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| I hope you benefit from these Tips and Tricks for users of Microsoft Windows. They contain valuable advice and guidance to help you solve PC problems and get the best out of your PC.You can add your own tips by e-mailing them to me. I'll credit you for them and add a link to your website if you wish. Just click
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Windows XP TipsThis is for Windows XP. Many programs don't appear in the Add/Remove Components dialog, but you can put that right. Open Notepad or whatever text program you use and choose File > Open. Navigate to the Windows\inf folder and type Sysoc.inf in the box. Open it and choose Edit > Replace. In the Find box type Hide. Leave the Replace With box blank and click on Replace All. This will ensure that no entries are hidden. Click on Cancel, File > Save, File > Exit. Then open your Control Panel and choose Add/Remove Programs, Add/Remove Windows Components. Now you can remove items you don't need, eg Games.
You can change your Welcome screen image by going to Start > Control Panel > User Accounts, and opening your account. Click on Change my picture, and locate an alternative picture. Then just click on Change Picture.
Registry NotesIf you buy a second-user PC with Windows 98 installed you may want to change the registration details. Go to Start > Run and type Regedit in the Open box. The Registry entries you're looking for are RegisteredOwner and RegisteredOrganization. Search on the previous owner's name and/or
organization and substitute your own. Alternatively, you could use Xteq X-Setup from http://www.xteq.com. And, before you start messing with the Registry, best to make a backup.
More Registry NotesThe main thing you need to know about your Windows Registry file is not to touch it unless (1) you know what you are doing, and (2) you absolutely need to.
This file is supremely important. If there is the slightest thing wrong with your Registry file then your computer will not function properly and Windows may well not load.
Sometimes you might read some advice telling you how to make some amendment to the Registry and it sounds so easy you really must do it.
Before you do anything, make a back-up of it. Open the Registry by clicking on Start > Run, and typing regedit in the dialog box. This brings up the Registry file in a Windows Explorer type interface.
With the My Computer entry highlighted, click on Registry on the toolbar, and then Export Registry File. The Export Registry File dialog box will be displayed. Select a folder to save the file in and give the file a name, eg Old_Reg. Note where this file and folder are on your hard drive so you can find them again easily.
Click the Save button, and you will have a complete copy of your current Registry in your specified location. Now you can make your alterations with the knowledge that, if you did mess it up, you can restore your Registry to what it was before you went adventuring with it.
Oh yes, what if you DO mess up with it? Here's how to restore the old Registry.
Go to Start > Shutdown > Restart in MS-DOS mode. Click on Yes and at the MS-DOS prompt
type scanreg /restore This restores the Registry to its state when you last successfully started
your computer. Then just restart your PC.
Yet More Registry NotesThere's a serious security flaw in the original Windows XP operating system. It can mean that just visiting a website or reading an email can cause the deletion of files, folders, or even your Windows directory!
Microsoft have produced a Service Pack, available from here . The trouble is, the size is anything from 30MB to 130MB. So if you have a slow dial-up internet connection, forget it.
Steve Gibson of Gibson Research has come up with a solution yet again. He has developed a small utility program called Xpdite. Download it from here .
Restoring Your Windows RegistryIf you want to restore your Windows Registry to the state it was in when you last successfully started your computer (eg, if your PC doesn't start up properly, or takes too long), do the following. Go to Start > Shut Down > Restart in MS-DOS mode. Click on Yes, and at the MS-DOS prompt type scanreg /restore (note the space between the "g" and the "/"). Then restart your PC.
Speeding Up Windows (1)If your PC takes longer and longer to boot up it may be because there are too many items in the Start-up menu. Here's how to trim them down. Click on Start > Programs > Startup. Highlight any programs you don't want in the StartUp folder and drag them onto the Desktop. Then you can open them when you need them but avoid having them open automatically on bootup.
