Games Installation
If you can't find the games with your Win95 after having clicked on Start, Programs, Accessories, Games folder, then you will need to install them manually since games aren't part of a typical installation. Open the Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs, and click the Windows Setup tab. In the list of Components, double-click Accessories. Click the check box next to Games, OK twice, and when directed insert your Win95 installation software program. You can now access Solitaire, Hearts, Minesweeper, and FreeCell by selecting Start, Programs, Accessories, and Games. If you work in an office and don't see a Games component under Accessories, then an administrator has probably removed this component from the Windows Setup tab. 

FreeCell
Although FreeCell looks a lot like Solitaire in Win98/Me, it plays differently. FreeCell works with double-clicks. Instead of making you drag the cards around, FreeCell simply jumps them into place. The object is pretty simple. Sort the cards in order by suit and number from ace to king on the four right-hand squares. While moving the cards up there, you can move other cards temporarily to the four free cells, temporary card-storage areas, on the left side. If you moved the wrong card, just press F10. That's the Undo button, but only if you press it before clicking another card. If you are having difficulty with The FreeCell game in the Accessories, try creating one long sequential column on top of some unmatched cards to get more working space in the other columns. You can also try keeping as many free cells and columns open as possible and uncovering aces and moving them to home cells as soon as possible.

Game Controls
For parents worried about game addiction, The Game Deputy program for Windows searches a hard drive to see which games are on it. Reports will then let the parent know which games were played. This program also lets parents set limits on game play. These restrictions can set timers that control how long the game can be played and when. 

Hearts
Believe it or not, you can play hearts with sound effects. To enable these sound effects choose Game, Sounds or just press F8 in the game window. When hearts are broken, you will hear the sound of glass breaking, and when the queen of spades is played, the sound of a kettledrum. If you're playing and don't want to bother others with your play, turn those noises off by choosing the Games menu and clicking the Sound command to remove the checkmark. You can also change the speed of the game’s animation through the Options menu. If a pro at Hearts, you might want Fast animation. If, however, you’re just learning the game, then leave it on the default setting which is Normal. For anyone learning or rusty at Hearts, you might want to use the Search For Help option. Choose this option, enter search terms, and wanted information will be provided to you. The Help menu provides an index of useful information.

Helper Programs for Online Games
Most online games require you to download a “Helper Program” that makes the game work. These programs don't require much space, which means they download to your computer pretty quickly. The first time you try a game from Yahoo Games, AOL, or some other popular gaming site, don't be surprised if you're told your computer is missing something. Just follow any onscreen instructions, go through the download/instruction process, and get ready to play.

MineSweeper
Tip #1. If people in your family are addicted to the Minesweeper game that comes with Win98, they’re probably always working to top their best times for the beginner, intermediate, and expert levels. To throw them a curve ball, you can secretly modify the best times displayed by the program without even opening it by launching Notepad. Open the WINMINE.INI file in the WINDOWS folder, modify the score next to each of the three “Time” items to something impossibly low, and then insert your own name into the Name fields.

Tip #2. Your Minesweeper has one automated power tool. After marking all the mines around a 
particular square, using the right-click commands, you can click both mouse buttons at the same time on that surrounded square to uncover all of the surrounding unmarked squares at one time.

Solitaire
Playing Speed. If you like playing Solitaire, there is a way to improve your playing speed for this game. To place a card in its appropriate place in the top level, instead of dragging the card there, double-click it. For example, if you have an ace of spades showing on the upper level and a two of spades in the deck or in the lower level, just double-click the two to put it on top of the ace. You can also drag cards from one stack to another by placing the mouse cursor on a card, holding the button down, and moving the cursor, with the card under it, to another stack. Releasing the mouse button then leaves the card in this new position. If you click and drag a card that is not on the top of a stack, you will drag not only that card but also the cards above it to the smaller numbered cards. The biggest misconception in Solitaire is the idea that you want to get the cards as quickly as possible to the top. You do want to get them to the top, but you need to keep the cards in seven piles before absolutely having to move them up. The reason is that those cards let you play others on top of them. Believe it or not you can change the look on the back of the playing cards by choosing Game + Deck and double-clicking the card back of your choice.

