... Windows Tips 'n Tricks 21 ...
As he teaches, so he learns.

If you frequently keep several windows open as you're working, your taskbar may become buried behind the open windows and be inaccessible to your mouse. Press Ctrl+Esc to have the taskbar pop up (and the Start menu, as well). As a more permanent fix, you can set the taskbar so it always appears on top of any open windows. First, right-click on a blank area of the taskbar and choose Properties from the context menu. Choose the Taskbar Options tab, select Always on top, and click OK.

You can drag the Taskbar to either the left or right side of your screen, or even up to the top. Just click on any unoccupied part of the bar and drag. It will snap into place. Then you can move it again whenever you like.

On the top it can help your PC feel like a Mac if that is what you want. And on the right or left side it can give you more top-to-bottom room for document windows.

If you're tired of looking at the Taskbar all the time, just hide it! To enable this feature, from the Start menu click on Settings and then Taskbar. The Taskbar Options tab will appear and you'll see a box that says "Auto hide." Check that box to hide the Taskbar. To activate it, simply point the mouse at the bottom of the screen and the Taskbar should pop back up.

Sometimes, the name of a program running in Windows is longer than the taskbar's button. If you hold your mouse cursor over the button for a few seconds, the entire name will be displayed. In addition, if you have a file open in one or more tasks, the filename currently being reviewed is displayed.

If you want to quickly access an item but don't want to wade through your Start menu categories, make a super-shortcut from your taskbar. Simply right-click the taskbar located at the bottom of your screen.

From the pop-up menu, select Toolbars/New Toolbar. From the New Toolbar dialog box, open the Start menu folder from the Windows directory. You'll find that all items listed on your Start menu are in the Programs subdirectory of this folder.

Choose the program or file you want to easily access and Press the OK button. A single-click shortcut should appear on your taskbar.

Burned out on blue title bars? I don't blame you. Why not try this easy Windows 98 tweak:

1. Right-click the desktop and choose Properties from the pop-up menu.
2. From the Display Properties window, click the Appearance tab.
3. To change your active window title bar settings, select Active Title Bar from the Item pull-down menu.
4. Click the color choices for the Color and Color2 options, which are located to the right of the Item list. The Color option designates the color for the left side of the title bar; the Color2 option designates the color for the right side. Keep in mind that the two colors will fade into each other in the middle section of the title bar, and that gradient coloring will work only if you are using at least a Hi-Color (16-bit) resolution.
5. You can also customize the font color for your title bars by selecting the Color option, which is located to the right of the Font pull-down menu on the Appearance tab. When the font and title bar settings are acceptable, click the Apply button to affect changes.
6. Enter the value of the available space on your hard drive for the maximum (or leave it at No Maximum).
7. To change your inactive window title bar settings, select Inactive Title Bar from the Item pull-down menu, and repeat steps 4 and 5 to customize Color, Color2, and the font color.
8. I'm not an interior decorator, but any changes I would make would be something that would look good against my desktop background. There's my 2 cents.

So your window is nearly off the edge of your computer screen; don't worry, you can get it back. If you can see any part of a nearly invisible window's title bar (that thick strip along its top), hold down the mouse button and drag the window back to the center of the screen.

Sometimes, a window's title bar can be completely off the screen. How can you drag it back into view?

1. Start by clicking on any part of the window that shows.

2. Hold down your Alt key and press the spacebar. A menu appears from nowhere.

3. Select the word Move, and a mysterious four-headed arrow appears.

4. Press your arrow keys until the window's border moves to a more manageable location and then press Enter. Whew! Don't let it stray that far again.

The title bar isn't just for identifying your open windows; it has some handy uses all on its own. To maximize a window, double-click on any non-button area of the title bar. Likewise, double-click a maximized window's title bar to restore it. This is generally easier than trying to aim for the little maximize/restore button in the upper right-hand corner of the window. To quickly close a window/application/document, double-click the window's icon on the far left end of the title bar.

Right-click a blank space on any toolbar or on an empty space on your taskbar. You'll be given a list: Address, Links, Desktop, Quick Launch, and New Toolbar. You can select any or all of these toolbars to have them appear on the taskbar. Choose New Toolbars to create your own. From the dialog box that appears, choose and existing folder (such as My Computer or My Documents) or type in a URL, and click OK. You now have a new toolbar. Drag onto it the icons you want until you've built the perfect toobar for your needs To remove the toolbar, right-click the taskbar, select Toolbar, and uncheck the toolbar that you don't want.

One alternative to navigating the sometimes-clunky Start menu is to create a new toolbar on your desktop consisting of an element of the Start menu that you frequently use -- the Programs menu, for example. To add a new toolbar, right-click on the taskbar, point to Toolbars and select New Toolbar. Open the folder C:\Windows\Start Menu, select Programs and click OK. The top-level menu items in the Programs menu are now one-click items on the toolbar. If your taskbar is already crowded, you can drag the new toolbar to your desktop and position and resize it to your liking.

One of Windows' handiest and, unfortunately, most necessary, Help features is the Troubleshooter wizard. This feature helps you diagnose common, recurrent problems in Windows by guiding you through each troubleshooting step. To use the troubleshooting wizard, click the Start button and choose Help. Click the Contents tab, click Troubleshooting, and then click Windows 98 Troubleshooters). Select the topic that most closely matches the difficulty you're having and follow the directions. It won't solve all of your Windows woes, but it will help.