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Other Sources for XP tips
A GREAT place for help on those stubborn problems that you can't find answers for here. Kelly's Korner is an EXCELLENT place to start.
Kelly's Korner
and another excellent place is:
Doug's Windows
$ Folders to remove
XP
When you do an update for XP, it creates folder in your C:\Windows Folders starting with the $ sign...one right after the other. These folders start adding up in time. But...the good news is that you CAN delete them. As long as your computer has been working fine (I recommend about 2 weeks, just to be safe AND you have NO intention of uninstalling them (except the ServicPackUninstall one....leave that one there), then these other folders can be deleted.
Open a Windows Explorer and go to the C:\Windows folder.
Write down the name of the first $ folder you want to delete
Delete the folder
Go to Control Panel, Add Remove Programs
Scroll down to the Windows XP HotFix items. Locate the one that has the same name/number as the folder you just deleted
Click on the Remove button. You'll get a notice that it may have been uninstalled aready and asks if you want to remove it from the list. Say Yes
Now you can go do the next folder with the same procedures.
Expanding all Subfolders in Explorer: To quickly expand the Explorer tree view to show all Subfolders for a highlighted drive or folder, simply press the asterisk (*) key on the numeric keypad.
Then the - key on the keypad to close them all up.
F5 to the rescue. After you collapse the top dog, press F5 from anywhere in Explorer and the rest of the branches fall in, too. You can't see them, but they do. Hitting F5 once affects every folder you've fully expanded with * as long as you've already collapsed the top dog.
Once you have both programs running, you can switch quickly from one program to another. You can do this in two main ways:
* Press (Ctrl+Esc) to display the Task List. This dialog box lists all the programs you currently have running. Select the program you want to switch to and choose Switch To or double-click the program name.
* Press (Alt+Tab) to cycle through the programs currently
running. When you press (Alt+Tab), you'll see a prompt on your
screen listing the name of one of your other open programs. If
you keep holding down the (Alt) key, each time you press (Tab)
another program name (that's currently open) is displayed. When
the program you want to switch to is showing, release the (Alt)
key and you'll switch to that program. The first program
displayed when you press (Alt+Tab) is always the most recent
program you were using, so this method is especially useful for
switching back and forth between two programs.
Opening an associated file with a different program: Hold the
SHIFT key while right-clicking on the file in Explorer. The Open
With can now be selected, and you can choose a different
application to open the file with
Click on my computer and select all the drives you want to check. You will have tabs to choose from to back and forth between drives.
Before reformatting your computer, think about all the work you put into finding the right color settings for your desktop, the right cursor scheme...or even all the sounds you have set. By doing a back-up of these schemes from Regedit, you will save yourself a LOT of time.
Saving these schemes does not mean you will be editing your regedit, you will just be copying a portion of it. So...save yourself time and:
Start regedit (Start, Run, type: regedit)
Navigate your way to each of the following areas of regedit, one at a time, and click on it. Now, on the menubar, click on Registry, Export Registry Files. Navigate to a directory where you want to save the file. Give it a "friendly" name. (I use names like: Cursor Schemes, Color Schemes and Sound Schemes), then click on Save. (Remember to do this one at a time for each of the following:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Colors
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Cursors
NOTE: Don't forget to back up these to floppy disk !
Create a table 20 columns by 10 rows.
Go through the alphabet once for every other row. (A a B b C c D d, etc 1, s1, 2, s2, 3, s3, ensuring that you press the shift 1 in the second row for the labeled s1 in the first row) Then Copy and Paste the first row into the second and so on.
Select the entire second row and change the font to Typographic. Change all the even numbered rows the same way.
Don't stop there
Now copy the entire table to start a second table and have the fonts Ionic Symbols A, then another with Math Extended A
Watch out. Some of the characters will just give you a square saying there is no symbol there. You'll have to adjust some of the tables to delete the unused items. But when you get it done, it's an EXTREMELY valuable tool.
Want to open a whole bunch of files or maybe one that's way off in some random directory? Instead of scrolling through the Open dialog box to find what you need (often one at a time), drag them into your open application window right from the Windows desktop.
Let's say you have a bunch of files in an open folder on the desktop. With the application in which you'd like to open them displayed on screen (size it down so you can see your folder), select all the files you'd like to open (hold down Ctrl as you click on each one), then drag them into the application's window. Let go and they all spring to life. Talk about a grand entrance!
(Mini-tip: Some applications, such as Microsoft Word, insert files dropped in the middle of an open document as objects. To avoid this, drop the files in the menu/title/icon area, above the document. Then they'll open as separate files.)
Some programs will let you tell your computer what directory you want to have accessed when you press Open, Save (like WordPerfect or MS Word.) Then again some don't (like MS Paint)
If your application doesn't offer this option, you can still do it.
Open an Explorer, go to the Start Menu (C:\Windows\Start Menu\Program Files) and find the icon for the shortcut to the application you want. Right-click the Shortcut and select Properties, (or press Alt+[enter] ). Click on the Shortcut tab. In the 'Start In' field, type the desired directory you want the program to use.
Go to Regedit and go to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
Double click on the right side for ShellState, then change the values as listed below:
1C 00 00 00 A7 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 0A 00 00 00
When you change one value, it will actually add a value, so you need to go to where it needs to be changed, and click right BEFORE the value you need changed, then press the Delete key once, then type in the correct number. Then move on to the next one that needs changing and do the same thing.
You do not have to restart your computer for these changes to take effect.
This option may not be useful all the time, but there will be times that you may want a choice.
Say you're looking in an Explorer and see an .gif image you want to open. Chances are that if you double-click on that file, then chances are that Internet Explorer will open and show you the image. Well, that doesn't do any good at all if you want to edit it or change it with IrfanView (a freeware program to change from a .gif image to a .bmp image). But there are times that opening Internet Explorer is just fine. Well you do have a choice...or at least you can give yourself a choice. Here's how:
In an Explorer, click on View, Options, (or Tools, Folder Options) and click on the File Types tab. Now scroll down and click on GIF Image and click on Edit. Next click on New and type Open With IrfanView. In the second box, type in the path for the IrfanView program (you can choose browse if you like, to find it). Then click on OK three times to get back to an Explorer.
Now when you right-click on any .gif file, you can choose to have it open with IrfanView. Or if you like, you can just double-click and it will open with Internet Explorer. It's up to you now.
Other Versioins
Right-mouse click the window of an open topic and choose
Annotate. Now, type what you want about the Help information. You
can use this even as just a reminder. Now click Save. Next time
you open that same topic again, you will see a little paper clip.
Just click the paper clip to read your notes. To get rid of the
note, open it and click the Delete button.
When asked to shut down windows, click on Restart Windows, press and hold the shift key while you press Yes. This will restart windows only, not the whole computer
Choose your own combination of Hotkey to start a program. Select the program shortcut in the Start Menu that you want have a hot key to. Change the properties and click inside the Shortcut Key field. Press your combination of keys. That's it.
Note: if it doesn't work, Windows won't tell you why but, you'll have to change the combination. Windows won't accept one you've already assigned or likely to be used elsewhere.
When was the last time you did a Defrag? If you asked yourself "what's that", then you better do it as soon as you disconnect from the Internet. Make yourself a note, NOW!
Think of it like this:
You have a paperback book you found. The pages are all there, but a lot of them have come out. In order to read the book efficiently, first you need to place all the pages in their proper places. Otherwise it would be real difficult to read the book. It's possible, but hard. Your machine is the same way. Whether you like it or not, those "pages" are torn out all the time and placed somewhere else. Running a Defrag will put all those "pages" back in order so the computer can "read" it faster. Yes, I did say faster. If you've never run a Defrag, you are probably complaining about how long it takes to open a document.
So do it.
close all programs you have open. Right click and Close, Exit, or Disable anything you can in your systray (by your clock). Then turn off your screen saver. These procedures will help your defrag run without interruption.
Click on Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools,
then Disk Defragmenter.
Now, if you run the program and it gives you an error, you will need to run ScanDisk first. When the ScanDisk program starts, click on Thorough and place a checkmark in the Automatically fix errors.
XP to ScandiskNow go back and run the Defrag program.
Note: if Defrag says your system is only 1% fragmented, do a Defrag ANYWAY. Every "page" ripped out of the "book" makes "reading" slower and slower and slower.
Instead of using the usual short cut to make fonts a special size, highlight the character go the long route to change font & size. All you need to do is type in the number you want to change the size to. Normally 72 is the highest, but you can type in your own number. Try using 150, or even 500!!! for a font size. Make those characters look like a graphic square.
Wow, I just ran into an interesting problem where my CD would work just fine on data CD's (i.e. games, programs, Windows CD). But every time I put in an audio CD, it wouldn't play. It kept telling me that there was a data disc in the player. Well, after a call to Gateway (they are the greatest), I found that I was missing a file that I needed. This is how we fixed it.
