Dragging "Scraps" to the Desktop

Customise Send to folder

Who needs SETVER.EXE?

Scandisk

ShortCuts - General Keyboard-Only Commands

Here's just a few "Right-Shift" tricks:
Drag files with the right mouse button. This give you the option of copying, moving, or creating a shortcut.
To format a disk drive, right click on that drive's icon in Explorer or in My Computer.
To minimize, cascade, or tile all windows, right click on the Taskbar.
To empty the Recycle Bin quickly, right click on its' icon on the Desktop.
To close, restore, maximize, or minimize a window, right click on its' button on the Taskbar.
If a file has an associated application, but you would like to open it with a different application, hold down the shift key and right click on its' icon.
To restart Windows without restarting the computer, go to the shutdown menu and choose Restart the computer. When you click OK, hold down the shift key.
To launch Explorer on a drive or folder, right click on the icon, instead of double-clicking.
To permanently delete file(s) instead of sending it to the Recycle Bin, hold down the SHIFT key and press DELETE, or right click on the file(s) and then hold down the SHIFT key before selecting Delete from the context menu

Instant System Properties
If you have a "Windows" keyboard with the special "Windows Key" on it, you can hit the "WinKey" + "Pause/Break" 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.

Folders and Windows Explorer

Accessibility

Shortcuts in the Common Open and Save dialogs

Shortcuts for Microsoft Natural Keyboard Keys

ShortCuts for Objects, Folders, and Explorer

To copy a file:- Press CTRL while you drag the file to a folder.
To create a shortcut:- Press CTRL+SHIFT while you drag the file to the desktop or a folder.
To close the current folder and all its parent folders:- Press SHIFT and click the Close button on the folder.
To tab through pages in a properties dialog box:- Press CTRL+TAB or CTRL+SHIFT+TAB.
To switch between opening a new window and closing an existing window:- Press CTRL and double-click a folder.
If you have more than one window open, this operation closes the active window. If you have only one window open, this operation opens a new window.
To bypass Auto-Run when inserting a compact disc:- Press SHIFT while inserting the compact disc.
To quickly change Wallpaper:- Drag the file name of a .BMP or .RLE file to the Control Panel's Desktop dialog box. This instantly installs the bitmap as Desktop Wallpaper, and saves you from having to type the file name and full path into the dialog box.
A shortcut to the Start Menu:- Open Explorer, and open the Start Menu folder. Create a shortcut to the Start Menu, and place it on the Desktop. There, you'll have one click access to all that is in that menu.

Shortcuts for a Selected Object

Shortcuts in the Windows Explorer Tree

Create short cut for new OE mail

Right-Click on your desktop, select "New, Shortcut", in the command line box type, mailto: then click next. Give your shortcut a name.

Shut Down Prompt

Shutting Down

Embedding sound files in OE messages.

JAVA Script Method
Use a HTML editor like FrontPage Express, or a text editor to create a simple *.htm file to contain the following :

<p><img height="1" id="music" src="file:///C:/Windows/Media/sound.mid" width="1"></p>
<p><script type="text/javascript">
<!-- Beginning of script
function PlayMusic(Titre)
{ document.writeln ('<BGSOUND src="'+Titre+'" loop=999;>'); }
PlayMusic(music.src)
// End of script -->
</script></p>

Visual Basic Script Method
Use a HTML editor like Frontpage Express, or a text editor to create a simple *.htm file to contain the following:

<p><img height="1" id="music" src="file:///C:/Windows/Media/sound.mid"
width="1"></p>
<p><script type="text/javascript">
'
' VBScript Example
'
Dim Music1
Dim line1
'
Music1=muse1.src
line1="<BGSOUND balance=0 loop=infinite volume=100 src="&Music1&">"
'
Document.Writeln line1
'
</script></p>

Getting Rid of the Yellow Speaker in Sys Tray

Speedy CD’s

Speed Gain

Speed up reboots

Speed up Windows 95

2. Speed up Windows by reducing the amount of time it fools around with virtual memory. Go to Start, Settings, and click on Control Panel. Double click on System. Note the amount of RAM in your computer. This can be found on the General tab. Click on the Performance tab and then on the Virtual Memory button. Windows 95 runs optimally with 16 megs of RAM.
If you have 16 megs or more click on "Let me specify my own virtual memory settings:". Put a zero in the minimum box. Put the amount of RAM you have in the Maximum box. For instance, if I have 32MB of RAM, I would put "32" in the Maximum box.
For those with less than 16MB, you can speed up your machine by specifying 2 1/2 times your RAM in the Maximum box (8MB would be 20MB). Click on OK. When the warning is displayed click on YES. Click on OK and then OK again to restart your machine.

