To change the the read-only attribute of a file, first right-click on the file and select Properties. In the window that pops up, there should be an Attributes section near the bottom. Check or un-check the box labeled "read-only" to set the read-only attribute.

Using Explorer's Details view, you can sort any file list by type, but that feature is sometimes more frustrating than helpful. The problem? Software makers like Microsoft decide what to call each type of file; as a result, the Type column includes long entries like Microsoft Word Document and Microsoft HTML Document 5.0. To make these descriptions more meaningful and more readable, edit the file type. For instance, I've changed Microsoft Word Document to DOC - Word Document, adding the file extension and deleting the commercial.

In Windows 98, open Explorer, choose View, Folder Options, and click the File Types tab. (Windows 2000 users can find this option under the Tools menu.) Scroll through the list until you find the file type you want to change. Click the Edit button and change the text in the Description of type box. Click OK to save your changes.

By default, the Windows Explorer shows file extensions only for files that don't have an association with a program. That makes it awkward if you want to edit a file's extension. To make all file extensions visible for editing in Windows 98, open an Explorer window and choose View, Folder Options. (In Windows Me and Windows 2000, you reach this dialog box by choosing Tools, Folder Options.) In the Folder Options dialog box, click the View tab and uncheck the Hide file extensions for known file types box. Click OK to close the dialog box and return to the Explorer window with all extensions shown.

Simply right-click any shortcut, and choose "Pin to Start Menu." From now on, when you click the Start Menu, you will see your shortcut in the top left corner (as part of a list). If you decide later that you don't want it up there, simply right-click it in the Menu, and choose "Unpin from Start Menu." It will disappear from the Start Menu (although the original will remain untouched).

The way that most programs are started in Windows XP (and previous versions of Windows) is by double-clicking an icon. Most of these icons are actually "shortcuts," or pointers to the file that actually contains the program itself. You can make your own shortcuts anywhere you want by right-clicking (on the desktop, or in an Explorer window), and choosing New -> Shortcut, and filling out the appropriate fields. There is a quick way to create new shortcuts, however, just by locating the program you want a shortcut to, and dragging it with the right mouse button. You can drag it to another folder, or even just a few millimeters in any direction. When you drop it, a small menu will appear - choose the option "Create Shortcut Here" and viola! you will have a new shortcut that you can double-click to start the program. Actually, you can create shortcuts to almost anything -- such as Word documents, or Text files -- and double-clicking it will open the file using the appropriate application. Tip-within-a-tip: You can right-click any file, and from the Send To menu, you can create a shortcut on the desktop. I often use this to make a shortcut to a file when I leave work for the evening, if I know I'm going to work with that file the next morning.

One of the PowerToys that you may find useful is the Super-Fast User Switcher. This toy allows you to switch users by pressing WindowsKey-Q to cycle through the available users and choose the one you like. Note that this toy works only in a Workgroup or standalone configuration when Fast User Switching is enabled.

Notepad is a handy little application that you can use for editing simple text files. It is often used by seasoned computer professionals for quick and easy editing of everything from script files to log files. Here's a tip that can make Notepad even handier. Simply pressing F5 will insert a time and date stamp. This can be a great time-saver when entering comments or when trying to leave an audit trail of changes to a file. You can also find this option on the Edit menu in Notepad.

Click Skin Chooser near the bottom left, or from the View Menu -> Taskbar -> Skin Chooser. Preview one of the new looks (skins) by clicking on it. When you find one you like, click "Apply Skin" above the list. You may want to remember that to switch back to Full Mode, you can press Ctrl-1.

You can have WMP shuffle the playlist randomly, by simply pressing Ctrl-H. You can also view and adjust a graphic equalizer by clicking the View Menu -> Now Playing Tools -> Graphic Equalizer. If you don't see the View Menu, press Ctrl-1 to switch to Full Mode. You can change the equalizer settings by moving them with your mouse.

