OK.

Free IE 4.0 Tips
Use the Find utility (Start/Find/Files and Folders) to search for IE4.TXT files. You'll find browser tips and pitfalls to avoid, including information about odd installation problems. If you find more than one version of this file, use the newest one.

Every Window Is an FTP Client
If you type an FTP address in the Address box of any Explorer view (whether you're on the Internet or just browsing your own hard disk), you'll go to the site and be able to use the window as an FTP client.

Folder Settings for Power Users
IE 4.0's default folder settings are for novices. Here's how to turn on the power-user interface features. Open My Computer and select View/Folder Options/View. Check the options "Display the full path in title bar," "Show Map Network Drive button in toolbar" and "Allow all uppercase names."

Universal Viewer
Internet Explorer has built-in players that let you view graphics files stored in JPEG and GIF formats, play sound files with WAV or AU extensions, and view AVI, MOV or MPEG video clips. Just drag the file into the browser window, click on "Open this file from the current location" and let it run.

Reactivate Your Active Desktop
If you haven't been to the Microsoft Active Desktop Gallery for a while, it's time to go back. Microsoft has added lots of free and cool new active content, including an address finder (just type in the address, and it pulls up a map) and a comic-strip-of-the-day clock. To add it to the wallpaper on your computer, just click on the "Add to Active Desktop" button on the preview page of the component you want. You can get to the Gallery at http://www.microsoft.com/ie/ie40/gallery.

Rest Your Mouse
Internet Explorer has keyboard shortcuts that will jump you to most places on a Web page. Tab moves you from link to link (top to bottom of a page), while Shift+Tab scrolls you through links from bottom to top. Ctrl+Tab cycles you to form elements within a page.

Where to Put the Taskbar
Most people leave the taskbar at the bottom of the screen; others like it at the top. IE 4.0 lets you put it on both the top and the bottom. Simply drag and drop the individual toolbars you want to the top, and leave minimized apps at the bottom. Right-click on the items you have at the top, select Properties and check Always on Top so maximized windows don't cover it. You can also check the Auto Hide option.

Do You Have The Cache?
When you pass your mouse pointer over a link that is neither cached nor available via a live link, you'll see a special "no link" symbol-a circle with a diagonal line through it. This is the quickest way to determine if a link will bring up the page you want.

Where Have You Been?
Right-clicking on the Forward and Back buttons brings up a list of the sites you've visited. You can go to one of the locations in the list by selecting it.

Drag-and-Drop URLs
Each URL in the Address box is accompanied by a small icon. By dragging and dropping the icon, you can put that URL just about anywhere.

Go Home
Drag and drop a URL icon onto the Home button to make the URL your Home location.

My Favorite Location
Drag and drop a URL icon onto the Favorites menu to add it to the list.

The Missing Link
Drag and drop a URL icon onto your Desktop or into a folder to create a link there.

Easy Subscription
Drag and drop a URL icon onto the subscription item to subscribe to the page.

Modify Your Menus
You can rearrange Windows Explorer menus by dragging and dropping the items you want where you want them.
If you find the Start menu slow and annoying, right-click on the taskbar and select Toolbars/New Toolbar. In the dialog box that opens, navigate to and open the C:\WINDOWS\START MENU folder, then choose the item you want to access. Now you'll have single-click access to it right from the taskbar.

Where Have You Been?
Right-clicking on the Forward and Back buttons brings up a list of the sites you've visited. You can go to one of the locations in the list by selecting it.

Drag-and-Drop URLs
Each URL in the Address box is accompanied by a small icon. By dragging and dropping the icon, you can put that URL just about anywhere.

Go Home
Drag and drop a URL icon onto the Home button to make the URL your Home location.

My Favorite Location
Drag and drop a URL icon onto the Favorites menu to add it to the list.

The Missing Link
Drag and drop a URL icon onto your Desktop or into a folder to create a link there.

Easy Subscription
Drag and drop a URL icon onto the subscription item to subscribe to the page.

Modify Your Menus
You can rearrange Windows Explorer menus by dragging and dropping the items you want where you want them.

Get There Fast
You may already have discovered that typing the main part of a URL (for example, "winmag" instead of "http://www.winmag.com") is a quick route to a Web site-but it's not the fastest way. The reason for this is that the browser tries all possible prefixes and suffixes. If you know the URL has "http://www" in the front and ".com" at the end, type in the main part (e.g., "winmag") and press Ctrl+Enter. The browser will add the rest of the URL instantly.

Subscriptions on the Start Menu
Place your Internet Explorer 4.0 Subscriptions folder and its contents on the Start menu by adding a folder with this name: Subscriptions.{F5175861-2688-11d0-9C5E-00AA00A45957} -Dave Guindon

Watch Out for Sliding Bars
If the IE4 Address and Links bars are both visible, double-click on the word "Address" or "Links" to quickly slide that bar into or out of view. If both bars share the same horizontal space, double-click the one on the left to slide the other one out of the way.

Change Links Icons
You can change the icons on the IE4 Links toolbar the same way you change shortcut icons: Right-click on the button, select Properties, click on the Change Icon button, then the Browse button. Find the file that contains the icon you want and double-click on it.

Add Shortcuts To Toolbar
Use the right mouse button to drag and drop folders to the IE4 Links toolbar to give yourself push-button access to your favorite folders.

Add Web Sites To the Taskbar
You can drag HTML files and drop them onto the Quicklaunch section of the taskbar for quick access to your favorite sites.

