The Insider's Guide to Fixing Windows

Scott Dunn

A show of hands, please: Who's deliriously happy with Windows the way it is? Probably not you, if you've found that making it work the way you want takes careful tinkering and the right add-ons. Not the staff here at PC World--we'd change more than a few things if we ran the show. Not even Bill Gates, who's already talking up the Windows we'll get to see two or three years from now. And definitely not the Windows XPatriates who have left the Operating System That Made Redmond Famous for the land of Linux.

In this special report, we cover a multitude of ways to build a better Windows--from Microsoft's next major update to our own wholly imaginary game plan for a new and improved version. We also pit Windows XP against the latest in Linux to reveal the ins and outs of Microsoft-free computing.

Most important, we've assembled a timesaving collection of tips and tools for fine-tuning your current Windows into the OS you'd design--no matter which edition you use, and starting right now.

File and Window Fixes

Explorer is a decent tool, but it's often not good enough. Here are some ways to get what you want faster.

ALL VERSIONS: Open Documents With Your Choice of Applications It's easy to change what application launches when you double-click a particular type of file (see Answer Line for instructions). But for some file types, one application just isn't enough. For example, usually you want to open an HTML file in your Web browser, but sometimes you need to open it in an HTML editor, or make a quick change in a text editor. Fortunately, you can make that choice on the fly. In Windows 2000, Me, and XP: Right-click the document icon and choose Open With or Open With, Choose Program. Select your application from the list. If it's not there, click Browse or Other, navigate to and select the desired application, and click Open. Don't check the Always use this program to open these files check box at the bottom of the Open With dialog box. The application you use will appear on the Open With submenu the next time you right-click a file of that type (see FIGURE 1).

To get the same feature in older versions of Windows (9 x or NT), just download and install OpenExpert from PCWorld.com's Downloads library. It's free for home use, $20 for business and government. To get going, just right-click a file and choose Open With, Add application to specify a program or Open With, Configure OpenExpert to bring up a dialog box with more options and access to a help file.

ALL VERSIONS: Fix File Dialog Boxes Once and for All Windows' File, Open and File, Save As dialog boxes are among the OS's most annoying roadblocks--finding the folder you want can take a lot of digging. File dialog boxes that are small present another hurdle: Though you can resize file dialog boxes to make them easier to work with, they revert to their diminutive default size the next time you open one. If you're willing to shell out a measly $18, a program called XFilesDialog can help. This shareware utility lets you permanently resize file dialog boxes, customize the file list (large icons, small icons, details, and so on), and determine the sort order. Moreover, it puts on the dialog box's title bar pop-up menus that let you access favorite folders, as well as recently used folders and files (see FIGURE 2). It gives you complete control over each feature, and it even works with Microsoft Office 2000 and Office XP. Download a trial version.

ALL VERSIONS: Get Easier Access to Important Folders Wouldn't it be nice if you could make your favorite folder easier to reach from any Explorer folder pane? Reader Gerald Schmidt of Seddiner See, Germany, has a way to make any folder appear under My Computer at the same level as your disk drives for quick access.

Open Notepad or your preferred text editor. Type subst /d z: and press Enter. Then type subst z: %1 and press Enter. The first line removes any virtual disk drive assignments (such as any network drives) from drive letter Z:. The second line maps the Z: drive letter to a folder, as if that folder were a disk drive. Choose File, Save As and store the file in a convenient location. Name the file " mapit.bat" (be sure to include the quotation marks so Notepad doesn't add its default.txt extension), click Save, and close Notepad. In Windows 9 x and Me, you'll need to make another quick tweak to the batch file. Right-click it and choose Properties. Then, on the Program tab, choose Minimized from the Run drop-down list and check Close on exit. Click OK.

