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Windows 95 Tips and Tricks

Getting There in DOS
In a Win95 DOS window you can type cd... to move up two levels, cd.... to move up three levels, etc.

Deactivating CD Autorun

  1. Hold down Shift when you close the CD-ROM drawer.
  2. Open any desktop folder and select Options from the View Menu. Select File Types and choose Audio CD and click Edit. Click once on Play from the Action list box. Then click Set Default.
Screen Savers
You can drag your screen-saver files from their directory onto the destop to automatically create shortcuts to them.

Restart Windows 95 Without Rebooting
Select Restart from the ShutDown menu while holding down the Shift key.

Internet Utilities and Prog's Included in Win95
All of the following are runnable from a DOS box:
Overriding Preferences in Explorer
To override your default preference for how folders open in Windows Explorer, hold down Ctrl when you open a folder.

To Move, or To Pretend To
If you drag an .exe or .com file, Win95 creates a shortcut of the program rather than moving or copying the original file--a safety feature to make sure it still runs. To really move an .exe or .com file, you have to hold down Shift as you drag; to copy, hold down Ctrl.

Get System Info On Paper
Right-click on the My Computer icon and select properties from the context menu. Click on the Device Manager tab, then the Print button. Select the "All Devices and System Summary" radio button, then click on OK.

Changing Default Desktop Icons
The easy way: You can change the basic desktop icons like My Computer with Microsoft Plus!.
The hard way: Icons used for My Computer, Recycle Bin, etc. can be changed by playing with the Registry. The whole process is too long to spell out here for every icon. Instead, look up the "Dress Up Your System In Snazzy New Icons" article in Windows Magazine, August 1996, and the tip box on page 128 of PC Computing, September 1996. Also, get the PowerToys utility from Microsoft to get rid of those disgusting arrows on the shortcut icons.

Making Win 3.1 apps Behave Under Win95
Having problems with 16-bit apps under Windows95? Perhaps a program won't install under Win95 giving you a "This program requires Windows 3.1 or higher" error message? The the Make Compatible (MKCOMPAT.EXE) utility may be your answer, enabling Windows to lie about its version number and many other goodies. Run MKCOMPAT.EXE from a DOS box or double-click on it in the system folder and then point it to the problem program. A saved compatibily option is written to the [Compatibility] section of WIN.INI for a 16-bit apps and to the [Compatibility32] section for a 32-bit app. Note that any changes permanently affects all files with the same name, so if you force a Win 3.1 version number on apps called SETUP.EXE or INSTALL.EXE, undo your changes when your done by running MKCOMPAT.EXE again adn saving.


Created by Terry Smith