Windows 98 

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 Tips Tricks and Information

As the 4th generation of Windows (95, 98, ME) tends to work the same, many of these tips may work in all versions.

Activating slow motion in Windows' DVD Player

Activating the Full Screen feature

Activating Thumbnail view

Adding applications to the Quick Launch toolbar

Adding the Doskey command to your MS-DOS prompt

Adding the other editor to Windows 98

Adding wallpaper to a folder view

Automatically clearing your cache

 

Canceling a drag-and-drop operation

Changing desktop icons

Checking your Windows Update download history

Clearing Phone Dialer's history list

Close all your applications at the same time

Converting Favorites/Bookmarks

Converting graphic formats in Paint

Customizing your desktop themes in Windows 98

Customizing Web view background

Create email on the fly with a special shortcut

Creating 3D Text reminders

Creating a Favorites Web page

Creating a Windows 98 startup disk

Creating notes on your desktop

Creating new files on the fly

Creating shortcuts in the Network Neighborhood

 

Dealing with color distortion when using a 3D screen saver

Disabling animated windows and menus

Display a map to an Outlook Express contact's address

Displaying Windows 98's Easter Egg

Dual monitor tricks

Duplicating files in the same folder

 

Exploring the gradient fill feature

 

Faster ISP connections

Find a missing DLL file online

Finding out how long Windows 98 has been running

Format floppies in DOS for better multitasking

For your eyes only

Fixing lost file associations

Hiding the taskbar

 

Instantly access newsgroups

Instantly launch a new browser window

Investigating your USB devices with the USB View utility

 

Minimizing and restoring with the taskbar

Moving and copying files with the drag-and-drop technique

Multiple monitor screen savers

One view for all your folders

Opening folders in the Find tool

 

Password protecting your backups

Performing file management in the Save As and Open dialog boxes

Plugging Windows 98's Registration Wizard leak

Problem with Format.com

Protecting your system with the Registry Checker

 

Quickly access FTP sites

Quickly accessing the Internet
 

Quickly opening folders

 

Removing the Internet Explorer icon from your desktop

Removing the Log Off item from the Start menu

Removing Online Services to free up disk space

Renaming your Quick Launch toolbar icons

Repairing icons

Repositioning the Quick Launch toolbar

Restoring a missing Briefcase

Running Hover in Windows 98

 

Saving temporary documents to the desktop

Secret FreeCell games

Secret way to close Internet Explorer

Shut down Windows 98 fast!

Speed up your Dial-Up Networking connections

Speed up the start up

Studying Startup with the System Configuration Utility

 

Taking advantage of the System Recovery Utility

Taking [Ctrl] of your system

Taking full advantage of AutoComplete

Turn Windows Explorer into My Computer

 

Uncovering multimedia properties

Understanding the mysterious Mscreate.dir files

Understanding the power of My Documents

Unlocking the Windows folder in Web view

Unscrambling the taskbar icons

Using the Bcc Field in Outlook Express

Use the Show Desktop button

Using Microsoft Fax in Windows 98
Using the Cool Switch

Using the DOS Diskcopy command

Using the Lasso technique to speed file management

Use the Show Desktop button

Using the [Spacebar] for page up and down in your browser

Using Windows 98's Troubleshooting wizards

 

What's going on behind the logo?

Windows Update

Working with MS-DOS names

Working with other file formats in Paint

 

Your one stop disk drive information shop

 Stuff to read first

The information contained in this information is to be used at your discretion.

Remember to back up the Windows Registry and any other critical files before making any changes.

Registry Editor (regedit.exe) is a very powerful tool and changes to the registry are immediate.

If you make a mistake, your system may not re-start. Consult a professional or know what you are doing before making any changes.

 

 

 

 

 

Adding wallpaper to a folder view

If using your own images for your desktop isn't enough fun for you, Windows 98 now lets you add background images to individual folders! Here's how you do it. Open a folder and choose Customize this Folder... from the View menu or right-click in the folder and choose the same option from the pop-up menu. Click the radio button labeled Choose a Background Picture and click Next. Then, the system will search your hard drive and display a
list of GIF, JPG, BMP and other graphic files. Just select an image file and click Next. The last dialog box will display the full path for the image file you chose. Click Finish, and then you'll get a brand-new background for this folder. If you later want to remove the background image, choose Customize this Folder... from the View menu and select the Remove Customization option. Click Next twice, and click Finish to confirm the change.

 

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Your one stop disk drive information shop

As you probably know, you can right-click on any drive icon in Windows 98's My Computer window, select Properties from the context menu, and see a graphical display of the used and free space on that disk. However, if you have multiple disk drives, performing this operation on each one can be time consuming. Fortunately, Windows 98 can display the same information about all your disk drives in one tabbed properties sheet. Here's how: Open
My Computer, select all the disk drives that show up in the window, right-click on the last one, and select Properties from the context menu. This technique can be used with network drives, removable disk drives, and
floppy disk drives as well.

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Using Microsoft Fax in Windows 98

If you used the Microsoft Fax feature of Windows 95's mail program, Microsoft Exchange or Windows Messaging, you were probably surprised to learn that Microsoft Fax doesn't appear in Windows 98's mail program--Outlook Express. However, you'll be glad to know that if you want to be able to use Microsoft Fax in Windows 98, it's available on the Windows 98 CD. To use it you must locate the \tools\oldwin95\message\us folder on the Windows 98 CD. Then, double-click on Wms.exe to install Windows Messaging. Once you've installed Windows Messaging, double-click on Awfax.exe to add Microsoft Fax to Windows Messaging.

 

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Activating Thumbnail view

As you know, when you pull down the View menu in either Windows Explorer or My Computer, you can choose any one of four default view options for displaying your files (Large Icons, Small Icons, List and Details). However, there's fifth view option in Windows 98 called Thumbnail view. As its name implies, this view will provide you with a miniature representation of each document in a particular folder. Before we show you how to enable the Thumbnail view, we should warn you that not all file formats are supported and that this view format is best suited for use on folders that contain graphic image files. Furthermore, you must enable the Thumbnail view on a folder by folder basis.

To do so, locate a folder in Windows Explorer or My Computer and right-click on it and select the Properties command. When you see the Properties dialog box for the folder, select the Enable Thumbnail View check box. Now, open that folder using either My Computer or Windows Explorer and select View | Thumbnails. You'll now see thumbnail views of all the files in that folder.

 

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Displaying Windows 98's Easter Egg

In order to uncover Windows 98's Easter Egg you'll need to have on hand a world atlas. To begin, double-click the clock display in the system tray. When the Date/Time Properties sheet appears, select the Time Zone tab. Now,
hold down the [Ctrl] key and click your left mouse button on the approximate location of Memphis, Egypt. Next, while still holding down the [Ctrl] key, imagine that you're dragging an object across the ocean and drop it on approximate location of Memphis, Tennessee. Don't release the [Ctrl] key. Then, click on the same imaginary object and drag it across the United States and drop in on Redmond, Washington. You can now release the [Ctrl] key. When you do so, a dialog box will appear containing a list the Microsoft Windows 98 developers. You'll also see a slide show of pictures from the Microsoft campus accompanied by the great music from the Welcome to Windows 98 screen you saw after you installed Windows 98. Be patient, you'll probably have to repeat the steps again several times to get it right.

