-on the desktop, right-click an empty area, go down to Properties, and enter Display Properties OR enter Control PanelnDisplay. Select Background tab and pick your wallpaper. Select the next tab to pick your screen saver (but at school, please don’t! .. unless you are choosing no screensaver.).

-some of you have said that software won't load from a cd-rom. The easiest solution to first try is to clean the cd with a cd-cleaner; try also cleaning the cd-player with a cd-player cleaner. Sometimes the manufacturing process for cds leaves a film on the surface that prevents the cd from being fully read. Also take care not to scratch the bottom surface of the CD. Keep CD's in one of two places: in its case or in the CD player.

-a number of you have asked how to make certain games or programs with advanced graphics work. The most common problem with games is a conflict with the graphics card. You can try to download a more up to date graphics driver, you can buy another graphics card, or you can try to edit the qtw.ini file (most graphics intensive games and programs require this file).Unfortunately, the most common solution is to purchase a new graphics card with the capabilities of running the new game.

-to find QTW.ini, open Windows Explorer, Tools!Find!Files or Folders, type qtw.ini in first box; type c:\ in second box (or scroll down to (C:)) and click "Find Now."

-when qtw.ini is found double-click on qtw.ini to open or right-click!open or open with! and select notepad if offered a choice of programs to open with

-change the line "Optimize=Hardware" to "Optimize=Driver", save your work and exit; if this does not work change to "Optimize=BMP" (in capitals), save your work and exit

-Now let me tell you a further graphics tip for games. Most games are written for 256 colors. Period. No less. And certainly no more. To check if you are set for 256 colors:

3. Check that the "Color palette" is set for 256 colors. High Color (16 bit) or High Color (24 bit) will freeze up most games or even keep them from running.

4. The problem is that some programs prefer High Color (like Paint Shop Pro or Corel Photo House or one of the greeting card programs). And there are some programs that need High Color (I don't know which ones). This requires you to switch the "Color palette" – on most (but not all) computers this requires you to restart the computer.

A fatal exception OE has occurred in 0028:C002391B in VXD VFAT(01) + 0000484B. The current application will be terminated. Same message with address of 0137:BFFA65C8. Also, Himem.sys has detected unreliable XMS memory at address 010259AC. This indicates a RAM problem. Take the memory out and reseat it or even switch the modules around. When you do this the above mentioned memory problems should go away.

Need to copy a floppy disk? Do you think you need two floppy drives? Do you think you need to copy from a floppy to the hard drive and then to a new floppy? Let me tell you a better way to make one copy. Insert the disk you want to copy into your floppy drive. In Explorer or My Computer right-mouse click your floppy drive icon, select Copy Disk, and click Start. After Windows 95 has read everything on the original disk, it will ask for the destination disk. (Tip-in-a-tip: Make sure you don't need anything that's on the destination disk.) Insert the second disk, click OK, and wait while it copies all the information from the first disk to the second one. When it finishes, you'll get a message telling you the operation's been a success.

-you can use the "Save As" function to rename a file and even to put a copy of it in a new location (like a floppy disk or in another folder of your hard drive); in class you had john.doc opened. You were asked to click on file, save as. In the resulting dialog box you were asked to type "a:\"yourname"" in place of John.doc. You can rename any file this way or copy any file this way. By the way, NEVER save a file just on a floppy; floppies are notorious for going bad; instead, save it on the hard-drive (the C: drive) and save a copy on a floppy (the A: drive).

-select the file you want to copy. Right-click and select Copy OR click on Edit and select Copy OR press Ctrl-C. Open the folder or directory or drive you want to move it to and right-click an empty part of the screen and select Paste OR click on Edit and select Paste OR press Ctrl-V. One last way of doing this is to select the file, right-click and keep it down and drag the file to the new location; release the right button and select Copy. If you left click, hold it down, and drag the file to the new location you end up moving the file.

-select the first file you want to copy. While holding down the Ctrl button select every other file you want to copy. Right click on one of the selected files and select Copy OR press Ctrl-C. Open the folder or directory or drive you want to move it to and right-click an empty part of the screen and select Paste OR click on Edit and select Paste OR press Ctrl-V. One last way of doing this is to select the files, right-click and keep it down and drag the files to the new location; release the right button and select Copy.

