Application Tips resources directory for programmer and webmasters

Even though you delete your e-mail from the Delete Items folder, the file size may still stay the same.
This means that you need to manually compact them.

You need to have the Folder List showing. If it is not already there, from the View menu, click Folder List
From the Folders list, right-click on Personal Folders at the top
Select Properties For Personal Folders
Click on the Advanced button
Click on the Compact Now button

Outlook 2000 Hangs at Splash Screen

If Outlook hangs up at the logo splash screen,
try starting it with the /safe switch (Start / Run / Outlook.exe /safe) If this works some files may be corrupted and can simply be deleted or reNAMEd.
Use the Windows Explorer to search for and then either reNAME or delete the following files:

Views.dat
Outcmd.dat
Extend.dat
Frmcache.dat

Note: Not all files may be present on the computer

Restoring the Outlook2000/2002 Icon to the Desktop

If the Outlook icon was removed from the desktop
it can restored by adding in the following registry key.
Then logoff and back on again. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Desktop\NAMESpace\ {00020D75-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}

Hyperlinks Not Working In Office

If hyperlinks are not working in Outlook or other Office applications:

Start the Internet Explorer
Select Tools / Internet Options
Click on Programs tab
Make sure that Internet Explorer should check to see whether it is the default browser is enabled
Click Reset Web Settings.
Click Start / Run / regsvr32 urlmon.dll
If that single change does not resolve the problem, repeat the process by running the following additional entries:
- regsvr32 Shdocvw.dll
- regsvr32 Msjava.dll
- regsvr32 Actxprxy.dll
- regsvr32 Oleaut32.dll
- regsvr32 Mshtml.dll
- regsvr32 Browseui.dll
- regsvr32 Shell32.dll (Windows XP and Windows 2000 only)

Resolving Inability to Add or Remove Programs

If a particular user cannot add or remove programs, there might be a simple registry edit neeed.

Go to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Uninstall
Change the DWORD NoAddRemovePrograms to 0 disable it

Spell Checking in Outlook Express Without Office

You can spell check with Outlook Express without needing to install Office or Works You will need access to your existing legal version to copy some files.

On a computer with Office installed, go to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Proof
Copy the following files (they will easily fit on a floppy disk)

MSSP2_EN.LEX
MSSP232.DLL
CSAPI3T1.DLL
CTAPI3T2.DLL
CHAPI3T1.DLL

Copy them to the same location on the computer without Office
Download the reg file and import into the registry

Reducing Viruses in E-Mail

You can greatly reduce the amount of viruses you might get through e-mail attachments by simply installing the free Outlook E-mail Attachment Security Update from Microsoft. Since most viruses come this way, it should all but eliminate them. You should also have a good virus protection program installed as well. This update strips out any attachments where, if you click on them, they will automatically run on their own.
Examples of restricted extensions are:
.exe, .com, .bat, .vbs, .scr This will work for Outlook98 and Outlook2000. OutlookXP has it already built in as part of the product. Download from Microsoft

Clearing the Outlook NickNAME Cache

The NickNAME Cache is used by Outlook for automatic NAME checking and the automatic completion.
I you want to clear the cache with the list of NAMEs that Outlook shows when sending an e-mail

Close Outlook
Start the Windows Explorer
With the focus on the root of the C: drive, search for *.nick (Outlook2000) or *.NK2 (Outlook2002 or newer)
You will find a file that starts with your profile NAME
ReNAME this file
Restart Outlook
Outlook will start rebuilding the file over again.

Opening Attachments in Outlook Express

If you are unable to open any attachments in Outlook Express

Start the program
Go to Tools / Options
Click on the Security tab
Uncheck Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus

Creating A Watermark in Word2002

It is easy to create a watermark in Word2002.

Go to the Format menu
Select Background
Click Printed Watermark
From here you can either select a graphic or text watermark.

Changing the Spreadsheet Tab Color in Excel 2002

If you have a spreadsheet with multiple pages in it,
you can change the color of the individual tabs by simply right clicking on the tabs and select Tab Color

Using Outlook 2002 Sticky Notes

While in Outlook, you can create sticky notes that look like post-it notes.
These stay on your desktop and can help server as reminders for things you need to do. To Create a Note In Outlook:

Go to File / New / Note
Or press Ctrl+Shift+N
From here you can enter any text you like
You can change the color of the note by clicking on the icon in the upper left hand corner and selecting Color
When created this way, the notes are only available when Outlook is still running

To Create a Note Anytime

Create a shortcut on the desktop
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\OUTLOOK.EXE" /c ipm.stickynote
Give it a NAME that makes sense for you
Now you can create a note without Outlook running

Configuring Automatic NAME Suggestion in Outlook 2002

The default setting in Outlook 2002 is to offer to complete the NAME of a person you are sending mail.
This is based on anyone you have ever sent mail to.
For me things brings up far too many NAMEs and I prefer to simply use the NAMEs in my contact list.
(Start typing a NAME and press Ctrl-K to pull up NAMEs in your address book) To turn off this setting:

Go to Tools / Options
Click on the E-mail Options button
Click on the Advanced E-mail Options button
Uncheck Suggest NAMEs while completing To, Cc, and Bcc fields

If you want to leave the setting in place and simply delete individual suggestions:

Us the arrow keys to highlight a NAME
Press the Delete key to delete just that entry

Outlook Shortcut Keys

Send and receive mail	Control + M
Open or post a new message	Control + N
Forward a message	Control + F
Reply to a message	Control + R
Print the selected message	Control + P
Delete a mail message	Delete or Control + D
Reply to all	Control + Shift + R
Open the Inbox	Control + I
Open the Outbox	Control + O
Open the Address Book	Control + Shift + B
Go to next unread mail message	Control + U
Go to folder	Control + Y

