Windows 95 For Dummies #7



*1. CLEAN UP THIS MESS, WILL YA?          
          
July 20th, 1999          
          
You innocently change your screen display resolution for a while and then
change it back. Or Windows 95 plays one of its cute little tricks on you,
requiring you to start your PC in Safe Mode, solve a few problems, and
start up again. Whatever the cause, you're now staring at a desktop with
icons overlapping each other, making it nearly impossible to figure out
what opens what. How do you get out of this mess--literally and
figuratively? Like so: 

1. Right-click any blank area of the desktop. 
2. Choose Arrange Icons from the shortcut menu. 

Windows rearranges your icons, spacing them evenly and neatly on your
desktop. So you don't look like a slob.


*2. LOST IN DOS          
          
July 21st, 1999          
          
You click the Start button and choose Programs + MS-DOS Prompt. And you
can't believe your eyes--an MS-DOS screen, in a Windows-style window! Will
wonders never cease? "And what does THIS little four-pointed arrow do?"
you ask, just before clicking it. Uh-oh--now you're in a REAL DOS screen,
without the Windows-style window! This isn't what you wanted. You want to
go back! "HOW DO I GET BACK TO WINDOWS?" you fairly scream. 

Like this (we answer calmly): 

Press Alt + Enter. 

Doing so takes you back to DOS in a window. Actually, Alt + Enter is a
toggle. Press the combination a second time, and you go back to the
full-screen DOS; press again, and you're back in the window; again and
you're back at the full screen . . . you get the idea. 

NOTE: Alt + Enter does NOT work the same way in a Windows application
window; in most cases, it displays that application's shortcut menu.


*3. THE DOUBLE-CLICK--ENEMY OF MOUSE LONGEVITY?          
          
July 22nd, 1999          
          
You can abuse your mouse in all kinds of ways, but what could be more
abusive than double-clicking it, day in and day out? Try to imagine your
head as the mouse button and the toll a repeated "tap-tap, tap-tap" would
take on it. 

"Hey," you say, "that's what product testing is for--to make sure the
mouse can take the abuse." Well, if you're like us--that is to say, if
you're waiting in fear for the day that you double-click once too often and
your mouse button flies off the mouse and across the room, never to serve
you again--you might want to consider this alternative: 

To open any desktop, folder, or Explorer icon: 

1. Right-click the icon. 
2. Choose Open from the shortcut menu. 

Who can say how much extra life you'll add to your mouse? Certainly not
us--we rarely use the mouse anyway.


*4. I GOT YOUR LONG FILENAMES RIGHT HERE, PAL          
          
July 23rd, 1999          
          
The last thing you need to hear is more about how great Windows 95's long
filenames are. So today, we'd like to deemphasize the good and focus on
the BAD. For example, what do you do when the filename under a desktop or
folder window icon is so long that you can't read the whole thing, huh?
How do you know what the heck you'll open up when you double-click THAT? 

Well, one way to find out is to single-click the icon (to select it). 

When you select an icon, Windows 95 helpfully displays its ENTIRE filename
so that you know what you're dealing with. And a good thing, too, because
we were starting to get ticked off.


*5. SWEEPING ART          
          
July 26th, 1999          
          
Sometimes we discover a Windows 95 feature so neat we don't even want to
bother to describe it--we just want you to try it. So: 
1. Click the Start button and choose Programs + Accessories + Paint to open
	Windows Paint. 
2. Click any of the shape tools and draw a single shape on the "canvas." 
3. Click the Select tool (the top right tool, which looks like a box with
	a dotted outline) and draw a box around the shape you just drew. 
4. Hold down the Shift key. 
5. Drag the shape around the screen. 

Paint creates a "sweep" of your shape! This is a great special effect for
adding the appearance of motion to your drawings. Didn't we tell you it
was neat?


*6. LET'S EXPLORE THE NEIGHBORHOOD, KIDS!          
          
July 28th, 1999          
          
By now, you know that you can use Windows Explorer to explore your hard
disk, your floppies, your folders, and even your CD-ROM drive. But we'd be
willing to bet our pathetic life savings that you didn't know you could
explore your network, too: 

1. On the desktop, right-click the Neighborhood Network icon. 
2. Choose Explore from the shortcut menu. 

You see your network--or as much as your network administrator wants you to
see--and your familiar Explorer window. It's a great way to find stuff on
the server.

*7. WHEN SIZE MATTERS          
          
July 29th, 1999          
          
Do you absolutely need to know how much disk space a folder occupies? 

* If the Folder window is open, check the right side of the status bar. You
	see the size of the folder and all its contents, in kilobytes
	(thousands of bytes). 
* If the Folder window is NOT open, and you'd rather not open it,
	right-click the folder, choose Properties from the shortcut menu,
	and read the Size entry (here, it's given in kilobytes AND bytes). 

Now you know.


*8. WARNING ABOUT SIZE          
          
July 30th, 1999          
          
Last time, we told you how to find the size of a folder and all its
contents. Today, we want to warn you about how NOT to accomplish this
task: Do NOT right-click a SHORTCUT to a folder to find out the size of a
folder. All you learn is the size of the shortcut--which is usually no more
than a few hundred bytes. THAT can be very misleading.


*9. HOT PROPERTIES          
          
August 2nd, 1999          
          
Lately, we've been telling you about all the wondrous things that you can
learn from a folder's Properties dialog box. Like many Windows 95 users,
you may have gotten the idea that you can only display the Properties
dialog by right-clicking the folder's ICON. In fact, nothing could be
further from the truth. To display the Properties dialog box for an open
folder window: 

1. Right-click any BLANK area within the window. 
2. Choose Properties from the shortcut menu. 

(We're big enough to admit that before we knew this tip, we were CLOSING
folders just to look at their properties. Surely, there's some sort of
doofus award for which we now qualify.)


*10. IT'S NOT POLITE--OR PRACTICAL--TO POINT          
          
August 3rd, 1999          
          
The beauty of Windows Explorer (if you can actually call it "beauty") is
that it lets you find a file on your hard or floppy disks with a few
clicks. That IS a big improvement for most of us but perhaps not for those
of you who remember the DOS days of typing your way to a folder. Well,
Explorer is nothing, if not nostalgic. If you know where you want to go,
try getting there this way: 

1. From the Explorer menu, choose Tools + Go To. 
2. Type the full path and name of the folder (you probably still call it a
	directory) that you want to explore. 
3. Press Enter. (You could click OK, too, but why bother? Your hands are
	on the keyboard.) 

Explorer zips directly to your destination--unless you mistyped it. You
remember typos--they're the things you don't have to worry about if you
work Explorer with your mouse.