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Unscrambling the taskbar icons

Sometimes when you change screen resolutions in Windows 98, your application icons on the taskbar can get scrambled. When this happens, place your mouse pointer on the vertical bar just to the right on the Start button and, when your cursor turns into a double-headed arrow, right-click. When the shortcut menu appears, select the Refresh command. Your application icons on the taskbar will then return to normal.

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Dual monitor tricks

If you've set up a dual monitor configuration on your Windows 98 system, you can create a new toolbar and anchor it at the bottom of the secondary monitor just like the taskbar. To do so, simply right-click on the taskbar and select Toolbars/New Toolbar from the shortcut menu. You can then place shortcuts on the new toolbar and quickly and easily access frequently used applications or drives.

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Plugging Windows 98's Registration Wizard leak

By now, you've probably heard about the leak in Windows 98's Registration Wizard that compromises your privacy by exposing unique ID numbers that identify you and your PC. The ID numbers are only supposed to be available
to Microsoft and were designed help Microsoft identify registered users of their products. However, it has been determined that the numbers are also attached to files created with Office applications, and even more alarming,
that the numbers are available via Internet Explorer to any Web site developer who knows how to access the ID number. For more information on the Registration Wizard leak, follow the links at the bottom of the page.

To see the leak in action, point your browser to Phar Lap Software's Windows 98 RegWiz privacy leak demo page at

http://security.pharlap.com/regwiz/index.htm

While Microsoft is working on a solution to this Registration Wizard leak, you may want to plug the leak immediately. Fortunately, you can do so simply by disabling the Registration Wizard. To begin, select the Run
command on the Start menu. When the Run dialog box appears, type the command

regsvr32.exe -u c:\windows\system\regwizc.dll

in the Open text box and click OK. You'll then see a dialog box containing the text string

``DllUnregisterServer in c:\windows\system\regwizc.dll succeeded''

that informs you that the operation was a success. (To reenable the Registration Wizard, you'll use the same command, but substitute a -c for the -u.)

Now, return to Phar Lap Software's Windows 98 RegWiz privacy leak demo page and click the Refresh button. When you do, you'll see that the demo page can no longer access your ID numbers.

The Registration Wizard also creates an easily identifiable document on your hard disk called Reginfo.txt that can leak information about you. To prevent this, simply rename, move, or delete the Reginfo.txt file.

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One view for all your folders

With Windows 98 it's a breeze to set global view options for all open folders because you can do so from any open folder window. Just open a folder window and select the viewing options that you want to apply to all folders. Then, select Folder Options from the View menu and click the View tab. In the Folder Views panel click the Like Current Folder button, click Yes to confirm, and then click OK to close the Folder Options dialog box. You'll see the changes the next time you open a new folder window.

 

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Windows Update

Have you visited the Windows Update site yet this month? If not, you should do so. It's a good idea to visit the Windows Update site regularly in order to keep your Windows 98 system running in tip-top shape. Simply click the Windows Update link at the bottom of the Settings menu.

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For your eyes only

Do you have files on your hard disk that you don't want anyone to access? If so, then you need to download a copy of Enigma for Windows 98 from Cyptosoft. This awesome utility will allow you to encrypt, decrypt, as well as completely wipe files and folders from your hard disk.


Using various encryption engines such as DES and Blowfish, this amazing utility will also work with ZIP files--allowing you to create self-extracting encrypted zip files. Enigma for Windows 98 is easy to use and is well suited for all computer users' security needs.

Enigma for Windows 98 is shareware, which means that it's free to try, but costs $69 if you decide to keep it. You can download Enigma for Windows 98 from http://www.cryptosoft.com/

 

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Turn Windows Explorer into My Computer

Have you ever been working in Windows Explorer and realized that the task you're performing could be done more easily in a My Computer style folder window? If so, just click the close button in the top right corner of the Folders pane. If you want to reverse the procedure, pull down the View menu, open the Explorer Bar submenu and select the All Folders option.

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Changing hard disk icons

Have you ever wanted to change the icons used to display the hard disk in My Computer? If so, you'll be happy to know that doing so is easy. To begin, open Notepad and create a file called Autorun.inf. Then, add the commands

[autorun]
ICON=filename

where filename is the name of the file containing the icon you want to use. Now, save the file Autorun.inf in the root folder of the drive you want to change.

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Customizing Web view background

When you pull down the View menu in either My Computer or Windows Explorer and select the As Web Page command, you know that Windows 98 automatically uses a cloud image for the background of the Web view.
However, if you'd like to use your own image for that Web view background here's what you need to do:

1) Open either My Computer or Windows Explorer and access the C:\Windows\Web folder.
2) Locate and rename the file Wvleft.bmp.
3) Open Paint, press [Ctrl]-E and type 242 and 600 in the Width and Height text boxes respectively.
4) Create your image and save it in the C:\Windows\Web folder as Wvleft.bmp.

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Instantly access newsgroups

If you want to temporarily configure Microsoft Outlook Express exclusively as newsreader, access the Run dialog box by clicking Start/Run and then type the command

msimn.exe /outnews

in the Open text box and click OK. If you like this trick and want to use it all the time, simply create a shortcut by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting New/Shortcut from the menu. Then, use the above command in the Command Line text box.

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Instantly launch a new browser window

As you surf the Web, there are occasions when it's convenient to have more than one Internet Explorer window open at the same time. For example, when you're investigating the results of search engine, you can leave the search results in one instance of Internet Explorer and investigate each site in a separate instance of Internet Explorer.
To do this, hold down the [Shift] key as you click links on the search results page. When you do, a separate Internet Explorer window will instantly launch and connect to that site. To investigate the results quicker, use the [Shift]/click technique to launch three or four separate instances of Internet Explorer. Then, while the second, third
and fourth pages are loading, return to the first one, which should be done loading, and investigate the contents. You can then access the second page and so on.

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Using Windows 98's Troubleshooting wizards

Got a problem with Windows 98? Before you call for help, you should investigate Windows 98's 15 Troubleshooter wizards. These wizards are found right in the Help system and may be able to help you quickly and easily diagnose and solve system problems. Once you launch a Troubleshooter wizard, you'll discover that each one presents a number of common problems and walks you through plain- language steps for a variety of possible solutions to those problems.

Accessing the Troubleshooter wizards is as easy as selecting Help from the Start menu and selecting the Contents tab. Then, click Troubleshooting followed by Windows 98 Troubleshooters. When you do, you'll see all the Troubleshooter wizards.

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Studying Startup with the System Configuration Utility

Have you ever wondered what goes on in the background when you start Windows 98? If you're curious as to what programs and utilities are starting each time you boot Windows 98[RW1], you need to investigate the System Configuration Utility. This utility contains a series of tabs that show you the contents of several major files including the Config.sys, Autoexec.bat, System.ini, and Windows.ini. The last tab is titled Startup and contains a complete list of all the items that load automatically from the Startup folder, the Win.ini load= and run= lines, and
from the Registry each time Windows 98 starts. To access this utility, you can launch System Information, pull down the Tools menu and select the System Configuration Utility command. You can also access the Run dialog box from the Start menu and type the command C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSCONFIG.EXE in the Open text box.

