                     Windows 95 Desktop Tips



Emptying the documents folder on the Start button

Click the Start button, select Taskbar from the Settings folder
(or alternately, right-click the Taskbar and select Properties).
On the "Start Menu Programs" page, click Clear. The files you see
listed now are left from opening documents in Windows 95-aware
applications via Explorer. Any older 16-bit files will not show
up here. They are stored in a hidden folder under Windows called
\RECENT. Deleting the files in this folder will not only
accomplish the same thing, but it will also let you be more
selective about which files stay and which go.


Changing folder icons

Open any folder, and from the View menu select Options. In the
Options dialog box, select the File Types tab and scroll down the
list of Registered File Types to the Folder item. Select the
Folder item, click Edit, then click the Change Icon button.
Select a new icon. Be advised, however, that this invokes a
global change and all of your folders will take on this new look.


Left-mouse button drag and drop

You have no doubt by now discovered that you get some very
different actions during file operations depending on whether you
use the right or left mouse button. I prefer to use the right
mouse button because it's harder to make a mistake when you're
presented with a drop-down menu, which you always get using the
right button. But for those of you who want to understand the
differences, here's what the left button does.
Left-dragging objects from one directory to another on the same
drive results in a move. Holding down Shift while using left-drag
forces a move.
Left-dragging objects from one directory to another on a
different drive results in a copy. Holding down Ctrl while using
left-drag forces a copy regardless of the source or destination.
Left-dragging an executable file to a new directory results in a
shortcut to that file. Right-dragging any object from one
directory to another, then selecting the Create Shortcut(s) Here
option, will result in a shortcut to that object.
Small annotations on the icons while dragging will indicate the
drop behavior: a plus sign for copy, a hooked arrow for a
shortcut, and no symbol for a move. Pressing Esc in the middle of
a drag aborts it.


... Right-mouse button drag and drop

Right-drag and drop works like left-drag and drop except that
when you drop, you are given a menu of choices depending on the
object itself. For Folders, you'll see Move Here, Copy Here and
Create Shortcut(s) Here. For OLE Objects, you'll see Create Scrap
Here, Move Scrap Here and Create Document Shortcut(s) Here.
It's recommended that new users get used to using right drag
and drop for all file operations as it is much easier than trying
to remember the various behaviors of left drag and drop.

Dragging an object to a covered window...

If you want to open another file in an application that is
already running but covered up by other windows, drag the object
over the application's button on the Taskbar and hold it there
for a second. The application window will come to the top
allowing you to drop the object into the application without
rearranging the other open windows.


... Or to a minimized application

If you want to open another file in an application that is
already running but minimized, simply drag the object over the
application's minimized button on the Taskbar and hold it there
for a second. The application will reopen, allowing you to drop
the new file onto it for use in that session.


Opening additional windows in single-window Browse mode

In any Explorer window, if your View/Options are set to "Browse
Folders Using a Single Window for Each Folder," you can open an
additional window for the folder by holding Ctrl while you
double-click.


How to not start the Startup folder

Hold down the Ctrl key while starting Windows. This will keep
items in the Startup folder from launching.


Freeing disk space

If you don't need all the extra animation in your Help files, you
can free up just over 7MB of hard drive space by deleting all
the .AVI files from /Windows/Help if you originally chose to
install the Online User's Guide. Also, if you upgraded over an
existing copy of Windows 3.xx, there will be a choice under
Control Panel/Add/Remove Programs to Delete old DOS and Windows
files. This option will clean out any unnecessary Windows 3.xx
system files and remove your old DOS directory as well.
That is if you don't want to run your old copy of Windows 3.xx
anymore, or any ol' stuborn DOS programs/games.


Right-clicking in "Save As" dialog boxes

If you are saving a file and right-click in the dialog box, you can
change your view, arrange the icons, or create new folders prior to
saving the file. This is useful if you decide, while saving, that you
want to save the file in a folder that doesn't currently exist.


