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69
APRIL 2002 WWW.PCWORLD.COM
COVER STORY
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALEX GROSS
call it the clark kent syndrome: Hidden beneath
Windows’ mild-mannered exterior lurks an operating
system that’s more powerful than a locomotive.
Unleashing Windows’ superpowers lets you work
smarter, whether you use XP or one of its predecessors.
Windows’ many configuration options allow you to over-
come the limitations of its one-size-fits-all interface and
transform the operating system to fit your work style.
These tips will help you get the look you want and the
power you need to manage files, pump up performance,
and customize Windows to your liking.
WINDOWS
SECRETS
INSIDE
70 File Management Muscle

and choose Thumbnails. If your view is
too crowded, drag any edge of the dialog
box to make it bigger. Unfortunately,
Windows forgets these settings the next
time you open the dialog box.
The Sort You See When you choose
View•Details in Explorer, you can sort the
information you see by clicking a column
heading (Name, Type, Size, or the
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the quality of the file with each rotation.
If you don’t see the Filmstrip option in
the View menu, choose View•Customize
This Folder, click the Customize tab, select
Photo Album in the drop-down list at the
top, and click OK.
A New Thumbnails View The Thumb-
nails view in XP has a new twist. If a fold-
er contains images saved in a common
Web format, such as .gif, .png, or .jpg, XP
will create an icon for the folder that dis-
plays up to four of the images it contains,
providing a glimpse of its contents. To
show a single image, right-click the folder
icon, choose Properties, and click the Cus-
tomize tab. Or open the folder, right-click
an empty area of the window, and choose
Customize This Folder. (Alternatively, you
can choose Customize This Folder on the

down <Ctrl> as you press <NumPad Plus>
(the plus sign on the numeric keypad) to
resize all columns at once.
To enable these tips to work, you may
have to remove categories. In Windows
9x you hide categories by dragging the
column head’s right border to the left
until the column disappears. Drag right
or press <Ctrl>-<NumPad Plus> to restore it.
A Tile of a View If you are a fan of the
Large Icons view offered in previous ver-
sions of Windows Explorer, you’ll love
Tiles, the gigantic icons in Windows XP.
To see the icons, choose View•Tiles. (No-
XP
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tice that the Large Icons view has become
simply ‘Icons’ in XP’s Explorer.)
Tiles seem to be part of the Microsoft
effort to simplify XP to the level of the
most unsophisticated computerphobe,
but they’re not without redeeming quali-
ties. For example, to the right of each tile
is a brief summary of file information
specific to that file type. Some of this
information isn’t visible by default in
Details view (see “Give Me the Details,”
above). Tiles view works best if your fold-
ers contain only a few items or if you want

to see what’s inside a
Windows file without opening it. And XP adds even more
tools and techniques for identifying files and determining
their contents. You still have to spend time arranging your files, but
knowing all of Windows’ tricks will make the chore less, well, chorelike.
Give Me the Details If you pre-
fer Details view in your Explorer or folder
windows (choose View•Details), you may
not be getting all you want. These days,
many file formats store lots of data be-
yond the default Name, Size, Type, and
Date Modified information available in
earlier versions of Windows. For example,
MP3 music files can include an album
title, artist’s name, track duration, and
much more. Word, Excel, and other Mi-
crosoft Office files contain such informa-
tion as the title, author, and subject.
Much of this information can be viewed
in Explorer and in folder windows with-
out your having to open the files or their
Properties dialog boxes. To arrange to get
all the details, select View•Choose Details
(in Windows XP) or View•Choose Columns
(in Windows Me and 2000). Check the
items appropriate for the files you keep in
the current folder, and click OK. For cus-
tomizing on the fly, right-click any of the
column headings above the file list and
then choose a category you want to dis-

