Microsoft recently released a free download for Windows XP called PowerToys. These are a set of utilities and enhancements for Windows XP that add many new features and functions. Seasoned Windows users swear by the PowerToys for past Windows versions, and this latest crop of toys will not disappoint them. They are not officially supported by Microsoft, so they are install-at-your-own-risk. One of the PowerToys that you may find useful is the Open Command Window Here. This toy adds an "Open Command Window Here" when you right-click files or folders in Explorer. A command prompt will then open with the context at that folder. For instance, if you right-clicked the Windows folder, you would get a command prompt window and a prompt that looks like this: c:windows> Tip-within-a-tip: You can also open a command prompt by clicking Start, Run, and typing cmd, then clicking OK.

It seems that some components in Windows XP can't be uninstalled. Well... they can. Use this trick to uninstall MSN Messenger, MSN Explorer and Microsoft Games.

1. First, make a copy of sysoc.inf (found on the hard disk at winntinfsysoc.inf) before proceeding so that you can restore the initial configuration if necessary. Give the copy a different name, such as sysoc2.inf.
2. Open the Sysoc.inf file. Each line of text in the file represents a component that can be displayed in the Add/Remove Windows Components dialog.
3. Delete the word HIDE for any component that you want to see in the dialog (do not erase the commas).
4. Save the Sysoc.inf file, then close it, and reboot your computer.

The

dialog will now display the items you want.

Microsoft has provided a web site that you can use to query on the compatibility status of your existing hardware and software, to see if it will play nice with Windows XP. Just enter the product name and click Search, and you will see any testing results, and the degree of compatibility with Windows XP. Click Here for the Compatibility Search.

When you start Windows XP for the very first time, a small bubble will pop up, offering to give you a quick tour of XP's features. You may have taken the tour, or you may of declined the offer, but what if you decide that you want to view the tour sometime in the future? Not to worry - it's available from the Start Menu. Simply click Start > All Programs > Accessories > Tour Windows XP. That's it! The tour will then begin.

In some older versions of Windows (Windows 2000 and Windows ME) there was a little-known program called "Imaging" that was really a third-party program from Kodak that allowed you to view image files such as .BMP, .JPG, .TIF, and .PCX. This program could be installed from the Control Panel, Add Windows Components under Accessories, and was very handy for viewing scanned FAX documents. In Windows XP, this program has been replaced by "Windows Picture and Fax Viewer." You can open any picture file (with the extensions mentioned above), by right-clicking it, and choosing Open With... -> Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. This is handy when you only want to view the file, not edit it. Tip-within-a-tip: When you have Windows Picture and Fax Viewer open, you can use the forward and back arrows (in little blue circles, labeled like a VCR) to cycle through all of the picture files that are in that same folder.

Windows XP ships with a versatile little program called Windows Media Player (WMP), that will play your audio CD's and allow you to customize the sound and order in which the songs play. Simply pop a CD in your CD drive, and WMP will automatically pop up and ask you what you want to do with the CD. Select "Play Audio CD" and click OK, and WMP will open. Along the right-hand side, you should see a list of the songs on the CD. You can drag and drop them with your mouse to change the order that they play in. Near the bottom of the WMP window, you can use the buttons to pause, stop, jump ahead, change volume, etc.

Windows XP contains a very useful new feature called Fast User Switching that allows multiple users log on to the same workstation without each user having to log out. For instance, you can start up a program, then switch users quickly for one of your kids to look up their homework on the Web, then switch back to your program without having to close your program and log out (and without your kid being able to mess around in your program). This feature can be enabled if your computer is not part of a Domain (a centralized network configuration - if your computer is at work, it is probably part of a Domain). To enable Fast User Switching, you must have administrator access to the computer. It can be turned on by going to Control Panel, and opening the User Account applet. Then click "Change the way users log on or off" and check (click) next to "Use Fast User Switching." Keep in mind that your computer may seem slower if multiple users are logged in and have programs open, because each user and program will use up some of the computers resources.

With normal use of your Windows computer, your hard drive will become fragmented. This doesn't mean that it literally falls to pieces, but it means that the files on it will be stored in pieces, scattered all over the drive. When the computer accesses a file that is fragmented, it has to read in all those pieces all over the hard drive, which is slower than if the file were all in one piece. The way that you put all the pieces back together, and thereby make your computer run faster, is called defragmenting. Windows XP has a built-in file defragmenter, that is available by clicking Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmenter. Once the program starts, simply click on the drive you want to defrag, then click the "Defragment" button.

