Windows 98 Tips Page 9



*1.   CAUTION: WIDE LOAD     
 
Are you viewing a folder's contents in Details view (select View, Details)?
 Most likely, some columns of information are cut off. (Each cut off entry
 is followed by ellipses.) To view the hidden information, you have a couple
 of options. One, you could resize each column by hand. But that's
 definitely the long way. For quick information viewing, hold down the
 Ctrl key as you press the plus sign (+) on your numeric keypad.
 Instantly, Windows sizes every column to fit the widest entry.
 (Note: In many cases, you'll probably need to enlarge the window to
 see every column of information.) 

(Tip-in-a-tip: Pressing Ctrl-+ also shrinks oversized columns to fit the
 widest entry, allowing you to view more information in an open window.)


*2.   EASIER CD LISTENING     
 
D. Fox writes, "I'd like to change the program that plays my audio CDs
 from CD Player to, say CDMAX. I searched the Registry and found a few
 places where CD Player is referenced. What needs to be changed?" 

Actually, you won't need to go anywhere near the Registry to make this
 change. Audio CD is one of the file types in the list of registered types.
 Just change its association to match the program you want to use to open
 audio CDs. 

Inside any Explorer window, select View, Folder Options. Click the File
 Types tab, select Audio CD in the list of Registered file types, then
 click the Edit button. Select the Play action and click the Edit button.
 Under Application Used To Perform action, type the path of the program
 you'd like to use to play audio CDs, followed by a space and '/play'.
 For example, if you wanted use FlexiCD, you would type: 

C:\WINDOWS\FlexiCD.exe /play 

Click OK, click Close twice, and the change has been made. The next time
 you pop in an audio CD, your program of choice goes to work.


*3.   LOST (AND FOUND) ICON     
 
R. Taylor writes, "I deleted the Internet Explorer icon from the desktop.
 How can I get it back? I liked being able to right-click this icon and
 select Properties to get to the Internet Properties dialog box." 

You can put this icon right back where it belongs using Tweak UI, a utility
 available on the Windows 98 installation CD. (In case you missed our
 previous tips on this utility, here's how to install Tweak UI: Pop the
 installation CD in your CD-ROM drive, click Browse This CD, navigate your
 way to the tools\reskit\powertoy folder, right-click tweakui.inf, and
 select Install.) 

Now to get that icon back. Open the Control Panel, double-click Tweak UI,
 and select the Desktop tab. Under Special Desktop Icons, select Internet
 Explorer and click OK. Back on your desktop, watch as that IE4.x icon
 magically reappears.


*4.   A, B, C... IT'S EASY AS 1, 2, 3!     
 
Wish your Start menu icons were in alphabetical order--folders first,
 then shortcuts? (If you've done any manual rearranging by clicking and
 dragging items to new locations, you'll notice that Windows 98 doesn't
 alphabetize them for you.) You could rearrange them all by hand, but
 there's a much easier way. With one simple Registry change, Windows 98
 will restore order to the entire Start menu.  

(Warning: As with all Registry-editing techniques, we recommend backing
 up your Registry files--System.dat and User.dat, hidden files on the
 root of your hard drive--before continuing.)  

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

regedit  

and click OK--and navigate your way to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software
 \Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MenuOrder\Start Menu\Menu.
 In the right pane, right-click Order, select Delete, then click Yes
 to confirm. Close the Registry Editor, restart Windows 98, and check
 out your newly arranged Start menu!


*5.   START UP WITH CHOICES--PART 1 OF 2     
 
Remember back in Windows 95, you saw a Starting Windows 95 message during
 the boot process, at which point you could press F8 to display the
 Startup menu? Well, watch your Windows 98 system's boot as closely as
 you want--you won't see any such message. 

So how do you get to the Startup menu? After turning on your Windows 98
 system, press and hold down the Ctrl key. Eventually, the Startup
 menu appears. 

In our next tip, we'll show you how to start up with the Startup menu
 every time....


*6.   START UP WITH CHOICES--PART 2 OF 2     
 
In our last tip, we showed you how to access the Windows 98 Startup menu
 during the boot process: After turning on your Windows 98 system, press
 and hold down the Ctrl key. Would you like the Startup menu to appear
 automatically every time you start your system? You don't need to edit
 the msdos.sys file, as you did in Windows 95. Windows 98 made this
 setting change a whole lot easier. 

Select Start, Run, type 

msconfig 

and press Enter to open the System Configuration Editor. On the General
 tab, click Advanced, select Enable Startup Menu, then click OK twice.
 Click Yes to restart your system (or No, if you'd prefer to do it later). 

Of course, if you ever decide you don't want this menu at startup,
 just go back and deselect the same option.


*7.   MUCH EASIER THAN IT SOUNDS     
 
R. MacDearmid writes, "Is there a way to edit the Registry to make Explorer
 open with all drives in their collapsed view?" 

There's no Registry editing necessary for this one. Right-click My
 Computer, select Explore, and there you have it--an Explorer view with
 all drives collapsed. 

Also, as you may remember from a previous tip, you can make any Explorer
 shortcut open to this view. Right-click the shortcut (for example,
 the one in your Start, Programs menu), select Properties, and click
 the Shortcut tab. Replace the text on the Target line with: 

C:\Windows\Explorer.exe /n,/e,/root,,/select,C:\ 

and click OK.


*8.   F11 MAKES THE SWITCH (AND A LOT FASTER, TOO!)     
 
Back in January, we showed you how to switch any Explorer window to full
 screen view (hold down the Ctrl key as you click the middle caption
 button) and then back again (move your mouse pointer down to the bottom
 of the screen to make the Taskbar appear, right-click the window's
 Taskbar item and select Restore). 

Actually, there's a much faster way, as pointed out by a number of readers:
 Just press F11 to switch back and forth between a full screen view and
 a windowed view. 

Thanks to everyone who suggested this shortcut!


*9.   SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE--PART 1 OF 2     
 
C. Collier writes, "I would like to set up my computer so that my children
 can each have their own separate configurations when they sign in.
 Could you cover how to go about setting up Windows 98 to use different
 profiles for individual users?" 

In case you aren't familiar with them, user profiles enable different
 users of the same system to use different settings--wallpaper, desktop
 shortcuts, color schemes, and so on. With user profiles enabled, everyone
 who uses the system logs on using his or her user name and password and
 sees only his or her personal settings. 

To set up user profiles, select Start, Settings, Control Panel, then
 double-click Users. Now just follow along to complete the Enable
 Multi-user Settings wizard. You'll need to select a user name, a
 password, and the items you want to customize. Click Finish, wait for
 Windows 98 to set up the new profile, then click Yes to restart Windows
 (or No to restart later). To set up the next user, double-click Users,
 click the New User button, and so on. (Tip: If you're setting up more
 than one profile, restart once, after you finish entering information
 for the last user.) 

-From now on, whenever you start Windows 98, you'll get a Welcome to
 Windows dialog box. Type your user name and password, then click OK.
 Now go ahead and start customizing. Your changes won't affect anyone
 else's settings.
