Windows 9X Tips #25


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*1. Faster Keyboard

You can determine how fast your keyboard repeats characters
and moves the cursor in a document by launching the Keyboard
item in Control Panel, then experimenting with the speed
settings on the Speed tab.


*2. Familiar Faces

Print out all the fonts on your system by opening Control Panel,
double-clicking the Fonts icon, then on the font of your
choice and clicking on the Print button.


*3. Do the Right Thing

Admit it. In your haste and excitement, you didn't make a
startup disk when you installed Win9x. Don't worry. You
can still redeem your self. Open the Add/Remove Programs
Control Panel item and click on the Startup Disk tab. Then
just put a diskette in your diskette drive and click on
the Create Disk button.


*4. Stuff Your Start Menu

When you "add a folder" to your Start menu by dragging and
dropping it onto the Start button, you're really just adding
a shortcut to the folder. It's usually better to put the actual
folder there instead of a shortcut. The Start menu is just a
special folder in the Windows folder called, unsurprisingly,
"Start Menu." If you put folders that contain your documents
into this folder, you gain three advantages. First, what you
see on the Start menu is always correct; delete a folder, for
example, and it disappears from the Start menu as well, while
a shortcut would remain. Second, actual folders appear on the
Start menu as cascading menu items, whereas shortcuts to folders
just open the folder on your Desktop when selected. And finally,
the Start menu is always available, even if your Desktop is
packed with clutter.


*5. Hide Secret Files

If you want to keep files-or even folders full of files-hidden
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 Options from the View menu, click on the View
tab and select Show All Files.


*6. Explore a Different Folder

The Windows Explorer normally opens to your C: drive, but
you can make it launch with the contents of any folder you
want. Go to your Windows Explorer shortcut, right-click and
select Properties. Open the Shortcut tab. Edit the entry in
the Target field to read
explorer.exe /n , /e , (drive:\path\folder) ,
where (drive:\path\folder) is whichever folder you want to
first see when Explorer launches.


*7. Boost CD-ROM Performance

In Control Panel/System/Performance, select File System
and the CD-ROM tab. Move the Supplemental Cache Size slider
to the right to allocate more RAM for caching data from
the CD-ROM drive, or to the left to allocate less. Multimedia
programs perform better with a smaller cache because they
seldom reuse data. For reading continuous data, such as
AVI files, use a higher setting for Optimize Access Pattern.
For reading random data, increase the Supplemental Cache
Size and decrease the Optimize Access Pattern.


*8. Managing Device Manager

Here's a secret tip for creating a shortcut to the Device Manager: 
Right-click on the Desktop and choose New/Shortcut. Type 
C:\WINDOWS\CONTROL.EXE SYSDM.CPL,,1 in the Command 
Line box and click on Next. Name it Device Manager (or another 
name of your choice), then click on the Finish button. Assign a 
new icon to the shortcut as you would any other. 


*9. Drag-and-Print

Create a shortcut to a printer by opening the Printers folder 
(Settings/Control Panel/Printers) and dragging a printer icon 
to the Desktop. You can then drag documents onto the shortcut 
and print instantly. You can also put a printer shortcut in 
your Send To folder so printing is always a right-click away.


*10. Control Panel Control

Control Panel is one of the more frequently used folders in 
Windows, but it's not always easy to access. You can, however, 
make the Control Panel applets available directly from the Start 
menu. First, right-click on the Start button and choose Open. 
Then, right-click on the background area in the Start menu 
folder and choose New/Folder. Rename the folder with this string: 

Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} 

(Windows 95 users can copy and paste this filename from the 
TIPS.TXT file found in the Windows folder.) Press Enter. This 
will place Control Panel directly on the Start menu, with the 
applets appearing on a cascading menu that opens when you move 
the cursor over Control Panel. For frequently used Control Panel 
applets, make shortcuts to the applets and add them to the Start 
menu or the desktop.
