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JEM Page
April 20, 2000
Also check out my Windows 98 tips.
Many should also work in Windows 98.
Enjoy!!!
This page is referenced several times by George & Mike's SK Web Constructions Win95 Beyond the Basic Crash Page A very comprehensive help site. Thanks!!!
JEM of a Tip: You get your Desktop icons just like you want them and for some unknown reason they are auto-sorted for you .Or you move an icon and leave a window open when you exit Win95 only to restart to this same mess. Why can't Win95 leave your Desktop alone? (There was an option for this in Win3.1.) Try these two changes. Right click on an open space on your desktop,click on the Arrange Icons item, and then make sure AutoArrange is NOT checked. If it is checked, uncheck it. This should keep your icons from being re-sorted. Then, to really keep things where you want them, refer to the Microsoft Knowledge Base Article "Save Settings on Exit Option Enabled by Default". This article explains that this design flaw (in my opinion) was actually programmed on purpose this way. However, if you are brave, back-up your registry, and follow the instructions EXACTLY to set the NoSaveSettings flag. I actually had to add this item to the Registry as a binary value. This 2nd change is definitely for the brave of heart since editing the Registry should not be taken lightly. Don't blame me! But, now my desktop always looks the same when I start up. (011597)
JEM of a Tip: RegClean indeed seems to make the system more stable. See RegClean utility. (011697) UPDATE: RegClean was updated and is more stable. (042597) UPDATE: Run RegClean twice in a row to make sure registry is fully cleaned. (090597) UPDATE:Microsoft has removed RegClean for updating. Stay tuned! (122997)
JEM of a Tip: When your system is operating really well, zip all DLLs in the following directories: WINDOWS, WINDOWS\SYSTEM, and WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP. Print or save (DIR >dll.lst) a directory listing of these DLLs along with date and size. If your system gets flakey and you've added lots of software (not from Microsoft), check your DLL listings. Maybe some have changed. You probably only have to worry about Microsoft DLLs. Check to see if it is by right clicking on the file in Explorer, select Properties, and then select the Version tab. Copy the current/latest DLL in case it isn't the problem and try unzipping your previous version and see if that helps. (012097) (120197)
JEM of a Tip: I have noticed that page faults and GPFs seem to happen regularly for a while with the same application and then simply go away all of a sudden. This is a bit unnerving but I expect the cause is the Registry getting a bit mixed up with OLE. Try running RegClean. Several of my friends have also noticed the same thing happening. (020997)
JEM of a Tip: Install the PowerToy TweakUI utility. Turn on the Fault Logging under the Paranoia tab. It logs all text Win95 application errors to Faultlog.txt. Handy to see what types of errors you get and where they happen. (020997)
JEM of a Tip: If suddenly you loose sound with programs but you have sound for DOS games, a Windows ap probably set your volume level to 0 in Control_Panel|MultiMedia|Audio. Set it to full. (021797)
JEM of a Tip: The sound level control in the system tray is a relative control (relative to your Control_Panel|MultiMedia setting). Set Control_Panel|MultiMedia|Audio sound level to full. (021797)
JEM of a Tip: If you are using PKZip (as most people do), I'd recommend upgrading to PKZip for Windows 95 (PKWare) or WinZip (ZD Net Shareware). Both support long file names which I'm finding more and more ZIP files contain. Both also have nice GUIs. NOTE: PKZip version 2.04G (DOS) does NOT support long file names. (061997)
JEM of a Tip: Recently Brian Livingston of InfoWorld mag wrote about his own PC. Interesting article. In it he gave 3 useful hints that are often ignored by users. Check it out!!!. The hints are: (041297)
JEM of a Tip: Get ready for the year 2000. If your date format has only 2 digits for the year (check in Explorer), go to ControlPanel|RegionalSettings|Date and change the date patern to include yyyy for a 4 digit year date. If you don't do this before 2000, you'll have files datestamped 1900 which will probably cause big-time problems. (041397)
JEM of a Tip: This hint may sound a little funny but it really does seem to work. It is from Brian Livingston's April, 1997, Windows Sources article. To generally make your system more stable and to cut down on Kernel32 GPFs, cut your graphics accelleration to Basic. This is done from ControlPanel|System|Performance|Graphics. Move the slider to the 2nd tick mark from the left. Then exit and re-start Windows. On my system, re-booting took several tries before it completed without warnings or errors. I've had NO GPFs in 2 weeks!. And, I have not noticed any slowdown in graphics speed! (042097)
