This tip is for those using Microsoft Outlook...not Outlook Express. It involves editing your registry, so if your not completly comfortable working in the system registry, don't try this.
If you have an alway's on connection, and want outlook open all the time, you can get it off your taskbar and minimize it to the system tray by following these steps:
1. Open Regedit.
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice10.0OutlookPreferences
3. Add a new DWORD value and name it MinToTray
4. Set it equal to 1.
5. Restart Outlook, it should now minimize to the tray.
Those SDRAM systems I would like to tweak are all Dell's. It is a Phoenix Bios if I recall. I do not recall any Advanced settings but I will check again.
I think you are right that they do not give you much of a tweakable bios.
I do not recommend changing the CAS latency unless your memory is guaranteed to operate at CAS level 2. Even if it appears to work at first, it can intermittently corrupt data. Murphy's Law being what it is, this will usually happen at the worst possible time.
I also do not recommend buying any new computer that uses SDRAM. SDRAM is a sunset technology does not match well with the current Pentium 4 and Athlon XP processors. RDRAM is expensive, but is the best choice for the P4, while DDR is the best type of memory for the Athlon XP.
For a good cheap graphics program, Paint Shop Pro 7 does more than most people need, and very well too. If you don't have $600 to spend on Adobe Photoshop, PSP7 is a good all-around choice.
Changing the CAS/RAS timings can cause problems. But then I did warn about that didn't I? And we are talking about tweaking, aren't we?
I would not do it on a system where the data is super critical.
Changing these timings is kind of like over clocking the processor, it depends upon the tolerences of the individual chip.
One way to test if the system is stable after making these kind of changes it to run a loop test on the memory with Norton or another similar utility. If there are no errors after 3 or 4 cycles of stressing the memory, it will work fine.
Now I have successfully overclocked processors with no problems. I had a Pentium III 450MHz that I ran at 527MHz for two years, and a Celeron 900 overclocked to 1.1GHz. You just turn down the core voltage a notch or two to reduce the heat buildup, just in case, and off you go.
Why work that hard if you don't have to? you can go into Control Panel, console and do the same thing, or you can open a command prompt, click on the icon on the task bar, click "properties", and you can set way more than the color.
No John thats a picture I took in my basement studio, I collect toy vws and Napkinlady and I enjoy taking arty pictures. For those with bad quality, when you see the icons appear when you drag your mouse across the screen shot or any pic to save or copy etc the pics in the upper left, at the BOTTOM right are arrows to increase the picture to full screen and restore the quality.
Splash screens are the name given to those annoying windows that pop up right before a program opens. They amount to nothing more than advertisements for the company that created them. Furthermore they add to the time it takes for the program to open.
First try to get rid of them through the usual options in the program. Sometimes there are no options to get rid of these damn splash screens. Naturally, the offenders purposely do not make it easy. Here are the keys to disabling a few common splash screens:
Outlook Express
To disable the opening Outlook Express screen:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER Identities
Keep drilling down below your unique identity all the way until you get to 5.0. For example: HKEY_CURRENT_USER Identities{ABE2B8A0-C02D-11D3-867B-948FF355BD32}SoftwareMicrosoft Outlook Express 5.0
Add a DWORD and call it NoSplash
Click on your new DWORD and give it a value of 1.
Close Regedit. No more splash screen in Outlook Express.
MusicMatch Jukebox
To remove the splash screen in MusicMatch Jukebox simply go to the MusicMatch directory, probably under C:Program FilesMusic Match.
Find the .jpg file and the .wav file associated with the splash screen and delete them both.
PC Anywhere
You can disable the pcAnywhere splash screen with a command line switch added to the shortcut.
The command line with switch is:
WINAW32.EXE /R.
The easiest way to implement this is to create a
shortcut either on the desktop, on the Start Menu, or under Start/Programs
on the Start Menu if you do not already have one. Just add the /R outside the quotes. For example:
"C:Program FilesSymantecpcAnywhereWinaw32.exe" /r
To edit the shortcut:
1. Right-click the shortcut. The context menu appears.
2. Choose Properties and then choose the shortcut tab.
3. In the "Target" window, scroll to the end of the command line
and add the /R after the quotes..