Open the selected message	Control + O or Enter
Mark a message as read	Control + Enter or Control + Q
Move between the Folders list and message list	Tab

Find text	F3
Find a message	Control + Shift + F
Switch among Edit, Source, and Preview tabs	Control + Tab

Check NAMEs	Control + K or Alt + K
Check spelling	F7
Insert signature	Control + Shift + S
Send (post) a message	Control + Enter or Alt + S

Having Word Not Display URL's in Underline

To have it remove currently underlined links,
Simply press Ctrl-A to highlight all the text.
Then Ctrl-6 to remove the underlines Normally when you enter a URL or E-Mail Address in Word , it shows in Underline.
To turn this feature off:

Go to Tools / AutoCorrect / AutoFormat As You Type
Uncheck Internet and network paths with hyperlinks

Note: This will not change the display of previously entered links or e-mail addresses

Redirecting Output from Command Line Programs

With most command line programs, you can redirect the output to a file.
This is useful if you want to capture the output of a program. Simply run the program and add a " > fileNAME" after the command.
Substitute whatever fileNAME you want with no quotes
One example, I frequently compare two files using the FC (file compare) program.
Normally the differences scroll off and I can't tell what they were.
Instead I run FC File1 File2 > difference.txt
Then with notepad it is easy to open up difference.txt and view all the changes.

Eliminating MSCONFIG Warning at Next Boot Up

By default, if you make any changes to your startup with the MSCONFIG utility,
an warning is displayed on the next bootup. If you use this utility a lot and would like to eliminate that from happening

Create a registry text file (e.g. file_NAME.reg) with the CONTENTs:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Run]
"MSConfig"=-

Create a shortcut on the desktop
Enter in:

regedit /s file_NAME.reg

Give it a TITLEthat make sense to you
When you click on the icon, the specific registry value will be deleted and you won't be prompted next time you boot.

Minimizing Outlook2002 to the System Tray

By default, when you minimize Outlook2002, it goes to the taskbar. You can have it minimize to the system tray if you prefer.

Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Office \ 10.0 \ Outlook \ Preferences
Create a DWORD Value called MinToTray
Give it a value of 1
You may need to logoff for the setting to take effect.
This helps reduce clutter on the taskbar but doesn't allow you to task switch to Outlook.

Changing Colors in Outlook2002 Calendar

You can now change the colors of calendar items with Outlook2002.

Simply right click on the event
Select Label
From here you can select from a variety of pre-selected colors

Sending Contacts in Outlook

It is easy to send a list of of contacts you want to send to others through e-mail. For the following steps, make sure you have the Folder List selected in Outlook SENDING CONTACTS

Start a new email
In the TO section, select the users you want to receive the contacts
Select Insert / Item
Scroll to Contacts
Highlight the contacts you want to send
To select multiple items, hold down the control key
Click OK when finished
Send the mail

RECEIVING CONTACTS

Have both your main Folder List and e-mail visible
Select all the contacts
Drag them to the Contacts folder

Copying E-Mail to Your Calendar

If you receive an e-mail regarding an appointment you need to schedule,
simply drag that e-mail from your Inbox to the Calendar. You will then have the option to change the date, time etc for that event.

Editing the Shared Border in FrontPage 2000/2002

By default, you can't directly edit the HTML code in a shared border in FrontPage. To enable this ability:

Go to Tools / Web Settings
Click on the Advanced tab
Check Show hidden files and folders
Your shared borders will now show up in a folder called _borders (from the Folder list)

Filling Word Documents with Pretend Text

If you want to fill a page(s) with text to test something like printing, but don't want to spend time pasting the same phrase over and over, Type in =rand(x,y) Where x and y are replaced by numbers.
X would be the number of paragraphs
Y would be the number of sentences in a paragraph.
The text that gets generated is The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Adding Horizontal Dividers in Word

To add a variety of horizontal dividers in Word, type three

Hyphens ( --- )
Underscores ( ___ )
Equal Signs ( === )
Pound Signs ( ### )
Asterisks ( *** )
Tildes ( ~~~ )

Determining Formatting in Word

To determine what formatting is applied to a particular paragraph in Word:

Go to Help / What's This?
When the cursor changes to a question mark, click on the paragraph.
Information such as font and size, alignment, indent, spacing and margins will show

Quickly Change Font Size in Office

To quickly change the font size in your Office application (Word, Front Page, Publisher or PowerPoint):

Highlight the text you want to change
Press: CTRL+SHIFT+> - To Increase the size
CTRL+SHIFT+< - To Decrease the size

Word Command Line Switches

The following text was copied from the Microsoft Site at:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q210/5/65.ASP

Type	To do this
/a	Starts Word and prevents add-ins and global templates (including the Normal template) from being loaded automatically. The /a switch also locks the setting files; that is, the setting files cannot be read or modified if you use this switch.
/laddinpath	Starts Word and then loads a specific Word add-in.
/m	Starts a new instance of Word without running any AutoExec macros.
/mmacroNAME	Starts Word and then runs a specific macro. The /m switch also prevents Word from running any AutoExec macros.
/n	Starts a new instance of Word with no document open. Documents opened in each instance of Word will not appear as choices in the Window menu of other instances.
/ttemplateNAME	Starts Word with a new document based on a template other than the Normal template.
/w	Starts a new instance of Word with a blank document. Documents opened in each instance of Word will not appear as choices in the Window menu of the other instances.
(no switch)	A new Word window is opened with a blank document using the existing instance of the Word application.

