Selecting "Command Prompt Only" during bootup doesn't work

After a failed bootup attempt, or if you hit F8 while Win95 is starting up, you'll get a menu of bootup options. One of the options is Command Prompt Only.

If you select this option, but find that your system stillboots into Windows, check your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and make sure you don't have a command in it that starts Windows. Many people do (Idid!). When you select Command Prompt Only, Win95 still executes your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS, but skips the automaticload of Win95 afterward. However, if you have a command in AUTOEXEC.BAT that starts Windows, it will execute it!

Startup Folder: Where is the Windows 95 equivalent of the 'STARTUP' folder?

If you click the START button, then Settings/Taskbar, you will see the panel to modify the taskbar. Select the other tab option at the top, then click on advanced'. A mini-version of the Explorer will pop up, showing the heirarchy of your START menu. One of the items listed is 'startup'. This is the equivalent of your Windows 3.1 startup folder. If you click on that, in the right side of the panel you'll see all the things that are automatically run at startup. Right click on each item and select 'delete', or drag it to somewhere other than the startup area if you want to remove any of these items.

Interrupt settings (IRQs) - where is a list of my settings?

Another method is to simply right-click on the My Computer icon, and select Properties. This will bring up the System control panel. Select the Device Manager tab, and double-click on Computer within the scrollable window. From here you can view IRQs, DMA channel usage, I/O assignments, and Memory settings.

Interrupt settings (IRQs) - where can I change them?

Windows 95 assigns IRQs automatically, but if you need to change them to a specific value, you can. Select Control Panel/System/Devices, then find and double-click on the device you want to change the IRQ for, or highlight it and select properties. A panel for that device will appear. If you select the Resources tab, a 'Resources' window will pop up. One of the choices in the window is 'Interrupt Request' with the current value listed. If you click on that to highlight it, the change setting button will become usuable. If you click on that button, you will get the 'Edit Interrupt Request' panel that will allow you to change the interrupt, and will immediately tell you if your new choice conflicts with other equipment.

Music CDs and Autoplay

By default, Windows 95 is set up to automatically start the CD Player applet and begin playing a music cd as soon as it is inserted into the CD-ROM drive. This is set up in Windows 95 much like a file extension association. To change this, start Explorer, and select View/Options/File Type. Scroll through the list until you find a listing for Audio CDs. Highlight it, and select the Edit button. You'll see a panel showing the option 'play'. Select that, then click on the Edit button on this panel. You'll see the command that is invoked for that option. It is by default set to execute CDPLAYER.EXE with a command parm of '/play'. If you delete the entire line, then when an audio cd is inserted, nothing will happen. If you delete just the '/play' parm, then when an audio cd is inserted, the CD Player applet is started, but it does NOT immediately begin playing the cd.

Explorer isn't showing all files!

Taskbar Tips

• Options: Right-click on an empty part of the taskbar and select Properties for a list of options including auto-hide, always on top, and others.
• Location: You can change the location of the taskbar to be the bottom, top, or either side of your screen by simply dragging it to where you want it.
• Size: You can increase the size of the taskbar by simply grabbing its edge with the mouse cursor, and dragging it. This is useful if you are running a large number of programs, and want to have bigger buttons on the taskbar so that you can read see of the title on that application's button.

Speeding Up the Start Menu

Windows Setup Switches

• /is - Ignores the check of your system check
• /id - Ignores the check for whether there is enough disk space
• /iq - Ignores the test for cross-linked files and file directory integrity
• /in - Runs setup without the Network Setup Module
• /iw - Skips the Microsoft legal warnings (i.e., copyright notice, etc.)

Printing to a File

• Open the Printers folder in Control Panel
• Double-click on Add Printer
• Select Local Printer and click on Next
• Select Generic from the manufacturer list, and Generic/Text Only from the printer list, then click on Next.
• Select File from the available ports list, and click Next a couple times to add the printer.
• Highlight the new icon, right-click it and select Properties, then the Paper tab, and change the paper setting to 'continuous, no page-breaks.'

Cascading "Control Panel" on Start menu

Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

(All on one line, must include the ".", the curly braces, all four hyphens, and the hex numbers exactly as shown.)After doing this, you'll get a folder in your Start Menu that's called Control Panel with a cascading menu that has all of the Control Panel contents in it.
By placing a '.' after the folder name and putting the sequence of numbers in brackets, it associates thatfolder with a registry entry. You can run the regedit program and do a search for the file you want toget the number sequence if you want to create other such cascading menus.
For example, you can name one Printers.{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D} to add your Printers to the start menu. Another one is Dial-Up Networking - use DUN.{992CFFA0-F557-101A-88EC-00DD010CCC48}

Adding a File Type to the "NEW" Menu:

Getting Rid of the Shortcut Arrows:

Customizing the Startup and Shutdown screens:

Refreshing the Registry without Rebooting:

Saving your Password in Dial-Up Networking:

Boot Up Options in Windows 95:

Open a command prompt (from start menu select RUN, then type COMMAND), switch to the root directory and issue the following command:
ATTRIB -H -R -S MSDOS.SYS
This will remove the hidden, read only and system attributes so you may edit it.

Options:

• BootDelay=n Sets the initial startup delay to n seconds. The only purpose for the delay is to give you sufficient time to press F8 after the Starting Windows 95 message is displayed. The default is 2.
• BootGUI=1 Enables automatic graphical interface startup. BootGUI=0 disables this setting (you'll boot to a prompt instead of Win95)
• BootKeys=1 Enables the special startup option keys (F5, F6, and F8). Setting this value to 0 prevents any startup keys from functioning. If you're a systems administrator, this setting lets you configure a more secure system.
• BootMenu=1 Makes the Windows 95 Startup menu appear by default.
• BootMenuDelay=n Sets the number of seconds to display the Windows Startup menu before running the default menu item. The default is 30.
• BootMulti=1 Activates Dual Boot feature. Setting this value to 1 lets you start MS-DOS by pressing F4. This option is disabled by default in Windows 95, and is not available when you press F8 to use the Startup menu unless the value is set to 1.

Windows 95 Easter Egg

1. Right-click on the desktop, and select "New Folder". Name the folder:
   and now, the moment you've all been waiting for
2. Right-click the folder and rename it to:
   we proudly present for your viewing pleasure
3. Right-click the folder one more time and rename it to:
   The Microsoft Windows 95 Product Team!
4. Open the folder and enjoy!

Removing Programs from the Add/Remove Program List:

Logon Passwords:

• Set Password to Spaces: If you set your password to nothing (i.e., just hit the enter key instead of entering a password), and you are the only user configured on the system, Windows 95 will skip asking you to enter the password. If you already have a password, you can change it via the Passwords icon within My Computer/Control Panel.
• TWEAKUI: Another option is to download and install the TWEAKUI powertoy from Microsoft. One of the options (under the "NETWORK" tab) allows you to specify the user idand password that should be automatically used when Windows 95 boots.

Correcting CD AutoRun Problems: