Tip of the month

October 1998
These tips are a mass of issues I have been working on, I pray they help.

Y2K - Year 2000 Issues
When you do your Y2K testing, run the old MSD to save off some settings for
future reference. Also do a dir *. /S > pc1.prn this will give a run down
of all the directories and sub-directories which house your programs.
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To turn off the Logo put the following in your CONFIG.SYS -or- MSDOS.SYS 
[options] logo=0
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Turn off the Auto Load feature of Windows 95 Put the following in your
CONFIG.SYS -or- MSDOS.SYS... [options] BootGUI=0
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The option of booting your old DOS everytime you boot up put this in your CONFIG.SYS -or- MSDOS.SYS...[options] BootMenu=1
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Set up a simple MS-DOS batch file and place a shortcut icon right on the desktop. From then on, restarting Windows 95 is just a double-click away. 
Open Notepad and type the following: @EXIT 
Save the file anywhere you want but make sure you save it with a .BAT extension, such as RESTART.BAT, then close Notepad. Find the new file in Explorer and place a shortcut to it on the desktop. 
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Create a new folder on your desktop...  rename it, call it "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
Now is should look like the normal Control Panel icon you see in My Computer (not a shortcut). Now do a right click on start (taskbar), click on open.  Move the new folder we just created tothe start menu folder.  Close the start menu folder.Now when you click on start, you should see conrol panel on it... click on it and it will expandand show all the items!  You can do the same with the printers folder and dial-up networking...here are names that you need to name your folders..
Dial Up Network        
Dial Up Net.{992CFFA0-F557-101A-88EC-00DD010CCC48}
Printers
Printers.{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}
If you're browsing through folder windows, it's usually nicest to have Windows 95 set so that it uses a single window that changes when you open a new folder. However, if you want to copy or move files around, it's nice to be able to quickly open a separate window for a folder. 
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For maximum DOS memory in an MS-DOS session, add the line LocalLoadHigh=1 to the [386Enh] section of system.ini.
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Even if Win95 recognises your video card it often requires an entry in AUTOEXEC.BAT to set the correct refresh rates.For instance a Stealth 64 card requires a ref to S64MODE in AUTOEXEC.BAT.
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Have you played with the SENDTO feature in Explorer?It's a hidden folder in  C:\WINDOWS. You can add folders to it and be able to quickly move things around(right click on file - use Send To). 
You can also put WINZIP in there to make quick ZIP files.
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In Explorer you can set up different actions to be performed on a document in addition to just the standard 'open' command that will be available to you when you right click on your icon.
Go to an Explorer window and choose View | Options and then the tab 'File Types'. 
In the list you see, find the association for the file type you want to add an action to, e.g BMP. Double click on it to bring up the edit window. 
There is already at least one action there, probably Open, maybe Print, etc. Click on the New . . . button and type in a new command, like Edit or View or whatever you want. Then select the application you want to use to Edit your Bitmap, as opposed to just viewing it. Then when you right click on a BMP file you will see your new command there and you can easily choose to View, Edit, Open, Print . . . .whatever you want with whatever application you want to do it with.  
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If you hate going through the NetHood to find a computer or hate searching through 
My Computer or explorer when you know right where you want to go, here is a solution.
Click on Start...Run... and then type in your path. i.e
Start... Run...C:\win95 > will open a window of the Win95 directory.  This works great with UNC's.  Like Start... Run... \\<server name>\<share name> or you can just use the server name by itself.  If you're looking for a computer, this is a lot faster.
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Right click in a Win95 application's file open box for new, copy, delete, arrange, etc. Most of Explorer's functions except half the toolbar and no pull down menus.
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The "Send To" quick menu shows only the floppy drives as a destination. You can any other disk area or folder as a destination by adding short cuts to the "Send To" folder.  You must add a short cut or a ".LNK" file to that folder; ie:  a short cut to to "Recycle Bin" is great as it will avoid the prompt dialogue "Do you want to send to Recycle Bin?".
Alternatively, any other directory such as a temp directory. 
Here is a bonus, if you have different places to send file to but are
related such as:
        "Customers"
                  Customer1
                Customer2      etc...
You can place in the Send To folder an additional "folder" (not a short cut) called "Customers", then open that folder and place short cuts to all your customer's individual folders and name them appropriately.  Then when you right click a file icon, your "Send To" quck menu will show the new "Customers" "Sub menu" and then move to it and you will see a submenu of all your customer's short cuts. 
(You may want to remove the "short cut to" text from the icons in the "Send To" folder).
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Windows 95 with SyQuest Drives:
More and more people are asking about using SyQuest IDE drives under Win95. 
The following information may be helpful.
The support for SyQuest IDE drives as removable drives started with build 431. 
In order to enable the support, one has to put:
RemovableIDE=True in the [386Enh] section of the SYSTEM.INI file.
If this line is not there, then Win95's protected mode IDE driver will not load.
In addition, one may find an entry in the IOS.LOG file in the Win95 subdirectory
in which there will be messages such as:
"ESDI punting due to removable hard disk.Unit number xx going through real mode drivers."
When the line mentioned above is added to the [386enh] section of SYSTEM.INI, 
the IOS.LOG file will disappear and the Win95 file system will be 32-bit.
The other requirements for this support are that the SyQuest drive MUST have a 
formatted cartridge inserted when Win95 starts and there must not me another 
32-bit module loaded in SYSTEM.INI such as the one provided  by DTC for their 
IDE boards.
There is another setting called "Virtue Memory" in Win95. This will be in 
"MS-DOS compatibility mode" if C: drive is a removable drive, SCSI or IDE.
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There's a program that is automatically installed by Win95 that you can use to make Win 3.x programs more compatible under 95.It is called MKCOMPAT.EXE and is in the Windows\System directory.
Just run MKCOMPAT.EXE - Select File/Open - Open the EXE file that you are having problems with - Start highlighting things that seem like they may make a difference. - Select File/Advanced for more control options - Select File/Save to save the new configuration There is no online help - so some trial and error is in order 
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To make an icon of all your BMPs a small picture of the actual bitmap.
Open regedit
Find Paint.Picture (or whichever program BMPs are registered to)
Add a New Key under Paint.Picture        DefaultIcon
In the right pane,change the Default Value (by Double Clicking it) to %1.  
%1 tells windows the default icon for this file type is in the file itself-since there is no icon in a BMP file, Windows 95 makes a small preview image of the BMP for the icon.Makes sorting and viewing BMPs super easy.
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Object dragging with SHIFT and CONTROL: Hold down the following keys for different actions:
NO SHIFT, NO CTRL
Same Drive:      Move
Different Drive: Copy
Unless the objects selected are *ALL* .COM's or .EXE's in which case:
Same Drive: Create Link
Different Drive (Non-Removable Storage): Create Link
Different Drive (Removable Storage):    Copy 
SHIFT, NO CTRL: Always Moves
NO SHIFT, CTRL: Always Copies
SHIFT, CTRL:    Always Creates Link
Certain folders do no allow objects to be dropped (i.e. Control Panel,
and Printers), others always Move To regardless of SHIFT/CTRL status
(i.e. Recycle Bin).
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To speed up the Program tree accessed from the START button ,open the Registry Editor, expand the HKEY_CURRENT_USER and then Control panel.Inside of Control Panel you'll find Desktop, highlight it w/o expanding it.
In the right pane make a right click and choose New-String value.
The name of the string is "MenuShowDelay" w/o the quotes, give it a value of 10 or less.
This value is the time in milliseconds that the popup will wait before showing. 
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September 1997
Win95 & WordPerfect for DOS
As some of you may recall, their was a warning put out when WP for DOS
was run under Win95 causing various disk access errors, fragmentation,
and other disruptions. If you choose to utilize the program, do so from
a shut down \ MS DOS prompt. The swap file is then inactive and some of
the problems are minimized.

