
Windows 95 Tips, Tricks and Undocumented Feature
------------------------------------------------

1) For maximum DOS memory in an MS-DOS session, add the line
   LocalLoadHigh=1 to the [386Enh] section of system.ini.

2) To get Explorer to show a two directory view similar to File Manager
   just open two instances of the Explorer, right-click on the Task
   bar, and select "Tile Vertically".Win95 will retain both if you
   leave them running when you shut down so that they're instantly 
   available the next time you boot up.

3) Want to see a .bmp picture before you open it?
   This hack will make the icon of the .bmp file 
   the actual picture!

   Save this as "bmpicon.reg" and double click it!

**start of bmpicon.reg**

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Paint.Picture]

"DefaultIcon"="%1"

**end of bmpicon.reg**

4) To speed up the start menu you can use the regedit.

   Open Regedit.  In the right panel click on H_KEY_CURRENT_USER
   the click on Control Panel. Find desktop, right click on it and 
   pick NEW String Value. Call it  MenuShowDelay, all one word. 
   Now in the left panel you shold see on the bottom a value called 
   MenuShowDelay. Double click on it to bring up the value dialog 
   box. Give it a value from 10 to 1, 1 being the fastest. 

   Exit regedit and restart Windows, and take a look at how 
   fast you can access your Start menu Items! 

5)  If you hold down shift while dragging items into the Recycle Bin
    they will be DELETED immediately rather than being placed in the bin.
    Just be careful not to accidently multi-select more files than you 
    wanted.Similarly, pressing Shift-Del gives you the same effect. 

6)  I installed Win95 into a new directory. Is there a way, now,
    to get back my WfW 3.11 groups? 
    I copied all the .grp files to the win95 directory, but how 
    can I now tell Windows to use or convert these files?

    Run the program grpconv.exe in your Windows directory. It will
    allow you to convert your Program Manager groups to Win95 folders
    in the Start Menu.

7)  Have you played with the SENDTO feature in Explorer?It's a hidden
    folder in   C:\WINDOWS. You can add folders to it and be able to 
    quickly move things around(right click on file - use Send To).
    You can also put WINZIP in there to make quick ZIP files.

8)  In Explorer you can set up different actions to be performed on a
    document in addition to just the standard 'open' command that will be   
    available to you when you right click on your icon.Go to an Explorer
    window and choose View | Options and then the tab 'File Types'. 
    In the list you see, find the association for the file type you want
    to add an action to, e.g BMP. Double click on it to bring up the edit
    window. 
    You should see that there is already at least one action here,   
    probably Open, maybe Print, etc. Click on the New . . . button and
    type in a new command, like Edit or View or whatever you want. Then
    select the application you want to use to Edit your Bitmap, as 
    opposed to just viewing it. Then when you right click on a BMP file
    you will see your new command there and you can easily choose to
    View, Edit, Open, Print . . . .whatever you want with whatever app
    you want to do it with.   

9)  There's a magical little program that is automatically installed by
    Win95 that you can use to make Win 3.x programs more compatible
    under 95.It is called MKCOMPAT.EXE and is in the Windows\System
    directory.
    - Just run MKCOMPAT.EXE - Select File/Open - Open the EXE file that 
    you are having problems with - Start highlighting things that seem
    like they may make a difference. - Select File/Advanced for more
    control options - Select File/Save to save the new configuration 
    There is no online help - so some trial and error is in order 
    until you find the optimal settings.

10) To turn off the Logo put the following in your CONFIG.SYS -or- MSDOS.SYS

        [options]
        logo=0

    To turn off the Auto Load feature of Windows 95 Put the following in your
    CONFIG.SYS -or- MSDOS.SYS...

	[options]
        BootGUI=0

    To have the option of booting your old DOS everytime you boot up put this
    in your CONFIG.SYS -or- MSDOS.SYS...