Open Control Panel and double-click on Multimedia, then the Advanced tab. Now click the + next to Multimedia Control Devices. If you are missing the line for CD Audio Device (Media Control), there's your problem.
Put in the Windows CD and go to Add New Hardware. Do NOT have Windows look for the hardware, then click Next. Click on Sound, Video and Game Controllers, then click on Next. On the left side click on Microsoft MCI and the click on the right side for CD Audio Device (Media Controller). Click on Next, then Finish.
This may not be for all people, but it works for me and it may work for you. I may just be worth a try.
Choose Run in the Start menu, type "regedit" on the Open line (or select it in the list, if it's there), and in the Registry Editor, navigate your way to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU.
In the right pane, you'll see all the items that currently appear in your Run menu. Select an item you want to remove by clicking its letter under Name with the right mouse button, then choose Delete in the menu that pops up. Click Yes in the Confirm Value Delete dialog box, and the item will disappear from the Registry Editor. Repeat these steps for any others you want to get rid of, selecting more than one at a time using Ctrl or Shift, if you want. But definitely leave the ones named "MRUList" (it determines the order in which items are listed in the Run list) and "(Default)" alone.
Restart Windows for the changes to take effect.
You can also use the Tweak Program
XP Version: Get it from Microsoft at:
PowerToys XP
Other Versions: Get it from Microsoft at: PowerToys
Like most everything else in Windows , you can bend the rules. If you think you might use the Clipboard's contents again, save it as a .CLP file. Just like an application, the Clipboard keeps .CLP files around so you can use them again and again.
With the Clipboard Viewer open, pull down the File menu, choose Save As, and in the resulting dialog box, give the current Clipboard contents a name. Click OK, and the .CLP file's been saved. Whenever you need that item in the future, just call up the .CLP file in the Clipboard Viewer, (choose Open under File, select that file, and click Yes to confirm that you want to clear the Clipboard's contents), and paste to your heart's content. It's like cutting or copying that item again except you don't have to do all the traipsing around to find it.
If you have just copied a large amount of text, or a large picture by either selecting Edit, Copy or pressing Ctrl+C, then the best thing you can do is to delete that from the clipboard after you've pasted it where you wanted. Reason? It can slow down your computer.
Here's the fix:
Just select a small word and press Ctrl+C (or Edit, Copy). This will clear out the large text or picture that you copied before.
Note: Also by resetting or turning your computer off, you will automatically delete the contentsof the clipboard
Want to select every file in a folder but one? Or every one but two or three? Windows Invert Selection command takes the tedium out of file selection.
With a folder window open, select the file(s) you don't want, then pull down the Edit command and choose Invert Selection. When you let go, everything that wasn't selected now is, and the files (or file) you had selected are left out completely.
The Invert Selection command is available in any Explorer window, too. Just select the files you don't want in the right pane, then choose Invert Selection under Edit to reverse your selection.
Once you've installed Windows , you can change the Registered Owner, Registered Organization, or Product ID to anything you want. Here's how you do it:
Without using the Registry editor:
Obtain and install WinReg (21 kb). Note: The installation utility, normally included in the archive, has been removed to decrease the size of the archive. Simply decompress the files into any folder to install the utility.
Using the Registry Editor:
Run the Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE).
Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion.
To change the values of the RegisteredOrganization, RegisteredOwner, or Product ID, simply double-click on them.
Note: This will only change the registered user information for Windows , not for the applications on your system.
To get your very own copy of the Resource Kit, pop your Windows installation CD into your computer; use Explorer to navigate your way to D:\ADMIN\RESKIT\HELPFILE, then copy WIN95RK.HLP and WIN95RK.CNT to your C:\WINDOWS\HELP folder. Create a shortcut to the WIN95RK.HLP file (such as in the System Tools folder of your Start menu), and you've got instant access to those help files, should the mood strike. Select the shortcut, and, boy, will you have your reading cut out for you!
If you get hung up in Windows and the usual ctrl-alt-delete does not respond, press ctrl-escape. (Or the Windows key) This may bring up the START menu from which you can shut down the system.
Go into control panel, Click on System, Performance tab. Under
Advanced settings click on the File System button
Click on the CD-ROM tab, Set the Cache to max, Set Optimize Access pattern for Quad-speed or higher, your CD ROM reacts much faster.
You can now play the high quality video clips on your Windows CD-ROM without interruptions in video and sound.
You should be able to just pop in your music cd and have it
play all by itself. However, if you don't, and you have to click
on the Play button, here's how to fix it:
Go to a Windows Explorer
Click on View, Folder Options, click on File Types
Click on Audio CD (or CD Audio Track, you may have to do it for
both of these)
click on Edit, click on the word Play, click on Edit.
At the end of that line, type a space then type: /play
Click on Ok 3 times to get back to the Windows Explorer.
Create a text file in Notepad
To have a program run type in this:
[autorun]
open=Filename.exe
icon=Filename.exe,1
label=Name
Where Filename is the name of the program you want to run and Name is the name or number you see in an explorer when the disk is in the drive
To have an explorer open to that drive, type in this:
[autorun]
open=explorer.exe /n,/e,.
label=Name
where Name is the name or number you see in an explorer when the disk is in the drive. Don't forget to put in the . at the end of the second line.
CD burning music with better quality
Go to Media Player and click on View, Enhancements then if there's no dot next to it, click on Crossfading and auto Volume Leveling.
When you record your music to cd's with Media Player, the volume will be better balanced when you play your cd's in your car.
First you need to know what cab the file is in.
(If you've tried to double-click on one of the cab's in an
Explorer only to find that you can't see what's inside, then a
good tool is to download Powertoy called CabView
XP Version: Get it from Microsoft at:
PowerToys XP
Other Versions: Get it from Microsoft at: PowerToys
Place the file that you download in any directory you want. Double-click on that file and it will place 2 more files into that directory. Right-Click on the file called CabView.inf and choose Install. You will now be able to view the contents of the cab's on your CD drive
When you find the file you need, at a DOS prompt (Start, Programs, MS-DOS Prompt OR Start, Programs, Accessories, Command Prompt), type (for example):
extract /L C:\windows\system D:\WIN95\WIN95_08.cab mmsystem.dll
There is a space between extract and /L, between L and C:\, between \system and D: and again between .cab and mmsystem.dll
What does all this mean?
extract /L C:\windows\system means: extract the file to the
windows\system directory.
D:\WIN95\win95_08.cab means: the location on the CD drive of the
file you want to extract
mmsystem.dll means: the actual file you want to extract (a.k.a.,
un-compress & copy)
The part where it states WIN95_08.cab will vary depending on what cab your file is in. mmsystem.dll will also be changed to the actual name of the file that you want to extract. C:\windows\system will likely stay the same.
Have a floppy disk full of information you'll never use again? Don't throw it away. Recycle it. Pop it in your floppy drive, and in an Explorer or My Computer window, click the drive with the right mouse button and choose Format. Select the Quick format type, which simply erases files on the disk; type in a label for your disk if you want (11 characters only, please), and click OK. Unless you've deselected the summary option, you'll see all the formatting results when it's through. Now all you need to do is stick a fresh label on that disk, and it's good as new.
Whether or not you're on a local area network, odds are you don't really need the little logon (login) screen asking for your username and password that comes up when starting Windows. To remove this prompt, follow the following directions:
If you don't have multiple users configured:
Open Control Panel, and double-click on the Network icon. From the list entitled Primary Network Logon:, choose Windows Logon, and press OK.
Note: If this doesn't work, make sure you didn't initially configure a password for yourself. If you did, Windows will always require it. Double-click on the Passwords icon in Control Panel to choose nothing (leave it blank) for your password.
If you do have multiple users configured:
Open Registry. Navigate your way to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
Network\ Logon.
Double-click on the Process Logon Script value,
and change the data from 0000 00 to 0000 01. If Process Logon...
is not there, then right click in a blank area press Edit, New, String Value and type Process
Logon Script value and press enter two times and
type 0000 01 in the space provided.
LogOn without logging on
XP
To bypass the Welcome Screen and just have XP boot to your desktop, you can only have ONE user account and have the Guest Account turned off.
Go to Control Panel, User Accounts. Click on Guest Account (if it's on), then click on the button to Turn Off
If you have any other accounts that you did NOT create (like ASP.NET, then you can delete that account as well. It may have been put there from a previous Windows Update.
If you want to keep the other accounts and still have YOUR account automatically log on, get Tweak from the MS PowerToys (freeware from Microsoft)
Get it from Microsoft at:
PowerToys XP
When it's installed, open it and double-click on the Logon item to open it and then click on Autologon. Check the box titled Log on automatically at system startup, enter your user name and password, and click on OK.
Now TweakUI will log you on using your user name and password even if more than one account exists.
