Win95 Tips - Page 1

Page 1

Table Of Contents
How do I add a program to the Start Menu?
How do you back up Window's Registry?
Can I get to my Desktop from StartMenu or Taskbar?
How do I assign my CD drive the letter I want it to be?
Can I close "all those windows" when using My Computer?
FAT16 vs FAT32

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How Do I Add A Program (or Program Group) to My Start Menu?

Right click on Start Button.

Click on "Open"

Double click on "Programs"

Go to File\New\Folder and create a new folder for your apps.

Open Explorer so that Explorer and your new folder are both in view.

Select the apps you want to put into your new folder (by left clicking).

Transfer to right mouse button and drag into new folder.

Release right mouse button and select "Create Shortcut" from resulting dialogue box.

Slow left click on the shortcut title to each app so that the name is highlighted (Or right click,

then select Rename)

and rename your apps as desired.

Shift-right click on the close button on the top right-hand corner of your new folder.

You should now have a new program group in your start menu containing your new

apps.

To add individual programs, just omit the File\Folder\New step create your shortcut then drag it
directly into the StartMenu\Programs folder.

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How do I back up my Registry?

Go to Start, Run, and type REGEDIT in the dialog box and click on OK. Then select Registry - Export Registry File. I highly recommend doing this at the beginning of any registry edit session. (If you are only going to be editing one key, you can open that key first, and with it highlighted, select Registry - Export Registry File. This will back up only that key, and allow you to restore it in the state it was in before editing if necessary). I also believe a more complete way is to include win.ini & system.ini (AND enable restore from DOS, since a registry problem might prevent Win95 from starting). I accomplish this by running a batch file like the following (you need to create the appropriates folder(s) first, in order for this to work):

rem Savereg.bat
rem Usage: Savereg mmdd (with mmdd being the month and day. For example, on May 1
rem you would enter: Savereg 0501)
C:
CD c:\mydocs\regsave
MD REG%1
C:
CD \windows
ATTRIB -H -S system.dat
ATTRIB -H -S user.dat
COPY system.dat C:\mydocs\regsave\REG%1\system.dat
COPY user.dat C:\mydocs\regsave\REG%1\user.dat
COPY system.ini C:\mydocs\regsave\REG%1\system.ini
COPY win.ini C:\mydocs\regsave\REG%1\win.ini
ATTRIB +H +S system.dat
ATTRIB +H +S user.dat

This will create a sub folder inside the REGSAVE folder (one you've created separately) and copies the registry files, plus a couple of other key files to a separate folder. The format also avoids long filenames so that a restore may be accomplished in DOS. Use both of these methods (Export Registry, and the above batch file, and you're about as protected as possible).

To restore these files, start in DOS mode (press F8 during startup) or shut down and re-start in DOS, then use
this batch file:

rem   Restoreg.bat
rem   usage Restoreg mmdd (with mmdd being the date of the last backup of registry files)
rem   Restores Last "Good" set of registry files (assuming that was May 1, for example, you
rem   would enter: Restoreg 0501)
C:
CD \Windows
ATTRIB system.dat -S -H -R
ATTRIB user.dat -S -H -R
ATTRIB C:\Mydocs\regsave\reg%1\system.dat -S -H
ATTRIB C:\Mydocs\regsave\reg%1\user.dat -S -H
COPY C:\Mydocs\regsave\reg%1\system.dat system.dat
COPY C:\Mydocs\regsave\reg%1\user.dat user.dat
ATTRIB system.dat +S +H +R
ATTRIB user.dat +S +H +R
COPY C:\Mydocs\regsave\reg%1\system.ini
COPY C:\Mydocs\regsave\reg%1\win.ini
WIN

I use Mydocs folder to store all data, making backups easier. Modify the batch files paths to correspond to your
own setup. A Mydocs folder is not required.
(Note: To restore from an exported file, simply go to the folder you stored it in and double click on it.)

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Can I add access to my desktop to the StartMenu (or Taskbar)?

