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Easter Eggs
Product Team - Right click on the desktop, click properties, then click on the Screen Saver tab, Choose 3-D text as the screen saver, and click on settings. In the Display Text box type "volcano", and then click Ok. Quickly Minimize All Windows Did you know just how easy and fast you can minimize all the windows you have open? Just right click on the taskbar and then go to "Minimize All Windows". Using Paint To Convert Graphic Formats In Windows 98, the new version of Paint allows you to quickly convert between BMP, GIF and JPG graphics formats. Doing so is very simple, open a graphic file in the usual way, then click the File menu and choose Save As. Select the desired format from the "Save As Type" drop-down list and click Save.
When you attempt to save a Web page using the Web Page, complete (*.htm;*.html) or Web Archive, single file (*.mht) options in Internet Explorer, you may receive the follow error message: Error Saving Web Page. This Web page could not be saved. http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=235589 (i. e. 5, 6. Oct. 1, 2002) The probable cause is that the web page contains a link to a StyleSheet which resides on a different server than the one where the page is located. After some recent security update (MS02-023 Patch or later), Internet Explorer blocks access to StyleSheet code if the code is on a different domain/server. This is why the page fails to be saved. For more information about MS02-023, please see: 322928 MS02-023: Patch Available to Disable Frames in the Restricted Sites Zone http://support.microsoft.com/?id=322928 1. Open the web site in Internet Explorer on a machine where MS02-023 security patch or later (such as Internet Explorer 6 SP1) is installed. 2. Select Internet Explorer File menu and select Save. 3. Leave 'Save as Type' to 'Web Page, complete (*.htm,*.html) Before saving of the web page is complete, and error message appears: "Error Saving Web Page: The Web page could not be saved to the selected location". You can click OK to close the message, but the page is not saved to disk. If you do the same with for example everything works perfectly. ANALYSIS ======== The difference is that postimees.ee uses: Copying Diskettes - Diskcopy You may have occasion to have to copy a complete 3.5inch floppy disk, although this is less needed for application software as most of this is now on CD, but it still may be needed for backing up old floppy disks, or for copying driver software diskettes. In Windows95/98, there is a facility for doing this, called Diskcopy. First put the diskette to copy from in your A Drive. The easiest way to use Discopy is by right-clicking the A Drive icon in 'My Computer' *, then left clicking Copy Disk. You will see a panel appear with two sections, both saying A Drive. Just Click the 'Start' button to commence. The system will first read the original diskette in you're A Drive - Copying from source disk, then ask you to put in your blank diskette to copy onto (the destination diskette). When done, click Close (let the drive light go on then off) and remove the newly copied diskette from the A drive - DONE * (you can also access it by the Start, Run window by placing in the following command: Diskcopy a: a: ) 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. Easter Egg: 1. Open FreeCell 2. Press F3 and enter either -1 or -2 into the dialog box and click okay Popup Thesaurus for Word 97 Right-click any word in a Word 97 document, and the handy Thesaurus menu will appear with synonyms, antonyms, and word definitions. It will also allow you to check an entire selected phrase to ensure you're using a word correctly. Easter Eggs site Easter eggs 2 Hacking the Forgotten Password Category: Start The Windows If you forget your Windows Logon password, all you have to do is press the Esc key when the Password dialog box appears on the screen. Windows 9X/Me will be opened on its default screen. Go to C:\Windows folder, and then delete the .PWL file that uses your name as the logon name. For example, if your logon name is John then delete JOHN.PWL file. Click the Start-Shut Down menu and then click Close all programs and log on as another user option. When the Password dialog box appears on the screen, type the same name but with the new password. This method is also useful if you want to break up another user logon. -------------------------------------------------- Creating Hot Keys Category: Basic Operations Tip Number: 20 As an alternative to activate a Windows 9X/Me application, you can create hot keys. To create a hot key, right-click an application shortcut, choose Properties, click Shortcut tab, and then type a letter in the Shortcut key box (for example W for Word). Automatically, Windows 9X/Me will use the CTRL+ALT+W keys as the hot keys. Hiding Things From Other Windows Users Written by b0iler for http://b0iler.eyeonsecurity.net Check out this site, its damn good. Damn good i tell you aka how to hide porn from your parents. note: this will not keep fbi/police/anyone who knows computers really good from finding your files, only computer illiterate people and people who aren't really looking for incriminating files on your computer. Hiding The Files/Directories: 1) hide directories 2) encrypted directories 3) CDs and floppies Hiding The Evidence: 1) browser history 2) cookies 3) tmp files 4) windows history (start->documents) Ok, let me first start off with why you would want to do this. You live at home with your parents and your brothers and sisters. They all use the computer every once and awhile, but you use it all day. You do a few things on it that you would rather keep any of them from knowing about. ex. pornography or hacking. I'll try to share some knowledge I've gained on keeping things secret from people on windows 98, I don't know if this will work with any other versions of windows (most likely they will). I will keep this very short and to the point, there are tons of little details that I could get into, but it would be a waste of everyone's time. Just think to yourself how to keep them more secret and you'll be more productive than reading 40 pages by me telling you not to write down the location of your files on a post-it by the monitor. I've decided to break this tutorial down into 2 main catigories. Hiding Files And Directories is the first, and Hiding The Evidence is the second. If you know of any more techniques please email me at b0iler@hotmail.com Hiding Files And Directories Hiding Directories This is a key point in keeping your things secret from the other users. You should try to make the files and directories seem as if they are not even there. Hopfully the other users will never even find the directory. The first thing to do is to find a place where the other users of the computer would not likely look. I would suggest something in C:windows since many regular computer users never go into this directory, so they would be less likely to find it. I picked C:WINDOWSSYSTEMMSAABAK. Now make several directories named like: 01q1 01p2 01u3 01w5 01y3 04x2 .. the more you create the more likely the other users will not look in the one you use to keep your hidden stuff***. You can also make subdirectories in each of these if you really want to make it hard for other users to find it. Create a few dummy files in there to make it look like they are being used. Now you need to create the actuall hidden directory by using an old ms-dos technique. Create a normal directory in explorer and right click on it and select properties, under attributes select hidden. Now you need to make this directory unaccessable from windows by going to start->programs->ms-dos and then cd to where you put the directory. once there type: rename and the name of the directory you created, then press alt+255 (using the number buttons on the right side, not the ones above the letters). and then type in the name of your directory. It should look like this: rename dir dir you will type this: rename dir alt+255dir What this does is renames the directory with alt+255 in front of it. With the alt+255 in the name it makes the directory unaccessable from windows since windows cannot handle the alt+255 character. So you will have to also make the directory hidden by going to view->folder options..->view->under hidden files select "do not show hidden files". So from now on you will need to move all your sensitive files into that directory from a dos prompt. To move them do: move c:pathtofile.txt c:pathtoalt+255dir Microsoft has alittle better way of hiding files than this alt+255 trick. go to a dos prompt and type: cd windowstempor~1 then dir see nothing? try cd content.ie5 oh my, completely hidden. They've got some directories so hidden that you can't even get to them with a dos prompt from within windows.. you need to reboot into actual dos to get to them. (I got this from a really good paper at: http://www.fuckmicrosoft.com/content/ms-hidden-files.shtml) Although I don't know how/if you can create hidden directories yourself. I guess you could hide your files in c:windowstempor~1content.ie5 =) Encrypting Files Alright, this is a key.. although getting your directories encrypted isn't as easy in windows as it is in linux it still is fairly seemless. I would suggest downloading a program called Mooseoft Encrypter - why this program? Because it's freeware, it's simple to use, it works very well, and it can encrypt/decrypt multiple files at once. It comes with a really good help file, so if you have any problems with it just look there. Infact, if you encrypt your files with it, using a password no one will ever guess .. I see little reason to use the alt+255 method =) But if you still want to be 100% secure I would use both methods. 100% Hidden Files (using removable storage) ok, this is by far the best method to use, and it's fairly easy to do. Simply get a floppy, put it in your computer and put the files you want hidden on it. That's it. Now hide the floppy so no one finds it. Putting crappy decoy files mixed in with the real ones will help just incase someone does find the floppy and checks to see what's on it. And don't name your files porn1.jpg hackinghowto.txt sex.gif. Make sure to label it something like 'school work #3' so maybe your parents will ignore it. Don't name it 'video games' or anything like that if you have brothers or sisters living with you.. that's just asking for them to check it out. any other form of removable media would work aswell, zip disks, cdrw, tape drives.. anything. Hiding The Evidence Deleting The History In IE Doing this will help keep what your up to online much more secret. After being asked what I was doing on www.hack.co.za a few times by roomates I decided to start deleting the history of ie. This is very simple, you can ether delete everything in history, or only the sites you want. To delete everything: go to tools->internet options...->delete cookies and delete files To delete only the sites you want click on the history button (it's got a sundial on it) and right click on any of the sites you want to delete, then select delete. (go over how to make a .bat file that will delete the history HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet Explorer TypedURLs) tmp Files tmp files are created by programs while you run windows. The normal location for these files is C:windowstemp but also check C:temp C:tmp C:windowstmp. Deleting Form Field History You know how if you have autocomplete on with ie and you start to type in a form field that has the same name as one you have filled out before how it pops up a drop down menu with all the previous values you have put in that form? This can be pretty bad when your parents go to google.com and see that you have been searching for hacking cracking tutorials porn big boobs how to steal your parents credit card So you need to delete this history whenever you search for something you shouldn't. You should first turn off auto complete (tell them how.) then delete the history file by (tell them how.) if I can't find out how tell them to go one by one and delete them :/ Since I have no other place to put this I'll just throw it in here. 0perations gave me a this great tip when hiding my evidence of files. Lets say you want to watch a video, XXXpornogirls.mpg. Now instead of just clicking on it and viewing it rename it to windemo.mpg or something bland like that. Since most movie players keep a kind of history of the last videos you viewed this will defeat that. Also if you rename the file and put it in a different directory after you view it other users will have no clue what it was. Deleting Recently Viewed Documents Whenever you open a file that windows sees as a document it is put in a list. To view this list go to start->documents since this is such an open place other computer users will often see it. You don't want xxxSEXpic01.jpg showing up on there. So lets get rid of that list. right click on the toolbar at the bottom of windows. Right next to your minimized applications. select properties->start menu programs->under the document's menu press the clear button and then ok. The list will be empty now =) Want to just get rid of that folder? go to start->run-> type in regedit Then go to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesExplorer and change NoRecentDocsMenu's REG_DWORD to 1. If it's 0 that means it will display it, 1 will not. I like to just clear it when I leave windows, to do this open up regedit and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesExplorer and change ClearRecentDocsOnExit's REG_DWORD to 1. If it's 0 it will be disabled, 1 will be enabled. I hope you found this tutorial helpful. If you have any other tips you'd like to share with people give me an email at b0iler@hotmail.com and I might add it to this tutorial. I might also add a section on using javascript to only display the files you want people to see in explorer. *** 0perations told me of a file called fakefile.exe that will create as many dumby files as you want, any size that you want. This can help hide the real files from people. fakefile was orignally ment to make dummy files when uploading to warez sites that require a ratio of uploads to downloads, but it works well for hiding your files in a field of fakes. Hiding columns in Explorer. Anytime you are looking in Explorer (or any regular window), in the Details view, you can hide any of the displayed information. This will allow you to see the information you really want to see. To hide a column: Hold the cursor over the black line dividing the gray column headers on the top of the screen (Name, Size, Type, etc...). It has to be the black line to the right of the column you want to hide. The cursor will become a double sided-arrow, and you simply hold down the left mouse button and drag the line to the left. The column then disappears. If you want to see the column again just drag the black line to where it was Hiding CSS Sheets Microsoft hidden files Microsoft hidden files 2 Uncommon Keyboard shortcuts Shift-F10 Right-click selected item Alt-Esc Switch to Taskbar's "next" open window Alt-F4 Close active window Alt-Spacebar-C Close active window Alt-Spacebar-N Minimize active window Alt-Spacebar-R Restore closed active window Alt-Spacebar-X Maximize active window Alt-Tab Show and Switch between open windows (hold Alt and continue to press Tab) Ctrl-Alt-Del Display the Close Program dialog box (with end task and shutdown options) Ctrl-Esc Display Start menu Ctrl-F10 Switch focus to menu commands (in any Explorer window) Ctrl-Shift-Tab Rotate through dialog box tabs in reverse Ctrl-Tab Rotate through dialog box tabs Ctrl-+ Autosize the columns in Explorer and some other applications (use Num-pad "+") Windows-D Minimize all open applications or if all minimized applications, then expand Windows-E Open Explorer Windows-F Open the find dialog box Windows-R Open the run dialog box Windows 98 Tips, Tricks, Secrets & Undocumented Features To disable automatic starting of a CD-ROM · Insert your CD-ROM and hold down the Shift key until the drive light goes out. A quick way to run the Microsoft Windows Explorer Right click on the Start button and select Explorer from the pop-up menu. To run the Windows 3.x File Manger Click on the Start button. Select the Run command. Type "WINFILE" and click on the OK button. To quickly reset the time or date Double click on the clock displayed in the Windows Taskbar and change options as required. To see how long you have been online Double click on the connection icon in the Windows Taskbar and a pop-up menu will display the duration of your current call. To create a folder on the Desktop Right click on the Desktop background, from the pop-up menu displayed select New, from the sub-menu displayed select Folder. Enter the name for the folder and press Enter. To delete an item without sending it to the Recycle Bin Depress the Shift key while deleting an item. To rename a file or folder in Windows Explorer Select the file you want to rename. Press the F2 key. Enter the new name for the file and press the Enter key. To quickly display today's date Leave the mouse pointer over the clock (displayed within the Window Taskbar) for a few seconds. To quickly display the Start Menu Press Control+Esc. To empty the Documents folder on the Start menu Right click on the Windows Taskbar and select Properties from the pop-up menu. Click on the Start Menu's Programs tab. Click on the Clear button. To quickly refresh the Windows Explorer window Press the F5 key. To quickly copy a file to a floppy disk using the Microsoft Windows Explorer Right click on the file and select Send To 3 1/2" Floppy. To make sure a file or folder is displayed first within the Microsoft Windows Explorer Change the first character of the file name to an underscore character. To view the properties for an icon Hold down the Alt key and double click on the icon. To cycle between currently running program windows Press Alt+Tab. To free up disk space Empty the contents of the Recycle Bin. To create a Desktop shortcut to an item displayed within the Microsoft Window Explorer Start the Windows Explorer within a window. Select the item for which you wish to create a Desktop shortcut. Drag and drop the item to the Desktop while depressing the Ctrl and Shift keys. To copy an item from one folder to another within the Microsoft Windows Explorer window By default when using the Explorer dragging a file from one folder to another moves it. If you wish to copy a file hold down the Ctrl key while dragging. To move a file from one disk to another By default when using the Windows Explorer dragging a file from one disk to another copies it. If you wish to move a file hold down the Shift key while dragging. To expand all subfolders within the Microsoft Windows Explorer Click on the folder you wish to expand and press the asterisk(*) key on the numeric keypad. To format a floppy disk within the Microsoft Windows Explorer Right click on the Floppy drive icon and select the Format command. To select more than one file within the Microsoft Window Explorer Hold down the Ctrl and click on the files you wish to select. To select a block of files within the Windows Explorer Select the first file in the block. Hold down the Shift key and click on the last file in the block. To find the file pointed to by a shortcut Right click on the shortcut icon and select Properties. Click on the Shortcut tab. Click on the Find Target button. To change the icon used by a shortcut Right click on the shortcut icon and select Properties. Select the Shortcut tab. Click on the Change Icon button and browse to find a new icon. To select more than one Desktop icon within a rectangle On the Desktop, drag and drop across the icons you which to select with the right hand mouse button depressed. To select all items within a folder Press Ctrl-A. To display file name extensions within Microsoft Windows Explorer Click on the View drop down menu and select Options. Display the View tab. Make sure the Show all files button is ticked and the button called Hide MS-DOS file extensions is not ticked. To print more than one file at a time directly from the Microsoft Windows Explorer NOTE: You must select printable files, i.e. not executable or system files! Click on the first file that you wish to print and while depressing the Ctrl key select the other files you which to print. Right click over one of the selected files and from the pop-up menu displayed select Print. To edit the Windows Shutdown screens USE WITH CAUTION - ONLY IF YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH EDITING SYSTEM FILES! Start the Paint program supplied with Windows. Click on the File drop down menu and choose the Open command. Display the contents of the Windows folder. Type Logo.sys or Logow.sys into the Filename text box and click on the Open button. To find a file containing a known portion of text Right click on the Start button and the Find command from the pop-up menu. To search the entire disk Select the Name and location tab and then enter the root directory in the Look in section of the dialog box. Make sure the Include sub-folders check box is ticked. Select the Advanced tab. In the Containing Text section of the dialog box enter the text you are searching for. Click on the Find Now button. To tile two (or more) programs on the screen Right click on the Windows Taskbar and select either Tile horizontally or Tile vertically. NOTE: Does not work for minimized programs, only those running in a window, or full screen! To simultaneously minimize all your windowed (or full screen) programs Right click on the Windows Taskbar and select Minimize all windows. To display the Windows Taskbar at the top (or the side) of the screen Drag and drop the Taskbar to the top or side of the screen, as required. To 'Autohide' the Taskbar Right click on the Taskbar and select Properties. Make sure the Taskbar Options tab is selected. Select Autohide and click on the OK button. The Taskbar will then disappear. To re-display the Taskbar, move the mouse pointer to the edge of the screen. To set a default page for the Internet Explorer Click on the Internet Explorer icon and select Properties. Select the Navigation tab and in the Address text box enter the URL of the web site you wish to view when the Internet Explorer is run. Create ICON file from a BMP file Raise your hand if you know how to use bitmaps (.bmp files) to create your own custom icons to use on Windows 98-without using any third-party tools! Those of you who didn't extend your hand, read on. First, select the .bmp file that you want to use as an icon. (For the best results, try to select a .bmp file with a small number of colors.)Now, rename the .bmp file to become an .ico file. Here's how: * Open Windows Explorer. * From the View menu, select Options. * Deselect the 'Hide MS-DOS Extensions For File Types That Are Registered' check box and then click OK. * Navigate to the .bmp file. * Right-click the .bmp file, select Rename, and rename the file to a file with an .ico extension. To use the new icon, right-click any shortcut on the desktop and select Properties. Select Change Icon from the Shortcut tab and navigate to the renamed file. Select the file and approve your changes. Windows will recognize that this is a bitmap, resize the image as an icon, and reduce the number of colors to 16. Your new icon will now be displayed in place of the old icon. The percentage of Internet users who browse using Internet Explorer 5 is growing all the time. A feature of IE5 lets Webmasters design an icon that will appear to left of your site's title on the "favorites" menu and on the address bar, rather than the plain vanilla IE5 logo. If you want to take advantage of this, make an icon that describes your site in a graphics software programs. It will need to be 16x16 pixels in size so it's a good idea to make it very simple eg. a single letter. Make sure you are working in 256 colours only and export the finished image as a bitmap, say "favicon.bmp". Rename this exported file as "favicon.ico". Transfer this file to you Website and then include the following tag between your "head" tags: . See the source of this page if you want to see an example. Note that these icons disappear if a user clears their cache. Secret-Windows-Cool-Icons Have you wondered why Windows icons looks so dry and boring? You can uncover the windows' secret stash of icons. Right-click any shortcut and select Properties. Select the Shortcut tab and click on the Advance Settings button. You are now required to type in the full path of where your icon library is situated. The default file is C:\windows\system\shell32.dll. Try some of these:- C:\Windows\System\explorer.exe C:\Program Files\Plus!\Microsoft Internet\IEXPLORE.EXE C:\Windows\System\cool.dll Here is a special::- C:\Windows\System\pifmgr.dll Maximize, Minimize & Close All Windows This is common. You have a handful of applications which you want to close. Surely you don't close each Window one by one?. Hold down the Ctrl key and click on the application you want to close on the taskbar. Right-click one of them. There will be a context menu for you to Close, Minimize or Maximize. Select one action and all the applications you selected will close, minimize or maximize at the same time! To compose a new message in Yahoo! Mail use the Ctrl-Shift-P (think comPose) keyboard shortcut. Note: Yahoo! Mail keyboard shortcuts may not work with older browsers. Browsers they will work with include Internet Explorer 6 or later, Mozilla and Netscape 6 or later. Download Lynx Open a Web Page from Your Taskbar (W98) Why bother to launch your browser to for a quick visit to a web site? You can do it from your Windows 98 taskbar by adding Internet Explorer’s address bar to it. Just RIGHT-CLICK on a vacant spot in the taskbar. Select TOOLBARS and then ADDRESS from the pop-up menu. The address bar will be added to your taskbar and you simply type into it the URL (Universal Resource Locator – web address) of your choice. To remove it reverse the process and uncheck ADDRESS in the pop-up menu. Make Your Speakers Work for You Did you really set up your speakers of were you just happy when you got to the point they would make noise? If you are running high end games or DVD movies from your PC you would want to hear the full surround sound if available. Some can even imitate surround sound using only two PC speakers. To set up your speakers go to START, SETTINGS, CONTROL PANEL and CLICK the MULTIMEDIA icon. Then CLICK the AUDIO tab and look in the PLAYBACK section and CLICK the ADVANCED PROPERTIES button. Review the list in the drop-down menu and select the speaker for your system. CLICK on OK and hear the rich tones you deserve. Turn on File Name Extensions File name extensions are hidden, by default, in both Win95 and 98. I have never figured out why as these extensions tell you much about a file. A .txt files is a plain text file while a .doc file is a word processing document file, which allows much more formatting and features. A .bmp file is a bitmap file such as may be generated in the Paint program while a .jpg file is a Joint Photographic Experts Graphic file, one of two types of graphics format files (along with .gif, Graphics Interchange Format) that may be added to a web page. So there is value in being able to see the extensions. To see them in Win98 – Open Windows Explorer. CLICK on the VIEW menu, FOLDER OPTIONS and the VIEW tab. Uncheck the Hide File Extensions for known types check box. In win95 the sequence is almost the same except at the end – but you’ll see it OK. Make Your PC Speak in YOUR Voice (Win98) You know all those nifty sounds your PC makes on the occurrence of certain events? Assuming you have a microphone to go with your sound card and speakers (and it is PLUGGED IN to the soundcard on the back of your PC) you are all set to record and play sounds in our OWN voice. Have it say HI THERE, or GOOD MORNING or whatever when you boot up your PC or at other action points. CLICK on START, PROGRAMS, ACCESSORIES, ENTERTAINMENT, and SOUND RECORDER. Basically all you have to do is CLICK on the Red button to start recording, speak into the mike, CLICK the Square button to Stop recording them CLICK on FILE, SAVE AS and name and save it like any other file. You can then use it to replace any stock sound files you have for whatever actions you wish. Now that is what you call PERSONALIZING your PC. Putting 2 monitors on 1 computer!!! Downloads that are too big to fit on a floppy disc. What can I do? There is an old pair of utilities that I have been using for years called SLICE and SPLICE, that will come to your rescue here. They were written for the publication PC Magazine and were the solution to a question about how to transport large files between computers. They still work wonderfully, and while not elegant, they are nonetheless useful. SLICE.COM takes a large file and starts writing it to a floppy disc, until it fills it. It then asks for the next disc and continues to do so until the entire file is copied. The beauty of it is that it doesn't care what size disc you use and you can even use discs that aren't completely empty. SLICE also places a copy of SPLICE.COM on the first disc so you can use it to reconstruct the file on the receiving computer. Instructions for using SLICE and SPLICE follow. You download a very small file into the folder you regularly download into. When you are finished, you will notice a small file called SLICE.EXE in your download folder.Click here to download and three files will extract, SLICE.COM, SPLICE.COM and SLICE.TXT. The first two are the files that do all the work, and the third is essentially a repeat of the instructions below. To download them, click the Download Splice link above. Instructions for using SLICE and SPLICE When you need to transport a large file from one computer to another, you should arrange that the file to be transported is in the same folder as the files SPLICE.COM and SLICE.COM. You can do this by leaving SLICE and SPLICE in your download directory. You should also have sufficient floppy discs to carry the large file. Typically, a normal floppy disc holds 1.4 megabytes of data. Therefore, to find the number of floppies you need for the job, you should divide the size of the file to be transported in megabytes by 1.4 and then round up. For instance, if the file is 8.2 megabytes, then you would need 8.2 divided by 1.4 which gives you 5.8 discs, which, rounded up means 6 discs are needed for the job. SLICE and SPLICE are DOS utilities. To my knowledge, nothing similar exists in Windows. Therefore, you will need to open a DOS Window. To avoid having to find your download folder, use this process. "Slicing" the file to discs Click on My Computer, choose drive C: and locate your Download folder and double click on the icon. (You should see in the folder's window the file you want to transfer and SLICE and SPLICE) Click the Start Button and choose Run. In the field that comes up, type COMMAND and click OK. (You will get a DOS Window opened, and because My Computer was pointed to the download folder, the C:\> prompt should reflect your download path) You