Desktop Tips

 Easy Access to Folders from the Toolbar

Added 9/9/01

You can quickly access commonly used folders from your Toolbar

  1. Right click on an open area of the Toolbar
  2. Select Toolbars / New Toolbar
  3. Browse to the directory you want to add
  4. Now on the toolbar you will see the name of that folder displayed.
  5. Click on the >> to open any sub-folders as well.

Organizing the Start / Programs Listing

Added 5/29/01

As you add more and more programs, the listing of them in Start / Programs can get fairly long.
One solution is to categorize your programs into several groups, create a folder for those groups, and move the shortcuts to those folders.

For example:

  1. Start the Explorer
  2. Go to Windows / Start Menu / Programs
  3. Create new folders with the categories you want (e.g. Graphics, Utilities, Internet etc.)
  4. Now move the shortcuts to those programs in Windows / Start Menu / Programs to whichever category you decide.

This can greatly reduce clutter and make it a lot easier to find your programs.

Note: Windows2000 Users will need to go to the C:\Documents and Settings\login_name\Start Menu\Programs directory

Creating a New E-Mail Shortcut

Added 1/31/00

To create a shortcut that will open your default e-mail program starting a new e-mail,

  1. Right click on an open area of the desktop
  2. Select New / Shortcut
  3. For the Command Line, enter mailto:
  4. For the title enter something like New E-Mail
  5. When you click on this your default e-mail program should start with a new e-mail form.

Creating Shutdown, Restart and Logoff Icons

Added 1/8/00

To create the icons, create a shortcut on the desktop.

For Shutdown, the command is C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL.EXE user.exe,exitwindows

For Restart, the command is C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL.EXE user.exe,exitwindowsexec

For Logoff, the command is C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL.EXE shell32.dll,SHExitWindowsEx 0

Removing Shortcut Arrows

Submitted 3/28/99

An easy way to remove those irritating arrows from your desktop shortcut icons and not change their properties

  1. Right click the Desktop / Properties / Appearance tab
  2. Select Item
  3. Scroll for Icon
  4. The default size is 32
  5. Change this to 30
  6. Clicking Apply

Submitted by Larry McDonald

Easy Shortcuts on the Desktop

Submitted 8/14/98

Here is an easy way to put shortcuts on the Desktop where they can easily be moved to other group icons.

  1. Using the Explorer, create a SHORTCUT to the \Windows\Desktop directory in your \Windows\SEND TO directory.
  2. Now whenever you want to make a shortcut and move it to the desktop:
  3. Just make the shortcut you want using Explorer
  4. Right click on that shortcut
  5. In the pop up menu select the Send To and Desktop shortcut.

Submitted by Jerry Airaudi

Changing a Folder's Icon

To change the icon of a Folder on desktop:

  1. Using the Explorer, move the folder from the Desktop directory to another directory on the hard drive
  2. Right click on the new folder and select "Create Shortcut"
  3. Move the shortcut to the Desktop
  4. Right click and select a new icon

Submitted by Kim Schmidt

Fixing Corrupted Desktop Icons

Updated 5/25/98

Easier way to reset icons then deleting SHELLICONCACHE.

There's no need to exit Win95 and delete the SHELLICONCACHE file in order to reset icons that you may have changed (like Network Neighborhood).

  1. Go to Control Panel, Display, Appearance Tab.
  2. Select Icon from the Item drop down list.
  3. Change the Size up or down one and apply.
  4. Change the Size back to your original and apply.

Submitted by Duane Anderson

Submitted 2/28/98

If your Start Menu is slow or your icons are black for some reason, it means your Shelliconcache file is corrupt and should be deleted.
Delete the hidden file C:\WINDOWS\SHELLICONCACHE
It will be recreated the next time you start Win95

Submitted by Tim Berger

Getting Screen Shots

Submitted 4/12/98

If you need to get a screen shot, and you do not have a screen capture program, try this:

·         Hit the Print Screen key. This copies a bitmap of the full screen into the Windows clipboard. Start up a graphics editor and paste it in.

·         Alt + Print Screen will capture only the active window.

Submitted by V. Sahker

Increasing the Size of the Scroll Bar

Submitted 1/11/98

How to adjust the width of the scroll bar:

  1.  
  2. Select Properties
  3. Select the Appearance tab
  4. Go to the item list and find scrollbar.
  5. Increasing the value in the Size field will increase the scrollbar width.

Submitted by Scott K. Ibara

Removing the InBox from the Desktop

Submitted 12/29/97

A faster way to remove "Inbox" from the Deskop is to

  1. Right mouse click on "Inbox"
  2. Select delete
  3. It will then tell you "you cannot store the inbox in the recycle bin. . .etc"
  4. Click "Yes"
  5. Wait 2 secs and it's gone.