        [options]
        BootMenu=1

11) Click start with right mouse button
    click explore
    Point cursor anywhere on right side of explorer and then click right mouse
    click create new folder
    type exactly:

    Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

    This will create a neat Control Panel icon and submenu on start button

12) Ever have too many programs open, and the taskbar has a bunch 
    of "icons" that you can't read the title in?  Make it bigger!

    This should have been obvious, but I just came across it one 
    day.  Just move your mouse cursor to the top of the task bar 
    (if it's on the bottom) and drag it up.  Win95 remembers 
    position as well.

13) Here's a simple trick that saves a bit of time.

    When you want to rename a file, folder or desktop item do you find it 
    a hassle to right click the item, choose Rename etc, etc before you 
    can type in the new name?

    Well, try this ....

    LEFT click on the file, folder, or desktop item as you
    normally would to select it.

    Wait a moment, long enough for Windows to know that you aren't 
    double clicking it, and LEFT click again.

    The file, folder or desktop item is now ready for a name change.

14) OK... This is nothing special, but curious (I have yet to find a 
    use for it).  But I'm sure that someone will.  :)

    You can drag icons into your documents...  This will create a 
    static link to that icon, just drag 'My Computer' onto a new Wordpad 
    doc, and double Click to see!

15) Want to make your single or double speed drive perform like a 
    quad+ speed drive in Win '95 ?  It's easy..  Go to 

    My Computer / Properties / Performance / File System / CDROM

    and set the supplemental cache speed to its maximum and the 
    access pattern to 'Quad speed or higher'.  I was shocked to see 
    my little 'ole single speed drive play the previously choppy 
    avi's on a Bugs Bunny CDROM I have.

16) Windows 95 allows you to do some strange things with audio CDs. Try some 
    of the following:

   (1) Go into Explorer and click on your CD drive with an audio CD in it.
   (2) In the right panel you will see Track01.cda throuhg Track??.cda.
   (3) If you right-click on a track, you can play it automatically by 
       choosing Play from the Quick Menu.
   (4) If you double-click on a track, it will play automatically.
   (5) Try dragging a track onto your desktop (you can copy it or create a 
       shortcut, it doesn't matter).  Rename the track's copy/shortcut to the
       song's real name.  Whenever you have the CD in the drive, you can now 
       double-click on it on the desktop to play it.
   (6) You can also drag tracks to your hard drive and put them in your Start
       Menu, or create a directory with CD tracks in it.

17) Right click in a Win95 application's file open box for new, 
    copy,delete, arrange, etc. Most of Explorer's functions except 
    half the toolbar and no pull down menus.  Try it.

18) However, it's a good tip. I wanted to have a directory named
    "New Downloads" in Win95, but have the short file name be just
    "DOWNLOAD" instead of "NEWDOW~1" which is less than helpful.
    This is the response I got back:

    1. Train users to start LFNs with the short version they plan to use.
       In your case, that would mean naming the folder DOWNLOADS-NEW,
       which would resolve to Downlo~1.

    2. You can get rid of the tildes with a simple registry hack. Add
       the value NameNumericTail = 0 in the following Registry key:

       Hkey_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem

    And the above example (assuming there wasn't already a DOWNLOAD directory)
    would resolve to the correct eight-character name.


19) The "Send To" quick menu shows only the floppy drives as a destination.
    You can add any other disk area or folder as a destination by adding
    short cuts to the "Send To" folder.  You must add a short cut or a
    ".LNK" file to that folder; ie:  a short cut to to "Recycle Bin" is
    great as it will avoid the prompt dialogue "Do you want to send to
    Recycle Bin?".

    Alternatively, any other directory such as a temp directory. 

    Here is a bonus, if you have different places to send file to but are
    related such as:

    "Customers" Customer1 Customer2 etc...

    You can place in the Send To folder an additional "folder" (not a
    short cut) called "Customers", then open that folder and place
    short cuts to all your customer's individual folders and name them
    appropriately.  Then when you right click a file icon, your "Send To"
    quick menu will show the new "Customers" "Sub menu" and then move to
    it and you will see a submenu of all your customer's short cuts.
    (You may want to remove the "short cut to" text from the icons in the
    "Send To" folder).

