Desktop Tips

Aligning Drop-Down Menus to the Right - Submitted 4/25/97
Repositioning a Background Bitmap - Added 4/6/97
Changing Drive Icons - Added 4/6/97
Adding AnyFolder and Mail to SendTo - Submitted 3/7/97
Adding Shortcuts to Desktop Without "Shortcut To" text - Submitted 1/24/97
Easier User Interface - Submitted 1/24/97
Removing the Start Button - Submitted 11/24/96
Changing the clock to 24-Hour Time - Added 10/20/96
Having an Icon with No Name - Added 9/15/96
Removing the InBox and Recycle Bin Icons from the Desktop - Added 9/8/96
Removing Items from NEW on the Desktop - Added 7/28/96
Modifying Default Desktop Icons - Added 7/27/96
Changing or Removing the Start Menu Icons - Submitted 6/29/96
Adding Drives to the SendTo List - Submitted 6/29/96
Adding a Protected Briefcase - Submitted 6/23/96
Customizing the Start Button's Name and Icon - Added 5/28/96
Adding the Device Manager to your Desktop - Added 5/27/96
Adding Options to the Right-Click of the Start Menu - Submitted 5/20/96
How to make the task bar autohide - Added 5/15/96
More Removing Shortcut Arrows - Submitted 3/12/96
Closing Nested Folders - Added 2/28/96
Changing Application Icons - Submitted 1/21/96
Moving and Resizing the Taskbar - Submitted 1/21/96
Correcting Corrupted Fonts - 1/11/96
Changing Desktop Folders - With No Registry Changes - Submitted 12/14/95
Updating the Desktop - 11/28/95
Adding the Desktop to your Start Menu - 11/17/95
Removing the shortcut arrows (potential problem) - 11/5/95
Getting rid of Click here to continue - 11/4/95
Adding the Control Panel icons to the Desktop - 10/2/95
Adding the Control Panel to the Start Menu - 10/2/95
Minimizing all windows - 9/24/95/95
Removing the shortcut icon arrows - 9/18/95
Turning on AutoArrange - 9/13/95
Creating document scraps - 9/13/95
Quick access to your Desktop - 9/3/95
Restoring corrupted icons
Turing off Windows Animation
Renaming the Recycle Bin
Turning off Desktop Icons
Using old Window's Groups
Speeding up the Start Menu
Changing the My Computer or Recycle Bin icons
Removing the Tildes in filenames
Removing the Network Neighborhood icon
Changing the Startup and Logoff Bitmap screens

Aligning Drop-Down Menus to the Right

Submitted 4/25/97

All dropdown menus can be aligned to the right.
This features becomes useful when trying to access
menus with submenus that appear directly to the right.

  1. Open the Registory editor (e.g. regedit.exe)
  2. Goto \\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
  3. Create a string entry called "MenuDropAlignment"
  4. Set its value to 1
  5. Reboot

Note: Will not work under NT 4.0.

Submitted by Maki Ishizaki

Repositioning a Background Bitmap

Added 4/6/97

Normally, you only options for displaying a background bitmap are tiled, centered, or stretch to fit (with the Plus Pack).
You can edit the registry and have a third option which is to place the bitmap anywhere on your screen by specifying the X and Y coordinates.

  1. Start Regedit
  2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Control Panel / Desktop
  3. Create new Strings called WallpaperOriginX and WallpaperOriginY
  4. Give them values to position them around your desktop
  5. The bitmap must be smaller than your desktop size

Changing Drive Icons

Added 4/6/97

To change a drive's icon when you open My Computer

  1. Create a file called AUTORUN.INF on the root of your hard drive
  2. Enter the lines

[autorun]
ICON=Name of the ICON file

For the name of the icon file you can either specify the path and name (e.g. ICON=C:\WINDOWS\ICONS\MY_ICON.ICO) or
a specific icon in a library (e.g. ICON=ICONFILE.DLL,2)

Adding AnyFolder and Mail to SendTo

Submitted 3/7/96

Previous examples of adding items to the SendTo usually require editing the Registry.
An easy way around this is to use the following methods.