3. With this trick, you will be able to speed up the swap file access you can implement it in one of two ways.
#1 From the control panel go to System Icon, Then to Virtual Memory button. Click the "Let me specify my own virtual memory settings", then set the max amount and set it to 50MB, also set the minimum amount to 50 also. Once you hit the ok button it will ask you if you want to restart your computer, hit yes and that's it. This stops the annoying swap file re-sizing every time you go over the minimum. And for you performance geeks out there, including me.
#2 Create a 100-250MB partition, and from step #1 Select the Hard disk drive letter that you created, set the max. and the min. values to use the entire partition. This variation of step #1 prevents the swap file from becoming fragmented. This trick will speed things up for you 8mb and 16mb windows 95 users.

Speed up Windows ME

• ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1
  This can significantly reduce Virtual memory use as it makes Windows use (fast) RAM before the (slow) Swapfile. This setting will tell Windows-ME not to use the swap file at all until all of the RAM is used. After all of the RAM is used, the computer will push most of the infrequently used data to the swap file.
  This is particularly beneficial for those with 256MB RAM.

• DMABufferSize=64
  Tweaks DMA performance. This will conserve at least 64KB of memory to DMA (direct memory access) to reinsure that your DMA devices always have enough memory allocated.
  Note that this tweak should only be used if you have one or more DMA enabled devices on your system

• PageBuffers=32
  This setting dedicates a certain amount of RAM to buffer the hard drive rather than allowing the operating system to dynamically handle the buffer. Windows dynamic handling of most memory issues is very inefficient, due to the large difference Windows sets between minimum and maximum values.
  32 is the highest setting the operating system allows, so it is recommended that you use this value.

• LocalLoadHigh=1
  This loads the local drivers into upper memory by default as opposed to conventional memory. This is a good tweak if you have less than 128MB of RAM, but may actually hinder performance for those with 128MB or more - Test to see which works best.

Under the [vcache] section:

• Minfilecache=XXXXX
  This will set the minimum value to how much swap file in KB your system will dedicate. To figure out what to replace XXXXX with, it is recommended that you take 10% of your RAM and multiply that number by 1024 (to convert to KB).
  For example, If you have 128MB of RAM, so 10% of 128 is 12.8. 12.8 multiplied by 1024 is 13107.2. I would then replace XXXXX with 13107.

• Maxfilecache=XXXXX
  This will set the maximum value to how much swap file in KB your system will dedicate. To figure out what to replace XXXXX with, it is recommended that you take 25% of your RAM and multiply that number by 1024 (to convert to KB).
  For example, If you have 128MB of RAM, so 25% of 128 is 32. 32 multiplied by 1024 is 32768. I would then replace XXXXX with 32768.
  Note: Some people prefer to set their min and max filecache to the same value, so as to lessen the time the computer spends with the swap file when the swap file is in use. If you have large amounts of RAM, namely 256MB or more, you can easily set the min and max to the same size without worry.
  

• Chunksize=XXX
  This setting determines how large the chunks are that are allocated to each program residing in the vcache.
  A program can have more than one chunk, but if it doesn't divide evenly into the size of the chunk, some RAM goes unused (i.e. is fragmented). On one hand, having a smaller chunk size allows for less wasted RAM in the vcache, however, on the other hand, a larger chunk size increases the access speed for the vcache. Common values are 128, 256, 512, 1024, and 2048 . The rule of thumb is, if you have any newer monster multi-GigaByte size hard disk, you may want to set this value to "high": 2048 - 4096. If you don't work frequently with multi-MegaByte size files, you may want to set it to "low": 256 - 1024.

Save the changes & reboot your system for the change to take effect.

Set file system to cache about 3 times higher than with the 'Network Server' default setting.
MaxCache will use 128KB RAM and provide for 6144 Cached Files and 204 Directories. For comparision NetworkServer uses 40KB RAM and provides 2729 Files and 64 Direcroties.
Download MaxCache.reg and when it ask you what you would like to do with this file tell it to 'Open this file from its current location.'

