by Tom Lassiter
WOW! Is it ever HOT!
No, I’m not talking about the usual July Houston weather. It’s hot every year. I’m talking about WINDOWS 98. It is HOT!
If Bill Gates and his legal eagle minions successfully navigated the corridors of the Department of Justice (in progress as I write this) then, by the time this magazine hits your mailbox, you should have the option of purchasing the latest and greatest version of Windows from a multitude of your local purveyors of computer goodies.
By now, all good little Windows users should be bleary-eyed, teary-eyed, and perhaps a little lighter in the pocket. You’re bleary-eyed from reading all the hype in every computer, and even pop and business, publication cover story; teary-eyed from crying in anguish over the decision facing you to upgrade or not; and depending on that decision, perhaps a bit lighter in the old wallet from your purchases of Win98 and its Plus Pack.
And what will you be buying in terms of features and abilities? Good News - How about the ability to hook up nine, count ‘em – NINE, monitors to your PC. Bad News – takes nine video/graphics cards to do it. (Yes, I know Apple Macintoshes have done it for years but we thought that the Recycle Bin was a cool deal too when we first got it on PCs, after years on the Apple products.) Can’t you see it – a humongous solitaire game spread out over nine 19” monitors as you drag cards from screen one to nine and drop them on their little pile. Well, not quite – but even though one in 10,000 of us may use multiple monitors it is nice to know we paid enough money to enable Win 98 to do it – right?
Just think of how the economy will be affected by this product. Millions of dollars will be dug up out of tin cans buried in the backyard for just such a spending opportunity. Hundreds of thousands of new PCs will be sold to use its new gizmos that won’t run on older PCs. Tens of thousands will leave the ranks of the unemployed to either (1) pick up the old PCs and carry them to the scrap heap or (2) work in your local computer shop to install Win98, or (3) join tech support lines to answer your questions. Unfortunately, all three jobs have the same entry level requirements.
Hey, if you can’t laugh at Microsoft products, then you have no sense of humor at all. They can be funnier than Jerry Steinfeld. Meanwhile, as we all take a moment of silence to get used to Windows 98, let’s carry forward with some Win95 tips and tricks:
Use BIG Pointers
To use larger and more interesting pointers than the standard white arrow, just make a selection from the many pointer schemes offered. CLICK on START, SETTINGS, CONTROL PANEL, and then DOUBLE-CLICK on MOUSE. CLICK on the POINTER tab then on the SCHEME down list arrow to get a list of all the schemes available. Select “Windows Standard Large”, or Extra Large for BIG pointers. Make your selection and enjoy! Each icon has an “activation point” - the place at which it is sensitive when over an object. On the arrow it is the very tip of the arrow. You have to learn the activation point on the others. For example, if you select the Entertainment scheme it is the tip of the dancer’s cane. They are usually apparent but if it doesn’t work like you think it should they try aiming with another portion of the icon.
Where Do You Want To Store YOUR Files
Many Win95 applications allow you to choose, during setup or via options, where you want them to place files created in the application, a default folder; e.g. – Word, Excel, and PowerPoint place their files in the My Documents folder. You can tell other applications where to place their files also. Some people like to do this to put them all in one area to make it easier to backup those data files. It’s really a simple process. First create a shortcut for the application. RIGHT-CLICK on the shortcut then CLICK PROPERTIES and then on the SHORTCUT tab. In the START IN box, type the path to the folder where you desire to store the files created in that application. You may create a master DATA folder then add separate folders for each application as sub-folders - \data\creatacard etc.
Quick Editing of HTML Files
Regular editors of HTML files will want to add an Edit function to the context menu of web documents. Then selecting that option will allow the launch of you favorite HTML editor AND open the file you want to edit – all in one swoop. In Windows Explorer, CLICK on VIEW and OPTIONS then the FILE TYPES tab. Depending on your default internet browser CLICK Netscape Hypertext Document (for Netscape) or Internet Document (for Internet Explorer) in the list and CLICK on the EDIT button. After you CLICK on the NEW button then type EDIT in the ACTION box. Lastly, CLICK on the BROWSE button and select your HTML authoring program of choice.
Open to the Background
If you wish to open files in the background, (instead of on top of the one you have open onscreen) just hold down you CTRL key when you DOUBLE-CLICK on them. They will open up in the background with a button on your TASKBAR.
Identify Your Version of Windows 95
To obtain the version of you Windows 95, RIGHT-CLICK on MY COMPUTER, then CLICK on PROPERTIES. On the General tab, under System, you will see the version number. This is what they mean: 4.00.950 is the original version released in August 1995; 4.00.950a indicates it has been updated with Service Pack 1 or OEM Service Release 1; 4.00.950b represents OEM Service Release 2; and 4.00.950c reflects OEM Service Release 2.5. Used wisely this information can win you a bet at the coffee shop tomorrow morning.
Crank up your hard drives and air-conditioners and I’ll see you in August.
Tom Lassiter is a member of the HAL-PC Board of Directors. 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.