Windows Me Secrets
Brian's InfoWorld and CNET Columns
ISBN: 0-7645-3493-9
Retail Price: $39.99
Status: Available
Publication Date: 9/2000
Our latest book is one secret after another about Windows Me. Outlook Express has six chapters dedicated to its many secrets. The Internet aspects of Windows Me get especially heavy treatment including Internet Explorer 5.5, Outlook Express, NetMeeting, Chat, Web Publisher, FrontPage Express, and PC Health.
This book combines updated material from Windows 98 Secrets and More Windows 98 Secrets, as well as new material specific to Windows Me. It covers hardware and network configuration, file management, and multimedia. Special elements such as Tips, Undocumented, and Secrets call attention to key advice on features and techniques for productivity.
The whole book is included on the accompanying CD-ROM. The complete text of the book is searchable. Hundreds of utilities are linked to the e-book, so that you can download the latest version of the shareware and freeware.
We couldn't be prouder of a Secrets book, and we trust that you will find these secrets as useful as we do.
Errata:
PROBLEM INSTALLING "WINDOWS ME SECRETS" CD
IDG Books' setup program in the
first run of "Windows Me Secrets" contained an error that
prevented Inetwh32.dll, d2htl32.dll, and Roboex32.dll from being copied to the
Windows\System folder. For people who do not already have these
DLLs installed, this causes the error message you saw.
To fix this problem:
1. Insert the "Windows Me Secrets" CD in your CD-ROM drive.
2. Cancel the setup program.
3. Click Start, Programs, Windows Explorer.
4. Select the root folder of the CD.
5. Copy Inetwh32.dll, D2HTLS32.dll, and Roboex32.dll from the root of the CD to your
Windows\System folder.
6. It should not be necessary to re-start Windows. The
"Windows Me Secrets" file should now run correctly.
This will also correct the "Contact Application Vendor for
Updated Help File" message.
If this doesn't work for you, contact IDG Books (now Hungry Minds
Inc.) for a corrected copy of the CD:
http://hungryminds.com
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Change to: 1st Printing, Page 51
Change the graf after "Windows Shutdown Problems" to read as follows:
There are a number of different reasons why your computer might have trouble shutting down. You can disable Fast Find (if you have it enabled) to see if this clears up the problem, as described in the next section.
Another option you may have heard of to cure shutdown problems is to disable Fast Shutdown. Fast Shutdown was a feature of Windows 95 and 98 that was removed from Windows Me (since Windows Me has an improved, faster shutdown process than Windows 9x).
The procedure to disable Fast Shutdown on Windows 95 or 98 is as follows:
Change the heading of the Steps to read:
Disabling Windows 9x Fast Shutdown
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Change to: 1st Printing, Page 79
It is not possible to just copy over the Microsoft Deluxe CD Player files from a Windows 98 Computer to a Windows ME computer and have the Deluxe CD player work. The program needs to be installed and you can't install it from the Windows 98 Plus! CD-ROM.
We don't have a good solution for
this at the moment.
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Change to: 1st Printing, Page 160
Change the graf after "A Shortcut to a Windows Restart" to read as follows:.
Under Windows 95 and 98, you could place a little shortcut on your Desktop (or wherever) that let you quickly restart Windows without going through the Start -> Shutdown -> Restart -> OK routine.
Unfortunately, this type of shortcut won't work under Windows Me, which removed this feature.
The way to do it under Windows 95 and 98 is as follows:
Change the heading of the Steps to read:
Creating a Windows 9x Restart Shortcut
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Change to: 1st Printing, Page 246
Change the 2nd and 3rd grafs after "Stopping" to read as follows:.
Click the Start button. Click Shut Down, and select the "Shut Down" option. We're outta here. We know it seems funny that the Start button is also the Stop button, but there it is.
Clicking Shut Down presents you with the dialog box shown in Figure 9-1. This dialog box presents you with choices that are dependent upon the capabilities of your PC. For example, if your computer's BIOS has a Windows-compatible Automated Power Management (APM) facility, and you haven't disabled it, the default option (the first time you start the computer) is "Stand by." Your other choices include "Shut down" and "Restart."
Delete the graf that begins, "You can use the System Policy Editor..."
Use the new Figure 9-1B.bmp instead of the Figure 9-1 in the 1st Printing.
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Change to: 1st Printing, Page 247
Change the 2nd graf after "Restart" to the following:
Windows 95 and 98 had a secret key combination that would restart Windows quickly without going through the warm boot process. Windows Me unfortunately doesn't support this trick, so you have to use a normal restart.
To use the trick in Windows 95 and 98, select Restart, then hold down your Shift key while clicking the OK button in the Shut Down Windows dialog box. On some Windows 95 and 98 PCs, this quick-restart technique... the next time you restart Windows 95 or 98 without holding down the Shift key.
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Change to: 1st Printing, Page 466
Change the 2nd sentence in the 1st graf after "Creating a Windows Boot Diskette." to the following:
You can also create it after installing Windows 95 or 98 (but not Windows Me, unfortunately) by clicking Add/Remove Programs in your Control Panel and following the instructions in the Startup Disk tab.
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Change to: 1st Printing, Page 533
Change the graf that begins, "You install System Policy Editor..." to the following:
System Policy Editor is not installed automatically with any version of Windows, but must be installed separately from a CD-ROM. The program is included on the CD-ROM that comes with Windows 95 and 98, but not on the CD that comes with Windows Me. Therefore, the following steps to install System Policy Editor will only work if you have a Windows 95 or 98 CD:
Change Step 2 to read as follows:
Step 2. ... on your Windows 95 or 98 CD-ROM and click OK.
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Change to: 1st Printing, Page 599
Change the word View in the second Step 2 to Tools at the bottom of the page.
Click Advanced instead of Edit in Step 3.
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TweakUI:
The column where Brian listed the
new location at Microsoft for TweakUI is:
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/00/10/30/001030oplivingston.xml
The URL at Microsoft is:
http://www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/downloads/PowerToys/Networking/NTTweakUI.asp