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Miscellaneous tips for Advanced Users |
Re-Setup Using the "setup /p f" Switches
X:\setup /p f
Where X is your CD drive letter
This will cause windows 95 to re-examine your setup. This will clean,
read and rewrite your Win.ini and System.ini, without over-writing your
updated dll's vxd's extensions.
f - This switch enables Clean Registry mode. It forces Detection to
clean and correct the root branch of the registry before starting. This
switch is ignored when Setup is run in the Windows 95 graphical user interface
(GUI).
When setup prompts you for "Typical or Custom Setup", choose Custom.
This allows you to have control over every step of the setup. This will
do a compare and replace missing or corrupted files and will take you back
where you were before the error.
From dos insert your CD and run from your cd this command... (setup
/p f) When setup prompts you for "Full or Custom Setup",
choose Custom. This allows you to have control over every step of the
setup. This will do a compare and replace missing or corrupted files and
will take you back where you were before the error.
This has Become a; "Standard Procedure". It's not always a fix all,
but it never hurts to try it. I've never seen any ill effects from it yet.
The only thing I've seen it do negative is once in a while an association
or two may get lost. Which Is easy to fix. I always recommend a Registry
backup along with this for safety.
ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR REGISTRY FIRST!
Get WRP. WRPV3.ZIP is the Best and easiest Backup/Restore I've Seen.
Download WRP HERE
FOR YOUR CONFIDENCE RESTORE WINDOWS FILES/VERIFY INSTALL OPTION
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q141/8/41.asp
When you run Windows 95 Setup from within Windows 95, the Restore Windows
Files option (also known as the Verify Install option) may not appear.
CAUSE
This behavior can occur if a title in the Setuplog.txt file contains more than 32 characters (including spaces). Titles are also known as section headers, and begin and end with brackets ([]).
RESOLUTION
Disable any titles containing more than 32 characters in the Setuplog.txt file. To do so, follow these steps:
1.Restart the computer. When you see the "Starting Windows 95" message, press the F8 key, and then choose Command Prompt Only from the Startup menu.
2.Type the following lines at the command prompt:
attrib -h setuplog.txt
edit setuplog.txt
3.Place a semicolon (;) at the beginning of any title containing more than 32 characters.
4.On the File menu, click Exit. Choose Yes to save the file when you are prompted.
5.Restart the computer and then run Setup again.
MORE INFORMATION
The Restore Windows Files option includes the following choices:
Restore Windows files that are changed or corrupted Copy all Windows files again
Choosing the first option replaces only files that are missing or have changed since the last time you ran Setup. Choosing the second option replaces all files and allows you to change the installation folder. Note that if any of the following lines are missing from the Setuplog.txt file, the Restore Windows Files option will not be available in Setup:
restart=passed
started=passed
installdir=<directory>
reboot=1
When running setup, type this as the command line: (this presumes that your cd rom drive is drive "D")
D:\SETUP /p b
This will enable you to step through each detection step.
If Windows 95 hangs on shutdown reinstall Windows 95 to a different
folder to rule out the possibility of damaged files. For example, if Windows
95 is currently installed in the Windows folder, install it to a Win95
folder. If your computer has a Plug and
Play BIOS, reinstall Windows 95 using the "setup /P I" command to rule
out a defective Plug and Play BIOS.
If Windows 95 still hangs during the shutdown process after you reinstall it, your computer may have faulty hardware or faulty system components including RAM, the CPU, the motherboard, or an internal or external cache. Contact your computer's manufacturer for assistance. ll
1. When windows detects two devices (usually this happens with pnp)
you should delete all the devices of the same type detected. Then reboot
windows, and windows will detect the device. Install the drivers, and you
solved the problem. If the pnp system detects a device twice, simply ignore
the install request, and get the latest driver for it. This is important.
Windows will detect all the pnp unknown hardware.
NOTE: to avoid problems ensure to have all the drivers needed for your
PC.