In Explorer, choose View, Folder Options or Tools, Folder Options. Click the File Types tab and select the Folder file type. Click Edit or Advanced. In the Edit File Type dialog box, click New to add a new action for folders to your right-click menu. In the Action box, type the wording that will appear on the right-click menu, such as Map Folder as Z: Drive. In the 'Application used to perform action' box, type the path to the batch file, surrounded by quotation marks if any folder in the path uses spaces or long names. (Or use the Browse button to find the path.) At the end, type a space followed by "%1" (including the quotation marks). Your completed application path will look similar to "C:\Program Files\mapit.bat" "%1" (see FIGURE 3). Click OK or Close as many times as necessary to close all dialog boxes.

From now on, any time you want a folder to appear at the drive level, just right-click it and choose Map Folder as Z: Drive. Your existing Z: drive assignment (if any) will change to that folder. The Z: drive is just an alias (not a copy) of your folder, so any changes you make to the contents of the folder will be reflected in the Z: drive and vice versa. Note that the command won't work if you try to use it on a folder that's inside the current Z: drive.

To change or delete this command, return to the Edit File Types dialog box, select the command in the Actions list, and click Edit (Windows 9 x) or Remove. In Windows 2000, Me, and XP, these buttons are disabled, so your only choice is to remove the command by editing the Registry. Start by backing up your Registry in case something goes wrong. (See "Care and Feeding of the Windows Registry" for details.) Choose Start, Run, type regedit, and press Enter. Choose Edit, Find and then type the name of the command you created, such as Map Folder as Z: Drive. The folder containing this text should have the same name but with underscores instead of spaces, as in 'Map_Folder_as_Z:_Drive'. Delete this folder in the tree pane and exit the Registry Editor.

Look and Feel

If you're going to stare at a cold computer screen all day, shouldn't it be as attractive as possible? Give Windows a look you like with these tips and tools.

XP: A Stylish Solution to the Blue Menace Windows XP comes with a whole new visual style. If the blindingly blue (or green or silver) taskbar and title bars don't work for you, you have two solutions--switch to the classic look, or turn to a "skinning" utility for more control.

First, the free solution: To get the traditional Windows look in XP, right-click the desktop and choose Properties. Click the Appearance tab. In the 'Windows and buttons' drop-down list, choose Windows Classic style. Select a color scheme in the next drop-down list. To tweak it further, click the Advanced button, choose colors and sizes for the various elements, and click OK twice. Note that you'll still have the wide two-column Start menu with its list of frequently used programs. If you want the traditional Start menu back, right-click the Start button and choose Properties. Click Classic Start menu and click OK.

If you like XP's new look but find the so-called Luna interface garish or simply limiting, you can give Windows a face-lift with a downloadable utility. Most such programs stay in memory constantly and can bring older computers to their knees. That's why I like TGT Soft's Style XP, one of the few ways to revamp XP's look without taking up any system resources (if you choose). This $20 shareware comes with a few replacement "styles" that completely overhaul Windows XP's taskbar, title bars, Start menu, and buttons. Once the program is installed, you can download dozens of free user-created styles from www.themexp.org (see FIGURE 4). Style XP also comes with an automatic theme changer that can alter your style, wallpaper, sounds, icons, pointers, and other elements at regular intervals.

ALL VERSIONS: Give Windows a Theme-tastic New Look Desktop Architect, a freeware alternative to the themes utilities in Microsoft Plus and certain releases of Windows 98, lets you save, import, and export desktop decorations. These theme files collect your mouse pointer, sound, color, and wallpaper settings so you can change and reapply them at any time. Desktop Architect's themes give you control over more Windows elements than the Plus versions do, including the start-up and shutdown screens in Windows 9 x, and the program can automatically change themes whenever you wish (see FIGURE 5). Desktop Architect can also make the backgrounds of icon labels transparent, allowing you a better view of your wallpaper. Click here to download a copy.

