Windows 9x – bajaj.com

IMPORTANT: This page is for users who are willing and happy to tweak their systems to get extra mileage in terms of usability and/or performance.

You must be able to fill in the gaps since I assume you are knowledgeable users, who can put in the ingenuity and effort into such tasks as manually editing and adding keys and values in the Windows registry. I presume I need not state this – before you edit the registry, you should first make a backup copy of the registry files [System.dat and User.dat which are hidden, system files in the Windows folder, if you are using Windows 9x]. Not only is this obvious to anyone who has ever attempted tinkering with the Windows 9x or NT registry, but it’s also unnecessary since you should be having several backups of everything anyway! This page is a “power user” page not because mail, news etc. are power apps, rather because tinkering is not for the faint hearted. I presume you have the requisite administrative or equivalent privileges such as those granted to the power user group in NT, if security policies are implemented.

I don’t have the time, inclination or patience to lay out step by step solutions. I would however like to share answers to questions that come up far too often and help those who want to help themselves. This is an effort on my part to contribute to the Internet community, since I have derived reciprocal benefits from the use of resources offered for free on the Internet. I’d like to do my bit in keeping the spirit of the Internet alive.

Internet Explorer 3.0/4.0 does not show a list of all available mail and news clients
Revision Date: Jul 19, 1997
Source: Yours truly

“C:\PROGRAMS\EUDORA\EUDORA.EXE /m %1” if Eudora is installed in “C:\PROGRAMS\EUDORA”.

Similarly, for:
Pegasus Mail “C:\Programs\Pegasus Mail\WINPM-32.EXE” -A
Mail Express “C:\Programs\Mail Express\CCME.Exe” %1
Outlook Express “C:\Program Files\Outlook Express\msimn.exe” /mail
Exchange AKA Windows Messaging rundll32.exe url.dll,MailToProtocolHandler %l
This tip works for NT Workstation 4.0 as well.

Importing Eudora folders to Internet Mail / Windows Messaging / Outlook or ANY other POP3 client
Revision Date: Jul 19, 1997
Source: Original recipe!

You need to copy the .mbx files from the Eudora mail folder to the mailbox location of a program like SLmail [a POP3 server]. You can request this freeware program from me by e-mail. First, create a user account on SLmail. You could use the default “root” user. Place the .mbx file in the root user’s mail directory, usually C:\Program Files\SLmail and rename it to root.mbx. Specify your fully qualified domain name which you have assigned to SLmail as your POP3 server in Internet Mail [or any other POP3 client], root as the POP3 account and the password assigned to the root user in SLmail as the password. Check for mail as usual. Internet Mail [or the POP3 client you are importing to] will login to the root account on the local SLmail POP3 server and the mail in the root.mbx file will be retrieved as if they have been received over the Internet.
Bonus! This tip will work with ANY POP3 client you wish to import Eudora folders to.
SLmail works under NT 4.0 Workstation as well. If you use the 16-bit version, ensure the “Run in Separate Memory Space” option is checked.

Eudora changes default MailTo handler
Revision Date: Jul 19, 1997
Source: Adapted from microsoft.public.internet.mail

Create a text file MailTo.reg. If you want to make Internet Mail the default mail program:

REGEDIT4[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\shell\open\command]

@="rundll32.exe C:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM\\mailnews.dll,Mail_RunDLL %1"

For NT 4.0 Workstation, replace
C:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM with C:\\WINNT\\SYSTEM32, where C:\\WINNT implies the %SystemRoot% folder [where NT is installed]. This could be on a volume other than C:

If you want to make Outlook Express the default mail program:

REGEDIT4[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\shell\open\command]

@="C:\Program Files\Outlook Express\msimn.exe" /mailurl:%1

For the Outlook client, use the following MailTo.reg file:

REGEDIT4[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\shell\open\command]

@="\"C:\\Programs\\Office\\OUTLOOK.EXE\" -c IPM.Note /m \"%1\""

You must replace C:\\Programs\\Office\\OUTLOOK.EXE above with the actual location of OUTLOOK.EXE on your system.

Whenever you use finish using Eudora, merge this file into the registry to restore Internet Mail or Outlook as the default MailTo handler.

Compacting the registry
Revision Date: Oct 25, 1998
Source: Original recipe!

