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- From: gordonf@intouch.bc.ca
- Subject: Win95 FAQ Part 9 of 14: Maintanence
- Message-ID: <19981108.8D7FAB8.11FC9@ras4vpn10.reelwest.bc.ca>
- Date: Sun, 8 Nov 98 20:11:20
- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
- Followup-To: comp.os.ms-windows.win95.misc
- Summary: These postings list many questions asked in said newsgroups,
- and answers them as best as I can. I make references to other
- Web sites and FAQs when appropriate. Visit the WWW home of
- this FAQ (http://www.orca.bc.ca/win95) for the appropriate
- links. This section is the 9th: Maintanence
- Organization: Personal and Win95 FAQ maintainence
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-
- Archive-name: windows/win95/faq/part09
- Last-Modified: 1998/11/08
- Posting-Frequency: Every two months
- URL: http://www.orca.bc.ca/win95/faq9.htm
-
- Subject: 9. Maintaining a clean installation of Windows 95, and annoyances
-
- (Details at the Win95 Annoyances FAQ)
- * 9.1. How do I remove (this desktop item)...
- + 9.1.1. ...Inbox?
- + 9.1.2. ...Network Neighborhood?
- + 9.1.3. ...My Computer?
- o 9.1.3.1. How do I rename My Computer?
- + 9.1.4. ...Recycle Bin?
- o 9.1.4.1. How do I rename the Recycle Bin?
- + 9.1.5. ...The Microsoft Network (tm) ?
- * 9.2. How do I remove (this annoying startup program)...
- + 9.2.1. ...programs in the StartUp group in the Start
- Menu?
- + 9.2.2. ...programs that don't seem to be in the StartUp
- group?
- + 9.2.3. ...programs that aren't even listed in WIN.INI or
- The Registry!
- * 9.3. How do I remove Start Menu entries?
- + 9.3.1. ...on computers using User Profiles on networks?
- (They keep coming back!)
- * 9.4. How do I de-activate that dumb "Documents" menu?
- * 9.5. How do I completely remove...
- + 9.5.1. ...Windows 95 components?
- + 9.5.2. ...programs "Designed for Windows 95"?
- + 9.5.3. ...drivers for unused hardware and printers?
- + 9.5.4. ...Internet Explorer (tm) ?
- + 9.5.5. ...The Microsoft Network?
- + 9.5.6. ...dumb Windows 3.x programs? (How to use third
- party un-installers)
- + 9.5.7. ...old DOS and Windows 3.x files?
- + 9.5.8. ...Windows 95?
- * 9.6. How do I stop the constant hard drive access?
- + 9.6.1. Why should I let Win95 manage virtual memory?
- + 9.6.2. More on memory and disk cache tuning
- * 9.7. Does RAM compression really work? (no.)
- * 9.8. How do I stop the constant floppy drive access?
- * 9.9. How do I stop the constant CD-ROM access when there's no
- disk in the drive?
- * 9.10. How do I set up user profiles so I can keep my own
- desktop clean?
- + 9.10.1. Why user profiles is a really cool and useful
- feature, even for stand alone computers!
- * 9.11. What are .gid files? Are they safe to remove?
- * 9.12. What are "mscreate.dir" files? Are they safe to remove?
- * 9.13. Can I remove the "failsafe.drv" directory?
- * 9.14. Can I remove the "~mssetup.qt" directory"
- * 9.15. Top ten mis-conceptions about removing annoying items
- + 9.15.1. How to back up your Registry before you goof it
- up
-
- OK, so you don't want the Net Neighborhood cluttering your desktop
- because you only have an Internet connection, or your Win95 takes up
- too much hard drive space, or whatever. Maybe your system runs too
- slow and you want to speed it up. Maybe you heard about some cool
- utility that'll speed up your computer. Read about it here.
-
- More important, read the Win95 Annoyances FAQ for more details, if
- you think I'm missing something. This is where most of this info came
- from. BE WARNED: I do not recommend Registry hacking via REGEDIT to
- clean up your system! All my tips here demonstrate methods without
- using REGEDIT; rather they use Policy Editor. POLEDIT works with
- stand alone computers to directly edit the Registry, as well as
- creating policy files. Current versions of TweakUI
- (http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/info/powertoys.htm) also do the
- job of removing annoying items without too much damage.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 9.1. How do I remove this desktop item...
-
- * 9.1.1. ...Inbox?