BACKUP YOUR REGISTRY FIRST
2. I did a search of my registry with regedit, using as a "Search Phrase",
Supra, that's my Supra Fax Modem in Device Manager. I found all entries
for it in the registry. I then deleted all references to the modem. Deleted
the entire key, not just the entry. On I re-booting Win95, the Supra was
detected and installed installed. All Devices won't be that easy, some
you will need your drivers for.
Ram Checkers Don't Always Find Bad Ram Chips. Unless memory Chips are
extremely faulty, checking programs are not adequate tests because they
do not test RAM in the same way that Windows uses RAM. Memory checkers
use read/write cycles. Since Windows is executing code from memory, it
uses execute cycles. Execute cycles are different from read/write cycles
and are more vulnerable to parity errors. Bad memory chips can also cause
the following situations:
1. Fatal Exception errors.
2. Himem.sys load failures in normal or Safe mode.
3. Random lockups.
4. The computer may stop responding (hang) as soon as you turn it on.
Remove or replace memory chips in the computer to see if the problem
is resolved.
Try limiting the amount of memory that Windows 95 uses. To do so, follow
these steps:
1. Use any text editor, such as Notepad to edit the System.ini file.
2. Add the following line in the (386Enh) section of the file:
MaxPhysPage=< nnn > where < nnn > determines the amount of memory
you want Win95 to use.
To limit Windows 95 to the first 4 MB of memory, add the following
line: MaxPhysPage=3FF
To limit Windows 95 to the first 8 MB of memory, add the following
line: MaxPhysPage=7FF
To limit Windows 95 to the first 16 MB of memory, add the following
line: MaxPhysPage=FFF
3. Save and then close the System.ini file.
4. Restart your computer. Check how it runs. If OK, then test the next,
i.e.; 8MG
1. Before you do the procedure below Backup your registry in these ways.
A. Make a directory called C:\1 and copy a full registry export to
that directory.
B. Copy your present System.da0 and User.da0 from Windows to there
also.
C. I always advise everyone to get WRP. In my opinion WRPV3.ZIP is
the Best and easiest Backup/Restore I've Seen. Get WRP. WRPV3.ZIP is the
Best and easiest Backup/Restore I've Seen. Download WRP HERE
Plus: Ultraedit My favorite text editor by a mile. You can get this
text editor from the same URL as above. You Now have THREE copies of your
Registry. I have High Confidence in the following procedure but I don't
know your system. So, a triple redundancy backup is now in place
2. After you're finished with the search and replace to double click
to enter your new registry changes. That would work, however I believe
it would be better to do it from dos. Copy REGEDIT.EXE TO C:\1 also and
you can do all your work from there. It would look like this. C:\1>REGEDIT
PROFILE.REG [enter] You don't have to reboot, but go into windows and run
your computer thru it's paces to see that all is fine.
OK Here we go:
Open your registry, highlight your profile key in the left side and
export it. Then with a good text editor do a global search and replace
for your profile name i.e.; JONHDOE is my profile. Search JONHDOE and replace
with .Default. [HKEY_USERS\JONHDOE][HKEY_USERS\.Default]
Once you've changed all the profile names from JONHDOE to .default, which can be done in one global search and replace action, save the file, it should still have a .reg extension, and double click it. That will enter all your profile info into .default. Saving a copy of you complete registry 1st, and a copy of you profile export, for safety, Only then can you delete the profile key.
Boot or Shutdown To Real Dos Mode First, configure your system to boot
to DOS: At you Dos Prompt type;
ATTRIB -H -S -R 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
Reboot to a new menu.
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.
ATTRIB -H -R -S USER.DAT AND ENTER.
ATTRIB -H -R -S SYSTEM.DA0 AND ENTER.
ATTRIB -H -R -S USER.DA0 AND ENTER.
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
ATTRIB +H +R +S SYSTEM.DAT AND ENTER.
ATTRIB +H +R +S USER.DAT AND ENTER.
