... Windows Tips 'n Tricks 8 ...
As he teaches, so he learns.

This tip is applicable for any drive you might consider: Inside an Explorer window (right-click My Computer and click Explore), double-click any folder on your hard drive, and you'll see the facts in the Status Bar at the bottom of the window.

Or, if you aren't a numbers person, go for the pie graph. Inside a My Computer or an Explorer window, right-click your hard drive and select Properties. The pink represents the amount of hard disk space you have left.

Windows help system is complete and well-indexed, and it provides you with detailed, step-by-step procedures for setting up components and features. To launch the Windows help resource, just click Start, Help. You can also access context-related help by pressing F1 while in any Windows 2000 dialog box or wizard.

Get the feeling that there are more files on your hard drive than what Windows Explorer or My Computer are revealing? Your hunch is probably right. Critical system files are often set by default to be hidden from view in Windows' file managers. For the average user, this setting doesn't impact one's day-to-day work habits and has the added benefit of preventing one from accidentally deleting or moving files essential to the operation of Windows and its applications.

Microsoft, in their wisdom, appears to think that "less advanced" users may have a problem with these folders showing up in their folder windows, so it hides them from the view of users who choose to hide files of certain types. But, as you become more proficient in and curious about the how's and why's of your system, you'll want to see all there is to see; there are times when it is absolutely necessary. To view all files on your system:

1. Open Windows Explorer or My Computer
2. Click View on the menu and choose Folder Options.
3. Click the View tab and then click the radio button, Show All Files. Then click OK … this will make all hidden files visible to Windows Explorer.

Remember to go back to View, Folder Options, View, and click radio button, "Do not show hidden or system files" when finished or (Now who are those strangers?), you won't recognize all the "new" files you see in your windows.

All it takes is a trip to the File Types dialog box (and, of course, you need to know the exact location of the icon you want to use … see the tip: "Locating Icons in your System").

1. In any open Explorer window, select View, Options (or Folder Options, and click the File Types tab.
2. Under the list of Registered file types, select the file type to which you'd like to assign a new icon and click the Edit button.
3. In the Edit File Type dialog box, click the Change Icon button, then click.
4. Browse and navigate your way to the file containing the icon you'd like to use.
5. Select the icon, click OK, then click Close twice. From now on, files of that type will have a brand new look.

Right-click on one of those shortcuts and pull up its Properties. Lookie here: a "Change Icon" button is begging to be pressed. Give that shortcut a face you'll instantly recognize and you'll find it easier next time you need it. Being able to combine fluff and gloss with functionality is rare; take advantage of this feature while it still exists. Need some new icons? Just about every EXE file has one (or more). A bitmap (BMP) will stand in place of an ICO just as easily.

Now another way to find extra icons in your system and make some changes:

1. Open the Explorer window. Click View, Folder Options, View tab, and button "Show all files" … and click Apply
2. Now go to File Types tab, scroll to an icon you want to change, and highlight.
3. Click Edit, Change Icon, and if you see what you want, highlight it, and click OK.
4. If you DON'T see what you want, click Browse and browse to C:\Windows\moricons.dll, highlight it, and click Open.
5. Scroll to an icon you like, and click OK. Bet you didn't know that, eh.

Btw, don't forget to hide those special files again; remember Step 1 above?

Right-click on one of those shortcuts and pull up its Properties. Lookie here: a "Change Icon" button is begging to be pressed. Give that shortcut a face you'll instantly recognize and you'll find it easier next time you need it. Being able to combine fluff and gloss with functionality is rare; take advantage of this feature while it still exists. Need some new icons? Just about every exe file has one (or more). A bitmap (BMP) will stand in place of an ICO just as easily. Betcha didn't know that, eh.

Each of you has different icon files in your system depending on the applications you have installed. However, all Windows users have one icon file in common--Shell32.dll. To view this file's contents (icons), right-mouse-click any folder shortcut, select Properties, click the Shortcut tab, and click the Change Icon button.

Inside the Change Icon dialog box, you'll see all the icons in Shell32.dll. The numbering starts at 0 (zero) and moves from left to right.

To view the contents of another icon file--such as Pifmgr.dll, located in the Windows/System folder--click the Change Icon dialog box's Browse button, navigate your way to the file you have in mind, and double-click it. (Note: If you don't see any DLL files inside the Change Icon dialog box, open any Windows window, select View under Options, and on the View tab, select Show all files.)

Finding other icon files on your system can be a hit-or-miss operation. (The only sure bets are that all EXE files contain their own icon and that a select few DLL files contain icons). Click Browse and start your search. If you select a file with icons in it, they'll appear. If not, you'll get a message saying it doesn't contain any icons. Click the Browse button and try again.

You can easily make your own icons by using MS Paint. Here's how:

1. Click Start, Programs, Accessories, and Paint.
2. In the Paint window, choose Image, Attributes.
3. Make the Height and Width 32 pixels, and click OK.
4. Click View, Zoom, and Custom. Choose 800% and click OK.
5. Click View, Zoom, and then Show Grid.
6. Create your new icon.
7. Save it as a bitmap (bmp) file with an .ico extension.
8. You can now treat this file as a regular icon file.

When you replace a Desktop icon with one you made yourself, you don't need to refer to it by anything other than its filename.

If your desktop icons have ever appeared blackened out or have otherwise exhibited odd behavior, your icon cache file is probably damaged. Fortunately, this isn't as ominous as it sounds: all you need to do is delete this file and let Windows recreate it. Start Windows in Safe Mode and open Windows Explorer.

