Thread: Windows Tips

Access the Whole Computer from Desktop

Right click the taskbar, point to Toolbars, and then click New Toolbar. Double Click on My Computer and the whole system will be within reach from the desktop

Clean Defrag

Here is another way to make a clean defrag for your hard disk. Read all the steps carefully:

First open your SYSTEM.INI file, you can quickly locate that file by typing 'sysedit' from the Run dialog box (Start menu, Run). In the [boot] section, change "shell=explorer.exe" to "shell=defrag.exe". Exit from sysedit, save the change you have made, and restart your computer. On the next Windows startup, the Disk Defragmenter will be the only program to load. Run it, then press 'Ctrl+Alt+Del' to reboot upon defrag completion. Before Windows starts its startup process, hold onto the F8 key and then select the "Command Prompt Only" option. In your Windows folder (e.g. C:\Windows), type "edit system.ini" and change back from "shell=defrag.exe" to "shell=explorer.exe". Save, exit, then press 'Ctrl+Alt+Del' to reboot.

Checking the Web Site Speed

Taking too much time to access your favorite sites? Probably the problem is on the server used by those sites. To make sure that is the problem, use Windows PING facility. Ping is a small program, which sends a 32-bit signal to the Web site server. Next, Ping record the time needed by the server to answer it. To activate Ping:

Click on the Start-Run menus, type command, and then click OK. Type PING "site name" in the MS-DOS prompt window, for example PING [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. In a moment, the result will appear on the screen. A result less than 300ms is normal speed while a result more than 400ms is slow speed.

If "Request timed out" message appears on the screen that means the Web site server is not responding in one second. Probably it happens because the server is too slow, or designed on purpose not to respond to the ping test, or you forgot to specify your name server addresses in the TCP/IP settings dialog box.

Change the program that starts when you open a file
Many file types in Windows are registered to be opened by a particular program. For example, Paint starts when you double-click a BMP file. You can change which program starts when you open a file.

1 In My Computer or Windows Explorer, click Options on the View menu.
2 Click the File Types tab.
3 In the Registered file types box, click the one you want to change.
4 Click Edit.
5 In the Actions box, click open.
6 Click Edit.
7 In the Application used to perform action box, type the path to the program you want to use to open files of the selected file type. Or click Browse to select the path from a folder list.

Open a file in its non-default program like TXT file on Word Pad

Click once on any TXT file, and then hold down the Shift key and right-click on the file. Choose Open With from the pop-up menu, scroll through the list of programs and choose WordPad.

Always Open TXT Files on WordPad

Click once on any TXT file, and then hold down the Shift key and right-click on the file. Choose Open With from the pop-up menu, scroll through the list of programs and choose WordPad. Check the box labeled "Always use this program to open this type of file" before you click on OK.

Checking the .DLL files

If you check the contents of the C:\Windows and the C:\Windows\System folders, you will find many of useless DLL files. To save your hard disk space, use Windows Explorer to know whether a .DLL file still needed or not. To do so, right click a DLL file and then select Quick View. You will see some information, such as the applications that use it. If the application is no longer exist then you can safely remove it from your disk. Of course, you must very careful while doing this. You can move it first to other folders and then delete it several days later if there is no problem generated. N otice that if you can't see the Quick View option that means you must install it first from Windows Installation CD.

Clean Up the Installation Trash

Perform these steps to clean up your disk from useless files and folders:
Click on the Start-Find menu, type *.DIR to find files named MSCREATE.DIR. You can delete this file to save your empty space. You may also find and delete folders named ~MSSETUP.T, which is a temporary directory used to install Microsoft's applications.

The Shortest Note
Right click your desktop, and select New - Text Document. Rename it to your short and clear message. For example, “Don't forget our meeting at 11.txt”. You can also create this kind of note directly on your co-worker desktop (C:\Windows\Desktop) through Network Neighborhood.

Deleting Junk Files

Want to clean up your hard drive and get several Mbytes additional space? Run this saved search every week and carefully pick out the files that you don't want to delete. First, make sure that hidden files are shown on your system, activate it through Windows Explorer settings (View/Tools - Folder Options - tab View). Click on Start - Find/Search - Files or Folders. Now, find files in all of your hard disks named:
*.tmp, *.~mp, *.gid, *.fts, *.chk, *.00*, *.---, *.$$$, *.*$, ~*.*, *.~*, *.??_, *.??~, *.^*, *.syd, *.prv, *.old, *.bak, mscreate.dir

You can also create more space by deleting all the files in temporary folder (C:\Windows\Temp), browser's cache (C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files), history list (C:\Windows\History), cookies (C:\Windows\Cookies), and inside the Recycle Bin.

Great Tips , Thanks Sir Spiral!

great tips my friend

i didnt no most of these!!! thanks!!!