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From...
Make Windows 98 act the way you want
June 26, 1998
Web posted at: 2:11 PM ET
by Valerie Ryan
Months of working with Windows 98 betas pushed us to develop these tips for getting some work done during the transition. From shutting off animated menus to viewing all your folders the same way, here's how to customize the new operating system to your liking.
Put Your Documents Where You Want Them
After installing Windows 98, you'll notice the My Documents folder is now located on your desktop. Here's how to move this folder to where you want it. Right-click the My Documents folder, select Remove from Desktop, and click Yes to confirm. Doing so automatically moves the folder to the root of the drive on which Windows 98 is installed. Once the My Documents folder is off the desktop, you can move it wherever you want (and rename it, too), just as you would any other folder.
With the root of your hard drive displayed in one window and the destination folder visible in another, right-click and drag the My Documents folder to its new home, let go, and select Move Here. (Note: When Windows 98 asks, click Yes to confirm that you want to move Desktop.ini.)
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Back to Menu Basics
Right-click an icon, a Taskbar item, or the desktop, and what do you get? Menus, just as you'd expect. But one look will tell you that these are no ordinary menus. Check out those special effects as the menus roll onto the screen!
Great. Neat-o. Annoying. Want to turn the animations off so the menus pop up faster, without being so distracting? Right-click the desktop, select Properties, and click the Effects tab. Deselect "Animate windows, menus and lists," and click OK. You'll get inanimate menus, plain and simple.
Do The Start Menu Shuffle
Do you need to move one of your Start menu items? For example, perhaps you'd like to move an entire folder out of the Programs menu onto the main Start menu so you don't have to go through as many menus to get to it.
Select Start and navigate to the folder or item you want to move. Right-click the item, then hold down the right button as you navigate back or forward through the Start menu to the item's new home. (Just hold the mouse pointer over any menu you'd like to expand, as usual.)
When you see a black horizontal line in this space, let go and select Move Here from the pop-up menu.
Tip: Don't let go of the mouse pointer while a menu item is highlighted, or you'll open that item's context menu and have to start over.
Global Viewing
Would you like to use the same View options, such as Details and Arrange Icons by Date, for all open folder windows? You couldn't set these options globally in Windows 95, but in Windows 98 you can set your system's default viewing options from any open folder window. (Note: Toolbar settings don't apply.)
Open a folder window and set the viewing options the way you want them for all folders. Then select View, Folder Options, and in the dialog box that opens, click the View tab. Click the Like Current Folder button, click Yes to confirm, then click OK. From now on, every folder window will open with these same View options already set.
Edited by Paul Heltzel