Windows XP offers some power management features that may help reduce your electricity bill, and may also save some wear and tear on your computer equipment. You can specify a length of idle time, after which Windows XP will shut off your monitor, and even shut down (until you need them) your hard drive(s). To view or adjust these settings, open the Control Panel from the Start Menu. Click Performance & Maintenance, then click the Power Options icon. On the Power Schemes tab, you can choose a setting from the drop-down box that most closely resembles the way that you use your computer, and the settings for turning off the monitor and/or hard drives will be adjusted automatically. You can also adjust the monitor and disk settings on your own, to whatever settings fit your needs best. Remember, these settings are only for when your computer is idle. When you return to use your computer, simply press a key, or move the mouse, and your monitor and hard drives will come back to life!

IF you are having problems with a particular program under Windows XP, you can run the Program Compatibility Wizard to see if XP can help you get the program running better. Simply click Start, All Programs, Accessories, Program Compatibility Wizard. When the Wizard opens, follow the prompts to choose several settings that may make the program more compatible with XP. If those settings help, Windows XP will remember them for next time the program runs.

If you have to reinstall Windows XP you normally will have to re-activate too. Well not anymore. Just copy wpa.dbl after you activated the first time. It is located in the system32 folder. Now if you reinstall Windows XP just copy the file back and you're up and running again.

The first time that you go to look for Event Viewer in Windows XP may be a little frustrating if you don't know this tip. By default, Administrative Tools are not displayed in WinXP. To display them, right click the Taskbar and choose Properties. Click the Start Menu tab, and then the "Customize..." button. On the Advanced tab in the window that appears, scroll all the way to the bottom of the Start Menu Items list, and select one of the display options for System Administration Tools. You should then have no problem accessing your familiar set of tools from the Start Menu.

In the Windows XP Start Menu, you will find several items that are links to places to store your files: My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, and also My Computer. By default, these are shortcuts which will open the folder in a window when clicked on. You can change this so that all of these Start Menu items act like menus instead, so that when you hold the mouse over them, their contents will pop out in a sub-menu. To make this change, simply right-click the Task Bar, and choose Properties. When the Properties window appears, click the Start Menu tab. Click the Customize button, then click the Advanced tab. In the Start Menu Items section, you can scroll down to each of the items (My Documents, My Music, etc.), and choose (click) "Display as a menu." Note that you can also choose "Don't display this item," if you want to take if off the Start Menu completely.

I really love the new Windows XP look - all those pretty colors and oversize buttons! I personally found it to be a little "over-the-top" after just a few days of use, however. Fortunately, changing to a more "normal" theme is a piece of cake. Simply right-click the desktop, and choose Properties. In the Display Properties that comes up, look on the Themes tab for a drop-down box to choose different themes. I usually choose the "Windows Classic" theme, but you can choose from any on the list.

One of the consequences of being able to customize the Windows XP interface so much is that it's easy to get loose things. The Taskbar is a good example. One thing that's good to remember is that you can always bring the Taskbar up by pressing Ctrl-Esc. Even if you hide the Taskbar, or move it to a different part of the screen, you will always be able to find it (and the Start button, etc.), by pressing Ctrl and Esc together.

Veteran Windows users have come to know and love a set of programs that Microsoft quietly releases every once in a while, called PowerToys. Although never officially supported (install at your own risk), PowerToys offer usefulness and functionality that makes Windows a better product. Click here to go to the informational and download page at Microsoft.

Microsoft has recently made available a free (large) download for Windows XP that offers new "utilities, power toys, visualizations, skins, sound effects, and more." The Bonus Pack can be installed from the Internet, or can be downloaded as one large file and installed from disk. Click here to go to the informational and download page at Microsoft.

Windows 2000 introduced the option "Run as..." for use with applications, which is a huge benefit for administrators visiting users' desktops. Windows XP has introduced a similar feature (Run as... is still available) that can be used with program shortcuts. Right-click a program shortcut, and choose Properties. On the Shortcut tab, click the Advanced button. Check the box next to "Run with different credentials" and click OK twice to make the change effective. From now on, when you click the shortcut to start the program, you will be prompted for which user to run it as.

By default, WinXP does not display the Quick Launch toolbar, but you can add it back in with ease. There are two ways. First, you can right click the Task Bar, choose Properties, and then check next to "Show Quick Launch." Another way is to right click the Taskbar, select Toolbars> and the select Quick Launch. Either way, the familiar Quick Launch toolbar will appear, with (by default) an IE, Show Desktop, and a Windows Media Player icon.

