Windows 95 Tips #14



*1. THIS MANAGER HAS AN OPEN-DOOR POLICY         
     
Do you find yourself inside the Device Manager on a regular basis? Then
you've probably already figured out one of the fastest ways to get there:
Hold down the Alt key as you double-click My Computer, then click the
Device Manager tab. 

Truth be told, there's an even faster way to access the Device Manager.
Create a custom shortcut, place it in a convenient location, such as your
desktop or Start menu, and from then on, you can jump directly to the
Device Manager in one quick step. 

Right-click the desktop (or the folder in which you'd like to place the
shortcut, such as the Start Menu folder), and select New, Shortcut. In
the text box under Command Line, type exactly 

C:\WINDOWS\CONTROL.EXE Sysdm.cpl, System,1 

(Note: Replace 'C:\WINDOWS' with your Windows 95 directory, if
necessary.) Click the Next button, type the name 

Device Manager 

and click Finish. That's all there is to it. Select the new shortcut to
go directly to the Device Manager tab of the System
Properties dialog box.


*2. RENDER YOUR RECYCLE BIN USELESS         
     
Are you the type of person who deletes something only if you're
absolutely sure you'll never need it again? Can't remember a time when
you had to retrieve a deleted item from the Recycle Bin--ever? If you
need to conserve disk space and wish you didn't have to worry about
emptying the Recycle Bin (to free up all the disk space those deleted
items take up), disable this trash can altogether. 

Right-click the Recycle Bin desktop item, select Properties, and select
Do Not Move Files To The Recycle Bin. Remove Files Immediately Upon
Delete. Click OK, and now when you delete something, it's really
gone for good. 

(Note: You'll still have a small safety net. When you delete something,
you'll have to click Yes to confirm that you really want to remove it.)


*3. ANYONE FOR PIE?         
     
Wondering how much hard disk space you have left? Open My Computer,
select your hard drive, and its total capacity and free space appear in
the status bar. 

Want the pictorial view? In the same My Computer window, right-click the
drive and select Properties. Pink pie is free space, blue is eaten. 

(Note: If you have IE 4.0 installed, and you're viewing My Computer as a
Web page, selecting a drive displays a black-and-white,
free-vs-used-space pie graph on the left side of the window.)


*4. START SMALL         
     
You may already know how to start an application when Windows 95 starts:
Place its shortcut in your Startup folder. (Right-click the Start button,
select Open, double-click Programs, and you'll see the Startup folder.)
But did you also know that you can start any or all of your startup
applications minimized? In other words, when you start Windows 95, the
application(s) will open, and then shrink to the Taskbar, ready and
waiting. It's a great way to keep those windows from hogging valuable
screen space. 

Assuming you've already placed a shortcut in the Startup folder,
right-click the shortcut and select Properties. Click the Shortcut tab,
click the down arrow next to Run, and select Minimized. Click OK, and
from now on, starting Windows will launch that application and then send
it directly to your Taskbar.


*5. HELP? WHERE'D THE HELP GO?         
     
In previous tips, we've discussed installing and using the various tools
that are part of the Windows 95 PowerToys. (Point your Web browser to 

http://www.pcworld.com/fileworld/file_description/0,1458,3889,00.html 

download powertoy.exe to your folder of choice, and double-click this
file to extract its contents. To install most of the PowerToys, one at a
time, right-click each *.inf file and select Install.) A number of
readers have asked where to find the help screens that appear during the
installation process--specifically, those that give information on the
Find Extensions, Send To Extensions, and Tweak UI PowerToys. 

First, open the folder that contains all of the *.inf files you used to
install the PowerToys. To view the help screen for the Find Extensions
 PowerToys, right-click findx.inf and select Open. Similarly, right-click
sendtox.inf and select Open to view the Send To Extensions help screen. 

Tweak UI is a bird of a different color. To view help for Tweak UI, open
this utility (double-click its icon inside the Control Panel) and on the
Mouse tab, click the Tips button. Double-click About Tweak UI to read the
exact help screen that appeared during installation, or select from any
of the other help options.


*16. LOGO SCREEN FOLLOW-UP         
     
A few months ago we ran a tip explaining how to remove your logo screen
from the Windows 95 startup. In response, reader A. Horwitz asks, "How do
we change the cloud logo to something that we want to appear? Also, where
do we get the Tweak UI utility you mentioned (to facilitate removing the
logo screen)?" 

Let's start with Tweak UI. (We apologize for not including this
information the first time around.) To obtain the Windows 95 PowerToys,
including Tweak UI, point your Web browser to 

http://www.pcworld.com/r/tw/1%2C2061%2Ctw-w950604a%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, to install Tweak UI, right-click Tweakui.inf and select Install. To
remove the logo screen from the Windows 95 startup, open Tweak UI
(double-click its icon in Control Panel), click the Boot tab, deselect
Display Splash Screen While Booting, and click OK. 

