Close windows quickly!
In past tips, I showed you a couple ways you
can quickly close single as well as multiple
program windows by using keyboard shortcuts.
One of our tips subscribers recently
discovered another way to close program
windows quickly and easily.
All you need to do is first open the File menu
by pressing and then pressing (do not press
these keys at the same time). Then, instead of
scrolling down what can often be a long menu
using the [Down Arrow] key, simply press the
[Up Arrow] key once. It scrolls "up" off the
top of the menu and selects the bottom-most
item on the menu. This is almost always the
Close command or the Exit command. Therefore,
with just four quick keystrokes: [Alt] and
then [Enter], followed by the [Up Arrow] key
and then [Enter] again, you can quickly close
program windows.
Send a constant ping to a remote computer!
You can also use Ping when administering Win9x
networks remotely. For example, you might need
to know that a user's computer has restarted
following a configuration change in order to
continue support.
If the network uses the TCP/IP protocol and
you know the IP address of the remote
computer, you can use Ping's -t switch to send
a constant ping to the remote computer.
Leaving an MS-DOS prompt window on the screen
allows you to see the reply to the ping while
the computer shuts down, sending no response
while it restarts and resuming the reply when
the TCP/IP protocol restarts.
The screen display might look similar to the
following:
F:>ping -t 169.254.4.1
Pinging 169.254.4.1 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
. . .
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
To quit the Ping session, press [Ctrl]C. Of
course, if you're waiting on multiple
computers, you could start multiple MS-DOS
windows and arrange them for each computer.
Create JPEG wallpaper without enabling Active
Desktop in ME!
If you'd like to use Windows Me's default
images located in the My Pictures folder as
your wallpaper, but your video adapter doesn't
have the necessary memory to use Active
Desktop, you'll be pleased to learn that we've
found a workaround to enable you to use the
images without enabling Active Desktop.
The sample pictures included in the My
Pictures folder are JPEG files, which require
Active Desktop to be enabled in order to be
displayed as wallpaper. Active Desktop
requires more video memory to display JPEG
images than the default Windows background
does, so if your display adapter doesn't have
an excess of available video RAM you won't be
able to use the images. However, follow this
procedure to use the sample images without
Active Desktop.
First, open the My Pictures folder,
right-click on a sample image, and then select
Open With | Paint. In Paint, choose File |
Save As and from the Save As Type box, select
one of the bitmap (BMP) options, type a name
for the file, and then click OK. Close Paint,
and then right-click on the desktop, and
choose Properties. In the Display Properties
dialog box, select the Background tab, select
the sample image that you saved as a bitmap
file, and then click OK. The image will now
appear as your wallpaper.
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