The system tray is the small area at one end of the Task Bar (the bar that contains the Start Button) near the clock. It's a really handy area where many programs place their cute little icons, and where you can have some other handy icons display, such as the CPU Usage meter for the Task Manager, the sound icon, network traffic icons, etc. There can also be many less useful icons placed in that area as well. Fortunately, Windows XP gives you some control over which icons display there, so you can choose to only see the ones you deem worthy or useful. To manage this area, simply right click the Taskbar, and choose Properties. In the Properties window that appears, on the Taskbar tab, check the box next to "Hide Inactive Icons" if it isn't already checked, and then click the "Customize..." button. That will bring up a window that allows you to choose one of three behaviors for each program icon that appears in the system tray: "Hide when inactive," "Always hide," or "always show."

For each program that you open, a new button is placed on the Taskbar to represent it. This makes it easy to see what programs are open, and also to switch between programs, since the actual windows for each program often overlap and hide each other. You can tell Windows XP to group these buttons according to which program they belong to. For instance, if you open two Word documents, three Outlook messages, and two Excel documents in random order, they would display on the Taskbar with all of the Word buttons next to each other, all of the Outlook buttons together, and all of the Excel buttons together. If this grouping would make it easier for you to work with your open applications, then you should choose this option by right clicking the Taskbar and choosing Properties. Next, place a check (click) in the box next to "Group Similar Taskbar Buttons."

Microsoft has provided a web site that you can use to query on the compatibility status of your existing hardware and software, to see if it will play nice with Windows XP. Just enter the product name and click Search, and you will see any testing results, and the degree of compatibility with Windows XP. Click Here for the Compatibility Search.

You can easily change the default Windows XP mouse pointers to something much more interesting. First, open the Control Panel by clicking Start, Control Panel. Click the "Printers and Other Hardware" icon, then click "Mouse." In the Mouse Properties window that appears, click the Pointers tab. In the area under where it says "Scheme," choose a pointer scheme from the drop-down list. My personal favorite is the Dinosaur scheme. Click OK to make the change effective (or click Apply to test it out first).

By default, Windows XP had my mouse moving very slowly when I slid it across the screen. I had two options: buy a bigger mouse pad, or change the settings. In the previous tip, we mentioned how to change the mouse pointer scheme - changing the speed is just as simple. First, open Control Panel by clicking Start, Control Panel. Click the "Printers and Other Hardware" icon, then click "Mouse." In the Mouse Properties window that appears, click the Pointer Options tab. On this tab you will see several options, and the topmost one is for setting the speed. Bump the slide bar toward the faster end, and now the mouse will fly across the screen! Click OK to make the change effective, and save yourself ten bucks on an oversized mouse pad!

The Windows XP Setup routine is much nicer than that in Windows 2000 or Windows Me, but it's still an hour-long process that forces you to sit in front of your computer for an hour, answering dialog boxes and typing in product keys. But Windows XP picks up one of the more useful features from Windows 2000, the ability to do an unattended installation, so you can simply prepare a script that will answer all those dialogs for you and let you spend some quality time with your family.

Paul Thurrot of Supersite for Windows has written about Windows 2000 unattended installations and the process is pretty much identical on Windows XP, so please read that article carefully before proceeding. And you need to be aware that this feature is designed for a standalone Windows XP system: If you want to dual-boot Windows XP with another OS, you're going to have to go through the interactive Setup just like everyone else: An unattended install will wipe out your hard drive and install only Windows XP, usually.

To perform an unattended installation, you just need to work with the Setup Manager, which is located on the Windows XP CD-ROM in D:SupportToolsDEPLOY.CAB by default: Extract the contents of this file and you'll find a number of useful tools and help files; the one we're interested in is named setupmgr.exe. This is a very simple wizard application that will walk you through the process of creating an answer file called winnt.sif that can be used to guide Windows XP Setup through the unattended installation.

One final tip: There's one thing that Setup Manager doesn't add: Your product key. However, you can add this to the unattend.txt file manually. Simply open the file in Notepad and add the following line under the [UserData] section:

ProductID="AAAAA-BBBBB-CCCCC-DDDDD-EEEEE"

You'll have to substitute your actual product key for the string listed above, of course.

Then, just copy winnt.sif to a floppy, put your Windows XP CD-ROM in the CD drive, and reboot: When the CD auto-boots, it will look for the unattend.txt file in A: automatically, and use it to answer the Setup questions if it's there.

Finally, please remember that this will wipe out your system! Back up first, and spend some time with the help files in DEPLOY.CAB before proceeding.

In many ways, the ongoing legal problems between Microsoft and its competitors, along with the various governments in the world, have had little impact on the day-to-day use of Windows. With Windows XP, however, there is at least one glaring exception to this. Windows XP will not ship with the latest version of Java, which means that in order for many Java-enabled apps to run properly, you will need to update your OS right out of the box. The best way to do this is probably via the Windows Update web site.

