Un trucco interessante
il tasto WIN (quello rappresentato con il logo di Windows) serve per aprire il menu START se viene premuto da solo. Tuttavia potete usarlo anche in combinazione con altri tasti, per altri utili usi. Eccoli:

WIN + PAUSA Apre la finestra delle Proprietà di Sistema
WIN + E (Explorer) apre Esplora Risorse
WIN + F (Find) apre il dialogo per la ricerca di file e cartelle
WIN + R (Run) apre il dialogo Esegui
WIN + D (Desktop) minimizza (o ripristina) tutte finestre, per vedere il Desktop

A tutto schermo
Per visualizzare una pagina a tutto schermo: F11. Ancora F11 per tornare indietro.

Web Wallpaper
Right-click on the Desktop and select Properties. Click on the Browse button in the Background dialog box and browse your hard disk for the HTM or HTML file of your choice, then double-click on it. You can also use an HTM or HTML file from the Internet as your wallpaper by going to the page and selecting File/Save As to save the file locally. If you want to display a Web page's graphics, you'll have to right-click on each graphic, select Save Image As and save them to your local drive. Then modify the <IMG> tags in the saved HTML file to reference the local graphics. (To use an HTML file as wallpaper, you must first enable the Active Desktop by right-clicking on the Desktop and selecting Active Desktop/View As Web Page.)

Drag-and-Drop Menu
Reordering items on the toolbars and the Start, Favorites and Links menus is one of Win98's great conveniences. But if you try to move a cascading submenu item, such as an application submenu folder on the Start/Programs menu, it may seem unmovable. If you hover over the item and let the submenu fully unfold, wait a split-second longer and then click on it, you'll be able to drag the submenu item to a new position.

Take a Web Page To Task(bar)
To add a Web page to your taskbar, right-click on any blank area of the taskbar. Select Toolbars/ New Toolbar from the pop-up menu. In the New Toolbar dialog box, type (or copy and paste from your browser) a URL.

Flexible Dialog Boxes
One of Win98's subtler capabilities is support for stretchable dialog boxes: You can expand some of them by dragging their corners or edges. This is especially useful in IE 4.0's Favorites/Organize Favorites dialog box, so you don't have to scroll if the Favorites list doesn't fit in the default view. But try it also in the System Configuration Utility and other Win98 utilities and applets.

Desktop Refresher
To refresh the Desktop-including Active Desktop Web pages-press F5.

Define Default Folder
Create a new default look for all your Win98 folders using the Like Current Folder button. First, customize a folder's view, sort order and so forth; then select View/Folder Options and the View tab. Click on Like Current Folder to create the new default setting.

Shortcut to Desktop Shortcuts
Win98 offers an easy way to make Desktop shortcuts. From any folder window, right-click on an icon and choose Send To/Desktop as Shortcut.

Save Bookmarks Now, File 'Em Later
If you often right-click on a Web page in IE 4.0 and choose Create Shortcut to place a bookmark on your Desktop, things'll get crowded in a hurry. Here's a quick way to clean up your Desktop's bookmarks: Create a standard shortcut to your Favorites menu (C:\WINDOWS\FAVORITES) and place it in your Send To folder (C:\WINDOWS\SENDTO). Then right-click on any shortcut on your Desktop and choose Send To/Favorites to move the shortcut to your Favorites menu.

Floating Quick Launch
Turn the Quick Launch toolbar into a floating palette that you can resize and position at will. Click on the bar's left edge, drag it to a blank area on the Desktop and let go.

Bigger Than Life
Use the new Magnifier feature to easily view graphics editing operations pixel-by-pixel. Use Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs to make sure all the Accessibility options are installed, then run Magnifier from Start/Programs/Accessories/Accessibility. It will let you greatly magnify the area of the screen around your mouse cursor and use high-contrast color schemes.

Don't Hide Those Files
To reveal all files-even hidden files, such as the Registry files, SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT-select View/Folder Options in any folder window. Click on the View tab; in the Advanced Settings area, find Hid den Files and check the box beside Show All Files.

Four Ways to Minimize Folder Space
1. Open any folder window and select View/Folder Options. Select the Custom button and then click on Settings. Under View Web Content, choose "Only for folders where I select 'as Web Page.'"
2. Turn off the text labels on toolbars on the View/Toolbars menu by removing the check mark next to Text Labels. Turn off the Links bar on the same submenu.
3. Make toolbars smaller: Click on the Internet control panel's Advanced tab; scroll to Toolbar and check off Small Icons.
4. Drag the Address bar onto the unused space to the right of the menu bar.

Drag, Drill Down and Drop
In a dual-pane Explorer view, a folder will expand automatically if you hold a file you're dragging over a collapsed folder list. You can keep doing this until you drill down to the folder you want to drop the file in.

Reveal File Attributes
You can display file attributes in the Details view for folders and dual-paned Explorer windows. Select View/Folder Options and click on the View tab. In the Advanced Settings box, select "Show file attributes in detail view" and then click on OK.

Festoon Your Folders, Part I
Use a picture for any folder's background. Open the folder you'd like to redecorate and choose View/Customize This Folder. Click on "Choose a background picture" and then on Next. Select a background picture from the list or click on Browse to find another picture; then click on Open. When you're done, click on Next and then on Finish.

Festoon Your Folders, Part II
You can also change a folder's text color and label background. Open the folder and select View/Customize This Folder. Select "Choose a background picture" and click on Next. Under Icon Caption Colors, click on the black Text box and pick a new color. Click on the check box next to Background and then click on the white box to its right. Pick a color for the background for icon text labels. Click on Next and on Finish.

Activate the Active Desktop
If you turned off the Active Desktop, here's how to turn it back on: Select Start/Settings/Active Desktop/Customize My Desktop; check the box next to "View my Active Desktop as a Web page" and click on OK.

Reactivate Your Channel Bar
To reactivate the Channel Bar, follow the steps above; before you click on the final OK, check the box for Internet Explorer Channel Bar. Then click on OK.

Change Channels
The Active Desktop's Channel Bar was designed to hold links to Web-content channels, but you can add plain old shortcuts. Drag an icon or a shortcut to a location between two channels on the bar; a gray line will appear to show you where t o drop it.

Show Me the Desktop
The Quick Launch toolbar's Show Desktop button-the blue-cornered desk blotter icon-shows your Desktop in a flash. With one click, all open windows instantly close.

Quick Keys to the Desktop
You can also get to your Desktop by holding down the WinKey (the one with the Windows logo on it) and pressing D.

Rest Your Weary Mouse
IE's keyboard shortcuts take you to most places on a Web page. Tab moves from link to link, while Shift+Tab moves through links from bottom to top. Ctrl+Tab cycles through form elements within a page.