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Taking advantage of the System Recovery Utility

Have you ever thought about what you would do in the event of a complete hard drive failure? Fortunately, if you use Windows 98's Microsoft Backup to back up your hard drive on a regular basis, and have a working Windows 98 Startup Disk, then you can easily restore your hard drive using the System Recovery Utility.

 

 

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Removing the Log Off item from the Start menu

If you're the only one who uses your computer and you're not on a network, you can reduce the clutter on the Start menu by removing the Log Off item from the Start menu. To do so, launch the Registry Editor by typing Regedit in the Run dialog box and open the

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ \Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \Policies \ Explorer folder.

Next, pull down the Edit menu, select the New | DWORD Value command, and name the value NoLogOff.

Now, press [Enter] twice to enable the new name and to open the Edit DWORD Value dialog box. Once the Edit DWORD Value dialog box appears, type 1 in the Value Data text box, click OK and close the Registry Editor.
To complete the operation, restart your system.

 

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Creating a Windows 98 startup disk

Did you create a Windows 98 startup disk when you were prompted to do so during the Windows 98 installation procedure? If you did, do you know where that disk is right now? If you answered "No" to either of these questions, you really should take a few moments to create a Windows 98 startup disk. Fortunately, doing so is easy. To begin, open Control Panel and double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon. Once the Add/Remove Programs Properties sheet appears, click the Startup Disk tab. Now, insert a blank, high-density floppy disk into drive A and your Windows 98 CD into the CD-ROM drive. Then, click the Create Disk button.

Once you've created your Windows 98 startup disk, you should test it to make sure that it boots your system correctly and provides you with access to your CD-ROM drive. To do so, simply restart your system with the disk in drive A. Once your system restarts, you'll see the Microsoft Windows 98 Startup Menu. At this point, select the
first item on the menu--Start The Computer With CD-ROM Support. When you do, you'll see several messages on your screen as the commands in the startup files execute. If the generic CD-ROM driver is working correctly, you'll eventually see a message that informs you that the MSCDEX program is loading.

If you can't access your CD-ROM drive, chances are that your system has one of the IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) CD-ROM drives that doesn't work with Windows 98's generic, real-mode IDE CD-ROM driver. As such, you'll need to check out the "How to Modify the Windows Startup Disk with Other Device Drivers," Microsoft's Personal Online Support site at
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q188/1/27.asp.

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Dealing with color distortion when using a 3D screen saver

When you use Windows 98's 3D screen savers you may notice that when you dismiss the screen saver by moving the mouse, the colors used to display certain items on the screen are distorted--for example, title bars in windows and dialog boxes and, many times, the icons in the system tray. Sometimes these items appear almost Day-Glo. The reason for this is that Windows 98's 3D screen savers use the OpenGL technology, which can temporarily overload yourdisplay adapter. Let's take a closer look.

This advanced graphics technology in OpenGL allows programmers to create high-quality three-dimensional color images. If you use the 3D Pipes screen saver, you'll see that OpenGL allows such graphic effects as shading, lighting, and texture mapping. However, this complex technology comes with a price--it really taxes your display
adapter and CPU. There are times when you'll dismiss the screen saver right in the middle of a complex calculation. When you do,the system doesn't have a chance to completely recover the color scheme as it redraws the screen. Hence, some of the colors may appear distorted.

If this happens on your system, there are two solutions: a quick fix and a permanent fix. The quick fix simply involves maximizing any open window and then restoring it. Doing so forces Windows 98 to redraw the screen and, without the pressure of the OpenGL screen saver, restore the colors accurately. However, some applications may
not respond to this, and you'll have to close and reopen them.

The permanent fix may or may not work for you depending on your system's video display adapter. Basically, this fix involves increasing the Colors setting to a setting higher than 256 Colors, such as High Color or True Color. To do so, open the Display Properties sheet by right-clicking the desktop and selecting Properties from the context menu. Then select the Settings tab and choose a setting higher than 256 Colors.

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Shut down Windows 98 fast!

As you may know, when you want to shut down Windows 98, you have to go through several steps. First you have to click the Start button and select the Shut Down command. When the Shut Down Windows dialog box appears, you have to select the Shut Down The Computer option and then click Yes. That's four steps.

Fortunately, we've discovered a way to shut down Windows 98 in one simple double-click. To implement this technique, launch the Create Shortcut wizard by right clicking on the desktop and selecting the New/Shortcut command from the shortcut menu. Once the Create Shortcut wizard loads, type

c:\windows\rundll.exe user.exe,exitwindows

in the Command Line text box,. (Make sure that there isn't a space between the comma and the exitwindows parameter otherwise the command won't work.) To continue, click Next.

When the next page appears, type Shut Down Windows 98 NOW! in the Select a Name For the Shortcut text box and click Finish. Now, when you're ready to shut down Windows 98, close all your applications as you normally would, and then just double-click the new Shut Down Windows 98 NOW! icon windows icon.

 

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Close all your applications at the same time

When you're done working on your computer for the day, you probably close each open application one-by-one. If so, chances are that you've wished that you could close all you open applications at the same time. Fortunately, we recently unearthed a hidden technique that will allow you to do so. To begin, hold down the [Ctrl] key and click on each application button on your taskbar. When you do, you'll notice that each button remains selected. Once you've
selected all the application buttons on the taskbar, right-click on any one of them and select the Close command from the shortcut menu. When you do, all your applications will close. If you have any application in which an open file hasn't yet been saved, that application will prompt you to save the file.

 

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Exploring the gradient fill feature

One of Windows 98's fancy visual effect features is the ability to display all windows' and dialog boxes' title bars with a gradient fill. Basically, this means that the color of the title bar gradually changes from one color at the left side to another color at the right side. This visual effect can dramatically enhance Windows 98's overall appearance.

 

 

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Speed up your Dial-Up Networking connections

Does your Dial-Up Networking connection take a long time to actually connect to your ISP? If so, you probably have an unnecessary option called "Log on to Network" selected in your Dial-Up Networking connection. To see if this is the case, right-click on your Dial-Up Networking connection and select the Properties command from the shortcut menu. Then, select the Server Types tab. Now make sure that the Log on to Network check box is not selected. You should also clear the NetBEUI and IPX/SPX Compatible check boxes.

 

 

 

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Clearing Phone Dialer's history list

If you use Phone dialer, you know that it keeps a history list of all the numbers that you've recently called. If you want to clear the history list you can do so by editing the Dialer.ini file, which you can find in the Windows folder.

 

 

 

 

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Create email on the fly with a special shortcut

If you want to be able to quickly create an email message without having to launch Outlook Express, right-click on the desktop and select New | Shortcut from the pop up menu. When you see the Create Shortcut wizard, type

"C:\Program Files\Outlook Express\Msimn.Exe"/mailurl:%1

in the command Line text box and click Next. Then, name the shortcut Quick Message and click Finish. You can then
drag the shortcut to the Quick Launch menu. Now, when you want to quickly create a new message, just click the Quick Message icon.

If you want to differentiate the Quick Message icon from the Outlook Express icon, right-click the Quick Message icon and select Properties from the shortcut menu. Now, click the change Icon button and select one of the other email icons in the Change Icon dialog box.

