Did you know your Windows desktop can be a movin', goovin', singing, playing video? You can place any AVI video clip on your desktop where it will run continuously.

But first you’ll need a file ending in the .avi extension, which indicates Microsoft’s proprietary video format, and you’ll need Microsoft’s FrontPage (although you could try another application for creating HTML Web pages).

You may have several AVI files on your system without knowing it. Many games install them to play short segments of video. Other programs sometimes use them to present logos and other information on splash screens.

If a search of your hard disk turns up no files ending in .avi, you can always download some for free from shareware sites on the Internet. That’s where we got the famous dancing infant. A large file with a high resolution to cover your entire screen is preferable.

Once you’ve located a video file you want to use, open FrontPage to a new FrontPage Editor window. In FrontPage Editor, look for the command to insert video. In Frontpage 2000 you’ll find it by opening the Insert menu, and clicking on Picture and Video. In FrontPage 97, look under Insert for Video. You might also find it under Insert and Active Elements.

Browse to find your selected AVI file with the insertion command. When it’s placed, right-click on the image in FrontPage, select Image Properties or Picture Properties from the pop-up menu and, in the window that appears, select the Appearance tab. Put a check beside Specify Size and fill in the figures to make the image fill your screen (800 by 600 pixels for most 15-inch monitors).

If you want the video to play continually, click on the Video tab and, after Loop, put a check beside Forever. Click Okay to close the Properties window.

Save the file with an .html extension (for example, as desktop video.html) and close FrontPage.

On a blank part of your desktop, right-click and select Properties from the context menu. Go to the Background page and use the Browse button there to locate the HTML file you’d saved. When you find it, click Open and make it your wallpaper.
Click Okay to close the Display Properties window.

To activate your desktop video if it is not already running, right-click on the desktop and select Play. You may have to reboot the computer to make it take effect. Then the video should run automatically.

When you tire of the video and want to remove it, you may find that you cannot access Display Properties the same way. If the video fills your whole screen, right-clicking the desktop will bring up properties for the HTML document instead of for Display. You’ll have to go to the Display control panel (Start, Settings, Control Panels, Display) to choose another wallpaper.

Quick key command to shutdown

Throughout all the versions of Windows up to Me, the key combo of Alt and the function key F4 has been used by veteran computer users to close things. In fact, almost every file, folder and even the operating system respond to these keys.

Which leads to an easy way to shutdown the computer.

Simply hold down the Alt key and keep tapping the F4 key until everything has closed and you are presented with the Shutdown dialogue box. If it’s already set for Shutdown, as opposed to Restart or Suspend, you then need only hit the Enter key to complete the shutdown.

Or in recent versions of Windows, if the Shutdown dialogue box is not set for Shutdown, hit the Tab key until Shutdown is selected.

Put off that shareware deadline

You install a shareware program with good intentions, but you don't get around to trying it out until after it expires. So you have to download it all over again, right? Wrong. If you still have the installation file, you can just reinstall it.

Oops, this doesn't seem to work — the program is still timing out. Now you're really forced to go back to the Web to download it again, right?

Wrong again. The programmer has probably made the shareware create a small file on your system to record the first installation date. You'll find it somewhere on your computer with an ".ini" extension. Don't confuse it with other .ini files your computer needs. If you can't tell from the file name, you can open the file with a text editor and see if the contents give you a clue. Just be sure not to resave it.

If you find the proper .ini file, you can just delete it and reinstall the program. If you can't find the .ini file, the programmer may have hidden the installation date in Window's Registry. If you know your way around the Registry you can look for and delete this entry in there. (For guidance on editing the Registry, click here.)

Sweeping mines in record time

In Windows' time-wasting Minesweeper game, you can stop the clock, and then finish the game while registering an incredibly low time — by following this trick.

First click on a square to start the timer. Then click both the left and right mouse buttons on any square. You'll see a nine-square indentation. Still holding the mouse buttons down, press the Esc key.

Beautiful garbage

In this ultimate Recycle Bin trick, we show how to redecorate it — that is, how to change its look.

