Miscellaneous Computer Miscrosoft Windows 98 Operating System Tips,Tricks & Tweaks Collection

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You are here:-> Home -> Tips -> Computer -> Softwares -> Operating System -> Miscosoft -> Windows -> 98 -> Miscellaneous

Some are valid for Windows ME as well

Internet Address Time Saver

If you right-click your taskbar, choose the "toolbars" option, and select
"Address" you will get a new item on the taskbar that allows you to type in
any URL (on the Internet, your hard drive, or a network share) and
automatically open that page or folder.
This saves the steps of having to open your web browser, then type the address
in.

Instant System Properties

If you have a "Windows" keyboard with the special "Windows Key" on it, you can
hit the <WinKey>+<Pause/Break> to instantly open the System Properties dialog
box. This saves you the extra step of going to the Start Menu and opening the
Control Panel, then clicking on the System Icon.

Easier Minimizing

With Windows 98 or Internet Explorer 4.x/5.x you can minimize almost any open
window by simply clicking on its depressed button in the taskbar.

Full vs. Windowed DOS Prompt

If you are working at a DOS Prompt (command line) from within Windows, you can
easily switch between full-screen and Windowed mode by simply pressing
<Alt>+<Enter> at the same time.

New Quick Launch Toolbars

Drag any folder or any item from the desktop (e.g. My Computer, Recycle Bin,
Network Neighborhood, Control Panel icon etc.) to the edge of the screen and
release. You get a Single Click Quick Launch Toolbar with all the icons inside
it.

Faster Network Settings Adjustments

Instead of going through Start, Settings, Control Panel, Network, you can
shorten the keystroke by right-clicking on Network Neighborhood and selecting
Properties.

Cascading Control Panel

To cascade the Control Panel applets off your Start Menu:
1. Right-click on the Start button and select Open.
2. Create a new folder and call it
Quick Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}
Don't forget the period in the folder name!

Read News Only Using Outlook Express

If you start Outlook Express (msimn.exe) using the /outnews switch, it will
act as a newsreader only. A handy way is to create a shortcut that points to:
msimn.exe /outnews

Start Menu on the Fly

You can right click on any item in the start menu and move it, copy it, delete
it, and even change its properties. The only thing you can't do is rename it
if you are running Internet Explorer 4.01 or below. If you have Internet
Explorer 5.0 or higher, you can right click to rename as well.

Rename Items in Start Menu

This is directly related to the last tip. If you right click on an item in the
start menu/toolbar, there is no 'rename' option if you have Internet Explorer
4.01 or earlier. To rename an item:
1. Left-click drag the item in question to the desktop.
2. Rename the new item on the desktop whatever you want.
3. Right-click drag the newly-renamed item back to its previous location and
choose 'Move here'.

Screen Capture Win98

You don't need a fancy graphics program to get a screenshot of what's on your
computer. If you are in any windows based program, just hit the print screen
key on your keyboard and you have a full screenshot. Paste it into Paint or
any other Windows based graphics program.

Rename Win98's Recycle Bin

To add the rename option to the right-click menu for the Recycle Bin create a
new text file and add the following:

-----Begin cut & paste here-----
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ShellFolder]
"Attributes"=hex:50,01,00,20

------End cut & paste here------

Rename the file extension to .reg rather then text then run the file and it
will add the above registry key.
Right click on the Recycle Bin and Rename it.

Capture Current Window Only

Hightlight one window on the desktop and hit Print Screen while holding down
the ALT key and it captures only that one window to the clipboard instead of
the entire desktop.

Setup Duplicate Installations of Win98

When installing Win98 will generate a SETUPLOG file in the root of your boot
partition (C:\). This file can then be used to set up identical machines in
batch mode using the SETUPLOG as an input file.