To add ANYFOLDER:

  1. Open the Explorer
  2. Go to \Windows\SendTo
  3. Right click in the right hand panel
  4. Select New / Text Document
  5. Name it anything with a .otherfolder extension

When you want to send files to another folder:

  1. Select the files with Explorer
  2. Right Click
  3. Select Send to and the name you just created
  4. You them have the option of copying or moving the file to a folder of your choice

To add Mail:

  1. Open the Explorer
  2. Go to \Windows\SendTo
  3. Right click in the right hand panel
  4. Select New / Text Document
  5. Name it anything with a .MapiMail extension (ignore any warnings about the file extension)

When you want to Mail files as attachments:

  1. Select the files with Explorer
  2. Right Click
  3. Select Send to and the Mail name you just created
  4. This allows you to easily mail multiple files

Submitted by Will Raresheid

Adding Shortcuts to Desktop Without "Shortcut To" text

Submitted 1/24/97

  1. Start Regedit
  2. Go to:HKEY_USERS \ .Default \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer
  3. Add binary value to Explorer:link="00,00,00,00"
  4. Now You can make Shortcuts to desktop without Shortcut To" text.

Submitted by Janek Kivisild
[email protected]

Easier User Interface

Submitted 1/24/97

Add a menu item named "Open THIS folder!" to each of your cascading menus off of the Start menu.
This makes it easier to put items wherever you want them!

  1. Go to Windows \ Start Menu \ Programs \ (etc.) in the Explorer
  2. Start right click/dragging folders to the desktop, one by one.
  3. Rename them and left click/drag them back to the same folder.

It takes a little while, but when you are finished you have a much easier interface to work with.

Submitted by Gordy Robbins
[email protected]

Removing the Start Button

Submitted 11/24/96

  1. Click on the start menu button twice, so there is a dashed line around the button
  2. Press Alt and the minus sign
  3. Choose Close to make the start button disappear, or move to move it to the right!

Submitted by Justin Nachod

Note from Bob: - You have to re-boot to get it back again, or:

  1. Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete
  2. Highlight Explorer
  3. Click on the End Task button
  4. Select No to doing a full shutdown
  5. Wait a few seconds and the click on the End Task button

Changing the clock to 24-Hour Time

Added 10/20/96

  1. To change the display of the clock on the taskbar to 24-hour format:
  2. Open the Control Panel
  3. Double-click on the Regional Settings icon
  4. Click on the Time tab
  5. In the Time style section select H:mm:ss

Having an Icon with No Name

Added 9/15/96

Normally you have to have a name for an icon, just spaces are not allowed.
To create an icon with no name attached:

  1. Make sure NumLock is on
  2. Highlight the Icon you want to change
  3. Right-Mouse click and select Rename
  4. While holding down the Alt key, type 0160
  5. Now the icon will have no name below it.

Removing the InBox and Recycle Bin Icons from the Desktop

Added 9/8/96

To remove the InBox from your desktop, without needing to run the Policy Editor:

  1. Start Regedit
  2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ explorer \ Desktop \ NameSpace
  3. Below that should be a few keys
  4. Rename the key {00020D75-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}. I usually put another character before or after the curly braces.
  5. Restart Windows and the InBox icon should be gone
  6. You can do the same for any other items you don't to show such as the Recycle Bin or The Internet icons

Changing or Removing the Start Menu Icons

Submitted 6/29/96

  1. Download Microangelo and install it.
  2. Create a blank.ico, or download "blank.ico" from http://oscar.teclink.net/~bshanks/kcs.html.
  3. Put it in a directory (C:\Windows. Then double click on the Microangelo Engineer to run it.
  4. When you get it up on the screen click on the "start" tab. You will see a list of all the icons in the start menu.
  5. Highlight the first one (programs) and select "Change". It will bring up a dialog box - select "browse".
  6. Go to the directory that contains the blank icon and select it. Hit OK until you get back to the main
  7. Engineer window and do all the rest exactly the same way.
  8. When you have finished changing them all to the blank icon, Hit "Apply".
  9. Hit your start button and look to see if all the icons are invisible. (They should be.)
  10. Close out Micro Engineer and you're finished.

Submitted by Kristy Shanks

Adding Drive to the SendTo List

Submitted 6/29/96

Submitted by Robo
[email protected]

Adding a Protected Briefcase

Submitted 6/23/96

You can make your briefcase a shortcut on the on desktop so if you have multiple users on your PC and you don't want to have a password for your briefcase, you can at least protect it from inadvertent deletion by just making the briefcase a hidden file or in a different location other than \Windows\Desktop\My Briefcase, then send a copy or shortcut to the desktop.

