Mouse Test Shows If Windows Needs Configuring
The Age
Monday July 26, 1993
HOW many mouse clicks or keystrokes do you use to open a file in your word processor or spreadsheet? If it's more than four or five, your Windows setup needs configuration! First _ and remembering that we are talking here about what the software vendors would call a low-end machine _ ensure that you are not using any of the myriad of Program Manager replacements available.
Norton Desktop, PC Tools for Windows and other packages offer what they and many users perceive as additional functionality, but they do so at a cost. And that cost is performance. On a 386SX machine, that is a trade-off most users simply cannot afford.
Having eliminated that potential performance hog, take a look at just how well (or badly) Program Manager is set up.
The number of users who have just accepted the less than convenient arrangement of groups dictated by the original Windows installation (and subsequent software installations) is quite astounding, especially considering that they are all probably wasting two or three mouse clicks just to see their favorite programs, let alone run them! It is ridiculously easy to configure Program Manager so that all the programs you normally use in the course of a day are immediately available; and it's far more efficient in both ergonomic and technical terms to do so. The steps are as follows : Within Program Manager, select File New. You will be asked if you would like to create a new Program Group or Program Item. Select Program Group.
You will then be asked to select a name for the group. I find it easiest to use my own name _ it is after all my own personal Windows group! Now select OK.
The new group will then appear within Program Manager.
Next, open the various groups that hold your favorite programs and, while holding down the CTRL key, click on those programs you use often and drag them into the new group. This creates a copy of the icon in your new, personalised group, still leaving the original icon intact (just in case).
Having established all your most-used icons in your own personal group, get all your groups arranged just as you would like them to stay (in Program Manager options, Auto Arrange is a good option to have turned on).
Now turn the option Save Settings on Exit, on (make sure it has a tick beside it in the Program Manager menu). Then select File Exit. Don't worry, you're not actually leaving Windows! When you are asked if you wish to exit windows, select Cancel. You're still in Windows but, hey presto, your new settings are saved! Now click on the option Save Settings on Exit again (so it has no tick) and your personalised Program Manager is saved forever.
You can save many more keystrokes by intelligent use of the Working Directory option in each icon's properties (the File Properties selection). Ensure that each program starts not where it wants to, but where you want it to, i.e., the directory you keep those particular files in. It's particularly annoying for me to know that all my pictures are in C:DATAPAINT, but to have paintbrush continually start in the Windows directory, for example. And not only annoying, but wasteful of your, and your computer's, time!
© 1993 The Age