Seeing Properties

To quickly access the Properties information for any object, hold
the Alt key while double-clicking it, as opposed to digging
through the dropdown menu.


What .DLL-s are used by an .EXE?

Right-click on an application's .EXE filename and select
QuickView. Look for the Import Table information. This feature
might be useful if you want to clean up unnecessary files, and
you suspect a particular .DLL is no longer needed by other
applications.


Reducing desktop window clutter

If you've opened many windows under My Computer (assuming you're
set up for Separate Window Browse under View/Options), you can
quickly close them all by holding the Shift key while clicking
the close-window box on the topmost window.


Disable AutoPlay for audio CD-s

To disable AutoPlay from automatically playing an audio CD, hold
the Shift key for a few seconds after you close the CD-ROM drive
door.


Soundcard volume control

Single-click the speaker icon in the Taskbar tray to bring up the
master volume control. Double-click that icon to bring up the
full mixer controls. While you're in here, check out Options,
and Properties. You can setup the Volume Control for your PC
speaker and even an attached microphone.


Dial-up Networking auto-redial

Bring up the Dial-Up Networking Folder in My Computer, highlight
the connection, then select Connections /Settings. This is
especially useful when connecting to your Internet service
provider. If yours is anything like mine, you get a lot of busy
signals.


Add some speed to Windows 95 Backup

The Backup applet that ships with Windows 95 (located in the
System Tools folder if you installed it) may run up from 15 to 25%
faster if you keep it minimized during a backup/restore operation.


Easy clock/calendar changes

Double-click the clock in the Taskbar tray to see a calendar and
change the system date/time.


Make a shortcut to a specific point in any document

Did you know that you can drag a paragraph from a Word document
or a single cell from an Excel worksheet and drop it anywhere to
create an instant shortcut to that information just as you would
for any object? Right-drag a selection from any OLE document onto
the Desktop or folder, then select the "Create Document Shortcut
Here" item, and a shortcut (bookmark) will be created. Opening
this document shortcut at a later time will open the original
document and return you to the place in the document that the
shortcut originated. You could take that shortcut and e-mail it
to, say, a co-worker on the network. When the recipient
double-clicks it, it'll open the spreadsheet, scroll to that
cell, and select it.


Drag and drop from the File Open/Find Dialog Box

From the File Open dialog box of any Windows 95 application (or
even F3 for the Find dialog box), you can drag and drop documents
or folders onto the Desktop, into Explorer, or anywhere else that
handles objects, including Exchange e-mail.


Change the default behavior of folders

Right now, when you double-click a folder it will simply open
showing the contents inside in a separate window. Would you like
Folders to open in an Explorer view instead, complete with the
directory structure in the left pane? Easy! Open Explorer, select
View|Options|File Types from the menu and scroll down in the
Registered File Types window to Folder. Highlight it and click
Edit, you should see a window similar to the one shown in Figure
C. As you can see in the Actions window, "open" is boldfaced,
designating it as the default action. Just highlight "explore"
and click Set Default. From now on all your Folders will open in
Explorer view with a double-click.


Multiple associations

Last month we talked about using the SendTo folder to allow you
to launch an associated file type with a different application.
Here's another way.
If you want to be able to open .TXT documents in either Notepad or
Wordpad, open Explorer and go to View|Options|File Types again.
Find the Text Document type in the Registered File Types window,
choose Edit to edit that type, and you'll see that the Actions list
includes Open and Print. You'll want a new action so choose New.
You'll see the New Action dialog box. Call the action "Open in
WordPad", and click the Browse button to choose WordPad as the
application that needs to perform the action. From now on whenever
you right-click a .TXT file, you'll get this new action on the
dropdown menu.
Use this method to re-establish associations that are overwritten
by installing other applications. For instance, Word takes control
of .DOC and .RTF files after it was installed. To have .RTF files
associated with WordPad for speed reasons, add an "Open in WordPad"
action to the Microsoft Word Document (.DOC) association.