Frank's Windows 95 Bag O' Tips

                       Last Modified: October 25, 1995

These are short little tips and answers to commonly-asked questions
that
weren't big enough to warrant their own separate page. Enjoy!

Index of Tips:
Really Quick Tips
Clean Install of Win95 Preview
Selecting "Command Prompt Only" during bootup doesn't work
Startup Folder: Where is the Windows 95 equivalent of the 'STARTUP'
folder
Interrupt settings (IRQs) - where is a list of my settings?
Interrupt settings (IRQs) - where can I change them?
Music CDs and Autoplay
Explorer isn't showing all files!
Icon Problem: Icons in Control Panel are messed up.
Microsoft Exchange wants to log into MSN even when used for SLIP/PPP
Uninstalling Windows 95
Taskbar Tips
Microsoft Natural Keyboard and Windows 95
Speeding Up the Start Menu
Windows Setup switches
Printing to a File
Cascading "Control Panel" on Start menu
Turning off the Exploding Windows Animation
Adding a File Type to the "NEW" Menu
Correcting the "Extra Page with Codes" problem with some HP Printers
Changing fhe Fonts in MS Internet Explorer
Getting Rid of the Shortcut Arrows
Customizing the Startup and Shutdown Screens
Refresh the Registry without Rebooting
Saving your Password in Dial-Up Networking
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Really Quick Tips

   * Freeing Disk Space: If you don't need animated help with
scrolling,
     minimizing windows, etc., you can free up just over 7MB of hard
drive
     space by deleting the .AVI files from /windows/help. [Thanks to
Tim
     Gerchmez for this tip!]
   * Using .BMP files as Icons: You can rename any .BMP file to .ICO,
and
     then use it as an icon! Windows 95 resizes it to icon size, and
changes
     it to 16 colors, but otherwise it works just fine. [Thanks to
Jason
     Richmond for this tip!]
   * Opening Folders Nicely: If you want to open a sub-folder and
have the
     parent folder automatically close, hold the ctrl key down as you
     double-click to open the new folder. [Thanks to Simon Garlick
and
     Christophe Jacquet for this tip.]
   * Escaping from a hang: If you get hung up in win95 and the usual
     ctrl-alt-delete does not respond, press ctrl-escape. This may
bring up
     the START menu from which you can shut down the system. [Thanks
to
     Shawn St.Jacques for this tip!]
   * Right-Clicking in Save File dialog boxes: Try it! If you are
saving a
     file, and right-click in the dialog box, you can change your
view,
     arrange the icons, or create new folders prior to saving the
file. This
     is great if you suddenly decide while saving that you want to
save the
     file in a folder that doesn't currently exist.
   * 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.
   * Quickly Closing Windows under My Computer: If you've opened many
     windows under My Computer (control panel, and windows under
that), you
     can quickly close them all by holding the Shift key while
clicking the
     close window box.
   * Quickly Seeing Properties: To quickly access the Properties
information
     for any object, hold the ALT key while double-clicking it.
   * MKCOMPAT Program: In the /windows/system directory is a program
called
     MKCOMPAT.EXE. This program lets you change settings to try to
make a
     poorly-behaved Win 3.1 program compatible with Windows 95.
   * Restarting Windows 95 without a Warm Boot: Select Shut down, and
click
     the Restart Computer option. Then, while holding down the Shift
key,
     click YES. Windows 95 will now restart without executing a
complete
     warm boot.
   * 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.
   * Avoiding Windows 95 Logo at startup: Either press ESCape during
bootup,
     or edit MSDOS.SYS and add the line LOGO=0 to the Options
section.
   * What .DLL's are being used in a .EXE?: Right-click on the
application's
     name, and select Quick View.
   * Real Delete instead of Recycle Bin: To immediately delete a file
rather
     than send it to the Recycle Bin, hold down the Shift key when
you
     delete it.
   * AutoPlay Disable: To disable Autoplay from automatically playing
a
     music cd, hold the SHIFT key for a few seconds after you close
the
     CD-ROM drive door.
   * Soundcard Volume: Single click on the speaker icon in the tray
to bring
     up the master volume control. Double-click that icon to bring up
the
     full mixer controls.
   * Dial-Up Networking Auto Redial: Bring up the Dial-Up Networking
Folder,
     highlight the connection, then select Connections from the menu,
then
     settings.
   * Desktop Properties: A shortcut is to right-click anywhere on the
     desktop, then select properties.
   * Windows 95 Backup: The backup program included apparently runs
15-25%
     faster if you keep it minimized during the backup.
   * Clock/Calendar: Double-click the time in the taskbar tray to see
a
     calendar, and to change the system date/time.

