Some MS-DOS based applications, especially games, will not run very well with Windows ME's DOS Virtual Machine (VM) system. Windows Millennium also no longer allows you to boot to a Command Prompt only, as Windows 95/98 do. However, there are some workarounds you can try which have been effective on many computers. See:
http://www.sgmvp.freewebsites.com/WinME.htm
and also see
http://www.geocities.com/mfd4life_2000/

Do you need a clean, uncluttered Windows Me boot disk? If you use the Startup Disk tab on the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel, you end up with a disk that's literally too full to hold anything else. That can be a problem for some system maintenance tasks, such as updating your BIOS. And Windows Me no longer allows you to format a floppy disk using the /S switch, as you could in previous Windows versions.

The solution is easy, once you know the secret:

1. Place a floppy disk in the drive and open the My Computer window.
2. Right-click on the floppy disk icon (A:) and choose Format from the shortcut menu. Follow the prompts to completely format the floppy.
3. Open an Explorer window and browse to the C:WindowsCommandEBD folder (EBD stands for Emergency Boot Disk).
4. Select the COMMAND and IO.SYS files from the file listing.
5. Drag these two files onto the floppy disk icon in the My Computer window.
6. Remove the floppy disk from the drive and label it "Clean Windows Me Boot Disk."

Remember, this disk does not contain any of the tools you need to repair your system in the event of a system crash.

If you've just upgraded to Windows Millennium Edition (aka Windows Me), you're probably still discovering new features. One of the best "hidden" features is the new Automatic Updates option. When you set this option correctly, Windows regularly checks in with Microsoft's Web site to see whether any updates, patches, or bug fixes have been issued recently. With your permission, Windows will download the files so that they're ready for you to install at your convenience. Nothing happens without your permission, and you can refuse or ignore any update at any time. To adjust these settings, open Control Panel and double-click the Automatic Updates icon.

The new System Restore feature in Windows Millennium Edition (aka Windows Me) is its killer feature. It allows you to "roll back" changes you've made so that you can undo damage caused by a badly written program or device driver. But System Restore isn't foolproof, and a little advance preparation on your part can help make it much more useful.

The next time you plan to update a hardware driver or install a new Windows program--two simple actions that can cause a host of problems--take the simple precaution of creating a manual restore point first. Click Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and choose System Restore. Choose the Create a restore point option and give the entry a descriptive name of your choosing, something like "Just before installing new ATI video driver." After you've saved the restore point, you can continue with confidence. If anything goes wrong, boot into Safe Mode, run System Restore, and select the manual restore point you just created. That undoes all your changes and puts things right again.

Windows Millennium no longer supports the "NUMLOCK=OFF" / "NUMLOCK=ON" settings that were previously available in CONFIG.SYS on Windows 95/98 systems. You can work around this by using Notepad or any plain text editor to save a .VBS file (Visual Basic Script) that will change NUMLOCK's status to the opposite of the boot-up/power on status it has. If NUMLOCK is on when your computer is powered on, this script file will turn it off, and visa versa. I suggest placing it in your C:WindowsCommand folder and creating a shortcut to it in your "Start->Programs->Startup" [no quotes] group. The file should contain these lines exactly as follows:

set shell=createobject("WScript.Shell")
if WScript.Version="5.1" then
shell.SendKeys "{NUMLOCK}"
end if

Windows Millennium does not process the CONFIG.SYS file as Windows 95/98 and MS-DOS do, therefore a new setting has been added to Windows ME that allows specification of the "FILES" variable previously available only in CONFIG.SYS on older operating systems. Windows ME runs DOS applications in a DOS VM [virtual machine], similar to how Web browsers use a Java VM to run Java applets. The "Files" setting in CONFIG.SYS was used to determine the file handles in the applications Job File Table. In Windows ME, instead of the FILES variable in CONFIG.SYS, the new setting is instead located in SYSTEM.INI, under the [386Enh] section. By default, this value is set to 30 file handles. The maximum a DOS VM can have is limited to 255. Because the number of file handles cannot exceed 255, plus the 30 default handles allocated for each DOS VM, the setting can only be set to a maximum of 225. This is because 225 + 30 = 255. For more information see:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q269/0/30.asp

Windows Explorer, launched in Windows Millennium, by default will open the "My Documents" folder. Many people prefer the behavior from previous versions of Windows, where Windows Explorer would open and display "My Computer" instead of the new way. To revert to the old way [My Computer by default rather than My Documents as the default], simply edit the shortcut to Windows Explorer, by right clicking on it, and left clicking "Properties" and changing the "Target" box to: "C:WINDOWSEXPLORER.EXE /n,/e," [adjust the path/drive letter if needed]. The key is to add the "/n,/e," to the end of the shortcut. (The quotes are not needed).

Windows Millennium includes several new options for configuring and customizing the appearance and behavior of the Taskbar and the Start Menu. Simply click Start, Settings, Taskbar. The General and the Advanced tabs allow a great deal of flexibility in making your Start Menu and your Taskbar behave the way you want them to. You can adjust cascading menus, clear the "Documents" menu, enable or disable personalized Start Menu items [enabled makes it so that Windows hides the items you seldom use, and you click the small down arrow to show those items, should you need them at some point in time. Disabled simply behaves the same way Windows 98's Start Menu items do].

You can install WindowsME without having a previous operating system installed. 

1. You just need to have a pervious version's CD available.
2. I recommend copying the source files to the hard drive and installing from there.
3. When you are prompted for a previous operating system, simply insert your 
   Windows95/98 CD and browse to the directory where the source files are located.
4. You can then continue installing on a clean system without having to install a previous version.
5. This should save a lot of time in the event you need to reinstall WindowsME from scratch.

Have you recently upgraded from a pokey dial-up Internet connection to a high-speed DSL line or cable modem? If so, I recommend a visit to one of my favorite sites for tips, performance tweaks, speed tests, and general tune-up advice. The Tools page at DSL Reports is well organized and incredibly useful. If you're still thinking about upgrading to a high-speed connection, don't miss the site's reviews of ISPs. A quick scan through posts from existing customers may help you make the right choice and avoid headaches.

The Windows Registry Editor is a powerful tool. Maybe too powerful. If you inadvertently delete a key or change a value to one that's incorrect, you could cause serious problems. Before you make any changes, make a backup copy. From the left-hand (tree) pane of Registry Editor, select the branch that contains the data you're about to change or delete. Choose Registry, Export Registry File. In the Export Range section at the bottom of the dialog box, choose the Selected branch option. Give the file a name and save it to a safe place (preferably a floppy disk). To restore the backed-up copy, just start Windows (in Safe Mode, if necessary) and double-click the REG file you saved.

By default, Windows includes a handy volume control at the right side of the taskbar, next to the system clock. When you click this icon, a sliding volume control pops up. Move the slider up and down to raise or lower volume. Check the Mute box to quickly shut off all sounds coming from your PC's speakers.

Is the speaker icon missing? Here's the quick fix: Open the Multimedia Control Panel (in Windows Me and Windows 2000, use the Sounds and Multimedia option). Check the Show volume control on the taskbar box and click OK.

Do you find yourself squinting every time you try to read a Web page? Here's a solution that might help give your eyes a rest: From Internet Explorer, choose View, Text Size. Change the default text size from Medium to Larger or Largest.

This solution has a few gotchas, however:
Some versions of IE forget your settings when you close the browser window. If this happens to you, it's time to upgrade to a newer IE version.
Some pages won't respond to this choice, because the designer used a style sheet to select specific fonts of a specific size. If you really can't read most pages, you can overrule style sheets by digging a little deeper into IE's Options dialog box. Choose Tools, Internet Options, and click the Accessibility button on the General tab. Check the box that reads Ignore font sizes specified on Web pages. Click OK twice to close both dialog boxes.

When you open a Windows Explorer window, do the files appear in an order that appears to be random? You can control the sort order in either of two ways:
Pull down the View menu and choose Arrange Icons. You can sort the list by size, date, name, or type.
Switch to Details view and click the heading above any column to instantly sort the list by that entry. Click again to reverse the sort order--so you can see files from largest to smallest, for example.

Are you continually being bugged by animated graphics? Banner ads on Web pages can be among the worst offenders. If you use any version of Internet Explorer, here are two fixes:

After the page has finished loading, press the Escape key. That stops the flashing immediately. (If you press this key too early, you'll interrupt the loading of the page. restart it by pressing F5 or clicking the Refresh button.)
To permanently stop all animated graphics from being displayed in a browser window, open IE and choose Tools, Internet Options. Click the Advanced tab and scroll down to the Multimedia section. Click to clear the check mark from the Play animations box.

Be careful with the permanent solution, however. It works on every Web page graphic, not just ads. With this option disabled, for instance, you can't see an animated weather map in action!

The Windows CD contains every file you need to run Windows. These system files are stored in compressed files, using the Windows Cabinet format, with each file ending in the CAB extension. Occasionally, you may find that you need to extract a file from the Windows CD. If you're comfortable with an MS-DOS prompt, you can extract a file manually, using the Extract command.

To use this command with Windows 95/98/Me, open an MS-DOS Prompt window. If you use the Extract command by itself, followed by the name of a CAB file, you decompress all the files it contains into the current directory. You can use additional parameters and switches to control the action of the Extract command further. For instance, the /D (for directory) switch displays a listing of the CAB file's contents instead of extracting its files, while the /L (for location) switch lets you specify the name of the drive or folder where you want to extract the files.

If you need to extract a specific file from the Windows 98 CD and you're not sure which CAB file it's stored in, use this command:

Extract /A /L C:Temp D:Win98Base4.cab filename

Be sure to substitute the full name of the file you want to extract, the correct drive letter for your CD (in place of D:), and the folder where you want to extract the file (in place of C:Temp). Base4.cab is the first file in the chain of CAB files on the Windows 98 CD. The /A switch tells the Extract command to keep looking through additional CAB files until it finds the one you specified.

Although you can use the Extract command to manually uncompress a Windows file from the CAB files on the Windows 98 CD, it's easier to use the System File Checker utility to perform this task. Click the Start button, choose Run, and enter the command SFC. When prompted, enter the exact name of the file you want to extract and then click OK. You will then be prompted to enter the drive letter of your CD in the Restore from box. Your file will be saved to the correct location; if it's a replacement for a file that's currently in use, Windows will prompt you to restart. When you do, the newly extracted file will be in its correct location.

If you prefer, you can use Explorer to browse through the contents of compressed CAB files. This technique works with all versions of Windows that include the Windows Desktop Update introduced in IE4. Double-click the icon for any CAB file to display its contents in an Explorer window; to extract the file, use the Copy command (Ctrl+C) to copy it to the Clipboard, or drag the file to another Explorer window.

Are you bored with the Microsoft Windows logo that appears each time you start your computer? You can easily customize your system so that it displays a graphic of your choosing instead. For Windows 98 or Windows Me, follow these steps:

Using Microsoft Paint or another graphics program, create an image that is exactly 320 pixels wide and 400 pixels high. Save it in 256-color Bitmap format in the C: folder, using the name LOGO.SYS. Windows will use this graphic in place of the Windows logo until you change or delete the file.

If you're not an artist, you can find ready-made logo files at most Web sites that specialize in Windows wallpaper, themes, and other fun stuff.

Before you make any kind of change to your Windows configuration, such as installing a new device driver or system utility, it's a good idea to back up your Registry first. In the event that the change causes problems, you can use the backup copy of the Registry to restore your original configuration and repair the damage.

With Windows Me and Windows 98, use the ScanReg utility to check the Registry for errors and back it up in one operation. Click the Start button, choose Run, and enter the command Scanreg.

To restore the backed-up Registry files, boot to an MS-DOS Prompt and enter the command Scanreg /restore. Don't use Scanreg to restore Registry files from within Windows, because the Registry files are in use you may end up scrambling settings. From Windows 98, you can hold down the Ctrl key after restarting your computer; keep holding it down until the startup menu appears, and then choose the MS-DOS Prompt option. With Windows Me, you must use a boot floppy to reach the MS-DOS Prompt.

For more details, read this article from Microsoft's Knowledge Base: Description of the Windows Registry Checker Tool.

Every time you click on a hyperlink in Internet Explorer 5, it responds with a click sound. If the clicking annoys you, silence it once and for all. From Windows 95 or 98, open Control Panel and choose the Sounds option (in Windows Me and Windows 2000, this option is called Sounds and Multimedia). Scroll down through the Events list and select Start Navigation in the Windows Explorer group. In the Sound box, click the arrow at the right of the Name box; scroll to the top of the list and select (None)

To restore the default sound, repeat this process, choosing Start.wav as the sound for the Start Navigation event.

Do you find yourself regularly using the MS-DOS Prompt for simple file management tasks? In Windows Me, the shortcut to the DOS prompt is buried under several cascading menus, making it awkward to get to. If your hands are more comfortable on the keyboard, skip the mouse. To open a DOS window, hold down the Windows key and press R. In the Run dialog box, type COMMAND and press Enter.

In older versions of Internet Explorer, the Programs menu scrolled from top to bottom if it got too big to fit on the screen. In more recent versions, this menu cascades out to the right or left when it gets too big. Do you want to restore the old scrolling version? The Web is filled with instructions on how to hack the Registry to accomplish this, but you don't need to tamper with Windows' innards if you use Windows Me or Windows 2000. Click the Start button and choose Settings, Taskbar and Start Menu. Click the Advanced tab and look for the Scroll Programs checkbox; clear the box to use columns or check it to scroll through a single list.

How fast are your fingers? Keyboard wizards can save time and frustration by opening programs directly from the Run dialog box on the Start menu. If you know the name of the executable file that launches each program, type it in the Run box and press Enter. If Windows can find the file, that program opens immediately.