It's not as easy as changing icons for other shortcuts. You have to tweak Windows' Registry. (For guidance on editing the Registry, click here.)

In the Registry Editor, make your way to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} \DefaultIcon. When you click on the subkey DefaultIcon, you should see one to three string values in the right pane. At least one will be named Default and you may have two others called Empty and Full. Their values will be something like "C:\Windows\System \Shell32.dll, 31", or ending with "32". This means the 31st or 32nd icon in the file Shell32.dll is the Recycle Bin graphic.

To change this, double-click on the name of the string value (such as Default) and in the Edit String dialogue box enter the filename and number of the icon you want to use. For instance, to get a blue triangle, you would enter C:Windows\Moricons.dll,66 and click on OK.

On the desktop, we right-clicked on a shortcut (any shortcut), chose Properties, clicked on the Shortcut tab and again on the Change Icon button. In the dialogue box, we entered C:Windows\Moricons.dll as filename and pressed Enter. A long line of icons appeared and we cursored over 66 places (counting the first icon as zero) until we found the triangle design. Of course, we already knew Moricons.dll was a file of icons. Other such files are Shell32.dll in the System folder and Iconlib.dll which may be somewhere on your system.

When you've made the changes to your Registry for Default, Empty and Full, close the Registry Editor. Restart the computer or press F5 a few times to refresh your desktop.

What to do if you forget your Windows password

There are way too many strings of characters we have to remember to get through life these days. So, if your Windows 95 or 98 computer has been set up to require a password when you log on, there's a good chance you may not recall which to use. But this need not be disastrous.

Upon logging onto Windows and being asked for the password, click on Cancel. You'll end up in Windows anyway, although not with your personalized settings. Click on Start, Programs and MS-DOS Prompt. In the DOS window, type DIR *.PWL (with a space after DIR only) and press Enter. You'll get a list of files ending in .PWL, one of which starts with your name, like SANDYMIL.PWL if you're Sandy Miller. Delete it with the command DEL followed by a space and the filename, like DEL SANDYMIL.PWL.

Faster downloading without a new modem

When a file is downloaded from the Internet, it doesn’t come to you in a steady stream of data. Rather, it’s usually sent in packets of under a kilobyte at a time. This packet size is called the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU).

However, your Windows computer is probably set to receive 1,500 bytes (about one and a half kilobytes) at a time. Another way of saying this is that your Windows’ MTU is 1,500.

The disparity between the Internet’s MTU and your computer’s MTU causes slowdowns when you’re downloading files and can prevent you from connecting with some Web sites.

First, go on the Internet and download a file, timing it to see how long it takes with the default MTU setting.

If you have Windows 95, you’ll have to edit the Registry to change the MTU. (For guidance on editing the Registry, click here.) In the Registry Editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL _MACHINE\ System \CurrentControlSet\ Services\Class\NetTrans. Open NetTrans and you’ll find a folder named "000x" in which x represents a fourth digit. Right-click on the "000x" folder and select New and String Value. Rename the new item that appears in the panel on the right side to MaxMTU, then double-click it to bring up the Edit String box and give it a value of 1002, which is a good figure to start experimenting with. Close up the Registry Editor and restart the PC.

Time the same download from the Internet that you did earlier and see whether it’s faster now. If you’re not satisfied, you can change the MaxMTU again. Keep the figures between 576 and 1,500.

In Windows 98, you don’t need to edit the Registry directly. Open the Network control panel, select Dial-Up Adaptor, click on the Properties button, click on the Advanced Tab and select IP Packet Size. It’s likely set to Automatic, which means your system uses the optimal setting for your Internet connection. This may work best for you. But you can experiment by choosing Large which sets the MTU at 1,500 bytes, Medium which is 1,000, or Small which is 576.

Hatch a monstrous egg

Internet Explorer 5 features the only Easter egg we can think of that actually features ... an Easter egg. Not to mention a monster.