 

 

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Using the [Spacebar] for page up and down in your browser

When you're reading information on a long Web page, there are several ways that you can scroll through the page:

* You can use your mouse and the scroll bars
* You can use the [Page Down] and [Page Up] keys
* If you have a mouse with a wheel, you can use the wheel

However, there's another way to scroll through a long Web page. You can use the [Spacebar] to scroll down a page and [Shift] [Spacebar] to scroll up the page. This alternate method is nice for touch typists.

 

 

 

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Removing the Internet Explorer icon from your desktop

If you like to like to keep your desktop free from unnecessary clutter, you may have wondered if you could remove the Internet Explorer icon from your desktop. After all it's much easier to launch Internet Explorer by clicking its icon in the Quick Launch tool bar.

To remove the Internet Explorer icon from your desktop, launch Internet Explorer, pull down the Tools menu, and select the Internet Options command. When you see the Internet Options dialog box, select the Advanced tab. Then, scroll though the Settings list until you locate the Show Internet Explorer On the Desktop check box. Now, click the check box to clear it. Finally, click OK to close the Internet Options dialog box.

 

 

 

 

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Using the Lasso technique to speed file management

As you probably know, you can use the [Shift] key to simultaneously select multiple adjacent files in both My Computer and Windows Explorer. To do so in Windows Explorer, you simply click on the first file in the group, then hold down the [Shift] key as you click on the last file. Windows Explorer will select those two files and all the ones in between.

Well, did you know that you could make the same selection without using the [Shift] key--or touching your keyboard? A lesser-known alternative allows you to select a group of adjacent files by clicking and dragging a box around them with your mouse. When you release your mouse button, Windows Explorer selects all files within the box. This is called the lasso technique.

 

 

 

 

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Using the DOS Diskcopy command

When you need to make a copy of a floppy disk, you probably use Windows 98's Copy Disk utility. To access the Copy Disk utility, you launch My Computer or Windows Explorer, right-click the floppy disk drive icon, and then select the Copy Disk... command from the shortcut menu. When you do, you'll see the Copy Disk dialog box.

Unfortunately, the Copy Disk utility is actually limited when compared to its DOS counterpart--the Diskcopy command. Windows 98's Copy Disk utility is fine for making quick, single copies of disks. However, if you need to make more than one copy of a disk, the utility forces you to copy the original each time it makes a duplicate. In contrast, DOS's Diskcopy command lets you make multiple copies of the same disk without having to recopy it over
and over again. Therefore, if you want several copies of a disk, you'll save time by using Diskcopy instead of Copy Disk.

To do so, simply open an MS-DOS Prompt window and type the command

Diskcopy A: A:

You can also make a shortcut to this command and put it on your desktop for easy access.

 

 

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Adding applications to the Quick Launch toolbar

Since the Quick Launch toolbar works with traditional shortcuts, adding items to it is as easy as a drag-and-drop operation. However, before you start, you should carefully consider which applications you really need quick access to and then narrow your choices to two or three applications. You don't want to add too many icons
to the Quick Launch toolbar because it shares the bottom of the desktop with the taskbar. The larger you make the Quick Launch toolbar, the smaller the taskbar becomes.

The easiest way to place an application shortcut on the Quick Launch toolbar is to copy the shortcut from the Start menu. Fortunately, the Windows 98 Start menu is enhanced so that you can now drag the shortcut directly from the Start menu to the Quick Launch toolbar.

 

 

 

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Duplicating files in the same folder

As you know, it's a real pain to make a copy of a file by first copying it to another folder, renaming it, and then moving it back. Have you ever wished you could copy and rename a file within the same folder? Fortunately, we've discovered several tricks that you can use to make a copy of a file within the same folder.

First, you can right-click on the file you want to make a copy of and select the Copy command from the shortcut menu. Then, right-click on the folder background and select Paste from the shortcut menu. You'll then see a duplicate of the file with the words Copy of preceding the filename. At this point, you can rename the file
by pressing [F2] and typing the new name.

Second, you can right-click on the file and drag it slightly to the right or left and then release it. When you do, a special shortcut menu appears and you can choose the Copy Here command. Again, you'll see a duplicate of the file with the words Copy of preceding the filename.

Third, you can duplicate the file by selecting it, pulling down the Edit menu, and choosing the Copy command. Then, pull down the Edit menu and select the Paste command.

Fourth, you can duplicate the file by using the toolbar. To do so, select the file, click the Copy button, and then click the Paste button.

 

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Protecting your system with the Registry Checker

Windows 98 provides many utilities that allow you to keep your system in tip-top condition. For example, ScanDisk keeps your hard drive error-free, Disk Defragmenter keeps your files organized, and Disk Cleanup reduces the amount of unnecessary clutter on your hard drive. Chances are, you're familiar with these utilities and use them all the time. However, there are several other Windows 98 utilities that are extremely beneficial to the survival of your system yet are relatively unknown to the average Windows 98 user. One of these utilities is the Registry Checker.

 

 

 

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Creating new files on the fly

In a hurry to create a new file? If so, you're in luck because Windows 98 will let you do so right from the desktop. Just right-click anywhere on the desktop and choose New from the shortcut menu. In addition to the usual Folder and Shortcut options, you'll find file types for many of the applications installed on your computer. When you choose a file type, a new icon will appear on your desktop indicating a new file of the selected type. At this point, the icon name is selected, so you can name the file by just typing the name. Then, double-click this icon to open the application and the new file. 

 

 

 

 

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Moving and copying files with the drag-and-drop technique

When it comes to dragging and dropping files, Windows 98 determines whether to move or copy the files based on the location of the source and destination folders. If the source and destination folders are on the same physical hard disk, Windows 98 moves the file. If the source and destination folders are on different hard disks, Windows 98 copies the file. However, you can override these default drag-and-drop rules with certain keystrokes. If you want to copy files when the source and destination folders are on the same physical hard disk, hold down the [Ctrl] key as you drag the files. If you want to move files when the source and destination folders are on different hard disks, hold down the [Shift] key as you drag the files.


If having to remember to hold down either the [Ctrl] or [Shift] key as you drag files is not your idea of fun, you can move and copies files, and even create shortcuts, by using the right mouse button. When you drag a file with the right mouse button and drop it, Windows 98 displays the shortcut menu, which allows you to select the operation you want to perform.

 

 

 

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Quickly opening folders

When you want to quickly open folders, you might want to use the Run dialog box. For most local files, you need the full DOS path, but you can skip that step when opening a folder under the Windows hierarchy. For example, you can open the SendTo, System, or Start Menu folder by typing just the name in the Run dialog box and pressing [Enter]. (Use quotation marks if the name includes a space.) To instantly open a folder view of everything on the desktop, open the Run dialog box and type desktop. To browse the root directory of your C: drive, type \.

 

 

 

 

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Format floppies in DOS for better multitasking

Even though you can format floppy disks from within Windows Explorer or My Computer, it's better to format them from a DOS prompt. The reason being that Windows 98 will be able to multitask better when the format operation is occurring in an MS-DOS Prompt window than when it occurs in Windows Explorer or My Computer. In other words, you'll be able to run other applications better while the floppy disk is being formatted in the background.