This trick works best for programs with easy-to-remember filenames. With some programs--including Explorer, Notepad, and Wordpad--the executable filename is the same as the name of the program itself. Here are a handful of others that are worth memorizing:

EXE FILE / PROGRAM

calc Windows Calculator

cdplayer CD Player

regedit Windows Registry Editor

wab Windows Address Book

sol Windows Solitaire

mspaint Microsoft Paint

Every time you install, uninstall, or configure a program on your Windows PC, you add information to the Windows Registry. Over time, the Registry begins to fill up with unneeded information, especially if "orphaned" keys are left behind when you uninstall a program.

Microsoft has developed a utility called RegClean that examines your Registry and removes unnecessary entries. It's free, safe, and easy to use. Download a copy of RegClean 4.1a from the Microsoft Download Center and follow these instructions to put it to best use.

RegClean isn't a miracle-worker. If you're experiencing serious system problems, it's unlikely to help. But running RegClean once a month is a good housekeeping measure.

Defragmenting your hard disk is an essential step in making sure that Windows runs at peak performance. If you haven't defragged a drive in a long while, you may discover that a thorough defrag takes a very long time. That's perfectly normal; the free Windows defrag utility isn't particularly fast or efficient.

Some people become alarmed when the Defrag utility seems to stop moving at the 10% point on the progress meter. Don't be concerned--this is perfectly normal. This is the stage at which Defrag optimizes a number of system files, and it may take a while to get past this point. If you haven't defragged in months, don't be surprised if it takes hours for this process to complete.

Microsoft includes a cool customization capability with its Windows Update page--a Personalize button, which lets you specify that you don't want to see some update options. I use this feature to cut clutter out of the Windows Update list by hiding all the optional components and foreign language packages that I never want to install.

To personalize your Windows Update page, visit the Windows Update site. Click the Product Updates option and wait for Windows to display the catalog of available updates. Then click the Personalize button. Clear the checkbox next to any item you've decided you never want to install. (Don't worry--you can't accidentally skip an important bug fix or security update, because Critical Updates are excluded from this feature.)

After you're done, you'll find that the Windows Update list is much easier to navigate.

If you use Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me), or Windows 2000, there's one site you should absolutely, positively visit at least once a month. Microsoft's Windows Update site contains important security patches and bug fixes that can help your Windows PC run more smoothly and keep you safe on the Internet.

But Windows Update also contains programs you don't need and a few you definitely don't want. How can you tell the difference? Follow these simple rules:

Always download and install Critical Updates. Microsoft reserves this designation for essential fixes to serious problems. If more than one Critical Update is available, you may discover that all the available updates for your PC are collected in a Critical Updates package.

Exercise caution with the Picks of the Month category. In those, Microsoft's marketing machine is trying to convince you to download a new program that you may or may not need. Read the description carefully before deciding to install anything in this group.

Recommended Updates are typically system components that aren't required to fix bugs but will be beneficial to most Windows users. Tread carefully in this category here, too. Some upgrades can cause performance problems on some systems.

Additional Windows Features are strictly optional. this category includes software that allows Internet Explorer to display languages other than English. You're unlikely to need any components from this category.

Device drivers are updated, Microsoft-tested, approved versions of drivers for hardware installed on your computer. If you see a choice here, grab it!

If you know what's good for you (and for your Windows PC), you check Windows Update regularly. Each time you visit the Windows Update page, you're presented only with patches and bug fixes that are right for your Windows version and that haven't been installed already. So how do you tell which ones you've already installed? Click the Product Updates button to run the catalog program. After the list of available updates appears, click the Show Installed Updates button. The Windows Update list expands to show all updates--a small label at the right of the listing identifies updates you've already installed.

A Focus on Windows Forum visitor recently shared a horrifying experience. Using Outlook Express, she visited a popular Usenet newsgroup--ironically, to gather information so she could protect herself from Windows viruses. When she clicked on one message, it automatically launched her browser and began installing the VBS.Rewind.A@mm virus. Fortunately, her antivirus software detected the intruder and was able to stop it. Would you be so lucky?

If you use Outlook Express or Outlook 2000, you should immediately take the following important steps to prevent this type of script-based virus from attacking your system:

1. Open Outlook Express and choose the Tools, Options menu.
2. Click the Security tab.
3. In the Security Zones section, select the Restricted sites zone (More secure) box.
4. Click OK to apply the change.

This simple but important measure disables potentially dangerous scripts like the one Anna encountered. Do it today, and share this tip with a friend or family member!

Do you keep digital images on your hard drive? If you have a scanner or digital camera, your collection of photographs can grow quickly. A well-hidden feature in Windows 98, Windows Me, and Windows 2000 makes it easier to manage those files by letting you see them in Thumbnails view, with a miniature version of each image appearing in a box within the Explorer window.

If you use Windows Me or Windows 2000, open the folder that contains the photos and choose View, Thumbnails.

This choice isn't available in Windows 98, however, until you take a preliminary step. Open an Explorer window and find the icon for the folder that contains your pictures. Right-click and choose Properties. On the General tab, check the Enable thumbnail view box. Click OK to close the dialog box.

Now you can open the folder window and choose Thumbnails from the View menu.

Are you baffled by Plug and Play messages when you start your computer? This sort of error is common when you first set up a PC, new or old, with Windows. The Plug and Play system detects the existence of a device and asks you to install a driver, but it can't tell you what device it is. The dialog boxes don't give you any help either, referring simply to an "Unknown Device."

If this happens to you, try using the System Information tool to snoop around in your PC's innards for clues about the mystery peripheral. Click the Start button and choose Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Information. Now click the plus sign to the left of the Components entry and select the Problem Devices group. Scan through the list of devices; if you're lucky, you'll spot a clue that can help you figure out the identity of the mystery device.

Normally, when you insert a music disc into your computer's CD drive, it starts playing automatically. When you insert a data CD that contains AutoRun files, it launches the default program (usually an installation routine for the software on the CD).

If you prefer not to have CDs play automatically, you can turn off this feature in any version of Windows. The easiest way? Use Microsoft's amazing Tweak UI utility.

After you have Tweak UI installed, click the Paranoia tab and clear the checkmarks from the Play audio CDs automatically and Play data CDs automatically boxes.

Do you find yourself squinting to read the text labels under desktop icons? That's a common problem (especially among the over-40 crowd) at resolutions of 1024 by 768 and larger.

Here's an easy solution to give your eyes a much-needed break: Bump up the size of the icon text. Here's how:

1. Open the Display option in Control Panel and click the Appearance tab.
2. From the Item list, choose Icon.
3. Leave the Font setting alone, but increase the font Size setting (the one just to the right of the font name) from its default value of 8 points to 9, 10, or even 11.
4. Click Apply to see your changes on the desktop immediately. If you're satisfied with the results, click OK to close the dialog box and get back to work.

Caution: Do not change the icon size from its default setting of 32! Changing the size of the icons is not a good solution, because the icon size is fixed in pixels (32 x 32) and changing the size will distort the image drastically.

If you install a Zip drive or a CD-R drive on your CD, you may discover that Windows assigns a new drive letter to your existing CD drive. That can cause headaches when you try to uninstall or update programs or Windows components, because the original program is looking for the old drive letter (D:, for example), and not the newly assigned E:.

The solution is to tell Windows you want to "lock in" a particular drive letter. Here's how:

1. Open Control Panel and double-click the System icon.
2. Click the Device Manager tab.
3. Click the plus sign to the left of the CDROM category and select your original CD drive from the list.
4. Click the Properties button and then click the Settings tab to see the current drive letter assignment.
5. In the Reserved drive letter section, choose the letter you want to use for the drive. To force Windows to use the drive letter you choose, set the Start drive letter and End drive letter to the same value.
6. Click OK to close the dialog box.

Note that the letters available to you will be limited to those currently assigned to removable drives. In Windows 95/98/Me, you are not allowed to reassign a letter currently used by a hard drive partition.

Outlook Express includes a spell-checking option on the Tools menu, and a Check Spelling button on the Standard toolbar in the New Message window. So why is that option grayed out when you try to use it?

Outlook Express spell-checking is only available if you have installed another Microsoft product that adds the shared spelling modules for your language. All 32-bit versions of Microsoft Word, Works, Excel, and PowerPoint (in other words, any version released since about 1995) automatically installs this code.

If you don't have one of these programs installed, you can't check your spelling using the menu and toolbar options in Outlook Express.

Where do you store downloaded program files? If you're like most people, these files probably end up on the Windows Desktop, where they cause clutter and are hard to back up.

Here's a better idea: Create a Downloads folder in an easy to find location (in the root of the C: drive is a good location) and use it for all your downloads. To keep my downloaded programs and drivers organized, I create a subfolder for each one, which lists the name of the program and the date I downloaded it.

Every so often, I back up the entire folder to a CD-ROM using my writable CD-R drive. That way, I know I always have easy access to my favorite programs if I have to install Windows from scratch.

Can't shake the desktop as the dumping ground for downloads? Create the Downloads folder anyway, and then place a shortcut to that folder on the desktop. You can continue to download files to the desktop as usual, and drag them onto the Downloads shortcut for quick and easy filing when needed.

The three keys at the right side of your keyboard's top row are practically orphans. The Pause key is a relic of the PC's distant past and is rarely used in Windows. But this seemingly abandoned key has a surprisingly convenient secret ability. Hold down the Windows key (typically on the bottom row of the keyboard, this key is marked by the Windows "flag" logo) and press the Pause key. This simple shortcut displays the System Control Panel, which tells you which version of Windows you're using, how much memory is installed on your computer, and more. It also gives you easy access to the Device Manager.

One of the most useful shortcuts in all of Windows is the My Documents icon on the Windows desktop. Normally, on a Windows 95/98/Me machine, double-clicking this icon opens the C:My Documents folder. If you've enabled user profiles, each user on the computer has a separate My Documents folder, which is stored in a subfolder of the Windows folder.

For many people, the default location is fine. But you might want to move the My Documents folder to a different location if either of the following situations applies to you:

• If you use Windows Me or Windows 2000, click the Move button and browse to the drive and folder name where you want to store your documents -- D:My Documents, for example. (If the folder doesn't exist, click the New Folder button to create it.) Select the folder in the Browse dialog box and click OK to make the change. Windows offers to move the files from your old folder to the new one. Click OK to accept this change.
• If you use Windows 98, you must first create the folder where you want to move your files. Then use the Browse button to select that folder and click OK to accept the change. You must move files from your existing My Documents folder manually; Windows 98 won't do this chore for you.

One of the most useful icons on the Quick Launch bar is the Show Desktop icon. Clicking it instantly minimizes all open windows, so you can work with icons and shortcuts on the desktop. Unfortunately, it's easy to accidentally delete this icon. If that happens to you, relax and follow these simple steps to re-create the Show Desktop icon.

1. Open your favorite text editor. Notepad works well, but if you're a power user I recommend the free NoteTab Light instead.

2. Use your mouse to select the following lines exactly as I've entered them, and then right-click and choose Copy.

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

3. Click in the empty document in your text editor and choose Edit, Paste.

4. Choose File, Save As. For the name of the new file, enter "Show Desktop.scf" (be sure to include the quotation marks). For the Save in location, choose the C:WindowsSystem folder (if you use Windows NT or Windows 2000, you may need to select the C:WinntSystem32 folder).

5. Close the text editor.

6. Open Windows Explorer, navigate to the WindowsSystem folder, and find the Show Desktop.scf file you just created. Click to select that file.

7. Hold down the right mouse button and drag the Show Desktop.scf onto an empty space on the Quick Launch bar. When you release the mouse button, choose Create Shortcut(s) Here from the pop-up menu.

The Show Desktop icon now appears on the Quick Launch toolbar where it belongs.

Want to give Internet Explorer as much room as possible? Try browsing Web pages in Full Screen view. Press the F11 key to switch into Full Screen view. IE hides the title bar at the top of the screen, the status bar at the bottom of the screen, all but one row of toolbars, and even the Windows taskbar! The effect gives you more room to see the contents of each Web page you browse.

To switch back to regular view, press F11 again, or click the Restore button, which is just to the left of the X in the top right corner of the screen.

If you're experiencing mysterious hardware problems, especially those relating to power management or your hard drive, you could be overdue for a BIOS upgrade.
The BIOS (short for Basic Input/Output System) is the brain of your PC. It consists of software that's stored in a chip on your computer's motherboard. The BIOS software runs each time you turn on your PC; it performs some basic tests, checks and configures all devices that it recognizes, and then hands over control to Windows. On virtually all modern computers, the BIOS software is stored in "flash ROM" chips that can be upgraded with a software patch.

To access the settings in your BIOS, watch the screens on your computer as it starts up. Typically, you will see an instruction that tells you how to access the BIOS Setup screens. On some computers, you press the Delete key just after the computer has started. On others, the "magic key" is F1, F2, or F10.

Upgrading the system BIOS is a job that requires care and experience. If you think you need a BIOS upgrade, check with the company that manufactured your computer. Their Web site can usually provide more details about available upgrades. If you find an upgrade, read the instructions with care! If you make a mistake, you could damage the BIOS and make such a mess that your computer won't start.

When you're viewing a Web page and you want to open a hyperlinked page in a new window, it's handy to know this shortcut: Press the Shift key and click the link. This shortcut opens that link in a new window. After you're through browsing, you can close the second window and return to the original page without having to use the Back button or wait for the page to reload.

Is your taskbar suddenly stuck at the top of the screen, or along either side? Don't panic -- you accidentally moved your taskbar to a different edge of the screen (did you even know you could move the taskbar?), but it's easy to put things back the right way.