Suppose you played with the appearance tab and now your icons are 2 inches tall and wide. You can't seem the get the right appearance. Simply start over. To do this:

-you can increase the mouse button size so it is easier to navigate and to hit buttons and boxes. Enter Control Panel (StartnSettingsnControl PanelnMouse). Click on Pointers tab. Click on first window (Scheme). Select "Windows Standard (extra large)" or"Windows Standard (large)"

-if your computer doesn't give you any options for mouse pointers, you need to load them from the Win95/98 cd-rom. To do that, enter Control Panel (StartnSettingsnControl Panel). Click on Add/Remove Programs. Click on Windows Setup tab. Select Accessories and click on Details. Go down to Mouse Pointers and click on box so there is a Tin it. Insert Win95/98 cd-rom and click on Ok. The Mouse Pointers will now install. (DO NOT UNCHECK ANY ITEM THAT IS CHECKED OR IT WILL BE REMOVED FROM YOUR SYSTEM; IF YOU THINK YOU ACCIDENTLY UNCHECKED SOMETHING, PRESS CANCEL, TOTALLY GET OUT OF ADD/REMOVE, AND START OVER AGAIN).

-you can change icon size, spacing, title size, menu item size, etc by going to desktop, right-click an empty area, go down to Properties, and enter Display Properties OR enter Control PanelnDisplay. Click on Appearance tab. Then, for instance, click on bar entitled "Active Window." When you do, you will notice that under "Item:" will appear Active Title Bar; change its size to 23 by clicking on the up arrow under "Size:" Try changing some other sizes and colors.

-the easiest way to change all Font sizes so they are bigger and easier to read is to enter Display Properties, click on Settings tab, and under Font size scroll down until you get to Large Fonts. This makes everything wonderful to read and look at. However, I have come across at least one program that went off the bottom of the screen so you cannot access all the buttons and therefore are unable to use the program. If the Font size options is grayed out, then you need to change your screen size option on the same tab. Simply change the Desktop Size option from 640 X 480 to 800 X 600 and the Font Size option should be available.

-right-click on empty area of desktopnnewnshortcutnbrowse button – Windows folder; click on explorer.exe; name it "Explorer" (that is, drop ".exe")

-to change the icon, right-click new iconnpropertiesn shortcut tabnChange Icon button

You only need 65-85 fonts; more than 120 seriously slows down your system – especially on loading because Win 95 & 98 insist on loading every single font listed in the c:\windows\fonts directory (also, more than 600 can freeze up your computer).

In Win 95 go to c:\windows\fonts.. Click on View, List Fonts by Similarity. (In Win 98 click on Similarity icon. Also double click on a font to see what it looks like.

When you find fonts that are similar to what you already have or fonts you don't want to have (for instance, some of those that are Greek, Hebrew, Arabic) simply take note of them. Then, in Windows Explorer, make a new folder called c:\fonts. Then, also in Windows Explorer, navigate to c:\windows\fonts and move the fonts that are duplicates (or that you don't want) to c:\fonts (right click and hold down and drag to c:\fonts; release and click on Move here). If a program says it can't find a certain font, or if certain programs take on a funny appearance, this means you have moved a font you should not have moved. Simply move the requested font from the c:\fonts folder back to the c:\windows\fonts folder.

You remember what a file is called (let's say you called it sister.doc) and you know it is somewhere on your hard-drive but you can't find it. Do a search for it. Open Windows Explorer, click on Tools Menu, Find, Files or Folders. Under the name type in "sister.doc"; under Look in click on arrow and navigate to (C:). Click on Find Now. You can also do a general search. Let's say you want to find every file that ends in "old"; under name simply type in "*.old" (the * tells it to search for anything; the ".old" tells it to search for something that ends in ".old"). Or, you want to find every file on the computer that starts with sister; under name type in "sister.*").