 

 

 

 

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Unlocking the Windows folder in Web view

If you're using Web view to view your folders, you've encountered what we call the childproof lock that Windows 98 places on the Windows folder. This lock shows up in the form of a warning message in the Windows folder when you attempt to access it. To bypass this, all you need to do is click the Show Files link. When you do, you can see all the files and subfolders contained in the Windows folder.

This feature is designed to prevent novice users from accidentally deleting crucial system files. However, if you're confident that you're not going to be accidentally deleting files, you can disable the childproof lock.

To do so, from the Start menu, select Find/File Or Folders to launch the Find utility, then search for the file folder.htt. When Find returns the results, select the folder.htt file in the Windows folder and rename it folder.out.

To create a standard Web view file for the Windows folder, pull down the View menu and select the Customize This Folder command. When you see the Customize This Folder wizard appear, simply click the Next button twice to create a default Web view file. When Notepad opens and displays the contents of the new, standard Web view file, simply close Notepad and then click the Finish button to end the Customize This Folder wizard.

 

 

 

 

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Creating a Favorites Web page

If you would prefer a larger view of your Favorites menu, why not turn it into Web page? To do so, pull down the File menu and select the Import and Export command. Then, use the Import/Export Wizard to export your Favorites menu to an HTML file. To load the file into Internet Explorer, pull down the File menu, select the Open command, and use the Open dialog box to locate the file.

 

 

 

 

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Understanding the mysterious Mscreate.dir files

You may have noticed a bunch of 0-byte hidden files called Mscreate.dir in various folders on your system and wondered what these files and where they come from? You probably also have wondered if you can safely delete them. Here's the scoop:

Mscreate.dir files are special files that let Microsoft applications remove all appropriate folders during an uninstall operation. When you install a Microsoft application, such as Office 97, the Setup program creates one of these innocuous files in each folder it places on your hard disk. If you later run Setup in maintenance or uninstall mode, it looks for the Mscreate.dir files to determine whether it can delete the folder.

If you delete these files now and someday run Setup in uninstall mode, Setup won't delete the empty folder. Since these hidden files don't take up any hard disk space and are important to the uninstall procedure, we suggest you leave them where they are.

 

 

 

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Secret way to close Internet Explorer

If you're using Internet Explorer 4.x or 5.0, you can close your browser window using the secret keystroke [Ctrl]-W. This secret keystroke can also be used to close Windows Explorer and My Computer windows.

 

 

 

 

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Understanding the power of My Documents

Many applications, such as Word and Excel, recognize the My Documents folder as the central data storage location on your hard disk. Thus, every time you open or save a document in one of these applications, the Open or Save As dialog box displays the contents of the My Documents folder on drive C. Although you may not yet realize it, My Documents is one of Windows 98's most useful data-management features!

 

 

 

 

 

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Restoring a missing Briefcase

If you accidentally delete the My Briefcase icon on your desktop, you can restore it easily. To do so, right-click anywhere on the desktop. When the desktop shortcut menu appears, select Briefcase from the New submenu. You'll then see a New Briefcase icon on your desktop. You can rename the icon as My Briefcase.

 

 

 

 

 

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Removing Online Services to free up disk space

As you know, when you install Windows 98 on your system, the installation procedure install several starter files that allow you to easily connect to and sign up for a nationally provided online service. Once you've selected an online service, you can save about 1MB of hard drive space by removing these starter files. To do so, open Control Panel, double-click on the Add/Remove Program icon, and select the Windows Setup tab. Then, select Online Services, click Details and then clear the check boxes of the services you don't want. To complete the operation,
click Apply, and then click OK.

 

 

 

 

 

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Canceling a drag-and-drop operation

Have you ever started dragging a file from one location to another and then discovered that you grabbed the wrong file? If so, chances are that you dragged the file back to it original location in order to cancel the operation. While this technique works, there's a quicker way to cancel a drag-and-drop operation--just press [Esc]. When you do, the operation is immediately cancelled.

 

 

 

 

 

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Saving temporary documents to the desktop

When you're working with temporary documents, you may not want to save them on your hard drive lest you forget about them and they end up wasting hard drive space. Rather, save those temporary documents to the desktop. You can do so quickly in Windows 98 by taking advantage of the View Desktop button on the toolbar of most
Save As dialog boxes. Just click the View Desktop button and click the Save button.

 

 

 

 

 

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Speed up the start up

If you want to speed up Windows 98's start up procedure, you can shave a few seconds by making some changes to the Msdos.sys file. However, the Msdos.sys file is a System file that has both the Read-only and Hidden attributes enabled, so it won't show up in either My Computer or Windows Explorer unless you've enabled the Show all files option on the View tab of the Folder Options properties dialog box. Once you've found Msdos.sys, you need to disable the Read-only attribute so that you can edit the file. To do so, right-click the file's name in the window and select Properties from the shortcut menu. When you do, you'll see the Msdos.sys Properties dialog box. At this point, deselect the Read-only check box and click OK. (Don't worry about the Archive and Hidden check boxes--you can leave them selected.)

Now, launch Notepad, open the Msdos.sys file, locate the [Options] section, and add the setting BootDelay=0. Then, save the Msdos.sys file and close Notepad. Finally, return Windows Explorer or My Computer, access the Msdos.sys Properties dialog box again, and re-enable the read-only attribute.

 

 

 

 

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Running Hover in Windows 98

Do you still have a Windows 95 CD? Do you remember playing the Hover game that's in the Funstuff folder on the Windows 95 CD the. If you're like most folks, you enjoyed playing Hover, but have long since forgotten about it since it's buried on the Windows 95 CD. Fortunately, Hover works fine in Windows 98 and if you have an extra 16MB of space on your hard drive, you can copy Hover to your hard drive and play it anytime you like. To do
so, insert the Windows 95 CD into your CD-ROM drive. When you see the Autorun dialog box that warns you that you're running a newer version of Windows, click Cancel. Then, open Windows Explorer, locate the Funstuff\Hover folder, and copy the entire contents of that folder to your hard drive. (Keep in mind that you can't use My Computer to access the Windows 95 CD when you're running Windows 98.) Now, create a Hover submenu
on the Start menu and create shortcuts to the files Hover.exe, Hover.hlp, and Hovrread.txt. Take a moment to read over the Hovrread.txt as it contains some good information on running the game. Then, spend some time perusing the Hover.hlp file to learn more about the objective of the game and to learn some great hints.

 

 

 

 

 

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Converting Favorites/Bookmarks

Do you use both Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator? If so, chances are that you'd like to have one set of Favorites/Bookmarks that you can use in both browsers. Unfortunately, that would be a little tricky. However, you can easily convert Favorites/Bookmarks back and forth between Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator with Microsoft's FavTool utility. To download this utility, just point your browser to

http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/ieplatform/favtool/favtool.asp.

 

 

 

 

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Converting graphic formats in Paint

In Windows 98's version of Paint, you'll discover that you can open files in both the GIF and JPG formats as well as the standard BMP format. This allows you to easily convert between GIF, JPG, and BMP formats. To do so, open the file as you usually would, then pull down the File menu and select the Save As command. Now, select the desired format from the Save As Type drop-down list and click Save.

