Windows 9X Tips #7


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*1.   You probably know you can drag the Network Neighborhood
 and My Computer icons to any edge of the Desktop to
 automatically format them as toolbars in Win98 or IE 4.0. But
 did you also know that you can do the same with any folder?
 Just drag the target folder to any edge, hold it there for a 
second or two, then let go. Windows will create a toolbar
 containing links to every file and subfolder in the folder you
 dragged. Any items added to or deleted from the folder are
 instantly reflected on the toolbar.


*2.   Video problems that occur when Windows is started
 normally-but not in Safe Mode-are usually related to an outdated
 display driver, especially if you've upgraded from Win3.1. Open
 SYSTEM.INI from your WINDOWS folder. Under the [boot] heading,
 find the display.drv= line. If you see anything other than
 display.drv=pnpdrvr.drv on this line, the driver is probably
 outdated. Try adding the driver from your Win9x CD in Display
 Properties; if that doesn't work, check your video card
 vendor's Web site for a driver update.


*3.    Use the Run command line to get fast access to your
 Desktop. Select Start/Run, type a period in the command line
 and hit Enter. Your WINDOWS\DESKTOP folder will open instantly.


*4.    To refresh the Desktop (including Active Desktop Web
 pages), press F5.

To expand all the subfolders of a selected drive in Windows
 Explorer, press  the asterisk (*) key on the numeric keypad
 (this could take a while if the  directory has lots of folders
 in it). But watch out-there's no easy way to collapse them again.

To restore the default column widths in the Details view of any
 folder window and many program or applet windows, press Ctrl and
 the plus sign (+)  key on the numeric keypad.

To select the Address toolbar (if it's enabled) and open its
 drop-down list  in any folder window or in IE 4.0, press F4.


*5.    Ever wish your Desktop icons lined up on the right side
 of the Desktop? Right-click on the Desktop, select Arrange Icons
 and make sure Auto Arrange is turned off. Highlight all the
 icons you want to move and drag and drop to the new location.
 Right-click on the Desktop and select Line Up Icons.


*6.   Here's an easy way to win back some hard disk real estate
 in Win95: If your system has a C:\PROGRAM FILES\ONLINE SERVICES
 folder, delete it. It could be taking up as much as 14MB of
 space, and the included versions of America Online and
 CompuServe aren't even current. You can also delete the Online
 Services program group and Desktop icon. If you want to install
 one of the services later, download the latest versions from the
 Web sites: http://www.aol.com/tryaol for AOL and
 http://www.compuserve.com/crpjoin.asp for CompuServe. (This tip
 was submitted by Marshall McKinney.)


*7.   You've added another hard drive or drive partition to your
 PC, but your system won't recognize one or more of the new drive
 letters. Here's a fix: Your CONFIG.SYS file (or CONFIG.DOS if
 you upgraded to Win95 or 98 from Win3x) might contain a command
 that reads LASTDRIVE=X, where X is the last letter that your
 system recognizes. If you find this command, edit the file and
 place REM (including a space at the end) at the beginning of the
 LastDrive line. That will render the line invisible to your PC
 at boot-up.

Note: This problem typically occurs if you've used the My
 Computer tab in Tweak UI for Win95
 (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/download/tweakui.exe)to change
 the settings that control drive displays. You can also try
 enabling all your drives in the My Computer tab to fix the
 problem. (This tip was submitted by Bruce Genereux.)


*8.   Prepare for possible PC catastrophes by regularly copying
 the following files to a second hard drive, removable hard disk
 or diskette-especially if you frequently install and uninstall
 applications. From your root directory (you may find only some
 of these), back up AUTOEXEC.BAT, AUTOEXEC.DOS, CONFIG.SYS,
 CONFIG.DOS and MSDOS.SYS. From your Windows folder, back up
 CONTROL.INI, SYSTEM.INI and WIN.INI, as well as the SYSTEM.DAT
 and USER.DAT Registry files (SYSTEM.DAT probably won't fit on a
 floppy disk).


*9.   You may already know how to create a start-up disk: Open
 Add/Remove Programs from Start/Settings/Control Panel, then
 click on the Startup Disk tab and click on the Create Disk
 button. But sometimes you need a start-up disk when you can't
 get to Windows. Here's how to create one from DOS. First, make
 sure you've got a disk in your floppy drive, then type cd
 windows\command and press the Enter key. Then type bootdisk a:
 and press Enter again. Windows will format the disk, then copy
 the system and other required start-up files.


*10.   If you want to keep files-or even folders full of
 files-hidden from prying eyes, right- click on each file and
 select "Hidden" in the Attributes box at the bottom. To later
 see the files you've hidden, double-click on My Computer,
 select Options from the View menu, click on the View tab and
 select "Show all files."