In the previous tip, we mention how you can use the Windows Update feature from the Start Menu to have your computer scanned, then download and install the updates of your choice. There is another Update feature of Windows XP that will allow you to do some or most of this process automatically. First, open the Control Panel from the Start Menu. Open the Performance and Maintenance category, and choose System. Click the Automatic Updates tab, and choose which level of automatic updating you prefer by clicking it under Notification Settings. Then click OK and close the Control Panel. You should then (depending on which option you choose) receive little balloon messages in the System Tray (the area by the clock) when updates are available.

As laptop users and other LCD owners are quickly realizing, Microsoft's ClearType technology in Windows XP really makes a big difference for readability. But the this feature is enabled on a per-user basis in Windows XP, so you can't see the effect on the Welcome screen; it only appears after you logon.

But you can fix that. Fire up the Registry Editor and look for the following keys:

(default user) HKEY_USERS .Default Control Panel Desktop FontSmoothing (String Value)
HKEY_USERS .Default Control Panel Desktop FontSmoothingType (Hexadecimal DWORD Value)

Make sure both of these values are set to 2 and you'll have ClearType enabled on the Welcome screen and on each new user by default.

During the Windows XP beta, Microsoft has added a "Comments?" hyperlink to the title bar of each window in the system so that beta testers can more easily send in a problem report about the user interface. But for most of us, this isn't an issue, and the Comments link is simply a visual distraction. And for many programs that alter the title bar, the Comments link renders the Minimize, Maximize, and Close window buttons unusable, so it's actually a problem.
Let's get rid of it. Or, if you're into this kind of thing, you can edit it too.

Open the Registry Editor and navigate to the following keys:
My Computer HKEY_CURRENT_USER Control Panel Desktop LameButtonEnabled
My Computer HKEY_CURRENT_USER Control Panel Desktop LameButtonText

The first key determines whether the link appears at all; change its value to 0 to turn it off. The second key lets you have a little fun with the hyperlink; you can change the text to anything you'd like.

Editing either value requires a restart before the changes take effect.

If you can't find a driver for a hardware device under Windows XP, you can try to use a Windows 2000 compatible driver for the same hardware. Usually this tends to work, and in my experience so far, it always has. However, if you can find a driver specifically designed for use with Windows XP, that is usually the best and safest option. You can also e-mail the hardware manufacturer and ask them about Windows XP compatibility and drivers.

Windows XP includes a great new visual technology, called "ClearType" which increases horizontal legibility by approximately 300% and it looks great. Go back into "Display Properties" [see tip: "Bring Back Those Desktop Icons" for instructions] and this time, go to the "Appearance" tab. Click "Effects" and for the second drop down box, labled "Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts" select "ClearType." Click OK twice and you're all set.

If anyone has noticed, when you ran the compatibility test prior to installing XP, your cable modem may not be compatible. This is because MS has not finished testing out the cable modems. However, here's a solution that worked for me to get my Motorola SB4100 re-installed.

I booted up in SAFE mode after I couldn't get it to install normally, even though XP detected it at that point, and installed it there. It works like a charm now.

So I suggest if you encounter any problems with getting your cable modems re-installed, try doing it via SAFE mode. That's by hitting F8 after you reboot and prior to Windows loading, for you newbies out there.

WINXPCPS.REG (WinXP Clear Page file on shutdown)

This Registration (.REG) file clears the Page file when you power off the computer.
Restart Windows for these changes to take effect!
ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR SYSTEM BEFORE MAKING ANY CHANGES!

Browse to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE System CurrentControlSet Control Session Manager Memory Management

and add the DWORD variable "ClearPageFileAtShutdown"=dword:00000001

You can also do this without reg hacking.
Go to Control panel Administartative tools, local security policy. then goto local policies ---> security options.
Then change the option for "Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile"

If your running server versions, add the following reg_dword in the location shown and set it to "0". This will help keep an icmp re-direct attack from taking over your server.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters]
"EnableICMPRedirect"=dword:00000000

Works in both Win2k and XP (mars)

Some people say it isnt possible to uninstall XP. Fact is, it is! Use your Win98 Cd-ROM Autostart thing and go to DOS. There go to your XP-Drive and do a format -u. This will delete any XP-Files. Add to format -u an r and it restores the overwritten files from the last os (you won't see the RESTORED_OS-Folder since it is implemented in the Partition!

format -ur

have fun!