will need to know the full name of the file you want to download. For instance, the full name of the full DCMS download file is DCMSUPDT.EXE. If you are unsure of the name of the file, type DIR Recording event sounds from a CD Want to create a new soundtrack for your computer? With Windows CD Player and Sound Recorder, you can turn a piece of your favorite song into your start-up sound, or any other Windows event sound. Put a music CD into the CD-ROM drive. Windows CD Player will open and automatically begin to play the first track on the disc. Click the Stop button. On the CD Player, use the track skip and fast forward buttons to locate the clip you want to record. Set the player to the beginning of the clip, then click the Pause button. Click the Start button, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to Entertainment, and then click Sound Recorder. On the CD Player, click the Play button. On the Sound Recorder, click the Record button. When you have recorded as much as you want, click the Stop button on the Sound Recorder. On File menu, click Save As.... Save the file in the Media folder, located in the Windows folder on the C: drive. Change Windows title bar colors Did you know you could change the color of the Windows Title Bars? You can even change the settings of the title bar on Windows 98 so the color gradually changes from one color on the left side to another color on the right side. To change the color of the Windows Title Bar, right-click on your desktop and a pop up menu appears, choose "Properties", then click the "Appearance" tab. Under the "Item" section, find "Active Title Bar". Now just change the color button on the right and find a color that suits you. To make the colors gradually change in Windows 98, you must have your color settings at high color or true color. If your files open with the wrong programs: In Explorer, highlight the file. Hold down the Shift key and right click the file. Choose "Open With" from the menu. Make sure you check the save box. Did you know you can drag and drop a folder onto a DOS prompt command line to quickly open a DOS directory several levels deep without laboriously typing its pathname? This tip also automatically converts long folder names to the abbreviated versions DOS uses. Here's how: Open a DOS Windows (Start > Run > type Command > press Enter). In the DOS window, type "cd" followed by a single character space. Next, open a folder window, and navigate to the folder containing the subfolder you want to open as a DOS directory. Now just drag and drop that subfolder onto the DOS window command line. Click the DOS window anywhere to select it, and press Enter to open the directory in the DOS window. (Note: If you have the folder option to display the current folder path in the Address bar turned on, you can drag and drop the small folder icon from the Address bar instead.) Customizing Windows Shell City Customize the Start Menu Button Intended For Windows XP Windows 98 Windows 95 Well, many of you have asked for this one, but the solution is for advanced users only. The button on the Taskbar used to open the Start Menu consists of a small Windows logo and the word START. Here's how to edit the various aspects of the Start Menu button: For Windows XP, see Customize Windows XP Styles. Change the word START: * Copy the file EXPLORER.EXE from your Windows directory to a temporary working directory. * Using a hex editor (like UltraEdit-32), open the copy of EXPLORER.EXE. * Search for 53 00 74 00 61 00 72 00 74, which are the letters in the word "Start," separated by null characters (#00). It's a good idea to search and replace all occurances of Start in the file, as just editing this one doesn't seem to do it. * You can replace any of the five characters, but do not change the null characters. Although you can't use a word longer than five characters, you can have shorter words by including spaces (#32) for the remaining places. * Save the changes, and exit to DOS. Backup the original file, and then replace it with your modified version. When you restart Windows, the change should take effect. * Note: if you can't find START at the address above, do a search for it (make sure to include the interstitial null characters), as it may have been altered by another program. * Note: there has been at least one report that the only occurrence of S T A R T that you need to change is the last one. If changing just the last occurrence works for you, then that's all you need. If not, try replacing them all. Change the icon: * Copy the file USER.EXE from your Windows\System directory to a temporary working directory. * Using an icon editor that can read executables (like Microangelo), open the copy of USER.EXE. * The Start Menu uses the flag logo, the very first icon in this file. What you need to be aware of, is that there are several versions of this icon in the file, each a different size. Depending on what font size you have your Start Menu font configured (Control Panel -> Display Properties -> Appearance), the actual icon may be the 16x16 or the 22x22 variations. Your best bet is to edit them all, and save your changes when you're finished. * Next, exit to DOS, backup the original file, and then replace it with your modified version. When you restart Windows, the change should take effect. METAL BRIEFCASE ... As sent by Jon (castor0004@netzero.net). "I got tired of that ugly brown Briefcase icon. This Registry tweak allows you to change it to a nice metal briefcase icon, for your viewing pleasure. Start Regedit and go to: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{85BBD920-42A0-1069-A2E4-08002B30309D}\DefaultIcon Double-click on the right hand pane "Default" value -> it should show "syncui.dll,0" -> change it to "syncui.dll,1" (don't type the quotes). Syncui.dll (located in C:\Windows\System) stores several icons but only 2 of them are briefcases: icon 0 represents the brown briefcase (default) and icon 1 represents the metal (aluminum) briefcase. Close Regedit and press F5 on the Desktop to refresh when done." Add Video Wallpaper Supervisor Password The supervisor password is held in the Registry (reference Editing the Registry if you are not familiar with doing so), so uninstalling and reinstalling will not reset it. The key is located in: HKEY LOCAL MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Ratings Look for the key labeled "key". That key holds the encrypted content advisor Supervisor password. Delete it and the Content Advisor Password will reset to blank. Basic Registry Q: How do I disable users other than the Administrator from entering, editing, or make any changes to the registry? A: In the System Registry, go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System. Right-click in the right pane and select New, DWord value. Name the new value DisableRegistryTools. Double-click the value you just created and set the value to 1. You can also temporarily elevate the user to an Administrator, log in on their account and make the change yourself (under HKEY_CURRENT_USER), then change the account back to Limited. By Default, Limited users cannot make changes to the Registry, although they can run REGEDIT. Windows NT Tips LockOut Unwanted Users Want to keep people from accessing Windows, even as the default user? If you do not have a domain do attempt this. 1. Open RegEdit 2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Network\Logon 3. Create a dword value "MustBeValidated" 4. Set the value to 1 This forced logon can be bypassed in Safe Mode Adding Items to the Start Button To add items when you right-click on the Start Button: 1.Open RegEdit 2.Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell 3.Right-click on Shell and select New Key 4.Type in the name of the key and press the Enter key 5.In the Default name that shows in the right hand panel, you can add a title with a "&" character in front of the letter for a shortcut 6.Right-click on the key you just created and create another key under it called command 7.For the value of this command, enter the full path and program you want to execute 8.Now when you right click on the Start Button, your new program will be there. 9.For example, if you want Word to be added, you would add that as the first key, the default in the right panel would be &Word so when you right click on the Start Button, the W would be the Hot Key on your keyboard. The value of the key would be C:\Program Files\Office\Winword\Winword.exe Speed up the Start-Menu! Create a new string value under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\desktop (of the Registry) named MenuShowDelay and set it's value to a number from 1 to 10. (1 is the fastest). This is an undocumented feature!! Please Note that you can just as easily use MS Powertoys' TweakUI to achieve the same results. My city isn't on the time zone map !!! Highlight the section on the world map that contains your city. Write down the string of cities, or whatever other wording. Example "Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney" Open Registry Editor, and search for that string Edit that string. You have very easily edited a string that was not meant to be edited, but of course with Windows 95 you are given the option to edit nearly all strings. How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent? Intended For Windows XP Windows 2000 Windows Me Windows 98 Windows 95 If you're using desktop wallpaper, you'll still see a border around your icon captions the same color as your solid background. Here's how to remove that border so that the text looks like it's written right on your wallpaper: Windows XP * Open System Properties in Control Panel, choose the Advanced tab, and click Settings in the Performance section. Turn on the Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop option, and click Ok. * You can also try MicroAngelo (v5.5 or later), which allows you to change the text color, configure custom icons, and change other aspects of Windows. * Another utility of this type is WindowFX. Windows 2000 * Obtain and install the Transparent utility. * You can also try the "On Display" feature of MicroAngelo for lots of extra features. Windows 95, 98, Me * Obtain and install the Disappear utility (4 kb). You'll need VB40032.DLL (381 kb) if you don't already have it. * You can also try the "On Display" feature of MicroAngelo for lots of extra features. Note: in all versions of Windows, Microsoft provides no way to change the color of the text under desktop icons, which can make it very difficult to read in some circumstances. In Windows XP, the text has a shadow underneath, but this only goes so far. To change the font, open Display Properties in Control Panel, choose the Appearance tab (then click Advanced in Windows XP only), and choose Icon from the Item menu. Adding a Hidden URL to a Word Doc Problem Web addresses (URLs) are getting longer, especially those that are inside a database. Adding these over long URLs can spoil the look of a Word document (and make it less understandable). Solution If you are sending the Word document electronically you can hide the URL under some text in much the same way is done in a web document (clue). 1. open/start your Word document. 2. browse to the web page in question. 3. highlight the URL in the address bar. 4. press Ctrl & C to copy the URL. 5. go back into Word. 6. type in the text that you want displayed. 7. highlight it. 8. click on the 'Insert' menu then the 'Hyperlink' option (or click on the button on the toolbar that looks like the Earth with a chainlink under it) - 9. press Ctrl & V to paste the link down into the 'Web page name' line. 10. click OK - see blue underlined link. The mouse pointer should turn into a hand as you hover over it. 11. click on the link to open a browser with the web page. You may be interested to know about another "SECRET" that the boys in Redmond try not to advertise. It is called Alternative Data Streams, and it basically allows you to "hide" files within other files. M$ provides no tools (other than low level SDK functions) to even know that these Alternative Data Streams exist. Niether "Explorer", nor "dir", nor "attrib", nor any other resource kit app will help you discover these streams. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, most virus detection programs only scan the primary stream, and not any of the associated alternative streams. In addition, once an ADS has been associated with a file, it copies right along with the file when going from NTFS to NTFS. To see a non destructive example, drop down to the CMD line and try the following. (Win NT/2k/XP w/ NTFS ... no FAT) First create a basic host file ... lets say a text file in the root dir on the c drive C:\>echo Hello World > MyTest.txt Then attach, your favorite exe (or whatever you want), as an ADS (solitare ?) C:\>type c:\WINNT\system32\sol.exe > MyTest.txt:MyProg.Exe Inspect your file all you want. Even delete the original program if you really want to (sol.exe). Now run your hidden version of solitare anytime you'd like. C:\>start c:\MyTest.txt:MyProg.exe (Look at Task Manager and check out Solitare's new process name) Scary ... isn't it? Do you know what's on your hard drive? For more info see: http://patriot.net/~carvdawg/docs/dark_side.html Code project@ http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/NTFSStreams.asp A tool to view ADS via the command line@ http://www.heysoft.de/Frames/f_sw_la_en.htm More cool tips@ http://autumnweb.com/Roxys/2WebPageHelp/4HintsTips.html A BETTER MOUSE TRAP, A BETTER CLOCK TClock, written by a fellow named Dale Nurden, gives much more flexibility when it comes to setting the clock USING THE ESCAPE KEY TO STOP A DRAG AND DROP If you're moving files or folders around on your desktop, you can always stop a drag-and-drop operation by pressing the Esc key before you drop the file or folder. This is useful if you're moving a folder and you suddenly realize you didn't mean to. Pressing Esc leaves the file exactly where it started, without you having to put it back in exactly the right place. GETTING SCIENTIFIC WITH THE CALCULATOR Did you know that you can perform trigonometric functions on it? You can indeed. Go to Start, Programs, Accessories, Calculator. Then go to View, Scientific and you have more buttons there than you know what to do with. (Unless you're a scientist, of course--then you know exactly what to do with all those buttons.) Sorry to take off on a tangent (insert rim shot), but anyway, that's how you access Windows 98's scientific calculator. SHUTDOWN ICON to the DESKTOP Right-click on your desktop and choose New, Shortcut. In the command line, enter rundll.exe user.exe,exitwindows and then click Next. Choose a name for the shortcut in the next box (probably something like Shut Down) and then click finish. You can now double-click this icon to shut down your computer, without going to the Start menu. MAKING SURE WINDOWS KNOWS YOUR MONITOR If you ever notice any kind of irregularities in your monitor display (such as faint vertical lines), you might try double-checking to make sure that Windows knows what kind of monitor you have. There's always that chance that when your computer was first set up, the person doing so didn't bother to specify the monitor type. Right-click on the desktop, choose Properties, then click the Settings tab. ADDING RENAME TO THE RECYCLE BIN CONTEXT MENU First back up the User.dat and System.dat, hidden files on the root of your hard drive, then open the Registry Editor by going to Start, Run and typing regedit Then navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}. It will take a while to sort through that long list of numbers. They are in order, though, so that helps. Once you're there, select ShellFolder. Double-click the Attributes key in the right pane, and change the value from 40 01 00 20 to 50 01 00 20. (Note: As you can see, you only have to change the 40 to a 50.) Click OK, then close the Registry Editor and right-click on your Recycle Bin. You'll now see Rename as one of the options. CHECKING SWAP FILE SIZE WITH THE SYSTEM MONITOR To see how large your swap file is at any given time, first open the System Monitor by going to Start,Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Monitor. Then go to Edit, Add Item and choose Memory Manager in the left window. In the right window, choose Swapfile Size and click OK. GETTING RID OF THE MODEM ICON If you really like to have a lean and mean system tray, you can set up your Dial-Up Networking not to display the modem icon when you're logged on. First, open Dial-Up Networking by going to Start, Programs, Accessories, Communications, Dial-Up Networking. Right-click on your usual Internet connection and choose Properties. Click on Configure in the Connect Using section, and click on the Options tab. Uncheck the box that says Display Modem Status in the Status Control section and click OK twice to exit. WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER HAS BUGS ,br> Two major bugs exist in Windows Media Player 6.4 and 7.0. First, because of an unchecked buffer in the codec, Active Stream Redirector (ASX) files can be used to allow a malicious user to run arbitrary code on a victim's computer. Second, Windows Media Player 7.0 has a "skin" feature allowing customization of the way Media Player appears on screen. Custom skin files (WMS) can contain malicious scripts. These scripts would run each time Media Player was started bearing the skin that contained them. Both versions are affected by the ASX codec bug, whereas only version 7.0 is affected by the WMS script bug. Microsoft has patched the issues with both versions. To download the patch, read the Security Bulletin: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/fq00-090.asp REMOVING THE DOCUMENTS FOLDER FROM THE START MENU First, go to Start, Run and type regedit to launch the Registry Editor. Then navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer Right-click on the white space in the right windowpane and select New, DWORD Value. Name this value NoRecentDocsMenu. Double-click it and then change the number in the Value box to 1. Close RegEdit and restart Windows; the Documents menu will be gone. If you ever want to add it back, you can just navigate back to the same place and change the value to 0. CREATING A WEB PAGE OF FAVORITES If you're like most people, you use your Favorites menu all the time to access both Web pages and folders and files on your computer. You may not have known that you can create a local Web page of all your favorites, so you can see how they're organized and access pages with a single click. In Internet Explorer, go to File, Import And Export. Click Next and choose Export Favorites from the box at the left. Click Next again, select the Favorites Source Folder at the top to export all Favorites, and then click Next. Choose a location for your bookmarks page from Export To File Or Address and click Next one last time. You now have a handy Web page listing all of your favorites. VIEWING FILE DESCRIPTIONS IN CONTROL PANEL Try viewing your Control Panels this way sometime (by going to Start, Settings, Control Panel and then going to View, Details). You'll notice the existence of a Description column, which gives a handy description of what each Control Panel is used to modify. CHANGING FILE DESCRIPTIONS When you view a folder in Details view in Windows 98 (which you can do at any time by going to View, Details while in a folder), one of the columns is called File Type. If you like, you can edit these file type descriptions, perhaps to give yourself more information when looking through folders. Just open a folder, go to View, Folder Options, and click the File Types tab. Select any registered file type from the window on the left and then click the Edit button. In the Description Of Type box, you can enter your own text. When finished, click OK twice to exit. CHANGING THE TIME FORMAT Though most people are fine with the standard time format that comes installed with Windows 98, others prefer another. You can change your time format at any time by going to Start, Settings, Control Panel and double-clicking the Regional Settings icon. Click the Time tab, and then select a Time Style from the drop-down menu. CHANGING A COMPUTER'S OWNER INFORMATION Don't you hate the fact that your used computer identifies someone else as the registered owner? Whenever you install new programs, you're always prompted with the previous owner's name. It's frustrating. Well, as long as you're comfortable editing the Registry, you can easily change the ownership information. (Note: As always, we recommend that you first back up your Registry files--User.dat and System.dat, hidden files on the root of your hard drive.) To change the owner information, first go to Start, Run and type regedit Press Enter to open the Registry Editor. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion In the right pane of the CurrentVersion key, you'll see values named RegisteredOrganization and RegisterdOwner. Just double-click these, enter the new information, and click OK. Close RegEdit and you're done. USING A SECOND HARD DRIVE FOR BACKUPS Most systems are fast enough to make an image backup of the C: drive in less than 10 minutes. That not only saves your important information, but can save hours of work if you have to restore. I never install a new program (especially a game) without making a fresh backup first. Then, if something goes wrong, I can restore it exactly like it was in less than 3 minutes. The backup method we use is a duplicate drive, identical to the first drive, with an IDE removable rack and Disk Cloning software. We can then clone the hard drive and preserve all data easily." A removable second hard drive, or one in another computer, at least avoids exposing the data on it to viruses and Trojans programmed to destroy data on all drives. If stored offsite, it also protects data against fire, theft, and natural disasters, such as floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and lightning. We use a removable hard drive as our backup medium. Although we could leave the drive in the computer whenever it is running, we leave it out, and only put it in when we are ready to do a backup. That way, if we happen to receive a virus, it is not written to our backup drive. RENAMING A FILE OR FOLDER WITH A KEYSTROKE There are several ways to rename files and folders when browsing your computer, but the fastest may be just to select the file or folder and press F2. The cursor moves to the naming window without your having to fiddle around with more mouse clicking. WHAT TO BACK UP AND HOW The most important files are those that users create themselves, like business records, spreadsheets, manuscripts, and other items that take much time to create and can be lost in an instant if no other copy exists. Do not take that risk; make copies of them, and store the backup disks or tapes in a safe place. Even better, make a second copy and store that copy at another location (thus protecting against major disasters such as fires and floods). At one time, I could have listed a few DOS commands to make a backup, but things are not so simple any more. Although there's no way I can cover everything in this limited space, I can at least point readers to the information they need for Windows 95/98. You can find out all you need to know about making backups if you go to Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Backup, and then click on Help. Unfortunately, the Windows backup utility was not designed to accommodate the needs of those who want to back up everything automatically, so you may need to purchase backup application software. Also, as a practical matter, those with gigabytes of data will require a rewritable CD drive, a tape drive, or another high-capacity drive for a full backup. Floppy disks cannot do that job. While a complete backup, supplemented by regular backups of files as you change and create them, can be costly, that method is the best insurance against data disaster. For some, a second hard drive is a solution. We will cover that in the next tip. RIGHT-CLICKING FROM THE KEYBOARD Here's a handy keyboard trick that's good for opening contextual menus without using the mouse. Just have your file or folder highlighted on screen, then press Shift-F10 to simulate a right-click from the keyboard. From there, you can use the arrow keys and the Enter key to select something from the pop-up menu. ADDING AN APPLICATION TO SEND TO When you right-click on a file or folder, one of the options in the pop-up menu is the Send To submenu. Normally, you use Send To to create shortcuts or move files around. But you can put an application in the Send To folder as a way to open files. For example, let's say you want to use Notepad to open certain kinds of files. By putting a shortcut to Notepad in the Send To menu, you can right-click on a file and select Send To, Notepad to open it. To add Notepad to the Send To menu, go to C:\Windows and find the Notepad.exe file. Right-click on it and choose Send To, Desktop As Shortcut. (On some systems, the option appears as Desktop (create shortcut).) Then select your new Notepad shortcut and press Ctrl-X to cut it to the clipboard. Now go back to the Windows folder and find the Send To folder. Paste the Notepad shortcut in the Send To folder and Notepad becomes a Send To option. You can do something similar for any program in Windows. RESTORING PROGRAMS FROM CD Restoring programs from CDs will not mean things are back to normal, just back to basics. That will take you back to how Word was originally. You will lose any changes you have made to formatting--for example, creating macros or adding words to a Custom Dictionary. And there is more to consider. Another reader points out that software version updates users get over the Internet don't exist on the program CD. He adds, "Unless the user makes a full backup, the restore time will be days as they navigate through the Net, trying to find all those updates previously applied to Windows, Office, and every other single application kept up to date since day one." From another reader: "Although PC manufacturers provide a CD with drivers for video and sound cards, modems, and such, I've found that the drivers in the CD may be the wrong ones. Users should obtain the correct drivers for their system, and decompress them to floppy disks BEFORE disaster strikes. Remember that many drivers are compressed in ZIP format, and that only a working system can run the software to decompress them." OPENING MY COMPUTER IN DUAL-PANE MODE If you want to browse your computer in dual-pane mode (the typical view for Windows Explorer), you can do this quickly. Just hold down the Shift key while double-clicking the My Computer icon. CHANGING A FILE ASSOCIATION WHEN OPENING The standard way to change the application associated with a certain kind of file is to open a folder and go to View, Folder Options, File Types. It might be easier to change file associations just by changing how you open a file. If you hold down the Shift key while right-clicking on a document, you are given an option called Open With. Select this and then choose the program you want to open this particular kind of file with in the future. Check the box that says Always Use This Program To Open This Type Of File before clicking OK, and the file association changes. READING YOUR E-MAIL CAN BE RISKY A reader asks: "Lots of people I know seem to be under the impression that they can get a virus simply by 'opening' an e-mail. Can you please explain to them that you have to download something or write something to your hard drive for the virus to activate?" It used to be true that simply reading an e-mail was 100 percent safe, but not if a person is (1) using Windows 95/98, along with Outlook Express 5.0, and (2) has not taken precautions, and (3) receives an e-mail with a hidden script worm. Merely previewing that e-mail under those conditions will allow the script to write a file to the Windows Startup folder. The next time the computer (or just Windows) restarts, Windows will run that file, and at that point makes changes to the system and spreads a virus or worm. However, the example here, KAK, cannot do so if you turn the Windows Scripting Host option off. For Windows 98, click Settings, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs. Then click the Windows Setup tab, then Accessories. Uncheck Windows Scripting Host if it is checked, then click OK to save your changes (or Cancel if it was not checked). For Windows 95, locate winscript.exe and delete it from the computer. Copy it to a floppy first, in case you want to restore it later. If applicable (see the Web page for details), download this patch for Internet Explorer: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q240/3/08.ASP SPRUCING UP YOUR DESKTOP: USING A PATTERN INSTEAD OF WALLPAPER If you get tired of having either images or solid colors on your desktop, try using a pattern instead of Wallpaper. These patterns have been around Windows since 3.1, but it's probably been a while since you used one. Right-click on the desktop and select Properties. Select None for Wallpaper, and then click the Pattern button. Choose from one of the patterns (you can tell they were named by computer geeks--one of them is called "Waffle's Revenge") and click OK. VIEWING THE DATE IN THE SYSTEM TRAY You probably already know that you can see the date at any time by double-clicking on the clock in your Windows system tray. But if you're in a hurry, you don't have to click at all. Just position your cursor over the clock and the full date pops up. Handy, yes? ADDING A SHORTCUT KEY TO YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION If you're like most people, you probably have a shortcut to your Internet connection on your desktop. If so, you can add a shortcut key that will allow you to open your Internet connection without picking up the mouse. Just right-click on your Internet connection and choose Properties. Click in the Shortcut Key box and then press a key combination that you would like to use ( Ctrl-Alt-N ). When you have a combination you like, click OK. From that point on, you can just press your shortcut key combination to launch your Internet connection. Another cool thing about doing this is you can log off the Internet from the keyboard. When you are logged on, just press the same shortcut keys to access your Internet connection ( Ctrl-Alt-N ) , and then press the Tab key to highlight the Disconnect button. Press Enter and you are logged off, without having to touch the mouse. DRAGGING AND DROPPING PROGRAM FILES IN THE START MENU Perhaps the most commonly asked question from readers of these tips is how to sort the Programs menu in alphabetical order. Once again, the trick is to go to Start, Programs and then make sure that you move your cursor to the right, so that your cursor is inside the actual list of programs. Then you just right-click and choose Sort By Name. This works with Favorites, too. Please note that in both these cases, unfortunately, new programs and Favorites are always added to the bottom of the list, so you'll have to re-sort them later. A