20) Dual Boot Setup for Win95/Win 3.1-WfWG

    A text file describing a step-by-step procedure I developed to install a
    dual-boot menu function for my DOS 6/Win 3.11 and Win95 systems.   This
    way, I can choose which system I want to use at boot-up.   Doublespace
    and   Drivespace drives can also be handled with this  configuration.
    Use this method to continue running your critical  programs under your
    old DOS/Win system while you're testing Win95.

    ***********************************************************************
    I wanted to install a dual boot with Win95 & WFWG 3.11 so I could try 
    out Win95 without sacrificing my old system setup.   Here are the steps 
    you can take to duplicate my dual boot installation:
    ***********************************************************************

    1.  Copy (duplicate) the whole Windows directory and all it's sub 
        directories to another directory, like \WIN31.  Copy the \DOS
        directory to another one as well, like \DOS6.

    2.  Edit all the INI files in the WIN31 directory and change all 
        references from \WINDOWS to \WIN31.  The "find and replace"
        command in most word processors makes this easier, but be sure
        you save them as text files.

    3.  Boot up your PC and install Win95 SETUP through windows program 
        manager "FILE-RUN".  As you install WIN95 it will rename your
        CONFIG.SYS AND AUTOEXEC.BAT files to CONFIG.DOS and AUTOEXEC.DOS.
        (When you dual boot it renames them back to CONFIG.SYS AND
        AUTOEXEC.BAT....and then backups the WIN95 versions as .W40).

    4.  After Win95 finishes installing and you are on the desktop, use 
        notepad with "select all files *.*"  to edit the CONFIG.DOS and 
        AUTOEXEC.DOS files and change all \WINDOWS references in them to
        \WIN31, and all \DOS references to \DOS6.

    5.  In order for the dual boot menu to work, the following lines must 
        appear in the [Options] section of your MSDOS.SYS file:   (If you
        use Doublespace or Drivespace disk compression you must change
        both MSDOS.SYS files - one on the boot drive and one in the
        compressed drive)

        [Options]
        BootGUI=1
        Network=0
        BootMulti=1
        BootMenu=1
        BootMenuDefault=7 (original DOS as default.  Use 1 for Win95 default)
        BootMenuDelay=5   (number of seconds to select something else)

   To add these lines, first, open "My Computer" and use the menu bar to 
   VIEW - OPTIONS - VIEW - Show All Files, and also unclick "hide MS-DOS 
   file extensions".  Then double-click on the MSDOS.SYS icon and look.   
   If it doesn't have all the above lines, you'll need to edit this file 
   and put them in.   

   Since the MSDOS.SYS file is "read-only-hidden" you'll need to first 
   change the file attributes and then use the notebook editor to insert 
   the new line(s).  Then you'll have to change the attributes back to 
   their original states when done to protect the file.

   To change the attributes, click on the MSDOS.SYS icon using your RIGHT
   mouse button.  Select Properties and uncheck the attribute blocks.
   Exit and make your text changes, then save the file.  Then put the 
   attribute check marks back where they were.

    7.  Now, exit Win95 and re-boot.  You should now see the boot menu and
        be able to select which mode you want to boot into.

   Remember, any programs you install after this will only appear in the
   system you were running at install time.   For example, if you install 
   MS Word under Win95 you will have to install it again under old 
   DOS/Windows if you want to run it both ways.  You can install the 
   program to the same directory both times and you'll simply overwrite
   the files and avoid having two sets of the new program on your hard drive.

21) Here is a little tip on how to install PC Speaker on a computer with
    Win95. Go to Control Panel, then "Add New Hardware", then "Sound, Video,
    Game Controller." Don't let Win95 search for new hardware.  Select "Have
    Disk".  Browse to where you have your PC Speaker .drv file.  Install !!!

