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.
- Open the Registory editor (e.g. regedit.exe)
- Goto \\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
- Create a string entry called
"MenuDropAlignment"
- Set its value to 1
- 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.
- Start Regedit
- Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Control Panel / Desktop
- Create new Strings called WallpaperOriginX and WallpaperOriginY
- Give them values to position them around your desktop
- 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
- Create a file called AUTORUN.INF on the root of
your hard drive
- 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:
- Open the Explorer
- Go to \Windows\SendTo
- Right click in the right hand panel
- Select New / Text Document
- Name it anything with a .otherfolder extension
When you want to send files to another folder:
- Select the files with Explorer
- Right Click
- Select Send to and the name you just created
- You them have the option of copying or moving the file to
a folder of your choice
To add Mail:
- Open the Explorer
- Go to \Windows\SendTo
- Right click in the right hand panel
- Select New / Text Document
- Name it anything with a .MapiMail extension (ignore any
warnings about the file extension)
When you want to Mail files as attachments:
- Select the files with Explorer
- Right Click
- Select Send to and the Mail name you just
created
- This allows you to easily mail multiple files
Submitted by Will Raresheid
Adding Shortcuts to Desktop Without "Shortcut To"
text
Submitted 1/24/97
- Start Regedit
- Go to:HKEY_USERS \ .Default \ Software \ Microsoft \
Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer
- Add binary value to Explorer:link="00,00,00,00"
- 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!
- Go to Windows \ Start Menu \ Programs \ (etc.) in the
Explorer
- Start right click/dragging folders to the desktop, one by
one.
- 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
- Click on the start menu button twice, so there is a
dashed line around the button
- Press Alt and the minus sign
- 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:
- Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete
- Highlight Explorer
- Click on the End Task button
- Select No to doing a full shutdown
- Wait a few seconds and the click on the End Task button
Changing the clock to 24-Hour Time
Added 10/20/96
- To change the display of the clock on the taskbar to
24-hour format:
- Open the Control Panel
- Double-click on the Regional Settings icon
- Click on the Time tab
- 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:
- Make sure NumLock is on
- Highlight the Icon you want to change
- Right-Mouse click and select Rename
- While holding down the Alt key, type 0160
- 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:
- Start Regedit
- Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows
\ CurrentVersion \ explorer \ Desktop \ NameSpace
- Below that should be a few keys
- Rename the key {00020D75-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}. I
usually put another character before or after the curly
braces.
- Restart Windows and the InBox icon should be gone
- 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
- Download Microangelo
and install it.
- Create a blank.ico, or download "blank.ico"
from http://oscar.teclink.net/~bshanks/kcs.html.
- Put it in a directory (C:\Windows. Then double click on
the Microangelo Engineer to run it.
- 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.
- Highlight the first one (programs) and select
"Change". It will bring up a dialog box -
select "browse".
- Go to the directory that contains the blank icon and
select it. Hit OK until you get back to the main
- Engineer window and do all the rest exactly the same way.
- When you have finished changing them all to the blank
icon, Hit "Apply".
- Hit your start button and look to see if all the icons
are invisible. (They should be.)
- Close out Micro Engineer and you're finished.
Submitted by Kristy
Shanks
Adding Drive to the SendTo List
Submitted 6/29/96
- I have recently found that if you want to send something
from A: drive or from any where to any drive, you can
just make a short cut of that drive in subdirectory
SENDTO.
- For example I have two hard drives, a Floppy Drive, and a
CDROM
- After I have make a copy of each of my drive I will be
able to send a whole directory of E:\XXX from the CDROM
drive to A: drive or any other drive that i have had made
the short c t in the SENDTO subdir of WINDOWS.
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:
- Copy EXPLORER.EXE in your Windows directory to
another directory
- Start a hex editor (I've been using Diskedit from Norton)
- Edit EXPLORER.EXE
- Search for the string 53 00 74 00 61 00 72 00 74
- This is the word Start with the letters separated
by a null character
- The section you are in should also have the words
"There was an internal error..." also separated
with the null character immediately following
- Now just replace the Start letters with any of
your choice (up to 5 characters only)
- Exit Windows
- Boot to DOS
- Copy your new Explorer file over the original
You can also download the program Start
Button Hacker - 12K
To change the Start button icon:
- Copy USER.EXE in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory to
another directory
- Use an icon editor that can replace icons in executable
files
- Edit USER.EXE and replace the flag icons with the
icon of your choice
- Boot to DOS
- 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:
- Right click on an open area of your desktop
- Select New / Shortcut
- Type in C:\WINDOWS\CONTROL SYSDM.CPL, SYSTEM, 1
- Replace C:\WINDOWS with whatever directory you installed
Windows95
- Click on the Next box
- At the next dialog box type in Device Manager
- 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:
- Go to Control Panel, View, Options
- Click on the File Types Tab
- Scroll down until you see File Folder
- Click on Edit
- Click on New
- Type in the Name you want to in the Action box
- 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
- Click the right button on a blank area of the task bar
- Select Properties
- Select Autohide
- 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:
- Right click on the icon shortcut
- Chose Properties
- Click on the Program tab
- Chose Change icon
- Click on Browse
- Select Files of type All Files
- Browse to the directory where your icon files are kept
- 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:
- Open the Control Panel
- Double click on Fonts
- Search for the "Monotype Sorts" font
- Delete this Font
Submitted by Leslie Mayo
[email protected]
Changing Desktop Folders - With No Registry Changes
Submitted 12/14/95
- From the Explorer, create a folder somewhere OTHER than
the desktop, and call it something like "Desktop
Folders."
- Move all your desktop folders into that folder.
- Create shortcuts to all of those folders on your desktop.
- 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.