When you minimize a window, you'll see the window shrink down to the Taskbar. If you then click the Taskbar item to expand the window, you'll see it grow to its full size. All this activity is called "window animation," and if you want, you can get rid of it. Without animation to drag you down, you'll be able to move in and out of windows even faster. (This is a Registry-related tip; as with all such tips, we suggest you back up your Registry first.)
Open the Registry Editor (click Start|Run, enter Regedit and click OK), and navigate your way to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics. Right-click the WindowMetrics key, choose New, and select String Value from the pop-up menu. Name the new value MinAnimate. Click MinAnimate with the right mouse button, choose Modify, and in the resulting dialog box, enter "0" on the Data value line. Click OK, close the Registry Editor, and restart Windows . Now try minimizing a window. No animation there.
(You can get your window animation back by deleting the
MinAnimate value or by changing its value data from 0 to 1. As
always, you'll need to restart Windows for your Registry
change to take effect.)
You can do this with the Tweak program too.
XP Version: Get it from Microsoft at:
PowerToys XP
Other Versions: Get it from Microsoft at: PowerToys
The Windows Find dialog box offers three pages of easy ways to find what you're looking for. But if you're already in Explorer or any open window, your search just got easier.
Right-mouse click the drive or folder you'd like to search, choose Find, and the Find window opens with its focus on that exact drive or folder. If the drive or folder you'd like to search is already selected, you've got it even easier. Just click F3 and Find knows where to focus.
Double click on a columns double arrow to "make it fit"
to the longest needed length.
Zip files to have not showing in left pane of explorer
XP
If you have a zip program like WinZip, or some other zipping program you got (that was NOT part of WinXP) then here's a fix to have .zip files NOT show up in the left pane...because it really slows down the viewing of a folder
Here's a fix. This will stop explorer from checking each zip file before displaying it....and stops it from displaying it in the left pane
Go to Start, Run and type the following:
regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll
Click on OK to the notice
Repeat and this time type:
regsvr32 /u cabview.dll
Again, click on OK to the notice
Restart the computer
Then start WinZip and you'll get a message that the .zip files are not associated with WinZip. Choose Yes to associate them
Explorer not to open folder on left side
XP
You click on a folder in the left side and it automatically opens up all the sub folders below. Boy, I hate that...how about you?
To stop this from happening
In an Explorer, go to Tools, Folder Options, View (tab) and UNCHECK 'Display Simple Folder View in Explorer's Folder List.'
That's it...no more opening of the folder unless you click on the + to show the sub-folders
You can sort your files by any column. Make sure that you are viewing an Explorer in the Details view. (View, Details)
When you click on the column title, that column will sort from A-Z (or lowest number to highest). If you click on that column title again, it will sort in reverse from Z-A (or highest number to lowest number).
This can be helpful when looking for certain types of files, such as .log, or .doc, .wpd or any other file type. Also if you're looking for the most recently used file in any given directory.
In any open Window Explorer, change the view style to what you want to use for every time you open an Explorer. (Example: View, Details)
XP Tools, Folder Options, then the View tab, then click on Apply To All Folders
Other versionsClick on View, Folder Options, and click on the View tab
then click the button for Like Current Folder.
Then click Yes to confirm and then click OK.
If you moved, renamed, or even deleted a file by accident, before you do anything else, press Edit, Undo. You'll be saved from the problems you may have encountered.
Words a bit small (or even a bit big) for you?
Click on Start, Help, Contents. Then just double-click on any book icon, then again on any ? icon. Right-click anywhere in the help window and choose Font, Large (or Small, for smaller words)
Note: You'll have to do this for each different program you use help for. Once for Windows, once for Netscape, once for MS Paint, etc.
Explore From Here does exactly what you might think--it opens
Explorer with the focus on that folder's contents. But unlike
right-clicking a folder and choosing plain ol' Explore, you'll
have access only to that folder's contents. You can try
Backspace, the Up One Level button, or the Go to a different
folder list as much as you want--you won't go anywhere.
XP Version: Get it from Microsoft at:
PowerToys XP
Other Versions: Get it from Microsoft at: PowerToys
Contents displays a pop-up menu of a folder's contents. Selecting an item in this list is just like opening the folder and double-clicking the item there. When dealing with certain folders, however, there's one little trick to this command: When you--or at least, when we--select the Contents menu for the Control Panel or Recycle Bin, the pop-up menu reads "Shift for more." But pressing the Shift key does nothing. To remedy the situation, you have to first select the icon, then hold down Shift as you right-click it and chose Contents.
Only then will you see the Contents list. This nuance doesn't
seem to exist for other folders that have more than one column of
contents. Go figure.
XP Version: Get it from Microsoft at:
PowerToys XP
Other Versions: Get it from Microsoft at: PowerToys
Want to change the name of your hard drive? In a My Computer or Explorer window, right-click the drive you want to change and choose Properties. On the Label line, type a name of up to 11 characters, such as "Tracy's Drive," and click OK.
Open Notepad and create a batch file by typing the following lines (substitute your printer port for LPT1, if necessary):
CD %1
DIR >LPT1
Now, Name the file PRINTDIR.BAT, save it in your Windows\Command folder (assuming that C:\Windows is your Windows directory), and close Notepad.
In an Explorer, locate the batch file you just created, right-mouse click it and choose Properties. Select the Program tab, select Minimized under Run, and select the Close on exit option. Click OK.
Now, the part that scares many people. Open the Registry Editor (Start, Run, type REGEDIT) and navigate your way to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell. Right-mouse click shell, choose New, and then select Key. Name the new key "Print" (no quotes). Right-mouse click the new key, select New and then Key; and this time, name the key "command" (again, no quotes).
In the right pane, right-mouse click (Default), choose Modify, and in the Edit String dialog box, type your batch file's path (c:\windows\command\printdir.bat) on the Value data line.
That's it--close the Registry Editor. To test out your handywork, right-click on any folder, choose Print.
First are your temp files:
When was the last time you deleted your *.tmp files? How about
the files that begin with the character: ~
Reset your computer (to clear out *.tmp files that will go away automatically) Go to Start, Find and type: *.tmp in the first box and type c:\ in the second box, and press Find Now.
Click on the first file listed, then scroll down to the bottom of the window and press and hold your Shift key while you click on the last file listed. Release the Shift key and press the Delete key.
Now in the top box of your Find window, type in ~* and press Find Now.
Click on the first file, scroll down and press the Shift key and click on the last file. Press Delete again.
Second are tutorial videos that Microsoft put on your computer. I didn't find any of these with XP though.
Go to your Windows\Help directory and delete all those *.avi
files. They are videos for the tutorial program for beginners (how
to resize windows, use the scroll bars, etc). You'll save
yourself 7.01MB
7mg is 7mg more than you had before, right?
Then go to your Recycle Bin and empty it!
You already know you can put programs and documents in your StartUp folder to launch things at Windows startup, but you can also put folders in there. Just follow the normal procedure: Right-click on the Start button and select Open, double-click on the Programs folder, then the StartUp folder. Now drag the folder of your choice into the StartUp window.
If you have the keyboard that has the Windows key (in between the control key and the alt key), then all you have to do is press the key combination of Windows key and E. This will open an explorer at the root directory.
Keyboard with USB and SafeMode
XP
Here's how to get to SafeMode with a USB Keyboard
Go to MSConfig (Start, Run, msconfig)
Click on the BOOT.INI tab and check the /SAFEBOOT box.
The next time you boot, it'll go into SafeMode where you can fix your problem
When you're done fixing, go back to msconfig and remove the check in the box for /Safeboot
WARNING: Do NOT play with the other options on the Boot.ini tab...you could really screw things up
Every character on your keyboard repeats itself if you press and hold the key down. You can adjust the speed at which each character appears. If you're a heavy-handed typist and tend to let your fingers linger on the keys, slow the rate so that you don't end up a string of repeated characters. If, on the other hand, your work requires long strings of repeated characters (several asterisks in a row, for example), speed up the repeat rate. To adjust the repeat rate, follow these steps:
Open Control Panel and go to Keyboard.
From the Keyboard Properties menu, select the Speed tab.
The first choice is the Repeat Delay. I have mine set on short. This makes the time between when you start holding down your key and when the repeating starts.
The second choice is Repeat Rate. This is how fast the key repeats itself when you hold it down.
Play around with these until you find something more to suit your needs.
When you're done, just press OK.
Wow, what's this? Well if you're like me and have an AnyKey keyboard, you don't have the Control Key for the right hand. It's been replace with the Menu key. Bummer. Sure is the pits when you use the Ctrl+Home, or Ctrl+End as frequently as I do. I prefer to use one hand instead of 2. Well, I've found a gem on the Internet at:
Microsoft's Kernel Toys It was designed with Win95 in mind...but it still works just fine with XP.