JEM of a Tip: Don't use spaces or periods (.) in Folder names. Lots of programs, even Win95 32 bit ones, can't handle them. This seems especially true when using the SendTo feature in Explorer to fire off an application. (061997)
JEM of a Tip: It is a good idea to purge part of (or empty entirely) your Recycle Bin at somewhat regular intervals. I've seen some instances when it gets full that files are not placed there. This seems somewhat irradic so I'll do more testing and digging. Also, make sure it is large enough, especially for really large files (I often work w/30+ meg files). (092597)
JEM of a Tip: If your system is "hung" and the 3-finger-salute (ctrl-alt-del) does not work, try crtl-esc. This sometimes works and brings up the Start menu allowing you to shut-down. (100297)
JEM of a Tip: Jim Seymour of PCMag wrote an interesting article (11-18-97) with some real common sense tips for those of us who seem to be the neighborhood and relative I.T.Dept. These hints may not be the most efficient in terms of the PC but make non-experts lives, and therefore your life also, easier. Below are his hints:
JEM of a Tip: Check out DCOM if you call Excel97 from VB 3 and VB 4 (?) and you get a page fault in kernel32.dll. Check MS Knowledgebase article Q170402 and the MS DCOM site. (thanks Joni) (112197)
JEM of a Tip: Use Folders with Send To to organize your Send To entries. Go to Windows\SendTo. (120197)
JEM of a Tip: Create a boot disk with your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS on them. delete things you don't need (such as virus scan) and some PATH folders. Then, ADD CDROM driver info to CONFIG and AUTOEXEC and your .SYS CDROM driver to the floppy. These probably are NOT in your AUTOEXEC and CONFIG files. Why should you do this??? If you blow away your system and can't re-start Windows, you may want to re-load Win95 from your CD which means you'll need a boot disk with CD info on it. I hope you never need this. (Thx Ken). (122997)
JEM of a Tip: Problems starting up or shutting down Windows, check out Microsoft's help specific for these problems. Seems pretty good. (011098)
JEM of a Tip: Microsoft has a fix for "IOS Failed to Initialize". This seems to happen after a large software install on big systems with 32 meg or more of RAM. I can't find this on Microsoft's site but you can get it on Gateway's site. Search for the IOSFIX or RMM2UPD fix. WARNING: Microsoft recommends that this fix be applied ONLY IF you have problems. I did not have problems but applied it anyway without problems. (011098) (Thx Ken)
JEM of a Tip: CTL3D32.DLL is one of the most commonly mis-versioned DLLs. There are also different versions (but with the same internal version number) for Win95 and WinNT. Check out Brian Livingston's InfoWorld January 12, 1998 article. Sizes and places to get the latest versions are there. The latestest version for Win95 is 2.31 and is 26624 bytes. I suggest keeping a backup of this version in case it gets overwritten. (011298)
JEM of a Tip: Check out PC Computing TurboCharge Windows article. I've done all of these w/o harm. I think the Swap File settings made the most difference. (011897)
JEM of a Tip: Strange info: Go to DOS and hide a file in the Recycle Bin. The try to find it in the Win95 Recycle Bin explorer - you won't even if you have show hidden files turned ON. This could be a good way to hide and save inportant info. Have fun!!! (012098)
JEM of a Tip: There seems to be no way to order the items in the Taskbar Tray. However, use a scripting program (such as Script on my Honorable Mentions page) to accomplish this. (All you need are the delay and the start commands from Script. Create a script file and put a shortcut to the Script Program in Windows\StartMenu\Programs\StartUp and point it to your script.) (012298)
JEM of a Tip: From April 1998 Byte Mag: Software Tips: (062498)
JEM of a Tip: Where to look for applications and drivers that automatically start when you re-boot or re-start Windows (from August 1998 PC Computing): (072798)
JEM of a Tip: When making associations for filetypes, put quotes around %1 (e.g., "%1") so that folders with spaces in their names (such as My Documents) don't mess up opening and give you an error such as cannot find My.doc. (073098)
JEM of a Tip: Do you have a lot of programs you run a lot, create a Desktop folder and put short-cuts to them in this folder. It's a log handier than the Start button (which I personally avoid like the plague). (100898)
JEM of a Tip: If you get the message "Incorrect DOS Version", you have probably mixed Win95 Service Pack 2 (also called OSR2 or OSRb) with Win95 (original version) or with Win95 Service Pack 1 (OSR1, OSRa). How can this happen?