After you install Windows XP, you probably noticed that some of your icons from previous versions of Windows you've used are missing. Microsoft did this intentionally to help simply and reduce clutter. Of course, for some people, this isn't the best choice or the user preference. So, if you want those icons like "My Computer" and "My Network Places" back, just open Display Properties (right click desktop wallpaper, left click "Properties") and click the "Desktop" tab. Click the "Customize Desktop" button and on the "General" tab check the items you want. You can also change the icons used by these desktop items in the same screen. One final tip related to this screen is the "Clean Desktop Now" button, which notifies you of unused icons on the desktop and offers to remove them if you choose.

Right click on the "Start" button and left click "Properties." From here, you can select the new Windows XP style Start Menu, or return to the Windows 2000/Millennium style one. You can also customize the two possible choices using their corresponding "Customize" buttons. This also allows you to turn on or disable cascading menus and other options that are useful, such as large or small icons and more.

Windows media player on XP can encode mp3 without any extra cost. Here is how:

Install a mp3 codec. For example get one at: http://www.riphelp.com/downloads/radium_codec.html

Make the following registry change:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftMediaPlayerSettingsMP3Encoding
"LowRate"=dword:0000dac0
"MediumRate"=dword:0001f400
"MediumHighRate"=dword:0003e800
"HighRate"=dword:0004e200

Reboot and changes will be evident in media player options.

With Windows XP, you can run programs as if though they were being run under a different operating system. (This is known as "emulation"). Simply right-click a shortcut, select "Properties" and then check "Run in compatibility mode" and select the operating system you wish to make the program believe it is being run under. This fools or tricks the program into thinking you are really using a previous version of Windows, such as NT, 2000, 98, or 95. This is especially useful for certain games that won't run properly. Be careful *not* to use this with certain system utilities, such as antivirus, defrag, registry, and disk tool applications.

One of the coolest new features in Windows XP is its album thumbnail generator, which automatically places the appropriate album cover art on the folder to which you are copying music (generally in WMA format). But what about those people that have already copied their CDs to the hard drive using MP3 format? You can download album cover art from sites such as cdnow.com or amguide.com, and then use the new Windows XP folder customize feature to display the proper image for each folder. But this takes time--you have to manually edit the folder properties for every single folder--and you will lose customizations if you have to reinstall the OS. There's an excellent fix, however.

When you download the album cover art from the Web, just save the images as folder.jpg each time and place them in the appropriate folder. Then, Windows XP will automatically use that image as the thumbnail for that folder and, best of all, will use that image in Windows Media Player for Windows XP (MPXP) if you choose to display album cover art instead of a visualization. And the folder customization is automatic, so it survives an OS reinstallation as well. Your music folders never looked so good!


Album cover art makes music folder thumbnails look better than ever!

Does your Windows 98 PC begin running Disk Defragmenter for no apparent reason? Cleaning up a fragmented hard drive is a good thing, but not if it chews up system resources while you're trying to get work done. The most likely reason this is happening is that you ran the Maintenance Wizard at some time in the past and scheduled this as a regular task. To take back control of this and other system utilities, open the Maintenance Wizard (you'll find it on the Programs menu--click Accessories and then System Tools). and run through its checklist. The wizard lets you schedule common tasks (like disk defragmenting and scanning) at the times you you choose--or not at all. If you choose to run the Disk Defragmenter in the middle of the night, make sure you leave your computer on so the program can run.

In Windows 98, choose Folder Options from the View menu. (Windows 2000 and Windows Me users will find this option on the Tools menu.) Click the File Types tab and select the entry associated with the extension you want to make visible--in this case, you'll find this association under Text Document. Click the Edit button (Windows 2000 and Windows Me users should click the Advanced button), and check the Always show extension box. Close all dialog boxes, and you'll see that the .txt extension is now visible in every Explorer window.

If you right-click your taskbar, choose the "toolbars" option, and select "Address" you will get a new item on the taskbar that allows you to type in any URL (on the Internet, your hard drive, or a network share) and automatically open that page or folder. This saves the steps of having to open your web browser, then type the address in.

If you have a "Windows" keyboard with the special "Windows Key" on it, you can hit the + to instantly open the System Properties dialog box. This saves you the extra step of going to the Start Menu and opening the Control Panel, then clicking on the System Icon.

With Windows 98 or Internet Explorer 4.x/5.x you can minimize almost any open window by simply clicking on its depressed button in the taskbar.

If you are working at a DOS Prompt (command line) from within Windows, you can easily switch between full-screen and Windowed mode by simply pressing + at the same time.

When wanting to do a clean install of Win98 yet bypass the check for an older version of Windows. Boot your system from a boot diskette (Windows 95/98 startup disk, or DOS bootable diskette). Create a file in the root directory of your boot partition named "ntldr" (no quotes). The file can't be a zero-byte file, so edit it and put rem on a single line with no spaces in front of it. This should bypass the check for previous version of Windows by fooling the system into thinking that NT is installed.

