Win95 UI tech support (was Re: Word 95 question)

["Wilcox, John (Contractor)" <wilcoxj -at- WDNI -dot- COM>]

This is probably a non-list topic, but I just couldn't let the original
post go uncorrected.

>>> My comments are marked thusly.

 ----------
From: Buck & Tilly Buchanan

Don't delete any icon that does not have a small white arrow in the
lower left corner of the icon.  That icon indicates it's a shortcut and
deleting a shortcut does not wipe out the program.

>>> If it's on the desktop, it's a shortcut.  In Explorer, you can avoid
confusion (and resulting mistakes) by telling it to display all
extensions.  Shortcuts will have the .pif extension.  Go to View,
Options, View tab, and uncheck "Hide MS-DOS file extensions..."
Better yet, get the TweakUI Powertoy, in which you can tell Win95 to
prefix shortcuts with "Shortcut to..."


On the other hand, most non-shortcut icons (My Computer, Trash Bin, etc)
take the program with them if you delete them.  Those require either
registry entries to restore, or re-installing from the Win95 CD.

>>> You can't delete My Computer anyway, but you can delete the Recycle Bin
icon with TweakUI.  Btw, everything that TweakUI does it does by
making changes to undocumented features in the Win95 registry.


Make a backup of the registry prior to making major changes.  Here's how
to do it:

>>> Actually, there is always a backup of the registry in existence, because
when Win95 boots, it copies system.dat and user.dat in the windows
directory to *.da0.

1.  Restart your computer in MSDOS mode (don't try this in a dos window,
the registry is in use then).
2.  CD to C:\windows
3.  type--
        attrib system.dat -r -s -h <enter>
        attrib user.dat -r -s -h <enter>
        md registry
        copy system.dat c:\windows\registry
        copy user.dat c:\windows\registry
        attrib system.dat +r +s +h <enter>
        attrib user.dat +r +s +h <enter>
        exit <enter> or simply reboot.

Here's what you did:

1.  Turned off the Read only, System, and Hidden File attributes for the
registry files.
2.  Made a directory for backup registry files
3.  Copied the registry files to the backup directory
4.  Reset the attributes
5.  Started Windows95

>>> All of this is unnecesary.  For one thing, you don't need to change the S
or R attributes on files in order to copy them.  And the only reason
you can't copy an H file under DOS is that the file system can't
"see" it.  Under Win95, you can tell the Explorer to display H files.
 Go to View, Options, View tab, and check "Show all files."  For
another thing, you can copy the registry files without rebooting.
So, to simplify the above procedure, if you want to back up the
registry:
1. Copy system.dat and user.dat from the Windows directory to somewhere
else.


You should back up the registry files on a regular basis.  Never, never,
ever, make major changes to Windows 95 without first performing this
exercise.

>>> This is, of course, a good precaution, but I've used Regedit many times to
change things in the registry, and I've never had a problem.  And
I've never made a backup.  I've even deleted things that Win95 said
it needed to operate.  It just recreates them the next time you
reboot.  It's really pretty foolproof (unless you're really foolish,
I suppose).


If you screw up and are unable to boot to Win95, get into DOS (press F8
while the cursor is blinking or while "starting Windows 95" is on screen
during startup.

Turn off the attributes of the registry files.
copy your backups from c:\windows\registry to c:\windows
Perform the good ol' 3-fingered salute and you're back in business with
your backed up registry files.

The preceding was written by a Tech Writer, not a Documentation
Engineer.

>>> Hmmm.  Never mind.



Regards,

John Wilcox, Documentation Specialist
Timberlands Information Services
Weyerhaeuser, WWC 2E2
Tacoma, WA  98477-0001  USA
253-924-7972   wilcoxj -at- wdni -dot- com

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