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If you don't plan to upgrade to Win95 any time soon, upgrade to Windows for Workgroups 3.11 for as long as you plan to stick with the old versions.You don't have to be part of a workgroup to take advantage of its improved fast disk subsystem, File Manager, Schedule+, and other bells and whistles. If you are networked, you'll find Workgroups is the best-behaved network client. What's more, its built-in peer-to-peer networking capability may be all you need for small-office file and printer sharing.
Customize the File Manager Toolbar to display just the buttons you want, in the order you want them. Open the Options menu, select Customize Toolbar and add or remove buttons to suit your preference. Move the Customize Toolbar dialog box so that you can see File Manager's Toolbar. Then add or remove a button and observe the immediate effect. Highlight any item in the Toolbar Buttons window and then use the two Move buttons to horizontally relocate that button on the Toolbar.
Double-click on any open window's Title bar to maximize that window. Do it again to restore the window to its previous size.
You don't need the Control Menu's Move option. Just place the mouse pointer on any Title bar, hold down the primary mouse button (usually the left button, unless you've remapped it) and drag the window to wherever you want it to be.
If your system just isn't acting quite right, something inside may be loose. Thermal action can make chips creep out of their sockets, and various cable connections can work themselves loose, especally if you turn a desktop unit on its side to conserve space. Turn the power off, open the case and gently push down on every socketed chip. Also make sure all cable connectors and adapter cards are firmly seated. While you're at it, examine all the connectors on the rear panel, especially those that are not screwed down.
Click once on any File Manager drive icon, and the current active window changes to show the contents of the selected drive. Double-click instead to open a new window. Open the Window menu and select a Tile option (either horizontally or vertically) to display both windows. This saves lots of time when you need to transfer or copy files between drives, or even between directories on the same drive.
In Program Manager, hold down the Ctrl key and repeatedly press the Tab key to move quickly from one program group to another. Each Title bar will be highlighted in turn, and if you cycle past the group you want, hold down the Shift key as well to backpedal through the groups. If the group you want is minimized, just press the Enter key to open it when its title is highlighted.
You system may run faster in standard mode because it requires less conventional memory than it needs in 386 Enhanced mode. If you don't need DOS apps, or if you use only one non-graphical DOS app at a time, switch to Standard mode. Type win /s
at the DOS prompt to launch Windows in standard mode. Enhanced mode is used in 32-bit computers for DOS multitasking. It gives DOS apps access to emulated expanded memory and enables you to run more programs simultaneously. Type win/3 at the DOS prompt to launch Windows in Enhanced mode.
Specify which file extensions belong with which apps by using File/Associate from File Manager. Type in a three-letter extension, then choose a program from the list or use Browser to select an appropriate application. If you associate the extension .XYZ with NOTEPAD.EXE, any time you double-click on a file with that extension, Notepad will launch and open the file.
To open a document, drag its icon from File Manager and drop it on a minimized application icon, or drop it off in an open application window.
To print documents quickly, double-click on Control Panel's Printers icon and select Use Print Manager. Switch to Program Manager and hold down the Shift key while double-clicking on the Print Manager icon to run it minimized. Now, to print a document, drag its icon from File Manager and drop it on the Print Manager icon.
If an application window winds up outside the edge of the visible desktop, here's how to bring it back. First, minimize any open windows, then either double-click on the open desktop or press Ctrl+Esc to open the Task List dialog box. Click on the Cascade or Tile button and the missing application window will snap back into full view.
To select an applet in any open group window, hold down the Ctrl key and press the Tab key until that group window is highlighted. Type the first letter of the applet name and its icon title will be highlighted. If more than one applet name begins with the same letter, continue typing the letters of the filename until the desired title is highlighted. Then press Enter to open the applet. Use the same tip in File Manager to highlight a directory or a file.
When any applet's icon title is highlighted, hit the appropriate arrow key to toggle up, down or sideways to an adjacent icon. If there is no adjacent icon, the key has no effect.
If there's a problem with your Main, Accessories or Games group windows, open Program Manager's File menu, select the Run option and type: SETUP /P
in the command line. The undocumented /P switch tells Setup to restore these groups to their original configuration, but does not restore other groups, nor does it recover non-default icons in these three groups.
If you suffer from General Protection Faults, try placing the DRWATSON.EXE utility into your StartUp group. The utility writes a DRWATSON.LOG file of important information whenever there is a GPF incident, and this may help you or tech support troubleshoot the problem. Warning: The log can become very large over time, as new information is appended. It's OK to periodically delete it. If the Doctor doesn't find an existing DRWATSON.LOG file, a new one will be created.
To prevent programs in your StartUp group from launching, hold down the Shift key after typing and launching WIN at the DOS prompt. If you press the key before you type WIN Windows will ignore it and run the StartUp group anyway.
