Use the Monitor Preview

When you are in the Control Panel - Display Settings, under the "Appearance" tab, you can change the Windows colors. Instead of just selecting an item to change the color by selecting it from the pull menu, try clicking on it in the monitor preview. Open Display Properties, click the "Appearance" tab, and then click on an item on the monitor to change the Window color.

US Keyboard in International Style

Open up the 'Keyboard' from your Control Panel, select the 'Language' tab, then pull up the Properties for the 'English (United States)' layout. Now, in the drop-down menu, change it from 'United States 101' to 'United States - International.' From now on, you don't have to remember the code to make an accented lowercase E, you can type an apostrophe first and then the letter. Windows will transmogrify it for you. ~n will become an 'n' with a tilde over it; "u will become a 'u' with an umlaut mark over it. In addition, you can also use: ALT+/ (upside-down question mark), ALT+1 (upside-down exclamation mark), and ALT+c (copyright symbol).

Maximizing a video clip

If you have not changed anything with your multimedia settings in Windows 98/95, your video clips will be played in a small window. You can maximize the video by clicking the maximize button in the top right corner of the window, or from your player configuration, or do that through the Control Panel. To do the last alternative just double-click the Multimedia icon. Click the Video tab on the top of the window. In the drop-down menu next to Window, select Show Video in Full Screen. Click OK and view the video.

Eliminating Slow to Display Icons

If you are heavily using the Control Panel then leave it open on the first time. That way, you don't have to repeat the clicks to open it again, and you don't have to wait for the slow-to-display Control Panel icons to redisplay.

The Easiest Way to Install True Type Fonts

As you know, it's much simpler to install True Type fonts in Windows 9X/Me than previous versions of Windows. The easiest way to do so is to first open Control Panel and double-click the Fonts icon. Open Explorer and drag the fonts from your disk or CD to the Fonts window. Note that the installation process is invisible, you can verify that it worked by trying to use the new fonts in any Windows-based applications.

The 24-hours System and AM/PM

If you want to show the zero number on the clock (for example, 9:00 appear as 09:00), try to change the time style to HH:mm:ss ttt. The "H" is a code for 24-hours system that used on some countries in the world. Meanwhile, if you want to use AM/PM (Ante/Post Meridian) system, you need to enter "h" or "hh" code.

Removing the Similar Fonts

To save hard disk space and to get faster Windows startup, you might want to delete several types of fonts. To do so, click on the Start button. In the Settings menu, click Control Panel, and then click the Fonts icon. In the View menu, select List Fonts By Similarity. In the List Fonts By Similarity To box, click a standard font type (Arial, Times New Roman, etc). All available fonts will be appeared by their similarities with the selected font. You can delete some of them.

Organizing Control Panel

To get more effective desktop, you can organize the Control Panel icons into several Start menu subfolders. Try to organize them based on icon function. For example, Hardware tab consists of the Add New Hardware, Mouse, Joystick, Keyboard, Modems, and Printer icons. Settings tab consists of the Display, Accessibility, Regional Setting, and Password icons, etc. Use the Windows Explorer to do all the procedures, and then create all the shortcuts that are needed to activate the Control Panel-in the C:\Windows\Start Menu folder.

Move Fast Between Two Desktop Schemes

You can take a benefit from High Contrast, one of the accessibility features, to move fast between two Windows desktop schemes. Click on Start-Settings-Control Panel-Accessibility Options. If there is no Accessibility Options icon on Control Panel, then you must first install it from Windows 9X/Me CD. Move to Display tab to open the High Contrast feature, and then select Use High Contrast. Click on Settings, and select Use shortcut. On Color Scheme area choose Custom. Choose one of desktop scheme from the list on the right, and click OK.

Move to General tab, deselect Automatic reset, and click OK. Starting from now you can move fast between two desktop schemes by pressing LEFT ALT + LEFT SHIFT + PRINT SCREEN.

Make Your Friend Annoyed, Again!

Click on Start-Setting-Control-Panel-Accessibility Options. Move to Keyboard tab, select Use Filter Keys and then click on Settings button. Select on Use Shortcut inside the Settings for Filter Keys area. Select only beep when keys pressed or accepted inside the Notification area. Select on Ignore quick keystrokes and slow down the repeat rate inside the Filter options area, and then click on Settings button next to it.

