The WIN95 System Monitor, part of the CD-ROM Extras,
shows system performance in several categories
including Kernel, File System, and Memory.
But don't despair. Microsoft has made quite a few Windows 95 utilities, enhancements, and cool stuff available on their Web site. Just point your Web browser to www.microsoft.com, download the files, and install them. This and next month we'll look at three collections of WIN95 extras available from Microsoft: the CD-ROM Extras, PowerToys, and KernelToys. PowerToys and KernelToys are very powerful, and as such some of the toys are not really intended for novice users. And neither are officially supported by Microsoft, so you do use them at your own risk. But on the other hand, some of them are really great.
The Windows 95 extras described are all available free for downloading from Microsoft's Web site at www.microsoft.com, as indicated. One note however. Microsoft frequently changes the structure of their Web site, so if you have problems accessing these URLs go to Microsoft's Home page (www.microsoft.com) and look for links for Downloads or Free Software.
The CD-ROM extras come in six categories:
Each accessory/utility has to be downloaded and installed separately. There are quite a few of these, so let's look at some top ones.
Under Accessories, Mouse Pointers (MOUSEP.EXE) provides a variety of pointer sizes and formats for your mouse.
Quick View (QUIKVU.EXE) is a file viewer that will preview a file without opening it (available via a right-mouse click).
System Monitor (SYSMN.EXE) is a customizable monitor that shows system performance in a variety of areas by line graph, bar graph, or number. The categories that System Monitor can track are File System (reads & writes), IPX/SPX information, Kernel (processor usage, threads, virtual machines), Memory Manager, and Network client.
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The WIN95 System Monitor, part of the CD-ROM Extras, shows system performance in several categories including Kernel, File System, and Memory. |
The Multimedia CD-ROM extras include the CD Player (CDPLAY.EXE), which allows you to play music CDs in your computer's CD-ROM drive. Be advised though that if you have an older system, playing a CD can significantly slow down everything else. Also under Multimedia are sound schemes from the WIN95 Plus! pack. These provide fun sounds for system events. The schemes include Jungle, Musica, Robotz, Sample, and Utopia.
The CD-ROM Administration Tools are designed for more advanced users, particularly network administrators. Dial-Up SLIP and Scripting Support (DSCRPT.EXE) adds SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) support to Windows 95 Dial Up networking. If your Internet Service Provider only provides SLIP connection, this is a utility you can definitely use. This tool can also create dial-up scripts for both SLIP and PPP (the more common Point-to-Point Protocol) connections.
Another advanced administration tool is the System Policy Editor (POLICY.EXE), for creating or editing system policies.
While the CD-ROM Extras provide useful utilities for customizing Windows 95, the really cool stuff is in PowerToys and KernelToys. Although Microsoft calls these toys, they are very powerful programs. And ones that come with a strong warning. These are not official Microsoft programs, and you use them at your own risk. They are not supported by Microsoft (don't try calling for help), and if anything goes wrong Microsoft is not responsible. With that caution clearly in mind, let's look at PowerToys.
PowerToys were developed by the Windows 95 Shell Development Team, and include several small but very useful interface enhancements. Many users have long had the feeling that these enhancements should have been Windows 95 from the beginning, but didn't make it in for some reason -- possibly because they may be complex for novice users. There aren't a lot of safety nets built into PowerToys (or KernelToys), but the tradeoff is a lot of power.
PowerToys are available at: http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/info/powertoys.htm
Create a Power folder on the desktop and download the file POWERTOY.EXE into that folder. Double-click on POWERTOY.EXE to decompress the component files into the folder, then review the README.TXT file. You'll see a number of *.INF files (whose icon looks like a notepad withe a yellow gear on it). Right-click on the icon, then choose Install from the menu. If you want to install all the PowerToys at once, select the INSTALL.INF file.
So what kind of toys does Microsoft give us to play with?
TweakUI installs as an icon in Control Panel. When run, you'll see eleven tabs where settings can be made: Mouse, General, Explorer, Desktop, My Computer, Network, New, Add/Remove, Boot, Repair, and (my favorite) Paranoia.
Let's start with the General settings. Here you can turn off or on window animation, smooth scrolling, and beep on error. The Special Folders section shows the directory location for special folders like Desktop (C:\WINDOWS\DESKTOP), Start Menu, Startup, and Favorites. You can change the default locations by selecting an item and choosing the Change Location button. Finally, the Internet Explorer section specifies what default search engine to use when you enter a Search command in IE's address box. The default is Yahoo, but you can change this to your favorite search engine.
Don't confuse the Explorer tab with the WIN95 Explorer. These settings customize various desktop items. Don t you hate the Shortcut to prefix whenever you create a new shortcut? Here you can turn that off, and also change how shortcuts are displayed. Rather than use the standard small arrow on the bottom left of the icon, you can use a light arrow (very unobtrusive), no arrow, or a custom arrow. And you can get rid of the cheery Click here to begin animation whenever you start WIN95 -- you know where to begin by now!
The misnamed Explorer option in TweakUI lets you change the display of the shortcut menu, and get rid of that pesky "Shortcut to" prefix when creating new shortcuts. |
TweakUI's Desktop settings can finally get rid of those special desktop icons you don t want, such as Inbox, Microsoft Network, or Network Neighborhood. Removing an icon simply takes the icon off the desktop; it does not uninstall or damage the software associated with that icon. Note that removing the Network Neighborhood icon will hide all your network resources, but this obviously isn t an issue if you have a standalone computer.
TweakUI allows you to customize the WIN95 interface. Here the Desktop tab lets you remove icons (such as the Inbox and Network Neighborhood) from the desktop. |
Another option under Desktop is Create as File. Highlight a desktop icon and choose the Create as File button at the bottom of the window. This creates a special file (by default in the C:\WINDOWS directory) that behaves just like the special desktop icon, but which you can drag to any desired location.
Paranoia settings cover your tracks. As you should know, WIN95 keeps history lists about where you've been and what you've been doing. These lists are what allow you to rerun commands, reload a recently used document, find files again, and revisit Web sites. Of course, anyone who uses your computer can see just what you ve been doing too. If you want keep your work private, check the appropriate history lists and they will be cleared whenever you start Windows 95.
TweakUI's Paranoia tab can prevent others from seeing what you've been doing by erasing various history lists when you start WIN95. |
TweakUI's Boot tab controls the bootup processing, letting you specify settings that you d usually have to set in the MSDOS.SYS file manually. These include the availability of the F5 and F8 Clean Boot and Interactive Boot function keys, starting with WIN95 or the command prompt, and whether to display the WIN95 splash screen when loading. Here you can also indicate you want the WIN95 boot menu, and for how long to display it before WIN95 continues booting normally.
The Mouse setting controls both the mouse double-click and drag sensitivity, and the speed at which cascading menus are displayed when you move the mouse over them. This is a good one to set at the fastest value.
The Add/Remove option changes the display of programs in the Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs application. If you remove a program here in TweakUI, it in essence makes the program uninstallable -- the program's name will not longer appear in the Add/Remove Programs list. The key point here is that TweakUI doesn t remove the application, it only removes the ability to uninstall the application. The application itself will run fine. This one can be dangerous if you later decide you truly do want to uninstall the application, because you may not be able to. However, if you already have removed a program but it still shows up in the Add/Remove list, or have duplication entries, this TweakUI option can remove those entries once and for all.
Repair is an advanced feature to fix system problems. Repair Icons rebuilds the standard icons for things like the Recycle Bin and Control Panel; use it if Explorer is displaying incorrect icons. Repair Font Folder restores the special system functionality of the Font Folder, in case it starts acting like a normal folder. Repair System Files restores specific system files that mischievous installation programs may overwrite, such as COMDLG32.DLL. A message COMDLG32.DLL cannot start means you need to Repair System Files. Repair RegEdit resets RegEdit to display all elements, and Repair Associations restores default association and icons for standard file types.
The My Computer options let you uncheck disk drives, so that they will not be displayed in My Computer. Under the Network tab you can enter your network username and password so you logon to the network when Windows starts. (Warning though: your password is not encrypted and anyone who can get into the Registry can see it.) The New tab lets you add or remove document template types used when you right-click on an item and select New.
TweakUI is pretty powerful, but there is much more in PowerToys. And we'll look at those, along with KernelToys, next month.
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Kenneth E. Johnson is author of The Attorney's Guide to Creating Web Pages and is currently completing a book on E-mail. He is Assistant Editor of the American Bar Association's Network 2d newsletter, coeditor of the ABA/LPM online newsletters, and Webmaster of www.techshow.com.
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