MadTricks

WINDOWS 98 TIPS + TRICKS

(C) 1998 by [email protected]

Foreword: Feel free to submit any modem tips you may have and would like
included to me at [email protected] - Good luck with the tips/tricks and
best of luck.

Please visit my web page at:
http://members.tripod.com/~ComputingX/index.html

These tips are also available for direct download from:
http://members.tripod.com/~ComputingX/tricks98.zip
Enjoy.

Additionally, I do welcome personal mail with comments about my Win98
tips/tricks, and of course I do benefit greatly from hearing the specifics
about tips and tricks you have found. Please do NOT write me asking for
specific drivers or other manufacturers' support materials -- I have none.

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for anything that happens as a result of
using this information.

Updates:

7-11-98 This File Started and Tips Added.
Internet Address Time Saver
Instant System Properties
Easier Minimizing
Reboot Just Win98 [Updated 10-4-98]
Full vs. Windowed DOS Prompt
Bypass Upgrade Check
Add New Quick Launches
New Quick Launch Toolbars
Faster Network Settings Adjustments
Cascading Control Panel
Read News Only Using Outlook Express
Start Menu on the Fly
Rename Items in Start Menu
Screen Capture Win98
Rename Win98's Recycle Bin
Capture Current Window Only
Setup Duplicate Installations of Win98
7-28-98 Hide The Startup Group
10-4-98 Updated "Reboot Just Win98"
Solving Floppy Drive Problems In Win98
Stop Programs From Loading at Startup
Elementary, My Dear Watson!
3rd Party AutoScan
Always a Two-Pane Explorer
Search the Web Using Keywords with Internet Explorer
Gimme Back My Registry!
Win98/95/NT Easy Migration
Captain Sisko's Quad OS Machine
Win98 Logo Bug
Win98 CPU Info
IE 4.0/4.01 Easter Egg
Win98 Easter Egg Unleashed - Part 1
Win98 Easter Egg Unleashed - Part 2
Plus! 98 Easter Egg
Add a Windows Key to your keyboard
Update Win98 Components
12-6-98 Move "My Documents"

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Internet Address Time Saver

If you right-click your taskbar, choose the "toolbars" option, and select
"Address" you will get a new item on the taskbar that allows you to type in
any URL (on the Internet, your hard drive, or a network share) and
automatically open that page or folder.
This saves the steps of having to open your web browser, then type the address
in.

[email protected]
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Instant System Properties

If you have a "Windows" keyboard with the special "Windows Key" on it, you can
hit the <WinKey>+<Pause/Break> to instantly open the System Properties dialog
box. This saves you the extra step of going to the Start Menu and opening the
Control Panel, then clicking on the System Icon.

[email protected]
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Easier Minimizing
With Windows 98 or Internet Explorer 4.x/5.x you can minimize almost any open
window by simply clicking on its depressed button in the taskbar.

[email protected]
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Reboot Just Win98

If you ever want to reboot just Win98, and not your whole machine, create a
shortcut and use the following text as your Target:

C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL.EXE user.exe,ExitWindowsExec

This takes the place of having to go through a whole reboot of your system
when you only want to restart Windows. Holding down SHIFT while choosing to
"Restart the Computer" from the Shut Down Menu will have the same results.
[Updated 10-4-98] - Use CAUTION with this tip, it only works on some systems
and can cause data loss and other severe problems if it doesn't work on your
system. Microsoft does not officially support this feature. If you try it
and have problems, you may want to disable "Fast Shutdown" by running MSCONFIG
by clicking Start, Run, typing "MSCONFIG" and disabling it. This has been
known to help on some systems that experienced problems.
Special thanks to [email protected] (http://members.aol.com/ojatex/laptop.htm)
for the information about disabling Fast Shutdown in Win98. Additional
thanks to [email protected] for supplemental information he provided regarding
this issue.

