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Speed Up DOS Programs
DOS programs are often designed to constantly scan the computer for input from the keyboard, which can drive up the CPU's usage. This takes CPU cycles
away from other programs, which might make them slow, unresponsive, or even lead to application freezes.You can, however, set a sensitivity timer on the DOS application, which shortens the amount of time that Windows will let pass before deciding the application is dormant and reducing the number of CPU cycles passed over to the application.To change the Idle Sensitivity setting, right-click the shortcut used to start the program's executable file. Select Properties and click on the Misc. tab. The Idle Sensitivity slider will allow you to dictate how long Windows will wait before designating a DOS program as dormant. A Low setting increases the time the program has before Windows marks it idle, while a High setting gives the program less time before Windows marks it idle.To decrease the program's taxation of CPU cycles, set the Idle Sensitivity to High. When you are done, click OK. This will improve the responsiveness of your program and avoid system slowdown.
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CHANGING THE DEFAULT ACTION FOR A FILE
If you click on a Web page link to
download a media file or document inWindows 98, you may find that Media Player or the document's application opens instead of the Save As dialog box. For example, you may click on an MP3 file and your MP3 player starts up, instead of a dialog asking where you want to save the file. When this happens, it means the Default Action for the file type (in this example, .mp3) has changed from Save As to Play. Note that in other cases, the Default Action may have changed to Open.To view the current Default Action and change it, open Windows Explorer and select Folder Options from the View menu. Click on the File Types tab and select the file extension required. Now click the Edit button and the current default action is highlighted in bold. Select the new action to be made default and click the Set Default button. OK yourchanges.Now restart Internet Explorer and try downloading a file of the type you have just changed. The default action you have just selected should now be in force.
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As always, the best way to speed up Windows is to throw more memory at it. Windows 98 requires a minimum of 24 MB of RAM, but 64 or 128 MB will make Windows 98 run so much faster, you'll
feel like you just bought a new machine--particularly if you run lots of applications simultaneously.
But if you want to save cash, we've got some free tweaks that will speed up Windows 98 just a smidgen. First of all, Win 98 includes a program called walign.exe that organizes pieces of programs on your hard disk in an order that decreases loading time. Run walign.exe by choosing Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Maintenance Wizard. A wizard will pop up and offer to delete unnecessary files, check your hard disk for errors, and speed up frequently used programs. If you set the wizard to run regularly, Windows 98 will load your programs as quickly as possible. There is a catch, however: walign.exe doesn't work with every program, and it performs best on Microsoft Office products. Another program, winalign.exe, comes in the Windows 98 Resource Kit, a for-sale package of Win 98 support tools. Winalign.exe speeds up non-Microsoft programs, too, but it may crash incompatible programs, so use it with caution.
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Windows98 Hyperlink text capture
Keep a connection transcript and capture your text during a HyperTerminal session in Windows 98. To do so, simply select Capture Text from the Transfer pull-down menu during your
connection. Enter the path of the file to which you want to
send the captured text and click the Start button. All text transpiring during your session will be saved to the file you specified. To finish the capture, simply reselect Capture Text from the Transfer pull-down menu and select the Stop option. If you wish to continue the text capture but want to temporarily pause the capture, simply select Text Capture/Pause from the Transfer menu and re-select the Pause option again when you wish to continue the capture.
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Trace your Internet Connection
If you're having trouble accessing a specific site, find out the site's current details by tracing it in DOS. Access your DOS prompt by selecting the MS-DOS Prompt shortcut from the
Programs category of your Start menu. Once the DOS prompt appears, type the TRACERT command followed by a space and the URL of the site you wish to trace, and press the Enter key. In a matter of moments, you should
receive information on the site's tracing route, load time, and closeness to you.
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Create your own Icons in Win98
To use a bitmap image as a 16-color icon, rename the .bmp file to a file with an .ico extension. To do so, follow these steps:
1. In Windows Explorer, click Options on the View menu. 2. Click the "Hide MS-DOS extensions for file types that are registered" check box to clear it and click OK. 3. Locate the .bmp file you want to use as an icon. 4. Use the right mouse button to click the .bmp file and click Rename on the menu that appears. Rename the file with an .ico extension. Windows automatically recognizes that you want to use the bitmap image as an icon. The image is resized to icon size and converted to 16 colors. To use the .ico file as an icon for a shortcut, follow these steps: 1. Use the right mouse button to click the shortcut and click Properties on the menu that appears. 2. On the Shortcut tab, click Change Icon. 3. Type the name of the .ico file in the File Name box or click Browse and locate the .ico file. 4. Click OK and then click OK.
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Remove the Documents Menu.
Warning: Tweaking the Registry is risky; you're taking your system into your own hands. To be safe, manually back up the Registry before you make any changes.
Anyone can clear the Documents menu instantly in Windows 98, but users who find it especially useless or incriminating can do away with it permanently. To do so, from the
Start button's Run command type REGEDIT to open the Registry Editor. Access the directory HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies \Explorer. From the Edit pull-down menu, select
New/Binary Value and name it NoRecentDocsHistory. Once named, right-click the new value and select Modify from the pop-up menu. Change the binary value to 01 00 00 00. Next, create a new binary value in a similar
manner on the Edit menu. This time, name it NoRecentDocsMenu and modify its binary value to the same binary number string. If the NoRecentDocsHistory or NoRecentDocsMenu values already exist within this directory,
simply right-click the values and sellect
Modify to change the binary values to the proper values. Once these two items have been modified, simply restart Windows to effect the change and eliminate your Documents menu.
