Start-up applications - Do you really need all of them?
"Send To"
My Files
"Start Menu" clutter
Sort by Name
Defragmenting
Scanning
for errors
Creating "Shortcuts"
Go here for a separate page dedicated to this subject.
If you want to use the same application to open multiple file types or use multiple applications to open the same file type, you can achieve this via the Windows "Send To" option. For example, you may prefer WordPad to Notepad for text files or Adobe Photoshop to Paint for bitmaps.
Via My Computer, open "C:\Windows\Send To" and keep this window open
In this example find Wordpad.exe using Start -> Find -> Files or folders for Win98 or Start -> Search -> For Files or Folders for WinMe
Once found it should be in the C:\Program Files\Accessories directory
Right-click on the file and choose " Create Shortcut" from the options. It will create a shortcut on the Windows Desktop
Right-click on the new Desktop shortcut and rename it to "Wordpad"
Right-click on the shortcut again and select "Copy"
Switch back to the "C:\Windows\Send To" window and right-click "Paste"
This creates a shortcut to "WordPad" in the "Send To" directory. You can delete the one on the Desktop
Now, find a suitable text file, right-click on it, choose "Send To" from the options listed and you should see "WordPad" in the list displayed
Left-click on the thumbnail below to see an example of the finished set-up :-
Have you ever downloaded programs or files from the internet or copied from a CD that you wanted to keep and reference in the future but forgot where on your hard drive you stored them?. The easiest way is to create a dedicated folder for them.
Double-click on "My Computer" and open the "C:\" drive folder
Right-click in this window and choose "New -> Folder" from the options listed
A folder called "New Folder" will have been created
Right-click on this folder and "Rename" it to "My Files" or a name you'll remember. This is where you can save those important files
You may also want to create separate directories under "My Files" such as "Drivers", "Programs", "Demos", etc for different file types.
With the current size of hard disks and number of programs that people tend to have installed at any one time ever increasing, the Windows "Start Menu" can get very "cluttered", often overlapping to multiple columns. The reason for this is that every program you install includes an entry for the "Start Menu".
Some of the better installation methods help because they allow you to choose the location within the "Start Menu" but this is the exception rather than the norm. You have to set this up before you can make best use of it though.
With a bit of thought and a knowledge of how, you can achieve results like the example shown below by clicking on the thumbnail :-
Double-click on "My Computer" or "Windows Explorer" and open the "C:\" drive folder
Open the "Windows" folder and click on "Show Files" to display the contents of this folder
Open the "Start Menu" and then "Programs" folders
Create a new folder in the "Programs" folder, calling it what ever is appropriate (ie, Games) as shown in the thumbnail below :-
If you have programs already installed and want to move them just drag the folders they are in into the new folder you created (left click once on the folder name - holding the button down - and move it over the new folder name)
When you install new software, navigate back to C:\Windows\Start Menu\Programs as described above and move any new folders added in the same way
If you follow the instructions above, all it does is move the shortcuts for a program - it doesn't affect the program itself. If you un-install the program at a later date - you must remember to delete the folder from the location you moved it to above.
When you install new programs or add new "Favourites" via Internet Explorer you'll find there added to the bottom of the appropriate lists. This can be annoying and many users prefer to arrange them alphabetically for easy reference.
You can download a utility called QSort 98 to do this for you but you don't need it. A simpler way is to click on Start -> Programs and then right-click. One of the options available towards the bottom is "Sort by Name". Choosing this will re-order the items in the currently displayed list. Doing the same with the Internet Explorer Favourites list results in the same.
Click on the thumbnail below for an example of this at work :-
If you use your PC on a regular basis you should look to be defragmenting your hard drive every week, especially if you download a lot of files or browse the web often.
The reason behind this is that each file on your PC needs space to be spaced in. As files are deleted, the space freed up is not always available to the next file you save as it may be too small. Therefore the new file is saved elsewhere. Repeat this over a period of time and you end up with a disorganised drive with gaps everywhere. When you subsquently save a large file, Windows can't find a large enough area of continous space and has to save it in multiple areas which of course means it takes longer to re-load later.
As you browse the net, Internet Explorer saves the images and pages displayed to your hard drive so that i can quickly load them next time you visit a page. A lot of pages are updated on a regular basis so the copy on the hard drive becomes out of date and useless. These files are stored in C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files. You should therefore flush the contents of this directory on a regular basis as follows :-
Right-click on the Internet Explorer icon on your desktop and select "Properties"
Click on the "General" tab
Click on the "Delete Files" in the "Temporary Internet Files" ares and follow the prompts
Click on the thumbnail below for an example :-
As with browsing the internet, another area that can fill up over time if left unchecked is the C:\Windows\Temp directory. This is where Windows stores temporary files from archives (such as zip files), documents, etc as you work on them. Therefore you need to look at the dates of the items in this areas and decide if they're needed. In general if they're older than a week you won't need them.
