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Chapter 1: Making the Most of Windows Me

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Do you get a sinking feeling in your stomach every time you are about to install new software? Does the expectation that the installer will overwrite all your settings and disable other software on your computer make you want to chuck the whole system out the window? Have you calmly accepted the fact that your new operating system will most likely contain more bugs than improvements?

Why fight it? Why not simply join the masses and slip into the mind-numbing abyss of acquiescence, feeling powerless whenever technology isn't as seamless as it is promised by software marketers? Because you know there's a better way. You know there's more to Windows Me than what's mentioned in the documentation, such as it is, and in Microsoft's press clippings.

The purpose of these rants, as well as the goal of the entire book, is not to complain or to criticize. The idea is to acknowledge the problems and shortcomings of the operating system—and the software that runs on it—in an effort to overcome them. If users had a large selection of operating systems from which to choose, the point would be almost moot; each user would simply choose the most appropriate and least annoying software available. However, the real world isn't like that, and most computer users using Microsoft Windows are doing so out of necessity, rather than choice. That puts Microsoft in a position to control what we see and how we work. Realizing you're not alone is the first step to improving your experience with Windows Me and regaining control of your machine before it assumes control of you.

While nobody's particular requirements, preferences, and annoyances will be the same, everyone can benefit when light is shed on the inner workings of an operating system. A little knowledge can be dangerous, but a lot of knowledge can keep your system running smoothly and make your Windows experience relatively aggravation free.

There are many reasons that software, and Windows Me in particular, annoys us. One of the most common excuses is that software is designed to be used by a large number of people and to be compatible with a vast array of hardware components, and that no single piece of software can be expected to satisfy everyone. That's true to some extent, but it's too often used as a scapegoat for other problems. One real reason for problems with software is that software designers often don't understand good user-interface design or simply don't understand users and, therefore, create incomplete products that don't work the way we expect or just don't work at all. And another reason is that users don't understand software designers and, therefore, often aren't able to comfortably follow the same lines of logic (or lack thereof ) that the designers used.

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What's Wrong with Windows

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There are many reasons that software, and Windows Me in particular, annoys us. One of the most common excuses is that software is designed to be used by a large number of people and to be compatible with a vast array of hardware components, and that no single piece of software can be expected to satisfy everyone. That's true to some extent, but it's too often used as a scapegoat for other problems. One real reason for problems with software is that software designers often don't understand good user-interface design or simply don't understand users and, therefore, create incomplete products that don't work the way we expect or just don't work at all. And another reason is that users don't understand software designers and, therefore, often aren't able to comfortably follow the same lines of logic (or lack thereof ) that the designers used.

Another truth, and one that most computer companies will never admit, is that consumer computer technology, in general, is still quite infantile. It's truly amazing what some of these devices are capable of, but the sad fact is that the majority of technology hasn't caught up to most users' expectations or requirements. What's worse is that neither has our understanding of human-computer interaction.

There's also an inherent difficulty with the role of the personal computer that ends up causing all sorts of problems. We expect every computer to flawlessly manage our finances, seamlessly connect us to the Internet and allow us to communicate, run our latest 3D-accelerated games, create magazine-quality documents, and about 50,000 other things. Part of the solution to this has been the proliferation of special-function devices, most notably the Palm OS-based personal digital assistants (PDAs). Instead of trying to do everything (a mistake Microsoft, not surprisingly, has migrated to their Windows CE-based devices), the Palm OS has been kept extremely simple; it does only a few things, and it does them reliably well.

In an interview a few years ago, Bill Gates, head bigwig at Microsoft, bragged that Windows 98 had something like seven times as many lines of code as the software used in air-traffic control systems in the U.S. I was appalled. Think about the millions and millions of lines of code and the countless teams of programmers responsible for all the different elements of Windows Me—each programmer with different levels of skill, experience, and adherence to the theoretical interface standards. Instead of giving us a tighter, simpler product, Microsoft keeps making Windows more complex and cumbersome, adding more pointless wizards and market-driven features.

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The Windows Family Tree

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As time progresses, the lineage of Windows becomes less linear. Windows 2000, despite its name, is not the successor to Windows 98 and Windows 95; Windows Me, of course, has that distinction. Windows 2000 is, instead, the latest installment to the less-consumer-oriented Windows NT line of operating systems, developed in parallel to the Windows 9x line.

Figure 1-1 shows a representative family tree and where Windows Me and Windows 2000 fit in. Note that wider boxes imply a greater installed base, and wider gray arrows imply a greater migration from one product to another. Products appearing farther to the right are perceived to have both greater complexity and more technological sophistication.

Figure 1-1: The nonlinear Windows Family Tree is hopefully heading toward a future unifying product

There were rumors that what has become Windows 2000 was supposed to be the product that unified the upscale NT line with the consumer-oriented Windows 9x line. This role has been ostensibly postponed to the Windows XP operating system (code-named "Whistler"), probably Microsoft's most confusing name choice to date.

So why the distinction between DOS-based Windows operating systems and the NT line? We peons were informed at the inception of Windows NT 3.1 that "NT" was an acronym for "New Technology," which is actually quite an accurate description. The NT kernel, or underlying code upon which the interface (Explorer) runs, was completely new and did not rely on DOS. This resulted in a (theoretically) more stable environment, much better security, and the ability to be easily ported to work on other processors (such as Compaq's Alpha chip). Over the years, this "portability" has become much less emphasized. More recently, the NT line has been marketed as a web, intranet, and network server; a challenger to Unix; and now, with Windows 2000, a viable home-office operating system.

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Transition to Windows Me

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If Windows Me is your foray into Windows, you're lucky to have escaped the early days of changing jumpers, editing the config.sys file, running out of "system resources," and suffering with the Windows 3.x Program Manager. However, dealing with the problems of the early days of Windows is a good way to build coping skills and is the only way to appreciate some of the things now taken for granted, such as Plug-and-Play and fast Internet connections. Getting under the hood of Windows is not only a great way to take charge of the operating system and make it conform to the way you work and think, but it's also a very effective method for learning more about Windows and the technology that makes it work.

The basic "shell" interface (Explorer, the Desktop, the Start Menu, and [shiver] the Web View) is relatively unchanged from Windows 98, with the exception of newly painted desktop icons. Those migrating from Windows NT 4.0 will notice slightly more substantial changes, such as menu animation and Internet Explorer integration. Anyone who is accustomed to any recent release of Windows, though, will feel immediately comfortable with the Windows Me version, at least on the surface.

What follows are a few highlights and lowlights of Windows Me, most notably for those who have upgraded or who are thinking of upgrading from a previous version. Some may seem insignificant; others may mean the difference between upgrading to Windows Me and waiting for something better to come along. All of these, naturally, add up to the total Windows Me experience.

Drag-and-drop of EXE files finally makes sense

After five years of customer complaints, Microsoft has finally fixed the absurd way Windows handled the drag-and-drop of EXE files. As one visitor to Annoyances.org wrote several years ago, "whoever came up with the `dragging an application creates a shortcut' behavior must be shot immediately." Now, dragging an EXE file works the same as dragging any other type of file. See Chapter 2, for details, exceptions, and helpful tips.

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Chapter 2: Basic Explorer Coping Skills

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The face of Windows Me that users see most is Windows Explorer, commonly known simply as Explorer. Explorer (Explorer.exe) is the primary shell interface, handling the desktop, the Start Menu, the Recycle Bin, Control Panel, My Computer, the Explorer window, and about a million other things.

Given the amount of time we spend starting programs, finding files, copying folders, and configuring Windows, it makes sense to invest a little time not only to find better ways to accomplish these tasks, but also to learn how to configure Windows to work more like the way we think. In addition, you can make your experience with Windows a lot more pleasurable by giving it a little personality and reducing the various headache-causing annoyances—think of all the money for codeine you'll save.

The ideal user interface should adapt to you, rather than the other way around. One of the primary goals of this book is to show you how to change the w ay Windows looks, feels, and operates so that it is more closely in tune with the way you think and work. However, there are some fundamental features of the interface that simply can't be changed, such as the way icons and folders are drag-dropped.

There are times, on the other hand, when the design of certain basic Windows functionality is so frustrating that it makes you want to tear your hair out: such as how accessing the Search tool from Explorer disables the folder tree, forcing you either to open a new Explorer window or to turn the folder tree back on (select View, Explorer Bar, and then Folders), which incidentally is the only entry in this menu without a keyboard shortcut. (See Section 2.1.8 later in this chapter for several workarounds.)

So, it is the slightly revised goal of all the solutions in this book to arrive at the best compromise between the ideal solution and what is actually possible, while maintaining the lowest practical "annoyance coefficient."

Many of the topics discussed throughout this book require knowledge of the Windows Registry, with the exception of this chapter—I figured you'd want to jump right in. In addition to the Explorer-related tips and tricks, many of the topics of this chapter document the subtle interface differences in Windows Me from previous releases—it's all good stuff. Chapter 3, covers the Registry thoroughly, and all subsequent material assumes a working knowledge of the Registry.

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Coping with Explorer

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Explorer is the all-encompassing program that provides the basic working interface to all modern versions of Windows, allowing you to manage the files, folders, and applications on your system. The Windows desktop, the My Computer window, the single-folder windows, the Tree View window, and the Start Menu are all part of the Explorer application. However, in most Windows lore and in most of the solutions in this book, the term Explorer refers specifically to the window that has the Tree View shown in the left pane; it is opened by selecting Windows Explorer from the Start Menu or by launching Explorer.exe from the Start Menu's Run command. All other windows used to browse folders—those windows accessible from the My Computer window—are commonly referred to as folder windows or the single-folder view.

In reality, Explorer with the folder view and single-folder windows are exactly the same, except for the folder tree pane, which can be turned on or off by selecting Explorer Bar from the View menu and then selecting Folders. The distinction in this book is purely for semantics and casual conversation.

The good news is that files, folders, and most other system objects are copied, moved, opened, closed, and deleted in virtually the same way in all of these places. Interface consistency is one of the most important aspects of interface design, but, unfortunately, often contradicts other factors, such as intuition and historical consistency. For example, drag-drop in Explorer behaves differently when you're dragging from one drive to another (d: to c:) than when dragging from one folder to another on the same drive (c:\docs to c:\files). Why the inconsistency? Because that's the way it has been done in Windows for years, and fixing it would likely confuse too many users. (At least from the perspective of the company that otherwise would have to answer all the technical support calls.)

I've found that Windows Me has the best interface consistency of any Microsoft operating system I've seen. In Windows 98, for example, keystrokes that worked in one situation in Explorer didn't work in other situations, and this has been fixed in Windows Me. Surprisingly, Microsoft has also done away with the "drag an EXE file to create a shortcut" behavior that

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Tweaking the Interface

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If you've made it this far, odds are that you already know how to change your desktop wallpaper, create shortcuts on your desktop, and rearrange the items in your Start Menu. The following solutions allow you to customize some of the more subtle aspects of the Windows interface, using methods somewhat less obvious than those found in ordinary dialog boxes.

Probably the most important customizations in this section are illustrated in Section 2.2.1 and Section 2.2.6. Both of these solutions utilize built-in features of the operating system in ways for which they weren't necessarily intended. The rest of this section should help you tame the Tray, the Control Panel, and the Start Menu—stuff you won't find in the manual.

There are several ways to open an Explorer window, but the most direct method is to use the Windows Explorer shortcut in the Start Menu. This has the same effect as selecting Run in the Start Menu and typing explorer.exe. That is, the Explorer application is run without any command-line arguments.

When Explorer is run without any arguments, it opens to its default location, the Documents shortcut on your desktop (even if you've deleted the Documents icon from your desktop). You may want to have Explorer open to a custom folder each time, saving the time required to repeatedly navigate through all the folders on your hard disk.

Section 2.2.1.1: Launch Explorer from a shortcut

The following steps show how to modify your existing Windows Explorer shortcut in your Start Menu. If you want to create a new shortcut instead, right-click on an empty portion of your desktop or the currently open folder, and select New and then Shortcut. When prompted for an application, point to explorer.exe (located in your Windows folder):

1. Right-click on the Windows Explorer shortcut, select Properties, and click on the Shortcut tab.

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Regaining Control of the Desktop

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Microsoft has, in terms of the interface, positioned the desktop as the root of all other objects in the imaginary hierarchy depicted by Explorer's tree. This includes all drives, the Control Panel, the Network Neighborhood, and even all running applications. The following topics cover some fundamental tasks when dealing with the desktop, such as refreshing the desktop and how to make sure your desktop configuration remains intact. For details on the Active Desktop and other Web integration topics, see Chapter 8.

When Windows starts, it loads the Explorer application, which provides the desktop and the Start Menu. While it's loading, Explorer reads its settings from the Registry (see Chapter 3). If you make a change to the Registry, such as when following some of the procedures in this book, it might not take effect until you reload Explorer, which usually means restarting Windows. However, restarting Windows can take several minutes and will mean shutting down all applications and disconnecting your dial-up connection to the Internet (if applicable). In some cases you can put your changes into effect without restarting Windows, as outlined in the following solutions. Whether any of these solutions work depends on the type of setting you've changed.

Section 2.3.1.1: Solution 1

Click on any empty area of your desktop or any icon on your desktop with the left mouse button, and press the F5 key to refresh the desktop.

Section 2.3.1.2: Solution 2

In cases where Solution 1 is not sufficient to implement your changes, you can force Explorer to reload without restarting:

1. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to display the Close Program dialog box.
2. Select Explorer from the list, and click End Task.

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Chapter 3: The Registry

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Whenever you change your system colors, install an application, or change a setting in Control Panel, the relevant information is stored in your Registry. The Registry is a database of all the settings for Windows Me, as well as the applications installed on your system. Knowing how to use the Registry effectively is important for improving performance in Windows, troubleshooting all kinds of problems, and, most importantly, customizing Windows Me beyond what is possible with the dialog boxes scattered throughout the interface.

All of your file types (also known as associations; see Section 4.2.2 in Chapter 4) are stored in the Registry, as well as all of the network, hardware, and software settings for Windows Me and all of the particular configuration options for most of the software you've installed. The particular settings and data stored by each of your applications and by the various Windows components vary substantially, but you can use some special techniques to figure out undocumented settings and uncover hidden functionality. What's especially helpful is that most of the settings stored in the Registry are named in plain English rather than with obscure codes and acronyms. You shouldn't take this fact for granted, but it does help quite a bit in finding settings and troubleshooting problems.

Word to the wise: you can irreversibly disable certain components of Windows Me—or even prevent Windows from running—by changing some settings in the Registry. This is intended to scare you, so that you will use caution when editing the Registry and take appropriate measures to prevent catastrophe. Now, of course, the world will not come to an end if you inadvertently change a zero to a one in some obscure Registry key; most of the Registry settings are benign. The worst that will happen is that you might give yourself an enormous headache when you try to remember which setting you changed that disabled your Internet connection or caused Windows to create a folder called "Bubba" on your desktop every time you start your computer. That said, you can virtually eliminate the possibility of disaster by utilizing the systems in place for safeguarding the Registry, as described in Section 3.3 later in this chapter. Furthermore, backing up your

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Getting to Know the Registry Editor

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Although the Registry is stored in multiple files on your hard disk, it is represented by a single logical hierarchical structure, similar to the folders on your hard disk. The Registry Editor (regedit.exe, located in your Windows folder) is included with Windows Me to enable you to view and manually edit the contents of the Registry. Most of the access to the Registry is performed behind the scenes by the applications that you run, as well as by Windows—settings and other information are read from and written to the Registry constantly.

When you open the Registry Editor, you'll see a window divided into two panes (see Figure 3-1). The left side shows a tree with folders, and the right side shows the contents of the currently selected folder. Now, these aren't really folders—it's just a convenient and familiar method of organizing and displaying the information stored in your Registry files.

Figure 3-1: The Registry Editor lets you view and change the contents of the Registry

Each branch (denoted by a folder icon in the Registry Editor) is called a key. Each key can contain other keys, as well as values. Values contain the actual information stored in the Registry, and keys are used only to organize the values. Keys are shown only in the left pane; values are shown only in the right pane (unlike Explorer, where folders are shown in both panes).

To display the contents of a key (folder), just click the desired key name on the left, and the values contained therein will be listed on the right side. To expand a certain branch to show its subkeys, click on the plus sign [+] to the left of any folder or double-click on the folder name.

Editing the Registry generally involves navigating down through branches to a particular key and then modifying an existing value or creating a new key or value. You can modify the contents of any value by double-clicking on it.

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Behind the Scenes: Hives and DAT Files

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HKEY_USERS and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE can be thought of as the only true root keys, because the Registry's three other root keys are simply symbolic links, or "mirrors," of different portions of the first two (see Section 3.1 earlier in this chapter). This means that only these two branches actually need to be stored.

Like its predecessors, Windows Me stores the HKEY_USERS and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE branches in two files, User.dat and System.dat, respectively. On a single-user system, both files are located in your Windows folder; on a multiple-user system, the User.dat file for each configured user is stored in that user's personal folder. These files are all hidden, meaning that with Explorer's default settings, you won't be able to see or find them. To view hidden files, select Folder Options from Explorer's View menu, choose the View tab, select the Show all files option, and click OK.

Not all Registry data is stored on your hard disk, however. Some keys are dynamic, in that they are held only in memory and are forgotten when you shut down. An example of a dynamic branch is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE, which is built up each time Windows is started (an artifact of Plug and Play). Only static (non-dynamic) branches are stored on your hard disk.

Knowing which files comprise the Registry is important only for backup and emergency recovery procedures (see Section 3.3 later) and for troubleshooting (and so you don't accidentally delete them). The storage mechanism is quite transparent to the Registry Editor and the applications that use the Registry; there's no reason to ever edit the hive files directly. If you want to migrate a key or a collection of keys from one computer to another, you should not try to copy the hive files. Instead, see Section 3.5 later in this chapter for a more convenient procedure.

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Backing Up the Registry

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The Registry is stored in certain files (see Section 3.2 earlier in this chapter) on your hard disk, so you can create a backup by simply copying the appropriate files to another location. Although your Registry is not likely to be small enough to fit on a single floppy, it will fit easily on a removable drive (recordable CD, Zip disk, etc.). In addition, most modern backup software, such as the Backup utility that comes with Windows, includes a feature to back up the Registry. It's always a good idea to exploit this functionality.

When you start Windows, the information in the Registry is loaded into memory. While Windows is running, some changes may not be physically written to the Registry files until you shut down your computer; others, such as those made by the Registry Editor, are usually written immediately. For this reason, if you've made any substantial changes to the contents of the Registry, you may want to restart Windows before backing up the Registry to ensure that the files on the disk reflect the most recent changes.

Remember, if you have more than one user configured, you'll want to include the User.dat file for each user in your backup.

Windows Me comes with the Registry Checker (a.k.a. ScanReg ), a simple utility (introduced in Windows 98) that handles several Registry maintenance tasks, such as checking for errors, optimizing the files, and backing up the entire Registry every time Windows is started. This is especially useful, because a single application crash can crash Windows, which, in turn, can corrupt a Registry file, making it impossible to start Windows! See Section 3.3.1 later in this chapter for details.

Quite simply, you can manually make duplicates of the appropriate Registry files at any time to effect a pretty good Registry backup; see Section 2.1.4 in Chapter 2, for details.

Although it's very useful and quite easy to make backups of the Registry in another location on your hard disk (which is what the Windows Registry Checker does), it certainly can't prepare your computer for an actual disaster. If your hard disk crashes or gets infected with a virus or if your computer is stolen or is dropped out of a seven-story building, those Registry backups on your hard disk won't do you much good. The most effective Registry backup is simply a matter of making a copy of all hives on your hard disk and keeping that copy somewhere other than inside your computer. If you back up your entire system regularly, such as to a tape drive or other backup device, you should ensure that the backup software you use specifically supports safeguarding the Registry. See Chapter 6, for more information on backing up and using backup devices.

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Restoring a Corrupted Registry

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There are several ways to restore a corrupted Registry. The appropriate method depends on how serious the problem is and how diligent you've been about keeping backups. Naturally, you'll want to consider the restoration process when deciding on a backup procedure.

Details aside, restoring a corrupted Registry essentially involves copying your backup over the Registry files in use, replacing the damaged hives with good ones. However, the more backups you restore, the more recent settings will be overwritten with old information; how old the backups are depends solely on how often you back up. Duplicating a dozen files every Thursday suddenly doesn't seem like such a waste of time.