The registry tends to bloat over time. The size of SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT in Windows 95 hardly ever reduces after uninstalling programs, even though the registry entries get deleted. You can compact the registry and see dramatic reductions in the size of SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT and startup time also reduces. After I posted this tip, Norton Utilities 3.0 was introduced with an optimization wizard which optimizes the registry. There have been cases of the registry being trashed by Norton, and my system did lock up when I repeated the optimization a second time. I’ve noticed an increase in registry size sometimes after Norton does its optimization on the registry packed with my method. This demonstrates that even Norton on occasion can’t pack the registry as much as this free technique! Thanks for your patience while I could spare the time to post this, and here’s the solution:

Step 1: Check out Article ID: Q131352, Revision Date: 01-DEC-1995 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base. That will teach you how to use REGEDIT in real mode. Microsoft confirms that there is a problem using large registry files with REGEDIT in real mode. Check out Article ID: Q132064, Revision Date: 01-DEC-1995 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base. So, I had to find a workaround to accomplish the task in bite sized pieces.

Step 2: Use REGEDIT in protected mode to save each of HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, HKEY_USERS and HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG to files such as 1.reg, 2.reg, 3.reg, 4.reg and 5.reg respectively, leaving out HKEY_DYN_DATA.

Step 3: Restart Windows 95 and boot to “Command Prompt Only”. DO NOT boot to “Safe Mode Command Prompt”, it usually causes problems. Change the current directory to the Windows folder. Backup SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT to *.SAV and delete *.DA0. Re-create the registry from 1.reg as follows:

REGEDIT /c 1.reg

Start Windows as follows:

WIN /d:m

Step 4: Windows will start in Safe Mode. Merge the other files, 2.reg thru 5.reg to the registry. That’s it! Shutdown and Restart Windows 95 normally, and your registry files should be much smaller.

Note: For best results, clear ‘recent’ lists and MRU items – NOT the keys themselves, from the registry before you start with Step 2. Additionally, delete unnecessary keys such as clutter from an uninstalled program.

Internet Explorer 4.01 ‘Standard’ install is overkill, when all I want is Outlook Express
Revision Date: Oct 25, 1998
Source: Original recipe!

Yeah, the ‘Minimum’ install does not include Outlook Express, and you really don’t need to max out your system resources with the additional ‘multimedia enhancements’ part of the ‘Standard’ install. In fact, you don’t need Internet Connection Wizard* and at least I don’t want advertising thrust upon my desktop in the form of those commercial ‘premium channels’. If you are or don’t mind installing or upgrading to Outlook 98, here’s what to do.
Download the ‘Minimum’ or ‘Standard’ install versions of Outlook 98 instead, which include Outlook Express and exclude the ‘multimedia enhancements’ except the bare minimum ActiveMovie codecs. Choose your region for channels as (None). To get this packaging, you must choose to ‘Reinstall all Components’ if you already have IE 4.01 installed. Else IE may not be downloaded at all if you have the latest build, or worse, only some of the components will be downloaded. However I recommend you uninstall Internet Explorer 4.x from your system first, set the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE | SOFTWARE | Microsoft | Active Setup | Channels | ChannelSection key to “None_(None)_Sec”, ChannelNumber to “99” and ChannelDesc to “None” to ensure no channels are downloaded, make sure Outlook 97 and Word 97 [if you are an existing Office 97 user] are properly installed with the SR-1 patch applied and the Timex Data Link Watch wizard [if you use it] is installed as well [else the update to it won’t be downloaded] and only then run Active Setup. Double check all Office 97 components you need are installed, else there’s a good chance the corresponding upgrade won’t be downloaded, which you might have to upgrade from the web interface later. And those web upgraded components won’t be preserved as part of the original download for re-installation later.
Once everything is installed and working, uninstall Internet Connection Wizard and Channels as follows:

To uninstall ICW, find the value for QuietUninstallString in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\ICW
In the Run dialog box, paste in the value for QuietUninstallString as determined above.
On my system running NT on drive F, this value is:

RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSectionEx F:\WINNT\INF\icwNT.inf,,,256

Similarly, to uninstall Channels, in case these were forcibly thrust upon you without prompting for input of your region for channels to which you should have selected ‘None’, find the value for QuietUninstallString in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Chlen-us
Substitute ‘Chlen-us’ with the appropriate name for your region. In the Run dialog box, paste in the value for QuietUninstallString as determined above.
On my system running NT on drive F, this value is:

RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection F:\WINNT\INF\chlen-us.inf,Uninstall,5

* Microsoft should know better than to include this annoying component as part of the download; we already have an Internet connection, else we wouldn’t be able to download it in the first place. As for porting the download to an unconnected system how many of us need to do that, and how many of us who can do that need ICW? Lastly, what happens if you run Active Setup on an NT system and want to port the download to a Win 95 system?