 

 

 

 

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Creating 3D Text reminders

As you may know, Windows 98 provides you with several OpenGL 3D screen savers. The 3D Text screen saver can display either the time or text on the screen when the screen saver is active. Since you can customize the text that the 3D Text screen saver uses, it's perfect for reminders.

 

 

 

 

 

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Transform Windows Explorer into My Computer on the fly

If you're working in Windows Explorer and suddenly realize that the task you're performing could be done more easily in a My Computer style folder window, don't close Windows Explorer and then open My Computer-just transform Windows Explorer into My Computer. To do so, just click the close button in the top right corner of the All Folders pane. You can then reverse the transformation by pulling down the View menu, opening the Explorer Bar submenu and selecting the All Folders option.

 

 

 

 

 

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Taking [Ctrl] of your system

When you're working in a document or with files and you need to move or copy text or files, make sure that you take control of your system with the [Ctrl] keyboard shortcuts. Use [Ctrl]X for cutting, [Ctrl]C for copying, [Ctrl]V for pasting, and [Ctrl]Z for undoing any operation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Use the Show Desktop button

As you use Windows 98 day-to-day, it's easy to forget about the little things-like the Show Desktop button. When you need to access the desktop, don't minimize all your open windows one by one-click the Show Desktop button. When you're finished on the desktop, click the Show Desktop button again to return all the windows to the way
they were.

 

 

 

 

 

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Renaming your Quick Launch toolbar icons

When you hover your mouse pointer over the icons on the Quick Launch toolbar, you see the names assigned to the items as pop-up ToolTips. If you've added items to the Quick Launch toolbar using drag-and-drop, the ToolTip box will read Shortcut to [item]. You can remove the words Shortcut to and replace them with Launch or simply delete them altogether. When you do, the ToolTip is cleaner and takes up less space. To make this change, launch windows Explorer or My Computer and access the C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\
Quick Launch folder. You can then easily rename the shortcuts by selecting them and pressing [F2].

 

 

 

 

 

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Quickly accessing the Internet

If you're on a network that's patched directly to the Internet, you probably keep Internet Explorer minimized on your taskbar all day long so that you can quickly and easily access the Web when you need something. However, the whole time that Internet Explorer is running in the background, it's using valuable system resources that could be put to better use enhancing the performance of other tasks, such as calculating spreadsheet formulas in Excel.

A better solution to quickly access the Internet is to create an Address toolbar. You can do this by right-clicking on the taskbar and selecting Toolbars/Address from the context menu. Then, move the Address toolbar to the top of your desktop and configure it to use the Auto Hide and Always On Top features. Now, when you need to access the Internet, just move your cursor to the top of the screen and when the Address toolbar appears, type in the address. When you do, Internet Explorer launches and connects to the requested site.

 

 

 

 

 

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Investigating your USB devices with the USB View utility

Do you have USB devices attached to your system? If so, you'll want to investigate a hidden utility called USB View. This utility can come in real handy for diagnosing problems or finding out whether Windows 98
recognizes your USB device. You'll find the USB View utility on the Windows 98 CD in the Tools\Reskit\Diagnose folder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Problem with Format.com

When you use the command Format x: /s, you may receive the error message "Insufficient memory to load system files. Format terminated." Microsoft has reported that this is a randomly occurring problem with Windows 98, but offers no reason for the problem. There is a workaround, though. Simply format your hard drive without using the /s
parameter with the command Format x:. Then, use the Sys command Sys x: to transfer the operating system over to the hard drive.

 

 

 

 

 

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Password protecting your backups

If you're really security conscious, you'll be happy to know that you can password protect your backup jobs in Microsoft Backup. When you do, nobody can open, back up to, or restore files from your backup job. To assign a password to a backup job, launch Microsoft Backup and select the backup job that you want to password protect from the Backup Job dropdown list. Then, click the Options button in the bottom-right corner. When you see the Backup Job Options dialog box, select the Password tab, and choose the Protect This Backup With A Password check box. Once you do, the Password and Confirm Password text boxes become active and you can assign a password to your backup job.

 

 

 

 

 

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Disabling animated windows and menus

As you know, by default Windows 98 is configured to use animated windows and menus. This means that the when you minimize and maximize windows as well as open menus, Windows 98 uses special effects to create the illusion that the windows and menus explode on to the screen.

While this special effects magic is very cool, takes time and resources. If you want to see how much, simply disable this feature. To do so, access the Control Panel and open the Display Properties dialog box. Now, select the Effects tab and clear the Animate Windows, Menus And Lists check box in the Visual Effects panel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Performing file management in the Save As and Open dialog boxes

Windows 98's Save As and Open dialog boxes allow you to do more than simply save and open documents. They actually provide you with the most common file management features you need when saving and opening files. This means that if you discover a file-management task while saving or opening a document, you don't need to switch to My Computer or Windows Explorer to perform the job. Once you become familiar with these file-management features, you'll be able to save time and be more productive.

 

 

 

 

 

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Faster ISP connections

When you create a dial-up networking connection to connect to your Internet Service Provider (ISP), one of the default settings configures the connection to log on to the network. However, most ISPs don't use this setting and having it enabled can add up to 60 seconds to your connection time. Fortunately, you can disable this setting by opening the Dial-up Networking folder, right-clicking on your connection and selecting Properties from the shortcut menu. Next, select the Server Types tab and clear the Log On To Network check box. You should verify that you can still connect to your ISP.

 

 

 

 

 

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Minimizing and restoring with the taskbar

If you click the icon on the taskbar for the application you're currently working in, the application window will instantly minimize. When you click that icon again, the application window will restore to its previous size and location.

 

 

 

 

 

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Quickly access FTP sites

If you need to access an FTP site, you can do so quite quickly from within Windows Explorer. All you have to do is type the FTP URL in the Address box and press [Enter]. When you connect to the FTP site, you can copy files from the site using drag and drop, just like you would files on your hard disk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Working with MS-DOS names

As you may know, Windows 98 uses MS-DOS names to remain backward compatible with older 16-bit Windows and DOS applications that don't understand long filenames. MS-DOS names aren't difficult to work with, but they can be tricky. The typical pattern for an MS-DOS name is the first six letters in the filename, followed by the tilde character (~) and the number 1. For example, the MS-DOS name for the Program Files folder is Progra~1.

However, some MS-DOS names use other numbers when there are other folders with the same first six characters. For instance, the folders named Microsoft Office and Microsoft Games might have the MS-DOS names
Micros~1 and Micros~2.

If you're unsure of the MS-DOS name for a particular item, you can track it down easily. All you need to do is right-click on the item and select the Properties command from the shortcut menu. You'll find the MS-DOS name in the center of the Properties dialog box.

 

 

 

 

 

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Quickly saving files to the Desktop from the Save As dialog box

When you create and save a file that you only intend to keep temporarily, chances are that you save it to the Desktop so that you can quickly and easily delete it when you're finished with it. You can expedite this procedure by using the View Desktop button in the Save As dialog box. Once you create the file and click the Save button, you'll see the Save As dialog box. At this point, simply click the View Desktop button, name the file and click the Save button.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Fixing lost file associations

If you accidentally associate a particular file extension with the wrong application, don't try to fix it with Windows Explorer's File Types tab in the Folder Options dialog box - there's no way to remove a single extension from a registered file type without deleting the entire entry and starting over. Instead, use Windows 98's version of the Windows 3.x File Manager, which you can launch from the Run dialog box by typing winfile and pressing [Enter]. Once File Manager opens, pull down the File menu and select the Associate command. When the Associate dialog box
appears, type the extension that you want to get rid of in the Files With Extension text box. When you do, you'll see the errant file association appear in the Associate With text box. To remove the file association, scroll to the top of the list of file types, select (None), and then click OK.