reader named Barry wrote in to point out that you can also drag and drop the shortcuts in the list of programs, just in case you want to move the most frequently accessed programs to the top. Just go to Start, Programs and then click and hold on a program or folder. Drag it and release to move it where you like. GETTING A LOOK AT YOUR TCP/IP CONFIGURATION Curious to know what your current IP Address is when you're connected to the Internet? There's a little-known program hidden in Windows 98 that lets you check your current IP configuration any time you're online. To run it, go to Start, Run and enter winipcfg Click OK and the IP Configuration application runs. Use this to get a look at some arcane information about your TCP/IP setup--info that's sometimes useful if you're trying to debug your setup. CHANGING THE ICON SPACING When you arrange your desktop icons, the distances between them are determined by settings in Desktop Properties. If you feel that Windows places your icons too close together when you choose Line Up Icons, you can change the setting. Right-click on the Desktop and choose Properties. Click the Appearance tab. Under Item, choose Icon Spacing (Horizontal) or Icon Spacing (Vertical), and then increase or decrease the number under Size. When you're finished, click OK. REMOVING THE MY DOCUMENTS FOLDER FROM THE DESKTOP The My Documents folder differs from other folders in Windows, and not only in terms of looks. Most programs running on Windows use the My Documents folder as a default save option, and it's set up a bit differently than your average desktop folder. So if you want to remove the My Documents folder from your desktop, do it the careful way: Right-click on it and select Remove From Desktop. While the folder itself will still exist on your computer, the desktop shortcut will be gone. If you ever want to return it to the desktop, right-click on the desktop and choose New, My Documents Folder On Desktop. CHECKING YOUR INTERNET PROPERTIES Keeping a shortcut to Internet Explorer on your desktop has at least one advantage: You can access your Internet Properties at any time by right-clicking on the Internet Explorer icon and selecting Properties. This is nice if you want to make some changes to IE without opening the program itself. ENABLING THE MODEM SOUND Open the Dial-Up Networking folder by going to Start, Programs, Accessories, Communications, Dial-Up Networking. Right-click your usual connection and select Properties. Under General, click Configure under the Connect Using section. From there, you can increase or decrease the volume of the modem. CHANGING FILE EXTENSIONS Generally, changing file extensions is not advisable, because if you change the extension to something that Windows doesn't understand, you'll be unable to open the file. Also, changing a file extension doesn't necessarily change the document type, and the file data could become garbled if you change the extension. If, however, you're sure you know what you're doing and you want to change a file extension, you can do so easily. The first step is to make the file extension visible. Open a folder, go to View, Folder Options, click the View tab, uncheck the Hide File Extensions For Known File Types box, and click OK. Then you can change a file extension by right-clicking on it, selecting Rename, and changing the three letters of the file name that come after the dot. There are a great many programs that will change file types you already have, one that comes to mind is WinAmp, it seems to think that all audio files should be WinAmp media instead of MP3 or whatever. Generally speaking these files are safe to change back to MP3 or whatever they were but always change one and try it first before making mass changes. DRAG AND DROP WITH THE RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON You've probably noticed that dragging and dropping objects in Windows 98 does different things at different times. If you drag a program, Windows assumes you want to create a shortcut. If you drag a file, Windows assumes you want to move it. And if you drag an object from one drive to another, Windows assumes you want to copy it. If you want to specify the kind of drag-and-drop operation you want to perform from the outset, try dragging and dropping while holding down the right mouse button. You're then given the choices of Move Here, Copy Here, or Create Shortcut Here. Just select one of the three, or choose Cancel to abort the operation. USING CASE-SENSITIVE SEARCH STRINGS By default, Windows 98 doesn't bother with letter case when it searches local drives. If you have many files with similar names, you may find that you want to be case sensitive when searching for a file. To enable case-sensitive searching, first open the Find window by pressing Windows Key-F, then go to Options, Case Sensitive. NAV 2001 VERSUS WINDOWS ME The viral detection process in Norton AntiVirus 2001 can be bypassed if the infected file is placed in the C:\_Restore folder in Windows ME. During a Full System Scan, Norton AntiVirus will fail to recognize the presence of viruses and Trojans in the \_Restore folder. If the \_Restore folder is manually scanned, Norton AntiVirus will alert you of the virus's presence, but can't take any further action (that is, Delete, Repair, Quarantine).This could lead to the malicious placement of viruses and Trojans that Antivirus can't sanitize. There are currently no fixes or workarounds for this bug. Users are urged to contact Symantec for further information. A RENAMING SHORTCUT There are two common methods for renaming files and folders. You can right-click on the object and select Rename, or you can click once on the name itself, wait for the insertion point, and start typing. If neither of those techniques are doing it for you, here's another way to rename files and folders: Just select the item, press F2, and begin typing. LOOKING FOR FILE ASSOCIATIONS All of this information is contained in the Folder Properties area. Open any folder and go to View, Folder Properties. Click the File Types tab. In the ensuing list, you'll get a look at every type of file recognized by your computer; you can scroll through this list. Click on any file type in the list to select it, and in the File Type Details section you'll get information on the file type, including which application is used to open it by default. MOVING THROUGH FOLDERS QUICKLY Ever open the Windows folder? The number of files in there is absolutely staggering, and can be hard to sort through. If you have an idea what you're looking for in any folder, you can jump to a file just by typing in the name. Type "P" to jump directly to the P's, without having to use the scroll bar. And if you type a sequence of letters, Windows will move to the file that matches, if any. FILES WITH TWO EXTENTIONS Loveletter.doc.vbs was one of many with the two extentions and people opened it because they only saw Loveletter.doc. Why you ask and the answer is simple, Windows by default hides extentions leaving the end user just a little more open. To show all extentions open Windows Explorer click view, folder options, click the view tab at the top and select show all files. REMOVING ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS ENTRIES When you start to remove a program using the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel, it can be frustrating to see programs you've deleted long ago. If you're the industrious type and don't mind editing the Registry, you can remove these programs from the list. (Note: As always, we recommend first backing up your Registry files--User.dat and System.dat, hidden files on the root of your hard drive.) First, start the Registry Editor by going to Start, Run and typing RegEdit Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall. You'll see a list of all the programs available in your Add/Remove Programs Control Panel. You can simply select an entry from the list on the left, press the Delete key, and confirm to remove it. Close the Registry Editor and restart Windows; the item will be gone from your Add/Remove Programs list. A QUICKER WAY TO GET TO THE DEVICE MANAGER You can access System Properties at any time merely by pressing Windows Key-Break on your keyboard (if your keyboard doesn't have a Break key, try Windows Key-Esc). CLEARING THE RUN MENU First, start the Registry Editor by going to Start, Run and typing RegEdit Then navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU. From here, you can select any of the individual commands (look at the Value column to see which is which) and press Delete to get rid of them. Note that you should never delete the keys labeled (Default) or MRUList from the list. When you're finished, close the Registry Editor and restart your computer. As always backup the registry before editing ,br> WINDOWS 98 SE SHUTDOWN PROBLEMS Many Windows 98 users report problems with their computers hanging during the Shut Down routine. As problems go, this one isn't so major. It's usually safe to turn off your computer after 30 seconds or so, as long as the Windows Is Shutting Down screen is visible. Still, it is annoying. If you're having this problem and you're running Windows 98 Second Edition, you could be experiencing trouble with a bug in the program. Microsoft has a fix available online, and this is always the first place to look. Find information about downloading and running the bug fix at: http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/downloads/contents/WURecommended/S_WUFeatured/Win98SE/Default.asp REMOVING THE FAVORITES FOLDER FROM THE START MENU Some people like being able to access their Favorites from just about anywhere in Windows 98, while others, find the Favorites ubiquity a little annoying. If you're someone who never uses the Favorites area of the Start menu, you can remove it, provided you're comfortable editing the Registry. (Note: As always, we recommend first backing up your Registry files--User.dat and System.dat, hidden files on the root of your hard drive.) Start the Registry Editor by going to Start, Run, and typing RegEdit Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer. In the right window pane, right-click in the white area and select New, DWORD Value. Name the value NoFavoritesMenu. Then double-click this new icon and enter the number 1 in the Value box, and click OK. Exit the Registry Editor and restart Windows, and your Favorites will be gone from the Start menu. If you ever want to revert to having the Favorites on the Start menu, you can navigate back to this point, double-click the NoFavoritesMenu icon, and enter a value of 0. INCREASING THE FONT SIZE FOR WINDOWS By default, the font for the text in all of your Windows 98 folder windows is 8-point MS Sans Serif. If you find this font to be a little too small or hard to read on your computer, increasing it is simple. Right-click on the desktop and choose Properties. Click the Appearance tab and choose Icon from the Item drop-down menu. Under Font at the bottom of the box, try bumping the size up from 8 to 10. Click Apply to preview it, and see if the change helps. KEYBOARD SHORTCUT FOR MINIMIZING WINDOWS Want to minimize an open window without reaching for the mouse? A keyboard shortcut should do the trick. Just press Alt-Spacebar, then N, in just about any program, and the currently selected open window closes. If you use your regular home telephone line to access the Internet and you also have call waiting, you'll definitely want to disable the feature whenever you sign on. If you fail to take this step, your Internet session will be interrupted anytime someone calls when you're online. To disable call waiting, go to Start, Settings, Control Panel and double-click Telephony. Check the box To Disable Call Waiting and then enter your telephone company's code for disabling call waiting in the box (some of the more common choices are included in the drop-down menu). When you've finished, click OK. The next time you dial in to the Internet, your modem will include the extra digits to disable call waiting. SORTING PROGRAMS BY NAME How do you get the items in your Start menu's Programs Folder to appear in alphabetical order? Every time you add a new program, after all, it's added way down at the bottom of the list. It's a good trick to know, and one you can also use to alphabetize your Favorites menu. Just click Start, Programs and then, with your cursor in the Programs area, right-click and select Sort By Name. All your programs and program folders will be arranged alphabetically. DISABLING THE WINDOWS FOLDER WARNING If you're sick of seeing that warning page every time you try to access your Windows folder, you have two options. The first is to view your desktop in the classic Windows style by going to View, Folder Options in any window, selecting Classic Style, and clicking OK. This is a bit limiting, of course, because many things about the old-school Windows view may not suit your needs. A better option involves changing the name of a specific file in your Windows directory. You'll need to see all your files, so first go to View, Folder Options in any folder, click the View tab, and choose Show All Files. Then go to the Windows folder and look for a file named Folder. This file contains HTML information that redirects your request to that warning page whenever you access the Windows folder. Change the name of it (I chose Folder1) and press Enter. The Windows warning should not appear the next time you try to access the Windows folder. SEARCHING FOR FILES BY DATE If you really need to find a file on your computer, but can't for the life of you remember what you named it, you can always try searching for it by date. As long as you have a rough idea of when you were working on the file, you probably won't have any trouble. To search for files by date, press Windows Key-F to open the Find box. Then click the Date tab. Click the Find All Files button and select Modified, if you want to search for the file based on when you last remember modifying it. Click Between and fill in the date range you want to look for, and then click Find Now. MOVING ITEMS FROM THE FAVORITES LIST TO THE DESKTOP Many people, especially those fortunate souls with dedicated Internet connections, like having shortcuts to Web pages right on their desktops. If you, too, feel like you could benefit from double-clicking your way directly to the page of your choice, remember that it's easy to move an item from your Favorites folder to the desktop. In any application that uses Favorites (such as Internet Explorer), simply move your mouse to the desired Favorite, click and hold, and drag the Favorite to the desktop. A shortcut to the page appears, ready for the clicking. STOP WINDOWS 98 FROM ALTERING FLOOPY DISKS You probably don't know it, but Windows 98 will change the contents of any floppy inserted into a Windows 98 System. This is to update the file system on the floppy to accept long filenames, but can have disasterous effects on your valuable data. Diskettes affected include some older versions of MS-DOS startup diskettes, many copy-protected programs, and software that inspects the validity of the diskette before installing. In particular, the place being changed is the OEM-ID of a disk, offset 3 in the boot-sector. To prevent Windows 98 from altering your floppies, the solution is quite simple: Write protect any floppies before putting them into a Windows 98 machine. RESTART WINDOWS WITHOUT RESTARTING YOUR COMPUTER Choosing Shut Down from the Start Menu gives you several choices, including restarting your computer. However, to restart Windows without restarting your computer, saving time and aggravation, follow this step: Hold down the Shift key while pressing OK in the Shut Down box. To make it even quicker PUTTING A WEB PAGE ON YOUR TASKBAR If you have a Web page that you access constantly, such as a ticker with stock information, you can put a link to that page directly on your Taskbar so that it's visible whenever you connect to the Internet. Right-click your Taskbar and select Toolbars, New Toolbar. Type the complete Internet address into the box that appears, and click OK. A tiny version of the Web page appears on your Taskbar. AOL and 6.0 AOL is giving it's users fit, at least the ones who have downloaded and installed their newest version 6.0. It seems they've made a lot of changes and most of them not good for the user. I won't go into the details here but I will say AOL's and MS's newest toys (AOL 6.0 and MSN Explorer) eat resources needlessly! The full story is here WINDOWS ME ME seems to have problems running the following programs, Cybermedia's Oil Change Uninstaller version 5 and earlier, Guard Dog version 2.5 and earlier, First Aid 97, 98 and 2000, McAfee Utilities 3.0, McAfee Office version 2, McAfee Office 2000 (version 3.0), and can even have problems after running defrag After defragging, everything may appear okay until you restart and you may kept get the following message "Scandskw caused Fatal exception 03H in module user32.dll". You may not even be able to boot up in the safe mode. MS has a fix for the problem here CHANGING THE DEFAULT CD PLAYER Participating in the digital music revolution has meant installing several types of audio software (such as Real Player and Windows Media Player), each of which wants to make itself your default CD Player. Recently I noticed that I didn't like waiting for the bloated Windows Media Player to load when I only wanted to listen to a CD, and I switched back to Windows' default CD player, which has worked just fine. If you want to try going back to the Windows CD player, go to View, Folder Options in any folder and click the File Types tab. Scroll down to Audio CD, select it, and then click the Edit tab. Select Play, click Edit again, and under Application Used To Perform Action, type C:\WINDOWS\Cdplayer.exe Click OK and then click Close twice to exit. REMOVING ITEMS FROM THE QUICKLAUNCH TOOLBAR Adding icons to your QuickLaunch Toolbar is a great way to ensure that you'll always have your most-used programs available, no matter how cluttered the desktop. But remember that you can also easily remove icons from the Toolbar. Just click and hold on the icon, and then drag it to the Recycle Bin. ADDING A SCREEN SAVER TO THE DESKTOP If you like to be able to access your screen saver directly, without waiting a certain number of minutes for it to kick in, you can add a shortcut to it on the desktop. Go to your Windows folder on your C: drive and find the screen saver of your choice. (A quick way to locate the screen savers is to open the System subfolder, choose View, Details, then click the Type column to group all the Screen Saver files together.) Right-click it and choose Send To, Desktop (Create Shortcut). If prompted to confirm your action, click OK. A shortcut to your screen saver will appear on your desktop. You can launch this screen saver at any time simply by double-clicking on this shortcut icon. THE SIZE OF THE SWAP FILE The swap file is the portion of your hard disk that Windows uses for virtual memory. Whenever your actual RAM is exceeded, Windows uses the swap file to move items in and out of RAM. This operation happens a lot more often than you think, and interfering with the size of the swap file could cause some of your memory-hogging programs to run poorly. It is possible, however, to move the swap file to another disk or partition you may have, if that helps to free up disk space on your main drive. Right-click on the My Computer icon and choose Properties. Select the Performance tab and click the Virtual Memory button. Click the Let Me Specify My Own Virtual Memory Settings box, and then select another disk from the Hard Disk list. (Of course, this technique won't be possible if you don't have more than one hard drive or partition.) When you're done, click OK and then Close. You'll have to restart your computer before the settings take effect. A FASTER WAY TO SEE WHICH PROGRAMS ARE RUNNING The next time you need to access the System Configuration Utility, just go to Start, Run and type Msconfig That's all there is to it. CLEANING UP THE START MENU Whenever you do some routine house cleaning on your Start menu (something you should definitely do, lest the poor Start menu become overrun with extraneous icons), remember that the fastest and easiest way to access the shortcuts is to simply right-click the Start button and select Open. When you do this, a window opens indicating which icons are available, and you can prune at will. DRAGGING ITEMS TO TASKBAR WINDOWS If you're navigating through folders and you realize that you want to move a file, you can always drag and drop it to an open folder. However, if your desktop is particularly cluttered with open windows, there's a little trick to dragging a file to a desired window. Drag it to the Taskbar window and hold the file in place. After a second, the corresponding window on your desktop moves to the top of the pile, and you can just drop the file in place. LOW-LEVEL FORMAT A low-level format should be done as a last measure (virus, bad sectors,etc.). Low-level will take the drive back to the state of when you bought the hard drive, everything will be gone. You should download whatever utility the manufacture of the hard drive has for this. There are utilities by third parties if the manufacture of you hard drive doesn't have one. Once the drive has been low formatted the drive will need to be formatted, so boot the computer with the boot disc and run fdisk, partition the drive the way you want and load the operating system, drivers and other programs. DEFRAG HANGING Clean up the disk. Empty your file caches, empty the Recycle Bin, and delete any temporary files. Run ScanDisk before running Defrag. ScanDisk will find and fix file problems that might hang up Defrag. To speed up defragging, click the Settings button and uncheck the "Rearrange program files so my programs start faster" box. Network operations that poll your PC may cause Defrag to halt, so try logging off the network, or start the system in Windows's Safe mode. Turn off any screensaver, disable any antivirus programs, and close any applications running in the Windows System Tray. ADDING A DEVICE MANAGER SHORTCUT TO YOUR START MENU If you're constantly using your Device Manager, you might speed things up a bit by creating a shortcut to the Device Manager tab on your desktop. First, right-click on your desktop and choose New, Shortcut. In the Command Line field, type C:\WINDOWS\CONTROL.EXE Sysdm.cpl, System,1 (Note the correct spacing, Click Next, name your shortcut Device Manager, and click Finish.) ,br> TURNING OFF THE CLOSE CONNECTION CONFIRMATION Your computer may be configured so that Windows asks you if you want to close your Internet connection whenever you close your Web browser or your email program. If you find this reminder a nuisance, you can disable it easily enough. Go to Start, Settings, Control Panel and select Internet Options. Under the Connections tab, click once on your Internet connection and then click Settings. Click the Advanced button and then uncheck the Disconnect When Connection May No Longer Be Needed box. When you're finished, click OK. USING THE OPEN WITH COMMAND If you ever want to open a file with an application other than the one assigned to it, just hold down the Shift key while right-clicking on the file and select Open With from the contextual menu. When you choose this option, you'll see a list from which you can select a specific application to open the file, so you're not tied to the application normally associated with. ENABLING QUICK VIEW FOR SPECIFIC FILE TYPES With many types of files, you're given an option called Quick View when you right-click the item. Quick View allows you to get a quick look at something without having to open the potentially cumbersome application associated with it. If you wish to be given the Quick View option for a specific kind of file, you need to designate it as such in the File Types box. In any folder, go to View, Folder Options and click the File Types tab. Select the kind of file you want to use Quick View for, and click Edit. Check the Enable Quick View For box, and then click OK twice. REMOVING THE VOLUME CONTROL FROM THE SYSTEM TRAY I've found that because you can use Windows 98's Volume Control only with a mouse, it has a somewhat limited functionality. So instead of monkeying with the Volume Control, I leave it turned up to its maximum level all the time and adjust the volume on my external speakers. After making this decision, it doesn't make much sense to have the Volume Control sitting in the System Tray. To remove it, go to Start, Settings, Control Panel and double-click the Multimedia icon. Click the Audio tab, and in the Playback section, uncheck the Show Volume Control On The Taskbar option. Click OK and the Volume Control icon disappears. DOWNLOADING WINDOWS UPDATE FILES For the most part, Windows Update is a great thing. There's something reassuring about knowing that your computer is checking in periodically to see if it can improve itself. One thing that used to bother people about Windows Update was that you couldn't download the update files individually; you were forced to download and install them using the Windows Update interface. This was fixed a while back, and now you can view and download Windows Update files whenever you choose. This way, if you have both laptop and desktop computers, you don't need to download the files twice. Instead, you can retrieve the files and then transfer them between your computers. To download Windows Update files without installing them, go to http://wwww.microsoft.com/windows98/downloads/corporate.asp USING THE OPEN WITH COMMAND If you ever want to open a file with an application other than the one assigned to it, just hold down the Shift key while right-clicking on the file and select Open With from the contextual menu. When you choose this option, you'll see a list from which you can select a specific application to open the file, so you're not tied to the application normally associated with it. ADJUSTING THE PRINTER TIMEOUT If you send a job to your printer while it is still warming up, Windows lets you know that there's a problem and then says that it will try printing again after a specific period of time. This period is called the Timeout, and you can adjust it if Windows pesters you about this more frequently than you'd like. Go to Start, Settings, Printers, right-click your regular printer, and choose Properties. Click the Details tab, and you'll see two Timeout numbers at the bottom of the box. The one labeled Not Selected sets the period of time that Windows will wait before it stops trying to send the print job and notifies you. Transmission Retry is the amount of time (following notification) that Windows will wait before trying to print again. Change the settings as you'd like, then click OK. A NOTE ON HIDDEN FOLDERS You can designate any folder on your computer as Hidden by right-clicking it and selecting Properties, then checking the Hidden box and clicking OK. As long as your computer is not set to display hidden files, your hidden files will remain unseen whenever you or someone else browses your computer. (You set your computer to display hidden files by opening a folder, going to View, Folder Options, clicking the View tab, and selecting Show All Files.) You should keep in mind, however, that hidden files are in no way secure. They show up on Find searches, for example. So, don't rest too easy if you designate a file as Hidden ADDING A BACKGROUND TO A FOLDER Though everyone knows that you can add backgrounds to your computer desktop, many are unaware that you can also add backgrounds to specific folders. While this is a purely aesthetic endeavor, having your My Documents folder spiffed up with its own background provides peculiar satisfaction. To add a background to a folder, choose View, Customize This Folder from the folder's menu. Then select Choose A Background Picture and click Next. Browse the list of available backgrounds (you can click on any one background once to see a preview of it), and when you find one you like, click Next and then Finish. UNINSTALLING DESKTOP THEMES While they look interesting and break the monotony of the standard Windows 98 interface, Desktop Themes are also a bit of a space hog. If you have no need for quirky Recycling Bins and pointers that look like paintbrushes, you're better off uninstalling the Desktop Themes that you'll never use (you can always add them back later from your Windows 98 installation CD-ROM). To uninstall specific Desktop Themes, go to Start, Settings, Control Panel and double-click the Desktop Themes icon. You can preview any theme from the drop-down menu at the top of the screen. If you see one you'll never use, simply click the Delete button to remove it from your system. CREATING A NEW TOOLBAR If you have a folder that you access so frequently that it deserves its own Toolbar, you can give it one in Windows 98. Right-click on the Taskbar and select Toolbars, New Toolbar. Navigate to the folder you want as a Toolbar and select it. The contents of the folder are displayed as part of your Taskbar, and you can move your new Toolbar to other edges of the desktop and resize it the same way you can your Taskbar. SPLITTING A BRIEFCASE DOCUMENT FROM AN ORIGINAL If you have a laptop that you like to keep synchronized with your desktop computer, you probably use Windows' Briefcase feature to check documents out of your desktop computer and keep your work up-to-date. When you drag a document to your Briefcase and move the Briefcase to your laptop, you'll be given the opportunity to update the original file on your desktop computer with any changes you made to the document on your laptop. Sometimes, though, you may find that you make such drastic changes to the portable version of the document that you want to split it from the original and not synchronize the changes. To split a Briefcase document from the original, open your Briefcase, select the file you wish to split, and go to Briefcase, Split From Original. The files will no longer be synchronized when you make changes. Windows Resource Kit If you haven't installed this excellent set of tools you are missing a huge part of what the Windows 98 CD offers. The Setup can be found on your Win98 CD at tools\reskit\setup.exe. If you wish to be more decerning you can browse the individual folders and see what the Resource Kit has to offer. Microsoft gives you lots of tools they just like to HIDE them. USING THUMBNAIL VIEW If you're sifting through a folder that contains different kinds of documents, it can be hard to remember exactly what you're looking for just by the name. "If I could just see the first page of the document," you sigh to yourself, "I'd be able to find the exact document I'm looking for." But you don't want to open every document in turn, hoping to chance into finding the correct one. What are you to do? Fortunately, Windows 98 has a View option that turns the first page of a document into the document's icon. It's called Thumbnail. To enable Thumbnail View for a specific folder, right-click on it and select