Windows 95 Tips #9



*1.   LOOK--I KNOW WHEN I WANT TO ERASE!          
          
March 30th, 1999          
          
The following tip is for folks who are so experienced with DOS--so
absolutely sure of what they're doing--that they would rather DOS not
ask whether they're "sure" when they use the DOS Erase command. IF
YOU'RE NOT THIS SELF-ASSURED, TODAY'S TIP IS NOT FOR YOU. 

Note: DON'T EVER GIVE THIS COMMAND FROM THE C:\ OR C:\WINDOWS PROMPT--no
matter HOW experienced you think you are. 

To erase the contents of the current folder in DOS without
a confirmation: 
 
1. Type "ERASE **" (without the quotation marks). 
2. Press Enter. 

DOS erases the contents of the folder, no questions asked.


*2.   MORE ICONS TO CHOOSE FROM          
          
March 29th, 1999          
          
In a long ago tip, we showed you how to change the icon associated with
a program on your desktop. Since then, we've received important
information: YOU HAVE MORE ICONS TO CHOOSE FROM! So we repeat the
steps today: 

1. Right-click the icon you want to change; then click Properties on
	the shortcut menu. 
2. Click the Shortcut tab. 
3. Click the Change Icon button. 
4. Scroll through the Current Icon box. If you see something you like,
	select it and then skip to Step 6. 
5. If you DON'T see an icon you like, in the File Name text box,
	replace "SHELL32.DLL" with "PIFMGR.DLL" (without the quotation
	marks) and press Enter. Scroll through the new set of icons
	and select the one you want. 
6. Click OK; then click OK again. 

Just another hidden feature from your friends here at Dummies Daily.
And with friends like us. . . .


*3.   FINALLY, AN EPT TEST THAT WON'T MAKE YOU NERVOUS      
  
Are you having trouble printing? If you have your Windows 95
installation CD handy, help is on the way. Pop the CD in your CD-ROM
drive, click Browse This CD, and navigate your way to the
Other\Misc\Epts folder. Double-click Epts.exe and the Enhanced Printer
Troubleshooter springs to life. Follow along, answering the questions
it asks, and with any luck, you'll find a solution!


*4.   CLOSE IT ALL          
          
March 31st, 1999          
          
Windows 95's neat folder system sure makes drillin' down to the folder
you need easy: Just click one folder window, then click another within
that, and then another within that until you find what you're looking
for. Only problem is that when you're finished, you've got a lot of
open windows on the screen. Guess you just have to go back and click
them all shut, right? 

Wrong. Just hold down the Shift key as you click the X button in the
top-right corner of the most recently opened folder window. 

Windows closes that folder window and all preceding folder
windows, too.


*5.   STAY CONNECTED          
          
April 1st, 1999          
          
Do you get disconnected a little too regularly while dialing into your
Internet service provider or sending faxes? Here's a little trick that
may stop this from happening so frequently: 

1. Click Start and choose Settings + Control Panel. 
2. Double-click the Modems icon. 
3. Click Properties. 
4. Click the Connection tab. 
5. Click Advanced. 
6. In the Extra Settings text box, type "S10=50"
	(without the quotation marks). 
7. Click OK; then click OK again. 
8. Click Close. 

This new setting forces your modem to remain online for as long as five
seconds without being connected to a carrier, which often gives the
modem enough time to reestablish the connection. See if it helps you.


*6.   LEAVE MY SCREEN SHOWING, THANKS          
          
March 26th, 1999          
          
Last time, we showed you how to turn your screen on after Windows'
Automatic Power (WHAT?) turns it off: Simply press Esc or move your
mouse on the mousepad. But suppose you don't even want to turn it off
in the first place? You could disable the feature, but we don't
recommend it. Instead, on those occasions when you want the screen to
stay on, just click Start. 

As long as the Start menu is displayed, the Windows Automatic Power
feature won't turn your screen off.


*7.   WHY JUST OPEN WHEN YOU CAN EXPLORE?          
          
April 2nd, 1999          
          
At this point in your Windows 95 experience, you surely know that you
can open any folder by double-clicking it. But if you're like us
(heaven help you), you may prefer the Explorer way of looking
at things. 

Next time you want to open a folder, hold down the Shift key and
double-click the folder icon. Windows opens the folder in an
Explorer window.


*8.   FAST-MOTION WINDOWS      
  
Have you ever noticed that when you minimize or restore a window, you
actually see the window-shrinking or window-growing process? If you're
looking for ways to increase performance, you may want to remove this
window animation. That way, your windows will grow and shrink faster
than ever. 

(Note: This technique involves editing the Registry. As always, we
recommend backing up your Registry files--System.dat and User.dat,
hidden files on the root of your hard drive--before proceeding.) 

Open the Registry Editor--select Start, Run, type 

regedit 

and click OK--and navigate your way to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics. In the left
pane, right-click the WindowMetrics key and select New,
String Value. Type 

MinAnimate 

(to name the new value) and press Enter. In the right pane,
right-click MinAnimate and select Modify. In the resulting Edit
String dialog box, type 

0 

on the Data Value line. Click OK, close the Registry Editor,
and restart Windows 95. 

(Tip: If you want your window animation back, delete the MinAnimate
string [right-click it, select Delete, then click Yes to confirm] or
change its data value to 1 [right-click it, select Modify, type 

1 

on the Data Value line, then click OK].)


*9.   ENOUGH ALREADY! STOP TRYING!          
          
April 5th, 1999          
          
Back in March of last year, we published a tip that told you that, if
your computer had speakers, a modem, and a mike, you could use the
Windows Phone Dialer to dial a number; then you could talk to the
person on the other end through your mike and listen over
your speakers. 

Since then, we've received several letters from people who haven't been
able to get the tip to work as advertised. Not only that, but even
though it worked for us in numerous tests a year ago, now WE can't get
it to work, either. So while we plan to keep trying to find out what
went wrong--and to tell you when we do--for now we advise that you
stop trying. 

And we're sorry for any inconvenience this caused.


*10.   KEEP THOSE PROGRAMS FROM LOITERING--PART 1 OF 2      
  
T. Laszuk asks, "How do I get rid of what seem to be eternal names in
my Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box?" 

We receive this question often, so although we've discussed this
technique before, we'll go through it again. There are two ways to
remove programs from the Install/Uninstall tab of the Add/Remove
Programs Properties dialog box (the one that appears when you open the
Control Panel and double-click Add/Remove Programs). 

The first--and easiest--is to use the Tweak UI PowerToy. (See note
below for information on obtaining this utility.) Open the Control
Panel, double-click Tweak UI, and select the Add/Remove tab. Select the
item you'd like to remove from the Install/Uninstall list, click the
Remove button, then click Yes to confirm. Repeat these steps for each
item you want to remove, then click OK. 

(Note: If you don't have the Tweak UI PowerToy, point your Web
browser to 

http://www.pcworld.com/r/tw/1%2C2061%2Ctw-0405%2C00.html 

and download powertoy.exe to your folder of choice, such as a
PowerToys folder on the desktop. Double-click this file to extract its
contents, then right-click tweakui.inf and select Install. You can now
open Tweak UI by double-clicking its icon inside your Control Panel.) 

In our next tip, cleaning out the Install/Uninstall list without
Tweak UI....