ATTRIB +H +R +S SYSTEM.DA0 AND ENTER.
ATTRIB +H +R +S USER.DA0 AND ENTER.
Then Re-Boot your Computer.
OR, Copy the following to Notepad and Save As "SOS.BAT".
@ECHO OFF
CD C:\WINDOWS
ATTRIB -H -R -S SYSTEM.DAT
ATTRIB -H -R -S SYSTEM.DA0
ATTRIB -H -R -S USER.DAT
ATTRIB -H -R -S USER.DA0
COPY SYSTEM.DAT SYSTEM.BAK
COPY USER.DAT USER.BAK
COPY SYSTEM.DA0 SYSTEM.DAT
COPY USER.DA0 USER.DAT
ATTRIB +H +R +S SYSTEM.DAT
ATTRIB +H +R +S USER.DAT
Then Re-Boot your Computer.
Actually dosstart is a file like autoexec.bat which runs after shutting-down
the computer in MS-DOS mode. If you want you can run CD-ROM, mouse and
sound card drivers from there. The easiest way to run driver programs is
to copy and paste the text you have in the autoexec.bat file for a specific
device.
Tip.
To load mscdex.exe in the dostart file, go to the autoexec.bat file,
copy the line with the code which executes the program and paste it into
the dostart file. Mscdex.exe will then run every time you shut-down your
computer to MS-DOS mode.
Sometimes people experience the problem of having a Start menu which
is empty and cannot be modified. One possible cause:
If the C:\windows\"Start Menu" directory is modified (particularly
if anything is deleted) from the MSDOS prompt, Windows 95 will decide that
the start menu is invalid. The Start Menu is empty, and if you try to add
anything to it, you get "Unable to add to Start Menu" or a similar message.
Solution:
1. If there are still subfolders and links in c:\windows\"Start Menu"
that you can access from the Explorer, copy these to another folder as
backup.
2. Restart the computer, and when you see "Starting Windows 95..."
press F8 to get to the startup menu. Choose "Command Prompt Only."
3. At the c:\ prompt, change to the windows directory and "deltree
startm~1". Reboot the computer.
4. When Windows 95 reloads, it will find that rather than being invalid,
the Start Menu simply isn't there. It will then create a valid (but empty)
Start Menu.
5. At this point you can go to Start / Settings / Taskbar / Start Menu
/ Advanced and start copying back in the shortcuts you backed up in step
one, or you can run GRPCONV.EXE to get your basic icons back, and reinstall
or create the other links by hand to get your icons back.
6. You're done. You have a Start Menu again.
You probably have a syntax error in the Registry caused by any number of things, such as disk errors or added CR LF. First, BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY, I recommend the following:
CT Software's "shareware" Safetynet Pro is "the" program of choice for backing up critical Registry/INI files fast and clean. NONE better, IMHO. AT: http://members.aol.com/ron2222/index.html
However, you can "detangle" (i.e. parse) the registry and then compress it using Win95's REGEDIT.
1. Backup your User.dat & System.dat to another directory (CRITICAL)
2. Create two bat files containing the following commands and place
them in your root Windows directory.
3. Reboot to MSDOS level, safety level (important).
4. Execute RE.bat to parse the registry to text.
5. Execute RC.bat to compress registry.
6. Registry is now parsed and compressed.
7. If anything goes wrong, drop to MSDOS and replace USER & SYSTEM
DAT files with backups.
-----
RE.bat
regedit /l:system.dat /R:user.dat /E Mainbak.reg
-----
RC.bat
regedit /l:system.dat /R:user.dat /C Mainbak.reg
-----
If you still have problems, you can also "export" the Registry in Win95 with Regedit and try again. If you also have CR LF (carriage return, line feed) problems, get Walbeehm's "FixREG" from http://home.tampabay.rr.com/walbeehm/ . I think this should do it. Enjoy!
