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Customisation Tips
Free Up Space, Control Your Cache
By default, both the Recycle Bin and Internet Explorer's Cache want to consume ridiculous amounts of your hard drive space. Right click on the Recycle Bin, select Properties, and on the Global tab, decide how much space you want the Recycle Bin to consume, either for all drives in your system, or on a per-drive basis. (It's a percentage of the total space. I adjust the slider way to the left, so I'm using "only" a few hundred megs of space for trash.)
Similarly, open Internet Explorer, and select Tools/Internet Options. Under Temporary Internet Files, click the Settings button and select a reasonable size for this cache area. Generally speaking, if you have a fast connection, 5 Mbytes to 10 Mbytes is adequate; 25 Mbytes or so is usually enough with a slower dial-up connection.
Make Some Noise
Did you know you can
control the sounds windows plays when certain events happen? Accessing the
sounds that Windows uses is as easy as opening up the Control Panel and
selecting Sound:
Here you will see a list of all the possible events that can have a sound
effect. Generally, Windows keeps these WAV files in the c:/windows/media folder.
To customize a Windows sound event:
1. Save your
favorite WAV files in a convenient place (like the c:/windows/media folder);
2. Open the Sound Properties window from the Control Panel and select the Event
for which you would like to add or change a sound;
3. Browse to the WAV file you want played each time the event occurs and press
OK.
You can record your own WAV files if you've got a microphone attached to your
PC. Click on the Start Menu, Accessories, Entertainment and open the Windows
Sound Recorder. There are thousands of places on the web where you can find free
WAV files.
Sent It Away
"Send To" enables you
to open a file with almost any program (as long as the program can read the file
extension), create one-click shortcuts to the desktop without cutting and
pasting, and export files to any removable storage device.
You can add almost anything you want to Send To, and it will automatically
appear as a Send To option. All of the Send To options are located in the
Windows directory in the Send To folder. Drag and drop any shortcut you want, or
right-click and create shortcuts of your favorite programs. Send To can be
extremely convenient for opening files with programs other than what Windows has
associated for them.
A couple of examples include using Word Pad to quickly preview a document made
for Word, or using MS Photo Editor to modify an image.
You can also add your printer to the Send To folder for automatic printing. And
if you need to transfer files to a Web server, you can add an FTP function to
the Send To menu.
Where is this coveted feature of the Windows OS? Well, it's right beneath your
fingertips and waiting to be revealed with a simple right-click of your mouse.
Remove Unwanted Programs
Virtually every Windows program registers itself with the system, or creates a log in the Windows Uninstaller utility that records which files you have added to the system and lists any changes you've made to the system's configuration. Thanks to this painstaking process, when you uninstall the program using the Add/Remove Programs icon in your Control Panel (or the program's own uninstaller), Windows removes all traces of the program and its system alterations. If you decide you don't want a program anymore, don't just drag the program's folder to the Recycle Bin. Simply trashing a program may leave desktop icons, unnecessary drivers, or unlinked Registry entries on the system or may destroy shared files that other applications also use. Instead, to remove any program, click Start • Settings • Control Panel, then double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon. Select the Install/Uninstall tab, highlight the program you want to remove, and click the Add/Remove button.