Excel Command Line Switches

The following text was copied from the Microsoft Site at:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q211/4/81.ASP

   Switch           Function
   ----------------------------------------------------------------------

   /e, /embedded    Forces Excel to start without displaying the 
                    startup screen and creating a new workbook 
                    (Book1.xls).

                    Example: /e, /embedded

   /m               Forces Excel to create a new workbook that
                    contains a single macro sheet.

                    Example: /m

   /o               Forces Excel to re-register itself. Specifically, 
                    the following key is rewritten in the registry:

                    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Excel

                    NOTE: If this key contains invalid values, they are
                    not corrected by using this switch. This switch only
                    replaces missing values.

                    Example: /o

   /p <folder>      Forces Excel to use the path you specify as the active
                    path rather than the default path. 

                    Example: /p "C:\Windows"

   /r <fileNAME>    Forces Excel to open the specified file in
                    read-only mode.

                    Example: /r "C:\My Documents\Test.xls"

   /s               Starts Excel in Safe mode. ("Safe Mode" will appear in 
                    the Excel TITLEbar.) Safe mode starts Excel as if it is 
                    the first time after Setup. 

                    Safe mode bypasses the following:

                    - All files in any Excel startup folder. 

                    For more information about the location of startup 
                    folders, please see the following article in the
                    Microsoft Knowledge Base:

                       Q240150 XL2000: How to Use Excel Startup Folders

                    - Add-ins: The Addins dialog box still displays the 
                      selected addins. However, the addins are not loaded.

                    - Excel toolbars (Excel.xlb or <userNAME>.xlb): The 
                      original installation default toolbar settings are 
                      used.

                    - Excel specific registry information: The original 
                      installation default registry settings are used. 
                      Registry information can include the following key and 
                      other keys:

                      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Excel\Options

                      NOTE: When Excel is in Safe mode, the Options dialog 
                      box displays the default settings, not your customized 
                      settings.

   /regserver       Forces Excel to register itself and then quit. Use this 
                    switch when you want Excel to rewrite all of its 
                    registry keys and reassociate itself with Excel files, 
                    such as workbooks, charts, and so on.

                    Example: /regserver


   /unregserver     Forces Excel to unregister itself and then quit.

                    Example: /unregserver

Outlook Command Line Switches

The following text was copied from the Microsoft Site at:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q182/1/12.ASP

 Command-Line Switch      Purpose
   -------------------      -------

   /CleanFreeBusy           Cleans and regenerates free/busy information.

   /Cleanfinders            Removes saved searches from the Exchange
                            Server store.

   /CleanReminders          Cleans and regenerates reminders.

   /CleanViews              Restores default views. All custom views you
                            created are lost.

   /CheckClient             Prompt for default manager of e-mail,
                            news, and contacts

   /ResetFolders            Restores missing folders for the default
                            delivery location.

   /ResetOutlookBar         Rebuilds the Outlook Bar.

   /Safe                    Launches Outlook without extensions, preview
                            pane or toolbar customization.

   /Nopreview               Turns off the Preview Pane and removes the
                            option from the View Menu.

   /CleanSchedPlus          Deletes all Schedule+ data (free/busy,
                            permissions, and .CAL file) from the server
                            and enables the free/busy information from the
                            Outlook Calendar to be used and viewed by all
                            Schedule+ 1.0 users.

Customizing Outlook2002 Security Settings

By default, Outlook2002 restricts access to potentially damaging e-mail file attachments.
To enable access to files with extensions such as .exe. or com:

Exit Outlook2002 if it is running.
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\Security
Create a new string value called Level1Remove
Enter in the file extensions you want to use, such as .exe or .bat
You can have multiple file types separated by a semicolon
exe;com

The following are a list of the file attachments that are restricted by default

.ade        Microsoft Access project extension
.adp        Microsoft Access project
.asx         Windows Media Audio / Video
.bas        Microsoft Visual Basic class module
.bat         Batch file
.chm       Compiled HTML Help file
.cmd       Microsoft Windows NT Command script
.com       Microsoft MS-DOS program
.cpl          Control Panel extension
.crt           Security certificate
.exe         Program
.hlp          Help file
.hta          HTML program
.inf           Setup Information
.ins          Internet Naming Service
.isp          Internet Communication settings
.js             JScript file
.jse           Jscript Encoded Script file
.lnk           Shortcut
.mdb        Microsoft Access program
.mde        Microsoft Access MDE database
.msc         Microsoft Common Console document
.msi          Microsoft Windows Installer package
.msp         Microsoft Windows Installer patch
.mst         Microsoft Windows Installer transform; Microsoft Visual Test source file
.pcd          Photo CD image; Microsoft Visual compiled script
.pif            Shortcut to MS-DOS program
.prf            Microsoft Outlook profile settings
.reg           Registration entries
.scf            Windows Explorer command
.scr            Screen saver
.sct            Windows Script Component
.shb           Shell Scrap object
.shs           Shell Scrap object
.url            Internet shortcut
.vb             VBScript file
.vbe           VBScript Encoded script file
.vbs           VBScript file
.wsc          Windows Script Component
.wsf           Windows Script file
.wsh          Windows Script Host Settings file

Changing Notepad Defaults

If you want to change the default settings of notepad such as word wrap, font and size:

Start Regedit
Go to HK_Current_User / Software / Microsoft / Notepad
From here it is pretty easy to see what items you can change

Access Gives License or Database Error

If you try to run Access97 and get an error:

Microsoft Access can't start because there is no license for it on this machine
or
Can't find the database you specified or you didn't specify a database at all

There is a patch from Microsoft to fix this problem.
I copied it to my site since they often change the location of their files.