He recomends Remove-It! from http://www.quarterdeck.com/
Bill Sorciere sorciere@monmouth.com
If you don't use a install/uninstall application like Cleansweep that
monitors system Changes, heres a little batch file that will record every
change in you registry when you do install anything. I use it in concert
with Cleansweep.
1. Before Installation, Export your registry and name that export "BEFORE.REG".
2. After installation, do another export and name it "AFTER.REG".
Then from a dos window, you don't need to exit to real dos mode for
this, run this batch file and it will create a .txt file neatly showing
you a "before and after" of every keys changes;
@ECHO OFF
fc before.reg after.reg > changes.txt
I call mine, "Change.bat"
Many users have complained about Windows95 seizing up for up to a minute because of random, pointless disk activity. This is due to the way that Windows95 is set to handle disk caching and virtual memory. Think off this as a Standard Proceedure like Scandisk and Defrag; Except you only have to do it ONCE.
Although Windows95 instructs you to "let Windows handle disk cache settings"
for best results, this obviously does not yield the best results. Swapping
and /tmp files compete for the same resource. Put simply, this means if
a program runs the machine out
of swap space, /tmp will fill up, and if large files fill up /tmp programs
will not be able to get any memory to run.
If this restriction becomes a problem for you, a separate disk partition
can be allocated for /tmp.
Here's how to eliminate the
1. Random Disk Activity,
2. Improve System Performance
3. Handle Memory More Efficiently
1. Right click on My Computer, and select Properties.
2. Click the Performance tab, and then click Virtual Memory
3. Choose Let me specify my own virtual memory settings.
4. If you want to choose a different drive for your swapfile, run Disk
Defragmenter first.
5. Specify the same value for the Minimum size and the Maximum size,
so Windows95 won't spend so much time re sizing the file. A good size is
roughly 2 1/2 times the amount of installed RAM (i.e. create a 40MB swapfile
if you have 16MB of RAM).
6. Press OK, and then OK again, and confirm that you want to restart
your computer.
Note: if you have Norton Utilities, you'll be able to optimize the
swapfile. If you want to take the time, you can optimize it manually by
exiting windows, deleting the swapfile, defragmenting the drive, and restarting.
Once you've set the swapfile size to be constant, you won't have to worry
about a defragmented (broken up) swapfile again.
"The advantage of this process is that Win95 doesn't waste CPU cycles
downsizing the swap file to its auto-set-minimum. Downsize waste doesn't
happen unless enough applications are loaded and then closed which
exceed that minimum. This will be a low-probability situation if you
set the minimum swap file properly."
1. Open SYSTEM.INI for editing.
2. Add the following two lines to the [vcache] section (add the section
if it's not there):
-------------------------------
[vcache]
MinFileCache=4096 [Experiment, some people set MinFileCache=0]
MaxFileCache=4096
------------------------------
For 32mg
[vcache]
MinFileCache=8192 [Experiment, some people set MinFileCache=0]
MaxFileCache=8192
------------------------------
I have mine set like this; very good:)
[vcache]
MaxFileCache=16384
------------------------------
3. These values, in kilobytes, regulate the size of the VChache, so
you can stop it from filling up all available RAM and paging all loaded
apps to disk.
Here are several little modifications you can make to improve Windows95 performance:
Speed up system restart:
1. Add BootDelay=0 to the [Options] section of C:\MSDOS.SYS Speed up
the Start Menu:
2. In the Registry Editor, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\ desktop,
and add a string value named MenuShowDelay, with a value specifying the
number of milliseconds (400 is default, smaller numbers are faster).
See:
Adrian Wong's "VCACHE"; The Final Word
================================
By making a few little tweaks to Windows 95's Control Panel settings,
you can realize some big performance gains. Start by double-clicking on
the Control Panel's System icon, then clicking on the Performance tab.