For folders that contain pictures, you may find it handy to view those files as thumbnails rather than as icons or a detailed list of filenames. When using thumbnail view, you will see a miniature picture of the contents of the file (for many file types, including pictures). To change to Thumbnail view, simply choose open Windows Explorer to the folder containing the files you want to view, and choose Thumbnails from the View menu. Tip-within-a-tip: To enable this feature in Windows 98, you must first right-click the folder (that contains the pictures) in Windows Explorer, choose Properties, then check (click) next to Enable Thumbnail View. After that, the instructions given above will work.

An interesting feature of Internet Explorer (at least in versions 5.x & 6.x) is "Show Related Links." When viewing a web page, simply click Tools -> Show Related Links. Along the left side of your browser, a section will appear that shows someone's idea of other sites that are related to the one you are currently viewing. I have not found there to be a great correlation, most of the time, but some interesting sites do pop up, just the same. The information is not automatically updated when you visit other web sites. To update it, you need to click it again from the Tools menu.

If your computer has a battery, you can have a little icon in the System Tray (by the clock) display how much run-time is left on it. This can be a life-saver (ok, maybe just a work-saver) when you are running on battery, and can help you keep track of how much time you have left to work before the battery dies. To configure this, simply open Control Panel from the Start menu, choose Performance & Maintenance, then click the Power Options icon. On the Advanced tab. place a check (click) next to Always show icon on the TaskBar. When you are on AC Power, a small icon of a plug will indicate that. When you are on battery power, a small icon of a battery will appear, and holding the mouse over it will display the percentage of battery life left.

If you find that your Taskbar keeps being changed, or moved to one side or the top of your screen, and you didn't mean to have it do that, this tip is for you. Once you have your Task Bar arranged the way you like it, in the right location on the screen, and with all the right toolbars and icons, you can lock it, so that it won't get changed accidentally. To lock the Taskbar, simply right click it and choose Properties. In the window that appears, check the box (click) next to "Lock the Taskbar." Now you won't accidentally bump the mouse and have your Task bar end up on another side of the screen.

Sometimes, particularly when working with laptops, the mouse cursor can be difficult to find, if not invisible. There are a couple settings that can help make it easy to locate. One option will cause the mouse to leave a temporary trail, or blur as it moves across the screen. Another option is to temporarily display a set of rings, like a bull's-eye at the current cursor location. To change these settings, open Control Panel by clicking Start, Control Panel. Click the "Printers and Other Hardware" icon, then click "Mouse." In the Mouse Properties window that appears, click the Pointer Options tab. Under the section called visibility, place a check mark (click) next to "Display pointer trails" and/or next to "Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key."

A mouse setting option that you can choose is having the cursor jump to the default button whenever a new window is opened. Personally, this feature makes me pull my hair out, but some folks swear by it. To try it for yourself, simply open Control Panel by clicking Start, Control Panel. Click the "Printers and Other Hardware" icon, then click "Mouse." In the Mouse Properties window that appears, click the Pointer Options tab. Place a check mark (click) in the box in the "Snap To" section, next to "Automatically move pointer to the default button in a dialogue box." Click OK to apply the change. You can always follow these instructions to change it back if you don't like it!

Simply right-click the Start button, and choose Properties. When the "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" window appears, click the Customize button. On the General tab, near the bottom, you can uncheck next to Internet or Email to remove IE or OE, respectively, from the Start Menu. You can also choose to use a different program by selecting it from the drop-down box. For instance, you may prefer MSN Explorer to Internet Explorer. Simply select the one you want, and click OK a couple times to complete the change.

If there are program icons that you would like to keep permanently on the list, simply right-click them and choose "Pin to Start Menu." They will then be moved to the top of the list permanently. If you change your mind, you can always right-click the icon again and choose "Unpin from Start Menu."

Simply right-click the Start Menu, bringing up the "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" window. Click the "Customize" button, and in the middle of the General tab, click the arrows to increase (or decrease) the number to the desired amount, up to 30 maximum.

