Win95 Tips |
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Edited for the Journal by Tom Lassiter |
By now, after learning all the tips from the past two months, you probably can't get any work done at the office because so many of your co-workers are seeking your advice. Isn't it great to be a guru? At the end of this article we will address the proper way to sit on the mountain top and contemplate, thus becoming a full guru. In the meantime, let's start off by finding a way to make sounds come from a PC without a sound card and external speakers (but remember - I didn't say it would be GREAT sound).
How to install PC Speaker with Win95.
Go to Control Panel, then "Add New Hardware", then "Sound, Video, Game Controller."
Do not let Win95 search for new hardware. Select "Have Disk". Browse to where you have your PC Speaker .DRV file. Install!! Presto...your mute PC will now have sound.
To modify the settings for PC Speaker, go to Control Panel, Multimedia, Advanced Tab; in Audio devices you will see PC Speaker.
Internet Explorer tip
Try this tip if you are using The Internet Explorer that comes with the Plus! The Explorer has its favorites (bookmarks) menu. Click on open favorites then a window will appear with all your favorites. Right click, then select "New" then "Folder"; now you can create several folders and name them according to your links! This is one easy way of categorizing your links into several groups or folders. The folders will appear in the menu when you click on "Favorites" with your links within them.
Interrupt settings (IRQs) - where is a list of my settings?
Control Panel/System/Devices, 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.
MSINFO Program
Windows 95 comes with a little-known program that shows a lot of system information, called MSINFO. It can be found in the windows/msapps/msinfo folder, and shows information on DLLs, and much more.
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 will see a panel showing the option `play.' Select that, then click on the Edit button on this panel. You will see the command that is invoked for that option. It is by default set to execute Cdplayer.exe with a command parameter of `/play.' If you delete the entire line, then when an audio CD is inserted, nothing will happen. If you delete just the `/play' parameter, then when an audio CD is inserted, the CD Player applet is started, but it does NOT immediately begin playing the CD.
Hidden classical music
There are some classical music scores on the CD; they are listed with a .RMI extension in the WIN95 directory, then in the WIN95_13 sub directory. The titles are: Bach, Beethoven, Canyon, Passport and they can be played through the supplied media player.
New XCOPY Switches
There are quite a few new switches for the XCOPY command. To get a full listing, type XCOPY /?. Below are some of the additions of Windows 95's DOS over DOS 6.X.
* /C - Continues copying even if errors occur
* /I - If destination does not exist and copying more than one file,
assumes that destination must be a directory
* /Q - Does not display file names while copying
* /F - Displays full source and destination file names while copying
* /L - Displays files that would be copied
* /H -Copies hidden and system files also
* /R - Overwrites read-only files
* /T - Creates directory structure, but does not copy files. Does not
include empty directories or subdirectories. /T /E includes empty
directories and subdirectories
* /U - Updates the files that already exist in destination
* /K - Copies attributes. Normal XCOPY will reset read-only attributes
* /Y - Overwrites existing files without prompting
* /-Y - Prompts you before overwriting existing files
* /N - Copy using the generated short names
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.
Mountain Top Guru Instructions:
1. Find large mountain (good luck if you live near Houston), drive for DAYS if necessary.
2. Climb to top of mountain, sit cross-legged on the pillow you brought (if no pillow, return to base to get it; you MUST sit on a pillow to be a Guru).
3. Strip to the waist (it's OK ladies, there is nobody around for miles).
4. Use a hand mirror to stare intently for minimum of one hour (be careful not to let sun reflect from mirror, or you'll have a really funny sunburn). Think DEEP thoughts.
5. Climb back down mountain, send me e-mail acknowledging the error of your ways and admitting that you may not be smart enough to be a Guru - nobody in their right mind would have followed these instructions!
NOTE: These tips and tricks are provided as an informational member service. Neither Per Bornsjo/Hanar Software [Sweden], HAL-PC, the author, nor the editor of this article accept any liability for the above tips and tricks or their applicability to a particular computer or purpose.
CREDIT: The above tips and tricks are courtesy of Per Bornsjo of Partille, Sweden, a student at Chalmers Technical University and creator of Per Bornsjo/Hanar SoftWare of Sweden.
Tom Lassiter is a HAL-PC member and Chair of the Steering Committee of the Build or Buy a PC SIG, emcees that weekly SIG meeting and is webmaster of that SIG's internet homepage at http://www.hal-pc.org/~jamesl/borbsig.html. He is a HAL-PC Ambassador to the America Online (AOL) User Group Forum and was one of the initial HALNET beta testers.
E-mail me at webmaster@hal-pc.org with any comments you have and tell me what you want to see here.
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