-
- If you don't have MS Exchange installed, you can remove this icon
- by just right-clicking it and selecting "Delete". If you don't use it
- but it's in your computer, run Add/Remove Programs/Windows Setup, and
- de-select all the MS Exchange and MS Fax components. The next time you
- re-start the Inbox icon will not be there.
-
- If you want to keep Exchange but still remove the Inbox, you'll have
- to resort to a registry hack or TweakUI.
-
- * 9.1.2. ...Network Neighborhood?
-
- If all you use is Internet access and don't use any other Win95
- networking, you can run Network Control Panel, and remove all network
- components but the Dial-up Adapter and TCP/IP. This will remove the
- Net Neighborhood and all other Win95 clients from your system.
-
- NOTE: This will also disable password caching!
-
- If you use Win95 clients as well, you can hide it with Policy
- Editor in Default User/Shell/Hide Network Neighborhood, or with
- TweakUI. You can also hide individual components of Net Hood. NetWare
- NDS networks have additional Net Hood restrictions you can enforce as
- well.
-
- * 9.1.3. ...My Computer?
-
- You can't hide the icon itself, because it still points to Control
- Panel, Printers, and Dial-up networking. You can hide the drives
- themselves, however, from Policy Editor; Default User/Shell/Hide
- drives in My Computer.
-
- According to Annoyances, you can also make up a "blank" icon
- (using any freeware icon editor) and use MS Plus to change the icon to
- it. Also, rename the "My Computer" to a single space. The icon's still
- there, but no one will see it. You might also want to drag this
- invisible icon to an inconspicuous place on your desktop.
-
- The Zero Administration Kit
- (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/zak/)also contains tools to hide My
- Computer and a host of other icons.
-
- * 9.1.3.1. How do I rename My Computer?
-
- Right-click on it and hit "Rename".
-
- * 9.1.4. ...Recycle Bin?
-
- This requires a Registry Hack. The Zero Administration kit also
- does this.
-
- * 9.1.4.1. How do I rename the Recycle Bin?
-
- This also requires a Registry Hack but Norton Utilities for Win95
- allows you to rename it. Other Recycle Bin hacks (such as Desktop
- Toilet) do the job as well.
-
- * 9.1.5. ...The Microsoft Network (TM) icon?
-
- I would just say Don't Use MSN, but you can right-click on the icon
- and delete it; it's just it will re-appear whenever you log in to MSN.
- If you choose not to use MSN (Good for you!) you can remove it from
- Add/Remove Programs/Windows Setup. The MSN icon won't go away until
- the next reboot, but it will go away. TweakUI will let you remove it
- too.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 9.2. How do I remove...
-
- * 9.2.1. ...programs in the startup group in the Start Menu?
-
- The Start Menu (And desktop as well) are just directories with
- shortcuts inside. You can right-click on the Start Menu and hit Open,
- then find the startup folder and delete the shortcuts in it. You can
- also right-click on the Taskbar, get Properties, and in Start Menu
- Items tab, hit "Remove".
-
- * 9.2.2. ...programs that don't seem to be in the startup group?
-
- Some Win 3.1 thinking programmers (like at ATI) put their programs in
- WIN.INI's load= line in the [boot] section. Don't they trust
- themselves with the Registry yet? You can run SYSEDIT.EXE and delete
- the offending load= line from WIN.INI.
-
- Programs that insert themselves in the Registry, using the
- CurrentVersion\Run key, run before WIN.INI gets touched. You can
- remove these using Policy Editor; Default Computer/System/Run.
-
- Interesting note: "Run Services" shows programs that run even before
- you get a log in prompt. Some anti-virus software may insert
- themselves here (Some viruses could insert themselves here too!)
-
- * 9.2.3. ...programs that aren't even listed in WIN.INI or The
- Registry! (IE: Norton Anti-Virus)
-
- Programs can actually start in one of a few places. Check all of
- these:
- * The Startup group in the Start Menu (Right-click on the Start
- button and hit Open or Explore)
- * WIN.INI (Start / Run / SYSEDIT.EXE, look in WIN.INI for load= or
- run= lines)
- * System Agent (If you have MS Plus you can cause programs to start
- on bootup regardless of user profiles)
- * The Registry part 1
- (HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run or
- RunServices)
- * The Registry part 2 (HKCU\
- Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run / this one can vary
- for each user if you have User Profiles)
-
- You can access the Registry parts using POLEDIT as well as REGEDIT. If
- it's not in one of these you can always run that program's uninstaller
- (provided they included one).
