Your Support Info Is Just a Click Away

Scott Dunn

You just love your new computer--or graphics card, printer, mouse, adventure game, whatever. You hope you won't have any problems with your new toy, but you can't be sure. That's why you keep all your serial numbers, customer numbers, technical support ID, and vendor Web addresses and phone numbers handy, right?

Windows provides a convenient place to stash this information for quick reference--My Computer's Properties sheet (aka System Properties). Thanks to Virgil Wall of Los Angeles for telling us how to customize the sheet to add the information we need most.

Start by opening the oeminfo.ini file in Windows' System folder (or System32 for Windows NT). You may someday want to revert to the current settings, so copy this file to another folder to keep as a backup. If you don't see oeminfo.ini, don't worry; you can make your own. Double-click the file to open it in Notepad or your default text editor. (If the file's not there, just open a new file in your text editor.) All.ini files, including oeminfo.ini, put the section heading names in brackets [like this].

Customize your Properties text: The first section to edit is the one with the [General] heading. If you are starting out from scratch, type [General] and press Enter. On the new line type Manufacturer=, and on another new line type Model=. These lines were intended to display information about your computer and who manufactured it, but you can use them to hold any information that you are likely to need.

You have room for only a short phrase, though, so choose carefully. For example, you could put your computer's serial number on the first line and the vendor's tech-support number on the second.

Customize your Support Information: Now type [Support Information] on a new line (or replace the third line in the preexisting oeminfo.ini file with this exact text). Begin the next line under the new heading with Line1=, the second with Line2=, and so on. Following the equal sign on any of these lines, add other pertinent system information, such as invoice numbers, dates of purchase, and length and conditions of warranties.

Keep each line short enough to avoid having to use the dialog box's horizontal scroll bars. To add a space between lines, type a line number, but keep the area to the right of the equal sign empty. You can create an indent by enclosing everything after the equal sign in quotation marks and then adding spaces inside the quote marks to move text to the right.

Add a graphic: By adding a graphic with useful information to the System Properties sheet, you can avoid having to open the Support Information dialog box. First, make sure you have an oeminfo.ini file as explained above. Next, use Microsoft Paint or another bitmap-editing program to create a picture measuring about 172 by 172 pixels. (Your mileage may vary; on one Dell system I tested, the largest available size was 169 by 112 pixels.)

This graphic adds pizzazz, but to make it really useful, type in some information you may need to refer to--such as vendor contact numbers or product IDs. Save the graphic as a 256-color bitmap (.bmp) file with the name oemlogo.bmp in Windows' System folder (or System32 for Win NT or 2000).

Take a peek: When you're done, you'll see your changes immediately: Right-click My Computer and choose Properties. The Manufacturer= and Model= information you just added should be listed. Windows 9 x/Me users will see a new graphic and a button named Support Information. Click it to see the information you typed under the [Support Information] heading.

Troubleshoot: If you don't see your picture, your custom text, or the Support Information button, retrace your steps. The button that opens the Support Information dialog box will not appear in the System Properties sheet unless your oeminfo.ini file has both the [General] and [Support Information] section headings. And the picture won't appear unless you have an oeminfo.ini file with at least the [General] section. Also check the numbering of your Line x= lines under the [Support Information] heading; they need to be in sequence, beginning with Line1=.

Be creative: System and support information may be the most logical text to insert in these areas, but you can stash the birthdays of your favorite professional wrestlers there if you want. More practically, you can stash clues to those passwords you keep forgetting. For best security, don't store the passwords themselves here, just hints that will jog your memory.

See Your Desktop Files in a Folder Window

If you want to see the files on your Windows desktop in a folder window, you could create a shortcut to the Desktop folder, but if you need only an occasional peek at them, there's a better way. Choose Start, Run, type a period in the Open box, and then press Enter.

To do this with your keyboard, press Ctrl- Esc, type R, press Enter, type a period, and press Enter again. (Note: If other entries on your Start menu begin with the letter R, keep pressing R until Run is highlighted.) If your keyboard has a Windows key, just press Windows-R, type a period, and press Enter. The window this opens doesn't show Windows' special desktop icons (such as My Computer, Network Neighborhood, and Recycle Bin), but it does show all the shortcuts, files, and folders you placed there yourself.

Here's another quick tip: If you want a fast way to open the Windows folder, select Start, Run and type .. (two periods). (If the folder is set to be viewed as a Web page, you may have to click Show Files before you can see the folder contents. To fix this, see "Unhide Files in the Windows Folder.")

Note: If you follow the preceding steps in Windows NT and 2000, your screen will display the root of your hard drive rather than a window to the Desktop or Windows folders.