The technique for moving the taskbar is tricky, because you get no feedback at all that what you're doing is having any effect, until the taskbar suddenly snaps into the proper position! Follow these steps:

1. Aim the mouse pointer at an empty space in the middle of the taskbar. Don't point at a button, just an empty space. The mouse pointer will NOT change shape.

2. Now click and drag the mouse pointer down to the bottom edge of the screen, where the taskbar normally appears. The mouse pointer will move, but it will look like nothing is happening. That's normal -- just keep holding down the mouse button and moving the pointer down until the taskbar suddenly snaps into the correct position.

3. Release the mouse button and voila! Your taskbar is back where it belongs.

Using folders and subfolders is the key to keeping your files organized. So what should you do when you're ready to save a file but you haven't yet created the folder you want to store it in? Create a new folder at the same time as you save the file. Use the Save As menu, and point to any empty space in the Save As dialog box. Click the right mouse button and then choose New, Folder from the shortcut menu. Give the folder a name, double-click the new folder icon to open it, and then save your file.

Are you having trouble finding a boot disk that you can use to repair your PC when Windows won't work or isn't properly installed? If you can get to the Web, you can download a boot disk from Micron, a well-known PC manufacturer. Micron's Boot Disk Download page includes versions with support for popular CD-ROM, DVD, and CD-RW drives. You can choose boot disks for the original release of Windows 95, Windows 95/98 (with FAT32 support), or Windows NT. If you use Windows Me, choose the Windows 98 version.

Windows tries its best to keep you from running out of memory. Its most useful memory-managing trick is the Windows swap file, also known as virtual memory. By default, Windows 95/98 and Windows Me create this swap file automatically and manage its size dynamically. If you find a large file called Win386.swp in your Windows folder, you've just found the swap file. (If this file is located in the root directory of your system drive, that indicates that the swap file size has been manually adjusted.)

Normally, Windows creates the swap file on the same drive as the one on which Windows is installed, and it manages its size automatically, from a minimum of 0 bytes to a maximum size that uses all available space on your hard disk. If you use Windows 98 or Windows Me, these are the correct settings. Don't be fooled by bogus Windows tips recommending that you create a permanent swap file of a certain size! That advice applies only to older systems running Windows 3.1 or Windows 95. In newer Windows versions, Windows is tuned to manage the swap file efficiently. You may actually harm performance by changing the swap file settings.

I recommended that most Windows users leave swap file settings alone. However, there is one specific set of circumstances where you may be able to improve system performance by manually adjusting swap file settings.

If you have a second physical hard drive (not just a second partition on a single drive), you can improve performance by moving the swap file to a different drive from the one that contains your Windows files.

To do so, open Control Panel and double-click the System icon. Click the Performance tab and click the Virtual Memory button. Choose the Let me specify my own virtual memory settings option. Finally, open the drop-down Hard drives list and choose the drive letter where you want your swap file to be located.

Do not adjust the minimum and maximum sizes of the swap file, and above all, do not check the Disable virtual memory box! Click OK to save your changes, and reboot to make the new swap file settings effective.

Sometimes you want to print just part of a Web page, but clicking the Print button spits out page after page of information you don't want or need. If you use Internet Explorer 5,0 or later, here's an easy solution:

First, use your mouse to select the text you want to print.

Next, choose File, Print (don't use the Print button!). In the Print dialog box, look for the area labeled Page Range and choose the Selection option.

This technique is a great way to print out these tips without wasting paper!

I'm on a crusade to encourage every Windows user to remove the Print button from the Internet Explorer toolbar. Why? Because more often than not, clicking the Print button causes you to waste paper by printing out page after page of useless information!

Right-click on the IE toolbar and choose Customize from the shortcut menu. Find the Print button in the Current Toolbar Buttons list, select it, and then click the Remove button. Click Close to make the change effective.

To print Web pages, press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+P, or use the Print option on the File menu. Either way, you'll get the Print dialog box, where you can choose which pages you want to print. If you use IE 5.5 or later, you can see a preview of the printed pages before you send the job to the printer.

The good old DOS prompt is sometimes the best way to work with files and folders. One of the coolest DOS tricks of all comes courtesy of an old utility called Doskey. This utility keeps track of your commands and makes them editable. Use the up and down arrows to scroll through a list of all your commands, and then use the left and right arrow keys to edit the command.

If you want to use Doskey in an MS-DOS window under Windows 95 or 98, right-click on the MS-DOS Prompt shortcut icon and choose Properties. On the Program tab, enter Doskey in the Batch file line and click OK. This shortcut automatically loads Doskey every time you open an MS-DOS Prompt window.

Windows Me and Windows 2000 users have it much easier: Doskey is automatically loaded when you open an MS-DOS Prompt or Command Prompt window.

Several widely publicized recent virus attacks, including ILOVEYOU and the AnnaKournikova virus, work by trying to convince users to run a dangerous script that loads the virus. The extensions .js, .jse, .vbs, .scr, .shs, and .shb are particularly dangerous in this regard, because these extensions are executed by Windows itself. Most antivirus programs block at least some of these extensions.

You can add an extra layer of protection to your system by changing the default file association for scripts. Normally, double-clicking a script icon runs it (and potentially damages your system). Changing the default action causes the script to open in a Notepad window when you double-click it. if your attention is down and you inadvertently double-click a script file, you don't have to worry about getting infected, because a Notepad window will open showing you exactly what's in the file. That way you can inspect the code for suspicious instructions. If you know the script is safe (for example, if a technical support professional sent you a script to run to cure a problem on your PC), you can run it by right-clicking on the script file icon and choosing Open from the menu.

To change file associations in Windows 2000 or Windows Me, open Control Panel and double-click Folder Options. (You can also get to this dialog box from an Explorer window by choosing Tools, Folder Options.) Click the File Types tab, select one of the extensions listed above, and click the Advanced button. Select Edit and click the Set Default button to change the double-click action from Open to Edit. Repeat this step for each entry on the list of dangerous extensions.

In Windows 98 or Windows 95, the process is slightly more difficult. Open an Explorer window (double-clicking the My Computer icon on the desktop works just fine) and choose View, Folder Options. Click the File Types tab and scroll through the list of registered file types, watching the window at the bottom of the dialog box to see the file extension associated with each file type. For instance, the JScript file type is associated with the .js extension. Select that file type and click the Edit button; then choose Edit from the Actions list and click the Set Default button. Repeat this step for each entry on the list of dangerous extensions.

Everyone knows the Microsoft Knowledge Base is the single best source of answers to your questions about Windows and other Microsoft products. Unfortunately, it's also big and confusing and hard to navigate. Want to make the job a little bit easier? If you know the index number of the article you want, send email to mshelp@microsoft.com with the body blank and the index number as the subject. You'll get that article back via return email.

To get a list of the top articles for Windows 98, for instance, send a message to mshelp@microsoft.com with Q187602 as your subject. You'll get back, via email, "Top Articles for Windows 98," a list of more than 60 useful Win98-specific articles. You can then send email to get specific articles of interest from that list.

If you're getting ready to upgrade to Windows Me, send a message to mshelp@microsoft.com with Q272156 as the subject. This returns a tremendously useful article called "Tips Before Purchase, Setup, and After Setup of Windows Millennium Edition (Me)."

When you add a new page to your Favorites list in Internet Explorer, it sometimes adds its own cool icon to the Favorites list. That can make it easier to pick out your favorite pages from a long list.

So why do these icons inevitably disappear? Blame it on a bug in Windows, which throws away the cool icons whenever you clean out your Temporary Internet Files folder. And try as you might, once you've lost these icons, it's practically impossible to get them back.

Unless you know about a wonderful free utility called FavOrg. Written by Patrick Phillipot for PC Magazine, this utility goes through your Favorites list and brings back every one of the cool icons, then saves it in a special location where Internet Explorer can't accidentally throw it away.

Download FavOrg from ZDNet. It's a small program that installs easily and works exactly as advertised.

Do you have a CD-R drive? If so, beware of a possible problem that can occur when you copy files and folders to a CD-R and then copy them back to your PC. During the original copying process, Windows changes the file's attribute to Read Only. That's unavoidable, because CD-R is by definition a read-only medium after you copy files to it. When you then copy the file or folder back to your hard drive, the Read Only attribute remains set.

If these are document files, the effect is only annoying and the attribute is easy to remove:

FROM A DOS PROMPT

You can use the ATTRIB command to reset the Read-Only attribute for all files in the directory or subdirectory in question:

ATTRIB -R [drive:path]*.* /S

FROM AN EXPLORER WINDOW

Select all files in the folder or subfolder and right-click, then clear the Read Only checkbox.

But if these are program files, especially those in the root directory or the Windows folder, your job is much tougher. Some of those files are supposed to be Read Only, while others (such as INI files and the Registry) are intended to be updated and will cause all sorts of problems if they're set to be Read Only.

The solution is to use backup software, a compression program like WinZip, or an imaging program like Drive Image or Ghost. This creates a single archive file that is marked Read Only by Windows. Windows doesn't tamper with the files and folders in that archive, so when you use the same program to restore the backed-up files, all the attributes on all the files are properly restored.

Having too many fonts can drag your system performance down to a crawl.

If you have hundreds of fonts loaded, you can speed up your system dramatically by uninstalling or moving fonts you don't use very often. Just make sure you don't delete the default Windows fonts! How can you tell which are the default fonts? Simple -- open the Fonts folder and look at the date stamp on each font file. Double-click the Fonts icon in Control Panel. Click the Details button in the Fonts folder, and then click the Modified heading to sort the list by date.

Default fonts have the same date as other Windows system files, as shown in this list:

• Windows 95 (retail/SP1), build 4.00.950/4.00.950A: 7/11/95
• Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2, build 4.00.1111 (4.00.950B): 8/24/96
• Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2.1, build 4.03.1212-1214 (4.00.950B): 8/24/96 - 8/27/97
• Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2.5, build 4.03.1214 (4.00.950C): 8/24/96 - 11/18/97
• Windows 98 (original), build 4.10.1998: 5/11/98
• Windows 98 Second Edition, build 4.10.2222A: 4/23/99
• Windows Millennium Edition, build 4.90.3000: 6/8/2000

Does your PC's clock lose a few seconds every day? That's perfectly normal, even with the best hardware. Every so often, it's a good idea to check the exact time and reset your system clock. You could go the long away around by opening Control Panel and double-clicking the Date/Time icon. But there's a much faster way: double-click on the clock itself, at the right side of the taskbar. That opens the Date/Time option, where you can click to adjust hours, minutes, or seconds. Click OK to save your changes.

Do you routinely use several types of paper in your printer? It's a world-class pain when you have to mess with a printer options dialog box every time you want to print an envelope or a legal-sized sheet. And you don't have to, if you know this shortcut, which works in all Windows versions.

The secret is to create a second (or third) icon in the Printers folder for the printer in question. By choosing a different paper size, orientation, and other settings for each icon, you can control exactly how Windows handles each print job.

Click the Start button, click Settings, and choose Printers. In the Printers window, double-click the Add Printer icon. Follow the wizard's prompts and choose the printer you want to install. Choose the option to use the currently installed driver and give the icon a descriptive name, such as DeskJet Envelope.

Back in the Printers folder, right-click the icon you just created and choose Properties. Select paper size, orientation, paper source, and other options, then click OK. to save your changes. From now on, you can print that type of document just by choosing that printer icon from the Print dialog box of any program.

My favorite Internet search engine? It's no contest: Google is the best. And if you use any version of Internet Explorer 5, you can supercharge your browser's search capabilities by adding the Google toolbar.

The Google toolbar includes an input box where you can enter search terms without having to go through a separate page. Other buttons let you highlight search terms, see additional information about the page, and jump straight to the Google page. Download the Google toolbar and install it today. You won't regret it.

One of the most common causes of Windows crashes and other problems is, believe it or not, a bug in your video driver. Updating this driver can magically cure some problems with system crashes, lock-ups, and a scrambled on-screen display.

If you're experiencing this sort of problem, check with the manufacturer of your video card to see if an update driver is available. If the answer is yes, download and install the new driver using these instructions:

1. Create a new folder in your My Documents folder. Call it Updated Video Drivers (or any other name that will help you identify its contents later).
2. Download the new driver files into the new folder you just created. Unzip the downloaded files if necessary.
3. If you're lucky, the new driver includes its own Setup file. In that case, run the Setup program and follow its instructions to automatically update the video driver.
4. Click the Start button and choose Settings, Control Panel. Double-click the Display icon.
5. In the Display Properties dialog box, click the Settings tab.
6. Click the Advanced button and choose the Adapter tab.
7. Click the Change button.
8. In the first screen of the wizard, choose the Specify Location (Advanced) option and click Next.
9. Choose the Display a list of all the drivers option and click Next.
10. In the following screen, ignore the entries in the list and click the Have Disk button. Browse to the folder that contains your new drivers and click OK.
11. Select the name of your video driver from the list and click OK. If you don't see a driver in the list, you did something wrong along the way and need to check that you downloaded and unzipped the correct files.
12. Follow the wizard's prompts to complete installation of the driver. Restart your computer when prompted, and you're finished!

Are you baffled by a Windows error message, crash, or other mysterious mishap? Are you certain you saw a tip here but forgot to bookmark the page? The answer might be closer than you think. Click in the Search for box at the top of this page, and enter the term you're looking for. Click the Go button to see all the pages that match your search terms. The search box is available on any page of the Focus on Windows site.

Internet Explorer includes a feature called Forms AutoComplete. With the help of this feature, which is on by default, IE "remembers" text you type in search boxes and forms on Web pages. If you find this feature annoying, or you're concerned that is gives away too much information about how you use your computer, you have three options:

1. You can turn off the feature completely. From IE, choose Tools, Internet Options, and click the Content tab. Click the AutoComplete button, and then clear the Forms checkbox. Close the dialog box. This setting prevents IE from memorizing any future entries.
2. In the same dialog box, click the Clear Forms button to erase the current contents of the forms cache. This clears all entries.
3. You can also erase one entry at a time from each list. Click in the box on the Web page and then press the down arrow to go through the list. When you reach an entry you want to get rid of, press the Delete key to erase that entry.