Old DOS Command Has New Life
You already know that the IE4 Address box doubles as a guide to your local desktop. What you may not know is that the old DOS command ".." works to navigate up the directory tree. Enter it repeatedly to work your way all the way back to the Desktop icon.

Keep Your Window Settings
By pressing Ctrl key while closing a window, the window size and position are automatically saved.

Arrange It Your Way
When you select Details from the Explorer's View menu, you can sort the contents by Name, Size, Type or Modified (date and time). Here's a neat trick: You can rearrange the horizontal order of these items by dragging and dropping the header bars at the top of the Contents pane.

Click Taskbar To Minimize
In Win95, clicking on a running program or open folder in the taskbar restores it and puts it in front of the other open windows. Once you've installed IE4, however, the button on the taskbar toggles between open and minimized.

By the Book
If you've been using Microsoft Exchange, Eudora or Netscape Mail and you've built up an address book, you don't have to re-enter those contacts when you switch to Outlook Express. Open Outlook Express and select File/Import/Address Book. You'll get a dialog box asking you to pick the format of your former address book; select a format, then click the Import button.

Fast Favorites
Would you prefer not to navigate the menu hierarchy when you want to add a Favorite to IE4? Then right-click anywhere within the browser window, and choose the "Add to Favorites..." menu option. The Favorites dialog immediately pops up.

Inactive Desktop
If you find IE 4.0's Active Desktop slows your system down, especially during CPU-intensive tasks, you can disable it. Right-click anywhere on the desktop and select Active Desktop from the context menu. To turn it back on, repeat the same procedure.

Simplify Search Navigation
IE 4.0's Search button lets you access your search engine and main browser together in a dual-pane view. Click on the Search icon on the toolbar to bring up a Search window to the left of the main browser. Select a search engine, type your search term and click on Search. The results appear in the left Search window. Click on one of your search results links, and that page appears in the right window. The list of search results remains in the left window, so you don't have to go back and forth between the results page and the pages the links bring you to. You can get rid of the Search window by clicking on the Search icon again.

Ultimate Power Launcher
One of IE4's most powerful hidden gems is a universal command line, where you can launch programs, open folders, go to Web sites and more. Right-click on the taskbar and select Toolbars/Address. When the Address box shows up on your toolbar, click and hold on the word "Address" and drag it to the top of your desktop. Right-click on it and select Always on Top. Now, when you maximize applications, they'll expand between your Address bar at the top and your taskbar at the bottom.

No Icons on the Desktop
Here's a neat trick if you like a clean Desktop. Open My Computer and select Folder Options from the View menu, then click on the View tab. Find the item "Hide icons when desktop is viewed as a Web page" and select it, then click OK. Drag each icon on your desktop to your Quick Launch Toolbar (if you don't have one, right click on the taskbar and select Toolbars/Quick Launch). Finally, right-click on your Desktop and make sure the item Active Desktop/View as a Web page is selected.

Small Icons on the Desktop
After doing the previous tip, click on your Quick Launch bar's slider handle and drag it onto your Desktop. Resize it and place it where you want. Right-click on the title bar and select Always on Top.

Details, Details
If IE4 is installed, then the Details view (View/Details) has been enhanced by a neat feature: Drag and drop the category bars to rearrange them as you please.

Proceed with Caution
These tips were written during the beta phase of Windows 98. Although they should work well with the finished product, we won’t know that for sure until there is a finished product.

Come Clean
Admit it—you don’t know who put all that "stuff" on your hard drive. Now’s a good a time to re-format and install a squeaky-clean version of Windows 98. Back up everything first, make (and test!!) a boot diskette, verify that your CD-ROM drive is recognized, then do that re-format before continuing.

CPU Sleuth
The General tab on the My Computer Properties sheet probably reports that your computer is a GenuineIntel (one word) Pentium(r.) Processor (or similar). For more details, open the following Registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Hardware\Description\ System\CentralProcessor\0 Double-click on VendorIdentifier and put a space between "Genuine" and "Intel" or make some other edit in this line. Now re-open the Properties sheet. Underneath the Genuine Intel line, you’ll see that your CPU comes from the "x86 Family X Model Y Stepping [version] Z," where X, Y, Z are the appropriate values in your system. Close the Properties sheet, reopen the Registry key and the same information will be seen on the Identifier line. Restart Windows 98 and the default information will be restored. (This tip has not been tested on non-Intel systems.)

Helpful Help
For immediate assistance, the Start menu’s Help option isn’t much help. If you haven’t done so already, it will make you run through the Internet Connection Wizard first, just in case you might want to try the Internet instead of your own local help system. To skip the Web and get fast local help, open the C:\Windows\Help folder, highlight the WINDOWS.HLP file and drag a shortcut out to the desktop. Then, click on that shortcut when you need help.

Put the Squeeze on Compression
During an upgrade to Windows 98, you may experience an extremely long installation time if you’re upgrading a Win95 machine that’s using Drivespace3 for disk compression. You should decompress the system after backing it up. Note that you need to have at least half of the uncompressed disk area available to do this successfully with or without Windows 98.

Back Up to Your Network
The new Seagate-based BACKUP.EXE utility included with Windows 98 can back up Win98 drives to network disks faster than any other device or method. You can choose the network location to back up to, and locate the backup data easily. You can choose the verification option for a backup to a network, but it will 50 percent or more time to the process; but because of the reliability of network media, verification shouldn’t be necessary with disk-based backups. Keep in mind that a backup operation can clog network lines and affect performance for other users.