- Right-Click anywhere on the desktop
- Press F5
[email protected]
Adding the Desktop to your Start Menu
Submitted 11/17/95
Create a shortcut to the Explorer on your Desktop
- Right click on the Start button
- Choose Open
- Go into the Programs Folder
- Drag the Windows Explorer Icon on your Desktop using the
RIGHT Mouse button
- Choose copy here
Change the command line switch
- Right click on the Shortcut you created
- Choose Properties
- Choose Shortcut
- Type in following command line as target:
- C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE /n, /root,
- The last "," is vital!
- If you want the two pane Explorer view ad the switch ,/e
- 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
- Start the Registry Editor
- Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Software / Microsoft / Windows /
CurrentVersion / Policies / Explorer
- Create a binary value and call it NoStartBanner
- Double-click on it and give it a value of 01 00 00 00
- 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.
- Start the Registry Editor.
- Search for "Shell Icons".
- This will bring you to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SOFTWARE /
Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion / explorer / Shell
Icons.
- Double-click on the one has the value name of
"3" in the right pane.
- Type in the new icon you want to use.
- 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.
- 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..
- Simply open up the Control Panel.
- Right Click and Drag the icon you want to your desktop or
folder.
- This will create a shortcut for that icon.
- 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
- 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).
- You should see the items Open, Explore, and Find on the
context menu. Click Explore with your left mouse button.
- 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.
- Right-click any empty space within the right pane. A
context menu should appear. Click New and then Folder.
- 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.
- Dial-Up Networking.{992CFFA0-F557-101A-88EC-00DD010CCC48}
- Printers.{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}
- Inbox.{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
- My Computer.{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
- Recycle Bin.{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
- Network
Neighborhood.{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
- Desktop.{00021400-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
- Briefcase.{85BBD920-42A0-1069-A2E4-08002B30309D}
- Fonts.{BD84B380-8CA2-1069-AB1D-08000948F534}
Minimizing All Windows
Added 9/24/95
To minimize all windows:
- Press Ctrl-ESC ESC to bring up the Task Bar
- Right Mouse Click on an open area of the Task Bar
- 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
- Open REGEDIT.EXE
- Open the Key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
- Open the Key LNKFILE
- Delete the value IsShortcut
- Open the next Key PIFFILE
- Delete the value IsShortcut
- 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:
- Open up an existing folder
- Select View / Arrange
- Arrange the Icons the way you would like, (e.g. Name,
Size,etc.)
- Select View / Arrange again
- Select AutoArrange
- Press the Ctrl-key while you close the window.
- 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:
- Open a browser window (double-click on "My
Computer")
- If there is no toolbar, select View from the menu and
select Toolbar.
- Then from the dropdown list-box in the toolbar select
desktop.
- Now minimize it and forget about it.
- The next time you want to access your desktop just click
the desktop window on the taskbar.
- 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
- If you use a graphic Card and you change the resolution,
sometimes the icons are bad.
- End Win95 and restart. When you see the starting message
press F8 then type standard.
- After this start of Win95 exit and restart.
- Change back to your Resolution and restart.
- The icons should be corrected.
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.
- Open Regedit
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER
- Control panel
- Desktop
- WindowMetrics
- Right Mouse Click an empty space in the right pane.
- Select new/string value.
- Name the new value MinAnimate.
- Doubleclick on the new string value (MinAnimate) and
click on "Modify"
- Enter a value of 0 for Off or 1 for On then hit
- Close Regedit and all programs then reboot.
Submitted by Jim Asikis
Jim's Home Page
[email protected]
Renaming the Recycle Bin
- Start the Registry Editor
- Type Ctrl-F to bring up the Find Menu
- In the Find What box type Recycle
- Double click on the Recycle Bin in the right pane
- Type in the new name under Value Data
- Restart Win95
Turning off Desktop Icons
If you want to turn off all the icons on your desktop:
- Start the System Policy Editor
- Select File / Open Registry
- Select Local User
- Select Shell / Restrictions
- 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
- Start the REGEDIT program
- Search for the word desktop
- This should be in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT / CLSID /
{00021400...
- Right Click on the right panel
- Pick NEW / String Value.
- Name it MenuShowDelay, all one word.
- Select a value from 1-10, 1 being the fastest.
- Exit REGEDIT
- Restart Windows
To change the My Computer or Recycle Bin icon
- Open Regedit
- Find My Computer or Recycle Bin
- Tab to the left panel
- Double click on the highlighted line
- Double click on DefaultIcon in the left panel
- Double click on DefaultIcon right panel
- Type in the value for the new icon
- Note: DLL files can be used. Specify the location of the
new icon with the filename,#
Remove the tildes in short filenames
- Open Regedit
- Go to
Hkey_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem
- Right Click on the Right pane
- Select New / Hex
- Add the value NameNumericTail= 0
To remove the Network Neighborhood Icon
- Start POLEDIT. It is on the CD in \Admin\Apptools\Poledit
- Open Registry
- Select LocalUser
- Select Shell
- Select Restrictions
- Select Hide Network Neighborhood
To change the Startup and Logoff screens
Startup Screen
- Create a 320x400 bitmap in the root directory and name it
LOGO.SYS
- You can use LOGOW.SYS file in the Windows directory as a
starter
-
Logoff Screens
- There are several files called LOGOX.SYS
- They are actually bitmaps 320x400 that just have a
different extension
- The hidden one in the root directory LOGO.SYS is
the startup logo.
- There are two files in the Windows directory.
- LOGOW.SYS is the Wait while Shutting down ...
screen
- LOGOS.SYS is the You may now shut-off or Reboot
screen
- To edit them, rename them with a BMP extension and use
your favorite graphic editor
- You can edit these files or create you own
- 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]