Windows for Corporate Support Professionals

Windows for Corporate Support Professionals
Background Issues Windows for Corporate Support Professionals

What’s Wrong with DOS? Where do I start ..
Limited to addressing 640 KB of memory Normally does not support multitasking, virtual memory, or access to protected memory Limited to 8088 CPU functionality

The History of Windows Windows 1 and 2.x Windows 3.0 Windows 3.1
A bit of a joke, you were probably better off with DOS! Windows 3.0 The first serious version of Windows Full of bugs and very unstable Windows 3.1 More stable with less bugs, better networking features Windows 3.11 Less bugs, faster, more features, excellent peer-to-peer networking Windows 95 Windows finally becomes a full 32 bit operating system DOS no longer required Much faster, making full use of 32 bit hardware

The Advantages of Using Windows
Multitasking Not restricted to 640 KB User Interface consistency Excellent API for developers Inter-program communication

The Windows HELP System
HELP engine built into Windows, stored as WINHELP.EXE Used by most applications Thus, Help within different applications looks and feels identical Help systems may be modified by applications as they are installed, for instance, the release of Word 6 introduced a modified type of Help interface

Tutorials and Help Within Windows Applications
Most applications (and Windows itself) contain tutorials, which are very useful for new users Encourage them to use these facilities! As later versions of applications are released, the Help files are often modified to give improved information concerning tips and tricks Word 2c contained a Help item called ANSWERS, which listed the most frequently asked questions concerning the use of the application Word 6 contains advanced CBT tutorials and interactive demos! Context-sensitive Help should be invoked when F1 is pressed

Real Mode, Standard Mode and Enhanced Mode
Windows 3.0 Limited to 1 MB memory Standard Mode: Windows 3.1 Limited to 286 chip functionality No DOS multitasking Limited use of memory (16 MB) with no Virtual Memory support No windowing for DOS programs Enhanced Mode: Windows 3.11 can only use this mode Windows 3.1 can use Standard or Enhanced mode Much better memory and multitasking and use of Virtual Memory

The Function of the CPU The heart of the PC system
Determines what will run on the system and how fast it will run Responsible for all the calculations within the system The CPU is in charge!

Intel 8086 16 data lines 20 address lines 1 MB of addressable memory
Real Mode only No memory protection No support for Virtual Memory DOS was designed for this chip! Used in the original IBM PC

Intel 80286 16 data lines 24 address lines 16 MB of addressable memory
Real Mode and 286 Protected Mode Limited Virtual Memory support Used in the original IBM AT

Intel 80386 32 data lines 32 address lines 4 GB of addressable memory
Real Mode, 286 Protected Mode, 386 Protected Mode and MVRM 2 TB Virtual Memory support (4 KB swap size) Windows 3.x can only address up to 16 MB of memory

i486 32 data lines 32 address lines 4 MB of addressable memory
Real Mode, 286 Protected Mode, 386 Protected Mode and MVRM 2 TB Virtual Memory support (4 KB swap size) Contains a co-processor and memory cache

Intel Pentium VERY FAST ! Very powerful
Ideal for servers or graphics manipulation Effectively contains two i486 CPUs VERY FAST ! Clocking speeds of 200+ MHz

CPU - Modes Review REAL MODE 286 MODE 386 MODE
8088/8086 Real Mode memory addressing Limited to 1 MB addressing No Virtual Memory No multitasking 286 MODE 80286/80386/i486/Pentium Inefficient Real Mode compatibility Protected Memory addressing 16 MB memory addressing Inefficient Virtual Memory Multitasking 386 MODE 386/486/Pentium Efficient Real Mode compatibility 4 GB memory addressing Efficient Virtual Memory Multitasking Multiple Virtual Real Mode (MVRM) 386/486/Pentium Multiple Virtual Real Mode Used to multitask DOS programs within Windows

PowerPC Not supplied by Intel Uses non-Intel instruction set
IBM, Apple and Motorola Uses non-Intel instruction set RISC-based Not Intel Inside

Bus Architectures ISA MCA EISA Industry Standard Architecture
The original PC bus architecture, introduced in with the advent of the IBM PC Upgraded with the release of the IBM AT in 1984 MCA Microchannel Architecture Introduced by IBM in 1987 Eliminated many ISA bottlenecks Never really took off EISA Extended Industry Standard Architecture Introduced in 1989 by a number of PC vendors An enhancement to ISA and a rival to MCA Use MSD to determine bus type

Additional Bus Types VESA and PCI PCMCIA
Originally developed for video, now used for hard disks and CD-ROMs PCMCIA A standard used extensively with portable PCs Physically small devices located on thin cards which plug into sockets at the back of the portable Expensive!

Plug and Play Plug and Play devices may be plugged into a PC and will be automatically configured (on the fly) by the PC Requires co-operation of: The PC ROM-BIOS Special ‘Plug and Play’ compatible devices The operating system (i.e. Windows 95) Makes installation of new devices much easier; no more messing around with jumpers and DIP switches. No more resolving conflicts between memory, I/O, DMA, and IRQs!

Windows 3.11 - Windows for Workgroups
Peer-to-peer networking Resource sharing Security at directory level SHARED RESOURCES

Windows NT 32 bit operating system Stable Does not depend on DOS
Two versions NT Server NT WorkStation At last, a version of Windows to match the box!

Windows 95 Does not require DOS as a separate pre-installed operating system Mixed 16/32 bit operating system The natural upgrade from Windows 3.x According to Microsoft Many powerful features not found in Windows 3.1, such as support for ‘Plug and Play’ Allows 16 bit DOS type device drivers to be used

OS/2 Warp OS/2 The latest version of OS/2
Powerful, fast, and mature 32 bit operating system Full pre-emptive multitasking, unlike Windows 95 Nice system, badly supported by third party vendors All dressed up with nothing to run! OS/2

? Other Developments The near future will see dramatic advances in:
CPU types and speed Memory technologies Hard disks Plug and Play buses Internet Etc. ?

Review Questions

Installing and Optimizing DOS
Windows for Corporate Support Professionals

HIMEM.SYS Device driver, loaded from CONFIG.SYS
An Extended Memory Specification (XMS) Driver HIMEM.SYS is an XMS driver used to set up Extended Memory, so that it conforms to XMS standards Any DOS program written to XMS standards, such as DPMI- enabled DOS applications, will require HIMEM.SYS to be present, as will Windows and all Windows-based applications Creates the High Memory Area (HMA) The HIMEM.SYS driver creates the High Memory Area (HMA) which is the first 64 KB above 1 MB It is created through the activation of an additional memory segment which provides access to an extra 64 KB memory block

The HMA Created by the HIMEM.SYS driver The first 64 KB above 1 MB
Normally the 20 address line is masked off for compatibility reasons HIMEM.SYS removes this masking, allowing access to an extra memory segment (block), using an extra offset address 640 KB 1 MB HMA UMBs MEMORY

EMM386.EXE (1) Device driver loaded from CONFIG.SYS
Allows DOS to access the UMBs Allows DOS to emulate Expanded Memory from Extended Memory EMM386.EXE has a number of different functions, all contained in a single driver

EMM386.EXE (2) EMM386.EXE allows DOS to access the UMBs
Without this line you cannot use a DEVICEHIGH (used to load device drivers into the UMBs) statement in your CONFIG.SYS or an LH (used to load a TSR into the UMBs) statement in your AUTOEXEC.BAT UMBs DOS HELLO

EMM386.EXE (3) EMM386.EXE can be used to emulate Expanded Memory from Extended Memory This is a completely separate issue from using EMM386.EXE to allow DOS to access the UMBs! Alternatively EMM386.EXE can be used to disable the possibility of creating emulated Expanded Memory from Extended Memory DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS Hello, my name is Extended Memory, BUT I will pretend to be Expanded Memory 1 MB 640 KB EMM386.EXE

EMM386.EXE (4) DEVICEHIGH LOADHIGH Sorry No Room!
The EMM386.EXE statement may also be used to prevent device drivers or TSRs from loading into specific areas of the UMBs, using an exclude statement DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXEX=A000-F000 This statement would exclude the whole UMB range and prevent any TSR or driver loading into the UMBs A B C F E D Sorry No Room! UMBs DEVICEHIGH LOADHIGH

The UMBs The space between 640 KB and 1 MB
Divided into six 64 KB blocks Items located within the UMBs include: Video memory ROM or RAM required by cards, including network cards EMS page frame ROM BIOS Shadow RAM Prior to the release of DOS 5, the UMBs used to be referred to as the ‘System Memory Area’ or the ‘Adaptor Memory Area’

Memory Blocks (Segments)
The first ten blocks are referred to as block 0 to block 9. The remaining blocks (the UMBs) are referred to as blocks A to F. Note the use of ‘0’ not ‘1’, as the first block A B C D E F UMBs 9

Items Requiring Memory (1)
Many cards that are inserted into the PC contain RAM or ROM chips These memory chips, by convention, are always located in your UMBs Some computers use a concept known as ‘Shadow ROM’. This means that the contents of the ROM are copied into an area of RAM, normally located with the UMBs This is due to the fact that accessing a ROM is slow (ish), whereas accessing RAM is very fast It is a way of speeding up the operation of the system ROM

Items Requiring Memory (2)
Video Memory (the memory used to store the pictures on your monitor) is located on special, separate, memory chips. It is normally located within the A or B blocks If you are using Expanded Memory (either physical or emulated), it requires a 64 KB ‘Page Frame’ which is located in the D or E blocks The computers ROM-BIOS chip is always located within the F block. On some computers which use the MCA and EISA buses, the ROM-BIOS is larger than 64 KB, and cannot be located within a single block. In such cases, the E block of the UMBs, will also be used

DOS=UMB Necessary if TSR’s or device drivers are to be loaded into the UMBs Without this line you cannot load TSRs or device drivers into the UMBs. In some cases, the statements DOS=HIGH and DOS=UMB are on separate lines. In other cases these two statements are contained in a single line, DOS=HIGH,UMB

Expanded Memory Emulation
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE number Requires a minimum 386 SX CPU Converts Extended Memory into Expanded Memory for those DOS programs that require Expanded Memory

MSD and MEM MSD MEM An undocumented utility shipped with Windows 3.1
Updated version supplied with DOS 6 First released (undocumented) with Windows 3.1 and is now part of DOS 6 (which includes an updated version). The MSD is an excellent tool for studying your system’s memory, as well as other aspects of your computer MEM Less friendly to use than MSD Introduced with DOS 4

System Info System Info is included with more recent Microsoft products (Word 6, Excel 5 etc.) To access System Info, click on the Help drop down menu of the application. Select the ‘About’ command, and then click on the System Info button Reports on system resources, Virtual Memory and physical memory Stored as MSINFO.EXE on disk (in \WINDOWS\MSAPPS\MSINFO) and may be set up as a Program Icon within a Program Manager Group

Memory Management (1) The CONFIG.SYS DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE These two lines are required to enable access to the HMA and UMBs, but do not load anything above 640 KB DOS=HIGH Used to load system files into the HMA DOS=UMB Needed to allow DOS to load device drivers or TSRs into the UMBs

Memory Management (2) The CONFIG.SYS DEVICEHIGH=
Used to load device drivers into the UMBs HIMEM.SYS allows DOS to access the HMA, while EMM386.EXE allows DOS to access the UMBs. However, neither of these lines actually moves anything above 640 KB. Additionally, the line DOS=UMB is required to allow you to move items into the UMBs The DOS=HIGH statement moves the DOS kernel into the HMA The DEVICEHIGH= statement loads the relevant device drivers into the UMBs, rather than loading them into the base area of the 640 KB memory space

Memory Management (3) The AUTOEXEC.BAT LH or LOADHIGH
Used to load TSRs into the UMBs By default most Terminate and Stay Resident (TSR) programs are loaded into the base of the 640 KB area If they are loaded high this means that they are loaded into the Upper Memory Block (UMB) area, located between 640 KB and 1 MB Some recent TSRs are able, by default (i.e. without the use of an LH statement), to load into the UMBs SmartDrive, the disk cache supplied with DOS and Windows can do this

Memory Conflicts The UMBs are required by: Video memory ROM-BIOS
ROM or RAM chips located in adaptor cards Device drivers or TSRs that are loaded high Some device drivers or TSRs that load high by default The UMBs, in total, only consist of six 64 KB blocks (even if you add the HMA, this only adds an additional 64 KB of memory) Many different items are trying to gain access to this rather limited area and sometimes you will find that they do not all fit!

