My Windows tips
1. (ALL) Bring back the tree: You open a folder, but there's no directory tree on the left. What to do? Just click the Folders icon on the Standard toolbar (in 2000, Me, and XP), or choose View, Explorer Bar, Folders (in any version).
4. (ALL) Get the big picture: Whenever you need to see more of a folder or Internet Explorer browser window, simply press F11 to view the window in full-screen mode. Then press F11 again to revert to normal view. Bonus tip: If you're using Windows 2000, Me, or XP, you can add a button to toggle between modes by right-clicking the Standard toolbar and choosing Customize. Click Full Screen under 'Available toolbar buttons', and then choose Add and Close.
6. Windows 98, To show hidden files, Open My Computer.
Select the View menu and click Folder Options.
Select the View Tab.
In the Hidden files section select Show all files.
Click OK.
32. (ALL) Find help in Google Groups: To find help online, enter some or all of the text from the Windows error message into Google's main search box. If that doesn't help you find a fix, click the Groups tab on the Google search results page to see archived discussions that may relate to your problem.
60. (ALL) Character-ize: If your documents need the occasional special typographic character, choose Start, Programs (All programs in XP), Accessories, System Tools, Character Map, or just press Windows-R, type charmap, and press Enter. (If you don't have the character map installed, see tip 47 for instructions on how to add it.) Set your font, double-click the character you need, click the Copy button, and paste the character into the desired document. In Windows 2000 and XP, you can also drag and drop from the character map's 'Characters to copy' box to WordPad and several other applications
75. (98) Clean your desktop, part 1: Tired of icons cluttering your desktop? To hide them in Windows 98, right-click the desktop and select Properties. Click the Effects tab and check Hide icons when the desktop is viewed as a Web page. Click OK. Now whenever you want to see a cleaner desktop, all you have to do is right-click it and choose Active Desktop, View As Web Page to send your icons into stealth mode