Tips
Where or what it is/what it does
Next to the Start button/launches
applications with a single click.
On the Start menu/lists the 15
documents opened most recently.
In the system tray next to the clock/
adjusts your PC’s volume.
In the system tray/shows the current time.
In Explorer and folder windows/shows file-
type extensions (.exe, .gif, and the like).
In Explorer and folder windows/includes
hidden files in search results.
The new interface/adds brighter colors and
bigger buttons.
‘More’ option in Desktop Properties/
manages font-smoothing for LCD monitors.
Pop-up message/provides access to
Microsoft service.
Pop-up messages/obscure screen with
tool tips for apps supporting XP themes.
Default
setting
Pro/Home
On/off
On/off
Off/off
On/on
Off/off
Off/off

hungry) applications at the same time is the PC equivalent
of leaping tall buildings in a single bound. You can give any
version of Windows an infusion of pep by tweaking its default settings.
Use these tips to make your system a kryptonite-free zone.
73
APRIL 2002 WWW.PCWORLD.COM
Tone Down the Effects Your system’s
performance may be bogged down by
excessive visual effects. To get a perkier
Windows 98, 2000, or Me, right-click the
desktop, choose Properties, and click the
Effects tab. Begin unchecking items in the
Visual Effects box at the bottom of the dia-
log box until you find the right balance of
speed and attractiveness for you.
If Windows XP becomes sluggish, turn
off some of the visual fireworks that may
be taxing your screen updates via the Per-
formance Options dialog box. Open Con-
trol Panel, and if you’re using the default
Category view, click the Performance and
Maintenance link. Under ‘Pick a task’,
choose Adjust visual effects. If you’re using
the Classic view of Control Panel, double-
click the System icon. (Alternatively, you
can right-click My Computer in Explorer
and choose Properties.) Click the Advanced
tab, and select the first Settings button
(under Performance).
The Visual Effects tab lists check boxes

dows. Depending on the version of Win-
dows you’re using, you may be able to
download Tweak UI by itself or as part of
a larger set of free utilities called Micro-
soft PowerToys. Go to find.pcworld.com/
20441 to download Tweak UI 1.33 for
Windows 9x, Me, and NT/2000, and visit
find.pcworld.com/20442 for your free
copy of PowerToys for Windows XP.
Downloading and installing Tweak UI
on older versions of Windows is tricky.
First decompress (unzip) the download
file, and then locate a file called tweakui.
inf. (If your system is set to hide file
extensions, choose Tools•Folder Options in
Explorer, and under the View tab uncheck
Hide extensions for known file types.)
file management. Don’t like it? Simply
choose the command again to turn it off.
Compress in a Jiffy The ability to
compress bitmap images and other large
files before e-mailing or archiving them is
a welcome new feature of Windows Me
and XP. To compress, or zip, a file or fold-
er, right-click in a folder or on the desktop
and choose New•Compressed (zipped) Fold-
er. Drag files to this folder to compress
them in the .zip file. If most of the files
are in a single folder, just select the files
or subfolders, right-click the selection,

new folder, either right-drag the files as
explained above (XP only), or right-drag
the compressed folder to the new folder
and choose Extract to launch the Extract
Wizard (in Me) or the Extraction Wizard
(in XP). Using the wizard is faster than
right-dragging. Just press <Enter> once (in
Me) or twice (in XP), wait for decompres-
sion to finish, and press <Enter> again.
XP
ME
XP
ME
to figure it out for yourself. In Windows
XP, the possible sort criteria listed on the
‘Arrange Icons by’ menu change accord-
ing to your settings in the Choose Details
dialog box, so be sure to read the tip “Give
Me the Details,” page 70.
Sort It Yourself To arrange a folder’s
items manually, choose any view except
List or Details, and then drag and drop
items (or groups of items that you select
by <Ctrl>-clicking them) to get the arrange-
ment you prefer. To keep your files in
nice, neat rows and columns, click the
View menu or right-click inside the folder
and choose Arrange Icons by•Auto Arrange
(provided that it isn’t already checked).
Get With the Group There are many

ing order. Windows XP goes this one bet-
ter by highlighting the column head or
the entire column that controls the sort,
making it even easier to spot the prevail-
ing arrangement at a glance.
The Folder Sort To sort your file and
folder icons in Explorer views other than
Details, right-click inside the folder and
choose Arrange Icons by—or choose View•
Arrange Icons by—and then select a sort
criterion. Unfortunately, the only way to
tell how the items are currently sorted is
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COVER STORY
WIN 9X TRICKS
WHAT’S SO GOOD ABOUT WINDOWS XP?
The stability and reliability it brings to Win-
dows 9x and Me machines that crash regu-
larly. If you want the best that XP has to
offer, there’s no alternative to buying the
OS and, if necessary, upgrading your hard-
ware. But that doesn’t
mean your old 9x PC
can’t learn any new
tricks. These tips will
give you some of the
upgrade effect, with-
out the upgrade price.
Cosmetics The pre-