When you install a new piece of hardware, what should you use when prompted to supply a device driver? If the new device came with its own floppy disk or CD, don't automatically assume that's the best choice. It's possible that the hardware maker has issued a new driver set to fix problems in the original release. Before you plug in the new hardware, visit the manufacturer's Web site and look for updated drivers. If you find a newer release, download the update and have those driver files ready when it's time to begin the installation.

If a Windows program is giving you problems, the best thing to do is to uninstall it, using the Add/Remove Programs option in Control Panel. What should you do if the pesky program isn't in the list of installed programs? Although it sounds paradoxical, sometimes the best solution is to reinstall the program. After completing the program setup, check the Add/Remove Programs option again; you may discover that now you can uninstall it.

If you use Windows 95, 98, or Me, your best bet for preventing crashes is to install the System Resource Meter. You'll find it on the Programs menu -- click Accessories, System Tools, to run it.

Is the Resource Meter missing? Because this utility is not installed by default, you need to add it from the Windows CD or the compressed Setup files on your hard disk.

Open Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs, and click the Windows Setup tab. Select System Tools and click the Details button. Scroll down the list to the entry for System Resource Meter. Check the box and click OK to add the Resource Meter.

Every Windows user should know about two shortcuts that make it easier to keep track of favorite Web sites:

Press Ctrl+I to show or hide the Favorites Explorer Bar, the pane to the left of the browser window that contains all the Web shortcuts you've saved. Right-click on any icon in the Explorer bar to rename, delete, or copy the shortcut.

Press Ctrl+B to open the Organize Favorites dialog box, where you can edit, copy, rename, delete, and reorganize Web shortcuts.

Every time you add a new item to Internet Explorer's Favorites folder, IE insists on placing it at the bottom of the list. After a while, if the list gets too long, you may find it difficult to locate the sites you saved. Here are two great solutions:

Sort those Favorites in alphabetical order. Click the Favorites choice on the menu at the top of the Internet Explorer window. Right-click on any shortcut that appears in the drop-down menu, and then choose Sort by Name. (Make sure you right-click in the right place; this menu will not appear if you try to right-click on Add to Favorites or Organize Favorites, both of which appear at the very top of the menu. This menu option is also not available in the Favorites bar that appears at the left side of the IE window.)

Arrange your Favorites in any order you like. Click the Favorites button on IE's main toolbar to display the Explorer bar on the left of the screen. Then drag shortcuts up or down and drop them in the position where you want them to remain.

You've got a brand-new hard disk, with 20, 30, even 40 or more gigabytes of storage. How should you divide it up? Don't just settle for the FDISK default of one huge partition. Instead, think about your storage needs. In general, I recommend using at least three partitions;

C: (Windows) - This is the drive where your Windows and Program Files folders will go. Don't scrimp on space. Set aside at least 4GB of space, which should be enough to handle as many programs as you're likely to install.

D: (Data) - I like to keep data on a partition that has its own separate drive letter, which makes it easier to back up. Use at least half the remaining space on your drive for this partition.

E: (Music+Media) - If you collect MP3s or edit digital video files, you already know how much disk space they can gobble up. Give these files their own drive letter and as much free disk space as you can spare.

For experts only, I recommend installing a second drive and using it as a storage location for backup files. After you get Windows working just right, use a utility like Norton Ghost or PowerQuest's Drive Image to create identical copies of your main (C:) partition. If anything goes wrong with Windows, you can restore that partition and be back on-line in no time.

Are you thinking about trying a new Windows version, such as Windows 2000 or Windows XP? It's possible to run two versions of Windows on a single PC. But setting up a "dual-boot" system takes a little planning and some technical knowledge.

If you want to run Windows 2000 or XP on a system with Windows 95/98 or Me, be sure to follow these rules:

You must have a separate partition or drive, with its own drive letter. Ideally, Windows 9X/Me should go on C:, with Windows 2000/XP on D:. Never, ever try to install two versions of Windows on your C: drive.

Install Windows 2000 or XP last, after you get Windows 9X/Me working properly. Then, during Setup, click the Advanced Options button and check the I want to choose the installation partition during Setup box.

After you finish setup and restart your computer, you'll be able to choose your operating system from the Windows 2000/XP startup menu.

Want to install two versions of Windows 9X or Me on a single computer? If you want Windows 98 and Windows Me on one PC, you must use a third-party "boot manager" program to handle the work.

Setting up an email account in Outlook Express takes a little work. If you have several accounts, keeping track of all those server names and settings can give you a splitting headache. Don't reach for the aspirin. Instead, back up those settings right now so you can restore them automatically if anything ever happens to your email setup.

From Outlook Express, click the Tools menu and choose Accounts. Click the Mail tab, choose the name of the account you want to back up, and then click the Export button. Enter a descriptive name for the backup file and save it (Windows automatically adds the IAF extension). Repeat this process for each of your email accounts.

Store the IAF file(s) in a secure place, such as on a floppy disk or CD. If you ever need to restore your mail settings, return to the Email Accounts dialog box and use the Import button to restore your backed-up account settings from the IAF file.

Do you have a dial-up connection to the Internet? If a call knocks your computer offline, it may be because you have call waiting active. You can disable 'call waiting' by adding a special code (usually *70, or #70,) at the front of the phone number in your Dial-Up Networking settings. This option is not permanent; Call Waiting is re-enabled as soon as you disconnect the modem.

Curious to learn what sort of information Web sites are saving about you? Browser cookies are stored on your computer, which means you can inspect them any time.

To see all the cookies that Internet Explorer has stored on your computer, click the Start button, choose Run, type Cookies in the Run box, and press Enter. Each cookie is stored as a separate file that includes your username, an @ sign, and the name of the site that stored the information. You can double-click on any cookie to open its file in Notepad, and you can use the Delete key to get rid of any cookie you decide you don't want or need.

Deciphering a cookie's contents this way is difficult. To make the job much easier, download the free Cookie Viewer utility from Karen Kenworthy's superb collection of Windows Power Tools. This lets you look at all the cookie's details and delete any that you don't want with the click of a button.

When you visit sites on the Internet, Windows keeps a copy of every file you download--including HTML pages and graphics--in the Temporary Internet Files folder, also known as the Web cache. Caching files makes Web pages load faster in your browser, because when IE finds a file that hasn't changed since the last time it was downloaded, it can open the local copy instead of having to download the file from the Internet. The effect is especially noticeable if you have a slow dial-up connection and you visit the same page several times during a browsing session. The first time you load the page, it make take a while; a Web page like the popular MSN home page, for example, might be made up of 20 or more separate files.

Unfortunately, the Web cache doesn't always speed up browsing. In fact, if the cache is too big or contains a corrupted file, you may experience performance problems and compatibility glitches when using Internet Explorer.

By default, Internet Explorer sets aside roughly 3% of the system drive to use as the Web cache. On today's super-size disk drives, that can cause the cache to balloon to hundreds of megabytes. That's far more space than you need, and on most systems it's too big for Internet Explorer to manage comfortably. To avoid these problems and improve performance, keep Internet Explorer's cache under control. I prefer to keep the maximum size of the Web cache to no more than 20-40MB in size. You might want to experiment with different sizes to see what works best on your system.

Before getting started, use the Windows Cleanup Wizard to empty the cache.

1. Choose Tools, Internet Options.
2. Click the General tab.
3. Click the Settings button to open the dialog box that controls all settings for the Temporary Internet Files folder.
4. In the Amount of disk space to use box, enter your preferred cache size, measured in megabytes. Enter 20, for instance, to specify that you want to the cache to be no more than 20MB in size. (You can also use the slider and spinner controls to adjust this number, but entering the number directly is easier.)
5. Close both dialog boxes and restart Internet Explorer.

Do you clear your browser's cache regularly? Many people who are concerned about performance and privacy do exactly that. You can tell Internet Explorer that you want this cleanup performed automatically each time you shut down. To turn this setting on, open an IE window and click Tools, Internet Options. (You can also open the Internet Options dialog box from Control Panel.) Click the Advanced tab and scroll down to the Security section. Check the Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed box. Click OK to close both dialog boxes and then restart your browser to make the change effective.

Windows power management isn't just for notebook computers. It can also work wonders on desktop computers. By using the Stand By (or Suspend) feature, you can dramatically reduce the amount of power that your computer uses without actually shutting down. When you restart your computer, it should restart much more quickly than normal, with all the windows that you previously had open so you can pick up right where you left off.

That's how it's supposed to work, anyway. The trouble is, Stand By doesn't always work properly. The usual cause is a device driver (for a video or network card, say) that prevent Windows from shutting down properly. If you're having power problems, use Microsoft's free Power Management Troubleshooter tool (Pmtshoot.exe) to find the problem so you can fix it.

Full instructions are available in a Microsoft Knowledge Base article, Description of the Power Management Troubleshooter Tool, which also includes a link that you can use to download the latest version of this helpful utility. Follow the instructions carefully, and be sure to uninstall the PMTshoot program when you've finished with it.

Browser cookies can help you save an incredible amount of time when surfing the Web. At the Focus on Windows Forum, for example, you can choose to save your login name and password on your computer. If you select this option, the information you enter is saved in a cookie file on your computer. Online shopping sites use similar techniques so that they can "recognize" you when you return. That way, you don't have to enter the same information every time you visit the site.

If a cookie file is accidentally deleted, the Web site has no idea who you are. you'll have to re-enter your username and password before you can post a message on the forum. If you can't remember that information, you can waste time trying to track it down or having to enter all your information from scratch.

The solution is to back up your cookies. With Internet Explorer, you can back up every bit of data from your cookie collection into a plain text file. If your cookies get crunched or you move to a new computer, you can restore them in an instant.

From Internet Explorer, choose File, Import and Export. Click through the Import/Export Wizard, choosing the Export Cookies option. Enter a filename and location in the Export to a file box and click OK. Keep the backup in a safe place so you can recover it if needed.

Windows uses two locations to store files it's working with on a temporary basis.

The folder identified by the system variable TEMP (typically C:WindowsTemp), is where Windows stores files that a program uses while it's running. If you open a document in Word, for example, the program creates a handful of temporary files to keep track of changes so you can undo them if necessary. To see which folder Windows is using as TEMP, open an MS-DOS Prompt window and type the command SET. Press Enter and Windows will display a list of current environment variables, including the location of the TEMP folder.

The Temporary Internet Files folder (typically C:WindowsTemporary Internet Files) is the Web cache, containing pages you've viewed in Internet Explorer.

For best performance, I recommend you keep these folders uncluttered. Fortunately, Windows gives you several tools that can handle this maintenance chore with push-button ease.

If you use the Disk Cleanup Wizard, you will notice that it contains separate entries for Temporary Internet Files and for Temporary Files.

Although you can manage the Temporary Internet Files folder in an Explorer window, it's easier and safer to work with this folder directly from Internet Explorer. To empty the cache completely, choose Tools, Options, and click the Delete Files button on the General tab. Do NOT choose the option to delete Offline files unless you have backed up your cookies first!

If you use a modem to connect to the Internet over a phone line, you know what a pain it is to set up one of these connections. That's why I recommend making a backup copy of all your dial-up settings. You can use the backup file to copy all your connection settings to a new PC or to your existing PC, in case your existing connection is damaged. Here's how:

After setting up your dial-up connection, open the My Computer window and double-click the Dial-Up Networking icon to display the contents of this folder.

Click to select the icon you want to back up, and drag the icon onto any blank space on the desktop or in any folder window. This creates a special shortcut called a Dial-Up Networking Exported File. Copy the shortcut to a floppy disk to save it. To restore the backup file (on the same computer or a completely different computer), drag the shortcut icon into the Dial-Up Networking folder.

If you're like most Windows users, you probably have a Favorites list that scrolls right off your screen. Chances are, though, you have a handful of sites you go to more often than others. Put your favorite Favorites in a place where you can get to them without tedious scrolling: the Links bar.

Here's what you need to know about the Links bar:

Every copy of Internet Explorer includes this toolbar. If it's not visible on your screen, open an IE window and choose View, Toolbars, Links.

The Links toolbar is harder to kill than Freddy Krueger. If you try to delete it, Windows will restore it.

Microsoft insists on filling the Links bar with shortcuts to its own sites. You can right-click on any shortcut and choose Delete to get rid of it.

To add your own shortcuts to the Links bar, open the page in an IE window. Click on the icon at the left of the Address bar, drag it into the Links bar, and release. To arrange shortcuts on the Links bar, drag them back and forth.

You can use the Links bar as a drop-down menu by pointing your mouse just to the left of the Links label until it turns to a two-headed arrow. Drag the toolbar to the far right of the screen, so all you can see is the word Links. Now click the small double arrow to drop down a list of shortcuts on the Links bar.

Short titles are easier to work with. If a shortcut you add to the Links bar has a long name, right-click on the shortcut button and choose Rename from the menu. Then give it a short but meaningful name.

If you use Windows 98, you may discover a Task Scheduler item called "Tune-up Application Start." What's that all about? Relax. You're not infected with a virus, and this small utility should have positive effects on performance.

Windows 98 uses a program called Walign.exe to physically rearrange the code for Office 95 and Office 97 program files so that it fits perfectly in your disk cache. A different program, called Winalign.exe, does the same job for other programs. (It's available only as part of the expensive Windows 98 Resource Kit.) The effect -- at least on older computers -- is to reduce the time it takes to load big programs. The built-in Windows defragmenter and Norton's SpeedDisk expand the capabilities of WinAlign by monitoring the programs you use most frequently and aligning them automatically as part of the defragmentation process.