[6/24/95]

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Clean Install of Win95 Preview

Boot from a floppy, and run the SETUP program from diskette #1 or
from the
cd-rom (you'll need your cd-rom drivers on your floppy to do this).
The
Preview is actually an upgrade, and will search for an existing copy
of
Windows. If it doesn't find one, you'll have to tell it to look on
drive a:,
and insert diskette #1 from some previous version of Windows.
[6/3/95]

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Selecting "Command Prompt Only" during bootup doesn't work

After a failed bootup attempt, or if you hit F8 while Win95 is
starting up,
you'll get a menu of bootup options. One of the options is Command
Prompt
Only.

If you select this option, but find that your system still boots into
Windows, check your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and make sure you don't have a
command
in it that starts Windows. Many people do (I did!). When you select
Command
Prompt Only, Win95 still executes your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS,
but
skips the automatic load of Win95 afterward. However, if you have a
command
in AUTOEXEC.BAT that starts Windows, it will execute it!
[6/3/95]

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Startup Folder: Where is the Windows 95 equivalent of the 'STARTUP'
folder?

If you click the START button, then Settings/Taskbar, you will see
the panel
to modify the taskbar. Select the other tab option at the top, then
click on
'advanced'. A mini-version of the Explorer will pop up, showing the
heirarchy of your START menu. One of the items listed is 'startup'.
This is
the equivalent of your Windows 3.1 startup folder. If you click on
that, in
the right side of the panel you'll see all the things that are
automatically
run at startup. Right click on each item and select 'delete', or drag
it to
somewhere other than the startup area if you want to remove any of
these
items.
[6/3/95]

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Interrupt settings (IRQs) - where is a list of my settings?

Control Panel/System/Devices, in this area there is an option to
print a
detailed or summary report. The detail report is huge - 18 pages on
my
system! The summary report is two pages, and contains a list of all
the
interrupts currently assigned in the system, and what they are
assigned for.
This report also lists DMA channel assignments and port addresses.

Another method is to simply right-click on the My Computer icon, and
select
Properties. This will bring up the System control panel. Select the
Device
Manager tab, and double-click on Computer within the scrollable
window. From
here you can view IRQs, DMA channel usage, I/O assignments, and
Memory
settings.
Thanks to Jeremy Moore for this helpful tip.
[6/29/95]

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Interrupt settings (IRQs) - where can I change them?

Windows 95 assigns IRQs automatically, but if you need to change them
to a
specific value, you can. Select Control Panel/System/Devices, then
find and
double-click on the device you want to change the IRQ for, or
highlight it
and select properties. A panel for that device will appear. If you
select
the Resources tab, a 'Resources' window will pop up. One of the
choices in
the window is 'Interrupt Request' with the current value listed. If
you
click on that to highlight it, the change setting button will become
usuable. If you click on that button, you will get the 'Edit
Interrupt
Request' panel that will allow you to change the interrupt, and will
immediately tell you if your new choice conflicts with other
equipment.
[6/3/95]

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Music CDs and Autoplay

By default, Windows 95 is set up to automatically start the CD Player
applet
and begin playing a music cd as soon as it is inserted into the
CD-ROM
drive. This is set up in Windows 95 much like a file extension
association.
To change this, start Explorer, and select View/Options/File Type.
Scroll
through the list until you find a listing for Audio CDs. Highlight
it, and
select the Edit button. You'll see a panel showing the option 'play'.
Select
that, then click on the Edit button on this panel. You'll see the
command
that is invoked for that option. It is by default set to execute
CDPLAYER.EXE with a command parm of '/play'. If you delete the entire
line,
then when an audio cd is inserted, nothing will happen. If you delete
just
the '/play' parm, then when an audio cd is inserted, the CD Player
applet is
started, but it does NOT immediately begin playing the cd.
[6/3/95]

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Explorer isn't showing all files!

