W98 getting better but...

[georgethetee]

2 things I need to do, can any smart person help me out?

This is trivial, but I wonder if it is possible to make the icon title backgrounds transparent, so they blend with the background pic?

Also, seems to me Sysbackup provides, through DOS an equivalent to XPs Restore anyday, works for me anyway. Now, by editing Scanreg.ini. you can choose a larger number of backups (I want 30) and where they are stored.

Trouble is, when you then try to restore to these, MSDOS has lost their new location, and only shows 5 anyway - and NOT the last 5 done, which is a little useless. SO, I am wondering where the register keeps this info. Any help appreciated.

BTW, I am so glad to have at last found this forum, I do not feel so... er... lonely anymore. I was begining to think I was the last W98 user in the world!

[jack99]

there are still plenty of 98 users around this is a very active forum .in fact the tweaks tips programs created for 98se are excellent breathing new life into 98se.sure new pcs come with xp as all new pcs carried the os of the day but for the other folks who have hand me down pcs or older boxes the need for xp is not pracitial and beside u can still do nearly everything on 98 u could on xp at least the general things and sure new apps are designed for the nt kernel but alot are still made for 9x and up so if u can tweak 98se to run better and u can with gapes sp 2.0 and other proggie yourll find your old 98se run like new and maybe a facelift new theme icons etc and u have a revamped 98se so dont ever think 98se is old news its being reinvented everyday .

[georgethetee]

Cheers, thanks for that Jack.

Now, anyone got any help with those 2 probs?

[jaclaz]

Read this:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=183603

http://forums.techarena.in/archive/index.php/t-12475.html

http://members.cox.net/scotterpops/text/regback.txt

jaclaz

[jeeva]

To Nr.1 there's the WindowFX, but you need an older Version, newer ones only support 2000/XP, perhaps someone has Version 1.5 or so...

To No. 2 I think that's a bug, that it only displays five items

[miko]

This is trivial, but I wonder if it is possible to make the icon title backgrounds transparent, so they blend with the background pic? 

info here -

http://www.virtualplastic.net/html/icn_desk.html#icontext

(some of the links are broken in the above link, but a creative Google search now you know what your looking for should produce results)

there are some other (very small) apps around, most need to load at startup.

various icon/themeing apps have the same function built in like Desktop Architect v2.11

(don't let it run at startup, and remove the non-working Display Properties extension dadesk.dll)

which is one of my personal favs...

hope this helps.

miko.

[MDGx]

Have u tried to tweak your scanreg.ini:

http://www.mdgx.com/98-1.htm#SCANREG98

more on this here:

http://www.mdgx.com/98-4.htm#BWS

All these are free(ware):

1. Programs that make desktop icons transparent [work as TSR, not icon editors] also found here:

http://www.mdgx.com/toy.htm#ENH

* SeeThru v1.0.2 32-bit for Windows 9x/NT4/2000/ME/XP changes/removes and

monitors Desktop icons background/foreground colors:

http://website.lineone.net/~mstrong/apps.htm

Direct download [1.43 MB, freeware]:

http://website.lineone.net/~mstrong/stup102v.zip

Works ONLY with MS IE 5/6 or newer installed with Active Desktop (View As Web

Page) DISABLED!

* Invisible! 2000 v1.7 32-bit for Windows 9x/NT4/2000/ME changes/removes and

monitors Desktop icons background/foreground colors:

http://www.mindbeat.com/invisi.shtml

Direct download [426 KB, freeware]:

http://www.mindbeat.com/programs/invisi.zip

* Hook99 v1.1.0.41 32-bit for Windows 9x/ME changes Start button text/icon and

Desktop icons text transparency/colors, highly customizable:

http://lbrisar.htmlplanet.com/e_hook.html

Direct download [28 KB, freeware]:

http://lbrisar.htmlplanet.com/hook99.zip

* ActivIcons v3.33 32-bit for Windows 9x/NT4/2000/ME/XP replaces default

system folders/items/shortcuts icons, animated/static mouse cursors, Start

button graphic/text, MS IE/OE spinning logos, startup/shutdown logos,

increases/rebuilds Shell icon cache, removes shortcut arrow overlays, allows

animated icons on Desktop, makes Desktop icon labels transparent,

saves/restores Desktop icons layout etc, highly customizable:

http://www.cursorarts.com/ca_aifw.html

Direct download [2.6 MB, freeware]:

http://www.funet.fi/pub/simtelnet/win95/icon/actic333.exe

Windows 95/OSR1/OSR2/NT4 require MS IE 4/5/6 with Active Desktop (View As Web

Page) enabled:

http://www.mdgx.com/toy.htm#IEX

* Effective Desktop v1.01 build 245 32-bit [discontinued ] for Windows

9x/NT4/2000/ME/XP includes: ExplorerX (hides tray icons, customizes Start

button logo/text, Desktop icons transparency), TaskbarX (Calendar, ClockX +

WindowsX Client) and WindowsX (multiple virtual Desktops), highly

customizable:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download197.html

Direct download [1.04 MB, donationware]:

http://downloads.planetmirror.com/pub/majo...ce/efdsk101.zip

Windows 95/OSR1/OSR2/NT4 require MS IE 4/5/6 with Active Desktop (View As Web

Page) enabled:

http://www.mdgx.com/toy.htm#IEX

* Wallpaper Changer (WPC) v1.90 32-bit for Windows 9x/NT4/2000/ME/XP displays

a different desktop background every time Windows starts, in .BMP, .GIF, .JPG

or .PNG format, schedules wallpaper change at preset intervals, resets screen

resolution, turns desktop icons background transparent, highly customizable:

http://www.wallpaperchanger.de/

Direct download [813 KB, freeware]:

http://www.wallpaperchanger.de/archives/WPCSetup_v1.90.exe

* Iconoid v3.3.4 32-bit for Windows 9x/NT4/2000/ME/XP/2003 Desktop icon

manager: transparent icon background, custom icon text color, save/restore

icon positions for all screen resolutions, highly customizable:

http://www.sillysot.com/

Direct download [441 KB, sillyware]:

http://www.sillysot.com/iconoid.zip

Requires Microsoft Visual Basic 5 (VB5) Runtime Libraries [1.2 MB, free]:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/vb5...US/Msvbvm50.exe

2. Programs that create/edit icons including making their background transparent [icon editors], also found here:

http://www.mdgx.com/toy.htm#GRA

* PixelToolbox v1.1 32-bit 16x16/32x32/48x48/custom size pixels 2/16/256/true

colors icons, mouse cursors + wallpaper tiles creator/editor/extractor/viewer

for Windows 9x/NT4/2000/ME/XP/2003 includes painting tools + filters, highly

customizable:

http://www.axiomx.com/PixelToolbox/

Direct download [3.57 MB, freeware]:

http://www.axiomx.com/PixelToolbox/PixelToolbox.zip

* SnIco Edit v1.3a 32-bit 16x16/32x32/48x48/custom size pixels 2/16/256/true

colors icons and mouse cursors creator/editor/extractor/viewer for Windows

9x/NT4/2000/ME/XP/2003 supports also GIF, BMP, DLL + EXE formats resources,

executables and libraries, Windows XP alpha transparency and multiple

languages, highly customizable:

http://home.kabelfoon.nl/~meijer/software/icoedit.html

Direct download [1.21 MB, freeware]:

http://home.kabelfoon.nl/~meijer/software/icoedit.zip

* Icon Suite v2.1.8 32-bit 16x16/32x32/48x48/custom size pixels 2/16/256/true

colors icons, mouse cursors + wallpaper tiles creator/editor/viewer for

Windows 9x/NT4/2000/ME/XP/2003, highly customizable:

http://www.bouffler.freeserve.co.uk/icon_edit.htm

Direct download [1.74 MB, freeware]:

http://www.bouffler.freeserve.co.uk/Files/IconSuiteFull.exe

* IconShop v1.20 Alpha Build 905 32-bit ICL icon library

creator/editor/extractor/viewer for Windows 9x/NT4/2000/ME/XP/2003 supports

also BMP, GIF, TIF, XPM + MacOS formats resources, executables and libraries,

highly customizable:

http://users.pandora.be/liontech/

Direct download [151 KB, freeware]:

http://users.pandora.be/liontech/IconShop.120.Alpha.zip

* Free Icon Studio v1.1 32-bit 16x16/32x32/48x48/custom size pixels 2/16/256/true

colors icons creator/editor/extractor/viewer for Windows 9x/NT4/2000/ME/XP/2003

supports also GIF, BMP, DLL + EXE formats resources, executables and libraries,

Windows XP alpha transparency, highly customizable:

http://www.coffeecup.com/freestuff/

Direct download [2.63 MB, freeware]:

http://64.49.219.5/Freeiconstudio.exe

* PC Magazine IconEdit32 v1.0 32-bit 16x16/32x32/48x48 pixels 2/16/256 colors

icon creator/editor/extractor/viewer for Windows 9x/NT4/2000/ME/XP/2003:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,,11190,.asp

Direct download [538 KB, free]:

ftp://ftp.pcmag.com/archives/2000/0321/iedit32.zip

* Microsoft Windows 98 Resource Kit Icon/Image Editor (IMAGEDIT.EXE) +

Animated/Static Cursor Editor (ANIEDIT.EXE) 32-bit tools for Windows

9x/NT4/2000/ME/XP/2003:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=247024

Place all these files into the same folder (free):

- ANIEDIT.CNT [288 B]:

ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/services/technet/...top/ANIEDIT.CNT

- ANIEDIT.EXE [60 KB]:

ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/services/technet/...top/ANIEDIT.EXE

- ANIEDIT.HLP [16 KB]:

ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/services/technet/...top/ANIEDIT.HLP

- IMAGEDIT.EXE [100 KB]:

ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/services/technet/...op/IMAGEDIT.EXE

- IMAGEDIT.HLP [81 KB]:

ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/services/technet/...op/IMAGEDIT.HLP

More info:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=147672

* Icon Master v1.2d 16-bit 32x32 pixels 16 colors icon

creator/editor/extractor/viewer for Windows 3.1x/9x/ME, supports all popular

Windows icon formats: DLL, EXE, ICL, ICO [115 KB, nag shareware]:

http://www.mdgx.com/files/IMSTR12D.ZIP

Hope this helps.

[georgethetee]

WOW! I am absolutely bowled over! I had no idea you would be able to help me so much.

Thanks a million, each of you. I only hope that I may one day be able to help others in some vaguely-similar way. All those transparent text (incredible there are so many) are just what I needed.

Thanks for the MS link - I quote:

"MaxBackupCopies=

A value of 5 (default) saves the last 5 registry backups in the Windows\Sysbckup folder. This value can be between 0 and 99.

NOTE: When you restore a registry backup using Registry Checker for MS- DOS, only the five earliest backups are displayed. "

Isn't that a beaut! Absolutely MS to a tee! Sure, you can have as many back ups as you like, only MSDOS wont see them! I wonder they don't say we can have our desktop any colour we like as long as it's blue. Gotta luvem!

MDGx, thanks so much, I will be getting down and dirty with that tomorrow, sounds good.

SO glad I found this place, heretofore I felt like a lone voice in the wilderness, now suddenly I found this oasis in the desert.

Cheers

[MDGx]

U're welcome.

The best part is that u can edit scanreg.ini from a nice UI [using MS's own Sredit.exe]:

ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/services/technet/...nfig/SREDIT.EXE

also part of ScanFrag [470 KB]:

http://www.mdgx.com/files/SCANFRAG.ZIP

also linked from here:

http://www.mdgx.com/98-1.htm#SCANREG98

Have fun.

[soldier1st]

i may have moved to xp but i still like 98.

[MDGx]

I'm also using XP SP2 on my main machine, but 98SE is more fun to" toy" with.