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Windows 98 Desktop Tips

Windows 98 comes with many new features. The Active Desktop allows your entire computer to work like a Web site and allows one-click operations almost anywhere in your system. The new Channel Bar allows you to add your favorite Internet sites for easy access, and there is so much more! Listed herein are tips specifically for the Windows 98 Desktop. Enjoy!

Customize the Send To Menu
To add programs to the Send To menu in Explorer, you'll have to create shortcuts to the programs in the C :\Windows\SendTo folder. For example, to add Notepad to the menu, do the Following:

Open Explorer.
Go to C:\WINDOWS\SENDTO.
Click File, New, Shortcut.
Click on the Browse button, and find Notepad.exe in your Windows directory.
Click Open, Next, Finish,   and you'll have Notepad in your Send To Menu.

Customize the Start Menu
You can right click on any item in the start menu and move it, copy it, delete it, change it's properties whatever.  To move or copy an item from your desktop to the Start Menu, just drag it over the Start icon, and the Start Menu will open up. Drop it wherever you want it in the start menu.

One-Step URL's
Right-click your taskbar, choose the "toolbars" option, and select "Address".  A new item will show on the taskbar that allows you to type in any URL (on the Internet, your hard drive, or a network share) and automatically open that page or folder.

Open Files Using "Open With"
This allows you to use the "open with" command to open a file from Explorer or the desktop. In Explorer or on the Desktop (wherever the file is) hold down shift and right click the file. You now have an "open with" option. Click on "open with" and you can open the file with any program on the computer. The original association remains unless you click always open with this program.

Remove Documents and Favorites Folder
To remove the Documents and/or Favorites folders from the Start Menu, simply go to the control panel and click on TweakUI. Click the IE4 tab and scroll down to those items under settings and uncheck their boxes. They will be instantly removed from the Start Menu and no need to play in the system's registry. If you don't have the latest version of tweakui (1.25.0), you can download it from our Downloads page.

Create New Folders on Your Start Menu
You can customize your Start Menu any way you want. To add new folders, right click the Start Menu and choose Open. This will open your Start Menu just like double-clicking My Computer. To create a new folder, simply right click a blank spot in the window, and choose New, Folder.
To create folders for your Control Panel, Dial-Up Networking and other special items in Win98, check out the next tip.

Add Cascading Items to the Start Menu
There are several items which you can add to the Start menu as cascading folders (like the Programs folder), but some may need a special CLSID. For instance, to add control panel to your start menu, add a folder named Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}
and a cascading control panel will appear in your start menu without all those nasty "shortcut to" words appearing. Another advantage is that your cascading menu will automatically update as you make changes to these folders.
To create a new folder on your Start menu, check out the tip above this one. Here is a list of special items you can add to your start menu:

You may change the names in front of the numbers and the names will appear in the start menu. You can also drag them (IE4 installed) to the section between Programs and Run and place it there for easier access.

Use HotKeys On Desktop Icons
You can assign hotkeys for all shortcuts on your desktop. RIght-click the desktop shortcut and select Properties. Select the Shortcut tab. In the Shortcut key text box, choose the combination of shortcut key you want. Hold down Ctrl+Alt or Ctrl+Shift combination while selecting another key.
You can activate the hotkey without the desktop in view, but you have to make sure your hotkey combination won't clash with the key commands of the active application.
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