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 9.3. How do I remove Start Menu entries?
-
- Right-click on the Taskbar and get Properties, get Start Menu
- Programs, and hit "Remove". Then pick and choose.
-
- You can also right-click on the Start button and hit Open. Then pick
- and choose the shortcuts you want to delete.
-
- * 9.3.1. ...on computers using User Profiles on networks? (They keep
- coming back!)
-
- Yes I know. Win95's supposed to update the network copy of the
- shortcuts on log-out, but sometimes they just keep coming back. Delete
- them from your Home directory or MAIL directory as well to keep them
- from coming back.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 9.4. How do I de-activate that dumb "Documents" menu?
-
- Normally you can right-click on the Taskbar, hit "Start Menu
- Programs", and hit "Clear Documents Menu" to clear it. But it will
- just fill up as you work with Win95.
-
- MS has a Power Toy that clears this folder on exit. TweakUI 1.1
- includes this feature. Try that before you try any of the hacks below.
-
- There's a Registry Hack that relocates the Documents menu (the
- RECENT folder) to the Recycle Bin, and if you have "Remove
- immediately" turned on it will keep that menu clean, but there IS a
- safer way.
-
- In AUTOEXEC.BAT include this line:
-
- DEL %WINDIR%\RECENT\*.*
-
- An even more effective way to keep the documents menu clean, and still
- enjoy its functionality during a single Win95 session, is to insert a
- command into System Agent, if you have MS Plus! installed. Write a
- batch file with the above command in it, then add it into System
- Agent. Schedule it to run "On Startup". This method won't work if you
- use User Profiles, but there's a work-around for that if you used
- WINSET to copy the %USERNAME% variable. Use this style of batch
- file instead:
-
- DEL %WINDIR%\PROFILES\%USERNAME%\RECENT\*.*
-
- NOTE: DOS programs run from System Agent should have "Background:
- Always Suspend" turned OFF! Also, instead of inserting the program
- itself into System Agent, insert its PIF file instead.
-
- Additional NOTE: You can run PIF files from the Registry, from load=
- in WIN.INI, or in the startup group as well, in case you don't have
- System Agent.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 9.5. How do I completely remove...
-
- * 9.5.1. ...Windows 95 components?
-
- All the OS components are in Add/Remove Programs/Windows Setup. You
- can add and remove them from there, and Win95 deletes the required
- files from your hard disk as well.
-
- Other additional components you add in this requester (like dial-up
- scripting) are removable from the main Install/Uninstall tab.
-
- * 9.5.2. ...programs "Designed for Windows 95"?
-
- All programs Designed for Win95 have an uninstaller you can access
- from Add/Remove Programs/Install/Uninstall. If not, complain to the
- publisher of the program. If that doesn't work, complain to Microsoft,
- who awarded the logo to them.
-
- A program's uninstaller will remove its components and Registry
- entries, if properly written. If the program included extra
- subsystems, such as DirectX or QuickTime, their uninstaller will
- usually leave them for other programs to use. These extra subsystems
- should also have their own uninstaller.
-
- * 9.5.3. ...drivers for unused hardware and printers?
-
- Printers are rather conveniently removed; if Explorer realizes you
- removed a printer and no other printer uses its drivers, it will offer
- to delete the offending files.
-
- Other hardware drivers will remain, however. So, if you want to remove
- files used by a given piece of hardware, run Device Manager and
- bring up that device's properties. Bring up the "Driver" tab, copy
- this list where the driver files are, and delete them after you remove
- that device. You have to look BEFORE you remove the device, and not
- AFTER, or the list disappears with the device entry.
-
- * 9.5.4. ...Internet Explorer (TM) ?
-
- If you use MS-Plus you need to remove Internet Explorer from Plus'
- uninstaller. IEXPLORE 2.0 will have its own uninstaller, but the
- uninstaller will keep the Internet Setup Wizard and its control
- panel entry in tact. You can always re-run the setup wizard even if
- you installed a different browser to replace IEXPLORE. It also keeps
- the Internet Mail client for MS-Exchange installed, which won't
- disappear unless you remove Exchange.
-
- NOTE: According to Win95 Annoyances, IEXPLORE will keep many pieces of
- itself in the system after you uninstall it this way. IEXPLORE 2.0
- does a better job of uninstalling itself, but it still keeps the Setup
- Wizard, mail client for Exchange, and auto-dialer in tact. You should
- keep these really, but you can delete the "Program
- Files/Plus!/Microsoft Internet" folder afterwards.