4. Click Apply and then click OK
[This message was edited by igotout on January 07, 2003 at 23:34.]
Everything you need to know about your Mouse. Click here: MouseTweaking
By the way, mice are cheap these days. If yours is showin its age just replace it. Try a mouse with no moving roller ball underneath, called an optical mouse. They are the best. You don't even need a mouse pad with those. I like the Intellimouse Explorer by Microsoft. I do not like most wireless mice or keyboards.
Can I ask yall a question? Thanks guys. Is it better to turn your computer off at night or while away at work? Or is it okay to leave it on all the time? I do not leave programs open when away from it but do leave it on all the time now that I am on cable. What do yall think?
Can I ask yall a question? Thanks guys. Is it better to turn your computer off at night or while away at work? Or is it okay to leave it on all the time? I do not leave programs open when away from it but do leave it on all the time now that I am on cable. What do yall think?
Kathy
The advice to leave it running 24/7 is a myth perpetrated by power companies. Turning off your computer doesn't do harm to it.
I leave my work PC running, with all the programs open, when I go home. It's Windows 2000 so I can lock it by pressing Crtl Alt Del and it asks for a password when I unlock it. It's nice because that way when I get to work in the morning I don't have to spend a long time waiting for this POS to boot and all my programs to open.
At home, I leave my PCs turned off most of the time. I do use them occasionally in the evenings but when I'm not using them they are powered down.
If you want to be concerned about your computer, temperature is one thing that can do a lot of harm. When I was a system administrator at a college, our air conditioner in the server room would go out occasionally. The servers would get really really hot before we could get it fixed. When this happened, we had anywhere from a few hours to a week before a hard drive stopped working in a server or two. Going from the low 70's to 100's within a matter of minutes can really mess things up.
Do you want to change the Windows 98 Logo startup screen? It's easy.
Create a bitmap file in Paint or any other program. Make it 320 X 400 DPI / 256 colors. It can be anything.
After you create it save it to the C: folder. Close Paint, then in Explorer, rename the file to logo.sys. The next time Windows starts this bitmap will be displayed instead of the same old Windows Logo.
---------------------
Want to disable the Windows 98/95 logo screen altogether to see what is happening when that logo screen is just sitting there. Do this.
Open up a command prompt and go to c: Type Then type In the editor under the [options] section, change the line that says logo=1 to logo=0 then save the file.
The next time you start Windows the splash screen will be gone and will not hide the items that load or run from config.sys and autoexec.bat. Don't change the other lines unless you know what you are doing.
Do you want to change the Windows 98 Logo startup screen? It's easy.
I'm going to have to look and see how I did it, but I had a way of changing the icon on the Start menu on 95/98/ME. My old laptop has a smiley face rather than the Windows logo on it.
Can I ask yall a question? Thanks guys. Is it better to turn your computer off at night or while away at work? Or is it okay to leave it on all the time? I do not leave programs open when away from it but do leave it on all the time now that I am on cable. What do yall think?
From things I've read in PC magazines it's a trade off. There is some small extra wear and tear on the hard drive each time you turn it off and on. But it uses up more power to leave it on. You could at least turn off the monitor.
If you are on cable do not leave it on without being behind some kind of fire wall or security router. Too easy for people to hack into your machine that way.
Want a surprise? Download this valuable and free utility called Ad Aware from LavaSoft. Click here: Ad Aware
To quote:
"Ad-aware is a free multi spyware removal utility that scans your memory, registry and hard drives for known spyware and scumware components and lets you remove them safely. It is updated frequently."
When you run this little program you will be amazed at all the Spyware and Scumware and junk you have in your system. It safely deletes all of it.
In my opinion some of these offending companies should be fined for how invasive their products are. Some of them actually install programs on your computer, change you homepage permanently (not allowing you to change it to anything else without a registry hack), and sends information from your computer to other computers about your surfing habits and shopping habits.
Fight back! Scan your computer regularly with Ad Aware. It will remove it all. Then try to stay in the habit of avoiding and downloading Spyware such as Gator.com, cometcursor.com, doubleclick.com and dozens of others.
PS - Don't confuse Spyware with a virus. You still need Antivirus software. But sometimes I think Spyware can be just as damaging as a virus.
