Recent - Clear
Recorder: A Character Map Workaround
Recycle Bin - Avoid
Recent Documents Menu - Clear
Registry - Fixing Corrupted
Re-installing Windows
Restarting the Taskbar
Restart Win95 at Shutdown Screen
Right Click Testing
ROM Shadowing
Run Command
Run Extensions
Running 3.1 Programs in Windows 95

Clear Recent

The "clrecent.bat" file will allow you to clear the "Documents" list that appears when you click on Start/Documents"
You can then place a shortcut to this "Batch" file in a place of your convenience.
This is not of great importance I know, but it is nice to be able to do it.

Open Notepad and copy the following, save as a .BAT file

REM This will clear the recent folder of all its contents
REM
REM This .BAT file resides in C:\COMMAND
echo y| del \windows\recent\*.*
exit

Create a shortcut to this batch file.
Right-Click on the shortcut, and choose Properties.
Select the Program tab.
Under RUN, choose Minimised.
Check the "Close on exit" checkbox underneath the RUN box.
Click on OK, and close the dialog.
Move the shortcut to wherever you want it, a good place would be the desktop or C:\windows\start menu\programs
Now, to empty the Most Recently Used Documents Folder, double-click on the shortcut you just created.

Download

Recorder: A Character Map Workaround

For those of you who have never used Recorder, here are two tips for you; the first explaining how to use the Recorder to record a macro, and the second, explaining how to insert symbols (ANSI characters) into a Recorder macro for later playback:
To record a macro, first open a window for the application in which you want to record the macro, such as WordPad. Next, switch to the Recorder windows using Alt+Tab.
Turn on all the options in the Recorder's Options menu (such as Minimize on use). Set the Preferences to Any Application, Fast, and Ignore Mouse. The click Macro Record and select a Hotkey (such as Ctrl+Alt+C) in the dialog box that appears. Once you have done this, click the Start button. The Recorder window should reduce to a blinking icon, which indicates that you are recording a macro.

At this point, DO NOT TOUCH YOUR MOUSE! But rather, in the application window, type Space, Shift+Period (the greater than sign), Backspace, Alt+0169, Space. Then press Ctrl+Break to stop recording. In the dialog box that appears, press S to save your macro, then Enter to exit.
Now, try your macro by pressing the hotkey that you selected. You should see the © symbol inserted into your application.
Remember to click File Save in the Recorder window and save your macro to a file, such as MACROS.REC. then create an icon in your Start Up group with the command line MACROS.REC. That will load Recorder and the macro file.
In all my years with Windows 3.1, I could never figure out a way to insert special ANSI characters like the © copyright symbol into macros written with Recorder. Well, there is a major secret, here. Come a little closer, and I'll tell you all about it

The undocumented way to make the Recorder accept an Alt+ Keypad combination is to precede the combination with the following keystrokes:
Space, Shift+Period, Backspace, Backspace. Then, you type Alt+0169 or whatever.
You could follow this special character with a space or other character to return Recorder back to its' normal mode of recording keystrokes.
This is a great alternate method of insterting those special characters you're always hunting for in the Character Map charts. The Recorder icon should be found on the Accessories menu, off of the Start Menu. If it isn't there, go to the Start button, and select RUN, and type RECORDER.EXE into the dialog box that appears.

Avoid the Recycle Bin

Deleted files and folders are saved in the Recycle Bin until you empty it.
Not everything you delete ends up in the Recycle Bin. Files you delete from network drives, floppy drives, or other external drives (like Zip drives) will be deleted permanently.
To delete files without sending them to the recycle bin, select the file or files to be deleted. Right-click the selection and hold the Shift key down while selecting Delete

Clear Recent Documents Menu

To empty the recent documents at start up, create the following batch file : c:\cleanup.bat. This file should contain the following lines :
C:\ CD/ CD WINDOWS CD RECENT DEL *.LNK Now modify the autoexec.bat and add the following line onto the end of the file :
CALL C:\CLEANUP.BAT. Now every time you boot up and go into Windows the documents menu should be empty.