Hide The Startup Group

This tip appears courtesty of Matt Foster.
"Hi, I found your Windows 98 Tips and Tricks file really useful, and I thought
that you might be interested to know my tip. I never use the StartUp folder,
but Win98 won't allow it to be deleted, so by right clicking it and selecting
properties I changed its attributes to hidden, and stopped it being displayed,
however, this doesn't stop any programs in it from being run.
I hope you find this useful."
NOTE: You must have Windows Explorer configured NOT to show hidden and system
files for this to hide the Startup Group from your Programs Menu off of the
Start button.

Solving Floppy Drive Problems In Win98

Several people have reported floppy drive problems since upgrading to or
installing Windows 98, even when the floppy drives worked perfectly under
Windows 95 or previous versions of Windows and MS-DOS. This tip might help if
you are having problems.
Right-click on My Computer on the desktop. Click on Properties, then
Performance. Then click on File System. Click on Floppy Disk and if there is a
check in "Search for New Floppy Drives Each Time Your Computer Starts" remove
it. Then click on Removable Disk and make sure write-back caching is not
checked. This may also help with Zip Drives and other removable media such as
tape backup, Jazz, and other non-hard drives and CD-ROM/DVD drives.

Stop Programs From Loading at Startup

Everyone at one time or another, has probably installed a program that insists
on loading itself on startup, even if it isn't in the Startup group. This
could be due to it loading from WIN.INI or the Windows registry. A good way to
stop specific programs from loading is to use The System Configuration Utility
(MSCONFIG). To run it, click Start, Run, type in "MSCONFIG" (no quotes) and
press ENTER. When it comes up, click on "Startup" and check or uncheck items
you want to load or not to load. This is very useful if you have a program or
programs that you only want to run sometimes or not at all. Then you can
almost always load the program from the Start Menu anyway, or simply re-enable
it to load on Startup again at any time if you change your mind.

Doctor Watson

If you frequently get illegal operation or invalid page fault error messages
in Windows 98, there is a great utility that Microsoft included which you can
use to troubleshoot, find the cause of, and correct those errors to prevent
yourself from getting them again. It also logs all errors so you can report
them to Microsoft or your software program's vendor so that they can fix the
problem. To start this program:
Click Start, Run.
Type "DrWatson" and press ENTER.
An icon for Dr. Watson will appear on your taskbar tray.
Double click it. From here on you can view detailed information about your
Win98 system.
I recommend putting a shortcut to Dr. Watson in your Startup group, especially
if you frequenty experience crashes, as it will automatically log all illegal
operations and invalid page faults/general protection faults that you might
get.

3rd Party AutoScan

If you have Nuts & Bolts or Norton Utilities installed on your system, you can
cause their DOS mode disk repair utilities to run on bootup after a bad
Windows shutdown, instead of ScanDisk. Copy the utility you want to use (e.g.
NDD.EXE or DMDOS.EXE) to your \Windows\Command folder, rename SCANDISK.EXE to
SCANDISK.WIN and then rename the copied file to SCANDISK.EXE.
The next time you boot up after a bad shutdown, your third-party disk scanning
application will run. This can easily be reversed by deleting or renaming
SCANDISK.EXE. More information about configuring this is available from
AXCEL216 on his website at:
http://user.aol.com/axcel216/
listed under the "BYPASS AUTOSCAN" topic online:
http://user.aol.com/axcel216/osr2.htm#BYPASS
and in his OSR2TIPS.TXT file, part of W95-11D.EXE (freeware):
http://user.aol.com/axcel216/95.htm
I recommend reading that before proceeding with this tip.

Search the Web Using Keywords with Internet Explorer

If you type in "go x" in IE 4.x or later (where "x" is any keyword) you can
search for ANYTHING using IE, it will default to Yahoo for searching for that
item that you entered for "X".

Gimme Back My Registry!

To restore the registry in Microsoft Windows 98 do this:
Restart the computer to MS-DOS mode. This can be done by choosing Command
Prompt Only on boot or by clicking Start, Shut Down, Restart the Computer in
MS-DOS mode and clicking "yes" when prompted.
Type:
scanreg /restore
Press ENTER.
Restart your computer. These steps will restore your registry to its state
when you last successfully started your computer.