To convert the size of those icons to small, simply right-click the Start Menu, bringing up the "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" window. Click the "Customize" button, and at the top of the General tab, select Small Icons. Click OK a couple of times, and the change is complete!

For some reason, Hibernate isn't available from the default Shut Down dialog. But you can enable it simply enough, by holding down the SHIFT key while the dialog is visible. Now you see it, now you don't!

1. Right Click destkop and select properties
2. Goto the Desktop tab
3. Select Customize Desktop
4. Goto the Web tab
5. Enable Lock Desktop Items
6. Press OK in Customize Desktop and in Display Properties

If you're not a big fan of Windows Messenger (still called MSN Messenger in Beta 2), simply delete the following Registry Key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRunMSMSGS

For some reason, the Favorites menu in IE 6 seems to slow down dramatically sometimes--I've noticed this happens when you install Tweak UI 1.33, for example, and when you use the preview tip to speed up the Start menu. But here's a fix for the problem that does work, though it's unclear why:
Just open a command line window (Start button -> Run -> cmd) and type sfc, then hit ENTER. This command line runs the System File Checker, which performs a number of services, all of which are completely unrelated to IE 6. But there you go: It works.

The default speed of the Start Menu is pretty slow, but you can fix that by editing a Registry Key. Fire up the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER Control Panel Desktop MenuShowDelay

By default, the value is 400. Change this to a smaller value, such as 0, to speed it up.

If your confounded by the slow speed of the Start Menu, even after using the tip above, then you might try the following: Navigate to Display Properties then Appearance then Effects and turn off the option titled Show menu shadow. You will get much better overall performance.

The relationship between Windows Media Player 8 and the MP3 audio format is widely misunderstood. Basically, WMP8 will be able to playback MP3 files, but encoding (or "ripping") CD audio into MP3 format will require an MP3 plug-in. So during the Windows XP beta, Microsoft is supplying a sample MP3 plug-in for testing purposes, but it's limited to 56 Kbps rips, which is pretty useless. However, if you have an externally installed MP3 codec, you can use WMP8 to rip at higher bit rates. But you'll have to edit the Registry to make this work.
Fire up the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft MediaPlayer Settings MP3Encoding

Here, you'll see sub-keys for LowRate and LowRateSample, which of course equates to the single 56 Kbps sample rate you see in WMP8. To get better sampling rates, try adding the following keys (Using New then DWORD value):

"LowRate" = DWORD value of 0000dac0
"MediumRate" = DWORD value of 0000fa00
"MediumHighRate" = DWORD value of 0001f400
"HighRate" = DWORD value of 0002ee00

Now, when you launch WMP8 and go into Tools, then Options, then Copy Music, you will have four encoding choices for MP3: 56 Kbps, 64 Kbps, 128 Kbps, and 192 Kbps. Note that you will not get higher bit rate encoding unless you have installed an MP3 codec separately; the version in Windows Media Player 8 is limited to 56 Kbps only.

Open regedit and change the follow registry key in:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop
"MenuShowDelay"=00000000 (defaults as 400 on install)

Open Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Explorer My Computer NameSpace DelegateFolders

Look for a sub-key titled {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. Delete this one and all of the Shared Documents folders (normally grouped as "Other Files Stored on This Computer") will be gone.

Reboot after the changes to make them active.

Just right click your desktop, uncheck show desktop icons. Works better than locking desktop.

go to start - run - and type gpedit.msc

On the left side of the group editor that comes up under the "User Configurations" expand the "Windows Settings" branch then expand the "Internet Explorer Maintenance" branch.

there are various settings here the you can change to customise internet explorer. An interesting one that gets rid of the problem with some sites not liking IE6 is the "connection" branch. Click on this branch and in the right window you will see the item "User Agent String"

Double click the "User Agent String" item and you will be able to enter "MSIE 5.5". Thios will allow you to view those sites correctly that do not like IE 6.