You may have to re-install all of Win95 to fix this one unless you have access to multiple PCs so you can slowly add files back one at a time. Good luck!!! I'm glad I had a backup when this happened to me!!! Thanks Joni for this one!!! (100898)
JEM of a Tip: In Word95/97 (and other word processors I believe, but I haven't confirmed), you can left click once to place the cursor, twice to select the word the cursor is on, and three times to select the paragraph. To select all, triple click in the ledt page margin. (101098)
JEM of a Tip: Try not to have ANY 16 bit applications running constantly (such as screen savers). If not programmed very, very well, they can cause lock-ups. (020100)
JEM of a Tip: I like always seeing the filetypes in Win95. By default Explorer doesn't do this for "registered" files (i.e., those associated with a program). To see all filetypes, go into Explorer then go to View|Options. Uncheck the Hide registered filetypes box. (020997)
JEM of a Tip: Highlight a file from Explorer. Instead of just right-clicking, shift-right-click and a similar options panel shows up. This new panel contains Open With (which normally only comes up w/unassociated files). Use Open With to open a file with any registered application. (030897)
JEM of a Tip: Use TweakUI in Control Panel to set Windows Explorer like you want it. If you want a specific setup each time, then :
Alternatively, if you want Explorer to look the way you leave it the next time you execute it, then skip task 3 above. (042797)
JEM of a Tip: Check out Edit|InvertSelection. Really useful if you have select everything except a few files. Select the few, then invert.(052897)
JEM of a Tip: Often programs you install change the filetype name used for associating files. You can change this back using Explorer View|Options|FileTypes. You can also use this to generate a "registered" filetype for association. (061997)
JEM of a Tip: Some program associated .DAT files as a Movie Clip (MPEG). Although I could add extra associations (see MenuEdit on my utility page), I didn't want this to be the default for .DAT files but to remain the default for the movie files. I got around this by editting the registry. For the two keys: (072397)
ALTERNATIVE: Use Win31's File Manager (yes its part of W95 - in C:\WINDOWS as Winfile.exe). Its easy to unassociate and re-associate single filetypes. (112197)
I merely deleted all entries in the right-hand side of the RegEdit window. The right-hand size will now say "value not set". Exit RegEdit. Go to Explorer, View|Options|FileTypes and click the New button and fill in the form. Use .DAT for the extension and point to your favorite Text Editor. That's it. Remember to back up the Registry before making these changes. (072397)
JEM of a Tip: Double click on the column separator (the vertical line on the gray bar immediately above your file listings) to autosize the column to the widest entry. (103197)
JEM of a Tip: FileFind hints: (112197)
JEM of a Tip: I recommend that you do NOT upgrade to the latest version of Microsoft Network. I had been using this as a low cost ISP but after upgrading MSN my whole system when to hell. Their help phone was of no use. I finally removed and cancelled MSN, removed Dial-Up Networking, re-installed Dial-Up Networking , and re-installed Internet Explorer. I then got a local ISP. (It is interesting to note that I am not the only one with this problem. Kiplinger's Personal Finance mag had the same problem. See Feb 1997, page 119.) (011297)