Make sure hidden files are viewable (choose View, Folder Options from the menu, click the View tab, select Show All Files and click OK). Locate the file "ShellIconCache" in your C:\Windows folder (the drive and folder where windows is installed). Right-click this file and choose Delete from the context menu. Restart Windows in normal mode. Your icons should now behave properly.

I should note here that sometimes icons, for reasons unknown, will "all of a sudden change" and sometimes all look like the MS logo (waving it's flag and all). Sometimes the only solution needed is to right-click and choose Refresh.

Ever notice the tiny little icon in the far left hand corner of your Windows applications' title bars? It's more than just for aesthetics. Left-click on the icon to access commands that resize the application's window. Right-click on it to reveal a number of other handy settings unique to that application. For example, right-clicking on My Computer's title bar icon will let you find files or map a network drive. Experiment with your favorite applications to reveal what functions you can gain quick access to.

If you want to clear your desktop of those pesky icons while you're admiring your active wallpaper, you can hide the icons. Right-click anywhere on the desktop and select Properties. Click the Effects tab, then check the box marked Hide. Click the Web tab, then check "View my Active Desktop as a web page." As long as you have active content on the desktop, the icons will be invisible. If you restore the desktop to its pristine state (by right-clicking the desktop, selecting Active Desktop from the pop-up menu and View As Web Page to toggle the feature off), the standard icons will return.

The default spacing between any two icons (assuming you haven't hand-placed them) is determined by the horizontal and vertical spacing settings, which you can easily change if you want to fit a few more icons on your desktop.

Right-click the desktop, select Properties, and in the resulting dialog box, click the Appearance tab. Under Items, select Icon Spacing (Horizontal) or Icon Spacing (Vertical), then adjust the number next to Size. (Note: The default for the Windows Standard scheme is 43.) To test the change, minimize all other windows, click Apply, then click and drag the window over a bit to see the effect on your desktop. (Tip: If your desktop icons don't seem to be moving with each change, right-click the desktop and select Arrange Icons, Auto Arrange.) When you find a setting you like, click OK to make it stick.

(Note: On my 800 x 600 desktop, I changed the vertical icon spacing to 30 and found I could fit nine icons in each row. At the default 43, I could fit only seven)

If you have a lot of items on your Start menu, you can decrease the amount of space it uses so it will fit neatly in your screen. Right-click on a blank area of the taskbar and choose Properties from the context menu. Select the Show Small Icons in Start menu option and click OK. By using smaller icons, the Start menu will take up less screen space when expanded.

Do you have an icon on your desktop that speaks for itself? You can remove its label altogether (seemingly) by renaming the icon with non-printing characters.

Right-click the icon you want to appear nameless and select Rename. Make sure NumLock is turned on (above the numeric keypad), then hold down Alt as you type: 0160 which just happens to be a non-printing character. Press Enter, and there's your no-name icon.

So what do you do if you have more than one icon you want to appear nameless? You can't name two different icons the same thing (unless they're in different locations), so here's a workaround: Type the above non-printing character twice to name the second one, three times for the third, and so on.

One more tip: These techniques work best if you have your desktop background set to a solid color. That way, the box representing an icon's "name" blends in and disappears.

What is the meaning of the Windows error message "This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down"? Are you doing something wrong?

Not necessarily so; you're not doing anything wrong or against the law, despite what the error message says. Maybe Bill Gates is doing something wrong and wants you to feel the pangs of guilt that too many of us are prone to. The message means that the program in question is having a problem, plain and simple. This "illegal operation" designation covers a wide range of errors, and it may take some time, patience, and troubleshooting to pinpoint the cause.

The most common causes of an illegal operation include a problem between that program and the software driver in your operating system or a memory-management problem between that program and one open in the background.

Problems and conflicts with different dynamic-link library files, or DLL's that are added to your system when you install software programs can also cause illegal operation errors. Hardware conflicts, defective RAM chips, and program bugs can also cause the error. As you can see, we are only on the cutting edge of the technology frontier.

To pinpoint the cause (if you want to go through the trouble; if you have that probing, curious, and investigative personality), ask yourself some questions: Has this program always worked but is now crashing out of the blue? (Blue? Reminds me of that dreaded blue screen, but that's something else.) Has anything, like new hardware devices or software, been added lately? If you can trace the advent of the problem to a specific event, it may help narrow down the likely suspects. Do some detective work; be a Columbo, go on .. scratch your head and say, "Oh, one more thing …"

The System File Checker can restore damaged system files, while Dr. Watson records what your computer was doing when it crashed and may offer suggestions as to why. Both are found in Windows98. Microsoft keeps a vast library of technical articles on its website at: http://search.support.microsoft.com/. You can search the site for "illegal operations," along with the names of your suspect software or hardware, and you might find the solution to your problem.

Solutions will vary depending on the combination of factors, but you may have to do things like uninstalling and reinstalling programs or downloading and installing software patches for your system to put a stop to the illegal-operation errors.

Finally, when all is said and done, you have to know that if you Compute long enough, you'e sure to watch your computer crash. It either fails to a blue or black screen, or it freezes until you turn off the power -- dropping it to that blue or black. When power is turned on again, Windows 98 detects that there was a crash and automatically runs the DOS ScanDisk utility just to make sure there aren't any scrambled files or damaged areas on the hard drive.