Windows 98 Tips #40


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Proudly presents:
The Windows 98 Tip of the Day

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*1. EXPLORER WINDOWS HAVE TOOLBARS, TOO         
     
The next time you're going about your business in an Explorer 
window--single or double-paned--take notice of the often-overlooked 
Toolbar. (If you don't see it, select View, Toolbars, Standard 
Buttons.) It has buttons for a lot of the commands you might otherwise 
use your right-mouse button for. Funny thing, too, because a button 
only takes one click. 

See the button with the blue curved arrow? That's Undo. The "X" button 
mimics Delete. Clicking the hand holding the paper is the same as 
choosing Properties. On the right, you'll find your View 
options--Large Icons, Small Icons, List, or Details. Hold the cursor 
over any button on the Toolbar, and you'll see a box telling you what 
it does.


*2. CHANGE YOUR MOUSE POINTER         
     
Tired of that same boring arrow you see on screen all the time? Or the 
hourglass? Then change your mouse pointers. You can choose from things 
like piano keys, a banana, and even a dinosaur. 

Open the Control Panel and double-click Mouse. Select the Pointers 
tab, highlight the pointer you want to change, and click the Browse 
button. Select a pointer, click Open, and back at the Pointers list, 
click Apply. Repeat these steps for each pointer you'd like to change. 
To return to a traditional pointer, select any pointer and click the 
Use Default button. 

(Note: You'll need to install the pointers from the installation CD, 
if you haven't already. Open the Control Panel, double-click 
Add/Remove Programs, and click the Windows Setup tab. In the 
Components list, double-click Accessories. Select Mouse Pointers, 
click OK twice, and insert the installation CD when asked.)


*3. CHANGE ICON ASSOCIATED WITH FILE TYPE         
     
Tired of the boring "text-on-a-page" icon next to your *.txt files? 
Then change it. In most cases, you can assign a new icon to a file 
type. 

From any Explorer window, select View, Folder Options, and click the 
File Types tab. Select a type in the Registered File Types list--in 
this case, Text Document--click Edit, and in the Edit File Type dialog 
box, click Change Icon. (If this command is grayed out, you can't 
change the icon for this type.) Pick a new icon (or click Browse and 
find one you like, then click Open), then click OK. Click Close twice. 

In our next tip, we'll show you how to always recognize a file type, 
even if the icon doesn't help much.


*4. CHANGE ICON ASSOCIATED WITH FILE TYPE         
     
Tired of the boring "text-on-a-page" icon next to your *.txt files? 
Then change it. In most cases, you can assign a new icon to a file 
type. 

From any Explorer window, select View, Folder Options, and click the 
File Types tab. Select a type in the Registered File Types list--in 
this case, Text Document--click Edit, and in the Edit File Type dialog 
box, click Change Icon. (If this command is grayed out, you can't 
change the icon for this type.) Pick a new icon (or click Browse and 
find one you like, then click Open), then click OK. Click Close twice. 

In our next tip, we'll show you how to always recognize a file type, 
even if the icon doesn't help much.


*5. ALWAYS SHOW EXTENSION FOR A FILE TYPE         
     
In our last tip, we showed you how to change the icon associated with 
a file type: From any Explorer window, select View, Folder Options; 
click the File Types tab; select a type in the Registered File Types 
list; click Edit; click Change Icon; select a new icon; then click OK. 
Worried that the icon you chose will keep you from recognizing that 
type in the future? No problem. Windows 98 includes a foolproof way to 
recognize a file type, regardless of its icon. It's called Always Show 
Extension. 

In any Explorer window, select View, Folder Options, then click the 
File Types tab. Select a file type under Registered File Types, click 
Edit, then select Always Show Extension. Click OK twice, and from now 
on, every file of that type will display an extension (even if you've 
selected the Hide File Extensions For Known File Types option on the 
View tab of the Folder Options dialog box).


*6. TURN OFF WINDOW ANIMATION         
     
Ever notice that when you minimize or restore a window, you actually 
see the window-shrinking (or reverse) process? If you're looking to 
increase performance, remove this "window animation." 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 98. 

Tip-in-a-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 Value Data line, then click OK).


*7. INSTALL ACCESSIBILITY OPTIONS         
     
Ever hear of Accessibility options? In case you aren't familiar with 
them, they're a group of settings that make Windows 98 easier to use. 
Although these settings were designed for people with disabilities, 
such as sight or hearing impairments, they can be useful to everyone. 
There's even a wizard to help you decide which Accessibility options 
are right for you. In today's tip, we'll show you how to install this 
wizard and the newest Accessibility option, Microsoft Magnifier. Then, 
over the next three tips, we'll show you how to use the wizard and 
this new tool. 

Open the Control Panel--select Start, Settings, Control Panel--and 
double-click Add/Remove Programs. Click the Windows Setup tab and wait 
as Windows 98 checks your system for installed components. (Depending 
on your system, this may take a few minutes.) Under Components, select 
Accessibility, then click the Details button. Select Accessibility 
Tools, click OK twice, and insert your installation disk when asked. 
Click OK again, and wait until Windows 98 finishes copying the files 
it needs. 

Curious to know what that wizard has to say? More in our next tip...


*8. RUNNING ACCESSIBILITY WIZARD         
     
In our last tip, we showed you how to install the Accessibility Wizard 
and the newest Accessibility option (Microsoft Magnifier): Open the 
Control Panel, select Add/Remove Programs, click the Windows Setup 
tab, and select Accessibility. Click Details, select Accessibility 
Tools, click OK twice, insert the installation CD, and click OK. Now, 
we'll show you how the Accessibility Wizard can determine which 
Accessibility options are right for you. 

Select Start, Programs, Accessories, Accessibility, Accessibility 
Wizard. In the resulting dialog box, click on the smallest text you 
find comfortable to read. Click Next twice (assuming you don't want to 
change any of the options along the way--if you do, go ahead and 
change them). In the Set Wizard Options box, select each statement 
that applies to you. Click Next, and the wizard will ask you some 
questions, depending on which of the statements you selected. For 
example, if you indicated that you have a hard time using the keyboard 
or the mouse, you'll be asked if you want to press each key in a 
keyboard combination one at a time. Continue clicking Next until 
you've answered all the questions, and at the end of the wizard, click 
Finish. The wizard will now apply the appropriate settings.


*9. USING MICROSOFT MAGNIFIER         
     
Two tips ago, we showed you how to install the Accessibility Wizard 
and the newest Accessibility option (Microsoft Magnifier). Now let's 
look at Microsoft Magnifier, a tool you can use to enlarge any area of 
the screen. 

To launch Microsoft Magnifier, select Start, Programs, Accessories, 
Accessibility, Magnifier. A bar appears at the top of the screen 
displaying everything under your mouse pointer in a magnified (two 
times) view. To change the contents of this window, simply move your 
mouse around the screen. Assuming you don't want to change any options 
(we'll discuss these in our next tip), click OK to send the Magnifier 
dialog box to the Taskbar. 

When you've finished using the Magnifier, maximize its Options window, 
then click Exit. Alternatively, right-click its Taskbar item and 
select Close. 

(Tip-in-a-tip: If you use Microsoft Magnifier frequently, place a 
shortcut to it somewhere that's easily accessible, such as the desktop 
or the Quick Launch toolbar.)


*10. Troubleshooting Problems
Tip of the Day <tipoftheday@list.0mm.com>

Win98 troubleshooters are step-by-step problem solvers 
that cover hardware conflicts, device failures, DirectX and 
more. To get to them from the Help menu, type troubleshooting
in the Index.