Properties. Select the General tab and click the check box that says Enable Thumbnail View. Click OK and then double-click the folder. Now, in the View menu, you are given the Thumbnails option. Select it, and the first page of each document becomes that document's icon. Remember, rendering thumbnails is hard work for your computer, so use this view only when you really need it. Suspected Spyware This "Suspects" page complements the previous "Known Spyware" page. The amazing amount of traffic over in the OptOut newsgroup, with people reporting new spyware and/or asking whether we've seen such-and-such a program before, led me to create this "suspicious software & services clearinghouse" page. People posting unknown spyware queries in the OptOut newsgroup will probably be told to "go check the suspects page". Here it is . . . Avoid Stealth Downloads One way to avoid this kind of stealth download is NEVER to accept the"standard" or "recommended" settings when you're installing software. Instead, ALWAYS specify that you want a "custom" installation; you canthen pick and choose exactly what will go on your system, rather than taking a predefined package of software that may include unwanted extras. Explorer's Secret Repair Tool Fred Langa Everyone has 'em: I call them "brain freezes," but you may know them by other, more colorful names. They're those moments of intellectual brownout - a power failure somewhere in your frontal lobes - that result in your either failing to have a good idea when needed, or (worse) latching on to a really bad idea in the belief that it's a good one. Duh. Companies have brain freezes, too, and they sometimes ruin an otherwise-good idea. Take Microsoft, for example. Someone, somewhere within the corporate labyrinth, had a great idea: Include a repair tool with every copy of Internet Explorer. Then, when your setup gets hosed for whatever reason, you could just activate the repair tool, and IE would automatically restore itself to a known-good state. Brilliant! But then corporate brain-freeze set in, and Microsoft decided to bury the tool in a location where almost no one would find it, placed behind menu choices that give no hint of its existence or operation. Then, as the corporate brain-freeze deepened, someone decided that they'd omit all mention of the repair tool in the IE Help system, thereby virtually ensuring that no one would ever find, let alone use, this tool. Duh. Let Portable Life thaw out Microsoft's brain freeze for you: If - or when - you have serious trouble with Internet Explorer 5 (or above), don't assume you're stuck trying to do a full reinstall. Instead: Click to Control Panel, then to Add/Remove Programs, and then to "Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x." (Your copy may call itself Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x and Internet Tools," or something similar, but your get the idea.) The next step is not at all intuitive, but click the "Add/Remove…" button, and lo and behold, instead of triggering an uninstall, you'll find you've launched the repair tool! The tool gives you the option of repairing your current installation (this is usually the correct choice), or reverting to your previous installation, if you elected to make a backup of that installation when you first installed IE 5+. The tool also offers an "Add a component" option, but this is almost never used; and is not part of the repair process. You know, it's a good thing that when you thaw a brain freeze, it doesn't leave a puddle, or we'd all be at the bottom of a sea. But at least this particular corporate brain-freeze is a snap to overcome. Give it a try! PRINTING FONT SAMPLES These days, most computers come pre-installed with a bounty of printer fonts. Knowing how they will all look when they print can be tough. There's an easy way to print samples of the fonts on your computer. Go to Start, Settings, Control Panel and double-click the Fonts folder. Hold down the Ctrl key and select the fonts you want to print by clicking with your mouse. Next, right-click on one of the selected fonts and choose Print. You'll have to click OK in dialog boxes for each font you selected, but once you do that, your printer will go to work printing sample pages for each font. LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP INTO FAT32 FAT32 is one of Win98's main selling points. But it also represents a major threat to your data. If you use Win98's Drive Converter utility to convert to FAT32 you don't have to worry, because the utility not only prevents you from converting back to FAT16, it also disables the Win98 uninstall feature. But then, like it or not, you're stuck with Win98. Use PowerQuest's PartitionMagic or one of the other programs out there to change from FAT16 to FAT32. If you can't convert to FAT32 before you upgrade to Win98, your best defense is to save system files during setup so you can uninstall Win98. Don't convert to FAT32 right away; instead, wait days, weeks or even months to be sure you like Win98 and your installation is running well. When you're sure you're going to stick with Win98, you can convert. WUCRTUPD.EXE PROBLEMS This seems to be a problem for Internet Explorer users only. The file is Microsoft's Windows Critical Update Notification utility. It is scheduled to run every 5 minutes by default. You can disable it without causing any immediate problems, but it is a good idea to fix the problem. After all, it is supposed to search for 'critical' updates from Microsoft. But if it is failing, you can disable it in the scheduled tasks until you can reinstall it. What I can't see is every FIVE minutes we go look for a CRITICAL update. I may be a bit slow but would every week be often enough especially if everything running right. How I discovered it was my mouse curser would blink and something would be beside it so I knew something was up. It's the same way I discovered Comet curser on my computer, when I opened WinTop and sat and watched it popped up in the list of programs running on my computer INSTALLING A PRINTER TWICE FOR SPECIAL PRINT SETTINGS If you routinely print two kinds of documents, each requiring its own printer settings, you've probably found it cumbersome to have to reenter all the printer properties every time you change documents. You might find it easier to actually install the same printer twice, but with different names and settings. This way, you can simply select the "printer" (actually the group of print settings) that you like the next time you execute your print job. To install the printer with new print settings, go to Start, Settings, Printers and click the Add Printer icon. Install the printer as you would normally, inserting the driver disk if you have it. When you come to the screen where you name your printer, name it something that differentiates it from your default printer and lets you know what the printer settings are. When you finish, right-click on your new printer and select Properties. Enter the print settings for your new printer icon and click OK. Now, when you want to print using the new print settings, you can just select the name from your program's Print dialog box. MAPPING A DRIVE If you use a shared network drive only occasionally, you probably access it by double-clicking Network Neighborhood. If the drive is one you use more frequently, however, you can get to it quicker by mapping the drive so that it appears as a drive letter on your computer. To map a network drive, first find the drive in Network Neighborhood and then right-click and choose Map Network Drive. Choose a drive letter from the drop-down menu and click OK. You can now access the network drive by selecting it on your computer the same way you would your hard drive--that is, by simply double-clicking on My Computer and finding it. Getting Trapped on One Page Ever find that when you click the back button in your browser that you end up back at the same page? It's the way the webmeister or programer has set it up so they keep you there and it's really a dirty trick. You can over come that dirty trick by right clicking the back bottom and choosing the page you want to go back to STARTING YOUR COMPUTER IN SAFE MODE If your computer is giving you trouble, and you need to restart it and run some diagnostics programs, you might try starting your computer in Safe Mode in order to minimize any potential hardware or driver conflicts. When you start your computer in Safe Mode, Windows loads only the bare minimum of drivers and hardware devices, so that you can examine and isolate problems with greater accuracy. To start in Safe Mode, shut down and restart your computer. Then, hold down the Ctrl key as Windows loads. (With some computers, you can hold down the F8 key instead.) You'll be prompted to choose a new startup mode. Select 3 to start in Safe Mode. Safe Mode displays your screen in 640 x 480 resolution, and you'll notice that Windows loads much faster without all those extra drivers. (Note: If you receive a "stuck key" error message, you've probably pressed the Ctrl key too early in the boot process. Try again with slightly more delay.) CHANGING YOUR WINDOWS PASSWORD If you work in an environment where you share your computer with others, you probably enter a password when Windows starts up to log into your User Profile. You can change this password at any time by going to Start, Settings, Control Panel and clicking the Passwords icon. Select the Change Passwords tab and then the Change Windows Password button. Type your existing password in the Old Password box and then enter a new password in the New Password and Confirm New Password boxes. Click OK, then close the Password dialog box. You'll be able to use your new password the next time you log into Windows. USING WILD CARDS TO SEARCH FOR FILES Eventually, everyone misplaces a file and has to use Windows' Find feature to recover it. Normally, you just press Windows Key-F to open the Find application, type the name of the file you're looking for in the Named box, and click Find Now. Occasionally, you may only remember a small part of the file's name, and in these situations, you need to search for your file using a wildcatted. Wild cards are symbols that stand for unknown characters. There are two types of wild cards used in searching, with the asterisk symbol being the most common. An asterisk stands for any length of text and is constrained only by its position to the other words you're searching for. So, for example, if you're looking for a specific file and you can only remember that it had the word "Report" in its name, you can type *Report* as your search criteria to find every filename containing the word "Report." The second kind of wildcatted is the question mark, which stands only for a single character. In our previous example, typing J?ne Report would search for both "June Report" and "Jane Report." PC game is experiencing some odd color flickering The color flickering is often caused by an incompatibility between the video driver and your version of DirectX. Chances are you're playing a brand-new computer game designed for DirectX 7 or 7a. If your version of DirectX is too old for the game, video and sound problems can result. First, use DxDIAG to check the version of DirectX on your system. In the Start menu, click Find Files Or Folders, type dxdiag.exe in the Named: box, and click Find Now. In the list of found files, double-click the dxdiag.exe file. Click the Help tab and note the current version of DirectX. Now check the system requirements of your game to see which version of DirectX it requires. If you need to upgrade your version of DirectX try and find a copy of DirectX 7, 7a on some machines is buggie. Windows Startup Sound The sound that plays over your computer is a lovely two-second piece of music, and while it is indeed pleasant to hear when your computer boots, you may tire of it and decide that you'd like another sound to play instead. Changing your Startup sound is a relatively simple procedure. Go to Start, Settings, Control Panel and double-click the Sounds icon. In the Events box, select Start Windows and then click the Browse button under Sound to search for a new sound. You can test the sounds as you select them by clicking the Play button in the Preview section at any time. When you find a sound you like, simply click OK twice and wait to be greeted by the new sound the next time you start your computer. ELIMINATING THE RECYCLE BIN CONFIRMATION The Recycle Bin provides a nice safeguard against accidental file deletions, but having to confirm your deletions might be a bit too cautious and could slow down your work. And really, how often does the warning message actually prompt you to do anything about what's in your Recycle Bin anyway? So, if you want to save yourself a little time, turn off the Recycle Bin Confirmation box by right-clicking on the Recycle Bin and choosing Properties. Click the Global tab and uncheck the box labeled Display Delete Confirmation Dialog Box. TURNING OFF YOUR CD-ROM'S AUTORUN If you're tired of CDs starting up automatically every time you insert them into your PC's CD-ROM drive, there's an easy way to turn off this feature. Go to Start, Settings, Control Panel and open the System icon. Click the Device Manager tab and click the View Devices By Type radio button. Click the plus sign next to the CD-ROM drive, right-click Add HTML Wallpaper You can put any text-based document onto your desktop as part of your wallpaper. Just open Notepad and type whatever you want to appear on your desktop, then save the file with an .HTM extension. Right-click on the desktop, select Properties and select the "Web" tab. Select the "New" button, select "Web site" and click OK. Use the browse button to find your new file. Click OK, then OK again. Note that this is a real HTML document because you gave it an .HTM extension. If you know how to create HTML documents by typing commands or using an authoring tool, you can spice it up with colors, sound, graphics, video, live links, ActiveX, Java or anything you choose. How to Get into A Site that Seems to Be Shut Down 
Next, let's find out how to look inside an Internet host computer that doesn't let you normally view its web site. Here's a slightly foobarred example of http://www.foopowersearch.com. Sure enough, its web site is unavailable. But we're hackers, so maybe we can prowl around anyhow. We can skip the use of a search engine on this one by just entering interesting URLs. Or you could use a search engine to find those hidden interesting URLs for you. You can go to Google.com and use the search term inurl:foopowersearch.com to find out everything its amazingly sophisticated web crawlers might have located on that site. With Google, if the site is even not connected to the Internet that day, you can also use its archives of sites to get a stored copy. Or, try Archive.org which carries copies of many web sites so detailed that you can sometimes even view copies dating back to the mid-90s. >Windows Host File Have you ever wondered how your browser finds the address of the URL you type into the window? Your computer uses DNS, Domain Name Service, to look up ("resolve") an address for a domain name. Your computer's name resolver first looks in its HOSTS file, usually directed to your own internal Web server (if you're running one). Then it asks your ISP's root server for information. We've discovered that adding the IP addresses and domain name of the sites you visit the most often can dramatically reduce your page loading time. There's no need to ask the root server to resolve an IP address for the domain name-- it's already right there, in your hosts file. The hosts file is located in your C:WINDOWS directory. If you're doing this in Windows NT, look for the LMHOSTS file (which handles NETBIOS over TCP/IP). In Linux, HOSTS is in the /etc folder. So how do you edit it? Very simple: Search for the file C:WINDOWSHOSTS.SAM. This is a sample hosts file, showing you the format your IP addresses and domain names need to be in. You'll notice the first address in the sample file is for your localhost, your local Web server, 127.0.0.1. Hold down the SHIFT key, and right-click to bring up the "Open With" menu. Open the file in NOTEPAD. Let's take a look at my hosts file: 127.0.0.1 - localhost 167.160.193.84 - leoville.com - #leo's site 206.132.166.63 - snap.com 192.41.52.91 - subbrilliant.com 209.185.108.220 - google.com 128.11.45.104 - thescreensavers.com Editing this file is easy, the only slightly difficult part is finding the IP addresses (those funny numbers) that go with the domain names. Open an MS-DOS window (Start, Run, then type COMMAND). Resize till it fits on the same screen next to NOTEPAD. Ping the URL: type PING www.google.com (or whatever domain you're looking for). It'll show you the IP address you're looking for. Type in the IP address to the left. Separate the URL and its domain name by at least one space (I generally just use the TAB key) If desired, tab over again, and include a comment, precluded by the pound (#) key Save the file as HOSTS with no extension. Bada-boom! On my machine, Google loads in about one second. A caveat from our friend Jeremy Randall, be careful with the HOSTS file. If, for some reason, the destination IP addresses change, you can slow yourself down by trying to speed up. If you do experience slowdowns, try running PING for the domain name again and see if the entry's changed. Whoosh! Have fun! External jv Power Users Explorer: The default position for the Address Bar is below the Links Bar. However you can drag the Address Bar by clicking and holding on "Address" and moving it to the top right along side the "Help" drop down menu. This has the effect of enlarging your viewing area and puts the important Links Bar (checkout last newsletter) closer to your page. Netscape: Unfortunately in Netscape the Location Bar is connected to lots of other bits and pieces so you can't make the same space saving as in Explorer. However click and drag "Location" and you can position it where you want. It's a common problem: That site I saw the other day was great, but I forgot to bookmark it! Never fear both Netscape and Explorer have solutions. Note that you can quickly go back to sites visited in the current session by: Explorer hold your cursor over the Back Button then click on the tiny down arrow to the right and select. Netscape click and hold on the Back Button then select. Explorer: Make sure the "History" button is part of your Tool Bar. If it's not click "View", "Toolbars" and "Customise" - because you need it, honest! Once you have clicked on "History" you can view the Webpages visited by Date, By Site, Most Visited and Order Visited Today. You can also search for sites within your History folder by clicking the Search button. How far your History goes back can be changed by: "Tools" or "View" depending on your version, "Internet Options" and changing the number in the History box. Netscape: Click "Communicator" then "Tools" and "History" or Ctrl+H. Once there you can list the sites visited by clicking on the button at the head of the column: Title, Location, First Visited, Last Visited, Expiration, Visit Count. Clicking the heading button toggles between an ascending and descending order. You can set the expiration time, when sites are wiped from the History folder by: "Edit", "Preferences", make sure "Navigator" is clicked, then change the number in the History box. Power Users Explorer: The default position for the Address Bar is below the Links Bar. However you can drag the Address Bar by clicking and holding on "Address" and moving it to the top right along side the "Help" drop down menu. This has the effect of enlarging your viewing area and puts the important Links Bar (checkout last newsletter) closer to your page. Netscape: Unfortunately in Netscape the Location Bar is connected to lots of other bits and pieces so you can't make the same space saving as in Explorer. However click and drag "Location" and you can position it where you want. It's a common problem: That site I saw the other day was great, but I forgot to bookmark it! Never fear both Netscape and Explorer have solutions. Note that you can quickly go back to sites visited in the current session by: Explorer hold your cursor over the Back Button then click on the tiny down arrow to the right and select. Netscape click and hold on the Back Button then select. Explorer: Make sure the "History" button is part of your Tool Bar. If it's not click "View", "Toolbars" and "Customise" - because you need it, honest! Once you have clicked on "History" you can view the Webpages visited by Date, By Site, Most Visited and Order Visited Today. You can also search for sites within your History folder by clicking the Search button. How far your History goes back can be changed by: "Tools" or "View" depending on your version, "Internet Options" and changing the number in the History box. Netscape: Click "Communicator" then "Tools" and "History" or Ctrl+H. Once there you can list the sites visited by clicking on the button at the head of the column: Title, Location, First Visited, Last Visited, Expiration, Visit Count. Clicking the heading button toggles between an ascending and descending order. You can set the expiration time, when sites are wiped from the History folder by: "Edit", "Preferences", make sure "Navigator" is clicked, then change the number in the History box. We have gathered a great range of Hot Tips for Power Users. Included are tips about using the Internet, hot tips that are useful within a Windows environment and tips that enable you to play round with all manner of things! Want more of these tips delivered to your desktop every month? Subscribe to our free monthly newsletter now. Just look through the Hot Tips underlined below and click on the tip you are interested in. Also checkout our Tips for newbies by clicking here. Creating more viewing area. Sorting out your browsing history. Turning your modem speaker off. Closing multiple Windows programs quickly. Using the Tab key to move quickly between links. Showing URL information in a friendly format in Explorer. Saving updated versions of pages for offline viewing, Explorer only. Tracking and dealing with spam. Designing an favicon. Getting RSS feeds Synchronizing bookmarks between different browsers. Searching your bookmarks, Netscape only. Speeding up Website searching. Sending a quick email via the Start button. Using the PC keyboard "Windows" key. Get the 128-bit version of your browser. What URLs have I typed recently? Get to a Webpage via a keyboard shortcut. Great Shortcuts to save your mouse wrist. IE5 in kiosk mode - great for presentations! Exporting your cookies to a new machine. Rename Internet Explorer. More "Send To" options. Explorer and Netscape plug-ins Super-customise IE5 Getting rid of the "Go" button New Explorer, Netscape offerings Add the Address bar to your Taskbar for quicker surfing Extend Internet Explorer's autosearch Search your favorites/bookmarks Create toolbars using Active Desktop Making your Desktop more like the Web How default page names work View your images automatically through your browser Extend your keyboard with lots of Windows shortcuts A printable list of keyboard shortcuts Fill in forms quickly with FormWhiz Microsoft Windows Updates online IE5 Image Placeholders Explorer and Netscape Plugins A great password tip Delete your ISP's logo and title from IE5 Save and encrypt your passwords Automatically start programs Find out when a Webpage was last updated Save Flash animations to your harddrive Stop viruses sending to your address book Delete Word recent file list Create a shortcut for a common email address Power up the Windows Key Custom shortcuts to Internet sites Shortcut to your harddrive Entering addresses really quickly! Keyboard shortcuts to your favourite Websites A mouseless way to get to your home page Download Mozilla or Netscape 7 Write your email in HTML Changing Windows sounds How to check why Windows won't boot properly
Power Users Explorer: The default position for the Address Bar is below the Links Bar. However you can drag the Address Bar by clicking and holding on "Address" and moving it to the top right along side the "Help" drop down menu. This has the effect of enlarging your viewing area and puts the important Links Bar (checkout last newsletter) closer to your page. Netscape: Unfortunately in Netscape the Location Bar is connected to lots of other bits and pieces so you can't make the same space saving as in Explorer. However click and drag "Location" and you can position it where you want. It's a common problem: That site I saw the other day was great, but I forgot to bookmark it! Never fear both Netscape and Explorer have solutions. Note that you can quickly go back to sites visited in the current session by: Explorer hold your cursor over the Back Button then click on the tiny down arrow to the right and select. Netscape click and hold on the Back Button then select. Explorer: Make sure the "History" button is part of your Tool Bar. If it's not click "View", "Toolbars" and "Customise" - because you need it, honest! Once you have clicked on "History" you can view the Webpages visited by Date, By Site, Most Visited and Order Visited Today. You can also search for sites within your History folder by clicking the Search button. How far your History goes back can be changed by: "Tools" or "View" depending on your version, "Internet Options" and changing the number in the History box. Netscape: Click "Communicator" then "Tools" and "History" or Ctrl+H. Once there you can list the sites visited by clicking on the button at the head of the column: Title, Location, First Visited, Last Visited, Expiration, Visit Count. Clicking the heading button toggles between an ascending and descending order. You can set the expiration time, when sites are wiped from the History folder by: "Edit", "Preferences", make sure "Navigator" is clicked, then change the number in the History box. Tired of those annoying modem sounds: dialing and screeching when you connect to the Internet? This tip will fix that: To shut off the speaker, click Start, Settings, Control Panel. When Control Panel opens, double-click the Modems icon. When the Modems dialog box opens, click Properties. In the Properties dialog box, select the Connection tab and click Advanced. When the Advanced Connection Settings dialog box opens, type ATM0 in the Extra Settings box (that's a zero at the end). Now, click OK to close the dialog box and save the settings. Click OK again to close the Properties dialog box. You can now close Control Panel and test your new settings. Since the command ATM0 tells the modem to set the speaker to zero, you should no longer hear the modem dialing sounds. A useful Windows Tip. If you are working with more than one program open there is an easy way to close more than one at a time. While holding down the Ctrl key click on the program icons you want to close in the Taskbar (bottom of your screen), right click on one of the selected icons and then choose Close from the menu. All the selected programs will close automatically. In both Explorer and Netscape, the Tab key can be useful. If you press the key repeatedly it will move you through the links on any Webpage, starting from the Address or Location Bar. If you go too far press Shift+Tab to go back one link. Explorer: First, select Tools, Internet Options, and click the Advanced tab. Scroll down to the Browsing section. Select "Show Friendly URLs". Click OK twice to save your changes. Now go to a site, and point to (but don't click) the link. You'll see quite a change from what you're used to. Pages within the site show the file name whereas pages outside the site display the domain name and in some cases the file name. This can be quite useful in many instances. Saving updated versions of pages for offline viewing. This tip is for Explorer only. To make the current page available go "Favorites", "Add to Favorites" and check the "Make available offline" box. You can make an existing favorite available by going to "Organise Favorites" in the Favorites menu selecting a Webpage and checking the same box. You can customize and schedule your updating by following the instructions. Note that if you don't schedule an update, the page(s) will only update when you click "Tools" and then "Synchronize". Most Internet users get large amounts of unsolicited email or spam once their email address has been in circulation for a while. Not only is it annoying but often the spammers forge the "from: address" section to avoid being harrassed by victims. There is a way of finding out where has been sent from that works most of the time. To see the header of the message in Outlook Express press "Ctrl"+"F3"; in Outlook 97, 98 or 2000 click "View" then "Options". Normally you can see the IP address of the sender of the message, by ignoring your own mail server details. To check on the IP address obtained, open the DOS window (remember how?) and type: C:\tracert "IP Address" without the quotation marks. Make sure you are connected and this program will trace the route of the email; the last address being where the email originated from. If the address has been forged this will differ from the original. At this point make sure you visit www.abuse.net and use the information found to find an email address that you can make a complaint to. For example if the spam has come from AOL, the complaint can be sent to abuse@aol.net. Unless you complain, spam can only get worse. A feature of IE5+ and later Netscape versions lets Webmasters design an icon that will appear to left of your site's title on the "favorites" menu and on the address bar, rather than the plain default logo. To take advantage of this, make an icon that describes your site in a graphics software program or visit www.favicon.co.uk. It will need to be 16x16 pixels in size so make it very simple eg. a single letter. Work in 256 colours only and export the finished image as a bitmap, say "favicon.bmp". Rename this as "favicon.ico". Transfer this file to your Website and then include the following tag between your "head" tags: < link rel="shortcut icon" href="http://www.your_website/favicon.ico" >. If you're a techie power user you may already being receiving RSS feeds from news aggregators within your email client or browser. These aggregators allow you to subscribe to news feeds and blogs from around the world and are a great way to keep on top of information overload. The aggregators present the latest headlines and a direct link to the article. If you're not doing this you might want to check these out: Newsgator (Outlook 2000 or later, Win 98 or later) Amphetadesk (Cross platform) NewsMonster (Mozilla 1.0, Netscape 7.0 or later) NetNewsWire (Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) or greater) SharpReader (.NET 1.1, or with .NET 1.0 with service pack 2) If you are using both Explorer and Netscape browsers on your PC you will probably have trouble trying to keep your bookmarks synchronised. Explorer 5.0 has a solution: To export your Favorites: Choose "File", "Import and Export". The Import/Export Wizard launches. Choose