MEMMAKER Introduced in DOS 6.0 Improved version released with DOS 6.2
Automatically optimizes the memory by altering the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS Has an ‘undo’ facility Beware of using the original version of MEMMAKER shipped by Microsoft. Often you could end up with less available conventional memory than you started with, hardly the point of memory management! However, later versions have improved dramatically, illustrating the first rule of computing ‘Never buy the first version of anything!’

Virtual Disks Use the RAMDRIVE device driver
Allows you to create a virtual drive (i.e. set aside part of your memory and pretend it is a disk) A RAMDRIVE will also be much faster than a physical drive Volatile! May be created using Extended Memory A virtual disk is useful for running applications that make a lot of disk access, such as a database Under Windows you should only create a virtual disk if you have lots of Extended Memory (i.e. over 16 MB)

SMARTDRIVE A disk cache utility
Improves access to (and from) the hard disks SMARTDRV.SYS introduced in DOS 5 had limited functionality SMARTDRIVE.EXE introduced with Windows 3.1 is much more flexible

DOS Commands To Avoid With Windows
Time to die! ASSIGN SUBST APPEND FASTOPEN See the TSR sections of SETUP.INF file for further information

Stacks Stacks are configured via the CONFIG.SYS command
Stacks are temporary data structures used by DOS and applications when processing hardware events Recommended Windows 3.1 default STACKS=9,256

SHARE Share prevents two applications from trying to write to a file at the same time and should be run from the AUTOEXEC.BAT SHARE /F:2048 /L:20 Provides 2048 B of Conventional Memory and will lock up to 20 files If you try to run Share from within Windows you will see an error message ‘Share has already been loaded’, regardless of whether or not you have previously run Share! The error message ‘not enough memory’ may mean, increase the SHARE file locking values in the CONFIG.SYS Networks may use their own file locking systems independently of the DOS SHARE command The message ‘Share Violation: File already in use’, means the SHARE utility has done it’s job!

DOS Startup Menus Introduced in DOS 6
Useful for starting either DOS only or DOS/Windows May be used to start a networked/non-networked environment, which is useful for portables Now...Where are we?

Windows Utilities Supplied With DOS
DOS 6 may install Windows-based utilities Changes the File Manager An undelete command is added to the File drop-down menu A Tools drop-down menu is added, containing Windows-based versions of: A backup facility An anti virus utility A disk compression utility Changes are made to the WINFILE.INI file and DLLs are incorporated into the [AddOns] section

Review Questions

Installing Windows - Standalone

Types of Windows Installation
From the installation diskettes Across a network, from a server Automated, using a script file Installations can be customized by editing: SETUP.INF APPS.INF CONTROL.INF ?

Sort out DOS First! CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT
Use the latest versions of drivers including: HIMEM.SYS EMM386.EXE SMARTDRIVE.EXE Printer and Video drivers Remove DOS TSRs or device drivers that are known to cause problems with the Windows installation As Windows accesses Extended Memory using XMS you will need HIMEM.SYS which is the DOS-based XMS driver EMM386.EXE is advisable, though optional Use of SMARTDRV.EXE is again optional, but running Windows with this (or an alternative cache) will result in very poor performance with certain applications!

Setup Will Modify DOS Configuration Files
Installing Windows may: Change the path statement Replace older drivers or TSRs with newer ones HIMEM.SYS EMM386.EXE SMARTDRV.SYS or SMARTDRV.EXE VDISK.SYS

Things to Consider Before Installation
Memory requirements Disk partitions Disk fragmentation Disk space Windows itself Windows applications Virtual Memory Print spooling Additional fonts Temporary file creation Future DOS upgrades Customize the installation, do you really need Solitaire and Mine Sweeper!

Full Setup vs Maintenance Mode Installation
Setup will search for previous Windows installations If a previous copy is found, Setup will enter ‘maintenance’ mode

Two Parts of the Windows Installation
First part Text-based Second part Graphics-based

Automatic Hardware Detection (?)
Windows will normally automatically ID your hardware The type of PC Video Mouse and keyboard Network (if any) On some PCs you have to manually ID parts of the hardware Including PC machine type

Express vs Custom Installation
Less interactive Faster Custom More interactive Allows users to specify which bits of Windows to install Slower

Searching the Disk for Installed Applications
Searches the path and/or specified drives for applications Beware of multiple instances of the same program (especially if searching local and network drives) Will detect DOS programs listed in APPS.INF and create the necessary Program Manager icon and PIF Will set up program icons within the APPLICATION group created in the Program Manager

Creation of Groups Within the Program Manager
Standard Program Manager groups Main Accessories Startup Games Applications (if the disk was scanned for applications) These groups are defined within SETUP.INF Windows is already on this PC!

Setting Up Printers You should install a printer driver
Even if no printer will be attached to the PC!

Running SETUP From Within Windows
May be used to add or remove Windows components Uses the same file SETUP.EXE

Fault Finding With Setup
Setup may be run using switches SETUP /? SETUP /i SETUP /c SETUP /t If the system hangs after installation Use a clean boot disk (or the SHIFT key trick with DOS 6) Check for incompatible drivers or TSRs Problems switching from DOS mode to Graphics mode Probably a graphics problem Try plain VGA instead of SVGA Check for UMB conflicts Set up error codes

Review Questions

Automated Windows Installation

What is an Automated Windows Installation?
Requires little or no user intervention Not much for me to do ...

Syntax for installing Windows, using a script called SETUP.SHH
Use a script file, SETUP.SHH to specify key installation parameters Allows a non-interactive installation Useful if installing Windows outside the US National characteristics may be itemized in the SHH file, instead of having to enter them manually each time you install Windows Useful if using ‘non-standard’ hardware To find the correct parameter syntax for many of the .SHH lines, you will have to examine the main SETUP.INF file Syntax for installing Windows, using a script called SETUP.SHH SETUP /H SETUP.SHH

[sysinfo] Section of SETUP.SHH
showsysinfo= Controls the display of the System Configuration screen Yes, to display the System Configuration No, to turn off the display

[configuration] Section of SETUP.SHH
Contains the following items: machine= display= mouse= network= keyboard= language= kblayout= NOTE: If upgrading a previously installed version of Windows, some of these entries will be ignored during the installation (specifically machine, display, mouse, and network). To force the value to be used during the upgrade or re-installation, place an exclamation mark (!) in front of the entry.

[windir] Section of SETUP.SHH
Used to define the directory into which Windows will be installed If no entry is defined here a dialog box will be displayed during installation requesting the target directory C:\WIN31

[userinfo] Section of SETUP.SHH
Used to specify the user name Used to optionally specify the company name Up to 30 characters Spaces may be used, providing the string is enclosed within quotation marks (“”) If no string is defined a dialog box will be displayed during installation requesting this information My name is Michael Caine NOTE: [userinfo] is ignored if performing a network installation

[dontinstall] Section of SETUP.SHH
Used to specify Windows components you do NOT wish to install Includes: Accessories Readme files Games Screen savers Bitmaps I said NO GAMES! THE BOSS

[options] Section of SETUP.SHH
Used to: Specify whether or not the disk should be scanned for applications which are set up at the end of the installation Specify whether the Windows Tutorial should be run at the end of the installation setupapps Will open a dialog box allowing the interactive setting up of applications that are found on the hard disk autosetupapps Will automatically set up all applications found on the hard disk tutorial Will run the Windows Tutorial at the end of the installation

[printers] Section of SETUP.SHH
Used to specify printers (and ports) that should be installed by the Setup program Two parts, the printer description, followed by the port value The printer description Must be enclosed in quotation marks (“”) String taken from the [io.device] section of CONTROL.INF The port value Values here are used to set up the [ports] section of WIN.INI

[endinstall] Section of SETUP.SHH
Use to define: Whether changes can be made to CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT Whether at the end of the installation the system: Exits to DOS Restarts Windows Re-boots the PC configfiles=modify configfiles=save endopt=exit endopt=restart endopt=reboot NOTE: If you are installing Windows across a network, using SETUP /n, then the reboot option is ignored and the system will exit to the DOS command line

Modifying .INF Files Take great care!
Backup all INI, INF, and SHH files to a diskette Remark out lines, rather than deleting them Start the line with a semi-colon (;) Tee Hee!

Review Questions

Customized Installations

What is a Customized Installation?
The installation of Windows may be customized using the ‘Custom’ interactive Setup option Alternatively, you can customize the files from which Setup obtains its information: SETUP.INF APPS.INF The *.SCR files You can automate a customized installation, using a .SHH script file

Key Files Used To Control Setup
SETUP.INF The main file used to determine how setup will install CONTROL.INF Contains information on printers and national items APPS.INF Contains information on how to integrate existing DOS applications into your Windows installation Helps in the production of PIF files Most files copied to the target hard disk during installation are stored on diskette in a compressed file format

SETUP.INF Sections General Display Keyboard National Mouse Network
System fonts Copy files Font Program Manager Groups Incompatible drivers Miscellaneous End of installation Setup information Special devices It's not as bad as it looks

SETUP.INF - [Dialog] Section
Can be used for customizing the Windows Installation Screen [dialog] caption=‘Microsoft Windows Setup’ exit=‘Exit Windows Setup’ title=‘Installing Windows 3.1’ options=‘In addition to installing Windows 3.1, you can:’ Any of these captions may be customized to include, say, the telephone number of your support department, or warning messages Have a nice day

SETUP.INF - [Data] Section
Specifies the disks that are required by the Setup installation routine May be used to add additional applications as part of the Windows setup process Each disk must be assigned a unique identifier number, and a volume name must be used for each additional disk Format n=path,disk name,disk tag n the disk number path is the path to find disk n disk name is the name that will be used when prompting the user disk tag is the volume name of the disk DISK 1

SETUP.INF - [disk] and [oemdisks] Section
Specifies the disks that are required by the Setup installation routine May be used to add additional applications as part of the Windows Setup process Each disk must be assigned a unique identifier number, and a volume name must be used for each additional disk Format n=path,disk name,disk tag n the disk number path is the path to find disk n disk name is the name that will be used when prompting the user disk tag is the volume name of the disk SPECIAL DISK

SETUP.INF [windows] and [windows.system] Sections
Used to specify the files that will be copied during the Windows part of the Windows installation Files listed within the [windows] section are copied into the \WINDOWS directory Files listed in the [windows.system] section are copied to the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory Files followed by the word ‘Net’ instruct Setup to only copy these files if you are installing to a network server using SETUP/n \WINDOWS \WINDOWS\SYSTEM

SETUP.INF [Shell] Section
Allows you to specify an alternative Windows shell This will modify the shell= statement in the SYSTEM.INI file that is subsequently generated May even be used to specify an application ?

SETUP.INF - [display] Section
SPECIAL DISK Used for modifying display drivers or for customizing Setup so that it can use drivers not normally shipped with the default version of Windows 3.1 If you require the use of non-standard display drivers you will be prompted to insert the additional disk from the hardware manufacturer which contains the drivers. This will not customize this option Syntax Profile=driver, driver description, resolution, 286grabber, logo code, VDD, 386grabber, ega.sys, logo data, optional section

SETUP.INF - Keyboard Sections
Used to define the type of keyboard and keyboard drivers In the UK use: bridll = 2:kbduk.dll , "British".

SETUP.INF - [Language] Section
Outside the United States you must specify a language DLL file In the UK the correct DLL file is eng = 2:langeng.dll, "English (International)" ,2057 Not any more you’re not! I’m American!

APPS.INF Placed in the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory during Windows Setup
Sections include: [dontfind] [dialog] [base_PIFs] [enha_dosprompt] [pif]

APPS.INF [dontfind] Section
Windows programs listed in this section will not be found when you search the disk for applications Avoids duplicate installations when running Setup from within Windows Additional programs may be added to this section Will prevent users from incorporating program icons into the Program Manager for programs that you would prefer remain hidden on the disk

APPS.INF [dialog] Section
Contains the title text that Setup will use to describe a program in the Setup Applications dialog box

APPS.INF [base_pifs] Section
Defines a batch file used for creating the _DEFAULT.PIF

APPS.INF [enha_dosprompt] Section
Defines the memory requirement for running the DOS prompt under Windows in Enhanced Mode

APPS.INF [PIF] Section Lists PIF parameters for DOS applications
Used to generate a customized PIF file for each DOS program that is found during the search of a disk The program icon is also defined here Normally using an icon from MOREICONS.DLL The program icon is automatically created within the Applications group of the Program Manager

APPS.INF [PIF] Section Details
The files listed must be maintained in strict lexicographical order The [PIF] section contains numerous parameters used to define a PIF file exe file pif name window title startup directory close window flag icon name icon number standard pif 386 pif ambiguous exe optimized pifs

CONTROL.INF Contains information about printers used by the Control Panel during Windows setup Contains three sections: [io.device] [io.dependent] [country]

CONTROL.INF [io.device] Sections
Lists printers supported by Windows 3.1

CONTROL.INF [io.dependent] Sections
The Control Panel will check to see if the selected printer driver requires other files, that need to be copied to the \Windows\System\ directory These additional files include: Soft font installers Font files Help files

CONTROL.INF [country] Sections
Lists items used by the Control Panel for setting international formats Uses exclamation marks (!) as field delimiters

Review Questions

Installing Windows on a Network

Special Network Considerations
Where will the Windows files be installed? All on the local PC or all on the server Some locally, and some on the server What about diskless workstations? The Windows 3.1 Resource Kit contains specific information on installing Windows onto: 3 Com Artisoft Lantastic Banyan VINES DEC Pathworks IBM OS/2 LAN Server IBM PC LAN Microsoft LAN Manager Novell TCS 10Net Ungermann-Bass Net/One

Diskless Workstations, Networks and Windows
Windows must be installed to, and run from, the server The TEMP environment variable is used to define the disk location for Print Manager spooling Set TEMP to a virtual disk or a server directory

Changes to the Windows Display on Network PCs
Control Panel Setup window File Manager Printer dialog box Local CD-ROM drive Extra File Manager Drive Icons Local drives Networked drives

Licence Issues! Stay legal! Can use third party licencing packages
Be careful of networking applications Lotus supplies a licencing facility built into the products PAY ATTENTION TO LICENCING

SETUP /A Administrative setup SETUP /A Copies Expands
Files are made ‘Read Only’ Windows Installation diskettes Server PC

SETUP /N Network setup Work Stations Server
Ensure that the shared copy of Windows and the users personal network directory are both in the path! Network setup SETUP/N run from workstations Limited number of files installed either on the workstation or in a personal directory on the server (specific to that workstation) WIN.COM, plus INI and GRP files All other files are shared Shared copy of Windows Work Stations Server

Automated Network Installations
You can combine SETUP /N with automated script installations! To automate the Setup use the Setup /H SETUP.SHH switch in conjunction with the /N switch Use different SHH files for different classes of users, i.e. ACCOUNTS.SHH NOVICE.SHH EXPERT.SHH You can specify the type and network version in the SHH file

Windows, Networks and SYSTEM.INI
The three sections of SYSTEM.INI that may be modified when integrated into a network: [boot] [standard] [386enh] Some network cards may need you to manually add a [386enh] section, EMMExclude statement to resolve UMB memory conflicts Some PCs (using MCA) will require you to set a larger DMA buffer than normal. To set a 32 KB buffer, use the syntax: NETDMASize= (The ISA default is 0) Sometimes you may need to increase the data buffer size allocated by Windows, use the syntax: NetHeapSize=20

SRC Files Source files for INI files SETUP /A WIN.SRC WIN.COM
When expanded using the ADMINISTRATIVE setup (SETUP/A), they can be edited and customized SETUP /A WIN.SRC WIN.COM SYSTEM.INI SYSTEM.SRC CONTROL.SRC CONTROL.INI

NETWARE.INI - Undocumented Feature
Create or modify NETWARE.INI Add a new section: [Options] NetWareHotKey=123 Buttons displayed include: Map Drives Map Printers Attach Server Detect Server Network Options Permanent List Change Hot key Close The number 123 is the keyboard scan code for F12 so to activate the pop-up window press the F12 key No extra functionality added, just more convenient!

Controlling Windows on a Network
Restrict access to server directories Make files read-only Program Manager [Restrictions] Control Panel [Don’t Load] Use standard shared GRP files Modify the name of the Startup group? Why can't I have a picture of my cat as background wallpaper? I’m the boss!

SYSTEM.INI [386Enh] Section - Network Settings
NetAsynchFallback= NetAsynchTimout= NetDMASize= Netheap= Network= TokenRingSearch= INT28Critical=

Review Questions

Loading Windows - Key Files

WIN.COM Switches WIN /? WIN /S WIN /3 WIN FILENAME

Viewing the File Loading Order - WIN /B
Produces a log file in which you can examine the loading order of files

Windows File Loading Order
In Standard Mode WIN.COM DOSX.EXE KRNL286.EXE In Enhanced Mode WIN386.EXE KRNL386.EXE WINSTART.BAT (optional)

WIN386.EXE Is responsible for the management of: Virtual Memory
DOS sessions Memory management, including the conversion of Extended Memory to Expanded Memory if required by a DOS application When starting Windows, WIN386.EXE automatically converts any unused emulated Expanded Memory back to Extended Memory, for use by Windows Scheduling within Windows File I/O operations Loading of executable files within Windows

DLLs Loaded When Starting Windows (in Enhanced Mode)
The three main DLLs loaded during the loading of Windows 3.1 are Kernel DLL (KRNL386.EXE) User DLL (USER.EXE) GDI.DLL (GDI.EXE)

KRNL386.EXE Manages the basic Windows system functions
Controls all the machine resources to: Manage memory Load applications Schedule programs

USER.EXE Detects user input (from the mouse or keyboard) and directs it to the correct programs within Windows Provides support for the Windows interface, including minimizing to icons and control of dialog boxes

GDI.EXE Manages the graphics and printing
The GDI.EXE owns a single 64 KB memory heap which it uses for managing the GDI (Graphical Device Interface)

Windows System Device Drivers
Provides the connection interface between Windows and the hardware Windows Device drivers Hardware

Files Loaded to Support DOS Applications
WINOA386.MOD Provides the main support for running DOS applications within Windows *.3GR ‘Grabber files’, specific to a particular type of video card Takes DOS-based video calls and translates them for use within Windows, which converts the call to a Windows-based video call In Enhanced Mode DOS applications are controlled within Windows by WINOA386.MOD In Standard Mode DOS applications are controlled within Windows by WINOLDAP.MOD

Loading Programs Automatically
Copy program items into the StartUp group NOTE: May be bypassed by depressing the Shift key when Windows starts up Edit the WIN.INI file LOAD= Loads as an icon RUN= Runs within a window Enter the command WIN filename

WINSTART.BAT Allows the loading of TSRs necessary for Windows programs, but not required by DOS programs Does not take memory from a DOS virtual machine running under Windows

[boot] Section of SYSTEM.INI
Used to define: The Windows shell (PROGMAN.INI) Mouse driver Network driver Language DLL Sound driver Keyboard driver System driver 386 grabber files (vga.3gr for VGA) OEM fonts Fixed fonts Display driver

[boot.description] Section of SYSTEM.INI
Lists the boot devices required: Keyboard type (Enhanced 101 or 102 key US and Non US keyboards) Mouse driver (i.e. Microsoft, or IBM PS/2) Network driver (i.e. Novell NetWare shell versions 3.21 and above) Language DLL file (in the UK =English (International)) System driver (i.e. MS-DOS System) Codepage used (i.e. 437 or 850 in the UK) Windows Old Application fonts (i.e. woafont.fon=English (437)) Aspect=100,96,96 Display driver (i.e. VGA)

Review Questions

Program Manager and File Manager Review

The Program Manager Default Windows shell, defined in WIN.INI
SHELL=PROGMAN.EXE Two level structure Groups Program Icons Configuration stored within PROGMAN.INI

Copying vs Moving Program Icons
First select the icon To move the icon to another group Drag and drop To copy the icon to another group Drag and drop while depressing the Ctrl key Can you select multiple program icons?

Saving the Program Manager Configuration
Can use the ‘Save Settings on Exit’ command Better to use an undocumented feature: Depress the Ctrl and Shift key and double-click on the Program Manager System (Control) icon Configuration is saved in PROGMAN.INI

Program Manager Restrictions
Documented in the Windows 3.1 Resource Kit Allows you to restrict what users can do when using the Program Manager NoRun= NoClose= NoSaveSettings= NoFileMenu= EditLevel=0 EditLevel=1 EditLevel=2 EditLevel=3 EditLevel=4 What No Close?

