Windows Tips

This section will have tips on older versions of Windows (before Windows XP, but may also include it). Email me your your Windows' tips. These tips should work for both Windows 95 and 98.

Disable Windows Splash Screen

The splash screen is what you see right before the login box appears. This shows the Windows logo in a clouded background. You can easily remove this by editing the msdos.sys file. It should be in C:\Windows. Open it up in Notepad and add the following below those other options: logo=0.

Remove the Windows login screen

Some people have only one user on a computer and they don't want to enter a password everytime to login. To remove this login screen just click on Network Neighborhood->Properties. Click on the drop down menu and choose Primary Network Logon and OK. If it asks for the Windows CD, click Cancel. Restart and when the login screen appears, enter a name, but leave the password field blank. Your login screen shouldn't be appearing next time. It should log you in automatically.

Recover your Windows CD key

If for some reason you lost your Windows serial number, you can recover it using several methods. You can use Magical Jelly Bean or you can use this Windows tip to do it yourself. First you need to go into the command prompt by going to Start->Run and type in command. If you can not start up Windows and want to reinstall, you can still retrieve this information if you need it. Just boot with your Windows bootdisk (with or without CD-ROM support) and type in command. Just don't format it before retrieving the serial number.

Type in the following for Windows 95:
C:\Windows\Command\Find /I "ProductId" c:\windows\system.dat

Type in the following for Windows 95/ME:
C:\Windows\Command\Find /I "ProductKey" C:\Windows\System.dat

The line that will show up is the following:
ProductKey XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
All those Xs are the actual Windows serial number. Write this down on a paper or on the Windows CD.

Make system changes without Windows CD - Windows 95/98/ME

You can install the .CAB files to the C: Drive before installing Windows by copying all the .CAB extensions to a folder like C:\Windows\Install and then take out the CD and run the setup in the hard drive (faster than from CD).

If Windows is installed already you can still copy the .CAB files to a directory (say C:\Windows\Install). You just need to go into the registry and change the default directory (CD Drive in this case) that it was looking for. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup. In the right pane, look for SourcePath and double click on it to change the default path to wherever you stored it (in this example C:\Windows\Install).

If you don't feel comfortable editing the registry, then you can download a program called BanishCD from AnalogX.