Power Up Your Double-Click Tricks


When the Programs menu (or any of its submenus) on the Start menu gets too big in Windows 95, it breaks into multiple panels. If you've installed the Desktop Update portion of IE 4 or Win 98, the menu doesn't break into panels but becomes scrolled, and you navigate it via arrow buttons at the top or bottom of the menu (FIGURE 2). To zoom quickly to the top or bottom of the menu, hold down <Ctrl> as you click the arrow end of the menu. This technique also works with any toolbars on the taskbar: If some of the icons don't fit on a given toolbar, you can press <Ctrl> as you hold your mouse over the arrow button to accelerate the intrabar scrolling. Unfortunately, this feature disappears if you install IE 5 or Win 98 SE.

You don't get speed-scrolling in Windows 2000 either, but at least Win 2000 gives you a choice between having the Programs menu break into panels and having it appear as a single scrolling menu. By default, oversize menus scroll, just as in Win 98. If you want to return to Win 95's menu-panel style, right-click an empty area of the taskbar and choose Properties. Click the Advanced tab, scroll to the bottom of the Start Menu Settings options, and uncheck Scroll the Programs menu. Then click OK.


Category:Windows 9x
Issue: July 2000

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