ALL VERSIONS: Sort Start Menus Alphabetically When you install a new application, it often appears at the bottom of the Start menu. Before long, you can't find anything. The solution? Right-click anywhere in a jumbled menu and choose Sort by Name. If that option doesn't appear on your PC, download the latest version of Internet Explorer, which will add it.

2000, Me, XP: Kill Off Personalized Menus Perhaps the most disastrous attempt to simplify Windows' user interface was Microsoft's introduction of "personalized menus" in Windows 2000 and later. In this scheme, many of the commands that used to appear on menus were hidden until you clicked a widget to return the menu to its full state. Microsoft forgot that most of us remember where commands are by their position on the menu and how we move the pointer to get there. The company removed the feature from the two-column Start menu in Windows XP, but it's still there if you use the 'Classic Start menu'.

Thankfully, you can turn it off. In Windows XP, right-click the Start button and choose Properties. Click the Customize button next to 'Classic Start menu'. In the scrolling list of options at the bottom of the dialog box, uncheck Use Personalized Menus and then click OK twice. In Windows 2000 and Me, right-click the taskbar and choose Properties. Make sure the General tab is in front. Uncheck Use Personalized Menus at the bottom of the dialog box and click OK (see FIGURE 6).

In most Microsoft Office applications that have this feature, right-click an empty part of the menu bar at the top of the window and choose Customize. Click the Options tab if necessary. In Office 2000, uncheck Menus show recently used commands first. In Office XP, check Always show full menus. Then click Close.

XP: Burst Balloon Announcements One of the most irritating innovations of Windows XP is the plethora of pop-up messages, from Passport promos to warnings scolding about your hard-disk space. Though Windows itself does not feature an off switch for these bothersome balloons, you can puncture them with the Microsoft utility Tweak UI,, part of the free PowerToys for Windows XP. You don't need to install all of the PowerToys unless you want to. Use the Custom setup option to install only Tweak UI. Follow the instructions in the setup wizard until the process is complete. Once it is installed, choose Start, All Programs, Powertoys for Windows XP, TweakUI for Windows XP. Then click Taskbar in the left panel. On the right, uncheck Enable balloon tips and click OK.

2000, Me: Assign the Preview Pane Only to Specific Folders In Windows 2000 and Me, you can choose Tools, Folder Options and, in the General tab, decide whether folders should have the "Classic" look (Use Windows classic folders) or the "Web" look ( Enable Web content in folders), which adds an information-and-preview pane to the left side of each folder. When you click OK, all your folders are affected. But what if you want some of your folders to have one look and some to have another? No problem. First, select Enable Web content in folders in the Folder Options dialog box and click OK. Now, in a folder that is to have an alternate look, choose View, Customize or View, Customize This Folder to start the Customize This Folder Wizard. Click Next. Check the box for Choose or edit an HTML template for this folder, as well as any other options you want. Click Next. In the next panel, select a template that best suits that folder. Don't worry about Simple showing only a large-icon view; you can change it to whatever View-menu option you prefer. When you've made your choice, click Next. Step through any other options you specified, until you click Finish to close the wizard. Repeat for any other folders that you want to have their own special look.

ALL VERSIONS: Unhide System Files and Folders When you open certain folders containing important system files--notably the Program Files, Windows, System, or System 32 folders--you're likely to see a patronizing warning that says modifying the contents of the folders could cause your programs to stop working correctly. Duh. Often, this warning requires you to click a Show Files link in order to see the list of files at all. If you find that annoying, you're not alone. Fortunately, there's a quick fix.

Things are easiest in Windows Me and XP. Just click either Show the contents of this folder or View the entire contents of this folder (see FIGURE 7). The contents should remain visible until you click the link in the left column to hide the contents again. If in Windows XP you don't see this text on the left, close the folder pane (if visible), and/or choose Tools, Folder Options and make sure Show common tasks in folders is selected in the General tab. If you want all warnings off in XP, choose Tools, Folder Options in any folder window, click the View tab, and under Advanced Settings check the box for Display the contents of system folders. Click OK.