Many Monitors, Bar One
When using Win98’s multiple monitor support, you can choose which monitor will display the taskbar.

Grab Bag
You can grab any quick launch bar, pull it free of the taskbar and place it anywhere on the screen.

Wandering Win98-ers
If the display is distorted when you use suspend/resume on your notebook PC, right-click on the desktop and select Settings/Advanced/Monitor and make sure "Reset display on suspend/resume" is checked.

Make Mine MMX
If you have a system with an MMX-enhanced processor (Intel’s P55C Pentium and Pentium II, AMD’s K6 or Cyrix’s 6x86MX) you can take advantage of Win98’s operating system level MMX support for improved performance for image processing, video, audio, video conferencing and similar functions. What’s the catch? You need MMX-enable apps, too, and few are currently available.

Lots o’ Data
Win98 will support Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) with an applet akin to the CD Player applet in the Accessories group. DVDs look like regular CD-ROM discs, but can hold 4.7GB of data—with future versions increasing that capacity to 17GB. Recordable DVD drives should be available by 1999.

Interchangeable Icons
You can change the program icons in the Quick Launch bar by right-clicking on them, opening the Shortcut tab, and clicking on the Change Icon button. You can pick one of the displayed icons or browse for more choices.

Explorer Bars Everywhere
When viewing your local file hierarchy, the browser interface acts like Internet Explorer, so you can also display Explorer Bars in a left-hand pane. Select View/Explorer Bars, and pick which one you want—Search, Favorites, History or Channels.

Columns Are a Drag
The Details view of the browser interface lists name, size, type and modification date. You can rearrange this list by dragging the column headers and adjust the column widths by dragging the column dividers.

Un-Update Online, Too
If you install a patch or driver from the System Update Manager Web site and the results are what you had anticipated, you can uninstall, or "rollback" less-than-perfect updates. System Update Manager and its associated Web site maintain a history of the fixes they’ve made to your PC, and let you choose, in any order, the ones you wish to uninstall.

REGEDIT Without Regrets
Windows 95’s Registry offered unprecedented opportunities to get under the hood and tinker with the inner workings of the operating system, but its organization and cryptic codes also offered unprecedented opportunities to throw a monkey wrench into the works. With Windows 98, you make your REGEDIT maneuvers directly from the System Information utility, where entries are better-organized and easier to find. SI adds (finally) the ability to cut-and-paste, export and print Registry entries.

Silicon Technician
Typical troubleshooting usually involves eliminating a suspicious element, rebooting and seeing if the problem recurs—over and over again until the problem is located. Windows 98’s System Troubleshooter eases this painful process. It neatly displays configuration files and lets you step through them line-by-line, checking off the commands you wish to turn off and letting you opt out of items in your StartUp Group that will just get in the way during troubleshooting. You can also choose to disable ScanDisk, or artificially limit your system’s RAM to as little as 4MB. System Troubleshooter keeps an eye on your work, and recovers the working configuration when you’ve gone too far.

Your Own Private Network
Virtual Private Networking (VPN) lets you use the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) via the Internet to create a connection that mimics a traditional LAN. VPN requires a PPTP-capable Windows client at one end and a PPTP server such as NT 4.0 at the other. To use PPTP you need version 1.2 of the Dial-Up Networking client, with the TCP/IP and VPN adapters in your network configuration. When you set up the adapter, you enter the address of the VPN host you want to access instead of a phone number. To use the VPN link, first establish an Internet connection, then go back and establish a "tunnel" to the host using this second DUN connection.

Comm Combos Boost Speed
Multilink isn’t just for ISDN channels anymore. The new Dial-Up Networking utility lets you combine communication devices for faster comm speeds. First, create a Dial-Up Networking connection using a single device. Then right-click on its icon, select Properties and click on the Multilink tab. Click on the "Use Additional Devices" button, then add as many devices as your computer can support. If the host you’re connecting to supports "hunt group," "rotary" or "rollover" connections for multi-line access, you can use the same phone number for each new device. Otherwise, you’ll need to check with the host administrator for phone numbers for each answering device. To use the multilink connection, just double-click on its icon. DUN will start the first connection and, once linked, will initiate calls from the additional devices. To see how many devices you’ve actually connected with, click the "Connected" icon in the System Tray.

Get There Fast
You may have already discovered that typing the main part of a URL (for example "winmag" instead of "http://www.winmag.com") is the easiest way to go to a web site---but it's not the fastest way. The reason for this is that the browser tries all the varies possible prefixes and suffixes. If you know the URL has "http://www" in the front and ".com" in the back, then type in the main part (again: "winmag") and hit Ctrl+Enter. The browser will add the rest instantly.

Get Windows 98 Now!
Can't wait for Win98? Then point your browser to our special Win98 Web site at http://www.winmag.com/win98 and find out how to get a copy of the beta right away.

Finally, Real Help
In general, we find the Win95 Help system pretty unhelpful. Fortunately, help is on the way in Win98. By launching Help from the Start menu and clicking on the Web Help button, you'll be transported to a world of improved help and troubleshooting information.

Painless Extraction
If you need to extract a fresh copy of any file, the Windows 98 System File Checker will do it for you. Go to Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System File Checker, and in the dialog box that opens, click on the "Extract one file from installation disk" radio button, then specify the name of the file you want. Enter X:\WIN98 (where X is your CD-ROM drive letter) in the Restore From box. Then enter the destination in the Save File In box. The utility will search the CAB files in the \WIN98 directory for the file and extract it into the desired folder.