Submitted by Mark Weber

Adding Send To the Recycle Bin

Submitted 10/11/97

Add a SHORTCUT TO THE RECYCLE BIN in your SEND TO folder.

That way you can just right click on a file you want to delete, and send it to the recycle bin without having to confirm each time.

Submitted by Roger Hinton

Having Icons with No Name

Updated 9/28/97

Normally you have to have a name for an icon, just spaces are not allowed.
To create an icon with no name attached:

  1. Make sure NumLock is on
  2. Highlight the Icon you want to change
  3. Right-Mouse click and select Rename
  4. While holding down the Alt key, type 0160
  5. Now the icon will have no name below it.

To Create Multiple Icons with No Name - From John R.

  1. Follow directions detailed above
  2. With the second icon simply add one space-bar character AFTER the 0160 number.
  3. Each successive icon gets an additional space-bar character at the end (to prevent a duplicate naming error).

Submitted by John R

Moving the Start Button

Submitted 7/4/97

How to move or close the start button!

  1. Click on the Start button
  2. Press the Esc key
  3. Press the Alt and the - keys together
  4. This will give you a menu, you can move or close
  5. But if you move it you need to use the arrow keys and not the mouse.

Submitted by Mick Jones

Adding AnyFolder and Mail to SendTo

Submitted 3/7/96

Previous examples of adding items to the SendTo usually require editing the Registry.
An easy way around this is to use the following methods.

To add ANYFOLDER:

  1. Open the Explorer
  2. Go to \Windows\SendTo
  3. Right click in the right hand panel
  4. Select New / Text Document
  5. Name it anything with a .otherfolder extension

When you want to send files to another folder:

  1. Select the files with Explorer
  2. Right Click
  3. Select Send to and the name you just created
  4. You them have the option of copying or moving the file to a folder of your choice

To add Mail:

  1. Open the Explorer
  2. Go to \Windows\SendTo
  3. Right click in the right hand panel
  4. Select New / Text Document
  5. Name it anything with a .MapiMail extension (ignore any warnings about the file extension)

When you want to Mail files as attachments:

  1. Select the files with Explorer
  2. Right Click
  3. Select Send to and the Mail name you just created
  4. This allows you to easily mail multiple files

Submitted by Will Raresheid

Easier User Interface

Submitted 1/24/97

Add a menu item named "Open THIS folder!" to each of your cascading menus off of the Start menu.
This makes it easier to put items wherever you want them!

  1. Go to Windows \ Start Menu \ Programs \ (etc.) in the Explorer
  2. Start right click/dragging folders to the desktop, one by one.
  3. Rename them and left click/drag them back to the same folder.

It takes a little while, but when you are finished you have a much easier interface to work with.

Submitted by Gordy Robbins
Utility_Oper@communityonline.net

Removing the Start Button

Submitted 11/24/96

  1. Click on the start menu button twice, so there is a dashed line around the button
  2. Press Alt and the minus sign
  3. Choose Close to make the start button disappear, or move to move it to the right!

Submitted by Justin Nachod

Note from Bob: - You have to re-boot to get it back again, or:

  1. Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete
  2. Highlight Explorer
  3. Click on the End Task button
  4. Select No to doing a full shutdown
  5. Wait a few seconds and the click on the End Task button

Changing the clock to 24-Hour Time

Added 10/20/96

  1. To change the display of the clock on the taskbar to 24-hour format:
  2. Open the Control Panel
  3. Double-click on the Regional Settings icon
  4. Click on the Time tab
  5. In the Time style section select H:mm:ss

Changing or Removing the Start Menu Icons

Submitted 6/29/96

  1. Download Microangelo and install it.
  2. Create a blank.ico file.
  3. Put it in a directory (C:\Windows. Then double click on the Microangelo Engineer to run it.
  4. When you get it up on the screen click on the "start" tab. You will see a list of all the icons in the start menu.
  5. Highlight the first one (programs) and select "Change". It will bring up a dialog box - select "browse".
  6. Go to the directory that contains the blank icon and select it. Hit OK until you get back to the main
  7. Engineer window and do all the rest exactly the same way.
  8. When you have finished changing them all to the blank icon, Hit "Apply".
  9. Hit your start button and look to see if all the icons are invisible. (They should be.)
  10. Close out Micro Engineer and you're finished.

