By the way, you have something called the ClipBook
Viewer lurking around on your Windows disk just
waiting to be pressed into service. (Windows for
Workgroups veterans, this is the same thing you've
used in the past.) ClipBook lets you store
frequently pasted items like text blocks or graphics
for multiple pastings into documents. Insert your
Windows CD and browse down to \OTHER\CLIPBOOK. The
file name is CLIPBRD.EXE. You can install it by
going through Control Panel, clicking into
Add/Remove Programs, selecting the Windows Setup
tab, clicking Have Disk, and clicking "Browse."
Navigate your way to X:\OTHER\CLIPBOOK (X: being
your CD drive letter), and you'll see CLIPBRD.INF on
the File Name line. Click OK twice, choose ClipBook
Viewer under Components, and click Install. Now
ClipBook Viewer is accessible under the Accessories
menu. ClipBook is divided into two sections: the
Clipboard, which displays the last item you copied,
and the Local ClipBook, which stores everything you
want to keep for future pasting. It's easy to select
an item for storage in the Local ClipBook, just cut
or copy the item you want pasted, open ClipBook, and
in the Local ClipBook, click the Paste icon. Give
the item a name and you're done. To paste that item
into a document, open ClipBook, select the item in
Local ClipBook, click the Copy icon, go back into
the document, and choose Paste. Easy. ClipBook also
gives you multiple viewing options in case you get
lost in the jungle of items you've included. You can
preview ClipBook pages by double-clicking a page and
scrolling up and down with the arrows in the lower
left corner. You can also view multiple pages by
selecting View, Thumbnail for mini-reviews of your
pages. When you're done there, just choose View,
Table of Contents to get back to the default view.
Do you see Dial-Up Networking in your Accessories
menu? If you do, you can use it to access other
files on another PC via a modem. Better get the guy
who owns the other computer to help you set this up.
You can also use Direct Cable Connection (in
Accessories) to connect another PC to yours with a
cable to access files. Don't have either one? You
probably don't miss them, either, do you? Same with
another little goodie you could use if you had two
or more PCs connected via cable or modem,
HyperTerminal. If you haven't used them by now, you
probably don't need them. (Occasionally an Internet
provider uses DUN or HyperTerminal to link you to
their services. They will tell you how to set your
PC.)
You can use another Accessory, Phone Dialer, to make
your PC's fingers do the walking. You can store up
to 8 phone numbers in "speed-dial" and with a single
mouse click, your PC will dial the number for you.
You'll still need to pick up the phone and do the
talking.
There's a few tricks you can do with the mundane but
useful Calculator app. You can cut or copy&paste any
number in the display box with the usual shortcuts (Ctrl+C,
Ctrl+X, Ctrl+V). You can also access the Scientific
version by going through View and selecting the
appropriate choice.
While checking out ScanDisk and Disk Defragmenter,
you see some other System Tools that look
intriguing. Inbox Repair Tool tries to fix damaged
files received via MS Exchange. Net Watcher lets you
view the connections currently made to your PC by
your LAN. Resource Meter monitors the system
resources currently being used by whatever apps
you're running. System Monitor lets you goggle at
all kinds of charts that detail various aspects of
your computer's performance, and you can save the
results to a text log if you like. While the Win 95
version of System Monitor is pretty limited, the
98/ME version gives dozens of performance
statistics, and the XP versions provides more than
any of us need. One of the best ways to use System
Monitor is to keep an eye on performance as you add
and remove hardware and software: this can alert you
to which components may need tuning up or replacing.
A KB article at support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q310419
is worth reading for XP users who may be
experiencing memory leaks.
Another Accessory that some people find useful is
the System Resource Meter. It lets you track System,
User, and GDI resources as they're being used. The
downside to this little beastie is that it is a
major resource hog itself, and the information it
provides is sketchy and not always useful. Plenty of
shareware and freeware utilities out there do a
better job without sucking up so much of your system
resources.
WordPad is a useful and often-overlooked little
goodie, a "junior" word processor that combines much
of NotePad's simplicity with the options and
features of a more fleshed-out word processor. It
doesn't rival, say, MS Word, but it isn't far off
from the version found in MS Works, and it's free.
Here's a few things to help you get more out of
WordPad. If you want to set a tab, the easiest way
is to use the Ruler (go through View and check
Ruler) -- double-click where you want the tab to go
and WordPad sets the tab. Insert the date and time
wherever your cursor is in your document by going
through Insert, Date and Time, and choosing the
format. Insert an object (a graphic, another
document file, etc.; your choices vary depending on
what's on your machine) the same way, except go
through Insert, Object.
Moving text in WordPad is easier than the usual
cut&paste. Just select the text and drag it to its
new location. As you move the cursor, you'll see a
little box underneath it, showing that the text is
being moved.