Mid August 1997
MS Win95B
Although you can buy it at compute shows, and most of its components
can be downloaded (except FAT32 and the CD-ROM enhancement), it is
my opinion NOT to run the new version. You become less DOS compatible
(VERY importanat for those of us who still enjoy some DOS games), if
you get an OEM version the OS is set to their machine - other systems
will encounter numerous errors if you try to utilize it.
FAT32 itself is a great idea, but a lot of IDAPI, direct drive access,
and DOS programs wreak havoc under this new system.

August 1997
Win95
If you are running Windows95, make sure you load any legacy 
(old hardware) drivers in Config.Sys & Autoexec.BAT high.
Use MEMMAKER if nothing else to move the drivers into higher memory
and to give yourself more room to work in (EMS is helpful).
Contrary to many articles, this small step can vastly increase the
performance of your system.

Outlook97
If you are running a local email system and use Outlook,
a recommendation: EXLIFE. It is a shareware program that takes
incoming email and forwards, sorts, deletes, etc. mail after you have
set up its variables. Well worth the $20.00 registration!
[Thanks to Don at DBC for turning me onto it!]

Mid July 1997
MS Word
To get the acute accent hold down the Ctrl (command on MAC) and signle 
quote keys then type the letter you want.
For an umlaut hold down the Ctrl and colon keys.
For a tilde hold down the Ctrl and ~ keys.

July 1997
WIN95 STEPS FOR SETTING UP A COMPUTER TO PRINT TO A DISK FILE:
SELECT START | SETTINGS | PRINTERS | ADD NEW. IN THE WIZARD BOX, 
SELECT NEXT, CHECK THE LOCAL PRINTER BOX AND THEN SELECT THE 
MANUFACTURER AS GENERIC|GENERIC TEXT. IF PROMPTED, KEEP EXISTING 
DRIVER. THEN, SELECT WHERE YOU WANT IT TO PRINT TO. A FILE IN THIS CASE. 
NAME THE DRIVER "DISK" OR SOMETHING ELSE APPROPRIATE. IT WILL BE 
THERE UNDER SETUP WHEN YOU ARE READY TO MAKE A DOCUMENT.

Mid June 1997
To test the TCP/IP adapter locally via the DOS Ping command:
1 - Exit to DOS
2 - Type PING 127.0.0.1 -- this will test your TCP/IP protocol. 
You should get a response within a few milliseconds. If you do, the 
connection is working properly on your local system; and you are ready
to configure a dialer to sign on to the Internet.

June 1997
Network Access Settings - Click on the Start button, then Settings,
then Control Panel, and double click the Network icon. Click on 
Access Control, Share Level Access should be selected. Ensure that the
Primary Network Logon is set to Windows Logon. In the Network components
box, make sure that file and print sharing for Microsoft Networks is
listed. Click on file and print sharing, and ensure that both boxes are
checked. If you are not sharing the server's printer, then only the
first box needs to be checked.

If you have a Reveal TV Card, you will find yourself limited to a few 
video cards when you goto a PCI video card. The few I have tried are:
Diamond Stealth 64 Video - Works great but no MPEG 256 in 6x4 & 8x6
Trio64V+ PCI - Works okay but only in 256 in 6x8 w/1MB
S3 Virge - Forget it, there is really no hope for it.
If you are in a VLB system still, the ATI Mach64 is nice but only at
256 colors at 6x4 (640x480)