-
- To keep the file type registrations in tact, you should re-install
- your browser of choice after you uninstall Internet Explorer.
- IEXPLORE's uninstaller will destroy any changes you made to .HTM and
- .HTML file type entries.
-
- * 9.5.5. ...The Microsoft Network?
-
- Remove the BillNet icon from the Desktop, then remove BillNet from
- Add/Remove Programs/Windows Setup,. This will remove the main MSN
- control program and the Exchange mail client, but it will install a
- "Set up the Microsoft Network" installer in its place. You can simply
- delete the Program Files/The Microsoft Network folder completely
- afterwards, even though it says "This will impact one or more
- registered programs." Big deal.
-
- Win95 Annoyances says the BillNet icon's Delete option goes away after
- you remove it from Add/Remove Programs/Windows Setup. I found,
- however, that the icon will go away by itself after you re-start.
- There's always TweakUI as well.
-
- * 9.5.6. ...dumb Windows 3.x programs? (How to use third party
- uninstallers)
-
- Get a decent Designed for Win95 uninstaller if you want the
- flexibility of removing Win 3.1 apps cleanly.
-
- The only uninstaller which actually works (that I saw, anyway) is
- CleanSweep 95 from Quarterdeck, but it only works if you install
- the Win 3.1 program AFTER you install CleanSweep.
-
- To use CleanSweep, just try running any program called "SETUP" or
- "INSTALL" or any number of variants. The CleanSweep monitor kicks in
- and asks you if you want to monitor the installation. On occasion, a
- Setup program might not like this (and crash the install monitor), in
- which case you can manually start logging (by clicking on the Install
- Monitor in the Taskbar) before running the setup program, and manually
- stop it.
-
- Also available now is Remove-IT 95 by Vertisoft. This program does a
- great job of completely nuking The Microsoft Network, including all
- Registry entries.
-
- My Boss, Jim Farewell, firmly believes you should use a "Professional
- Uninstaller" to monitor all app installations, including Designed
- for Win95 ones. OK, have it your way. Just be prepared.
-
- * 9.5.7. ...old DOS and Windows 3.x files?
-
- Win95 Setup will maintain your old DOS and Windows, if you chose to
- install on top of your existing Windows setup. Later on, you can
- remove the old DOS and Windows files from Add/Remove
- Programs/Install/uninstall.
-
- If you installed Win95 in a different directory, you can also simply
- delete the old DOS and Windows folders in Explorer. Win95 Setup
- would've included your old DOS directory in your path, however, so
- maybe leave that one alone until you decide you don't need the old DOS
- utilities anymore.
-
- * 9.5.8. ...Windows 95?
-
- You can also uninstall Win95 from Add/Remove
- Programs/Install/uninstall, if you installed on top of your existing
- Windows. If you installed in a different directory, however...
- 1. Re-boot the computer with your old DOS disk
- 2. From the DOS prompt, type SYS C: (This restores the original DOS
- system files)
- 3. Rename CONFIG.DOS to CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.DOS to AUTOEXEC.BAT
- 4. Re-boot off the hard drive
-
- Then you can remove your Win95 directory, PROGRA~1 directory, and any
- hidden or system files you don't recognize. The easiest way to do this
- is run Win 3.1 File Manager, and have "Show Hidden/System Files"
- turned on in View/File Types".
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 9.6. How do I stop the constant hard drive access?
-
- Win95 is always swapping between its RAM and the hard drive's swap
- file, especially on 8 MB systems or systems with several programs
- running at once. To ease the swapping:
-
- 1. Edit SYSTEM.INI; add this to the [vcache] section:
-
- [vcache]
- maxfilecache=1024 (on 16 MB systems, or 512 on 8 MB systems)
-
- 2. Right click on My Computer, hit Properties, hit "Performance", and
- go through these settings:
- * File system/hard disk: read ahead size: 16 KB (Any smaller will
- make Win95 unstable)
- * File System/CD-ROM caching: reduce to around 250 KB, no less, and
- pick the "right" type of read-ahead access for your speed of
- CD-ROM (Making a double-speed drive use a quad-speed read-ahead
- doesn't always work!)
- * Virtual memory: Let Windows manage VM; it keeps the swap file as
- %WINDIR%\WIN386.SWP which you can erase in AUTOEXEC.BAT. Remove
- any swap file-related entries in SYSTEM.INI also.
-
- You will find these settings give the quietest hard drives, even with
- disk compression used!
