Sounds like a good question...and it is. I get several e-mails a week asking why there are no tips & tricks
for this version of Windows. The answer is simple...time. But before I roll out the New Win98ME Tips pages, I will attempt to
write a few for Win95 with links for updates and patches. Thank you for the input!!
Check Your Version of Win95
From the Control Panel, double-click the System Icon and select the General Tab. This will reveal to you which version of Windows 95 (or Win98) that is running / installed
on your computer. - Win95 4.00.950 = the Original or Upgrade version.
- Win95 4.00.950A = Win95 with SP1 (service pack 1).
- Win95 4.00.950B = the OSR2 version.
Device Manager: Checking For Conflicts
From the Device Manager Tab, check for any little yellow exclamation points (!). This icon
means that the device which it flags is not operating properly. Double-click on the selected device and it will reveal to you
the devices properties, which is critical information about the device. This also includes whether or not it is working correctly.
Device Manager: Fixing Conflicts
In Device Manager, double-click the icon of the device that needs to repaired, select propertie, select the Resourses Tab, and then select the
Set Configuration Manually to show a conflicting device listing. Removing one of the conflicting devices will generally solve the problem. If it is a needed device, try assigning
it a different interupt request (IRQ) number, input / output (I/O) address, or direct memory address (DMA) value. Then restart
Win95 and check Device Manager's Resources Tab again to look for any other conflicts.
Remove A Device Before Re-Installing
If a device is not working and you wish to re-install it, the device driver, or both...locate the device in Device Manager and remove it before re-installing the device or updating it's device drivers.
DriveSpace: Avoid Using It If You Can
Unless it really necessary, avoid using DriveSpace (the disk compression utility in Win95). Using this tool will not only slow your computer down slightly, by configuring the disk in this manner, it will make it much more difficult to convert to Win98's FAT32 file system at a later date (a highly preferred move, in my humble opinion). You'll find that
Win98 comes with DriveSpace 3 which is an improved version of the disk compression utility that was available with the Win95 Plus! add-on. But, purchasing a larger capacity hard drive and / or using FAT32 is still more preferable a solution to achieving more disk space. A DriveSpace or DriveSpace 3 compressed hard drive cannot be later converted to FAT32 unless it is first uncompressed. This will take a lot of time
and effort and also may not be possible if the compressed hard drive holds more information / data than would normally fit on the drive were it uncompressed.
