UNDOCUMENTED TIPS #1



*1.   UNDOCUMENTED TIP

If you've ever wondered which DLL files a program uses, 
here's how to find out: Right-click on the executable file and 
select QuickView. In the QuickView file, find the Import Table 
category. You'll see each DLL used by the file listed, with 
additional details below the name of each DLL.


*2.   UNDOCUMENTED TIP

You have hundreds, possibly thousands of DLL, or "dynamic link 
library," files on your computer. Many of them contain cool 
icons you can use with any shortcut on your computer. Here's 
how to find them. First, let's tweak the Registry to make DLLs 
that contain icons identify themselves. Launch the Registry 
Editor and drill down to the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\dllfile\DefaultIcon 
item. Double-click on the word "Default" in the right pane. In 
the Value data box, you'll see a long string of characters. 
Select and delete the whole string, and in its place add a 
percent sign followed by the number 1 just like this: "%1" 
(without the quote marks). Click OK, close the Registry and 
reboot. Now, use Find to  search your computer for all DLL files 
(*.DLL). Select "Large Icons" from Find's View menu. You'll see 
that the DLLs listed in the window that have icons display one 
of them as the icon for the DLL file. Write down the files that 
contain icons and make a note of the folder they're in. To 
assign these icons to shortcuts, right-click on the shortcut, 
select Properties and, on the Shortcut tab, click on the Change 
Icon button. Type the path and filename in the Change Icon "File 
name" box. All icons in the DLL will be displayed in the Current 
icon window. Choose the one you want, click OK, then OK again.


*3.   SECRET SHORTCUT

Drag any folder on your computer to any edge of your desktop, 
hold it there for a second or two, then let go. Windows will 
create a toolbar containing links to every file and folder in 
the folder you dragged. The coolest part is that all changes 
(such as folders added to or deleted from the folder) are 
instantly and automatically effected on the toolbar!


*4.   UNDOCUMENTED TIP

Microsoft CD cases have white stickers with disk assembly 
numbers on them. You can use the number to order a new CD if the
original becomes lost or stolen. You must, however, show a 
photocopy of the back  of the CD case to get the replacement. 
Make copies of all your CD cases, just in "case."


*5.   UNDOCUMENTED TIP

There are times when you as a network admin may not want users 
on your network to shut down Windows. You can prevent that by 
editing your Registry. Launch Regedit and drill down to the key

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
   Policies\Explorer\NoClose

Right-click on the NoClose subkey, select Modify and type a 1 
(the number one) in the Value data box. Exit Regedit, saving 
changes. Reboot. Now click on the Start Menu and the Shut Down 
menu will be gone. To restore the Shut Down menu, change the 
value back to 0.


*6.   UNDOCUMENTED TIP

If you don't know whether or not your hard disk is using FAT32, 
here's how to find out. Open up the Drive Converter (FAT32) 
utility, which you'll find on the Start 
button/Programs/Accessories/System Tools menu. Launching it will 
bring up a Drive Converter wizard. Click on the Next button. 
You'll see a window labeled "Drives" showing all the drives on 
your computer and whether they're FAT16 or FAT32. If you don't 
have the Driver Converter utility on your system, you probably 
don't have FAT32 and your system probably doesn't support it.