Submitted by Kristy Shanks

Adding Drive to the SendTo List

Submitted 6/29/96

  • I have recently found that if you want to send something from A: drive or from any where to any drive, you can just make a short cut of that drive in subdirectory SENDTO.
  • For example I have two hard drives, a Floppy Drive, and a CDROM
  • After I have make a copy of each of my drive I will be able to send a whole directory of E:\XXX from the CDROM drive to A: drive or any other drive that i have had made the short c t in the SENDTO subdir of WINDOWS.

Submitted by Robo
tttran@acs.itd.uts.edu.au

Adding a Protected Briefcase

Submitted 6/23/96

You can make your briefcase a shortcut on the on desktop so if you have multiple users on your PC and you don't want to have a password for your briefcase, you can at least protect it from inadvertent deletion by just making the briefcase a hidden file or in a different location other than \Windows\Desktop\My Briefcase, then send a copy or shortcut to the desktop.

Submitted by Tony Stewart
tonys@awnet.com

How to make the task bar autohide

Added 5/15/96

  1. Click the right button on a blank area of the task bar
  2. Select Properties
  3. Select Autohide
  4. Click OK

This will make the task bar slide off the screen when the cursor moves away from it,
and it will slide back on when the cursor is moved near it again.

The same can be done for the MS Office task bar. The "sliding" effect is nice, and can free up some desktop space.

Closing Nested Folders

Added 2/28/96

If you have several nested folders (folders within folders) and want to close them all,
simply, hold the Shift key while closing the last folder
This will close all previous ones as well.

Changing Application Icons

Submitted 1/21/96

To have a wider choice of application icons:

  1. Right click on the icon shortcut
  2. Chose Properties
  3. Click on the Program tab
  4. Chose Change icon
  5. Click on Browse
  6. Select Files of type All Files
  7. Browse to the directory where your icon files are kept
  8. You can even use some bitmap files for you icons

Submitted by Cengiz Lugal
cengiz@dircon.co.uk

Moving and Resizing the Taskbar

Submitted 1/21/96

You can move the taskbar by pointing on a corner panel and dragging it
It is easier to move if you close all your windows first

You can also resize it by moving the mouse to the edge and dragging it larger or smaller.

Submitted by Adrian Aisemberg - Israel
insane@datasrv.co.il

Minimizing All Windows

Added 9/24/95

To minimize all windows:

  1. Press Ctrl-ESC ESC to bring up the Task Bar
  2. Right Mouse Click on an open area of the Task Bar
  3. Select Minimize all Windows

This makes it a lot easier to minimize windows when all your open applications are full screen.

With the Microsoft Keyboard, you can accomplish the same thing by pressing the Window-M key.

Turning on AutoArrange for Folders

Added 9/13/95

To make all folders keep AutoArrange turned on:

  1. Open up an existing folder
  2. Select View / Arrange
  3. Arrange the Icons the way you would like, (e.g. Name, Size,etc.)
  4. Select View / Arrange again
  5. Select AutoArrange
  6. Press the Ctrl-key while you close the window.
  7. This folder should now have AutoArrange always selected.

This should allow you to create new folders that have AutoArrange selected by default.
You only need to specify by Name, Size, etc. if you want to change it from the default you set above.
Note: I have only tested this on a few computers. Please give me feedback regarding any problems.

Quick Access to Your Desktop

Submitted 9/3/95

How do you access your darn desktop when you have a ton of applications open?
Well you could right click on the taskbar and do a minimize all, but that can be slow.
Instead:

  1. Open a browser window (double-click on "My Computer")
  2. If there is no toolbar, select View from the menu and select Toolbar.
  3. Then from the dropdown list-box in the toolbar select desktop.
  4. Now minimize it and forget about it.
  5. The next time you want to access your desktop just click the desktop window on the taskbar.
  6. As long as you don't close the window when you shutdown, it will reopen when you start windows again.

Submitted by Tim LaDuca
laducat@winnie.fit.edu

Additional Note from Bob: You can also drag the Desktop folder to the start menu.
Then you just press Ctrl-ESC and click on Desktop

To change the Startup and Logoff screens

Startup Screen

  • Create a 320x400 bitmap in the root directory and name it LOGO.SYS
  • You can use LOGOW.SYS file in the Windows directory as a starter

Logoff Screens

  1. There are several files called LOGOX.SYS
  2. They are actually bitmaps 320x400 that just have a different extension
  3. The hidden one in the root directory LOGO.SYS is the startup logo.
  4. There are two files in the Windows directory.
  5. LOGOW.SYS is the Wait while Shutting down ... screen
  6. LOGOS.SYS is the You may now shut-off or Reboot screen
  7. To edit them, rename them with a BMP extension and use your favorite graphic editor
  8. You can edit these files or create you own
  9. They just need to be the same size