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Assorted Windows Tips January 26, 2002
Outlook Express links repair.
If the links aren't working like they once did in Outlook Express. The solution may be quite simple (and it doesn't require a reinstallation); you just need to re-register the URL monitor.
Click on Start | Run and enter: "REGSVR32 URLMON.DLL" (wihout quotes). You should then have a dialog tell you that the procedure was completed. Next, start Microsoft's Web Browser (IE) and Click Tools | Internet Options | Programs | then click the "Reset Web Settings" button. Now, check to see if Web links work like they should in your e-mail client. With any luck, you'll have returned your system to normal.
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Pesky Menu (Dis)Order
Ever wonder why the Start menu items in Windows are in alphabetical order on one PC, but not another? I've often pondered the cause of that, but never seriously investigated the issue. A simple right-click | Sort by name and things order themselves nicely, but once more items are added, they are placed at the bottom again. Upon one of my regular stops by John Savill's Windows 2000 FAQ, the answer presented itself in the form of a simple registry edit. Navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ MenuOrder
Then delete the MenuOrder key. Simple, yet effective.
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Move Portions of Your Start Menu
You can make shortcuts on the taskbar
that bring up frequently used items from your Start menu. This is also helpful
if you want easy access to Start menu items on a different part of the
screen.
- Right click on an empty section of the taskbar point to Toolbars and then
click New Toolbar...
- In the New Toolbar window, browse to your Start menu directory (c:\documents
and settings\USERNAME\Start Menu\Programs\). Choose the folder you want. Click
on OK.
- Rearrange your taskbar by dragging on the vertical bars until only the
folder title is showing. All the actual links will disappear into a double
arrow.
- Click the double arrow to bring up the menu. You can drag the menu to
another edge of the display to act as a second Start menu. For long titles, you
might want to rename them to something shorter before you create the shortcut.
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Change the MSN Messenger Background Image (All Versions)
This tweak allows you to change the background bitmap image in the MSN Messenger service.
Locate the installation directory for MSN Messenger on your system (e.g. "C:\Program Files\Messenger"). This location can also be found in the registry in the "InstallationDirectory" value at [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MessengerService].
Rename the "lvback.gif" file in the installation directory to "lvback.old". Then copy and rename the new background GIF file to the same directory as "lvback.gif".
Restart MSN Messenger for the change to take effect.
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Delete individual AutoComplete entries
It's possible to delete an individual entry which AutoComplete has remembered
for you in a form, rather than clearing the whole lot.
To do so, double-click inside the text-field you want to remove the cached
entry from. This will bring up a list of all entries for this text-field. Simply
point to the one you want to remove and press the delete key.
Note: This doesn't appear to work for the AutoComplete feature in the address
bar
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