Windows95/98/NT tips

This is G o o g l e's cache of http://daugava.com/win95.htm.
G o o g l e's cache is the snapshot that we took of the page as we crawled the web.
The page may have changed since that time. Click here for the current page without highlighting.

Google is not affiliated with the authors of this page nor responsible for its content.

These search terms have been highlighted:

windows

explore

user

folder

dollar

Windows95/98/NT tips

Ctrl-Tab switches between windows in many multi-window programs: Opera, Enterprise Manager, Query Analyzer, Visual Intercept.

Windows NT - you won't be able to unmap (net use /del) a drive from command if that drive is current. Win 9x does let you drop the current drive.

To cleanup Control Panel in Windows NT, goto to c:\winnt\system32 and move some .CPL files elsewhere.

access.cpl - Accessibility options
appwiz.cpl - Add/Remove programs (probably wanna keep that one)
console.cpk - Console window properties
desk.cpl - Display
devapps.cpl - Tape devices, SCSI Adapters, PC Card
dtccfg.cpl - MS DTC (whatever that is)
findfast.cpl - MS Office Find Fast (you might also delete it from registry Run/Runservice key - it may slow cpomputer down)
inetcpl.cpl - Internet (if you move this, Internet Option won't work in IE)
intl.cpl - Regional settings
main.cpl - Fonts, Keyboard, Mouse, Printers
mlcfg32.dll - Mail
mmsys.dll - Multimedia
modem.cpl - Modem (surprise!)
ncpa.cpl - Network
odbccp32.cpl - ODBC
pacecfg.dll - 3COM Dynamic Access
plugincpl*.cpl - Java Plug-in
ports.cpl - Ports (serial)
prefscpl.cpl - RealAudio (and stay out!)
s32lucp1.cpl - LiveUpdate (In your face! Amazing how much crap some programs install in folders and Control Panel)
SMSCfg.cpl - Systems Management (the program sysadmins use to spy on users)
SMLCpl32.dll - Advertised Programs
smsrc.cpl - Remote Control
srvmgr.cpl - Server
sysdm.cpl - System
telephon.cpl - Telephony
timedate.cpl - Date/Time (heh)
ups.cpl - UPS
Sometimes Windows NT 4 goes crazy and loads Program Manager instead of Explorer. When this happens, load TaskMan and kill Progman.exe and Explorer.exe few times.
When you Right Click in Start menu, you can see unnecessary junk that some programs out there (Winamp is one of such programs). To clean these up, goto REGEDIT, HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell and nuke the keys that refer to menu options you don't want.
This will allow you to kill the entries that cannot be removed by messing with Explorer's View/File Types/Folder.

Finding out the file owner in NT: "In NT Explorer, right click on the file and select Properties. Next, click on the Security tab and then the Ownership button. It will show you the name of the owner who created the file."

Add a "." and the CLSID of a shell folder to the end of any folder name. This will cause the items in the shell folder to show up in your folder. For example, to make a cascading Control Panel folder on the Start Menu, make a folder in "C:\WINDOWS\Start Menu\"and name it: "ControlPanel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
(Tip submitted by Nolan Clark)

Sometimes WinNT doesn't admit that there are files in Recycle Bin. If that happens, you can go to C:\RECYCLED and purge them for good.

You cannot put a value from 'password' field into a clipboard. Now that I think about it, it makes sense for security reasons - otherwise it would be too easy to walk to somebody's computer and learn his Dial-up Networking passwords.

Win NT Notepad doesn't have limitation on the size of file it can load - I just saw it handle a 7M file!

Win98 - you can rearrange items in the Quick Launch bar by dragging.

Win NT - to see which process is hogging the CPU, goto task Manager, select Processes and click on 'CPU' heading.

The "Quick Launch" is pretty useless at first, but you can improve it - right click on empty space inside it and select Open - this will show you all items in the toolbar. I removed everything except Show Desktop - but you can also add some shortcuts if you want.

Saw this trick on ZDTV - drag any folder to the right edge of the screen to make it a toolbar! This works great with 'auto hide' option - though desktop must be visible for you to activate the toolbar.