Want a surprise? Download this valuable and free utility called Ad Aware from LavaSoft. Click here: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
I second this. AdAware is great.
The only thing I have a slight problem with is that I run KaZaA lite, which puts a fake piece of spyware on your machine so KaZaA will run correctly. AdAware can't tell the difference so it picks up the fake spyware as the real thing, but you can make an exception for that.
Hi again. Yeah....good point. We, too, use Kazaa Lite (as opposed to the regular version of Kazaa) for downloading music.
I am aware of that file you speak of called something like "CyDoor" if I recall. It is purposely installed, as you state, in order to defeat all the pop up ads that come with the regular version of Kazaa.
Ad Aware can possibly delete it if from what I have read unless you choose not to select it. However, I have not had a problem with this occurring on XP or 2000 so far. Maybe I am just lucky.
Ad Aware will find all kinds of Spyware. It lets you observe all of them and select which ones you want to delete. If in doubt, I believe it also allows you to back them up first before deleting. Or this can be done manually.
But I have not heard of too many problems with Ad Aware deleting anything important. But I suppose it is possible.
[This message was edited by igotout on January 07, 2003 at 23:38.]
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Bluzeman
This tip is for those using Microsoft Outlook...not Outlook Express. It involves editing your registry, so if your not completly comfortable working in the system registry, don't try this.
If you have an alway's on connection, and want outlook open all the time, you can get it off your taskbar and minimize it to the system tray by following these steps:
1. Open Regedit.
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice10.0OutlookPreferences
3. Add a new DWORD value and name it MinToTray
4. Set it equal to 1.
5. Restart Outlook, it should now minimize to the tray.
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Goey
John,
Typically, the memory settings in the BIOS are under "Advanced System Settings."
However, a few PC vendors like Dell may "hack" the original BIOS and take away the ability of customers access to these settings.
Goey
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igotout
Those SDRAM systems I would like to tweak are all Dell's. It is a Phoenix Bios if I recall. I do not recall any Advanced settings but I will check again.
I think you are right that they do not give you much of a tweakable bios.
Damn that Dell.
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igotout
This is my desktop screenshot generated from ThumbsPlus. It seems to transfer pretty good quality:
Desktop
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Zixar
I do not recommend changing the CAS latency unless your memory is guaranteed to operate at CAS level 2. Even if it appears to work at first, it can intermittently corrupt data. Murphy's Law being what it is, this will usually happen at the worst possible time.
I also do not recommend buying any new computer that uses SDRAM. SDRAM is a sunset technology does not match well with the current Pentium 4 and Athlon XP processors. RDRAM is expensive, but is the best choice for the P4, while DDR is the best type of memory for the Athlon XP.
For a good cheap graphics program, Paint Shop Pro 7 does more than most people need, and very well too. If you don't have $600 to spend on Adobe Photoshop, PSP7 is a good all-around choice.
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Goey
Zixar is right.
Changing the CAS/RAS timings can cause problems. But then I did warn about that didn't I? And we are talking about tweaking, aren't we?
I would not do it on a system where the data is super critical.
Changing these timings is kind of like over clocking the processor, it depends upon the tolerences of the individual chip.
One way to test if the system is stable after making these kind of changes it to run a loop test on the memory with Norton or another similar utility. If there are no errors after 3 or 4 cycles of stressing the memory, it will work fine.
Goey
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Zixar
Now I have successfully overclocked processors with no problems. I had a Pentium III 450MHz that I ran at 527MHz for two years, and a Celeron 900 overclocked to 1.1GHz. You just turn down the core voltage a notch or two to reduce the heat buildup, just in case, and off you go.
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Bluzeman
Don't like the default white text on black background when you go to a command prompt? You can change it. Open regedit and do the following:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Command Processor]
Select the DefaultColor entry and change it according to the chart below. Numbers are background and letters are text color.
Color codes to use(HEX)
0 = black
1 = blue
2 = green
3 = cyan
4 = red
5 = magenta
6 = yellow/brown
7 = white
8 = gray
9 = bright blue
A = bright green
B = bright cyan
C = bright red
D = bright magenta
E = bright yellow
F = bright white
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Steve!
