After you have set your cache setting to its optimum size as mentioned above, you will find more free memory. With the following tips, you can save even more memory.

          o Open any folder and press F3. This will bring up the Find Files dialog box for that folder.

         o Press Start+TAB key combination just once. Now, pressing TAB repeatedly will allow you to jump between various areas of the desktop, such as the desktop proper, taskbar, system tray, quicklaunch toolbar, and Start button.

         o When you drag a file with the right mouse button, you will be presented with an option to move or copy the file when you drop it elsewhere.

         o If you drag a file from some location and hover it over a folder that is minimized on the desktop without dropping it, then that folder will spring open allowing you to drop the file there.

         o If you drag a shortcut and place it over the Start button without dropping it, then the Start menu will spring open and you can navigate to your special program groups and drop it there.

          o Sometimes, when you have many programs open and you use the Alt+TAB combination to switch to another program, it does not switch. In this situation, press the Start button twice.

          o Press Alt+F4, to close a program. If no program is open, then it functions like a Shutdown command.

          o Pressing Alt+Enter after selecting an item will bring up its properties box.

          o Pressing Start+Pause will bring up the System Properties of your computer.

      Supposing you have MP3 files in your machine, which by default opens with Windows Media Player, you can have options in the context menu so that it can be opened with other programs such as Subhash VCDPlayer, Winamp, etc.

      Say you want to have an option with Subhash VCDPlayer, here is what you need to do. Go to Folder Options. Click on File Types tab. From the list under Registered File Types, search for and select MP3 Format Sound. Now click on Advanced. In the Edit File Type window, click on New. In the New Action window, enter Open with Subhash VCDPlayer in the text box under Action and "C:\Program Files\Subhash VCDPlayer" "%1" (including the quotation marks) in the Application used to perform action.

      Here, the ampersand symbol '∓' is placed before the 'S' in Subhash VCDPlayer so that 's' becomes the hot key in the context menu. You can follow a similar procedure, to do the same with Winamp or Sonique. Use the Edit button to modify any previous setting you have created. Exercise caution with the choice of the program. If the program and the file type are incompatible, the result can be undesirable.

      In Windows 9x, go to Folder Options » File Types. Here, select the file type that you need to add custom options. Now, click on Edit. In the Edit File Type window, click on New and follow the above-mentioned procedure.

      Create different options for different file types with compatible programs using this method.

         o In Windows Me/2000: From the menu, choose Tools » Folder Options.

          o In Windows 9x: From the menu, choose View » Folder Options

      To move between the different tabs, press the Ctrl+TAB key combination or just use the mouse.

          o Large Icons

         o Small Icons

          o List

          o Details

          o Thumbnails

      Open any folder and choose the type of view that you want from the toolbar. If you were to choose the Details view, then adjust the column sizes now. Then, go to Folder Options. In the View tab, click on the Like Current Folder.

      In Windows 9x, go to Folder Options, and choose Custom, based on settings you choose and click on Settings. In the Click items as follows section, choose the above-mentioned setting.

Xteq X-Setup is a great tool to tweak your system. It has different settings for Win 9x/Me/NT/2000. Instead of manually editing the registry, one can tweak the registry using X-Setup as a frontend. Choose the following settings.

         o Your My Documents would typically be in C:\My Documents or C:\Documents and Settings\user\My Documents. If you have a drive D, then right-click on your My Documents and select Properties » Move. Here, select a folder in the D drive. Now, your My Documents will be moved to that folder.

          o Change the store folder of your Outlook Express email messages as mentioned above, to a folder in the other drive.

         o It also helps to backup email account settings too. Select Tools » Accounts » Mail. Select the email account and click on Export. This will create a file with the extension .iaf. Whenever you want to re-create the email account, click on the Import button and select this .iaf file.

      Most people format their Windows drive before doing a clean install. This is not necessary. If you have more than one OS, it will delete the boot files of the other OSes too. Just delete the Program Files folder and the Windows folder from MS-DOS or from another OS and go ahead with the install. After that is done, import your email messages from the folder you had created previously. Now, delete any files in that folder. Next, change the message store back to that folder. Also, change the My Documents back to the folder you had created earlier.

   Use a download manager to manage your downloads. Second-generation download managers allow for the files to be downloaded in pieces simultaneously by more than one thread, and combine them together after download is over.

     [Shell]

      Choose Save as from the File menu. In the dialog box, change Save as type to All files. Give the filename as Show Desktop.scf. Make sure you save it in the folder you had created just then. Now, right click the taskbar and choose Toolbar»New Toolbar. Here choose the folder where you had put the Show Desktop.scf file.

      Keep shortcuts in your Quicklaunch bar for your drives. Create a shortcut with the target as c:\windows\rundll32.exe user.exe,exitwindows. Clicking on this icon will shut down Windows in a snap. However, this command works for Windows 9x/Me only. For Windows NT/2000/XP, you need something more sophisticated. I suggest you download Wizmo (Windows Gizmo - 37 KB). Create shortcuts to this small program using appropriate parameters for logoff, shutdown, restart, hibernate, reboot, and several other functions.

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