Want to free up some hard disk space? Here's a way to get back 7 precious megabytes' worth. In an Explorer window, in Details view, open the Windows\Help folder and click the Type column--twice--to sort by type backward. See all those Video Clips (.AVI files)? Nuke 'em. Trust us, unless you're using Windows 95 for the very first time today, you don't need them. (I may have already deleted these from your computer.)

REGAIN VALUABLE HALF-SECONDS OF YOUR WORK LIFE When you click the Start button and choose Programs, there's about a half-second delay before you see Programs submenu folder. This also applies to selecting any Start menu item that displays a submenu. You can change this delay to anything you want, right down to no delay at all. All it takes is a quick trip to the Registry Editor. (As always, back the Registry up first.) Open the Registry Editor (click Start|Run, enter Regedit and click OK) and navigate your way to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. Right-mouse click anywhere in the right pane, choose New, and select String Value in the popup menu. Name the new value MenuShowDelay. Right-mouse click this new value, choose Modify, and in the Edit String dialog box, enter a number as close to zero as you dare (to indicate the delay in milliseconds). Enter any number you want, even 0. (The default is 400, which accounts for the almost half-second delay.) Click OK and close the Registry Editor. Restart Windows 95, then click Start and select some folders to see your change. (If things are moving too fast or too slow, go back to the Registry Editor and change the setting to a higher or lower number. If it's too low, you'll find that unwanted menus pop out and block what's under them.)

Do you have a window that shows up with its top half off the screen. Is there any way to bring that window back to the center of the screen?" There is, but you'll need to use the keyboard. Click on any area of the window to make it active, then press Alt-Spacebar (to open the menu that appears when you click on the window's upper left icon). Press M for Move, then press and hold the down arrow on your keyboard until the window is in full view on-screen. Press Enter to let go of the window.

If virus software is not loaded on your computer, it needs to be. If you see a V in a shield on your taskbar, McAfee Virus Scan is loaded on your computer. If not, it can be loaded from our network or (at home) from a link on our web site. Viruses attach themselves to executable files: *.exe, *.com, *.bat, Word macros, do?, xl?, md?, vxd, sys, bin, rtf, obd, dll. When you download infected files from the Internet or receive infected files attached to e-mail they won't harm your computer until you execute them by double-clicking on them or pressing enter if they are selected.

-Start, Program Files, Accessories, Multimedia (Win 98 = Entertainment), Sound Recorder. Click on the Red Button to start recording. You can record your voice talking over the microphone. You can record a cd you have playing in the cd-rom. Then, you can embed the sound file in a Word or WordPerfect document or you can send it as an attachment to e-mail. NOTE: SOUND FILES TAKE UP LOTS OF ROOM AND CAN TAKE A LONG TIME TO SEND OVER THE INTERNET FOR COMPUTERS WITH MODEMS. Sound files transfer much more rapidly over our T1 internet line and our 10/100 MHz network, but remember that most folks in the world still use modems.

-Whenever you have done a hot-boot or a cold-boot of the computer you should run scandisk (sometimes the computer does this for you automatically). Scandisk checks your hard-disks for errors and corrects them. You will find Scandisk at: StartnProgramsnAccessoriesnSystem Tools. OR, click START, RUN, type in Scandisk and click OK. Select the drive you want to check. Then choose the Standard option if you're interested in routine maintenance. If your hard drive is hanging up or running slowly, you may want to choose the Thorough option. I only do the thorough option once a year or if I suspect a hard disk problem. Then click Start. If or when it finds errors and it asks you if you want to save them to a file, click "No." When it asks you if you want to make an "undelete" disk to undo what scandisk is doing, again click "No."

-Another wa to access SCANDISK it to go to Windows Explorer. Highlight your hard drive (C:\) and right click. Then click properties in the gray box that appears. Then click on the Tools tab. Then Click on Error Checking Status ... That sends you to Scandisk.)

