Windows 95, 98, ME some parts of this OS are dead set anoying.

Turn Off the CD-ROM Autorun

When a Windows9x-aware CD-ROM is inserted into a CD-ROM drive, Windows9x automatically launches the program contained on the disk, whether you want it to or not. Similarly the audio CD player pops up whenever you insert an audio CD and starts playing it immediately. This is cute the first or second time, but soon gets infuriating. What's worse, is that if you double-click on the your CD icon in My Computer, the autorun fires up, instead of a folder window as you'd expect. This is especially irritating on slower computers, where you have to wait for what seems like an eternity for it to load some ridiculous welcome screen. The lack of a simple provision for turning this "feature" off is absolutely pathetic, especially after all of the Windows95 beta testers begged Microsoft for the ability to disable this feature. Follow the following instructions to disable autorun (strangely enough, the folks at Microsoft had no idea how to do this):
 

Solution #1:

Right-click on the My Computer icon (or whatever you've renamed it - hopefully something less cute and more meaningful than "my computer," such as "Bart"), and select Properties.

Choose the Device Manager tab.

Open the CD-ROM branch, and select the entry for your CD-ROM drive.

Click Properties, and then choose the Settings tab.

Turn off the Auto insert notification option.

Click OK, and then OK again. You'll have to restart Windows for this change to take effect.

Solution #2:

If you hold down the Shift key when inserting the CD, the autorun is bypassed. (although it's not exactly graceful trying to insert a CD while holding down keys on the keyboard.)

Solution #3:

Run the Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE).

Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer.

Change the Value of NoDriveTypeAutoRun from 95 00 00 00 to BD 00 00 00.

You might have to restart Windows for this change to take effect.

Solution #4: Make exploring AudioCDs from My Computer easy:

Double-click on My Computer, and select Options from the View menu.

Select AudioCD from the list, and click Properties.

Click OK, select Open from the Action list, and click Set Default so the new Open action you just added is turned bold.

Click OK when you're finished. Note that you can also change the default CD-player to another program here, or for the file type CD Audio Track.

Note: Although you can't explore the contents of a Autorun-CDROM by double-clicking on it in My Computer, you can right click on it and select Open. Otherwise, you need to open the Explorer to navigate the CD-ROM. Obviously, someone at Microsoft was asleep at the wheel when putting this idea together.

Note: To configure your CD-player to appear automatically without playing the CD automatically, edit the Play command in the Audio CD file type, and remove /Play from the command line.

Solution #5:

Because of new features in TweakUI, one of Microsoft's PowerToys, this can now be truly disabled by turning off the Play audio CDs automatically and Play data CDs automatically options in the aptly-named Paranoia tab.

Also, make sure that the AutoInsertNotification option is turned back on - see Solution #1 above for more information.

Note: Once you've followed the instructions in Solution #1, Windows9x will no longer be notified when you insert a new CD. To make sure the correct icon and title for the current CD are displayed in My Computer and Explorer, press F5 to refresh the window.

Turn Off "Zooming" Windows

Although the zooming windows (the animation you see when opening, maximizing, or minimizing windows) is cute when you first install Windows95, it can quickly get tiring. Additionally, on slower video cards, the title bars flicker when zooming. Here's how to turn the zooming windows on and off (from reader submission):

Run the Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE).

Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Control panel\ desktop\ WindowMetrics.

Select New from the Edit menu, and choose String Value.

Type MinAnimate and press Enter.

Double click on the new entry to change its value.

Enter a value of 0 for "off" or 1 for "on."

Press OK and then close the Registry Editor.

You'll have to restart Windows for this change to take effect.

Note: This setting can also be changed with TweakUI, one of Microsoft's PowerToys.

Turn Off the Bouncing Click Here to Begin Arrow

The Click Here to Begin arrow that bounces off the start menu when you first start Windows95 was irritating right off the bat. I suppose it's useful for those folks who can't figure out what Start means, but many of us think it's fairly stupid. Microsoft claims that it is impossible to get rid of the little bouncing arrow, but we've figured it out:

Run the Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE).

Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer.

If it's not there, create a binary value and call it NoStartBanner.

Double-click on NoStartBanner, and enter the value 01 00 00 00, and press OK.

Repeat the same steps for HKEY_USERS\ .Default\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer.

Note: This setting can also be changed with TweakUI, one of Microsoft's PowerToys.

What to do if You Hate the Start Menu

Nobody liked Program Manager, the shell that came with Windows 3.x. If you're dislike the Start Menu as well, or just want to try something different, try this:

Obtain a copy of Route 1 Pro.