Customizing the Program Manager Groups
Groups can be created, deleted, or renamed PROGRAM GROUP PROGRAM ITEM

Program Manager GRP Files
Program Manager groups are each held as separate .GRP files Not text files Standard groups (and Program Icons) can be regenerated using an undocumented switch SETUP /P Uses information defined in SETUP.INF

Adding, Deleting and Renaming Program Icons
Any Program Icon within the Program Manager may be modified Via the File drop down menu To easily add Program Icons to a group Use the File Manager combined with drag and drop techniques Use the Del key to delete Program Icons

Modifying Program Icons
MORICONS.DLL and PROGMAN.EXE both contain icons that can be used to represent programs set up within a Program Manager group Change the icons by selecting the File drop down menu, and then selecting Properties Click on the Change Icon button and select an icon from a file containing icons

[settings] Section of PROGMAN.INI
Used to define saved settings that determine the display of the Program Manager [Settings] Window= display.drv=vga.drv Order=

[groups] Section of PROGMAN.INI
Used to define each file that contains information concerning Program Manager groups [Groups] Group1=C:\WIN31\MAIN0.GRP Group2=C:\WIN31\ACCESSO0.GRP Group3=C:\WIN31\GAMES0.GRP Group4=C:\WIN31\STARTUP0.GRP Group5=C:\WIN31\APPLICAT.GRP

The File Manager Stored on disk as WINFILE.EXE
Configuration information held within WINFILE.INI

Common End-User File Manager Problems
Tree and Directory views View ‘by file type’ Viewing hidden files THINK ABOUT THESE

File Association Data files can be associated with program files
There are different icons for associated and non-associated data EXE File Associated Non-associated

[Extensions] Section of WIN.INI
Stores file associations File association means that a data file extension is linked with a particular executable file Double-clicking on an associated data file within the File Manager will first run the associated executable file, and then load the selected data file into the applications File associations are set up automatically when installing applications Use the File Manager to add further associations NOTE: In Windows 3.1, file associations are also held in the Registration Database which takes precedence over WIN.INI {Extensions] entries How do Program Manager data file icons indicate whether the file is associated or not?

File Manager Shortcuts (1)
To display a new drive and its directories Ctrl+driveletter To display all sub-directory levels Ctrl+* (use the * on the numeric keyboard) You can do this using an undocumented feature by depressing the Shift key whilst clicking on a drive icon To select all files in the current directory Press Ctrl+/ To deselect all files in the current directory Press Control+\ To cycle through all open directory windows Press Ctrl+Tab

File Manager Shortcuts (2)
To tile all open directory windows Press Shift+F4 To cascade all open directory windows Press Shift+F5 To refresh the screen display Press F5 To delete selected files Press Del To open a selected directory Press Enter I will be asking questions later

Selecting Multiple Files Within the File Manager
To select a single file Click on the file To select multiple contiguous files Click on the first file Depress the Shift key and click on the last file in the contiguous block required To select multiple non-contiguous files Depress the Control key (and keep it depressed) Click on the required files to select them Release the Control key

Copying vs Moving Files
To move files within the same drive Select the file(s) Drag and drop to a new folder icon To copy files within the same drive Select the file(s) and depress the Control key Drag and drop to a new folder icon and release the Control key To copy files to a different drive Drag and drop to the required drive icon To move files to a different drive Select the required file(s) and depress the Shift key Drag and drop to the required drive icon and release the Shiftkey

What is WINFILE.INI? The file used to hold customization options for the File Manager WINFILE.INI

[Settings] Section of WINFILE.INI (1)
Usually contains only one section called [Settings] Window= Records the size, position, and windows/minimized status of the window Dir1= Saves the current directory listing Face= The typeface used within the display. The default is Small Fonts Size= The point size used. The default is 8 LowerCase= Lowercase 1, uppercase 0

[Settings] Section of WINFILE.INI (2)
ConfirmDelete= 1 if the user is prompted before file deletion ConfirmSubDel= 1 if the user is prompted before directory deletion ConfirmReplace= 1 if the user is prompted before file replacement ConfirmMouse= 1 if the user is prompted before dragging and dropping operations ConfirmFormat= 1 if the user is prompted before formatting a diskette

Review Questions

The Control Panel and Windows Accessories

The Control Panel Used to customize the interface and install device drivers Can be deleted as a Program Manager icon But may be run using the File/Run command on the Program Manager, using the file name CONTROL.EXE

The Control Panel Window
Icons include: Color Fonts Ports Mouse Desktop Keyboard Printers International Date/Time Drivers Sound Enhanced and Network depend on how you are running Windows Applications may add icons Non-standard window Settings stored in CONTROL.INI

Color Sections - CONTROL.INI
[Current] Section of CONTROL.INI defines the current color scheme used within Windows [Color Schemes] Section of CONTROL.INI Defines the color used for specific components within Windows Customized using the Color icon within the Control Panel [Custom Colors] Section of CONTROL.INI Defines the customized colors set up using the Custom Color Pallet located within the Color option, in the Control Panel

[colors] Section - WIN.INI
Specifies the colors that will be used by the various components making up the Windows screen display Will only appear in the WIN.INI file if you have modified the colors (via the Colors icon within Control Panel) Items include: Background color Application workspace The three parameters that follow each entry define the color mix of red, green, and blue and must be in the range 1 to 255

[Patterns] Section - CONTROL.INI
Defines the color used for background bit patterns

[keyboard] Section - SYSTEM.INI
Used to define: Keyboard type Keyboard DLL file (kbduk.dll in the UK)

SYSTEM.INI - [386Enh] Section Keyboard Settings
KeyBoostTime= KeyBufferDelay= KeyIdleDelay= KybdPasswd= KeybdReboot= LocalReboot=

[Windows] Section of WIN.INI Relating to Mouse Settings
MouseTrails Default is 0. Can be used to set a mouse cursor that leaves ‘trails’ on the screen May be useful for people giving presentations on direct projection systems MouseSpeed Default is 1. Defines the relationship between physical movement of the mouse and the movement of the mouse pointer on the screen. A setting of 0 moves the mouse pointer across the screen more slowly, and a setting of 2 increases the relative speed of the mouse pointer SwapMouseButtons= Allows you to reverse the actions of the two mouse buttons, as used by Windows. May be useful for left-handed people

[Desktop] Section of WIN.INI (1)
Defines desktop items Defines the wallpaper or pattern display Icon spacing on the screen Screen granularity Setting changes via the Control Panel are all entered in this section, apart from the enabling/disabling of screen saver passwords which is stored in a separate section

[Desktop] Section of WIN.INI (2)
GridGranularity= Default is 0. Defines an invisible grid used to position a window on the screen IconSpacing= Default is 77. Defines the screen spacing (in pixels) of icons IconTitleFaceName= The default is Microsoft Sans Serif. Defines the font used to display icon titles. May be changed for persons with a visual impairment, or to improve the quality of screen dumps that are being used for production of documentation manuals IconTitleSize= Default is 8. Defines the font size used to display icon titles. May be changed for persons with a visual impairment, or to improve the quality of screen dumps that are being used for production of documentation manuals IconTitleWrap= Default is 1. Allows the wrapping of icon titles

[Intl] Section - WIN.INI
The International section which allows you to customize Windows settings for a particular country, including: Country Language Keyboard layout Currency Measurements List separators Time and date formats

[Screen Saver.name] Section - CONTROL.INI
Defines the color used for background bit patterns

[Installed] Section - CONTROL.INI
Lists the current version of Windows and installed printer drivers

Control Panel - ‘Don’t Load’
Undocumented feature Removes specified items from the Control Panel Edit CONTROL.INI But I want MY PICTURE in the background ! [Don’t Load] Color=1 Will prevent the Control Panel from displaying the Color icon, preventing users from changing the preset colors

Control Panel - Sound Drivers
Software sound drivers Hardware sound cards Embedding sound clips using OLE Go ahead, make my day! You must install sound drivers prior to assigning sounds to Windows events

The Windows Accessories
Contains standard accessories including: Write Paintbrush Terminal Notepad Recorder Cardfile Calculator Clock Object Packager Character Map Sound Recorder

The Clock Accessory Analog or digital display
Can be run ‘Always on top’

The Windows Recorder Accessory
Useful macro recorder Do NOT record mouse movements and clicks - only record keystrokes! Undocumented feature allowing you to see what you have recorded (but does not allow editing) Open the recorder, with a macro loaded into it Select the macro you wish to view Depress the SHIFT key Select the Macro drop down menu Click on the Properties command Release the SHIFT key

The Calculator Accessory - Beware!
Two modes - Standard and Scientific Bugs! No square root function in scientific mode! Try subtracting 2.1 from 2.11 using the Windows 3.1 calculator, you may be surprised by the result! The result is due to a rounding bug in the Microsoft C run-time library The first version of Windows NT also had this bug

The Notepad Accessory Limited to 50,000 characters
You often need to use the DOS editor, called EDIT For instance, the APPS.INF file is too big to be edited using NotePad You can associate INF files with EDIT.COM Remember that the DOS Edit program, in turn, required the presence of QBASIC.EXE to make it work Tee Hee They still need me!

The Character Map Accessory
Useful for accessing characters not on the keyboard, such as the copyright symbol May be used to identify the keyboard code for directly entering a particular character or symbol Alt+xxxx where xxxx is a four digit code, entered using the numeric keypad, representing the ANSI code Often more efficient to use a utility within the application you are using Microsoft Word has an Insert/Symbol command

SYSEDIT - An Undocumented System Editor
Undocumented editor allows you to edit: AUTOEXEC.BAT CONFIG.SYS WIN.INI SYSTEM.INI Does not allow editing of other important INI files Stored as SYSEDIT.EXE You can also associate INI files with the NotePad program, in which case, double-clicking on an INI file will launch the NotePad Editor This is only useful on text-based INI files Each INI file can then be set up as a Program Icon within a Program Manager group

Review Questions

DOS and Memory - A Review

Conventional Memory Defined by addressing limitations of the 8086/8088 CPU Is the first 1 MB of memory Not protected Traditionally only 640 KB used by DOS and DOS applications 1 MB USED BY THE SYSTEM 640 KB DOS APPLICATIONS DOS 0KB

Segment/Offset Memory Addressing
DOS Designed to run on the 8086 CPU which has 20 address lines Maximum addressable memory of 1 MB BUT DOS is a 16 bit operating system Uses the 8086 with 16 bit registers Maximum number supported by a 16 bit register is 64 KB THUS Two 16 bit registers are used: The segment register The offset register These two 16 bit numbers are combined to produce a single 20 digit binary address (5 hex digits) The segment is offset one hex place enabling 1 MB memory addressing

Extended Memory Memory above 1 MB Protected
Used by Windows and Windows applications The original CPU for which DOS was designed only had 20 address lines Could only address a maximum of 1 MB In 1984, with the release of the IBM AT based on the Intel CPU The number of address lines was raised to 24, giving a maximum memory address range of 16 MB The first 1 MB was addressed in Real Mode, while the remaining 15 MB were addressed in Protected Mode and were referred to as Extended Memory 386/486-based PCs can, in theory, address 4 GB of memory Lots Extended Memory 1 MB Conventional Memory

XMS (Extended Memory Specification)
Defines a standard used to access Extended Memory DOS and Windows use a driver HIMEM.SYS to control access to the XMS memory

DOS Extenders Extended Memory Conventional 1 MB Lots DOS extenders are codes that are built into certain DOS programs to allow them to access Extended Memory Lotus 3.x for DOS I want some of this! DOS Program

VCPI and DPMI DOS Extenders
The original type of DOS extender Suitable only in non-multitasking environments (i.e. DOS) Not supported by Windows Used in Lotus 123 Version 3.0 DPMI Developed by Microsoft with Windows in mind Supported by Windows Acts as a client to HIMEM.SYS which is an XMS memory server Used in Lotus 123 Version 3.1 DPMI (DOS Protected Mode Interface) is designed to allow multitasking Lotus 123 version 3.10 (which used a VCPI DOS extender) was re-written and released as Lotus 123 Version 3.1, which used a DPMI DOS extender This version works fine under Windows (assuming the Windows PIF files have been sorted out!)

