Starting and Stopping The Desktop Taskbar Tweaking Tuning Up Explorer Keyboardese Shortcuts Galore Sound Advice Registry Review Improving Performance Installing Software Custom Looks Net Working Dos Forever CUSTOM LOOKS Remove the Shortcut Arrows Many people seem to be annoyed by the little arrows that Windows 95 puts in the lower-left corner of icons that represent shortcuts. Well, now you can get rid of them! To do this, use the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) to search for these keys: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\piffile Within each of these keys is the string, "IsShortcut". If you remove (or more safely rename) both of these strings, the arrows will be gone when you restart Windows 95. To restore them, go back into regedit and rename the strings to their previous values. Change Name and Location of Folders To change the name or location of some essential folders go to /HKEY_CURRENT_USER /Software /Microsoft /Windows /CurrentVersion /Explorer /Shell Folders in registry and edit the data of your choice. Changing the My Computer or Recycle Bin icons Open Regedit Find My Computer or Recycle Bin Tab to the left panel Double click on the highlighted line Double click on DefaultIcon in the left panel Double click on DefaultIcon right panel Type in the value for the new icon Note: DLL files can be used. Specify the location of the new icon with the filename, # Change your 3D-objects Highlight and shadow of 3D-objects are set by default in dependence of the button face. Go to /HKEY_CURRENT_USER /Control Panel /Colors and edit the corresponding Names changing RGB Data. Perhaps you want to swap highlight and shadow for "negative" buttons - who knows? Screen saver corners You can make your screen saver use activation/deactivation corners. open regedit open HKEY_CURRENT_USER open software open microsoft open windows open current version click on Screen savers add a new string value name it Mouse Corners edit value to equal "-Y-N" (no quotes) Now when you position your mouse cursor in the upper right hand corner of the screen, the screen saver will immediately activate, likewise, if you position the mouse in the lower left hand corner of the screen, the screen saver will not activate, even after it has been sitting for longer than the time specified. This is very useful to keep your screen saver from activating when doing disk utilities like defragment, and scan disk. Bitmap as Icon Instead of the Paint program icon to which BMP files are registered, you can have a small thumbnail of the actual file! It makes sorting and viewing BMP's super easy. Open regedit and Find Paint.Picture or whichever program BMP's are registered to. Add a New Key under Paint.Picture, "DefaultIcon". In the right pane, change the Default Value (by double clicking it) to "%1". %1 tells Windows the default icon for this file type is in the file itself. Since there is no icon in a BMP file, Windows95 makes a small preview image of the BMP for the icon. Unabridged version of Tips and Tricks for Windows 95 copyright © 1995 - 2001 Hanar Software, all rights reserved. Tips and Tricks for Windows 95 Abridged Internet Edition copyright © 1997-2001, Hanar Software and William Foard Publishing, all rights reserved. AmericaToday.com copyright © 1995 - 2001 William Foard Publishing. Microsoft, MS, Windows, and the Windows logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft Corporation in no way endorses or is affiliated with Tips and Tricks for Windows 95. All other trademarks are the sole property of their respective owner(s).