Win98's Handy Toolbox
The System Information utility is an all-in-one toolbox for finding and fixing problems in Windows 98. You'll find everything you need to know about your installed hardware and software, plus links to the Windows Report Tool, System File Checker, Registry Checker, Automatic Skip Driver Agent, Dr. Watson, System Configuration Utility, ScanDisk and the Version Conflict Manager.

New Win98 Tweak UI
The beta CD of Win98 comes with an improved Tweak UI utility. It offers all the features bundled in the old version, plus an Activation Follows Mouse item that will select any window or dialog box that's under your mouse pointer, the ability to toggle window animation effects (each effect is individually selectable) and a new IE 4.0 tab that lets you control which IE items show up on the Start menu. You'll also find a cool "Clear typed URL history on exit" item and a Control Panel tab that lets you add or remove icons in the Control Panel.

Toolbar Tandem
IE 4.0 lets you turn the My Computer and Network Neighborhood icons into Active Desktop toolbars. Drag them to any edge of the Desktop, and they'll reformat as toolbars, displaying their contents for easy access. You can also place both of them on the same edge; they'll overlap like standard taskbar toolbars.

Use Any Web Page as Wallpaper
Right-click on the Desktop and select Properties. Click on the Browse button in the Background dialog box and hunt through your hard disk for the HTM or HTML file of your choice. Double-click on it. You can also use an HTM or HTML file from the Internet as your wallpaper by browsing to the page and selecting File/Save As to save the file locally. However, if you want to display the graphics from a Web page, you’ll have to right-click on each graphic, select Save Image As and save them to your local drive. Then modify the <IMG> tags in the saved HTML file to reference the local graphics. (Note: To use any HTML file as wallpaper, you must first enable the Active Desktop by right-clicking on the Desktop and selecting Active Desktop/View As Web Page.)

Check Subscription Status
When checking the status of a Web-site or active channel subscription, first select Favorites/Manage Subscriptions. If you use the Details view, you'll get a column showing whether an update has occurred. You can also hover your mouse pointer over an item; a pop-up tag will appear and display the item's update status.

Perfect Printing
When printing a Web page, you can take advantage of some cool new printing options in IE 4.0. Select File/Print to customize how frames are printed, print all the linked documents or print a table of all the links on the current page.

Hyperlink Sneak Peek
After you use IE 4.0's Search pane (View/Explorer Bar/Search) to perform a Web query, hold the mouse pointer over the link for one of your search results. A handy tool tip will pop up and tell you more about what's on the other side of that link, assuming the search engine you've selected supports this feature.

Stealth Settings
You don't have to run IE 4.0 to change its settings. Right-click on its Desktop shortcut (the big blue E) and select Properties. In the Internet Properties dialog that appears, make your changes and click on OK. The new settings will take effect the next time you launch IE 4.0.

Kill the Welcome Message
The IE 4.0 Welcome message isn't very welcoming because it won't go away by itself. To send it packing, select View/Internet Options, click on the Advanced tab and uncheck the "Show welcome message each time I log on" option. Click on OK.

Better Bookmarks
If you often right-click on a Web page in IE 4.0 and choose Create Shortcut to place a bookmark on your Desktop, you may find that things get crowded in a hurry. Here's a quick way to clean up your Desktop's bookmarks: Create a standard shortcut to your Favorites menu (C:\WINDOWS\FAVORITES) and place it in your Send To folder (C:\WINDOWS\SENDTO). Then right-click on any shortcut on your Desktop and choose Send To/Favorites to move the shortcut to your Favorites menu.

Pane-ful Choices
Outlook Express lets you easily configure its layout. Select View/Layout and you'll be given options to customize the number of panes, the location of the toolbar and whether to use components like the Tip of the Day.

Local Favorites
A lot of people use the Explorer Bar when they're browsing the Web, but it's even more helpful when you use it locally. For example, open My Computer and select View/Explorer Bar/Favorites. You can then use the left pane to quickly jump to folders of your choice and open applications and documents. To add an item to your Favorites menu, drag and drop the folder or file to the Explorer Bar, or click on the target item and select Favorites/Add To Favorites.

Just Say No
When you hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete, you'll see a list of what's running on your system. Chances are, you'll discover drivers and programs running that you don't need or want. To find out, launch the Win98 System Configuration utility by typing MSCONFIG in the Run command line and pressing Enter. Click on the StartUp tab and deselect the items you think you might be able to live without. Click on OK and reboot. If you later realize you need one of the items you deselected, go back and reselect it.

Power Troubleshooting
And speaking of the System Configuration utility, you'll find a cool gem in there called Advanced Troubleshooting Settings. Launch MSCONFIG from the Run command line and click on the Advanced button under the General tab. You'll have the option to disable features such as fast shutdown, and to limit memory to any size.

Check Your Registry
Win98 comes with a handy way to check your Registry for errors. Launch the Microsoft System Information (MSI) utility from Start/Accessories/System Tools/System Information, then select the Registry Checker from the Tools menu.

Find Problems
In the MSI utility, click through each item and look for the message, "This device has a problem." If you see it, check into the problem and seek a remedy.

Save System Settings
The MSI utility has another neat feature: It lets you save all your system settings and information-and we mean all your system information-to a text file. Just select File/Export. It's a good idea to always keep a current copy of your settings; if your computer goes south, it can help with troubleshooting.