It's not showing all the files in a folder/directory. Select
View/Options.
The first tab ,View, has an option for 'show all files.' Change to
this
option and all files will be displayed from then on.
[6/3/95]

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Icon Problem: Icons in Control Panel are messed up.

There is a known bug where the icon in the Control Panel for Display,
which
normally looks like a monitor, suddenly changes to be something else
(usually a joystick icon). Just ignore this - Microsoft claims it
will be
corrected in the final shipped version. This affects other icons in
Control
Panel as well, but most usually the Display icon.
It's also been reported to me that the icon for Explorer sometimes
changes
on its own, too. [6/6/95]

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Microsoft Exchange wants to log into MSN even when used for SLIP/PPP

You need to set up a separate profile for Exchange that doesn't
contain the
MSN drivers. To do this, open Control Panel, and select the Mail &
Fax icon.
From there you can create a new profile, and only add Internet Mail
to it.
Be sure to change Exchange to prompt you for which profile to use
when
started.
[6/3/95]

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Uninstalling Windows 95

What? Are you crazy???
Windows 95 includes a full Uninstall utility - use that. If for some
reason
that doesn't work, here are some steps that I've heard work:

  1.  Boot with dos boot floppy that has the DOS system files on it.
  2.  Execute a 'sys c:' command.
  3.  Delete the Windows directory and all its subdirectories
(deltree works
     great for this if you have it on the boot floppy).
  4.  Delete all the hidden files in the root directory that don't
match the
     files from the floppy
  5.  Reboot, and you should be back to a DOS system.
  6.  Check the root directory for hidden files with names that do
not match
     those on the bootable floppy. These files should be deleted.

[6/9/95]

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Taskbar Tips

   * Options: Right-click on an empty part of the taskbar and select
     Properties for a list of options including auto-hide, always on
top,
     and others.
   * Location: You can change the location of the taskbar to be the
bottom,
     top, or either side of your screen by simply dragging it to
where you
     want it.
   * Size: You can increase the size of the taskbar by simply
grabbing its
     edge with the mouse cursor, and dragging it. This is useful if
you are
     running a large number of programs, and want to have bigger
buttons on
     the taskbar so that you can read see of the title on that
application's
     button.

[Thanks to Paul Arnote for these tips. 6/14/95]

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Microsoft Natural Keyboard and Windows 95

Windows 95 has built-in support for the Microsoft Natural Keyboard,
using
the special keys as follows:

   * WIN + R = Display the Run dialog box.
   * WIN + M = Minimize all windows currently open.
   * WIN + F1 = Start Help
   * WIN + E = Start Explorer
   * WIN + F = Start Find Files/Folders dialog box.
   * CNTL+ WIN + F = Start Find Computer dialog box.
   * WIN + TAB = Cycle through taskbar buttons.
   * WIN + BREAK = Display Systems Properties panel.

[6/14/95]

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Speeding Up the Start Menu

Note: This has changed slightly with builds 490+.

  1.  Execute Regedit (start/run/regedit)
  2.  Double-click on HKEY_CURRENT_USER to expand it.
  3.  Double-click on Control Panel to expand it.
  4.  Click on desktop
  5.  Right-click on the right-hand panel, and select New/String
Value. Name
     it MenuShowDelay.
  6.  Double-click on this, to bring up the Modify panel.
  7.  For Value, select a value from 0-10. 0 is the fastest, 10 the
slowest.
  8.  Exit Regedit

Note: these changes won't take effect until you restart Windows 95.
Another Note: The EASY way to do this now is to get the Microsoft
Powertoy,
TWEAKUI. See the Microsoft section of the main page for more info!
[Thanks to Chris Suleski for the updated version of this tip.]

