Win95 Tips |
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Edited for the Journal by Tom Lassiter |
Did you ever wonder how some users seem to know all sorts of nifty little tricks for using certain programs that you never saw in any of the many manuals you read ? You DID read the manual, didn't you?
Well pilgrim, I'm agonna tell you - they either (1) did in fact read the manual, (2) went to HAL-PC SIG meetings on the software, (3) went to a very expensive seminar put on by the software company or a guru, (3) were the relative of a top member of the software development team, or (4) they went onto the Internet and read some of the numerous "Tips and Tricks" sites available.
And for those who aren't on the internet or the BBS, we are publishing these excerpts, with permission from the author, for your tweaking pleasure. Yes, you must tweak all your programs for maximum performance - after all, wouldn't it be dull to load a program and just use it? If you wanted to do that you could have bought an Apple computer instead of a PC.
Enough - onto the goodies.
Change the Size and Spacing of Desktop Icons
Although Windows doesn't let you easily change the size or spacing of the icons on the desktop, it can be done. You can simply adjust it in the Control Panel under Display/Appearance/Item/.
Drag and Drop
1. Drag and drop files or desktop objects with the RIGHT mouse button instead of the left, and when you drop them on the target, you get a little pop-up menu giving you options like Move Here, Copy Here, Create Shortcut Here.
2. Also, to drag a file from one folder to another, using only one explorer window, drag the icon near the top or bottom of a scrolling pane, and "nudge" to scroll.
Changing Taskbar 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.
Changing the Sort order in Explorer
To change the sort order of the right window of MS Explorer simply double click on the Name button underneath the toolbar to change the sort order from ascending to descending; a single click after that will toggle. The same works for Size, Type and Date Modified.
Check out the file TIPS.TXT. I just stumbled onto this one on my hard drive. With Win95 release 490, there is a wonderful file called TIPS.TXT in the Windows directory! If you are running 490 (or above) and installed Win95 in your C: drive, read the file.
Clean your Startup files
Check your startup files: Some existing entries in your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG. SYS may be superfluous, especially when having set up WIN95 over the old system. The following commands now are executed by IO.SYS by default:
* HIMEM.SYS
* IFSHELP.SYS
* SETVER.EXE
* dos=high,umb
* files=60
* buffers=30
* fcbs=4
* lastdrive=z
* stacks=9,256
* shell=COMMAND.COM/p
These settings will be overwritten by the entries of the startup files.
Clock/Calendar
Double-click the time in the Taskbar tray to see a calendar, and to change the system date/time.
Control the directory/drive where Explorer opens
Create a Shortcut to the Explorer with the following command line to open it at the root of C:\. c:\windows\explorer.exe /e,root,c:\, where the syntax is: explorer [/e][,root,<object>]
Actually there is even more to this...you can use sub objects, but I don't want to type it all out.
Convert old .GRP files
I installed Win95 into a new directory. Is there a way, now, to get back my WFW 3.11 groups? I copied all the .GRP files to the Win95 directory, but how can I now tell Windows to use or convert these files? Run the program GRPCONV.EXE in your Windows directory. It will allow you to convert your Program Manager groups to Win95 folders in the Start Menu.
Copying Graphics from a DOS Box
You can copy graphics from a DOS box as well as you can text. For example, while running a graphics game, you can press
1. ALT-Enter to make a DOS window
2. Click on the upper left hand corner
3. Select Edit/Mark
4. Select a region with the mouse
5. Select 6. You can then paste it into another program
I tried it on DOOM2. Everything worked fine.
Creating static links
You can drag icons into your documents... This will create a static link to that icon, just drag `My Computer' onto a new WORDPAD DOC, and double Click to see!
Increase performance in DOS
The number of colors for display will affect the performance of DOS mode (not full screen)! Notice: The best selection is not 256 color but HiColor! Notice again: Choosing 256 colors is the worst thing for DOS mode!
Delete immediately
If you hold down SHIFT while dragging items into the Recycle Bin they will be DELETED immediately rather than being placed in the bin. Just be careful not to accidentally multi-select more files than you wanted. Similarly, pressing SHIFT-DEL gives you the same effect.
CREDIT: These Win95 tips and tricks were provided courtesy of Per Bornsjo of Partille, Sweden. He is a student at Chalmers Technical University and creator of Per Bornsjo/Hanar SoftWare of Sweden. He is now working to develop his own site.
Tom Lassiter is a HAL-PC member who serves as Chair of the Steering Committee of the Build or Buy a PC SIG and emcees that weekly SIG meeting. He also serves as a HAL-PC Ambassador to the America Online User Group Forum, and was one of the initial HALNet beta testers.
NOTE: These tips and tricks are provided as an informational member service. Neither Per Bornsjo/Hanar SoftWare [Sweden], HAL-PC, nor the editor of this article accept any liability for use of the above tips and tricks or their applicability to a particular computer or purpose.
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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