[email protected]
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Full vs. Windowed DOS Prompt

If you are working at a DOS Prompt (command line) from within Windows, you can
easily switch between full-screen and Windowed mode by simply pressing
<Alt>+<Enter> at the same time.

[email protected]
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Bypass Upgrade Check

When wanting to do a clean install of Win98 yet bypass the check for an older
version of Windows.
Boot your system from a boot diskette (Windows 95/98 startup disk, or DOS
bootable diskette). Create a file in the root directory of your boot partition
named "ntldr" (no quotes). The file can't be a zero-byte file, so edit it and
put rem on a single line with no spaces in front of it.
This should bypass the check for previous version of Windows by fooling the
system into thinking that NT is installed.

[email protected]
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Add New Quick Launches

It's great to be able to create additional Quick Launch icons to the quick
launch toolbar to reside next to the 4 built in defaults and it's easy to do.
1. Right click and drag an existing shortcut from the desktop to the area
next to the start button and release it, or, using Explorer, right click and
drag the icon for a program file (exe) in the same manner and release.
2. Select create shortcut here.
3. If you are always looking for "My Computer" to explore or check something,
it's a good choice to drag on down to the quick launch bar for instant access
at any time.

[email protected]
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New Quick Launch Toolbars

Drag any folder or any item from the desktop (e.g. My Computer, Recycle Bin,
Network Neighborhood, Control Panel icon etc.) to the edge of the screen and
release. You get a Single Click Quick Launch Toolbar with all the icons inside
it.

[email protected]
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Faster Network Settings Adjustments

Instead of going through Start, Settings, Control Panel, Network, you can
shorten the keystroke by right-clicking on Network Neighborhood and selecting
Properties.

[email protected]
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Cascading Control Panel

To cascade the Control Panel applets off your Start Menu:
1. Right-click on the Start button and select Open.
2. Create a new folder and call it
Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}
Don't forget the period in the folder name!

[email protected]
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Read News Only Using Outlook Express

If you start Outlook Express (msimn.exe) using the /outnews switch, it will
act as a newsreader only. A handy way is to create a shortcut that points to:

msimn.exe /outnews

[email protected]
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Start Menu on the Fly

You can right click on any item in the start menu and move it, copy it, delete
it, and even change its properties. The only thing you can't do is rename it.

[email protected]
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Rename Items in Start Menu

This is directly related to the last tip. If you right click on an item in the
start menu/toolbar, there is no 'rename' option. To rename an item:
1. Left-click drag the item in question to the desktop.
2. Rename the new item on the desktop whatever you want.
3. Right-click drag the newly-renamed item back to its previous location and
choose 'Move here'.

[email protected]
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Screen Capture Win98

You don't need a fancy graphics program to get a screenshot of what's on your
computer. If you are in any windows based program, just hit the print screen
key on your keyboard and you have a full screenshot. Paste it into Paint or
any other Windows based graphics program.

[email protected]
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Rename Win98's Recycle Bin

To add the rename option to the right-click menu for the Recycle Bin create a
new text file and add the following:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ShellFolder]
"Attributes"=hex:50,01,00,20

Rename the file extension to .reg rather then text then run the file and it
will add the above registry key.
Right click on the Recycle Bin and Rename it.

[email protected]
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Capture Current Window Only

Hightlight one window on the desktop and hit Print Screen while holding down
the ALT key and it captures only that one window to the clipboard instead of
the entire desktop.

[email protected]
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Setup Duplicate Installations of Win98
When installing Win98 will generate a SETUPLOG file in the root of your boot
partition (C:\). This file can then be used to set up identical machines in
batch mode using the SETUPLOG as an input file.

[email protected]
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Hide The Startup Group

This tip appears courtesty of Matt Foster ([email protected]).

Matt writes:
"Hi, I found your Windows 98 Tips and Tricks file really useful, and I thought
that you might be interested to know my tip. I never use the StartUp folder,
but Win98 won't allow it to be deleted, so by right clicking it and selecting
properties I changed its attributes to hidden, and stopped it being displayed,
however, this doesn't stop any programs in it from being run.
I hope you find this useful."