[Modified 10-25-95]

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Windows Setup Switches

Windows 95 has several switches you can use when executing Setup:

   * /is - Ignores the check of your system check
   * /id - Ignores the check for whether there is enough disk space
   * /iq - Ignores the test for cross-linked files and file directory
     integrity
   * /in - Runs setup without the Network Setup Module

You can also specify a filename (.inf) with setup, that contains
information
on exactly what to set up. [7/15/95]

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Printing to a File

It's easy to set up a special 'printer' to print documents to a
simple text
file:

   * Open the Printers folder in Control Panel
   * Double-click on Add Printer
   * Select Local Printer and click on Next
   * Select Generic from the manufacturer list, and Generic/Text Only
from
     the printer list, then click on Next.
   * Select File from the available ports list, and click Next a
couple
     times to add the printer.
   * Highlight the new icon, right-click it and select Properties,
then the
     Paper tab, and change the paper setting to 'continuous, no
     page-breaks.'

You can now select this printer from any Windows application, sending
the
output in text format to a file. You'll be prompted for the filename
when
you print. [7/23/95]

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Cascading "Control Panel" on Start menu

In the Start Menu folder in your Windows 95 folder, create a new
folder and
name it, exactly:

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

(All on one line, must include the ".", the curly braces, all four
hyphens,
and the hex numbers exactly as shown.) After doing this, you'll get a
folder
in your Start Menu that's called Control Panel with a cascading menu
that
has all of the Control Panel contents in it.
By placing a '.' after the folder name and putting the sequence of
numbers
in brackets, it associates that folder with a registry entry. You can
run
the regedit program and do a search for the file you want to get the
number
sequence if you want to create other such cascading menus.
For example, you can name one
Printers.{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D} to add your Printers
to the
start menu. [Thanks to Don Skwierawski for bringing this tip (found
in
WinNews) to my attention, and to Dave Bograd for expanding upon it.]
[10-18-95]

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Turning off the Exploding Windows Animation:

Donāt like how windows seem to Īgrowā out of the taskbar, then shrink
down
to it? You can turn this animation off through a Registry setting.
Follow these instructions:

   * Start RegEdit by clicking Start/Run, and entering Īregeditā
   * Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER
   * Expand Control Panel under HKEY_CURRENT_USER
   * Expand Desktop under Control Panel
   * Double-click on the WindowMetrics folder under Desktop
   * Choose "string value" from the Edit/New menu, and create a new
string
     called MinAnimate
   * Double-click the new entry, and enter "0" for the value.
   * Exit RegEdit, and reboot.

Thatās it! The window animation should be gone from now on.
[8-17-95]

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Adding a File Type to the "NEW" Menu:

   * First, in the program that creates the file type you are adding,
create
     a "blank" document. To do that, enter the program, start a new
file,
     and save it right away (note that you could save any normally
used
     preferences here - useful for programs that don't support
templets).
   * Copy this file to the \windows\ShellNew folder (it's a hidden
folder).
     Remember the filename!
   * Now enter the system registry. Under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, find the
     extension for that filetype.
   * Add a new key called ShellNew.
   * Under this new key, add a new string value called "FileName".
   * Modify the value of this string (double-click it to bring up a
Modify
     panel) to be the filename of the blank templete file you
created. You
     need to include the extension, but the path is not necessary
(the
     /windows/ShellNew folder is the default).

And Presto, your New file menu contains an option for your new file
type.
Note that there are some applications that do their registry entries
a
little different, so you may have to modify the procedure a
little...of
course most of those programs are Windows 95 programs, so they should
probably appear anyway on the menu (if they set up a ShellNew entry
as they
should). Note that depending on the application, this may not work.
[Thanks
to Rob Meyer for this much-sought-after tip!]
[8-20-95]

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Correcting the "Extra Page with Codes" problem with some HP Printers:

SYMPTOMS
When you print to a Hewlett-Packard (HP) printer, or a printer that
emulates
an HP printer, you may receive an extra page before each print job.
The
extra page contains PJL codes or a single character in the upper left
corner
of the page. The output on this page depends on whether you have
enabled
bi-directional communications.

RESOLUTION
There is an updated Lpt.vxd file on the Windows 95 CD-ROM that
corrects this
problem. To install the updated file, follow these steps:

  1. Use Windows Explorer to rename the Lpt.vxd file in the
Windows\System
     folder to Lpt.old.
  2. Copy the Lpt.vxd file from the Drivers\Printer\LPT folder on the
     Windows 95 CD-ROM to the Windows\System folder on the hard disk.
  3. Restart Windows 95.