A Microsoft Knowledge Base article, "Description of the Walign.exe and Winalign.exe Tools", explains how these utilities work.

Don't expect miracles from Walign, especially if you've got an up-to-date PC. This utility was originally designed for use in an era when 32MB was a lot of RAM. If you have more than 64MB of RAM and a fast CPU, the difference will be barely noticeable. In addition, newer programs like Windows 2000 are already "aligned," eliminating the need for Walign.exe. If you use Windows Me, the Walign.exe program is still in the WindowsSystem folder, but it doesn't run automatically as it does in Windows 98.

Do you keep names, addresses, and other important information in your Windows Address Book? You can print the contents of the Address Book so you have access to these details even when you're away from your PC.

To open the Windows Address Book from Outlook Express, click the Address Book icon. To open it all on its own, click the Start button, choose Run, and enter the command WAB.

If you only want to print the details of a few contacts, select those contact from the main Address Book window first. Then choose File, Print. Options in the Print dialog box let you choose the format: Memo style offers the most details, Business Card style is more efficient, and the Phone List option skips addresses in favor of a simple list of names and telephone numbers.

Before you print out your entire phone book, try selecting three or four names first, and then experiment with the different print options to see how they work.

Do you have trouble seeing which file or program goes with each taskbar button? Here's a great solution: increase the height of the taskbar to two lines or even three, so you can see more buttons. Aim the mouse pointer at the top edge of the taskbar until it turns to a two-headed arrow, then drag up to create an extra row. If your screen resolution is at least 1024 X 768, you have room for at least two rows; at higher resolutions, you can comfortably use three rows.

But don't stop there! Because of an undocumented bug in Windows, you may discover that all the buttons for running programs line up on a single row, with all your Quick Launch icons on the other row. To fix this problem, start with a one-row taskbar and follow these steps:

1. Right-click on any empty region of the Taskbar to display the shortcut menu.

2. Hide all existing toolbars, including the Quick Launch bar. Right-click on any empty space on the taskbar and click the Toolbars menu. Select any entry with a check mark to its left, including Quick Launch. Repeat until all toolbars are hidden.

3. Click the top of the taskbar and drag the two-headed arrow up to create the number of rows you want.

4. Open the Toolbars menu again. Click the Quick Launch entry to make the Quick Launch toolbar visible again. Do the same if you want to show any other toolbars. (Most people don't use additional toolbars.)

5. Move the Quick Launch bar back to the left, where it belongs. Click the vertical line at the left of the Quick Launch bar (called the sizing handle) and drag it to the right of the Start menu. If necessary, use the sizing handle on the taskbar to change its size and make more Quick Launch icons visible.

After you finish this tweak, you'll be able to read the text on each taskbar button, and you'll also find that the little icons in the Quick Launch bar and the system notification area (the "tray" at the right of the taskbar) stack up as well, giving you more room in these areas, too.

Are you uncertain of exactly what hardware is installed in your computer or how it's configured? Use the little-known System Information utility to gather all the information you need. Look for it on the Start menu--click Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Information--or type Msinfo32 in the Run box. This clever utility is found in all versions of Windows, although its appearance is slightly different depending on which version you use. It displays full details about hardware, device drivers, and resource usage and can be invaluable when troubleshooting problems.

If you're having a problem with a piece of hardware in your computer, you may be able to quickly set things right by updating the hardware driver with a new, improved version. Start by identifying the exact model of the device in question. Open Device Manager, click to select the entry for the device, and choose Properties. Click the Driver tab on the resulting dialog box, where you'll find two buttons. Click the Driver File Details button to see version information for the currently installed driver.

Next, go to the Web site for the company that made that device and search through its download libraries for an updated driver. If you find a newer driver than the one you have installed, make sure it's compatible with your version of Windows. If so, download it to your system, return to Device Manager, and then use the Update Driver button to replace the existing driver with the newly downloaded version.

Are you puzzled by mysterious program crashes? If you use Windows 95, 98, or Windows Me, you may find a clue in a well-hidden troubleshooting Log called Faultlog.txt. This file, which is stored in the Windows folder, automatically captures detailed information about the problem that caused the crash. Opening this file in Notepad (or any text editor) can give you details about the specific file where the crash occurred, which may help you in your troubleshooting efforts.

If you install a custom copy of Internet Explorer provided with a new computer or from your Internet service provider, you may find that the custom browser includes a lengthy ad for that company, in the title bar of each browser window you open. You can remove the "branding" (as this text is called) by editing the Registry

If you're comfortable with the Windows Registry Editor, look for the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerMainWindow Title

Edit the text you find there to insert your own custom message in the browser's title bar, or delete the key to restore the default value, "Microsoft Internet Explorer."

Are you an HTML whiz? You can embed all sorts of fancy code, including images, animations, and Javascript routines, in email messages. By default, when you compose a new message, Outlook Express shows you what that message will look like to the recipient. For more precise editing, you can change this default "What you see is what you get" (WYSIWYG) view to a text-based HTML source code view. In the new message window, choose View, Source Edit. Three tabs on the bottom of the message window let you switch from WYSIWYG editing to source code to a simple Preview. Note that this option is only available if your message is in HTML format; the option is grayed out for text messages.

Are you thinking about upgrading Windows or Internet Explorer? Before you click the Setup icon, make sure your computer is working properly. Upgrades are most successful if you've got the right drivers, patches, and system updates from Windows Update in place first. One strong caution: Never upgrade to a new version of Windows to fix a problem with your existing version. This strategy rarely works. In fact, it can backfire on you, as small problems in your old Setup become magnified into big problems with the upgrade.

Every time you install or reinstall Windows, the Setup program demands that you type in a 25-character Product Key as an anti-piracy measure. The key is typically on a sticker on the CD's jewel case, or with the software license on some OEM copies. If you've lost the Product Key for Windows 98 or Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me), don't despair. You can find it in the Registry on your current machine.

Open the Windows Registry Editor (click the Start button, choose Run, and enter Regedit). In the left-hand pane, expand branches of the tree until you find this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrent Version

Click to select the key in the left pane, then scroll through the right pane and look for ProductKey. Note that this tip won't work for Windows 2000.

If you use Internet Explorer 5, you can save any Web page, complete with graphics, as a file on your hard disk. This option lets you view the page later, even if the Web site operator removes the page or the Web site is no longer visible.

To use this feature, open the page in Internet Explorer and choose File, Save As. In the Save As Type box, choose "Web Archive, single file." Give the page whatever name you want, pick the location on your drive where you want to save it, and click OK. Internet Explorer saves the page and all its linked graphics in a single archive file.

To view the saved page, double-click its icon. The page will open in an Internet Explorer window. Note that this trick works for most Web pages, but some, especially complex pages with the ASP extension, may not save properly. Also, you may be unable to save pages that you're viewing on a secure connection.

Without your knowledge, Windows programs can "hijack" file extensions as part of their Setup routine. This is especially annoying if you use Windows Media Player for MP3, MIDI, and other audio or video files and suddenly discover that another program has taken over this function.

Fortunately, the fix is simple: Open Media Player (to find it, click the Start button and choose Programs, Accessories, then the Entertainment group). From Media Player's menu, choose View, Options. Click the Formats tab. Check the box for each format you want to associate with Media Player.

Every Windows user should know about Internet Explorer's Advanced options. (To view the Advanced tab, click Tools, Internet Options from the browser window.) These settings directly affect security and basic usability. But figuring out what each one-line entry does can be baffling, unless you know the secret. With the Advanced tab of the Internet Options dialog box visible, click the question mark icon in the title bar; then point to the line in question and click again. This technique gives you extra details about each feature in the list, contained in a pop-up window. To save the Help text, right-click on the pop-up and choose Copy or Print from the shortcut menu.

Safe Mode is a special startup option you can use to troubleshoot and fix serious Windows problems. It's especially useful if you've installed a new hardware driver that prevents you from starting Windows normally, often torturing you with the Blue Screen of Death instead of the Windows desktop. Safe Mode can work around these problems because it loads only the simplest, safest drivers for video, storage, and other crucial system devices and ignores third-party device drivers that may be causing a problem.

When Windows detects some types of problems, it boots into Safe Mode automatically, giving you the chance to troubleshoot. (If you use Windows Me, starting in Safe Mode launches an excellent troubleshooting wizard.) You can force Windows to start in Safe Mode by using the startup menu. Power up your machine, and immediately press and hold the Ctrl key until the text menu appears. Choose Safe Mode from the list of options.

Use Safe Mode to try to get rid of the software or hardware driver causing the problem. Try to uninstall any utility or driver software first, if possible, using Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs option. Then open Control Panel's System option and click the Device Manager tab to remove the troublesome device from the list of installed devices.

How many fonts is too many fonts? In the original documentation for Windows 98, Microsoft claimed there were no limits on the number of fonts you can install. Much later, they admitted that's not true. The entries for all installed fonts must fit within a single Registry key, which is limited to 64,000 characters. In theory, that means Windows can manage a maximum of about 1,000 fonts. But in practice, the number is smaller still. As a general rule, I suggest that you avoid using more than 200-300 fonts at any one time. If you try to use more than this number of fonts, you may run into strange behavior and sudden system crashes.

To view all the fonts installed on your system, click the Start button, choose Run, and enter Fonts in the Run box. This opens the Fonts folder, a special system folder that displays all your fonts and lets you see what they look like.

When you start Windows 95 or 98, you may encounter this odd error message:

There are no spare stack pages. It may be necessary to increase the setting of 'MinSPs' in System.ini to prevent possible stack faults. There are currently SPs allocated.

This error occurs when a Windows device driver runs low on temporary memory space. Windows sets aside several blocks of extra memory, known as spare stack pages, so that device drivers can continue to function in this situation without causing a system crash. The default number of spare stack pages is 2. (Don't confuse this error with the "Stacks=" line in the Config.sys file; these are two separate issues.)

If Windows 95/98 runs out of spare stack pages, you see this warning message. To fix the problem, launch Notepad, open the System.ini file, and add the following line to the [386Enh] section:

MinSPs=4

If the problem persists, increase the value of MinSPs in increments of 4--to 8, 12, or 16, for example. Don't worry about using too much memory, either, because each extra stack page gobbles up only a tiny 4KB of memory.

Do you use some programs more than others? For one-click access to your favorite programs, create a shortcut for each program and drag it onto the Quick Launch bar. This is the small area of the taskbar that appears just to the right of the Start button on any system running Windows 98, Windows Me, or Windows 2000. The feature is also available on Windows 95 and NT 4 if you've installed IE4's Windows Desktop Update.

To add a shortcut to the Quick Launch bar, use either of the following techniques:
If you already have a shortcut to the program on the desktop or the Start menu, aim the mouse pointer at the shortcut, hold down the right mouse button, and drag the shortcut to a blank space in the Quick Launch bar. When you see a thin black line, release the mouse button and choose Create Shortcut(s) Here from the pop-up menu.
To create a shortcut from scratch, point to any blank space in the Quick Launch bar and right-click. Choose Open from the shortcut menu. In the Quick Launch folder window, point to any empty space, right-click, and choose New, Shortcut. Follow the wizard's prompts to create your new shortcut.

Are some of the icons in your Quick Launch bar invisible? This small area just to the right of the Start button is ideal for creating one-click shortcuts to your favorite programs, but if you add too many shortcuts, you quickly run out of room. Here's what to do when that happens:

Drag your favorite icons to the left, so they appear at the beginning of the Quick Launch bar. The first four icons are always visible.
Click the thick line at the right of the Quick Launch bar and drag it to the right to expand it and make room for more icons. Of course, this eats into the space available to display buttons for open programs on the taskbar.
Click the double arrow at the right of the Quick Launch bar to pop up a list of the hidden icons. This requires an extra click compared to the normal one-click operation of these shortcuts, but it's still more efficient than the Start menu!

One of the most useful Windows utilities of all wasn't written by Microsoft. The Imaging for Windows utility was originally written in 1995 by Wang Software. That company was bought by Kodak, which now markets the Imaging software. Imaging is included with every Windows version, including Windows Me and Windows 2000. (If you can't find it on your system, open Control Panel and choose Add/Remove Programs; then open the Accessories group and check the Imaging option.)

You'll find Imaging in the Accessories folder on the Programs menu. It's ideal for viewing digital images, scanned documents, and electronic faxes. The full version allows you to scan, edit, and annotate all sorts of image files, including Bitmap, TIFF, JPEG, and PCX files. A special preview version is useful when you just want to look at an image without editing it.

If you have Windows Me, you can open any image file in the Imaging program. Hold down the Shift key as you right-click on the file icon, and then choose Imaging from the list of installed programs.

Do you use the Windows desktop as a launch pad for programs and a storage place for your favorite files and folders? If so, you should know the one-click shortcut that clears away all open windows so you can immediately see what's on the desktop.

Look for the Show Desktop icon on the Quick Launch bar, just to the right of the Start button. If you're not sure which button is which, rest the mouse pointer over each icon for a second until a pop-up label appears.

Best of all, this button is a toggle. Click it once to show the desktop, at which point you can start a program or open a file from the desktop. Then click the Show Desktop button again to put all your windows back the way they were.

There's no need to be puzzled over what to do when confronted with a dialog box packed with mysterious options. Instead, use context-sensitive help to get just the right details. When you're stumped by a dialog box, look for a small question mark icon in the title bar. Click that icon and then point to the option to get a quick explanation of how it works and what you can do with it. If the question mark icon isn't available, try this: point to an option and then click the right mouse button. It doesn't work with every dialog box in every program, but you'll be pleasantly surprised at how often this help option is available.