Get rid of Shortcut Residue

Shortcuts have two ways of telling you that they're shortcuts. When a shortcut is first created, its caption begins with Shortcut To. The shortcut's icon also has a small curved arrow in the lower-left corner. Although one can simply rename the icon so that Shortcut To isn't there, but there is no way to remove the little arrow for just one shortcut. To turn these features off for good, follow these instructions:

Get rid of Shortcut To:

Microsoft says that if you remove the Shortcut To text immediately after creating the shortcut at least eight times, that it will stop coming back. Unfortunately, this doesn't always work.

In other words, No solution. (see below)

Get rid of the curved arrow:

Run the Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE).

Search for the text IsShortcut, and remove any references to it. This means that there may be more than one occurance of the word.

Click on the desktop, and press F5 to refresh the desktop so that this change will take effect.

Note: This setting can also be changed with TweakUI, one of Microsoft's PowerToys.

Note: The curved arrow icon can also be changed with Microangelo.

Get Rid of the Unwanted Explorer Windows at Startup

Several users have complained about Explorer windows and Folders being loaded every time Windows95 starts. This "feature" automatically loads any Explorer windows and Folders that were opened when Windows95 was last shut down. If the same windows are being loaded every time you start up, even if they weren't open when you last shut down, there are a couple of possibilities:

  Make sure you close all Explorer windows and Folders before shutting down.

  You might not be shutting down completely; make sure you see the screen that  says, "It is now safe to turn off..."

  If this is the result of a Windows95 bug, there doesn't seem to be any way to turn this off.

To stop Windows95 from saving Window locations:

Load up the System Policy Editor (poledit.exe). In the build 347 CD, it's in the Admin\Apptools\Poledit folder, and in build 490, it's in the Mig_kit\Admin95\Apptools\Poledit folder.

If you are asked to "Open a Template File," choose admin.adm in the same folder, and click OK.

Select Open Registry from the File menu.

Double-click on the Local User icon.

Open Local_User\ Shell\ Restrictions.

Turn off Dont save settings at exit.

Click OK, and select Save from the File menu.

Click on the desktop, and press F5 to refresh the desktop so that this change will take effect.

Note: If you turn off this setting, Windows 95 will not remember any of your window positions or settings (icon sizes, sort orders).

Note: This setting can also be changed with TweakUI, one of Microsoft's PowerToys.

Note: This might also be happening because of another program that's run when Windows95 is started. (more information)

Turn off the Flying Paper Animations

When copying, moving, and deleting files, a cute little animation is displayed, showing a little piece of paper flying through the air. It sometimes takes longer to load this animation than it takes to carry out the desired operation - why is this useless window displayed when deleting a single file? In addition, a status bar shows the percentage complete of the current file. For some reason, it never occurred to the programmers to have the status bar display the percentage complete of the operation, instead of each individual file. For example, it does you absolutely no good to see the percentage complete of a single file when you have thirty files to copy. At any rate, there is no way (yet) to turn off the cute flying paper animations.

No solution.

Note: If you use the old Windows 3.x File Manager (winfile.exe), it won't show this irritating animation.

Rename Files Without Being Hassled by the 'Man'

If you've ever tried to rename a file and change the extension, you'll see that Windows95 doesn't let you do it without a stern warning. Since Window95 can't sense whether or not a user knows what they're doing, it displays this useless message every time. As of yet, there is no way to get rid of this message.

Obtain and install Power Rename.

Stop Menus from Following the Mouse

One of the new "improvements" to Windows95 is how the menus seem to be magnetically attracted to the mouse pointer. Instead of reacting to a single click like most every other operating system in the world, Windows95 menus will disappear if you accidentally let the mouse stray and hit another menu. This is especially irritating to users with sensitive pointing devices, such as pens and other digitizers. Here's how to disable this behavior:
 

Solution #1:

Obtain and install Old Mouse Mode (25 kb).

Solution #2:

Run the Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE).

Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Control Panel\ desktop.

Click on the string named MenuShowDelay (or add it if it's not there by selecting New, String Value from the Edit menu)

Specify 65534 for its value, and close the Registry Editor when finished.

You'll probably have to restart Windows for this change to take effect.

Note: Solution #2 will prevent sub-menus from opening automatically, but the main menus still follow the mouse like a starving alley cat.

Note: This setting can also be changed with TweakUI, one of Microsoft's PowerToys.

Save Your Desktop Layout

Many of you, after meticulously arranging all the icons on your desktop, have been frustrated to no end when Windows95 randomly re-arranges them. So far, this looks like a bug, and hopefully someone at Microsoft will get their act in gear and fix it in the next version. Here's a workaround:

Obtain and install EzDesk.

Note: If you are unable to move the icons on your desktop, right-click on an empty portion of the destkop, click Arrange Icons, and turn off Auto-Arrange.