Next, click on the File System button. You'll see two settings in the resulting
Hard Disk dialog box: The setting labeled Typical Role of This Machine
determines how much space is set aside in main memory to handle path and
filename caching. The default Desktop Computer choice allocates space for
a paltry 32 paths and 677 filenames, whereas the Network Server choice
bumps those settings up to 64 paths and 2,729 filenames. Even if your computer
is used strictly for desktop applications, change the Typical Role box
to Network Server. Unfortunately, if you're using the original release
of Windows 95--not the recently updated version titled OEM Service Release
2 (OSR2)--you'll have to take an additional step to correct a bug in the
Windows 95 Registry.
Change the value of
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ FSTemplates\Server\NameCache
to a9 0a 00 00, and \PathCache to 40 00 00 00.
Or copy everything between the double lines, copy and paste to notepad
and "Save as" "Role1.reg" and "Role2.reg". Then all you have to do is double
click on those files to enter them.
===================
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\FS Templates\Server]
@="Network server"
"PathCache"=hex:40,00,00,00
"NameCache"=hex:a9,0a,00,00
===================
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\control\FileSystem]
"NameCache"=hex:a9,0a,00,00
"PathCache"=hex:40,00,00,00
===================
Then:
The Read-Ahead Optimization slider establishes how much additional
data Windows 95 should fetch every time you retrieve data from your hard
disk. Read-ahead buffering improves performance by reducing the number
of times your machine has to go out to the relatively slow hard disk to
get data. Set the slider all the way to the right, giving Windows 64K of
read-ahead buffering.
Next, click on the CD-ROM tab in the File System Properties box. The
Supplemental Cache Size slider adjusts the room Windows 95 sets aside for
read-ahead buffering of your CD. The first three steps on the slider add
64K or 128K each to the cache; the final three steps add 256K apiece. The
box labeled Optimize Access Pattern For doesn't control access speed to
your CD; the setting's real function is to reserve even more buffer space
for caching CD reads. The Single-Speed Drives and No Read-Ahead settings
don't increase the buffer size. But the double-, triple-, and quad-speed
settings add 50K, 100K, and 150K of cache, respectively.
If you use your CD drive frequently, move the Supplemental Cache Size
slider to Large, and specify that you have a Quad Speed or Higher CD, even
if you don't. The combination will set aside about 1.2MB for CD caching,
and ensure that your CD will run as fast as possible.
---------------
An Alternate swapping method
Run Sysmon and check to see how much memory you usually use (w/ your
normal programs running). Now set the minimum swap file to just slightly
larger than this number, but leave the max alone (let it use the whole
drive if needed). This way you will have a permanant file on the drive
that will let you use the computer w/o win95 always resizing it, but when
you need more space win95 will be able to use up to the rest of the drive.
If you limit the top end when win95 needs more space it will choke and
either refuse to run the program or crash.
--------------------------
More free memory in DOS windows:
1. Add LocalLoadHigh=1 to the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI. -
Warning: this may cause unpredictable results if you are not using
the EMM386 memory manager. Remove DoubleSpace/DriveSpace from memory:
2. If you know how to scroll, minimize windows, etc., you can recover
[7.1 Megs] of disk space by deleting the .AVI files from /windows/help
3. Deleting Extraneous or Leftover Files You can safely delete the
following files in the root directory: *.txt, *.prv, *.log, *.old, *.___,
and *.dos (unless you use dual-boot). You can delete these files from the
Windows directory: *.log, *.old, *.___, *.bak,
and, *.000, *.001, etc.
4. RAM Although Windows 95 will run in 8 Megabytes of RAM, I see far
too many troubles in doing so. With Windows 95, like
Windows 3.1x, adding RAM will significantly boost performance. For
the best price-to-performance ratio, 16 Megs is recommended. You will see
an additional performance increase with even more RAM, but, unless you
are working with many complex applications simultaneously, or editing 24-Bit
color images, you get diminishing return on your money above 32 Megs.
5. Whether or not you're using the DoubleSpace/DriveSpace disk compression
utility, these drivers are taking up valuable memory and slowing system
startup.