Expanded Memory Used only by certain DOS applications OLD DOS PROGRAM
Windows applications do not require Expanded Memory Used to extend the life of old 8086-based PCs (which could only address 1 MB of Conventional Memory) Modern DOS programs will tend to use Extended Memory rather than Expanded Memory If DOS only uses 640 KB of memory, how can I get more? OLD DOS PROGRAM

How Traditional Expanded Memory Works
32 MB 1 MB The 64 KB page frame within the UMBs is used to map to the Expanded Memory The memory on the Expanded memory card is logically seen as a number of blocks 640 KB Requires: Special Expanded Memory card Device driver 64 KB page frame in the UMBs Expanded Memory card

How Emulated Expanded Memory Works
Treats an area of Extended Memory as Expanded Memory Under DOS, requires an EMS driver such as EMM386.EXE, often called a LIMulator Windows also contains drivers for emulating Expanded Memory (for use by DOS programs requiring Expanded Memory, under Windows) DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE 1024 Windows can use the EMM386.EXE driver, but also has its own built-in Expanded Memory emulator NOTE: Windows itself does not require or use Expanded Memory Extended Memory, emulating Expanded Memory 1 MB 640 KB

LIM EMS Version 3.2 vs. 4.0 LIM EMS 3.2 LIM EMS 4
Only data can be stored on the Expanded Memory card Uses four 16 KB page frames which must form a contiguous page frame in the UMBs Uses bank switching to find memory located anywhere on the Expanded Memory card LIM EMS 4 Both data and code can be stored on the Expanded Memory card Can use 64 pages simultaneously (each one consisting of 16 KB) The page frame does not have to be contiguous and can use ‘backfilling’ Backfilling involves relocating the page frame below 640 KB (normally down to 256 KB), removing the system board memory, and letting the Expanded Memory cards map into that memory space

Virtual Memory Treats part of your disk as if it were memory
Used by Windows and Windows applications, but not by DOS Transparent to Windows applications Only used when physical memory is full DOS was designed for the Intel 8086 CPU, which did not support Virtual Memory. Consequently, DOS does not support Virtual Memory Virtual Memory is used by Windows 3.1 which was designed to run on 286 and 386 CPUs (which do support Virtual Memory) Virtual Memory Physical Memory

Typical DOS CONFIG.SYS DEVICE=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE
DEVICE=C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE /DOUBLE_BUFFER DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS DOS=HIGH DOS=UMB FILES=60 BUFFERS=10,0 LASTDRIVE=Z COUNTRY=044,,C:\DOS\COUNTRY.SYS DEVICEHIGH /L:1,15792 =C:\DOS\DISPLAY.SYS CON=(EGA,,1) STACKS=9,256 SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS\ /P DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\DRVSPACE.SYS /MOVE

Typical DOS AUTOEXEC.BAT
@ECHO OFF C:\DOS\SHARE.EXE /l:500 /f:5100 C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE PROMPT $p$g PATH C:\WINDOWS:C:\WINWORD;C:\DOS; C:\DOS\KEYB UK 437 C:\DOS\KEYBOARD.SYS SET TEMP=C:\TEMP C:\DOS\MODE CON CODEPAGE PREPARE=((437) C:\DOS\EGA.CPI) C:\DOS\MODE CON CODEPAGE SELECT=437 C:\DOS\KEYB UK,,C:\DOS\KEYBOARD.SYS

Review Questions

Windows and Memory Windows for Corporate Support Professionals

Virtual Machines Windows itself, and all Windows-based applications run in a single virtual machine Each DOS application runs in its own virtual machine Virtual DOS Machines Windows/System Virtual Machine 1 MB 640 KB 1 MB Real Mode memory 0 KB

Virtual Machine Size The virtual machines used for running each DOS-based application under Windows may be of variable size (dictated by the PIF settings that apply to that program) Windows overhead used for managing CPU and Video registers Small virtual machine for a DOS utility program Large virtual machine, for a DOS application

Virtual Machines and Memory
If the DOS program requires use of Expanded Memory, this is provided by Windows itself Expanded or DPMI Memory is specified via the PIF I want Extended (or Expanded) Memory for this DOS program Thanks! No problem NOTE: VCPI is not supported under Windows

System Resources There are three memory heaps used to manage System Resources The three 64 KB areas that form the Windows 3.1 memory bottleneck! MENU heap Lots of memory USER heap GDI heap BEWARE THE GDI

System Monitor Program
Supplied with the Windows 3.1 Resource Kit and can monitor: Free memory GDI resources User resources May be run as a dynamic icon set to display ‘Always on top’ NB: SYSMETER.EXE uses TOOLHELP.DLL to determine total free memory

Enhanced Mode and Memory
DOS Protected Mode Interface (DPMI) translation buffers are loaded into the UMBs by default Translation buffers are memory storage areas used to translate calls from Real to Protected Mode memory (or vice versa) Unable to use a physical Expanded Memory card, but able to emulate it automatically on demand Uses Extended Memory, via the HIMEM.SYS XMS driver loaded via the CONFIG.SYS

Virtual Memory Treats part of the disk as if it were extra physical memory Only used when physical RAM is full Only used in Enhanced Mode Configured via the CONTROL PANEL

The Virtual Memory Manager (VMM)
Controlled by the Virtual Memory Manager (VMM) Demand paged memory The VMM controls swapping of 4 KB pages in conjunction with support from the CPU, using a LRU (Least Recently Used) algorithm RAM Uses Virtual Memory when full VMM

Virtual Memory and Physical Memory
In Windows, the memory available to Windows and applications running under it, is equal to the physical RAM plus the size of the Virtual Memory swap file Memory is Memory!

Virtual Memory vs Temporary Files
Do not confuse Virtual Memory with the use of temporary files within Windows, they are two completely different subjects! FREE MEMORY TOTAL MEMORY Temporary files MEMORY USED BY WINDOWS AND APPLICATIONS

Virtual Memory and Virtual Disks
Never try to locate the paths from different workstations to point to the root directory of a network server ? Do not try to locate a Virtual Disk in Virtual Memory!

Modifying the Swap File
Use the Control Panel Select the 386 Enhanced icon Click on the Virtual Memory button The drive The type The size Use of 32 bit access (?)

Temporary Swap Files WIN386.SWP Slower than a permanent swap file
May be non-contiguous Accessed using the DOS FAT Can be used on a compressed drive or Novell formatted drives Created in \WINDOWS by default Whoops memory full again! WIN386.SWP

Temporary Swap File SYSTEM.INI Settings
[386enh] PagingDrive= Defines the drive on which the temporary swap file will be created If using network drives do not specify the root directory MaxPagingFileSize= Defines the maximum size of the temporary swap file Microsoft recommend a minimum setting of 1024 (which will allows 4 KB page swapping) Below 512 KB, inefficient 64 KB segment swapping is used for the Virtual Memory swapping MinUserDiskSpace= Limits the growth of the temporary swap file, so that you still have space to store data on the disk!

Permanent Swap Files Faster than a temporary swap file
Uses contiguous disk space Accessed directly by Windows (avoiding DOS FAT) Cannot be used on a compressed drive or Novell formatted drive 386SPART.PAR and SPART.PAR TIP: Use an undocumented feature DEFRAG /Q to quickly defragment your disk prior to installing Windows or re-sizing/creating your permanent swap file

Permanent Swap File Disk Access
By default, a permanent swap file will access the disk using the BIOS As opposed to using the DOS interface method used by a temporary swap file If your hard disk is compatible with FastDisk Use 32 bit disk access FAST DISK BIOS FAT FAST SLOW 32 bit access? NOT ALWAYS COMPATIBLE

Permanent Swap File SYSTEM.INI Settings
PagingFile= Defines the swap file PermSwapSize= Defines the size of the swap file PageOverCommit= Defines the maximum memory that can be used Maximum page over commitment is 20 (which allows a swap file 19 times that of your physical memory)

SYSTEM.INI [386Enh] Section General Memory Settings
PSPIncrement= ReservedHighArea= SysVMEMSLocked= SysVMXMSLimit= SysVMXMSRequired= A20EnableCount= LocalLoadHigh= MinUnlockMem= UseableHighArea= WindowsKBRequired= XlatBufferSize=

Review Questions

Running DOS and DOS Applications

Implications of Running DOS and DOS Programs Under Windows
Do you have access to the full 640 KB? Run in Extended (Protected) Memory Multiple DOS programs can be run

Full Screen vs Windowed
Faster Windowed Slower Some DOS programs will not run in a window due to the way they access the graphics hardware DOS sessions can be customised with regard to fonts and multitasking If the PIF file controlling the DOS session permits it, the windowed DOS session may be closed using the mouse Command line sessions must be closed using the EXIT command

DOSAPP.INI Used to store the screen position and font used by DOS applications running under Windows FONTS SCREEN POSITION I WILL MAKE A NOTE OF THAT DOS Program DOSAPP.INI EXIT

WINDIR An environment variable
The environment is an area of memory used by DOS and Windows for storing information and variables (such as Path and Prompt) When a DOS session is running within Windows, the WINDIR variable is always placed within the environment View the environment using the DOS SET command windir=C:\WINDOWS Note: This variable is in lower case and cannot easily be tested for using the normal %EnvironmentVariable% syntax

Changing The Prompt Within a Windows DOS Session
When you first enter a DOS command line session within Windows, a warning box is displayed telling you how to get back to Windows This message scrolls off the screen as you enter text and run DOS commands To remove the warning box displayed when running DOS within Windows, edit the SYSTEM.INI file: [386Enh] DOSPromptExitInstruc=False To set a Windows DOS prompt use: SET WINPMT= You can set this environment variable to display a message warning users that they are running DOS within Windows

Font Sizes and Setting the Number of Screen Lines
You can change the font size used by a windowed DOS session Click on the Control icon and select the Fonts command 10 font sizes can be selected, which will also change the size of the window that the DOS session is displayed in To change the number of lines displayed within a DOS session from 25 to 50, edit SYSTEM.INI [NonWindowsApp] ScreenLines=50

Mouse Support Under DOS
Requires installation of a DOS-based mouse driver, MOUSE.COM When running DOS in a window, mouse support may be disabled by editing the SYSTEM.INI file [NonWIndowsApp] MouseInDosBox=0 It still works

DOS Session - Screen Refresh Rate
To set the screen refresh rate (the screen refresh rate of a DOS session is slower in a window than in a full screen session), edit the SYSTEM.INI file [386Enh] WindowUpdateTime=250 Default value is 50 This number sets the priority given to the DOS application window as opposed to Windows tasks running in the background Me, Me ... Me, Me ...