When you close a window, does it snap shut in one smooth motion? Or does it make a series of herky-jerky movements as it closes? If your windows aren't shutting as smoothly as they used to, the culprit could be your wallpaper.

The more intricate your wallpaper, the more likely you are to experience this problem. One solution is to update your video card with one that contains more memory. Older display adapters may have as little as 2MB of memory to move data to and from the screen. Newer video boards typically include 4MB, 8MB, or 16MB of memory, which speeds up complex displays tremendously.

If your budget won't stretch enough for a new video adapter, you have several other choices. You can dial the color depth back from True Color to High Color or even 256 colors, or use a graphics editing tool to save the wallpaper graphic in a smaller format. Or, if the jerky movements don't bother you, let it be. The slow performance won't have any adverse effect on your PC.

Think you know every pull-down menu in your favorite programs? Think again. If you hold down the Shift key and click a menu choice, the results are sometimes different. Use these two shifted shortcuts in Internet Explorer, for instance:

Normally, clicking Favorites, Organize Favorites in Internet Explorer brings up the tiny, hard-to-use Organize Favorites dialog box. But if you hold down the Shift key, your Favorites folder opens in Explorer.

If you're having trouble loading the most recent version of a Web page, hold down the Shift key and click the Refresh button. This forces IE to bypass the cache and load the page from the Web server where it's stored.

Have you tried Internet Explorer's full-screen view? It's the ideal way to browse information-packed pages, without being bothered by menus, toolbars, and other screen clutter. Press F11 to toggle full-screen view on and off.

Normally, when you pop a disc into your PC's CD drive, Windows examines it immediately. If it's a music CD, it plays right away. If it's a data CD, Windows tries to run its default program automatically. This feature, called AutoRun or AutoPlay, is usually a time-saver.

But what if you don't want that automatic startup? Here's the simple solution: As you insert the CD, hold down the Shift key and keep it held down until the CD is safely in the drive. This shortcut tells Windows to ignore the current CD.

If you use IE5, a well-hidden feature can make searching a breeze. Instead of going to the home page for your favorite search engine, you can enter your search terms right in the browser window. Here's how:

Click the Search button on the IE toolbar to open the Search pane at the left of the browser window. Now click the Customize button. In the Customize Search Settings dialog box, click the Use one search service for all searches option. Choose the search engine you prefer from the scrolling list, and click OK to save your changes. After making this change, you can click the Search button again, and a mini-version of your preferred search engine will appear in the pane at the left of the browser window.

OK, you clicked IE5's Search button and used the search pane to track down a word or phrase. But you're not happy with the result. What do you do? Click the Next button in the Search pane. This shortcut cycles through up to eight different search engines, including AltaVista, Northern Light, and InfoSeek, to find the best matches. If you want to go straight to a particular search engine, click the drop-down arrow to the right of the Next button and choose a name from the list.

Even if you don't see any buttons on the Taskbar, Windows may be hard at work in the background, running utility programs that take up memory and system resources. Antivirus scanners fall into this category, as do many multimedia utilities. How do you know what's running on your PC at any given time? Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to see the Close Programs list, which shows the complete inventory of programs in use. Explorer and Systray are the two programs that should always be on this list; anything else is optional.

In some cases, those programs can interfere with the proper operation of Windows system utilities such as ScanDisk and Disk Defragmenter. You should always try to shut down programs the proper way -- try right-clicking icons in the system tray at the right of the Taskbar, for example, to see if a shutdown option is available for the program that goes with that icon. As a last resort you can shut down a program from the Close Programs list by selecting its entry in the list and clicking the End Task button. Be aware that this approach may cause unexpected error messages, although it cannot damage your computer.

The System Configuration Utility is one of Windows 98's best-kept secrets. Among its many capabilities is a foolproof way to edit your four startup files--Autoexec.bat, Config.sys, Win.ini, and System.ini. Although you can edit these plain text files with Notepad, it's easier and safer to make changes using checkboxes in the System Configuration Utility.

To start the program, click the Start button, choose Run, and enter MSCONFIG. Each of the four startup files gets its own tab in the System Configuration Utility dialog box, and each line in the file has its own check box. Click the New button to add a line to any file. Click the Edit button to change a file. Clear the check box to temporarily disable the currently selected line.

Has Windows crashed with a blue screen and a message warning of an error in MSGSRV32? If so, it's time to reboot. You can easily recover from some Windows faults, but not this one. The 32-bit Message Server program is the air traffic controller of Windows, managing communications among Plug and Play hardware devices, Setup programs, and the Windows shell. If MSGSRV32 stops working, you need to restart and see if you've experienced any damage.

If the problem continues to occur, you may have a serious system problem. Try to track down the cause of these messages using the procedures in Troubleshooting 101.

Many people don't realize that every version of Internet Explorer includes a Repair utility. If you experience problems, try using this tool to fix any damaged system files.

Click the Start button, choose Settings, and open Control Panel. Double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon and select the Internet Explorer entry. Click the Add/Remove button and select the option to Repair Internet Explorer.

Have you experienced problems after upgrading to a new version of Internet Explorer? Sometimes, the best solution is to regroup, uninstall the upgrade, and return to your IE previous version. To go back, double-click Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs icon and choose the Internet Explorer entry from the list. Then click the Add/Remove button and choose Restore the Previous Windows Configuration. Click the Advanced button to get rid of Windows Media Player, Outlook Express, and all the Setup files.

Before you even think of upgrading Internet Explorer, make sure you know which version you currently have installed. Open an IE window, pull down the Help menu, and choose About Internet Explorer. The version number appears just below the logo. The following version numbers are the most current; if you see another number, it's time to upgrade.

Internet Explorer 6.0.....6.00.2600.0000 (Windows XP)
Internet Explorer 5.5 SP2.....5.50.4807.2300
Internet Explorer 5.01 SP2.....5.00.3314.2101 (Windows 95/98)
Internet Explorer 5.01 SP2.....5.00.3315.1000 (Windows 2000)
Internet Explorer 4.01 SP2.....4.72.3612.1713

No, that's not a typo. The official version number for Internet Explorer 5.01 starts with 5.00!

To see a complete list of IE version numbers, read article Q164539 in Microsoft's Knowledge Base.

For several years, Microsoft has included Windows components intended to make life easier and more fun for game-players. Collectively, these technologies are called DirectX, and they work with your computer's multimedia hardware (video card, monitor, sound card, and so on). Problems in DirectX components can cause strange behavior elsewhere in Windows. DirectX is included with Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows Me. It's also included with many games, giving Windows 95 users equal access.

If you're having Windows problems, try using the built-in DirectX Diagnostic tool to see whether this could be the cause. In the Run box, enter the command DXDIAG. This opens a multi-tabbed dialog box. Scroll through each tab and read about any problems on your system. You can also click the Test button on some tabs to make sure your hardware is working OK.

If you have Internet Explorer 5 or later, the technique is easy:

1. From a browser window, choose File, Import and Export.
2. Follow the wizard's prompts to export the Favorites to a file. The default is Bookmark.htm. If you also use Netscape Navigator or Communicator, choose a different name or you'll overwrite your Netscape bookmarks!
3. After saving the file, open it in a browser window.
4. Choose File, Print.
5. In the Print dialog box, check the Print table of links box and click OK.

After you upgrade to IE 5.5, you may discover that the MSN Messenger utility starts up automatically every time you start Windows. If you don't use MSN Messenger, this can be annoying. Here's how to kill the Messenger so it doesn't come back: Double-click the Messenger icon in the system tray. In the MSN Messenger Service window, choose Tools, Options. Now click the Preferences tab and clear the check mark from the box that reads Run this program when Windows starts. (In older versions of MSN Messenger, this box reads Always run this program so that I can receive alerts and messages whenever I am online.) Click OK to close the dialog box, and close the Messenger window. Now right-click on the Messenger tray icon and choose Exit.

Windows allows you to create custom shortcuts at the top of the Start menu. All you have to do is drag an icon -- any icon -- onto the Start button, and Windows creates the shortcut automatically. Use this trick with folders, programs, data files, even Control Panel icons. On a default system, you have room for about seven shortcuts, but you can give yourself some extra room by using small icons instead.

In the lower right corner of your desktop, Windows displays a tiny clock that shows the current time. If you aim the mouse pointer at the clock and let it sit there for a second, a ScreenTip pops up showing the current date. Want to add the date to the taskbar display permanently? Then download a very cool (and free!) tool called Taskbar Clock Enhancement, by Dale Nurden. Click here to download this wonderful free utility.

Does your keyboard include a key with the Windows logo? Most keyboards that come with new PCs today have this key, which is usually located between the Ctrl and Alt keys on the left side of the bottom row. Press this key to pop up the Start menu instantly. Or use it in combination with other keys to do any of the following tasks:

1. WINDOWS+R Open the Run dialog box
2. WINDOWS+E Open an Explorer window
3. WINDOWS+F Open the Find Files or Folders dialog box
4. WINDOWS+M Minimize all open windows
5. SHIFT+WINDOWS+M Undo Minimize All
6. WINDOWS+F1 Open a Help window

You can't afford not to pay attention to security settings in Internet Explorer. You'll find most settings on the Security tab of the Internet Options dialog box. Want to get there in a hurry? Skip the pull-down menus -- if your browser is open, just double-click in the lower right corner, where you see the icon that identifies your current security zone.

You've found a graphic image that you use as your desktop wallpaper, but those pesky icons (My Computer, Recycle Bin, and so on) keep getting in the way. Here's how to customize your desktop and make those icons disappear:

First, open the Display Control Panel, click the Web tab, and check the box that reads View my Active Desktop as a Web page. If there are any items in the list at the bottom of this dialog box besides your wallpaper, uncheck them.

Now click the Folder Options button at the bottom of the dialog box. Click Yes when Windows asks whether it should save your changes. In the Folder Options dialog box, click the View tab and scroll to the bottom of the list. Under Visual Settings, check the box that reads Hide icons when desktop is viewed as a Web page.

In this view, your desktop icons are hidden, so that only your wallpaper is visible. You can still access the Desktop folder using an Explorer window.

Are some of the entries on Internet Explorer's Favorites list mysteriously missing? That's not a bug, it's a feature! The Personalized Favorites Menu keeps track of shortcuts you've used frequently and those you rarely click. Over time, it hides the ones you don't use often and shows only those you've clicked recently.

To expand the entire menu so you see all shortcuts, you can click the little arrow at the bottom of the Favorites menu. Or just wait a second or two; eventually, Windows will figure out that you're having trouble and will roll out the entire menu for you.

If you find this now-you-see-it, now-you-don't stuff annoying, here's how to turn off Personalized Menus once and for all. Choose Tools, Internet Options, and click the Advanced tab. In the Browsing section, clear the checkmark next to the Enable Personalized Menus box.

If you've heard any of the horror stories about Internet Explorer 5.5, you may have decided to stick with Internet Explorer 5.01 with Service Pack 1. Good idea - this IE version is an excellent Web browser without the stability and performance problems of IE 5.5. The trouble is, Windows keeps insisting that you should update, popping up regular reminders that a new IE version is available. To shut down those reminders for good, open Internet Explorer, choose Tools, Internet Options. Click the Advanced tab, and then uncheck the Automatically check for Internet Explorer updates box.

When you save an email address, Windows stores it in a Windows Address Book data file; that file's name consists of your username plus the extension WAB, and the file is typically saved in the C:WindowsApplication DataMicrosoftAddress Book folder. Use the Find or Search option on the Start menu to track down the Address Book file and back it up regularly.

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, especially when you're trying to explain to someone else how Windows works. You can save all or part of your Windows screen as a graphic file without using third-party software. Here's how:

1. Arrange the screen so it shows the elements you want to save.

2. To capture the entire screen, press the Print Screen key. To save just the active window, hold down the Alt key and press Print Screen. The screen image is saved to the Windows Clipboard.

3. Open the Microsoft Paint program (from the Programs menu, click Accessories, Paint).

4. Choose Edit, Paste. This copies the saved data from the Clipboard into a graphics file.

5. Save the image using Paint's File, Save menu.

By default, the version of Paint included with Windows 95, 98, Me, NT 4, and 2000 saves your image as a Bitmap file (.BMP extension). Be aware that Bitmap files can be extremely large. If you've installed software that includes graphic filters, you may be able to save an image from Paint using a more efficient format, such as JPG or GIF. Microsoft Office, some versions of Microsoft Works, Microsoft Picture-It, and the Microsoft Plus Pack all include these filters. In that case, you can select a different file format from the pull down Save As Type menu when you go to save the file.

You know how to view a list of all the files in a folder. But how do you save that list so you can paste it into an email message or a report? For that file management task, you need to return to the good old DOS prompt and redirect the output of the DIR command to a text file . Here's how:

Click the MS-DOS Prompt shortcut on the Programs menu (in some Windows versions, you'll find it in the Accessories folder). In the DOS window, enter the drive letter, followed by a colon. Then use the CD command to log onto the proper directory. For instance, to see the contents of D:DataProjects, you would first type D:, press Enter, and then type CD DataProjects and press Enter.

Finally, type the DIR command followed by the redirect symbol (>) and the name of the file in which you want to save the directory listing. In this example, the command would be DIR > dirlist.txt. Now open the dirlist.txt file and inspect the list.

DOS isn't dead. Not by a long shot. Some Windows tasks are easier from a DOS prompt; in other cases, opening a DOS window is the only way to get a job done. For instance, if you want to rename a group of files in Explorer, you have to go through them one by one. In a DOS window, you can use the REN (RENAME) command with wildcards. Not sure of the syntax for a given DOS command? At the C: prompt, type the command name followed by the /? switch: REN /?, for example. That gives you a brief, but complete list of all the options available.