6. Simply delete DRVSPACE.BIN and DBLSPACE.BIN from C:\ and your Windows\Command
directory. Note: do not do this if you are currently using DriveSpace or
DoubleSpace to compress your hard disk!! OPTIONAL
7. Right-click on DOSPRMPT.PIF (in your Windows directory), and select
Properties. Load DosKey in a DOS box automatically:
8. Click on the Program tab, and enter "DOSKEY" in the field labeled
Batch File.
9. Note: for more information, see Contents of the Windows95 MSDOS.SYS
File. Note: some of these settings can also be changed with TweakUI, one
of Microsoft's PowerToys.
OSR2 MEMORY.
See: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q156/3/32.asp
There is so much information on memory and OSR2 that I couldn't put
it all here. Do this please;
Go to; http://www.microsoft.com/kb/default.asp
At Step 1: Choose Windows 95
At Step 5: Enter as a Search Phrase "msdos.sys and memory"
1. Right click on the desktop, [Shortcut For "System Properties", Left
Win Key + Break]
2. Select "Properties".
3. Go to the "Appearance Tab" and under "Item" select "Icon Spacing
(Horizontal) or (Vertical)".
4. Increase these to about 60, or more if you have a lot of long file
names, then hit apply.
5. Open Explorer, or Refresh the window by hitting F5 if you already
had it opened and see the long names showing better. You can increase this
width and height as much as you like if you use REALLY long file names.
1. TweakUI has many useful options. One in the "My Computer" tab you click on the Drive letter you want to show in explorer. Checking "E" will display your CD drive by clicking it. I also use it to automatically logon as a certain user, to remove these ugly arrows in the desktop icons and to do many other things.
2. Try changing your CDROM DRIVE Letter manually:
You can change the drive letter of a CD-ROM drive by performing the
following steps:
1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click Control
Panel.
2. Double-click the System icon, then click the Device Manager tab.
3. Select the CD-ROM you want to change from the list, then click the
Properties button.
4. Click the Settings tab.
5. In the Reserved Drive Letters section, set Start Drive Letter and
End Drive Letter to the drive letter you want the CD-ROM drive to use.
Click OK until you return to Control Panel.
6. Restart the computer.
The CD-ROM drive letter should now be the letter you selected.
Part 1. This is a registry edit that encourages Windows 95 to CREATE
long file names without the tilde.
NOTE: The ones that already exist won't be displayed differently (the
short file name with the ~ is the actual shortfile name). The Registry
edit is: go to HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\control\FileSystem and add
a binary value called NameNumericTail and give it the value zero. It works
with Win95 4.00.950 and all the OSR's
Part 2. Winhacker 95 - Under System, "Disable Tildes (~) on Short File Names : This can change the file names of important directories such as 'program Files" and might cause some programs to stop functioning.
ShellWizard 3.0 - Under System Wizard -page 3: ( ) disable tildes (~) on File Names ...With No warning!
More Properties 2. - Under System/File System ( x) Name Numeric Tail (~1) truncating long file names -- This is a default. ( ) uncheck launches a warning: Changing the Name Numeric Tail setting may cause problems with installed software or future software installations if the Program Files Folder is renamed. Are you sure you want to change the settings?
Don't Mess with Those Tails!
Pore through the Windows Resource Kit and you'll discover a Registry setting that lets you turn off the numeric tails (~1, ~2, and so on) that Windows 95 tacks onto the end of filenames. (To turn them off, add the value NameNumericTail = 0 in the following Registry key: Hkey_Local_Machine\System\ Current ControlSet\Control\FileSystem.)
Heed this warning: Leave this setting alone. A surprising number of Windows applications become hopelessly confused when numeric tails have been turned off. For example, many Windows accessories contain hardwired registry entries that point to the \Progra~1 folder instead of the \Program Files folder. If you make a change, you'll wind up with applets that don't work properly. Such programs include Norton products: It creates C:\Program Files\Symantech folder
The worst case is this. After you changed the settings, something went wrong. So you have decided to reintall Windows. At that time, Windows95 will find C:\Program Files already there, so it will create C:\Progra~2 and install everything in it. Then, Norton's Files were not there. Thus, when you reboot, you shall get warnings about missing files. The only thing you can do is to fire up regedit and replace file names. does it work? Not really......
