Windows Tips & Tricks

Determining Your Processor's Speed

You can also The tool can be accessed directly by executing WINREP.EXE
To find out how fast the processor is, while in Win95/98,

Go to Accessories / System Tools / System Information
Click on Tools
Select Windows Report Tool
Click on the blue Change System File Selections towards the bottom of the window
This will perform a short scan of your system files

Swapping the Mouse Buttons for Left Hand from the Command Line
If you want to swap the mouse buttons for a left handed person,
you can do this from the command line.

Win9x:
RUNDLL user.exe,SwapMouseButton

Win2000:
RUNDLL32 user32.dll,SwapMouseButton

To swap it back again to a right-hand mouse, you need to run the mouse icon from the Control Panel.

Using the Wheel Mouse to Control the Font Size
Try using the Control key with the mouse wheel.
This works a zoom function.
I know you do this for Office 2k apps as well, but in IE it just works on the text, so the page stays somewhat the same.

Creating a Directory That is Not Accessible From Windows
To create the directory, type md, then a space, then holding down your ALT button type on number pad only 255.
To access cd\ALT+255 from DOS
When you try to access this from the Explorer you get an Access Denied error.

Deleting the TEMP Directory at Bootup
Normally your TEMP directory can fill with .tmp files, files left over from installs etc.
An easy way to delete it each time you boot is to add the following lines to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:

@C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\DelTree /Y C:\WINDOWS\Temp\

Saving File Searches
If you want to review the results of a file search at a later time:

While on the Desktop or with the Explorer, press F3 to start the search
Click Options / Save Results
Do the search
After the search select File / Save Search
An icon will be placed on the desktop with the search results.

Renaming CD ROM Drive Letter
Rename the drive letters of your CD drive(s) from the back of the alphabet, eg, Z, Y. This way, if you add extra hard disks, your CD drives do not get re-lettered.

You can do this from the Device Manager.
Open up the CD ROM section
Open the CD ROM you want to change
Under Settings, change the Start Drive Letter to higher in the alphabet.

Powering on the Computer With Your Mouse
If you have ATX Main Board, ATX case Award Bios, or any Bios that supports PS/2 Mouse Power On, then you can power on your computer with a double click.

To activate this feature:

Restart your computer
Then press Del when the BIOS message appears to enter your CMOS configuration
Select Integrated Peripherals from main menu
If PS/2 mouse power on disabled, activate it by press page up/ page down key it will became Double-Click
Press Esc key to exit
Press F10 to save and exit Power off your PC
Now double-click the left mouse button,.. Your PC will turn on

Removing Programs from the Control Panel
Easier way to remove control panel programs.
Edit your control.ini file in your Windows directory.
Under the section [don't load] add the appropriate .cpl file.
For example to get rid of Network add netcpl.cpl=no
This will disable users from accessing the network control panel.

You can remove seected icons in your Control Panel by simply moving, deleting or renaming the *.cpl file in your C:\WINDOWS\SYSETM directory.
The icon or file will still work even if it is not on the control panel screen.

Creating Shutdown, Restart and Logoff Icons
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

This trick will allow you to create files and folders without any name.
Just follow the following steps:
1.Select any file or folder.
2.Right click on it,press rename or simply press F2.
3.Press and hold the alt key.While holding the Alt key,type numbers 0160 from the numpad.
Note:Type the numbers 0160 from the numpad,that is,the numbers present on the right side of the keyboard.Dont type the numbers which are present on top of the character keys.
4.Press Enter and the nameless file or folder will be created.

Reason:The file or folder that seems nameless is actually named with a single space.
But what if you want to create another nameless file or folder in the same directory ?
For this you will have to rename the file with 2 spaces.Just follow these steps below:
1.Select file,press F2.
2.Hold alt key and type 0160 from the numpad.
3.Release the alt key.Now without doing anything else,again hold alt key and press 0160.
4.Press enter and you will have second nameless file in the same directory.
5.Repeat step 3 to create as many nameless files or folders in the same directory.