    Presto...your mute PC will now have sound. 

    To modify the settings for PC Speaker go to Control Panel, Multimedia,
    Advanced Tab, In Audio devices you will see PC Speaker.

22) If you want to have another start-logo place a file named logo.sys
    in your root directory.  logo.sys must have the same format as
    logow.sys and logos.sys (320 x 400,256) bitmap.

23) Drag and drop files or desktop objects with the RIGHT mouse button 
    instead of the left, and when you drop them on the target, you get a 
    little pop-up menu giving you options like Move Here, Copy Here, 
    Create Shortcut Here.
    Also, to drag a file from one folder to another, using only one 
    explorer window, drag the icon near the top or bottom of a scrolling 
    pane, and "nudge" to scroll.

24) If your system clock accidentally gets set to after 01-Dec-1996 (the 
    expiry date of Windows 95 Beta version) Windows 95 will fail to boot on 
    subsequent attempts, stating that your licence has expired.

    To overcome this problem simply boot from your rescue disk (or any valid 
    boot disk) , set your system time back to before 01-Dec-1996 and then copy
    the hidden file IO.SYS from a Windows 95 boot disk to the C:\ directory. 

    Windows 95 will once again boot OK.

25) Do you have a Logitech mouse?  This hack will let you use
    the middle mouse button as a doubleclick!  Save this as 
    "midclick.reg" and double click it!

**start of midclick.reg**

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Logitech\MouseWare\CurrentVersion\SerialV\0000]

"DoubleClick"="001"

**end of midclick.reg**

26) Click on start... shutdown... click on restart computer.  Now
    hold down the shift key and click on yes.  This will only restart 
    Windows 95, NOT the computer (warm boot).  This is a lot 
    faster than a normal reboot (warm or cold).

27) Create a new folder on your desktop...  rename it, call it 
    "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
    Now is should look like the normal Control Panel icon you 
    see in My Computer (not a shortcut). Now do a right click
    on start (taskbar), click on open.  Move the new folder we 
    just created tothe start menu folder.  Close the start menu
    folder.Now when you click on start, you should see conrol 
    panel on it... click on it and it will expandand show
    all the items!  You can do the same with the printers 
    folder and dial-up networking...here are names that you
    need to name your folders..

    Dial Up Network  

    Dial Up Net.{992CFFA0-F557-101A-88EC-00DD010CCC48}

    Printers

    Printers.{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}

28) If you're browsing through folder windows, it's usually nicest 
    to have Windows 95 set so that it uses a single window that 
    changes when you open a new folder. However, if you want to 
    copy or move files around, it's nice to be able to quickly 
    open a separate window for a folder.
 
    This can be done by holding "CTRL" as you double-click, but it 
    would be nice to have this option on the right-click menu, 
    next to "Open" and "Explore".

    To add this to the menu, you need to change the registry a 
    bit. Run the Registry Editor and find the entry for 
    "Directory" under the "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT" branch.
 
    Under, "Directory", you'll find "Default Icon", "shell", and 
    "shellex". The one we want is "shell."
 
    Under "shell", add a new key called "opennew". Modify its 
    (Default) value to say "Open New &Window". Then, add another 
    key under "opennew". Call this one "command", and set its 
    (Default) value to "explorer %1".

    And that should do it. One side effect is that "Open New 
    Window" now also appears when you right-click on the Start 
    Button, which is completely pointless because it does that 
    anyway. Oh well. 

29) Ever want to open an object with a different application than the
    one it is already associated with and the right mouse menu no longer
    let's you choose Open With...?

    Just hold down the SHIFT key when you right mouse click over the
    object, and the Open With... command will now appear in the menu.


30) If you want to "permanently" delete a file instead of sending it to
    the recycle bin, hold down the SHIFT key and press the DELETE key,
    or right mouse click then hold down the shift key before selecting
    DELETE from the menu.