If you can't start Windows, or if you see a warning message about a corrupted Registry every time you start Windows, you'll need to follow these steps, in order, until the problem is solved:

1. Try shutting down and starting again. Surprisingly, this often works.
2. Boot off your startup disk (see Section 6.4.5 in Chapter 6), which will take you to the command prompt. If you don't have a Windows Me startup disk, there's no way to get to the command prompt without loading Windows.
   Check your hard disk for errors by typing scandisk at the command prompt. If it finds any errors, confirm that you want to fix them, and restart.
3. Delete your swap file, Win386.swp , located in your root directory, by typing DEL \WIN386.SWP at the prompt. Then, delete all the files in your Temp folder by typing DEL \windows\temp\*.* (assuming your Temp folder is \Windows\Temp—see Section 4.2.1 in Chapter 4 for more information). You may not believe me, but this often works. Try restarting after this, too.
4. Copy your most recently backed-up Registry files to their original locations, replacing the files that are there. Type

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Using Registry Patches

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In addition to editing the Registry with the Registry Editor (see earlier in this chapter), you can make changes by using Registry patches. A Registry patch is simply a text file with the .reg extension that contains one or more Registry keys or values. If you double-click on a .reg file, the patch is applied to the Registry, meaning that the contents of the patch are merged with the contents of the Registry. This tool is especially handy for backing up small portions of the Registry or copying Registry data to someone else's computer.

1. Open the Registry Editor, and select a branch you wish to use. The branch can be anywhere from one of the top level branches to a branch a dozen layers deep. Registry patches include not only the branch you select, but all of the values and subkeys in the branch. Don't select anything more than what you absolutely need.
2. Select Export Registry File from the Registry menu, type a filename, and press OK. All of the values and subkeys in the selected branch will then be duplicated in the patch. Make sure the filename of the new Registry patch has the .reg extension.

Creating a Registry patch is the easy part; the hard part is determining the Registry keys from which you should make patches. See Section 3.6 later in this chapter for details.

Since Registry patches are just plain text files, you can edit them with any plain-text editor, such as Notepad (notepad.exe). The contents of the Registry patch will look something like the text shown in Example 3-2.

Example 3-2. Contents of a Registry Patch Created from HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \.txt

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt]
@="txtfile"
"Content Type"="text/plain"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt\ShellNew]
"FileName"="template.txt"

The first line, REGEDIT4, tells Windows that this file is a valid Registry patch; don't remove this line. The rest of the Registry patch is a series of key names and values. The key names appear in brackets (

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Finding the Right Registry Key

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The two main obstacles you'll encounter when trying to make a change to the Registry are (1) where a setting is located in the Registry and (2) what modifications are necessary to effect the desired changes. Sometimes it's obvious, such as a value called ShowSplashScreen, with its contents set to 1; changing the 1 to a 0 would most likely result in turning the option off. Other times you'll see a long, seemingly meaningless series of numbers and letters. Although there are no strict rules as to how values and keys are named or how the data therein is arranged, a little common sense and intuition will get you through most situations.

Here's a solution that will help you find the corresponding Registry key for a particular setting in Windows. For this example, we'll find the Registry setting associated with showing or hiding hidden files in Explorer, and then we'll create the appropriate Registry patch.

A Registry patch is a convenient way of automating changes to the Registry, and therefore to Windows and your applications, and is useful if you frequently change a setting or a group of settings. It's also a convenient way to propagate a group of settings to one or more other computers. This solution provides a way to come up with a Registry patch that corresponds to one or more options in the interface.

The idea is to take snapshots (make Registry patches) of your entire Registry before and after a change is made in Explorer (or another program). By comparing the two snapshots, we can easily see which Registry keys and values were affected:

1. Make sure no applications are running, because they could write to the Registry at any time, adding unexpected changes.
2. Open the Registry Editor, and highlight the HKEY_CURRENT_USER branch. Select Export Registry File from the Registry menu, and export the entire branch to a file called User1.reg (or something like that), stored somewhere convenient, such as your desktop. Then, select the

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Automating the Deletion of Registry Items

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An important drawback to using Registry patches is that they can be used only to replace or augment information in the Registry. No provision for removing keys or values is included in Registry patches, yet some important changes can only be made by removing keys or values. For example, to remove the Bitmap Image entry from Explorer's New menu, you need to delete the key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.bmp\ShellNew entirely, and no Registry patch can do that.

Here, we enlist the services of the Windows Script Host, which includes a functionality for manipulating Registry information. Chapter 9 documents writing scripts for the Windows Script Host and, in particular, Registry functions like the one used in this solution:

1. Open a plain-text editor, such as Notepad, and type the following:

   Call RegistryDelete("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.bmp\ShellNew", "")
   
   Sub RegistryDelete(KeyName, ValueName)
     Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
     WshShell.RegWrite KeyName & "\" & ValueName, ""
     WshShell.RegDelete KeyName & "\" & ValueName
   End Sub

   The first line invokes the RegistryDelete subroutine, listed immediately after. Simply put the full path of the Registry key you wish to delete between the quotation marks, making sure not to include a trailing slash (a "\" at the end).
   To delete a single value rather than an entire key, specify the value name between the second pair of quotes, like this:

   Call RegistryDelete("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.bmp", "Content Type")

   To remove the (default) value of a key (which can't be deleted), just use a standard Registry patch, and simply set the default value to an empty string (@="").
2. Save the file, calling it something like Delete.vbs. Double-click on the script file to execute it.

Another instance where it might be useful to delete a Registry key is removing special icons from the desktop. In this case, use the same script, but replace the Registry path with:

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Search the Registry Effectively

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The Registry Editor has a simple search feature, allowing you to search through all the keys and values for text. Just select Find from the Registry Editor's Edit menu, type the desired text, and click Find Next. Because the Registry can become quite large and have a wide variety of settings and information, it is important to learn to search effectively, so you don't miss anything or waste a lot of time wading through irrelevant results. Additionally, the Registry Editor doesn't have a search-and-replace feature, so doing something as simple as changing every occurrence of c:\program files to d:\program files can be a monumental chore. Here are some tips that may help:

• Make sure that all three options in the Find window's Look at section are checked, unless you know specifically that what you're looking for is solely a Key, Value (value name), or Data (value contents). You'll also usually want the Match whole string only option turned off.
• Many folder names in the Registry are stored in both long and short versions. For example, say you want to move your Program Files folder from one drive to another (see Section 4.2.1 in Chapter 4 for more information). When you install Windows, any settings pertaining to this folder may be stored in the Registry as c:\Program Files or c:\Progra~1. Make sure you search for both.
• If you're searching the Registry for both Program Files and Progra~1, you may want to just search for progra, which will trigger both variations. Because this will trip upon other uses of the word program, try placing a backslash ( \ ) in front of it, like this: \progra, to limit the search to only directory names beginning with those letters. A minute of mental preparation can save you an hour of searching.
• You may want to search the Registry for an interface element, such as a new item added to a context menu or text in a list in a dialog box. If the text contains an underlined character, you'll need to add an ampersand (

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Compacting the Registry

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As you may have noticed, your Registry can become quite large. This is due, in part, to the empty space inside your Registry files. If you're familiar with the way data is stored in the Registry, you know that the Registry is a database. As with all databases, when information is removed or added, the database file is not rewritten entirely (in order to improve performance). Instead, new information is simply appended to the end of the file, and gaps are left in the file where information has been removed. After a lot of use, this can cause the files that make up the Registry to become enormous. See Figure 3-3 for a diagram of this process.

Figure 3-3: The process by which the Registry accumulates empty space

Compacting any database file like the Registry involves reading all of the settings and then writing them, in order, into a new file. This way, the empty space is eliminated and the entries are stored consecutively, resulting in less wasted space and better performance.

If you wanted to compact your Registry in Windows 95, you had to go through a long, convoluted process that involved making a Registry patch of the entire Registry and then rebuilding it from within DOS. In Windows 98, not only is there an included utility that can compact the Registry, it is done for you automatically whenever the amount of wasted space goes above 500 KB.

To optimize the Registry manually, you must first restart your computer and boot with the Windows Startup Disk to enter DOS without loading Windows. Type SCANREG /OPT at the DOS prompt. If you try to do this from within Windows, it won't work.

If you find that the automatic Registry optimization noticeably slows your boot process, you can disable it by changing the line Optimize=1 to Optimize=0 in the Scanreg.ini file. For more information on the Scanreg.ini file and the Registry Checker utility, see Section 3.3 earlier in this chapter.

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Using INI Files

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If you've been using a Windows PC for any length of time, you've probably come across files with the .ini filename extension. Initialization files (or Configuration Settings, as they're known in any recent release of Windows) were used in the old days to store settings for applications, as well as Windows itself, before the Registry was implemented. INI files are simply text files (editable with any plain-text editor, such as Notepad) that are specially formatted to store such settings. Because INI files are limited in their maximum file size (64 KB) and are not as efficient as the Registry, application developers have been encouraged to abandon INI files and instead store settings in the Registry. Since some applications still use INI files to store certain settings, it may become necessary to look for and change settings in INI files as well.

An example of an application that may still use an INI file today is an application installer. An INI file would allow a program to read and store settings without having to rely on the Registry; that way, the settings would be accessible regardless of the computer on which the program was run. INI files are also handy (for the same reason) for programs that run over a network. Windows also includes a few INI files, although they're generally used only to maintain compatibility with older applications.

To edit an INI file, just double-click it, and it will open in Notepad. To configure another text editor to be used with INI files, see Section 3.11.1 earlier in this chapter and Section 4.2.2 in Chapter 4.

A typical INI file looks like this:

[Names]
name1=Benjamin
name2=Doug
name3=Gary

[Cities I've visited]
name1=Brockway
name2=Ogdenville
name3=North Haverbrook

Section names are always enclosed in square brackets ([...]); the lines that follow are the settings contained in that section. A section continues until the next section begins or until the end of the file. Settings include a setting name, followed by an equals sign, and then the data assigned to that setting.

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Understanding File Types

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The term File Types describes the collection of associations between documents and the applications that use them. The most apparent use of this feature is that, for example, Windows knows to run Notepad when you double-click on a file with the .txt extension. The traditional method for configuring these associations to suit your needs is discussed in Section 4.2.2 in Chapter 4, but it goes quite a bit deeper than that.

It all starts with file extensions, the letters (usually three) that follow the period in most filenames. For example, the extension of the file Readme.txt is .txt, signifying a plain text file; the extension of Resume.wpd is .wpd, signifying a document created in WordPerfect. By default, Windows hides the extensions of registered file types in Explorer and on the desktop, but it's best to have them displayed.

File extensions not only allow you to easily determine what kind of file a certain file is (because icons are almost never descriptive enough), but also allow you to change Windows' perception of the type of a file by simply renaming the extension. Note that changing a file's extension doesn't actually change the contents or the format of the file, only how Windows interacts with it.