In all honesty, you should leave most of these settings alone, but the IE ones are fairly safe. Several builds ago I disabled the whole OS by playing around with these. It was never the same again and I eventually had to re-format and re-install. Youv'e been warned.

heres the problem:

If I add a very large news group and subscribe to every group OE will quit responding. To duplicate this problem:

1. add the group msnews.microsoft.com
2. next subscribe to every group at msnews.microsoft.com. You can actually use any large group, I just happen to pick this one.
3. Watch OE

What will happen is that OE will try to add the groups and then quit responding.
use taskman to close it down.

To correct the problem:

1. after OE is stopped and close using taskman use windows explorer to navigate to:
C:Documents and SettingsAdministrator (or what ever the account name is)Local SettingsApplication DataIdentities{what ever your identity is}MicrosoftOutlook Express

2. copy the Outlook express folder to another drive

3. navigate back to:
C:Documents and SettingsAdministrator (or what ever the account name is)Local SettingsApplication DataIdentities{what ever your identity is}MicrosoftOutlook Express
and delete everything in the outlook express folder.

4. Next copy the contents (everything) back from the outlook express folder you copied earlier to:
C:Documents and SettingsAdministrator (or what ever the account name is)Local SettingsApplication DataIdentities{what ever your identity is}MicrosoftOutlook Express

5. start up OE and right click on the msnews.microsoft.com group and choose "remove account"

6. If you want to at this point add the account back but this time don't select as many groups. I dont know the number of groups at which this occurs.

Do not reboot before youv'e restored the OE contents from the copied version. ::Simple auto-logon To auto logon try this one:

1. At a command prompt, type:
rundll32 netplwiz.dll,UsersRunDll

2. In the User Accounts dialog that appears, clear the "Users must enter a
user name and password to use this computer" check box and click OK.

3. Enter the user name and password of the account you want to automatically
log on.

this is will not work if your computer is joined to a domain.

when you connect to a web site your computer sends information back and forth, this is obvious. Some of this information deals with resolving the site name to an IP address, the stuff that tcp/ip really deals with, not words. This is DNS information and is used so that you will not need to ask for the site location each and every time you visit the site. Although WinXP and win2000 has a pretty efficient DNS cache, you can increase its overall performance by increasing its size.

You can do this with the registry entries below:

************begin copy and paste***********
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesDnscacheParameters]
"CacheHashTableBucketSize"=dword:00000001
"CacheHashTableSize"=dword:00000180
"MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000fa00
"MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000012d

************end copy and paste***********

make a new text file and rename it to dnscache.reg. The copy and paste the above into it and save it. Then merge it into the registry.

may or may not work, depends on your configuration. add the Dword values shown below.

increases the number of buffers that the redirector reserves for network performance
it may increase your network throughput. the range is 0-255. It is set at 100 here.
make MaxCmds & MaxThreads have same value. The default is 15

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesLanmanWorkstationParameters]
"MaxCmds"=dword:00000064
"MaxThreads"=dword:00000064

as always - editing the registry can cause serious problems. If you don't know what your doing then don't do it.

To stop Windows Explorer from expanding a folder automatically when you click on it instead of clicking on the '+' do the following:

Control Panel -> Folder Options
Click on the Views tab, and uncheck "Display Simple Folder View in Explorer's Folder's list" - That'll keep the folders from opening automatically. As far as the zip file thing, mine doesn't do that, so can't help there.

If you have any AVI files that you saved in Windows 9x, which have interference when opened in Windows XP, there is an easy fix to get rid of the interference:

Open Windows Movie Maker.
Click View and then click Options.
Click in the box to remove the check mark beside Automatically create clips.

Now, import the movie file that has interference and drag it onto the timeline. Then save the movie, and during the rerendering, the interference will be removed.

If your mouse contains a wheel for scrolling, you can change font size on the fly when viewing a Web page. To do so:

Press and hold Ctrl. Scroll down (or towards yourself) to enlarge the font size. Scroll up (or away from yourself) to reduce the font size.