Speeding Up Windows (2)This tip doesn't always work, but it's worth trying if you use Windows 98 or better and have more than 64MB of RAM. Open Windows Notepad and then open System.ini in your Windows folder. (If you can't find it, change the "Files of Type" line in the Open dialog box to "All Files"). Scroll down the file to the section headed "[386Enh]" and at the end add ConservativeSwapfileUseage=1 Click on Save and re-boot your PC. It should speed things up a bit.
Here’s how you can cut down the time it
takes your PC to boot up. Go to Start, Settings, Control Panel, System and select
the Performance tab. Then select the File System button and the Floppy Disc tab and
deselect the item "Search for new floppy disc drives each time your system
starts". Click on Apply and OK before closing. This should save several seconds each
time you boot up.
You can take this process even further by going into the BIOS
settings, but only try this if you are happy at making these sort of changes. When you
boot up your PC a screen appears telling you which key to press to enter setup. Often it
is the delete key. Press this and the BIOS screen should appear. This varies according to
the make and model of your motherboard, but there should be a setup screen with a number
of entries, one of which reads something like, First boot record seek from floppy,
Second boot record seek from C:.
You can change this order by pressing the Page Up or Page Down
buttons. Do this until it reads, First boot record seek from C:, Second boot record
seek from floppy. This means that time will not be wasted while your PC pointlessly
searches for the boot up record, which enables it to launch Windows, in the floppy drive.
The only reason why it is configured to search for it in the floppy
drive first is in case you have to start Windows from the emergency
Windows start-up disk in the floppy drive. If this ever happens, you can easily go back
into the BIOS on boot-up and change the settings back to what they were originally. Here's how to boot up a little more quickly in Windows 95 or 98. Open Windows Explorer and right-click on the file called Msdos.sys (to be found in the root of the C:\ drive). Uncheck the "Read only" box. Double-click the file icon and open it with Notepad.
At the end of the section labelled "Options" add the following two lines:
BootDelay=0 Save and reboot. One slight drawback is that whenever you want to run Windows 95 or 98 in Safe mode you'll have to be quick. In Windows 98 you just hold down F8 at boot-up. How often do you use Start > Documents to open a recently accessed file? Probably not as often as you could. Why not make use of this feature of Windows to organise the files you use the most. When naming the file, give it a space before typing the name, or a number if you want to by-pass the alphabetical order in which Windows displays your files. This can save you a lot of time.
This works in Windows 95, 98 and 2000. If you have a number of
applications open at once and you need to get to the desktop fast, just right click on a
blank area of the Taskbar. A menu will appear. Click on 'Minimise All Windows'
and your desktop will reappear. To reverse this process, just repeat the proceedure but
this time click on Undo Minimise All.
You often need to access this several times when you install a new piece of hardware. A useful shortcut to it is to press the Windows key and the Break/Pause key simultaneously. This opens System Properties in Control Panel, and you can then select Device Manager. Alternatively, hold down the Alt key while you double-click "My Computer", then click on the Device Manager tab.
All Windows versions keep System files hidden by default. To be able to view them go to Tools > Folder Options in Windows Explorer and select the View tab. Untick the 'Hide file extensions for known file types' checkbox. While there, tick the 'Show file attributes in Detail View' checkbox and under Hidden files select Show all files. In Windows XP you should also tick the 'Display the contents of system folders' checkbox.
And if you want to configure Clear Type for your computer, go to www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/ and download and run the Microsoft Clear Type Tuning Control. Do you find the buttons on the scroll bar, or the closing and minimising buttons on your applications are often too small to get hold of easily? You can adjust their size and enlarge them.
This applies to any long document you're working on, where you want to close the document and return to it later without having to navigate to where you were last working on it. Resize the application so you can see the desktop. Highlight the last word of the document where you want to return, hold the cursor over it and right click and drag it onto the desktop. From the pop-up menu select Create Document Shortcut Here. Save and close your document. Double clicking on the shortcut icon will open your document at the place you marked.
A common problem with Windows 98/2000/ME is that Windows somehow loses the ability to preview JPG and other image files. The usual reason is that a graphics program you've installed has taken over the JPG association and made itself the default program for opening JPG files.