The last remedy: DELTREE/Y C:\PROGRA~1, C:\PROGRA~2 AND C:\WINDOWS, ETC; And you must start from scratch.
1. Click on START>PROGRAMS>ACCESSORIES> MULTIMEDIA>SOUND RECORDER.
2. Select 'Edit" and 'Audio Properties'.
3. Under recording click on 'customize' and select 'CD Quality' in
'Name' box. When you do this, the attributes box information should change
to '44,100Hz, 16Bit, Stereo...'. Then select 'OK' and 'OK' again. This
will make your .wav the PCM Format that windows likes.
General folder / Windows Explorer shortcuts for a selected object:
Keys: Action:
F2 Rename
F3 Find
CTRL+x,c,v Cut, Copy Paste
SHIFT+DELETE Delete immediately without putting the file in Recycle
Bin
ALT+ENTER Properties
ALT+double-click Properties
CTRL+right-click Put alternative verbs on the context menu (Open
With)
SHIFT+double-click Explore the object if it has an Explore command
CTRL+drag a file to a folder Copy a file
CTRL+SHIFT+drag a file to the desktop or a folder Create a shortcut
General control over folders/Windows Explorer
Keys: Action:
F4 (Explorer) Displays the combo box.
F5 Refresh
F6 Switches between panes in Explorer
CTRL+g (Explorer) Goto
CTRL+z Undo
CTRL+a Select all
BACKSPACE Goes to the parent folder
SHIFT+<close> Closes this folder and all its parent folders In Windows
Explorer
Keys: Action:
Num* Expands everything under selection
Num- Expands selection
Num+Right arrow Collapses selection
Right arrow Expands current selection if it's collapsed; otherwise
goes to the first child.
Left arrow Collapses current selection if it's expanded; otherwise
goes to the parent In Properties
Keys: Action:
CTRL+Tab/
CTRL+SHIFT+TAB Switches between Properties tabs In Open/Save Common
Dialog Boxes
Keys: Action:
F4 Drop down the location list
F5 Refresh the view
Backspace Go to parent folder if focus is on view window
General Keyboard-Only Commands
Keys: Action:
F1 Help
F10 Goes to menu mode
SHIFT+F10 Context menu for selected item
CTRL+ESC Brings up Start menu
CTRL+ESC, ESC Focus on the Start button
SHIFT+F10 Context menu
ALT+TAB Switch to the running program
SHIFT while inserting CD Bypasses auto-run
Alt+M when focus is on taskbar Minimizes all windows Accessibility
Shortcuts
Keys: Action:
Tap SHIFT 5 times Toggles StickyKeys on/off
Hold down Right SHIFT for 8 seconds Toggles FilterKeys on/off
Hold down NumLock for 5 seconds Toggles ToggleKeys on/off
Left ALT+LEFT+SHIFT +NumLock Toggles MouseKeys on/off
Left ALT+LEFT+SHIFT+PrintScreen Toggles HighContrast on/off
MS Natural Keyboard
Keys: Action:
Win+R Run dialog
Win+M Minimize All
Shift-Win+M Undo Minimize All
Win+F1 Windows Help
Win+E Explorer
Win+F Find Files or Folders
CTRL+Win+F Find Computer
Win+Tab Cycle through taskbar buttons
Win+Break PSS Hotkey... (System properties)
It's really very simple. Several methods.
1. Heres one to start on youy probably most used programs. Right click
start button/ choose open/ and enter your C:\windows\Start menu programs.
2. Then pick an application, right click on it and choose properties,
there click the shortcut Tab then go to the box that says
Shortcut key. Lets say you choose MS paint.