Click on Windows Keyboard Remap to download it. After you've downloaded it and extracted it to the directory you want, right click on Keyremap.inf file (Setup Information File) and choose Install.
Now you'll be able to go to your Control Panel and choose the Remap tab and adjust accordingly
This little gem has allowed me to change that annoying Menu key to my other Control Key.
AutoRun plays CDs as soon as you put them in the drive. If you don't like this feature, you can turn it off.
XP
Open a windows explorer, right click on the cd drive and choose Properties, click on the AutoPlay tab and make your settings choices for each of the types listed in the first long white box.
Other Versions
Right-click on My Computer and select the Device Manager tab.
Find your CD-ROM drive on the list, then double-click on it.
Select the Settings tab and deselect Auto Insert Notification. (Select
it to enable AutoRun)
If your AutoPlay tab is missing, then choose Cancel If you go to Control Panel, Sounds, you get a list of events
you can have sounds for. Well, using a sound for Open, will play
a sound every time you 'open' any program. Well, I only
want a sound when I open WordPerfect. Here we go back into the
Regedit (don't get scared) and add a section. Everyone suggests
that you back up your Regedit first, but I didn't and it works
anyway. This procedure won't associate sounds until you go to the
Control Panel and actually set the sounds. It'll just give you
the option to set the sounds. Just like the rest of the
list. Give it a try :) Open Regedit (Start, Run, type regedit) and navigate your way
to HKEY-CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps. Now, to have sounds specific to WordPerfect (or another
program), right click the Apps key, choose New, Key. Name the new
key Wpwin (if you're using WP7.0). If you're using Word, then
type WinWord. You get this name by looking in Explorer for the
actual application and reading what the actual name of
the program file is. In the right pane, right click on Default
and choose Modify. Type the application name (such as WordPerfect
or Word). Click OK. Click on the + by the folder .Default. This will give you some
ideas as to what you might want to have sounds for that are
specific to your application. Now right click on your new folder (Word, or WordPerfect),
choose New, Key, and name it Open (for example) and press Enter.
Repeat these steps for each event with which you'd like to
associate a sound. Remember these will be program specific so you
can duplicate any of the keys you saw in .Default, like Open,
Minimize, Close, etc... and the sounds you will set will only be
for that specific program. Close the Registry Editor when you're done. Now go set some sounds: Control Panel, Sounds and select your
new event: WordPerfect. Select an event listed under there and go
find a wave to use. Use Browse if you have to. Here's how to do a backup on that Registry Open your Regedit (Start, Run, Regedit) Click on Registry on the menu bar and choose Export Registry
File. (or click on the top line listed there called My Computer, then click on File, Export) Now, navigate your way to a place on your computer where you
want to safely store your working version of the Regedit and type
a name for the file, such as RegBack. Make sure that All is
selected at the bottom of the dialog box under Export range. Now
click on Save. To Restore the registry (in case the change you made didn't
work and you screwed it all up) Opt 1. Open an Explorer and find the directory you saved the
RegBack file in. Double-click that file and choose Yes to import it. This will reset your
Regedit to what it was before. Opt 2. Your second option is to open your Regedit again and
click on Registry of the menu bar and select Import Registry File
and navigate your way to your safely stored RegBack.reg file and
click on Open. Choose Yes to confirm the importing You need to know what you are doing. This will change your
computer back to the original state it was when you bought the
computer and before you started adding any programs. You will
need to do a full re-install of any program that doesn't act
quite right (probably because the needed information is not in
the registry and won't be unless you re-install the program. So
this is more of a tip for myself as a reminder. At a DOS prompt (before going into windows), type the
following commands and press [enter] where denoted: Don't wait. I know of people who haven't done this yet and re-GRET
it! Make a print out of your system properties. It'll take about 3-15 pages, but if anything goes wrong, you have a place to start looking for problems. Go to Control Panel, System. Now click on Device Manger and
press Print, OK.
This will print out all the proper setting for you monitor
type, resolution, drivers... all you need to fix what's wrong. DO THIS NOW if you don't have a print out. You can come back
to this page and continue reading while your printer is printing.
If you don't have a printout, you just may (will) regret it. Every time you go somewhere on the Internet, a file is listed
in a temporary directory. To delete this and get more space back,
check out the following directories: C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files C:\Windows\History If you don't want all this trash, just empty the contents into
the trash can (Recycle Bin) You don't need to be expert to use a "Custom Installation".
You can be a beginner and still use this option. Many programs
have different installing options. If you run across a program
that offers "Custom Installation", by all means use it.
You are very likely to find options you don't want installed.
Many times you will have control over where the program is going
to be installed. When your battery dies, you loose to much information. This is
another one of those PRINT NOW items. What you need to do is
print out your CMOS information. Don't know what it is? Don't
worry. You don't really use it...until you have to change your
battery or fix up a hard drive crash. It's quite easy. Reset your
computer and when you get the message to Press F1 (or another F
key) to Enter Setup, then press it. You won't be changing
anything, don't worry. All you are going to do is make print outs.
At each screen you see, press your Print Screen key on your
keyboard. (You can get 2 Print Screens per page). Press your down
arrow key and press [enter] and press Print Screen again. Then
press ESC to go back to where you were. After you've done the
first page, press your right arrow key to go to the second page
of the CMOS settings. When you're all done, on the last item on
your menu bar are the exit choices. Press Exit, No Save. You will
exit the CMOS settings and go directly to Windows. If you find that it bothers you to much that you keep pressing
the Caps Lock key instead of the Tab key, then by having the
Accessibility options installed will give you a notification by
sound that you've press the wrong button. It works for the Scroll
Lock key and the Num Lock key as well. You can find files on your computer, you know that...by
choosing Start, Find. Well, if you know that the file is in a
specific folder (or one of it's sub-folders), but don't know what
the file name is, open an Explorer first. Click on the root
folder where you want to look, then choose Tools, Find. This will
have the Find dialog box set up already to start looking in that
folder and it's subdirectories. If you have know idea where the file is, then the Find to use
is the Start, Find. Need to copy a floppy disk? In an Explorer, right-click on the
A: drive (3; Floppy A:). Select Copy Disk. Now, if you want to
copy the floppy disk to another floppy, just press Start. Windows
will let you know when to insert the second disk. If the
information won't fit, Windows will tell you that too. This
procedure will erase what you already have on the second
floppy. So be sure you are putting in a blank floppy, or just one
that you don't care if you lose the files on. Did you know that you can use your mouse to "box up"
a selected group of files all at once? All you have to do is first click in anywhere there is a blank
spot. (This ensures that there are no files already selected).
Then click and hold your mouse starting at the bottom file (just
to the right of the file so it will start in the white area) and
drag up and to the left to the top file you want to capture. This
will create a box around the group of files and select them at
the same time. Do you have a file called text.log? Or any file that has a .log
for it's extension? If you are like many others, the files that
have the extension of .log are not associated with a program.
That means, every time you want to the view the log and you
double-click on it, you need to select a program. You can
recognize an un-associated file by the icon. It looks like piece
of paper with a very small logo of Windows. Well, the way around
all that un-associating is to associate it, always. First, click once on the file. Then hold down your Shift key
then right click on the file. Select Open With... Pick the
program called Notepad (or WordPad). Before you press OK, place a
check mark in the box for Always Use This Program..... These instruction are for files that have the extension of .log.
However, if you have other file such as .1st that you know you
can use WordPad for, do the same with those extensions. If you've
downloaded from the Internet (and who hasn't?), you can easily
get files that are called Readme.1st. This is just a text
document. Change the association using the above instructions,
and in the future, all you need to do is double-click on the file
to open it in WordPad. Ever find that a program has locked up on you? Maybe not the
entire system, but just a program. (WordPerfect does it sometimes).
DON'T press your reset button to reset the computer. What you
should do instead is press Ctrl+Alt+Del (just once!) This won't
reboot your system, but it will bring up a dialog box. Click on
the program that is giving you trouble and press End Task (You
may have to press Ctrl+Alt+Del again and press End Task again.
I've had to do it 2-3 times just to get the program to shut down)
Go to Start, Run and type in:
services.msc
and press
Scroll down and double click on Shell Hardware Detection
Set the Startup Type to read Automatic
At the bottom, click on either Start or Resume
click on OK and close it.
Then go back and start again at stated above.
Sounds for Specific applications
Regedit:
How to back up the Regedit (Registry)
Regedit: Revert to
original registry
attrib -s -r -h system.1st [enter]
cd windows [enter]
attrib -r -s -h system.dat [enter]
cd.. [enter]
copy system.1st c:\windows\system.dat [enter]
Now choose YES
Reboot the computer.
Backup/Reformat
necessities: Print this information NOW
XP users: Control Panel, System, Hardware tab, Device Manager button
Click on DESKTOP (or whatever is the very top item in the list), then click on Action, Print.
In the dialog box that pops up, put the cirle in the dot for All Devices And System Summary.
