Windows Panes ~ tips tricks tweaks reviews

Curing Your... Windows Pains

Windows Panes provides cutting-edge, state-of-the-art tips and help for intermediate and advanced Windows users. What makes the tips, tweaks and hints in our online inventory so special?

1. we have mostly discovered them ourselves: which means, you will find unique, fresh tips and tricks here that you won't find elsewhere;

2. we have tried them out ourselves, hands-on: which means, they really work.

The tip we're particularly proud of is our original optimization method (actually, two; and both unheard of, although one of them involves little more than simply renaming a single file and launching defrag) for moving the Windows swapfile towards the outmost cylinders of the hard disk - just check out our tutorial.

The same goes for the software tested and reviewed: it's all first-hand, long-term user experience. For the most part, only free software is evaluated and reviewed; sadly, free (or cheap) software is the only software I will afford in a world where just a new operating system release renders a software suite worth hundreds of bucks virtually useless.

When I say Windows tips I don't mean "customization", which more frequently than not results in damage to the software involved, or, in the best case, only reduces speed, performance, or usability. It takes no genius to change the caption of the taskbar's Start button by editing Explorer.exe or to change Internet Explorer's window title to, say, Underbed Exploder, by editing the Registry. But remember, such cheap thrills may come at a high price; certain anti-popup software - KillAd, for one - relies on the caption Microsoft Internet Explorer to effectively close popup ads!

In Windows, as you know - be it 95, 98, 98 SE (Second Edition), ME (Millennium Edition), NT, 2000, XP, or any forthcoming new flavor - tips, tricks and tweaks are not optional add-ons, or "enhancements": no, it takes tons of fixes, patches, updates, tools, utilities, hacks and workarounds just to wake "windoze" up and make it a bearable platform. An example? Just think of the infamous Direct Cable Connection!

Accordingly, essential shortcuts such as "you can toggle between Minimize all and Restore all by pressing the Window key & D," are a sheer necessity. Which is why I prefer to spare precious server space for the really useful tips, workarounds, and tutorials you need than to waste it reproducing "tips" that can be found all over the Net and, nearer still, in the Readme files in your Windows dir. For any true insight, however, that's not enough: you just have to resort to a thorough, systematized guide/manual such as Windows 2000: The Complete Reference, which I make extensive, everyday use of and may be purchased at, say, www.ebooks.com. Or, depending on your operating system, Windows Millennium Edition : The Complete Reference and Windows Xp : The Complete Reference, respectively.

By the way, I actually use most of the products I mention, and when I vouch for one, I do so with a clear conscience. For example, I am a registered user of virtually all of the software I review here and own many of the manuals/tutorials that I recommend. So do our co-editors and contributors to whom I commissioned some of the software reviews (mainly those concerning narrow-niche, costly software tools, such as Macromedia ColdFusion, Oracle PL/SQL, etc.).

As you shall see, this all-pervading first-hand undertone makes all the tips - and the reviews, articles and evaluations in particular - sound a bit personal. They reflect a personal user experience (gathered on a Windows 98 pc, and previously on a Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and Windows 95 computer), a personal approach to pc diagnostics and software troubleshooting. While being aware that some people don't appreciate this manner of writing, there's unfortunately not much I can do about it.

And, as you shall also see, I don't specifically write about the software that I have only tried out and dumped. For example: I don't expressly write about NetSonic although I do mention it in the article about Webcelerator. If I don't find a use for a program, I just don't keep it on my disk long enough to discover all its potential. Again: if I don't overload this site with dummy "tips" because server real estate is too valuable - well, so is my hard drive!

Perhaps it should be mentioned that Windows Panes assumes you are familiar with basic Windows and Web navigation skills and naming conventions, such as: how you might find a web or email address if the one given here happens to be outdated, why is it you can get no milk from Tucows, what is the difference between ms-dos and ms-dont's, what the heck is a recycle bin full of rubbish doing on your Desktop instead of a cup of coffee and some stationery, etc.

Now about trade marks, copyrights... I'm not much into legalese I'm afraid, but we all have our common sense, right? So of course McDos, McWindows, McOffice and other buggy software, including all its issues, problems and security holes, are international trademarks of Mc$oft, of course they are copyrighted by Mc$oft, of course they are the sole property of Mc$oft, I wouldn't dream of competing with Mc$oft for such "honors"!

A final note about tips, hints and tweaks in general: a good software doesn't need any. So, if you see an empty Tips, Tricks and Tweaks section in some of our software reviews, this is only indicative of a good software conception and implementation. Ideally, they should all be empty and we at WP should all be out of work, with no further problem to solve.

And, last but not least: re-visit us from time to time! Our online inventory of free tricks, tips and tweaks is growing by the hour. We shall be posting new tips whenever we find the time to - or lay our hands on a new utility, patch, crack, or hack that may assist you in enhancing, tweaking, and optimizing the performance of your computer.

Terrence Tetayre, Windows Panes