Note: With Win 95 and its wizards has emerged a crop of computer users for whom Microsoft prefers to ‘keep it simple, stupid’, thereby leaving out a Custom Install option. Else all of the above would be unnecessary. We would not be using Active Setup, instead FTPing diskette size files of selected components for the OS and platform of our choosing, not necessarily for the same system used for the download as Active Setup determines. Further, the BackOffice Small Business Server either installs all components or nothing at all. Let’s hope this trend does not find its way into a future release of the Office suite!

The speaker of my US Robotics/3Com external modem can be set to either Off or On using the slider control in Control Panel > Modems > Properties > Speaker volume, but I cannot adjust the volume incrementally to Low, Medium or High. USR/3Com tech support says my modem does not support software volume control, I must use the volume up/down slide bar on the modem. The hardware setting is reset each time I dial a DUN/RAS entry, so I have to bear with the default speaker volume.
Revision Date: NEW!
Source: Original recipe!

Necessity is the mother of invention. I had asked USR tech support for a fix to the .INF file, so that my external modem which did support software volume control up until an updated .INF was posted on the USR web/ftp site, would continue to do so. However, USR tech support have no idea what they are talking about, so they sent me this reply:

The volume control in the control panel is designed to
work with our internal modems not the external modems.
I am sorry for any misunderstandings on this issue. The
only way to adjust the volume on a external modem is by
using the slide bar on the side. I also had seen that this
is a internationally made modem. I made this conclusion
by the serial number that was provided to me. This may
also be at issue depending on where you downloaded
the code from.

The above is an example of, “The world does not exist beyond the US of A”. How could then an ‘international’ product be compatible? If the product is acquired in the US and used overseas, it’s still not compatible! That’s what the European subsidiary is there for, to answer questions which the US counterparts are dumbfounded by or want to avoid based on the product having been sold/used overseas, even if, like the product in question, it’s identical to the US/Canada product.
Let me clarify that the ‘nationality’ of the firmware has no relevance in this case. And external Sportster modems do support software volume control.

The On setting is too loud, and I can’t have the speaker Off. The handshaking tones ultimately got to my wife, and she often complained of ‘hearing’ the modem connect sounds even with the system turned off. Couldn’t let such a situation get any worse. I myself was getting quite irritable, sitting right next to the modem and hearing the loud dialing, engaged tones and shrieking all the time, so I finally decided to figure out the .INF before things really get out of hand.

I emailed the modified .INF to USR/3Com for both the voice [mdm3comv.inf] and non-voice [mdm3com.inf] Sportster external modems, but they have not posted these on their web/ftp site. You may request mdm3comv.inf or mdm3com.inf from me by email. If you have an older modem, the .INF files posted at the USR/3Com web/ftp sites meant for modems purchased before January 1996 should work fine. You’ll know if you need the modified version, after you install the appropriare .INF file for your modem from the USR/3Com web/ftp site.

How do I dual boot Windows 2000 with Linux?
Revision Date: NEW!
Source: http://pcquest.ciol.com/content/search/showarticle.asp?artid=15488

Check out the link above to what seems to be an excellent solution. I haven’t tried it, but I wanted to share the info with you anyway, since so many of you arrive at this site looking for the above info. I won’t disappoint you.

How do I kill the annoying WPA pop-up reminder in Windows XP?
Revision Date: NEW!
Source: Original recipe!
Download the .reg file and merge it to your registry.
You don’t have to boot to safe mode.

Note: My advice to everyone is, don’t install unnecessary software on your system, only t uninstall it later. Similarly, don’t install unneeded components of essential software, such as the Office suite, just because you must have it all by virtue of having paid for the whole suite. Most important of all, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.