No-Fuss File Paths

(2K, XP, 98, ME)Whether you're creating a batch file or sending an e-mail message telling someone on your network how to find a certain file, typing a file path can be a pain. And if you mistype, you might not discover the mistake until something goes wrong.

To make Windows do the typing for you, start by locating the icon for the file whose path you need to know. Next, select Start, Run or press Win-R. Press Delete or Backspace to remove the text in the Run dialog box. Drag the file icon to the text box in the Run dialog box (see FIGURE 5). Voilà! The entire path appears in the text box. Windows even adds quotation marks for paths that need them. Right-click the path, choose Select All, right-click again, and choose Copy--and you're ready to paste the path wherever you need it.

A Snappier Start Menu

(2K, XP, 98, ME)If your Start menus appear tardily, you might be able to speed them up by editing the Windows Registry. Choose Start, Run, type regedit, and press Enter. Navigate in the left pane to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. With the Desktop icon selected on the left, right-click and choose Export. Pick a spot for your Registry key backup, give the file a name like 'Registry Desktop Backup', and click Save.

Now choose MenuShowDelay in the right pane. If you don't see it, right-click in the right pane, choose New, String Value, type MenuShowDelay, and press Enter. Double-click the icon, change its 'Value data' setting (the default is 400) to something smaller, even 0, and click OK.

There's yet another way for you to goose your menus in Windows XP: Right-click the desktop, choose Properties, Appearance, Effects, uncheck Show shadows under menus, and then click OK twice.

Let the Good Times Scroll

(2K, XP)You can drag the scroll box (the little elevator car in the shaft of the scroll bar on the right side of many application windows) to move through a document. You can also click above or below the box to advance or back up one screen at a time, or move through the file incrementally by clicking the arrows at the top or bottom of the bar.

New versions of Internet Explorer, Notepad, Windows Explorer, and other apps add more scroll-bar tricks. To get to the middle of a long document, Web page, or file list, position your pointer in the middle of the scroll bar, right-click, and choose Scroll Here. The right-click menu has commands for jumping to the top or bottom of a file as well (see FIGURE 6). The Page Up, Page Down, Scroll Up, Scroll Down commands are less helpful since they require two clicks for actions you can already accomplish with one. Note that Wordpad doesn't use this Windows feature, nor do Microsoft Word and Excel prior to version 2003.