You can do this manually by having an icon on the Desktop to do this?
1. Create a batch file with the following line:-

REM This will clear the recent folder of all its contents
REM This .BAT file resides in C:\COMMAND
echo y| del \windows\recent\*.*
exit

2. Save file in a convenient directory, such as Windows\Command
3. Create a shortcut to that batch file right on the Desktop
4. Right-Click on the shortcut, and choose Properties.
5. Select the Program tab.
6. Under RUN, choose Minimised.
7. Check the "Close on exit" checkbox underneath the RUN box.
8. Click on OK, and close the dialog.
Now, to empty the Most Recently Used Documents Folder, double-click on the shortcut you just created.
This can also be use to empty any folder you choose, Just alter the path to suit.

Download Clear Recent Batch file

You want to get rid of certain information on your documents menu but want to keep some of the important shortcut's in there for future use. But the only way you know how to get rid of the shortcut's you don't want your boss or any spying co-workers to see is to clear the entire Documents menu! Well all you have to do is:
Go to explorer or my computer, Open the file "Windows" Then Open the file "Recent"
You now have access to every thing you've been working on! The pathway is: C:\WINDOWS\Recent.
The really fast way to do this is go to the find menu in your start menu and type in "Recent" when it finds the file open it and delete what you want to keep and what you don't!

Fixing Corrupted Registries

If Windows95 gives you the dreaded "Your registry is corrupt" message, DO NOT PANIC! Instead, reboot the computer.
When you see "Starting Windows 95", push the "F8" key. Choose "Safe mode command prompt only" from the menu. You will quickly get a "C:\>" prompt.
Change to your Windows directory and type "regedit /e savebutt.reg" It will say "exporting file". eventually it will stop with an error message. After this, type "attrib system.dat -r -s -h". Then type "ren system.dat system.old".
Lastly you need to type "regedit /c savebutt.reg".
These commands will pull only the undamaged sections from your old registry and make a new one based on these. If it fails, reinstall Windows. If it works, some of your programs may no longer function. Reinstall them.

Re-installing Windows

Coming Shortly

Has the dreaded time arrived when the last resort is to re-format your harddrive and re-install windows.
Hopefully all the information that you need to completely and safely re-install will be here shortly.

Restarting the Taskbar

To restart the Taskbar, press Ctrl+Alt+Del and Shutdown the Explorer task. When the Shutdown dialog pops up, choose No. When the End Task confirmation pops up, click End Task. The Taskbar will shut down and then automatically restart.

Restart Win95 at your Shutdown Screen

If you have selected the shutdown command and are already viewing the "You may shut down your computer" screen, type "win" then press ENTER to restart your PC

Right Click Testing

Some files can be right clicked on and a test item will be on the menu. You click on this to test the file (it works with screen savers and some other files). If you do not have the other files needed to run it, you will be told which DLL, VXD, etc., that you need. It will only tell you one at a time, so you may have to do this more than once to see every thing needed to run it.

ROM Shadowing

In some situations, you may get increased performance out of Windows 95 by turning off ROM shadowing. Note that this is usually effective only for systems with no 16-bit drivers. Experiment with settings to see which ones give you the best results.

Run Command

Click on the Start button and choose the Run command. Any application or applet in the computer’s path statement will be launched by typing its name.
You can use Run command in an advanced way:
Choose, Run, from Start menu and then drag and drop folders/applications/archives on the text dialog. In this way you can start autoexecutables zips with switches (like -d, used to reconstruct directory structure) without the long search at command prompt. Or you can drag an application (like pkunzip) and then an archive for that application.

Run Extensions

An easy way to find out a file's DOS extension is to drag the file into the Run dialog. The entire path, including the file extension, will be visible.

Running 3.1 Programs in Windows 95

If you are having problems loading a Windows 3.1 program in Windows 95, go to run and type Mkcompat and hit enter. This brings up a dialog box that gives you a few choices, such as "lie about windows version". Go to file, choose program, and choose the install or setup.