Others

Shutdown Windows Shortcut

To create a shortcut, that when clicked will shut down windows just put the following in as the shortcut's target :

C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL32.EXE user.exe,ExitWindows

But how do you Hibernate Windows 2000 in a similar way I hear you ask (well I spent ages asking anyway ;-)? Use ExitWindows 4.1, which takes command line parameter such as "-hibernate" or "standby". For more details and to download ExitWindows visit http://astral.i-connect.com/.

Restarting Windows Quickly

Want to restart windows only without having reinitialize your computers hardware etc?

To do this just choose shutdown from the start menu, then select restart, but as you click yes hold down Shift. Windows will then quit and restart much quicker.

Changing/Creating OEM Info

Ever noticed that when you look at the system properties on some computers there is a "Manufactured and Supported by" section on the General Tab?

Well to change this or to add this you just need to edit/create the file called OEMINFO.ini that can be found in the C:\windows\system directory. Also you can add a logo to be displayed by creating a file called OEMLOGO.bmp in the same directory. For details of the format of the OEMINFO.ini file just download this zip which contains example ini and bmp files:

oeminfo.zip (23645 bytes)

or look at this example txt version of the oeminfo.ini file:

oeminfo.txt

The Send To Option

Have you ever noticed the Send to option that appears on the context menus that appear when you click right button on a file? Well did you know it is possible for you to add your own send to destinations? For example you can add an option so that you can send files straight to a Psion Palmtop computer that is attached to the PC (See this for more details).

To add a destination to the sendto list, just create a shortcut that points to the place you want, then copy it into the C:/windows/SendTo directory.

You can also add shortcuts to programs, such as wordpad. You will then be able to send any file to wordpad, so that you can view it's contents.

What happens behind the Windows start up splash screen?

Want to see what is said behind the pretty Windows splash screens? Easy just press Escape and it will go away so you can see what is happening at the Dos prompt.

Changing the Start Up / Shut Down Pictures

Not happy with the standard Windows start up and shut down pictures? Well it is quite simple to change these. All you have to do is create pictures that are 350 x 400 x 256 and save them as Bitmaps.

Then in the C:/windows you will find a file called logow.sys*. This is the "Please Wait while your computer shuts down" screen. Rename this file to "logow-backup.sys" and then rename you replacement bitmap to logow.sys and put it in the place of the normal sys file.

There is also a file called logos.sys. This is the "It's now safe to turn off your computer" screen. Replace this as above to change this screen.

You can also change the start up picture by replacing the logo.sys file that is in the root of C: drive.

Don't forget to take backups of these files, in case you need them!

* NOTE: sys files are normally hidden by Windows. To "unhide" then, open explorer and go to  options on the view menu. Then click on the View tab and select the "Show all files" option. Then click OK.

Speeding up the installation of Windows

Suggested by Muhammad Umer Mansoor (umer97@hotmail.com)

If you have a large hard disk, you can speed up your Windows 95/98 installation by copying the Win98 (or Win95) folder from the CD to your hard disk and then running Setup from there. Your hard disk is faster than the fastest CD-ROM drive available, so the installation procedure will run quicker.

When Windows 95/98 asks for the CD-ROM to load device drivers, etc., just browse to the location on your hard disk where you copied the Win95/98 folder. Having the Win95/98 folder on your hard disk will also reduce the amount of time it takes to add and remove components - something you'll probably do a lot of during your first few months with the new operating system. If you later need the hard disk space, you can always delete the Win95/98 folder and go back to using the CD-ROM.