the "Next" button and select "Export Favorites" from the list that appears. Click "Next" then "Export to an Application", a Netscape profile should be available, clicking "Next" should find a message asking if you want to replace the existing file, click "Yes" and "Finish". Note that if you use the Links bar in Explorer you will have to manually drag and drop into the Netscape Personal Toolbar Folder to have the same setup. Note that the "Import and Export" option can also be used to import Netscape bookmarks into Explorer and to export a copy of your bookmarks to a file. It was about time we had a Netscape only tip - you can't do this in Explorer and it's a real useful one. If you are like me and have over a hundred bookmarks, often it is very difficult to find the one you want. In Navigator click "Bookmarks" then "Edit Bookmarks" , "Ctrl+F" and type a word or description you are looking for. You can customize the way you search by checking various boxes then click "OK". If you don't find it straight away press "Ctrl+G" until hopefully you do. Check out Backflip for another angle. If you are looking to quickly get to a Website in Explorer try this: enter the basic site name like "netinsites" and press "Ctrl+Enter". Explorer will cycle through the first level domain suffixes .com, .org, .edu etc until it finds a match: in this case http://www.netinsites.com. You can of course just press "Enter" on both browsers, but Explorer will then try and find the site via the MSN search function and Netscape will try via Google, another Search Engine. The results will then depend on whether there is a Website matching that description within their database. This works for Outlook Express at least. If you want to send a quick email message without loading the whole email program try this: click "Start" then "Run" and type in "mailto:" then "Enter". This will open just the "New Message" window. If you don't know the person's email address but their name is in your address book then Outlook will autocomplete it for you. For several years PC keyboards have had three extra keys. The two "Windows" keys each have the Windows logo on them and they are between the "Alt" and "Ctrl" keys either side of the space bar. The "Shortcut menu" key is on the bottom right side of the keyboard between the "Ctrl" and "Windows" keys. "Windows" opens the Start Menu "Windows+R" opens the Run dialog box "Windows+E" opens Windows Explorer "Windows+F" opens Find Files "Windows+M" Minimise all open windows "Windows+Tab" Cycles through tasks "Windows+F1" Windows Help The Shortcut menu key will display the shortcut menu for the selected object. Recent months has seen the lifting of the embargo of export of 128 bit encryption technology, so that if you live outside the Canada and US and not in a small list of embargoed countries, you can now legally download 128 bit versions of the two main browsers. Netscape has also recently confirmed that the 56 bit version of Netscape Communicator is incompatible with Microsoft's widely used Internet Information Server 4, whereas the 128 bit version is OK. 128 bit is the highest level of encryption currently available for secure transactions and is becoming common on banking and financial Websites where security is paramount. To download IE5 you can go here and for Netscape here. If you want to see the URLs you have actually typed into the Address Bar in Explorer, click the down arrow to the right of the Bar or press "F4". Explorer saves the last 25 entries in chronological order. Netscape is similar, click the down arrow to the right of the Location Bar and the last 15 URLs you have typed are shown in a drop down menu. Netscape also allows you to clear this by clicking "Edit", "Preferences" then "Navigator" and "Clear Location Bar" at the bottom of the window. Here's a great way to bring up a Web site you use often with Internet Explorer 5. It takes a little work, but really makes viewing the page a breeze. First open the page you want to bookmark. Select the page icon (to the far left in the Address Bar) and drag it to the desktop ("Window"+"M" to minimise all windows). A shortcut now appears. Right-click it. From the dialog box that opens, click the Shortcut Key text box - for Win 95 click the "Web Document" tab. Type a shortcut letter, one you'll remember - for Win 95 you'll need to press "Ctrl"+"Alt" + the letter you want. For Win 98 you might type: N to signify a shortcut for NetInsites and Windows will display Ctrl+Alt+N. Now click the OK button to apply the changes and close the dialog box. From now on, when you press "Ctrl"+"Alt"+"N", IE 5 opens the page. Saving that mouse wrist is always a bonus for power users. For both Netscape and Explorer use "Alt"+"Left Arrow" instead of the Back Button or "Alt"+"Right Arrow" for Forward. Explorer only try "Shift" + click to force Explorer to open the link in a new window. "Ctrl"+"W" or "Alt"+"F4" to close any window. This tip is great for presentations with IE5 - it allows IE5 to take over the full screen without any toolbars whatsoever! Even better than full screen mode (toggle F11) and is called kiosk mode. Create a shortcut to IE5 on the desktop. To do this, choose Start, Programs, then right-click and drag the Internet Explorer icon to the desktop. When you finish dragging, choose "Create Shortcut(s) Here" from the pop-up menu that appears. Right-click the shortcut's icon. Choose Properties from the contextual menu. In the Target box, write or amend the text so it displays the following:"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" -k Make sure you leave a space between the end quotation mark and the minus sign. Click OK. When you click THIS icon, IE5 launches in kiosk mode. To open a Website, press "Ctrl+O" to launch the Open dialog box. Since there is no Close button, you can shut down IE5 by pressing "Alt+F4". You can have two IE5 icons - one that opens normally and one that operates in kiosk mode. Cookies can be intrusive, but in most cases they are helpful personalisation tools. When you're checking your bank balance or buying online they can save time because you don't have to log in each time. This can be a hassle if you want to use a new computer or laptop. Here's how to export your cookies in Internet Explorer (IE5). Choose "File", "Import And Export". The Import/Export wizard appears. Click "Next" button then choose "Export Cookies" and click "Next". In the next screen, select "Export To A File". Click the "Browse" button if you want to change the location where you save the file (called cookies.txt). Click "Next" again then click "Finish". You've saved your cookies. To import them, just launch the Import/Export wizard again, and this time choose "Import Cookies".
Sick of that "Microsoft Internet Explorer" heading at the top of your IE browser? Well let's change it to something more personal! This requires a Registry edit, so make sure you're real careful - this is for expert users. First back up the Registry. Make copies of the system.dat and user.dat files in your Windows folder, and save them on a floppy or other removable drive (like a Zip). Now open the Registry Editor. Click Start, Run, then type: regedit Go down through the directory until you get to: You probably know that when "Exploring" (right click on "Start", chose "Explore") your files in Windows you can right click on a file and use the "Send To" option to send it to your "A" drive or Desktop. It is quite straightforward to add other destinations to this "Send To" list - your Recycle Bin for example. While "Exploring" chose the destination you would like to be able to send files to, right click and drag to C:/Windows/Send To . Then chose "Create Shortcut(s) Here" from the pop-up menu. Rename the shortcut if necessary. Both Explorer and Netscape have extra add-ins that can be useful to power users. IE5 users can check out the following page which includes some powerful Web Accessories that are added as easy access bars to the browser. Included are Surf Monkey which is useful for blocking inappropriate sites from kids, Alexa which updates site-specific information as you surf and Odigo which lets you chat with other Odigo users who are visiting the same Website, plus much more. Netscape has plug-ins which are software programs that extend the capabilities of Netscape Navigator in a specific way. Note that there are a wide range available by clicking on the categories at the left hand side of the page. Super-customisation for IE5 ! Hopefully you've followed Power Tip #1 and have the address bar at the top right (if not click on the link and do that first). Firstly let's get rid of some of those buttons on the IE Toolbar. Go "View", "Toolbar" and then "Customize" and do some radical surgery. I've disposed of everything except "Back" and "Forward" - I like the little down arrows that allow you to jump back/forward several steps - but you may want to leave other buttons. Everything else is available via keyboard shortcuts and now is a great time to learn them :-) Go the left hand end of the Links Toolbar and drag it up and to the right so that it is positioned to the right of the remaining toolbar buttons, adjust the position as necessary. Lots more room! As a power user you don't need the "Go" button at the right of the address bar in Internet Explorer. You normally just press "enter" after typing in a URL, right? Go "Tools", "Internet Options", "Advanced" tab, under "Browsing" click to deselect "Show Go Button in Address Bar". Click "OK". Navigator of course doesn't have anything as silly. Internet Explorer 5.5 is the latest offering from Microsoft. The only new feature seems to be a print preview so that you can check how a Webpage will look before printing it. For developers there is better support for DHTML and CSS see http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/download/ie55.htm . One advantage of this download is of course that you'll catch up with the numerous IE security patches! :-) Netscape also has released a preview version of Netscape 6 which they say is the "first Internet software to seamlessly integrate browsing, email, and instant messaging" . To check out what our browsers will look like in the very near future see http://home.netscape.com/download/index.html .
For quick surfing, you can add the Address bar to your Taskbar (the bar where your minimised windows show) in Windows 95 and Windows 98. Note: To do this, you must have Active Desktop.
Active Desktop was introduced in the MSIE 4 Windows Desktop update, which integrated parts of the Windows OS with the Internet. Active Desktop includes certain items, like the Quick Launch toolbar and folders that can preview image files. Keep in mind that Active Desktop is part of both Windows 98 and MSIE 4. If you use an older version of Windows 95, you won't have Active Desktop (unless you first installed MSIE 4). A great way to extend Internet Explorer's autosearch functionality. Normally, when you type a single keyword on the Address line in IE and hit enter, it'll search for the .com, .edu, then .org registrations until it finds a match. Well, you can edit and add to that list! This requires a Registry edit, so make sure you're real careful - this is for expert users. First back up the Registry. Make copies of the system.dat and user.dat files in your Windows folder, and save them on a floppy or other removable drive (like a Zip). Now open the Registry Editor. Go "Windows+R" or click "Start", "Run", then type: "regedit". Go down through the directory until you get to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Internet Explorer > Main > UrlTemplate. "Right click" and choose "New" then "String Value". "Right" click the name choose "Modify" and add another domain in the same format. Add other items like .co.uk, .co.nz, .com.au, or even .nl would work, too. You can rearrange the numbers to your liking as well which changes the search order ("Right click" then "Rename"). Like most users, you probably have hundreds of favorites/bookmarks - most of which you hardly ever visit. Remember bookmarking that one page? It was "freegoodies" something, but that's all you remember. Internet Explorer stores Favorites differently to the way Netscape stores Bookmarks: in separate files as opposed to a single file. IE users: fire up the Windows Find applet, press "Start", select "Find", then "Files or Folders" or "Windows+F", look in \Windows\Favorites (or wherever yours are stored), then in the "Containing text" field, enter "freegoodies"' (or whatever string you're searching for). Netscape users: in the same Find applet, do a search for the file called 'bookmark.htm' and open it up in any text editor of choice (Notepad for example). Within that editor, you can look for your string with an (assumed) internal 'find' feature. If you use the Active Desktop (see http://www.netinsites.com/hottips_power.cfm#p28 for more details), you can create a toolbar for any Web site or folder on your hard drive. Just right-click a blank area of the Taskbar (for example, just to the left of the System Tray, where you see the Date/Time), and choose Toolbars, New Toolbar. Once your toolbar is set up, you can click it and drag it to another edge of the screen. As a Power User who spends a lot of time on the Web shouldn't you make your desktop more like the Web as well? The main difference is to make your programs/files able to be opened with a single click. Just go "Start", "Settings", "Folder Options" ("Folders and Icons" in Win 95) and select "Web style" and "OK". It also makes selecting a range of files even easier. Try it and see! Why don't you have to specify the actual page when you visit many pages on the Web? eg. You visit www.netinsites.com and you actually end up at www.netinsites.com/index.cfm. The default page name(s) - there can be multiple in a cascading order of attempts by the server - is actually a server setup function for the particular virtual server running the site in question. A server administrator can add any arbitrary page name to the defaults list and it will be used as long as there is no conflict with another page with a default name that is higher on the cascading order. The common default names use .htm or .html and are index, default, home, welcome (often in that order). If the page is an .asp or .cfm then it's simply a matter of adding another copy, in the appropriate order of attempt, of that default name with the relevant extension. eg. index.cfm might come first of all. This tip was supplied by Malcolm at Knowledge Systems - Internet technology and database solutions. Here's how to use Internet Explorer, Netscape or other browser to view images. This tip is handy if you've installed a graphics program that has taken over your image file associations - and takes what seems like forever to load. Find an image file (such as a GIF or JPEG file) on your hard drive. Then, in Windows Explorer, press the Shift key while right-clicking the image file. Choose "Open With" from the pop-up menu that appears. Select Iexplore, Netscape or other browser in the list of programs that displays in the Open With dialog box. Check "Always Use This Program To Open This Type Of File" . This tip isn't just for graphics. You can use it to change the association on just about any type of file on your PC. Copernic offers a free download at http://www.copernic.com/winkey/ which allows creating shortcuts with the Windows logo key, using some 200 possible key combinations. This handy application provides a shell extension to access system folders or Web pages and start your most popular applications. How about all those keyboard shortcuts that you would use if you could remember them? Check out this comprehensive (and highly printable) list of shortcuts for Internet Explorer and Netscape browsers http://zroots.com/shortcuts.htm . When you are navigating the Internet, you often have to repeatedly fill in the same forms again and again. Formwhiz is a free Microsoft Internet Explorer Extension that is able to automate data entry in HTML forms. When detecting a form in the page currently displayed by Microsoft Internet Explorer, FormWhiz will try to transparently and automatically fill in the fields for you. Slightly techie, but hey you're a Power User! and it's good value. Download it at http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/stories/info/0,,0011YD,.html . Microsoft Windows Update is a useful feature that comes with Internet Explorer 5+. When you're connected to the Net select "Tools", "Windows Update". From there you can select the components you want to add. The software downloads and installs on your system automatically. A useful feature you can also sign up for is to be alerted by email of any important updates. Instead of waiting for graphics to download before you see all the text in a page, you can set IE5 to put placeholders where the graphics will appear. You start browsing more quickly. Choose "Tools", "Internet Options" and click the "Advanced" tab. Type 'M' (twice for me) to jump to the Multimedia section. Under Multimedia, select "Show Image Download Placeholders". Click OK to save your changes. Netscape does this automatically. Both Explorer and Netscape have extra add-ins that can be useful to power users. IE5 users can check out the following page http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/IE/WebAccess/ which includes some powerful Web Accessories that are added as easy access bars to the browser. Included are Surf Monkey which is useful for blocking inappropriate sites from kids, Alexa which updates site-specific information as you surf and the New York Times bar which lets you see the top stories of the day, plus much more. Netscape has plug-ins which are software programs that extend the capabilities of Netscape Navigator in a specific way. Note that there are a wide range available by clicking on the categories at the left hand side of the page. http://www.netscape.com/plugins/ As you know many of the passwords required by sites are not that critical. When you save a Favorite/Bookmark for a site or a forum that requires a password, why not type the password at the end of the shortcut name. Then all you have to do is check the Favorite/Bookmark to see the password. Obviously, you should never put critical passwords like your bank's there, but plenty of others are less sensitive. If you are an IE5 user and are tired of seeing your ISP's animated logo instead of the usual spinning globe and it's name in your title bar, there is a fix. However it requires editing the registry - always a potentially dangerous act. Make sure to back up your system.dat and user.dat files in your Windows folder, preferably to a floppy or another folder on your hard drive. Launch the Registry Editor by clicking "Start" then "Run". Type "regedit" in the Run dialog box that appears then navigate to the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar. In the right pane, select BrandBitmap and SmBrandBitmap. Delete these entries. To get rid of the name in the title bar, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\WindowTitle. Select the name in the right pane and delete the entry. Exit the Registry Editor and restart your computer. If you're like me you have lots of passwords: for accounts, online services, Websites etc. Some people write their passwords on a piece of paper, leaving their accounts vulnerable to thieves or in-house snoops. Others choose the same password for different applications, which makes life easy for intruders of all kinds. With Password Safe, a free Windows 9x/2000 utility from Counterpane Labs, users can keep their passwords securely encrypted on their computers. A single Safe Combination--just one thing to remember - unlocks them all. Password Safe is a free download at http://www.counterpane.com/passsafe.html . Want to automatically start a program when Windows starts? Right-click the shortcut on your desktop and select 'Copy'. Then go to 'Start', 'Settings', 'Task and 'Start Menu'. Click on the 'Start Menu Programs' tab then 'Advanced'. Expand the 'Programs' directory if need be and Right-click on 'Startup'. Select 'Paste'. Then OK to close all boxes. You can find out when when a Website was last updated by entering in the address/location bar "javascript:alert(document.lastModified)" (without the quotes). To automate this you can create a file in NotePad: [InternetShortcut] URL=javascript:alert(document.lastModified) then, save the file as "last_modified.url" (without quotes) in c:\windows\favorites. You can then access this feature through Favorites in your MS Internet Explorer. Because Shockwave (Flash) animations actually run from your hard drive you can capture them for later viewing. Here's how: First browse to the Website where the animation is then go 'Start', 'Find', 'Files or Folders' (or 'Start', 'Search', 'Files or Folders' in Windows Me or 2000). Enter *.swf as your search criteria and look in the \Windows folder. You'll get a list of the Shockwave animations that are stored on your hard drive. It may be a little difficult to determine which is the correct one if it is not obvious by date or name, but you can open it to check. Copy and paste or drag into the folder of your choice. Stop those viruses that send to your address book. Create a new contact in your address book called '!0000' (without apostrophes) but don't give it an email address. Then if you do get a virus and it tries to do a 'send all' to all your contacts it'll come up with an error message straight away... "The message could not be sent. One or more recipients do not have an email address. etc" as this contact will always be first on the list. Just click on 'OK'. So if you ever get that message you'll know that a virus has tried to send to your contacts but no harm should have been done. The offending virus message may be stored in your "drafts" or "outbox folder" - make sure you delete it. It won't protect against receiving a virus but should make it harder to spread it on. Microsoft Word 97/2000 maintains a history file of recent documents that you can use from the File menu. If you want to delete a single document from prying eyes, hold 'Ctrl+Alt' and then the hyphen key (not the minus key to the right of the number pad). The mouse pointer will change to a minus sign, then use the File menu to display the history list and click on the single file you want deleted. Cool !! If you send a lot of email to one address, right click a blank area of your desktop, select 'New' then 'Shortcut' and in the command line, enter (without quotes) "mailto:" followed by the mail address without spaces. Click on Enter and when prompted for the shortcut's name, enter the addressee or whatever you like. Thereafter, clicking on this new shortcut will open your email program composition window with the email address already entered. You can drag this shortcut to the Quick Launch Bar as well so that it's always visible. To see how check out this tip http://www.netinsites.com/hottips.cfm#n19 Copernic offers a free 1.2 mb download at http://www.copernic.com/winkey/ to power up that little-used Windows key. With this shell extension you can create shortcuts and instantly start favorite applications, folders, and Web pages. This application requires a Windows compliant keyboard, supports about 200 key combinations, and works with Windows 95/98/NT/2000/ME. You can create your own custom shortcuts to Internet sites using Notepad. Just run Notepad and enter the following as shown here:
[InternetShortcut] When you click on Windows Explorer or 'Start' it often opens to the Start or another folder. If you'd prefer it open highlighting your entire hard drive or another drive, create a shortcut on your desktop. To do this, right click on a blank area of your desktop, select 'New' and 'Shortcut'. In the Command line, type (without quotes): "c:\" or whatever drive letter you desire and click Next, then give the icon a name and click on 'Finish'. A super quick way of typing .com URLs into Internet Explorer. Press 'F6' to highlight the Address Bar, enter the address without the .com or http eg. 'netinsites' then 'Ctrl+Enter' for IE to complete the dot com address for you! For very quick access to your most-used Website, in Windows Explorer, go to C:\Windows\Favorites folder and find the site in your Favorites list. Right click on it and choose properties. Under the Internet Shortcut or Web Document folder tab, you'll see the site's address next to Target URL and next to Shortcut key you should see None. Replace 'None' with any desired letter you wish to make a hotkey and click OK - you may find that you can't delete 'None', just select the box and type the letter you want. You'll now need only to press Ctrl+Alt+ the letter that you designated. Make sure the hotkey is unique; that is, not in use by another application. A quick and mouseless way to get to your homepage in Internet Explorer and Netscape. Just go 'Alt' + 'Home'. Although the browser market is completely dominated by Microsoft's Internet Explorer there are alternatives. Netscape 7.0 has been released and is based on version 1.0 of the open source Mozilla browser. Unfortunately for Netscape the Mozilla organisation has since released an improved 1.1 version. You can download and use this latest Mozilla version in its own right. If you're interested visit http://www.mozilla.org/ and look for Mozilla 1.1. If you're reasonably familiar with HTML, you may want to generate some of your email directly in HTML. To do this, run Outlook Express (5 or 6) and click 'Create Mail' or 'New Mail' depending on your version. When the New Message window opens, go to 'Format' and make sure 'Rich Text (HTML)' is selected. Next, choose 'View' then 'Source Edit' and you should see three tabs appearing at the bottom of the screen. Click on the 'Source' tab to edit the HTML and the 'Preview' tab to see how it looks. Send in the normal manner. A cool but fairly geeky thing to do is to change the Windows sounds for program events, like new mail notification. My Fave Wavs has a good range of sounds including Email Wavs. Once you've selected the one(s) you like go (instructions are for Win XP, but similar for other OSs) "Start", "Settings", "Control Panel", "Sounds and Audio Devices" and make sure the "Sounds" tab is selected. Then it's just a matter of selecting the sounds you want against the "Program Events" in the window. My mail notification is now Mike Myers as Austin Powers, "You've got mail baby, yeah!" :-) An old one but still worthwhile - an easy way to determine why Windows may be failing to boot properly. During the reboot, press F8 to call up the Windows StartUp menu and select the Logged (\Bootlog.txt) option. This records each step Windows takes during the reboot process. Then reboot (use the Safe mode if it is necessary) and locate the bootlog.txt file in the root directory. Use a text editor such as WordPad to open that file and look for any steps reported as "failed" for a clue as to the problem. Tired of those annoying modem sounds: dialing and screeching when you connect to the Internet? This tip will fix that: To shut off the speaker, click Start, Settings, Control Panel. When Control Panel opens, double-click the Modems icon. When the Modems dialog box opens, click Properties. In the Properties dialog box, select the Connection tab and click Advanced. When the Advanced Connection Settings dialog box opens, type ATM0 in the Extra Settings box (that's a zero at the end). Now, click OK to close the dialog box and save the settings. Click OK again to close the Properties dialog box. You can now close Control Panel and test your new settings. Since the command ATM0 tells the modem to set the speaker to zero, you should no longer hear the modem dialing sounds. A useful Windows Tip. If you are working with more than one program open there is an easy way to close more than one at a time. While holding down the Ctrl key click on the program icons you want to close in the Taskbar (bottom of your screen), right click on one of the selected icons and then choose Close from the menu. All the selected programs will close automatically. In both Explorer and Netscape, the Tab key can be useful. If you press the key repeatedly it will move you through the links on any Webpage, starting from the Address or Location Bar. If you go too far press Shift+Tab to go back one link. Explorer: First, select Tools, Internet Options, and click the Advanced tab. Scroll down to the Browsing section. Select "Show Friendly URLs". Click OK twice to save your changes. Now go to a site, and point to (but don't click) the link. You'll see quite a change from what you're used to. Pages within the site show the file name whereas pages outside the site display the domain name and in some cases the file name. This can be quite useful in many instances. Saving updated versions of pages for offline viewing. This tip is for Explorer only. To make the current page available go "Favorites", "Add to Favorites" and check the "Make available offline" box. You can make an existing favorite available by going to "Organise Favorites" in the Favorites menu selecting a Webpage and checking the same box. You can customize and schedule your updating by following the instructions. Note that if you don't schedule an update, the page(s) will only update when you click "Tools" and then "Synchronize". Most Internet users get large amounts of unsolicited email or spam once their email address has been in circulation for a while. Not only is it annoying but often the spammers forge the "from: address" section to avoid being harrassed by victims. There is a way of finding out where has been sent from that works most of the time. To see the header of the message in Outlook Express press "Ctrl"+"F3"; in Outlook 97, 98 or 2000 click "View" then "Options". Normally you can see the IP address of the sender of the message, by ignoring your own mail server details. To check on the IP address obtained, open the DOS window (remember how?) and type: C:\tracert "IP Address" without the quotation marks. Make sure you are connected and this program will trace the route of the email; the last address being where the email originated from. If the address has been forged this will differ from the original. At this point make sure you visit www.abuse.net and use the information found to find an email address that you can make a complaint to. For example if the spam has come from AOL, the complaint can be sent to abuse@aol.net. Unless you complain, spam can only get worse. A feature of IE5+ and later Netscape versions lets Webmasters design an icon that will appear to left of your site's title on the "favorites" menu and on the address bar, rather than the plain default logo. To take advantage of this, make an icon that describes your site in a graphics software program or visit www.favicon.co.uk. It will need to be 16x16 pixels in size so make it very simple eg. a single letter. Work in 256 colours only and export the finished image as a bitmap, say "favicon.bmp". Rename this as "favicon.ico". Transfer this file to your Website and then include the following tag between your "head" tags: < link rel="shortcut icon" href="http://www.your_website/favicon.ico" >.