JEM of a Tip: In the turmoil of resolving problems above, I found that if you get the Dial-Up network connection problem "The computer you are dialing is not answering. Try again later", go to Control_Panel | Networking and delete both the Dial-Up adapter and TCP/IP, re-install both, and re-setup each. This dialog normally happens when you have GPFd or abnormally disconnected and had to re-boot. This has been reported other places on the net also if you look hard enough. Using Release_All from WINIPCFG may eliminate deleting and re-installing but I can't confirm this yet. (011297) UPDATE: I tried WINIPCFG to Release All when I got hung in DUN but it did NOT seem to help. (072797)
JEM of a Tip: Turn off your screen saver when downloading using FTP. Others have warned about this but I finally got burned. See SSCLICKER utility. (011297)
JEM of a Tip: Cut down the Microsoft Internet Explorer History file storage. This makes MSIE load a lot faster. I suggest only 1 day of History (not 10). (020997)
JEM of a Tip: If you use ActiveMovie with Microsoft Internet Explorer, ActiveMovie processes files even if you associate certain multimedia filetypes to other programs. For example, ActiveMovie processes WAV (sound) files even when you have WAV files associated to SoundRecorder for example. I haven't found a good way to control ActiveMovie yet so if you use it, beware! (020997)
JEM of a Tip: Right click on a page and you will be prompted to add it to your Favorites. Right click on a link and you'll be prompted to add it to your Favorites. Right click on a graphic, and you have an option to save it to a file. (030897)
JEM of a Tip: Occasionally check AltaVista for any of your pages that used to be cataloged. They tend to loose things. (052897) They seem better now but..... (122997)
JEM of a Tip: To follow a hyperlink with MSIE3+ or Netscape3+ without closing your current page, right-click on the link and select Open in New Window option. (072797) OR Do the same thing by holding the shift key when you left-click. (103197)
JEM of a Tip: Change MaxMTU, RWin, and TTL settings to increase surfing speed. I got a 10-20% (gut-feel) increase in speed. Get MTU-Speed from Mike Sutherland Home Page. (It's also a Utility JEM ) (080797)
JEM of a Tip: If you use MS Internet Mail, you can double click on an e-mail address to find out additional info about who sent it. (100297)
JEM of a Tip: Use Home and End keys to get to the top and bottom of a Web page when using MSIE. These are the most useful MSIE hotkeys IMHO. (100297)
JEM of a Tip: Check out Norther Lights search engine. Really interesting. (122997)
JEM of a Tip: Why can't Microsoft use "normal" version numbers? For MSIE, check out article Q164539 for version numbers. (011098)
JEM of a Tip: Make sure you backup your mail system. If you are using MS Internet Mail and News, backup (i.e., zip the files to a floppy) the following:
Before saving these, first delete all items not needed in your folders, then delete all items you don't want a second chance with from the Deleted Items folder, and finally Compact all Mail folders (File|Folders|Compact|AllFolders). Mail really doesn't seem to delete anything and your folders can get really big. Doing the above, I recovered 20 meg of disk space! (100898)
JEM of a Tip: I recently had trouble sending faxes using MS-Fax. I don't believe I changed any fax or modem settings and it used to send just fine. However, I recently started using Dial-Up networking which may have changed something (but shouldn't have!). Anyway, the symptoms were that I could dial and connect just fine but during the modem "negotiation" phase (squealing), negotiations began but suddenly stopped. Ultimately, a timeout went into effect and the phone hung up. I got around this in the following way:
This should leave all of your other communication software modem settings OK. You can still send faxes at 9600 baud. (Other FAX software may have similar settings.) (010297) UPDATE: This hint made Brian Livingston's InfoWorld article for March 17, 1997. Check it out!!!. (032297) UPDATE2: I still haven't gotten Brian's book as the article promised. (072796) UPDATE3: I still haven't gotten Brian's book. I've given up. (122997)
