Windows 95 For Dummies #2



*1. IT MOVES!          
          
April 28th, 1999          
          
You're working along in a Windows 95 application--say, Word 97. You choose
a command, such as File + Save, from the menu. The dialog box
appears--right over the text you suddenly wish you could read. Do you
have to close the dialog box to read the text behind it? 

Of course not--just drag the dialog box by its title bar to
another location. 

You'd be surprised how many folks don't know they can do this.


*2. MAJOR PANE          
          
April 29th, 1999          
          
By default, Windows Explorer displays a slim left pane (containing your
folders and disk drives) and a much wider right pane (containing the
contents of the selected folder). But the discrepancy in pane widths
needn't be so great. You can change the relative widths of the panes
easily, as follows: 

1. Position the mouse pointer over the bar separating the two panes of
	the Explorer window; the mouse pointer changes to a line with
	arrows pointing left and right. 
2. Drag the bar in the desired direction. 

Of course, the left pane need only be wide enough to accommodate your
widest folder name; unfortunately, there's no automatic way to set it to
that width.


*3. AGAIN, WITH THE EXPLORER PANES          
          
April 30th, 1999          
          
Did you know that if you like, you can display ONE MORE LINE of
information in the left pane of your Explorer window than you can in the
right pane? It all boils down to whether or not you can live without the
"All Folders" label at the top of the left pane. If you can, perform the
following: 

1. In Windows Explorer, choose View + Options. 
2. Deselect Include Description Bar for Left and Right Panes. 
3. Click OK. 

The label disappears--and you win back the precious space.


*4. A VERY, VERY PRACTICAL TIP FROM READER-LAND          
          
May 3rd, 1999          
          
Windows 95 user and rodentphile JoAnn Rekasis recommends this technique
for keeping your mouse running smoothly: "Use a suede brush--a little
brass-spiked brush used to clean suede shoes and other suede items--on
your mouse pad. You will be astounded at how much dust flies out the pad
as you brush. Your mouse pad will look like new, and your mouse will
perform like new." 

We haven't yet tried it ourselves, JoAnn, but it sounds like it can't
miss. Thanks for the tip.


*5. WORDPAD APB          
          
May 4th, 1999          
          
On January 19, we sent you a tip, "WordPad Tease," which claimed that
even though the Windows 95 WordPad accessory has a Print Selection
option--which is supposed to print only the selected text of a
document--that option remains grayed out so that you can't select it. 

Well, we received this message from subscriber Jeffrey Gee: "You wrote
that you can't print a selected part of a document because it is grayed
out. But you can"--if, as he explained, you select a part of the
document. According to Jeffrey, you do the following: 

1. With your mouse, highlight the text that you want to print. 
2. Choose File + Print (or press Ctrl + P). 
3. Choose Selection from the Print Range. 
4. Click OK. 

We tried these steps, and we still can't get the command to work for us.
So we ask the rest of you: Has anyone else managed to use this WordPad
feature? If you have, please write and let us know how you did it! 

And thanks, Jeff.


*6. RUN, FOLDER, RUN          
          
May 5th, 1999          
          
By now you probably know all about the Windows 95 Run command, which you
can use from the Start button to run any program on your computer. But
Run has another use: You can use it to open a folder without running any
of the programs in that folder. Here's how: 

1. Click the Start button. 
2. Choose Run from the Start menu. 
3. In the Open box, type the path to the folder you want to open (or
click the Browse button, find and select the folder, click Open and then
click OK when it puts you back into the Open box. Windows 95 opens the
folder. Compared to using Windows Explorer, going through the Run command
can often be a much faster way to get to a folder.


*7. IF ONLY VAN GOGH HAD SHORTCUTS LIKE THESE          
          
May 6th, 1999          
          
The toolbar and color box of Windows Paint are extremely handy, but
sometimes they keep you from displaying as much of your picture as you
might like to see. Fortunately for you, you can toggle these screen
elements off and on with a couple of handy keystrokes.

- To toggle the Paint toolbar on and off the screen, press Ctrl + T. 
- To toggle the color box on and off the screen, press Ctrl + A.

Imagine that--opening regions of space with a tiny movement of your
fingers. It costs NASA billions to do the same thing.


*8. WHAT? CTRL + A DOESN'T "SELECT ALL?"          
          
May 7th, 1999          
          
Last time, we passed along the miracle of how to toggle Paint's toolbar
display on and off (Ctrl + T) and how to toggle the color box display on
and off (Ctrl + A). As the tip hit the airwaves, we could almost hear the
hue and cry: "What? If Ctrl + A--the Select All shortcut in just about
every other Windows program--is used for something else in Paint, am I
doomed to go to the Paint menu for this all too commonly used command?" 

My, aren't we melodramatic, but fret not. To use the Select All command
in Paint, just press Ctrl + L. 

If you need help memorizing this, just remember that you use the OTHER
letter in the word "all." Good luck.


*9. HE'S MAKIN' A LIST          
          
May 10th, 1999          
          
Tired of entering e-mail addresses--one name at a time--to the same group
of people over and over again? Combine those people into a distribution
list, as follows: 

1. On the Microsoft Exchange (the "inbox" program) toolbar, click the
	Address Book button. 
2. On the Address Book toolbar, click the New Entry button. 
3. Under Select the Entry Type, select Personal Distribution List; then
	click OK. 
4. Type a name for your list--for example, Clients or Friends. 
5. Click the Add/Remove Members button. 
6. In the list of names on the left, double-click each name you want to
	include in the list. (If you accidentally add a name you don't
	want to include, select the name and the semicolon following it
	and then press Delete to remove the name.) 
7. After you add all the names you want, click OK; then click OK again
	to create the list. 

Next time, we show you how to use your distribution list.


*10. FIND THAT MESSAGE!          
          
May 12th, 1999          
          
Here's a pretty common scenario: You're absolutely certain that someone
recently sent you an e-mail message about flanges. But you can't remember
the person's name or the date or anything else about the message. You've
got hundreds of messages in your Inbox, and you don't want to read them
all. What can you do? 

Search your messages, like so: 

1. From the Exchange menu bar, choose Tools + Find
	(or press Ctrl + Shift + F). 
2. In the Message Body text box, type a word you're pretty sure is in the
	message--in this example, "flange" (without the quotation marks). 
3. Click Find Now. 

A list of all the messages containing that word appears; just
double-click any message in the list to open it.