Why work that hard if you don't have to? you can go into Control Panel, console and do the same thing, or you can open a command prompt, click on the icon on the task bar, click "properties", and you can set way more than the color.
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DATWAY
No John thats a picture I took in my basement studio, I collect toy vws and Napkinlady and I enjoy taking arty pictures. For those with bad quality, when you see the icons appear when you drag your mouse across the screen shot or any pic to save or copy etc the pics in the upper left, at the BOTTOM right are arrows to increase the picture to full screen and restore the quality.
disway datway anyway but that WAY.
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ChattyKathy
Hey, I gotta a cool desktop too you know. I just ain't gonna show ya, so there.
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igotout
You extreme PC tweakers and overclockers are making my head spin. But I must admit I find it very interesting.
But back to a basic tip. Some of you may know it but for anyone who doesn't, you will find it very useful.
I am referring to "Send To"
RIGHT click on a file or a Word document, for example. You will find the choice to Send To: (several things to choose from)
My most commonly used choices are "Mail Recipient" and "Desktop as a shortcut".
Selecting Mail recipient opens Outlook and automatically attaches the file to your email message.
You can also find these "Send To" features under File at the top left corner of most programs.
Look at your broswer now and go to File and look for Send To. You can select from three useful choices.
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igotout
Splash screens are the name given to those annoying windows that pop up right before a program opens. They amount to nothing more than advertisements for the company that created them. Furthermore they add to the time it takes for the program to open.
First try to get rid of them through the usual options in the program. Sometimes there are no options to get rid of these damn splash screens. Naturally, the offenders purposely do not make it easy. Here are the keys to disabling a few common splash screens:
Outlook Express
To disable the opening Outlook Express screen:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER Identities
Keep drilling down below your unique identity all the way until you get to 5.0. For example: HKEY_CURRENT_USER Identities{ABE2B8A0-C02D-11D3-867B-948FF355BD32}SoftwareMicrosoft Outlook Express 5.0
Add a DWORD and call it NoSplash
Click on your new DWORD and give it a value of 1.
Close Regedit. No more splash screen in Outlook Express.
MusicMatch Jukebox
To remove the splash screen in MusicMatch Jukebox simply go to the MusicMatch directory, probably under C:Program FilesMusic Match.
Find the .jpg file and the .wav file associated with the splash screen and delete them both.
PC Anywhere
You can disable the pcAnywhere splash screen with a command line switch added to the shortcut.
The command line with switch is:
WINAW32.EXE /R.
The easiest way to implement this is to create a
shortcut either on the desktop, on the Start Menu, or under Start/Programs
on the Start Menu if you do not already have one. Just add the /R outside the quotes. For example:
"C:Program FilesSymantecpcAnywhereWinaw32.exe" /r
To edit the shortcut:
1. Right-click the shortcut. The context menu appears.
2. Choose Properties and then choose the shortcut tab.
3. In the "Target" window, scroll to the end of the command line
and add the /R after the quotes..
4. Click Apply and then click OK
[This message was edited by igotout on January 07, 2003 at 23:34.]
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igotout
Everything you need to know about your Mouse. Click here: MouseTweaking
By the way, mice are cheap these days. If yours is showin its age just replace it. Try a mouse with no moving roller ball underneath, called an optical mouse. They are the best. You don't even need a mouse pad with those. I like the Intellimouse Explorer by Microsoft. I do not like most wireless mice or keyboards.
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ChattyKathy
Can I ask yall a question? Thanks guys. Is it better to turn your computer off at night or while away at work? Or is it okay to leave it on all the time? I do not leave programs open when away from it but do leave it on all the time now that I am on cable. What do yall think?
Kathy
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Mister P-Mosh
The advice to leave it running 24/7 is a myth perpetrated by power companies. Turning off your computer doesn't do harm to it.
I leave my work PC running, with all the programs open, when I go home. It's Windows 2000 so I can lock it by pressing Crtl Alt Del and it asks for a password when I unlock it. It's nice because that way when I get to work in the morning I don't have to spend a long time waiting for this POS to boot and all my programs to open.
At home, I leave my PCs turned off most of the time. I do use them occasionally in the evenings but when I'm not using them they are powered down.
