Windows 98 Tips #24



*1. DRESS UP FOR HALLOWEEN         
     
Want to dress up your system for Halloween? There's no shortage
 of Halloween-based desktop decor--screen savers, desktop
 themes, clip art, and wallpaper--on the Web. For starters,
 head over to 

http://www.pcworld.com/fileworld/0,1392,,00.html 

and search under the keyword "Halloween."


*2. Win98 To Boot

Keep a bootable copy of Win98 handy for emergencies. Format a
 floppy disk with the option to copy system files. Copy
 C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\SCANREG.EXE and C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS to the
 disk; add the line DEVICE=A:\HIMEM.SYS to a CONFIG.SYS file on
 the disk. You'll be able to boot from the diskette and use the
 command "scanreg/restore" to restore the Registry on an
 unbootable configuration.


*3. WINDOWS 98 WEB HELP         
     
In a previous tip, we mentioned that you can find help with some
 of the more technical aspects of Windows 98 by searching the
 Windows 98 Resource Kit Book Online: With the Windows 98
 installation CD in your CD-ROM drive, navigate your way to the
 tools\reskit\help folder and double-click rk98book.chm. However,
 for the questions you or I might ask, another good resource is
 Microsoft's Support Online. 

To get to Microsoft's Support Online, open Windows 98 Help
 (select Start, Help), click the Web Help button at the top of
 the window, then click the Support Online link at the bottom of
 the right pane. (At this point, Windows will attempt to
 establish a dial-up connection, if you aren't online already.)
 Now just select an option on the Highlights For Windows 98 page. 

(Note: If you're using Windows 98 Second Edition, notice the
 Support Highlights For Windows 98 Second Edition link on the
 right side of the page.)


*4. REMOVE DIAL-UP ICON         
     
You know that little icon that appears in your Taskbar tray every
 time you establish a dial-up connection? It doesn't have to be
 there. If you'd prefer to reserve that space for other, more
 useful icons, feel free to ditch it. 

Select Start, Programs, Accessories, Communication, Dial-Up
 Networking, and in the Dial-Up Networking window, select
 Connections, Settings. Deselect Show An Icon On Taskbar After
 Connected and click OK. The next time you go online, that icon
 is nowhere in sight. 

(Note: You can always check the status of the connection from
 inside the Dial-Up Networking window. Simply right-click your
 connection and select Status.)


*5. MULTI-MONITOR WORKS ONLY WITH COMPATIBLE GRAPHICS CARDS         
     
All ready to hook up more than one monitor to your Windows 98
 system? True, Windows 98 supports multi-monitor display (the
 ability to display your desktop on up to nine--yes,
 nine--monitors), but only if you're using compatible graphics
 cards. That includes any new graphics cards AND the one that's
 already in your system. 

For a listing of PCI and AGP cards that support multiple monitor
 display, open the Windows folder and double-click Display.txt.
 Inside, you'll find a Multiple Display Support section. Even
 better, point your Web browser at 

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q188/4/81.asp 

where you'll find a revision of this same document.


*6. INSTALL WINDOWS 98 RESOURCE KIT SAMPLER         
     
Do you like to have lots of utilities at your fingertips? The
 Windows 98 Resource Kit Sampler is brimming with them--12MB
 worth, to be exact. This plethora of tools is just hanging out
 on your Windows 98 installation CD, waiting for you to notice.
 Install the whole kit and caboodle right on your hard drive.
 From then on, you'll have access to the Sampler's tools from one
 central location--the Tools Management Console, right in your
 Start menu. 

To install the Windows 98 Resource Kit Sampler, pop the Windows
 98 installation CD in your CD-ROM drive. When the Welcome To
 Windows 98 dialog box appears, click Browse This CD. Navigate
 your way to the tools\reskit folder, double-click Setup.exe,
 then follow along to complete the installation. When it
 finishes, restart Windows 98. 

You can now access any Sampler tool from the Tools Management
 Console. To open it, select Start, Programs, Windows 98 Resource
 Kit, Tools Management Console. Click Close (to exit the Tip Of
 The Day--typically, they're helpful only to network
 administrators) and in the right pane, double-click the Tools A
 To Z folder (or the Tools Categories folder, depending on your
 preference). Still in the right pane, navigate your way to the
 tool you're after, then double-click it. 

(Tip: When you close the Tools Management Console window, select
 No, that you don't want to save changes--unless, of course,
 you're an administrator-type and know what you're doing. It's
 easiest if you just think of the console as a means of getting
 to the utilities you need. Leave the rest to the people who are
 paid to worry about it.) 

In the next nine tips, we'll show you how to use some of the
 tools that are part of the Sampler.


*7. RESOURCE KIT SAMPLER: LINK CHECK WIZARD         
     
In our last tip, we showed you how to install 12MB worth of handy
 utilities right on your hard drive: Pop the Windows 98
 installation CD in your CD-ROM drive, navigate your way to the
 tools\reskit folder, double-click Setup.exe, then follow along
 to complete the installation. You can now access any Sampler
 tool from within the Tools Management Console: Select Start,
 Programs, Windows 98 Resource Kit, Tools Management Console. In
 this series of tips, we'll show you how to use some of the
 Sampler's tools. 

Have you ever double-clicked a shortcut and then watched as a
 flashlight waved back and forth inside a dialog box? If so, that
 shortcut's target has been moved or deleted. To avoid these
 holdups, track down all "orphaned" shortcuts using the Link
 Check Wizard. 

