Windows 95 Tips #19



*1. TWO ICONS YOUR DESKTOP SHOULDN'T BE WITHOUT         
     
When working in Windows 95, there's nothing more frustrating than having to
go through more steps than necessary to get to what you need. So we
recommend placing shortcuts to the items you use all the time--the Control
Panel and your Floppy Drive--right on the desktop. 

Open My Computer and, one at a time, click and drag the Control Panel and
Floppy Drive icons to the desktop, release the mouse button, and click Yes
to confirm that you want to create a shortcut. Close the
My Computer window. 

-From now on, accessing the Control Panel or your floppy drive is a
one-step operation. Just a simple double-click (or click, depending on your
Active Desktop settings), and you're there.


*2. SAME PRINTER, TWO SETS OF PROPERTIES         
     
If you frequently print documents using different printer settings, such as
black and white drafts versus color documents, you're probably getting
tired of changing these settings each time you print. You can avoid this
busywork by tricking Windows into thinking you have two different printers.
"Install" the same printer twice, then set the Properties for each to match
your most commonly used settings. From then on, the only setting change
you'll have to make is selecting the printer you want to use. 

To "install" your printer again, select Start, Settings, Printers and click
Add Printer. Follow along with the installation instructions and, when
asked, opt to keep the existing driver. Also, be sure to give this "second"
printer an appropriate name, such as Color Docs. 

When the installation is complete, you'll see two different printer icons
in the Printers window. To adjust their Properties, one at a time,
right-click an icon, select Properties, then make the changes you'd like.
The next time you want to print a document, use the native application's
Print command, select a printer in the resulting dialog box, and click OK. 

(Tip-in-a-tip: You may also wish to place shortcuts to these printers on
your desktop. Then, you can drag and drop the document you want to print on
your printer of choice.)


*3. WINDOWS KEY SHORTCUTS         
     
Do you have a Windows key on your keyboard? You may already know that
pressing this key displays the Start menu, but did you also know that you
can hold it down and press 

E to open Windows Explorer 
R to open the Run dialog box 
F to open the Find dialog box 
F1 to open Help 
M to minimize all open windows (Shift-Windows-M to undo minimize all) 
Tab to cycle through the Taskbar buttons 
Break to open the System Properties dialog box 

Handy little button, eh?


*4. MAKING YOUR OWN WINDOWS KEY         
     
In our last tip, we listed the keyboard shortcuts for the Windows key.
Don't have one? Before you run out and buy a new keyboard, try making your
own Windows key by using the Keyboard Remap Kernel Toy. 

Point your Web browser to 

http://www.pcworld.com/fileworld/file_description/0,1458,746,00.html 

and download krnltoys.exe. Double-click this file to extract its contents,
then right-click the Keyremap.inf file and select Install. 

Open the Control Panel, double-click Keyboard, and select the new Remap
tab. Under Right-hand Side, select a key to use for your Windows key--such
as Right Alt--on the left; and on the right, select Windows. Click OK, and
the key you specified will now act like a real, live Windows key!


*5. THE SHOW DESKTOP ICON GOES BOTH WAYS         
     
If you have Internet Explorer 4 or higher installed on your system, then
you have the Quick Launch toolbar next to your Start button (unless you've
removed it). This bar of icons includes the Show Desktop icon, which, when
clicked, minimizes all windows to display your desktop. 

Great, everyone knows that, right? But what you may not know is that after
clicking this icon once to display your desktop, clicking it AGAIN restores
all windows to their original position (before clicking the button).
Who knew? 

(Note: If you do anything on the desktop before clicking the icon
again--for example, if you open and close a window--you may have to click
the icon twice to restore your windows.)


*6. RENAMING YOUR HARD DRIVE         
     
Don't like the name that Windows 95 gives your hard drive--for example,
Ms-dos_6? Feel free to rename it. 

First, think of a name of up to 11 characters. Then, open a My Computer
window, right-click the drive you want to rename, and select Properties. In
the text box next to Label, replace the name there with your name of
choice, then click OK. No need to restart--the change shows up immediately.