If you're a techie power user you may already being receiving RSS feeds from news aggregators within your email client or browser. These aggregators allow you to subscribe to news feeds and blogs from around the world and are a great way to keep on top of information overload. The aggregators present the latest headlines and a direct link to the article. If you're not doing this you might want to check these out: If you are using both Explorer and Netscape browsers on your PC you will probably have trouble trying to keep your bookmarks synchronised. Explorer 5.0 has a solution: To export your Favorites: Choose "File", "Import and Export". The Import/Export Wizard launches. Choose the "Next" button and select "Export Favorites" from the list that appears. Click "Next" then "Export to an Application", a Netscape profile should be available, clicking "Next" should find a message asking if you want to replace the existing file, click "Yes" and "Finish". Note that if you use the Links bar in Explorer you will have to manually drag and drop into the Netscape Personal Toolbar Folder to have the same setup. Note that the "Import and Export" option can also be used to import Netscape bookmarks into Explorer and to export a copy of your bookmarks to a file. It was about time we had a Netscape only tip - you can't do this in Explorer and it's a real useful one. If you are like me and have over a hundred bookmarks, often it is very difficult to find the one you want. In Navigator click "Bookmarks" then "Edit Bookmarks" , "Ctrl+F" and type a word or description you are looking for. You can customize the way you search by checking various boxes then click "OK". If you don't find it straight away press "Ctrl+G" until hopefully you do. Check out Backflip for another angle. If you are looking to quickly get to a Website in Explorer try this: enter the basic site name like "netinsites" and press "Ctrl+Enter". Explorer will cycle through the first level domain suffixes .com, .org, .edu etc until it finds a match: in this case http://www.netinsites.com. You can of course just press "Enter" on both browsers, but Explorer will then try and find the site via the MSN search function and Netscape will try via Google, another Search Engine. The results will then depend on whether there is a Website matching that description within their database. This works for Outlook Express at least. If you want to send a quick email message without loading the whole email program try this: click "Start" then "Run" and type in "mailto:" then "Enter". This will open just the "New Message" window. If you don't know the person's email address but their name is in your address book then Outlook will autocomplete it for you. For several years PC keyboards have had three extra keys. The two "Windows" keys each have the Windows logo on them and they are between the "Alt" and "Ctrl" keys either side of the space bar. The "Shortcut menu" key is on the bottom right side of the keyboard between the "Ctrl" and "Windows" keys. "Windows" opens the Start Menu "Windows+R" opens the Run dialog box "Windows+E" opens Windows Explorer "Windows+F" opens Find Files "Windows+M" Minimise all open windows "Windows+Tab" Cycles through tasks "Windows+F1" Windows Help The Shortcut menu key will display the shortcut menu for the selected object. Recent months has seen the lifting of the embargo of export of 128 bit encryption technology, so that if you live outside the Canada and US and not in a small list of embargoed countries, you can now legally download 128 bit versions of the two main browsers. Netscape has also recently confirmed that the 56 bit version of Netscape Communicator is incompatible with Microsoft's widely used Internet Information Server 4, whereas the 128 bit version is OK. 128 bit is the highest level of encryption currently available for secure transactions and is becoming common on banking and financial Websites where security is paramount. To download IE5 you can go here and for Netscape here. If you want to see the URLs you have actually typed into the Address Bar in Explorer, click the down arrow to the right of the Bar or press "F4". Explorer saves the last 25 entries in chronological order. Netscape is similar, click the down arrow to the right of the Location Bar and the last 15 URLs you have typed are shown in a drop down menu. Netscape also allows you to clear this by clicking "Edit", "Preferences" then "Navigator" and "Clear Location Bar" at the bottom of the window. Here's a great way to bring up a Web site you use often with Internet Explorer 5. It takes a little work, but really makes viewing the page a breeze. First open the page you want to bookmark. Select the page icon (to the far left in the Address Bar) and drag it to the desktop ("Window"+"M" to minimise all windows). A shortcut now appears. Right-click it. From the dialog box that opens, click the Shortcut Key text box - for Win 95 click the "Web Document" tab. Type a shortcut letter, one you'll remember - for Win 95 you'll need to press "Ctrl"+"Alt" + the letter you want. For Win 98 you might type: N to signify a shortcut for NetInsites and Windows will display Ctrl+Alt+N. Now click the OK button to apply the changes and close the dialog box. From now on, when you press "Ctrl"+"Alt"+"N", IE 5 opens the page. Saving that mouse wrist is always a bonus for power users. For both Netscape and Explorer use "Alt"+"Left Arrow" instead of the Back Button or "Alt"+"Right Arrow" for Forward. Explorer only try "Shift" + click to force Explorer to open the link in a new window. "Ctrl"+"W" or "Alt"+"F4" to close any window. This tip is great for presentations with IE5 - it allows IE5 to take over the full screen without any toolbars whatsoever! Even better than full screen mode (toggle F11) and is called kiosk mode. Create a shortcut to IE5 on the desktop. To do this, choose Start, Programs, then right-click and drag the Internet Explorer icon to the desktop. When you finish dragging, choose "Create Shortcut(s) Here" from the pop-up menu that appears. Right-click the shortcut's icon. Choose Properties from the contextual menu. In the Target box, write or amend the text so it displays the following:"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" -k Make sure you leave a space between the end quotation mark and the minus sign. Click OK. When you click THIS icon, IE5 launches in kiosk mode. To open a Website, press "Ctrl+O" to launch the Open dialog box. Since there is no Close button, you can shut down IE5 by pressing "Alt+F4". You can have two IE5 icons - one that opens normally and one that operates in kiosk mode. Cookies can be intrusive, but in most cases they are helpful personalisation tools. When you're checking your bank balance or buying online they can save time because you don't have to log in each time. This can be a hassle if you want to use a new computer or laptop. Here's how to export your cookies in Internet Explorer (IE5). Choose "File", "Import And Export". The Import/Export wizard appears. Click "Next" button then choose "Export Cookies" and click "Next". In the next screen, select "Export To A File". Click the "Browse" button if you want to change the location where you save the file (called cookies.txt). Click "Next" again then click "Finish". You've saved your cookies. To import them, just launch the Import/Export wizard again, and this time choose "Import Cookies".
Sick of that "Microsoft Internet Explorer" heading at the top of your IE browser? Well let's change it to something more personal! This requires a Registry edit, so make sure you're real careful - this is for expert users. First back up the Registry. Make copies of the system.dat and user.dat files in your Windows folder, and save them on a floppy or other removable drive (like a Zip). Now open the Registry Editor. Click Start, Run, then type: regedit Go down through the directory until you get to: You probably know that when "Exploring" (right click on "Start", chose "Explore") your files in Windows you can right click on a file and use the "Send To" option to send it to your "A" drive or Desktop. It is quite straightforward to add other destinations to this "Send To" list - your Recycle Bin for example. While "Exploring" chose the destination you would like to be able to send files to, right click and drag to C:/Windows/Send To . Then chose "Create Shortcut(s) Here" from the pop-up menu. Rename the shortcut if necessary. Both Explorer and Netscape have extra add-ins that can be useful to power users. IE5 users can check out the following page which includes some powerful Web Accessories that are added as easy access bars to the browser. Included are Surf Monkey which is useful for blocking inappropriate sites from kids, Alexa which updates site-specific information as you surf and Odigo which lets you chat with other Odigo users who are visiting the same Website, plus much more. Netscape has plug-ins which are software programs that extend the capabilities of Netscape Navigator in a specific way. Note that there are a wide range available by clicking on the categories at the left hand side of the page. Super-customisation for IE5 ! Hopefully you've followed Power Tip #1 and have the address bar at the top right (if not click on the link and do that first). Firstly let's get rid of some of those buttons on the IE Toolbar. Go "View", "Toolbar" and then "Customize" and do some radical surgery. I've disposed of everything except "Back" and "Forward" - I like the little down arrows that allow you to jump back/forward several steps - but you may want to leave other buttons. Everything else is available via keyboard shortcuts and now is a great time to learn them :-) Go the left hand end of the Links Toolbar and drag it up and to the right so that it is positioned to the right of the remaining toolbar buttons, adjust the position as necessary. Lots more room! As a power user you don't need the "Go" button at the right of the address bar in Internet Explorer. You normally just press "enter" after typing in a URL, right? Go "Tools", "Internet Options", "Advanced" tab, under "Browsing" click to deselect "Show Go Button in Address Bar". Click "OK". Navigator of course doesn't have anything as silly.
Internet Explorer 5.5 is the latest offering from Microsoft. The only new feature seems to be a print preview so that you can check how a Webpage will look before printing it. For developers there is better support for DHTML and CSS see
For quick surfing, you can add the Address bar to your Taskbar (the bar where your minimised windows show) in Windows 95 and Windows 98. Note: To do this, you must have Active Desktop.
Active Desktop was introduced in the MSIE 4 Windows Desktop update, which integrated parts of the Windows OS with the Internet. Active Desktop includes certain items, like the Quick Launch toolbar and folders that can preview image files. Keep in mind that Active Desktop is part of both Windows 98 and MSIE 4. If you use an older version of Windows 95, you won't have Active Desktop (unless you first installed MSIE 4). A great way to extend Internet Explorer's autosearch functionality. Normally, when you type a single keyword on the Address line in IE and hit enter, it'll search for the .com, .edu, then .org registrations until it finds a match. Well, you can edit and add to that list! This requires a Registry edit, so make sure you're real careful - this is for expert users. First back up the Registry. Make copies of the system.dat and user.dat files in your Windows folder, and save them on a floppy or other removable drive (like a Zip). Now open the Registry Editor. Go "Windows+R" or click "Start", "Run", then type: "regedit". Go down through the directory until you get to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Internet Explorer > Main > UrlTemplate. "Right click" and choose "New" then "String Value". "Right" click the name choose "Modify" and add another domain in the same format. Add other items like .co.uk, .co.nz, .com.au, or even .nl would work, too. You can rearrange the numbers to your liking as well which changes the search order ("Right click" then "Rename"). Like most users, you probably have hundreds of favorites/bookmarks - most of which you hardly ever visit. Remember bookmarking that one page? It was "freegoodies" something, but that's all you remember. Internet Explorer stores Favorites differently to the way Netscape stores Bookmarks: in separate files as opposed to a single file. IE users: fire up the Windows Find applet, press "Start", select "Find", then "Files or Folders" or "Windows+F", look in \Windows\Favorites (or wherever yours are stored), then in the "Containing text" field, enter "freegoodies"' (or whatever string you're searching for). Netscape users: in the same Find applet, do a search for the file called 'bookmark.htm' and open it up in any text editor of choice (Notepad for example). Within that editor, you can look for your string with an (assumed) internal 'find' feature. If you use the Active Desktop (see http://www.netinsites.com/hottips_power.cfm#p28 for more details), you can create a toolbar for any Web site or folder on your hard drive. Just right-click a blank area of the Taskbar (for example, just to the left of the System Tray, where you see the Date/Time), and choose Toolbars, New Toolbar. Once your toolbar is set up, you can click it and drag it to another edge of the screen. As a Power User who spends a lot of time on the Web shouldn't you make your desktop more like the Web as well? The main difference is to make your programs/files able to be opened with a single click. Just go "Start", "Settings", "Folder Options" ("Folders and Icons" in Win 95) and select "Web style" and "OK". It also makes selecting a range of files even easier. Try it and see! Why don't you have to specify the actual page when you visit many pages on the Web? eg. You visit www.netinsites.com and you actually end up at www.netinsites.com/index.cfm. The default page name(s) - there can be multiple in a cascading order of attempts by the server - is actually a server setup function for the particular virtual server running the site in question. A server administrator can add any arbitrary page name to the defaults list and it will be used as long as there is no conflict with another page with a default name that is higher on the cascading order. The common default names use .htm or .html and are index, default, home, welcome (often in that order). If the page is an .asp or .cfm then it's simply a matter of adding another copy, in the appropriate order of attempt, of that default name with the relevant extension. eg. index.cfm might come first of all. This tip was supplied by Malcolm at Knowledge Systems - Internet technology and database solutions. Here's how to use Internet Explorer, Netscape or other browser to view images. This tip is handy if you've installed a graphics program that has taken over your image file associations - and takes what seems like forever to load. Find an image file (such as a GIF or JPEG file) on your hard drive. Then, in Windows Explorer, press the Shift key while right-clicking the image file. Choose "Open With" from the pop-up menu that appears. Select Iexplore, Netscape or other browser in the list of programs that displays in the Open With dialog box. Check "Always Use This Program To Open This Type Of File" . This tip isn't just for graphics. You can use it to change the association on just about any type of file on your PC. Copernic offers a free download at http://www.copernic.com/winkey/ which allows creating shortcuts with the Windows logo key, using some 200 possible key combinations. This handy application provides a shell extension to access system folders or Web pages and start your most popular applications. How about all those keyboard shortcuts that you would use if you could remember them? Check out this comprehensive (and highly printable) list of shortcuts for Internet Explorer and Netscape browsers http://zroots.com/shortcuts.htm . When you are navigating the Internet, you often have to repeatedly fill in the same forms again and again. Formwhiz is a free Microsoft Internet Explorer Extension that is able to automate data entry in HTML forms. When detecting a form in the page currently displayed by Microsoft Internet Explorer, FormWhiz will try to transparently and automatically fill in the fields for you. Slightly techie, but hey you're a Power User! and it's good value. Download it at http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/stories/info/0,,0011YD,.html . Microsoft Windows Update is a useful feature that comes with Internet Explorer 5+. When you're connected to the Net select "Tools", "Windows Update". From there you can select the components you want to add. The software downloads and installs on your system automatically. A useful feature you can also sign up for is to be alerted by email of any important updates. Instead of waiting for graphics to download before you see all the text in a page, you can set IE5 to put placeholders where the graphics will appear. You start browsing more quickly. Choose "Tools", "Internet Options" and click the "Advanced" tab. Type 'M' (twice for me) to jump to the Multimedia section. Under Multimedia, select "Show Image Download Placeholders". Click OK to save your changes. Netscape does this automatically. Both Explorer and Netscape have extra add-ins that can be useful to power users. IE5 users can check out the following page http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/IE/WebAccess/ which includes some powerful Web Accessories that are added as easy access bars to the browser. Included are Surf Monkey which is useful for blocking inappropriate sites from kids, Alexa which updates site-specific information as you surf and the New York Times bar which lets you see the top stories of the day, plus much more. Netscape has plug-ins which are software programs that extend the capabilities of Netscape Navigator in a specific way. Note that there are a wide range available by clicking on the categories at the left hand side of the page. http://www.netscape.com/plugins/ As you know many of the passwords required by sites are not that critical. When you save a Favorite/Bookmark for a site or a forum that requires a password, why not type the password at the end of the shortcut name. Then all you have to do is check the Favorite/Bookmark to see the password. Obviously, you should never put critical passwords like your bank's there, but plenty of others are less sensitive. If you are an IE5 user and are tired of seeing your ISP's animated logo instead of the usual spinning globe and it's name in your title bar, there is a fix. However it requires editing the registry - always a potentially dangerous act. Make sure to back up your system.dat and user.dat files in your Windows folder, preferably to a floppy or another folder on your hard drive. Launch the Registry Editor by clicking "Start" then "Run". Type "regedit" in the Run dialog box that appears then navigate to the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar. In the right pane, select BrandBitmap and SmBrandBitmap. Delete these entries. To get rid of the name in the title bar, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\WindowTitle. Select the name in the right pane and delete the entry. Exit the Registry Editor and restart your computer. If you're like me you have lots of passwords: for accounts, online services, Websites etc. Some people write their passwords on a piece of paper, leaving their accounts vulnerable to thieves or in-house snoops. Others choose the same password for different applications, which makes life easy for intruders of all kinds. With Password Safe, a free Windows 9x/2000 utility from Counterpane Labs, users can keep their passwords securely encrypted on their computers. A single Safe Combination--just one thing to remember - unlocks them all. Password Safe is a free download at http://www.counterpane.com/passsafe.html . Want to automatically start a program when Windows starts? Right-click the shortcut on your desktop and select 'Copy'. Then go to 'Start', 'Settings', 'Task and 'Start Menu'. Click on the 'Start Menu Programs' tab then 'Advanced'. Expand the 'Programs' directory if need be and Right-click on 'Startup'. Select 'Paste'. Then OK to close all boxes. You can find out when when a Website was last updated by entering in the address/location bar "javascript:alert(document.lastModified)" (without the quotes). To automate this you can create a file in NotePad: [InternetShortcut] URL=javascript:alert(document.lastModified) then, save the file as "last_modified.url" (without quotes) in c:\windows\favorites. You can then access this feature through Favorites in your MS Internet Explorer. Because Shockwave (Flash) animations actually run from your hard drive you can capture them for later viewing. Here's how: First browse to the Website where the animation is then go 'Start', 'Find', 'Files or Folders' (or 'Start', 'Search', 'Files or Folders' in Windows Me or 2000). Enter *.swf as your search criteria and look in the \Windows folder. You'll get a list of the Shockwave animations that are stored on your hard drive. It may be a little difficult to determine which is the correct one if it is not obvious by date or name, but you can open it to check. Copy and paste or drag into the folder of your choice. Stop those viruses that send to your address book. Create a new contact in your address book called '!0000' (without apostrophes) but don't give it an email address. Then if you do get a virus and it tries to do a 'send all' to all your contacts it'll come up with an error message straight away... "The message could not be sent. One or more recipients do not have an email address. etc" as this contact will always be first on the list. Just click on 'OK'. So if you ever get that message you'll know that a virus has tried to send to your contacts but no harm should have been done. The offending virus message may be stored in your "drafts" or "outbox folder" - make sure you delete it. It won't protect against receiving a virus but should make it harder to spread it on. Microsoft Word 97/2000 maintains a history file of recent documents that you can use from the File menu. If you want to delete a single document from prying eyes, hold 'Ctrl+Alt' and then the hyphen key (not the minus key to the right of the number pad). The mouse pointer will change to a minus sign, then use the File menu to display the history list and click on the single file you want deleted. Cool !! If you send a lot of email to one address, right click a blank area of your desktop, select 'New' then 'Shortcut' and in the command line, enter (without quotes) "mailto:" followed by the mail address without spaces. Click on Enter and when prompted for the shortcut's name, enter the addressee or whatever you like. Thereafter, clicking on this new shortcut will open your email program composition window with the email address already entered. You can drag this shortcut to the Quick Launch Bar as well so that it's always visible. To see how check out this tip http://www.netinsites.com/hottips.cfm#n19 Copernic offers a free 1.2 mb download at http://www.copernic.com/winkey/ to power up that little-used Windows key. With this shell extension you can create shortcuts and instantly start favorite applications, folders, and Web pages. This application requires a Windows compliant keyboard, supports about 200 key combinations, and works with Windows 95/98/NT/2000/ME. You can create your own custom shortcuts to Internet sites using Notepad. Just run Notepad and enter the following as shown here: [InternetShortcut] URL=http://www.yoursite.com Choose 'File', 'Save As' and then click the arrow at the right side of the 'Save as Type' list box and select 'All Files'. Name your file Yoursite.url and select a folder for it. Click Save to save the file. Note that you can name a file whatever you wish, but you must use the URL extension. When you click on Windows Explorer or 'Start' it often opens to the Start or another folder. If you'd prefer it open highlighting your entire hard drive or another drive, create a shortcut on your desktop. To do this, right click on a blank area of your desktop, select 'New' and 'Shortcut'. In the Command line, type (without quotes): "c:\" or whatever drive letter you desire and click Next, then give the icon a name and click on 'Finish'. A super quick way of typing .com URLs into Internet Explorer. Press 'F6' to highlight the Address Bar, enter the address without the .com or http eg. 'netinsites' then 'Ctrl+Enter' for IE to complete the dot com address for you! For very quick access to your most-used Website, in Windows Explorer, go to C:\Windows\Favorites folder and find the site in your Favorites list. Right click on it and choose properties. Under the Internet Shortcut or Web Document folder tab, you'll see the site's address next to Target URL and next to Shortcut key you should see None. Replace 'None' with any desired letter you wish to make a hotkey and click OK - you may find that you can't delete 'None', just select the box and type the letter you want. You'll now need only to press Ctrl+Alt+ the letter that you designated. Make sure the hotkey is unique; that is, not in use by another application. A quick and mouseless way to get to your homepage in Internet Explorer and Netscape. Just go 'Alt' + 'Home'. Although the browser market is completely dominated by Microsoft's Internet Explorer there are alternatives. Netscape 7.0 has been released and is based on version 1.0 of the open source Mozilla browser. Unfortunately for Netscape the Mozilla organisation has since released an improved 1.1 version. You can download and use this latest Mozilla version in its own right. If you're interested visit http://www.mozilla.org/ and look for Mozilla 1.1. If you're reasonably familiar with HTML, you may want to generate some of your email directly in HTML. To do this, run Outlook Express (5 or 6) and click 'Create Mail' or 'New Mail' depending on your version. When the New Message window opens, go to 'Format' and make sure 'Rich Text (HTML)' is selected. Next, choose 'View' then 'Source Edit' and you should see three tabs appearing at the bottom of the screen. Click on the 'Source' tab to edit the HTML and the 'Preview' tab to see how it looks. Send in the normal manner. A cool but fairly geeky thing to do is to change the Windows sounds for program events, like new mail notification. My Fave Wavs has a good range of sounds including Email Wavs. Once you've selected the one(s) you like go (instructions are for Win XP, but similar for other OSs) "Start", "Settings", "Control Panel", "Sounds and Audio Devices" and make sure the "Sounds" tab is selected. Then it's just a matter of selecting the sounds you want against the "Program Events" in the window. My mail notification is now Mike Myers as Austin Powers, "You've got mail baby, yeah!" :-) An old one but still worthwhile - an easy way to determine why Windows may be failing to boot properly. During the reboot, press F8 to call up the Windows StartUp menu and select the Logged (\Bootlog.txt) option. This records each step Windows takes during the reboot process. Then reboot (use the Safe mode if it is necessary) and locate the bootlog.txt file in the root directory. Use a text editor such as WordPad to open that file and look for any steps reported as "failed" for a clue as to the problem. Windows 95/98 Keyboard Shortcuts for IE and Netscape Browsers by Barbara Renick
ctrl + B organize favorites/bookmarks A recent survey reported that over 50% of Internet users either didn't know what their default home page was, or had not ever altered it. Your home page is the Web address that your browser automatically goes to when you first load it. To change your default home page: Netscape: "Edit", "Preferences", select "Navigator" make sure "Home page" is checked, enter the address including "http://", then "OK". Internet Explorer: "Tools" or "View" depending on your version, "Internet Options", "General" tab, enter the address or "Use Current" or "Use Default" which is Microsoft, then "OK". Accessing your favourite Websites. Most people who do a reasonable amount of Web browsing have a common problem: How do you quickly find sites that you visit on a regular basis? You can only make one URL your homepage, but both Navigator and Explorer have solutions that help. Both use a bar above the viewing area from which you can get single click access to your favourite sites. Explorer: The Links Toolbar sits between the Address Bar and the viewing area. To ensure that it is visible, click "View" or "Tools" depending on your version, select "Toolbars" and make sure that "Links" is checked. You can then then add a Webpage to your Links bar by clicking on the icon to the left of "http" and pulling it to where you want it. Note that you may want to abbreviate the Web address so that you can fit more on the bar: "Favorites", "Organise Favorites" double click on "Links", then right click on the address you want to change and select "Rename". Netscape: The Personal Toolbar sits between the Location Bar and the viewing area. Ensure that it is showing by going to "View", "Show" and make sure "Personal Toolbar" is checked. Add a Web Address to this bar by clicking and dragging the icon to the left of "Location" on the Location Bar. You can easily access files on the harddrive of your computer when browsing the Internet without opening another program: Explorer: Just type backslash "\" into the Address Bar and you will access the C drive. Click on the dropdown arrow at the right hand end of the Address Bar to access other drives. Netscape: Type "c:\" into the Location Bar. This is a very simple email tip but one that is surprisingly unknown by a large number of email users: BCC means Blind Carbon Copy and has the effect that email receivers will not know who else has been sent the message. Just enter the addresses as normal in the BCC section and put your own email address in the “To” box. You will receive a copy of the email sent. This is very useful for sending out email to more than one address where the receivers do not necessarily know each other. In fact it is possible that in certain cases, not using the BCC option may be contrary to privacy law in your country! Sometimes when you are waiting for a Webpage to load, things appear to stall. Often it's best to click on "Reload" or "Refresh" and try again. The problem can be due to heavy network traffic or an overburdened web server and therefore may not be solved this way, but in a lot of cases this will do the trick. Another tip is to use the "Esc" button on your keyboard if you mistakenly enter in the wrong Web address or inadvertently click on something. The "Stop" button will do the same thing but often the page will have started loading and it will be too late to use it. Right click on the Internet Explorer shortcut on the desktop and select Properties to get to Internet Properties or right click on the My Computer icon and Properties will get you to System Properties. Either option doesn't require you to go through the Control Panel. Right clicking on Start also presents some handy options. One of the handiest right click options is, anywhere in the browser, to go back or forward without having to move your mouse. Don't forget the right click when in email, where you can select reply to sender. There are lots more options but these are just starters to get you used to using that right mouse button.