Sure can, simply right click on the desktop, select new, shortcut.
In the Command Line box, enter: C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE /root,
(make sure you include the ,). Click on Next, and in the Select Name for shortcut box, enter Desktop.
Then simply drag the resulting icon on to your Start Button to copy it there.

An icon named Desktop will now appear at the top section of your Start Menu. Selecting it will open a window containing each item on your desktop. Once you confirm that it's there, you can delete the shortcut left on the
desktop.

Alternatively, you can add the icon to your StartUp folder (after setting its properties to:Run, Minimized) where it will load at each startup to your taskbar.

For another approach, you can press WinKey+M (that's the key with the Windows logo on it together with the M key) and all open windows will minimize, leaving your desktop in full view. (Shift+WinKey+M restores those same windows).

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Can I tell Win95 what letter I want my CD to be?

To specify a Drive letter for your CD (or Zip drive) under Windows 95,
follow these easy steps:

Note: In this example I use "Z" as the drive letter, you should select whatever letter you desire the drive to be.

     Open the control panel
     Go into the device manager and find your CD-ROM (or Zip) drive
     Select the properties by double clicking on your CD-ROM's icon
     Go in the settings tab
     Set both "Reserved Drive Letters" to "Z"
     Reboot

Please note that any application installed prior to this change that requires the CD to be in the drive when running
will need to be reconfigured to your new setup. A quick way to do so is to get coa32.zip. COA32 (Change of Address/32) is a 32-bit Windows program. COA32, which runs under Windows 95 and Windows NT 3.51 or
higher, lets you change the drive or directory of a Windows program without having to reinstall the program.
You can get it from PC Magazine's software site:
http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/pctech/content/16/01/ut1601.001.html /

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Do you dislike Windows Explorer and prefer to use the "My Computer" button and so forth

to navigate your drive(s)? Or, would you like to do this, but don't because you hate closing each window?

Try this little trick ... If you hold down the SHIFT key while clicking the "X" in the upper right corner of the
window, it will close that window, and everything in the tree above it.

For example:
You have these windows open:
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\TEMP\PRINTERS

If you SHIFT-Click on the "Temp" window's Close button, The "Temp", "System", "Windows", "C:". and "My Computer" windows will all close at once, leaving you with only the "Printers" window open.

Thanks to Jack Teems (Neat Net Tricks web site at: http://www.angelfire.com/sd/jteems/index.html ) for this tip.

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What advantage, if any, is there to FAT32 over FAT16?

In addition to long filename support, FAT32 generally uses much smaller clusters to store data, therefore utilizing
space more efficiently, at least on larger partitions.

Since a cluster is the smallest amount of space that is taken up by a file whose size is anywhere from one byte up
to the number of bytes in the cluster, if you have 32K clusters, a one byte file takes up as much disk space as a
32,000 byte file. The unused portion of the cluster is known as slack, and is just wasted space. In general,
larger clusters more slack, and more wasted space. Unless you have mostly large files (as a graphics designer
might), smaller clusters are generally better. Cluster size is determined, in part, by the size of your hard disk, and
how big its partitions are. To help you decide what's best for you, refer to the chart below, it lists cluster sizes
under both FAT16 and FAT32, for each range of partition sizes.

Cluster Size in FAT16 and FAT32

Partition Size         FAT16         FAT32
   Min        Max      cluster      cluster
-------------------------------------------------------
   16MB      127MB      2,048          512
128MB      255MB      4,096          512
256MB      259MB      8,192          512
260MB      511MB      8,192        4,096
512MB    1,023MB     16,384        4,096
1,024MB    2,047MB     32,768        4,096
2,048MB        8GB       n/a         4,096
    8GB       16GB       n/a         8,192
   16GB       32GB       n/a        16,384
   32GB or larger        n/a        32,768

For more info on partitioning drives, go to:

http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/pctech/content/16/11/tu1611.001.html

OR:

http://www.concentric.net/~Brownsta/hd-partn.htm#How

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