Search System Info
The MSI utility doesn't have a search function, but we found a workaround: Export your information to a text file using the previous tip, open the file in WordPad and use WordPad's search function to find what you're looking for.

Find Old Drivers
You'll notice that Win98's MSI utility lists not only the installed drivers for every device, but the dates of those drivers as well. Use the previous tip to search for dates starting with 1990, then 1991 and so on. If you find a relatively old driver associated with a key piece of hardware such as a modem, NIC or video board, back up your system, then head over to the relevant company's Web site and search for an updated driver. Download and install it.

A Great Source of Win98 Info
WINDOWS Magazine has an online forum in which Win98 beta testers swap tips, ideas and advice. Point your browser to our Win98 super site at http://www.winmag.com/win98 and click on the Discussion link.

Here's an Ultimatum
Once you've implemented the "Ultimate Power Desktop" tip, make your new workspace more powerful by making your Desktop the browser's home page. Select View/Internet Options in IE 4.0. Then type C:\WINDOWS\DESKTOP in the Address box of the Home Page section. Click on Apply.

Find Problems
In the MSI utility, click through each item and look for the message, "This device has a problem." If you see it, check into the problem and seek a remedy.

Search from the Desktop
The Address toolbar in IE 4.0's Active Desktop performs a Web search if you enter a phrase. (This doesn't work for a single word, because IE 4.0 assumes it's a domain name and attempts to create a URL in its place.) Type in a few words and IE 4.0 will run your phrase through a search engine on Microsoft's Web site.

Having Trouble with IE 4.0?
Senior contributing editor Fred Langa conducted a poll to find out the main cause of IE 4.0 problems and discovered that the number-one source was leftover pieces of early beta versions of the software. The fix is to uninstall IE 4.0, and if IE 3.0 reinstalls, uninstall it as well. Finally, reinstall the latest version of IE 4.0. If you're unsure whether your copy of IE 4.0 is working as it should, go to Fred's BrowserTune site at http://www.browsertune.com/bt98.

The Ultimate Power Desktop
If you spend most of your time working in and moving among Office suite applications and a browser, create the ultimate Desktop by integrating the two. Click on IE 4.0's Favorites button to open the Explorer Bar, then open each Word, Excel or other document you often work with one at a time by typing its path and filename in IE 4.0's Address bar. You'll notice that OLE-compliant applications launch "in place" in the browser window, and that the Word and IE 4.0 menus and button bars merge. Each time you open a document, drag and drop it into the Favorites bar. Do the same for your commonly accessed folders (just type the path to the folder in the Address bar). After you've built up your Favorites bar, you can move from your Desktop work to the Internet without switching applications. - Angie Wyss

Find Problems
In the MSI utility, click through each item and look for the message, "This device has a problem." If you see it, check into the problem and seek a remedy.

Express E-Mail
The fastest way to create an e-mail message to recipients you regularly contact is to use shortcuts that open a new message addressed to a specific person. Right-click on the background of the Desktop or any folder and choose New/Shortcut. In the Command Line type mailto:yourfriend@emailaddress.com, inserting the appropriate e-mail address after mailto. Whenever you want to send that person a message, just double-click on the shortcut and Windows will launch a preformatted message in your e-mail client. You can even create a folder containing multiple shortcuts on the Start menu so they'll always be easy to access. - Frank Field

More Ways to Send E-Mail
Once you've implemented the previous tip, add the shortcuts to the IE 4.0/Win98 Quick Launch toolbar or to your WINDOWS\SENDTO folder for more ways to send a message. Adding them to your SENDTO folder will let you attach files to a message simply by selecting them from a window, right-clicking on them, selecting Send To and then choosing the recipient's e-mail shortcut.

(Editor's note: The following Win98 tips are all specific to the new Windows 98 Resource Kit. If you have no plans to buy the kit, don't worry: A free Resource Kit sampler comes on the Win98 CD.)

Cool Free Tools
The Win98 CD comes loaded with tools from the Resource Kit sampler. You'll find their installation files in your CD's TOOLS\RESKIT folder. Run SETUP.EXE, and the utilities will be installed in Start/Programs/Windows 98 Resource Kit/Tools Management Console.

Find Out about Tools
You can get help with and find out more about Resource Kit tools without even launching them. Right-click on the tool about which you'd like more information, and select Help.

Launch Apps Faster
The QuickTray tool sits in your system tray and gives you an easy way to put other applications on your taskbar. Click on QuickTray to launch it, and use the Add button to add any program. The icon for each program you select will be placed to the right of the Start button, letting you launch the program at any time with a single click on the icon.

Three Clicks to a Form Letter
Do you find yourself typing the same thing over and over? If so, the Resource Kit includes the perfect utility for you: ClipTray. Open it and click on Add to add and name items of text you commonly type. In the future, when you need a block of prewritten text for, say, an e-mail message, simply right-click on the ClipTray icon, and select the desired item from the menu. It'll go right into your Clipboard; you can then paste the text into your desired application. Place ClipTray in your WINDOWS\STARTUP folder so it's always open when you need it.

Read Text and HTML Fast
A simple but useful utility in the Resource Kit sampler is the Text File Viewer. It's like a special, dual-pane Explorer window, but it lets you select a file extension, then flip through only those files on your system. By selecting the files in the left pane, you can read the contents on the right. Note that for HTML files, the Text File Viewer displays the source code, not the page as it would appear in a browser.