Outlook Can't Create Item Error

If you get the error Can't Create Item when attempting to open an attachment for Outlook,
the \Windows\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Forms\Frmcache.dat
file may be corrupted. Simply delete this file and restart Outlook

Opening Multiple Windows in Outlook

If you want to have multiple windows open in Outlook (for example your InBox and Calendar),
Simply right-click on the new item and select Open in New Window This makes it a lot easier to cut and paste between Outlook applications

Setting Outlook to be the Default E-Mail Program

Normally you can set the default mail program from the Internet Explorer (Tools / Internet Options / Programs)
If this still doesn't work for you:

Open the Explorer (not Internet Explorer)
Select Tools / Folder Options
Click on the File Types tab
Go to URL:MailToProtocol
Edit the Open action to be "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\OUTLOOK.EXE" -c IPM.Note /m "%1"

Note: The location of Outlook may be different depending on the version of Office you have installed.

Changing the Office2000 Registered Owner

An easier way was submitted:

Start Word2000
Go to Tools / Options / User Information
Change the current user's NAME.

To change the NAME of the registered owner without reinstalling, two simple registry changes need to be made. These are the NAMEs displayed in the opening splash screens of each application as well as the About box.

Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Uninstall \ {00000409-78E1-11D2-B60F-006097C998E7
Change the value of RegOwner and RegCompany to the ones you would like
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Office \ 9.0 \ Common \ UserInfo]
ReNAME the UserInfo key
Now you should see the new NAME and company information when you start your Office2000 application.

Reducing the File Size of Word Documents

There is, however, a much easier way.

Choose Tools
Options...
Open the Save tab
Uncheck Allow Fast Saves

This makes Word rewrite the entire document file from scratch each time it is saved. The save command takes slightly longer, but your files can be drastically smaller (especially if you've done lots of formatting changes). If you have make documents using MS Word and you make many formatting changes for the paragraph, fonts, page etc., you will see your file size gets bigger. Microsoft Word saves files by blocking, so any change you made for your document it will create a new block with the new formatting and disappear the old block without deleting it from the file. You can solve this problem.

If you open your file and select File \ Save As and give your file a new NAME, it will save only the active blocks with out the old ones.
If you compare the two files you will see a difference in size

Enabling Outlook 2000 Mail Logging

Normally Outlook 2000 does not log Internet, SMTP, and POP sessions.
To turn on this feature:

Start Regedit
Go to Hkey_Current_User \ Software \ Microsoft \ Office \ 9.0 \ Outlook \ Options \ Mail
Create a new DWORD
Give it a NAME of Logging
Give it a value of 1
After this, 3 files will be created in the C:\Windows\Temp\Outlook Logging directory.

InetXP.txt logs the Internet session
Pop3log.txt logs mail-retrieval activity
Smtplog.txt logs mail-sending activity

Removing the Task Scheduler

To remove Task Scheduler

Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
Go to HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Uninstall\SchedulingAgent
Click the SchedulingAgent folder
Double-click the UninstallString key.
Copy the value data on the UninstallString key.
Quit Registry Editor.
Click Start, click Run, right-click in the open dialog box, and then click Paste.
Click OK to uninstall Task Scheduler.

Switches for Starting Outlook 2000

Here are some switches you can add to a shortcut to OUTLOOK.EXE.
I have tested them with Outlook 2000 but they might work with previous versions as well.

Hide the Outlook Bar	/folder
Have the specified folder visible	/select "path/folder NAME"
Create an e-mail message	/c ipm.note
Create a post	/c ipm.post
Create an appointment	/c ipm.appointment
Create a task	/c ipm.task
Create a contact	/c ipm.contact
Create a journal entry	/c ipm.activity
Create a note	/c ipm.stickynote
Prompt for default manager of e-mail, news, and contacts	/checkclient
Create an item with the specified file as an attachment.	/a "path/file NAME"

asdasdsdas asdaasdas asd asdasd

Opening Files with Other Than the Default Application

If you have more than one application you use for the same type of file (media, text, graphics etc.)
Use one as your default player, make a shortcut to the other player and put it in the C:\WINDOWS\SENDTO folder.
When you want to open a file with the non-default application, right click on the file and send it to the other application

Changing the NAME of the Outlook Icon on the Desktop

To change the NAME of the Outlook icon on the desktop:

Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ CLASSES \ CLSID \ {00020D75-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
Change the Default value to the NAME you want to appear

Showing a Map of an Outlook 2000 Contact's Address

You can view a map to the address of an Outlook 2000 by simply:

Open up the Contacts
Open up the contact you want to view
Select Actions / Display Map of Address or click on the icon that looks like yellow road sign with an arrow on the toolbar

Note: You need to be connected to the Internet for this to work.

Re-Applying Formatting in Office 2000

The following will work for the Office 2000 version of Word, Front Page, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, Publisher, and Photodraw If you have a section of text formatted they way you want additional sections to look:

Select the text whose format you want to replicate
Click on the Format Painter icon. This is the one that looks like a paint brush.
Now select the new text and the formatting will be applied
To repeat this to more than one selection, double-click on the icon and it will stay selected.
When you are finished, press the ESC key.

Selecting Columns in Word

Selections in MS Word is usually lines or paragraphs.
To make a selection for a column across lines or blocks just press Alt key while you select your text.
You can see that the selection did not select all of the line. It just selects the block or the area that had the mouse over it.

