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LettersToronto Star Fast Forward column for April 2/98 Back to White Pages main article index © Copyright, Myles White, 1997 Some tips bring more responses than others, and the March 19 Tip of the Week is a case in point. I received a number of queries about it that deserve further exploration. Just to bring you up to speed, here's a quick recap: The tip was designed for those who use the service provided by Windows 95 to drag shortcut links to the desktop for quick access to programs and/or documents without having to dig several levels deep into the Start Menu or to search your hard drive using Windows Explorer. While the service is a time-saver, the desktop shortcut icons are obscured when one or more applications is running on screen. To access the desktop items, you either have to move windows out of the way or minimize them, then restore them. It can get a little tedious. My solution was to create a Windows Explorer window that started automatically each time you restarted your computer, then minimized itself and became available on the Windows Taskbar. Either by clicking on it or using the ALT-TAB sequence to cycle among Taskbar items, the contents of the desktop become instantly available, without having to minimize or shift foreground applications. To create the Explorer window, you need to find the StartUp program folder in either of two ways. Open Windows Explorer, find the c:\windows folder, then search for Start Menu. Open the menu folder, then the Programs folder located in it. Within Programs is the Startup folder. The alternate method is to right-click on the Start button, select Open from the popup list, then open the Programs folder revealed when you do this. The StartUp folder will appear. Once StartUp is open, select File, New, Shortcut. In the command line, type c:\windows\explorer.exe /n,/e,/select,c:\windows\desktop. There is a space between "explorer.exe" and "/n," and you have to pay attention to the commas and direction of the two slash characters. After you click Next, give the new shortcut a name (such as Open Desktop). When you've created the shortcut, right click on the icon that appears and select Properties from the popup list. If it isn't showing, select the Shortcut tab from the dialogue box that appears. In the line that says Start in: type c:\windows\desktop. Select Run Minimized and, if you wish, you may also change the icon here. Back out of the dialogue by clicking OK. Close all windows, including any Explorer windows that are open. Restart your computer. It's a moderately complicated exercise, but you only have to do it once. Now, let the questions commence: Q: What do the command line switches mean and how did you find out about them? A: Details on the Windows Explorer command line switches (/n, /e, /select,object) are in the Windows Resource Kit, located on the Windows 95 CD ROM in the \admin\reskit folder. "/n" forces a new window to open even if one is already open (see a related question below). "/e" forces the Windows Explorer view. If you use Internet Explorer 4 and prefer a Web view, leave this switch out. "/select,object" forces WinExplorer to start where you tell it to start, instead of its default, which is to open C:\ and display its folders. Q: Everything seems to work okay, but when I restarted my system, I had two Explorer windows -- one running open, the other minimized on the Taskbar. A: Close all Explorer windows before you restart. Win95 remembers that you had some windows, such as Control Panel or Windows Explorer, open when you exit. It's trying to do you a favour by opening them again in case you want to do something else with them. Q: My Computer, the Recycle Bin and (some other default Win95 desktop items) don't appear in the Open Desktop folder. A: No, they don't. My Computer and the Recycle Bin are system-level services which are not located in the c:\windows\desktop folder. You can force them to appear by creating a shortcut to these items on the desktop and these shortcuts will appear, but now you'll have two "My Computer" icons on the desktop. I don't have another solution to this one. Q: Open Desktop shows up on my Start Menu, not on the Taskbar. It operates as you indicated it should when I invoke it, but it doesn't start automatically. A: The shortcut is in the wrong folder. You've placed it in the top level Start Menu folder instead of the StartUp folder located within the Programs folder. If we were to use the old DOS directory statement, it would read something like c:\windows\start menu\programs\startup. Open the Start Menu by right-clicking on the Start button, select the Open Desktop icon, click on Edit (on the top menu strip), then choose "Cut." Find and open the StartUp folder (double-click on Programs, then on StartUp). Once you open the StartUp folder, click on Edit again, then paste. If you do choose to leave the Open Desktop item on the Start Menu (it's an acceptable alternative to the Taskbar), re-open the Properties dialogue and remove the Run Minimized choice. Now when you invoke it from the Start Menu, it will open up. Q: When the shortcut executes, I get a message saying, "c:\windows\explorer.exe -- File not Found." A: This routine is for Windows 95. It does not apply to Windows 3.1x. If you are using Windows 95, it uses the default drive and file locations. If you have Windows installed on a different drive letter, if Explorer.Exe or the desktop folder are not in the c:\windows folder, you need to modify the command line to reflect your situation. Remember to leave a space after "explorer.exe" and "/n," and to fill in the "Start in" line (see above). Q: This routine is unnecessary. In Windows 95, you can minimize all open windows by right-clicking on an open space on the Taskbar and selecting Minimize all Windows. In Windows 98, there's a Minimize All Windows button on the bar. A: I'm lazy. I'd sooner get to my desktop in one keystroke than have to minimize several open windows, then restore them. Adding one or two mouse-clicks or keystrokes may not sound like a major saving until you're doing it several times a day -- then the tedium mounts. Q: This routine is unnecessary. There's a program called Deskmenu that comes as part of Microsoft's PowerToys (which you can download from www.microsoft.com). Deskmenu places a small icon in the system tray on the right end of the taskbar and will, with a click, bring up all desktop items. A: I have Deskmenu and developed this alternate for two reasons. The most obvious is that not all Fast Forward readers have Internet accounts and to get the PowerToys you have to either download them or have a friend who can do it for you. The second problem may reflect how busy my system is. On a 1024 by 768 line display, Deskmenu can't display all 65 items currently on my desktop -- and it doesn't allow you to scroll down for items that don't appear on the list, which limits its functionality. Q: I'm sure this is a good routine, but I've missed something here. How do you get items on your desktop other than My Computer...etc.? A: There's a long way and a short way. You can right-click anywhere on the desktop that's not occupied by something else, then select new, shortcut from the popup menu. You'll either have to know the command to start the program or the exact location of the document you wish to reference, but there is a Browse button you can use to find it. It's a lot quicker to open Windows Explorer, find the program or document, then right-click and drag it to the desktop. When you release the mouse button, a popup menu will provide a list of choices, including Create Shortcut Here. Q: This routine is okay, but I don't want to keep it. How do I stop the Open Deskotp folder from appearing? A: Open the StartUp folder (see above). Select the Open Desktop icon, then either press the Delete key on your keyboard, select Edit, Delete from the menu at the top of the window, or click on the icon and drag it to the Recycle Bin. Voila! It's gone. Copyright NoticeThis document, and all other articles found within the White Pages Web site, are protected by international copyright. All rights are reserved. You may download items for your personal use. You may place a link to the White Pages at your own web site. However, you may not post the articles at your web site, make paper or digital copies for your friends or your class, or quote any part of these documents in any medium whatsoever for any reason unless you ask me first. Okay? |
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