Add Editable Text to Your Bitmap Images

Do you sometimes receive faxes on your computer or photos via e-mail that you need to comment on and return, or forward to someone else? Or perhaps you've created a simple slide show, as explained in last month's column, and now you want to add text to serve as titles or to provide promotional or instructional information.

If you don't have a graphics program with capable text or annotation features, you can use the annotation tools in Windows' Imaging program. Its tools are far superior to Microsoft Paint's for editing text and other graphic objects without damaging the underlying bitmap image.

To launch Imaging, choose Start, Programs, Accessories, Imaging. If you don't see Imaging on the menu, you can install the program: Choose S tart, Settings, Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs, and click the Windows Setup tab. Select Accessories and click Details. Check the box next to Imaging, click OK, and follow the prompts on screen.

If you use Windows 95, you may have to download Imaging from Microsoft (unfortunately, this version is not as functional as the version for later flavors of the OS). Search for Imaging using the Keyword Search feature. Be sure to specify Windows 95 as the operating system.

Choose File, Open to add text to an existing image; or choose File, New, and on the New Blank Document dialog box's File Type tab, select TIFF Document (TIFF). Click the Color tab and select 256 Colors or True Color (24 bit).

Next, click the Size tab, choose Custom from the bottom of the Size drop-down list, and select Pixels from the Units drop-down list. For Width and Height, specify a size that matches your screen resolution. (If you're not sure what that is, right-click the desktop and choose Properties. Click the Settings tab and look for the dimensions of your screen area in pixels; 800 by 600 and 1024 by 768 are common examples.) Now click OK.

Choose File, Save As, and make sure TIFF Document (*.tif) is selected in the 'Save as type' drop-down list. Saving in the TIFF format lets you edit the text and graphics you add without ruining the underlying image. It also enables the annotation tools you'll need for adding text.

Now use the annotation toolbar to add text to your image. If you don't see it, choose View, Toolbars, check Annotation, and click OK. (For older versions of Imaging, try Annotation, Show Annotation Toolbox.) Set the properties of the drawing and text controls to the font and color of your choosing: Right-click any button, choose Properties, adjust the settings, and click OK.

Select the text tool, drag to create a box that's large enough for one or more lines of text, and then begin typing. You can use the other tools to add boxes, lines, and freehand shapes. The Annotation Selection tool (the plain pointer) moves, resizes, and deletes objects. Newer versions of Imaging let you edit text added previously by double-clicking it, which returns you to text-editing mode. In older versions, you must select the text box, delete it, and then create the desired text.

The editable text saved with images in the TIFF format may not show in the preview area of Explorer folders (depending on your version of Windows) or in Windows Me's slide-show mode. You have to "burn" the text and other objects onto the image.

Save the editable TIFF file in a separate folder for future updates, then choose Annotation, Make Annotations Permanent to burn the text in. Now choose File, Save As and save this burned-in version with your other slides.

The TIFF format is preferable to the BMP format because it's more compressed. Use the fax format (AWD) only if you're merely marking up a black-and-white image; AWD doesn't preserve color and doesn't work with Windows Me's slide-show mode.

Delete Windows Install Files

I noticed that my Windows 98 installation includes two copies of ScanDisk--one under Windows\Options\Cabs, and one under Windows\Command. Why the duplication?

Sam Prater, Rockport, Texas

Probably because your version of Windows was preinstalled by the computer maker or reseller. As a result, it's not uncommon to see all the installation files for Windows sitting on your hard disk, doing very little unless you frequently install or uninstall Windows components. If you have a Windows installation CD-ROM, these files are wasting 200MB or more of hard disk space.

So what should you do? First, make sure that you have a CD-ROM containing your current version of Windows. If you do, you may safely proceed to delete everything in the Windows\Options folder, including the Cabs folder. The next time that you need to install a Windows component, Windows will prompt you for the location. At that point, you can type in the path to the appropriate folder on your CD-ROM drive (or you can click Browse and navigate to the folder). Your hard disk will breathe a lot easier!

Windows Toolbox: Get Total Control of Your Monitor

Do you frequently run to your Desktop's Properties sheet to change screen resolution or tweak your monitor's color and brightness controls? Would you like to activate your screen saver via a keyboard shortcut or toolbar? If so, you'll be interested in EnTech Taiwan's PowerStrip for Windows.

This utility provides a floating toolbar for adjusting many basic monitor functions, but it also allows you to access these features via your keyboard or a pop-up menu from the system tray (the taskbar area with the clock). PowerStrip offers one-stop control for all graphics-adapter and monitor functions, plus a few others (such as speeding up your mouse's refresh rate). Registration is $30. PowerStrip is available from our Downloads library.

Windows Tips pays $50 for published tips and questions. Scott Dunn is a contributing editor for PC World.