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REGISTRY TIPS 24-35

Reviewed:

Advanced users

Make life a little more bearable with these enhancements (Win9x).

Backup the Registry (twice!).

Record current setting(s).

Make ONE change at a time - Reboot & Test it.

ANY REG CHANGE CARRIES A DEGREE OF RISK.

Use at your own discretion Do NOT complain, if it goes wrong!

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24. CD DRIVE LETTER Windows 9x

When you add a new drive or Hard Disk partition to your system, the CD-ROM drive is allocated a new drive letter (lower down the alphabet).

Now when you need to update any Windows files from your CD, you have to tell Windows 95 where to find the CD-ROM.

This changes the location where Windows looks for it's installation files.

Backup the Registry, run RegEdit, and locate the Key below

In the right pane, change Value Data of SourcePath to the correct pathway.

Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
\CurrentVersion\Setup

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25. DAYLIGHT SAVINGS Windows 95A

Windows 95A has a small bug

European countries changed their 'Daylight Savings' ending date from September to October, so your Windows may sometimes have the incorrect time.

Obviously you need a fix, but ONLY IF you use a European time. Also, this problem was fixed by Microsoft in Windows 95B and later versions.

Backup the Registry, run RegEdit, and locate the Key below

In the right pane, look at the Binary Value Data of StandardStart

If you can see: 00 00 09 00 00 00 05 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
replace it with: 00 00 0A 00 00 00 05 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
(you can change the 09 to 0A)
(those are ZEROs)

Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet
\control\TimeZoneInformation

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26. DRAG FULL WINDOW Windows 9x

This setting allows you to view the contents of a window when dragging it across the screen.

As always, be wary of using some of these alterations on performance stressed PC systems.

Backup the Registry, run RegEdit, and locate the Key below

In the right pane, change the Value Data of DragFullWindows to either:

0 for disable
1 for enable

Key: [HKEY_CURRENUSER\Control Panel\Desktop]

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27. DRIVERS - 32-bit PROTECTED MODE Windows 9x

This setting controls whether fixed disk access is performed through Windows protected mode drivers, or through real mode drivers and BIOS routines.

You can try enabling this if you are experiencing drive IO errors.

Backup the Registry, run RegEdit, and locate the Key below

In the right pane, change the Binary Value Data of ForceRMIO to either:
00 00 00 00 for Protected Mode
01 00 00 00 for Real Mode

Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet
\Control\FileSystem]

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28. EXPLORE FROM HERE Windows 9x THPC Favourite

This adds the option Explore from here to right-click on folders.
When you right-click on any folder, the option to Explore From Here will be available. This will open a new Windows Explorer focused on that folder - very useful.

Backup the Registry, run RegEdit, and locate the Key below
(if it doesn't already exist, then create it under the Shell Key, and call it rootexplore)

In the right pane of rootexplore, change the Value Data of Default to
Explore From Here

In the left pane, under the Key rootexplore, create a new sub-key called command
and in the right pane of command, change the Value Data of Default to
explorer.exe /e,/root,/idlist,%i

Key: [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\rootexplore]

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29. EXPLORE - from the START MENU Windows 9x THPC Favourite

Right-clicking Start and clicking Explore annoyingly always opens Windows Explorer focused on the Start Menu in Windows - Profiles.

You can change this to any folder you prefer. From now on, right-mouse clicking Start (or any other folder) and selecting Explore takes you right to the folder you specified.

Caution: This alteration means that Explorer will open at your specified folder when you select Explorer in the context menu of ANY folder.

Backup the Registry, run RegEdit, and locate the Key below

In the right pane, CAREFULLY change the Value Data of (Default):
    by replacing BOTH instances of %I with the path to the folder you prefer.

    For example, the Value Data of (Default) might now read:
    [ExploreFolder("D:\MyFiles", D:\MyFiles, %S)]

Key: (HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\explore\ddeexec)

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30. FOLDERS LOCATION Windows 9x

Windows special folders, such as My Documents, Desktop, Favorites, Start Menu, can be moved anywhere you like provided you inform the Registry of the new location.

First use Windows Explorer to move the folder(s) to your new location

Backup the Registry, run RegEdit, and locate the Key below

In the right pane you will see a list of Value Datas opposite the relative Value Names

Enter the new path in the appropriate Value Data for each of the new locations

Key:
[HKEY_CURRENUSER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Explorer\User Shell Folders]

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31. FILE ALLOCATION SIZE Windows 9x

It can be useful to optimize the contiguous file allocation size for the file system if you use disk intensive applications. You may not notice a difference but it is probably worthwhile doing anyway.

The larger the drive, the greater the size allocated.

Backup the Registry, run RegEdit, and locate the Key below

In the right pane, create a new DWORD Value Name and call it ContigFileAllocSize

Give ContigFileAllocSize a Value Data of

200 or 400 or 800 or 1000 (KB values in Hexadecimal)

OR

512 or 1024 or 2048 or 4096 (KB equivalent in Decimal)

Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
\Control\FileSystem]

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32. FILENAMES TRUNCATED Windows 95 (? 98)

THPC likes long filenames. However some users prefer them truncated.

You can make Window 95 truncate the filenames to the first eight letters.

Backup the Registry, run RegEdit, and locate the Key below

In the right pane, create a new Binary Value Name and call it NameNumericTail
Give NameNumericTail a Value Data of 0 (that's a ZERO)

Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet
\Control\FileSystem

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33. IE 4.0 DEFAULT BUG IE 4.0

Internet Explorer 4.0 renames a Registry-key. The HKEY_USERS\.Default key is renamed to HKEY_USERS\Default (note the lack of the dot before Default).

It is said (not confirmed) that problems may occur if you do not rename it back to .Default

Backup the Registry, run RegEdit, and locate the Key below

In the left pane, Rename (use right-click) the Default key to .Default
(that is a fullstop or period preceding the word Default)

Key: HKEY_USERS

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34. MENU DROP-DOWNS ALIGNED TO THE RIGHT Windows 95

You can make dropdown menus be aligned to the right. This features is useful when trying to access menus with submenus that appear directly to the right.

Backup the Registry, run RegEdit, and locate the Key below

In the right pane, create a new Value Name, and call it MenuDropAlignment
Give MenuDropAlignment a Value Data of 1

Key: [HKEY_CURRENUSER\Control Panel\Desktop]

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35. MODEM INITIALIZATION STRING Windows 9x

Some users prefer the reliability of changing modem initialization strings in the Registry rather than depending on Extra Settings in Control Panel - Modems.

Backup the Registry, run RegEdit, and locate the Key below

In the right pane, enter your preferred modem initialization string in the Value Data

Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services
\Class\Modem\0000\Init]

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Advanced Tweaks Centre

• OVERHEATING | Cooling Software
• OVERCLOCK the CPU
• OVERCLOCK the BUS
• OVERCLOCK CPU & BUS

• BIOS TWEAKS
• MEMORY & VIDEO BIOS TWEAKS
• BOOTUP FASTER. Well, just a little

• REGISTRY TIPS MENU
   • REGISTRY Tips 1-11
   • REGISTRY Tips 12-23
   • REGISTRY Tips 24-35
   • REGISTRY Tips 36-47

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* ALWAYS BACKUP FIRST * ALWAYS RECORD SETTINGS * ALWAYS MAKE ONE CHANGE AT A TIME

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