A great utility that empties these directories for you as well as other areas you may not be aware of is Windows Washer from Webroot Software.
After you've cleared the files as above (and those from the Recylced Bin!) you can start the defragmenting process. By defragmenting your hard drives it will re-arrange your files in a way that they're easier to access and optimize the space available.
Disable any screensaver you may have active via a right-click on the desktop -> Properties -> Screen Saver
Disable any regularily scheduled activities via Task Scheduler on the Taskbar
Click on Start -> Programs -> Acessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmenter
Click on "Settings" and make sure "Rearrange program files so my prgrams start faster" is enabled as well as "Check the drive for errors"
Click on "Ok" and then wait until the process is completed
If your PC locks up for some reason and you have to hit the "Reset" button, scanning of your disk drives for errors will be carried out automatically but you can also do this manually.
Disable any screensaver you may have active via a right-click on the desktop -> Properties -> Screen Saver
Disable any regularily scheduled activities via Task Scheduler on the Taskbar
Click on Start -> Programs -> Acessories -> System Tools -> ScanDisk
Make sure "Automatically fix errors" is enabled
Click on "Start" and then wait until the process is completed
If you have a program that you want to start manually by using a desktop "shortcut" or Start -> Programs and one doesn't already exist you can create one by using the following method.
Once the shortcut is created (on your desktop), right-click on it and rename it if necessary
Remember to include any options or "switches" in the "Target" field of the shortcut to ensure the program executes correctly. Right-click on the shortcut and select "Properties". An example is shown below for my HP Deskjet 670C Toolbox:
If you want to copy or move the shortcut so it's available from Start -> Programs, cut ans paste it into the C:\WINDOWS\Start Menu\Programs folder or a sub-folder
When you re-install Windows and therefore Office 2000, one of the problems you face is keeping your list of "Contacts", containing all your E-mail addresses, telephone numbers, etc for the people you want to keep in touch with. Here's how to do it.
Click on File -> Import and Export from the menu bar to invoke the Import and Export Wizard
Click on Export to a file then Next
Click on Personal Folder File (.pst) then Next
Click on Contacts then Next
Choose a suitable file name and location, such as C:/My Documents/contacts.pst then Finish
Choose a meaningful name in the resulting window and your contacts have now been saved and can be transferred to another hard drive or floppy disc for safe keeping
To restore your contacts click on File -> Import and Export from the menu bar to invoke the Import and Export Wizard
Click on Import from aother program or file then Next
Scroll down to and click on Personal Folder File (.pst) then Next
Choose the location and filename of your contacts file such as C:/My Documents/contacts.pst then click on Next
Click on Contact then Finish and your contacts should now have been restored
As well as saving your Contacts as described above, you can also save and restore your current E-mail. If you need to refresh what the menus look like, refer to the pictures above.
Click on File -> Import and Export from the menu bar to invoke the Import and Export Wizard
Click on Export to a file then Next
Click on Personal Folder File (.pst) then Next
Click on Inbox and ensure the "Include subfolders" box has a tick in it then Next
Choose a suitable file name and location, such as C:/My Documents/inbox.pst then Finish
Choose a meaningful name in the resulting window and your contacts have now been saved and can be transferred to another hard drive or floppy disc for safe keeping
To restore your contacts click on File -> Import and Export from the menu bar to invoke the Import and Export Wizard
Click on Import from aother program or file then Next
Scroll down to and click on Personal Folder File (.pst) then Next
Choose the location and filename of your contacts file such as C:/My Documents/inbox.pst then click on Next
Click on Contact then Finish and your contacts should now have been restored
One problem that I haven't found a simpler solution to when re-installing Microsoft's Outlook Express is retaining your Address Book information so that they can be added easily once re-installed.
The best way I've found is to export each contact as a vCard which can the be imported later. You can also use the method to pass E-mail and other information about a contact on to others.
