Windows Tips

Increase your Windows enjoyment and productivity with our tips!

  
Create multiple desktops so different users
have their own unique Windows setup.

An advantage of Windows is that it enables different users on the same
computer create different user settings, customizing desktop icons, color
schemes, wallpapers, and start menu. When a user logs on with his/her
name and password, Windows opens with his or her user settings.
Applications installed by one user will only be accessible to that user
unless shortcuts are created in another user's PROFILES directory.

Another use of multiple desktops is for one user to configure his/her
desktop for different uses, such as work and play.

TO CREATE A CUSTOM USER PROFILE:

1. In Control Panel, choose User Accounts, then User Profiles.

2. Choose Create a New Account...... and follow the instructions.
    underneath  

3. Restart Windows.

4. When asked to log in, type your name and choose an easy-to-remember
    (but not easy for others to access) password of 14 characters or less.

5. Arrange your desktop, START menu and taskbar as you wish.

6. Later, when you shut down, close all programs. You will be asked
    to determine whether you will log on next, or if a different user with
   a different profile will next use Windows.

7. A second user may now log on, and follow steps 4, 5 and 6 above.

NOTE: You can change your own (but not another) User's password
in Control Panel, Passwords.


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Change  the default icons used by
different Windows programs

As you may have learned, you can easily change shortcut icons in
Windows, but can not so easily change the actual icons for
programs and files. Your Wordperfect program and all its files
will use the same generic icon, as will your Excel program use the
same icon as your Excel files.

You do, however, have some choice in regard to icon preferences.
You can change the standard icon which a program uses, as well
as the icons used for files of different extensions.

1. Open My Computer, and click the View menu, then Options.

2. Choose the file types tab.

3. Under registered file types, choose a file type that you wish to change.

4. Click the edit button, then the change icon button.

5. If you see another icon you wish to use, select it, then click open.
    Otherwise click the browse button, navigate to another icon collection
    file on your computer, select one, then choose open.
    NOTE: See lesson 4c of our Windows manual for more information
    on changing icons, and on Windows icon files (.ico, .dll, .exe).

6. Choose close, then close on the Edit screen, then close again on the
    View, Options dialog box  panels.

 Want more icon files?
 Download THOUSANDS at these sites.


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Edit the registry, so that you can see
the actual icon image of your icon files
in Explorer and My Computer.

Did you know that you can easily change your Windows Registry
so that any icon files (.ico) you have obtained appear as the icon they
represent when you them in My Explorer or My Computer? This means
that you can peruse a directory of icon files and see the actual icon (at
full size, if you've chosen view, large icons), thereby more easily 
determining which one to use when you create shortcut icons.

NOTE: See lesson 4c of our Windows 95 manual for more information on changing
icons, and  lesson 4a to learn about creating shortcut icons.

Most people, for good reason, fear editing the Registry - Windows
system configuration files. And indeed, incorrectly editing the
Registry could impair your ability to enter Windows or to operate
your programs effectively.

However, the change we are going to make is not a dangerous one, and
we'll back up our Registry first.......which consists of two files in your
Windows directory - system.dat and user.dat. Windows 95 uses these
two files to recreate a current version of your Registry every time you
boot up your computer. You may want to back them up frequently!

Two valid reasons why you might not want to make this change:
1) You have less than 16mb memory. Viewing your icon files as
    a variety of icon images will slow down your display when you
    peruse your icon directory. For this reason, whatever your memory
    might be, you will not want to set your view menu to large icons.

2) You don't have any .ico files! If you rely entirely on the .dll icon
    collections which come with Windows, you are not likely to
    have many .ico files on your computer. If you want more  .ico
    files, you can download THOUSANDS of them at  these sites.


PART ONE: BACKING UP THE REGISTRY
1.Open Explorer or My Computer, choose view, by name, and
double click on your Windows folder.

2. Click on system.dat, then holding down the control key (for
multiple selection), click on user.dat.

3. With both selected, choose edit, copy.

4. Now, placing a formatted floppy disk in drive a, select drive A
in  My Computer or Explorer.

5. Choose edit, paste. Voila! You have backed up the Registry.

PART TWO: NAVIGATING THE REGISTRY
1. Open up the Start menu on your taskbar, and choose run.

2. In the dialog box that opens, type regedit (or regedit.exe), then
then click ok. This will open your Windows Registry.

3. In the left pane of the Registry, you will see several folders. The
first will be titled HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. This is the folder that
stores information about Windows file types. Double click it.

4. Scroll 1/2 - 3/4 of the way down the the screen until you see icofile
in the left panel. NOTE: You do not want .ico, which will appear earlier
in the long list of file extensions. You want icofile.
(NOTE: An alternative is to choose EDIT, FIND, indicate KEYS,
type ICOFILE, then click FIND NEXT.)

5. Double click icofile. You will see two subdirectories underneath
it - DefaultIcon and Shell. In the Registry, these are called subkeys.

ABOUT DefaultIcon: DefaultIcon associates an icon with particular application or
file. Values entered here determine whether a file's icon will be the program's icon,
another icon, the generic Windows 95 icon, or generated from within the specific file.
If the string %1 is present, the file that uses the icon generates the  icon itself.

PART THREE: CHANGING REGISTRY VALUES
1. Double click the DefaultIcon subkey folder. In the right panel, you
will see two listings, one for NAME (default) and one for DATA..

2. Under NAME, double click  Default.

3. A dialog box will open. At the top, under VALUE Name, the value
will be default. The field underneath it is VALUE Data. (If there is
a value typed here, you will overwrite it). Basically, you will type
two digits in the value data area, %1 - that's a % sign, NO space,
followed by the digit for number one):  VALUE DATA     %1

NOTE: You might want to write down the original (if any) value, if you decide you
prefer not to see your icon pictures (or to wait an extra few seconds for them to
display), and want to return to your original configuration without using your backup.

SUGGESTION: Create a file on your computer for storing important information
about your system configuration, recording error messages, and indicating changes
that you have made within Windows.

4. Now under DATA, you will read %1 (contained within two quote
marks.) The quote marks are added by the Registry.

5. Close the Registry. It will be saved when you exit Windows 95.

6. Reboot your computer so that Windows will read your Registry,
when it next opens.

7. When you enter Windows again and view your icon files, they
will each be represented by the actual icon picture!

(Well, it may not be important, folks, but it sure is fun to play with icons!)



WHERE TO GET MORE ICONS:
Winsite Icons
Windows Central Icons
Free Icon Downloads
Desktop folder icons

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