 

 

 

 

 

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Adding the other editor to Windows 98

Did you know that Windows 98 comes with another text editor besides Notepad? This other text editor has features similar to those in Notepad, yet it offers other features that Notepad doesn't have such as the ability to work with multiple text files and to change the background and text colors. Of course, the text editor that we're talking about is the MS-DOS Editor, which is commonly referred to simply as Edit. While Edit is a DOS-based application, you can easily configure it to work just like a Windows application. To do so, use My Computer or Windows Explorer to locate the Edit.com file in the \Windows\Command folder. When you do, right-click on the file, drag it to your desktop and select the Create Shortcut(s) Here command from the shortcut menu. Once Windows 98 creates the shortcut, right-click on the shortcut icon and select the Properties command from the shortcut menu. Then choose the Program tab and select the Close On Exit check box. To finish, click OK.

Now, you can simply double-click on the shortcut to launch Edit and when you're done using it, you can close it simply by clicking the close button in the upper-right corner or by using the Exit command on the File menu.

 

 

 

 

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Repositioning the Quick Launch toolbar

If you like using the Quick Launch toolbar but wish that it didn't take up room on the taskbar, you'll be glad to know that you can easily move the Quick Launch toolbar to any other location on the desktop. To do so, simply position your mouse pointer over the vertical bar on the left edge of the Quick Launch toolbar. When your cursor turns into a
double-headed arrow, just drag the Quick Launch toolbar to any location on the desktop. You can anchor it to the top, left or right edge of the desktop. Once you have it positioned where you want, you can then right-click on the toolbar and select the Always On Top command so that you can always access the Quick Launch toolbar just like you can the taskbar.

 

 

 

 

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Use the Show Desktop button

As you use Windows 98 day-to-day, it's easy to forget about the little things-like the Show Desktop button. When you need to access the desktop, don't minimize all your open windows one by one-click the Show Desktop button. When you're finished on the desktop, click the Show Desktop button again to return all the windows to the way they
were.

 

 

 

 

 

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Creating shortcuts in the Network Neighborhood

If you're connected to a network, chances are good that you have shortcuts to various network resources on your desktop. However, you cancut down on desktop clutter and keep your network shortcuts more organized if you place them in the Network Neighborhood. Keep in mind that you can't copy the existing network shortcuts from your desktop to the Network Neighborhood--you must create new network shortcuts. To do so, connect to a network resource, use the right mouse button to drag a folder, file, computer or even a printer icon to the Network
Neighborhood icon. When you drop the icon, Windows 98 displays the Shortcut dialog box. To continue, click Yes. Now, when you need to quickly connect to network resources, you can easily find them in the Network Neighborhood. Then, you can easily rename the shortcuts with a more descriptive title.

 

 

 

 

 

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Repairing icons

As you may know, in order to improve performance when loading icons into the user interface, Windows 98 keeps track of all the icons currently in use in a single file called ShellIconCache. If the ShellIconCache file becomes corrupted, the icons used in the user interface will become scrambled. For example, you may discover that your icons are all black or have mysteriously changed. You can quickly set things straight by selecting Rebuild Icons from the dropdown list on TweakUI's Repair tab.

 

 

 

 

 

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Using the Bcc Field in Outlook Express

Want to Send a broadcast email message to a group of friends, but don't want them all to see each others email addresses? If you're using Outlook Express, the task is as easy as Bcc, which stands for blind carbon copy. To use the Bcc feature, open a New Message window, pull down the View menu, and select the All Headers command.
When you do, you'll see the Bcc field added to the New Message window. Now, just put your email address in the To field and the addresses of all the people you want to send the message to in the Bcc field.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Display a map to an Outlook Express contact's address

If a contact card has an address entered, you can use your Internet connection and Outlook Express to create a map to the address. You must be connected to the Internet for this feature to work.

Open the contact card and choose the Home tab. Then, click the View Map button. The map opens in your default browser using Expedia.com. Click the taskbar button for your browser to see the map.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Uncovering multimedia properties

Have you ever wondered how many minutes a MID or WAV file will play? Fortunately, you can find out easily. To do so, just right-click on the file and select Properties from the shortcut menu. Once the file's properties sheet appears, click the Details button and check out the Media Length field. You can then click the Preview button and listen to the sound clip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Automatically clearing your cache

If you're using Internet Explorer 5.x, you should know about a hidden feature that allows the browser to automatically clear its cache each time you close the program. To activate this feature, pull down the Tools menu and select the Internet Options command. When you see the Internet Options dialog box, select the Advanced tab and scroll down the Settings list box until you see the Security section. Then, select the Empty Temporary Internet Files Folder When Browser Is Closed check box.

 

 

 

 

 

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Activating slow motion in Windows' DVD Player

When watching a DVD movie, you can activate the slow motion feature by right-clicking on the Play button and selecting the Half Speed command from the Play Speed submenu.

 

 

 

 

 

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Activating the Full Screen feature

The next time you open Windows Explorer, press the [F11] key. When you do, you activate a Full Screen feature similar to the one found in Internet Explorer. This feature is available in Windows Explorer because of the tight integration between the Windows 98 operating system and Internet Explorer. To return the screen to normal size,
simply press the [F11] key again. The hidden Full Screen feature is also available in My Computer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Checking your Windows Update download history

Windows Update creates a log file on your hard drive called Wulog.txt in Windows 98 and Wvhistv3.log in Windows 98 Second Edition. You can find these files in the C:\Windows and C:\Program Files\Windows Update
folders respectively. You can open either of these files in Notepad and track your download history offline. (Keep in mind that the Wulog.txt file is a Hidden file, so to be able to find it, you need to enable the Show All Files option in Windows Explorer or My Computer.)

 

 

 

 

 

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Multiple monitor screen savers

If you have a multiple monitor setup, you know that not many screen savers will work across all of your monitors. Some of the native Windows 98 screen savers will, such as Pipes or Maze, but not all of them. Of course this can be disappointing. We recently discovered an awesome screen saver that displays beautifully across multiple monitors called Lissajous, from Edward R. Hobbs. This screen saver is based on the work of a French physicist named Jules Antoine Lissajous, who discovered that different sound frequencies would generate unique patterns of light when reflected off a vibrating mirror. When you install the screen saver in Windows 98, access its settings dialog box, and clear the Square Aspect Ratio check box in order to allow the pattern to spread across your monitors. For more information on Lissajous and to download the screen saver, just point your browser to the Lissajous Labs Web site at:
http://members.aol.com/edhobbs/applets/lissajous

 

 

 

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Taking full advantage of AutoComplete

If you're using Internet Explorer 5.x, you know that the AutoComplete feature remembers information that you type in forms on Web pages and URLs that you type in the Address box and instantly fills in that information as soon as you begin typing something that you've previously entered. However, you may not know that the AutoComplete
feature also works in the Run dialog box. When you access the Run dialog box, you can make use of AutoComplete to help you quickly fill in the Open text box with commands that you've previously used.