Disk space recall
from Internet Explorer
Installing Programs YOUR way
Battery will go...sometime!
Accessibility can help
Find files
in a specific directory
Floppy disks copied
Explorer: Copy
a group of files
File Associations
Close a
program that's having trouble
Backup Recovery Disk (NOT for XP)
Now, how often have you heard that you should have a Startup
Disk? Several? How many people don't have a startup disk or
anything else to help recover from a crash. Here's a tip you
don't want to miss out on. It's from the Windows Magazine Tips
List:
EMERGENCY RECOVERY UTILITY
There's a hidden program on the Windows CD-ROM for creating a emergency boot disk that can restore your system to the way you've configured it. Before running the program, format a floppy, making sure to check the Copy system files option in the Format dialog box. Then place the CD-ROM in your drive, browse to the d:\other\misc\eru folder (where d is your CD-ROM drive), and double-click eru.exe. Just follow the directions from there. In case of disaster, reboot your system with the ERU-created floppy, and it will automatically restore some of your Windows settings.
If you use the Emergency Recovery Utility found on the Windows CD-ROM to create an emergency boot disk, be aware that some of the configuration files can be huge, making it impossible to fit them all on a floppy (and ERU can't handle multiple floppies). When ERU shows the files it will back up, click Custom to see the files it will skip. You can choose to skip other files, or you can make a note of the ones not being copied and back them up manually.
You can adjust the volume of the sound so that your wave sounds are quieter than you CD's you play.
All you need to do is double-click on the speaker on your Taskbar. From here you can adjust the volume of the different types of sound.
Now, click on Options, Properties. Anything that has a checkmark is shown. For example, your microphone is probably doesn't have a checkmark. Therefore, when you double-click on the speaker in your Taskbar, you don't see Microphone. In Options, Properties, place a check-mark in Microphone and click on OK. Next take the checkmark out of the Mute and adjust your volume. Now, with a microphone, you can record your own voice. This is a great way to send a message. Sort of like listening to a message on your answering machine.
In Explorer, you can select all the files rather quickly. Just click on the directory you want, then press Ctrl+A. Now they are all highlighted.
When would you use this? Well, I copy all my tips files to a floppy disk periodically. They are all in the same directory with no other files. Quickly I can select all and drag & drop to the floppy drive. I don't right-click and drag because when you drag from one drive to another, it automatically does a copy.
Do you often get a busy signal when you try to connect to your Internet service provider?
If you click (or double-click) on the icon for Dial-Up Networking to dial into your service provider, then you can have it set to automatically keep re-dialing as many times as you choose.
Open up My Computer and double-click Dial-Up Networking. Click on Connections, Settings and select Redial. Type in the number of re-try's you want to have. Then change the amount of time you want your computer to wait between tries and click on OK.
If you can't use the AutoPlay feature, try this:
Open Explorer and navigate your way to the shortcut you use to start the CD Player. Right-click it and select Properties. Place your cursor at the end of the text on the Target line, type a space, and then type: "/PLAY" (without the quotes). Click OK.
Now try it. Put your audio CD in the drive. Click on the icon for the CD Player and listen.
How often do you look for files to delete. You know, the same ones over and over again. Such as: *.tmp, *.old, *.~*, *~*, *.chk and mscreate*.
I do it all the time, and so should you, if you want to keep you computer clean and gain more hard drive space.
Do a search using the Find feature Start, Find, Files & Folders. Type in the top box the same this as typed above, only don't use the word and in the box. Place a comma ( , ) and then a space between each type of file you want to look for. Then click on Find Now.
Once your search is completed, click on File, Save Search. This will put an icon on your desktop that looks like a piece of paper.
Now click once on the icon and press F2 (or right-click on the icon and select Rename) and give it a title. I named mine: DELETE these. I also keep it on my desktop to remind me to "conserve hard drive space" by deleting these rotten files.
Tomorrow, just double click on this icon and the Find Files program will open with those types of files already typed in the top box. No need to type them all over again.
When making disk labels use regular paper. Use removable glue stick to paste labels. Now you don't have that ugly job of removing labels. They just peel off easily.
When you open an Explorer and click on a folder, you get the size of the contents of that folder, but not the entire size. What about including all of the sub-folders?
Well, open an Explorer. Right-click on the directory in question and select Properties. A dialog box will open and it will tell you how many files, folders, and the total amount of all files, including all of the sub-folders, in that directory.
Here's something totally fun. Each time you start your computer you hear the same sound, right? Well, when you want to change it, you have to go to Control Panel, Sounds, and change the sound for Start Windows. Here's a little tip I found created by Richard Reynolds of Camp Springs, Maryland. This will change the sound each time you start windows to a different sound. Why would you use it? Just for the fun of it.
It has a rotating scheme of 3 different sounds. You can have more, but the lag time when starting windows will get longer if you have many more. You can do the same procedures for changing your desktop picture. See the changes at the end of this tip.
Note, if you have more than 4-5 items already in your Startup group, you may not want to use this because it could slow your computer startup down a wee bit more than it already is.
But, for the fun of it, give it a try. You can always delete the files with "nothing lost, nothing gained".
Go to Control Panel, Sounds and slide down and click on Start Windows. Take note to the name of the sound presently assigned. Then close Control Panel. Open Notepad (or Wordpad, if you choose) and type the following...exactly.
cd\windows\media\schemes
ren sound1.wav soundxx.wav
ren sound2.wav sound1.wav
ren sound3.wav sound2.wav
ren soundxx.wav sound3.wav
copy sound1.wav c:\windows\media\sound.wav
The last line that has sound.wav should actually be the name you noticed earlier when you went to Control Panel, Sounds and slid down to Start Windows to see what the name of the presently assigned sound is. If it was originally The Microsoft Sound, then you would type themic~1.wav instead of the word sound.wav (If the filename has 8 or less characters, then you could just type the regular name. In this case, The Microsoft Sound is more than 8 charachers, including spaces. If you have to change it, just type the letters without the spaces, as in this example)
Now, click on File, Save. Navigate your way to the Windows directory, then name the file switcher.bat so the file is saved in the Windows directory.
Now open a Windows Explorer. Click on the Windows\Media directory. Next click on File, New, Folder and name the new folder Schemes. Find 3 different sounds that you would like to have alternating each time you start your computer. Copy these sounds to the new folder called Schemes. Now rename each of them so they have the names of sound1, sound2, and sound3 Finally, click on Start, Run, and type sysedit and press [enter]. At the bottom of the Autoexec.bat window (if it's not empty...if it is empty, just type it anyway) type this line:
call c:\windows\switcher.bat
Close Sysedit and save the changes.
Now restart you computer a couple of times and you will hear the changes.
Don't want this after you tried it? No problem....
1. Double-click on each file in the windows\media\schemes
until you found the one that sounds like the original file, The
Microsoft Sound (or whatever you originally had)
2. Rename this file to the original name of The Microsoft Sound (or
whatever you had)
3. Move this file to the windows\media directory and overwrite
what's there.
4. Delete the folder c:\windows\media\schemes
5. Delete the file in the Windows directory called swither.bat
6. Remove the line in your Autoexec.bat (in sysedit)
To use this procedure for changing your desktop images, follow
the same procedure only with a few changes:
A. Use file names of picture1.bmp instead of sound1.wav
B. Instead of using the Windows\Media directory, use
Windows\Scheme (you'll have to create this directory)
C. Instead of taking notice in Control Panel, Sounds, Start
Windows....take notice of Control Panel, Display, Background. (The
present location of the current picture may not be in your
Windows directory, you will have to find the original location
and take note of that location and name)
D. The reverse procedures will be the same as with the sounds,
only using the Windows\Scheme directory instead of the
Windows\Media\Schemes directory
How many times have you found that you are doing a lot of copying and pasting from one program to another. Actually I'm doing it right now. I am constantly copying between WordPerfect and OutLook Express. One way of working faster is to have any other programs minimized but WordPerfect and OutLook Express.
Then, on the Taskbar, in a blank area, right-click and choose Tile Horizontally (or Tile Vertically, which ever you feel more comfortable with).
This procedure sure makes for faster working. Just give it a try.
You can search for a file on 2 drives at once. All you have to do is use the same procedure that you would if you are looking for more than one type of file at a time. (i.e.: *.wav, *.mid)
Only in this case where it asks where to Look In, type in: C:, D:
If, when you delete a file from your computer, you get the message "Are you sure you want to sent filename to the Recycle Bin", then you are using to many steps.
When you delete a file, it will always go to the recycle bin. So why keep telling the computer "Yes".
99% of the time you are saying yes anyway, right? Well, just delete it. If you are saying to yourself "I just want to be sure before I do it, because I'm new to computers", well that's okay too. Every time you delete a file, it will go to the Recycle Bin and can be Un-Deleted, even if you pressed it by accident. So...why go through unnecessary steps.