Before using this registry file, please back up your registry file - DO NOT use if you do not know how to restore your registry file.

Edit the MSDOS.SYS file in your root directory (you may have to uncheck 'hide protected operating system files' in the Folder Options under View in the Control Panel for you to view Msdos.sys. Also, make sure you right click Msdos.sys, click properties, and then uncheck 'read-only' to be able to save this file once you have added these options).
Add these under the [Options] section:

• Dblspace=0
  This will tell the OS not to load the DoubleSpace compression program during boot up, thereby freeing up memory and reducing an unnecessary program from running. Do not use this if you are using have a compressed hard drive!

• Drvspace=0
  This setting tells the OS not to load the DriveSpace compression program during boot up, thereby freeing up memory and reducing an unnecessary program from running. Do not use this if you are using have a compressed hard drive!

• Logo=0
  This setting will disable the Windows start-up logo during boot, thereby reducing time to load. If you like the Windows logo, don't use this setting.

• Bootdelay=0
  This setting tells the OS not to delay when switching from your BIOS POST to the OS boot up. Although most users already do not experience a delay, this guarantees that you have a zero delay.

• Disablelog=1
  This setting will disable all event logging that occurs during boot up, thereby reducing the amount of time wasted to perform this task. If you wish to have your boot up logged, usually in order to find errors, do not use this setting.

• Doublebuffer=X
  This setting tells the computer whether or not to use double-buffering for your hard drive. If you have a large FAT32 partition or you use SCSI, I recommend that you enable this by inserting a 1 for the X. If you have a smaller FAT32 partition (under 10 GB per partition is a good rule) or you still use FAT16, I recommend that you disable this by inserting a 0 for the X.

Edit the config.sys file.
In order to apply these settings, click Programs, Accessories, System Tools and then open System Information.
Under tools, open the System Configuration Utility:
Under the Environment Tab, click New and then enter this info:

• Stacks: 0,0
  This will speed up the underlying kernel of Windows. This is a good tweak recommended for everyone.

• dos: high,umb
  DOS still does play a role in how fast the operating system is and conserving whatever resources it might need is important.

Speed up Windows Launch

Start Command

Add an item to the Start Menu

Start Menu Cascading Folders

Start Menu Cascading Control Panel

1. Right-click on the Start button and select Open.
2. Create a new folder and call it:

Start Menu - Create History Folder

Customise the Start Menu Button

Change the word START:
Copy the file EXPLORER.EXE from your Windows directory to a temporary working directory.
Using a hex editor (like UltraEdit-32), open the copy of EXPLORER.EXE.
At the hex address 02DF0E, you will see 53 00 74 00 61 00 72 00 74, which are the letters in the word "Start," separated by null characters (#00).
It's a good idea to search and replace all occurances of Start in the file, as just editing this one doesn't seem to do it.

Submitted by Cable Hicks

Submitted by Barry Haigh

Change the icon:
Copy the file USER.EXE from your Windows\System directory to a temporary working directory.
Using an icon editor that can read executables (like Microangelo), open the copy of USER.EXE.
The Start Menu uses the flag logo, the very first icon in this file. What you need to be aware of, is that there are several versions of this icon in the file, each a different size.
Depending on what font size you have your Start Menu font configured (Control Panel -> Display Properties -> Appearance), the actual icon may be the 16x16 or the 22x22 variations. Your best bet is to edit them all, and save your changes when you're finished.

Find start-up errors in Win95

Start Up Disk

Hiding Special Start-up Commands

Avoid the Start-Up Programs

Start up Screen

Change Start-up and Shutdown Screens

LOGO.SYS - The start-up screen, usually located in your C:\ directory.
LOGOW.SYS - The 'Please wait...' screen, usually located in your c:\windows directory.
LOGOS.SYS - The 'It's now safe to turn off your computer.' screen, usually located in your c:\windows directory.

SysEdit

Customise System Editor

System File Protection.

When System File Protection is invoked, it checks that the file is a valid Microsoft binary, and that catalog signing and the proper binary hash are all in place. SFP checks with the information in the catalog to see if the file is the right version.

If the file is authorized, digitally signed by Microsoft, and correct, SFP terminates and allows the file to be updated. If the file check fails, SFP pulls the correct version from the file out of its backup store and copies it to the relevant directory. No reboot is needed.

