Windows 98 Tips N Tricks        Welcome to the tips n trixs sector for Windows 98. Hopefully you will find something in here that will make the use of Windows 98 more to the way you want it to work and improve its performance.       Please check out all pages by clicking on the next page link as there is a lot here to view. By clicking on the underlined statement below it will take you to the details of how to carry out the task.  You may find this application handy for changes in the registry.       RegEditX (Registry Editor Extensions) is freeware that enhances the Windows Registry Editor. If you edit the same keys repeatedly, this is for you! New buttons activate frequently used commands, and a combo box stores a history of visited keys and allows quick navigation back to them. The keys are saved across sessions and available the next time you use the Registry Editor.   Assigning WAV Files When You Open a Folder Helping to Reduce Modem Timeouts Hardware Information Utility Changing the Version Displayed on the Desktop Showing the Windows Version on the Desktop Restoring the Column Display to the Start Menu Adding the URL History to the Start Menu Backing Up and Restoring the Registry Removing Log Off Username from the Start Menu Restoring Your Registry Power Management Troubleshooter Increasing Drive Performance     Assigning WAV Files When You Open a Folder You can assign a different .wav file to play when you open any folder in windows explorer. You must know a litle html Create a .wav or midi file or use one you already have. Save the file to the C: drive in any directory. Go to Windows Explorer and highlight the folder Click View on the toolbar and choose Customize this Folder. Click Create or edit an HTML document. Click next and click next again. Now just insert your html code for your file and then save. Go to your folder and it should play your file. Helping to Reduce Modem Timeouts If you are experiencing a lot of modem timeout with you system,  you can change the SLOWNET value in the Registry Start Regedit Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\Net\0000 (0001 etc) Change the SLOWNET value from 01 to 00 Hardware Information Utility There is a hardware diagnostics utility that is installed with Windows98 that lets you view your hardware, registry, conflicts etc. From the Run box, enter HWINFO /UI You can view the hardware you have, what portion of the registry is pointing to it, conflicts, drivers used, I/O, IRQ, DMA # usage, and more. The results are somewhat color coded. File attributes are magenta Registry entries are green Configuration Manger info is  brown Warnings are blue Error messages are red  Changing the Version Displayed on the Desktop If you display the version number of Windows98 on the desktop, you usually get something like Windows 98 4.10.1998 or whatever the release date was in the lower right-hand corner of the desktop. You can change that to any other 20 characters (11 for "Windows 98 " and 9 for "4.10.1998") "Windows98 " is in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KRNL386.EXE file. "4.10.98" is in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\USER.EXE file. Make copies of both files - KRNL386.EXE.ORG and USER.EXE.ORG - this is to have a backup just in case Copy C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KRNL386.EXE to KRNL3861.EXE Copy C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\USER.EXE to USER1.EXE Use a hex editor (I like Ultra-Edit) to edit both files For KRNL386.EXE search for the first instance of "Windows 98 ". It should be just before Debug Windows 98 Change this to whatever 11 characters you want For USER.EXE search for the first instance of the version number (4.10.1998 or whatever yours displays). It should be just before Monitor%d Change this to whatever 9 characters you want Boot to DOS. Copy USER1.EXE to USER.EXE Copy KRNL3861.EXE to KRNL386.EXE Restart the computer Note: While I haven't had any problems with this for the past several days, I take no responsibility if this does have some issue at some future date. Enabling Fast Shutdown Added 1/30/00 To turn on this feature: Start Regedit Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ System \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Shutdown Create a string called FastReboot Give it a value of 1 Showing the Windows Version on the Desktop To show the version of Windows you are using on the desktop Start Regedit Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop Create a new String Value called PaintDesktopVersion Give it a value of 1 Reboot the computer Restoring the Column Display to the Start Menu Normally with Win98, the Start Menu keeps added additional programs to the bottom on a long list. To get it to display in multiple columns: Start Regedit Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced Right-click an unoccupied area in the right pane. Click New / String Value. In the name box that appears, type StartMenuScrollPrograms Double-click this and give it a value of false Adding the URL History to the Start Menu If you browse the web a lot and want fast access to recent sites you visited, you can put your history list on the Start Menu. Right click on the Start button Choose Explore Right click on the right pane Choose New / Folder Name it URL History.{FF393560-C2A7-11CF-BFF4-444553540000} The label isn't critical. The period, braces and CLSID number are. If you want to search for the string to enter: Start Regedit Search for URL History Folder Right click the CLSID key Choose Rename Press Ctrl-C to Copy In the Explorer window, press Ctrl-V to paste it in. Removing or Changing the Windows Update Feature Backing Up and Restoring the Registry You can backup the registry in one of two ways: From the Command Prompt Boot to Windows98's DOS Go to the \WINDOWS\COMMAND directory Run SCANREG /backup While within Windows98 Run SCANREGW /autoscan Backups are located in the \Windows\Sysbckup folder in the RB0xx.CAB file. Where xx is replaced by the different backups. The default setting is to keep 5 versions. See the next section, ScanReg.INI Settings, for how to change several of the default settings. To restore a backup, you need to be in Windows98 DOS. Go to the \Windows\Command directory Run SCANREG /restore From here you can select which one you want to restore ScanReg.INI settings Both ScanReg and ScanRegW use the settings in the Scanreg.INI file located in the \Windows directory. You can change several of the default settings Backup=1 - Run ScanReg at startup and make a backup automatically. Registry backup is skipped altogether if this is set to 0 Optimize=1 - Run ScanReg to optimize the registry, reducing its size to improve performance. Registry automatic optimization is skipped if this is set to 0 MaxBackupCopies=5 - The number of backups to store. Valid entries are 0-99 BackupDirectory - Backup directory where the cabs are stored. The default is C:\Windows\Sysbckup Additional system files to backup - Files=[dir code,]file1,file2,file3, Filenames are separated by a comma ',' ; The Dir Code can be: 10: windir (ex. c:\windows) 11: system dir (ex. c:\windows\system) 30: boot dir (ex. c:\) 31 : boot host dir (ex. c:\) Removing Log Off Username from the Start Menu To remove the Log Off line on your Start menu Start RegEdit Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer Create a new DWORD Value Name it NoLogOff Give this entry and add the value 1 Logoff and back on again to reset the registry Restoring Your Registry Has your registry recently been damaged? To determine whether your registry was recently damaged, restore the registry from the previous day's backup. To restore the registry from the previous day's backup: Hold down the CTRL key as you restart your computer. On the Startup menu, select Safe mode command prompt only. Type C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\SCANREG /RESTORE, and then press ENTER. When you are prompted, select Previous Day's Registry. Note: If you restore a previous registry, you may need to reinstall any programs that were installed after the registry backup was made. Power Management Troubleshooter If you are having a problem with setting your power management, there Power Management Troubleshooter tool available either on the Win98 CD or on the web. This a program that can help you determine the device or driver that might be interfering. It is on the CD at \Tools\Mtsutil\Pmtshoot\Pmtshoot.Exe or the web at Power Management Trouble Shooter (158 K) See Microsoft's site for More Information. Increasing Drive Performance You can likely increase your Hard Drive or CD ROM performance by: Opening up the Device Manager Double click on the CD or Hard Drive Click on the Settings tab If you have a DMA box that is not grayed out, check that box Reboot when prompted When Win98 starts again, see if that box is still checked. This is especially beneficial with the newer UDMA drives which are supported by Win98 This will also greatly reduce CPU utilization during hard drive activity.