-Once a week you should do a Disk Defragmenter, but only after you have first run Scandisk. As Windows reads and writes files, they can become fragmented, meaning that their data is stored in pieces all over the hard disk. When the data is contiguous, Windows can read file information faster because it doesn't have to go looking all around the hard drive and then assemble all the pieces of a file. You can't prevent your hard drive from becoming fragmented, but you can "defragment" it by using Windows 95/98's Disk Defragmenter tool. For optimal performance, you should run this utility on a regular basis, such as once a month. EVEN IF you get a message that says, your drive is 0% fragmented or defrag is not needed. Do it anyway. You will find Disk Defragmenter at Start!Programs!Accessories!System Tools. OR, click START, RUN, type in Defrag.

OR, Windows Explorer –> Highlight hard drive (C:\), right click, click properties, click tools, click Defragment Now.

-When you run Defrag – turn off screen saver first; also, exit any programs that you are in, and turn off any programs that may be running in the background. To see what programs are running in the background, press Ctrl-Alt-Del at the same time. Select each program in turn and click on "End Task." DO NOT DO THIS TO EXPLORER OR SYSTRAY.

-Device Manager tab: shows what you all have in the computer, drivers used, etc.; you have problems if any item has a yellow exclamation point in front of it; call up someone who knows what they are doing to fix it

-Enter Control Panel (StartnSettingsnControl Panel). Click on Add/Remove Programs. Click on Windows Setup tab. Select Accessories, Communication, or whatever. Click on Details. Scroll down and put a Tin front of the item you want to add (the items already loaded in your computer already have a T. Put Win95/98 cd in cd-rom. Click OK.

-don't delete a program by removing folder and icons; instead, go to Control PanelnAdd/Remove Programsnlook for program on list

-unless an installation menu starts up automatically when you slip a cd-rom into the cd-rom drive, all programs must be added also through Control PanelnAdd/Remove Programs. On the first tab (Install/Uninstall) click on the Install ... button and follow directions.

You can add fancy characters to your documents: Open the Character Map (Start, Programs, Accessories, Character Map) double-click the character you want to use, click Copy, then switch to your document and paste it in.

-If you'd like a straightforward way to access items you frequently paste into documents, head on over to your Windows 95 installation CD. There you'll find ClipBook, a neat little utility designed as a holding area for Clipboard items. It stores these items as pages of a ClipBook---pages that you can drop into any document at will. In Explorer, navigate your way to the Windows 95 installation CD's Other folder, where you'll see the ClipBook folder. (If you want, copy this folder to your hard drive, so you won't have to run if off the CD.) Inside the ClipBook folder, double-click the CLIPBRD.EXE file to open the ClipBook Viewer. There you'll see the Clipboard window, which displays the contents you last cut or copied, and the Local ClipBook window, the storage area for multiple cut or copied items. To add an item to the Local ClipBook, select the item---text, graphics, whatever---in its original application and choose that application's Cut or Copy command. Switch to the ClipBook Viewer (or open it, if it isn't already), select the Local ClipBook window, and click the Paste icon. Enter a name for the item in the dialog box that pops up, click OK, and you'll see the item in the Local ClipBook window. Add as many pages as you'd like to the list. To paste a ClipBook page into a document, select it in the Local ClipBook window, click the Copy icon, place your cursor wherever you want to insert the item, and choose that application's Paste command.

-Three tips for using ClipBook:

1. Choose Tile Horizontally under Windows to see the Clipboard and Local ClipBook windows equally.

2. Can't remember the contents of a ClipBook page just by reading its name in the list? Double-click a page, and its contents spring to life. Then use the up or down double arrows in the lower-left corner of the window to flip through ClipBook pages.

3. To look at ClipBook pages from a different viewpoint, under the View menu, choose Thumbnails or Full Page (or click the corresponding icons). Table of Contents is the view you started in.

To add control panel to the start menu simply open a new folder (RIGHT CLICK ON START, OPEN, RIGHT CLICK AN EMPTY AREA, NEW, FOLDER) and name it "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" [MAKE SURE YOU TYPE THE EXPRESSION EXACTLY THE SAME AS I HAVE IT SKIPPING THE "" MARKS]

If a certain word-processing document (letter, brochure, report, etc) keeps freezing up your computer or printer or mouse, this means there is a couple of invalid formatting elements embedded in the document. You have two options. One, you can simply delete the document. Two, you can open it, select all of the document, press Ctrl-C for copy (or Edit, Copy), close the document, and then on the blank screen do a paste-special (Edit, Paste Special). If asked, paste it without any formatting. This will paste it with most formatting elements gone (including whatever ones caused the computer to lockup) but it will no longer lock up your computer.