Little feature that beautifies Windows appearance tremendousky - goto desktop, rclick, Properties/Plus and check box 'Smooth edges of screen fonts'.

Alternative way to minimize all windows: click on taskbar and press Alt-M.

Pressing Shift-F10 when file is hilited is the same as right clicking.

Some applications are impolite enough enough to add their own options the the right click menus - it's especially annoying when you right click on Start and see junk like 'Enqueue in Winamp' and 'Scan for viruses'. Solution - go to Explorer File Types dialog, find type 'File Folder' and remove all actions except 'Find'.

Win98 - fixing "Explorer caused an invalid page fault in module KERNEL32.DLL at 0177:bff7a382".
This is apparently causes by IE5 installation going haywire. You can fix it by going to Control Panel/Add-Remove programs, selecting Microsoft Internet Explorer, clicking Add/Remove and poicking 'Repair installation' option.
Goto http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q194/1/77.asp for more info

Warning - if you disabled all Active Desktop and IE4 stuff in Win98, clicking on Start/Settings/Active Desktop/View as Web Page will result in chaos and terror! I did this out of curiosity and desktop disappeared. It came back after reboot, but Explorer refused to open any other folder, mumbling something about "GPF in SHDOCVW.DLL". I ended up reinstalling Win98 - fortunately it kept all the settings, so I lost nothing but few hours of my time.

If you run program like Telix in a DOS window and then leave that window open after closing Telix, Win9x may not be able to use modem until DOS window is closed - you will get "port already open".

You can assign a hotkey for creating a shortcut on the desktop (as opposed to right clicking, navigating to 'New' and picking 'Shotcut'). You do this by creating a shortcut to "C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL32.EXE AppWiz.Cpl,NewLinkHere c:\windows\desktop\" ans setting hotkey for it. I've set it to Ctrl-Alt-C and I find it a great timesaver!

Hot tip
Task Scheduler in Win98 is slower than a turtle with a hangover. Here's the workaround - instead of using the dreaded "Add Scheduled Task", right click on existing task, drag to the empty spot and pick 'Copy here'. Now, edit the properties for the copy and you're all set!!
And here's another way:
Drag the app you want to schedule into the open Scheduler window (suggested by Tom Elam)

If you want to find what version of printer driver you have, print a test page - it will tell you!

How to install Windows Messaging (MS Exchange) in Win98: insert setup CD and run \tools\oldwin95\message\us\wms.exe.

Tip for getting rid of obnoxious Office Assistants:
The easiest way to achieve this is by renaming the folder called "actors" something like "dead actors" -- the office assistants are stored in that folder so the annoying little beast will not pop up every time you try and write a letter.

System File Checker (one of the MOST useful components of Win98) is located at c:\windows\system\sfc.exe

When stuck at "please wait" window trying to shutdown, pressing ESC few times may help to get to "it's now safe" prompt.

My Win98 used to take 40 seconds to boot, and BLA.EXE showed that VNBT.386 was responsible for the 24 second delay. After searching dejanews for a while, I've found the following advice:

********************************************************* look at Control Panel / Network /TCP-IP/Properties Enter an IP-Number like 192.168.0.1 and as Subnet-Mask 255.255.255.0 After this (i hope) your pc will boot really faster *********************************************************
That was it! My computer used to take 40 seconds to boot and now it's down to 18 seconds!!!!!
I just found the way to get rid of all the junk Find items, leaving only 'Files' and 'Computer' - open REGEDIT, goto key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\FindExtensions\Static
All subkeys under this one are junk - you may recognize their names - mine were for 'people', 'in the registry' and 'using altavista'.
Backup the registry, delete these keys, reboot and you're back in business!!

To speed up access to commonly used Control Panel items, create folder 'Control' under Start menu and shortcut the CP items you want. This way they are faster to get to and not hidden among junk icons like "Regional settings" or "Date/Time".

To reduce the delay in Start menu, create string value
MenuShowDelay="0" in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\desktop.