You can save text files in Wordpad under just about
any reasonable format -- for example, I originally
typed this page in Wordpad and saved it under an .HTM
file designation. The default is usually .DOC, which
seems to be proprietary for MS Word. .RTF (Rich Text
Format) is another choice, and useful for documents
which may be used in different word processors, as
the formatting usually remains the same whether
displayed in Word, Wordpad, or WordPerfect. .TXT is
good old ASCII, plain text -- useful for files that
don't need formatting. .TXT - MS-DOS Format is even
more basic than .TXT. Unicode is for documents
written to display a variety of foreign languages
and technical symbols, and won't be used by the vast
majority of us. (Those who do use it, couldn't live
without it.)
Most applications offer the commands necessary to
change their default directories. For example, in
Microsoft Word, you can select Tools, Options, click
the File Locations tab, and so on. However,
applications such as Notepad and Wordpad require you
to make the change on the shortcut level, as
follows: First, locate the shortcut you use to open
a program. (If the shortcut is on the Start menu,
right-click Start, select Open, then locate the
shortcut in the Start Menu window.) Right-click the
shortcut, select Properties, and in the resulting
dialog box, click the Shortcut tab. On the Start In
line, type the path of the folder you'd like the
program to use as the default, then click OK. From
now on--assuming you use that shortcut to open the
application--selecting File, Open inside the program
will point you to the specified folder.
Notepad is a handy little text editor that some of
us like to ignore. Don't. For one, it always writes
in straight, no-frills ASCII text, which makes it
ideal for writing batch and system files. For
another, it only uses a tiny bit of system
resources, which comes in handy when you want to
take notes or annotate something, and other apps are
sucking your system dry. To make it not print the
document's name at the top of every page, choose
Page Setup from the File menu, look for an odd code
phrase in the Header, and delete it. Lose the
automatic page numbering by clearing the Footer box.
And don't forget, Notepad doesn't print WYSIWYG
(What You See is What You Get), but according to the
page margins delineated in Page Setup, so your print
jobs may come out very strange until you fix the
margins.
You can write a short .INF file in Notepad to clear
your Start, Run dialog box from old instructions.
Open Notepad and create a file called CLEANRUN.INF
-- make sure it contains precisely these lines:
Save
this file directly to your C: folder, or wherever
else you'd like to store it. Now, to clear Run's
history list, just right-click CLEANRUN.INF from
inside Explorer and choose "Install" from the pop-up
menu. Restart Windows and you've cleared the
listings.
Microsoft Magnifier is a little tool that makes the
screen more readable for the visually impaired. The
magnifier creates a separate window that displays a
magnified image of a portion of your screen. When
you open the utility, the dialog box enables you to
determine the necessary degree of magnification; you
also use the dialog box to turn the feature on and
off.
HyperTerminal is a communications utility that some
users mistakenly believe has outlived its
usefulness. True, back in the old days of The Well
and MCIMail, HyperTerminal and its more-or-less
defunct brethren Procomm Plus and Smartcomm were
necessary for connecting to the Internet; nowadays,
these communications programs aren't necessary for
Web browsing, downloading files, or e-mail. But,
don't delete HyperTerminal off your drive just yet.
Your Web browser can't communicate directly with
your modem, for one, and HyperTerminal gives you a
two-way conduit to talk directly to your modem,
usually to send an AT command to the thing to
unsnarl functions. (See your modem's manual or a
real live techie for the lowdown on AT commands.)
Additionally, HyperTerminal may come into play when
you want to launch Telnet.
Microsoft Fax sounds useful, and it is. After all,
what does the fax machine at work do but digitize
data and send it over the world's communications
line, same as your Internet connections? It's
relatively complicated to set up, but the onboard
wizards guide you through the setup; once you're up
and running, you can send whatever data you like (as
long as a fax machine will recognize it). Find it
under Accessories. Another way to set it up is
through the Inbox icon on your Desktop. Double-click
Inbox, choose Tools, Microsoft Fax Tools, Options,
click the Modem tab, and in the Modem dialog box,
click to select your fax modem. Confirm your
decisions and look for the little fax icon to appear
in your System Tray next to your clock. Win ME
users, the old MS Fax program that came with older
versions of Windows won't work with Millennium.
Set MS Fax to answer your phone for incoming faxes
by setting the number of rings that the program
waits before beginning reception. You can set MS Fax
to operate manually, which lets you click to answer
the fax or ignore the command and pick up the phone
(unfortunately, there is no signal telling you if
you're receiving a fax or a voice call). You can
also set MS Fax to ignore all incoming calls, but
remain ready to send faxes as you choose. All of
these settings are in the Fax Properties dialog box.
And, if you choose Receive a Fax from the
Accessories Start menu, MS Fax will continue to be
receptive to incoming faxes. If you want to set
redialing parameters, go through the Fax Properties
Dialing page.
