If you're used to using Print Screen (or whatever your keyboard calls it) to print what you see, and you try to do this with Windows 95, don't expect much. In fact, don't expect anything. It just won't work.
Now for the good news. There's still a way to print what you see -- it's just not as direct. When you hit Print Screen, Windows 95 copies the screen to your clipboard. From there, you can paste the screen into Paint and print from there.
After you hit the Print Screen key, open Paint (Start|Programs|Accessories|Paint), and choose Edit|Paste. See your screen? File|Print it!
Mini-tip: If you only want to print an open window, and not the whole screen, hit Alt+Print Screen.
Have you ever been using Internet Explorer and needed to get to the
desktop? Getting to the desktop isn't difficult, but it can be a pain.
You have to minimize Internet Explorer and anything else that might be
covering up the desktop.
Here's how you can make the desktop more readily available. Go to the desktop and right-click it. From the ensuing menu choose New|Shortcut. This opens a dialog box that requests a command line entry type:
Now click Next. If you'd like to assign a name to the new shortcut, this is where to do it. We named ours Desktop. After you type in a name, click Finish. At this point, the shortcut is on your desktop where it does you no good at all. So the next thing you need to do is drag it to the Start button. This will place a copy in the Start menu, and you can delete the icon on your desktop.
From now on, when you need to get to the desktop, all you have to do is
choose Start|Desktop and a fully functional desktop window will appear.
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Access the Desktop Quickly
How do you access your darn desktop when you have a ton of applications
open? Well you could right click on the taskbar and do a minimize all, but
on a 486-50 that's pretty darn slow. Instead, open a browser window
(double-click on "My Computer") If there is no toolbar, select View from
the menu and select Toolbar. Then from the dropdown list-box in the toolbar
select desktop. Now minimize it and forget about it. The next time you want
to access your desktop just click the desktop window on the taskbar. As
long as you don't close the window when you shutdown, it will reopen when
you start windows again.
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Manage Your Tasks
Windows 95 comes with a replacement/supplement for the Taskbar. Look in
your \windows directory for TASKMAN.EXE This program works a lot like the
taskbar except you can select programs just like you would select files in
Explorer. Select the programs you want to close, and select Windows | End
Task from the menu and Voila! all those programs go away!
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Cleaning up Opened Windows
To close Windows left open from browsing through "My Computer," you can take the following steps of action:
Make Multiple Desktops
If you share your computer with other people, or have different modes for working with it, you may want multiple custom desktops - each with its own desktop icons, Start menu, and program groups. Select Start/Settings/Control Panel and double-click the Passwords icon. To set up Windows for multiple configurations, make sure that you're at the User Profiles page, and select the second option, Users can customize their preferences and desktop settings. Check both boxes under User Profile Settings.
When you click OK, Windows asks if it can restart to set up the new configuration. As it reloads, it prompts you to set up a new user name and password; you can leave the password field blank if security isn't an issue. Answer Yes when asked whether to save the settings for this user. Any desktop customizing you do will be unique to the configuration stored under this name.
To create additional configurations, just reboot Windows and type a
different name when prompted. To change configurations, choose Start/Shut
Down and select Close all programs and log on as a different user.
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Clearing the Desktop: My Briefcase
To get the My Briefcase icon off your desktop, simply drag the icon to the Recycle Bin. The program will still be available: When you need a Briefcase, right-click the desktop (or a blank part of any folder window) and choose New/Briefcase.
Clearing the Desktop: The Microsoft Network
You can't get rid of the Microsoft Network icon by dragging it to the Recycle Bin - you'll need to right-click the icon and choose Delete. A message will remind you that this deletes only the icon, not the whole program. If after deleting the icon you decide to use MSN, select Start/Programs/ The Microsoft Network.
Clearing the Desktop: Inbox and Recycle Bin
Clearing your desktop of the Inbox or Recycle Bin icons requires editing the Windows Registry. After backing up your Registry files (see "Making the Registry Social"), launch RegEdit and go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\De sk top\NameSpace folder as if you were navigating Explorer.
NameSpace contains within it two folders that correspond to the icons for the Inbox and the Recycle Bin. The folder names are ridiculously long and made up mostly of numbers. But when you select one of the folders, an object in the right pane tells you if the folder is for the Inbox or the Recycle Bin. You can then delete the folder corresponding to the icon that you don't want appearing on your desktop.
You can always get to the Inbox from Start/Programs/Microsoft Exchange and use the [Delete] key to delete a selected file. If you need to get into the Recycle Bin or restore files, just go the Recycle Bin folder in your primary hard drive's root folder.
Clearing the Desktop of Everything
If you really want to keep the desktop clean as a whistle, use Windows 95's
System Policy Editor to ban all icons except currently running programs.
Start the Policy Editor (see "86: Meet the System Policy Editor") and
choose File/Open Registry. Double-click the Local User icon.