Right-click on the Recycle Bin and choose Properties. Then click in the box (to remove) the check mark for Display Delete Confirmation Dialog.
Now when you delete a file, you won't get the message. If you find that you deleted it in error, then you can do 1 of 2 things:
1. If you deleted a file from and Explorer, then before you do anything else click on anything else, click on Edit, Undo Delete. (Scroll down and you will see the file listed at the end of the list)
2. You can open the Recycle Bin, click on the file, then click on File Restore.
This is for those who are not afraid to go to the Regedit. Have your BMP images displayed in Explorer as a icon of what the picture actually is.
Navigate your way to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Paint.Picture/DefaultIcon. Double-click on (Default) in the right pane and change the value of DefaultIcon to %1. Delete everything and just type %1 and then close Regedit.
Now all your BMP images will be shown in Explorer as an icon of itself.
To change it back to it's original way, navigate your way back and put, instead of %1, then put in: C:\Progra~1\Access~1\MSPAINT.EXE,1
1. For the Network Password dialog box: Go to Control Panel, Networks. On the Configuration tab, under Primary Network Logon, click the down arrow and select Windows Logon. Click OK and let the computer restart.
2. For the Windows password dialog box: Follow the same steps above, EXCEPT do NOT restart the computer. Back in the Control Panel, go to Passwords, Change Password (tab) click the Change Windows Password button. Type the Old password, press Tab to move the cursor to the New password field, then press Enter. You'll see a dialog box telling you that the password has been changed successfully. Click OK, Close, restart your computer.
First you've tried in an Explorer in the Startup Group. Nope, it's not there. You've looked in ALL the Startup groups in Documents and Settings...nope, not there either ;(
It's probably here: Click on Start, Run, type in:
You can check out the following site to help you get a list of many items that may be listed there:
MSCONFIG programs listed
Not all items will be on that site, but I'm sure it'll give you a good idea
Short and sweet:
Highlight the item, then press Shift-F10.
If you have the newer version of Windows and when you click on the Start button, you see something called Suspend.
This button works like a power manager saver. What it does is, not shut off the computer, but make it go to sleep. The screen will go black and most of the power is lowered. When you move your mouse (or press the ESC key) your computer will come back to full life.
If you want to take your Favorites on the road, or even over to a friends house, you can...easily.
XP Open a windows explorer and go to:Right-click on Favorites (in the left side) and select Copy
Now move up and right-click on the A:\ drive and select Paste.
All you have to do is copy it back to the same directory on your friends computer. First you might want to make a back-up of what your friend already has incase your friend decides not to keep yours
If you haven't changed your fonts, why not just give it a try.
Right-click on a blank area of your desktop and choose Properties. Click on the Appearance tab. XP users click on Advanced next.
Click on the down-arrow for Item and choose Icon. Take note of the font and size that it is already set at then in the Font drop-down
list, choose a font. You may even want/need to change the size of the font in the Size drop-down list.
Now click on Apply to see what it looks like. If you don't like it, go and change the font again. You can always change it
back to what it was before.
Note: This will also make the fonts in an explorer change.
Yes, you CAN have them. Even if you don't have the newest version of Windows .
If someone gives you a 3D screen saver from their computer (because they have the newest version), they also have to give you the following 2 files: GLU32.DLL and OPENGL32.DLL. These files, and any 3D screen savers you're given, need to be placed in the C:\Windows\System directory.
If you run into the problem of when you go to Start, Shut Down and Win98 hangs there...I found a site that can help you get that fixed.
Here are 2 sites to go to
1. Try finding the problem (I got mine fixed with this one. Mine was the sound I was using for when Windows shut down)
Windows Shutdown & Restart Center
2. get a fix from Microsoft
http://www.microsoft.com/Windows98/downloads/contents/wurecommended/s_wufeatured/win98se/default.asp
Right click on each of those and choose Properties. Then click on Change icon and choose different ones you want.
Note: Hibernation is not available for all computers. To test if you have the availability, go to Control Panel, Power Options. If you have a Hibernate tab, then you have capability. Try it to see if you like it. It'll shut down your computer...sorta. When you turn it back on (by pressing the Power button as you normall would), it'll take less time to turn on, and all the programs you had open when you went to hibernation, will all be open just in the same state as when you went to hibernation.
Use the above shutcut technique and give it a try. If you don't like it, then just delete the shortcut.
You notice an error message upon starting Windows and it says this:
"Norton AntiVirus unable to locate its required settings files. Please make sure the product is installed correctly or use /OPT [directory] to specify the directory where the settings are located."
It's an easy fix and refers to your Exclusion list that you changed. Norton needs at LEAST one listed in there:
You can get EXCLUDE.DAT back by adding a file back to the Exclusion list. Add the type: *.VI, then put a checkmark in the first box. Then click on OK
*.VI refer to virus files and Norton really wants that in there.
If you're looking for a file on your computer, and you know it's inside a zip file, then you can still do a Find for it.
Click on Start, Find, Files Or Folders
In the Named (first) box, type: *.zip
In the Contain Text (second) box, type the name of the file you're looking for
In the Look In (third box), you can change to the drive you know it's on, or click on the Browse button to change to the directory that you know it's in. This will narrow the search and find it faster.
Click on the Advanced tab and change the box for Of Type to read WinZip File (or name of the program you have for your zip files).
Click on Find Now. You'll see a list of zip files that contain the file you're looking for within zip files.
Here's how:
For a safe place to keep the file, open a windows explorer and click on the C: drive
In a blank area on the right side, right click and choose New, Text Document, then press the enter key twice.
Next, in that text document you started you can either copy and paste the following lines that start with the word start....then adjust accordingly, or type it in yourself....making adjustments as needed
Since I have PaintShop Pro and Font Viewer starting, here's what mine looks like:
start "" "C:\Program Files\PaintShop Pro 9\Paint Shop Pro 9.exe"
start "" "C:\Program Files\Font Viewer\tft.exe"
Another example for using Outlook Express and Interent Explorer
start "" "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe"
start "" "C:\Program Files\Outlook Express\msimn.exe"
You can have more than 2 if you like
Now, click on File, Save As. At the bottom change the box for Save As Type to read All Files
In the box for File Name, type in a short description, such as "IE-OE.bat"
You MUST have the " marks and MUST have the .bat inside the quote marks.
Click on Save.
Right click and drag the file to the desktop and choose Create Shortcut Here
Right click on that icon and choose Properties
Click on the button for Change Icon (you'll get a message about not finding icons, so just click on OK)
Find an appropriate icon you want to use and choose Ok twice to have your new icon showing.
Back in the windows explorer, you can delete the file called New Text Document.txt
Double click on your icon and if it doesn't work, you'll know it. Go back to the windows explorer, right click on your MS-DOS Batch File (the one you created with a new name), then choose Edit. Make adjustments where you find errors.
Ever find that you need that special character like those? Or maybe special foreign characters?
Windows has had (for YEARS) a program that can help you out
It's called Character Map
You can find in your start menu
Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools
Open the program then find what you want. You can change the font to see if the font you want to use is capable of doing that character.
Just click on the character you want. Then click on Select, then click on Copy.
Now go to the program where you're typing and press ctrl+v and you're character will pop in there for you.
Scheduled Task to automatically copy
XP
Create a scheduled task to automatically back up critical files such as your address book, your Favorites list, and any other files and/or folders that change on a regular basis. This procedure works best as a "Scheduled Task" if you have 2 hard drives on your computer. That way if your main drive crashes, you still have all your backups on your second hard drive. This Scheduled Task will create those back ups for you...automatically.
This part is only a one time deal. Once you set the password, you won't have to do this part again. You can just skip down to creating your tasks.
You may not like the idea of having a password to turn on your computer, but with XP, you have to in order to have scheduled tasks. The good news is that the computer CAN bypass the password and you'll never know about it.
Here's how to set a password:
Go to Control Panel, then User Accounts
Where it says "or Pick an account to change", click on your account.
Go through the steps to create a password
Make it EASY, since you're the only one using it.
Now, close that.
Go to Start, Run and type: control userpasswords2
press enter
REMOVE the check in the box for "Users must enter a user name and password...."
click on Apply
Type in your user name, and password
click on OK
#1 Create a task:.
First, Open a windows explorer go to a folder you always keep on your second hard drive. As in the example below, I save all this type of stuff in my folder called F:\zbackups. Right click on the right side and choose New, Text Document.
Type in the following:
copy "C:\Documents and Settings\Tracy\Favorites\*.*" "F:\zBackups\Favorites"
copy "C:\Documents and Settings\Tracy\Favorites\Links\*.*" "F:\zBackups\Favorites\Links"
You'll need to change the name of the folder, of course.
NOTE: You can ONLY have alphanumeric characters. You can NOT have things such as & or $ in the names of the folders...trust me. I did and THAT was the reason mine weren't working.