Submitted by Tony Stewart
[email protected]

Customizing the Start Button's Name and Icon

Added 5/28/96

To change the name of the Start button:

  1. Copy EXPLORER.EXE in your Windows directory to another directory
  2. Start a hex editor (I've been using Diskedit from Norton)
  3. Edit EXPLORER.EXE
  4. Search for the string 53 00 74 00 61 00 72 00 74
  5. This is the word Start with the letters separated by a null character
  6. The section you are in should also have the words "There was an internal error..." also separated with the null character immediately following
  7. Now just replace the Start letters with any of your choice (up to 5 characters only)
  8. Exit Windows
  9. Boot to DOS
  10. Copy your new Explorer file over the original

You can also download the program Start Button Hacker - 12K

To change the Start button icon:

  1. Copy USER.EXE in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory to another directory
  2. Use an icon editor that can replace icons in executable files
  3. Edit USER.EXE and replace the flag icons with the icon of your choice
  4. Boot to DOS
  5. Copy the new USER.EXE

The same can be done with NT 4.0, just the offset will be different but the location to just before "There was an internal error..." is the same.

Adding the Device Manager to your Desktop

Added 5/27/96

This allows you to quickly see all the devices attached to your computer.
I use it a lot to select Refresh when I add new external SCSI devices that were not
powered up at startup. This way you do not need to restart the computer. To add the Device Manager Icon:

  1. Right click on an open area of your desktop
  2. Select New / Shortcut
  3. Type in C:\WINDOWS\CONTROL SYSDM.CPL, SYSTEM, 1
  4. Replace C:\WINDOWS with whatever directory you installed Windows95
  5. Click on the Next box
  6. At the next dialog box type in Device Manager
  7. Click on the Finish when you are done

Note: Replacing the 1 with a 3 will bring up the Performance Status

Adding Options to the Right-Click of the Start Menu

Submitted 5/20/96

To add an option to the Right-Click of the Start button:

  1. Go to Control Panel, View, Options
  2. Click on the File Types Tab
  3. Scroll down until you see File Folder
  4. Click on Edit
  5. Click on New
  6. Type in the Name you want to in the Action box
  7. Type in the Application you want to use

A good option to add is an MS-DOS Prompt:

Try this c:\command.com /k cd %1
It also puts the shortcut on a regular folder.
This command will open a DOS window with that folder as the current directory.

Submitted by Paul Alderson
[email protected]

How to make the task bar autohide

Added 5/15/96

  1. Click the right button on a blank area of the task bar
  2. Select Properties
  3. Select Autohide
  4. Click OK

This will make the task bar slide off the screen when the cursor moves away from it,
and it will slide back on when the cursor is moved near it again.

The same can be done for the MS Office task bar. The "sliding" effect is nice, and can free up some desktop space.

More Removing Shortcut Arrows

Submitted 3/12/96

'lnkfile', 'piffle' and 'internetshortcut' are the three places
that I have seen the isshortcut arrow.
The best way to deal with this is to rename the 'isshortcut' to
'isshortcutbak' by right clicking on the 'isshortcut' then
select rename and add 'bak' to the end.

Submitted by Charles Muckle
[email protected]

Closing Nested Folders

Added 2/28/96

If you have several nested folders (folders within folders) and want to close them all,
simply, hold the Shift key while closing the last folder
This will close all previous ones as well.

Changing Application Icons

Submitted 1/21/96

To have a wider choice of application icons:

  1. Right click on the icon shortcut
  2. Chose Properties
  3. Click on the Program tab
  4. Chose Change icon
  5. Click on Browse
  6. Select Files of type All Files
  7. Browse to the directory where your icon files are kept
  8. You can even use some bitmap files for you icons

Submitted by Cengiz Lugal
[email protected]

Moving and Resizing the Taskbar

Submitted 1/21/96

You can move the taskbar by pointing on a corner panel and dragging it
It is easier to move if you close all your windows first

You can also resize it by moving the mouse to the edge and dragging it larger or smaller.

Submitted by Adrian Aisemberg - Israel
[email protected]

Correcting Corrupted Fonts

Submitted 1/11/96

If you have a problem with your non-true type fonts, here's what you do:

  1. Open the Control Panel
  2. Double click on Fonts
  3. Search for the "Monotype Sorts" font
  4. Delete this Font

Submitted by Leslie Mayo
[email protected]

Changing Desktop Folders - With No Registry Changes

Submitted 12/14/95

  1. From the Explorer, create a folder somewhere OTHER than the desktop, and call it something like "Desktop Folders."
  2. Move all your desktop folders into that folder.
  3. Create shortcuts to all of those folders on your desktop.
  4. Now, you are free to change the icons of each shortcut individually, to anything you like!

Submitted by Jim Andrews
[email protected]
Win95 Page

Updating the Desktop

Submitted 11/28/95

If you want to update the desktop, for example after you've been changing the registry.

