Windows 9x

Updated 11/26/03

43: How do I disable the Auto Update feature of Windows?

A: Open your Control panel, click Auto update. Check the box to update manually. Note: When updating manually Auto Update will appear on the updates lists. If you download it, it will active auto update again.

42: How do I disable System Restore?

A: To disable System Restore: Right click My Computer, select Properties, then the Performance tab, then the File System tab,  then troubleshooting, last check the box next to Disable System Restore.

41: All of the files in the Restore directory on my Drive C are continuing to gobble up space.  I do I control this and what files are back-up anyway?

A: System Restore backs up your directory structure, device drivers, ini files, etc. You can set the amount of space system restores uses. Right Click My Computer, select Properties, click the Performance tab, File System, Adjust space used.

40: Why do my System Resources get low?

A: What happens is every time you launch a program on your computer it takes up a small amount of your system resources, which is finite amount of memory that holds your hardware configuration and keeps tabs on running programs.  This can't be increased in any way, the amount of RAM you have plays no role in the amount of system resources you have.  In theory when you close a program it "releases" the system resources it was using making it available again , this does not always happen.  And if this happens enough then you will run out of them even if you only have only one Window open!  The only way to recover system resources is by restarting your computer.  System Resources can safely run as low as 20 - 10% before you'll begin experiencing problems.

39: Who do I defrag my Registry.

A: On the Run line type "scanreg /fix /opt", then click Yes to proceed.

38: Is it better to leave my computer on all the time or shut it off?

A: The short answer as far as performance is it doesn't mater which you do as long as you reset daily.  If you elect to leave your computer one 24/7 you will never have to wait for it to boot up and have an always consistent operating temp (which is not really a big deal with current electronics that's why it's called on operating range).  You will also experience a slow down due to lose of system resources till you reboot and have an higher electric bill.  If you elect to turn your computer on and off you will not harm it either due to shock or temperature fluctuations.  Your computer does not need a "rest" from being on.  Now to make all of this completely worthless, how many 286's that were turned on and off or left on all the time and are still around? Most all of them!  Your computers will no longer be useful long before leaving it on constantly of turning it off could due any harm.  Though be sure to unplug it in a lightning storm.

37: Can I reassign drive letters to HDD partitions?

A: Sorry, there is no software that will allow you to change your drive letters in Windows 9x/ME, though with NT/2000/XP they can be changed.  Windows has a funky way of naming the drive partitions if you have more then one drive with multiple partitions. Windows will name your primary partition on your primary hard drive C: followed the primary partition on the slave drive, which is called D:.  Then goes back to the primary hard drive and labels all extended partition in the order which  they appear physically on the drive and then labels the remaining extended partitions on the slave drive.

36: How do I get ride of the Windows log in?

A: Simply enter a name and leave the password blank and hit OKAY. If you have already entered a password you will need to delete your password before doing this. To delete your password go to the change password dialogue box in the Control Panel.  Enter in your old password but leave the box for new password blank and hit OKAY. Now reboot and follow the first step and Windows will never show you the log on box again. Note: If you have more then one profile on the computer you cannot get ride of the password prompt, same goes if your using Windows NT even with one profile.

35: What the difference between an OEM version of Windows and the retail version in the store?

A: The OEM version simply comes from the computer manufacture, other then that there is no difference in the program.  But be careful as you may not get an actual Windows CD with the computer if buying OEM.
 

34: I have items in my Add/Remove menu that are no longer on my computer, how do I remove them?

A: Open Regedit, then go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Uninstall, and remove any unwanted keys under "Uninstall."

33: How do I stop Windows form accessing my floppy drive when I start Windows?

A: Right Click My Computer, Select Properties, Click File System, Click the Floppy Disk Tab, Uncheck the "Search for new floppy disk drives each time your computer starts".

32: Is there a Windows ME SE?

A: No and there most likely will not be either. Just download the updates from Microsoft and you will be fine.

31: My search doesn't work, what's wrong?

A: Windows ME will often leave out registry keys need for the search function to operate.  Download this registry patch and run it.

30: My files don't go to the Recycle Bin any more. Who do I get them to again.

A: Right Click on the Recycle Bin and select properties.  Uncheck the box next to Do not move files to the Recycle Bin remove files immediately when deleted.  And it will go back to putting files in the Recycle Bin first.

29: How do I get the Desktop icon in my Quick Launch tool bar.

A: Find the desktop Icon in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM folder and create a short cut to it and place in the Quick Launch tool bar.

28: How do I keep scandisk from running when I start my computer?

