Windows (2000) Questions
I have to use Windows 2000 at work most of the time
these days. So ... coming from 10 years at Sun and then
six years at Apple, I ended up with a few UI questions.
I know, the answers to most of these are "You can't." or "Go buy
THAT software..." or "No." But I just thought I'd ask ...
Maybe someone out there has at least one or two answers that will
make me enjoy my time with Windows-2000 a little more.
Priority level: solutions to these questions would be sort
of like getting rid of a cloud of gnats that surround me
whenever I'm using Windows ... (i.e., not as serious as
the swarm of killer bees inside my head whenever I have to
help someone figure out a problem in the earlier, non-NT-based
versions of Windows).
- How can I change the default so that my nearby Printer
always assumes that it should print on both sides ?
- How can I add my own set of directories into the left half of the
"Save As..." panel in IE (or Mozilla) ?
- How can I slow down the drag-select scrolling so that it's usable?
- How can I stretch a cmd/cygwin window so that it's wider than
80 characters without having to go into the Preferences dialog?
- For that matter, is there a usable clone of the
System32cmd.exe that does not add a THIRD, incompatible
and poorly-engineered way to do copy/paste? (That is, in addition
to the X-windows' SECOND incompatible and poorly-engineered
way to do copy/paste, and the NORMAL way (control-c/control-v),
which was copied from Apple, except for using the wrong modifier
key and therefore breaking emacs.)
- And speaking of X-windows, is there a usable, reliable replacement
for X-Win32 that properly translates the X-selection BOTH WAYS
with the Windows clipboard? [X-Win32 has this habit of
getting into a state where it cannot paste the Windows clipboard
into an X app on Unix.]
- Can I remap the keyboard control key shortcuts in Outlook's email
message composer/editor so that they act like Emacs' keys?
(Ha ha.) Can I at least remap control-W so that it will close a
separate message window like it does for EVERY OTHER WINDOW IN
EVERY OTHER APP I USE ON MS-WINDOWS?
- I can check a box in the right dialog to get Windows to
associate XEmacs with a given filename extension; but how to
I get it to show up whenever I try to open a file with no
filename extension? [I've used Unix since 1975 or 1976;
using filenames without dots in them is a habit that's
fairly hard to break.]
The folks at work offered some helpful suggestions, and I'll
collect and publish the answers to as many of these as I end up finding
solutions for. My favorite responses were "Keep dreaming." and one
that said how cute it was to see a new Windows user who still
clings to a shred of hope of finding some way to make the
UI consistent.
5:02:23 PM
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