File Settings Under DOS the maximum number of files that can be opened is set in the CONFIG.SYS, using the Files=statement Use Files=60 (or more if necessary) Under Windows, attempting to run a DOS program may produce the message ‘Insufficient File Handles, Increase File in CONFIG.SYS’ Increasing the Files= statement may not cure the problem! Edit the SYSTEM.INI file, and add/edit the PERVMFILES= statement [386Enh] PERVMFILES= This defines the number of files per virtual machine Default of only 10 files per DOS session within Windows

DOS Commands That Should Not Be Used!
CHKDSK /F SHARE SUBST ASSIGN APPEND SCANDISK See the [TSR]s sections within SETUP.INF NO WAY!

Shelling Out From DOS Applications
Beware - This is a good way of losing memory from your system! Totally unnecessary within a Windows environment Stress this to users upgrading from DOS to Windows-based packages! Old habits die hard! Let me explain! I want my DOS PC back

Multitasking DOS Applications
Priorities are set via the DOS application PIF

What Are PIF Files? Determines how a particular DOS program will run within Windows Not used by Windows programs You should define a PIF file for each DOS application If no PIF file is created for a particular DOS application, it will use the settings defined within _DEFAULT.PIF

The PIF Editor Used to edit and create PIFs

PIF - File Name, Window Title, Parameters and Startup Directory
Program File Name Full path and file name Window Title An icon description Optional Parameters Any parameters that you would normally add when running the DOS program from the command line Use ? to prompt for a parameter Start-up Directory Defines the drive and directory that will be used as the current directory by the program

PIF - Video Memory Text Low Graphics High Graphics
Reserves memory to run a text-based application (about 16KB) Low Graphics Reserves memory to run a CGA graphics-based application (about 32KB) High Graphics Reserves memory to run an EGA- or VGA-based application (about 128KB)

PIF - Memory Requirements
Required vs Desired The amount required defines how much memory must be available before the program will start Use a setting of -1 to allow the program to use all memory that is discarded by Windows Memory Requirements (Conventional) Defines the Conventional Memory needs of the program EMS Memory Defines the Expanded Memory needs of the program XMS Memory Defines the Extended Memory needs of the program

PIF - Display Usage and Close on Exit
Full Screen vs Windowed Defines how the DOS program will start up Once started use Alt+Enter to toggle between full screen and windowed Close Window on Exit If on, the DOS session automatically closes when the DOS application running within it terminates If off, the DOS session will remain open when the application terminates

PIF - Background and Exclusive Execution
Background Execution Allows a DOS program to run in the background Uses the PIF defined Background Priority setting May be overridden by the WINEXCLUSIVE=YES setting within SYSTEM.INI Exclusive Execution If on, allows the DOS application to run exclusively (compared with other DOS applications) Can a PIF file setting be set up to be both background and exclusive and, if so, what would this mean?

PIF - Advanced Multitasking Options
What is Priority? Priority is not defined in time units, it is purely a number that has meaning relative to the priority number given to other DOS applications that may be running Background Priority Defines the relative CPU time an application gets in background execution Ignored if background tasking is not enabled Foreground Priority Defines the relative CPU time an application gets in foreground execution Detect Idle Time Allows Windows to switch the CPU to other activities if the DOS program does not use allocated CPU time

PIF - Advanced Memory Options
EMS Memory Locked If on, Windows will not swap the application EMS memory to disk XMS Memory Locked If on, Windows will not swap the application XMS memory to disk Uses High Memory Area Lock Application Memory

PIF - Advanced Display Options
Monitor Ports Only required on older graphics cards (EGA), which used Write Only registers Emulate Text Mode When on, will improve the rate at which text is displayed on the screen Turn off if the text (or cursor) become garbled when you switch back to a DOS-based program Retain Video Memory If on, locks the video memory and prevents Windows swapping it to disk

PIF - Other Advanced Options
Allow Fast Paste Allows an improved, faster method of communication with the Clipboard Switch off if use of the Clipboard becomes unstable Allow Close When Active If on, enables the CLOSE option within the windowed DOS session to be used Default is off, requiring users to type EXIT to close a DOS command line

PIF - Shortcut Keys Reserve Shortcut Keys Application Shortcut Keys
Reserves a key combination exclusively for use by the application Reserving the PrtSc key is common Application Shortcut Keys Defines a key combination that will bring a running DOS application to the foreground Does NOT launch DOS programs!

Running DOS in the Background
By default DOS programs do not run in the background Change this on the fly by clicking on the Control icon and selecting Settings. This allows you to select the Background Tasking Option Change this setting more permanently by modifying the PIF multitasking settings What about me!

PIF Files and APPS.INF During installation, the APPS.INF file is used to define PIF files for common DOS programs discovered during a search of the hard disk The APPS.INF files contain all necessary parameters used to define a PIF file APPS.INF SETUP.INF

Windowed DOS Control Menu Settings
Allows you to change the way a DOS program runs on the fly Does NOT update or modify a PIF file Display Options Full screen or Windowed Priority Foreground or background Tasking Options Background/Exclusive Special Terminate

SYSTEM.INI [386Enh] Section DOS Specific Settings
DOSPromptExitInstruct= FileSysChange= Global= Local= MouseSoftInit=

SYSTEM.INI [386Enh] Section - EMS Settings
AllEMSLocked= EMMExclude= EMMInclude= EMMPageFrame= EMMSize= NoEMMDriver= ReservePageFrame= SysVMEMSLimit= IgnoreInstalledEMM= Do I really want Expanded Memory? You tell me!

[NonWindowsApps] Section of SYSTEM.INI
Typically only contains one line: [NonWindowsApp] localtsrs=dosedit,ced OTHER ENTRIES CommandEnvSize= DisablePositionSave= FontChangeEnable= GlobalHeapSize= MouseInDOSBox= NewAsynchSwitching= LocalTSRs= Any TSR that is listed here is copied to each virtual machine created under Windows

Review Questions

Running Windows Applications

Running Programs Automatically and Customising How they Run
To run programs automatically Use the StartUp group Or modify the WIN.INI file Run= Load= To run programs as icons Modify the Program Icon properties Or depress the Shift key when double clicking on the program icon

Working Directory May Be Ignored
The Working Directory Should define the default location for opening files Word for Windows 6 uses internal settings Program Manager Properties Box Word 6 Option Settings

Win32s and Visual Basic Extensions
Win32s is a set of virtual device drivers (VxDs) and Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs) that allow some Win32 based applications to run on top of Windows 3.x If you install a 32 bit program and see the message ‘This program cannot run in DOS mode’ then you will need to install these additional (free) files Other programs may require a run time version of Visual Basic Freely available from Microsoft

Windows and Timeslicing
Set via the Control Panel, Enhanced section Stored in SYSTEM.INI, [386enh] section MinTimeSlice= WinTimeSlice= WinExclusive= CPU Each application receives a percentage of CPU time

Scheduling Within Windows - MinTimeSlice
The Minimum Timeslice can be modified using the Enhanced section of the Control Panel Stored in the SYSTEM.INI [386enh] section MinTimeSlice=milliseconds The MinTimeSlice value is the minimum amount of time allocated to each virtual machine, before the CPU is switched to another virtual machine Default=20

Scheduling Within Windows - WinTimeSlice
You can schedule different values for foreground and background processing of Windows applications Stored in SYSTEM.INI, [386enh] section WinTimeSlice= SYSTEM.INI [386enh] WinTimeSlice=100,50

Running Windows Programs Exclusively
You can use the Enhanced icon within the Control Panel to set Windows programs to run exclusively Only the Windows program in the foreground will run! SYSTEM.INI [386enh] WinExclusive=On (default=OFF) Also ... KeyBoostTime=

DLL Files Dynamic Link Library files
Can be held on disk until required by the main EXE file Save memory Make bug fixing and upgrading easier Many spelling and grammar checker facilities are written as DLLs and only loaded when required!

TSRs required by Windows applications
WINSTART.BAT Allows TSRs to be loaded for Windows applications Does not affect memory in DOS virtual machines TSRs required by Windows applications Just what I wanted! TSR... What TSR?

SYSTEM.INI - [386Enh] Section - Multitasking Settings
ALLVMsExclusive= AllXMSLocked= MinTimeSlice= WindowsUpdateTime= WinExclusive= WinTimeSlice= IdleVMWakeUpTime=

[compatibility] Section of WIN.INI
Used to pass extra information concerning listed applications to Windows Not well documented Not even mentioned in the Windows 3.1 Resource Kit! For more information see Microsoft PSS ID Number Q82860

[MS User Info] Section of WIN.INI
Only present if you have installed part of Microsoft Office [MS User Info] DefName= DefCompany=

[MSApps] Section of WIN.INI
Only present if you have installed part of Microsoft Office [MSAPPS] MSAPPS= ORGCHART= ARTGALRY=C MSGRAPH5= SHEETCNV= TEXTCONV= GRPHFLT= MSINFO= PROOF= EQUATION= WORDART= MSQUERY= MSGRAPH=

Review Questions

The Clipboard Windows for Corporate Support Professionals

The Clipboard Concept An area of memory used for storing text and/or graphics Only one item may be stored at a time THE CLIPBOARD EXCEL WORD

Copying or Cutting Data
Select an item From the Edit menu, select Cut or Copy Copy Copies the selected item to the Clipboard Cut Moves the selected item to the Clipboard Keyboard shortcuts Copy = Ctrl+C Cut = CtrlL+X

Pasting Data Move the insertion point to the location where you wish to insert the contents of the Clipboard From the Edit menu, select Paste Or press Ctrl+V Note: The application into which you are pasting data must understand the information on the Clipboard! I don’t see any text!

The Clipboard and ClipBook Viewer
Is only a viewing tool Not the Clipboard itself! Can be used to examine the format(s) of the data held in the Clipboard Can be used to clear the contents of the Clipboard Windows 3.1 Clipboard Viewer Windows 3.11 ClipBook Viewer

DOS And The Clipboard Only text can be copied or pasted
Running DOS in a window allows limited Clipboard access Only text can be copied or pasted

Screen Dumps and Producing Documentation
Print Screen Copies the entire contents of the screen to the Clipboard Alt+Print Screen Copies the active window (or iconised program) to the Clipboard Question: How was the screen dump on this slide produced (displaying a drop down menu)?

Multiple Clipboard Formats
Only one item of data can be held in the Clipboard But this data can be held in multiple formats!

Using ‘Drag and Drop’ to Copy or Move
Many recent applications allow drag and drop techniques to move or copy selected data THIS MECHANISM DOES NOT USE THE CLIPBOARD To move Drag and drop To copy Drag and drop with the Ctrl key depressed Also right-hand mouse activates pop-up menus NOTE: In many cases you can drag and drop between different application windows!