Matt Foster ([email protected])

Note from [email protected]: You must have Windows Explorer configured
NOT to show hidden and system files for this to hide the Startup Group from
your Programs Menu off of the Start button.
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Solving Floppy Drive Problems In Win98

Several people have reported floppy drive problems since upgrading to or
installing Windows 98, even when the floppy drives worked perfectly under
Windows 95 or previous versions of Windows and MS-DOS. This tip might help if
you are having problems.

Right click on My Computer on the desktop. Click on Properties, then
Performance. Then click on File System. Click on Floppy Disk and if there is a
check in "Search for New Floppy Drives Each Time Your Computer Starts" remove
it. Then click on Removable Disk and make sure write-back caching is not
checked. This may also help with Zip Drives and other removable media such as
tape backup, Jazz, and other non-hard drives and CD-ROM/DVD drives.

[email protected]
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Stop Programs From Loading at Startup

Everyone at one time or another, has probably installed a program that insists
on loading itself on startup, even if it isn't in the Startup group. This
could be due to it loading from WIN.INI or the Windows registry. A good way to
stop specific programs from loading is to use The System Configuration Utility
(MSCONFIG). To run it, click Start, Run, type in "MSCONFIG" (no quotes) and
press ENTER. When it comes up, click on "Startup" and check or uncheck items
you want to load or not to load. This is very useful if you have a program or
programs that you only want to run sometimes or not at all. Then you can
almost always load the program from the Start Menu anyway, or simply re-enable
it to load on Startup again at any time if you change your mind.

[email protected]
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Elementary, My Dear Watson!

If you frequently get illegal operation or invalid page fault error messages
in Windows 98, there is a great utility that Microsoft included which you can
use to troubleshoot, find the cause of, and correct those errors to prevent
yourself from getting them again. It also logs all errors so you can report
them to Microsoft or your software program's vendor so that they can fix the
problem. To start this program:

Click Start, Run.
Type "DrWatson" and press ENTER.
An icon for Dr. Watson will appear on your taskbar tray.
Double click it. From here on you can view detailed information about your
Win98 system.

I recommend putting a shortcut to Dr. Watson in your Startup group, especially
if you frequenty experience crashes, as it will automatically log all illegal
operations and invalid page faults/general protection faults that you might get.

[email protected]
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3rd Party AutoScan

If you have Nuts & Bolts or Norton Utilities installed on your system, you can
cause their DOS mode disk repair utilities to run on bootup after a bad
Windows shutdown, instead of ScanDisk. Copy the utility you want to use (e.g.
NDD.EXE or DMDOS.EXE) to your \Windows\Command folder, rename SCANDISK.EXE to
SCANDISK.WIN and then rename the copied file to SCANDISK.EXE.

The next time you boot up after a bad shutdown, your third-party disk scanning
application will run. This can easily be reversed by deleting or renaming
SCANDISK.EXE. More information about configuring this is available from
[email protected] on his website at
http://users.aol.com/axcel216/
listed under the "BYPASS AUTOSCAN" topic in his "OSR2TIPS.TXT" file, part of
W95-11D.ZIP, or online at:
http://users.aol.com/axcel216/osr2.htm#BYPASS
I recommend reading that before proceeding with this tip.

[email protected]
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Always a Two-Pane Explorer

-Open any folder (i.e. "My Computer").
-Choose "View|Folder options..." from the menu.
-Move to the "File Types" tab.
-Locate the "Folder" entry (to do this fast, click onto the Listview and type
the word "folder").
-Choose Edit.
-Select "Explorer",
and finally
-Press "Set as default",
and leave the dialogs using Ok/Close.

Now, whenever you open any sort of folder, may it be a drive/directory, the
Control Panel or your Mobile Devices folder, you automatically get the
two-paned Explorer view for easier navigation.