Advanced Settings for Filter Keys dialog box will be displayed. Select on Slow down keyboard repeat rates, move all sliding button to the Short, click OK, and OK again. Now move to Sound tab, select on Use Sound Sentry and then click on Settings button next to it.

Settings for Sound Sentry dialog box will be displayed. Choose Flash Desktop on the first column, Flash Display on the second column, and then click OK. Click OK again to close Accessibility Options box.

Starting from now, monitor screen will be blinked every time your friend types something on keyboard.

Control Panel CPL Files

The following are the files that display icons in the Control Panel. They reside in the C:\Windows\System folder. If you are missing any icons in the Control Panel, you want to make sure the CPL file is in the System folder. You can also remove (or hide) unneeded files by deleting them, moving them to another location, or renaming them (example *.cp~ or *.cp$)

Access.cpl - Accessibility properties
Appwiz.cpl - Add/Remove Programs properties
Desk.cpl - Display properties
FindFast.cpl - FindFast (included with Microsoft Office)
Inetcpl.cpl - Internet properties
Intl.cpl - Regional Settings properties
Joy.cpl - Joystick properties
Main.cpl - Mouse properties
Mlcfg32.cpl - Microsoft Exchange Service properties
Mmsys.cpl - Multimedia properties
Modem.cpl - Modem properties
Netcpl.cpl - Network properties
Odbccp32.cpl - Data Sources (32-bit ODBC)
Password.cpl - Password properties
Sysdm.cpl - System properties
Themes.cpl - Desktop Themes (available with Microsoft Plus!)
TimeDate.cpl - Date/Time properties

Control Panel Applet Descriptions

Still confused by a lot of applets inside the Control Panel window? Open the Windows Explorer, click on the View – Details menu, and then browse to the Control Panel folder. In the right pane of Explorer you'll see a brief description of each icon in Control Panel.

Clean up Control Panel

If you look closely, you will see there are several CPL files in the C:\Windows\System folder. Those files are the property of Control Panel. Sometimes when you install a specific application, a control icon is added to the Control Panel window. Examples are the Find Fast icon from Microsoft Office, the Corel Version icon from CorelDraw 8, etc. If you want, you can delete some of Control Panel files that cannot be used. For safety, it is much better not to delete but just move them to another folder so they can be used on other time.

Benefit from the Control Panel Icons

When you are bored with all of Windows 9X/Me shortcut icons, perhaps it's the time for you to take benefit from the Control Panel icons (*.CPL extension). All those files are located in the C:\Windows\System folder, such as Main.cpl, Mmsys.cpl, Desk.cpl, Intl.cpl, Joy.cpl, etc. The Control Panel only uses the first icon of the available application icons, the rest are yours.

Note:

The right procedure is by right clicking the Fonts icon and select Properties. The resulting dialog box will tell you the total size of all installed fonts.

Make Your Friend Annoyed

As you know, you can select all files inside a folder in Windows Explorer, right clicking the selection, and click on Properties to display a single Properties dialog box listing the total size of all the selected files. Tell your friends if they didn't know about it. Now, ask your friend to open the Control Panel, double click the Fonts icon, and then select all fonts inside the folder. Right click the selection and choose Properties. Doing so will not open a single Properties dialog box listing the total size of all the selected fonts, as he might expect. Instead, Windows will proceed to open a Properties dialog box for EVERY selected font!

An Easier Shortcut

If you often to use shortcuts on you daily tasks, you might want to use the Sticky Keys feature to get easier task. For example, you need to press Ctrl+U key with left hand to activate a macro (while your right hand used to control the mouse). Obviously, this is a difficult task since both keys is far from one to another. On the contrary, if the Sticky Keys feature activated, you can press Ctrl key, release your finger then press the U key. To activate Sticky Keys, perform these steps:

Click on Start-Settings-Control Panel-Accessibility Options. You need to install it first from Windows CD if there is no Accessibility icon. In the Keyboard section, select Use Sticky Keys, and then click the Settings button. Select all options in the Settings for Sticky Keys box, and finally click OK

An Alternative Way to activate Control Panel

Actually, every Control Panel file can be activated by typing: Control name.cpl command. "Name" means name of file that you want to activate. For example, you can directly activate the Main.cpl, Mmsys.cpl, Desk.cpl, Intl.cpl, Joy.cpl files, etc. Use this method to get faster access to configure the Control Panel items, via the Run box or MS-DOS prompt window.