If you use Outlook Express, you can accumulate a surprising number of names, email addresses, and other details in your Windows Address Book. Thanks to a feature found only in the latest Outlook Express update, you can now back up your Address Book to the Web--specifically, to a Hotmail account. That lets you back up addresses in a safe place. It also lets you read your address book from any computer with a Web connection.

You can only take advantage of this new feature if you've installed the Internet Explorer 5.01 update (released in January 2000) or later. It also works only with Windows 95 or Windows 98, not Windows 2000. First, add your Hotmail account to Outlook Express. Next, open the Windows Address Book (click the Start button, click Run, and enter WAB). From the Windows Address Book. choose Tools, Synchronize. (Note that this option is not available from the Tools menu in Outlook Express.) The synchronization process is quick and works both ways.

Every program you install, big or small, insists on dumping extra shortcuts onto your Start menu. Eventually, you end up with your favorite shortcuts buried among the ones you never use. Here's how to clean up the clutter:

To move one shortcut or folder, open the Start menu and drag each item from its current location to the new one. (Note that this works only if you're using Internet Explorer 4 or later with the Windows Desktop Update installed. The original version of Windows 95 doesn't allow you to manipulate the Start menu directly.
To add or remove multiple shortcuts, click the Start button, choose Settings, and click the Taskbar (Windows 95) or Taskbar & Start Menu (Windows 98 and later) choices. You can use the Add and Remove buttons to automate the process of creating and deleting shortcuts.
To manage program shortcuts in Windows Explorer, right-click on the Start button and choose Open or Explore.

When you need to find a file fast, there's an incredibly quick shortcut. If an Explorer window is open, press F3 to open a Search (Find, if you use Windows 95) window in the current folder. To search all local hard drives, click any empty space on the taskbar and press F3.

Trying to figure out what a program file does can be a challenge. That's especially true when the file in question is one of many EXE and DLL files in a folder. When in doubt, right-click and choose Properties. For Windows program files and DLLs, the resulting dialog box contains a Version tab that includes all sorts of valuable information about the program, including the current version number and the developer's name.

If you're forced to restart your computer without shutting down Windows properly, Scandisk runs the next time you start up. If you prefer, you can handle this chore yourself. That's especially useful when you're troubleshooting a system hang and you want to avoid delays when rebooting.

To turn off automatic Scandisk, open the MSDOS.SYS file, found in the root of your boot drive (typically C:). Under the [Options] section, edit the AUTOSCAN entry so it reads AUTOSCAN=0. If you want Scandisk to run automatically after a forced reboot, without requiring you to read any error messages, change this entry to AUTOSCAN=2. To restore the default setting, change the value back to AUTOSCAN=1.

Occasionally, you may see an email message that lands in your inbox carrying a mysterious attachment called Winmail.dat. If you succeed in opening that attachment using a text editor such as Notepad, however, all you see is gobbledygook. So what is that file?

The Winmail.dat attachment is automatically created by Exchange mail clients, such as the original Windows 95 Exchange Inbox or any version of Outlook (but not Outlook Express) when the user chooses Rich Text format. It doesn't carry any important information, just formatting instructions such as fonts and colors. You can safely ignore Winmail.dat. You can also suggest to the person sending the messages that they change their message format to Plain Text or HTML.

If you regularly use Explorer's Details view, there's a convenient keyboard shortcut you should know about. After opening an Explorer window in Details view, hold down the Ctrl key and press the Plus (+) key on the numeric keypad. This shortcut instantly and automatically resizes each column to its optimal size, so you can see all the file details.

At home or at the office, too much volume can be a distraction. If you're listening to a CD and the phone rings, you need to be able to mute the sound quickly. If you've decided to play a game late at night while other family members are sleeping, you probably want to turn the volume down to a whisper. Either way, use the built-in Volume Control in the notification area - the "tray" at the right of the Taskbar.

Clicking the speaker icon pops up a slider control that you can move up and down to adjust the volume. Check the Mute box to quickly shut off all sounds.

Most Windows users occasionally experience a baffling performance slowdown when they open a new program or document. The hourglass appears, but there's an annoying delay of as much as several seconds before the new window opens. This problem is especially noticeable in the morning, when you first sit down to a PC that's been on all night. Next time this happens to you, listen to your computer, paying particular attention to the noise your hard disk makes. If you hear a whirring sound immediately after clicking the icon, that's an important clue.

What you're hearing is the sound of the platters on your disk spinning up from a standing start. Until they reach the proper speed (a second or two, typically), the hard disk can't supply data to your computer. But after the disk is spinning, subsequent disk accesses happen immediately.

The default power settings for most Windows PCs shut down the hard disk after an hour of inactivity. You can adjust this standby period (or eliminate it completely) to avoid further delays. Open Control Panel's Power Options icon to work with the Turn off hard disks option. (Note this option is not available with some versions of Windows 95.)

Normally, double-clicking on a folder or drive icon opens a folder window, which shows only the files in the folder whose icon you selected. With one slight change, however, you can open any folder in the two-pane Explorer view. The secret? Select the folder or drive icon, then hold down the Shift key and double-click.

Sooner or later it happens to everyone: Your mouse stops responding, and you're stumped at the best way to close all open programs and restart Windows without losing any data. The secret is to know these keyboard shortcuts, which bypass the mouse:

Press Alt+Tab to switch between running programs.
Press Alt+F4 to close the current program or window.
After closing all windows, press Ctrl+Esc to open the Start menu.
With the Start menu open, use the Up arrow and the Enter key to choose the Shut Down option.

Are you annoyed by the Password dialog box that appears every time you start Windows? You don't have to be. If your Windows machine is on its own (no corporate network involved), you can replace the existing password with a blank one, by following these steps:

1. Log on using your existing username and password. Don't press Escape or click the Cancel button!
2. Open Control Panel and double-click the Passwords option.
3. Click the Change Windows password option.
4. Enter your old password, and then leave both fields for the new password blank.
5. Click OK.
6. Close all windows and restart your computer. At the password prompt, press Enter (do not press Escape).

Note that this technique will not work if you've enabled user profiles on your machine.

Trying to troubleshoot hardware conflicts can be tricky business. Fortunately, Windows puts all of your system's settings in one convenient, well-hidden location. Open Control Panel's System option and click the Device Manager tab. Select the Computer icon at the top of the tree. Click the Properties button. The resulting dialog box lets you see all IRQs and other hardware settings in use.

Figuring out exactly how to adjust Windows sounds can be a puzzle. Are CDs playing too softly to hear while Windows sounds are blasting out at bone-rattling levels? The trick is to find the Windows mixer--a master volume control that contains separate sliders for each of the sound sources on your PC. If the speaker icon is visible in the lower right of your screen, double-click to display the master Volume Control window. If that icon isn't visible, click the Start button and choose Programs, Accessories, Entertainment, Volume Control. Adjust the separate inputs for CD Audio, WAV sounds, and other input sources, until the results are to your liking. If you need to experiment, leave the Volume Control box open until you're satisfied with the results.

If the top of your Start menu is colliding with the top of your desktop, here's a quick fix: Click the Start button, choose Settings, and click Taskbar & Start Menu. On the Taskbar Options tab, check the Show small icons in Start menu box. Close the dialog box to save your changes. You now have room for at least a dozen more Start menu shortcuts.

What happens when you drag an icon from one folder to another, or onto the desktop? That depends. In the case of program files, Windows assumes you just want to create a shortcut to the program so you can get to it more easily. But if you really do want to move a program, you need to use one of two techniques:

Drag the file to its new location and hold down the Ctrl key when you release the mouse button. This copies the program file to the new location. Hold down the Shift key to move the program file.
Click the right mouse button and drag the file to its new location. When you release the mouse button, Windows pops up a menu from which you can choose whether you want to copy, move, or create a shortcut to the target file.

The Windows Clipboard is a marvelous way to move data between programs, but using menus and mouse clicks is the slow way to do it. For quick cutting, copying, and pasting, learn these three essential shortcuts, which work in virtually all Windows programs, and even in dialog boxes.

Ctrl+X Cut
Ctrl+C Copy
Ctrl+V Paste

You've found a Web page that's so useful, you know you'll want to come back. To add it to your list of Favorites (Internet Explorer) or bookmarks (Netscape Navigator), just press Ctrl+D. You can move on to other pages, knowing that the location is saved for future reference. To recall the page, use the Favorites (IE) or Bookmarks (Netscape) menu.

Over time, Internet Explorer's collection of Favorites can grow so large and unwieldy that it becomes impossible to find the Web sites you're looking for. The solution? Reorganize your Favorites into folders. But don't use the slow, clumsy Organize Favorites dialog box within IE. Instead, open the Windows Explorer and work with the shortcuts directly. Click the Start button, choose Run, and enter Favorites in the Run box to open an Explorer window. Then, create new folders, rename Web shortcuts, and drag icons into folders to make the Favorites list easier to access.

Every time you update your operating system or your browser, it seems, your home page changes. Microsoft wants you to use its home portal, MSN. Netscape insists on sending you to its NetCenter portal. But you can choose your own start page with just a few clicks. The procedure is a little different, depending on which browser you're using. First, go to the Web site you want to use as your home page. Then:

Internet Explorer - Open the Internet Options dialog box (depending on your IE version, you'll find the Internet Options choice on the Tools or View menu). Click the General tab, and check the Use Current button in the Home Page section.

Netscape - Choose Edit, Preferences, select the Navigator category, and click the Use Current Page button.

If you've installed a high-speed disk controller, you may discover that your system actually slows down after you perform the upgrade. What's the problem? It could be a missing device driver, in which case your hard disk is forced into "compatibility mode."

To check whether your system is running as fast as it should, open Control Panel's System option and click the Performance tab. If your system is currently experiencing any performance problems, you'll see one or more warning messages here. Follow the Help links for advice on how to fix any problems you encounter. If, on the other hand, you see the phrase "Your system is configured for optimal performance," you can rest assured that everything is up to date.

Does your PC's clock have a tendency to speed up or slow down over time? Check its accuracy by connecting to the United States Naval Observatory. The Navy maintains one of the world's most accurate clocks, and anyone with a Net connection can get the correct time, day or night, 365 days a year. To reset your system's clock, double-click on the clock icon in the lower right corner of your screen; this opens Control Panel's Date/Time Properties dialog box. Use the spinner controls to adjust the time up or down, or enter the correct time directly in the Time box.

One of the most efficient ways to open a file is to drag it directly from the desktop or an Explorer window and drop it in a program window. By using this technique instead of double-clicking, you control exactly which program opens the file. But what do you do when the program you want to use is minimized or covered up by other windows? Use an expert technique called "drag and hover."

Click the file you want to open and hold down the mouse button. Drag the file on top of the taskbar button for the program you want to use--don't let go of the mouse button yet, or you'll get an error message! After a second or two, the program window appears on the screen, above all other windows. Now drag the file icon up to the window and drop it.

One of the most useful features in Internet Explorer 5 can also be a source of aggravation. When you fill in data in a form, the AutoComplete feature saves it so you can re-enter it automatically the next time you use the form. But what if you make a typo? Or you don't want to use that data? Simple. Highlight the entry and press the Delete key. That wipes it out of the stored data cache.

Want to delete, copy, or move a group of files in an Explorer window? Learn these selection techniques to speed up the process:

To select a group of adjacent files, click the first item in the list, then hold down the Shift key and click the last item in the list.

To select two or more files that aren't adjacent to one another, click the first item, then hold down the Ctrl key and click each additional item.

Here's a bonus for experts only: You can combine these two techniques to select several groups of adjacent files. Use the Shift+click technique to select the first range. Then hold down the Ctrl key and click the first item in the next group. Finally, press and hold the Ctrl and Shift keys at the same time and click the last item in the group.

Every version of Microsoft Windows includes a secret code that you can use to figure out which version you're running. That's important when deciding whether to install a patch or update. To view the version information, right-click on the My Computer icon on the desktop, and then choose Properties from the shortcut menu.

On the General tab, you'll see the name of the operating system and a code number. Here's what each code means:

4.00.950 Original retail release of Windows 95
4.00.950A Retail Windows 95 with Service Pack 1
4.00.950B Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2 (OSR2)
4.00.950C Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2.5 (OSR2 with USB support)
4.10.1998 Windows 98
4.10.2222 Windows 98 Second Edition

Windows and Windows programs regularly create temporary files that store bits of data your programs need. When you close a program, it should clean up any temp files it created. Sadly, not all programs are that thoughtful. And if your computer crashes or a program hangs, any files in your Temp folder may be left behind.

Over time, these temp files can clutter up your hard drive, taking up tens or even hundreds of megabytes of space. Every so often, you should take out the trash.

To inspect the contents of the Temp folder, click the Start button, choose Run, and enter %temp%. This opens an Explorer window showing you every file in the Temp folder. You can safely delete any file older than a few days.

Files in the Temp folder can gobble up precious disk space for no reason. To automate the cleanup process, run the Disk Cleanup Wizard regularly (this handy utility is available in Windows 98, Windows Me, and Windows 2000). Click the Start button and choose Programs, then Accessories, System Tools, and Disk Cleanup. Choose the disk to clean up (usually C:) and let the wizard go to work. Its report will tell you how much space is being consumed by unneeded temporary files; check that box and click OK to perform the cleanup.

You can also choose to clean up some types of files manually. Click to select the Temporary Internet Files box, for instance, and then click OK to completely empty the Web cache.

As you use your computer, Windows keeps track of files you've opened, programs you've run, and Web sites you've visited. The Documents option on the Start menu lets you choose from a list of shortcuts to documents you've opened recently. You can clear out this list, preserving your privacy by making it more difficult for others to see the files you've been working with lately. Click the Start button, choose Settings, and click Taskbar & Start Menu. On the Start Menu Programs tab, click the Clear button. This button also cleans out the record of commands you've typed in the Run box and in the Address bar of Internet Explorer.

