Cozy Den Archives
WIN TIP OF THE DAY

These are the WinTips for the weeks of
April 19 through April 30, 1999!

*****************************************
* * T I P   O F   T H E   D A Y     April 19, 1999 * *
Win 95 - Forgotten Passwords

If you forget your Win95 password, just press Escape at the password box, bring up the MS-DOS Prompt and enter dir *.PWL at the WINDOWS folder to find your .PWL files. Delete the one with your name in front of it. Restart your system and enter a new password when prompted.
******************************************

* * T I P   O F   T H E   D A Y     April 20, 1999 * *
Win9X-Change BMP to ICO for instant Icon

Take any .BMP file, rename it to give it an .ICO extension, and voila! Instant icon. You access the file in the normal way: Right-click on the current icon for a shortcut, select Properties from the Context menu, select the Shortcut tab and click on the Change Icon button. Now use the Browse button to find your new one.
******************************************

* * T I P   O F   T H E   D A Y     April 21, 1999 * *
Win 9X - Right Click to Exit Windows

Right-click on the taskbar buttons of minimized applications and select Close from the menu to quickly exit them.
******************************************

* * T I P   O F   T H E   D A Y     April 22, 1999 * *
Win 9X - Control Panel in your Start Menu

If you're always launching Control Panel to fiddle with your system settings, simplify your life by putting the Control Panel applet right on the initial Start menu. Drag CONTROL.EXE from your WINDOWS folder and drop it on your Start button.
******************************************

* * T I P   O F   T H E   D A Y     April 23, 1999 * *
Win 9X - Printout Info on Hardware

Right-click on the My Computer icon and select Properties from the context menu. Click on the Device Manager tab, then the Print button. Select the "All Devices and System Summary" radio button, then click on OK. This will give you more information about your hardware, IRQs, ports, memory usage, devices and drivers than you ever wanted to know. Keep this printout handy for future reference.
******************************************

* * T I P   O F   T H E   D A Y     April 26, 1999 * *
Win 9X - Renaming Icons

If you click once on an icon, wait a second and then click again, you'll be able to rename the icon.
******************************************

* * T I P   O F   T H E   D A Y     April 27, 1999 * *
Win 9X - Telling Applications where to find Documents

Here's how to tell any application where to look for documents and where to save them by default: Find the shortcut to the application on your Desktop or Start menu (for the Start menu shortcuts, right-click on the Start button and select open, then drill your way to the shortcut). Right-click on the shortcut and select Properties. Click on the Shortcut tab. Now type the path to the folder of your choice in the Start In box.
******************************************

* * T I P   O F   T H E   D A Y     April 28, 1999 * *
Win 9X - Finding Windows TOOLS

Most of us use the Start menu to find ScanDisk, Disk Defragmenter or Backup. But there's a better way. In My Computer, right-click on a drive and select Properties. Click on the Tools tab. Here you'll get information on the last time you performed each of the three disk operations, with launch buttons for each.
******************************************

* * T I P   O F   T H E   D A Y     April 29, 1999 * *
Win 98 - Using Disk Defragmenter to Gather Programs

Do you have a few programs that you use far more than any others? If so, you can make those programs more quickly accessible. The improved Disk Defragmenter in Windows 98 can gather the program files you use most often and move them to the faster parts of your hard disk. To run Disk Defragmenter, click Start and select Programs/Accessories/System Tools and then select Disk Defragmenter. Click on the Settings button and make sure that the option labeled "Rearrange program files so my programs start faster" is selected. Click OK twice to begin defragmentation.
******************************************

* * T I P   O F   T H E   D A Y     April 30, 1999 * *
Win 9X - Disabling Password Logon

You can prevent Win9x from prompting for a password at start-up-assuming you're not using User Profiles and you're not connected to a network. Launch the Network applet from Control Panel. On the Configuration tab, select Windows Logon from the Primary Network Logon drop-down menu. Click on OK and, when you are prompted to restart Windows, click No. Next, launch the Passwords applet from the Control Panel, and click on the Change Windows Password button. In the Change Windows Password dialog, type your current Windows password in the Old Password box. Leave both the New Password and the Confirm New Password boxes blank, click on OK and then click on OK to confirm. Select the User Profiles tab and select "All users of this PC use the same preferences and Desktop settings." Click on Close and restart Windows. You must restart Windows to execute these changes and have them take effect.
******************************************