Win 98 users may not have MS Fax installed on their
machines. It's there, but not part of the Typical
install. To install it, find and run the AWFAX.EXE
program on your Win 98 CD in the folder
TOOLS\OLDWIN95\MESSAGE\US. For more information,
read the WMSFAX.TXT file in the
TOOLS\OLDWIN95\MESSAGE\ folder, and/or visit the
Microsoft Knowledge Base article at
support.microsoft.com/support/kb/
article/Q196/6/24.asp. If you already have a
version of Outlook installed, uninstall it, install
Fax, and reinstall Outlook. As noted above, MS Fax
doesn't work with Millennium. Win ME users will need
to find and install a third-party fax program that's
compatible with their OS. (Why? Microsoft is trying
its best to get away from the old MS Fax program and
focus completely on Outlook, which has a fax utility
built in.)
Paint is a widely used accessory that only
recognizes and uses .BMP (bitmap) graphics files.
Win 3.x users remember Paintbrush, the predecessor
to Paint, and remember that it handled .PCX files.
How to make Windows 95 handle old .PCX files? First,
copy the PBRUSH.EXE, PBRUSH.DLL, and PBRUSH.HLP
files from your Win 3.x files to your Windows 95
hard drive. Now copy EXPAND.EXE from your Win 95
installation CD, or from Disk 2 of the floppy set.
Use this command: EXPAND A:PBRUSH.EX_ C:\WINDOWS\PBRUSH.EXE
to expand Paintbrush. Now you can use Paintbrush to
handle those .PCX graphics. Win 98 users, I wouldn't
swear that this works for you, but there's no harm
in trying.
Speaking of MS Paint, it's not a bad graphics
program -- its main limitation is that it only
creates large, unwieldy .BMP files. One thing Paint
does, however, is support OLE -- Object Linking and
Embedding. If you're using another OLE-compatible
app, say, WordPad or MSWord, you can "embed" a
Paint-created .BMP file in your document with a
minimum of fuss. The linking remains, so if you
change the .BMP file later, the copy in the document
changes, also.
Clipboard Viewer is another little goodie that often
gets ignored. It's a simple little thing; all it
does is show you what's been pasted to the
Clipboard. It has very limited functionality, i.e.
if you want to print your Clipboard's contents,
you'll need to paste them into the appropriate kind
of app (i.e. Notepad or Word for text, Paint or
another graphics program for graphics, etc.) and
print from there. Find it under Accessories, System
Tools.
Clipboard Viewer normally handles the conversion of
data formats. If you want to influence how the
Clipboard's copied data turns out, you can see your
options in the Display menu. Any grayed-out choices
aren't available. Go back to the Auto option if
you've played with the others and want to turn the
decision back over to the Viewer.
Most people's first timid steps into Windows
involved firing up one of the little games that came
along with the package: Solitaire, Hearts,
Minesweeper, and FreeCell. But a few unlucky users
never get to play these, because whoever installed
their copy of Windows didn't bother to install the
games. Here's how to do it yourself. First, go into
Control Panel and click Add/Remove Software. Click
the Windows Setup Tab. Double-click Accessories (in
the Components list). Click the Games checkbox.
Click OK twice. Slide your Windows CD or diskette
into the drive bay and presto, you're good to go.
And speaking of Windows Setup, that's the place to
go to find out exactly what has and what hasn't been
installed on your particular system. It's not
exactly user-friendly, though. You may find it
easier to visit support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q123/8/76.asp
and read the listings for the various components
there. Listings for Typical, Custom, and Portable
settings are all available. Unfortunately, the
listing is only for Win 95.
Win ME users can access the System Information tool
from the Accessories, System Tools menu. Lots of
useful info here, boys and girls, but a large and
slow app -- you don't want to do much else while
this beastie does its thing, since it sucks up an
unwarranted amount of system resources. You can also
access several useful items from the Tools menu of
System Information, including the vaunted System
Restore function, the Registry Checker (a Registry
cleaner and optimization tool), the System
Configuration Utility (useful for tracking down
problems), and the Automatic Skip Driver Agent,
which causes Windows to skip over loading a
designated driver when it starts up -- useful if you
suspect a driver of causing problems. Remember,
these items are highly useful, but dangerous in the
wrong hands. Go slow. A faster, and safer, way to
access basic system info is to go to Start, Run, and
type MSINFO32. You'll get a screen that gives you
all kinds of useful info about your PC and Windows
setup.
Another way to find out about your video cards,
DirectX drivers, sound apps, and more related info
is to go through Start, Run, type DXDIAG, and hit
Enter. The "DirectX Dialog Menu" provides you with a
plethora of useful info. Older Windows users won't
have the DirectX Diagnostic Tool (that's what DXDIAG
is), but they can ascertain their DirectX version by
searching for DXTOOL.EXE and double-clicking the
file to see the version number.
