Change the directory that Windows 9x taps for installation files
You can change the directory that Windows 9x taps for installation files.
Copy the Setup files to a local directory on your C: drive
(C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS, for example). Then launch the Registry Editor and
navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Setup; locate (or create) the SourcePath entry. Modify it
to show the new path Win9x should use to find your installation files.
(Don't forget to end with a backslash.)

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Check your Registry for errors
Win98 comes with a handy way to check your Registry for errors. Launch the
Microsoft System Information (MSI) utility from
Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Information, then select the
Registry Checker from the Tools menu.

Use the address toolbar in Win98 or IE 4.0's Active
Desktop to performs a Web search.
The Address toolbar in Win98 or IE 4.0's Active Desktop performs a Web search
if you enter a phrase. (This doesn't work for a single word, because IE 4.0
assumes it's a domain name and attempts to create a URL in its place.) Type
in a few words and IE 4.0 will run your phrase through a search engine on
Microsoft's Web site.

Shortcuts that don't point to anything.
The Checklinks Resource Kit tool scans your hard disk for
shortcuts that don't point to anything and lets you blast
'em. Before you do, you can get more information about the
phantom file with a simple right click.

Create the ultimate Desktop
If you spend most of your time working in and moving among Office suite
applications and a browser, create the ultimate Desktop by integrating
the two. Click on IE 4.0's Favorites button to open the Explorer Bar, then
open each Word, Excel or other document you often work with one at a time
by typing its path and filename in IE 4.0's Address bar. You'll notice that
OLE-compliant applications launch "in place" in the browser window, and
that the Word and IE 4.0 menus and button bars merge. Each time you open a
document, drag and drop it into the Favorites bar. Do the same for your
commonly accessed folders (just type the path to the folder in the Address
bar). After you've built up your Favorites bar, you can move from your
Desktop work to the Internet without switching applications.

Using ClipTray
ClipTray is part of the Windows 98 Resource Kit Sampler, located on your installation CD.
If you've installed the entire sampler (by running setup.exe in the CD's tools\reskit folder),
you can start ClipTray as follows: Select Start, Programs, Windows 98 Resource Kit, Tools Management Console;
click Close to exit the Tip of the Day; navigate your way to Tool Categories\Desktop Tools;
then double-click ClipTray in the right pane. If you prefer to install only ClipTray,
copy the three ClipTray files from the installation CD's tools\reskit\desktop folder to your location of choice.
To run ClipTray, double-click cliptray.exe.

ClipTray Preview Mode
Using ClipTray is a piece of cake. Let's assume you have a paragraph of text on the currently
active Word document that you want to be able to paste into multiple documents.
Assuming ClipTray is already running (its icon will appear in the tray of your Taskbar),
select this text and press Ctrl-C (or select Word's Edit, Copy command). Click the ClipTray icon,
select Add, type a name for the entry--such as "letter closing"--click the Paste button,
then click Close. Whenever you want to insert that exact paragraph, click the ClipTray icon and
in the pop-up menu, select that entry by name. The paragraph is now on the Windows Clipboard.
Place the cursor where you want the text, press Ctrl-V (or select Edit, Paste), and it's in there!
If you have a whole slew of ClipTray entries, the list that appears when you right-mouse-click the
ClipTray icon (in the tray of your Taskbar) will be quite long. And unless you have a VERY good memory,
you may forget exactly what's what, even if you've used what you think are descriptive names.
To eliminate any confusion, turn on Preview Mode: Right-mouse-click the ClipTray icon, select Options,
then select Preview Mode. Now, right-mouse-clicking the ClipTray icon and selecting an entry presents
a preview of that entry. If it's the right one, click OK and go ahead with the paste.
If not, click OK and preview another entry until you find it.

To install Tweak UI PowerToy
Tweak UI PowerToy is there for the taking, right on your Windows 98 installation CD.
In case you missed it, you'll find this handy utility in your CD's tools\reskit\powertoy folder.
To install it, right-mouse-click tweakui.inf and select Install. To run it, open the Control Panel
and double-click Tweak UI. Over the next nine tips, we'll look at some of the settings Tweak UI offers.

To hide Control Panel items
To hide Control Panel items, Tweak UI has an entire tab for just this purpose.
Select the Control Panel tab, then scroll through the list of items, deselecting those items you'd
like to hide from view. The next time you (or more importantly, anyone else) open the Control Panel,
those "hidden" items are nowhere in sight. So the question then becomes, how do YOU access
the hidden Control Panel items? Set up shortcuts to the hidden *.cpl files (as indicated on Tweak UI's Control Panel tab)
and store them in your secret location of choice.
(Tip: Use Find to locate all *.cpl files in the Windows\System folder;
then right-mouse-click and drag the "hidden" *.cpl file(s) to your location of choice,
let go, and select Create Shortcut(s) Here.)

To remove an item on the Install/Uninstall tab of the
Add/Remove Programs Properties
To remove an item on the Install/Uninstall tab of the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box
that shouldn't be in the list--either because you've already removed it or because selecting it and
clicking Add/Remove doesn't accomplish a thing? You could always venture into the Registry to remove items
from the list, but with Tweak UI around, you can clean out this list with a few quick clicks.
Open Tweak UI and select the Add/Remove tab. One at a time, select an item you'd like to remove
from the list, click Remove, then click Yes to confirm. When you're finished,
check out the real-life version, and you'll find a list that's clean as a whistle.

For a logo-less startup
Tired of seeing that cloudy logo screen whenever you start Windows 98?
There's an easy way to keep this image out of sight, for a logo-less startup.
Open Tweak UI and click the Boot tab. Deselect Display Splash Screen While Booting,
then click Apply or OK. All those startup details are more interesting than Microsoft's advertising .

Activation Follows Mouse (X-Mouse).
Open Tweak UI, select the General tab, and select Activation Follows Mouse (X-Mouse).
Click Apply or OK, and X-Mouse is on. To turn it off, simply deselect this same option.

Mouse (X-Mouse) Auto-Raise
Select Tweak UI's General tab, and under Effects, select Auto-Raise.
Now moving your mouse pointer over a window selects that window AND
raises it up to the top of the open window pile.

Delete those shortcut arrows
Open Tweak UI, select Explorer, and check out the options under Shortcut overlay.
Select None to delete those arrows altogether, or try Light arrow for a less obtrusive
version of the shortcut arrow. You could also select Custom and select a new icon;
just make sure to choose something small or it will overlap the entire icon!

Hide both the Favorites folder and the Documents
folder from the Start menu.
Favorites folder and the Documents folder, Using Tweak UI, you can hide
(or show) these folders at the click of a button. Open Tweak UI and select the IE 4 tab.
Scroll to the end of the Settings list and deselect Show Documents on Start Menu
and/or Show Favorites on Start Menu. Click Apply or OK.
(Note: You'll need to restart Windows for this change to take effect.)

Clear Document, Run and Typed-URL History on Exit.
Open Tweak UI and select the IE 4 tab. Under Settings, select Clear Document,
Run and Typed-URL History on Exit. Click OK, and the next time
you exit and restart Windows, all three lists will be wiped clean.

Rebuild your Icons
Open Tweak UI, select the Repair tab, and you'll see Rebuild Icons selected.
Click Repair now, wait a bit, and those icons should be good as new.