WIN95/98/NT EASY MIGRATION

Some people like the dual-boot features of Windows 95/98 that let you keep
booting to an existing OS such as Windows 3.x and a previous version of DOS,
myself included.
I found a simple way to migrate your current Windows 3.x apps to Windows 95/98
without losing Windows 3.x and you don't have to reinstall any of your
programs.
All you have to do is make an exact duplicate of your Windows 3.x folder and
all the files and subdirectories within it, and that's usually just your
Windows and Windows\System folders and the files contained in them. Usually it
is less than 10 megabytes so this isn't a problem if you're short on disk
space. All you need to do is make a folder named Win95 or Win98 depending on
which version you are installing. Go into MS-DOS or use the Windows File
Manager program to copy all your files from C:\Windows (substitute your
drive/folder/directory name in place of C:\Windows) and your C:\Windows\System
(same) to your C:\Win95 or C:\Win98 System folder. You will need a
sub-folder/directory in your DUPLICATE COPY of Windows 3.x named "System"
where you copy the old Windows 3.x system files from the Windows 3.x system
subfolder.
Then simply run Windows 95 or Windows 98's installation program and tell it to
install to C:\Win95 or C:\Win98, overwriting your "previous" (actually a copy
of your previous) version of Windows. All of your existing programs and
applications will be automatically ported to Windows 95/98 while still being
accessible in your original copy of Windows 3.x.
This will update the Win95/98 registry and even put the programs into the
Start Menu so you don't have to worry about it. This tip should also work for
Windows NT 4.0 and in the future, NT 5.0.

QUAD OS MACHINE

It is possible to quad-boot Windows 95/98, Windows NT Workstation 4.0, Windows
for Workgroups 3.11, and MS-DOS all on one PC with no special utilities or
third party programs.
Make sure you are using a FAT16 partition on your primary hard drive.
First, install Windows 98 or Windows 95 normally.
Click Start, Shut Down, Restart the Computer. Click Yes.
Once the computer reboots and Win98 or Win95 starts loading, press F8. Choose
"Safe Command Prompt Only."
Take an MS-DOS disk (where "A:" is your floppy drive letter) and type:

attrib a:\msdos.sys -h -s -r
attrib a:\io.sys -h -s -r
attrib a:\command.com -h -s -r
copy a:\msdos.sys c:\msdos.dos
copy a:\io.sys c:\io.dos
copy a:\command.com c:\command.dos
attrib msdos.sys -h -s -r
edit msdos.sys

