Stay in Control
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Windows is at its most powerful when it works the way you want it to. These pointers will help you take charge of Windows and make it behave.
Clear the Documents Menu
The Start menu's Documents menu lists all the files you've recently edited, but it isn't smart enough to update its listings. For instance, if you delete a document you've recently edited, its entry stays on the Documents menu until new selections "bump" it off. If you have several files that have been moved or deleted, you might feel like clearing the Documents menu entirely.
Here's how: Right-click a blank area of the taskbar and choose Properties. Click the Start Menu Programs tab, then click the Clear button in the Documents Menu box. Click OK.
Do the Start Menu Shuffle
Do you need to move one of your Start menu items? For example, perhaps you'd like to move an entire folder out of the Programs menu onto the main Start menu so you don't have to go through as many menus to get to it.
Click Start and navigate to the folder or item you want to move. Click and hold the mouse button while you drag the item elsewhere. When you see a black horizontal line in the new location, release the mouse button.
Start Menu Housekeeping
The idea behind the Start menu is a good one: Put every application in one easy-to-find place for quick access. The problem is, every application ends up in the Programs menu--and there are no tools for keeping "application central" from becoming a big mess. The solution? Give your Start menu an overhaul. It requires a little time, but the result is worth it.
One way to approach the problem is to create new subfolders--such as Internet, Suites, Utilities, Games, and so on--inside the Programs folder. Right-click the Start button and select Open. Inside the Programs folder, choose File, New, Folder. Type a name for the folder and press Enter. Or you can ignore the Programs folder altogether and create these new folders inside the Start menu. Either way, drag application Shortcuts from the old Programs folder into your new folders. When you're done, you may want to wipe out the Programs folder Shortcuts you never use or put them inside a seldom-used folder for those rare moments when you actually need them.
Resize Recycle Bin
Quiz: When is a deleted file not deleted? When it's sitting in the Recycle Bin.
Unless you empty it manually, files will collect there until the bin is full. One solution: Reduce the bin's size. In Windows Explorer, right-click the Recycle Bin and select Properties, then click the Global tab. Move the slide bar to the left until the Bin consumes only 1 percent of your total hard drive capacity. Even then, if you have a 3.2GB drive, you'd have to accumulate 32MB of trash before Windows 95 would empty the Recycle Bin. If you really despise emptying the bin, turn it off altogether. Select "Do not move deleted items to Recycle Bin" on the Global tab of the Recycle Bin's Properties.
Quick Change Icons
Do you want to change the icons used to represent My Computer, My Documents, Network Neighborhood, or the Recycle Bin? If you have Windows 95, you'll need to invest in Microsoft's $49 Plus pack to get the necessary feature. If you have Windows 98, the feature is free.
Right-click the desktop and select Properties. Click the Effects tab. In the row of Desktop icons, select the icon you'd like to change and click the Change Icon button. The result is a dialog box of icons from the current icon file. If you see one you like, select it and click OK. Otherwise, click the Browse button, navigate to another icon file (such as \Windows\System\Shell32.dll or \Windows\System\Pifmgr.dll), select the icon you want to use, and click OK.
Note: Though icon files come with the unmistakable .ico extension, they're often contained within application or system files (.exe or .dll). The quickest way to see which icon a system file contains is to look in the current dialog box.
Back at the Display Properties dialog box, click OK, and your new icon will appear on the desktop. Do you want to add some life to your desktop? How about replacing those icons with your favorite cartoon characters? Go to FileWorld's icon listings and download images from collections as diverse as Peanuts and Star Wars.
To switch an icon back to its default, go to the Effects tab of the Display Properties dialog box, select the icon, click Default Icon, and click OK.
It's a Bird ... It's a Toolbar ... It's a Palette!
By default, the Quick Launch toolbar sits to the right of the Start button. But if you've added so many Shortcuts to this toolbar that you can't possibly see them all at once (without making it so big that it monopolizes the entire taskbar), perhaps you'd prefer to transform this toolbar into a floating palette. Once it's free from the taskbar, you can size this palette to fit the number of Shortcuts inside and set its Always on Top option so that it's never out of sight. The result is instant access to all your Shortcuts from anywhere.
To turn your Quick Launch toolbar into a floating palette, click the bar on its left edge, drag it out to a blank area on the desktop, and let go. Now you can resize this new palette just as you would any window. Hold your mouse pointer over its edge, and when the pointer changes to a double-pointed arrow, click and drag in any direction. Then right-click its title bar and select Always on Top.
It's a Bird ... It's a Palette ... It's a Toolbar Again!