3. In the shortcut key box hold down either ctrl+shift or ctrl+alt,
while holding them down touch P [for paint, or however you want
to remember it] and the let up on all keys.
4. CTRL+SHIFT+P should stay, then and most important click 'Apply"
Bingo. Try it and paint will open. When changing shortcut keys, 1st clear
the box, then click apply, [VERY IMPORTANT] as it wipes it from memory.
Then reset another.
A strange bug has popped up in Windows-95, where the floppy drive (or
drives) is searched every time an application is launched. This problem
is not confined to the use of Explorer, or necessarily on systems with
Norton Navigator installed. This problem is not caused by an intial access
to the floppy, as rebooting does not solve the problem. The following are
possible solutions to this problem:
1. Clear the documents menu.
2. Clear Unwanted Entries from the Start Menu's Run Command.
3. Check for any viruses on your system (some users have reported the
NEUVILLE virus)
4. Search your hard disk for all .PIF that point to programs on a floppy
drive
5. Take out LocalLoadHigh=1 from your MSDOS.SYS file.
If you're using Norton Navigator '95:
7. Clear Norton Navigator's Run history (or disable the Run history
all together).
8. If you're noticing this behavior with only a particular applications,
you must clear the History List for that application.
9. Download the bug fix from ftp.symantec.com.
Other programs known to cause this problem:
10. McAfee Antivirus
This is actually a setting that is on by default when you install McAfee's
Antivirus, but can be turned off. By default, it scans your floppy
drive(s) on shutdown.. the setting can be turned off (which is one of the
first things I did after installing it) by:
Double clicking the VirusScan logo on the taskbar, Selecting the System
Scan folder, and clicking "Properties", and finally looking to the right
side where it says, "Scan Floppies on:" [x] Access [x] Shutdown .. and
unchecking the box for "Shutdown" .. That's it.
Thanks Jamyn Shanley for this correction!
Another of those enhancements which should make using Windows 98 more user friendly is the ScanReg Registry Checker.
Each day, after a successful boot, a backup copy of your registry is created (containing the System.dat, User.dat, System.ini and Win.ini files). By default Windows 98 allows you to keep up to 5 copies (rb???.cab - rb???.cab) of your registry (which are saved in the \Windows\Sysbckup folder by default), saved in Windows cabinet files (*.cab).
When Windows notices a problem with your registry, it will automatically replace the registry with a backup copy. The good thing about this new feature is that you can easily restore a previous registry "by hand":
1.Start Windows in MS-DOS mode (press the Ctrl key as soon as your PC starts. This will get you the Bootup menu. Once the menu is up, choose Command prompt only)
2.Type Scanreg /restore at the prompt
3.You will get a screen where you can select which registry backup to use
4.Choose your backup and press Restore
5.When ready you'll be prompted to Restart your computer
Now for those of us who regularly install Shareware programs, only to find after a day that the don't bring what we expected, this is a great way to keep the registry clean. Before you install a new piece of software, run ScanReg (click Start > Run and type scanreg in the Open dialog box. Windows will scan your registry, and when it doesn't find any errors, will prompt you to back-up your registry. At this stage you would choose Yes.
Now if you find after a day that you don't like the program you installed, just uninstall the program in the normal way (see the help- or readme file accompanying the program) and restore the registry you made just before you installed the program, using the method described above.
Customizing ScanReg
It is quite easy to customize ScanReg to include files in the daily backup made by this utility. Just edit the file Scanreg.ini (found in \Windows) which is well annotated with instructions. For a start it would be a good idea to save the backups outside the \Windows directory, if possible maybe even on another disk.
For the number of backups, change the number at the line MaxBackupCopies (from 1-99).
Note: Scanreg /restore (which you run from MS-DOS to restore a previously backed-up registry) only shows the first 5 (meaning the 5 oldest) backup's. You can work around this by moving a number of these backups to another folder, or deleting some older ones. Another option is to manually extract the backups.
See; "Denny's Tips" for more on Scanreg.