[email protected]
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Search the Web Using Keywords with Internet Explorer

If you type in "go x" in IE 4.x or later (where "x" is any keyword) you can
search for ANYTHING using IE, it will default to Yahoo for searching for that
item that you entered for "X".

[email protected]
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Gimme Back My Registry!

To restore the registry in Microsoft Windows 98 do this:

Restart the computer to MS-DOS mode. This can be done by choosing Command
Prompt Only on boot or by clicking Start, Shut Down, Restart the Computer in
MS-DOS mode and clicking "yes" when prompted.

Type:

scanreg /restore

Press ENTER.

Restart your computer. These steps will restore your registry to its state
when you last successfully started your computer.

[email protected]
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WIN98/95/NT EASY MIGRATION

Some people like the dual-boot features of Windows 98/95 that let you keep
booting to an existing OS such as Windows 3.x and a previous version of DOS,
myself included.

I found a simple way to migrate your current Windows 3.x apps to Windows 98/95
without losing Windows 3.x and you don't have to reinstall any of your
programs.

All you have to do is make an exact duplicate of your Windows 3.x folder and
all the files and subdirectories within it, and that's usually just your
Windows and Windows\System folders and the files contained in them. Usually it
is less than 10 megabytes so this isn't a problem if you're short on disk
space. All you need to do is make a folder named Win95 or Win98 depending on
which version you are installing. Go into MS-DOS or use the Windows File
Manager program to copy all your files from C:\Windows (substitute your
drive/folder/directory name in place of C:\Windows) and your C:\Windows\System
(same) to your C:\Win95 or C:\Win98 System folder. You will need a
sub-folder/directory in your DUPLICATE COPY of Windows 3.x named "System"
where you copy the old Windows 3.x system files from the Windows 3.x system
sub-folder.

Then simply run Windows 95 or Windows 98's installation program and tell it to
install to C:\Win95 or C:\Win98, overwriting your "previous" (actually a copy
of your previous) version of Windows. All of your existing programs and
applications will be automatically ported to Windows 98/95 while still being
accessible in your original copy of Windows 3.x.
This will update the Win98/95 registry and even put the programs into the
Start Menu so you don't have to worry about it. This tip should also work for
Windows NT 4.0 and in the future, NT 5.0.

[email protected]
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CAPTAIN SISKO'S QUAD OS MACHINE (C) 1998 by [email protected]

It is possible to quad-boot Windows 98/95, Windows NT Workstation 4.0, Windows
for Workgroups 3.11, and MS-DOS all on one PC with no special utilities or
third party programs.

Make sure you are using a FAT16 partition on your primary hard drive.

First, install Windows 98 or Windows 95 normally.

Click Start, Shut Down, Restart the Computer. Click Yes.

Once the computer reboots and Win98 or Win95 starts loading, press F8. Choose
"Safe Command Prompt Only."

Take an MS-DOS disk (where "A:" is your floppy drive letter) and type:

attrib a:\msdos.sys -h -s -r
attrib a:\io.sys -h -s -r
attrib a:\command.com -h -s -r
copy a:\msdos.sys c:\msdos.dos
copy a:\io.sys c:\io.dos
copy a:\command.com c:\command.dos
attrib msdos.sys -h -s -r
edit msdos.sys

Make sure it has "BootMulti=1" under "[Options]".

Press ALT + F. Press "S" for save. Press ALT + F. Choose "Exit."

Remove the floppy disk. Power off the PC and after 10 seconds power it back
on. (The ten seconds gives it time to spin down to avoid un-necessary wear
and tear).

Press F4 when Win98 or Win95 starts to load. Windows 95 will say "Starting
Windows 95..." but Windows 98 will not, so be careful to press F4 it at the
right time.

It will load MS-DOS (in my case 6.22). A "DIR" command will reveal that Win98
or Win95's IO.SYS file has been renamed to WINBOOT.SYS and that the Win98 or
Win95 versions of COMMAND.COM and MSDOS.SYS, and AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS
now have the extension ".W40" after them.