Navigate through the tree to the Shell\Restrictions section. Under the
Restrictions branch, check Hide all items on Desktop. Click OK, then exit
the Policy Editor, saving your file when prompted. The next time you load
Windows, there will be no objects on your desktop. And you won't be able
to put anything there - the price of enforced cleanliness.
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Rearrange Your Windows
Want to bring order to all those windows on your desktop? Right-click a
blank area of the taskbar and choose either Cascade, Tile Horizontally, or
Tile Vertically. If you change your mind at any time, right-click the
taskbar again and choose Undo.
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Minimize All but One
What if you want to minimize all your open windows but one? Just open a dialog box like File/Open within the application you want to keep on screen (in a folder window, choose View/Options). Then, right-click a blank area of the taskbar and select Minimize All. This will minimize all open windows except the one with the open dialog box.
Find That Properties Sheet
If you've got a properties sheet on screen and you manage to bury it in
open windows, just right-click a blank area of the taskbar and choose
Minimize All. This minimizes all the windows except the properties sheet.
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Keyboard Access to the Desktop, Part I
Here's an easy way to access objects on your desktop without using your mouse. To set it up, open a single-pane folder window to anywhere on your system. If necessary, select View/Toolbar to make the folder's toolbar visible. Click the arrow next to the toolbar's drop-down list, scroll to the top of the list, and click Desktop. Move this window to a convenient place or minimize it.
Next time you need to access something on the desktop, just press [Alt]-[Tab] until you return to this folder window. Use the cursor keys to navigate to the icon you want, then press [Enter]. As long as you don't close this window or change it to view another folder, it will stay put - even when you exit and reenter Windows.
Keyboard Access to the Desktop, Part II
There is another way to get to your favorite desktop icons without taking your fingers off of the keyboard. To set it up, right-click the Start button and choose Open or Explore. Create a folder within the Programs folder (or within a folder in the Programs folder) called Icons From Desktop. Right-drag your favorite desktop icons to the new folder window. Select Create Shortcut(s) Here in the pop-up dialog box.
Right-click one of your new shortcuts and choose Properties. Click the
Shortcut tab and assign a shortcut key before clicking OK. Repeat for each
icon. Now you can just press your custom keys each time you need one of
these desktop items.
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To make a quick switch to the desktop simply create a shortcut to the Windows/Desktop directory and set a shortcut key for it. Maybe something like CTRL-SHIFT-D.
In playing around with Win 95, I found a way: Alternate (Right) Click on the taskbar and select Minimize All Windows. The desktop is now visible. To return to your previous state: Alternate (Right) Click on the taskbar and select Undo Minimize All.
It is really cool if you have a Microsoft Keyboard (or compatible) - then
you can hold down the Windows Key and Hit M - to minimize all windows. Then
Hold Shift Hold the Windows Key and Hit M - to Undo Minimize All..
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I installed WIN95 with the newer desktop look, as opposed to the old 3.1 program manager. After working with it for several weeks, I've just about had enough of these never-ending exploding menus! The documentation shows the choice of desktops during the Setup process, but does not address changing after the installation. Is it unwise to rerun Setup in order to change the desktop, or is it relatively safe? Also, just what is lost in the transition? Is the 32bit multi-tasking affected?
You don't need to run setup. If you change the shell= line of the
system.ini from Explorer.exe to progman.exe Win95 will come up and function
the same as 3.1 although groups will remain boxes rather than icons. All
32bit functionality remains the same, you can even run Explorer from within
the Progman shell just as you can run Progman from within Explorer. Ctl-Esc
gives you taskman and exit-windows gives you the old dialogue box with only
the yes-no choice. It was designed that way to ease the transition,
particularly in the corporate environment.
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Want a more 3x appearance...
click on explorer
click on your windows directory
click on the start menu folder there
click on programs
You will see all of your win 3x groups
--click with your right mouse and drag them onto the desktop select "make
shortcut to here" not MOVE, do this over and over until your screen has all
of your 3x groups then it is _just_ like win 3x visually. except NO program
manager just group icons.
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Refresh the Desktop without Restarting Windows
The results of some procedures will not take effect until you either restart Windows, or refresh the desktop. These include any changes to the system registry or any system folders. To refresh the desktop without restarting Windows, follow these directions:
Create icons for each folder on the desktop?
Make a directory (folder) called AllFolders and drag all your folders off the desktop in t to it. Now, with the right mouse button drag each individual folders back to the desktop. When the menu pops up choose "create shortcut here". You will then have a shortcut to your individual folders and can choose any icon by Right Mouse clicking on the shortcut and selecting properties ...
The capability is on the Right Click menu. Right click on the drive icon, and select "Copy Disk" :
Put the disk you want to copy in your floppy drive, open My Computer, and click your floppy icon with the right mouse button. In the pop-up menu, choose Copy Disk and then click the Start button.
Once it's read everything on the original disk, Windows 95 asks for the destination disk. (It's going to write over the entire second disk, so make sure it's blank or you don't need anything that's on there.) Replace the first disk with the second, click OK, and...dum-de-dum-dum...wait while it dumps everything from the first disk onto the second one.