Improving Access. To quickly open Solitaire or some other favorite game running Win98, use My Computer or Windows Explorer to locate the Windows folder on your main hard drive. When there, look for a file called SOL.EXE., right-click it, and choose Send To, Desktop. Now you have a shortcut to Solitaire right on your desktop called Shortcut to SOL.EXE. You can rename this shortcut by right-clicking it and choosing Rename.

Solitaire Sneak. Trouble in Solitaire arises when drawing three cards at a time from the deck because the card you really need is sandwiched in between others. No matter how many times you run through the deck, you'll never hit that card unless you press Shift+Alt+Ctrl while clicking the deck. That switches you to drawing one card at a time making sure you'll get every chance at the vital card.

Sound-Free Zone
If you have a new game and can’t hear any sound for some seemingly unknown reason, look at the System control panel and see if the IRQ (Interrupt ReQuest) Lines and DMA (Direct Memory Access) channel settings for the soundboard are the ones required by the manuals. Also check to see that the game is compatible with your type of soundboard and if you need to install any special driver software that came with the board or game.

Internet Games
If you like to play games but get bored having your computer as the opponent, play some games on the Internet. WinMe includes five different games that you play against other people via the Internet. To play the Internet games, click Start, Programs, Games. Choose the Internet game that you want to play and confirm that you want to connect to the MSN Gaming Zone. After you have been assigned an opponent, begin playing. During an Internet game, you can use the Chat List box to send messages to your opponent. To send a message, choose the message from the Chat List box and click Send. When you first start participating in Internet games, you will be paired with other beginning players. As your experience level increases, you will be matched with more skilled players.

Web Games
There are numerous web sites with games that may be of interest to you. For example, 
Boxerjam hosts a few dozen games varying in intellectual stimulation from sliding tile puzzles to more abstract word association games. There are also a number of game shows that track your score against other people playing at the same time. Kids Doman has games that tend to be arcade style with specific “Shockwave” and “Java” categories. There are also some semi-educational games such as Dinosaur Hunter that challenges young archeologists to piece together bones into a complete dinosaur while Space Trivia tests the future astronomer's knowledge of extraterrestial trivia.

Mysterynet is both a resource for mystery fiction fans and online gamers. CRpuzzles has everything from crosswords and picture scrambles to word and logic problems. The site requires the latest version of Microsoft’s Virtual Machine and runs best on Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher. The Grey Labyrinth has card games, Battleship, and crossword puzzles. This site is a collection of logic puzzles that can give your mind a good exercise. Lycos Games enables you to match wits with other players over the Internet. You can either participate in a game, watch other games in progress, or chat with other players and spectators. Some of the games include Backgammon, Checkers, Chess, Hearts, and Spades. Philosophy Games is a site devoted to logic and philosophy. InfoSpace’s PlaySite includes Battleship, Checkers, Scrabble, Asteroids, and Missile Command. A ratings system judges your play and lets you compare abilities to other players. The Puzzle Factory features a variety of puzzles, word searches, crosswords, mazes, slider, and Tangrams. Finally, Yahoo! Games has a good collection of 12 card games, 8 board games, and 13 solo games. They include Canasta, GoFish, Gin, Chinese Checkers, Anagram, Mah-jong and Solitaire to mention but a few of them.

Summary
Old and young computer users enjoy playing games on their computers. In fact, most senior citizens seem to have three major uses for their computers, e. g. to send/receive e-mail message, access the Internet, and play games. Some companies and schools may not want these and other games on their computer systems. If an office manager or system administrator, you can find details on removing games from the setup options so that they do not appear and can’t be added to your computers at this Microsoft Support Site:.