Having Excel 2000 Display the Year with Four Digits

Normally, if you enter 1999 or 2000 as the years in Excel, it will change it to 99 or 00.
To change Excel 2000 so it shows a four digit year:

Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_USERS \ .DEFAULT \ Software \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Office \ 9.0 \ Excel \ Options
Add or Change the DWORD Value EnableFourDigitYearDisplay to 1

Note: You may need to create the Excel and Options keys

Disabling Outlook Express Splash Screen

To disable the opening Outlook Express screen:

Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Identities
For OE 5 go below this to {ABE2B8A0-C02D-11D3-867B-948FF355BD32} \ Software \ Microsoft \ Outlook Express \ 5.0
Add a DWORD NoSplash
Give it a value of 1

Hidden FDISK Switches

Here are a few additional switches that can be used with FDISK:

/Status - Give the status of the partitions. Similar to option #4
/FPRMT - FAT32 in drivers smaller than 512 MB
/MBR - Fix master boot record
/PRI:xx - Primary partition of size XX in megs
/EXT:xx - Extended partitio
/LOG:xx - Logical drive in extended partition

Customizing the Office Assistants

You can customize the behavior of the Office Assistants. The easiest way to delete them completely is by deleting the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Office \ 9.0 \ Common \ Assistant
Note: You will have 9.0 or 8.0 depending on the version of Office you run You can also create dword values and turn on or off the following selected features:

Allow Most Tips - AsstAssistWithWizard = 1
Disable Showing Office Assistant with F1 - AsstAssistWithHelp = 0
Assistant Moves When In the Way - AsstMoveWhenInTheWay = 1
Disable Mouse Tips - AsstMouseTips = 0
Disable Context Sensitive Help - AsstGuessHelp = 0
Disable Keyboard Tips - Delete AsstKeyboardShortcutTips
Disable Feature Tips - AsstFeatureTips = 0
Disable Tip of the Day - Delete AsstShowTipofDay
Disable Office Assistant Help Messages - AsstAssistWithHelp = 0
Show only High Priority Tips - AsstOnlyHighPriorityTips = 1

Starting Outlook Express Immediately to Mail or News

If you want to start Outlook Express and have it immediately go to your Mail or News: Create two new shortcuts

One is msimn /mail
The other is msimn /news

Playing DVD's with Windows Media Player

To play DVD's with the Windows Media Player

Run Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ MediaPlayer \ Player \ Settings
Create a new string EnableDVDUI
Give it a value of yes
The next time you start the Media Player, you can do a File / Open DVD

Stopping Applications from Starting Automatically

With Windows98, you can run MSCONFIG.
Click on the Startup tab to remove apps that are starting automatically from the registry.
You can also search through the AUTOEXEC.BAT and WIN.INI files as well. If you have applications that you want to stop from starting automatically, there are three places you need to look, the WIN.INI file, the Startup Folder and the Registry.

The load= or run= lines in the WIN.INI file. This is in the directory where you installed Win95, usually the C:\WINDOWS directory
The StartUp folder. Start the Explorer.
Go to C:\WINDOWS\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp folder.
Remove any shortcuts you find there that you don't want.
The Registry. Edit the Registry
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Run.
Remove any programs from there.

Changing the Default Page Location for Front Page

Normally Front Page opens documents in either C:\MY WEBS or C:\MY DOCUMENTS \ MY WEBS To change these locations to another directory:

Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ FrontPage \ Explorer \ FrontPage Explorer \ Settings
Change the DefaultWebNAME to the directory you want

Opening a File by Dragging to Task Bar

If you already have a application showing on the taskbar,
a quick way to open a file is to drag it with from the Explorer to that icon and hold it for a second or so. (Don't let up on the mouse).
The app will re-open with that file loaded.

Eudora Lite and More than One E-Mail Account

To set up Eudora Lite to work with more than one E-Mail account you need make 4 changes to the Eudora.ini file and then save the file as Eudora2.ini Etc.
Then to start Eudora on the alternate account you create a new shortcut with the target entered as C:\Eudora\Eudora.exe C:\Eudora\Eudora2.INI where "C" is the appropriate drive letter. The 4 modifications to the Eudora.ini file are all in the "Settings" section as follows: Where altNAME = 2nd user NAME & alternate.net = 2nd ISP

POPAccount=samplescript @samplescript.com
ReturnAddress=samplescript@samplescript.com
DialupUserNAME=altNAME
SMTPServer=mail.alternate.net

Note many setting will remain as they are in the primary account .ini file. Side Note: To remove Eudora's startup splash screen add the line "NoSplashScreen=1" in the settings section.

Hidden Format Switches

There are a couple of undocument Format switches that have been around for several years: They will work with at least DOS 6.2 and above.

FORMAT /AUTOTEST - Formats without any prompting and exits the program when finished
FORMAT /BACKUP - Like /AUTOTEST but you will be prompted for a volume label

These can be useful if your are formatting drives from a batch file or shortcut and don't want to be prompted for input.

Changing the Number of Days Displayed in Outlook Calendar

When in Outlook's Calendar program with Day View, to change the number of days shown. For eampls press Alt along with the number of days you want to see.
For example Alt-4 would show 4 days. Alt-M shows a Month

Creating Outlook Contacts Shortcut

To create a shortcut for your Outlook Contacts folder on the desktop

Right click on an open area of the desktop
Select New / Shortcut
Enter in the path to your outlook program followed by outlook:contacts. Note the quotes are necessary - "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\OUTLOOK.EXE" outlook:contacts

Changing File Associations

Changing File Associations quickly
In Explorer select a fileof the type you want to change.
Hold down Shift & Right click the selection.
Choose "Open With".
Select the program to open the file type.
In the dialog box check the Always use this program to open this file.
Click OK
The association are now made

When you double click on a data file, the application associated with that file's extension is stated the the file is loaded.
To change a the application associated with a particular file extension:

Open a Folder
Go to View / Options / File Types
Scroll down until you see the particular file extension(s) you want to change. This will be in the File type details: section towards the bottom of the dialog box.
Click on the Edit button
In the Actions box, double click on Open
In Application used to perform this action:, enter the NAME of the application you want to open when you open a file with the extenstion. You can enter it manually or browse to it.
Click on the Ok, Ok, and the Close buttons.