What's the Difference?
The Resource Kit's WinDiff utility lets you quickly compare files or even whole folders and tells you how they differ. To use it, select either Compare Files or Compare Directories from WinDiff's File menu.

Shortcuts to Nowhere?
The Checklinks Resource Kit tool scans your hard disk for shortcuts that don't point to anything and lets you blast 'em. Before you do, you can get more information about the phantom file with a simple right click.

Track Changes
Filewise is designed for programmers, but it's useful for any power user. Just tell it what files or folders to track, and it will document changes to selected file characteristics. This is a great tool for troubleshooting, managing changes to Web sites and more.

Time Warp
You can use the Time Zone Editor to change the properties of any time zone (including Daylight Savings), what the zone is called (for example, we changed "Eastern Standard Time" to "Long Island Standard Time") and more. You can also delete time zones.

Back Up Your Backup
The first time Win98 boots each day, it runs the Registry Checker utility to look for errors, then backs up your Registry and SYSTEM.DAT, SYSTEM.INI, USER.DAT and WIN.INI files. The backups are stored in CAB files in C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP and named RB000.CAB, RB001.CAB and so on. You can't see them unless you set Explorer to Show All Files in My Computer/View/Folder Options/View. If you don't frequently back up your system, you should at least put a recent backup on a diskette before making Registry changes or installing new software.

Increase Saved Backups
By default, Win98 keeps the five most recent backups that Registry Checker creates. To increase the number of stored backups-which is always a good idea if you have available disk space-find the file SCANREG.INI, open it in Notepad and change the MaxBackupCopies= value from 5 to the number of your choice.

And While You're at It...
An undocumented SCANREG.INI file entry automatically backs up the files of your choice along with the other Registry Checker files, but only if those files reside in your root, C:\WINDOWS or C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directories. To specify the files to back up, open SCANREG.INI in Notepad and add the line Files= followed by the folder code (enter 30 for the root directory, 10 for the Windows directory or 11 for the System directory) and the filename, separated by a comma. You can also add multiple files within a folder; simply separate them with commas. For example, if you wanted to add the SCANDISK.LOG and CONFIG.SYS files (located in your root directory) to your Registry Checker backup, add the following line to your SCANREG.INI file: Files=30, scandisk.log,config.sys.

Build a Better Backup
Win98 comes with an improved Backup utility. If you want to use it for automatic backups launched by the Win98 Task Scheduler, you'll need to make a change. Open the Backup utility (Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Backup) and click on the Open button. Click on the Options button at the bottom of the window and open the Report tab. Select the "Perform an unattended backup" option.

Broken Windows Update
If the Windows Update item on your Win98 Start menu stops working, here's how to fix it. First, delete the Windows Update entry on the Start menu by right-clicking on it and choosing Delete. Now replace it with a shortcut to C:\WINDOWS\WUPDMGR.EXE. Name the shortcut Windows Update.

Can't Uninstall Win98?
If you reinstall Win98, make sure you do not choose Yes when the installation program asks if you want to save your Win95 system files. Otherwise, the re-installation will wipe them out-if you chose the save option when you originally upgraded from Win95 to Win98. In addition, you can't uninstall Win98 if you've compressed your disk or converted to FAT32. What's more, if your disk was compressed before you installed Win98, you also won't be able to uninstall the operating system.

Before you Reinstall Win98
Here's what to do if you've saved your Win95 configuration and want to reinstall Win98-and retain the option of uninstalling it and returning to Win95. Search for WINUNDO.* using the Find utility; you should see the two files that store your Win95 configuration: WINUNDO.DAT and WINUNDO.INI. Note their folder, then close Find and reboot your PC. When Windows first boots, hold down the Ctrl key to open the Startup menu. Select Command Prompt Only. At the prompt, navigate to the directory for the WINUNDO files, then create a folder named UNDO on your drive using the MD command. Type attrib -r -s -h WINUNDO.* at the prompt to remove the attributes of the WINUNDO files. Use the DOS MOVE command to move the WINUNDO.* files into the UNDO folder. Restart and reinstall Win98. Now the Win98 installation program won't know where to find your Win95 undo files, and they'll be safe.

Hidden Win95 Tools
If you used Microsoft Fax, Exchange or Windows Messaging under Win95, you can still access them under Win98. If you upgrade a Win95 installation when setting up Win98, Fax, Exchange and Messaging will remain intact. But these programs and services aren't included in a clean installation; you need to manually install them from your Win98 CD's \TOOLS\OLDWIN95\MESSAGE\US folder. Double-click on WMS.EXE to install Windows Messaging (Exchange) and then on AWFAX.EXE to add Microsoft Fax. Also, check WMS-FAX.TXT for more information.

When Start-Up Stumbles ...
If some or all of the start-up files you've disabled using Win98's System Configuration Utility (Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Information; click on the Tools menu) continue to load at boot, your AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI or WINSTART.BAT files are probably write-protected (you may not have WINSTART.BAT). This could also cause print failures from Windows (for example, a write-protected WIN.INI file causes a WordPad error message reading "The printer could not be found"). Here's a fix: Shut down your PC using the "Restart in MS-DOS mode" option. From the DOS prompt, type the following commands, pressing Enter after each:

attrib c:\config.sys -r
attrib c:\autoexec.bat -r
attrib c:\windows\win.ini -r
attrib c:\windows\system.ini -r
attrib c:\windows\winstart.bat -r
Type exit to re-enter Windows.