-
- NOTE: Norton Navigator will cause additional disk swapping, because it
- maintains more shortcuts in the Start Menu which will verify that
- their targets exist.
-
- * 9.6.1. Why should I let Win95 manage virtual memory?
-
- If you let Win95 manage virtual memory, it will try to grow/shrink the
- swap file as required. On systems with low disk space this is actually
- a GOOD thing, because it doesn't instantly eat hard drive space. On
- systems with large hard drives this will become an annoyance, and the
- swap file will fragment, slowing down swapping.
-
- Others (many others) suggest letting the swap file grow is a GOOD
- thing on big systems, because large programs can "Bottom-out" on fixed
- swap files. If you choose to let Win95 manage virtual memory, include
- this line somewhere in AUTOEXEC.BAT:
-
- DEL C:\WIN95\WIN386.SWP
-
- So when your computer re-starts Win95 will re-build the swap file
- unfragmented. While you're at it, you can kill the contents of the
- TEMP directory the same way (DELTREE /Y C:\WIN95\TEMP\*.*).
-
- * 9.6.2. More on memory and disk cache tuning
-
- Alex Nichol explained a few things to me about the "Typical role of
- this machine" setting in My Computer / Properties. He explains that
- the "Typical Role" affects two special caches; the path cache
- (Directory cache?) and filename cache. Since a machine designated as a
- "Network Server" often has several different files open at once, it
- has larger filename and path caches. "Notebook Computer" also sets
- aside larger path and filename caches so you're using less battery
- power accessing the filenames and directories.
-
- This setting does not affect the main file cache (VCACHE) however, nor
- would it affect any real mode disk caching such as SmartDrive for
- devices driven with DOS drivers. You can adjust VCACHE in SYSTEM.INI,
- and if you use SmartDrive at all you can specify two parameters for
- file cache size as you always could in DOS.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 9.7. Does RAM compression really work? (No.)
-
- Those programs were for Win 3.1 apps that ate ridiculous amounts of
- GDI memory (System Resources), where they fixed inadequacies in the
- operating system. Win95 has larger resource limits, and properly
- written Win32 programs won't use them... as much.
-
- Please save your money and effort, and stay away from this bogus
- software. If you really need to run 500 programs at once, get Windows
- NT Workstation. Or get an Amiga.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 9.8. How do I stop the constant floppy drive access?
-
- This is evidence of shortcuts and PIF files pointing to files on
- floppy disks.
-
- When Win95 builds its Start Menu, it checks all the shortcuts to see
- that they point to something intelligent. This will lead to floppy
- access when you view the Documents menu, for example.
-
- Whenever you run a DOS program, Win95 builds a PIF file for it. If the
- program ran from a removable disk (like a floppy or CD-ROM) it will
- store the PIF in %WINDIR%\PIF.
-
- To stop the constant floppy access from these shortcuts, right-click
- on the hard drive with Win95 in it and hit "Find...", then in the
- search space, type "*.lnk;*.pif", then hit the Advanced tab and in the
- "Containing Text" box, type "A:". Hit Find.
-
- That search should generate a list of shortcuts pointing to drive A,
- including those in your RECENT, and PIF folders. Delete them from this
- window. Don't delete any shortcuts in the "SendTo" folder, but you
- should be able to safely delete the rest. The random floppy access
- will stop once you do.
-
- To avoid getting this random disk access again, avoid launching
- documents and programs off floppy disks. Instead, open documents from
- the program they came from, and run DOS programs by opening a DOS
- prompt first, then switching to A: and running it from there.
-
- Also see how to Delete the Documents menu on startup.
-
- NOTE: Norton Navigator will cause even more floppy access, because it
- maintains more shortcuts at a time, especially floppy file shortcuts!
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 9.9. How do I stop the constant CD-ROM access when there's no disk in the drive?
-
- Win95's CDFS auto-detects disks when inserted, so Explorer can
- properly update the drive and folder windows. It also looks for an
- AutoPlayer on the disk (autoplay.inf) and will launch it. Because of
- this continuous checking, the CD-ROM drive light will flash. If it's
- an IDE drive, your HD light will flash along with it.
