Hear the soft crunch of new snow underfoot - see the icicles dangling eerily from the trees - feel the crisp cold winds whip across your muffler-wrapped face.
OOPS; I forgot I was in Houston there for a minute. Oh well, it is December anyway - who cares if the temperature is in the 80’s and Santa wears a short-sleeve and short-pant red suit. ‘Tis the season to be jolly and merry (until your credit card limits are exceeded anyway).
You can spend at least $89.95 more than you planned, because Windows 98 has been delayed AGAIN. Already delayed from 1997 to the first quarter of 1998, it now has been rescheduled for release in May 1998. Yeah - Right! That means the beta testers (people who do beta, or pre-release, testing of software) must be finding some serious problems that will take a while to correct. My guess at this point would look toward maybe September 1998 (hopefully). So you can use that $89.95 you had been saving for it and buy more presents. You can save up more by next fall.
So, my little Win95 buddies - we will keep on truckin’ with more Tips and Tricks for our favorite operating system. Long live Win95 - long may it reign! (With apologies to the British royal family.)
Desktop Access in Two Clicks
Have you ever wanted to click a desktop icon but didn’t want to close all your open windows one at a time to be able to see it? Just right-click on your Win95 Taskbar (in a blank area where there are no buttons), then click on Minimize All Windows. Perfo rm your desktop activity. To return just right-click again on the Taskbar and this time click on Undo Minimize All.
Finding the Full Path of a File
For the full path to any file in Windows Explorer just right-click on the filename and then click on Properties. Now simply hold your cursor (no clicking now) on top of the contents of the Location field and a tool tip will appear with the full path.
Flash Upgrade Your BIOS
If your computer is of recent vintage, but over a year old, you may wish to pursue the possibility of a flash upgrade of your BIOS (a brain of a chip on your motherboard). It may be available from the manufacturer via their website, a BBS, or other sourc es. It is a software file that, when run on your PC, will provide new instructions to the BIOS chip to allow it to work better with new developments in PC devices since it was manufactured.
One Less Double-Click (To Access Your Floppy A:\ Drive)
If you use floppy disks a lot, you may be getting good and tired of opening My Computer or Windows Explorer to get to the floppy drive icon so that you can work with its contents. Make your life easier by placing a shortcut to this drive (normally A:\) on the desktop. Right-click and drag your floppy drive icon from My Computer or Windows Explorer onto the desktop. Click Create Shortcut(s) Here . Do you know how many double-clicks you’ve just saved yourself?
Add List.com to Your Send-To and Start Menus
If you use Vernon Buerg’s famous List.com program to dig into the ASCII or hexadecimal depths of files to see what is really there, then consider adding it to your Send-To pop-up menu, so when you right click on a file one of your menu options will be to use List on that file. You may also want to add it to your Start Menu. Just create a shortcut for List.com, name the shortcut List, then copy it to both your Send-To and Start Menu folders.
(Thanks to HAL-PC member Bill Peavy for this idea.)
OK, CD-ROM Drive, Cough It Up!
When you want to eject a CD from your CD-ROM drive, do you reach all the way over there and press the eject button? If your tower is under your desk and that button is a “fur piece off” (as we sumtimes sez in Taxes), you may be getting good and tired of making the stretch. Instead, use menu commands to eject that CD. In your My Computer or Windows Explorer window, right click on your CD-ROM drive and select Eject. Harumph - out comes the CD! Then gently press it closed. And do not use it as a coffee cup holder. One person did that then innocently called the Help Desk when it broke, asking what went wrong and not having a clue it was their CD-ROM drive door!
Quick Find-File in Windows Explorer
Press F3 in any Explorer window and you will get a Find-File dialog box pre-initialized to begin searching in the currently selected drive and folder.
Echo Startup Actions via ESC Key
To see what is going on behind the scenes during the startup sequence, press the ESC button while the Windows 95 startup screen is visible.
Rename Shortcut Key
Press F2 to change the name of a selected file or folder.
Windows Explorer Direct from the Start Button
A right-click on the start button yields a menu from which you can go exploring without having to go through opening Windows Explorer. Choose Explore Or Explore From Here.
Well, you Houstonians of the frozen tundra - keep your mittens dry until next month when we pursue more tips and tricks.
Tom Lassiter is a member of the HAL-PC Board of Directors where he serves as Membership Secretary and Chairs the Volunteer Committee. He Chairs the Steering Committee of the Build or Buy a PC SIG and emcees that weekly SIG meeting.
E-mail me at webmaster@hal-pc.org with any comments you have and tell me what you want to see here.