25th September 1997

With the new WinZip (6.3 Final, reviewed above), you can easily extract ZIP archives into a new folder for quick (and/or temporary) access. Merely right click on a file and HOLD it, drag it while still right-click-holding, let go completely and select the option to extract the archive into its own folder.

Here's a couple more great keyboard shortcuts: WinKey+M will minimize all windows. WinKey+D will restore all minimized windows. 'Nuff said.

Lockergnome Fan James Graham discovered that you can select multiple folders in Explorer and, instead of selecting 'explore' on the right-click menu, double click (while pressing shift) to open an Explorer window for each folder.

Lockergnome Fan Marshall Ferrell told me about some speed tweaks he uses on his computer. He thought it would be nice if everyone heard about some of them. Wanna free up some space on your hard drive(s)? What files could be safe to delete? Here's a short list that covers the major files that could disappear without disastrous ramifications. Keep in mind that YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY
(YMMV), so instead of deleting the files first, move them to a "Delete" folder and when you've run your computer w/o any problems for ~1 month or so, it is probably safe to get rid of everything in that "Delete" folder. To find these files, hit the "F3" key and type in "*.XXX" with .XXX being the listed extension. Make sure you search all your hard drives instead of only one folder.

.chk - Scandisk backup file; if there's lost clusters found when you run Scandisk, these files will be created. They will not come back, but new ones can be created with future Scandisk uses.

.grp - Program Manager Group file; if you never use Program Manager anymore, why keep these around? They will not come back, but an install program could create new ones.

.gid - HLP-related file; when you run a Help file, it creates a "GID" to make future accesses to that particular help file a tad quicker. They're a complete waste of space, and usually the worst disk-hog offenders. You'll have to delete these on a regular basis, as they are recreated with every Help file execution.

.fts - HLP-related file; when you perform a search with a Help file, this is created to make all future searches be performed quicker. Eh, not worth having around unless you use HLP files on a daily basis. They'll reappear if you do a search in a HLP file, so these should be regularly scanned for and deleted.

.cnt - HLP-related file; ever notice those tables of contents when you launch certain Help files? If you don't need a table to help you navigate through a Help file, delete these. They will not come back.

.avi - Movie file; if you know how to use Windows 95, don't keep these things around. Make sure you "watch" them before deleting them, because you might delete a movie you wanted to keep. Still, they could be lurking on your hard drive(s).

.mov - Movie file; see .avi.

.tmp - Temporary file; when you exit out of Windows without shutting down everything, these files could be littering your hard drive (typically, they can be found in the \Windows\Temp\ folder). Many programs have temp files to help speed up processes; they're a necessary evil. You might find hundreds of these just waiting to be deleted.

.~mp - Temporary file; see .tmp.

.bak - Old file; when a new version of a program comes along, sometimes it will rename the old version with an .bak extension. Be careful when removing these files. .old - Old file; see .bak.

.$$$ - Old file; see .bak (usually, not always)