To get this egg, launch IE5 and click on the Tools menu and Internet Options. Under the General tab, click on Languages and then Add. In the User Defined field, type ie-ee and click on OK. Now highlight the new entry that reads "User Define [ie-ee]" and click on the Move Up button to move it to the top of the list. Click OK twice more to close up this window.

Back in Internet Explorer, click on the Search icon (a globe) on the toolbar. This adds a search panel on the left side of the browser window. Click on Customize in its upper right corner. Now this animation you might get a kick out of.

Especially if you suspect that it's not really Godzilla getting bonked but Mozzilla, the mascot of Microsoft's rival, Netscape.

Get the good ol' no-scroll Program menu back

Windows 95 had one nice feature that was dropped from Win98. When you had too many programs to fit in one column on the Start/Programs menu, a second column with the additional items appeared beside it. In Windows 98, however, you have to scroll from the bottom of the column to see more items.

But you can make your Windows 98 Programs menu work like Windows 95's by adding a line to your Registry. (For guidance on editing the Registry, click here.)

Click on the Start button and on Run. Type regedit and click on OK to bring up the Registry Editor.

In the Registry Editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Advanced. Right-click on Advanced and select New and String Value. Name the new string that appears in the right pane StartMenuScrollPrograms without spaces and with capitals as shown. Then right-click on the icon beside the name you just created and select Modify.

An Edit String dialogue box appears. In the Data field, enter the word false and click on OK. Close the Registry.

You may have to reboot the computer first, but you'll see that your Programs menu will now continue across the screen in as many columns as it requires — no more scrolling.

Warning: This trick does not work for all Windows 98 system. We're not exactly sure why, though it seems to have something to do with which version of Win98 you have.

What’s in a name?

If someone else installed your system, you may find Windows comes up on your screen as registered to another person and company or to something like "xxxxx".

To put your own name in there, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE\Microsoft \Windows\Current Version in the Registry Editor. (For guidance on editing the Registry, click here.) When you click on CurrentVersion, you should be able to find RegisteredOwner in the right panel. Double-click on its icon and in the Edit String window type the revised name. You can also change the company name by editing the string for RegisteredOrganization.

Icons, begone

You can get rid of most icons on your Windows 95/98 desktop by right-clicking on them and selecting Delete. But some stubborn icons don't give you that opportunity — the Delete option is missing. You need to go into the Registry to outwit them. (For guidance on editing the Registry, click here.)

For example, how about that Network Neighbourhood icon on your Desktop? If your PC is not on a network, you don't need it. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer. If the Policies or Explorer keys are missing, create them by right-clicking on the previous key, selecting New and Key, and giving the new keys their proper names. Click on the Explorer key to view its values in the right pane. If there is not a value named NoNetHood in the right pane, create it by right-clicking on the Explorer key, selecting New and DWORD Value. In the right pane, NoNetHood should have a value data of 0x00000000 (0) next to it. Double-click on NoNetHood and a dialogue box will appear allowing you to edit the DWORD value. In the Value Data space should be a single zero. Change it to a 1 and click on OK. Now the data figure beside NoNetHood should be 0x00000001 (1). Close the Registry, reboot and you've left the hood.

Screensaver password

Password-protecting your screensaver can keep your PC’s contents from prying eyes when you’re away from your desk. But what if you forget your password?

Restart your computer, load Notepad (or any other text editor) and change directories to the Windows directory (usually C:\Windows). Look for the CONTROL.INI file and open it. Cursor down to the [Screen Saver] section and the line that begins "Password=" followed by your password in encrypted form.

Delete everything right of the equal sign on this line. You can enter a new, more memorable password.

Email on the run

If you're always sending email to the same people, you can create shortcuts on your desktop to launch your email program with pre-addressed messages to those correspondents.

Right-click on a clear area of the Desktop, select New and Shortcut from the context menus. In the Command Line of the Create shortcut dialogue box, type mailto: and the email address without spaces, as in mailto:editors@we-compute.com. Click on Next, give your shortcut a name, like Angry letter, and click on Finish.