Remove Show Files Warning

If you're viewing the contents of your hard drive as a Web page, and you double-click the Windows folder (or the Windows\System folder), you'll see this warning message: "To view the contents of this folder, click Show Files." You can avoid these warnings by opting not to view your folders as Web pages.

Alternatively, you can remove those warnings and still view your folders as Web pages. The warning messages are part of the customization for the Windows and Windows\System folders. Remove the customization and you remove the messages. To do so, open the Windows folder, locate the folder.htt and desktop.ini files, and create copies of these files in the same folder. (Name them anything you want). Still in the Windows folder, select View, Customize This Folder and select Remove Customization. Click Next twice, then click Finish. Repeat these steps for the Windows\System folder.

Quick Undo

As you probably know, you can undo your last task on Windows Explorer or My Computer. Normally you must use the File menu (File – Edit - Undo…). If you want to do it faster, here is the tip: right click in empty space on Windows Explorer or My Computer. Move down the menu to 'Undo...' It should say something like, Undo Delete, Undo Rename, etc. When you place your mouse over the menu, look at the status bar and you will see what clicking this will do.

Copying a Folder into Floppy

You can directly copy a folder to a floppy drive even you know you will need more than one disk to finish it. Just place a floppy disk into the drive. Open Explorer, locate the folder you wish to copy, right click on it and select Copy. Now on the left side of the screen right click your floppy drive's icon and select Paste.

Now it will begin to copy the folder's contents to the floppy drive. When the current disk is full, Explorer will prompt you to insert a new disk. Doing this allows you to keep a folder in their structure even there are any subfolders inside it.

Quickly Change Folder Views

You can quickly change folder views-large icons, small icons, list or details-fast. Simply by clicking on the View button on Windows Explorer toolbar you can cycle through the views. To select a view from a drop-down menu, click on the down arrow next to the button and choose a view.

Apply View Options on Any Folder

There's a way to apply viewing options, such as Large Icons, to every folder. Just open any folder window and set your ideal viewing options. For example, you might select View, Large Icons, and then View, Arrange Icons, Auto Arrange. In that same window, select View (Win9x) or Tools (WinMe), Folder Options, and click the View tab. Click Like Current Folder, click Yes to confirm, then click OK. From now on, any folder window you open will display the same View options.

Remove Those Warning Pages

Tired of seeing the Windows Warning Message (“Modifying the contents of this folder may cause your programs to stop working correctly…”), every time you open the C:\Windows folder in Explorer? You can easily remove it. Go to View\Folder Options\View menu and check the box marked "show all files". Click OK and hit the F5 key to refresh your system. Now in the Windows directory look for a file called folder htt (Hypertext Template) and remove it (move it to other folder, so you can get it back on other time). The warning is now gone. Other folders such as Dial-up Networking and My Computer contain the same type of templates but their location is on C:\Windows\Web. View the folder and remove any templates you do not want.

Another Method for Creating a Shortcut

This is definitely a new way creating a shortcut. Double click the upper left-hand corner icon in Windows Explorer. Dragging to the Desktop while still keeping the left mouse button pressed and let go. A shortcut for the current folder/page will be created.

Bonus:

Another method to activate the Full Screen Windows Explorer. Start with opening Windows Explorer. Now hold down the Ctrl key and click the Restore button (the middle caption button). Right click any blank space on the toolbar, and select Auto Hide. Now you get 100% Full Screen Windows Explorer. If you want to get the window back to the size you started with, click again the Restore button.

Windows Explorer In Full Screen

There is an undocumented way to put Windows Explorer into full screen. Just press the F11 key to activate the Full Screen mode. Press it again to restore it back to the Window mode. This is not just work on Windows Explorer, it will work on all folder windows. This full screen mode has proven to be rather useful if you are browsing a bit folder or using a low screen resolution.

Variations on MS-DOS Themes

You can try some of these MS-DOS commands to open Windows 9X/Me-style windows from a DOS session:

explorer ..
At an MS-DOS prompt, it will open a single-paned Explorer window and carry you back one directory (from the current directory).

explorer /e,..
(Explorer followed by a space, then parameter e, then a comma and a double period), it will open a two-paned Explorer window focused on the parent of the current directory.

explorer c:\....\....
(Explorer followed by a space and a path), it will open a single-paned window focused on the specified directory.

The Undo Command on The Right Click Menus

Have you ever noticed the Undo item on the right-click menus? This option appears after any file operation (copy, move, rename, etc) and will stay throughout that session. It holds the last 10 operations in memory. Watch the status bar as you hold the mouse cursor over Undo for a description of each undo.