Quite often when you go to a Webpage that you visit often, the content will appear not to have changed. However this may not be the case, both Netscape and Explorer "cache" or store pages that you have visited recently to help speed up your browsing, and these cached pages may be the ones you are viewing. Note you can always "Refresh" or "Reload" to ensure you get the latest version of a Webpage. You can amend the way that the caching is done by: Explorer 5: "Tools", "Internet Options", make sure the "General" tab is selected, then under "Temporary Internet Files" click "Settings". Make sure "Automatically" is selected - Explorer will only check for a newer version of a Webpage if it was visited in a previous session. Move the pointer or enter a figure for the amount of disk space you want this cache to take up. Did you know that you could copy Webpage images straight to your harddrive? Just right click on an image you want, chose "Save Image As", amend the description as required, chose which folder you want the image to be stored in and voila! Just be real careful of copyright issues here. The images copied shouldn't be used for commercial purposes without the owner's permission. If you are looking to print a Webpage you may not want to print all the advertising that goes with it. Firstly select the content you want to print by clicking within the page and holding down the left mouse button as move over the selection. Then click "File", "Print" or "Ctrl+P" to get to the Printer Dialog Box. Click the "Selection" button and "OK" and only the selected part should print. Note that many sites now have a printer friendly version option that should provide the same result. Also Websites constructed with Frames (parts of the page move independently) allow you to click within the Frame you want to print and chose "Only the Selected Frame" in the Printer Dialog Box then "OK". If you have a slow connection a way of considerably speeding up your browsing is to turn all images off. In Netscape click "Edit", "Preferences" then "Advanced" and uncheck "Automatically load images". Click "OK". In Explorer click "Tools", "Internet Options" then the "Advanced" tab. Under "Multimedia", uncheck "Show pictures". Click "OK". Both Explorer and Netscape allow you to include Webpage link in an email or even send the whole page. But perhaps the quickest way to add a link to an email is with both your browser and your email program open: select the Web address (http//: etc.) by clicking on it, then right click and select "Copy". Go into the email and position the cursor where you want the address to go. Right click and select "Paste". Done. The clicking the "Back" button on your browser is apparently one of the most common actions that Internet users employ. When you end up where you don't want to be it's the easiest way to return to the previous Webpage. Both Explorer and Netscape allow you to jump back more than one step and so miss those intermediate pages that you also don't want. On Explorer "click" the small down arrow to the right of "Back" and a record of previously visited pages will appear, just select the one you want with your mouse and "click". In Netscape the down arrow is at the top right of the "Back" button. You must "click" and hold to get the selection then select with your mouse. Note that a "right click" anywhere on a Webpage will allow you to select "Back" and go to the previous page or just use "Backspace" on your keyboard to do the same. Did you know that you can copy Webpages and their associated images onto your hard drive? In your browser click on "File" on the top menu then "Save As" or "Save Page As", amend the page description if necessary then click "Save". The page will be saved as an HTML file with the images being stored in a separate folder. Just be real careful of copyright issues here of course. One of our early tips involved setting up your Links Bar (Explorer) or Personal Toolbar (Netscape) to speed up your browsing, it really does help! We are going to expand on that this fortnight. To see the original tip please click here. If you use these bars you will find that you quickly run out of space. A good solution is to set up folders. In Explorer click "Favorites" then "Organize Favorites" click the "Links" folder and then "Create Folder" (IE5), name the folder as required. In Netscape click "Bookmarks" button click "Edit Bookmarks" right click on "Personal Toolbar Folder" then select "New Folder", name as required. When you are looking to send information by email it can seem easier to quickly attach a document and press "Send". Now that's OK if you are certain that the person at the other end has similar software that will open the data, if they haven't then the attachment will be useless. Also programs such as Microsoft Word and Excel have the ability to transmit viruses via the macro function - unless you know your computer is clean then you shouldn't send Word or Excel files (Powerpoint and Access are also at risk but far less so). It is very embarrassing if viruses are traced back to your document. What is the solution? Providing you can do without the formatting you can cut and paste data relatively easily from Word and Excel straight into the body of your email. That way the receiver can read it quicker, it doesn't take up disk space and it will download far faster. If you are new to Web browsing you may not appreciate that you can click through to another Webpage before the present one has finished loading. A Webpage downloads to your desktop in stages, normally it is the images that take up most of the downloading time. As long as the link you want has appeared you can click through to another page without causing problems and therefore save some finger-tapping time. If you are looking to get into Webpage design there are plenty of free options available. The CD version of IE 5 normally comes with a free version of FrontPage Express that is a simplified version of the popular Microsoft FrontPage. You could also check out 1st Page 2000 here - I've seen a very complimentary review and its features look impressive. There is also AOLpress at http://www.aolpress.com/ . If you want to throw yourself in at the deep end you can download a trial version here of Macromedia's Dreamweaver 3, one of the most respected high-end Web authoring tools programs around. All the major email programs allow you to save an email you are writing in a draft folder of some sort. This is useful if you haven't the time to finish it or get interrupted. You can then call the email up at a later time to complete it. For Outlook Express click "File" then "Save" or "Ctrl"+"S". In Netscape Messenger click "File" "Save As" then "Draft". You can then continue with the email by selecting the "Drafts" folder and double clicking the message you want to edit. A great way to quickly launch to the applications or files you use most is by using the Quick Launch Bar (Win95/98). Note that you have to have Active Desktop installed for this to work. See this Power Tip for details. Open up Windows Explorer ("Windows"+"E") and navigate your way to: C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch Now create or use existing shortcuts to your most used files or applications and place them in the "Quick Launch" folder. Their icons will appear on the toolbar next to the start button, and a single mouse click will launch them. Note you can also drag existing shortcuts from the desktop or other folders straight to the Quick Launch Bar. One of the fastest ways to browse/surf the Web is to open more than one link simultaneously. That way you can be looking at other Webpages while other ones are still loading or while downloading large files. To do so in Explorer or Netscape, right-click a link and choose "Open In New Window", or (Explorer only) simply press the Shift key when you click the link. Press Ctrl+N to open a new window in either browser. One of the great advantages of Internet Explorer (IE5) is the AutoComplete feature. It means that if you've been to a Web Address previously and start entering it in the Address Bar, IE5 will offer possible completions. But where this feature is even more useful is when entering information into forms or saving passwords for use at a later date. To ensure AutoComplete is activated in IE5 go "Tools" "Internet Options" click on the "Content" tab under Personal Information click "AutoComplete". Make sure the options you want are checked. To add a hyperlink from a page you're viewing to your Favorites list (without having to open the page first), in Internet Explorer right-click the link and choose "Add To Favorites". In Netscape you can do the same, right-click then choose "Add Bookmark". In both Explorer and Netscape you can also just click and drag the link into the Favorites/Bookmarks menu until it opens, then drop it where you want it. You can also drag a link directly to the Links or Personal toolbar. Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 has some easy ways to modify your toolbar (the buttons "Back", "Forward" etc). First choose "View", "Toolbars", "Customize" (or right click anywhere on the existing toolbar and choose "Customize"). Select an icon on the left, then click the "Add" button to include it on your toolbar, or choose an icon on the right and click "Remove" to remove it from the toolbar. Click the "Reset" buttons to return the toolbar to its default view. When you're finished, click the "Close" button. For Netscape users your options are more limited. You can create more screen real estate however by clicking "Edit", "Preferences" then "Appearance" and Show toolbars as: "text only". This will delete the toolbar icons. Hopefully you do have a backup system for your important files. However it's easy to forget to include your favorites/bookmarks. In IE5 you can use the "Import and Export" wizard after clicking on "File", however for all versions of Internet Explorer it's probably easier to do this: Right-click on the "Start" button select "Explore", go to C:\Windows\Favorites and select the Favorites folder by Right-clicking and select "Copy", then go to where you want to store the copy (often the A drive) Right-click and select "Paste". For Netscape with the Netscape browser open click on "Bookmarks", "Edit Bookmarks", "File", "Save As" and then select where you want to store the copy. Hopefully you've followed this tip and set your home (or start) page to the Website you like to visit most often. However if this page takes a while to load and/or you often don't look at it anyway why not just set your home page to be blank? It's what I do and it certainly loads real quick! In Internet Explorer go "View" or "Tools" (depending on your version), "Internet Options" make sure you're on the "General" tab look for the "Home page" heading then click on "Use Blank" then "OK". In Netscape go "Edit", "Preferences" click on "Navigator" and select "Navigator starts with. Blank page". Click OK. A real handy Windows tip if you've got lots of windows open and want to cycle through them easily without your mouse. Just click "Alt"+"Tab" and you will return to the previous window. Hold and select to cycle back through your older windows. Quik Internet, the World's Fastest Growing Internet Services Network, supplied this tip. When purchasing goods or entering passwords or personal information online, check for SSL encryption. The padlock symbol in the bottom right corner of Internet Explorer appears locked when you open a page that uses encryption and that has passed your browser a certificate verifying its identity. In Netscape the padlock is at the bottom left of your screen and appears closed if SSL is being used but unlocked if it is not. If you don't see a locked padlock, don't enter any sensitive information. If you have a Links Bar showing in Internet Explorer - it's a series of buttons normally closest to the viewing area and initially filled with Microsoft offerings - then it's easy to clean it up. Simply right click and then choose "Delete". In Netscape click on the "Bookmarks" icon and chose "Edit Bookmarks" - you can then right click and delete items from the Personal Toolbar Folder. We reckon the Links Bar and Personal Toolbar are great and recommend that you use them extensively. Folders can really help you clean up your Favorites/Bookmarks list. And if you decide you're no longer interested in a particular subject or project, you can delete all related shortcuts at once by deleting the folder. In Internet Explorer to create a folder for your Favorites, press "Alt+A", then "O" (or choose "Favorites", "Organize Favorites"). Click the "Create Folder" button and enter a name, then click Enter. You can click and drag individual Favorites into your new folder to keep things tidy. Netscape users "Ctrl+B" (or click on "Bookmarks", "Edit Bookmarks") click "File" then "New Folder" enter in the name you want. Sometimes the easiest tips aren't obvious. An example is the scroll bar to the right of the screen when a document page covers more than one window. You can, of course, move the text by clicking on the up or down arrow, or by sliding the button in either direction. But if you want one page at a time, clicking under or over the sliding button advances one page in that direction. This works on just about any browser or word processor. The keyboard version is of course the "Page Up" or "Page Down" keys. You probably know you can save images you see on a Webpage to your hard drive. If it's an image on the Web, you can save it to your hard drive and display it as wallpaper (a background image for your Desktop). Right-click the image you want to save; in Internet Explorer chose "Set As Wallpaper" and the image will immediately become the current wallpaper. In Netscape also chose "Set As Wallpaper" - you will need to manually make the saved image the Background Wallpaper. Quite often you may want to search for an individual word or phrase on a Webpage. Press "Ctrl+F" to launch the Find dialog box. If you want to search a portion of the page, first click it with the mouse. Then choose Up or Down in the Direction area of the dialog box. This works with Internet Explorer, Netscape and most Windows-based applications. You may be aware that Microsoft Word and Excel documents are frequently used to transmit macro viruses - so called because the viruses automatically run often destructive macros within your system. If you do have to attach Word or Excel files to emails, one way to get round this potential problem is to save them in Rich Text Format (RTF) before sending. RTF can't use macros so documents are safe from this quite common type of virus. It is extremely embarrassing to send a virus to someone - so why take the risk? If you want to reduce the hours you spend online then you can browse offline. Disconnect from the Internet and then in Internet Explorer click "File" then "Work Offline". The Webpages you can visit have been cached (saved) are the ones not greyed out in your "Favorites" or "History" ("Ctrl+H") folder. Note that you can change the amount of cache used and therefore the number of sites available - see this previous tip http://www.netinsites.com/hottips.cfm#n7 . Also this tip will tell you how to save particular Webpages so that they are always available offline: http://www.netinsites.com/hottips_power.cfm#p7 . If you read your mail from more than one computer, you don't really want to have some mail on one computer and the balance on another. One way to sort this out is to set one computer to leave messages on your mail server rather than erasing messages from the server once downloaded (as is the default). For instance you can set your laptop to leave mail on your server. In Outlook Express for example, choose "Tools", "Accounts" then the "Mail" tab. "Double-click" your e-mail account. Select the "Advanced" tab. Select "Leave A Copy Of Messages On Server". Close all open dialog boxes. Now, when you download mail from your laptop, a copy stays on your server. On your desktop, all your mail downloads onto your PC and then gets removed from the server. If you copy "Ctrl+C" and paste "Ctrl+V" pages of information from the major browsers to other applications, here's something you can do to make this job easier. You can select a range of text (and images) by pressing the Shift key, then selecting the first item. Now, while holding the Shift key down, move the scroll bar (if necessary) to the area where the last item appears, then select it. It's a little tricky, but it's especially helpful when you're trying to select a long page of information and the browser keeps scrolling too fast for you. How to stop email disappearing from view? You know that when you are receiving a large volume of messages it is easy to read then forget as it turns into yesterday's news. How about this? Leave anything you haven't dealt with as "Unread" so it is left in bold and continues to remind you. In Outlook Express you can make any selection "Unread" by right-clicking and selecting "Mark as Unread". If you are using other email programs, a similar feature will be available. Do you get frustrated when you can't find a Favorite/Bookmark that you know is there? Try putting them in alphabetical order. In Internet Explorer click the "Favorites" menu on the toolbar (not the Favorites button). Right-click any favorite, then choose "Sort By Name". In Netscape click on "Bookmarks" then "Edit Bookmarks", click "View" on the menu and chose "By Name". You will have to periodically repeat this, but it should keep things a little more organised! Do you ever want to print just part of a Webpage? In Explorer or Netscape click on the start of the selection and then drag your mouse to the end, this will select the text or images. Go "Ctrl+P" or "File" then "Print" , under "Print Range" click the radio button along side "Selection" then "OK" to finish. If you are on a page built in frames (parts of the page scroll) then Explorer should allow you to print the selected frame. Netscape will change the menu from "Print" to "Print Frame". A tip that works for most of the major Search Engines. If you want to search for a phrase place all the words within quotes. eg "Internet tips for beginners" will search for that phrase only. Without the quotes will result in a search for each individual word, so that if one or more of the words appears on a Webpage, that page will be included within the search result. Try it and note the difference. To jump more quickly through your browser interface (IE5 or Netscape), the Tab key is very handy. To jump through links on a Webpage, the Address bar, and the items on the Links bar, push Tab. Go too far? To jump backward, "Shift+Tab" (hold them down together). Does everything on your screen look too big or too small? On most modern monitors, as long as your eyesight is OK, you should be viewing at 800x600 pixels resolution or higher. Why? Because you see more in the vertical and won't have to scroll as much in the horizontal on the Web. To change your screen resolution click "Start", "Settings" then "Control Panel", double click "Display" and then click the "Settings" tab. Click and drag on the arrow pointer under the "Desktop Area/Screen Area" heading. The alternatives can be monitor dependent but are normally 600x480, 800x600, 1024x768 and 1280x1024. Click "Apply" and Windows will resize your screen area. Note that laptops and notebooks normally have a fixed screen resolution. I'll let you in on a secret: keyboard shortcuts are real timesavers. The six I use many times a day involve the Ctrl key ("Apple" on Macs) and the bottom left keys: (+ means hold down the keys at the same time) "Ctrl+Z" Undo Last Action "Ctrl+X" Cut, "Ctrl+C" Copy, "Ctrl+V" Paste, "Ctrl+O" File Open, "Ctrl+W" Close Current Window. If you can remember these you'll save heaps of time! You can increase or decrease the font size you view on any Webpage. Users of Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE5+) just right-click on any empty part of your Toolbar (where the buttons are) then choose "Customize" or alternatively go "View", "Toolbars" then "Customize". From the "Available toolbar buttons" list on the left hand side choose "Size" and then click the "Add" button then "Close". The "Size" button will then show on your toolbar and you can increase or decrease the font size with one click. In Netscape 4+, click "View" then "Increase Font" or "Ctrl+]" (hold the Ctrl key and the right square bracket key at the same time), "Decrease Font" is "Ctrl+[". In Netscape 6+, click "View" then "Text Size" you can then choose a variety of font magnifications. Or go "Ctrl++" to make text larger or "Ctrl+-" to make it smaller. You can use Clipboard Viewer to view the contents of the Windows clipboard (Windows 98 and later). To start Clipboard Viewer click "Start", then "Programs", "Accessories", "System Tools", and then clicking on "Clipboard Viewer". Particularly useful for saving screenshots (what's showing on your screen - use the "Print Screen" button), although you need a graphics program to manipulate the image. Instead of moving your mouse all the way to the top of your screen to use the "Back" or "Forward" buttons you should use keyboard shortcuts. If you use Internet Explorer you can press "Backspace" to move backward and "Shift+Backspace" (both keys at the same time) to move forward. On either Internet Explorer or Netscape you'll also find that "Alt+left arrow" will move you back one page and "Alt+right arrow" will move you forward. If you're researching a topic you might not want to put any of the sites into your (Microsoft) Favorites or (Netscape) Bookmarks, but you need to keep some of them temporarily. One way to save these sites is to create shortcuts to them on your Desktop (where all those other icons are). This is very easy to do if you use Internet Explorer; just choose "File" then "Send" and "Shortcut to Desktop". If you use Netscape it's more long-winded - you have to choose "File" then "Save As" and click up the directory until you reach the Desktop - click "Save". In many email programs, messages are automatically previewed for ease of use ie. you can just click on a message to be able to view it. However many viruses run purely by being previewed. Another advantage of turning the preview pane off is that you can delete spam without even looking at it! To turn off the preview pane in Outlook Express go 'View', 'Layout' then in 'Preview Pane' click the checkbox 'Show preview pane'. Internet Explorer has an annoying habit of opening at less than full screen size, depending on the screen size last time it was used. There are several ways of fixing this but the easiest is to 'right click' on the Internet Explorer icon, chose 'Properties' and change the 'Run' window to read 'Maximized'.
A summary of keyboard shortcuts for Internet Explorer 5.0, 5.5 and 6.0. All the major email programs allow you to save an email you are writing in a draft folder of some sort. This is useful if you haven't the time to finish it or get interrupted. You can then call the email up at a later time to complete it. In Outlook Express click "File" then "Save" or "Ctrl"+"S" (both keys pressed at the same time). In Netscape Messenger click "File" "Save As" then "Draft". You can then continue with the email by selecting the "Drafts" folder and double clicking the message you want to edit. The best way to keep track of all your mail messages is to move them into topic-related folders. This is an easy thing to do if you use Outlook Express. To add a new folder, open your folders, right-click Local Folders and choose New Folder. Type in a name for your new folder and click OK. Note you can add subfolders as well by the same method.
There are several ways that people can check where you've been online, although you can hide your tracks to a certain extent. The Browser's Cache, History, Typed URLs, Favorites and Cookies contain information about your browsing history.
Cache: In order to speed your online viewing, IE stores copies of the pages you visit in a cache on your hard drive. When you revisit a page, it may display the version from your hard drive instead of reloading the page. In IE the cache is normally stored here c:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files. This can be cleared of course but if not the details of sites recently visited will be in this directory. Sometimes Webpage text can be difficult to read because of a dark background, or because of a particular color of text chosen by the site's designer. Next time you encounter such a situation, use 'Ctrl+A' (hold down 'ctrl' and then press 'A') to highlight the entire page. This should turn both background and text a different color and make the Web page at least readable. Simple huh! If you have trouble printing Webpages correctly it is probably because of the background color or image that the Web designer has set for the page. To turn off or turn on background printing in Internet Explorer 5 or 6, choose 'Tools', 'Internet Options'. When the dialog box opens, click the 'Advanced' tab. Scroll down to Printing and select/deselect the check box labelled "Print background colors and images". Click OK to close the dialog box and save your selection. Although most people know how to use the Outlook Express 'Reply' button to reply to received mail, many users are not so sure what 'Reply All' does. If you click 'Reply All', Outlook Express will send your message to the originator and to all the recipients listed in the original message. So if you want to keep everyone 'in the loop', that's the one to use. The hardest thing about making backups of your Outlook Express email is finding the email folders! To locate your email folders, open Outlook Express and then open your folder list. 'Right-click' a folder and choose 'Properties'. The Properties dialog box will give you the folder's location. Since all the folders are in the same place, you can now use Windows Explorer ('right-click' on 'Start' and choose 'Explore' ) to go there. Copy the dbx files to your backup disk/CD or Zip Drive. The standard Outlook Express address book is quite versatile. For example, you can add new folders to the address book. This helps you keep your business contacts and personal contacts separated. To create a new folder, run Outlook Express and click 'Addresses'. When the Address Book opens, choose 'File|New Folder'. Name your new folder and then add the necessary email addresses. Note that you can drag addresses from existing folders to a new folder. There are several ways to enter addresses into your Outlook Express Address Book. First, you can simply run Outlook Express and click the Address Book icon. When the Address Book opens, you can add or delete names. To add quickly a new address to the Address Book, you can right-click a message in the message body window and then select Add to Address Book. Yet another way is to set it up so that anyone you reply to is automatically added - go "Tools", "Options" and make sure the "Send" tab is selected, tick the box next to "Automatically put people I reply to in my Address Book", then click "OK" to finish. The easiest way to make passwords secure is to choose a password with at least 8 characters. Substitute 2 letters of the password with numbers or special characters such as ! @ # $ % & * . This makes it much harder to crack. This tip was supplied by Intrical - Experts in the management of Internet security risks Sometimes when browsing the Web you click on a link and nothing seems to happen. Often something is going on but it's taking a long time so how can you tell? On most browsers look to the top right of your screen. On Internet Explorer, a flag will slowly wave or turn into a revolving globe depending on your version. If nothing is happening at all, click on the link again
ALTERNATIVES TO MICROSOFT Are you a Windows user and want to gradually wean yourself off of a dependence on Microsoft? Download, make a copy from a friend (yes, it's legal), or order the excellent GNU Win CD packed with a ton of great open source software that will give you a taste on Windows of what's available on open source operating systems like Linux. You will be getting a fully featured, free office suite, a powerful photo editor, a cutting edge web browser, and so much more. Start using these very high quality, non-Microsoft applications today on Windows and you can gradually decrease your dependence on Microsoft at your own pace. Every Microsoft alternative you use helps to keep choice and innovation in the software industry alive and it moves you one step closer to being free from everything that is wrong with Microsoft. Want to print this page? Try the printer friendly version. For an extensive list of Microsoft alternatives, please see http://microsoft.toddverbeek.com/ Want to discuss this page and Microsoft alternatives? Visit the KMFMS discussion boards.
