Tips on Using Explorer For Windows 95/98 Appearance All Staff
Change the Screens
You can change those lovely screens you see as you exit windows95! Simply start up paintbrush and load up the files LOGOS.SYS and LOGOW.SYS and change them to whatever you want...they're just bitmaps with a different extension!
Changing The Start Menu Icon
Normally, the little icon on the START button is the little Windows flag. If you'd like to change it, copy the file: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\USER.EXE to a temporary file, say USERX.EXE and then simply use your favorite icon librarian program to open USERX.EXE. Inside, you will see icons used throughout Win95, including the START button icon (you'll have to set your librarian to show you only the 14x14 icons in the file, however, the Windows flag should be the only one you see under 14x14).
Check out our software section to get a hold of Microangelo v2, which makes this much easier.The reason you copied USER.EXE to USERX.EXE and worked on the latter, is that Windows 95 uses USER.EXE while Win95 is running, SO, when you've saved your change into USERX.EXE, you'll have to restart in DOS mode to copy USERX.EXE to USER.EXE and then restart Windows to see the change. BE SURE TO MAKE A BACKUP of the original USER.EXE if you ever want to undo the change!
There are different sizes of the Windows flag in this file, so I suspect that some installations out there might be using a different size image (ie. 16x16) for different resolutions, so you may have to try editing one of the other sizes included in the file.
Clear the Start Menu
One of the things that really drives me crazy is that every setup adds new "groups" or "folders" to the Start/Program menu. After a while this thing is getting huge and nobody can find what they want because of all these different folders. With Win95 changing the menu is easier than ever. Start with developing a general plan of attack. What do you want your program folder to look like? On our computers we have a different folder for each family member that contains all the programs used by this individual. Then we have a system folder and a communications folder. Of course the startup folder is still there!
Here's how to change the look of the program folder:
Fire up the Explorer
Click View, Details
Double Click the Windows Folder in the left pane
Double Click the Startup Menu folder in the left pane
Double Click Programs in the left pane
You will now have a list of all your program folders in the right pane
Right click the folder name and select rename to do just that.
Double click the folder to open it and you can drag and drop shortcuts to other folders in the left pane
You can add "1- ", "2- " in front of the folder to force them in a specific order
You can copy shortcuts to more than one folder (all the kids) by holding CTRL while dragging the shortcut
You can create a new folder by right clicking the right pane "name" column on an empty spot and selecting New, Folder
After you rearranged all the folders, right click and Delete the ones you want to trash
That's all there is to it.
Functionality in the Dialog Box
I use this one all the time. A real time saver...right click in a Win95 application's file open box for new, copy, delete, arrange, etc. Most of Explorer's functions except half the toolbar and no pull down menus. Try it.
I'm in a Hurry
Add items to the top of the Start menu (above the Programs folder) so you don't have to dig for them. Right-click on the Start button and select Open. Right-drag the application you want from the Explorer. When you close the Start menu window, you'll be able to access the new shortcut from the top of the Start menu.
Pick your Browsing Style
If you're browsing through folder windows, it's usually nicest to have Windows 95 set so that it uses a single window that changes when you open a new folder. However, if you want to copy or move files around, it's nice to be able to quickly open a separate window for a folder.
This can be done by holding "CTRL" as you double-click, but it would be nice to have this option on the right-click menu, next to "Open" and "Explore".
To add this to the menu, you need to change the registry a bit. Run the Registry Editor and find the entry for "Directory" under the "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT" branch.
Under, "Directory", you'll find "Default Icon", "shell", and "shellex". The one we want is "shell."
Under "shell", add a new key called "opennew". Modify its (Default) value to say "Open New &Window". Then, add another key under "opennew". Call this one "command", and set its (Default) value to "explorer %1".
And that should do it. One side effect is that "Open New Window" now also appears when you right-click on the Start Button, which is completely pointless because it does that anyway. Oh well.
Quicker Access to Your Programs
Are you getting tired of having to go through layer upon layer of menus to get to your word processor? Win95 lets you easily adjust the look and feel of the menu found under the start button by following the following procedure:
Run Explorer.
Find your most favorite executable files. They always end in .exe, so if you want Winword to show up on the start menu you should look in the Winword folder for something that resembles winword.exe!
Right click and drag them to the "START" button.
They will be placed on top of the start button..
Start Button Tricks
Press "CTRL+ESC", then "ALT+ -" Close the Start Button or Move it.. Thanks to Mike Cassels for this tip.
Taskbar Appearance
To change font size on Taskbar buttons:
Right-click anywhere on Desktop, context menu appears.
Select Properties, then the Appearance tab.
Select "Active Title Bar" in Item: drop down list.
Adjust font size and select Apply to see what it looks like.
Select SAVE AS. Choose a name for your color scheme in the Save Scheme dialog box.
Select OK to close Display Properties.
Remember that this selection not only changes the Taskbar button font and size, but also the Active Title Bar in all of the programs that you run in Windows 95. So, choose a font that looks acceptable and readable in both places.
That is all that there is to it!
Taskbar Duties
The buttons on the Taskbar shrink to fit the Taskbar, and if they get too small because you're running multiple applications, just drag the desktop-side edge of the Taskbar up to expand it! You can also drag the Taskbar to any edge of the screen. Also, if you want the Taskbar to be almost invisible when you're working in an application or navigating the desktop, choose Auto-Hide from the Taskbar's Properties dialog.
Use Win95's Secret Icons
Win95 has a default icon file called SHELL32.DLL, which lives in the SYSTEMS subfolder of your WINDOWS folder. But there's another file hidden in the SYSTEM folder, called PIFMGR.DLL. Here you'll find Win95's secret stash of cool icons, which you can use if you want to change the icon for a shortcut you've created. You can still use your old Windows 3.x icons, too. They're called PROGMAN.EXE and MORICONS.DLL, and you'll find them in the WINDOWS folder.
