If you are using MS-DOS prompt and want to launch a program from there, then you must first ensure that the directories containing the programs are in your autoexec.bat file. You can check this by using path command on the prompt.

To open a document without opening the program use Quick View option of Windows. To install this feature select Start > Settings > Control Panel and double click Add/Remove Programs Under Windows Setup tab, select Accessories and click Details check Quick View option and click ok. This will install Quick View. Now Right Click on a document to view it without opening the program.

When you are editing an image using Windows Paint application, hold ctrl key while you select the image and drag the selected part in new location where you want to copy it. Holding Shift key will leave a trail of the image that you have dragged.

To access the Properties of a file/folder quickly, double-click on that file/folder name holding down the ALT key.

In folder C:\Windows\Send To, Create a shortcut c:\Windows\notepad.exe. In this way you can quickly view your txt files, you can also edit files like autoexec.bat, config.sys or log files.

If your desktop link is deleted then you can add it. First open the folder C:\Windows\Send To, now right click on the background of folder. Choose New >Text Document and rename it Shortcut.DESKLINK. This is the link which you have created.

Before deleting any dll, right click on it and select Quick View. This will give you information regarding that dll.

If you are using scroll mouse, then you can resize on-screen fonts in I.E. by holding ctrl key and rolling the mouse whell up and down ( to increase/ decrease the font size).

The Back Up program helps to take the back up of all your important files and folders. You can use this utility by Accessories > System Tools > Back Up. If this utility is not installed then you have to install it from Add/Remove Programs from Control Panel.

Every time you install a new software, or make alterations to the default settings you have to reboot the system. Now, use this tip, press Ctrl+Alt+Del, select Explorer, and click End Task When Windows Ask Are you sure you want to … Shutdown your computer, then Click no then click End Taskat the next prompt.

To trace the route from your internet provider to your location, and show you each and every computer system along the way. Use the program called Trace Route. Open a DOS windows and type tracert. The location name can be any IP address or number such as xyz@abc.ef. This also helps you to locate any breaks in communication such as Error locating server.

By default when you save a program using notepad it saves it with extension txt. Now if you want to save a file asc.efg in notepad having extension efg, save file with File > Save as and in dialog box save in quotation marks abc.efg. This gives you extension of .efg not adc.efg.txt.

to increase performance of your system change your swap space from boot partition (generally c) to another partition. If possible leave one partition for swap space. Fix the swap size (min and max size same). This will help to increase performance.

To view properties of all drives at once, then open My Computer select all drives by holding Ctrl key and clicking on each drive. Right-click and choose Properties from context menu. Windows will create one Dialog box with tabs for each drives.

To start msconfig click on Start > Run and type msconfig, click on Startup tab, from here you can select the programs which are launch during boot up of your system. Select minimum number of programs, as this effect your boot up time and you can start your programs manually afterwards.

To create shortcut on desktop, right-click on desktop, select New > Shortcut, now enter the path C:\Windows\rundll.exe user.exe.exitwindows. By clicking on this icon you can shutdown your system.

During boot process Windows check several things like FDD, CD-ROM, you can tweak them to enhance your boot up process. FDD Right-click on My Computer > Properties > Performance > File System > Floppy Disk. Here you will see a option Check for floppy drive each time your computer starts, uncheck this option. This will prevent Windows to take time in detection of floppy drive each time Windows start. For CD-ROM, click on next tab labelled CD-ROM. Here select Quard speed or higher in Optimize access pattern for….

If you regularly work on shared PC's drives, then you must map your drives. Right-click on My Computer > Map the drive, select the n/w drive and assign a drive letter for your convinence.

You can browse, explore from the taskbar by using Address bar. Right-click on Taskbar, select Taskbars > Address. The address bar will appear on taskbar.

If you want to upgrade your BIOS from Windows Me, then boot your system from a bootable floppy disk. Copy files of BIOS, in floppy and upgrade BIOS. Windows Me do not support real-mode DOS, therefore you have to use floppy-disk.

If you have two operating system eg. Windows Me, Dos 6.22, Linux. Then you can use any third- party bootloader software eg.XOSL.

To change drive icons, create a file autorun.ini by using notepad, add lines

[Autorun]
ICON= PATH
Here give path of your icon.

To change folder icons, create a file desktop.ini by using notepad, add lines

[.ShellClassInfo]
ICON= PATH
Here give path of your icon.

To create shortcut on desktop, right-click on desktop, select New > Shortcut, now enter the path C:\Windows\rundll.exe user.exe ExitwindowsExec. By clicking on this icon you can restart your system.

There are a few utilities provided for this purpose. Select Control Panel > Accessibility Options. Here you can find options which will make your work easy. To install this Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Windows Setup > Accessibility Options.

In folder C:\Windows\Send To, Create a shortcut of printer. Go to printer applet and create a shortcut. Copy that shortcut in C:\Windows\Send To folder. In this way you can quickly print files.

If you want to add date and time, simply press F5 key. It will make the required entry.

Accidently you have deleted standard windows fonts. To recover them, follow these steps. From the installation CD, Extract the files from Win95_04.cab. Extract it to any temporary directory, and then install the fonts which you have deleted by selecting Control Panel> Fonts. Now, select File > Install New Fonts and browse the path of temporary directory.

You can select different folders for your folder background. Right Click in any folder, select Customise this folder > Select a background picture press next, select any picture( bmp, jpg, tif) and click next and finish. You can do this to any folder. This requires IE 4.0 or above. Do not work in Windows Xp.

To close them quickly hold Shift key and click close button. This will close all windows.

When you open your Volume Control windows, then press Ctrl + S, you will find that your windows is shrink. It will remail in small state unless you press Ctrl + S again.

If you want to type Program Files, you generally type progra~1, here is a tip, instead type Program Files, using quotation marks.

When you are in hurry and you are working on a project and you cant afford to shutdown, then you can use Hibernate option. Hibernate, when you shutdown windows it copies all information on hard disk and the when you restart it brings back to that state. In this way you do not loose your precious data. To enable it, right click on desktop, select Properties > Screen Saver > Power > Hibernate and select option Enable Hibernate.

To do this, selectControl Panel > Multimedia.Check the option Show Volume Control on taskbar.

If you want to start an application and wish that application to work in background then, select that application and press Shift key, double click the application and you will see that the application will be launched in the background.

Click on help topic where you would like to add your own help topic. Click Options and select Annotate. A text box appears where user can type his own tips and select Save. A bookmark will appear on top-left corner of the Help box. This Bookmark will take you to your newly saved file which is saved by .ann extension.

If you are advance user and want to remove delete confirmations which appear every time you delete a file or folder, right-click on Recycle Bin, select Properties > Global . Uncheck option Display delete confirmation dialog box.

If you find icons in start menu are black that means your Shelliconcache file is corrupt. You should delete this file as it will be recreated when Windows restart. You can find this hidden file under Windows directory.

To create a icon without a name simply rename it using num pad. Rename it to 255. Do not forget that you should type this number from Num pad only.

For running DOS-based applications in Windows Me, configure system.ini file. Like we configure config.sys in Windows 9x, we can add lines in this file also. Eg.
[386Enh]
PerVMFiles=250
PerVMBuffers=40.

To capture the screen of acitve window only then, press Alt + Print Screen and copy it in mspaint, now you can save it in your desired format.

To quickly preview animated cursor, right-click on the ANI file and choose Properties. In the upper-left corner of the dialog box you'll see the animation.