Windows Watcher

I'll bet my wife would divorce me if ... by Tom S. Bair Jr.

Laptop theft is swiftly becoming as common as car theft. Laptops are easier to conceal, and they can be liquidated quickly for a nice profit. Manufacturers are taking steps to attempt to protect the laptop from being stolen, but progress is slow.

A common security feature in many laptops today is a motion alarm. Once activated, if the laptop is disturbed before the owner disables the alarm system, it will emit a piercing siren similar to those on automobiles. Because accidental activation is such a pain, though, most owners are reluctant to activate the alarm -- much to the thief's delight.

My recommendation for laptop owners is to use iSpy by Lexent Technologies. Once activated, it sends a signal to a module connected to your keychain if your laptop is disturbed. This works like the motion alarm and is less intrusive to the tranquility of your environment. Again, the weak link in this protection device is the human factor. Even when setting the laptop down for a moment, the owner must be diligent in activating the alarm.

Better yet would be a laptop with the alarm built right into the motherboard. When the alarm is turned on, if the operator does not enter the correct PIN (personal identification number) at the boot prompt, the laptop will activate its internal GPS tracking device. This would transmit the laptop's serial number and location. The police could then zero in on the laptop and recover it.

The only problem with this idea is that the owner would have to memorize the laptop's PIN. It would also add some cost. Is the public willing to pay it? How long would it take for a hardware hacker to disable the tracking device?

Personally, I'd like to install a small thermonuclear device inside my laptop which would detonate if my keyring became too distant to be detected by the laptop. Say five miles apart, and boom! I'd be willing to bet my wife would divorce me the first time I left home without my laptop, though. I'm sure each of you can remember forgetting to take something with you when leaving the house, right? Imagine my surprise, and my wife's anger on returning home to a rather large crater where our humble abode once rested. And the neighbors! Bet they would be more than just a bit miffed, eh? I suppose this solution to laptop theft is better left in my dreams.

Disable Task Scheduler

[W98][98SE] I showed you how to do this for Windows 95 in the June 1999 issue of Computer Bits. I will now show you an easier way to disable the Task Scheduler in Windows 98 and Second Edition.

1. Double-click the Task Scheduler icon in the System Tray.
2. In the resulting window, click on 'Advanced'.
3. Click on "Stop Using Task Scheduler" in the pop-up menu.
4. Close the Scheduled Tasks window by clicking on 'File' and 'Exit'.

Not only will the icon disappear, but the program also will no longer automatically load at startup.

Delete MSN Desktop Icon

[W98][98SE] In Windows 95 you could not delete the "Set Up The Microsoft Network" desktop icon without editing the Registry. Windows 98 makes it easier to remove the unwanted icon.

1. Just place your cursor over the icon and right-click it.
2. Click on 'Delete' in the pop-up menu.
3. Click on the 'Yes' button to confirm that you really do wish to remove it.

If you someday decide you want MSN access, you can still set up MSN by:

1. Clicking on the 'Start' button.
2. Highlight 'Programs'.
3. Highlight 'Online Services'.
4. Click on 'The Microsoft Network'.

Move Files In Explorer

[W95] Nancy Burris often moves files from one hard drive to another using Windows Explorer. Yet she has discovered that rather than moving a file, Explorer only copies it while leaving the original in place. So she must take the extra step of going back to the first drive and deleting the original file. She asks if there is a way to have Explorer just move the file from one drive to another? Yes, there is.

1. Hold down the Shift key.
2. Click and drag the file to the other hard drive.

If you want to move a file to a different folder on the same hard drive, you do not need to hold down the Shift key. For some reason unknown to the world, Microsoft figured people would not want more than one copy of a file on the same hard drive. If you find yourself needing to copy a file from one folder to another on the same hard drive, do this:

1. Hold down the Ctrl key.
2. Click and drag the file to the other folder.

Fixing Network Data Loss

[W95][W98][98SE] Are you experiencing trouble with losing data over a network connection? Before you start replacing network cards and cables, try this trick first.

