Desktop - Default folder
Desktop - Icons Size
Desktop - Settings
Desktop - ToolTips
Desktop - Unwanted Items Removal
Desktop - Wallpaper Position
Drop-Down Menu - Change Alignment
DUN - Reset
DVD
Change Desktop's default folder
Go to the following Registry SubKey:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\DefaultIcon
The current default icon points to the file SHELL32.dll in the Windows 95 System folder, and to the fourth icon in the series, which is actually 3, because in .DLL files, the numbering starts at zero, and not one.
This value points to the 4th icon (0,1,2,3) in the file Shell32.dll.
To change this you need to replace this default value with the full path to the icon file.
If the icon is imbedded in a dll like the current icon is, you need to know its placement in the sequence.
The first icon in a dll is always 0, the next is 1, then 2, you get the idea.
You can change the .DLL file and the icon to whatever you would like to see on your system.
For example, PC Tools For Windows 2.0 has a DLL file called FOLDERS.dll which contains about 100 variations of the folder.
Make sure that you follow the following syntax:
C:\Win95\System\Shell32.dll,x
Where "x" is the number of the icon in the DLL that you wish to have replace the default.
Close the Registry Editor, and reboot your machine.
Change Desktop Icons Size
Are your icons too small? Or too big? This setting will let you resize them to suit your desktop preference.
Open the registry and find the key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics
Create a new value named 'Shell Icon Size' and set the value, or modify the existing value, to equal the size of your icons in pixels. Smaller values = smaller icons!
For example, the setting may look like:
(Default) (value not set)
Shell Icon Size "16"
Desktop Settings
Here's how to make Win95 remember your Desktop settings, even if someone comes along and changes everything.
First, set up everything the way you want it.
Next, run the RegEdit, and go to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Right-click in the right-hand pane and select New, and click DWORD.
Rename the new value to read, NoSaveSettings, and press Enter.
Right-click on the new NoSaveSettings item and select Modify.
Enter the number 1 in the Value data box.
Click OK and Exit.
Now, whenever you restart Windows 95, your settings will return to their current state.
Desktop ToolTips
Put your pointer over My Computer, Recycle Bin, or Network Neighbourhood, and you'll get a tool tip with information you don't really need. IE 4 calls these Infotips.
To replace them with your own messages, you'll need to make some changes in the Registry.
Open Regedit, press Ctrl-F to bring up the Find Box, and type infotip.
This will take you to the first occurrence of a tool tip.
Pressing F3 will take you to the next tip etc.
Check out the open folder in the left pane to see which one it is, double-click the Infotip icon, and type up to 255 characters of your own.
For example, if you've replaced the My Computer icon with some funky cartoon and have renamed it something totally obscure, the Infotip may say something like, "The icon formerly known as My Computer."
Remove unwanted items from the Desktop
When Windows 95 configures the system during install, it places several default icons on the Desktop.
Among them are My Computer, Recycle Bin, Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Network icons.
When you right click on these icons, you'll find that there is no way to remove them.
However, here is another undocumented trick that works every time:
1. Go to:
Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\
Desktop\NameSpace
2. What you will find there are a list of items that were placed on your Desktop during installation. A few examples:
Inbox, Microsoft Network, and Recycle Bin.
3. All you have to do is remove the item that you want off of the Desktop.
4. If you want, the Recycle Bin can be removed this way as well, although why someone would want to delete this helpful utility is unclear to me at this time.
Inbox;{00020D75-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
My documents;{450d8fba-ad25-11d0-98a8-0800361b1103}
Recycle Bin;{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
MSN;{88667D10-10F0-11D0-8150-00AA00BF8457}
Rather than delete from the registry an addition to the folder name will prevent the icon from showing on the desktop eg :- {name88667D10-10F0-11D0-8150-00AA00BF8457} for MSN
Change Desktop Wallpaper Position
Unfortunately Windows only gives you the limited options of center or tile for the placement of the desktop wallpaper. With this setting you can move the image anyway on your desktop.
Open your registry and find the key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Create two new string values of 'Wallpaperoriginx' and 'Wallpaperoriginy'. If the values already exist then you simply modify them.
Set the value of 'Wallpaperoriginx' to equal the horizontal offset, and set the value of 'Wallpaperoriginy' to equal the vertical offset. Then either restart Windows, or change your background image through the Control Panel.
Note:
Data: Distance in Pixels
The image is offset from the center of your desktop, so you can use positive and negative values.
For example, the setting may look like:
Wallpaperoriginx "100"
Wallpaperoriginy "300"
Change Alignment of Drop-Down Menus
By default, Windows drop-down menus are aligned to the left, with this tip you can change the default behaviour to make all drop-down aligned to the right instead.
Open your registry and find the key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Create a new string value named 'MenuDropAlignment', or modify the existing value to equal '1' for right alignment or '0' for left alignment.
For example, the setting may look like:
MenuDropAlignment "1"
Restart your PC for the changes to take affect.
Reset your DUN
For some reason, my computer kept resetting my Dial-Up Networking (Internet) connection to use a specific IP address, even though my connection was server assigned, and regardless that I kept putting the checkmark in "Server assigned IP address".
Often, this specific IP address was a flaky, unreliable address at that. So, I searched the Registry for the culprit, taught myself how to write little REG files that alter the Registry, and came up with this tip.
To create a REG file that will reset your Dial-Up Networking connection: DUN | Properties | Server Type | TCP/IP Settings | IP address, to "Server assigned IP address", do the following:
1. Create a text file.
2. Type in the following:
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\RemoteAccess\Profile\Frontier]
"IP"=hex:
1c,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
(Type this as one single line.)
3. Save with a descriptive name. My ISP is Frontier Telephone, so I called mine "Frontier."
4. Change the file extension to REG. I use a utility called Change File Type 96, from www.windows95.com, but you can, of course, use the DOS prompt.
5. The icon for the file should change. Right-click and choose Edit to make sure the text is correct.
Then, double-click on the file whenever you want to make sure that your IP address is server-assigned, such as before you connect to the Internet.
I put this file in C:\Windows\System and made it automatically run from a shareware utility called DUNCE
(Dial-Up Networking Connection Enhancement), also found at: http://www.windows95.com
Download DUNCE
DVD
This tweak immensely helps slower computers trying to play DVD's from a DVDROM drive. 450 Mhz is considered a bit slow, but it is possible to get DVD playback without dropped frames.
Goto
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\ Control\FileSystem\CDFS]
Set the following:
CacheSize = 0x00000800 (2048) - the default is 0x0000026b (619)
Prefetch = 0x00000800 (2048) - default is 0x000000e4 (228)
PrefetchTail = 0x00000200 (512) - default is 0x00000080 (128)
Reboot, and test your DVD playback.
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REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem\CDFS]
"CacheSize"=dword:00000800
"Prefetch"=dword:00000800
"PrefetchTail"=dword:00000200
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