JEM of a Tip: It seems as if DOOM, QUAKE, and other DOS games that run in a normal DOS box eventually cause page fault and GPF failures with Win95 programs. I find Microsoft Internet Explorer the most vulnerable. I suggest always re-starting Win95 before starting MSIE and after DOS games. (061997)
JEM of a Tip: To check on low memory usage, go to Start|Run and enter MEM, This will give a good indication of low memory available for DOS aps. (021797)
JEM of a Tip: Use the new DOS7 START command to start a Win95 program from the DOS command line. (Examples: "START ." displays your current directory as it would appear from My Computer. "START EXPLORER" starts Windows Explorer. "START WORDPAD" starts WordPad.) (022297)
JEM of a Tip: You can drag a file from Windows Explorer into a DOS Box and it will append the full name (including path) to the line you have. For example, type EDIT in a DOS box and then drag C:\JUNK\JEM.TXT from Explorer into the DOS box. The command now becomes EDIT C:\JUNK\JEM.TXT. (022297)
JEM of a Tip: You cannot delete floppy files to the recycle bin which means they are essentially lost forever when deleted unless you really want to work at it. There is a DOS7 UNDELETE command. Check out "Using the DOS Undelete Command in Win95" from the MS Knowledge Base. ANOTHER OPTION is to take the floppy to a Win31 machine and undelete the file. However, the floppy is now usually unreadable back on a Win95 machine. So, on the Win31 machine, copy all the files to your hard drive, re-format the floppy, and copy the files back. (030897) ADDED INFO: Deleting files on a Network Drive (at least ours) do NOT go to the recycle bin either. (011298)
JEM of a Tip: If you delete a file from a DOS session under Windows, it is NOT sent to the Recycle Bin. This can really be a problem. (030897) UPDATE: However, BigBin does do this (freeware from PC Mag Utilities). BUT, this will still NOT work for a floppy - sorry (see item above). (070997)
JEM of a Tip: Use the new DOS7 dot shortcuts: ... and .... These are just like the old DOS shortcuts: . and ..
JEM of a Tip: Always point a DOS session short-cut to a temporary, junk directory. This should help prevent deleting useful files by accident. (Note: I blew away my entire Windows directory by accident before fixing this!) (070997)
JEM of a Tip: Want to delete the entire contents of a directory without answering "Y". Use the command: DEL ** This is really useful for .BAT files. BUT BE CAREFUL!!! (070997)
JEM of a Tip: From DOS, the Recycle Bin is C:\RECYCLED (and D:\RECYCLED ...). (012298)
JEM of a Tip: From DOS, you can recover files from the Recycle Bin by simply copying them from C:\RECYCLED (or D:\RECYCLED or ...). This is a poor-guy's UNDELETE. Combined w/BigBin (discussed above, it is a cheap-guy's UNDELETE. (012298)
JEM of a Tip: The file in the Windows directory called DOSSTART.BAT is used when you boot or go to MS-DOS mode. Check what is in there! (042898)
JEM of a Tip: Can't hear the modem dial? Add L3 to ControlPanel - System - Device Manager - Modem - (select your modem) - Connection - Advanced - Extra Settings box. Use L0 for no sound, L1 for low sound, L2 for medium sound. (112798)
JEM of a Tip: I recently went from 16 meg to 32 meg RAM for Win95. For me, it speeds things up about 5% (gut feel) and really cuts down on "disk thrashing". RAM is cheap right now. (010297) RAM is down to $50 for 16 meg so upgrade to at least 32. (122997)
JEM of a Tip: Get a game pad for the DOS games. It saves the keyboard from the kids! (042097) Win95 has trouble recognizing some game pads so try your own configurations. For example, we had to tell Win95 OSR2 that we had a Gravis Gamepad when in reality we had a PC Performance ProPad 4. It just wouldn't work right when we set it to be a ProPad 4. (073098)