Make sure it has "BootMulti=1" under "[Options]".
Press ALT + F. Press "S" for save. Press ALT + F. Choose "Exit."
Remove the floppy disk. Power off the PC and after 10 seconds power it back
on. (The ten seconds gives it time to spin down to avoid un-necessary wear and
tear).
Press F4 when Win98 or Win95 starts to load. Windows 95 will say "Starting
Windows 95..." but Windows 98 will not, so be careful to press F4 it at the
right time.
It will load MS-DOS (in my case 6.22). A "DIR" command will reveal that Win98
or Win95's IO.SYS file has been renamed to WINBOOT.SYS and that the Win98 or
Win95 versions of COMMAND.COM and MSDOS.SYS, and AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS
now have the extension ".W40" after them.
Now that you are into MS-DOS, you can install Windows 3.1 or Windows for
Workgroups 3.11 into a folder. Make sure you don't accidentally install it
over Windows98 or Windows 95!!!! I suggest a folder name such as "Win3" or
"Wfw" as the location 3.x version of Windows.
Usually Win98 or Win95 are installed in C:\Windows by default.
Now reboot the computer and let Win95/98 load completely.
Once it's loaded, go to Start, Shut Down, Restart the Computer. Click "Yes."
This is an important step so do not skip it!
It will say "It is now safe to turn off your computer."
At this point, put in your Windows NT Workstation 4.0 setup disk #1.
Restart your computer by pressing reset or ALT CTRL DELETE or by turning the
power off and back on again after 10 seconds have passed.
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 setup will load. Follow on screen instructions. It
will automatically detect that Win95 or Win98 is installed. If it asks
permission to overwrite the Windows 3.x installation tell it "NO".
I suggest installing NT Workstation 4.0 it into the folder C:\WINNT.
Once NT setup is done, the next time you reboot you will get a boot menu
asking if you want to load "Microsoft NT Workstation 4.0", "NT Workstation 4.0
[vga mode]" (similar to Win95 and Win98's safe mode) and "Microsoft Windows".
"Microsoft Windows" actually refers to Windows 98 or Windows 95, not Windows
3.x or Windows for Workgroups.
In System Properties in Windows NT Workstation 4.0, you can easily tell the
PC if you want to boot to NT or 98 or 95 by default and you can even specify
the delay until it automatically loads the default choice (which you can
pick). I set a time of 5 seconds and chose Windows 98 ("Microsoft Windows" as
my default OS).
Now, after rebooting Windows NT Workstation, you can let NT load, OR you can
choose "Microsoft Windows." This sounds a little complicated but is actually
quite simple. If you choose "Microsoft Windows" from the boot menu at startup,
Windows 95 or Windows 98 will start to load normally. You can let it proceed
by not doing anything, OR you can press F8 for the normal Win95/98 boot menu
and make yet another choice there, such as Safe Mode, Command Prompt Only,
Previous Version of MS-DOS (such as 6.22 and Win3.x), etc. Or you can just
press F4 when Win95 or Win98 starts to load and it will take you to MS-DOS
and/or Windows 3.x.
I have found that it's okay to use Windows 98's Defrag and Scandisk utilities
on the hard disk as well as NT 4.0's CHKDSK. Try to avoid using MS-DOS and
Windows 3.x based utilities as they don't understand long file names and other
things that are only in 32 bit Windows operating systems. Using Windows 3.x
and MS-DOS based utilities can cause problems for Win95/98 and NT 4.
If you can't find drivers for hardware you need to work with any of the
operating systems, visit the manufacturer's website.

Win98 Logo Bug

A minor cosmetic bug in Windows 98 is as follows:
Right click on desktop, click on "New, Shortcut". The image displayed on the
left side still says "Windows 95."
Microsoft is aware of this and has stated that they will not be fixing it in
Windows 98.

WIN98 CPU INFO

If you have an Intel Pentium, the General tab on the My Computer screen
probably reports that your computer is a GenuineIntel (one word) Pentium(r)
Processor (or something close to that). For more information, open this
Registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Hardware\Description\System\CentralProcessor\0
Double-click on VendorIdentifier and put a space between "Genuine" and "Intel"
on this line. Now reopen the Properties sheet. Underneath the Genuine Intel
line, you’ll see that your CPU is displayed as coming from the "x86 Family X
Model Y Stepping [version] Z," where X, Y, Z are the correct values in your
system. Close the Properties sheet, reopen the Registry key and the same
information will be seen on the Identifier line. Restart Windows 98 and the
default information will be reinstated.

IE 4.0/4.01 Easter Egg

There is an Easter Egg in the final release versions of Internet Explorer
4.0/4.01. To find it, open the IE 4.0/4.01 browser and choose "About Internet
Explorer" from the help menu. The "About" dialog box appears. Hold down the
control key [Ctrl] and click the IE logo in the upper right corner of the
dialog box. With the control key down, you can drag it around the dialog box.
Then move the IE logo over the globe and then to the right, so that it hits
the "Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0" text. If you do it correctly, the text
will move off the right side of the dialog, revealing a button named "Unlock".
Drop the logo that you have been dragging around and click the "Unlock"
button. The globe will start a shaking motion. Pick up the logo again
(Ctrl-click) and drag the it onto the globe. A new dialog box opens and a
scrolling list of credits appears. Enjoy!