The Microsoft Word Spike
Unlike the Windows Clipboard the MS Word Spike can store multiple items This is specific to MS Word Many other Windows applications also have localised Clipboard extensions

SYSTEM.INI - [386Enh] Section Clipboard Paste Settings
KeyPasteCRSkipCount= KeyPasteDelay= KeyPasteSkipCount= KeyPasteTimeout= AltPasteDelay=

Review Questions

DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange)

The DDE Concept DDE server application broadcasts update messages
DDE client receives the message and automatically updates the display For instance, a graph produced in Microsoft Excel may be dynamically linked to Microsoft Word If you change the graph in Excel the graph displayed within Word will be automatically updated Just keep talking Hello, hello ... EXCEL 4 (DDE SERVER) WORD 2 (DDE CLIENT)

Using DDE Copy the item to the Clipboard from the DDE server application in the normal way Switch to the client application, and use the Edit/Paste Special option to paste a link from the server application Not all Windows programs can support DDE Most recent programs use OLE, which is far superior

DDE - Manual vs Automatic Updating
When changes are made to the information within the server application updating may be either automatically or manually controlled Automatic updating The client application always displays the latest information May slow down system performance Manual updating Does not affect system performance Allows old versions of data to be examined prior to updating with fresh data

Review Questions

OLE 2 Windows for Corporate Support Professionals

What is OLE? Object Linking and Embedding Embedding Linking
The data is copied from one program and embedded in another program The embedded object becomes part of the target programs data Changing the original source data will not change the embedded data Linking The data in the source program is linked to data in the target program If changes are made to the original data, this may be reflected in the target program

OLE Terminology Source document Container document Object applications
Contains the data that will be linked Container document The receiver of a linked object Object applications An application capable of creating an embedded object In-place editing The facility to directly edit embedded objects

DDE vs OLE Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)
Involves a DDE application transferring information to a DDE client application Both applications must be open Not very robust! Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) More flexible More robust Allows for creation of compound documents Supports many types of data Text, graphics and sound OLE can be a little slow; buy a fast PC with lots of RAM

OLE Data Object Types Presentation data Native data Presentation data
Presentation data is the information required to render the object on the display device Native data Native data is the data required for an application to be able to edit an object Presentation data Native data

Linking vs Embedding (1)
Beware! Linking Only the object’s presentation data is placed within the document, along with a reference point to its native data The associated native data exists in a separate location, often a file stored on disk If the object is updated the result of that update appears automatically within the compound document From the user’s perspective, the linked object acts as if it were part of, and contained within, the compound document As not all of the data is stored within the compound document this reduces the file size overhead This advantage is offset by the fact that if the compound document containing the linked object is moved to a different computer, with a different filing system, it cannot be edited

Linking vs Embedding (2)
When an object is embedded, the presentation and native data is stored within the compound document All the necessary information for editing the object is now located within the compound document As all of the object’s data is stored within the compound document, this increases the file storage size overheads Has the advantage that this object may be transferred, along with the compound document that holds it, to a different computer where it can still be edited

Benefits of Using OLE MORE PRODUCTIVITY
Allows document centric computing Less reliance on applications, disks, and files Linking allows you to save disk space Avoids duplication of disk eating bitmaps! Allows transmission of data across a network Without having to also send the application that created it The Boss MORE PRODUCTIVITY

New Features of OLE 2 OLE 2 Adaptable links Drag and drop
Improved disk and memory usage Inter-programmability Logical pagination of objects Nested object support Object conversion OLE Transaction Management System Storage independent links Version management OLE 2 NEW IMPROVED FORMULA

OLE 2 - In-place Activation
Microsoft Word - before in-place activation Microsoft Word - after in-place activation

OLE 2 - Drag and Drop The chart can be dragged from Excel, directly into a Word document

OLE 2 - Inter-Object Dragging
Objects can be nested within other objects Nested objects can be ‘dragged and dropped’

OLE 2 - Storage Independent Links
OLE 1 linking mechanism is file system dependent OLE 2 linking mechanism is file system independent In theory! No worries! OLE 2

OLE 2 - Adaptable Links Links should be maintained if you copy a linked object to a new disk location In theory! File moved

OLE 2 - Programmability User level Programmer level
More features incorporated by program designers Easier to integrate data between different programs Programmer level Improved OLE command set They act like a single program!

OLE 2 - Logical Pagination of Objects
Embedded objects can now be spread across multiple pages Using imposed, logical, page breaks within the host

OLE 2 - Version Management
OLE 2 compliant objects retain an awareness of the version release of the program used to create them Hi, I'm an embedded object and I was created with a very old version of your program

OLE 2 - Object Conversion
OLE 2 embedded objects may be selected and the format changed In this example an Excel chart has been embedded in a Word document

OLE 2 - Improved Disk and Memory Usage
When using OLE 2, objects are only loaded in memory when they are actually required If necessary only part of the object is loaded Container I’m not really in memory, it just looks that way. I will load from disk when I am needed! Embedded Object

The Registration Database
Central database used to store information concerning OLE applications Stored as REG.DAT To view the Registration Database Basic view run REGEDIT Advanced interface run REGEDIT /V

REG Files Used to install the Registration Database
Installed into the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory Text file, may be edited (with care) Now everyone who speaks my language knows where I am Application REG File Registration Database

SETUP.REG The file used to install the Registration Database within Windows 3.1 A text file which may be edited with care Important message located within SETUP.REG! Some of these entries duplicate those found in WIN.INI. For example, the file extension associations to executables. SHELL.DLL always looks in the Registration Database before it looks in WIN.INI for this information, so it is efficient to include it here.

Embedding Objects Using the File Manager
Objects may be dragged directly from the File Manager to an application Providing the application is OLE compliant! EXE files can also be dragged and dropped in this way, notice the Calculator icon!

The Object Packager Used to package objects
Icon normally set up in the Accessories group Limited use and functionality

Linking and Updating Issues
Links can be: Updated manually Updated automatically Locked Broken

Using OLE 2 and E-Mail Systems
Data or entire programs, can be embedded within a document and transmitted using normal techniques TechNet uses this approach to distribute file and program updates and demos Embedded Object DOCUMENT

OLE vs OpenDoc A technology produced by Apple Computers, IBM Corporation, and WordPerfect Corporation Not yet proven Head-on competitor to OLE 2 technology!

[embedding] Section of WIN.INI
Used to list server objects and is used in connection with OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) This section is only used to maintain compatibility with Windows 3.1 programs This information is also stored in the Registration Database

Review Questions

Disks and CDs Windows for Corporate Support Professionals

Disk Interfaces (1) The disk interface is the link between magnetic storage on the disk and movement of ones and zeros across a computer bus ST506 Original drives supplied with the IBM PC, XT, and AT PCs Limited to supporting a 40 MB hard disk Slow ESDI Enhanced Small Device Interface Used in early Compaq’s Faster than ST506 cards and supported larger disks

Disk Interfaces (2) IDE SCSI Integrated Drive Electronics
All the electronics necessary to support the hard disk are within the drive, no separate card required Used to be limited to 500 MB, more recent versions support 1 GB drives SCSI Small Computer System Interface Connects directly to the PC bus and supports bus mastering Very fast Supports very large disks, as well as other devices such as CD-ROMs and tapes Up to seven devices may be daisy-chained together

Using CD-ROMs Within Windows
Requires a hardware driver so that your system can recognise the CD-ROM drive This will depend on the make of CD and the way it interfaces with the system EIDE vs proprietary (i.e. Sound Blaster) DEVICE=C:\ATAPI\TOSHV111.SYS /D:MSCD000 Also requires a software driver - C:\WINDOWS\MSCDEX.EXE /S /D:MSCD000 /L:D CD-ROM drive as displayed within the File Manager

Virtual Disks May be created under DOS and used by Windows
May be useful on diskless workstations for storage of temporary files Improves performance (but only if you have a lot of memory) DO NOT use a virtual disk for Virtual Memory swapping! The latest Microsoft bulletins suggest you should only use a virtual disk under Windows if you have more than 16 MB of RAM Set up via the CONFIG.SYS file DEVICE=C:\DOS\RAMDRIVE.SYS /e REMEMBER: The word ‘virtual’ means pretend, imaginary, not real

SMARTDRIVE - Read Caching
Hard disks are slow (typically 10 milli-seconds average access time) Memory is fast (typically 70 nano-seconds average access time) When data is requested from the disk the requested data (plus the rest of the sector) is retrieved, given to the program requesting it, and also stored in the cache (in Extended Memory) The next time data is requested the memory cache is checked first. If it is in the cache there is no need to physically access the hard disk

SMARTDRIVE - Write Caching
Data is written to an area of memory, rather than the physical hard disk Periodically the cache is flushed, and physically written to the disk Write caching speeds up disk writes but may lead to data loss if power is lost before the cache is flushed SMARTDRIVE /C Forces flushing of the cache

SMARTDRIVE for DOS and Windows
SmartDrive memory use By default, the SmartDrive driver is loaded into the UMBs The memory used for the caching is taken from Extended Memory When SmartDrive is loaded under DOS, a large amount of Extended Memory is set aside for the cache by default When Windows is started, the size of the cache is automatically downsized, as Windows can make better use of the Extended Memory The size of the cache for DOS and Windows may be hard coded The first number is the cache size under DOS The second parameter is the cache size under Windows SMARTDRIVE

SMARTDRIVE Monitors Allows you to dynamically monitor SmartDrv hit rates Supplied with the Windows Resource Kit and also with DOS 6.22 May be run as a dynamic icon ‘Always on top’

SMARTDRIVE and Buffers
Normally the CONFIG.SYS buffers statement will be set to 10 when using Windows with SmartDrv installed Use a DOS menu system for PCs that sometimes run only Windows programs and at other times run only DOS programs That way the user can determine configuration at boot-up time Do you want to run DOS or Windows today?

Hardware Disk Caching Many disks are now supplied with extra memory on-board that is used as a hardware cache More efficient than software caches

SMARTDRIVE and Double Buffering
With some bus mastering hard disk controllers, double buffering is required When Windows is installed, it detects whether bus mastering is required Double buffering writes the information to an area in conventional memory, prior to writing to a disk Enter SMARTDRIVE from the command line to see the status of read and write caching, as well as whether double buffering is enabled Enabled via the CONFIG.SYS file DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE /DOUBLE_BUFFER

SMARTDRIVE vs VCACHE SmartDrive VCACHE
The cache used by Windows 3.1 Caches diskettes, CD-ROMs, and hard disks Run from the AUTOEXEC.BAT VCACHE Used with 3.11, together with SmartDrive Does NOT cache CD-ROMs or diskettes Set from the Virtual Memory dialog box Note: Windows 3.11 will normally use SmartDrive AND VCACHE to cache different types of drives

32 Bit Disk Access (1) 32 bit access is possible in Protected Mode, without the need to revert to Real Mode (which slows down access) The installation routine determines whether 32 bit access is possible with the installed disk drives If suitable the driver is installed BUT you must switch it on! The 32 bit driver is called WDCtlr (Western Digital Controller) BEWARE: Do not use 32 bit access on laptops that have a hardware activated ‘sleep mode’

32 Bit Disk Access (2) Modifies the SYSTEM.INI file
[386enh] device=*wdctrl device=*int13 32BitDiskAccess=off The * indicates the driver is internal in the Windows kernel The *int13 traps and virtualises the Interrupt 13 BIOS call that most programs (including DOS and Windows) use to access the hard disk Even if 32 bit driver access is installed it is turned off by default and must be switched on manually (using the Control Panel) As an extra check, Windows will look for 32 compatibility each time Windows is started

VFAT - 32 Bit File Access DOS and Windows 3.1 use the File Allocation Table (FAT) Windows 3.11 allows use of a 32 bit filing system called VFAT Enabled via the Virtual Memory dialog box within the Control Panel Normally faster than FAT May not work with all types of hard disk Does not work with diskettes or CD-ROMs VFAT cannot be used on a volume compressed using DOS 6.0; later versions are OK though!