Change your mind and want your toolbar back on the taskbar? Click and drag the palette down to the taskbar until it expands to the full width of the screen and then let go. By default, this places the toolbar on the right edge of the taskbar. To move the toolbar back to its original position (next to the Start button), hold the mouse pointer over the bar's left edge until it changes to a double-pointed arrow. Now click and drag the bar back to a position just to the right of the Start button (the Quick Launch toolbar will jump into place when you do this) and let go.
Finally, you'll probably need to resize the toolbar that's to the right of the Quick Launch toolbar (most likely the one that contains open window items). Hold your mouse pointer over this toolbar's left edge, and then click and drag it to the right until you reach the edge of the Quick Launch toolbar. The taskbar order has been restored.
Beauty Is in the Eye of the Folder
If you're bored with the plain white background in your folders, you can easily change it. Just as you can spiff up your desktop with colors and images, you can turn any folder into a decorative window.
To do this, first open the folder you'd like to redecorate and select View, Customize this Folder. In the dialog box that appears, select Choose a Background Picture and click Next. From the list that appears, select a background picture for the folder from the list, or click the Browse button to navigate your way to a picture on your hard drive. When you find it, click Open. You'll go back to the dialog box. Once there, click Next, then click Finish, and enjoy the folder's new view.
Back to Basics
If you miss the simplicity of a plain white folder background, you can change it back with one quick setting tweak. Just open the folder and select View, Customize this Folder. In the dialog box that appears, select Remove Customization, click Next twice, click Finish, and you've got your old window back.
Get the File Details You Want--No More, No Less
When you choose View, Details from the Windows Explorer menu, you'll see several columns of information: file name, size, type, and date last modified. If you don't need all this data, get rid of it. Drag the right side of any column heading to the left until it disappears. Change your mind? Point to the border where the column used to be and drag to the right. If you want only the file or folder name, choose View, List at the outset.
Play CDs Your Way
Don't you hate AutoPlay? Here are a couple easy cures. To disable the feature entirely, right-click My Computer, select Properties, Device Manager, click the plus sign next to CDROM, and right-click the drive you want to configure. Under Properties, Settings, uncheck "Auto insert notification." If you just want to disable it for one CD, hold down the Shift key while you insert the disc.
Stubborn Log-In Dialog Box
Once you set up a Windows password, that Welcome to Windows dialog box just doesn't want to go away. If you don't need to control access to your system, get rid of this dialog box by setting the password to nothing. In the Control Panel, double-click Passwords and then click Change Windows Password. Type the old password and for the new password simply press Enter. Press Enter again on the "Confirm password" line and click OK.
Annotate Your Help
If you like the tips you read on PC World Online or enjoy the ones you've discovered on your own, you may be looking for a handy way to store them all. A quick and easy method is to piggyback your tips onto related items in Windows' own Help system. Although you can't edit Windows Help or search for your tips, you can add information in the form of an annotation.
For example, if you use the WinPopup utility to send messages to others on your network, you may want easy access to a list of available computer names (see "Chat on Your Net for Free.") In that case, the Help topic on sending a message would be a handy place to keep those names.
Here's what to do. For the example above, start WinPopup, select Help, HelpTopics, and double-click "To send a pop-up message." With the proper Help topic in front of you, click the Options button or right-click in the Help window and choose Annotate. Type the information you want to add in the Annotate dialog box--in this case, the network names of the computers you send messages to. When you're done, click Save. The Annotate window will close, and you'll see a paper-clip icon next to the topic title in the Help window.
If you see a great tip on PC World Online, you could select the information in your Web browser, copy it to the clipboard, and then find the related Help topic and paste the tip into that topic's Annotate dialog box.
Close a Hidden Program
Many programs (for example, utilities and screen savers) run in a "hidden" mode that keeps their icons from appearing on the taskbar. This makes shutting down such programs a chore. What to do? Easy: Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete (only once). Select the program's name from the list in the Close Program dialog box, and click End Task or press Alt-E. Be sure not to blow away Windows Explorer and Systray (and if you're using Active Desktop, spare Internet Explorer), which are vital system processes.
Window, Come Home!
Particularly ill-behaved applications sometimes move their windows past the borders of the visible screen. Here's how to bring these windows back into the land of the living: Right-click a blank area of the taskbar and select one of the available arranging options: Tile Windows Horizontally, Tile Windows Vertically, or Cascade Windows. Every open window falls right into place.
Back to Menu Basics
Right-click an icon, a taskbar item, or the desktop in Windows 98, and what do you get? Menus, just as you'd expect. But one look will tell you that these are no ordinary menus. Check out those special effects as the menus roll onto the screen.
Great. Neat-o. Annoying. How about turning the distracting animations off so the menus pop up faster? Right-click the desktop, select Properties, and click the Effects tab. Deselect "Animate windows, menus and lists," and click OK. You'll get inanimate menus, plain and simple.
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