This is for if you have Windows XP Professional, use a broadband connection, and are not connected to a corporate network.
Increase your data speed by up to 20 per cent by switching off the "Quality of Service" facility.
Go to Start > Run and type gpedit.msc, which loads the Local Group Policy Editor. In the left pane, go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Network and select QOS Pcaket Scheduler. Double click "Limit Reservable Bandwidth" and then select Enabled. Enter "0" in the Bandwidth Limit box. Then click OK, exit and reboot your PC. The Windows Clipboard is one of the most useful things that Windows provides. But it will only hold one piece of text or data at a time. As soon as you copy something else to it the previous item is lost (unless you have Office 2000 or XP, in which case you have up to 12 clipboards).
If you often have to insert information into fields, eg when posting classified ads on the internet, then you usually need several "clipboards". Why not use "scraps" instead? Simply type each item of information, eg your name, email address, website address, heading, text of ad, etc, into a Word Processor such as Word. Highlight each in turn and, using the right mouse button, drag it onto the desktop. Release the mouse button and select Create Scrap Here from the pop-up menu.
You can make as many scraps as you like. Just double click them in turn to copy and paste them as required into each form field. Xteq is a freeware utility that weighs in at 4.7Mb and works in Windows 98/SE/ME/NT4/2K/XP. You can do almost anything with Windows using this program - change its appearance or color, run system diagnostics, and loads more. All changes are logged in case you want to undo them or copy them to other PCs. It has a simple Explorer type interface and there are downloadable plug-ins to add even more functions. Download it from http://www.xteq.com/
If you have a Windows shutdown problem and you can't find the cause, there's a general troubleshooting process at the Microsoft Knowledge Base at http://support.microsoft.com. Select advanced search, check the button next to Article ID for search type, and in the Solutions Containing search box enter the appropriate article ID for your version of Windows, which is
Windows 95 ............. 145926
If you have to reinstall Windows, disconnect all USB devices first, including your keyboard and mouse. Use your old PS/2 keyboard and mouse instead. This
will avoid having to respond to numerous error messages and requests for driver disks. Once you're happy that Windows has installed properly and is working, you can install your USB devices one at a
time. Much less hassle.
If you've ever had windows open up that are mostly off your screen, and you couldn't move them to where they should be, then listen up. Click anywhere you can on the window, hold down the Alt key and press the spacebar. In the pop-up menu, select Move. A four-headed arrow will appear. You can now move the window using the arrow keys on the keyboard.
If you sometimes suffer from buffer underruns when using your CD-writer, right click on My Computer and select Properties, Performance tab, and File System. On the "Typical Role" drop-down menu select Network Server (your current setting is probably Desktop PC).
Here is a useful site that collates FAQs from various Newsgroups (which it lists) and other sources:
.
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Have you ever made a new file, saved it, and then later forgotten what you called it or where you saved it? All is not lost. Go to Start > Find > Files or Folders. Click the Date tab and select Find all Files, but choose Modified from the drop-down list. Select Between, and then select a date range when you know you worked on the file. Click Find Now, and you should have your file in no time.
If you have Windows 98 you'll know that each time you open a new folder in My Computer or Windows Explorer a new window opens, until you have several open just for one purpose. You can change this by making each new item open in the same window, as follows.
In My Computer or Windows Explorer click View on the menu bar and select Folder Options. Go to the General tab and click "Custom, based on settings you choose". Click on Settings, and then on "Open each folder in the same window". Do you use Task Scheduler? Most people don't use this Windows function, so if
you're one of them then it makes sense to remove the icon for it, in the system tray. First delete all tasks by right clicking on the icon, selecting open, highlighting any tasks listed and selecting Delete.
