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COMPUTER TIPS: Tweaking The Windows Interface Like to fiddle? Get Tweak UI (it’s free)! Rid your desktop of many of those annoying Windows eccentricities and perform lots of other useful tweaks with this updated utility from Microsoft. Tweak UI is probably one of the most useful utilities available for Windows. It gives you control over a whole multitude of desktop (or “user interface”) related settings, most of which previously required registry hacks to get at. This month, we’ll show you how to download and install it, and take a quick peak at some of the most popular “tweaks” it provides. Tweak UI 1.33 runs on Windows 95/ 98/ Me/ NT4 and 2000. It is free 26  Silicon Chip to download from the Microsoft web site at: www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/ downloads/powertoys/networking/ nttweakui.asp You will receive a single file named tweakui.exe from the download page. Navigate to wherever you saved the file and double-click on it to extract the installation files to a temporary folder. Four files are extracted, all beginning with “tweakui”. Right-click on the by PETER SMITH tweakui.inf file and select install from the context menu. During installation, which only takes a few seconds, the Tweak UI help window appears – simply close it to allow the installation to complete. Once installed, double-click on the Tweak UI icon in Control Panel to launch it. Available settings vary slightly according to the version of Windows you are running. I usually work with NT4, so my first stop is the Explorer tab to turn off the animated “Click here to begin” arrow that slides along the task bar every time NT boots. I also like to “tone down” the shortcut arrow that Windows automatically places on all my shortcut icons by selecting the Light arrow option. Next stop is the Paranoia tab to Get rid of the Internet Explorer logo Tweak UI Problems If you’re already familiar with Tweak UI, then read on. Early versions are reported to be a little “buggy”. If you have an older version, then uninstall it via Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs, reboot and install the latest version as described on the facing page. To determine which version you have installed, launch Windows Explorer and find the tweakui.cpl file. Right-click on it and choose Properties. Now click on the Version tab – the latest version is currently 1.33.0.0. Windows Me and Windows 2000 users should avoid the Show Control Panel on Start Menu option on the IE tab. We haven’t tried it, but deselecting this box apparently renders the Control Panel completely inaccessible! If this happens to you, start the registry editor by clicking the Start button, choose Run, type regedit and click OK. Drill down to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer Delete the “NoControlPanel” entry from the right pane, close Regedit and restart Windows. disable CD auto play. Also popular here are the various options to clean up “history” files at logon. These are especially useful if more than one person uses your computer. The Repair tab exposes some very useful fix-it functions. If you’ve ever seen the desktop lose its marbles (the Recycle Bin icon is switched with the Internet Explorer icon, for example), know that help is at hand here. Well, that’s just a small sample of what you can do with Tweak UI. Have fun! The Tweak UI window has lots of tabs that take you to the various settings. The Paranoia, Repair and Explorer boxes are shown here. Does your copy of Internet Explorer feature an annoying logo (or other branding) from the computer company or on-line service that supplied your computer or IE installation CD? Get rid of it! Note that this procedure only works for Internet Explorer 4 and 5 running on Windows 95/98/ Me/2000. Make sure IE is closed, then click on the Start button, choose Run and type in the following line exactly as it appears below: RUNDLL32.EXE IEDKCS32.DLL,Clear Now click on the OK button. That’s it! Save time on-line updating Windows 98 If you’ve had to reinstall Windows 98 more than a few times, you’re probably really tired of surfing to the Microsoft Windows Update site to reload all the operating system updates and bug fixes. Each update is automatically applied as soon as download completes, so you don’t get the chance to save it for the next installation. The good news is that you can now download most Windows 98 updates and save them for use whenever you need. Check out what’s available at: www.microsoft.com/windows98/ downloads/corporate.asp Settings fever If you find Tweak UI a little tame, then why not up the stakes and try something that allows you to modify literally hundreds of obscure Windows settings? We did, and we’re still regretting it (urr – just kidding!). An excellent freeware utility called X-Setup lets you do just that. It features an Explorer-style interface for easy navigation and “Wizard” mode that helps you find what you’re looking for without needing expert knowledge. It’s well worth a look – check it out at: www.xteq.com/products/xset MAY 2001  27