-
- You could use real mode CD-ROM drivers and MSCDEX instead, but this
- leads to very pathetic performance. I would say ignore it and don't
- worry, because this auto-detect takes about 0% processor time. But if
- you insist on being annoyed by it:
-
- Bring up My Computer/Properties and select Device Manager. Bring up
- properties for the CD-ROM drive, and turn off "Auto-Insert
- Notification". This is also advisable for CD-ROM changer owners,
- otherwise it will scan all of your platters when you insert the
- cartridge. Maybe turn it on for the first platter and leave it off for
- the rest; CD-ROM changers show up as multiple drives, because each
- platter has its own SCSI LUN ID.
-
- TweakUI also lets you turn off autoplay, but it does not stop
- auto-insert notification, so it won't have any effect on this
- annoyance.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 9.10. How do I set up user profiles so I can keep my own desktop clean?
-
- User Profiles go a long way in keeping your computer clean, if you
- have several users using it.
-
- Go to Passwords Control Panel (which is always there even for
- non-networked machines) and in the User Profiles tab, select "Each
- user has their own settings". Also turn on the Custom Desktop and
- Custom Start Menu.
-
- * 9.10.1. Why user profiles is a really cool and useful feature,
- even for stand alone computers!
-
- Read all about it in Page 7 here. You can keep custom settings
- for every Win32 app, not just for the desktop and start menu. It's
- also good if you destroy your Registry by accident; at least half of
- it is saved.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 9.11. What are .gid files? Are they safe to remove?
-
- .GID files are help index files. They include word lists for the
- matching help file.
-
- Yes they're safe to remove, but when you access the help file next
- time, WINHLP32 will re-build the .GID file. Also, some Win32 programs
- require the .GID file be present. To re-build a deleted .GID file,
- open the help file from Explorer.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 9.12. What are "mscreate.dir" files? Are they safe to remove?
-
- These are directory index files that MS Office "Fast Find" makes when
- you first access a directory. You can remove these, but FastFind will
- re-create them when you access the folder again. To keep them from
- coming back, remove the Fast Find shortcuts from your Startup group.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 9.13. Can I remove the "failsafe.drv" directory?
-
- If you don't use disk compression you can remove this. Otherwise
- don't. Win95 uses the programs here to undo interrupted compression
- tasks. The programs in here are actually Win 3.1 programs, that run in
- the special DOSX environment, to do compressed drive conversions and
- such.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 9.14. Can I remove the "~mssetup.qt" directory"
-
- I don't know why MS Office 95 leaves this thing there, but yes, you
- can remove it. It only contains another directory called ~pp.t which
- is equally useless.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 9.15. Top ten misconceptions about annoying items
-
- 10. Microsoft blatantly put them there as ads
-
- 9. Microsoft blatantly put them there to take up disk space
-
- 8. You have to use REGEDIT to remove them
-
- 7. You need a RAM compression program to run Win95 (NOT!)
-
- 6. Letting Win95 manage virtual memory is a good thing (heh heh...)
-
- 5. Win95 removes competing programs (nonsense! I use WP 6.1 and it
- doesn't disappear, though Win95 Annoyances claims that programs can
- disappear)
-
- 4. You need third-party uninstallers for Win95 programs (Get the Win95
- programs fixed!)
-
- 3. You can happily delete DLLs etc not listed in WIN.INI or SYSTEM.INI
- (But what about the Registry?)
-
- 2. You can delete SYSTEM.DAT (Not unless you want to re-install
- Win95... heh heh)
-
- 1. Win95 scans your hard drive and reports its contents to Microsoft
- (Big Brother is watching you... not)
-
- * 9.15.1. How to back up your Registry before you goof it up
-
- Yes, you will probably try one of the registry hacks you read about in
- Win95 Annoyances. Well, before you do so, boot to "Command prompt
- only", and do this:
-
- CD %WINDIR%
- ATTRIB -H -S -R *.DAT
- COPY SYSTEM.DAT SYSTEM.BAK
- COPY USER.DAT USER.BAK
-
- Then you can re-boot and happily tweak away using REGEDIT and POLEDIT.
- If you do screw up and you can't re-start Win95, then go back into
- command prompt only and re-copy SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT.
-
- SYSTEM.DAT is more critical than USER.DAT; the distinction is more
- important when you use User Profiles, because each user has their
- own USER.DAT.
-
- --
- ==============================================================================
- = I am Gordon of Winterpeg. Junk mail is futile. Post MakeMoneyFast =
- = Find out why: http://spam.abuse.net/spam/ Or eat pink meat from a can =
- = World's best computer: http://www.amiga.de/ they're both the same =
- = Windows 95 FAQ: http://www.orca.bc.ca/win95/ http://ga.to/mmf/ =
- ==============================================================================
-
-