Another way to bypass the StartUp group is to make two copies of PROGMAN.INI and create two simple batch files to manage them. First, copy PROGMAN.INI to PROGMAN.BAK in case you make a mistake that prevents you from loading. Copy PROGMAN.INI again and call it PROGMAN.W. Under [Groups] in PROGMAN.INI, delete the line that includes STARTUP.GRP. It'll look something like this: Group7=D:\WINDOWS\STARTUP.GRP. Save the resulting file as PROGMAN.O. create two batch files in your WINDOWS directory using a word processor that can create a text-only file. WINO.BAT should look like this:
COPY PROGMAN.O PROGMAN.INI
WIN
REM IF YOU ADDED A NEW PROGRAM GROUP, RE-EDIT FILES
Your WINW.BAT file should looks the same, but copies the PROGMAN.W file over PROGMAN.INI. From now on, when you start up type WINW if you want to use your Startup group and WINO if you don't. If you add a new Program Manager group, re-edit PROGMAN.W and PROGMAN.O to include the new group.
To bypass selected items in your StartUp group, open the StartUp group window and drag the appropriate icons out of that window and into another one. Then drag the icon(s) back into the StartUp group when you want to put them back in service.
Terminal applet helps you determine whether Windows can "see" your modem. Its icon is usually in the Accessories group, but you can also find it by going to File/Run in Program Manager and typing TERMINAL. Virtually any Hayes-compatible modem should respond with an OK or a 0 {PRODUCTION: zero} when you type AT. If you don't get a response you probably have a problem with your modem settings. Use Terminal to figure out whether your modem is on COM1 or COM2 (go to Settings/Communications), then reset your communications program and try again.
Remember to close all open applications and then Windows itself before reaching for the power switch. Windows may need to write some data to your hard disk as it exits, and if you turn the power off at the wrong moment some of that data may get lost.
If you want some elbow room in File Manager, call up file details only as you need them. Select View/Name, and File Manager will display only file names. When you need to see a file's details and edit its attributes, press Alt+Enter and the currently selected file's Properties dialog box will pop up.
In File Manager, view as many files and file details as possible by changing the font type and point size. Select Options/Font, then choose the font and point size you want File Manager to display. To get the most information possible on the screen, try a typeface called Small Fonts at a point size of 7. Conversely, if legibility is your top priority, follow these same steps to choose a larger point size or more readable type font.
Clean house quickly by turning off File Manager's confirmation messages for operations such as File Delete and Directory Delete. To do this, choose Options/Confirmation and clear the desired check boxes.
If you always use the same directories in File Manager, save time by keeping a number of directories available but minimized. Open File Manager and resize the secondary window that actually contains the directory so that there is room along the bottom. Double-click on the symbol for the drive that contains the directory you frequently access. A second child window opens up inside File Manager, overlapping the first window and displaying the same directory. In the new window, point at the directory you want, then click on the minimize button in the upper right-hand corner of the child window. Do this for as many directories as you use regularly .
It's easy to make Windows automatically open certain applications and files, open and run applications minimized, and make Program Manager active after start-up.
· To open a particular application automatically on start-up, drag and drop its icon into your StartUp group.
· To open and run an application minimized at start-up, single-click on the application's icon in the StartUp group. Select File/Properties from the main menu, check the Run Minimized box, and click on OK.
· To open a specific file during start-up, drag the filename from File Manager and drop it onto the StartUp group window.
· Make Program Manager the active window after start-up by checking the Run Minimized box in the Program Item Properties of every program in your StartUp group.
Change the font Program Manager displays for icon labels by editing the [Desktop] section of your WIN.INI file. Edit or add lines with the name of the desired font and its size. For example, if you want Program Manager to display icon labels in 10 point Century Schoolbook, edit the [Desktop] section with these lines:
IconTitleFaceName=Century Schoolbook
IconTitleSize=10
Want to rechristen a Program Manager group? First, minimize the group and click once on the minimized icon. Then, choose File/Properties, enter the new name in both the description and the Group File fields, and click on OK.
Want to keep others from changing your desktop? Edit PROGMAN.INI to limit what other users can do to groups, items and command lines. Use Notepad to open PROGMAN.INI from WINDOWS directory. Before you make any changes, back up the file by saving it as PROGMAN.BAK. Then reopen PROGMAN.INI. At the end of the file, create a heading called [Restrictions] (if there isn't one already). Use the following settings:
NoSaveSettings=1 To prevent anyone from selecting Save Settings on Exit
EditLevel=4 To make it impossible to create, move, copy, delete or in any way modify program groups NoRun=1 To disable the Run command from the File menu
NoFileMenu=1 To disable all the commands in the File menu and remove it from the menu bar
NoClose=1 To make it impossible to close Windows without rebooting
Close Notepad and click on the Yes button to save changes. Restart Windows to implement the restrictions. To disable the restrictions, open PROGMAN.INI, change the numbers after the equal signs to zeros, save and close the file, and restart Windows.
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