Click on File, Save As.
Change the Files Of Type to read All Files
In the filename to save, type: "favorits.bat"
You MUST include the " marks. DOS still requires 8 or less characters...that's the reason for the shortened word.
#2 Go to Control panel and choose Scheduled Tasks, Add Scheduled Task.
Click on Next, then Browse. Find that file you created called favorits.bat and double click on it.
Choose how often you want to have those files copied. For favorites, address books, etc...I recommend daily.
Go through all the questions and when asked for your password, that's what you have to put in....the same password you created above.
#3 Test your task. Go to Control Panel. Right click on Scheduled Tasks, and choose Open.
Right click on the task you just created and choose Run. Then check your windows explorer and see if the files were copied.
To copy your address book for Outlook Express, do the same procedures above but the lines in NotePad would be:
copy "C:\Documents and Settings\Tracy\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book\Tracy*.*" "F:\zBackups\Odds & Ends\OE Address Book"
Your path will differ according to what part of Documents and Settings that YOUR address book is in.
Scheduled Tasks: copy them for safe keeping or using on other computers
XP
Keep a copy of your "tasks" in a safe place (like on a floppy disk, flash drive, thumb drive, pen drive, or whatever you want to use or call it)
Open a Windows Explorer and go to C:\WINDOWS\Tasks folder and copy all your scheduled tasks.
You can put them in the Shared Folder if you want to use the same tasks on other computers on your network.
Don't forget to copy the .bat files, if you use them as the task to run. Such as using a .bat file to copy your address book from one hard drive to another.
When you copy the files to the new computer, or back onto your computer after a reformat, you will have to choose Properties on each of the tasks, choose Properties and click on the Set Password. Fill in the password twice and click on OK. Otherwise, after you copy the tasks back on, the tasks will not run.
Stop Error Reporting
XP
Ok....you've had enough of the error reporting stuff. You know...every time a program shuts down and XP wants to send the error report to Microsoft.
Here's how you stop it from coming back over and over again.
Go to Control Panel, System, click on the Advanced tab, then click on the Error Reporting button at the bottom
Put the circle in for Disable Error Reporting. If you still want to be notified that a program will be shutting down from an error, the you can put the Check IN the box for 'But notify me when critical errors occur'
Common Dialogs Customized
XP
When opening a file, you may have icons on the left side of the dialog box such as My Documents, My Computer,...and more that look like this:
You can adjust those and choose your own by using TweakUI for WinXP Freeware from Microsoft
Once you have Tweak installed, click Common Dialogs on the left side. On the right side, you can click on the down arrow and choose the one you want, and ones you don't, then from the drop down list, choose None. OR...to add ones you do NOT see...just manually type in the path to the folder you want. In the picture above, the bottom one shows Downloads...that's because in one of those lines in Tweak, I type: F:\Downloads. Because I want to be able to quickly go to the Downloads folder and open something
Not all programs will have these common dialog box icons...there's nothing you can do (that I know of) to force a program to have them.
OR - - - - -
If you don't want to get the powertoy from Microsoft, or just want to customize it more, you can make the changes manually in the registry
Navigate your way to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\comdlg32\PlaceBar
Double click on any of the DWORD icons and change the value that's highlighted to any of your choices in the list below. Only use the one or 2 digits at the beginning of the lines shown below
To add one manually, right click in a blank area and choose New, DWORD and call it Place4 (or whatever up to and not past 4). Then double click on it and give it one of the values as listed below.
To add a path to a specific folder, such as C:\Graphics\CD\Landscapes thata you might have created on your computer to save those pictures, then right click in a blank area and choose New, String Value.
Put in the path of the folder you want.
0 Desktop
Each subkey of this key represents an Add/Remove Programs item. Some have sensible names, like AvantGo Client. Others have strings of letters and numbers in curly braces, like "{D6DE02C7-1F47-11D4-9515-00105AE4B89A}."
First check the legible names. If you don't find the desired item, select the GUID-names one at a time and scan the values in the right-hand pane for information that would link this entry to the program you're seeking.
Highlight the subkey below Uninstall that contains the item you want removed. Select Export from the File menu and export it to a .REG file. Then just delete the subkey. It will no longer appear in Add/Remove Programs. If at some future time you wish to uninstall the program, double-click on the .REG file to restore the uninstall data and then launch Add/Remove Programs.
Here how to fix it:
BTW, don't worry about making that mistake with application files (.exe), those don't give you the option to remove the checkmark.
I use Sound Recorder (a long time player to play .wav sounds). It's always been part of Windows, but it's much smaller program than using Windows Media Player. It loads faster and closes faster.
I personally recommend you change the icon for the .wav files so you can see the difference in an explorer if the file is a midi or a wave file.
1 Internet Explorer
2 Start Menu\Programs
3 My Computer\Control Panel
4 My Computer\Printers
5 My Documents
6
7 Start Menu\Programs\Startup
8
9
a
b
c logical "My Documents" desktop icon
d "My Music" folder
e "My Videos" folder
10
11 My Computer
12 Network Neighborhood (My Network Places)
13
14 Windows\Fonts
16 All Users\Start Menu
17 All Users\Start Menu\Programs
18 All Users\Startup
19 All Users\Desktop
1a
1b
1c
1e Nonlocalized common startup
1f Common favorites
20 Internet Cache
21 Cookies
22 History
23 All Users\Application Data
24 GetWindowsDirectory()
25 GetSystemDirectory()
26 C:\Program Files
27 C:\Program Files\My Pictures
28 USERPROFILE
29 x86 system directory on RISC
2a x86 C:\Program Files on RISC
2b C:\Program Files\Common
2c x86 Program Files\Common on RISC
2d All Users\Templates
2e All Users\Documents
2f All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools
30
31 Network and Dial-up Connections
35 All Users\My Music
36 All Users\My Pictures
37 All Users\My Video
38 Resource Directory
39 Localized Resource Directory
3a Links to All Users OEM specific apps
3b USERPROFILE\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\CD Burning
"Owner" changes name
XP
Your computer says that you are Owner. Not Tracy, not Mark, not...well anyone. Just "Owner"
You can change that:
Go to Start, Run and type: control userpasswords2
press enter
Put a check in the box at the top, then select Owner from the list (you'll remove the check shortly),
Choose Properties and change your name.
Click on OK. Remove the check in the box. Click on OK
Put your password back in and click on OK again.
Java Virtual Machine (VM)
There are many times you may need to have Java (also knows as Java Virtual Maching (VM). Your browser will tell you if you don't have it...or you may not be able to play games in Yahoo! because of it, or visit other places you did before (and want to go to again).
You can get the file HERE (from Microsoft), or from Here (from Bob's page).
Critical Updates not working
If you can't get the Critical Updates page to work properly, here's a probable fix:
Go to Control Panel, Internet Options. Click on Delete Files in the section for Temporary Internet Files.
Try the updates again.
If it doesn't work, then try resetting the computer (after doing the above), then try again.
Internet Options Missing
If you've lost your Interent Options button in Control Panel, then it's quite possible that you've been hacked. Here's how to get it back.
Open a Windows Explorer and go to C:\Windows
On the file called control.ini, (the file type is Configuration Settings), right click on it and choose Open
If you see the line that says:
inetcpl.cpl=yes
then remove it, close the file and choose YES to save
Close all Internet Explorer windows
Click on Start, Run, and type regedit
Navigate your way to:
HKEY_CURENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Interent Explorer
On the left side, click on the + for Explorer
If you see a sub folder listed there called restricted, or control panel, then delete those folders and choose YES.
Do the same thing for:
HKEY_LOCAL_MCAHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer
Security Level Changed
If you've installed any program that just happened to put an icon for Free AOL on your desktop, yes you can remove the icon. But...there's something else that the program probably changed...your Security Settings. Better check it!!!
Go to Control Panel, Internet Options, then click on the Security tab
Click on the icon for Trusted Sites, then click on the button that's called Sites...
AOL is probably there...I'd remove it!
Remove all that you don't want listed there, then click on OK
Now, you're Secuity level was probably changed down to Low...Move it back up to Medium for safer surfing
Resizing window won't stay next time it's opened
If you resize a window, it should stay that size and location next time you open it. However, at times it won't. Here's how to make it work:
Resize the window. You can't use the middle button in the upper right corner...you have to use the corners of the window to drag it to the size you want..
After you do, hold down the control key on your keyboard, and as you're holding it down, click on the X to close the window.
Next time you open that program, it should be the same size as when you last closed it...and there after.
Name changing from the previous computer owner
Your acquired a computer with XP on it. And everything keeps popping up with Registered to Jane Doe.
Well, you're NOT Jane Doe...you're Joe Newman
Here's how to change the information from hers to yours
Start, Run, regedit.