1. Click on the 'Start' button.
2. Highlight 'Settings' and click on 'Control Panel'.
3. Double-click on the System icon.
4. Click on the 'Performance' tab.
5. Click on the 'File System' button.
6. Click on the 'Troubleshooting' tab.
7. Click on the square check box to the left of "Disable write-behind caching for all drives".
8. Click on the 'Apply' button.
9. Click on the 'OK' buttons to close all the open menus.
10. Exit 'Control Panel' and reboot.

Speed Up CD Access

[W95][W98] During the course of working on older computers that only have a double-speed CD-ROM drive, I perform the below nine steps to make the old CD run faster. If you have a double-speed CD in your computer, try this:

1. Right-click on the 'My Computer' icon.
2. Click on 'Properties'.
3. Click on the 'Performance' tab.
4. Click on the 'File System' button.
5. Click on the 'CD-ROM' tab.
6. Click on the down-arrow to the right of the box next to "Optimize access pattern for:" and select 'Quad Speed or Higher' in the drop-down list.
7. Click on the 'Apply' button.
8. Click on the 'OK' button.
9. Click on the 'Yes' button to restart your computer.

Line Up Icons To Right

[W95][W98][98SE] Alan Bailey asks, "Is there any way to have my desktop icons line up to the right side of my screen? Following one of your tips, I've placed a picture of my infant son on my desktop as wallpaper, and he appears on the left quarter of my screen. I'd like to keep my icons off him, if possible".

You can do this in the following steps. But first, you need to ensure that the Auto Arrange option is turned off.

1. Right-click on an empty area of your desktop and highlight 'Arrange Icons' in the shortcut menu.
2. A pop-up menu will appear. You will see 'Auto Arrange' at the bottom. If it has a checkmark next to it, click on it to remove the checkmark. Otherwise, left-click on an empty area of your desktop to exit the shortcut menu.

You can now proceed to the task of putting all the icons as a group to the right side of your desktop.

1. Single-click on any desktop icon. (If you have single-click enabled, then just highlight the icon until its description is underlined).
2. Press Ctrl-A to highlight all your desktop icons.
3. Left-click and drag all your icons to the right side of your desktop.
4. Left-click on an empty space of your desktop to deactivate the Ctrl-A function.
5. Right-click the desktop and left-click the 'Line Up Icons' in the shortcut menu.

Whenever new desktop icons are added, just repeat step 5 to line them all up to the right side. If you ever need to return to a left-side line up, repeat this procedure and in step 3, drag the icons to the left.

Find Function Hot Key

[W95][W98][98SE] I've been asked by a few readers if there is a faster way to access the Find function. Can they put a shortcut on their desktop to activate it?

Actually, it would be better to simply press the F3 key from the desktop. Doing so brings up the "Find: All Files" window. This is much quicker than clicking on Start|Find|Files or Folders. This hot key will also work in any Explorer window.

Reduce Start Menu Size

[W98][98SE] As time passes, you add more applications and folders to your PC, and most of these additions also place shortcuts into your Start menu. Next thing you know, an arrow appears at the top or bottom of your Start menu so you can scroll up or down to the entries that don't fit in the menu box.

By making your Start menu smaller, you reduce the amount of scrolling needed to get to your shortcuts which are off the menu. You also rid yourself of the Windows 98 bar running up the left side of the Start menu.

1. Right-click on a blank area of your TaskBar.
2. Left-click on 'Properties'.
3. Click on the square check box next to "Show small icons in Start menu".
4. Click the 'OK' button.

Removing the Blink in Cursor

[W95][W98] Last month I showed you how to adjust your cursor blink rate. But you cannot stop it from blinking, you can only make it flash real slow. Since then I have received e-mail from Eric Schroeder stating, "...you can actually set the cursor not to blink at all, but you have to hack the registry. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER|Control Panel|desktop and set the key 'CursorBlinkRate' to 0. After you reboot the cursor won't blink, but sometimes it will disappear".

I have tried Eric's suggestion and found that it does work. It also causes the cursor to disappear at the oddest times, but by tapping the Ctrl key you can bring it back. Any ideas out there why the cursor disappears?