Now on to selecting a new image for your startup (and shutdown)
screen(s). The easiest route is to use ready-made replacements, which
you'll find all over the Web. For starters, try 

http://www.pcworld.com/r/tw/1%2C2061%2Ctw-w950604b%2C00.html 

Once you've finished downloading and extracting the necessary files, copy
Logo.sys to your root directory, and copy Logos.sys and Logow.sys to your
Windows folder. (Note: Rename these existing files on your system first,
so you don't overwrite the originals.) Restart Windows, and your startup
(and shutdown) will sport a brand-new look!


*7. WHO WOULD STEAL A TRASH CAN?         
     
B. O'Brien writes, "I don't know how I did it, but I deleted my Recycle
Bin icon from my desktop. Is there any way to get it back without
reinstalling Windows?" 

Yes, if you don't mind editing the Registry. (Note: As always, back 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_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
explorer\Desktop\NameSpace

In the left pane, right-click the NameSpace key and select New, Key.
Type exactly 

{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} 

and press Enter. (Tip: To save yourself some typing, copy the above line
to your Clipboard, then press Ctrl-V after selecting New, Key, above.) In
the right pane, right-click (Default) and select Modify. In the resulting
Edit String dialog box, on the Value data line, type 

Recycle Bin 

and click OK. Close the Registry Editor, click the desktop once, press F5
(for refresh), and there's your Recycle Bin icon! 


*8. ONE-CLICK DOCUMENT CLEAR-OUT         
     
Wish you could clear your Start, Documents list with one quick click?
(Normally, you have to right-click the taskbar, select Properties, click
the Start Menu tab, click Clear, then click OK.) Reader G. Sampson shares
this batch file technique: 

Open Notepad--select Start, Programs, Accessories, Notepad--and type
the following: 
 
ECHO OFF 
ECHO Y|DEL C:\WINDOWS\RECENT\*.* 
 
Select File, Save; name the file something like Clear_Documents.bat;
and save it anywhere you'd like. 

Locate the new file in an Explorer window, right-click and drag it out to
the desktop, and select Create Shortcut(s) Here. (Rename the shortcut
something appropriate, such as Clear Documents, if desired.) Right-click
the new shortcut, click the Program tab, and select Close On Exit. On the
same tab, under Run, select Minimized, then click OK. 

Now any time you want to clear your Documents list, just double-click
your new shortcut and voila! (Note: As an alternative, you may wish to
place the shortcut on your Start menu.) 

Thanks for the suggestion, G.


*9. FAVORITE BACKUPS         
     
R. Johnson writes, "My computer recently crashed and I lost everything
that I had not backed up. Is there a way to copy my Favorites or somehow
save them to another disk, to avoid losing them in the event of a
future crash?" 

Absolutely. To back up your Favorites, just copy the contents of your
Favorites folder to a floppy disk. 

In an Explorer window, display the contents of your
Windows\Favorites folder. Hold down Ctrl as you click each Favorite you
want to back up (or press Ctrl-A to select them all). With a blank,
formatted disk in your floppy drive, right-click the selection and select
Send To, 3 1/2 Floppy (A). Close all open windows, remove the disk from
your floppy drive, and put it somewhere for safe keeping. 

In the event of a system crash, just copy the contents of the disk to
your Favorites folder, and you've got your links back. (Note: If the
contents of your Favorites folder won't fit on a single floppy disk,
you'll need to split them up into multiple disks.)


*10. THE UN-WELCOME WELCOME BOX         
     
B. Festa writes, "I have recently re-installed Windows 95, and I can't
get rid of the password box that appears when the computer starts up. It
says that if you don't enter one, it won't appear again, but it always
does! Can I fix this annoying problem?" 

This is one of those questions we get all the time, so although we've run
this tip before, we'll discuss a couple of possible solutions. 

The next time you see the login dialog box, enter a user name and
password, if you haven't already. Next, open Control Panel, double-click
the Passwords icon, and on the Change Passwords tab, click the Change
Windows Password button. Type your password in the Old Password text box,
press Tab, then type it again in the New Password text box. Press Enter,
and you'll see a dialog box telling you that your password has been
changed. That Welcome To Windows 95 dialog box shouldn't bother you again
(although we've heard from many people for whom this technique doesn't
solve the problem). 

Another option is to use the Tweak UI PowerToy. (Quick review: To obtain
the Windows 95 PowerToys, point your Web browser to 

http://www.pcworld.com/r/tw/1%2C2061%2Ctw-w950409%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, to install Tweak UI, right-click Tweakui.inf and select Install.)
Open Tweak UI (you'll find it in Control Panel), select the Network tab,
and select Log On Automatically At System Startup. Type your user name
and password, then click OK.