Sort the File List in a Quicker Way

The fastest way to sort the file lists on the Windows Explorer is by clicking the Name, Size, Type, or Modified button on the Windows Explorer right-pane. For example, if you click on the Name button all the listed files and folders will be sorted by name (in alphabetical orders). Or, if you click on the Modified button, all the listed files and folders will be sorted by the last modified date.

Name for the Most Important Folder

Probably you have a special folder for saving the most important documents, for example C:\Documents. If you want it to appear at the top of the folder list, you can rename it by inserting a _ character, so the new name will be C:\_Documents.

More Options to Open Your Files

Normally, a document associated only with one application. For example, when you double-click a document with .TXT extension in the Windows Explorer, automatically Windows will open it with Notepad. However, sometime maybe you want to open it with MS Word. To add more options, you need to perform these steps:

Double-click on the My Computer, select View – Options menu (Win9x) or Tools – Folder Options (WinMe). Click on the File Types tab. Select .TXT (text document) extension in the Registered File Types list, click Edit (Win9x) or Advanced (WinMe), and then New. In the appropriate box, type any descriptions, for example "Open with MS Word", and then click the Browse button to find MS Word application. Click OK, Close, and Close again. From now on, if you right click on a document with TXT extension you will see the added option.

Maintain the Windows Explorer Settings

If you want to maintain the Explorer window size, follow these steps:

First, open the Windows Explorer as usual, and change all the setting that you want. Click on View - Folder Options menu (Win9x) or Tools - Folder Options menu (WinMe), and then click on View tab. Make any change that you want but then bring it back to first setting. The last steps will activate the Apply button. Click on the Apply button, and then click OK. From now on, when you open Windows Explorer, Windows 9X/Me will maintain the settings.

Hiding a Folder in Windows Explorer

Want to hide your secret documents? Use the following steps to make a protected folder that cannot be accessed from the Windows Explorer:

Open the MS-DOS prompt, type mkdir followed by a space. Press and hold ALT, type 0255 (use the numeric keypad on the right side of your keyboard), and then release ALT. Now you can save your secret documents inside that folder. Windows Explorer cannot display its content. The only way to open that folder is by opening MS-DOS prompt, type cd followed by a space, press and hold ALT, and then type 0255.

You can also protect a usual (named) folder; just insert ALT+0255 as the last character of the folder name. Other ASCII characters that you can use to replace 255 are: 158, 159, 169, 176 to 224, 226 to 229, 231 to 240, 242 to 245, 247, 249, 251, 252, and 254.

Deleting Selected Recently Used List

Use this technique to delete specific files from the recently used list. First, click Start, Programs, and Windows Explorer. In the left Explorer pane, find the Windows folder, double click on it and then scroll down to find the Recent folder. With the right mouse button, drag the folder to the desktop; then select Create Shortcut(s) Here from the shortcut menu. From now on, when you want to delete a specific file or files from the recently used list, just double-click the shortcut, select the file(s), and press Delete.

Copy or Move?

As you know, you can use the drag and drop feature to copy or move files and folder. If you press CTRL key when you drag and drop an object, that means you are doing Copy operation. Meanwhile, if you press SHIFT key when you drag and drop an object that means you are doing Move operation. However, these rules are not valid anymore when you work with two or more drives. If you drag and drop an object from one drive to another drive, that means you are doing the Copy operation whether you are pressing the CTRL & SHIFT key or not.

Use the mouse pointer as your guide. If the mouse pointer has a plus sign that means you are now doing the Copy operations. Meanwhile if the mouse pointer has nothing inside it that means you are doing the Move operations.

Automatic Field Width

On a regular operation, you can change the Explorer fields width (Name, Size, Type, Modified, etc) by clicking and dragging a thin border between the fields. Actually, there is an easier way by pressing Ctrl and + combinations key.

An Exception for the Special Extension

Probably you want to show an extension for a specific type of file. To do so, click on the View-Options menu (Win9x) or Tools-Folder Options menu (WinMe), click on File Types tab, and choose a type of file. Click Edit (Win9x) or Advanced (WinMe), check the Always show extension option, and then click OK.

Amount of Files in a Folder

To find out how many files in a folder and their sizes, open Windows Explorer, right-click a folder, select Properties, and then read the information appeared in the Properties dialog box.