More tips and tricks being
added. Please check back soon for more.
Windows 9x tips &
tricks (work under both Windows 95 and Windows 98)
Refreshing files / folders (Advanced):
Win95 doesn't refresh your view of files and folders as often as you might like. Here's how to make it refresh constantly (make sure you back up your system before editing the Registry). Launch the Registry Editor, click on the plus sign next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, then on the plus sign next to System, then CurrentControlSet. Select Control, then Update. In the right pane, right-click on UpdateMode and select Modify. Select the 01 and change it to 00. Click on OK, exit the Registry Editor and restart.
Show
Desktop:
As you may know, you can quickly access your desktop by
right-clicking a blank area of your taskbar and selecting Minimize All Windows.
But there are now more efficient ways of quickly accessing your desktop. For
example, if you have a Windows 95 keyboard, with its [Windows] key, you can
minimize all open windows simply by pressing [Windows] M. If you've installed
Internet Explorer 4.x, you can use the Show Desktop button on the Quick Launch
toolbar to instantly minimize all open windows. If you're not using Internet
Explorer, you can get a tool similar to the Show Desktop button by downloading
the Desktop Menu PowerToy for Windows 95. Rather than minimizing all open
windows, the Desktop Menu PowerToy, which appears as an icon on the notification
area of the taskbar, presents you with a pop-up menu that displays all of the
items on the desktop.
File Associations:
If you accidentally associate a particular file extension with the wrong
application, don't try to fix it from within the Windows Explorer File types
dialog box-there's no way to remove a single extension from a registered file
type without deleting the entire entry and starting over. Instead, use the
Windows 95 version of the Windows 3.x File Manager, which you can launch from
the Run dialog box by typing winfile and pressing [Enter]. Once File Manager
opens, pull down the File menu and select the Associate... command. When the
Associate dialog box appears, type the extension that you want to get rid of in
the Files with Extension text box. When you do, you'll see the errant file
association appear in the Associate With text box. To remove the file
association, scroll to the top of the list of file types, select (None), and
then click OK.
Set or limit hard drive cache (Advanced):
Note:
There is a bug in Windows 98 and possibly NT that can cause it to crash with a resource exhaustion if many files are created quickly. The problem appears to be that Windows 98 expands the memory space it allocates for its file cache without an upper limit. Windows 95 does not have this problem and we're not sure about NT.
Fortunately, there is a simple solution to the problem:
1. Go to Start- Run- Sysedit
2. Switch to system.ini
3. Search for [vcache] section
4. If you do not have this section add the following lines to system.ini;
5. [vcache]
MinFileCache= x
MaxFileCache= y
Where:
x is the minimum amount of RAM of the disk cache and
y is the maximum amount of RAM of the disk cache.
The more RAM you have the higher your should make these
settings. A good rule is to set x to about 10% of amount of
RAM your system has, and set y to about 25% of the amount of RAM
your system has. For example, on a system with 64 MB of physical memory, x would
be 640 and y would be 16000. Remember that RAM allocated to the cache cannot be
used by applications
Windows 95 specific tips & tricks
Windows 95 Easter Egg:
Right-click on the desktop and select New Folder . Name the folder
"and now, the moment you've all been waiting for". Then, right-click
on the folder and rename it to "we proudly present for your viewing
pleasure". Right-click on the folder again and rename it to "The
Microsoft Windows 95 Product Team!". Then open the folder.
Windows
98 specific tips & tricks
Windows 98 Easter Egg:
Open clock on bottom right, go to time zone, hold shift+ctrl+alt and then,
click on the map on Cario in Egypt and drag to Memphis Tennessee, let go of
mouse then let go of keys. then re-press keys then re-press mouse and drag to
Bellevue, Washington. let go.