The exceptions to this are if there’s no space on the drive to perform these operations, it will persist the requirement to revert the file. It will inform the backup store that a data purge or first in, first out (FIFO) be done. It will check at periodic intervals. If space is available and when space is adequate, it will restore the file.

If it cannot find any version of the file in the store, it will leave the file on the system as is. To update a protected system file, a digitally signed and Millennium-certified catalog file will be needed.

Is there any way to configure System File Protection? No. Can you turn it on or off? There is no supported method to disable System File Protection.

It does not protect user-created files. System file protection protects specific system files, but does not protect such files as .chm, .txt, .html, .wav, .bmp, etc. — any file that can be deemed user data.

It also does not protect the My Documents folder. A complete listing of the files protected by System File Protection can be found in the file Sfpdb.sfp, which can be opened with Notepad.

There’s also a list of protected files in the file Filelist.xml. (This is for System Restore and System File Protection; this is a file of reference. When VxDMON.vxd goes through its "First Run," this file is combined into VxDMON.dat.) This also contains System Restore information.

Other files that it does not protect: files that may be updated during run time; configuration and .ini files; files that get rolled into other files during setup (a classic example of this is Bmm32.vxd); data files that can be edited by the user at any point; third-party INFs; INFs that are only executed during setup; files owned by third parties that Microsoft is redistributing on the CD; files that are legally allowed to change (if we have formally and contractually allowed third parties to modify a file, then it is not a candidate for system file protection).

Exceptions can be made if component teams want additional files protected or want SFP to stop protecting their file.

System Info

System Restore

It can be used in the event that a software or driver installation has caused system instability, and you have no way to uninstall the software or the driver. It restores the registry and file changes that are outside the scope of files protected by SFP.

Snapshots of the registry are taken at the time when a system checkpoint is created, and a copy of the system files held in Filelist.xml is saved. Automatic restore points can be created by software installers that use the Darwin technology (for example, Office 2000) and for software installers that use the most recent versions of InstallShield.

Invoking the System Restore application itself, meaning if you use SR to restore back to a previous point in time, a checkpoint would automatically be created at that time. Here’s when you would not use System Restore: to uninstall a version of Millennium on a system; there is no functionality for uninstalling Windows Millennium with System Restore.

When an installer is available to uninstall the suspect application, System Restore will not remove all associated files with any given application. However, it will remove binary files that can cause a particular anomaly to occur, such as .dll, .exe, and .sys files. Registry files will be restored to the point in time that the restore point was taken, and the remaining non-binary files should be able to be safely deleted from the system.

The Start menu may well contain entries for the application that was on the system prior to the rollback. But these too can be safely deleted.

What System Restore does not do: it does not protect critical documents that are created by applications. It does not replace the Uninstall feature of the operating system setup. System Restore is not an add/remove software utility. It is not a backup utility, and does not function as such.

System Restore relies on a data store. We use up to 12 percent of the disk space for Windows partitions that are larger than 4 GB. If you have a partition that is less than 4 GB, and Windows was installed on that partition, then we will use a maximum of 400 MB of that partition’s free space for the data store.

System checkpoints are taken every 10 to 24 hours. They are created once for every period of 10 hours of computer up time, or the 24-hour interval if no 10-hour checkpoint was created. This depends on system idle time.

Where do we store the restore points? They are on your Windows partition, which for reference I’m going to refer to as C:\_Restore\Archive. This is where the data is stored for the actual restore event; c:\\_Restore\Logs\Restorept.log is the file that has pointers to the actual displayed restore point and the data CABs.

What is in the include/exclude list? It includes all the files that are not excluded and contained in the Filelist.xml. Files such as .doc, .bmp, .txt, and other personal files are considered excluded because we don’t want to cause data loss when we revert the system back. For example, changing someone’s spreadsheet after they worked all week on it would be a very bad thing. We do not monitor those files.

VxD will exclude changes to the following files and directories: your swap files; we specifically do not monitor the registry files; Recycle Bin; Windows Temp files; all data files with known extensions; Outlook Express mail stores; POP, IMAP, SMTP; Outlook Express Address Book; Outlook Express news stores; Outlook Express subscriptions; Outlook Express stationery; the My Documents directory and all content therein; Cookies; Favorites; Internet Explorer History.

This list will be represented in XML format, which will be the Windows Update mechanism in the future. We may have to add a size limit for files that we consider system files. The size limit will be decided later; currently it is 12 MB.

