by Tom Lassiter
Jumping jehosafat — January! What happened to 1997? What a year that was. We spent most of it revising the release date for Microsoft’s “Memphis” - now to be called WINDOWS 98! But hey; it wasn’t all bad - we get more time to enjoy and learn new ways to use Win95 before they pull another rabbit out of the hat.
Speaking of rabbits and hats — there is a bit of magic in the way Microsoft and other software developers lead us to the sales counter to buy each new version of their product. Have you ever stopped to think that you don’t have to upgrade every time? This applies to all of your software.
Take a very critical look at new versions released to see if they really have something of value over and above your old version. Make sure the new features being offered are useful to you, and not just fluff that will never find its way into your work. If real value is not present then keep your hard-earned bucks in your pocket, not theirs.
Skip an upgrade once in a while. You’ll feel better by not being an over-consuming consumer and the software houses will start to learn that we will insist on true value in upgrades before we buy them.
Meanwhile, let’s wring some more value out of Win95 with these tips and tricks.
Program Groups to the Desktop
Do you have a favorite program group that you use so much you don’t want to waste even the little time it takes to CLICK on START and PROGRAMS to reach it? Then place the entire Program Group on your desktop, and select its components from there.
Just RIGHT-CLICK on the START button, CLICK OPEN, and DOUBLE-CLICK the Programs folder. Your Program groups all appear in this Programs window.
(You can DOUBLE-CLICK from here to open any group also.) RIGHT-CLICK on the group you wish to have on the Desktop and CLICK on CREATE SHORTCUT.
It will appear as a shortcut at the end of the list. CLICK RESTORE (the button next to the X in the uppermost right corner of your window) so you can see the Desktop and simply drag the shortcut from the Programs window and drop it on your Desktop.
Clutter City — Too Many Desktop Icons?
Is your desktop is getting covered with icons yet you still wish to have them all relatively accessible? Consider creating folders to store them by categories. My screen was covered up so I created a desktop folder named “Games”, one named “Internet”, et c. to group them by category. RIGHT-CLICK on a blank place on your Desktop, select NEW and CLICK on FOLDER. Type a category name for the folder and ENTER. Now just drag all the icons in that category over one at a time and drop them on the new folder. Ad d as many new category folders as needed. My nine folders hold sixty-five program icons, some only two and one sixteen. Talk about reducing clutter! To access them just DOUBLE-CLICK on the folder, then DOUBLE-CLICK on the desired program within. Only one more click than before and a heck of a lot cleaner desktop.
PING To See How Fast the Internet REALLY Is
First, obtain and install a PING client. Good freeware ones, such as WS-PING, are available from sites such as tucows.com or shareware.com. While connected to the Internet via dialup or in a networked environment, open a DOS window, and at the DOS prompt type “ping” and the Internet address you wish to check, i.e. - ping www.sands.com (note space after “ping”). Windows95 will send out a signal, like sonar’s “ping”, then record the time it takes it to bounce back and tell you how fast, in milliseconds, the trip took to the address given. (Probably less than one-half a second, and peopl e gripe about “slow connections”.) “www.Sands.com” is the Dr. Solomon anti-virus site near London, England.
Desktop Color Schemes
Change the Win95 color scheme by doing a RIGHT CLICK on the desktop and then CLICK on PROPERTIES and CLICK the APPEARANCE tab.
Quick Search in Windows Explorer
When you click in Windows Explorer windows, you sometimes have to scroll forever to reach the part of the alphabet where the file you are seeking resides. Typing a letter in either the right or left pane will take you to the first displayed folder or fil e that starts with that letter. Pressing the letter again will take you to the next file that starts with that letter.
Plan ahead. Remember that during February you have only 28 days in which to do a month’s work (Yes - it’s twilight zone time, folks; think about it!) See you then.
Tom Lassiter is a HAL-PC and Board member 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. He may be contacted at jamesl@hal-pc.org.
E-mail me at webmaster@hal-pc.org with any comments you have and tell me what you want to see here.