skins, manage your digital audio and video
files, rip CDs to your hard disk (though not
in MP3 format), listen to Internet radio sta-
tions, transfer audio files to portable de-
vices, and burn audio CDs. And yes, it’s free.
If you don’t like Windows Media Player, try
a third-party media player, such as Real-
One or MusicMatch (you can download
these players at find.pcworld.com/12283).
Frequently Used Apps Besides having
obvious visual differences, the new XP
Start menu can track up to 30 of your most
frequently used applications and put them
on the left side of the Start menu for easy
access (see “Rework Your Frequent Apps
List,” page 78). Though previous Windows
versions lack this feature, you can achieve
the same effect—and more—with ANsoft’s
$20 RunIt shareware utility. RunIt’s pop-up
menus display up to 50 of your most fre-
quently or recently used applications on
each menu. Or have your system display a
Favorites menu that shows the programs
or documents of your choice. RunIt does
not alter the Start menu, but you can
launch its menus—and a more sophisticated
version of the Windows Run dialog box—
from an icon in the taskbar tray (the area
near the clock), via a keyboard shortcut, or
with a tiny floating toolbar (see

“Tone Down the Effects,” page 73), you
may get the performance boost you’re
looking for by setting your graphics sys-
tem to 16-bit ‘high color’ rather than 32-
bit ‘true color’ (in Windows XP these set-
tings are labeled ‘Medium’ and ‘Highest’,
respectively). Right-click the desktop,
select Properties, and click the Settings tab.
If your system is currently set to display
32-bit color, choose the option for 16-bit
color and click OK; then follow any on-
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screen instructions that appear (these vary
depending on the graphics system).
Memory Gain Many people find that
the best way to boost Windows’ perfor-
mance is by adding RAM. This is espe-
cially true of machines running in the
300- to 500-MHz range. Make sure that
your PC has at least 128MB of RAM—
and preferably 256MB or more. As of this
writing, a 128MB memory upgrade costs
about $40, but memory is a commodity,
and prices can change rapidly.
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WWW.PCWORLD.COM APRIL 2002
74
Right-click the tweakui.inf file and choose

to start a search, and at the bot-
tom of the Search Companion pane on the
left, click Change Preferences. At the top
of the pane, click Without an animated
screen character (see
FIGURE 7
). Either
continue with a search or close the window.
Wipe out Windows Messenger A nag-
ging balloon from the tray area of the
taskbar urges you to launch Windows Mes-
senger and sign up for Microsoft’s .Net
Passport program. To pop it once and for all,
choose Start•Run, type
regedit
, and click
OK. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\
Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVer-
sion\Run. With the Run folder (called a ’key‘
in Registry-ese) selected on the left, choose
the MSMSGS icon on the right and press
<Delete>
. Click Yes to confirm, and exit the
Registry Editor. The icon will disappear from
the tray the next time you log on.
Ungroup Your Buttons XP groups simi-
lar applications under a single button in the
taskbar, forcing you to choose the item from
a pop-up menu. If you would prefer separate
buttons for each open appli-

“A Classic Look,” page
78), the ’personalized‘
menus rearrange menu
items and hide many en-
tries until you click the
double-arrow symbol to
display the entire listing.
To get rid of this irksome convention, sim-
ply right-click the Start button and choose
Properties. Click the Customize button,
and scroll to the bottom of the Advanced
Start menu options. Uncheck Use Person-
alized Menus, and click OK twice.
FIXES FOR XP’S SUPER-ANNOYANCES
FIGURE 6: SLUGGISH MENUS? TWEAK UI
will help you speed them up in no time.
៑
FIGURE 7: SEND ROVER
PACKING to unclutter the
view in XP’s search tool.