In other Windows versions, start by showing hidden and system files: Choose View, Folder Options or Tools, Folder Options. Click the View tab and select Show all files or Show hidden files and folders in the 'Advanced settings' box (you may need to double-click the Hidden files or Hidden files and folders icon to see this option). In Windows 2000, you may also need to uncheck Hide protected operating system files and click Yes to confirm. Click OK. In the Windows folder, locate and select the desktop.ini file (which appears simply as 'Desktop' when file extensions are hidden). Press F2, type a new name such as Old Desktop (or Old Desktop.ini if file extensions are visible), and press Enter. If you ever want to revert to the old warning, just give this file its original name. Repeat for the desktop.ini files in other system folders that are giving you grief.

Net Solutions

Use these tips to grease the wheels of your system's Internet-surfing and network functions so that you can use your computer and Net time more efficiently.

ALL VERSIONS: Rev Up Browsing With Internet Explorer Every time you use Internet Explorer 4 or later to visit a Web site, it makes one connection to download the HTML code and another to download graphics. This practice follows the standard established by the HTML specification, but no one will arrest you if you ask IE to make more connections to the site. Increasing the number of connections can make better use of your bandwidth and significantly boost the speed at which pages appear in your browser. Naturally, this tweak won't have any effect if the site you're visiting is designed to block more than two connections.

Start by making a backup copy of your Registry in case something goes wrong. (Click here for complete details.) Next, choose Start, Run, type regedit, and press Enter. In the tree pane on the left, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings. With Internet Settings selected on the left, look for an icon that's labeled MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server and another labeled MaxConnectionsPerServer. If you don't see them, right-click in the right pane and choose New, DWORD Value. Type MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server and press Enter. Right-click a second time and create a DWORD value named MaxConnectionsPerServer. Now double-click MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server. The default value is 4, but since you want to increase this, enter a larger value in the 'Value data' box (use the decimal setting)--say, 8. (Some Web sites recommend a value as high as 20, so feel free to experiment.) Now click OK, double-click MaxConnectionsPerServer, and change the Value data to 4 (the default is 2; some people go as high as 10). Click OK (see FIGURE 8). Exit the Registry. With luck, your surfing will be noticeably faster.

ALL VERSIONS: Get the Fastest Connection Possible With TweakMaster You could spend several weeks boning up on connection settings and searching for advice on configurations that get the best possible speed. Or you could just download and install TweakMaster (see FIGURE 9). This $20 shareware program provides friendly wizards to guide you through experimenting with various Registry settings to improve your connection. Needless to say, this is a much easier--and safer--way to configure your system than rooting around in the Registry by yourself. Besides boosting the speed of your Internet link, TweakMaster also can keep America Online from hanging up on you, and it can synchronize your system's clock with Internet time servers. Click here to download a copy.

XP: Restore Control Over File Sharing Windows XP's default file sharing settings lack many of the options you had in previous versions of Windows--specifically, the ability to specify permissions, the number of users who can use the shared objects, and so on. To regain that ability, choose Tools, Folder Options in any folder window. Click the View tab and scroll to the bottom of the 'Advanced settings' list. Uncheck Use simple file sharing (Recommended) and click OK.

ALL VERSIONS: Skip the Dial-Up Connection Prompt If your computer is in a secure location, you don't need to enter password information in the Connect dialog box each time--or even have the dialog box appear. Launch your ISP account icon and enter your user name and password if necessary. Underneath that, check the box to save the password. In Windows Me, check the Connect automatically box as well. In Windows XP, you can also select whether this connection should be available for anyone on the computer or only those who log in to your account. In Windows 9 x and Me, click Connect and log in to your account to preserve these settings; then disconnect. In Windows 9 x, open the Dial-Up Networking folder in My Computer, select your account icon, and choose Connections, Settings. In the General tab, uncheck Prompt for information before dialing and click OK. In Windows 2000 and XP, click Properties in the Connect dialog box and click the Options tab. Uncheck both Prompt for name and password, certificate, etc. and Prompt for phone number. Then click OK.

