Last Update: 12/28/2001

Windows Tricks

Here are a few neat little tricks you can do in Windows 95/98. Keep your eyes peeled for updates!

• Changing the dreaded "Blue Screen" colors
• Missing your Tools -> Internet Options menu in IE?
• Swap File Optimizations

• Click Start --> Run...
• Type SYSEDIT and click OK.
• When the program loads, click the window titled C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.INI (or something similar if your Windows is not installed in C:\WINDOWS)
• Scroll down until you see the section labeled [386Enh]
• Add the following two lines:
      messagetextcolor=x
      messagebackcolor=y
  
  The x represents the foreground (text) color in HEX from 0 to F
  The y represents the background color in HEX from 0 to 7
  
  Refer to the chart below for color names/approximations

Please keep in mind that these are approximations. If you remember the old DOS days, these colors will look familiar.

Some people may notice that their Tools -> Internet Options menu in Internet Explorer 5.0+ mysteriously disappears (usually after applying some sort of patch or upgrade). This also removes the Tools -> Folder Options menu (in Windows 2000). There is a very easy way to fix this!

• Click Start --> Run...
• Type REGEDIT and click OK.
• Once the program loads, you need to traverse the tree to the following key:
  

  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

• Inside this key, you should see an options that's titled

  NoFolderOptions

• You need to change the value of the option to a "0" instead of a "1"
• That's it! No need to reboot either!

One thing that Windows loves to do is eat up any and all available memory that you have installed. Microsoft knew that almost any "Personal Computer" would not have enough physical memory to satisfy its hunger. Therefore, the swap file was created. It allows Windows to use disk space as a source of "memory." The only problem is that disk writes are slow, compared to memory. Since swap files are slowly getting bigger and bigger, there are two easy tricks you can try to help ease the stress on your hard drive.

• Right click the My Computer icon on the desktop, and choose Properties
• Click on the Performance tab
• Click the Virtual Memory button
• When this window comes up, choose the option that says Let me specify my own virtual memory settings
• In the Hard Disk box, choose a drive other than the Windows boot drive (if possible)
• Set box the Minimum and Maximum values to the same value (ie; 125). This will keep Windows from resizing the file so much. This value should be roughly twice as much as your amount of physical RAM.
• Click OK and let Windows reboot. You may not notice any differences in the short term, but the long term effects will be very beneficial.