Extracting files from Win95's CAB files

The submitted tip will only extract files that start with the NAME you specificed.
To extract a file from an unknown cab file, where it will search through all cab files, from the command line, enter:

for %p in (x:\win95\*.cab) do extract %p fileNAME

Where x\win95 is the location of you cab files and fileNAME is the NAME of the file you are looking for.
To do this in a batch file, use two % signs instead of one.

Recovering Damaged Text Files

Here's a handy tip to recover a corrupt or damaged text file through Word 97.
It doesn't have to startout a Word file either. This can be used to recover any file that contains text. Here's how you do it:

Open Word 97
Click FILE->OPEN and click the file you wish to recover to select it.
Down near the bottom of the page on the "Files of type" section, choose "Recover text from any file"
Click "Open".

Setting Swap File Size

If when you first start your computer, a swap file is being created. You can speed the boot process by specifying this as the minimum swap file size.

Boot your system and don't open any applications
Note the size of your swap file (WIN386.SWP)
Open the System Properties dialog box (right click on My Computer and select Properties)
Click on the Performance tab
Click on the Virtual Memory button
Check Let me specify my own virtual memory settings
If you have a hard drive or partition that is not ofter used, you can change the location
For the minimum size, select the size (or slightly larger) of the swap file when you first booted.
Don't select a maximum. Let it default to the rest of your hard drive space.

Defragmenting the Swap File

Normally when you use Windows95's Disk Defragger, this will not defrag the swap file. To defrag the swap file:

Open the System Properties dialog box (right click on My Computer and select Properties)
Click on the Performance tab
Click on the Virtual Memory button
Check Let me specify my own virtual memory settings
Check Disable virtual memory (Note: This will cause the system not to use a swap file)
Click on the OK button
Answer Yes to the warning
Click on the Close button
Reboot when prompted
You system will reboot.
Check to see that there is no swap file. If one still remains (WIN386.SWP), you can safely delete it.
Defrag your system as you usually do
Now reset the swap file to your previous setting and reboot. (Note: Do not leave your system running without a swap file)

ScanDisk with OEM SR2

To alter the way the DOS Scandisk gets used during a SR2 bootup, you can modify the \WINDOWS\COMMAND\SCANDISK.INI file. With the new OEM version of Windows95, if the system was not shutdown cleanly,
the next time it is started, it will stop and prompt you before running ScanDisk.
New options are available for the MSDOS.SYS file to configure how ScanDisk will start.

AutoScan=0 will disable this feature
AutoScan=1 will stop and prompt you before starting ScanDisk. After 1 minute it will start automatically. This is the default setting
AutoScan=2 will start ScanDisk if needed automatically

Substituting Drive Letters

You can use the DOS SUBST command in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file to set a drive letter to a local or networked drive and directory.
This way you only need to go to a new drive letter rather than needing to go several levels deep into a directory structure.
For example:

SET SYST=D:\SYST
SET UTIL=%SYST%\UTIL

SUBST G: %DATADIR%\GRAPHICS
SUBST H: %DATADIR%\HTML
SUBST I: %DATADIR%\HTML\intrepid
SUBST M: %DATADIR%\MIDI
SUBST T: %TEMP%
SUBST U: %UTIL%
SUBST W: %DATADIR%\HTML\smulder
SUBST Z: %DATADIR%\DL

Shutting Down or Restarting Windows95 from an Icon

To Shutdown Windows95, create a shortcut to:
rundll.exe user.exe,exitwindows To Restart Windows95, create a shortcut to:
rundll.exe user.exe,exitwindowsexec

Saving Space Using WinZip

Do you have a folder with lots of .txt ot other files that when "ZIPPED" really compress?
Try this to save valuable disk space:

Zip all the files into one big "ZIPPED" file.
Then delete the UNZIPPED files and keep the ZIP file in the original folder.
Then when you want to see a particular file, open the main "ZIP" file but don't extract the files, just double click the file of interest right in the WinZip screen and it will open.
If you modify the file and save your changes in the normal fashion, WinZip sees the change and asks if you want to update the file in the ZIP to which you of course say yes or Ok.

The net result is your files take up a lot less disk space and the files are easily accessable. (I have a group of .txt files that ZIPPED are just over one Meg but unzipped are over 7.5 Megs!)

Office97 and Plus Pack Themes

Plus Pack users who install Office 97 will experience crashes when using the THEMES.EXE to change their desktop.
The file must be manually replaced with a new one on the Office 97 CD-ROM.
It is not done by default during the Office installation.
The warning is buried deep in the setup instructions and easily missed. Note from Bob: You can download the patched version of the file at THEMES.EXE- Updated Themes.exe version 4.40.311

Opening a Files for Editing

I would call this a Web Authoring Tip, but it has many other uses...

Adding an 'Edit' option to HTML Documents Options Menu.

When I double click my *.htm files it always fires up my browser.
Well sometimes I want to edit that document instead. I can put Notepad in the Send To Folder to ease this problem. Here is another way to deal with this that is a bit slicker:

From Windows Explorer, select View then Options
Click the File Types Tab.
Select the type you want to add edit for (in my example this would be 'Netscape Hypertext Document' or *.HTM
Click the Edit Button.
From the Edit File Type panel click the New button.
Action is: &Edit, Application used to.... is: c:\windows\notepad.exe %1
Click OK, then Close, then Close.

