... Windows Tips 'n Tricks 3 ...
As he teaches, so he learns.

When you boot your computer you can hit a key or combination of keys (depending upon the manufacturer so look in your manual) and voilà, your into "Setup". This is the CMOS. CMOS stands for "Complimentary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor". CMOS has a very low power requirements and is powered by a wafer-type battery when the PC is powered down. It is the memory which stores the parameters needing for booting PCs, such as type of disks, amount of memory, date & time, etc. Making changes to the CMOS can have unpredictable results, so be very cautious when making changes.

Changing your Windows appearance typically doesn't improve your productivity. In fact, it could cut into that productivity as you spend time playing with colors and shapes.

But hey, it's fun.

For example, you can change the title bar colors in a fun way -- you know, those long rectangles across the top of every window, the ones that show the program and currently open document?

1. Right-click on the desktop.

2. From the pop-up menu, choose Properties.

3. In the Display Properties dialog box, click the Appearance tab.

4. Find the Item drop-down menu and click it.

5. Choose Active Title Bar.

6. Now to the Right of Item you'll see Size, Color and Color 2 menus. Choose two different colors.

In the Preview area above you'll that see the title bar morphs from one color to the other. Cute, eh? If you'd like it on your desktop, click on Apply and then on OK. In that Item drop-down menu you can find a lot more interior decorating if you are interested.

If your computer hangs and Ctrl+Alt+Delete gives no response, try one more thing before reaching for the power button: Press Ctrl+Esc. With any luck, this will activate the Start menu, from which you can safely shut down or restart your system.

What percentage of your drive is being utilized? (Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, DriveSpace3, Drive, Properties ... will give you a pie-chart displaying usage.)

Your system running slow may be more a function of all the junk (for want of a better word) that loads when Windows starts. THIS may be more responsible for your system slowdown than lack of drive space. To check on "all the junk"

Start, Run ... then in the "Open" field type "MSCONFIG" and click OK. Select the "Startup" tab and you'll see all the stuff that loads up when Windows starts. You can disable items here (by unchecking them) to prevent them from loading when Windows starts. There's probably LOTS of stuff you can disable that will greatly improve system performance without losing any noticeable functionality. [Pay particular attention to any "load=" or "run=" entries. You may be surprised to find that even some vendors' NAG SCREENS (to remind you to register their product) loads with the "run=" command. How RUDE] Some of the "descriptions" may seem a little cryptic so you may have to disable the ones you THINK are the ones you want disabled ONE-AT-A-TIME, reboot, then see if it actually disabled the program you thought. If not then just RE-check the box and try another one. This won't affect anything else on your drive: it just toggles autoload-on-startup ON and OFF.

To check your success in regaining system resources: Start, Settings, Control Panel, System, Performance (tab). Under "Performance Status" look at the entry for "System Resources" BEFORE and AFTER disabling items in MSConfig/Startup. Your System Resources should be between 80% and 90% immediately upon entering Windows (i.e., BEFORE you load any programs ... EVEN IF YOU HAVE CLOSED THEM AGAIN: Windows doesn't always reclaim resources properly even after a program has been "closed" … so the only way to get an accurate reading here is IMMEDIATELY upon entering Windows after a reboot.

Drilling down through several folders in My Computer can leave a trail of open windows behind you and make a mess of your desktop. Close them all in one quick step by holding down the Shift key while clicking the Close button of the last window you opened.

You can modify the Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files by using the System Configuration Editor tool (Sysedit.exe) or in MS-DOS mode. To do this, view the steps in one of the following sections.

System Configuration Editor Tool

To modify the Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files in Windows 95 and Windows 98:

1. Click Start, click Run, type sysedit in the Open box, and then click OK.

2. On the Window menu, click either C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT or C:\CONFIG.SYS, depending on the file that you want to modify.

3. After you make the changes to the file, click Save on the File menu, and then click Exit on the File menu.

4. You must restart your computer before the changes to the Autoexec.bat or Config.sys files take effect.

MS-DOS Mode

To modify the Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files in MS-DOS mode:

1. At the MS-DOS prompt, type edit autoexec.bat or edit config.sys depending on which file that you want to modify.

2. After you make the changes you want, press ALT+F and then X. When you are prompted to save the changes press Y or ENTER.

3. You must restart your computer before the changes to the Autoexec.bat or Config.sys files can take effect.

Windows is all-American in one way: it works with inches and feet unless you push it over the metric. If you prefer the International standard:

1. Click on Start, Settings, Control Panel.
2. Double-click on the Regional Settings icon.
3. Select the Number tab.
4. Choose Metric from the Measurement System drop-down list.
5. Click on OK.

Of course you can always switch back by going through this same process and specifying USA as your region.

Your computer uses a sizable amount of energy to keep your hard drive working. Some hard drives spin at speeds greater than 10,000 rpm, so it's no surprise that a large percentage of your computer's energy goes to the hard drive. To conserve energy, you can set your disk to spin down if it's been idle for a while. To do this, go to Control Panel and open the Power icon. There should be a tab that reads "turn off hard disk." Set the amount of time you want before your disk spins down and click OK. This slows computer performance only when the hard drive turns back on.

Here's a faster methods for getting to the Windows' Control Panel: adding a cascading Control Panel command to the Windows' Start menu, or placing a shortcut on our desktop. Here's how:

1. Right-click the Start button.
2. Choose Explore from the shortcut menu.
3. From the Explorer menu, choose File + New + Folder.
4. Type "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" (without the quotation marks).
5. Press Enter.
6. Close Explorer.