You can also set up the shortcut to send the same message to several people. After you've addressed the shortcut, add ?cc= and your other recipients, separated by a semicolon, all without any spaces. For example, in the Command Line you could enter mailto:editors@we-compute.com?cc=murray@we-compute;lenore@we-compute.com and so on.

Or if you want to include the same subject line each time, use subject as in mailto:editors@we-compute.com?subject=your magazine stinks. (You can use spaces in the subject.)

Or, finally, you can combine any of the above with the use of an ampersand (&). Example: mailto:editors@we-compute.com?subject=your magazine sucks&cc=murray@we-compute;lenore@we-compute.com. The only spaces are in the subject phrase.

Behind the eight-ball

With Access open, create a new database. With the database window open, create a new macro. Leave the Action section blank, though you might have to enter something in the Comment field in order to save this as a new macro. When you're asked to name the macro, type Magic Eight Ball and click on OK. Drag the new macro named "Magic Eight Ball" from the database window to one of the toolbars across the top of your screen. It will magically turn into ... an eight-ball.

Verbally ask your computer any question that can be answered positively or negatively, like "Should I buy Microsoft stock?" Then click on the eight-ball. Your all-knowing computer will give the answer.

The ping thing

Wondering how fast a Web server (the computer where the Web site is stored) is responding to your request for a page or file? You just have to "ping" the site a number of times to find out.

In Windows, go to Start, Programs and MS-DOS Prompt. In the DOS window at the prompt, type a command in the form of ping -n [number] [Web address].

For instance, to ping the WE Compute server 30 times, you'd type ping -n 30 www.WE-Compute.com (there are spaces after ping, -n, and 30) and hit Enter or Return.

At the end you'll get an average — in milliseconds — of how long it took all 30 attempts. The lower the figure, the better.

Your personalized startup screen

You can create your own image to replace that annoying Windows 95 or 98 logo that fills your screen when your computer is starting up.

Open Windows’ Paint program (find it by clicking on Start, Programs and Accessories), click on Image and then Attributes. Under Units choose Pixels (Pels in Win 95), and create a file 640 pixels wide and 480 pixels high. Click on OK.

Now unleash your creativity, drawing or painting whatever you like to create the image.

When finished, again click on Image, but choose Stretch/Skew. Enter a Horizontal stretch of 50 percent and click OK. Again choose Stretch/Skew and now enter a Vertical stretch of 104 percent. Click OK. Once more, choose Stretch/Skew and enter a Vertical stretch of 80 percent, and click OK. (We’re not sure why you have to go through all this, but it’s the only way to guarantee the trick works.)

Now go to the File menu and choose Save As. Ensuring that your file is saved as a 256-colour bitmap, enter LOGO.SYS as the filename and save it in your system’s root directory (usually C).

Exit Paint, and restart your computer. You should see your image as Windows 95 starts. To return to the normal start-up screen, delete or rename LOGO.SYS.

If you have Microsoft Plus! installed on your computer, you may already have a LOGO.SYS file which can be replaced. Better make a backup copy of it first though, in case you decide to go back to it.

The ghost in the shop

There's a ghostly presence in Photoshop 5. To find it, hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys while Photoshop is running and click on the Help menu.

Keep holding down the keys and the mouse button until you select About Photoshop on the Help menu and then let go.

When the Strange Cargo screen appears, press the PrintScreen key. Still in Photoshop, create a new image that is 482 by 240 pixels, and select Paste from the Edit menu. Select only the blue channel and zoom in to the lower left corner of the water in the middle of the camera flare and you will see the ghostly image.

Sit up and shut down

Usually when you want to end a session at your Windows computer, you have to click on the Start button, click on Shut Down, select Shut down again and click on OK. And the computer is still on. You have to wait until it tells you it’s okay, and then you can actually push the various buttons on your PC, monitor and printer to turn them off.

Whew! Don’t you hate long goodbyes? But you can set things up so at least the first part of this operation is reduced to one double-click.