Big (or Small) Help
To change the size of text in Win98 Help, you need to modify your Internet browsing settings, because the new Help is based on HTML. Launch the Internet Control Panel applet, click on the Accessibility button and then on the "Ignore font sizes specified on Web pages" item. Click on OK. Now click on the Fonts button and select anything from the Smallest to Largest option, using the Font Size drop-down menu.

Slow (but Sure) Shutdown
Win98 shuts down faster than Win95, but it achieves this dubious benefit by pulling the plug on running applications without shutting them down first. If you're uncomfortable with that, disable it. Launch the System Configuration Utility (Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Information; click on the Tools menu). Click on the Advanced button and check the Disable Fast Shutdown item.

Dump the Log File
The Task Scheduler is a handy tool, but you can't delete content from its log file unless you first close or disable the utility: Select Advanced/Stop Using Task Scheduler, then launch the log and delete to your heart's content.

Look at the Small Picture
One of the cool things about IE 4.0 and Win98 is that when you view open folders as Web pages (My Computer/View/As Web Page), you can see image thumbnails on the left side of the window when you hover the mouse pointer over the files. Unfortunately, some JPEGs don't show up, because JPEGs come in two types-RGB and CMYK-and Win98 can read only RGB. The fix is to use your favorite graphics utility to convert your CMYK JPEGs to RGB.

New Boot Route
Win98 changes the way you boot your system directly to an MS-DOS command prompt. Instead of waiting for the Starting Windows screen and then pressing F8 (like you did under Win95), just hold down the Ctrl key when you first see any text on the screen during boot. You'll be offered the usual options (Safe Mode, Command Prompt Only and so on). Pressing F8 still works, but Win98 doesn't include a Starting Windows 98 prompt, so it's hard to know when to press the key. (Note: If you receive a keyboard error during your system tests, try holding down the Ctrl key after the keyboard test.)

Change Views Faster
Do you sometimes change folder views (Large Icons, Small Icons, List, Details) while navigating through Windows? IE 4.0's Windows Desktop Update and Win98 replace the four separate Views buttons on the old Win95 toolbar with a single button. To cycle from view to view in order, click on the Views button on the main toolbar. To access the views from a drop-down menu, click on the down arrow next to the Views button.

Favorites Updates
You can change IE 4.0's Favorites/Organize Favorites dialog box List or Details view, sort the columns in Details view and more. The dialog remembers its size and position between IE 4.0 sessions, but not its icon view and sort order. You can also click on the View Desktop button to use Organize Favorites as an alternate Desktop view.

Help with Uninstalls
Just before it shipped Win98, Microsoft removed the UNINSTAL.EXE file from the Emergency Startup Disk you create as part of setup. If you upgraded a previous Windows installation when you installed Win98 and answered Yes to the Save System Files option during setup, you should find UNINSTAL.EXE in \WINDOWS\COMMAND on your hard drive. Copy it to your Emergency Setup Disk in case your hard drive fails and you need to uninstall Win98. You can also retrieve UNINSTAL.EXE from your CD. Make sure the startup files on your Emergency Startup Disk support your CD drive, then use it to boot your system. Insert your Win98 CD in the drive. At the A: prompt, type extract X:\win98\win98_42.cab uninstal.exe a: (where X: is your CD drive) to extract UNINSTAL.EXE to your Emergency Startup Disk.

Warning: Do not run UNINSTAL.EXE if you converted your Windows boot drive to FAT32 after installing Win98. Serious data loss could result. Microsoft warns that other unspecified problems might occur, too. Use the command-line version of UNINSTAL.EXE only as a last resort.

Bring Order to Shortcuts
If you drag and drop a file onto the Start button, Win98 and the IE 4.0 Windows Desktop Update add a shortcut to the top of the Start menu. But if you just drag the file over the Start button without dropping it, the Start menu will open and you can position the new shortcut exactly where you want it. You can also hover over submenus to open them and then drop the shortcut.

15-Minute Info Updates
One of the annoying "features" of the Win98 Active Desktop is that the highest frequency for refreshing active content is every hour. NewsHub (http://www.newshub.com) offers a cool workaround. It's a service that updates links to a wide variety of news and information every 15 minutes. Use NewsHub as active content, and you won't have to rely on Win98's subscription update schedule.

Faster Startup
You can speed up your boot process by telling Windows not to search for your floppy drive. (You'll still be able to use the drive, but Win98 will search for it only when you click on its icon in My Computer.) Right-click on My Computer, choose Properties and select the Performance tab. Click on the File System button, then on the Floppy Disk tab. Deselect the option to "Search for new floppy disk drives each time your computer starts."

Cure for Compression DepressionScanreg: a very important tool
Win98 adds a new way to look at and manage a compressed disk. Open My Computer, right-click on the C: drive and select Properties. Click on the Compression tab (not available on FAT32 partitions). If your disk is not compressed, you'll see two options for compressing it: Compress Drive and Create New Drive. If your disk is compressed, the tab gives details on what's compressed and how, plus options for customizing how data is compressed.

What You Don't Know...
If you're using the Task Scheduler to automate disk maintenance and other tasks, here's how to make sure you know if one of your scheduled tasks didn't happen. Open the Task Scheduler by double-clicking on the system tray icon and select "Notify me of missed tasks" from the Advanced menu.