Another optimization that we will consider is to dynamically update the exclusion list with new file types registered with Windows. Next is first in, first out of the restore points. Restore points and the associated data CABs are purged first in, first out to preserve storage capacity imposed by design.

The metrics for this are at 90 percent capacity of your data store, System Restore will go into a FIFO process and purge the previous restore points, first in, first out, until the data store is at or below 50 percent of its maximum size.

What does the restore on emergency boot disk (EBD) do? Essentially, if you have a failed restore operation, you can use the startup disk and boot into a useable system, or roll back, using System Restore. You can only undo the last operation. If you did not have a restore operation prior to booting to the EBD, you will not be offered the option to undo the last restore.

Reverting will be supported whether the user arrived at this state directly from protect mode or from safe mode, as long as it was the result of a restore operation. The ability to revert a restore will only be available if, in fact, a restore was the last operation. We’ll know by this criteria that there was a restore operation, the restore success trigger did not delete the dummy file. We will not have to worry about this, because unsuccessful restores will always be reverted, and the revert operation clears the dummy file. Once the user creates the boot disk and inserts it, he will see the options for the Millennium startup.

The first one will be start computer with CD-ROM support. The second will be start computer without CD-ROM support. The third will view the help file. The fourth will be a minimal boot.

Regardless of the selection made, if the above criteria are met, which tells us if the restore was the last operation, System Restore will create the following message on the screen. Users must type Y or N before they can proceed to the selected menu option.

That’s the message you will see if you enter into this condition and boot from a floppy.

Once System Restore is in effect, you’ll have a calendar view of the restore points and/or system checkpoints that you can choose from, if you wish to restore your system. Bold dates contain actual restore points, whether they’re system checkpoints, Windows updates, or manually created checkpoints.

The confirmation screen, displays the restore point that you are reverting back to; you must select Next to continue.

Once your system has got through that point and restarts, a successful restore will present you with the Restoration Complete.

After you’ve restored your system at least once, the initial System Restore screen will have a third selection. And that will be to Undo my last restoration. This option is available in the event that running System Restore did not correct the problem, and it allows you to go back to the point in time in which you originally invoked System Restore.

Q&A You said that I don’t have to worry about System Restore replacing any of my data files because it’s smart enough to know that the files like .xls and .doc are my user files. What if I install an application tomorrow that uses a new file type unknown to System Restore? Will I lose my data file if I perform a restore operation?

In most cases, no. For unknown file types, we may monitor file changes and act accordingly, because we don’t know about those file types. If you have data files that you want protected or left alone, store them in the My Documents folder. We do not monitor that folder, and any files you put in there will not be reverted during any restore.

How many days worth of restore points will I be able to store on my system at any given time?

That’s going to be variable, because restore points can be relatively small, say, 4 to 5 MB, or rather large, up to 20 or 40 MB, per restore point. All of this is going to depend on how large the drive is where your data store resides.

If your data store is 400 MB, then you probably have close to three weeks worth of system checkpoints, provided you have not done many software installs or uninstalls. Those will affect the size of the restore points saved, and also the days with which you will be able to save them.

Does System File Protection operate in safe mode?

No. It does not. There is no provision for it to work in safe mode.

I’ve been infected with the "ILOVEYOU" worm virus. Although I have cleaned my system with Neato Antivirus utility, it still says that I have an infected file or two in the data store. How can I tell System Restore to let Neato Antivirus clean the file?

The data store is protected. So any application that wants to get inside and modify anything within it is forbidden. If this situation occurs, and yes, it can occur, you need to keep in mind that System Restore does not check for viruses. It is not a virus utility.

What you can do, in this situation, is simply purge the data store. And you can do that by disabling System Restore features and reenabling them after you’ve rebooted. That will clear the data store and all of your restore points and log files. It will also get rid of the virus in this situation.

Yesterday I had restore points going back over 10 days. Today there are only 2 days worth. Where did the other restore points go?

This is a standard feature of System Restore. In order to maintain free space on your drive, we go through a FIFO operation when your data store gets to 90 percent of its allocated size. At that point, System Restore will CAB what files it needs to, and purge the oldest restore points first, until the amount of storage in the data store is reduced to 50 percent or less.

That’s where your restore points will go. Restore points are volatile. They are going to depend on the amount of free space and the size of your drive.