Go to Start > Run and type "msconfig" (without the
quotes). Startup tab, deselect all instances of
"Scheduling Agent", click OK and reboot. Your Windows System files are vital. Most problems with your PC or operating system can be traced to a faulty or corrupt system file. In Windows 98 you can check that there are no lurking problems by using System File Checker. Many problems can be fixed automatically by Windows itself. Click on Start > Run and enter sfc.exe .Then click Start. Still got problems? Then click here
If you frequently download ebooks and reports from the Internet it's easy to lose track of them and forget just what you have on your system if you aren't properly
organised.
Make sure you have on your hard drive a separate folder for each subject that you are interested in, eg, eBay, email marketing, website promotion, classified ads, training, and so on.
Each folder can have sub-folders, so your Search Engine notes folder can have sub-folders on Alta Vista, Google, pay-per-clicks, and other search engines you're particularly interested in. This makes finding information on your hard drive much easier and faster.
In Windows Explorer, highlight in the left window the drive (or folder, if you are making a sub-folder of it) where you want the folder to be. Select File > New > Folder, and name your new folder. Press Return, and you have your new folder. If you have documents that you wish to keep secret from others, then making them 'hidden' in Windows often carries its own set of problems. Why not password-protect them instead? Right click on an empty space in the folder and select "Customize This Folder". Then "Create HTML Document For This Folder". The document will open in Notepad. Scroll down until you get to script language="JavaScript" (in angled brackets). Press Return to add a blank line and in it insert the following:
var pass = prompt("Enter the password") [Return] if(pass !="yourpassword")[Return]{window.location="C:"} [Return].
"yourpassword" above will, of course, be your actual password. The quotes should be left included. Save the document and exit from Notepad. Refresh the folder (F5), enter your new password, and every time you (or anyone else) goes to enter that folder from then on you'll be prompted for the password. Here's how to prevent yourself (or someone else who uses your PC) accidently deleting your data files. Navigate to your file in Windows Explorer, right-click on it and select Properties. Tick the read-only option in the Attributes section of the dialog box. And that's it. You can still open and edit the file, but if you want to save the changes you have to save it in another name. And if you eventually want to delete the file you simply have to confirm the deletion.
Password protecting your documents is a very effective way of preventing unauthorised access to them. Here's how to do it.
Open the document and select Tools, Options, and click the Security tab in the Options dialog box.
Go to the Password to Open text box and type your selected password. Note that asterisks appear in place of the actual characters. Maximum length of passwords is 15 characters. You can use both upper and lower case letters, but remember them well as the system is CaSe SEnSitIvE, and demands the password exactly as it was originally typed.
Click OK and in the Confirm Password dialog box, retype the password. Then all you have to do is save the document and the password protection takes effect. If you want to protect your backup files with encryption, so as to ensure that no-one else can access your information, then here's how to do it. Select Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Backup (if you want to do this regularly you'll want to place a shortcut to it on your desktop). Select the file from the Backup Job dropdown list and click the Options button. Then select the Password tab and check the box next to "Protect This Backup With A Password". Enter and confirm the password you have chosen and click on OK. Oh, and make sure you remember your password, right? Because you'll need it to gain access to this information in future.
One thing you have to get used to when using your PC and the Internet for any length of time is having to supply a password to get access to information. Using the same password all the time is dangerous and could lead to a weakness in security. The alternative is to have dozens or even hundreds of passwords for all the various applications and programs that you access, but remembering them can be a nightmare. Writing them all down is risky and you could just lose your list . . . Here's a system you could use that is almost foolproof. Remembering a phrase is easier than remembering a series of numbers and/or letters, so make a phrase appropriate to the application that is easy to remember and use the initials. For example, if you access your bank account online, your phrase could be, "A million dollars in my account please", giving a password of "amdimap". Add a special number or historical date after, say, the third letter, and you have maximum security in a combination of letters and numbers that is easy to remember.