Consider clearing out your Web cache, also known as the Temporary Internet Files folder. This folder contains a copy of Web pages (text and graphics) you've viewed recently. Anyone who's able to poke around here can tell a lot about where you've been browsing by studying the saved pages.

To preserve your privacy, clear the cache. Open Internet Explorer, pull down the Tools menu, and choose Internet Options. On the General tab, click the Delete Files button. After the files are deleted, close the dialog box to return to work. While you're there, clear the History list as well.

Be aware that cleaning out the Web cache can slow down browsing for you, at least temporarily. This slowdown is especially noticeable if you have a slow dial-up Internet connection.

Do you share a computer with other people, at work or at home? In that case, you may want to disable a potentially dangerous Internet Explorer feature called AutoComplete. This option automatically saves Web addresses, user names, passwords, and data you enter on Web-based forms. That's convenient, but it also potentially allows other people to access your password-protected pages and see what data you've entered in forms, just by sitting down in front of your computer and using your Web browser. To preserve your privacy, clear all existing AutoComplete entries, using the Tools, Options menu. On the Content tab of the Internet Explorer Options dialog box, click the Clear Forms and Clear Passwords buttons. Then clear all the checkboxes to turn off AutoComplete in the future.

If you're truly concerned about leaving tracks that point to files you've worked with or Web sites you've visited, configure Windows to clean up after itself, all the time. The trick is to use the TweakUI utility. After installing this little gem, use the Paranoia tab to set every conceivable privacy-protecting option.

One of the most useful features of Internet Explorer 5 is practically invisible--it lets you choose two (or three or four) windows and arrange them on the screen with just a click or two. This comes in handy if you want to compare the contents of two folder windows, or two text files in Notepad, or in dozens of similar circumstances

Here's how to use this feature: Click the taskbar button for the first window you want to work with. Next, hold down the Ctrl key and click the second window. Right-click on one of the "pushed in" buttons and choose either of the Tile commands from the shortcut menu. Tile vertically to see the windows side by side; use the horizontal option to tile the windows one over the other.

Are you tired of trying to hit the tiny maximize/restore button in the top right corner of a window? There's an easier alternative: Double-click anywhere on the title bar. The entire title bar acts as an oversized toggle. Double-click to maximize the window; double-click again to restore the original window size.

Is your Windows display behaving strangely? Does your mouse pointer jump around, or are portions of the screen not redrawing properly? Try this solution to see if you can resolve the problem:

1. Open the System option in Control Panel.
2. Click the Performance tab, and then click the Graphics button.
3. The Hardware Acceleration slider has four settings--Full, Most, Basic, and None. Move the slider one notch to the left, close the dialog box, and restart your system.
4. If the problem persists, repeat steps 1-3, moving the slider another notch to the left. If necessary, keep at it until you've reached the None setting.

By default, when you double-click on a text file in Windows, it opens in Notepad. This no-frills editor works fine for most people, but its default font, at 9 points, might be too small for your eyes. This problem is especially pronounced for those of us past the age of 40, when vision begins to change (usually for the worse).

To make text files easier to read, select a larger font size for Notepad. If you'd prefer a different font, you can change it here, too. Open Notepad, pull down the Edit menu, and choose Set Font. Select a font and size, and click OK. Notepad remembers your settings and reuses them for all files you open.

Regardless of how you connect to the Internet, your computer needs a numeric identifier called an IP address. Most Internet service providers assign this address automatically, using a technology called Dynamic Host Control Protocol, or DHCP. Most of the time, your computer's IP address is a bit of technical trivia you don't need to know. But there are circumstances, such as when you're trying to connect to another machine using NetMeeting, that you need to know this number. Here's how to discover it:

Windows 95/98 users: Click the Start button, choose Run, and enter the command winipcfg. This opens the IP Configuration tool. Choose the correct adapter from the list at the top of the dialog box and read the information below. If you connect to the Internet using a dial-up connection, choose PPP Adapter from this list.

Do you sometimes have troubles when you try to open a file or start a program from the Run dialog box? The problem may be caused by a space in the file or folder's name. Although Windows allows these spaces, it doesn't always recognize the names from a command prompt. The solution is to enclose the entire name in quotation marks.

This problem is particularly noticeable when you try to open the Program Files folder. If you type C:Program Files in the Run box and press Enter, Windows 95 and 98 responds with an error message, saying it can't find C:Program. But if you enter "C:Program Files", Windows handles your request without a problem.

The single most important piece of a Windows emergency kit is a working boot disk. If something happens to your Windows configuration, such as a virus infection, you'll need a boot disk to start your computer and repair the damage. Look around right now. Do you know where your boot disk is located? If the answer is no, find a blank floppy disk and create a new startup disk. It only takes a few minutes, and it could save you hours of grief if you need to recover from a Windows disaster.

Open Control Panel, start the Add/Remove Programs option, click the Startup tab, and click the Create Disk button.

Three of the most useful Control Panel options have shortcuts right on the desktop, although you'd never know it by looking:

Display - To open this dialog box and change any Display options, including screen saver settings and resolution, right-click on any empty space on the desktop and choose Properties.
System - Right-click on the My Computer icon and choose Properties. This gives you quick access to Device Manager and other system tools.
Network - To add, remove, or reconfigure any network properties, right-click on the Network Neighborhood icon and choose Properties.

You paid good money for a fancy video card, so you should always run your system at the highest available color depth, right? Well, not exactly.

You may be tempted to set your display adapter to True Color (24 Bit). In theory, that gives you the most accurate reproduction of colors (in pictures and in the colors on desktop objects). However, it's literally impossible to distinguish between the 65,000 colors available at the High Color (16 Bit) setting and the 16 million colors available with 24 Bit color. For ordinary Web browsing, in fact, even a setting of 256 colors will usually look acceptable. Unless you're a graphic artist, you don't need that many colors, and the effect on your system's performance can be a drag.

If you notice that your system seems to move in slooooooowwwwwww motion when you close a window, try turning the Colors setting down to High Color (16 Bits) or even 256 colors. You should notice the improvement in performance.

You probably find yourself creating email messages to a handful of people more than others. If so, why not create a shortcut that lets you automatically begin a new message, addressed to that person, with just one mouse click? Right-click on any empty space on the desktop, and choose New, Shortcut from the menu. In the Command Line box, type mailto:, and then enter the intended recipient's email address. To create a shortcut to my email, for instance, you would enter mailto:ed@edbott.com. Save the shortcut on the desktop, or better yet, move it to the Start menu or Quick Launch bar so it's readily available.

Windows' Send To menu is an incredibly useful time-saver. You right-click on one or more files in an Explorer window or on the desktop, choose Send To, and send the selected items to a floppy disk, your desktop (as a shortcut), the My Documents folder, or to a friend or associate as an email attachment. This trick is even more valuable if you add some of your own shortcuts to the collection. For instance, you can add a shortcut to Notepad, then use it to quickly view any text file. Or create shortcuts to the folders where you commonly store working files, so you can quickly put misplaced files in the right location. To add a shortcut to the Send To menu, first open the Sendto folder - click the Start button, choose Run, type Sendto, and press Enter. Right-click and choose New, Shortcut to launch the wizard that lets you quickly create shortcuts.

Do you how know how much free space is available on each hard disk partition in your system? Do you know the disk format (FAT or FAT32) each drive is using? Get this information and more from the My Computer window. Double-click the My Computer icon on the desktop; then right-click on the icon for the drive in question and choose Properties. The resulting display gives you a wealth of valuable information.

Every Windows user should have a copy of Adobe's Acrobat Reader. Period. It's the Web standard for viewing highly formatted documents with all their formatting and figures intact, right in your Web browser, and it's especially useful with user manuals and product brochures. And best of all, it's free. If you don't have a copy of this essential software program, download it right now. If you already use Acrobat, make certain you have the most recent version. (Check for the current version number at the download page.)

Windows is keeping secrets from you. By default, Windows Explorer conceals two types of files: those with the hidden attribute set, and those designated as system files. In general, it's a good idea to treat system and hidden files with respect -- tampering with some system files, for example, can wreak havoc with Windows, causing your computer to crash or hang at startup. But in certain circumstances, seeing normally hidden files and folders can help you solve problems. To change Explorer's settings so hidden and system files are visible, open any Explorer window and choose View, Folder Options. Click the View tab and check the Show All Files box. When you close the dialog box and return to the Explorer window, you'll see all the files in that folder, including those marked as hidden.

Does the Recycle Bin annoy you with its constant "Are you sure you want to delete this file?" messages? You can turn the confirmation dialog boxes off permanently with a simple change. Right-click on the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop, choose Properties, and clear the checkmark next to Display delete confirmation dialog box.

How many priceless URLs are in your collection of Internet Favorites? If you use Internet Explorer 5, it only takes a few seconds to back them up to a safe place. Open a browser window and choose File, Import and Export. Run through the wizard, choosing Export Favorites and specifying the name and location where you want to store the backup file. Repeat the process using the Export Cookies menu choice. Save the backed-up files to a floppy disk for a little extra security.

When it's time to clean out a crowded directory, learn these file selection shortcuts for maximum efficiency:

Ctrl+click to select or unselect files one at a time.
Select one file, then Shift+click and select another file to select all files between the two you selected.
Press Ctrl+A to select all files.
Want to unselect all the files that are currently selected, and select all others? Pull down the Edit menu and choose Invert Selection.

Even if you just purchased a brand-new PC, your copy of Windows could be out of date already. Microsoft has released dozens of patches and improvements to Windows in Internet Explorer 5.01, and chances are good your version is behind the times. To see which version you currently have installed, open an Internet Explorer window, pull down the Help menu, and choose About Internet Explorer. IE 5.01 is 5.00.2919.6307.

Download IE 5.01 for free from Microsoft's Web site. The update works with Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT 4.0 (Windows 2000 users are already up to date).

When you install Windows 98 (or add IE 5 to an existing copy of Windows 95), the Setup program creates a My Documents folder in the root of your C: drive. This folder is incredibly useful for everyday file management, because it offers an easy-to-reach location where you can store and retrieve important data, and the icon is always available in Explorer windows and on the desktop. Get in the habit of using the My Documents folder for all your everyday files. By using the built-in subfolders here (and creating your own folders when necessary), you'll find it much easier to keep track of music, pictures, letters, and other important files.

Once upon a time, Internet Explorer's toolbar was fixed and unchangeable--if you didn't like the arrangement of buttons, tough luck. With IE5 (the built-in browser for Windows 98 Second Edition and Windows 2000, and a free download for all other Windows versions), that's changed. If you've upgraded to IE5, you can:

Choose between small and large icons.
Select whether you want to see toolbar icons only, see text labels for all icons, or display labels for a selective few toolbar buttons.
Add or remove buttons at will. If you don't want the Discuss button, get rid of it.

All these options are available from a simple, well-organized dialog box. Choose View, Toolbars, Customize to get started.

Are you prepared to deal with Windows if it absolutely refuses to start? You will be if you have a well-stocked emergency kit. The kit contains four components:

A bootable floppy disk.
Your original Windows CD.
The product key for that CD - without this serial number, you'll be unable to reinstall Windows.
A floppy disk containing any custom drivers your system requires. (If you have a recordable CD drive, you might want to put these drivers and any other important files on a CD for easy access.)

Place these pieces in a manila envelope and tape it to the side of your PC. In the event of a startup emergency, you'll have all the troubleshooting pieces at hand, without having to search.

Want some advance notice when Windows is in danger of crashing?

When Windows crashes, freezes, or hangs, one of the most common reasons is that you've run out of system resources, which are blocks of memory dedicated to Windows and WIndows programs. A handy Windows utility called the Resource Meter warns you when you're running low on system resources. To start this small but tremendously useful program, click the Start button, open the Programs menu, and choose Accessories, System Tools. Click the Resource Meter menu item to launch the utility.
When Resource Meter is running, it sits unobtrusively in the system tray at the right of the Taskbar. Let the mouse pointer hover over the icon to see a ScreenTip that lists percentages of available resources. Double-click this icon to display the same information in a window. If you see any category of resources drop below 30%, you're skating on thin ice. If resources drop below 15% or so, it's time to shut down all programs and restart your system.

Having the newest drivers can help increase boot time and especially peripheral operation. If you have had a device for more than a year, most likely it has some kind of update available depending on its operation. Go to the manufacturer’s website and see for yourself.

Do no have any programs that are not absolutely necessary needed for your system operations. Only about 13-16% of America is on broadband internet connections, so most people are dial up customers. Loading unnecessary programs just hogs up memory and resource for no reason unless you’re on Cable or xDSL. Most programs used for chat like AIM, Yahoo, MSN and such are pretty much setup into your system by default to load when windows loads. A lot of programs act just like this and can be controlled. There are three angles to approach this at, Software Settings, your Startup Folder, and possibly Services on NT/2000. NOTE: Some programs can be tricky sometimes. You might want to check multiple areas if the program still loads.

Most programs have an internal setting to determine whether it can/cannot load upon startup. Simply go to the “preferences or options” menu and try to find a feature to disable it from startup.

Some programs just drop a shortcut to your startup folder to load upon startup. You can even add other programs here to load if you would like. But were here to remove not add :). Navigate to Start> Programs> Startup, here right click and select open folder. If there is a program here that can be removed from being loaded each time windows does, delete the shortcut.

Users in NT/2000 can use the above, but it usually comes down to editing your loading services to remove auto loading programs. Under administrator rights, navigate to the Administrator tools and select services. Here is the list of services loading on your system, and most are needed for normal operations. BEWARE, that’s all I can say when you are disabling services. If you know the program doesn’t need to load, then it should be ok to disable it.