Windows 95 Set-up Tips for CT "Revisited"

by Marty Durham, W1MD

Recently, WS1A published a short article on how to ‘fine tune’ Win95 for use with CT. As follow up to that I have included some information that will perform essentially the same ‘fine tuning’ without the need for manually editing system files.

A short period of time after Microsoft introduced Windows 95 additional utilities and other ‘tools’ began to appear. One of the more useful add-ins to Windows 95 is called Powertoys. This is a compilation of utilities, some that are cute and some that are extremely useful. This file is available through Microsoft as a free download from their Web site. It is also available on their FTP site. The software is provided ‘as is’ with no specified warranty.

One ‘tool’ in particular that is included with the Powertoys file is called TWEAKUI. This utility is designed ‘as Microsoft puts it’ for those people with Type A personalities that must have control of their PCs. TWEAKUI allows the end user to tailor the manner in which ’95 boots up; including everything that WS1A mentioned in his article as well as a number of other useful functions.

Powertoys is a self executing program. After downloading the file, place it in a directory called POWERTOYS and double click on the file. After the file has completed self-extracting, you can then selectively choose to install the utilities (by right clicking on the .INF file for the specified utility, in this case TWEAKUI.INF, and selecting INSTALL.) or by running SETUP all of the utilities can be installed.

Once TWEAKUI has successfully been installed you can then begin the process of ‘tailoring’ 95 to meet your needs. You can find the TWEAKUI icon in the CONTROL PANEL. Double click on the TWEAKUI icon and a window with multiple Tab selections will appear. Select the tab labeled BOOT and the following choices will be displayed:

GENERAL

Function Keys available for xx seconds
Start GUI automatically
Display splash screen while booting
Allow F4 to boot previous operating system

BOOT MENU

Always show boot menu
Continue booting after xx seconds

All of the above choices are check off boxes except for the two that require a numeric setting for seconds.

With the setting selected as above, rebooting Windows 95 will then bring you up in normal DOS mode. To then revert back to Windows 95 simply type WIN. There is no need to setup a .BAT file if this method is used.

What I have describe above is simply another method to reach the same end product that WS1A has described.

Marty Durham, W1MD