A: This occurs after a bad shutdown automatically to disable Open MSCONFIG using the Run line on the Start Menu, click the advanced tab. Check the box next to disable scandisk after bad shutdown.

27: How do I change a file associations?

A: In Windows Explorer.  Tools, Folder Options, click the File Types tab.  Select the file type you want.  Click the Change button and select the new program from the resulting pop up box and hit OK.  Tip: you can hit the New button and create new or custom file type and associations also.

26: How do I disable the boot menu in Windows?

A: Start Menu, Run, type MSCONFIG, hit Enter. Click the Advanced tab, Uncheck the box next to Enable Start Menu. Note: to Enable boot menu check the tab.

25: What is DMA and how do I use it?

A: DMA stands for Direct Memory Access and allows for hard drives, CD drives, removable drives, and a few other devices to "talk" to each other directly without using the CPU.  Most newer listed devices are DMA compatible.  there is no easy way to tell without contacting the manufacture except by measuring the speed of the device with DMA enabled  and DMA disabled.  Of course leaving the setting that produces the fastest results.  To turn DMA on and off you need to open your Device Manager.  Expand the type of device your looking at hard drive, CD ROM etc.  Single left click the device you want to check.  Select Properties down below.  Click the Settings tab.  Check the box next to DMA to enable it, uncheck it to disable.

24: How do I print the screen?

A: First press the Print Screen key on your keyboard, open up Paint or another graphics program, Select Paste from the Edit menu and you will have a copy of your desktop loaded in your graphics program.

23: How do I remove the speaker icon from the taskbar?

A: Locate Sounds and Multimedia on the control panel.  Double click it.  Uncheck the box next to "Show volume control on the taskbar. Note: To get the volume control icon check the check box.

22: Were can I get the Windows ME resource kit?

A: There isn't a specific Resource Kit for Windows Me.  You'll have to try the Win 98 Resource Kit, most items should still work with Windows ME.

21: How much longer will Microsoft support Windows 95, etc?

A: Microsoft will continue to support there following OS till: MS DOS x.xx (December 31, 2001), Windows 3.xx (December 31, 2001), Windows 95 (December 31, 2001), Windows NT 3.5x (December 31, 2001), Windows 98/98 SE (June 30, 2003), Windows NT 4.xx (June 30, 2003).

20: When I delete a file it no longer goes into my recycle bin.  How do I change this?

A: Check the Recycle Bin properties and make sure that the Remove files immediately option is not checked.

19: How can I get my Briefcase folder back after deleting it?

A: Go to Add/Remove and reinstall it from the Windows Setup tab.

18: Can someone tell me if Windows ME recognizes NTFS partitions?

A: http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/ntfswin98.shtml has a free program that allows Windows 9x/ME read NTFS partitions and a program that you can purchase that allows Wind 9x/ME to read and write to NTFS partitions.

17: How do I add an item to the send to menu?

A: First do a search for a folder called Send To.  It will be in the C:\Windows folder.  Simply create a short cut for the item you want to add and place it in the Send To folder. It will be added to the Send To list when you right click a file.  You can also remove items by deleting them from this folder.  Note in Windows XP the Send To folder is under the individual user in Documents and Settings.

16: How do I add an item to the system start-up?

A: First create a short cut for the item. Second add the short cut to the Start Up folder on the start menu. It will start-up from now on, to undo this just delete the item from the start-up folder.

15: How do I change the drive letter assignments for my CD-ROM and CD-RW drives?

A: They are changed in the device manger under properties for that particular drive.

14: Have noticed that when windows installs it copies cabs to c:\windows\options\install. What are they and is it safe to delete them?

A: CAB files are your devices drivers and a few other system files that were not needed when you installed Windows but may be need in the future when you add new hardware.  This allows you not to have to insert the Windows ME disc every time you install new hardware. Previous versions of windows did not automatically install theses on your hard drive, it had to be done manually.  If your really that hard up on space it would be fine to delete them.

13: Hi, I'd like to know which program is creating these files with long filenames in my windows directory? And how do I disable it? Their extension is *.tmp and they begin with F's. For example fffaablablalblablasomethingisherebla.tmp.

A: Any program can create a temp file including Windows.  You can't disable this.  Most programs need to have some temp files at some point in time.  Windows especially, just delete them on a regular basis and you'll be fine.

12: Does FrontPage Express ship with ME?  Will FPX off an earlier Windows OS disk work with ME?  Can I download FPX for ME?

A: Yes Front page Express ships with ME. Actually Front Page Express is part of the Internet Explorer download package.

11: I need a startup disk for Windows, were can I get one?

