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Windows 95 tips, part 1
Published on 7/22/97 This is the first section of a
two-part special feature on tips and tricks for Windows 95. This first installment will
mainly concentrate on relatively simple, yet helpful, tips and tricks. The second
installment, which will be published at a later date, will focus on more advanced tips,
many of which involve editing the system registry. The following tips are guaranteed to
speed up and improve the way you use Windows 95.
- Quickly access the Start menu
To quickly launch the Windows 95 Start menu, simply press Ctrl+Esc.
- Powerful drag-and-drop options
Use the right mouse-button to drag files from one location to another. When the button is
released, a menu will appear, allowing you to select the desired action.
- Cancel a drag-and-drop action
If you accidentally begin to drag the wrong files, simply press Esc to cancel the action.
- Close all parent folders at once
Press and hold the Shift key while closing a folder to close all of its parent folders as
well.
- Open a parent folder
Press the Backspace key to open the current folder's parent.
- Bypass the Recycle Bin
Press and hold the Shift key when deleting files to permanently erase them, rather than
sending them to the Recycle Bin.
- Quickly restart Windows
To restart Windows without restarting the whole system, choose "Restart the
computer?" from the Shut Down dialog box, and hold down the Shift key when clicking
the 'Yes' button.
- Temporarily disable AutoPlay
Press and hold the Shift key when inserting a CD into the drive. This will disable the
AutoPlay feature for the current usage of this CD.
- Boot to Safe Mode
Hold down the Shift key right after you see the boot-up message, "Starting Windows
95..." to initiate Safe Mode.
- Quickly add shortcuts to the Start menu
You can drag any file on to the Start button and a shortcut to that file will be created
in the Start menu.
- Fast access to the Display control panel
Right-click on any empty space on the desktop and select 'Properties.' The dialog box that
appears is the same as the standard Display Properties control panel.
- Quick access to the System control panel
Select 'Properties' from the menu appearing when you right-click on the My Computer icon.
The resulting dialog box is the same as the System Properties control panel.
- Add items to the Send To menu
The Send To menu allows you to copy or open files using a selected shortcut or
application. You'll see the Send To menu whenever you right-click on a file or folder. If
you open the Send To folder, usually located at C:\WINDOWS\SENDTO, you can add or
remove these shortcuts.
- Drag files to "hidden" folders
If you are trying to drag-and-drop a file into an open folder that is covered by other
windows on the screen, simply drag the file to the folder's button on the Taskbar. After a
few seconds, the folder will pop into view, allowing you to complete the drag-and-drop
operation.
- Open a file with another application
If you want to open a file associated with one program with another, hold down the Shift
key as you right-click on it. In the menu that appears, you will see an item labeled
"Open With..." Selecting this item allows you to open the file with any
application you choose.
- Control how Windows Explorer loads
By modifying the command line switches on a shortcut pointing to Windows Explorer, you can
control the way in which it opens. By default, a Windows Explorer shortcut looks like
this: C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE /n,/e,C:\. This shortcut would open a new window,
because of the /n switch, and it would open using Explorer view, because of the /e
switch. It will also start with Drive C: initially expanded.
- Open folders in the same window with the same view
Press and hold the Ctrl key as you open a folder from within another folder. Instead of
creating a new window, the folder you open will simply take the place of the current
folder. The new folder will also be displayed using the same view (for example, Large
Icons, Small Icons, etc.).
- Play a MIDI file on start up
Instead of playing a .wav file when Windows starts, you can play a MIDI file. To do this,
create a shortcut in the Start Up folder that points to the following: C:\WINDOWS\MPLAYER.EXE
/play /close [MIDI file]. Of course, you will need to supply an actual path to a MIDI
file.
- Change the icon for your drives
You can change the icon for any drive by creating a file on the root called autorun.inf.
In Notepad, put the the following lines in this file:
[autorun]
icon=c:\windows\system\shell32.dll,39
You can use any .dll file containing icons, but you always have to specify the
icon number to use; which, in our example, was 39.
- Add a cascading Control Panel to the Start Menu
In the Start Menu folder, C:\WINDOWS\START MENU, create a new folder. Then rename
this folder to the following: Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}.
The name to the left of the period can be whatever you want it to be, but you must copy
the text after the period exactly as it is shown. This will create a folder in
the Start Menu that will allow you to access individual Control Panel items.
In a few weeks we will be publishing Part 2 of Windows 95 Tips. The second installment
will contain many more advanced tips that can only be accomplished using the system
registry. Hopefully this first part has been useful. |
