Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 Tips #6





*1.   WHAT'S IN THE ZIP FILE?         
 
Reader Frank B. sends this Zip file tip. 

"Most people who browse the Internet are familiar with Zip files.
 This is the most common format for downloaded files. If you have
 WinZip installed, you can use the Find tool in Windows 95/98 to
 locate files that are compressed inside Zip files." 

Let's try an example. Let's say you know that you have a file
 named Note.gif and that it's in one of your Zip files--you don't
 know which one at this point. Click a blank spot on the desktop
 and press F3 to open Find. In the Named entry box, type 

*.zip 

and then press Tab to get to the Containing Text entry box. In
 this entry box, enter 

Note.gif 

and then set the Look In pop-up menu to Drive C. Make sure the
 check box labeled Include Subfolders is selected and
 click Find Now. 

Find will locate and display the Zip file that contains the
 Note.gif file. Double-click the file to open it in WinZip and
 then you can extract the file you're after. 

Remember that you must have WinZip installed for this to work. 

If you don't have WinZip, take a look at 

http://www.winzip.com 

WinZip is the most popular compression program around today.
 You might want to download the evaluation version and see if
 you like it. 
         

*2.   SAVE THAT SPECIAL WALLPAPER         
 
Many subscribers have asked the wallpaper question that reader
 A. J. asks here. 

"I would like to know if you can tell me how to save and retrieve
 pictures that I like and want to use as wallpaper. I have so
 many that I like, but have only found out how to keep one
 at a time." 

When you locate a picture on the Web that you want to use as
 wallpaper, right-click the picture and choose Set As Wallpaper.
 The picture now becomes your current wallpaper. The wallpaper
 file is named Internet Explorer Wallpaper.bmp. If you decide to
 set another picture as wallpaper later, the current wallpaper is
 lost. To keep the wallpaper, you need to save it under
 a new name. 

We've gotten so many questions about how to save that downloaded
 wallpaper that we decided to write a batch file to help you save
 the current Web wallpaper. To generate the batch file, run
 Notepad and enter the following text. 

@echo off 
if exist "Internet Explorer Wallpaper.bmp" rename "Internet
 Explorer Wallpaper.bmp" %1.bmp 
echo File renamed to %1.bmp 

After you finish typing in the code, choose File, Save As and
 name the file Fix.bat. Locate a folder to hold the file
 and click Save. 

To run Fix.bat, you need to open the MS-DOS window and navigate
 to the folder where the batch file resides. For example, we put
 Fix.bat into our c:\Utility folder. 

To use Fix.bat, we need to open the MS-DOS window and then type
 at the command prompt 

cd\Utility 

Next, we enter Fix and the new name for the wallpaper. Let's say
 we want to change the wallpaper name to My Wallpaper. We would
 enter at the command prompt 

fix "My Wallpaper" 

and press Enter. The batch file will now rename Internet Explorer
 Wallpaper.bmp to My Wallpaper. Once you've run the file,
 you can type 

exit 

and press Enter to close the MS-DOS window. 

Always use the quotation marks, and you'll have no problems with
 names that contain spaces. 
         

*3.   DRAG FROM E-MAIL         
 
Reader Doran G. asks this Outlook Express/IE4 question. 

"Is there a way to directly place a URL in a mail message (in
 Outlook Express) into the Favorites folder?" 

Yes, you can use drag and drop to get a URL from a mail message
 into the Favorites folder. The procedure is much less cumbersome
 than it sounds. If you open IE4 and maximize it, you can open
 Outlook Express in a smaller window and place it near the
 bottom-right side of the screen. Now, click the Favorites button
 (not the Favorites menu) in the Microsoft Internet Explorer 4
 toolbar. Favorites will open at the left side of the screen.
 Grab the URL you want to transfer from Outlook Express and drag
 it to the Favorites folder in which you want t to reside and
 release the mouse button. 