31) Object dragging with SHIFT and CONTROL: Hold down the following keys
    for different actions:

    NO SHIFT, NO CTRL

    Same Drive:      Move
    Different Drive: Copy

    Unless the objects selected are *ALL* .COM's or .EXE's in which case:

    Same Drive: Create Link
    Different Drive (Non-Removable Storage): Create Link
    Different Drive (Removable Storage):     Copy 


    SHIFT, NO CTRL: Always Moves
    NO SHIFT, CTRL: Always Copies
    SHIFT, CTRL:    Always Creates Link

    Certain folders do no allow objects to be dropped (i.e. Control Panel,
    and Printers), others always Move To regardless of SHIFT/CTRL status
    (i.e. Recycle Bin).

32) Want to "Explore" a folder instead of it's icon view? You could open 
    Explorer, click here, click there, finally get to where you want. A quick 
    solution: Hold down the shift key and double click on the folder/drive. 
    This will bring up an Explorer window of that folder.

33) Here's how to add file types to the New submenu on the mouse 
    menu. 

    To add file types to the New menu item on the mouse menu you 
    must edit the Registry.  First, find the extension of the data 
    file for the program in question (i.e. .doc for Word) under 
    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.  Below the files extension you need to add a 
    new key with the value 'ShellNew'.  

    Once that key is in place you have two options:  One is to 
    start with a null file (one with no preset styles, etc), the 
    other is to start from a template file.  For a null file, in 
    the ShellNew key insert a new string value named 'NullFile' and 
    leave the value blank.  To use a template file, insert a new 
    string value named 'FileName' and set the value equal to the 
    path of the template document.  The default is in the hidden 
    ShellNew directory beneath your windows directory.

    When you use the New feature of the button menu, Win95 either 
    copies the template file or creates a null file.

34) Do you hate that you can't control the directory or even
    the drive where Explorer opens?

    You CAN control it.  Create a shortcut to the Explorer 
    with the following command line to open it at the root 
    of C:\

	c:\windows\explorer.exe /e,root,c:\

    where the syntax is:
    explorer [/e][,root,<object>]

    Actually there is even more to this ... you can use 
    subobjects, but I don't want to type it all out.  
    Perhaps you have this info anyway.

35) You can change those lovely screens you see as you exit 
    Windows95!  Simply start up paintbrush and load up the files 
    LOGOS.SYS and LOGOW.SYS and change them to whatever you 
    want...they're just bitmaps with a different extension!  

36) You can drag scraps from your documents to the desktop or to folders
    and create Document Scraps. With these Scraps, you can archive bits
    and pieces of your documents to use later or to share with another 
    person.

    To try it:

      Open Wordpad
      Type some text
      Select the text

   Put the cursor over the highlighted text and drag to the desktop

   It creates a scrap with some of the actual text in the name of 
   the scrap.

37) Did you know that FONT SMOOTHING and FULL WINDOWS SIZE/MOVE are 
    available on the preview version?

    In the win.ini file, add the following line to the [WINDOWS] 
    section (really!):

    ILOVEBUNNY32=1

    Restart Windows 95, then right click on the desktop.  Choose 
    properties, then settings.  You will notice 2 new check boxes!

Windows 95 Tips for Better Performance
--------------------------------------

Must get products:

 - WinZip
   This is the fastest way to zip/unzip files.
   Many options and drag and drop make this the best zip'r I've seen.

 - Mcafee Scan
   The virus scanner. And a good one at that :)

 - Windows 95 Resource Kit
   Many improvements to Win 95

 - Power Toys for Windows 95
   Many improvements to Win 95

How to get the most out of Win 95:

 - For dos app's put idle sensitivity to low.
   This can make it run faster then it would under dos even!

 - Set it to Always Suspend if you don't need it to work in the
   background. This free's up cpu resources for other programs.

 - Make shortcuts for everything you need to get to fast.
   Just drag and drop directorys and files to the desktop to
   make shortcuts.

--- Thats all from the desk of Geoff Rivell ---