Win98 Easter Egg Unleashed

To do this, follow these steps exactly. You must to go from "MEMPHIS, EGYPT"
to "MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE" to "REDMOND, WASHINGTON."
This is done on the time zone map when you double click on the clock in the
tray.
There is a thank you to all Win98 beta testers at the end.
NOTE: You NEED to have kept Welcome.exe (or reinstall it using Control
Panel's Add/Remove Programs applet) and all its files/libraries for this
Easter Egg to work! (This note courtesy of AXCEL216).

Win98 Easter Egg Unleashed - Part 2

When you run the Win98 Easter Egg, a temporary HTML file is placed in the same
folder as Weldata.exe: C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Microsoft\WELCOME.
If you open this folder before running the Easter Egg, and then run the Easter
Egg, the HTML file will be visible for a short time. Now rapidly copy this
file to another folder (since it will be deleted very soon). Then go back and
place WELCOME.WAV in the same folder as the HTML file. This way you can run
the Easter Egg HTML file anytime.

Plus! 98 Easter Egg

Microsoft Plus! 98 add-on has an easter egg.
To see it, do this:
You must have the Deluxe CD Player installed. Open it.
Go to the edit playlist dialog for any song.
Type in "Microsoft Plus! 98 Product Team" for the artist.
Type in "Credits" for the title.
Hold down the CTRL key and click Cancel.
You will see a new root level item in the tree view of the album database
called "Microsoft Plus! 98 Product Team". Expand it to see the team names.

Update Win98 Components

Microsoft has several Windows 98 updates, bug fixes, patches, enhancements,
and add-ons available for download from:
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
You must be running Windows 98 and Internet Explorer 4.01 or higher to utilize
that site.

Move "My Documents"

Windows 98 comes with a "My Documents" folder in the root folder of your hard
drive. By default, it is located at C:\My Documents - but you can change this
if you prefer it to be someplace else. Simply right-click "My Documents" on
your desktop and type in the new location you want Windows 98 to use for it.

Power Management Troubleshooting

Windows 98 includes support for APM (Advanced Power Management) and ACPI
(Advanced Configuration and Power Interface). While this may or may not work
on many systems, this tip is for use on systems where Win98's power management
is not working properly.
If you see a "Standby" option when you load the shut-down menu in Windows 98,
chances are that your system supports one of the two standards. Microsoft has
recommended that users close all programs, including virus scanners,
utilities, and other applications if the system is not suspending or resuming
properly. They have also suggested that users upgrade to the latest version of
their system BIOS (your vendor has more information). If you have APM support,
but the system isn't suspending/resuming properly, try these steps, rebooting
after testing each one:
1. Right-click on "My Computer" and choose "Properties."
Click "Device Manager" and then click the plus sign next to "System Devices"
in the list. Click on "Advanced Power Management support" and then click
"Properties." Next, click on "Settings" and then place a check in "Force APM
1.0 mode."
Close "Device Manager" and reboot your system.
Once it has loaded back up, close any programs that launched on startup, and
select "Standby" from the Shut Down menu.
2. Make sure Power Management is disabled in your system's BIOS. Consult your
vendor for information on how to adjust this setting manually if you don't
know how. Then try suspending the system in Windows 98 again. If this doesn't
work, try the opposite.
See if the system will suspend/resume using only the BIOS set to manage power
resources, and disable Win98's control over it by using the "Power Management"
applet in the Control Panel.
3. If you have an NIC (Network Interface Card) try disabling it or removing it
from the system. According to Microsoft, network cards can cause many power
management problems with Win98. This option may not be a realistic solution
for many people, but it might narrow down what is causing your problems.
4. If the failure is a "Your computer cannot go into standy" error, try
clicking "Start" then "Run" and type in C:\Windows\Susfail.txt (path may be
different). In some cases, this will list what driver, if any, that caused
suspend/resume to fail.
5. Try going through Microsoft's online troubleshooter for Power Management
problems in Win98:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/windows/tshoot/apm98/
6. Try suspending just one hardware element - such as your monitor or hard
drive. Does it suspend/resume properly?
Continue this for all your hardware, until you are able to find out which
device caused the failure.
7. Disable USB (Universal Serial Bus) and see if the system suspends/resumes
properly.
8. There is a utility called the Power Management Troubleshooter that you can
try to use to diagnose what is causing harware failure on your system.
This is available on your Windows 98 CD-ROM, but also a *newer* version is
available online.
The newer version is available at this location:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/win98se/utility/1/w98/EN-US/pmtshoot.exe

