Sure you’ve mastered Windows’ basics. Now you’re ready to customize your system, get a handle on how things work and just plain want to start exploring without fear of crashing your computer or triggering the apocalypse. Never fear, as this particular Net Guide will introduce you to the Wonderful World of the Control Panel, where you can not only personalize your computing experience, but get a handle on what makes your system tick, all without fear of seeing your computer spontaneously combust.
Add New Hardware
Rarely will you need to go to Add New Hardware unless you have a really old computer or are installing a really old card. With Plug And Play, your computer should automatically detect whatever new hardware you put in it and install the necessary drivers. For those instances where it doesn’t, the Add New Hardware installation Wizard will take you step by step through the process, asking you to either specify what the new card is (for example a Diamond video card) or whether you want the computer to detect it automatically.
Add/Remove Programs
Though most of today’s Windows programs Auto run whenever you load a new CD-ROM, for those times they don’t automatically install themselves you’ll need to run Add/Remove Program, which will detect the Setup program on either your CD-ROM or your floppy drive. It also works great at Uninstalling programs. Simply highlight what you want removed and it’ll do it. Another key part of this program is the Windows Setup menu, which allows you to add or remove programs that you may not have when you first installed (or had installed) Windows, such as Solitaire or various Windows Wallpaper. To save space on your hard drive, you can also easily remove some of this dross as well. Just don’t get too carried away and start removing things you aren’t 100 percent sure of.
Date/Time
Here you can easily change the date and time that’s set on your computer (and probably displayed in the lower right of your taskbar). Once it’s set to the right time, there is little reason to change it. You can also change what time zone you’re in, and whether you want the computer to automatically adjust for daylight-saving time.
What Time Is It Around The World
Display
This, not surprisingly, controls what your screen display looks like. Here you can change your Wallpaper (background), your Screensaver, and even your Windows color scheme. Go ahead and play around with these settings; there’s nothing in the above three that can cause any kind of damage. You just might want to note what settings you have your current Windows color scheme set at to easily switch back if you want.
The Effects menu (on Windows 98) allows you to change the standard Windows icons like My Computer using a host of supplied clip art. You can also change a few other settings, such as Use Large Icons. Ideally, if you’re going to change anything, it’s best to do one thing at a time, see if you like it, and then go back to change another thing.
The Web menu (on Windows 98) allows you to control your Active Desktop, which most people agree should be unchecked, as it speeds up your computer considerably.
Settings is where the real fun can be had. Here you can change at what resolution you view things. If you’ve got a 15-inch monitor or better, you may consider going up from 640 x 480 pixels to 800 x 600, as that’s the way most websites are being displayed; you’ll get to see a lot more on one screen. Also, if you have a computer that’s less than two years old, you might want to boost the colors to High-Color (16-bit). More and more applications and websites are using more colors, so to see everything the way it’s intended you’ll want to avoid 56 unless an application specifically tells you to. Most apps, however, don’t use True Color (4-bit), so there’s no point in switching there (depending on what video card you have, you may not even have that as an option).
How to Create Your Own Desktop Themes
Fonts
Here’s where you can add (or remove) a font, as well as be able to view what it looks like. To add, simply go to File and select Install New Font and then point your computer to where the new font’s located (such as on a font CD-ROM). You can also delete a font by simply selecting Delete under the File menu. To view any font, just double-click on it.
Internet Options
You may have seen the Internet Options menus before if you ever did any exploring in your Browser. While you don’t need to touch much of the stuff, there are a few things you might want to. With the General menu, you can change what you want your Home Page to be — that is, where you want your browser to open up to. (May I recommend http://www.netguide.com?) And don’t let the Advanced menu discourage you simply because it’s called Advanced. Here you can set a host of parameters for your Web-browsing experience, though it should be said, if you don’t understand what it is, it’s best to leave the check box unchanged.
Keyboard
With the Keyboard menu, you can change how quickly after pressing a key you want it to repeat, which can be quite usefu You can also adjust how fast you want your cursor to blink, which you may want to adjust if you have a caffeinated personality. It’s unlikely that you’ll want to change the Language you use for your keyboard, but the option is there; just be sure to have your Windows Installation CD handy.
Modem
If your modem’s been working fine (you were able to find this article and read it, after all), then there’s little here that you’ll want to mess with. However, there’s an option few know about that allows you to turn off the sound of your modem. Go to General and then select Properties. With the slider bar under Speaker Volume you can turn it off to where you can’t hear those familiar dial and connection tones, so your wife never knows that you’re going online, again. (If it’s still making noise even after you turn it down, open My Computer on your main Windows screen, select Dial Up Networking, then right-click the connection you use to hook up to the Internet. Select Properties, then Configure and finally move that speaker volume slide bar all the way down as well.)
Mouse Properties
This is where to go to set up your mouse for a left-handed person, determine the speed and look of your cursor, and set the mouse’s double-click speed. There’s no reason not to play around with all the settings in the Buttons, Pointers, and Motion areas of the Mouse Properties window, but you probably won’t ever need to go into the General area unless you have some kind of hardware change.
Multimedia
Unless you’re an experienced user, there are few things that you should mess with in the Multimedia section. However, if you have a fast multimedia computer, with a speedy CD-ROM drive, open up this section and go to the Video menu. Here you can change what size your Video playbacks are. Obviously if you have a slow computer, you’ll want to leave it relatively small, but for faster systems, go ahead and make it 1/ screen or even full screen. You can always change things later if you don’t like it.
Regional Settings
This option allows you to change things from the way your computer displays the date, time, and currency of your local region. While it’s not really a good idea to just start experimenting with different languages and regions just for the fun of it, if you prefer to have things based on U.K. currency, instead of American dollars, this is where you’d go.
Sounds
Here you can change all those sounds your computer makes whenever you start Windows or make a mistake or whatever. Nearly every single action you perform in Windows can have a sound associated with it. If you want, go ahead and experiment a bit with different sounds; you have the ability to preview any of them before committing. However, it’s not recommended that you have a sound for Open Program, as it can cause conflicts, especially if you’re starting a DOS-based program or a game.
Where to Download Sounds For Your Computer
System
Thanks to Windows 95 and 98, it’s tough to do irreversible damage to your computer — though removing or deleting things under the System menu can make your life a hassle. So be forewarned: While it’s OK to look, it’s advisable not to touch.
Here you can get a closer look at how the various components of your computer operate and find out more information about them. Clicking on the Device Manager menu will list all of your computer’s various components. If you find any of them with a yellow circle around any of them, you’ve got a conflict, and your computer isn’t running as smoothly as it should.
Clicking on any of the plus signs should tell you exactly what brand of component it is, such as a Creative Labs sound card. Looking at its Properties will give you even more specifics, which are best left untouched, as you could really mess things up if you change the values without knowing what you’re doing.
To help boost the performance of your machine, you can go ahead and select, naturally enough, Performance. Here you’ll find a lot of information about how your computer is running, how much memory you have, etc. Select File System and make sure your hard drive is set on Network Server (even if you aren’t running a network) and Read Ahead Optimization is as high as it will go to get the maximum speed you can. Also, make sure your CD-ROM is set as high as it will go and on Quad Speed or Higher (if you have a quad-speed or higher CD-ROM). Again, everything else should be looked at and not touched unless you really know what you’re doing.
Leave a Comment