It's great to be able to create additional Quick Launch icons to the quick launch toolbar to reside next to the 4 built in defaults and it's easy to do.
1. Right click and drag an existing shortcut from the desktop to the area next to the start button and release it, or, using Explorer, right click and drag the icon for a program file (exe) in the same manner and release.
2. Select create shortcut here.
3. If you are always looking for "My Computer" to explore or check something, it's a good choice to drag on down to the quick launch bar for instant access at any time.

Drag any folder or any item from the desktop (e.g. My Computer, Recycle Bin, Network Neighborhood, Control Panel icon etc.) to the edge of the screen and release. You get a Single Click Quick Launch Toolbar with all the icons inside it.

Instead of going through Start, Settings, Control Panel, Network, you can shorten the keystroke by right-clicking on Network Neighborhood and selecting Properties.

1. Right-click on the Start button and select Open.
2. Create a new folder and call it Quick Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} Don't forget the period in the folder name!

If you start Outlook Express (msimn.exe) using the /outnews switch, it will act as a newsreader only. A handy way is to create a shortcut that points to:

msimn.exe /outnews

This is directly related to the last tip. If you right click on an item in the start menu/toolbar, there is no 'rename' option if you have Internet Explorer 4.01 or earlier. To rename an item:
1. Left-click drag the item in question to the desktop.
2. Rename the new item on the desktop whatever you want.
3. Right-click drag the newly-renamed item back to its previous location and choose 'Move here'.

Hightlight one window on the desktop and hit Print Screen while holding down the ALT key and it captures only that one window to the clipboard instead of the entire desktop.

This tip appears courtesty of Matt Foster.

"Hi, I found your Windows 98 Tips and Tricks file really useful, and I thought that you might be interested to know my tip. I never use the StartUp folder, but Win98 won't allow it to be deleted, so by right clicking it and selecting properties I changed its attributes to hidden, and stopped it being displayed, however, this doesn't stop any programs in it from being run. I hope you find this useful."

Note: You must have Windows Explorer configured NOT to show hidden and system files for this to hide the Startup Group from your Programs Menu off of the Start button.

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

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

Everyone at one time or another, has probably installed a program that insists on loading itself on startup, even if it isn't in the Startup group. This could be due to it loading from WIN.INI or the Windows registry. A good way to stop specific programs from loading is to use The System Configuration Utility (MSCONFIG). To run it, click Start, Run, type in "MSCONFIG" (no quotes) and press ENTER. When it comes up, click on "Startup" and check or uncheck items you want to load or not to load. This is very useful if you have a program or programs that you only want to run sometimes or not at all. Then you can almost always load the program from the Start Menu anyway, or simply re-enable it to load on Startup again at any time if you change your mind.

If you have Nuts & Bolts or Norton Utilities installed on your system, you can cause their DOS mode disk repair utilities to run on bootup after a bad Windows shutdown, instead of ScanDisk. Copy the utility you want to use (e.g. NDD.EXE or DMDOS.EXE) to your WindowsCommand folder, rename SCANDISK.EXE to SCANDISK.WIN and then rename the copied file to SCANDISK.EXE.

The next time you boot up after a bad shutdown, your third-party disk scanning application will run. This can easily be reversed by deleting or renaming SCANDISK.EXE. More information about configuring this is available from axcel216@aol.com on his website at: http://user.aol.com/axcel216/ listed under the "BYPASS AUTOSCAN" topic online: http://user.aol.com/axcel216/osr2.htm#BYPASS and in his OSR2TIPS.TXT file, part of W95-11D.ZIP (freeware): http://user.aol.com/axcel216/95.htm I recommend reading that before proceeding with this tip.

- Open any folder (i.e. "My Computer").
- Choose "View|Folder options..." from the menu.
- Move to the "File Types" tab.
- Locate the "Folder" entry (to do this fast, click onto the Listview and type the word "folder").
- Choose Edit.
- Select "Explorer", and finally
- Press "Set as default", and leave the dialogs using Ok/Close.

Now, whenever you open any sort of folder, may it be a drive/directory, the Control Panel or your Mobile Devices folder, you automatically get the two-paned Explorer view for easier navigation.

If you type in "go x" in IE 4.x or later (where "x" is any keyword) you can search for ANYTHING using IE, it will default to Yahoo for searching for that item that you entered for "X".

To restore the registry in Microsoft Windows 98 do this:

Restart the computer to MS-DOS mode. This can be done by choosing Command Prompt Only on boot or by clicking Start, Shut Down, Restart the Computer in MS-DOS mode and clicking "yes" when prompted.

Type:

scanreg /restore

Press ENTER.

