EVENT-UALLY, YOU'LL HAVE SOUND--PART 2 OF 2 In our last tip, we showed you the first part to making new application events appear in the Sounds dialog box. Inside the Registry Editor, navigate your way to KEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps. For each application for which you'd like to add events, right-click the Apps key, select New, Key, type the name of a program's *.exe file without the extension or path and press Enter. Right-click (Default), select Modify, type the application name, and click OK. Now, under each new application key, create a key for each event (related to that application, of course) with which you'd like to associate sounds. Right-click the application key, select New, Key, type a legitimate event name, and press Enter. (To view a list of these names, double-click the .Default key under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps.) Repeat these steps for each of that application's events you'd like to see in the Events list, then follow these same steps to add events for other applications. When you're finished, close the Registry Editor. The next time you open the Sounds Properties dialog box, you'll see your new application and events in the Events list. You can now associate these sounds with events just as you would any other: Select an event, then select a sound under Name. (Note: If the sound you want to use isn't in the list, click Browse, navigate your way to that file, select it, and click OK.) Click OK to close the Sounds Properties dialog box and enjoy your very event-ful Windows system!

CUT YOUR DOUBLE-CLICKS IN HALF Do you frequently access files on floppy disks? Tired of all the double-clicking you have to do to get to them--double-click My Computer, then double-click your floppy drive? You can cut these double-clicks in half by placing a floppy drive icon right on your desktop. Open My Computer, click and drag your floppy drive icon onto the desktop, and click Yes to confirm that you want to create a shortcut. Rename it (with the shortcut selected, press F2, type a new name, and press Enter), and from now on, you can access the contents of a floppy disk by simply double-clicking this icon.

PUT A TRAIL ON YOUR MOUSE Do you frequently lose track of your mouse pointer as it moves across the screen? That little bugger is much easier to follow if you put a trail on it--a pointer trail, that is. Open the Control Panel (select Start, Settings, Control Panel), and double-click Mouse. Click on the Motion tab, select Show Pointer Trails and move the lever closer to Long or Short, depending on the desired trail length (the number of pointers you want to follow your mouse). Click OK, and now when you move your pointer around, you'll see a lot of little pointers behind it. There's no way you can miss that entourage!

And now for today's tip... SHIFT-Y RIGHT-MOUSE SELECTIONS Can't seem to get used to that right mouse button? You could always avoid it altogether, but then you won't have access to all those handy, right-mouse-related Windows commands. Instead, try the right-mouse keyboard equivalents. With any item selected--file, folder, shortcut, whatever--press Shift-F10 to display that item's context menu. It's exactly the same as right-clicking the item. From there, use your up or down arrow keys to highlight the command you're after, then press Enter to 'click' the selected command. Sorry right mouse--you've been replaced.

QUIT MOUSE-ING AROUND In our last tip, we showed you how to select a 'right-mouse' command using the keyboard: Press Shift-F10 to display a selected item's context menu, use your up or down cursor keys to select a command, then press Enter. Looking for more ways to avoid the mouse? You can select a menu command in any open window without ever lifting a finger off your keyboard. And actually, there are two ways to do it. Press F10 to place the focus on the active window's far-left menu command (most likely, File). Use the left or right cursor keys to select the menu you want to expand, then press the down cursor key (or Enter) to expand it. Use the up or down cursor keys to select the command you're after, then press Enter. (Tip-in-a-tip: To collapse an expanded menu, press Esc.) If you prefer the more direct approach, use the Alt key in combination with a menu command's underlined letter. For example, to select File, Save As in a Microsoft Word window, press Alt-F to expand the File menu, then press the letter A (the underlined letter in Save As). Once you become comfortable with this method, you'll never go back to mouse-ing it (especially for oft-used commands).

RENDER YOUR RECYCLE BIN USELESS Are you the type of person who deletes something only if you're absolutely sure you'll never need it again? Can't remember a time when you had to retrieve a deleted item from the Recycle Bin--ever? If you need to conserve disk space and wish you didn't have to worry about emptying the Recycle Bin (to free up all the disk space those deleted items take up), disable this trash can altogether. Right-click the Recycle Bin desktop item, select Properties, and select Do Not Move Files To The Recycle Bin. Remove Files Immediately Upon Delete. Click OK, and now when you delete something, it's really gone for good. (Note: You'll still have a small safety net. When you delete something, you'll have to click Yes to confirm that you really want to remove it.)

HE RECYCLES ME, HE RECYCLES ME NOT In our last tip, we showed you how to disable your Recycle Bin so that deleting items sends them off into oblivion the first time around, without a stop at the Recycle Bin: Right-click the Recycle Bin desktop item, select Properties, select Do Not Move Files To The Recycle Bin. Remove Files Immediately Upon Delete., and click OK. If you prefer less drastic measures, you can still limit the number of items that wind up in the Recycle Bin, but on a case-by-case basis. To delete an item from your system the first time around (in other words, to bypass the Recycle Bin), right-click the item, then hold down Shift as you select Delete. (Note: As with disabling the Recycle Bin altogether, you'll still have a small safety net. Even if you have the Display Delete Confirmation Dialog Box option turned off, using Shift-Delete to delete an item still presents you with the Confirm File Delete dialog box.)

And now for today's tip... ANYONE FOR PIE? Wondering how much hard disk space you have left? Open My Computer, select your hard drive, and its total capacity and free space appear in the status bar. Want the pictorial view? In the same My Computer window, right-click the drive and select Properties. Pink pie is free space, blue is eaten. (Note: If you have IE 4.0 installed, and you're viewing My Computer as a Web page, selecting a drive displays a black-and-white, free-vs-used-space pie graph on the left side of the window.)