Windows NT Tips #10


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Proudly presents:
The Windows NT Tip of the Day

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*1. WHY NOT USE THE QUICK METHOD?         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Here's a question from subscriber Tom H.: 

"When formatting a floppy disk in Windows NT Workstation 4.0, it
 is always faster to use Quick Format? As long as you've
 formatted a disk once, why bother with the standard format?
 Since we buy only preformatted disks, why not just always
 select Quick Format?" 

If you're sure the disk is OK, then you can save time using
 Quick Format, as you suggested. However, if you're not
 absolutely sure of your floppy, using Quick Format might prove
 less of a time saver than you think. The full format checks
 the disk much more thoroughly than the Quick Format, so a bad
 disk is less likely to get through.  

To format a disk, open My Computer and right-click the disk's
 icon. Choose Format from the menu and select the check box
 labeled Quick Format, if this is what you want. When you're
 ready, click Start.


*2. WILD CARDS ON THE LINE         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0  
Lauren W. submitted this tip:  

"Although many people use the Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Command
 Prompt, I have found that very few people know you can use wild
 cards at the Command Prompt. Let's say you want to move to a
 directory with a long name. Let's assume as an example that
 you're in the root directory of drive C:, and you'd like to move
 to the Program Files directory (folder). Since wild cards will
 work, you can simply type

cd\prog*

press Enter, and there you are.

"So what happens when more than one directory satisfies the
 match? Don't worry. Windows NT Workstation 4.0 won't get
 confused and lock up. NT simply moves you to the first directory
 that matches the wild card specs."

Thanks for the tip, Lauren.


*3. A NEW DRIVE LETTER         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Subscriber Charles S. sent in this question: 

"My CD drive letter ended up as F. I would prefer to make it H to
 make sure other drives don't move it down the list. How do you
 set the CD drive letters in Windows NT Workstation 4.0? I know
 how to do the job in Windows 95, but I can't find it in Windows
 NT Workstation 4.0." 

To set the CD drive letter in Windows NT Workstation 4.0, click
 Start, Programs, Administrative Tools (Common), Disk
 Administrator. When Disk Administrator opens, click the drive
 letter you want to change (F, in your case) and choose Tools,
 Assign Drive Letter. The Assign Drive Letter dialog box opens.
 Use the spin box to select your new drive letter, then click OK
 to make the assignment and close the dialog box. A dialog box
 appears, asking if you want to continue. If you do, click Yes.  

Back in Disk Administrator, choose Partition,
 Exit to close the program.


*4. CLICK THE DESKTOP         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Reader Jolene H. sent in this interesting desktop question: 

"It would be nice to be able to access the desktop easily from
 the Start menu. Is there any way to place a desktop icon in the
 Windows NT Workstation 4.0 taskbar?" 

Yes, there is. In fact, the following is from a tip reader Steve
 Y. submitted several months back. 

"To put the desktop into the Start menu, run Windows NT Explorer
 and go to \Winnt\Profiles\User Name\Desktop (User Name is your
 personal user name). Right-click Start and choose Open. Now use
 the right mouse button to drag the Desktop icon from Windows NT
 Explorer to the Start menu. Release the mouse button. When the
 menu appears, choose Copy. 

"This procedure produces a Start menu item that behaves like all
 other Start menu items--when you move the mouse pointer over the
 item, a submenu opens."


*5. JUST PRINT IT         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Reader Jeff A. submitted this Command Prompt tip: 

"Many people aren't aware of the fact that much of the old MS-DOS
 stuff still exists in Windows NT Workstation 4.0. For example,
 one of my customers complained that it was a pain to print a
 text file from the Command Prompt. This isn't a problem because
 you can simply type 
 
print text.txt 
 
and press Enter to print a file." 

Thanks for the tip, Jeff.


*6. PUT IT ON THE DESKTOP         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
As reader Gil S. asks us to mention, you can get to Windows NT
 Explorer much more easily if you put it on the desktop. 

To place a shortcut to Windows NT Explorer on your desktop, run
 Windows NT Explorer and navigate to \Winnt. Locate Explorer.exe
 and use the right mouse button to drag its icon to the desktop.
 When you release the mouse button, choose Create Shortcut(s)
 Here. Now you just double-click your new shortcut to open
 Windows NT Explorer.


*7. WINDOWS PLUS WHAT?         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Reader Lee D. sent this keyboard question: 

"It isn't clear to me how to use the Windows key on the Windows
 keyboard. Could you cover this topic?" 

We can do that. 

To open the Start menu, press the Windows key, then release it
 You can press and hold the Windows key while you press M to
 minimize all your windows and give you access to the desktop.
 If you want to open Windows NT Help (no matter what program you
 are using), hold down the Windows key and press F1.  

You can hold down the Windows key and press Tab to cycle through
 the taskbar buttons. 

Finally, hold down Windows and press Break to open the System
 Properties dialog box.


*8. WE LIKE EDIT         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Here's a question from reader Zhang C.: 

"Until recent years, I used Edit.com to write and edit batch
 files. I recently discovered that Edit.com is still around, even
 in Windows NT Workstation 4.0. Is it possible to use Edit.com as
 the default editor for my batch files?" 

By default, Windows NT Workstation 4.0 uses NotePad as the batch
 file editor. But if you'd like to use Edit.com, you can make it
 the default editor. Let's edit the Registry to make the change.
 As always, be very careful when changing the Registry. Click
 Start, Run, type  
 
regedit  
 
and click OK (or press Enter). When RegEdit opens, navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\batfile\shell\edit\command. In the right pane,
 double-click the Default icon to open the Edit String dialog
 box. Type 
 
c:\winnt\system32\edit.com 
 
and click OK. Choose Registry, Exit to close RegEdit.
 Restart the computer.  

Now when you right-click a batch file and choose Edit, the file
 opens in Edit.com instead of Notepad.


*9. SOME WON'T CLOSE         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Here's a question from reader Jane R.: 

"A few months ago, you said that one can hold down the Shift key
 to close all the open folders at once. I tried this, and it does
 not work. Am I doing something wrong?" 

Well, yes, you probably are. The tip we published applies to
 folders within folders such as those you see in My Computer. To
 close all of them at once, you must hold down Shift while you
 click the close box of the last folder you opened.  

Try this: Double-click My Computer to open it. Now double-click
 drive C:. At this point, you have two folders open--My Computer
 and drive C:. The last one opened was C:, so hold down Shift and
 click the drive C: close box. Both folders close.  

You can use the same procedure with the Start menu. Say you
 right-click Start and choose Open. You open Programs and perhaps
 several other folders. Just hold down Shift and click the close
 box of the last-opened folder to close them all.


*10. MAKE IT WIDE ALWAYS         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Reader Del A. sent in this Command Prompt question: 

"I am almost sure that I once heard of a way to make the DIR
 command default to the wide version--DIR /W. Is this possible? I
 prefer the /W listing and would rather have it as the default." 

To do this, you need to change the DIRCMD. Click Start, Settings,
 Control Panel, and double-click the System icon. When the System
 Properties dialog box opens, click the Environment tab. Next
 click the entry box labeled Variable, type 
 
dircmd 
 
and press Tab to move to the Value entry box. In Value, type  
 
/w 
 
and click Set. Finally, click OK to close the dialog box and
 apply your new settings. From this point on, typing DIR at the
 Command Prompt produces the wide listing.