Restart your computer. These steps will restore your registry to its state when you last successfully started your computer.

Some people like the dual-boot features of Windows 98/95 that let you keep booting to an existing OS such as Windows 3.x and a previous version of DOS, myself included.

I found a simple way to migrate your current Windows 3.x apps to Windows 98/95 without losing Windows 3.x and you don't have to reinstall any of your programs.

All you have to do is make an exact duplicate of your Windows 3.x folder and all the files and subdirectories within it, and that's usually just your Windows and WindowsSystem folders and the files contained in them. Usually it is less than 10 megabytes so this isn't a problem if you're short on disk space. All you need to do is make a folder named Win95 or Win98 depending on which version you are installing. Go into MS-DOS or use the Windows File Manager program to copy all your files from C:Windows (substitute your drive/folder/directory name in place of C:Windows) and your C:WindowsSystem (same) to your C:Win95 or C:Win98 System folder. You will need a sub-folder/directory in your DUPLICATE COPY of Windows 3.x named "System" where you copy the old Windows 3.x system files from the Windows 3.x system sub-folder.

Then simply run Windows 95 or Windows 98's installation program and tell it to install to C:Win95 or C:Win98, overwriting your "previous" (actually a copy of your previous) version of Windows. All of your existing programs and applications will be automatically ported to Windows 98/95 while still being accessible in your original copy of Windows 3.x. This will update the Win98/95 registry and even put the programs into the Start Menu so you don't have to worry about it. This tip should also work for Windows NT 4.0 and in the future, NT 5.0.

It is possible to quad-boot Windows 98/95, Windows NT Workstation 4.0, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, and MS-DOS all on one PC with no special utilities or third party programs.

Make sure you are using a FAT16 partition on your primary hard drive.

First, install Windows 98 or Windows 95 normally.

Click Start, Shut Down, Restart the Computer. Click Yes.

Once the computer reboots and Win98 or Win95 starts loading, press F8. Choose "Safe Command Prompt Only."

Take an MS-DOS disk (where "A:" is your floppy drive letter) and type:

attrib a:msdos.sys -h -s -r
attrib a:io.sys -h -s -r
attrib a:command.com -h -s -r
copy a:msdos.sys c:msdos.dos
copy a:io.sys c:io.dos
copy a:command.com c:command.dos
attrib msdos.sys -h -s -r
edit msdos.sys

Make sure it has "BootMulti=1" under "[Options]".

Press ALT + F. Press "S" for save. Press ALT + F. Choose "Exit."

Remove the floppy disk. Power off the PC and after 10 seconds power it back on. (The ten seconds gives it time to spin down to avoid un-necessary wear and tear).

Press F4 when Win98 or Win95 starts to load. Windows 95 will say "Starting Windows 95..." but Windows 98 will not, so be careful to press F4 it at the right time.

It will load MS-DOS (in my case 6.22). A "DIR" command will reveal that Win98 or Win95's IO.SYS file has been renamed to WINBOOT.SYS and that the Win98 or Win95 versions of COMMAND.COM and MSDOS.SYS, and AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS now have the extension ".W40" after them.

Now that you are into MS-DOS, you can install Windows 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups 3.11 into a folder. Make sure you don't accidentally install it over Windows98 or Windows 95!!!! I suggest a folder name such as "Win3" or "Wfw" as the location 3.x version of Windows.

Usually Win98 or Win95 are installed in C:Windows by default.

Now, reboot the computer and let Win98 or Win95 load completely.

Once it's loaded, go to Start, Shut Down, Restart the Computer. Click "Yes." This is an important step so do not skip it!

It will say "It is now safe to turn off your computer." At this point, put in your Windows NT Workstation 4.0 setup disk #1. Restart your computer by pressing reset or ALT CTRL DELETE or by turning the power off and back on again after 10 seconds have passed.

Windows NT Workstation 4.0 setup will load. Follow on screen instructions. It will automatically detect that Win95 or Win98 is installed. If it asks permission to overwrite the Windows 3.x installation tell it "NO".

I suggest installing NT Workstation 4.0 it into the folder C:WINNT. Once NT setup is done, the next time you reboot you will get a boot menu asking if you want to load "Microsoft NT Workstation 4.0", "NT Workstation 4.0 [vga mode]" (similar to Win95 and Win98's safe mode) and "Microsoft Windows". "Microsoft Windows" actually refers to Windows 98 or Windows 95, not Windows 3.x or Windows for Workgroups.

In System Properties in Windows NT Workstation 4.0, you can easily tell the PC if you want to boot to NT or 98 or 95 by default and you can even specify the delay until it automatically loads the default choice (which you can pick). I set a time of 5 seconds and chose Windows 98 ("Microsoft Windows" as my default OS).

