Frank's Computer Tips

Windows 98 tips

To remove items from your startup directory, click on the Start button, click on Run, enter "msconfig" and click Ok. When the System Configuration window opens, click on the Startup Tab and uncheck the programs that you don't want Windows to load. Click OK and close the utility. This will remove stratup items from your taskbar.

To put My Computer on your taskbar and get cascading menus and submenus, close any applications that you have running. Right click on an empty part of the taskbar. In the context menu, select Toolbars and New Toolbars. In the dialogue box, click on My Computer and OK. Now, My Computer is on your taskbar. You can resize it by clicking on the verticle lines to the right of it, hold down the mouse button, and move it as far left as it will go. Now you have just the words My Computer and a set of double arrows showing. When you want to see the contents of My Computer, click on the arrows and the cascading menus will appear.

To move between tasks that you are running without using your mouse, click on the taskbar, hold down the Alt key and press Tab. A box will appear showing an icon for each open program.�

To prevent your computer from performing a Scan Disk after improper shutdown, go to the System Configuration Utility in the way that was described in the first tip. Click on the Advanced button and put a check mark in the box labelled "Disable Scandisk after bad shutdown".

To clean up your desktop from all the shortcuts, right click on an empty spot of your desktop. Choose New and Folder. A new folder will pop up which you can name, then press Enter. Double click on it to open it. Now drag any desktop shortcuts into your new folder.

To make personalized icons with your own digital images, click on Start, Programs, Accessories, then Paint. Now open a graphics file, either a .bmp or.jpg on your system. A picture that contains a large image, like a person's face will work best. Now choose File, Save As, and in the Save As Type field, select 24-bit bitmap. In the File Name area, name your file with a .ico extension, as in MyIcon.ico. Now save the icon to your icons folder and close up the Paint program.

To add the Rename command to your Recycle Bin, click on Start, Run, type "regedit" and click OK. This opens the Registry Editor. Navigate through the following keys: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ShellFolder. With ShellFolder open, double click on the Attributes value in the right pane. In the Edit Binary Value window that appears, replace the eight digits "40 01 00 20" with "70 01 00 20" and click OK. Close the Registry Editor and right click on your recycle bin to rename it.

For even more tips, try the following sites:
Windows 95 Tips & Tweaks
M@'s Win95 Tips
Midi Tips
Scanning Tips
Tipworld
Top 50 Tips