Configuring Internal PC Speaker Beeps

You can use this tip to enable or disable the internal PC speaker in Windows
95, 98 or NT 4.0:
1. Click Start -> Run and type Regedit. Then press ENTER or click OK.
2. Browse to this Registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Sound
3. Find the Beep value in the right hand pane, or create it if it doesn't
exist, by clicking Edit -> New -> String Value and naming it "Beep" (no
quotes).
4. Double-click on Beep and change its value to "Yes" (no quotes) if you want
PC speaker beeping turned on, or "No" to have the beep sounds turned off.

Find Your Own IP Address

Click Start, Run and type WinIPCFG.exe and click OK.
Click "More Info" for additional information. It can display information for
Ethernet cards, Dial-Up Networking, and America Online Adapter information if
applicable.

Setting Up Internet Connection Sharing

This tip assumes you have at least one machine running Windows 98 Second
Edition, a network interface card in each machine you plan to use with ICS
[Internet Connection Sharing], and at least one Internet connection [Dial-Up,
Cable, DSL, ISDN etc].
If you are running any previous version of Internet Explorer 5.0 on the host
computer [who's connection you wish to share] you should first uninstall it
before upgrading to Windows 98 Second Edition.
Once Windows 98 Second Edition has been setup on the host computer, you must
do the following: "Start, Settings, Control Panel." Once it opens, click on
"Add-Remove Programs." Click "Windows Setup" and select "Internet Tools" from
the categories. Place a check in "Internet Connection Sharing" and click OK.
Follow the instructions that come up on the screen. The "Sharing" button is
now present in IE5's Connection tab of Internet Settings window. [Found on the
"Tools" tab in Internet Explorer 5.0]. Click it.
It will create a client disk. You must run the file from the client disk so
your other machines may access the connection you have shared. The other
machines may be running Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows 98, Windows 95,
Windows NT, Macintosh, Linux or almost any operating system that supports the
TCP/IP protocol. You must have TCP/IP installed on each machine you wish to
use with ICS and bind it to the network interface cards in each of them. You
may do this by clicking "Start, Settings, Control Panel, Network" and
following the instructions. Windows Help, "Start, Help" has more information
about how this is done. Do NOT set the client machines to use a proxy server.
ICS is not compatible with some versions of CompuServe, AOL, and other ISPs
that use proprietary software to connect. For assistance, contact the
appropriate ISP. Microsoft Corporation has posted some information about
configuring and troubleshooting ICS to its Knowledge Base Center at:
http://support.microsoft.com/

Tweak Recycle Bin

Right-click on the Recycle Bin on the Windows 98 desktop.
Left-click Properties and place the dot in Configure Drives Independently.
Click (C:) and adjust the slider as desired.
I recommend doing this for all your hard drives and removable disks. When
finished, click Apply and then OK. This will give you more disk space as
needed and desired. I use 3% which is 61.4 megabytes on a 3.2 gigabyte hard
drive, but your settings may vary, depending on your needs and preferences.

Enable DMA Mode for Hard Disks and CD-ROM Drives

If you have a hard drive or CD-ROM drive that supports DMA Mode, you can
increase the speed of your hard disks by allowing them direct memory access.
If you are not sure if your drive(s) support this configuration check with
your drive maker or system vendor. Do not use it unless you are certain it
will work on your system. To enable it, right-click on My Computer on your
desktop and left-click Properties. Click Device Manager and click CD-ROM or
Disk Drives [depending on which you wish to enable or disable DMA on]. Select
your drive and click Properties, Settings, DMA. Warning: This may not work on
some systems and/or with some drives.