Now, after rebooting Windows NT Workstation, you can let NT load, OR you can choose "Microsoft Windows." This sounds a little complicated but is actually quite simple. If you choose "Microsoft Windows" from the boot menu at startup, Windows 95 or Windows 98 will start to load normally. You can let it proceed by not doing anything, OR you can press F8 for the normal Win98/95 boot menu and make yet another choice there, such as Safe Mode, Command Prompt Only, Previous Version of MS-DOS (such as 6.22 and Win3.x), etc. Or you can just press F4 when Win95 or Win98 starts to load and it will take you to MS-DOS and/or Windows 3.x.

I have found that it's okay to use Windows 98's Defrag and Scandisk utilities on the hard disk as well as NT 4.0's CHKDSK. Try to avoid using MS-DOS and Windows 3.x based utilities as they don't understand long file names and other things that are only in 32 bit Windows operating systems. Using Windows 3.x and MS-DOS based utilities can cause problems for Win98/95 and NT 4.

If you can't find drivers for hardware you need to work with any of the operating systems, visit the manufacturer's website.

A minor cosmetic bug in Windows 98 is as follows:

Right click on desktop, click on "New, Shortcut". The image displayed on the left side still says "Windows 95." Microsoft is aware of this and has stated that they will not be fixing it in Windows 98.

Patches and security fixes are constantly being released for Windows XP, and related components (such as Internet Explorer). You can manually check to see if updates are available for your computer by clicking Start -> Programs -> Windows Update. This will bring you to a Microsoft web site where you can have you computer scanned for which updates should be applied. After the scan, you can choose which updates to download and install, but following the instructions and prompts.

Simply pop in the Windows XP Installation CD, and the setup program should run (if not, simply double-click setup.exe on the CD). Then click "Perform Additional Tasks," then click Transfer Files & Settings. This will open the Files & Settings Transfer Wizard. This program will help you transfer the files and settings from one computer to another - even things like your ICQ database! The only hard part is the connection between the old computer and the new one.

Simply insert the Installation CD, and the setup program will run (or click setup.exe on the CD). Click Perform Additional Tasks, then click Set Up Remote Desktop Connection. For more information about RDC, check out KB Article Q300698.

With each new version of Windows, Microsoft puts more handy "stuff" on the Installation CD. With XP, when you insert the Installation CD, the Setup program will automatically run (if not, just double-click setup.exe) and offer you three options: Install Windows XP, Perform Additional Tasks, or Check System Compatibility. When you choose "Check System Compatibility," you will be offered the choice of having the program automatically check you system, or take you to the "Compatibility Web site." When I chose to go to the compatibility web site, I actually found myself at the Windows Catalog web site (!). But choosing to check my system automatically yielded the much more useful result of launching the Windows Upgrade Advisor.

You can view the percentage network utilization in the Windows XP Task Manager. Simply open the Task Manager by pressing Ctrl-Shift-Esc, and then click the Networking tab. You should see a real-time graph of network utilization.

If you are used to past versions of Windows, you may feel surprised and a little lost when you open the Control Panel in Windows XP. That's because, by default, the Control Panel is now organized into several categories. I'm sure that some market research somewhere told Microsoft that the new arrangement would work better, but I think the old Control Panel is quicker and easier for me. Fortunately, it's easy to make it work just like it used to. First, open the Control Panel from the Start Menu. In the upper left-hand corner, you should see a link called "Switch to classic view." Simply click on that, and you should see the Control Panel organized the way it used to be. If you change your mind, and want the "new" arrangement back, simply click on the link in the upper left corner that now says "Switch to Category view."

When you click Start, Shut Down, you usually have 3 options: Shut Down, Restart, or Log off the current user. With this simple tip, you can add another option: hibernation. Hibernation is a process whereby Windows XP saves it's current state to the hard drive, then shuts the computer off. When you power up out of hibernation, Windows XP will restore itself to the state that it was in before - even any applications you may have had open. To add this option, open Control Panel from the Start Menu. Click Performance & Maintenance, then click the Power Options icon. On the Hibernate tab, check (click) the box next to Enable Hibernation. Now when you click Start -> Shutdown, you will have hibernation as an option, too.

You can tweak how you're applications run in xp by changing the priorty at which they are run. This can dramatically increase the speed of the luna theme and xp in general.

- Open TaskManager (Ctrl+Alt+Del or Ctrl+Shift+Esc)
- Goto the Processes tab
- Right Click Program- Set Priorty
- Set the application to the priorty of your choice. Keep in mind you can Make/Break your system here so try and keep things balanced.