Contributing Editor Scott Dunn writes the Windows Tips column for PC World. Editor Harry McCracken and Associate Editor Eric Dahl contributed to this story.

System Settings

Windows Tweaks

Future Windows: Windows 2004? The Road to Longhorn

Think Windows XP could stand improvement? So does Microsoft, and the company has begun talking about its next major upgrade. Code-named "Longhorn," this work in progress won't morph into a boxed product until at least late 2004. For now, it's more project than product--an array of ambitious, interlocking ideas foreshadowed in the fusillade of Windows variants and add-ons that will debut in coming months (see the chart to the right).

Longhorn: Long Range

At first blush, Microsoft's long-term goals sound like so much pie in the sky: Windows, says lead product manager Greg Sullivan, should be "as convenient as paper, as simple as television, as connected as a phone." How that translates into specific features is mostly yet to be seen. But Sullivan speaks of a self-maintaining OS where "when you use the software, it modifies and customizes itself, it downloads patches and installs them, and just gets better." XP's Windows Update and Error Reporting tools are two trial balloons in this regard.

XP's digital photography tools and task menus hint at another major theme: helping users find stuff and figure out what to do with it. On this front, Microsoft has said it will replace Windows' aging file system with one based on technology in Yukon, the next edition of the company's SQL Server database. That could drive a smarter, more task-based Windows that could juggle everything from address books to photo albums, wherever they are stored. (However, Microsoft has hyped database-like file systems before without delivering.)

A Webbier Windows

Don't be startled if the next Windows feels a little more like a service (potentially with pay-as-you-go components, Sullivan says). Web-based apps from MSN and from third-party sites, for instance, might be tightly integrated into the Start menu. Tools that build on today's MSN Messenger will probably have a high profile, as well.

The more Webbified Windows becomes, the more you might fret about hackers, viruses, and other Net intrusions. Enter Palladium, another Microsoft initiative, which relies on new Intel and AMD chips to promise Fort Knox-like security. The big question? Whether Palladium will be fully baked in time for Longhorn's release.

One other Longhorn goal is to make Windows more entertaining. "We want to take advantage of the new hardware that's out there now and that will appear in the next couple of years," says Sullivan. Microsoft has already notified graphics vendors that its user interface will want 3D capability and lots of video memory for fancy effects.

It's a safe bet that the next Windows upgrade won't incorporate all the intriguing notions that make up Longhorn. "Some stuff will get dropped as deadlines loom," predicts Paul Thurrott, who tracks Longhorn at his SuperSite for Windows (www.winsupersite.com). Thurrott speculates that we might see a sort of XP Second Edition as a stopgap measure. But some people can't wait: Thurrott's site already has a collection of fake Longhorn "screen shots."

--Harry McCracken

Windows and More Windows (chart)

Product/technology name	Due date	The lowdown
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition	November 2002	Pen-based notebooks running a Windows that uses "digital ink" for handwritten note-taking
Windows Media Player 9 ("Corona")	Late 2002	Savvier multimedia playback and burning for Windows XP (see "Multimedia Windows XP Takes Microsoft Out of the Office (http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,105437,00.asp) ")
Windows XP Media Center Edition	Late 2002	Windows optimized for living-room entertainment (see "Multimedia Windows XP Takes Microsoft Out of the Office (http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,105437,00.asp) "); code-named "Freestyle"
Windows Powered Smart Displays	Late 2002/ early 2003	Portable pen terminals that talk to your home PC via a wireless net; code-named "Mira"
"Longhorn"	Late 2004 or 2005	Next major Windows revamp; could include elements of all of the above
"Blackcomb"	Unknown	Way-off Windows will pick up where Longhorn leaves off, says Microsoft

Our Take