It was fun, wasn’t it, setting up your own password to Windows when you first installed the operating system. But it becomes a nuisance when the novelty has worn off, especially when you find you have several passwords that you just have to remember for your ISP's site, your FTP, e-mail, and all the sites you visit that insist on a password. Unless you work in an office environment where you want to restrict access to your files, there's not much point in having to type in a password to start Windows. But sometimes there are problems in trying to rid yourself of the
password. Make sure you do this. Go to Control Panel and double click on Passwords. Select the Change Passwords tab and click on Change Windows Password. Delete your existing password, but make sure that you click in the empty password box before pressing return.
Windows Explorer TimesaverDon't waste any more time looking for a file or folder that's in a large directory using Windows Explorer. Just click into the Explorer window and type the first letter or two of the file or folder name and Explorer will immediately take you to the first file starting with that letter(s).
Jumbled Up IconsYou may find after a year or two of running Windows without a re-install that the icons on your Quick Launch toolbar, next to the Start button are all jumbled up. You can sort them into alphebetical order by first of all switching the toolbar off. Right click on an empty part of the Taskbar, select Toolbars and deselect Quick Launch. Then turn the toolbar back on again by doing the same and selecting Quick Launch. If the icons appear extra large, right click in the Quick Launch toolbar, select View, and then Small Icons.
That My Computer IconYou can make My Computer more accessible by turning it into a toolbar. Click, hold and drag the icon to one of the sides of the screen and release the mouse button. Customise it by right clicking in an empty area of the toolbar. You can make it auto-hide to save space. You can do the same with Network Neighbourhood and some other system icons.
Disk Defragmenter and ScanDiscI had awful problems once when trying to run each of these two programmes. After the programme was about 10 per cent completed it would display a message saying it cannot access part of my files. I eventually found out it often happens when there is another programme running in the background, such as a screensaver or virus checker. Close down any such programme and start again (Ctrl + Alt + Delete). If you still have trouble, then re-boot while pressing F8. This will run Windows in safe mode, and you should then be able to run ScanDisc without any trouble.
Hide the Windows Logo ScreenIf you don't want to look at the Windows 95/98 screen every time you start your computer, why not hide this logo screen by editing the msdos.sys file? Open Windows Explorer and go to the "msdos.sys" file (it should be in the root of your C: drive). Right-click this file, select Properties, deselect Read- only, and click OK. Then, using Notepad (Start / Programs / Accessories) open the msdos.sys file. Inside the Notepad window, under the "[Options]", type the line LOGO=0 Select File, Save to save your changes and close Notepad. The next time you start Windows 95/98, you won't see the Windows logo screen. Note: Make sure you go back and reset the read-only attribute to the msdos.sys file utilizing the same method you used to remove it.
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Recycle Bin ConfirmationsWhen you delete something it goes to the Recycle Bin as a safeguard against accidental deletion. But doing this doesn't free any hard disk space. So it's best
to empty the Recycle Bin regularly. When you do that you get an annoying warning message asking if you really want to empty the bin. You can disable this facility by right-clicking on the Recycle Bin and choosing Properties. Click the Global tab and uncheck the box labelled Display Delete Confirmation Dialog Box. Hurrah!
When DOS was integrated into Windows, the list of all the available commands was taken out of it. DOS is still a very useful operating system and those who still use it can find a list of all the commands at www.easydos.com/dosindex.html .
What If You've Lost Your Windows Product Identification Number?When you purchase a new PC or a new Windows operating system, the
Product Identification Number is set out on the Certificate of Authenticity which is stuck
to the front of the manual. What if you lose it and then find you have to re-install
Windows? You get half-way through the installation process and then find you can’t go
any further because you haven¹t got your Product Identification Number. Best to keep
a separate note of it in a safe place. If you haven't, but can still run Windows, you
can find the number quite easily in the Registry.