  1. Right-Click anywhere on the desktop
  2. Press F5

[email protected]

Adding the Desktop to your Start Menu

Submitted 11/17/95

Create a shortcut to the Explorer on your Desktop

  1. Right click on the Start button
  2. Choose Open
  3. Go into the Programs Folder
  4. Drag the Windows Explorer Icon on your Desktop using the RIGHT Mouse button
  5. Choose copy here

Change the command line switch

  1. Right click on the Shortcut you created
  2. Choose Properties
  3. Choose Shortcut
  4. Type in following command line as target:
  5. If you want the two pane Explorer view ad the switch ,/e
  6. Then rename the Shortcut to "Desktop" or whatever you choose and drag the icon onto the start button.

Submitted by Christine Koch

Removing shortcut arrows

Submitted 11/5/95

One problem when removing shortcut arrows is that
if you delete a desktop item, it will remove it.
If it is a shortcut it will just remove the icon.
If it is not a shortcut, then it will remove the program.
Having the little icon arrow is one way to tell the difference

Submitted by KJ King

Getting rid of Click Here to Continue

Added 11/4/95

  1. Start the Registry Editor
  2. Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Software / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion / Policies / Explorer
  3. Create a binary value and call it NoStartBanner
  4. Double-click on it and give it a value of 01 00 00 00
  5. You will need to repeat the same steps for HKEY_USERS / .Default / Software / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion / Policies / Explorer

Changing the Desktop and Explorer Folder Icons

Added 10/24/95

The following steps will change the icon that is displayed as the default Folder icon.

  1. Start the Registry Editor.
  2. Search for "Shell Icons".
  3. This will bring you to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SOFTWARE / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion / explorer / Shell Icons.
  4. Double-click on the one has the value name of "3" in the right pane.
  5. Type in the new icon you want to use.
  6. If you have a DLL file specified, you need to count for the location of the particular icon you want to use, starting at 0.
  7. To reset the icon cache, use a program such as Tweak with comes with the PowerToys from Microsoft.

Note: I haven't experimented with too many of the other icon changes possible.

Adding Control Panel Icons to the Desktop

Added 10/2/95

This is an easy one..

  1. Simply open up the Control Panel.
  2. Right Click and Drag the icon you want to your desktop or folder.
  3. This will create a shortcut for that icon.
  4. It could come in handy if there are always certain items you need to get to quickly.

Create a Control Panel menu directly below the Start Button

Added 10/2/95

  1. Click the Start Button once with your right mouse button. You should see a right-button menu (called a context menu because it offers different choices in different contexts).
  2. You should see the items Open, Explore, and Find on the context menu. Click Explore with your left mouse button.
  3. An Explorer file management window should open. A directory tree should appear in the left pane, with the right pane displaying the contents of the Start Menu folder.
  4. Right-click any empty space within the right pane. A context menu should appear. Click New and then Folder.
  5. The Explorer will create a highlighted icon called New Folder. Type in the following string, all on one line, replacing the words New Folder with this new line. You must type the period, the curly braces, all four hyphens, and the hexadecimal numbers exactly as shown. After the closing curly brace, press Enter. 
    Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

Other Folders can be added following the same instructions.

Minimizing All Windows

Added 9/24/95

To minimize all windows:

  1. Press Ctrl-ESC ESC to bring up the Task Bar
  2. Right Mouse Click on an open area of the Task Bar
  3. Select Minimize all Windows

This makes it a lot easier to minimize windows when all your open applications are full screen.

With the Microsoft Keyboard, you can accomplish the same thing by pressing the Window-M key.

Removing the Shortcut Icon Arrows

Submitted 9/18/95

  1. Open REGEDIT.EXE
  2. Open the Key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
  3. Open the Key LNKFILE
  4. Delete the value IsShortcut
  5. Open the next Key PIFFILE
  6. Delete the value IsShortcut
  7. Restart the Win95

Submitted by David Wysinger
[email protected]

Turning on AutoArrange for Folders

Added 9/13/95

To make all folders keep AutoArrange turned on:

  1. Open up an existing folder
  2. Select View / Arrange
  3. Arrange the Icons the way you would like, (e.g. Name, Size,etc.)
  4. Select View / Arrange again
  5. Select AutoArrange
  6. Press the Ctrl-key while you close the window.
  7. This folder should now have AutoArrange always selected.

This should allow you to create new folders that have AutoArrange selected by default.
You only need to specify by Name, Size, etc. if you want to change it from the default you set above.
Note: I have only tested this on a few computers. Please give me feedback regarding any problems.