Now that you are into MS-DOS, you can install Windows 3.1 or Windows for
Workgroups 3.11 into a folder. Make sure you don't accidentally install it
over Windows98 or Windows 95!!!! I suggest a folder name such as "Win3" or
"Wfw" as the location 3.x version of Windows.

Usually Win98 or Win95 are installed in C:\Windows by default.

Now, reboot the computer and let Win98 or Win95 load completely.

Once it's loaded, go to Start, Shut Down, Restart the Computer. Click "Yes."
This is an important step so do not skip it!

It will say "It is now safe to turn off your computer."
At this point, put in your Windows NT Workstation 4.0 setup disk #1.
Restart your computer by pressing reset or ALT CTRL DELETE or by turning the
power off and back on again after 10 seconds have passed.

Windows NT Workstation 4.0 setup will load. Follow on screen instructions. It
will automatically detect that Win95 or Win98 is installed. If it asks
permission to overwrite the Windows 3.x installation tell it "NO".

I suggest installing NT Workstation 4.0 it into the folder C:\WINNT.
Once NT setup is done, the next time you reboot you will get a boot menu
asking if you want to load "Microsoft NT Workstation 4.0", "NT Workstation
4.0 [vga mode]" (similar to Win95 and Win98's safe mode) and "Microsoft
Windows". "Microsoft Windows" actually refers to Windows 98 or Windows 95,
not Windows 3.x or Windows for Workgroups.

In System Properties in Windows NT Workstation 4.0, you can easily tell the
PC if you want to boot to NT or 98 or 95 by default and you can even specify
the delay until it automatically loads the default choice (which you can
pick). I set a time of 5 seconds and chose Windows 98 ("Microsoft Windows" as
my default OS).

Now, after rebooting Windows NT Workstation, you can let NT load, OR you can
choose "Microsoft Windows." This sounds a little complicated but is actually
quite simple. If you choose "Microsoft Windows" from the boot menu at startup,
Windows 95 or Windows 98 will start to load normally. You can let it proceed
by not doing anything, OR you can press F8 for the normal Win98/95 boot menu
and make yet another choice there, such as Safe Mode, Command Prompt Only,
Previous Version of MS-DOS (such as 6.22 and Win3.x), etc. Or you can just
press F4 when Win95 or Win98 starts to load and it will take you to MS-DOS
and/or Windows 3.x.

I have found that its okay to use Windows 98's Defrag and Scandisk utilities
on the hard disk as well as NT 4.0's CHKDSK. Try to avoid using MS-DOS and
Windows 3.x based utilities as they don't understand long file names and other
things that are only in 32 bit Windows operating systems. Using Windows 3.x
and MS-DOS based utilities can cause problems for Win98/95 and NT 4.

If you can't find drivers for hardware you need to work with any of the
operating systems, visit the manufacturer's website.

[email protected]
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Win98 Logo Bug

A minor cosmetic bug in Windows 98 is as follows:

Right click on desktop, click on "New, Shortcut". The image displayed on the
right side still says "Windows 95."

Microsoft is aware of this and has stated that they will not be fixing it in
Windows 98.

[email protected]
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WIN98 CPU INFO

If you have an Intel Pentium, the General tab on the My Computer screen
probably reports that your computer is a GenuineIntel (one word) Pentium(r)
Processor (or something close to that). For more information, open this
Registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Hardware\Description\System\CentralProcessor\0
Double-click on VendorIdentifier and put a space between "Genuine" and "Intel"
on this line. Now reopen the Properties sheet. Underneath the Genuine Intel
line, you’ll see that your CPU is displayed as coming from the "x86 Family X
Model Y Stepping [version] Z," where X, Y, Z are the correct values in your
system. Close the Properties sheet, reopen the Registry key and the same
information will be seen on the Identifier line. Restart Windows 98 and the
default information will be reinstated.

