Windows Watcher

Remember to format the hard drive ... by Tom S. Bair Jr.

Continuing on my quest to tweak and tinker, this Windows Watcher purchased a surplus computer from a well-known thrift store in October. The computer was one of several dozen donated by a county in our state. After getting the computer home, I fired it up for the first time. Imagine how amazed I was not only to discover Windows NT Workstation 4.0 installed on the hard drive, but also the portal with IDs and passwords for the county's network.

I quickly formatted the hard drive and installed Windows 98 SE on it. So the county is safe from one purchaser of their surplus computers. But what of the other several dozen buyers of the donated computers? And how did the county slip up and not format the hard drives in these computers before shipping them?

With Christmas and other gift-giving holidays this month, many readers will be getting new computers. Some will be selling or donating their old computers. If you are doing either, remember to format the hard drive. You wouldn't want a stranger reading your old e-mail or looking at your bills and account numbers. Don't forget your automated password entry for your dial-up ISP. Just think of the headaches a certain county must be going through right now, and make sure you don't do the same.

Show All Files in Explorer

[W95][W98] Several readers have notified me of a problem with Windows Explorer. Microsoft coded Windows Explorer to hide certain files on the hard drive. This keeps the average user from deleting vital system files and causing the computer to crash. However, there is a way to change this so that you can see all of the files. Just be careful not to fulfill Microsoft's nightmare by deleting the wrong files.

1. Right-click on the 'My Computer' icon on the desktop.
2. Left-click on 'Explore' in the resulting menu.
3. Left-click on 'View'.
4. Left-click on 'Folder Options' (called 'Options' in Windows 95).
5. Left-click on the 'View' tab at the top.
6. In the 'Advanced settings' window, click on the radio button next to "show all files".
7. Windows 98 users should click on the 'Like Current Folder' button. (Win95 users skip this step.)
8. Click on the OK button.
9. Exit "Exploring - My Computer" either by selecting File|Exit, or clicking on the 'X' box in the upper right corner of the screen.

Print a Folder Listing

[W95][W98][NT] A quick and easy way to print out a listing of contents in your folder is to go through DOS.

1. Left-click the 'Start' button.
2. Highlight 'Programs' and click on 'MS-DOS Prompt'.
3. At the Command Prompt (which most often looks like "C:\>"), type DIR > PRN.
4. Press the 'Enter' key. The contents of the directory are sent to the printer.
5. Type EXIT at the Command Prompt to return to Windows.

There is a problem with the use of extended file names. If you want a printed listing of the 'Program Files' folder, you have to enter

DIR C:\PROGRA~1\ >PRN.

Otherwise, if you attempt to enter

DIR C:\PROGRAM FILES\ >PRN

you get an error message stating "Too many parameters - Files\".

It seems that even DOS 7 does not handle extended file names all too well. You will first need to know the hyphenated name of the folder before you can print its directory listing.

Print Contents of Folders

[W95][W98] For a while now, I've been going nuts tinkering with the Registry, trying to get a Print command for folders. Along comes a fellow computerist in Virginia with the answer. Joe Locke showed me how to place a command in the Registry to do what I wanted. Now I'll share that trick with you. Because this tip involves modifying the Registry, don't perform the steps below unless you are familiar with editing the System Registry.

1. Left-click on 'Start'.
2. Click on 'Run'.
3. Type 'Regedit' in the dialog box.
4. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT|Directory|Shell.
5. Right-click on 'Shell', select 'New', and then 'Key'.
6. Name the new key "Print" and press the Enter key. Now right-click on the new key you named 'Print' and select 'New' and then 'Key'.
7. Name this new key "Command" and press Enter. In the right pane of Registry Editor, right-click on '(Default)'.
8. Select 'Modify', and in the Edit String dialog box, type the following: "C:\Windows\command.com /k cd %1 | dir > lpt1". Be sure to watch your spacing when typing in this command. Miss one space and the command will fail to function. For your reference, the spaces are located in the following places within the command. "C:\Windows\command.com(space)/k(space)cd(space)%1(space)|(space)dir(space)> (space)lpt1".
9. Exit Regedit.
10. Reboot your computer.

To use this new trick, simply right-click on any folder in Windows Explorer and select 'Print' from the pop-up command menu. Many thanks to Joe for his assistance.

Quick Format a Floppy

[W95][W98] If you have a floppy disk loaded with unwanted files, do a quick format and reuse it.

