Auto Arrange, line up icons
If you've got the Auto Arrange option set for your desktop, good luck
trying to move icons around. Drag-and-drop all you want--those icons
will snap right back to the left side of the screen in perfect
formation when you let go.
For complete freedom of icon movement, click the desktop with the
right mouse button, choose Arrange Icons and deselect Auto Arrange.
You can still have all your icons in neat, perfectly spaced rows.
Once you've got everything approximately where you want it, click the
desktop with the right mouse button and choose Line up Icons. (Tip:
This command works best if you line up the icons close to their
desired arrangement by hand first.)
Window sort options
The Details view of an Explorer window isn't the only place that lets
you choose how to sort a folder's contents (by clicking one of the
column headings). You can sort By Name, By Type, By Size or By Date
in any folder or in an Explorer window that isn't in Details view.
Right-mouse click a blank space inside any open window (or the right
pane of an Explorer window), select Arrange Icons, and you'll see the
four sorting options we just mentioned. Click the one you want, and
Windows re-sorts the contents.
U.S.-International keyboard layout
Windows 95 has a United States-International keyboard that adds new
characters to many of the keys on your keyboard. Choose
Start|Settings|Control Panel, then double-click Keyboard, click the
Language tab, and click the Properties button. Now click the down
arrow and select United States-International. Click OK twice.
The new layout adds one or two characters to a number of keys on your
keyboard. To use these characters keys, press a key in combination
with the Alternate Character (AltChar) key (or Shift-AltChar for a
second character). The AltChar key is the right Alt key on your keyboard.
For example, if you wanted to type the letter E with an accent that
goes up to the right, you'd hold down the AltChar key and press the
letter E on your keyboard. And for a capital E with the same accent,
you'd hold down Shift+AltChar and press E. (Note: It's impossible for
us to print a diagram of which characters are added to which keys, so
you'll need to play around to find the ones you use frequently.)
U.S.-International layout assisting
In our last tip, we told you how to switch your keyboard layout to
the U.S.-International layout, which adds up to two characters to a
number of keys on your keyboard: In the Control Panel, double-click
Keyboard, click the Language tab, click Properties, select United
States-International, and click OK twice. To use the new characters,
press a key in combination with the AltChar key (or Shift-AltChar),
which is the right Alt key on your keyboard.
As you might expect, this layout has a few tricks up its sleeve.
There has five keys that, when pressed, don't do anything on screen;
what they do is set up another key to make the big character
appearance. These five assisting keys are the apostrophe (`), the
back quote (`), the circumflex (^), the double-quote ("), and the
tilde (~). They assist in making, respectively, an acute accent, a
grave accent, a hat over a vowel, an umlaut, and a little squiggly
thing, as over the N in the Spanish word senorita. (Sorry, we can't
do it here.)
For example, to type an A with a grave accent (the one the goes up to
the left), press the back quote (`) (nothing happens yet), and then
press the letter A. Play around with these five keys a bit, and
you'll get the hang of it.
Exceptions for "assisting" keys
In our last two tips, we told you how to change your keyboard layout
to the U.S.-International layout (in the Control Panel, double-click
Keyboard, click the Language tab, click Properties, select United
States-International, and click OK twice), and that to use its new
characters, you press a key in combination with the AltChar key (or
Shift-AltChar), which is the right Alt key on your keyboard.
We also told you that there are five "assisting" keys--the apostrophe
(`), the back quote (`), the circumflex (^), the double-quote ("),
and the tilde (~)--that when pressed in combination with another key,
make an acute accent, a grave accent, a hat over a vowel, an umlaut,
and a little squiggly thing, respectively.
Ready for the exceptions? Try typing "go get `em" on a United
States-International keyboard. You get those three words, but without
quotes, and with an accent over the E in EM. That's because those
assisting keys do what they've been told no matter what. So when you
type the apostrophe (`) and then the letter E, you get an E with an
acute accent. And when you type double quotes (") and then a letter
that would never have an umlaut over it (in this case, G), the
international keyboard assumes you didn't really mean it.