-If you don't like where Windows puts your taskbar by default--at the bottom of your screen--you can move it somewhere else by following these steps:

1. Place the cursor on a portion of the taskbar not used by a program.

2. Click on a clear area of the taskbar and drag (hold the mouse button while moving) to the new location. You can drag it left, right, or to the top of your screen.

-You can move the taskbar back again by repeating this procedure.

-No matter which edge of the screen the Taskbar's on (you can click and drag it over to any edge), you can make it as wide or as narrow as you'd like. If you've got the Taskbar on the right or left edge of the screen, hold the cursor over its edge, and when the cursor changes to a double-pointed arrow, click and drag it in either direction. If the Taskbar is along the top or bottom of the screen, you can still size it up or down, but not with as much precision. You can only increase its width by rows of open window items. So as you drag to make it bigger, it will fit two rows, then three, and so on. Sizing it down works the same way, in reverse.

-When a program freezes up, press Ctrl-Alt-Del (Control-Alt-Delete) buttons at the same time. This will bring up the "Close Program" Menu. Locate the offending (that is, frozen) program and select it and then click on the "End Task" button.

-When the entire computer freezes up, press Ctrl-Alt-Del. Then press Ctrl-Alt-Del again; this is a hot-boot which will make the computer completely restart. OR, in the "Close Program" Menu that pops us when you press Ctrl-Alt-Del simply click on the "Shut Down" button (this will also do a hot-boot).

-If the computer refuses to shut-down/restart when you try a hot-boot, then you have to resort to a cold-boot. That is, you have to push off the power button. Wait five seconds. Then push the power button back on. If the power button simply puts the computer into sleep mode then you need look for an on/off switch at the back of the case or pull the cord.

-Want an easy mouse-free way to minimize all your open windows at once? Press the Windows button (the one with the Windows icon) and "M" at the same time.

Want a way to do this with the mouse? Right-click an open area of the Taskbar and click on "Minimize All Windows." Right-click again, click on "Undo Minimize All"

-drag item onto Start Menu to get onto first level

-to edit right click on Start Menu, Open, navigate to the item you want OR click on StartnSettingsn TaskbarnStart Menu Programs tabnAdvanced

-to move an item, right click on it, keep the button down, drag it to its new location, release the button and click on either Move Here, Copy Here, or Create Shortcut Here.

-besides moving, you can add an item; simply right click on an empty spotnNewnShortcutnbrowse button; navigate to the item you want to add, select it, click on Open, accept the command line, click on next, and assign it a name.

-Win98: "Drag and drop" has been a Windows mantra for years, but Windows 95's Start menu was just a drag, period. Fortunately, Windows 98's Start menu is better: To add an item to its top level, simply drag it onto the Start button from Windows Explorer, My Computer, the desktop, or even your Web browser. Once it's there, you can drag and drop it to any level of the Start menu. And on Win 98's Start menu, you can use the right mouse button: Right-click an item to get a pop-up menu that will let you delete it, create a desktop shortcut, or perform other useful actions.

Have you ever noticed that if you open up Notepad and start typing, the text just keeps going... and going... and going to the right? That's because by default, Notepad's Word Wrap option is turned off. The only thing that will start your text on the next line is hitting Enter. If you'd prefer to have Notepad wrap your text (in other words, move it to the beginning of the next line) whenever you reach the right edge of the window, just choose Word Wrap under the Edit menu before you start typing. Once this option is set, you can size the Notepad window up or down and still see all of your hard work inside it. Notepad adjusts the word wrap to match the size of the window.

-open Windows Explorer. Right click empty area select NewnFolder and type in a name OR click on FilenNewnFolder and type in a name. You can make a new directory/folder on any drive or as a sub-folder or any folder.