JEM of a Tip: Get a MS Intellimouse - I really like it! (Logitech Mouse+ Series may also be as good but I haven't personally used them) - ALSO get FreeWheel for the Intellimouse or the latest MS drivers. (see my Utility Honorable Mention page). (120197) (073098)
JEM of a Tip: If you buy a PC, make sure you have some open slots for later memory add-ons. Most new ones have 4 memory slots. If you get 32 meg, get it as 2-16 meg Simms. Thus .you have 2 open slots. If you get 32 meg as 4-8 meg Simms, then you'll probably have to throw away at least 16 meg to upgrade. (122997)
JEM of a Tip: If you have pets, make sure you air dust your PC. Also, check the CPU fan. They are cheaply made and often fail from the dust. (042898)
JEM of a Tip: From April 1998 Byte Mag: Hardware Tips:
JEM of a Tip: Scanners are really cheap now. Consider a parallel port, flat bed. I paid less than $50 after rebate. (073098)
JEM of a Tip: We recently got a Presario 2266 for my wife's business. This wasn't our first choice but we were in a time crunch. Here are my impressions:
Overall, it works fine but has a lot of annoying limitations that I would have gladly paid a few more dollars to get. I'd recommend getting a generic PC for a little less money that doesn't have most of the bad points above.
JEM of a Tip: Get ready for the year 2000. If your date format has only 2 digits for the year (check in Explorer), go to ControlPanel|RegionalSettings|Date and change the date patern to include yyyy for a 4 digit year date. If you don't do this before 2000, you'll probably have files datestamped 1900, which will probably cause big-time problems. (041397)
JEM of a Tip: Check your PC for the year 2000. There's tons of sites that explain how to check. However, it seems that the transition is the main problem. I have an old Gateway 486/66 that is not compliant (resets to 1980 rather than 2000 at midnight on 12-31-99). BUT it will hold the date if I manually set it to 2000 from a DOS prompt (not a DOS box however!). This seems fairly universal based on checking several BIOS sites (check out Phoenix). Check with your BIOS and PC manufacturer. (011098)
JEM of a Tip: Continuing w/the Y2K info from above, Microsoft corrected errors in FileManager, which messed up displaying years past 2000. Get updated versions from the MS FTP site. Make sure you get the correct version. Check in INDEX.TXT (011998)
JEM of a Tip: CD burners are getting very reasonably priced. You can get internal for $300 and external (parallel port) for $350. We just got an HP7200e. Its really nice. (112998) I got an internal 2X IDE burner for 100. (122599)
JEM of a Tip: If you have Adaptec's Direct CD, you can treat the CD almost like a hard disk. This is really handy! (112998) See comment below also. (010100)
JEM of a Tip: Easy CD Creator seems to offer very little compared to just using Direct CD and EasyCD Audio (which come w/the HP7200e). (112998) See comment below also. (010100)
JEM of a Tip: The easiest and quickest way to make a CD from an LP is to create a WAV file of each side (each is about 200 meg). Then record these using Easy CD Audio or Easy CD Creator. The new CD has only 2 tracks but this is definitely the easiest way to go! (112998) See comment below also. (010100)
JEM of a Tip: After a year, I use the following:
I do not use DirectCD anymore. (010100)
JEM of a Tip: Internal IDE burners are much more stable than external parallel port ones. (122599)
JEM of a Tip: Get the free Adaptec URF reader for Direct CDs reading on your normal CD-ROM. Go to the CD-R software section.
NOTE: I am planning a whole page concerning CD burning and music. Check back.
John Myers jemyers@aol.com Copyright 2000 http://users.aol.com/jemyers/jem_tip.htm