Now when you secondary (right) click an HTML Document select Edit
from the menu (or press E) and you are now looking at the source in Notepad.

You can use a similar process for Graphic files (JPG, GIF, etc) to send them to your favorite Graphics program.

Opening Associated Files from a DOS Box

For a file with its associated application, say Word for Windows, and a data file, FILE1.DOC At a DOS prompt, type START FILE1.DOC (or just file1 if it's unique). Word comes up and loads the document.

Using Another E-Mail Package when Exchange is Installed

Normally when web browsing, if Exchange is installed, and you click on a e-mail address
it will default to opening up. If you want to change it to another e-mail program:

Open up a Folder
Select View / OptionsClick on the File Types tab
Scroll down to URL:MailTo Protocol
Click on the Edit button
Under Actions, highlight open
Click on the Edit button
Under Application used to perform action
From here you can browse to the e-mail program you want to use

Eudora Pro has an option to set that automatically. Other programs may have switches you need to include. Pegasus needs a -T %1 for it to automatically insert the e-mail address

Power Surfing

This tip works especially well if you have a large monitor and run at a high resolution...

If you want to really power surf the web, open up more than one browser. Arrange them on the screen so that you can see at least part of each one at all times.

Once this is done, you can now drag links from one browser to another. This saves you from having to use the back button constantly, especially if you are on a page like a search engine, where there are lots of links and you want to try a bunch of them.

Also, if you encounter a web page with frames, and you want to break out of the frames, you can drag a link to a new browser. No more frames.

(You can also right-click a link and choose "Open in New Browser".)

Here's an example of using two browsers...
Let's say you are going to be using a search engine for the next hour or so. Start two browsers and tile them vertically. (Minimize all programs except the two browsers, and right click a blank spot on the taskbar, then choose 'tile vertically'). Now drag the edges of the browsers so that the browser on the left is about 3 inches wide. Drag the edges of the browser on the right so that it takes up the rest of the screen. Now, using the browser on the left, open your favorite search engine and do a search. When the list of hits are displayed, drag a link into the browser on the right.

This lets you see all the hits from the search engine while you are surfing those sites... no more hitting the 'back' button all day long.

Lotus 123 Release 5 Lockup

If your Lotus 123 Release 5 for Windows grays out the spreadsheet and locks up, here's what to do:

Go to Control Panel, System, Device Manager Performance, Graphics
Move the bar to the left until the problem goes away.
You'll have to reboot and experiment each time.
When the problem goes away, go back to System and move it up one notch to tweak it.
That way you'll be going as fast as you can with the graphics limit.

Wildcards with DIR and File Find

In addition to the usual wildcards for doing such things as a DIR or File Find,
new options are available with Windows95. The following are a few examples: COM - All files and folders that have COM in the extension
*ABC* - All files and folders with ABC somewhere in the NAME
*ABC - All files with ABC as the last characters in the NAME (no including the extension)
*ABC? - All files with ABC as the second to last characters in the NAME
?ABC* - All files and folders with ABC as the second through the fourth letters in a NAME
?ABC? - All files and folders with at least one letter before and after the ABC

ScanDisk Command-Line Switches

Scandskwdrive: - Drive letter of disk you want to scan
/A or /ALL - Scans all local, non-removable hard drives
/N or /NonInteractive - Start and closes ScanDisk Automatically

Defrag Command-Line Switche

Defragdrive: - Drive letter of the disk you want to defrag
/all - Defrag all local, non-removable drives
/F - Defrag files and free space
/U - Defrag files only
/Q - Defrag free space only
/concise - Display the Hide Details view
/detailed - Display the Show Details view
/noprompt - Immediately starts Defrag

Fixing Page Fault in MPREXE.EXE

Occasionally, after Exchange is installed, you will get errors that indicate that PREXE.EXE caused a page fault in KERNEL32.DLL
To solve the problem, delete the .PWL file associated with your login ID.
Another solution is to download the Password List Update (278 K) to repair the existing PWL file.

Auto-Dialing for 32-bit Internet Applications

If your 32-bit Internet applications do not automatically invoke your
Windows 95 Dialer, here is a way I found to enable this feature.

First, bring up an internet application such as Netscape or Internet Explorer.
Next, manually dial into your internet provider by double-clicking your connection icon.
Once connected, go to the Control Panel and double-click on the Internet icon.
Once the window open, uncheck the checkbox titled "Dial whenever an Internet Connection is needed".
Click the check box again and make sure there is a check in the checkbox.
Next, click the APPLY button.
Finally , click the OK button.

Once you do this, close your internet application and disconnect from your internet provider.
Re-start your Internet application and the Windows 95 dialer should start up.
NOTE: From my experience, all Internet applications will be effected and will automatically start the Windows 95 dialer.

DOSSTART.BAT File

There's a file NAME DOSSTART.BAT in the WINDOWS directory. By editing this file you will be able to configure how to start DOS whenever you exit Windows to DOS mode.
This is just like an AUTOEXEC.BAT file that starts up your system.

Fixing Corrupted Exchange Files

To replace corrupted files in MS-Exchange run
c:\program files\microsoft exchange\mlset32.exe Normally, just removing exchange won't delete the old files.
If it should happen that one is corrupted it won't be replaced by the original from the CD when exchange is added again.
Running the program above launches the original exchange setup applet which guides you through the original install process.

Emergency Recovery Utility

Microsoft includes their Emergency Recovery Utility(ERU) on the 95 CD-ROM
This utility makes a backup of the registry and other important system files.
In some cases Windows 95 can be fixed by restoring the registry with this utility. The ERU program is in the \OTHER\MISC\ERU directory on the Win95 CD.
If you have the floppy version of Win 95, the utility can be found at Microsoft's web site
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/download/eruzip.exe ERU is also a good way to keep recent backups of all your important system files!