To display your file extensions, select Folder Options in Explorer's Tools menu, choose the View tab, and turn off the Hide file extensions for known file-types option. Click OK when you're done.

By hiding file extensions, Microsoft hoped to make Windows easier to use—a plan that backfired for several reasons. Because only the extensions of registered files are hidden, the extensions of files that aren't yet in the File Types database are still shown. What's even more confusing is that, when an application finally claims a certain file type, it can appear to the inexperienced user as though all of the old files of that type have been renamed. It also creates a "knowledge gap" between those who understand file types and those who don't; try telling someone whose computer still has hidden extensions to find

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Registry Tools

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The Registry Editor is included with Windows for viewing and changing the contents of the Registry. Unfortunately, this utility is quite limited, especially when compared with some of the other tools available. The following is a list of a few software utilities intended for use with the Registry, available at the time of this writing. Naturally, you'll want to back up your Registry before playing with an unfamiliar tool. See http://www.annoyances.org for more information on downloadable software:

Registry Search and Replace

This is a full-featured tool used to make a global search and replace in the Registry much easier and quicker. Its interface could use a little streamlining, but otherwise it's fine.

Norton Utilities

This commercial package comes with an enhanced Registry Editor, as well as many other tools. It's commercial software, so no freebees here. The Norton Registry Editor is similar to the Windows Registry Editor, but comes with several perks, such as a utility that tracks changes in the Registry, a search-and-replace utility, and other stuff.

TweakUI

The options in this little Control-Panel add-on make certain Windows settings more accessible, settings that would otherwise require editing the Registry. TweakUI is available from http://www.annoyances.org. See Appendix A for details.

Creative Element Power Tools

This collection of tools for Windows Me and Windows 2000 includes a bunch of context-menu add-ons that aren't otherwise possible with simple changes to the Registry. Creative Element Power Tools can be downloaded from http://www.creativelement.com.

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Chapter 4: Tinkering Techniques

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Why would we want to tinker with the operating system? Well, if you were perfectly happy with Windows Me right out of the box, odds are you wouldn't be reading this book. We tinker with Windows to make it better: to improve the interface, to reduce the amount of work required to complete a task, to make it run more smoothly and efficiently, and most of all, to make it less annoying (you saw that one coming).

The most important part of software design is the interface. The interface is the only link we humans have with the machines we use—the better the interface, the better the link, and the more useful the machine will be. Because the Windows Me software has already been designed and written, the most we can hope to do is to tinker with it so that it works more like we think it should.

The unfortunate methodology behind the design of the Windows interface is that it's supposed to be usable by the lowest common denominator: the person who has never seen Windows before. Don't get me wrong, one of the most important interface design considerations is its ability to be used by the uninitiated. But there are three main problems with this approach if not done correctly. One, such an interface can be inherently condescending. Two, no user is a beginner forever. Three, users are not all the same.

What many people don't realize is that it is possible to have an elegant, simple interface that is easy and comfortable to use by beginners, yet is not limited in its usefulness as users gain experience. A dumbed-down interface is not the answer.

One of Windows' strong points is its flexibility. For example, the fact that you can reprogram almost any system object on the desktop to serve a different function, is one of the main reasons that Windows enjoys such a large market share (see also Section 1.1 in Chapter 1). Although the variety of solutions presented here are a testimony to the power and flexibility of Windows Me, I'd also like to note the need for such solutions in the first place.

This chapter takes advantage of the basic topics covered in Chapter 2—such as shortcuts, system objects, and some of Windows' more obscure settings—as well as usage of Registry, discussed in Chapter 3, to customize Windows beyond Microsoft's intentions. We'll start by clearing some of the clutter caused by the installation of Windows and move on to customizing whatever is left over to suit your needs. Although most of these solutions target specific annoyances in the operating system, each one can be used to illustrate a broader concept.

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Cleaning Up the Desktop

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The default configuration of Windows Me—including the way the desktop and Start Menu are configured and which Windows components are included—was decided upon by a committee at Microsoft. The motivation was not so much ease of use as it was how to best showcase the features included in the new operating system. This criterion may be great for the marketing department at Microsoft, but it doesn't make for a very pleasant experience for the user.

The best place to start when customizing an interface is to throw out all the stuff you don't want, which will make much more room for the stuff you do want. By not being forced to wade through dozens of icons to find the one you want, you can complete your work more easily and with less aggravation.

When you first install Windows Me, the desktop is littered with icons, some of which can be removed easily and some of which cannot. Although the Recycle Bin is intended as a means by which objects throughout Windows can be deleted by dragging and dropping them into it, many items cannot be deleted this way. This inconsistency is partly due to Microsoft's concern that users will irreparably damage the operating system and partly due to the Microsoft support department's expectation of having to repeatedly answer the question, "How do I get my MSN icon back?"

There are two types of objects that reside on the desktop (not including the taskbar or Start Menu). Those objects that are physical files or shortcuts to files are simply stored in your desktop folder (usually \Windows\Desktop); these items can be deleted or moved as easily as any other file on your hard disk. All other objects are virtual objects , in that they don't represent physical files on the hard disk. Virtual objects include My Computer, the Recycle Bin, and My Network Places. What follows should help you remove any unwanted icons from your desktop that can't be removed using traditional means.

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Files and Folders

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Probably the most important customization of files and folders is discussed in Section 4.2.2, where you'll learn about one of the best features of the pseudo-object-oriented interface design in Windows Me. Examine the topics in this section to learn more and to improve your working experience with Windows.

Love it or hate it, the Web View is part of Windows Me. While the Web View primarily allows you to customize the superficial look of your folders, there are ways to put it to good use. See Chapter 8 for more information.

The default Windows Me installation occupies tons of hard-disk space and has a myriad of files scattered in more than 230 different folders. Although the sheer number and size of these files aren't necessarily problems with today's large, cheap hard drives, the amount of clutter that results can make finding documents, resolving conflicts, and performing other housekeeping very difficult.

One of my personal pet peeves about Windows is the dozen or so folders that accomplish the same thing. For example, Program Files, Common Files, Microsoft Shared, and MSApps all contain installed applications and their components. The My Documents, Favorites, Personal, Received Files, My Pictures, and My Files folders all are designated places to store documents and other personal files. Most users have enough trouble keeping track of documents without having to worry about all these extraneous folders. So, why do we have a dozen places to put things when we only need two or three?

As Windows has evolved, the various committees at Microsoft have repeatedly changed their minds about what the various "system" folders have been called and what they should contain. Had Microsoft's designers been more careful, the entire Windows system would be much simpler and more stable, and there would be far less confusion and irritation among developers and users alike. The good news is that there is something you can do to help clean up the mess.

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Making Windows Your Own

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The toolbars in applications, the icons on the Windows desktop, the various splash screens that appear, and the entries in the Start Menu are all designed to appear a certain way when first installed. Unfortunately, the criteria used to make those decisions are often based more on showcasing various aspects of the software than on actually making the application easier to use. So, why settle for the defaults?

Much of the rest of this chapter falls loosely under the category of customizing, but the following topics specifically deal with changing the defaults to make Windows easier to live with.

As is Microsoft's intention, the Start Menu is the starting point for most tasks in Windows Me. It would seem reasonable, then, that one not only should be able to customize this menu with the most commonly used features, but also should be able to rid the Start Menu of the items that aren't used.

Now, if you didn't already know it, you can add, remove, and rearrange most of the items in your Start Menu by dragging and dropping (see Section 2.3.3 in Chapter 2 for more information). You can also sort any single menu alphabetically by right-clicking on any entry in the menu and selecting Sort by Name. However, there are certain intrinsic, unmovable entries, such as the Documents and Favorites menus, that not only get in the way if they're not used, but can make it easier for "prying eyes" to do their prying.

A new feature in Windows Me is " personalized menus," a process by which some Start Menu items are indiscriminately hidden from time to time, but the lack of any control (other than to disable the feature altogether) makes it virtually useless. See Section 2.3.3 in Chapter 2 for details on dealing with this feature, as well as several ways to selectively hide or disable unwanted Start Menu items.

The button on the Taskbar used to open the Start Menu consists of a small Windows logo and the word "Start." Although there's no built-in way to customize this button, advanced users with the correct tools and a little sense of geeky adventure will be able to accomplish this in only a few minutes. Figure 4-5 shows a

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Chapter 5: Maximizing Performance

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Although your computer spends 99.9% of the time waiting for you to do something, what concerns us is that other 0.1% of the time when 12 seconds can seem like an eternity.

A common misconception is that a computer with a faster processor, say 1.1 GHz, will automatically be faster than, say, a 600-MHz system. While the increased processor speed is an obvious benefit in some specific circumstances, such as when performing intensive statistical calculations, using 3D modeling software, or playing some high-end games, the real-world performance of a computer is really measured differently.

In most cases, our qualitative assessment of a computer's speed is based on its ability to respond immediately to mouse clicks and keystrokes, start applications quickly, open menus and dialog boxes without a delay, start up and shut down Windows quickly, and display graphics and animation smoothly. For the most part, all of these things depend more upon correctly optimized software, the amount of installed memory, and the amount of free disk space than on raw processor power.

Because financial limitations prevent most of us from simply buying new hardware every three months, most of this chapter is devoted to solutions that will help improve the performance of your existing system without requiring any additional monetary investment. For example, the way Windows uses the swap file (virtual memory) can be inefficient, and dealing with this bottleneck can result in performance increases all across the system. In your approach to these problems, consider that your computer has a given theoretical top speed, and all you need to do is fix whatever is slowing it down so that you can approach that speed.

Upgrading, discussed at the end of the chapter, is a somewhat different story—there, your aim is to raise the theoretical top speed. Start by asking yourself where your money is best spent, which isn't always obvious. For example, there are always faster processors available, but often something as simple as adding more memory can have a much bigger impact on performance.

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Removing Software Bottlenecks

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In some ways, Windows Me takes good advantage of your hardware, a liberating change from the stifling experience of Windows 3.x from years past. In other ways, however, Windows itself can be a bottleneck, causing frustration and wasted time. Because all the software you run is dependent upon the operating system, tweaking Windows for better performance can result in performance gains across the board.

First, there's one easy thing you can do to make Windows substantially more responsive than when you first install it. Windows Me adds animation to almost every visual component in the operating system, something that can make your new Pentium 4 seem like a 386. Fortunately, it's easy to turn off some or all of the animation, which will make Windows more responsive and easier to work with. See Section 2.2.2 in Chapter 2, for more information.

Another easy thing you can do