Navigate your way to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
Where you see her information on the right side...just double click on it and change it to YOUR information
Close Regedit and all is changed.
Full Screen when opening programs
To make your programs open full screen, right click on the shortcut to open a program. On the Shortcut tab, change the Run box from Normal to Maximized.
For some programs, that may not work...and in those cases, open the program, resize the window manually by using the corners to drag the size bigger. Clicking on the middle button to maximize it won't keep the settings....use the corners to make it big. Then close the window and open it again.
View Source is not available
If you find that you can't View Source of a web page, then it's time to clear out your Temporary Internet Files in IE.
Click on Tools, Interent Options, then click on the Delete Files button.
This should allow you to View Source again
NumLock needed to be on during startup
If you have the problem of your NumLock being set to on when you turn on the computer, go to Regedit and navigate your way to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Keyboard
Double click on InitialKeyboardIndicators and change the value to 2
Reset the computer
Searching made faster
XP
I don't know about you, but when I use Search, it takes for ever. And it searches in places I don't even want it to.
I've found a great program that puts your "Searching" back to the better feel in Win98
It's called AgentRansack
You can get it at:
AgentRansack
If you really like it and want to use it all the time (like me), then you can have it on your start menu...right at the beginning
Right click on the Start button and choose Properties
On the Start Menu tab, click on Customzie, then click on the Advanced tab
Remove the check mark in the box for Search
In a Windows Explorer, go to the folder where you installed AgentRansack.
Right click AND HOLD...and as your holding, drag it to the right a little then release the click and choose Create Shortcut Here.
Now, click and hold on that shortcut you just created. As you're holding the click, drag (still holding the click) the mouse down to the Start Button (don't release yet)...the Start Menu will pop up. AS YOU'RE STILL HOLDING the click, move the mouse up to the top left section. NOW you can release the click and then choose Create Shortcut Here.
Now just rename it: Click on Start, right click on AgentRansack and choose Rename. Rename it to Search and click on OK.
Your "Search" will be on you start menu as before...only in a different place now and a faster searching like before.
Control Panel icon changed
To change the icon of your control panel, go to your regedit and work your way to:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}\DefaultIcon
On the right side, double click and change the value to the location of the icon you want to use.
Just make sure it's not going to be an icon that you'll delete later. For that icon, I recommend you get the icon from somewhere in the C:\Windows or C:\Windows\System32 folder (even if you have to put the .ico file there first)
And...go here (in regedit) if you need to if it doesn't change after you close Regedit edit the first time.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartMenu\StartPanel\ControlPanel
Then double click on Bitmap to change the value to the location of your new icon.
Folder icon changed for the My Music and My Pictures folders
XP
Yes, even for the My Music, and My Pictures
In most folders, you can right click on the folder in an explorer, choose Propeties, then click on the Customzie tab. However, in some folders (as mentioned above) there's no Customize tab.
Well in those folders, there IS a file called desktop.ini file.
Just double click on that file.
The bottom line will look something like this (if you don't see something similiar, then just copy the lines below to get started and paste it in there):
IconFile=%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll
IconIndex=-237
All you have to do is change those 2 lines.
Find where the icon is that you want to use and change the lines to something like this:
IconFile=%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll
IconIndex=38
Now...here's the tricky part. Experiment on a different shortcut on your desktop by right clicking on it and choose Properties. Then click on Change Icon (Don't worry, you're not really going to change that one). Most of the icons you'll find good to use will be in your shell32.dll file. Click on Browse, button then work your way to the folder C:\Windows\System32.
Then double click on the file called shell32.dll
Look around until you see something you like.
Once you find it, click on it once.
Then scroll back to the beginning. You need to count your way to the icon you want to use. Start with the first icon as #0, then going downward. The second column will start with 4, then the 3rd icon starting with 8....keep going until you get to the icon you want. With that number you counted to...write it down (so you don't have to count all over again if you forget).
Now double click in the long white box at the top of that dialog box to highlight it. Press ctrl+c to copy it.
Now click on Cancel all the way out...unless you WANT to change that shorcut icon.
Back in the desktop.ini file, highlight from AFTER the IconFile= to the end of the line. Then press ctrl+v to paste.
Then change the next line IconIndex= to the number you wrote down.
Click on File, Save, and your new icon will appear.
The reason for doing the copy and paste above is because you may be able to save icons from the interent and use them...or you can open many other files (.icl, .dll, .exe) and find icons in there that you might want to use. Also, if you've created icon libraries, you can use those to find icons for your folders also.
Folder icons in explorer all changed at once
XP
If you have some cute little icon files laying around, or that you found on the internet, then here's a neat little script you can get to change all of your explorer folder icons at once to your new icons. The script is to change the folder appearance as it's open and when it's closed. It's a script written by Kelly. If you don't like the new folder settings, all you have to do is run the script again and leave all the options blank....the folders will revert back to normal.
Anyway...this script can be gotten from Kelly's site
Kelly's Korner XP Tweaks and get it at line #119 on the right column.
Right click on the link and save target.
You need to disable your virus protecter before running the script. Then double click on that file to run it. Or if you want to leave your protector running, then you'll have to choose Allow this entire script.
You don't NEED to reset your computer though, as it says.
Instead: Right click on the desktop, then Properties, then Appearance, then Advanced.
Choose Icon from the drop down list and increase or decrease the size of the icon by one. Close and you should now see your new icons.
Preview a file in a windows explorer
XP
In previous version, you could click on an image, and see a preview of the file (on the right side of the explorer.
In XP it's a bit different, but it can still be done.
In Windows Explorer if you see a tree view (list of folders) on the left side, then click on the Folders button on your toolbar. This will put you in the Common Tasks view.
Now you can click on an image and on the left side at the bottom in the Details section, you'll see a preview of the image.
Add/Remove list trimmed
Caution with this one. You should know what you're doing before trying it.
It's not hard to remove the uninstall information. The real trick is keeping it available in case you actually want to uninstall the program at some point. Launch Regedit from the Start menu's Run dialog and navigate to this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
Prefetch emptied
XP
You can (and should periodically) empty your Prefetch folder. C:\Windows\Prefetch
By deleting all the files in there, your computer will speed back up.
Just go to that folder, select all, and delete them. DON'T delete the folder...just all the files in there. Then reset your computer. The Prefetch files will be re-created automatically.
Prefetch files are stored on your computer to assist XP in starting programs faster. But, if there are a lot of unnecessary files in there, it's just a waste of time and space for XP to look at.
Many recommend deleting all those files once a month or so.
System Volume Information folder viewed
XP
If you click on the folder called System Volume Information, you'll get a notice that you can't view it. Well, you CAN, if you want. I have a 2nd hard drive and don't even use the System Restore (because I use a program called GoBack instead). I have no need to even HAVE that folder. You can view what's inside, if you'd like though. The folder is used by the System Restore Tool to store information and restore points.
Here's how to view it (and delete it if you choose)
Go to Start, Run and type: cmd
Go to the root folder of the drive you want, such as G:
The type this:
cacls "G:\System Volume Information" /E /G username:F
and press enter
You can now see what's inside and even delete the folder from your 2nd drive if you choose.
"Always Ask" restored when downloading files
You can restore the option of your computer Asking what you want to do with a file you're trying to download if you previously removed a check in the box for "Always ask before opening this type of file".
Example: You clicked on a zip file to download it, and you are not asked what you want to do...save it, open it, or cancel....but now you DO want the options back.
Open a windows explorer, click on Tools, Folder Options. Click on the File Types tab.
Scroll down to what you want (most likely ZIP) and click on it. Then click on the Advanced button at the bottom and put the check back in the box for "Confirm open after download". Click on OK and close it all out.
Sound Recorder to Open, Play and Close
This is a fix reminder for me. (And you, if you want to use Sound Recorder to just listen to a wav sound)
XP:
In a Windows Explorer go to Tools, Folder Options
scroll down to WAV and click on it, then click on Advanced
Click on Open then click on Edit and put in this line for Application used....:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\sndrec32.exe /Play "%L"
click on ok
click on Play, then click on Edit and put in this line for Application used...:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\sndrec32.exe /Play "%L" /close
click on OK, then Ok again, then OK one more time to close it all out
Other versions folder:
In a Windows Explorer, go to Folder, Options, File Type
scroll down to Wave Sound and click on it.
click on Edit
click on Open then click on Edit and put in this line for Application used....:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\sndrec32.exe /Play
click on ok
click on Play, then click on Edit and put in this line for Application used...:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\sndrec32.exe /Play /close
click on OK, then Ok again, then OK one more time to close it all out
Restarting Computer Automatically - Make it stop
XP
If you find that when you're computer is having troubles, and the computer just restarts on it's own...it might be driving you crazy.
What if you haven't saved something and the computer has troubles. It may just reset on it's own. Don't let it. Give yourSELF control over the reset.
Right click on My Computer and choose Properties, Click