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Get Back the Windows 98 Look Many people have spent several years learning how use Windows Me or Windows 98. Although Windows XP's increased stability is attractive, many people don't want to learn Windows XP's colorful new menu system. Plus, some people simply don't like XP's new "look and feel." Most people don’t know that Microsoft added a way to turn off most of Windows XP's newer menu styles, making it look much like the "Classic" Windows of earlier versions. Turning off some of these effects can also help free up system resources as well. This column shows how to make Windows XP Home or Professional behave more like the operating system you've been using for years. Pick and choose among these suggestions; simply reverse the steps to turn them back off. In its attempt to "simplify" the Control Panel, Windows XP added bunches of menus that hide the familiar icon panel. To bring back the “old style” view, call up the Start menu's Control Panel and click Switch to Classic View from the window's upper, left corner. Windows XP instantly stops hiding the icons you already know how to use. Although Windows XP's Start menu consumes two columns, it still hides most of your programs. To make it look "normal," right-click the Start menu button, choose Properties, and then choose Classic Start Menu. Click OK to switch back to the streamlined Start menu of yesteryear. Plus, your favorite icons reappear on the desktop: My Computer, My Documents, My Network Places, and Internet Explorer. Notice how Windows XP hides some of the icons that sit next to the clock in the lower right of the screen? To make Windows XP always show those icons, right-click the Taskbar, choose Properties, and clear the X from the Hide Inactive Icons box at the bottom. Click OK to see your icons spring back into view. Next stop is the desktop itself. Right-click the desktop (anywhere on the screen – just not on an icon), choose Properties, click the Themes tab, and choose Windows Classic from the Theme drop-down menu. Click OK, and your windows lose their rounded edges, and XP's cartoon-like Start button turns gray and square. It's easy to dump XP's folder style. Open any folder, and choose Icons from the View menu. (That gets rid of those big ugly tiles.) Then, choose Folder Options from the Tools menu. Select Use Windows Classic Folders from the Tasks area. Then click the View tab and click the Apply to All Folders button, so all the folders will open to the Icons view. (While you're there, place a checkmark in the box marked Show Control Panel in My Computer.) Clicking OK saves your changes. Windows XP greets computer users with a page full of pictures when they want to log on. To replace the pictures with the simple log-on prompt of the old days, log on with an administrator account and open the Control Panel's User Accounts icon. Choose Change the Way Users Log On or Off, and turn off both of these options: Use the Welcome Screen and Fast User Switching. Click Apply Options and Windows XP graciously discards the new Welcome screen in favor of the “old school” log in prompt.
If you've been using an older version of Windows for awhile and don't quite care for Windows XP's new look feel free to use these options to get back the look and feel you’re used to. Like I said, disabling some of the (worthless) features will help free up some system resources as well. Granted, today's new PC’s usually come with plenty of memory; but I’m all for squeezing every bit of performance possible out of my computer. |
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