A: You can make one yourself. Open your Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, Startup Disk. Follow the one screen prompts. You will need a formatted floppy and a Windows ME disk.

10: How do you get ME to stop placing the file extension at the end of the name, for example, when I create a new text document, the default name is new text document.TXT........how do I stop that? It also happens on desktop shortcuts (pinball.EXE), I just want the name, petty I know.

A: In Explorer select Tools, Folder Options, click the View Tab.  Check the box labeled Hide File extensions for known file types.

9: I am running win 98, is it true there are speed issues when installing Windows ME over 98.  I heard like a 30% performance decrease?

A: There are no performance difference for installing Windows ME over and existing install of 98.  If you do a clean install of ME all data on the hard drive is erased so when you boot there is nothing slowing you down at boot or while it's running, so it may appear to run faster until you add your programs back on.  Note:  It is best to do a clean install because of the changes that are made in going from Windows 98 to ME.

8: I want to put my swap file on a second hard drive I have installed, I want to make a partition for it, what would be a good size, how much would the file grow over time?

A: First a little about your swap file, or virtual memory as it is also referred to. The swap file is a designated amount of space on your hard drive reserved for when Windows runs out of actual physical RAM on your computer. To allow it to transfer larger files then your RAM would permit or to open more applications. The swap file as set by Windows ranges anywhere from 0 megabits to the remainder of the free space on your drive. If your going to put your swap file on a separate partition Windows will adjust your virtual memory to match the amount of space on that partition. The swap file can never take up more space than is currently available on your hard drive. I would recommend setting your own virtual memory and creating a partition of that size for the swap file. See Tip 1 for how to set your own Virtual memory for better performance.

7: How do turn off my screen saver?

A: In the display Properties box under the Screen Saver tab.  You simply select none from the drop down menu of screen savers it's the first choice on the list.

6: Every time I start my computer, there are about seven small icons in the right corner of the Taskbar (I think that is called system tray). How can I prevent those programs from running?

A: Here is a great tip, in Windows 98 or better Microsoft includes a program called MSCONFIG with windows.   Go to Run on the Start Button and type in "MSCONFIG".  Click the Startup tab in the dialog box that appears and it gives you a list of all things that start up automatically when you turn your computer on.  Uncheck the items you do not want to start up.  Restart your computer and bingo no more unwanted programs starting up.  You can reverse this by rechecking the items you have unchecked. If you have Windows 95 click the link below to get a copy of Startup Cop. http://www.passtheshareware.com/c-startu.htm

5: I'm planning on upgrading my system from Windows 95 to ME. I would also like to take this opportunity to do a hard drive reformat. Unfortunately, I lost my backup CD-ROM that had all the drivers for my system. What drivers am I going to have to back up, and which ones should be supported the Windows install disk? How can I find out what drivers my system is using so I can copy them.

A: Windows ME will most likely support all your hardware though it is a good idea to have all your drivers handy just in case. You can get them from on the web at the manufactures website (try http://winfiles.cnet.com/drivers/). You will have to by the full version of Windows Me if you're upgrading from 95. The $50 dollar upgrade only works with 98. Also bare in mind the minimum requirements of Windows Me are a Pentium 150, 32 Megs of RAM and at least 200 Megs of free space on your Hard Drive. Click here for my clean install guide step by step.

4: My system resources are always low, what gives?

A: First lets understand what is happing.  What happens is every time you launch a program on your computer it takes up a small amount of your system resources, which is finite amount of RAM that holds your hardware configuration and keeps tabs on running programs.  This can't be increased in any way, the amount of RAM you have plays no role in the amount of system resources you have.  In theory when you close a program it "releases" the resources it was using, this does not always happen.  And if this happens enough then you will run out of them even if you only have one Window open!  The only way to recover system resources is by restarting your computer.

3.How do I add something to my Send To menu?

A: First create a short cut to the directory or drive you want to be able to send items to.  Place that short cut in the Send To folder located in C:\Windows\Send To.  You can do this for pretty much anything.  Also if there are items on the Send To menu you would like to remove you can delete them from The Send To folder and they will be gone.

2: I have a folder called C:\Windows\Temp. Is it okay to delete these files?

A: You can delete any file in the TEMP folder.  If Windows doesn't let you delete do it later.  You will notice your computer will run much faster after you empty this folder.

1: How do I change the Windows Explorer so as a default it will open in C:\ instead of into My Documents? I

A: Right click on the Windows Explorer Icon, select Properties.  Under the Target location change it to C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE /n, /e, /select, c:\  (in Windows XP use  C:\windows\explorer.exe /n,/e,c:\) with the c:\ being the location of the folder you want expanded

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