To disable windows animation when minimizing/restoring, goto
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\desktop\WindowMetrics and create string "MinAnimation" with value of "0". After reboot, animation is gone!

Finding out what slows down Win95 booting
My AMD 300 was taking a full minute to boot - I've searched Usenet over and over, read enormous amount of articles and still couldn't pinpoint what's slowing me down.
Then I did "step by step boot" - but the slow part was obviously within "load all windows drivers" section. I thought: "If only I could get a timer for BOOTLOG.TXT, so I could know which of these drivers is the menace". Well, I went to winfiles.com, search for 'BOOTLOG' and found Bootlog Analyser. 10 minutes later I've found the culprit - NDISWAN.VXD takes a good half of a minute - 50% of boot time!! And NDISWAN belongs to MS Private Networking, that I have no intention of ever using!!!
Give Bootlog Analyser a try - it's time to regain some control over our computers (the kind we had back in DOS days! :)

Control Panels items are actually .CPL files in \WINDOWS\SYSTEM - renaming .CPL will remove icon from CP. You will need to close Control Panel before you can rename these files, though.

Put line 'Logo=0' in C:\MSDOS.SYS to suppress win95 boot logo.

Making Inbox icon a regular shortcut: delete the default one and then make shortcut to exchng32.exe.

c:\windows\tips.txt contains some unexpectedly good advice!

"Hold down the CTRL key while entering Windows. This will keep items in the Startup folder from launching."

Volume Control button on the toolbar will work only if C:\WINDOWS is in DOS path.

If win95 hangs on boot, restarting in safe mode and then in normal mode again may take care of the problem.
(Suggested by Yuri)

Sometimes "not enough mem" msg is a fluke - for example same shortcut may not start from desktop, but run ok from Start.

These win files contain many icons:
c:\winlows\explorer.exe C:\Program Files\PLUS!\Microsoft Internet\iexplore.exe
c:\windows\progman.exe
c:\windows\moricons.dll
c:\windows\system\shell32.dll
c:\windows\system\pifmgr.dll - DOS Prg icons.
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\quartz.dll - MIDI icons

If cursor disappers in windowed DOS, switch to fullscreen view and back.

c:\windows\qfecheck.exe - shows what patches have been applied to Windows95 installation.

SCANDSKW supports cmdline parameters:
drive: to specify the drive(s) you want to check
/a to check all your local, nonremovable hard disks
/n to start and close ScanDisk automatically
/p to prevent ScanDisk from correcting any errors it finds

Increase conventional memory in OSR2

EXE files created by WinZip can be uncompressed by regular UNZIP!

There is less options for Win95 text mode programs than for DOS programs. To remedy that, you can start win95 prg from batch file. For example, this can help to set default font size, as well as to make minimized icon be the same as regular one.

You can use balance in Volume Control, so that WAV plays in one channel and MIDI - on another one.

Start/Run/. opens desktop as folder.

"Line up" can cause icon to be hidden under another icon - check desktop folder and the neighboring icons.

You can type dirname and still use Browse in 'create shortcut' as long as you terminate path with '\'.

Folder shortcuts can be used in Win Explorer: for example, type 'media' or 'desktop' at Start/Run prompt.

If mouse stops responding, goto control panel/mouse, pick the same mouse driver, select change and say 'no' to 'restart the system'. After that mouse is reset and works again.

Use BackSpace to clear Properties/Shortcut key field.

The reason balloon help is not working could be that window is visible, but not current.

To time win program from 4DOS prompt, can use START /WAIT - it will not return to DOS untl win prg has terminated.

.RMI file extension is something like .MID (discovered by An'uta).

Volume control in system tray and 'view source' in Internet Explorer stopped working. I ran TweakUI/Repair/System files and now they are as good as new. I wonder if problem was related to me +Ring files in SYSTEM... though why didn't it show up immediately ?

To protect \WINDOWS\SYSTEM from rogue programs overwriting good DLLs with crap, I've set all files in that dir to +R.