Driver Updates Not Automatic
When you go to the Windows Update Web page (Start/Windows Update) and run the standard update, it won't automatically scan for outdated device drivers. Just click on the Device Drivers link on the left side of the page and follow the online instructions.

Free Desktop Themes
Microsoft makes some of the themes from its Plus for Windows 98 product available as free downloads. To get them, go to the Windows Update site (see the previous tip for instructions) and allow it to scan for recommended downloads; you'll see a list of available themes.

This Tip Is a Stretch
One of Win98's more subtle capabilities is support for stretchable dialogs: You can expand some dialog boxes by dragging their corners or edges to show more information. This is especially useful in IE 4.0's Favorites/Organize Favorites dialog box, which in Win95 forces you to scroll if your Favorites list doesn't fit in the default view.

Shortcut to Desktop Shortcuts
Windows 98 offers a new and improved way to create Desktop shortcuts. From any folder window, right-click on the icon for which you'd like to create a shortcut and choose Send To/Desktop As Shortcut from the Context menu that pops up. Win98 makes a decent attempt at naming the new shortcut (better than Win95's "Shortcut to ..." format), but you can rename it to suit your needs.

Easy Access to Web Pages
Is there a Web page you check several times a day? Put it in a Win98 toolbar to make it easy to access. Right-click on the taskbar and choose Toolbars/New Toolbar, then enter the full URL in the dialog box that opens and click on OK. The new toolbar will appear on the taskbar. Drag it off the taskbar and hold the mouse pointer at the right edge of the screen until the toolbar automatically mounts itself there. Now drag the left edge of the toolbar to the width of the Web page. Finally, right-click on the toolbar's gray title bar and choose Auto Hide. (You can also choose Always On Top.) Whenever you move your mouse pointer to the extreme right side of your screen, the Web page will open; move the pointer off the toolbar, and it will automatically close.

Removing Online Services In Win98
In our September WinTips, we showed you how to gain some hard disk real estate by removing the Online Services folder in Win95. The same folder uses less than 1MB in Win98, but it's still annoying. The best way to remove it in Win98 is to open Add/Remove Programs from the Control Panel and click on the Windows Setup tab. Scroll down to the Online Services entry and remove the check mark. Click on OK. Then drag the Online Services folder from your Desktop to the Recycle Bin.

Undocumented WinAlign Info, Part I
Win98's new WinAlign feature speeds up application launches by placing key files on the fast part of the disk during a defrag; it also rewrites programs so they use memory more efficiently. What you may not know is that only applications that have been specifically designed to work with WinAlign, such as Microsoft's Office programs, are supported by the feature.

Undocumented WinAlign Info, Part II
You can find out exactly which files are boosted by WinAlign by checking your WINALI.INI file (in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM). You can try adding programs, DLLs and other files to this list to tell Win98 to "WinAlign" them, but they may or may not work (see the previous tip). If you're going to add unsupported applications, first make sure you have a full system backup.

Track Install Changes
Find out exactly what a program does when you install it by using the System File Checker's log feature. After installing a program, open the log by launching the System Information utility (Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Information), choosing System File Checker from the Tools menu, clicking on the Settings button and then on the View Log button. The log will tell you exactly which files were added to your computer and which were updated with a newer version.

Speedier Start-Up
After you install several applications or Win98 options that automatically run at start-up, you may have so many apps running that Win98 appears to hang up. If this happens, the best way to check out all running start-up programs-and temporarily or permanently disable them-is with the System Configuration Utility (SCU). You'll find the SCU under the Tools menu of System Information (Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools). Click on its Startup tab. All the services and programs launched automatically at Windows boot are listed on this page, and you can selectively turn them on or off.

Get Rid of Win98's Log-On Screen ...
Windows 98 users take a slightly different route for the same results: Tweak UI comes right on the Windows 98 CD, in the \TOOLS\RESKIT\POWERTOY folder. Right-click on TWEAKUI.INF and choose Install from the Context menu that pops up. Then follow the instructions in the previous tip to automate the log-on screen.

Copy Some Connections in Win98
Windows 98 makes it even easier to copy connectoids between two Win98 PCs. You can drag and drop a connectoid over a network (or via a floppy disk) to another PC's root directory or Desktop, and then drag and drop the connectoid into the Dial-Up Networking folder. Right-click on the new connectoid and make sure your local modem-not the one from the original machine-is selected. You will also have to reenter the user name and password, and you may have to connect twice to save the password.

Super Win98 Setup Options
By adding specific switches to the Win98 setup command, you can control certain aspects of the installation. Type SETUP /iw at the command line or DOS prompt to bypass the licensing screen. Type SETUP /iv to run setup without the advertising screens, and type SETUP /is to run setup without running ScanDisk. You can also type SETUP /? to find other options.

The fastest way to create an e-mail message to recipients you regularly contact is to use shortcuts that open a new message addressed to a specific person. Right-click on the background of the Desktop or any folder and choose New/Shortcut. In the Command Line type mailto:yourfriend@emailaddress.com, inserting the appropriate e-mail address after mailto. Whenever you want to send that person a message, just double-click on the shortcut and Windows will launch a preformatted message in your e-mail client. You can even create a folder containing multiple shortcuts on the Start menu so they'll always be easy to access. - Frank Field

(Editor's note: The following Win98 tips are all specific to the new Windows 98 Resource Kit. If you have no plans to buy the kit, don't worry: A free Resource Kit sampler comes on the Win98 CD.)

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