Freebie Windows Helpers Feb.26, 2001 This article is about several small helper programs that will make your life with indows a little easier - at no cost to you. Be sure to read the last section of this article as I'll be showing you how to locate these helpers in their own folder with a cascading menu on the Main Start Menu (thus keeping your tray and desktop clear of unnecessary icons). RESTART Restart works with Win95/98. It's simple to restart Windows 95/98 just click the Start button, then Shut Down, then select the Restart option, then hold down the Shift key, then click OK. Actually that's a lot of fooling around and besides, it takes two hands! If you need to restart as often as I do; but don't need to reboot your whole computer, you'll appreciate this double click ReStart Windows shortcut located on your desktop. The program is freeware by Richard A. Ellingson and can be downloaded at RESTART You can locate a shortcut for Restart on the desktop. FRESH ICONS Fresh Icons works with Win95/98/NT(should run OK on Windows 2000 too but not extensively tested). If you use Windows Explorer a lot you may have noticed that sometimes (actually - quite often) Explorer starts to display wrong icons for some file types. You can use the repair panel in Tweak UI or save yourself having to open Control panel, click on Tweak UI, click on the Repair panel, and then select repair icons, then click on Repair Now and finally click OK to exit Tweak UI. OR you can just click on Fresh Icons. When run, it instructs Windows to refresh icons displayed on the Desktop and in Windows Explorer & etc. After executing, it won't stay in memory, it just sends the icon update request to Windows and terminates. So, each time you want to refresh icons, you must execute it. Fresh Icons cannot help you to refresh the icons displayed on Windows98/IE5 application toolbar, since this toolbar uses it's own internal icon caching. You can download the free program from Moon Software at: FRESH ICONS You can also locate a shortcut for this program on the desktop. ENDITALL EndItAll works with Win95/98. In Windows 95 or Windows 98, you terminate a program by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del, selecting the item in the task list, and clicking End Task. You have to tediously repeat this process for each program. EndItAll handles the job with the click of a button. It does its best to terminate every program except Explorer, the system tray, and itself. Its main window lets you know exactly what's happening. Some programs are protected - End It All does not attempt to shut these down. Protected items are shown with a lock icon in the programs main window.. Explorer (EXPLORER.EXE), the system tray (SYSTRAY.EXE), and EndItAll itself are always protected. You can, if you wish, protect other specific programs. Pressing space bar will toggle the protected status of the selected item. You can also toggle an item's protected state by double-clicking it, or by right-clicking it and selecting Protect. Although EndItAll doesn't try to terminate Explorer itself, it will politely close any Explorer windows that are open. The program's author is Neil J. Rubenking and you can down load this program at: ENDITALL You can also locate a shortcut for EndItAll on the desktop. SM TIDY SM Tidy works with Win98. If you have Plus forWin98 you already have this program, see:C:\WINDOWS\smtidy.exe You can put a short cut on your desktop to more easily access it. If you don't have it you can download it at: SM TIDY This program processes your Start Menu and removes any dead links to programs you have deleted. You may also wish to install the WIN 98 RESOURCE KIT from your Win 98 disk;, if so: 1. Start Windows 98 and insert the Windows 98 compact disc in your CD-ROM drive. 2. When the Autorun screen appears, click Browse this CD. 3. In the \Tools\ResKit directory, click Setup.Exe. 4. Follow the instructions that appear on your screen. You can then pick and choose which of the various helper utilities included in this package you want shortcuts on your desktop for. WINDOWS MILLENNIUM SYSTEM EDITOR v1.4 For some reason Microsoft decided to leave the System Editor out of Windows Me. Here's a small freeware program to correct that oversight. Features include:Windows Millennium Style' easy to use, rock-stable, and works on computer w/ Windows installed in different directories , and also tiny in size / memory usage You can download MILLENNIUM EDITOR START MENU EASY ACCESS These changes work on Windows 98. I don't know if they will also work on Windows Me. In order to create an easy acess folder on the Main Start Menu open Windows Explorer and go to your Start Menu folder under Windows. Highlight the Start Menu, click on toolbar File/New/Folder. Name the new folder Desktop.{00021400-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} Close Windows explorer and return to your desktop.From your desktop, drag and drop the desktop shortcuts for the four programs into the new Desktop folder under the Start Menu. Voila - your helpers are now easy to acess and use. Here's a neat little freeware program called ADD LINK that allows you to drop shortcuts into your Start Menu directly from Windows explorer. Well you are at it, you may as well create shortcuts for your My Computer, My Network and Recycle Bin icons on your desktop; and then drag and drop them into the Desktop folder - this will allow you to have access these features without having to return to the desktop. If you have, or find any other handy helpers you can add them to the Desktop folder in a similiar manner. Remember - customize, customize, customize - its your machine and it's fun.