Last Updated: 13 Aug 1997

Win95 Tips&Tricks ..... Compiled by Suthai Tanvinich


RESOLUTION

To change Resolution:

Right click desktop, press R (for Resolution), click Settings, Left arrow to reduce, Right arrow to increase resolution.



RESOURCE KIT

Windows 95 Resource Kit for Free

I'm a real reference hog so as soon as I saw the Windows 95 Resource Kit, I had to have it. Many of you may have gone out and bought the book which is more than a 1000 pages long and costs in the neighborhood of $35-45 bucks. I'll bet most of you didn't know that the complete Resource Kit is included in your Windows 95 CD! It's identical to the book and is just one huge help file. It is better than the book in that it allows searching and gives you related topics. The file is D:\ADMIN\RESKIT\HELPFILE\WIN95RK.HLP on your Windows CD (assuming drive D is your CD-ROM drive).



RIGHT CLICK TIPS



SCREEN SAVERS

Right click any blank area of screen, Properties dialog, Display Properties, Screen Savers.

Screen saver corners
(I tried this but it didn't work, if you know the answers please email me!)

You can make your screen saver use activation/deactivation corners.

	open regedit
	open HKEY_CURRENT_USER
	open software
	open microsoft
	open windows
	open current version
	click on Screen savers
	add a new string value
	name it Mouse Corners
	edit value to equal "-Y-N" (no quotes) 

Now when you position your mouse cursor in the upper right hand corner of the screen, the screen saver will immediately activate, likewise, if you position the mouse in the lower left hand corner of the screen, the screen saver will not activate, even after it has been sitting for longer than the time specified. This is very useful to keep your screen saver from activating when doing disk utilities like defragment, and scan disk.

Q. Sometimes i like for the windows screensaver to come on instantly instead of waiting for a specified time... i was able to do it in WFWG by using office toolbar... is their a way in win95 to call up the windows screensaver on demand ??

A. Actually, you can achieve this by setting up a shortcut pointing to the .SCR file. Stick the shortcut on your desktop, and double click. The properties sheet for this shortcut allows you to configure & test the screen saver,and also to set up shortcut keys.

HERE, HAVE A SCREEN SAVER (fr. PcWorld Tip-a-day)

Want your screen saver to kick in whenever you say? Create a shortcut to it, then set up hot-key access to the shortcut.

In Explorer, find your screen savers in the Windows folder or in the Windows/System folder. (Or, if you've installed your own screen savers, you'll know where they are.) An easy way to find them is to click the Type column (in Details view) to sort by file type, and then scroll down to the Screen Saver type. Find the one you want, use the right mouse button to click and drag it onto the desktop (or wherever you want it), let go, and choose Create Shortcut(s) Here.

Now you can set up your shortcut or hot key. (You remember this, right?) Click the Shortcut with the right mouse button, choose Properties, and click the Shortcut tab. Place the cursor anywhere on the Shortcut key line, press any key, and Windows 95 adds the Ctrl+Alt part automatically. Click OK to close the dialog box. Ready for a test run? Try pressing the shortcut key you just set up. It's Screen Saver City! Remembering the secret combo is up to you.

There's also a shareware SSswitch.exe that can configure all sorts of things re ScreenSavers and to start it etc.

PASSWORD PROTECTION MEETS HOT KEYS

In our last tip, we told you how to set up a hot key to your favorite screen saver. This is a good thing to have if you walk away from your desk a lot and have your screen saver password-protected. Then you can lock people out whenever you want and only you can get back in. The problem is, Windows 95 won't password protect any screen saver that's activated, just because password protection is selected in the Display Properties dialog box. It'll only password protect the exact screen saver that's selected there. (Boo...)

Point being? If you set up a shortcut and hot keys to a screen saver that isn't selected in the Display Properties dialog box, and you want it to be activated with password protection, you have to install it (or select it in the Display Properties dialog box). To do this, click the screen saver shortcut with the right mouse button and choose Install. The hot key combination will now activate the screen saver with password protection (provided password protection is selected in the Display Properties dialog box). Whew!



SHIFT & CONTROL KEY TIPS

Using the SHIFT Key

The right-click isn't the only great improvement in Windows 95. You can also use the SHIFT key for many additional features. Try some of the following tasks while holding down the Shift key:

Hold down the SHIFT key when you delete a file. This will keep the file from being sent to the Recycle Bin. Beware, this means that the file has actually been deleted and can no longer be restored.

Hold down the SHIFT key when you double-click on My Computer or the Network Neighborhood. This will open these items in the dual-paned Windows Explorer.

Hold down the SHIFT key when you double-click on any Folder. This will open the folder in the dual-paned Windows Explorer.

Hold down the SHIFT key when you click the Yes button from within the Shut Down Windows dialog box when you select Restart the Computer?. This will restart Windows only (not completely reboot the computer). This is useful if all you want to do is just activate some Windows-only changes.

If you hold down the mouse button and move the mouse across multiple files and/or folders within a folder window or the Windows Explorer, you can select more than one item at a time. If you then hold down the SHIFT key while you drag your mouse across another group of items in the same Folder or Windows Explorer directory, the previously selected items will remain selected.

If you hold down the SHIFT key when you right-click on an icon, the option Open with... will be available so that you can open the file using a program other than the normal associated program.

There are probably other ways that holding down the Shift key can be useful, so try it when you are doing something that you think there should be another way of doing things.

CONTROL KEY TIPS:

CTRL YOUR WINDOWS

Wanna know a secret? On the Windows 95 desktop, you can choose to have either one or many non-application windows open at a time. (From My Computer or an open folder window, choose View|Options, click the Folder tab, and switch your browsing option). Big secret, right?

Well, the secret is that if you're even the least bit fickle about Window hygiene, think Ctrl. It does the exact same thing--toggles you between one window or many--so you never even have to go near those dialog boxes. Just hold down Ctrl when you open a window and Windows 95 does exactly the opposite of what its been told. If it's supposed to open one, it'll open `em all, and vice versa.


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