Creating Document Scraps

Submitted 9/13/95

If you are using Microsoft Word 7.0,
you can highlight a section of the document then drag and drop the highlighted area to
your desktop. Windows will create a file for you with a name something like
"Document Scrap From..." followed by the first few words you selected

Submitted by Charlie Williams
[email protected]

Quick Access to Your Desktop

Submitted 9/3/95

How do you access your darn desktop when you have a ton of applications open?
Well you could right click on the taskbar and do a minimize all, but that can be slow.
Instead:

  1. Open a browser window (double-click on "My Computer")
  2. If there is no toolbar, select View from the menu and select Toolbar.
  3. Then from the dropdown list-box in the toolbar select desktop.
  4. Now minimize it and forget about it.
  5. The next time you want to access your desktop just click the desktop window on the taskbar.
  6. As long as you don't close the window when you shutdown, it will reopen when you start windows again.

Submitted by Tim LaDuca
[email protected]

Additional Note from Bob: You can also drag the Desktop folder to the start menu.
Then you just press Ctrl-ESC and click on Desktop

Restoring Corrupted Icons

Submitted by Thomas Lange
[email protected]

Turn Off Window Animation

You can shut off the animation displayed when you minimize and maximize windows.
This tip makes navigating Windows 95 a lot faster especially for those that don't have
super fast video cards.

  1. Open Regedit
  2. HKEY_CURRENT_USER
  3. Control panel
  4. Desktop
  5. WindowMetrics
  6. Right Mouse Click an empty space in the right pane.
  7. Select new/string value.
  8. Name the new value MinAnimate.
  9. Doubleclick on the new string value (MinAnimate) and click on "Modify"
  10. Enter a value of 0 for Off or 1 for On then hit
  11. Close Regedit and all programs then reboot.

Submitted by Jim Asikis
Jim's Home Page
[email protected]

Renaming the Recycle Bin

Turning off Desktop Icons

If you want to turn off all the icons on your desktop:

  1. Start the System Policy Editor
  2. Select File / Open Registry
  3. Select Local User
  4. Select Shell / Restrictions
  5. Select Hide all items on Desktop

All Icons will now be hidden.

Note: One side effect is the your CD will no longer automatically play when it is inserted.

Submitted by Carl Robinson
[email protected]

Adding in Old Windows Groups

If you are setup to dual boot between your old Win 3.x and want to add in the old groups, just click on the *.GRP file in your old windows directory. The programs will be added to your list under Programs in the task bar.

Note: Any DLL's the programs require will need to be copied.

Submitted by KJ King
[email protected]

To speed up the Start Menu

  1. Start the REGEDIT program
  2. Search for the word desktop
  3. This should be in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT / CLSID / {00021400...
  4. Right Click on the right panel
  5. Pick NEW / String Value.
  6. Name it MenuShowDelay, all one word.
  7. Select a value from 1-10, 1 being the fastest.
  8. Exit REGEDIT
  9. Restart Windows

To change the My Computer or Recycle Bin icon

  1. Open Regedit
  2. Find My Computer or Recycle Bin
  3. Tab to the left panel
  4. Double click on the highlighted line
  5. Double click on DefaultIcon in the left panel
  6. Double click on DefaultIcon right panel
  7. Type in the value for the new icon
  8. Note: DLL files can be used. Specify the location of the new icon with the filename,#

Remove the tildes in short filenames

  1. Open Regedit
  2. Go to Hkey_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem
  3. Right Click on the Right pane
  4. Select New / Hex
  5. Add the value NameNumericTail= 0

To remove the Network Neighborhood Icon

  1. Start POLEDIT. It is on the CD in \Admin\Apptools\Poledit
  2. Open Registry
  3. Select LocalUser
  4. Select Shell
  5. Select Restrictions
  6. Select Hide Network Neighborhood

To change the Startup and Logoff screens

Startup Screen

Logoff Screens

  1. There are several files called LOGOX.SYS
  2. They are actually bitmaps 320x400 that just have a different extension
  3. The hidden one in the root directory LOGO.SYS is the startup logo.
  4. There are two files in the Windows directory.
  5. LOGOW.SYS is the Wait while Shutting down ... screen
  6. LOGOS.SYS is the You may now shut-off or Reboot screen
  7. To edit them, rename them with a BMP extension and use your favorite graphic editor
  8. You can edit these files or create you own
  9. They just need to be the same size

If you would like to add your Tips, please e-mail me.
Be sure to include your name and e-mail address so credit can be given.

If you have any additions or comments, please

[email protected]