For additional information about the Lpt.vxd file, please see the
Readme.txt
file in the Drivers\Printer\LPT folder on the Windows 95 CD-ROM.
[Thanks to
Gary Medina (by way of Pete Fanning) for this tip.]
[8-29-95]

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Changing fhe Fonts in MS Internet Explorer:

  1. Start the Registry editor (type regedit at the Run command)
  2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / Software / Microsoft / Internet
Explorer /
     Styles
        o A list of all the possible combinations will come up
        o On the right panel is the Style Name on the left, followed
by its
          value on the right.
        o Double click on a Style Name and change its font, size, or
weight.
        o Repeat this for all the fonts available for the style you
would
          like.
        o There are 13 settings to change which only takes a few
minutes.
  3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Software / Microsoft / Internet
Explorer /
     Styles, and change the Default_Style_Sheet to be the one you
just
     edited.
  4. Restart the Internet Explorer

You do not need to leave Regedit for the changes to take effect so
you can
leave it open while you make your changes. There are other changes
such as
background color which can be modified as well.
[Thanks to Bob Cerelli for this tip.]
[8-30-95]

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Getting Rid of the Shortcut Arrows:

Many people seem to be annoyed by the little arrows that Windows 95
puts in
the lower-left corner of icons that represent shortcuts. Well, now
you can
get rid of them! To do this, use the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) to
search
for these keys:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\piffile

Within these keys are strings named "IsShortcut". If you remove (or
more
safely, rename) these to something else, then once you restart
Windows 95,
the arrows will be gone! To restore them, go back into regedit and
rename
the strings back to their previous values.
Note: As always, editing the Registry can be dangerous, so be
careful!
Another Note: There is now a powertoy called TWEAKUI that does this
much
easier! See "Powertoys" in the Microsoft section of the main page.
[Thanks
to Martin Bean for this tip.]
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Customizing the Startup and Shutdown screens:

These screens are standard 320x400 bitmaps that can be edited with
many
different programs, including PAINT. These screens MUST be EXACTLY
320x400!.
Logow.sys and Logos.sys are the "wait" and "it is now safe to
shutdown"
screens, respectively. The startup screen is buried in a different
file -
but all you have to do to override the standard startup screen is
create a
replacement (again, exactly 320x400), name it Logo.sys, and place it
in your
root directory. [Thanks to Jeff Yablon for expanding upon this tip.]
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Refreshing the Registry without Rebooting:

Sometimes you may make a change to the Registry, and want it to take
effect
without having to completely reboot Windows 95. Here's a tip on how
to do
that! You can update the Registry without booting by pressing
ctrl-alt-del
and then selecting Explorer and clicking End Task. When Windows asks
to shut
down answer No. At the next dialog box (you have to wait a couple of
seconds) click End Task. This will refresh the Registry.
[Thanks to Nick Duffy for this tip.]
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Saving your Password in Dial-Up Networking:

If you are using Dial-Up Networking and find that the Save Password
checkbox
is grayed out (so you cannot use this feature), check to make sure
that you
have "Client for Microsoft Networks" listed when you double-click the
Network icon in Control Panel. If it is not listed, select Add,
Client, and
select "Client for Microsoft Networks". When you restart your system,
you
should find you can now use the Save Password feature.
Update:I was sent the following additional information:
There is an easier way to do this. In the password section of control
panel,
simply set a password for Windows logon. If you type in a password at
startup, that password will be saved on the DUN screen. This avoids
having
having the Network Neighborhood icon on screen, and saves disk space
as well
(assuming you have no need for NN to be installed). Also, under
Passwords in
Control Panel, under "User Profiles" I have "users can specify their
own
preferences" checked, and the two boxes checked under User Profile
Settings.
I assume this fix would work with the "All users have the same
preferences"
option, but I'm not sure. [Thanks to Brandon Stockton for this
information.]
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© 1995 Frank Condron, unless otherwise noted.