There is a solution. To type one of the five assisting characters (in
a situation where it wants to assist the next key), press it, and
then press the Spacebar. (Note: If you're typing something after an
assisting key that would never have an accent over it, you don't need
to worry about the Spacebar.)
Installing WinPopup
Are you on a Windows for Workgroups, Windows 95, Windows NT, or
NetWare network? WinPopup, a small messaging program, lets you send
notes to other people on your network. It's a great little tool if,
for example, the person you're trying to reach is on the phone. And
unlike regular e-mail, WinPopup does what its name implies--it pops
up on the recipient's screen, getting their immediate attention. It's
like walking into their office and placing a yellow sticky note on
their screen.
If your system is set up for networking, WinPopup should already be
installed. Just to be sure, however, choose Run in the Start menu,
type WINPOPUP on the command line, and click OK. If you see the
WinPopup dialog box appear, you're all set. If not, you'll need to install it.
To install WinPopup, open the Control Panel and choose Add/Remove
Programs. Select the Windows Setup tab, double-click Accessories in
the list of components, and select WinPopup. Click OK to complete the
installation.
WinPopup - sending messages
In our previous tip, we told you that WinPopup is great for sending
messages across a Windows or NetWare network. Type WINPOPUP on the
Run command line to open WinPopup, and we'll show you how to send
someone a message.
The thing to keep in mind is that the recipient of your message has
to have WinPopup installed and running (minimized is fine) in order
to receive the message. The best way to be sure of this, if you're a
potential recipient, is to place a shortcut to WinPopup in your
Startup folder, and to keep the program running minimized for as long
as you're on your computer.
To send a message, click the Envelope icon and type the name of name
of the person or computer to whom you'd like to send the message (if
you're on a NetWare network, type the user's log-in name), or select
Workgroup and type in the group name, such as an NT domain name. Type
your message in the appropriate box (in the case of a NetWare
network, you're limited to a shorter message then if you were on a
Windows network--about 70 characters), click OK, and off it goes!
WinPopup - receiving messages
In our last two tips, we introduced WinPopup, a program for sending
messages across a network. We then showed you how to send a message:
Click the envelope icon, fill in the address, type your message, and
click OK. Now let's look at things from the recipient's point of view.
When WinPopup detects a new message, one of two things will happen:
Either the WinPopup Taskbar item will flash, or the full WinPopup
window will jump onto your screen, with the message inside. If you
prefer the latter option, choose Options under Messages, select "Pop
up dialog on message receipt," and click OK.
Want WinPopup to make a sound, so you absolutely can't miss a new
message (for example, if you're reading another message when it
arrives)? Select "Play sound when new message arrives" in the Options
dialog box and click OK. The third option there, Always on top, keeps
WinPopup on top of all your open windows; that way, it can't get buried.
If you have more than one WinPopup message waiting to be read, you
can scroll through the messages using the left and right arrow icons.
To delete a message, just click the trash can icon. Doing so
automatically minimizes the WinPopup dialog box. Whatever you do,
don't click the X in the upper-right corner of the dialog box, or
you'll close WinPopup and won't be able to receive any more messages.
You wouldn't turn your cordless phone off if you were waiting for a
call, would you?
Change the name of your hard drive
Want to change the name of your hard drive? In a My Computer or
Explorer window, right-click the drive you want to change and choose
Properties. On the Label line, type a name of up to 11 characters,
such as "Sal's Drive," and click OK.
Restarting taskbar
Want to restart the Taskbar without closing and restarting Windows
95--for example, after making a Registry change? (Certain Registry
changes will take effect after restarting only the Taskbar, not all
of Windows 95.)
1. Hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete to bring up the Close Program dialog box.
2. Select Explorer and click the End Task button (don't hit Shut Down).
3. Select No in the Shut Down Windows dialog box.
4. In the Explorer dialog box, click the End Task button.
That's all there is to it. Now wait a couple of seconds, and you'll
see the Taskbar disappear, then reappear. It's officially restarted.