[email protected]
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IE 4.0/4.01 Easter Egg

There is a new Easter Egg in the final release versions of Internet Explorer
4.0/4.01. To find it, open the IE 4.0/4.01 browser and choose "About Internet
Explorer" from the help menu. The "About" dialog box appears. Hold down the
control key [Ctrl] and click the IE logo in the upper right corner of the
dialog box. With the control key down, you can drag it around the dialog box.
Then move the IE logo over the globe and then to the right, so that it hits
the "Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0" text. If you do it correctly, the text
will move off the right side of the dialog, revealing a button named
"Unlock". Drop the logo that you have been dragging around and click the
"Unlock" button. The globe will start a shaking motion. Pick up the logo
again (Ctrl-click) and drag the it onto the globe. A new dialog box opens and
a scrolling list of credits appears. Enjoy!

[email protected]
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Win98 Easter Egg Unleashed

To do this, follow these steps exactly. You must to go from "MEMPHIS, EGYPT"
to "MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE" to "REDMOND, WASHINGTON."

This is done on the time zone map when you double click on the clock in the
tray.

There is a thank you to all Win98 beta testers at the end.

NOTE: You NEED to have kept Welcome.exe (or reinstall it using Control
Panel's Add/Remove Programs applet) and all its files/libraries for this
Easter Egg to work! (This note courtesy of [email protected])

[email protected]
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Win98 Easter Egg Unleashed - Part 2

When you run the Win98 Easter Egg, a temporary HTML file is placed in the same
folder as Weldata.exe: C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Microsoft\WELCOME.
If you open this folder before running the Easter Egg, and then run the Easter
Egg, the HTML file will be visible for a short time. Now rapidly copy this
file to another folder (since it will be deleted very soon). Then go back and
place WELCOME.WAV in the same folder as the HTML file. This way you can run
the Easter Egg HTML file anytime.

[email protected]
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Plus! 98 Easter Egg

Microsoft Plus! 98 add-on has an easter egg.

To see it, do this:

You must have the Deluxe CD Player installed. Open it.
Go to the edit playlist dialog for any song.
Type in "Microsoft Plus! 98 Product Team" for the artist.
Type in "Credits" for the title.
Hold down the CTRL key and click Cancel.
You will see a new root level item in the tree view of the album database
called "Microsoft Plus! 98 Product Team". Expand it to see the team names.

[email protected]
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Add a Windows Key to your keyboard

If you wish you had a Windows Key on your keyboard but you don't, and you
don't want to shell out money for a new keyboard when your existing one is
perfectly fine, then make one. All you must do to complete the operation is
the Keyboard Remap Kernel Toy and your Right Ctrl or Right Alt key.

You can download the kernel toy for keyboard remapping at:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/info/kerneltoys.htm

Just click the Windows 95 Keyboard Remap link. Download the file to any
location of your choice, then open Keyremap.exe to extract its contents.
Right-click the Keyremap.inf file and select install.

Next, open the Control Panel, open Keyboard properties, and select the Remap
tab. Under Right-hand Side, select the key you want to use--such as Right
Alt--in the left-hand box. In the right-hand box (still under Right-hand
Side), select Windows. Click OK, and you now have a Windows key. To test it
press the key you used once and the start menu pops up.

Please note that this WILL work under Windows 98 as well as Windows 95.

[email protected]
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Update Win98 Components

Microsoft has several Windows 98 updates, bug fixes, patches, enhancements,
and add-ons available for download from:

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

You must be running Windows 98 and Internet Explorer 4.01 or higher to utilize
that site.

[email protected]
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Move "My Documents"

Windows 98 comes with a "My Documents" folder in the root folder of your hard
drive. By default, it is located at C:\My Documents - but you can change this
if you prefer it to be someplace else. Simply right-click "My Documents" on
your desktop and type in the new location you want Windows 98 to use for it.

[email protected]
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