*7. CHANGING YOUR HARD DRIVE ICON         
     
In our last tip, we told you how to rename your hard drive: Open a My
Computer window, right-click the drive, select Properties, type a name of
up to 11 characters next to Label, then click OK. 

Is there something still not right about that hard drive? Maybe it needs a
new icon, too. Open Notepad (select Start, Programs, Accessories, Notepad)
and type exactly 
 
[autorun] 
icon=PATH,# 
 
where PATH is the path of the icon file containing the icon you want to
use, and # is its number. So, for example, if you wanted to use a globe
icon, your Notepad file would read 
 
[autorun] 
icon=c:\windows\system\shell32.dll,13 
 
(Note: The icons in icon files are numbered from zero upward. To view the
contents of an icon file, such as Windows\System\shell32.dll, right-click
any folder shortcut, select Properties, click the Shortcut tab, and click
the Change Icon button. To view the contents of another icon file, such as c:\windows\system\Pifmgr.dll, click the Browse button, navigate to the file
you have in mind, and click Open.) 

Save the file as AUTORUN.INF on the root of your hard drive, then close
Notepad. To view your new icon, open a My Computer window, press F5 (for
refresh), and there it is.


*8. RESTORING THE DEFAULT HARD DRIVE ICON         
     
In our last tip, we showed you how to change your hard drive's icon: Open
Notepad, type exactly 
 
[autorun] 
icon=PATH,# 
 
where PATH is the path of the icon file containing the icon you want to
use, and # is its number. Save the file as AUTORUN.INF on the root of your
hard drive. 

Want to change the icon back to its default? Don't worry--you don't have to
search out the original icon and type its path and number in the Notepad
file. Simply delete Autorun.inf from your system, and that icon will return
to its normal, boring self. 

Oh, and one more hard drive icon tip: You can change the icon of more than
one drive. Just create a separate Autorun.inf file for each and store it
in the root of the corresponding drive.


*9. ADJUSTING THE MENU DELAY         
     
When you click the Start button and navigate through folders, do you find
that the menus pop out too slowly or too quickly? There are two ways to
adjust the delay before which a menu pops out, or the menu delay--by using
the Tweak UI PowerToy or by editing the Registry. 

Tweak UI is by far the easiest route. (Note: To obtain the Tweak UI and the
remaining Windows 95 PowerToys, point your Web browser to 

http://www.pcworld.com/fileworld/file_description/0,1458,3889,00.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 tweak.inf and select Install.) Assuming you have this utility
installed, open the Control Panel and double-click Tweak UI. On the Mouse
tab, move the lever under Menu Speed toward Slow or Fast, depending on
whether you want to increase or decrease the menu delay. Before clicking
OK, test the new setting by right-clicking the Test icon and selecting an
item in the pop-out menu. If it feels right, click OK. If not, adjust the
setting again until it does. 

If you don't have Tweak UI, you'll need to edit the Registry to adjust your
menu delay. (Note: As always, back up your Registry files--System.dat and
User.dat, hidden files in your Windows folder--before proceeding.) Open the
Registry Editor by selecting Start, Run, typing 
 
regedit 
 
and clicking OK. Then navigate your way to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. Right-click a blank area in the
right pane and select New, String Value. Name the new value MenuShowDelay.
Right-click the new value and select Modify. In the Edit String dialog box,
type the desired delay in milliseconds. For example, 1000 would be one
second. (The default is 400.) Click OK, close the Registry Editor, restart
Windows 95, and try out your new menus!


*10. MAKING YOUR OWN WALLPAPER         
     
Do you like doodling in Paint? Ever create a picture that you like so much
that you want to look at it every time you turn on your system? (Or better
yet, did some little tyke you know just create a great work of art?) Then
slap it on your desktop as wallpaper. 

Select Start, Programs, Accessories, Paint (unless Paint is already open)
and open the picture you'd like to use as desktop wallpaper. Save the file,
if you haven't already, then select File, Set As Wallpaper (Centered).
Close Paint, then check out your desktop. Now that's homemade wallpaper!
From now on, you can choose this wallpaper by name from the Wallpaper list
in the Display Properties dialog box.