When adding new modem to Windows95, especially when changing from external to internal, delete old comm port from control panel/system, and then run 'add new hardware'.
(Suggested by Yuri)

I got tired of every program creating its own shortcut folders during installation, so now when programs asks, where to put its icons, I route them all to Start\Trash - if there is useful shortcut there, I can move it out myself or I can cleanup entire fodler easily.

If volume control disappeared from taskbar, go to control panel/multimedia, uncheck 'show volume' box, click apply, check box again and click OK.

Modem Configure tab is common for all dialup connectoids.

When prg occupied entire screen and taskbar is invisible, press CTRL-ESC to see it.

Idea - errors like "GPF in MFC42.DLL" can be called by prgs overwriting libraries when being installed. I thought that filenames like this are unique by version, but I was very wrong - check output of Filez search for MCF42.DLL

F3 is a search key in Notepad. And just think - for the past 50 years I've been using the stupid Alt-S-F shortcut. I'll demand refund for extra keystrokes :)

If you are trying to kill the task and failing, try killing task 'Winoldap' (this only applies to DOS programs).

New release of Win95: - fixed bug when 800x600 display would require different horizontal centering than fullscreen DOS window.

SuperTip - how to get stuff from desktop to show as pulldown menus under Start: copy (not shortcut!) c:\windows\desktop to Start Menu. It works best if you don't keep real files on desktop, only shortcuts.

"If you're not sure if something should be deleted, try moving it to another directory first to see if it makes a difference."

"To make Open View behave more like Explore view, check 'My computer/view/options/browse folders using single window'

.LNK files can be launched from DOS by Start. Even better, in 4DOS I defined .LNK as executable extension, assoced with START.EXE.

Sly way to reboot - prg that contains only EXIT and runs in DOS mode.

You can type URL in Start/Run - IE will be launched, if necessary. If IE is already running, page will load within current instance.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/RegisteredOwner - change name of person Win95 is registered to.

PIF files are still used in Win95, but there is no PIF editor. To make changes, right click on PIF file and select 'properties'. For example, you can change "c:\windows\exit to dos.pif" to load alternate command processor for 'restart in MS-DOS mode".

To delete junk from desktop right click/new menu, look for 'shellnew' keys in Registry, delete the ones you don't want (the only 2 vital to survival are 'shortcut (.lnk)' and 'folder'. Some registry entries have shellnew key, but it's not on 'new' menu. Why ? Ask Allakh.

Hiliting several files in Win Explorer and choosing File/Open opens only the first file. This is opposed to GeoWorks, where I could open several programs this way. Once, in GeoWorks, I hilited directory of 400 clipart files and mistakenly chose open - they started opening like crazy until my machine ran out of resources and hung.

To get rid of crappy arrow on the shortcuts, use TweakUI/Explorer and set Shortcut Overlay to 'None'. Strange thing - 'printers' on control panel didn't lose it's arrow after that. Also, this change can be lost if Windows crashes before proper shutdown is done at least once.

"You can hold down the shift key when you insert a CD-ROM to disable AutoPlay or you can make the following changes: Open any folder and select view, options, file types. Select AudioCD and click Edit. Select Play from the Action listbox, choose Set Default (this actually toggles the default). If Play is bolded, the CD will play when inserted. If it is not bolded, it will not."

"Microsoft Paint can serve as a bitmap viewer. Simply drag a bitmap icon onto Microsoft Paint window to view it. The current image will be replaced with the new bitmap."

"There's a folder in the WINDOWS directory called SEND TO. By creating shortcuts in this folder to your favorite applications, you can right click files, select Send To, and send the file to any of the applications on the list. This is a great way to send unknown file types to a default text editor, like Notepad."

"While the desktop is active press the F3 key. This will open the Find File window and allow you to search for a file on the computer."

"To make a network share hidden, put a dollar sign ($) on the end of the share name. Only people who know the exact name of the share will be able to access it."

As soon as Novell CAPTURE is run in DOS window, CAPTURE value is changed in Printers.

When SETUP asks you 'reboot you computer ? (yes/no)', say 'no', and then do Start/Shutdown/Shift-Restart. This will reload Windows without cold booting.