Right-click on your Windows 95 or 98 Desktop and, in the menu that pops up, choose New and Shortcut. In the dialogue box that appears, type the command line C:\windows\rundll.exe user.exe,exitWindows with a single space before user only. (This assumes your Windows 95 or 98 directory is called Windows. If not, substitute the real directory name for windows in the command line.) Click on Next and name the new shortcut something clever like Shut Down. Click on Finish.

Now a "Shut Down" icon appears on your Desktop. Double-click on it and you’re out.

Note: some users find they get better results if they use rundll32.exe in the command line instead of rundll.exe.
Note #2: At least one reader found the trick worked only if he put \system\ before user — so the command is C:\windows\rundll.exe \system\user.exe,exitWindows.

The quickest reboot yet

When we first published the previous trick, we got hordes of calls asking if the trick could be adapted to restarting, instead of shutting down, the computer.

The short answer is, "No." The long answer is that there’s a different kind of Cheap Trick to pull that off.

First you have to create what’s called a batch file. Open the text editor Notepad and type @exit and save the file on your hard drive as an All Files type with the title Restart.bat or something else with the .bat extension.

Find the file on your system with Windows’ Explorer, right-click on it and select Properties, Program, and Advanced. Check the MS-DOS Mode and Use Current MS-DOS Configuration boxes, leaving all other boxes unchecked. Click on OK twice to close the dilaogue box.

Now whenever you want to quickly reboot Windows, just double-click on the Restart.bat shortcut icon. You save having to go through the whole Start/ShutDown/Restart/OK routine — and the reboot will ignore any floppy disks you have in the drives.

Quarky aliens

First there was the great attacking-alien Easter egg in QuarkXPress 3.32, which continued in more recent versions. To get the effect in Windows, you select an item you want to delete in a Quark document and press the Shift, Ctrl, Alt and K keys simultaneously. A small alien trots out and destroys the targeted item with his ray gun.

Then a new alien conspiracy was revealed in QuarkXPress 4.0. It turns out that if you repeat the trick five times in a row, a much larger alien with a goofy bazooka-type weapon makes a colourful and explosive appearance.

Avoid useless disk scanning — new version

If you use Windows 98 or the update of Windows 95 known as 95b, you'll find the system scans the hard drive for problems every time you start it after it was shut down improperly.

But it hardly ever finds a problem with the hard disk. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the illegal shutdown was caused by Windows itself crashing! Yet that Scandisk process is launched and slowly checks your hard drive until you get fed up and click on Exit.

But there are at least two ways to tweak your system to prevent the scan in the first place. Here's the best way:

Click on Start and Run. Type msconfig and hit OK. This open Microsoft's configuration utility. Click on the utility's Advanced button and check the box labelled "Disable Scandisk after bad shutdown".

Now the next time Windows shuts you down unexpectedly, it won't further punish you by making you sit through a pointless disk scan.

Identify those no-name add-on cards

Ever been stumped when suddenly asked just who made your non-namebrand add-on cards for your PC? There’s a simple way to find out, and smart money says you’ll be taking inventory once you’ve read this tip!

Just open the computer case, and locate the card (perhaps it’s the one for your modem) in question. It probably won’t have a manufacturer’s name stamped on it, but all cards have an FCC ID number.

Write down the number, plug the card back in, close up the computer and head directly to the Internet. At www.fcc.gov/oet/fccid/ you can search a database for the mystery manufacturer simply by typing in the FCC ID number as the keyword. Once you have that information, why not also search the Web for updated drivers?

Turn a PC into a Macintosh

This nasty but harmless prank could be seen as a Machead's revenge on a Windows user — but it's a fun trick for PC users to pull on their friends too.

Tell a friend you've got a great Web site to show them on their Windows computer. Then direct them to www.yaromat.com/macos8/index.htm with their browser. Before they can stop it, the computer will start scrolling up messages indicating their Windows system is being replaced by the Macintosh operating system. It'll even appear to boot up like a Mac and give them a screenwide desktop identical to the Mac's.

If your (former) friend frantically clicks on the various Mac-style desktop icons they'll find a memory game to play and will eventually discover in the trash how to restore the appearance of the screen to the usual Windows design. No harm done, it was all an Internet illusion.