Open Outlook Express and your Address Book via "Tools - Address Book" on the menu bar at the top
Select one of the entries listed by left-clicking once and then "File - Export"
"Export as vCard", ie select "Mr A N Other"
A new blank E-mail will now be opened with "FW: Mr A N Other" in the Subject line and an attachment
Right-click on the attachment and choose "Save As" - in this case the default filename will be "Mr A N Other.vcf"
If you want to forward these details to another contact just send the E-mail, otherwise close it without saving
You can only save single Contacts in this way, otherwise it doesn't work
To add a contact saved as a vCard or "*.vcf" to your Address Book :-
Open Outlook Express and your Address Book via "Tools - Address Book" on the menu bar at the top
Select "File - Import"
From the options given, select "Import a VCARD file (.vcf)"
When the "VCARD file" window appears, navigate to the location of your "*.vcf" files and select those you wish to import, followed by "Open"
The new entry in the Address Book should have been added
I been told about a neat utility that will backup Outlook Express's Identities, Favorites, and Address Books available from http://www.inachis.com/index.htm. I can't comment upon it myelf as I don't use OE.
While browsing the internet you may come across a lot if different sites you may wish to visit at a later date. The easiest way to do this is add a site as a Favourite :-
Open Internet Explorer and visit a site you want to add as a Favourite to visit again
Select "Favourite - Add to Favourites..."
Click on the "Create in >>" button
Click on the "New Folder" button and choose a name you want to group it under, ie, Sports, Music, etc
If you decide you want to re-organise your favourites at a later date you can choose "Favourites - Organise Favourites" and be presented with the following screen :-
This allows you to move favourites around existing folders or add new folders
One of the most useful features of Internet Explorer 5.x onwards is the ability to save a web-page currently being viewed to hard disk. This way you can save a whole series of pages while on-line for viewing at a later date when off-line, for example, allowing you to grab graphics you may want to use elsewhere.
Open Internet Explorer and visit a site you want to save to your hard disk
Click on "File - Save As"
Choose a name or use the default and a location you want to save it to on your hard disk
An "*.htm" file and directory of the same name are saved, the directory includes all the graphics
Once saved it can be displayed later by opening in Internet Explorer directly, or via My Computer or Windows Explorer
With low cost internet access freely available now the potential for your PC contracting a malicious virus or worse than ever. Thousands of viruses are created every year, some of them harmful where the creater wants to show their prowess and other very harmful with the ability to wipe files of your hard disk or send information such as passwords to another server.
Therefore I highly recommend purchasing a modern virus scanner and keeping the virus definitions (some times known as DAT files) up to date on a weekly basis. One of the best of those available is Norton Anti-Virus 2002 from Symantec. The main console for this is displayed below, along with a simple description of the details (Note: this version is from the Norton SystemWorks bundle):
Auto-Protect works in the backgroud to protect you in several ways
Detecting viruses that may already exist and removing them
Preventing viruses from infecting your computer
Monitoring for activity that may indicate an unknown virus
Email Scanning
Scan Incoming Email automatically scans email you receive for viruses - it does this using a proxy system where the E-mail is scanned and suspect files can be deleted or quarantined before reaching your E-mail program
Scan Outgoing Email automatically scans email you send for viruses
Script Blocking monitors Visual Basic and Java-based scripts for virus-like behavior and alerts you if it finds anything suspicious
Full System Scan informs you the last date a scan of all the files on your PC was carried out. I recommend you do this on a monthly or bi-monthly basis
Virus Definitions details the version of the DAT files currently being used
Clicking on the "Scan for Viruses" text brings up the on-demand scanner, allowing you to cans drives, folders and individual files as and when you want to. This is also available by right-clicking on a file or folder via My Computer or Windows Explorer and selecting "Scan with Norton AntiVirus":
Clicking on Options -> Norton AntiVirus allows you access to the settings for Norton Anti-Virus:
With low cost internet access and "permanently-on" high-speed access (such as ADSL and Cable) being more readily available, it's a very good idea to set yourself up with a quality "firewall" program such as the freeware version of ZoneAlarm from Zonelabs.
Any personal computer connected to the Internet is a potential target. Hackers randomly barrage Internet connected PCs with "pings" or "port scans", probing to find unprotected PCs. Once found, a hacker can compromise your PC with a dangerous Internet threat - Trojan horse, spyware or malicious worm.
ZoneAlarm also allows you to control which programs have can access the internet. For instance, you may unknowingly have a "spyware" program installed via a free program you downloaded. If you didn't have ZoneAlarm checking which programs are trying to acces to the internet you could be vulnerable to your browsing habits and other personal information being sent across the web. With ZoneAlarm in place it's you that decides what can access the internet.
Once running and in the background, the ZoneAlarm control panel can be invoked by right-clicking on the icon in the taskbar:
The screen grabs below show are taken from my system and show the set-up I use:
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Alerts | Lock | Security | Programs | Configure |
For other useful Windows tips visit the following site:
http://www.rselby.com/Windows.html - Rick Selby's Microsoft Windows Help Page
Useful tips and tricks for Windows covering topics as diverse as installing Windows to defragmenting and error messages