 

 

 

 

 

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Customizing your desktop themes in Windows 98

Have you installed Microsoft Plus! 98 on your system? If you have, then you've probably installed the Desktop Themes tool and are using a variety of the desktop themes that come with the package. As you've been using the default desktop themes, you've probably discovered certain elements in various themes that you like best. Fortunately, the Desktop Themes tool makes it easy to mix and match the various elements and create your own desktop themes. For all the details, point your browser to the Inside Microsoft Windows 98 Web site at

 

 

 

 

 

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Working with other file formats in Paint

By default Paint only provides support for bitmap (BMP) files. However, if you install a program that provides filters for other types of graphic files (such as GIF or JPG files), you can use Paint to open and save these file types. For example, Microsoft Word for Windows provides an assortment of graphic file format filters you can install.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Adding the Doskey command to your MS-DOS prompt

As you may recall from your DOS days, the Doskey command keeps a history of the DOS commands that you've recently used and allows you to recall those commands with the arrow keys. In addition, Doskey allows you to edit the DOS command line easily. Each time you open an MS-DOS Prompt window in Windows 98, you can simply type "Doskey" at the command prompt to enable Doskey's features. However, you can automate the procedure so that Doskey runs each time you open an MS-DOS Prompt window. To do so, access the properties sheet for the
MS-DOS Prompt window and add the Doskey command as the startup batch file. Now, close the MS-DOS Prompt window. The next time you open an MS-DOS Prompt window, Doskey will load automatically.

 

 

 

 

 

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Creating notes on your desktop

Many people routinely jot down important notes on scraps of paper that end up lying around on their desks indefinitely. If you're one of those people, you may want to consider an alternative to this chancy "organizational" method. Wouldn't it be nice if you could quickly create a note on your desktop that you could easily edit, print or delete? You can if you use the following technique.

Let's suppose you're hard at work when you remember that you need to pick up some things at the grocery store on the way home. Instead of writing a reminder on the back of your hand, right-click on an empty space on your desktop and select New and then Text Document from the resulting shortcut menu. When you do, a document named New Text Document appears on your desktop. The document's name will be highlighted, so just type "pick up groceries tonight" in the name field and press [Enter]. Now if you double-click on the document icon, Notepad opens the text file and allows you to enter your grocery list or any other information. You can edit the list at any time, and at the end of the day you can print it by right-clicking on the file's icon and selecting the Print command from the shortcut menu.

 

 

 

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What's going on behind the logo?

Have you ever wondered what's happening behind the scenes while you're looking at the Windows 98 startup logo? If you have, you can easily find out by pressing the [Esc] button when the logo appears. In doing so, you'll see the Windows 98 boot process being narrated by a lot of rapidly scrolling text. If you want to really take it all in, you can temporarily stop the boot process by pressing the [Pause] key on your keyboard. Then, just press any key on your keyboard to get things rolling again.

 

 

 

 

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Opening folders in the Find tool

If you use Windows 98's Find tool to search for files, you'll love to know that you can easily access the folder containing the file. Once you track down and select the file that you were looking for, pull down the file menu and select the Open Containing Folder command. When you do, Windows 98 opens a new My Computer window showing the folder that contains the file.

 

 

 

 

 

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Secret FreeCell games

Think you're hot at FreeCell? If so, try to beat these secret games. When you launch FreeCell, immediately press [F3] to bring up the Game Number dialog box. While the dialog box prompts you to select a game number from 1 to 32,000, type either -1 or -2, click OK, and see if you're up to the challenge.

 

 

 

 

 

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Using the Cool Switch

In addition to using Windows 98's taskbar to switch among running applications, you can use the Cool Switch. So named in the Windows 3.x days when it was the only way to switch among running applications, the Cool Switch still exists in Windows 98. To use it, press [Alt][Tab]. When you do, you'll see a window in the center of your screen showing all the applications currently running on your system. If you press [Alt][Tab] while the window is open, you'll advance to the next application in the list. When you release the keys, the program that was selected will come to the foreground. If you press [Shift][Alt][Tab] while the window is open you can move backwards in the list.

 

 

 

 

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Changing desktop icons

Windows 98 makes it easy for you to change the icons assigned to My Computer, My Documents, Network Neighborhood, or the Recycle Bin. To do so, simply right-click anywhere on the desktop and select the Properties command from the context menu. When the Display Properties sheet appears, click on the Effects tab. You can then select the icon you want to change from the Desktop Icons panel and then click the Change Icon button. When the Change Icon dialog box appears you'll see a list box full of icons. If you don't see one you want, you can click
the Browse button and locate one of the files listed in the table below, each of which contain quite a few icons to choose from.

File Location
-------------------------------------------
Cool.dll Windows\System
Shell32.dll Windows\System
User.exe Windows\System
Moricons.dll Windows
Progman.exe Windows
Welcome.exe Windows

 

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Hiding the taskbar

As you know, the taskbar is always visible at the bottom of the screen. This makes it easy for you to switch between active applications. However, you might not want to sacrifice a portion of your screen for the taskbar. For example, if you're working with large graphic images, you'll need to see as much of the screen as possible. If this is the case, you can configure the taskbar so that it's visible on the desktop only when you need it.

To do so, click the Start button and select the Taskbar command from the Settings menu. When the Taskbar Properties dialog box appears, select the Auto Hide check box on the Taskbar Options page. Next, click the OK button to close the Taskbar Properties dialog box and to activate the new setting.

As soon as you do, you'll see the taskbar quickly drop down below the bottom edge of the screen. To access the taskbar when the Auto Hide option is activated, you simply move your pointer to the edge of the screen. When it gets close to the edge, the taskbar jumps back into position; when you move your pointer away from the taskbar, Windows automatically hides it again.

Note: If you have Microsoft Plus! 98 installed and activate the Auto Hide option, the taskbar moves up and down more gracefully.

 

 

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Finding out how long Windows 98 has been running

Have you ever left your system turned on for several days and then wondered how long it's been on? If so, you can find that information in Windows 98's System Information utility. You'll find the System Information utility on the Programs | Accessories | SystemTools menu. Once System Information is up and running, look for the Uptime value
in the right panel.

 

 

 

 

 

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Find a missing DLL file online

When you uninstall a program that you no longer use, you might inadvertently delete a shared DLL (dynamic link library) file that's needed by another program. You'll know it's happened when you launch one of your favorite programs, only to receive a "missing file" error message that contains the name of the DLL that's gone MIA. The actions of uninstall procedures depend on the uninstall utility that came with the program you'd like to remove. Some are sensitive to shared files and alert you when you're in danger of deleting one, while others simply wipe out every file associated with the unwanted program. Is this an act of spite? Who knows. The good news is, the Internet is host to a number of DLL banks where you can easily download the missing file-in most cases, for free. Here are a few worth checking out:

DLL Star: http://dllstar.hypermart.net
TopFile.com: http://topfile.com/dll
DLLSearch.com: http://www.dllsearch.com

 

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at:  http://home.att.net/~m.prendergast-alliedsignal/1024Win98.htm

[ Sept. 2005  pcd ]