Receiving Fax: open Inbox. Fax icon appears in few seconds in tray - right lower corner, next to the clock. Click fax icon and select 'answer now'.

Much feared FAT32 file system in Windows97 is optional - you can choose whether to use it when running FDISK.

Ridicilous Explorer option 'hide DOS extensions for filetypes that are registered also affects 'Save As' dialogs.

Avoid using 'logon to network' in DialUp networking - this option disconnects Netware drive, as soon as PPP/SLIP is connected!

When you press CAD and 'close program' box doesn't disappear after hitting ESC, another CAD will reboot.

Programs can be launched on startup not only from SYSTEM.INI/STARTUP, but also from registry: see My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run* keys (run, runonce, runservices, runservicesonce).

Balloon help for programs in Taskbar only shows when there is too many of them to see their names.

When installation program really wants all programs to be closed, easiest way to comply could be to do 'Close all programs and login as diff user'.

When you feel lazy to touch keyboard at all, you can paste with mouse only - right click in text field and paste is there. This works even in such simple app as Notepad.

If network printer under Win95 doesn't work for mysterious reasons, deleting and creating it again may help.

To receive Novell SEND messages under Windows95, you can either install Novell Win95 client (which, in my opinion, sucks, or run WINPOPUP.EXE

WINPOPUP minimizes itself after all messages are deleted

Turns out, word processors store Clipboard text in RTF format - for example you can paste bold/italic text form MS Word to Wordpad.

Fast way to remove beginnig of URL, leaving only filename - End, hold left arrow for a while, Shift-Home, Del.

If you can't reach title bar of a window, try Tile.

Yury: "You can copy printer configuration from one Win95 comp to another - it is in C:\WINDOWS\SPOOL\PRINTERS".

Some programs may change assocaition for .inf file, thus killing the 'Install' option in its right click menu. To fix this, goto Regedit, locate the .inf filetype, change its root value to 'inffile' and delete subfolders under .inf, if any.

To restore functionality of FONTS directory (known to disappear after install/uninstall of MS Plus Pack), use MS PowerToys: TweakUI/Repair/Repair Font folder.

Searching in vain for a perfect macro recording program, I discovered to my amazement that Windows95 supported assigning shortcut to a program all along - it is in Properties, right over 'Run' setting. While cursor is over the field, press hotkey to be used.

You may have to switch several times between 2 windows before Alt-Tab remembers that you want to cycle between them.

On desktop: right click/line up icons - will adjust desktop icons to the grid without reshuffling them.
Downside: it doesn't allow me to put icons on the far right side - after adjusting it will be no less then 2 centimeters from the edge.

Occasionally printers may disappear from Control Panel/Printers. Reboot and they will come back.

Items in Control Panel can be shortcutted - access them from desktop directly or from menu.

Registry Search & Replace - if you click Ok after hit is found, it will keep searching

After you clicked on [+] to expand the tree, you only need to click on leftmost [-] once to collapse the branch.

Removing shortcuts from Start menu may be faster with right click on taskbar/ propertes, than by using right click on Start/Explore.

You can change bass and treble - double click on speaker icon and select 'advanced'.

To del folder you are in, press Backspace (goto parent) and del folder icon from there. It will also close child.
Following tips are from PC Journal:

Opening folders nicely: If you want to open a sub-folder and have parent folder automatically close, hold the ctrl key as you double-click to open new folder.

Expanding all Subfolders in Explorer: To quickly expand the Explorer tree view to show all sobfolders for a highlighted drive or folder, simply press the asterisk (*) key on the numeric keypad. (Be careful not to do it in default view - it will try to expand everything, inckudign network drives.

Quickly seeing properties: To quickly access the Properties information for any object, hold the Alt key while double-clicking it.

Opening an associated file with a different program: Hold the SHIFT key while right-clicking on the file in Explorer. The Open With can now be selected, and you can choose a different application to open file with.

What .DLL's are being used in a .EXE?: Right click on the application's name, and select Quick View.

Following tips are from PC Journal: