1. Windows Explorer

• Use the Windows Explorer for disk/file management. You can use it to view files, folders or disks; or to move, copy, delete, or rename files, or create folders. Note: you can't format or copy diskettes in the Explorer: use "My Computer" for those features.
• To open the Explorer, you can select Programs from the Start Menu, then pick Windows Explorer. Or you can Right-Click on a disk, file or other object, then pick "Explore."
• Select Toolbar from the View menu to see the Explorer Toolbar buttons. There are many useful buttons, including cut/copy/paste, delete, and various display options.

• Select Find from the Start Menu or from the Explorer--> Tools--> Find menu. Do a quick find by typing a file name (or part of a file name) into the Named: box and click Find Now.
• Advanced techniques include only looking for certain types of files, actual text within the body of files, or looking for files created before, after or during a specified time period.
• Chose Options--> Save Results to have the Find memorized. Choose File--> Save Search after the search is finished and an icon representing the search will appear on your desktop.
• Once files are found you can work with the files themselves directly from the Find window.

• Select Run from the Start Menu to open the Run dialog box. Use this window to open a specific file or program, connect to a specific networked resource.
• Type a URL (like www.uoregon.edu) or a Windows 95, NT or Novell server name (like //public) to connect to that link
• Use browse to find the exact file name to Run as well.

• Standard accessories (Start Menu--> Programs--> Accessories) include Multimedia applications, System Tools, Internet Tools, and individual applications like Paint, HyperTerminal, and Calculator.
• Multimedia applications usually include CD Player, Media Player (for playing sound or basic "movie" files), Sound Recorder and Volume Control
• System Tools will normally include Drive Space and ScanDisk. Other programs are optional installs (see Add/Remove Programs, #11, below)
• Paint offers a suprisingly useful graphic creator and editor. Still only supports basic graphic formats (BMP and PCX).
• HyperTerminal is a basic terminal emulators (similar but more robust than Windows 3.1 Terminal program). Easy to use, offers quick dial-in options for remote locations or to quickly check email.

• Examples of multiple applications: Word, Excel, Paint, WordPad, etc...
• Accessories: Calculator, Paint, Multimedia (CD Player, MediaPlayer, etc..)
• Switching applications: Taskbar or Alt-Tab
• Cut/Copy/Paste and sharing data between applications

• Start Menu--Settings lets you control and modify printers, taskbar options, and other advanced settings
• Access to Control Panel, a set of configuration utilities for setting display options, adding fonts, modifying mouse sensitivity, changing network settings and more

• Font Control Panel allows you access to the Windows--> Fonts directory on the hard drive. Provides ability to Add/Remove fonts used by Windows, as well as view font data (double-clicking on font brings up complete font information).
• Use the Keyboard Control Panel to change languages for typing (changes keyboard mapping for each language). Also can change key repeat rates and/or cursor blinking
• Mouse Control Panel can be different depending upon the type of mouse. Usually can change right-handed/left-handed settings, click speed, pointer style and "mouse-trails."

• Use Display Control Panel to change background, screen saver, and appearance of text and colors of windows.
• Choose Settings to modify number of colors and desktop area--most newer systems are set lower than maximum resolution. Use Advanced Properties to make further modifications (also useful when troubleshooting Windows 95 problems associated with display settings--set adapter to Standard VGA or decrease Hardware acceleration for Graphics under Performance).

• Network Control Panel controls how a computer talks to other machines. Windows 95 requires components to be installed to talk to different types of systems using different network languages. TCP/IP must be installed to talk to other machines using the Internet Protocol (and to use Netscape, Telnet, FTP, etc.). IPX/SPX must be installed to talk to Novell Netware servers. NetBEUI need to be present to talk to other Windows 95 and Windows NT computers.
• File and Print Sharing can be turned on to let your computer be shared on a network. This requires the Identification information to be complete so your computer has a name on the network. Once visible you can share a specific drive, folder, file, or physically attached printer.
• Mostly mandatory is the Client for Microsoft Networks (and usually Client for NetWare Networks), especially if you need to see other computers in the Network Neighborhood. Remove these components from the Network Control Panel to remove the Network Neighborhood icon from the desktop. May need to reinstall it if dial-up networking ceases to work.

• Add New Hardware Wizard will try to auto-detect new or "forgotten" hardware devices. Especially useful when working with non-"plug and play" hardware.
• Usually try having Windows 95 detect devices automatically. If you know what you are looking for (or have a diskette from the hardware manufacturer) you can skip auto-detection and choose the device or read information from the diskette.
• Add New Hardware adds device driver files that let Windows 95 talk with the hardware. Many of these drivers are stored as *.inf files in a hidden C:\Windows\Inf directory.

• Add/Remove Programs Control Panel can let you install/uninstall programs. True Windows 95 applications will usually be found under this Control Panel and can be uninstalled from this window. Try this after any program specific Uninstall option and before randomly deleting files and directories.
• Windows Setup option lets you control the install/uninstall of the custom components of Windows 95. Dial-Up Networking is the most common component that needs to be installed from this window. Additional screen savers, system tools, sounds, and other accessories can be installed from Windows Setup.
• Windows 95 Startup Disk can be created from this window (if you bypassed the Create Startup Diskette when installing Windows 95). This disk can be used to boot your computer in the event that Windows 95 has crashed.

• System Control Panel provides troubleshooting and optimization information about your computer. Main screen offers Windows 95 version and license information, as well as technical support info.
• Device Manager is a primary tool for resolving hardware conflicts and removing hardware devices from the system configuration. Look for yellow exclamation points next to items for conflicts
• Performance tab shows you system performance information (memory, disk compression, system resource monitoring) and offers advanced optimization for File System (set system to Network Server with full read-ahead optimization for best performance on most systems), Graphics (same optimization as is available in Display Control Panel for troubleshooting graphics hardware acceleration), and Virtual Memory settings (usually should let Windows 95 manage memory settings).

• Optimizing Windows 95 is a combination of appropriate software settings and adequate hardware. System Control Panel (above) offers some configuration settings.
• Check for disk errors and fragmentation regularly (Start Menu--> Programs--> Accessories--> System Tools--> ScanDisk or Disk Defragmenter) to make sure drive is running optimally.
• Third party utilities (notably Norton Utilities) can further optimize performance and troubleshoot problems.
• Adequate RAM is an excellent way to improve performance. 8--> 16 RAM upgrade provides an excellent upgrade, 16--> 32 RAM provides good upgrade. 64 RAM is a recommended configuration for Windows 95 on the UO campus.

• You can use the Windows 95 Emergency Recovery Utility to create a backup of your system configuration and registry files in case a problem should occur. This utility is located on the Windows 95 CD-ROM in the Other\Misc\ERU folder. If you have the floppy disk version of Windows 95, you can obtain this utility from the following Microsoft Web page: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/download/eruzip.exe
• Backup your key data. There are two approaches to take when backing up your data:

Last Update
April 28, 1998

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