You might find it useful to reduce font size when printing a Web page, so that you can fit more content on the page.

Tip: You can add a shortcut to the desktop of your home computer to quickly start Remote Desktop and connect to your office computer.

To create a shortcut icon to start Remote Desktop

Click Start, point to More Programs, point to Accessories, point to Communications, and then click on Remote Desktop Connection.

Click Options.

Configure settings for the connection to your office computer.

Click Save As, and enter a name, such as Office Computer. Click Save.

Open the Remote Desktops folder.

Right-click on the file named Office Computer, and then click Create Shortcut.

Drag the shortcut onto the desktop of your home computer.

To start Remote Desktop and connect to your office computer, double-click on the shortcut.

The Windows logo key, located in the bottom row of most computer keyboards is a little-used treasure. Don''t ignore it. It is the shortcut anchor for the following commands:

Windows: Display the Start menu
Windows + D: Minimize or restore all windows
Windows + E: Display Windows Explorer
Windows + F: Display Search for files
Windows + Ctrl + F: Display Search for computer
Windows + F1: Display Help and Support Center
Windows + R: Display Run dialog box
Windows + break: Display System Properties dialog box
Windows + shift + M: Undo minimize all windows
Windows + L: Lock the workstation
Windows + U: Open Utility Manager
Windows + Q: Quick switching of users (Powertoys only)
Windows + Q: Hold Windows Key, then tap Q to scroll thru the different users on your pc.

You don't need a fancy graphics program to get a screenshot of what's on your computer. If you are in any windows based program, just hit the print screen key on your keyboard and you have a full screenshot. Paste it into Paint or any other Windows based graphics program.

To add the rename option to the right-click menu for the Recycle Bin create a new text file and add the following:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTCLSID{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}ShellFolder] "Attributes"=hex:50,01,00,20

Rename the file extension to .reg rather then text then run the file and it will add the above registry key. Right click on the Recycle Bin and Rename it.

When installing Win98 will generate a SETUPLOG file in the root of your boot partition (C:). This file can then be used to set up identical machines in batch mode using the SETUPLOG as an input file.

Several people have reported floppy drive problems since upgrading to or installing Windows 98, even when the floppy drives worked perfectly under Windows 95 or previous versions of Windows and MS-DOS. This tip might help if you are having problems.

Right click on My Computer on the desktop. Click on Properties, then Performance. Then click on File System. Click on Floppy Disk and if there is a check in "Search for New Floppy Drives Each Time Your Computer Starts" remove it. Then click on Removable Disk and make sure write-back caching is not checked. This may also help with Zip Drives and other removable media such as tape backup, Jazz, and other non-hard drives and CD-ROM/DVD drives.

If you frequently get illegal operation or invalid page fault error messages in Windows 98, there is a great utility that Microsoft included which you can use to troubleshoot, find the cause of, and correct those errors to prevent yourself from getting them again. It also logs all errors so you can report them to Microsoft or your software program's vendor so that they can fix the problem. To start this program:

Click Start, Run. Type "DrWatson" and press ENTER. An icon for Dr. Watson will appear on your taskbar tray. Double click it. From here on you can view detailed information about your Win98 system.

I recommend putting a shortcut to Dr. Watson in your Startup group, especially if you frequenty experience crashes, as it will automatically log all illegal operations and invalid page faults/general protection faults that you might get.

You must go into Control Panel and open the "User Accounts" applet to change this setting. Click "Change the way users log on or off." For maximum security, uncheck the "Use the Welcome screen" option. This re-enables the use of the "Lock Computer" option from the ALT CTRL DELETE menu, but prevents multiple users from being logged on locally at a single time. This also returns to the Windows 2000 style login screen. If you'd rather have the ability to -not- be able to use "Lock Computer" and would rather allow multiple users to logon the computer at a single time locally, leave the setting checked and also check "Use Fast User Switching."