If you want to be concerned about your computer, temperature is one thing that can do a lot of harm. When I was a system administrator at a college, our air conditioner in the server room would go out occasionally. The servers would get really really hot before we could get it fixed. When this happened, we had anywhere from a few hours to a week before a hard drive stopped working in a server or two. Going from the low 70's to 100's within a matter of minutes can really mess things up.
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ChattyKathy
Not too concerned about temp changes, but what about just ware and tare from being on all the time.
Gotta head home, check back later tonight.
And thanks for the help.
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Goey
For Windows 98 and 95 Users.
Do you want to change the Windows 98 Logo startup screen? It's easy.
Create a bitmap file in Paint or any other program. Make it 320 X 400 DPI / 256 colors. It can be anything.
After you create it save it to the C: folder. Close Paint, then in Explorer, rename the file to logo.sys. The next time Windows starts this bitmap will be displayed instead of the same old Windows Logo.
---------------------
Want to disable the Windows 98/95 logo screen altogether to see what is happening when that logo screen is just sitting there. Do this.
Open up a command prompt and go to c: Type Then type In the editor under the [options] section, change the line that says logo=1 to logo=0 then save the file.
The next time you start Windows the splash screen will be gone and will not hide the items that load or run from config.sys and autoexec.bat. Don't change the other lines unless you know what you are doing.
Goey
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Mister P-Mosh
I'm going to have to look and see how I did it, but I had a way of changing the icon on the Start menu on 95/98/ME. My old laptop has a smiley face rather than the Windows logo on it.
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My3Cents
From things I've read in PC magazines it's a trade off. There is some small extra wear and tear on the hard drive each time you turn it off and on. But it uses up more power to leave it on. You could at least turn off the monitor.
If you are on cable do not leave it on without being behind some kind of fire wall or security router. Too easy for people to hack into your machine that way.
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igotout
Want a surprise? Download this valuable and free utility called Ad Aware from LavaSoft. Click here: Ad Aware
To quote:
"Ad-aware is a free multi spyware removal utility that scans your memory, registry and hard drives for known spyware and scumware components and lets you remove them safely. It is updated frequently."
When you run this little program you will be amazed at all the Spyware and Scumware and junk you have in your system. It safely deletes all of it.
In my opinion some of these offending companies should be fined for how invasive their products are. Some of them actually install programs on your computer, change you homepage permanently (not allowing you to change it to anything else without a registry hack), and sends information from your computer to other computers about your surfing habits and shopping habits.
Fight back! Scan your computer regularly with Ad Aware. It will remove it all. Then try to stay in the habit of avoiding and downloading Spyware such as Gator.com, cometcursor.com, doubleclick.com and dozens of others.
PS - Don't confuse Spyware with a virus. You still need Antivirus software. But sometimes I think Spyware can be just as damaging as a virus.
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Mister P-Mosh
I second this. AdAware is great.
The only thing I have a slight problem with is that I run KaZaA lite, which puts a fake piece of spyware on your machine so KaZaA will run correctly. AdAware can't tell the difference so it picks up the fake spyware as the real thing, but you can make an exception for that.
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igotout
Mister P-Mosh,
Hi again. Yeah....good point. We, too, use Kazaa Lite (as opposed to the regular version of Kazaa) for downloading music.
I am aware of that file you speak of called something like "CyDoor" if I recall. It is purposely installed, as you state, in order to defeat all the pop up ads that come with the regular version of Kazaa.
Ad Aware can possibly delete it if from what I have read unless you choose not to select it. However, I have not had a problem with this occurring on XP or 2000 so far. Maybe I am just lucky.
Ad Aware will find all kinds of Spyware. It lets you observe all of them and select which ones you want to delete. If in doubt, I believe it also allows you to back them up first before deleting. Or this can be done manually.
But I have not heard of too many problems with Ad Aware deleting anything important. But I suppose it is possible.
[This message was edited by igotout on January 07, 2003 at 23:38.]
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igotout
Question:
Is there something I can hold to open a link in a new window? Its such a
hassle to right click and choose open in a new window. I want my sites to open in separate windows.
Answer:
Hold the Shift key down while clicking the shortcut and the
site will open in a new window.
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