Here's what you do. Go to Start and select Run. Type
regedit and click OK. Now you have the Registry Editor window. Whatever you do
here, don't make any alterations. Click on the plus signs next to the following
entries in this order: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Software, Microsoft, Windows, and then click on
Current Version. In the right hand window are a large number of entries in alphabetical
order. Scroll down until you see an entry called Productkey. Your Product Identification
Number is next to it. |
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 Backing Up Files Without Any Storeage FacilitiesYou don't need a zip drive or any other expensive hardware to back up your important data files. If you have an Internet account then your Internet Service Provider will invariably include as part of the deal a certain amount of free web space, typically 10 MB. Even if you have a web site you will probably have a great deal of spare space. So why not simply upload by FTP to your web space the data files you want to back up? You will probably want to create a separate folder to upload the files to. This can easily be done with your FTP software, but if you find problems then liase with your ISP's technical support department. As an alternative you could try one of the following services. They're all free, and supply up to 300MB of storeage space.
Short CutsEveryone seems to do everything with the click of a mouse and never think of using key board shortcuts. But you can waste an awful lot of time if you ignore these shortcuts. And they are there to be used, so let's use them. But the problem is, where can you learn these shortcuts? Well, actually, your own computer can teach you. Get Help by pressing F1. Select the Search tab and enter: "Keyboard Shortcuts" (replete with quotes). Almost
instantly you'll have a list of links containing valid key combinations.
Here are just a few of those shortcuts:
Windows logo key + E Windows Explorer
Desktop ShortcutTo get to your Windows desktop when you have several different windows open, press Winkey + M. Winkey + Shift + M gets them all back again. Winkey + D toggles between open applications and the desktop (doesn't work in early versions of Windows 95). To close all windows and applications quickly press Alt + F4.
Desktop Shortcut ShortcutsIf you don't use the numeric keypad then you can assign shortcuts to each of the ten keys as follows. Press the number lock key on your keyboard, then right-click on any desktop shortcut and select 'Properties'. In the 'Shortcut key' field delete 'none' and replace it by pressing the number key on the numeric keyboard. Click OK. You can repeat this for up to nine other desktop shortcuts. Then you can open the program concerned by simply pressing the number for it on the numeric keyboard.
A short summary:
Folder ShortcutsIf you want to get to a folder that's buried deep inside several other folders you can avoid having to open each folder in turn until you get to the one you're after.
Expand All Folders in Windows ExplorerIf you want to expand all the folders and subfolders for a particular drive, click on that drive and press the '*' key on the numeric keyboard.
Make Your Own Windows 95/98 Start-Up DiskThis disk is vital in case you ever have Windows problems or
for any other reason have to re-install Windows. Yet it's surprising how many people
don't have a Windows start-up disk, or have lost it. It's easy to create a new
start-up disk. Here's how.
Go to Control Panel and double click on Add/Remove Programs. Select
the start-up disk tab, make sure you have a blank, formatted floppy disk in drive A:, and
follow the instructions.
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Controlling Your PrinterIf you regularly print from two different applications requiring different printer settings then you may have experienced the hassle of making the necessary amendments each time you print, and no doubt frequently forgetting to make them. So why not trick Windows into believing you have two different printers? Go to My Computer >Printers and double click 'Add Printer'. Carry out the installation proceedure for your existing printer but give it a different name. When you've completed the setup right click on the new printer icon and select 'Properties'. Then change the settings as required. In future when you print you simply have to select the correct printer (or drag and drop the file onto the correct printer icon).
Printer ShortcutYou don't have to open a file in order to print it. Use Sendto instead. In Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\Windows\Sendto and open it. Click on Start > Settings > Printers and drag the icon for your printer from the Printers window onto the Sendto folder.
Using Uppercase Names For Your FoldersDo you sometimes want to name a folder with initials, or for some other reason use all uppercase letters for the name? Normally Windows won’t let you do this, so if you try and name a folder ABCD it will come out as Abcd. To fix this, in Windows Explorer go to the View menu and select Folder Options, and the View tab. In the Advanced Settings window, check Allow all uppercase names.
Windows Explorer Column WidthsIf you find you constantly have to re-size the windows in Windows Explorer, try doing this. When the window is open press Ctrl + + (i.e. the Control button and the plus button on the numeric keypad twice). The column edges in each window will then be flush with the longest entry in each.