Open the Tools Management Console, navigate your way to the Link
 Check Wizard, which is listed as "Checklink" (double-click the
 Tools Categories or Tools A To Z folder, and so on), and
 double-click it. Click Next, wait a few minutes, and the Link
 Check Wizard will present you with a list of "dead" links.
 Assuming you want to delete them all, click the Select All
 button, click Finish, then click OK. (Tip: To delete only some
 of the links, select each one individually, then click Finish,
 and so on.) 

(Note: If you haven't installed the Sampler, you can run the Link
 Check Wizard off the Windows 98 installation CD: Navigate your
 way to the tools\reskit\desktop folder and double-click
 chklnks.exe. Or, to install just this tool on your hard drive,
 copy chklnks.exe to your folder of choice, then place a shortcut
 to it in a convenient location, such as your Start menu.)


*8. RESOURCE KIT SAMPLER: SETTING UP QUICK TRAY         
     
In the first tip in this series, we showed you how to install
 12MB worth of handy utilities right on your hard drive: Pop the
 Windows 98 installation CD in your CD-ROM drive, navigate your
 way to the tools\reskit folder, double-click Setup.exe, then
 follow along to complete the installation. You can now access
 any Sampler tool from within the Tools Management Console:
 Select Start, Programs, Windows 98 Resource Kit, Tools
 Management Console. As this series continues, we'll show you how
 to use some of the Sampler's tools. 

We can't tell you how many people have written us asking for a
 tip on placing their favorite icons in the Taskbar tray. The
 answer is Quick Tray, another utility that's part of the Sampler

First, let's look at some setup. Quick Tray has to be running in
 order to do its thing--the icons you place in the tray won't
 appear unless Quick Tray is running. So if you haven't installed
 the Sampler, you'll definitely want to install at least the
 Quick Tray utility on your hard drive: Pop the installation CD
 in your CD-ROM drive, navigate your way to tools\reskit\desktop
 and copy quiktray.exe to your folder of choice. 

The other thing you may wish to do is place a shortcut to
 quiktray.exe in your Startup folder. That way, its icon--and
 hence, all of your custom icons--will appear in your Taskbar
 tray whenever you start Windows 98. 

In our next tip, using Quick Tray....


*9. RESOURCE KIT SAMPLER: USING QUICK TRAY         
     
In the first tip in this series, we showed you how to install
 12MB worth of handy utilities right on your hard drive: Pop the
 Windows 98 installation CD in your CD-ROM drive, navigate your
 way to the tools\reskit folder, double-click Setup.exe, then
 follow along to complete the installation. You can now access
 any Sampler tool from within the Tools Management Console:
 Select Start, Programs, Windows 98 Resource Kit, Tools
 Management Console. As this series continues, we'll show you how
 to use some of the Sampler's tools. 

In our last tip, we introduced one of the handier tools in the
 Sampler, Quick Tray. If you haven't installed the Sampler, but
 still want to use this utility, you'll want to install Quick
 Tray on your hard drive: Pop the installation CD in your CD-ROM
 drive, navigate your way to tools\reskit\desktop and copy
 quiktray.exe to your folder of choice. Regardless of whether
 you've installed the entire Sampler or just Quick Tray, you'll
 probably want to place a shortcut to quiktray.exe in your
 Startup folder. That way, its icon--and hence, all of your
 custom icons--will appear in your Taskbar tray whenever you
 start Windows. 

Okay, enough background. Ready to use this thing? Open the Tools
 Management Console, navigate your way to Quick Tray
 (double-click the Tools Categories or Tools A To Z folder, and
 so on) and double-click it. (Or, simply start Windows 98,
 assuming you've added Quick Tray's icon to your Startup folder.)
 Click the Quick Tray icon that appears in your Taskbar tray. To
 add an icon to the Taskbar tray, click the Add button and
 navigate your way to that item--file, folder, or application.
 Select the item, click Open, and its icon appears in the tray.
 Repeat these steps for each item you'd like to add, then click
 Close (not Exit, or the new items will disappear). To delete an
 item, select it in the Quick Tray window, then click Remove.


*10. RESOURCE KIT SAMPLER: USE TEXTVIEWER TO VIEW TEXT FILES         
     
In the first tip in this series, we showed you how to install
 12MB worth of handy utilities right on your hard drive: Pop the
 Windows 98 installation CD in your CD-ROM drive, navigate your
 way to the tools\reskit folder, double-click Setup.exe, then
 follow along to complete the installation. You can now access
 any Sampler tool from within the Tools Management Console:
 Select Start, Programs, Windows 98 Resource Kit, Tools
 Management Console. As this series continues, we'll show you
 how to use some of the Sampler's tools. 

Do you frequently view and edit text files inside a text editor,
 such as Notepad? With TextViewer, one of the many tools in the
 Sampler, you can view most text-based files of 25KB or less--for
 example, *.txt, *.ini, *.inf, *.htm, and *.bat files--in a
 two-paned window similar to that in Windows Explorer. 

Open the Tools Management Console, navigate your way to
 TextViewer (double-click the Tools Categories or Tools A To Z
 folder, and so on) and double-click it. To view a file, use the
 two dropdown boxes below the menu commands to select the drive
 that contains the file or files you want to view, as well as the
 file type. In the left pane, navigate your way to, and
 double-click, the folder containing the file or files you want
 to view. All text-based files (of the type specified) inside the
 folder will appear at the bottom of the left-pane hierarchy.
 Double-click any file to display its contents in the right pane.
 Double-click another file, and its contents appear. 

(Note: If you haven't installed the Sampler, you can run the
 TextViewer off the Windows 98 installation CD: Navigate your way
 to the tools\reskit\file folder and double-click textview.exe.
 Or, to install just this tool on your hard drive, copy
 textview.exe to your folder of choice, then place a shortcut to
 it in a convenient location, such as your Start menu.) 

In our next tip, more TextViewer tips....