Disable Floppy Search

Right-click on My Computer, left-click Properties, and click the Performance
tab. Click File System and on the Floppy Disk tab uncheck Search for a new for
a new floppy drive each time your computer starts. This way, Windows will not
search for a new floppy disk drive every time it boots up, thus speeding up
the boot time and will use the previous settings. You should undo this if you
install a new floppy drive or have problems with yours.

Speed up CD-ROM Access

Right-click on My Computer, left-click Properties, and click the Performance
tab. Click File System and on the CD-ROM tab turn the Supplemental cache size
to large [slider to the far right side] and set the Optimize access pattern to
Quad-speed or higher.

Speed up Removable Disks

Right-click on My Computer, left-click Properties, and click the Performance
tab. Click File System and on the Removable Disk tab, place a check in Enable
write-behind caching on all removable disk drives. Disable this option if you
have problems after enabling it.

Get Latest Windows Updates

Click Start, Windows Update. Select Product Updates from the options that come
up [please note that this requires an Internet connection]. Check the items
you wish to download and install and follow the on-screen instructions.
Microsoft posts frequent bug fixes, updates, patches, etc at their website:
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

Configure Scheduled Tasks

Click Start, Run, and type "TuneUp" [no quotes]. Windows 98 will open the
Maintainence Wizard which will allow you to set options and scheduling for
automatic sessions of Disk Defragmenter, ScanDisk, and other maintainence
tasks to keep your system in tip-top shape.

Maintaining "clean" drive(s) and free more space

Backup critical files to a removable disk or a WWW or FTP site.

Empty recycle bin.
Empty browser(s) cache.
In Internet Explorer, be sure to check "Delete all offline content" as well.
Delete browser(s) history.
Delete .CHK, .OLD, .BAK, .GID, .TMP files. None of these are needed.
Delete empty folders named TMP or TEMP. It is usually completely safe to
delete the contents of your TEMP folder, such as C:\Windows\Temp (path may
vary).
Delete broken shortcut files with .LNK extension. Often files with .001, .002,
etc extensions can be deleted safely, as they are usually backups of old
versions of C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT or C:\CONFIG.SYS, etc [text files]. To be safe,
view them in Notepad or any other text editor before deleting.

Remove seldom or never used software from Add-Remove Programs in the Control
Panel, or via the software's own uninstall software. If it does not have
either option available, manually remove its file folder(s) in Windows
Explorer and remove the registry entries (using Start, Run, Regedit - for
advanced users only).
Delete unwanted or unneeded cookies files (.TXT extension is used by MS IE).
These are usually found in C:\Windows\Cookies, but your path may vary.
Netscape stores its cookies in its own subfolders, in a file named
Cookies.txt, which can also be safely deleted.

Erase older e-mail, or back it up to another location. Too much e-mail in your
inbox or other e-mail folders can bog down your system and cause a big
performance hit. I suggest no more than 20 e-mail messages in your e-mail
software at a time, as a general rule.

Delete unwanted or unused ActiveX Controls from your
C:\Windows\Downloaded Program Files folder (your path may vary).
Do the same for browser plug-ins which you don't need or want on your
computer.

When installing new software, if there is an option for Custom settings, it is
often best to choose it. This way, you can install only those features you
want, and avoid those you don't. This means the program will take up less disk
space.

For larger files which are used often and not acceptable to simply delete,
consider zipping them with an archiving application such as Power Archiver
[http://www.powerarchiver.com/] or another similar utility. Zipping can reduce
file size greatly and allows you to place more data in an area than you would
normally be able to. These zip files can be backed up to WWW or FTP sites or
CD-ROM discs if you have a CD-R/CD-RW drive available, or even to Zip drives
or other removable media.

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