Controlling Windows ExplorerYou can open Windows Explorer fast by pressing the Windows button on
your keyboard (it must be a Windows 95 or higher keyboard) and E at the same time. What if
you want it to open on a drive other than your C: drive, or even a particular folder? Open
Windows Explorer and select the Windows folder. Click the + sign and locate the Start
Menu. Click on it and in the right hand window select the Explorer.exe shortcut. Right
click on it and select Properties. In the Shortcut tab you will see an entry reading
C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE /n, /e,C:\. Write down carefully a note of this entry.
If you want to open at the D:\ drive as the default, delete the C
and type D in its place. If you want to open a particular folder, say My Documents, then
make sure the correct drive is specified, and then type My Documents immediately after the
C:\ (i.e. no spaces). Also, note that there are spaces before the /n, and /e, and that
there is a comma after the n and the e. To change back again, go to Explorer Properties
and make everything read as it did before.
How To Use Send-ToSend-to is one of the most useful functions of Windows. It provides
a quick way of backing up your data files. Open Windows Explorer (Wk + E) and scroll to
the folder where the document is that you wish to back up. Right click on the document in
the right hand window and select Send To. A list of places you can copy the document to
appears, consisting of the floppy drive, the Desktop as a Shortcut, a Mail Recepient using
Microsoft Outlook, and your My Documents folder.
Probably the floppy drive or a CD-R is the most used back up method. But if
you have a zip drive or other means of backing up data (e.g. a separate hard drive) then
you will want to add this to the list of options in Send To. Here's how to do it.
Open Windows Explorer and scroll down to the Windows folder. Open it
and double click on Send To. Go to the Menu bar and select File, New, Shortcut. Then
click on Browse to find the applilcation, drive, etc that you wish to add to the list of
options. Open the folder and look for the .exe file. Highlight it and select Open. You
will have to name the programme. Click Next and then Finish and the item will be added to
the Send To list.
Stopping Auto-Run On Your CD-ROM DriveIt can be very annoying every time you use a programme that requires you to insert a CD into your CD-ROM drive, when the CD auto-runs and you get some set-up programme you don't want right now. One way to avoid this is to press the Shift key when you insert the CD. That turns off, for that moment, the auto-run feature. To disable it permanently, go to Control Panel (Start, Settings) and double click the System icon. Select the Device Manager tab, and click on the plus sign next to the CD-ROM entry. Highlight the revealed entry and click on Properties at the foot of the dialog box. Select the Settings tab and uncheck the box marked ‘Auto Insert Notification. One use for this method is to install an item from your Windows set-up disk without having to go through the whole installation process again. Once you’ve loaded your Windows CD, open Control Panel and double click on Add/Remove Programs. Then make your selections and install.
Recovering AutoRun on your CD-RomMost CDs should run automatically when you place them in your CD drive. If this is not the case, here's how to get this feature back. Right click on My Computer and go to Properties and the Device Manager tab. There is a plus sign next to all the devices listed. Click on that to the left of the CD-Rom. This will reveal the drive. Click on it to highlight it and then click on the Properties button. Select the Settings tab and check the item, 'Auto Insert Notification'.
Fast-Open FilesAre you tired of having to open up a folder or file you use every day by going through the usual time-consuming routine. Here's an exciting new way to open your most-used files in the blink of an eye.
Right click on an empty section of your Taskbar and select New Toolbar from the menu. Select your most used folder from the dialog box. You can choose any folder (or file, if you prefer) on your system or network - even your Desktop, My Computer, Printers, Control Panel, Dial-Up Networking and Scheduled Tasks folders. Windows creates a toolbar with one icon for every file in the folder you selected. Neat, eh?
Find Files FastIf your keyboard has the Windows logo key, you can quickly open the Find Files or Folders dialog box with that key plus F. You can also get to Find Files or Folders from the Start menu. Here's another quick way to open Find Files or Folders. Just click once in a blank spot on your Windows Taskbar and then press the F3 key.
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