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Delete the Extra Fonts
If you have more fonts than you use, you're wasting precious disk space. To find out how many fonts are on your system, open the Fonts Control Panel (Start/Settings/Control
Panel/Fonts). There you'll find a list of all your installed fonts. Double-click a font's name to get copyright info and file size, as well as an example of what the font looks like at sizes up to 72 points.
Delete any unnecessary fonts and you'll free up a bunch of disk space.
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Install and Run Clipboard Viewer
The Clipboard Viewer is not installed by default in Windows. To install Clipboard Viewer, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, point to Settings, and click Control Panel.
2. In Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs.
3. Click the Windows Setup tab.
4. Click System Tools and then click Details.
5. Click the Clipboard Viewer check box to select it and then click OK.
6. Click OK. To run Clipboard Viewer after you install it, click Start, point to Programs, Accessories,
System Tools, and click Clipboard Viewer. You can use Clipboard Viewer to view the contents of the Clipboard.
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Quick Restart
Sometimes it can take ages to shutdown completely, and then you still have to wait for the computer hardware to reset as well. Next time, try holding down the
Shift key as you click OK in the Shut Down Windows dialog (with the "Restart the computer?" radio button selected, naturally). Windows will then restart itself without shutting down the entire computer.
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Control Panel Shortcut
Your Control Panel makes easy work of configuring Windows 98, but if clicking through Start/Settings/Control Panel gets on your nerves, here's a quick fix: Open the Control Panel
folder, select the icons of your frequently used applets (hold down Ctrl while you click for multiple selections), then drag them onto your Start button. The Start menu will open, allowing you to place your new
Control Panel shortcuts wherever you want.
We suggest leaving them in the root of the Start menu and renaming them something unique (go to C:\Windows\Start Menu in the Windows Explorer, right-click the icon, and choose Rename). That way, you can access them with just a click of the Windows key (or Ctrl-Esc if you don't have a Windows key) and the first letter or number of the shortcut's name.
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Easy File Rename
The typical way to rename a file is by single-clicking the file name twice
and typing the new file name over the old one. However, accomplishing this task with two single-clicks can be frustrating, since you inevitably end up double-clicking the file instead. Here's an easier way to rename a file. If you don't have the Active Desktop enabled, select the file by clicking it once and press F2. Type the new name into the text box. If you have the Active Desktop's single-click mode enabled, select the item by hovering over it and press F2.
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Remove Programs from Add/Remove Program
You can remove these entries from the Add/Remove Program list by either manually editing the registry or using Tweak UI Power Toy, which can be downloaded from Microsoft's Web site.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/downloads/contents/wutoys/w95pwrtoysse t/default.asp
To manually remove the program entry, open regedit.exe and navigate down to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uni nstall
Now find the entry in this
key that relates to the application(s) to be
removed (you may need to look at the DisplayName value). Once located, delete the appropriate key entry. To use Tweak UI, download and install the program. Now, open Start |Settings | Control Panel | Tweak UI and select the Add/Remove tab. Locate the program entry you wish to delete and click Remove. When you're done, click OK and close Control Panel. NOTE: As always, we'll remind you that registry editing can be risky, so be sure you have a verified backup before making any changes.
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Windows 95/98 tip from TechRepublic.
SOLVING 98 SE SHUTDOWN WOES
Windows 98 is great at performing multiple desktop tasks but can be less than great at shutting itself down after finishing a session of heavy multitasking. You may have seen
the "Windows is now shutting down" message sit eternally on your screen until you're left with no
recourse but to hit the power button. Windows 98 SE (Second Edition) was supposed to deliver a host of fixes for problems like this, but it too has its shutdown problems. Among the most common causes of 98 SE shutdown freezes is the so-called "mapped drive problem." If a significant number of shared network drives are mapped to a 98 SE computer, the system is prone to shutdown problems. Microsoft has provided a downloadable fix for this particular issue. http://click.techrepublic.com/Click?q=7b-pr__IBZMw9mhmT7jDeii1IvgpdRR
Most Windows 98 shutdown problems, however, are not attributable to the mapped drive issue. The Microsoft Knowledge Base article "Problems Shutting Down Windows 98 Second
Edition" outlines a step-by-step troubleshooting process, which should solve the majority of your shutdown woes. Be forewarned, many of the remedies suggested by the
article involve editing the Windows registry. As always, we recommend creating a verified backup of your present registry before undertaking any changes. http://click.techrepublic.com/Click?q=4d--UisIKZVjxe6JTVZa3Vt2jGRK9RR
Should your shutdown hang-ups be related to a particular irresolvable hardware configuration, the above Knowledge Base article will likely prove little help. A multipurpose
software fix, the Windows 98 Second Edition Shutdown Supplement, is designed to address these and similar issues, which can cause shutdown freezes. Both the Shutdown Supplement and the Mapped
Drives fix include detailed instructions for downloading, extracting, installing, and tuning the respective software patches.
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FIND YOUR WINDOWS98 PRODUCT KEY
At one time or another you will have to re-install Windows98. Windows requires you to enter the product ID each time you install it.
If you ar like most people you will spend hours trying to find the original Product ID code that came with Windows on the Certificate of Authenticity. Fortunatly, Windows saves this Product ID in the system registry.
WARNING: Using the Registry is dangerous and if you edit the wrong string you may disable your computer!
Click on START, then RUN, type in REGEDIT.
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, then SOFTWARE, then MICROSOFT, then WINDOWS, then click on CurrentVersion. Look for the entry that says “PRODUCTKEY”. Write this product ID down. If you still have the Windows98 CD you should write the product ID numbers on the CD with a permanent marker.
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