-Want an easy mouse-free way to minimize all your open windows at once? Press the Windows button (the one with the Windows icon) and "M" at the same time.

Want a way to do this with the mouse? Right-click an open area of the Taskbar and click on "Minimize All Windows." Right-click again, click on "Undo Minimize All"

-Win98: A big complaint about the Windows 95 start-up disk was that if you used it to boot your system, you couldn't access the CD-ROM drive unless you had installed real-mode CD-ROM drivers. But Win 98's start-up disk includes generic drivers that allow you to access most CD-ROM drives. If you do not have a start-up disk when you installed Windows 98, you should make one now. Open the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Programs, select the Startup Disk tab, and click Create Disk. Then follow the instructions.

-open Windows Explorer (StartnProgramsnWindows Explorer). To see all files: In Windows 95 click on ViewnOptions. Select "Show all files"; deselect "Hide files of these types; select "Display the full MS-Dos path in the title bar; deselect "Hide MS-Dos file extensions that are registered; seclect "Include description bar for right and left panes. In Windows 98 click on View and then look for the tab called View (or something like it) and look for similar options.

-to see all files in Win98: click on View, Folder Options, Views Tab; uncheck "Hide File Extensions for Known file types"; under Hidden Files check "Show All Files"

-in Win98: If you like to fiddle with a folder's look and feel, you'll love Windows 98's View menu options (be sure to check out both View, Folder Options and View, Customize this Folder). The settings are "sticky"--meaning that they stay active until you change them again--but they affect only the current folder. Here's how to apply a uniform look to all your folders once you've tailored one folder to your liking: From the View menu, first select Folder Options and click on the View tab; then click Like Current Folder in the Folder views section, and finally click Yes when prompted. Once you've done this, all your folders will default to the current one's settings.

-Option 1: when the Windows Explorer View options are set to the options mentioned above you can find the Registry Files: system.dat; system.ini; user.dat; win.ini. These are the files that Win95/98 look for when booting up to tell them what hardware and software is in your computer. Without these files Win95/98 won't boot up. With these files messed up Win95/98 won't boot up or will boot up only in "Safe" mode. So these files need to be backed up.

Make a new folder in the root directory (right click, new, folder) and call it "Registry Backup". Go to Windows folder and while holding down Ctrl click once on each of the above four files. Press Ctrl-C (to copy them) OR right click one of the 4 files and click on copy; open up the Registry Backup folder you made; press Ctrl-V (to paste them) OR right click and click on paste. Your registry files are backed up.

-Option 2: Click Start, Run, and type "Regedit" (without quotation marks). With "My Computer" highlighted, click on Registry Menu and click on "Export Registry File." In the "Save In" windows keep clicking "Up One Level" button (the folder with 2 on it) until you see "My Briefcase" in the lower window. Double click on My Briefcase. In the bottom window type in your first name (the extension ".reg" will be added).

-Option 1 is preferable because you can fix up a corrupt registry from DOS; Option 2 allows you to restore a corrupt registry only from Windows.

If the drivers are loaded, pressing the middle button is the same as doing a double-click; if you have a 3 button mouse, go to Control Panel, mouse, and check the settings; if the settings are only for a 2 button mouse, you don't have the proper driver loaded.

When using Windows 95/98 internal drivers it is possible to setup the middle button of a 3 button Logitech Pointing Device to perform a double click. Please follow the instructions below:

1. Click on the Start button on the Windows 95 Desktop and select RUN.

2. On the Open line, type C:\WINDOWS\REGEDIT.EXE. (Or type REGEDIT)

3. From the Registry Editor screen, double click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

4. Double click on SOFTWARE.

5. Double click on Logitech.

6. Double click on MouseWare.

7. Double click on CurrentVersion.

8. Find your device model from the list under CurrentVersion and double click.

9. Click on the 0000 folder and information should be displayed on the right side of the Registry Editor screen.

10. Under the Name column, double click on the "DoubleClick" entry and the Edit String Dialogue box should appear.

11. Modify the Value Data line to read "001" and click the OK button.