1. Insert the disk in your floppy drive.
2. Double click on 'My Computer' icon.
3. Right-click the floppy drive icon.
4. In the Command menu that pops up, click on 'Format'.
5. Click on the radio button next to 'Quick (erase)'.
6. If you wish to label the disk, then enter a name of up to 11 characters in the 'Label' dialog box.
7. Click on the 'Start' button to begin the process.
8. Wait for a message to appear informing you that the format is complete, and click on 'Close'.

What if you suspect that a disk may have bad sectors on it, or you want to use a Macintosh formatted disk on your PC? Then do a full format of the disk. Follow the steps above, but modify step 5 to:

5. Click on the radio button next to 'Full' in the format type selection. Now the disk will be fully formatted and checked for errors.

Adjusting Double-click speed

[W95][W98] Many new users have complained about having to double-click an item more than once to get it to respond. They think that the PC is faulty, or that a virus is hampering them: Some even consider the possibility that Windows is glitchy. Possibly, they may only need to adjust their double-click speed. Below are the instructions I e-mail to readers who report experiencing this problem.

1. Click on the 'Start' button.
2. Highlight 'Settings' and click on 'Control Panel'.
3. Locate and double-click on the Mouse icon.
4. Under the 'Double-click Speed' section of the 'Buttons' tab, move the lever to Slow.
5. Now double-click on the Jack-in-the-box icon in the Test area. If Jack appears and disappears from the box when you double-click, you have successfully adjusted your double-click speed. If Jack does not perform as stated, then adjust your lever again. Repeat this step until you are happy with the click rate.
6. Click on the 'OK' button.
7. Exit Control Panel.

Keyboard shortcuts

[W95] [W98] Paul Johnston wanted to know if there were any "keyboard shortcuts for the icons on the right side of an (open) Windows' title bar". He is speaking of the three icon commands: Minimize, Restore, and Close.

1. Press and hold down the [Alt] key.
2. Hit the [Spacebar].
3. Press: The [R] key to Restore the window. The [N] key to miNimize the window. The [C] key to Close the window.

Start Menu programs Update

[W95] [W98] In my September 1999 column, I described a 7-step process to remove any items from the Start menu. Gawain Stern of Accuspeed Consulting wrote to describe a quicker method.

1. Click on the Start button.
2. Highlight 'Programs', and hover over the item you would like to remove.
3. Right-click on the item. Left-click on 'Delete' in the pop-up menu.

Gawain also says, "Notice how you can create, copy, move, rename, delete items in this fashion. Also you may drag, right-drag, copy, cut, and paste start menu items now."

I'd like to thank Gawain for sharing his improvement with us. His method will also remove any programs in the Start up folder.

Web Site Trace Route

[W95] [W98] I was curious to find out how many Internet servers I had to go through to get from my ISP to Computer Bits Online, so I used a program called Trace Route, which comes with Windows 95/98. To use, follow these steps:

1. Connect to your ISP (Internet Service Provider).
2. Click the 'Start' button, highlight 'Programs', and click on 'MS-DOS Prompt'.
3. Type "tracert" (without the quotation marks).
4. Hit the [Space bar].
5. Type in the URL of the site you want to trace (for example, www.computerbits.com).
6. Press [Enter] key.

If you want your results printed out, then add a space after the URL and type ">lpt1" (without the quotation marks) in step #5.

It took 15 jumps for me to connect to Computer Bits Online from JPSnet (my ISP). This tool is also useful if you ever get the dreaded "Page not found" error. Tracert will show you if any of the servers in the chain are down, preventing your access to the site.

Modem Handshake Time

[W95] [W98] If you are frequently being disconnected while dialing in to your ISP or sending faxes, try this tip to improve your handshake time:

1. Click the 'Start' button.
2. Highlight 'Settings' and click on 'Control Panel'.
3. Double-click on the 'Modems' icon.
4. Click on 'Properties'.
5. Click on the 'Connection' tab.
6. Click the 'Advanced' button.
7. In the text box under "Extra Settings", type in "S10=50" (without the quotation marks).
8. Click on the 'OK' button, then click the next 'OK' button.
9. Click the 'Close' button.
10. Exit 'Control Panel'.

This added setting will force your modem to remain online for up to five seconds without being connected to a carrier. This should be just the amount of time needed to reestablish (handshake) the connection.

Year One

This column celebrates its one year anniversary this issue. I have no profound words to write concerning this milestone. I can only thank all of the readers who have supported this column through its successes and failures. I owe a great debt of gratitude to Audrey Walton, who advised me that I would do well to keep the readers in mind.

With that said, and with a tear cursing down the left side of my cheek, my wife Laura and I would like to wish you a joyous holiday season. It's the last one of this century, and we hope it will be special for you. Now if you will excuse me, I want to get to the tree. There's this present for me ... it shakes like a laptop would.