The trick is to grab the URL without navigating to the site. A
 click is an on/off signal from the mouse button. If you position
 the mouse pointer over the URL and then press and hold down the
 mouse button while you drag, the URL won't detect a click. 
         

*4.   Remove the URLs

You can remove the URLs that IE 4.0 remembers for its
 AutoComplete feature. Launch RegEdit and go to
 HKEY_USERS\Default\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\TypedURLs
 Delete any unwanted URLs.

To clear out Netscape's AutoComplete URLs, select the
 Communicator\History menu item and delete any unwanted URLs from
 the resulting list.


*5.   View Bigger Web Pages

Every bit of space you can subtract from the IE 4.0 toolbar
 gives you more room to see Web pages. First, go to View/Toolbars
 and deselect any toolbars you don't need; then deselect the Text
 Labels option (you'll see the toolbar icons,
 but not their descriptions).


*6.   Turn Off Java Support

If slow-loading Java applets are interrupting your Web
 browsing, turn off Java support in your browser. In
 Communicator, go to Edit/Preferences and select the Advanced
 dialog. Uncheck the Enable Java option. In IE 4.0, select
 View/Internet Options, open the Security tab, click on the
 Custom radio button and then on the Settings button. Select the
 Disable Java option in the next dialog box.


*7.   Dump IE's E-Mail App

If IE 4.0 doesn't recognize your e-mail client when you click on
 a mailto: link in a Web page, you can bypass IE 4.0's options
 using Win9x file associations. Open any folder and select
 View/Folder Options. Click on the File Types tab and
 double-click on URL:MailTo Protocol in the list of associations.
 In the next dialog box, highlight Open under the Actions window,
 then select the Edit button. Another dialog box will open,
 displaying the path of the e-mail app IE is using. Click on
 Browse to locate the e-mail client you want to use.


*8.   Back Up Your Bookmarks

Save your IE Favorites or Netscape Navigator Bookmarks to a
 floppy disk for safekeeping. In IE 4.0, select
 Favorites/Organize Favorites, then press Ctrl+A to select all of
 them. Right-click on any selected file, select Send To from the
 Context menu that appears and choose your A: drive. In
 Navigator, just copy the BOOKMARK.HTM file from your
 C:\PROGRAM FILES\ NETSCAPE\USERS\<username> folder. Or press
 Ctrl+B in Navigator to open your Bookmarks dialog box, then
 select File/Save As and save the HTM file to your A: drive.


*9   Change Explorer view

You can set a dual-pane view as your default Explorer view
 by opening any folder and choosing View/Options (or View/Folder
 Options under IE 4.0 or Windows 98). Under the File Types tab,
 select the Folder item from the Registered File Types list and
 click on the Edit button. Highlight Explore in the Actions
 window, click on the Set Default button and hit OK twice. If
 you ever want to reverse the setting, follow the same steps,
 but highlight Open instead of Explore.


*10.   A PERSONAL PICTURE         
 
Here's a question about Active Desktop from reader Susan W. 

"I've been told that it's possible to add a picture to your
 desktop folders when you use Active Desktop. I would like to add
 a picture of my daughter to some of my folders. I have the
 scanned picture on my hard disk, but I don't see how to add it
 to a folder. Can you help?" 

Yes, you can add pictures to folders. With Active Desktop
 enabled, open a folder and choose View, Customize This Folder.
 When the Customize This Folder dialog box opens, select the
 radio button labeled Choose A Background Picture,
 and then click Next. 

Now, click Browse and then click the arrow at the right side of
 the File Of Type list box. When the list expands, select the
 type of file that matches your picture. You can choose BMP, GIF,
 or JPG. Locate your file, and double-click its icon. Now click
 Next to continue and then click Finish. The picture should now
 appear as your folder background. 

The default black captions are sometimes difficult to read over
 a dark picture. If this is the case with your picture, choose
 View, Folder Options and select the Customize This Folder button
 and click Next. Now, click the color palette button labeled
 Text, and choose a lighter color for your text. Click Next and
 then Finish to close the dialog box and save your changes. 
