Windows 9X Tips #22


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*1. The X Files

If you want to keep files-or even folders full of files-from
prying eyes, just right-click on each file and select Hidden
in the Attributes box at the bottom of the Properties dialog.
To see the files you've hidden, double-click on My Computer,
select View/Options, click on the View tab and select
Show All Files.


*2. Selection Shortcut

You can select a bunch of files by clicking near them and
dragging the mouse pointer over them. If you do that with
the right mouse button, however, you automatically get a
context menu that offers the Open, Send To, Cut, Copy,
Delete, Rename, Create Shortcut and Properties commands.


*3. More than One Find Is Fine

When you need to search for more than one file, speed up the
process by running more than one instance of Find at a time.
This is especially useful for searching for multiple items
in the background.


*4. Troubleshooting to Boot

If Windows fails to boot properly, press F8  while it boots for the 
Windows StartUp menu, and pick the Logged (\BOOTLOG.TXT) 
option. It attempts a normal boot but records the status of every step
Windows takes during the process. You can use this option to
log a failed boot. Then, reboot to Safe mode if necessary and
use a text editor to open BOOTLOG.TXT (in your root directory).
Search for "fail" to find the boot steps Windows had trouble
with. Failed steps are often excellent clues to the cause of
the problem.


*5. Double Vision

You can set a dual-pane view as your default Explorer view
by opening any folder and choosing View/Options (or View/Folder
Options under IE 4.0 or Windows 98). Under the File Types tab,
select the Folder item from the Registered File Types list and
click on the Edit button. Highlight Explore in the Actions
window, click on the Set Default button and hit OK twice. If
you ever want to reverse the setting, follow the same steps,
but highlight Open instead of Explore.


*6. Easy Come...

Sometimes the setup procedure doesn't find everything in your
system. If an installed hardware device is missing, select
Control Panel/Add New Hardware and let the Hardware wizard
search for whatever it is. To speed up the search, click on
the No button and narrow the search to a specific device type.
If it's a missing modem, Control Panel's Modem applet may find
it faster.


*7. File Right

If you have some kind of mysterious executable file
(EXE, DLL, OCX) on your system, right-click on it in Explorer,
select Properties and click on the Version tab. This displays
the version resource inside the file (if it has one), which
normally includes the name of the company that created the
file, the product the file is associated with, and the
file's version number.


*8. Notepad Surprise

Think there's not much to know about Notepad? Think again.
For example, you can insert the current time and date in
Notepad just by pressing F5. Or, if you want to log the date
and time automatically each time you open a Notepad file, type
.LOG on the first line, then save and close the file. Every time
you open the file thereafter, the current date and time will be
recorded in it.


*9. Start Changes

An easy way to make a change to items you've placed in the
Start menu is to right-click on the Start button and choose
Explore. A dual-pane Explorer view will open, letting you
navigate through the directory tree in the left pane and open
the contents of the folder you want in the right pane. To
produce the same view for a folder, you can either right-click
on the folder and choose Explore, or hold down the Shift key
and double-click.


*10. Use ScanDisk

Data fragments, bad sectors and other disk anomalies
accumulate with surprising speed. Run ScanDisk's Standard
Inspection once a week to correct these deficiencies before
they become major problems. You'll find it in
Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools. Occasionally run the
Thorough Inspection to look for physical defects on the surface
of the drive. ScanDisk will be able to repair many problems.
