1. Restarting Windows 98

2. Deleting Files

3. Hey! I can't adjust my display settings!

4. Speeding Up Windows 98

5. Disk Defragmenter

6. Windows 98/ME Tweak

7. Optimize your swap file performance

8. Command Line Options (logoff & shutdown)

9. Disable Windows splash screen

10. Optimize Swap File Performance

11. Use Windows Update Without Registration

12. Windows 98 Tweak for Broadband

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When prompted to restart your computer, press and hold the SHIFT key after selecting “Restart” and before pressing the “OK” button. Hold it until the screen goes blank. This will force Windows to restart not the whole computer.
 

As some may know, when you delete a file or folder from your system, it really doesn’t get deleted. Just the reference to that file is deleted from the File Allocation Table (FAT). The file sits there until it’s overwritten. Who cares? Well depending on what you deleted, (personal files and financial data) anyone with the knowledge can extract these files with little effort.

Erasor- A free utility to delete these files securely:
http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/3000-2248-1551959.html?tag=lst-0-1

Ok. Tell me no one has ever done this! You get a Window on the screen and you can’t seem to move it with your mouse because the title bar is off the screen. Well, I’ve done it several times!

Here’s the remedy. Bring the window to active. (Alt-tab until selected). Then hit ALT-Spacebar, then the letter m (for move). Move the window to the desired area with your arrow keys. Hit Enter when done. See, they designed Windows to work without mice!

Want to speed up Windows the way it was intended? Simple. Don’t use Active Desktop! You know, using JPG files as background pictures. Active Desktop is notorious for slowing down your system and occasionally freezing it. If you must use that image, either convert it t a BMP file or view it in MSIE and choose to set it as the background. In Desktop Properties, make sure in the Active Desktop tab that there’s no check.

 

• Did you know when you use the Disk Defragmenter utility that there’s a setting that optimizes your most frequently used files so that they load faster? When bringing up the utility, click the Settings button and make sure the "Rearrange program files so my programs start faster" checkbox is selected. (make sure you bring the utility up from the START menu and not from the right-click context menu)

This is a safe tweak that I’ve tried on Windows 98/ME.

It has to do with VFAT. You don’t have to know anything about this to try it. We’re going to trick your Windows 98 into thinking it’s a Network Server. Actually it’s not a trick, but a setting.

Right-Click the My Computer icon on the desktop, click Properties, click the Performance tab, click the File System tab, and under “Hard Disk”, change the setting “Typical Role of This Computer” from "Desktop Computer" to "Network Server".

Click “Apply”, “Ok”

Re-boot.

What does it do? It utilizes 40 KB of RAM instead of the normal 10KB to cache the most recently accessed folders and files. For the extra 30 KB, it is well worth the effort.

Prepare yourself to be amazed and dumbfounded! (okay, maybe just slightly amused)

If you have any problem, just change it back. (and don't yell at me!)
 

If you have a large amount of memory (>128MB) you may not need a large swap file. You can optimize this by adding the following line to your System.ini file located in the Windows directory.

You can open this file with a text editor such as notepad.exe of sysedit.

Under the [386Enh] section add this new line so it reads: ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1

Save this file and reboot and enjoy a speedier system response.

Portion pertain to both Windows 98 & ME

Create a shortcut by right clicking your desktop and choosing "New", then "Shortcut".

Add this :

C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL32.EXE shell32.dll,SHExitWindowsEx *

In place of the * type in any of the following, or a combination thereof.

0 - Log off- Shutdown all running processes then log the user off.
1 - Shutdown- Shutdown the system to the safe point. (File buffers have been flushed and all processes have been halted).
2 - Reboot- Shut system down and restart.
4 - Force- Forces processes to end. I don't recommend doing this since it's about as effective as ctrl-alt-del, where you'll lose any and all data currently running.
8 - Power Off- Shutdown system and power.

Now when prompted for a name for your new shortcut,  add it and click OK.
(note: # 4 & 8 above apply to Win98 only)

If you're anything like me, you like to watch the boot process as Windows loads instead of the Microsoft clouds. (sure you can hit the Esc key, but damn it, I'm too lazy!)

Here's a quick way to rectify it.

We're going to be working with a file named MSDOS.SYS and found in the root directory. First thing we'll have to do is make it so it's not "Read Only".  Find the file using Windows Explorer and right click it and choose properties. Remove the "Read Only" attribute checkmark.

Now with a text editor such as notepad, change the value of Logo= to either 1(enabled) or 0 (disabled).

Save your file, change the attribute back to "Read Only", and your change will take effect on your next reboot.

If you find yourself with 128 MB RAM or more, why not optimize the way your swap file is used. Using Sysedit or notepad, open the system.ini file. Look for the [386Enh] section and add this line:

ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1

Save the file and reboot!

We're not talking about beating Microsoft at their own game, but we are trying to maintain our privacy while allowing users to update an OS that they paid for. You can register with bogus info which in my opinion, is a waste of time when you could easily bypass registration altogether.

Navigate to this key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion]
 

Now look for the string value called RegDone. Change this value to 1. If the key isn't there, create it.

Make sure the key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Welcome\RegWiz]

is there. If not, create it.

Run Windows Update and if you've done the above successfully, there will be no need to register.

note: This has nothing to do with XP activation, it is intended for Windows 98/ME registration, a completely different animal.