Where to start? Are you a Windows user and want to gradually wean yourself off of a dependence on Microsoft? Download, make a copy from a friend (yes, it's legal), or order the excellent GNU Win CD packed with a ton of great open source software that will give you a taste on Windows of what's available on open source operating systems like Linux. You will be getting a fully featured, free office suite, a powerful photo editor, a cutting edge web browser, and so much more. Start using these very high quality, non-Microsoft applications today on Windows and you can gradually decrease your dependence on Microsoft at your own pace. Every Microsoft alternative you use helps to keep choice and innovation in the software industry alive and it moves you one step closer to being free from everything that is wrong with Microsoft. If you're sick of the unreliability, the bloat, the insecurity, and the perpetual upgrading associated with Microsoft products you'll be happy to know that there are some excellent alternatives out there. The list below is meant as an introduction to Microsoft alternatives and as such it is by no means comprehensive.
Quick Guide Category Microsoft Product(s) Alternative(s) KMFMS Recommends
Operating Systems Are you an administrator who uses Windows as a server? If so, you should be aware that the alternatives are more reliable, much more secure, and much less expensive. Linux makes an excellent server with its stability and excellent performance. It's also easy to install and easy to administer if you get a distribution such as Red Hat's. If security is a concern (as it should be) you may also be interested in the OpenBSD operating system which is perhaps the most secure operating system in the world. It makes a great server and it completely blows away Windows (as well as most other operating systems) when it comes to security. Linux and BSD are our favorites here at KMFMS because they have proven to be excellent solutions for various projects. There are, however, several other non-Microsoft solutions that we haven't tried so those of you wishing to get a broad overview of what's out there check out the review of operating systems at tunes.org or Yahoo's list of operating systems (by the way - Yahoo, one of most heavily used sites on the internet, also runs on BSD). Editor's note: the following information on the Mac OS was accurate when it was first published in August 1999. Some information, such as current version numbers, has since changed. A KMFMS Reader writes: For those of who want a professional-level OS, but don't want to spend all your time learning it, MacOS X Server is good. (It's ideal for a small network.) OS X Server is only at version 1.0, but is quite comparable to Linux. With your help, it can grow into something that'll make Microsoft shake in their boots. It sits upon the Mach microkernel and BSD. A KMFMS Reader writes: Although it's a better alternative than Windows, the earlier versions of the of the Mac OS suffered from some of the same problems as Windows (like crashes that bring the entire system down, for example). But recently, Apple has gotten extremely focused with their OS plans and the Mac has seen more changes in the last couple years than in its entire history. When the Mac OS reaches version 10 (titled Mac OS X Consumer/Client), it will be rock-solid, with Unix power under the ease-of-use of a Mac (thanks to its well-praised NeXT and BSD foundation.) The only thing that makes it stand out as of now is Apple's diligent and honest work on the product. Don't expect to have a Mac secretly send your hardware ID number to Apple headquarters. The MacOS isn't free... but you can download the OS X core for free, named Darwin.
Browsers There are a ton of other browsers out there some of which are better than Netscape's for certain situations. Several people consider Opera the ultimate lightweight browser and its speed and small size are very impressive if you're into that sort of thing. Also, Lynx is a text only browser which can be extremely useful for remote administration, but chances are if you have a use for Lynx you probably already knew what it was. Finally, there's a whole slew of browsers at Yahoo that fit into other niche markets (e.g., Hotjava for an embedded Java browser).
Office Suites, If you work in a (physical) office that uses office suite software and you are worried about potential compatibility issues, try this: limit your MS Office installation to a single machine and install OpenOffice everywhere else. For internal documents and documents which you print (or otherwise distribute in hardcopy form) you can standardize on the OpenOffice format (which is open standards and not proprietary). For the few documents that you want to electronically distribute outside your company, you can use OpenOffice to write the document in MS Office format and then use your single installation of MS Office to touch up anything that may not have converted perfectly. For incoming documents in MS Office format, OpenOffice will read most without a problem. If there ever are any problems, simply use your single installation of MS Office. This simple strategy could save even a small office several thousand dollars.
Email Client
Web Based Email Yahoo! Mail is an excellent alternative to Hotmail. It features exceptional functionality which many people consider superior to Hotmail (having never used Hotmail ourselves, we are relying on third party comparisons). Most importantly, it is not produced by a company that has a vested interest in forcing users to use a particular browser. In fact, Yahoo! has an excellent track record of making their content available to the widest possible audience. Yahoo! Mail is a good way to protect yourself against the software lock-in and incompatibility that you risk by using Hotmail.
Web Servers If you need a web server that can serve up highly dynamic content, if you need an application server, or you just want to separate the dynamic functionality of your site from its design, you should check out Enhydra. Enhydra is an extremely well designed server that makes writing and maintaining highly dynamic websites a snap. As a bonus, Enhydra is also free and open source so you get all the security benefits that accompany open development. Game Consoles,br> When was the last time you had Windows crash on you? Now, when was the last time you had a Playstation or Nintendo crash on you? Enough said.
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) Your physical location will have a great impact on your choices of ISPs. "The List" is a very comprehensive list of ISPs which should help you find an ISP regardless of your location. If you are in the United States, you might want to consider Earthlink for dial-up access or Speakeasy for broadband access. Earthlink has a very large number of dial-up numbers throughout the US, which is good if you travel at all and have a laptop, and it is very easy to set up Linux to use an Earthlink account. Speakeasy is an exceptionally good DSL company (absolutely worlds apart from the baby bells, if you've had any experiences with them) with a surprisingly clueful technical support staff which actually supports Speakeasy on Linux.
Email Servers A KMFMS reader wrote in to highly recommend Exim writing that he strongly prefers it over Sendmail and that it has easy to use spam filtering. Another KMFMS reader also wrote in to tell us about EMWAC IMS. He said that if you are stuck using Windows, EMWAC IMS is an excellent, free choice for a mail server. He used it at his own ISP which handled over 100,000 email messages a day on a Pentium 100 and he claims that it is very well supported in the community.
WINDOWS 98 TIPS Single or Double Mouse Click Windows Explorer/View/Folder Options/ Customs, based on settings you choose/Settings Shutdown Icon on Desktop Desktop/RightMouseClick/New/Shortcut/ 1. Type in the Command line: rundll32.exe user,ExitWindows 2. Click the Next tab 3. Type a Name of your choice 4. Click the Finish tab To create a shortut on the Desktop of a Folder that is to be opened up in a Windows Explorer viewing way, just specify the root and the path of the folder For example: Desktop/RightMouseClick/New/Shortcut/Command Line: C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE /e,/root,C:\WINDOWS At any place in an opened up text file, if the key F5 is struck, a time stamp is left on the place the cursor is blinking Open any Notepad file and as a first line type: .LOG Every time this Notepad text file is closed, a timelog stamp will be inserted to the text To Open a file with a program other than the Default one, press the Shift key and RightMouseClick on it You now have the "Open with" option available Shutdown Icon on Desktop Desktop/RightMouseClick/New/Shortcut/ Command Line:rundll32.exe user,ExitWindows; Name: FastExit Restart Icon on Desktop 1. Write in the notepad: @Exit 2. Save file as: RESTART.BAT 3. Create a shortcut to RESTART on the Desktop 4. RightMouseClick on RESTART Desktop Icon/ Properties/Program/Advanced 5. In Advanced program settings, checkmark MSDOS Mode, and remove checkmark from: Warn before entering MSDOS Mode Sound Volume Icon on Desktop`s Taskbar Tray Start/Programs/Accessories/Entertainment/ Sound Recorder/Edit/Audio Properties Checkmark the box: Show volume control on the taskbar Remove Task Scheduler From Desktop`s Taskbar Tray Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Scheduled Tasks/ Advanced/Stop Using Task Scheduler Desktop/RightMouseClick/Properties/Settings/ Advanced/General/Show settings Icon On Taskbar Cookies Control Panel/Internet Options/Security Select the Internet icon and click on the Custom Level tab Scroll down to find the Cookies settings Auto Compllete Forms Control Panel/Internet Options/Content/Auto Complete/ Clear Forms and/or Passwords View Thumbnails of Files Select the Properties of a folder and checkmark the box: Enable thumbnail view Open the folder, and in the View Menu select Thumbnails Advanced - Registry Modify the MSDOS.SYS A. Windows 98 Start Up Options [Options] BootMenu=1 BootMenuDelay=7 BootMulti=1 BootGUI=1 (The nr 7 is the delay time in seconds) B. StartUp to be in MSDOS Mode [Options] BootMulti=0 BootGUI=1 Note:BootGUI=0 Registered Username and Company In Run type REGEDIT, and press Enter HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/ Registered Owner or Registered Organization Type in a new name, and view the new name(s) in the System Properties Windows Version Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion Search in the right pane for: product id product key BIOS Version Hkey_Local_Machine\Enum\Root\*PNP0C01\0000 Removing the Shortcut Icon Arrows 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. Close REGEDIT 8. Restart Removing Log Off Username from the Start Menu Hkey_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer Create a new DWORD value, and name it NoLogOff Modify this entry with the value: 1 Logoff and back on again so as to reset the Registry Safely Delete Files Search for files having the extention: BAK, GID, FTS, ~MP and TMP, and delete them Open the C:WINDOWS\TEMP folder, and delete all in there Clear the Run Menu entries Hkey_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Explorer\runMRU Delete everything in the right pane, EXCEPT the value named Default Restart Windows and the Run Menu will be empty Remove Program Names in Control Panel Add/Remove List Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall Windows Users Profiles List Hey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\ProfileList Internet Connections Hkey_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections Hkey_Current_User\RemoteAccess\Addresses Hkey_Current_User\RemoteAccess\Profile\ Microsoft Internet Referral Service Internet Route Tracer In MSDOS Prompt type: C:\>WINDOWS\START TRACERT URL>C:\FileName.TXT In this way, Results will be saved in a specified TextFile For example: C:\>WINDOWS\START TRACERT www.geocities.com IP Configuration At the MSDOS Prompt Command type: IPCONFIG>C:\FileName.TXT Ping While connected to the internet at the DOS prompt type PING, followed by the internet address you wish to check Repositioning Background Bitmap Normally, your only options for displaying a background bitmap are tiled, centered, or stretch to fit Edit the registry to have a third option, which is to place the bitmap anywhere on your screen, by specifying the X and Y coordinates 1. Go to Hkey_Cyrrent_User/Control Panel/Desktop 2. Create new Strings called WallpaperOriginX and WallpaperOriginY 3. Give them values to position them around your Desktop The bitmap must be smaller than your Desktop size Windows Startup Logo If you don't want to see the Logo, edit the MSDOS.SYS under the [options] section, and type the line: Logo=0 To restore the Logo, Logo=1 Windows startup and shut down screens are just standard bitmaps that can be modified The Startup screen while booting is LOGO.SYS, and is a file hidden in the Root Directory The wait screen while you shut down is LOGOW.SYS, and the "It's now safe to turn off your computer" screen, is the LOGOS.SYS, both files in the Windows folder They all are 320x400 bitmaps You can use the LOGOW.SYS file as a starter Use your graphic editor to edit them They just need to be the same size Intel Pentium CPU Info Hkey_Local_Machine\Hardware\ Description\System\CentralProcessor\0 In the right pane modify VendorIdentifier, by placing a space between Genuine and Intel Have a look at the System Properties card Support Information Button Create or edit the OEMINFO.INI file, located in the WINDOWS\SYSTEM folder Enter or edit the lines: [General] Manufacturer=whatever Model=whatever [Support Information] Line1="whatever" Line2="whatever" Line3="whatever" When you open the System Properties dialog box, you will see a Support Information button A click on this, will display the information entered Manufacturer's Logo Create a 210x105 pixels (max) bitmap Save the file as OEMLOGO.BMP in Windows\System Folder When you open the System Properties there will your logo be You need to have the OEMINFO.INI file in place, noted above StartMenu Cascading History 1. RightMouseClick on the Start button 2. Choose Explore 3. RightMouseClick on the right pane 4. Choose New/Folder 5. Name: History .{FF393560-C2A7-11CF-BFF4-444553540000} The name History isn't critical The period, braces and CLSID number are StartMenu Cascading Control Panel RightMouseClick on the Start Menu, select Open, then create a new folder named: Control Panel .{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} File Type Icon Select Options from the folder's view menu In the Options dialog, select the File Types tab and scroll down the list to the Folder item With the Folder item selected, click Edit, then click the Change Icon button. Select a new icon NoName Icons 1. Make sure NumLock is on 2. Highlight the Icon you want to change 3. RightMouseClick and select Rename 4. While holding down the Alt key, type 0160 Now the icon will have no name below it To Create Multiple Icons with No Name, simply add one space-bar character after the 0160 number Each successive icon gets an additional spacebar character Deletable and Renamable Recycle Bin Hkey_Classes_Root\CLSID\ {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ShellFolder Enter the Attributes value in the right pane, and change it from "40 01 00 20" to "70 01 00 20" Deleted All the Way Hold the Shift key down, then drop the file on the Recycle Bin icon, or just hit the Delete button on selected item, confirm the deletion, and its gone forever Bitmap Files Icons Hkey_Classes_Root\Paint.Picture\DefaultIcon Replace value: C:\Progra~1\Access~1\mspaint.exe,1 With: %1 Internet Explorer BackGround Bitmap HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar Create in the right pane the String: BackBitmap As the Only supported graphic file format is BMP, give it a Data Value, which is to be the path to a Bitmap file. For example: C:\Image.BMP HTTP Simultaneous Requests Hkey_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings In the right pane, create or modify these two DWORD values: A. MaxConnectionsPerServer Give it a Decimal value of 4 B. MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server Give it a Decimal value of 8 Forced Program Exit Hkey_Current_User\Control Panel\Desktop Create or modify the String: AutoEndTasks Enable it by giving to it the value of 1 End Task TimeOutFile System Hkey_Current_User\Control Panel\Desktop Create two new Strings in the right pane: A. HungAppTimeout Give to it, in milliseconds, the value of 1000 B. WaitToKillAppTimeout Give to it, in milliseconds, the value of 1000 Try different values to find the optimal timeouts Modem Log File Hkey_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\ Services\Class\Modem\0000 Look in the Keys 0001, 0002, and so on, for the String: LoggingPath Modify it by changing the location path, or delete all characters found in there, so that is to no longer log the Modem MSDOS Prompt RightMouseClick Add Option on Folders Windows Explorer/View/Folder Options/File Types/New Type/ Scroll down to "File Folder"/Edit/New/ Type the Name you want in the Action box/ If the COMMAND.COM happens to be in C, type in the Application box: C:\COMMAND.COM /k cd %1 Open with... Context Menu Option on Files HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\* Create new key: shell Create a subkey to shell: openas Create a subkey to openas: command Default string value to the command key: C:\WINDOWS\rundll32.exe shell32.dll,OpenAs_RunDLL %1 View as Text Option Present a NotePad option when RightMouseClick on a file of unknown type, or when Shift+RightMouseClick on a known file type, so as to open that file in NotePad Hkey_Classes_Root\Unknown\shell Create a New Key named: View as Text (The key's name "View as Text" is optional, as you may use any other name of your choice) Create a subkey to "View as Text" named: command Modify in the right pane, the command's Default Value Data: C:\WINDOWS\NOTEPAD.EXE %1 (The path's name characters, are not case sensitive) You may create such option for any Program, using the same method Word 97 Scroll Bar Hkey_Current_User\Software\ Microsoft\Office\8.0\Word\Options Create a new String Value: LiveScrolling Give it a Data value of 1 Programs menu displayed in Multiple Columns Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Advanced Create a New String Value: StartMenuScrollPrograms It's Data value is to be: false Register for the Windows Update Site Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\ Add/Edit the string value: RegDone Let it have the Value of 1 Supervisor Password Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Ratings There will be a key labeled "key" Delete the key and it will set the Content Advisor Password to blank PCI steering settings Control Panel\System\Device Manager\ System Devices\PCI Bus\IRQ Steering Uncheck everything except the box: Get IRQ table using MS Specification table Customize Internet Explorer Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\ Internet Explorer\Main\Window Title Modify or create the right pane String: Window Title Give to it your value, that is to become it's new Name Long File Names Enabled Hkey_Local_Machine\System\Current Control Set\ Control\File System In the right pane there is: NameNumericTail Enter NameNumericTail and delete the 00 00 00 00 code StartUp Programs Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Run In the right pane, delete the Program to be removed Shortcut on the Taskbar's Quick Launch Toolbar Type the lines as typed below, and save them as a file named ShowDesktop.SCF in C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Microsoft\ Internet Explorer\Quick Launch [Shell] Command= IconFile=explorer.exe,3 [Taskbar] Command=ToggleDesktop Control Panel/System/Performance/File System/ In the Troubleshooting section, checkmark the squares: Disable Synchronous buffer commits Disable write-behind caching for all drives Increase the vcache memory Open the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.INI file Under the [vcache] Section add the following: A. For a RAM Memory of 64MB: [vcache] MinFileCache=8192 MaxFileCache=16384 ChunkSize=512 B. For a 128MB of RAM: [vcache] MinFileCache=16384 MaxFileCache=32768 ChunkSize=512 Top Of Page MSDOS Prompt MSDOS - MicroSoft Disk Operating System MSDOS Prompt within Windows Start/Programs/MSDOS Prompt Alt+Enter - Toggles between a Windowed and a Full MSDOS Screen, while operating MSDOS Prompt within Windows Start MSDOS Prompt as a Window 1. Start/Programs 2. RightMouseClick on the line: MSDOS Prompt 3. Properties/Screen 4. Place a checkmark on "Window" 5. Place a checkmark on "Display Toolbar" MSDOS Working Path Start/Programs/MSDOS Prompt/Properties/Program In the "Working" box, type the path for the Program to start in For example, for the program to start in the Desktop Directory: C:\WINDOWS\DESKTOP Activate the DOSKEY Start/Programs/MSDOS Prompt/Properties/Program In the "Batch file" box type: DOSKEY/INSERT The DOSKEY, along with the INSERT switch, helps navigating along the command line and going through all the typed commands If you want to see all the commands you typed so far, starting with a certain letter, type the character for that letter, and hit the F8 key repeatedly If you want to see all the commands you typed so far, hit F7, and if you further wish to pick one out of them, hit F9 and enter the corresponding number to that command line Copy and Paste 1. LeftMouseClick on the MSDOS Window Icon, located on the upper left corner 2. Edit/Mark 3. LeftMouseClick+Drag so as to select a text area 4. Edit/Copy, or press the Enter key 5. You can now paste it into any other program You may ofcourse paste in this way, text selected from any other program into the MSDOS Window Open in MSDOS Prompt a Specific Directory Open up Explorer and Drag&Drop the Directory in the MSDOS Window Display Help for an MSDOS command Type the name of the command followed by /? For example, type DIR /? to get Help on the DIR command To Display one screen at a time, type: DIR /? | MORE The | MORE extention to a command may ofcourse be applied to any other lengthy Outcome C:\> C:\>A: - Go to Disk Root Directory A C:\>CD Directory - Go to Directory named C:\>CD C:\WINDOWS\DESKTOP - Goes to the Desktop Folder C:\Directory\Directory>CD\ - Return to Root C C:\Directory\Directory\CD.. - Go back steps, as many as the dots C:\>DIR - Show all items in Root Directory C Swiches C:\>Dir /S - Display all Directories and SubDirectories of C C:\>DIR /P - Present Outcome in PageBreak C:\>DIR /W - Display Outcome in Wide Directory Format C:\>DIR /B - Display File Extentions C:\>DIR /L - Display Items using Lower Case Letters C:\>DIR /OD - By Date C:\>DIR /OS - By Size C:\>DIR /ON - By Name C:\>DIR /OE - By Extention C:\>DIR /OG - Organize Display to present first Directories, then Files C:\>DIR /AH - Find Hidden files C:\>DIR /AA - Find Archived files C:\>DIR /AR - Find Read Only files C:\>DIR /AS - Find System files C:\>DIR /OGEN/4/V/P - The number 4 denotes a Display for a 4 Digit for the year, and V stands for Verbose The Verbose Switch gives Details on Items C:\>START C:\WINDOWS\NOTEPAD.EXE - Run the NotePad C:\>START /M FILE.TXT - Start File in a Minimized Window C:\>START /MAX FILE.TXT - Start File in a Maximized Window C:\>REN WORDS.TXT REMIX.DOC - Rename the WORDS file, and change its extention as well C:\>ATTRIB PROGRAM.EXE - Display the attributes of the File C:\>ATTRIB +R FILE.TXT - Assign the Read Only attribute Edit a File 1. Remove File Attributes C:\>ATTRIB MSDOS.SYS -R,-H,-S 2. Edit the File C:\>EDIT MSDOS.SYS 3. Save and Exit Alt+F, S, Alt+F, X 4. Return the Attributes: C:\>ATTRIB MSDOS.SYS +R,+H,+S EXTRACT C:\>WIN98>EXTRACT /A /D BASE4.CAB>C:\ALLCABS.DOC Create a catalogue of all files within all cabinet files in WIN98 Directory, starting with the BASE4.CAB cabinet file, and save the results in a word doument file named ALLCABS.DOC, to be located at C:\ALLCABS.DOC C:\>MD Directory - Make a New Directory C:\>RD Directory - Delete Directory named C:\>COPY File A: - Copy File named from the current Directory into Drive A C:\>Directory>COPY *.TXT C:\Directory\Directory - Copy all text Files of one Directory into another C:\>Directory>Copy *.* C:\Directory\Directory - Copy all contents of one Directory into another C:\>COPY *WARE*.* C:\Directory - Copy all archives that contain "ware" within their name C:\>COPY LOW.* C:\Directory - Copy all archives named "LOW" C:\>COPY P*.* C:\Directory - Copy all archives starting with the letter P MSDOS in Windows allows for expanded use of the *, Wildcard symbol, in that you can specify the Wildcard BEFORE as well as AFTER text to search for For example, DIR *5*.TXT will display all .TXT files with a 5 in their name C:\>DIR /S FILE.TXT - Searches File named in Drive C C:\>DIR /S *.TXT - Find All Files with the extension TXT C:\>DIR /S *.TXT>RESULTS.TXT - Save the Search Results into a text file named RESULTS C:\>MEM - Current Memory Usage C:\>MEM /P/C - Conventional and Upper Memory Location C:\>MEM /F - Conventional Segments and Upper Memory Regions that are free You can use this to your gain and optimize your memory for best performance
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Cool List of Windows Tricks!!!