Turning off the ending = with Exchange

When using Exchange, sometimes other e-mail packages will end
each line with a = character. To turn this off:

Open the Control Panel
Double Click on the Mail / Fax icon
Highlight Internet Mail
Click on Properties
Click on Message Format
Uncheck Use MIME when sending messages

Using the Mouse to copy text in a DOS program

If you want to use your mouse to select an area to copy while you are in a windowed DOS program:

Right click on the icon that starts the program
Select Properties
Click on the Misc tab
Check the QuickEdit box

This eliminates the need to select text by using the pull down menu.

Using Exchange with more than one phone number

If you set up exchange to connect using the modem, you can only have one phone number listed.
If you have more than one phone number available for your provider, you would need to create another profile,
which would have your e-mail to go to two mail boxes. To get around this problem, simply select Network for the connection.
Connect first using either phone number and then start Exchange
Then no matter what phone number you used to connect to the internet,
all your e-mail will be in one place.

Backing up the Registry

Use CFGBACK.EXEon the Win 95 CD. It is in the /OTHER/MISC/CFGBACK directory.
It will save up to 9 copies of the registry in*.rbk file format.
You can restore any of these when necessary.

Adding NOTEPAD to SENDTO

Create a shortcut to notepad.exe in the C:\WINDOWS\SENDTO directory.
Then, you'll have the option to view a files CONTENTs by right-clicking it and "sending" to the notepad.
Immensely useful for deciphering old set-up files (or .DOC files that aren't Word files, READ.ME etc.)

Eudora Pro for Win95

If you are using the Internet Explorer and send e-mail, Win95 defaults to using Exchange.
If you would rather use Eudora Pro as your e-mail program:

Start Eudora Pro for Win95
Select Tools
Select Options
Select Mapi
For the section Use Eudora MAPI Server, select Always

Now when you e-mail from within the Internet Explorer, Eudora will come up as your
e-mail program.

Norton Utilities

If the readings on the amount of hard drive space is showing
more than is possible

Go into Norton Recycled bin
Hit empty Norton Protected files

This will now give you an accurate reading.

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Using EDIT

The DOS based text editor that comes with Windows95 has some advantages
over the one that came with prior versions of DOS.

It will let you load multiple files.
It will let you call wild cards from the command line (e.g. EDIT *.BAT).

EDIT can also be used on prior versions of DOS.
Just copy EDIT.COM to your old DOS directory.

Creating Distribution Lists for Exchange E-Mail

Start Exchange.
Open up the Address Book.
Create a New Entry.
Select Personal Distribution List from the menu.
Type in the NAME of the List as well as any notes.
Click on the Add/Remove Members button.
Select the people you want on the distribution list.
You can use the Windows Ctrl or Shift with left mouse button to select multiple entries.
Click the next two OK buttons.
To send to your Distribution List, simply create your e-mail as usual and select it from the Address book.

Using Memmaker

Here's a blast from the (supposed) past:

Run Memmaker from the MS-DOS prompt.
It will reboot in MSDOS mode and then run as before.
When you open DOS Prompts and DOS games they will have many of the TSRs in HIMEM
I have 637K Conventional memory for all DOS apps!

Signatures Using WordMail

If you are using WordMail that comes with Office95, you can send e-mail using Microsoft Word.
Exchange will automatically detect the addition and start WordMail when you create a new e-mail or reply to an existing one. It will use Word's spell checker, most of the WinWord text formatting capabilities (centering, full justification, bold, italics)
a special Mail button bar and quite a few new features. It is certainly worth trying out. This may sound like MS hype but I'm actually quite impressed To include a signature:

Start a new message (Ctrl-N)
Type in your signature.
Highlight your signature text.
From the pulldown menu, select Edit / Autotext.
Type in signature for the NAME.
Click on the Add button.
Now when you send any message, this text will be added to the beginning.

Advantages are:

By adding the text to the beginning of the file, a reply will have your signature at the end of your reply, not at the end of their message.
You can format text with Bold, Italics, Underlines etc. Anyone using Exchange can also view them

Adding New Document Templates

Save a blank file with the program for the documents you wish to create the templates, into the hidden directory \WINDOWS\ShellNew.
Then open the Registry Editor and add the key "ShellNew" under the extension related to that document (ie. .BAS, .ORG, .DXF)
Add a new substring and NAME it FileNAME
Double-click FileNAME and type the NAME of the blank document you just saved.
Now you can right-click on the desktop, select New and you'll see the option to create a document-type icon for the application you just selected.

I have found a lot of variations and options on this tip.

New XCOPY Switches

There are quite a few new switches to the XCOPY command. To get a full listing, type XCOPY /?. Below are some of the additions over DOS 6.X.

/C - Continues copying even if errors occur
/I - If destination does not exist and copying more than one file, assumes that destination must be a directory
/Q - Does not display file NAMEs while copying
/F - Displays full source and destination file NAMEs while copying
/L - Displays files that would be copied
/H -Copies hidden and system files also
/R - Overwrites read-only files
/T - Creates directory structure, but does not copy files. Does not include empty directories or subdirectories. /T /E includes empty directories and subdirectories
/U - Updates the files that already exist in destination
/K - Copies attributes. Normal Xcopy will reset read-only attributes
/Y - Overwrites existing files without prompting
/-Y - Prompts you before overwriting existing files
/N - Copy using the generated short NAMEs

Problems with older Win 3.X programs

There is a program, MKCOMPAT.EXE in the SYSTEM directory. If allows you to change several settings that could help with problem programs.

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