Another way is to double-click My Computer, scroll to Control Panel, and can drag (that means left-drag) and drop it onto your Start button where it automatically becomes a shortcut in your first level Start menu.

You can also have instant access by putting a shortcut right on your desktop (that's if you can afford that precious real estate; it gets mighty crowded there). Double-click My Computer, then right-click and drag the Control Panel icon onto the desktop. Release the mouse button, select Create Shortcut. That's it, and either case, you now have all the tools you need, right at your fingertips.

Windows isn't the only program that dumps icons in your Control Panel. Other software applications, especially office suites, sometimes add icons to their own utilities in the Control Panel. As a result, over time your Control Panel windows can become a cluttered mess.

If there are icons in the Control Panel that you never use, you can clean it up. In your C:\Windows\System folder, there will be one CPL file for every Control Panel item. Identify the item's CPL file (you can usually tell by the filename) and move it to a safe place (a diskette or another folder on your hard drive). Do not simply delete the file; you may want or need it in the future. Moving the CPL file is sufficient to remove the icon from the Control Panel.

How many times has it happened that you copy text from e-mail, or a Web page, and after pasting it to your word processor, the text is not lined up the way you'd like it (lines scattered all over the page with very little lined up along your left margin). I've suffered with it myself, and finally the solution:

What you're copying across is an ASCII file with carriage returns at the end of every line. You can eliminate those automatically.

1. Copy the tip into a Word document.
2. Drag the mouse across the tip to highlight it.
3. Open Edit + Replace.
4. In the Find and Replace dialog box, click in the Find what line and make sure it is blank.
5. Click on the Special button and, from the drop-down menu, choose Paragraph mark.
6. Click in the Replace with line and press the Spacebar once.
7. Click on Replace All and then on OK.

Your lines should now join up more neatly, though there may be some extra spaces in there which only a human editor can find and excise. What I am doing now is using an excellent program called "eCleaner" … does all that work in a jiffy … even the spaces are eliminated.

Let's say that you are writing a report or, even better, an e-mail to one of your friends and you want to include a really long Web page address (a "URL") in what your writing. You can always type the address by hand -- h ... t ... t ... p ... colon ... yadda yadda yadda -- but that can get a little tedious. And, if the address is really long, you run the risk of making a mistake.

A better way is to just copy the URL from your browser and paste it into your report or e-mail message. But how does one copy a URL? Well ...

1. Go up to the address bar in Internet Explorer or the location bar in Netscape (that white, horizontal box near the top of your browser's window where you type in Web page addresses);

2. Click once in the address or location bar to highlight the URL of the Web page you are currently viewing;

3. Copy the URL by either hitting Ctrl + C or going to Edit, Copy in your Web browser;

4. Open the document into which you would like to paste the URL;

5. Click your mouse once at the point in the document where you would like to paste the URL; and

6. Hit Ctrl + V ("paste") or go to Edit, Paste.

7. That's it. The URL magically appears in your document.

First know that these tips will work on most programs on your computer (web browser, word processor, graphics program, you name it).

Second, know that whatever you do, you have to first highlight the selected area that you want to do it to, and for that you use the mouse (unless it's the entire document which can be highlighted with Ctrl + A … sometimes with the mouse you can click Edit/Select All … but I never do that.).

Third, know that when you Cut or Copy, you are requesting that Windows copy the highlighted information to a "clipboard". The clipboard's sole function is to store text or images which are then available to be pasted into other applications. And to highlight the entire area, you can as I do, press Ctrl + A (pinky on Ctrl, tallman on A *tallman is a personal preference, but I suppose ring-finger or pointer might cut it*) ... and then:

1. Highlight, go to Edit, click Cut, Copy, or Paste ... OR
2. Highlight, right-click, choose Cut, Copy, or Paste ... OR
3. Highlight, press Ctrl + X for "cut" - Ctrl + C for "copy" - Ctrl + V for "paste" - and Ctrl + Z for "undo" (something I do a hundred times a day … well, a couple).

You can also highlight, right-click, and choose cut/copy/paste from the context menu (the menu that drops down from wherever you are). Although it seems to have been largely forgotten, you can press Shift + Ins (or Insert).

When you're really on a roll with these actions, you'll have your right hand on the mouse ready for the highlight and/or right click, and your left hand pinky on the Ctrl, your index finger ready for C and V, your tallman for X, and your ring finger for Z. If you have good index control, and you want to use the "feely" method (excuse the expression), just know that the C is right above the end of the spacebar, then the X is one key before, and the V is one key after ... goodness, now you can work in the dark.

If you'd like, MSWord will even allow you to paste with only the Ins (or Insert) key. I never do it this way but to see if you might like this arrangement, choose Tools, Options and click the Edit tab. Select the check box labeled Use the INS Key for Paste and then click OK to save your changes and get rid of the dialog box.

Now copy some text and then click on a blank spot in your document. Press Ins (or Insert), and the copied text will appear.

A word of warning: When it comes to files, Copy/Paste will make a duplicate of the file in the new location while Cut/Paste will move it, so be sure you know which action you want to perform. Be Careful Out There:

As fun as it may be to shoot files from one end of your computer to another, try not to tamper with files that you are unsure about. They are usually in a certain folder for a good reason. But if you have files that you work with regularly, using Copy/Cut and Paste should help you out and make some mundane duties a little easier.

Special Note: A very valuable tool for copying/pasting from e-mail or a selected part of a Web page is "eCleaner" … a freebie and I highly recommend it; it lines up everything as it should be on your processor.