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OPEN EXPLORER RATHER THAN 
MY COMPUTER TO VIEW FILES

(This is a great tip!! One of the most useful customizations...)

Have you created drive icons for your hard drives and floppy
drives on your desktop? (See: How to create shortcuts on your
desktop or Creating shortcuts for your drives).

If so, you may wish that they opened in the two-paned Explorer
view, rather than in My Computer.

To change the default view to Explorer:

1) Open Explorer (from Start, Programs, Explorer, or if
you have created it, from the Explorer icon on your desktop).

2) Choose the View, Options menu.

3) Select the File Types tab.

4). Under registered file types, double click on FOLDER.

5) From the list of actions, select explore.

6) Click on the SET DEFAULT button at bottom right!

Voila! Now when you double click on a folder or open a drive icon
shortcut Explorer will open instead of  My Computer.







OPEN ANY NEW DOCUMENT 
FROM YOUR DESKTOP
(and associate files with programs)

Yes, we can teach you how to edit your Windows registry in order
to add any new document to your desktop - and in a future tip, we will!
But the easiest way to add any new document to your desktop, whether
or not it is listed in your NEW menu is to simply:

1) Right click on your desktop and choose NEW.

2) Choose TEXT document (assuming it is listed there, and associated
with Notepad or the equivalent). Otherwise, choose any kind of
document included in your NEW menu.

3) Retype the name by clicking inside the name box and typing OR
by right clicking the icon, selecting RENAME, the typing. Type in
a document name, and the extension for the kind of document you
wish to open (e.g. .doc for Microsoft Word).

NOTE: The above tip assumes that you have associated this document
with a particular program on your computer. If not:

1) In MY COMPUTER, select view, options, then the FILE 
TYPES tab.

2) Choose NEW TYPE.

3) In the DESCRIPTION box, type a name for the kind of document
or file you are associating (e.g. Adobe Acrobat file)

4) In the ASSOCIATED EXTENSION field, type the extension of
the kind of file in question (e.g. .pdf).

5) Below the ACTIONS field, choose NEW.

6) Type OPEN (in capitals).

7) Using the BROWSE button, browse to find the executable program
(usually ending with .exe, in the primary directory for the program)
of the software which will open this particular file type. Select it.

8) Click ok or close until you've exited all your open screens.

9) Now your document type is associated. When you type in the
extension on a file you create from the desktop and then double
click on the icon, Windows will open its program.

GO TO NEXT TIP!

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