VSHARE , SHARE and File Sharing
DOS and Windows 3.1 solution to sharing files Uses Conventional Memory VSHARE A Virtual Device Driver (VxD) used by Windows 3.11 and replaces SHARE Uses Extended Memory If SHARE is loaded this controls access before Windows is loaded and when you exit Windows. If you do not need SHARE remove it and save 5 KB of memory space See Microsoft PSS ID Number Q90239 for further information

Virtual IRQs To force Windows to use the ROM BIOS interface, rather than using virtualising requests directly to the hard disk controller Edit the SYSTEM.INI file [386Enh] VirtualHDIRQ=off The default is ‘on’ which improves performance but may cause problems with certain disks

The Temp Variable The temp variable is used to define the disk and directory where temporary files will be stored May point to a virtual disk to improve efficiency Defined in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file SET TEMP=

Disk Compression Issues (1)
Disk compression allows more data to be stored on a disk by using a disk compression algorithm A question mark hangs over all disk compression utilities What happens if it fails? Will reduce disk access speeds A permanent swap file may not be located on a compressed drive

Disk Compression Issues (2)
Stacker One of the original disk compression utilities Not part of DOS, supplied by a third party company DoubleSpace Introduced in DOS 6.0 The Microsoft version of Stacker (who sued and forced Microsoft to withdraw the product) DriveSpace ‘Legalised son of DoubleSpace’ Introduced in DOS 6.2 SuperStore Used in IBM PC-DOS

Virtual Memory and Disks
Total RAM Total Virtual Memory = + Total Memory available to Windows That’s a lot of memory!

Saving Space Using Bitmapped RLE Files
Convert your BMP files to 4 bit/pixel RLE files RLE files are directly supported by Windows and take up less disk space I must be bilingual BMP Files RLE Files

[386Enh] Section - DMA Settings
DMABufferIn1MB= DMABufferSize= HardDiskDMABuffer= MCADMA= ? What is DMA?

Review Questions

Printing and Fonts Windows for Corporate Support Professionals

Types of Fonts Raster (Bitmapped) Fonts Vector (Outline) Fonts
Stored as bitmaps Cannot be scaled (except for exact multiples) or rotated Require large amounts of disk space Fast to use (no rendering required) Vector (Outline) Fonts Stored as a series of mathematical equations Need to be rendered by the CPU using Windows GDI calls Slower than Raster fonts Can be scaled or rotated TrueType Fonts A type of outline font using a technology specially developed for Windows 3.1

Raster Fonts and Windows
A raster font contains a description of how to draw the font on-screen at a certain size, that is specific to a particular display, such as EGA or VGA Raster fonts supplied with Windows 3.1 include: Courier Microsoft Sans Serif Microsoft Serif Small Symbol

TrueType Fonts Windows 3.0 was not WYSIWYG, 3.1 is!
14 typefaces supplied with Windows 3.1 All TrueType fonts supplied within Windows (except Wingdings) allow hinting Windows requires two files to handle TrueType fonts .FOT .TTF

TrueType Screen Font Generation
The GDI reads the TrueType character from a TrueType file The GDI generates an exact bitmap which is copied into memory

Installing Fonts Installing via the Control Panel
Fonts take up memory and resources so do not install more than you need

Embedding TrueType Fonts
Makes the transfer of fonts within a document legal Read-only embedding allows the recipient of a TrueType document to view it Read/write embedding allows editing and printing of the document without the need to install the specific fonts on the target machine All TrueType fonts shipped with Windows 3.1 are read/write enabled 4 levels of embeddable fonts 1 No embedding 2 Preview and print 3 Editable 4 Installable Embed TrueType fonts?

FINSTALL.DIR Useful for reinstalling soft fonts after a reinstallation of Windows Reinstalling Windows wipes out the soft font entries in the WIN.INI file To reinstall the soft fonts Open the Printer Setup dialog box Click on the Fonts button Depress the Ctrl+Shiftkeys Specify the location of FINSTALL.DIR Select the desired fonts which are displayed and click on the Move button Specify a target directory To create FINSTALL.DIR Open the Printer Setup dialog box Click on the Fonts button Press Ctrl+Shift and click on Exit A special dialog box is displayed which will save the soft font information to a file called FINSTALL.DIR

ATM Not supplied with Windows 3.1
A third party Font Manager supplied by Adobe Very useful for type setters and graphic designers Not so useful for everyone else Bundled with most Lotus Windows applications What do I do with it?

Printing From DOS and Windows Applications
Most Windows applications print through a single, globally installed, printer driver Each DOS program requires its own printer driver to be installed WINDOWS PRINTER DRIVER

Interfacing With The Printer
Using Interrupt 21 DOS applications normally use device names (such as LPT1) Use the standard Microsoft DOS Interrupt 21 file access services Slowest, but most compatible method Using the ROM BIOS Interrupt 17 Accessing the printer via the BIOS involves sending one character at a time to the printer Very inefficient Accessing the LPT1 port directly Fastest method But requires 100% hardware compatibility SLOW Interrupt 21 ROM-BIOS FAST LPT

Installing Printers Via the Control Panel
Multiple printer drivers may be installed Only one printer driver is active at any one time Good idea to install the postscript printer driver even if it is not required immediately

Printer Memory Issues The more memory you install in the printer, the faster you will be able to print Make sure that Windows knows how much memory is installed on your printer! Options displayed when using an HP III printer

The Print Manager A print spooler
Use the Print Manager or use network spooling High, medium, or low priority Print jobs may be cancelled

Setting Up Printers Resolution Paper size and source Memory installed
Paper orientation Dithering Laser printer cartridges Postscript printers have far more configuration options

Connecting Printers Ports - Serial or Parallel
Network printing options Time-out and retry settings Fast printing direct to port

Forcing Windows To Use The BIOS For Printing
Windows normally prints directly to the parallel port, avoiding the BIOS To force Windows to use the BIOS: Edit the WIN.INI file from this: [ports] LPT1:= to this: LPT1.PRN= WINDOWS DOS BIOS PRINTER

PCL vs Postscript PCL (Printer Control Language) Postscript
Not so good for DTP Device dependent Reasonably fast Current version PCL5 used in HP LaserJet 4 series Normally used with resolution enhancement Postscript Much more flexible and configurable Slower More expensive hardware required Ideal for graphics and DTP Device resolution dependent

Printer Driver Bugs Original Windows 3.1 HP LaserJet III driver had a fatal bug Try scrolling through the Clipboard Viewer after dumping the background to the Clipboard! I want a printer driver upgrade!

TESTPS.TXT Useful for testing Postscript printers
If printing works under DOS but not under Windows, fix your Windows! COPY /B TESTPS.TXT LPT1: Well it’s not your printer that’s broken! TESTPS.TXT

I’m cheap, cheerful, VERY fast and LAZY!
GDI Printers Low cost Fast May only be used with Windows, NOT DOS! I’m cheap, cheerful, VERY fast and LAZY! I will have to do all the work!

The Windows Printing System
Microsoft’s hardware and software solution to improving connections between Windows and HP LaserJet III compatible printers Talk to me! OK

Network Printing Issues
Local spooling or using the network? Speed? Harder to troubleshoot Where exactly is the problem?

Drag and Drop Printing of Files From The File Manager
OLE support built into the File Manager Drag a selected file from the File Manager and drop it on the Print Manager icon Only one file may be dragged at a time

Background Printing Supported by many Windows applications, such as Microsoft Word 6 Printing will be slower, but you will regain use of your PC faster Background Printing option within Word 6

Adobe Acrobat - A Document Solution
The ideal solution for computer document transfer Allows you to print through a special ‘print’ driver to produce Adobe ADF formatted files. These files are much smaller than say Word 6 formatted documents Designed to be electronic transfer Ideal for Internet Platform independent Free Adobe Viewer program

[PrinterPorts] Section of WIN.INI
Lists the printers installed and defines printer options, including: The printer driver The ports used by the printers Time out and retry values used by each printer Note there is also a [devices] section of WIN.INI Only necessary for compatibility with old Windows 2.x applications Duplicates entries in the [PrinterPorts] section and lists the active printers The [PrinterPorts] syntax is: device=driver, device time out, retry time out [other ports ...] Although multiple printer devices can be defined within Windows, only one printer may be active at any one time

[fonts] Section of WIN.INI
Defines all the screen fonts that will be loaded by Windows at startup Fonts are installed/de-installed using the Font icon within the Control Panel Removing lines from this section does not un-install fonts. The fonts still remain on the disk. You may use the Fonts icon within the Control Panel to add or remove fonts from the hard disk

[FontSubstitutes] Section of WIN.INI
Contains a list of fonts that can be substituted if a document is opened containing a font not installed on the system Enables you to work with documents containing screen fonts that are not supported by the system, or to work on old documents created using fonts such as Helv supplied with Windows 3.0 In this case Windows 3.1 will substitute Microsoft Sans Serif

[TrueType] Section of WIN.INI
Defines how TrueType fonts will be integrated within the system Enables/disables TrueType font support May make only TrueType fonts available May force substitution of TrueType fonts instead of bitmapped fonts (that have the same name) TTEnable= Default is 1 TTIfCollisions= Default is 0 TTOnly=

Review Questions

Windows 3.11 Resource Sharing

Sharing and Connecting to Resources
You can share your disks, directories, files or printers with other users You can also connect to resources that have been shared by other users

Types of Network Peer-to-peer Central server based networks
Windows 3.11 Windows 95 Windows NT Each PC can act as a resource client or a server Central server based networks Novel Centralized resources

Mapping Drives Local drives are normally referred to as drive C:
Remote drive can have any drive letter assigned to it Second PC First PC DRIVE C DRIVE C I see drive C and I see the second PCs disk as drive D So do I ..... except that I see drive C and I see the first PCs disk as drive D

Sharing Disks, Directories and Files
Select the disk or directory that you wish to share From the Disk drop down menu click on the Share As command, which displays the Share dialog box

Stop Sharing Drives From the Disk drop-down menu, click on the Stop Sharing command Note sharing drives will slow down your system What happened to my disk! No more sharing! BANG

Connecting to Disks on Other PCs
Easy to connect, but will be slower than using local drives

Disconnecting from Network Drives
From the Disk drop-down menu, select the Connect Network Drive command which displays the Connect Network Drive dialog box

Sharing Printers Printers can be shared in the way a disk can
Use the Print Manager to control sharing Click on the check box called Share this printer on the network

Connecting to a Network Printer
Click on the Printer drop-down menu Select the Connect to Printer command

The Network Group of Programs
Mail Allows you to exchange messages with other members of your network Schedule Allows to set and view your time schedules Remote Access Allows you to access your PC from outside the office, or to access other PCs via a telephone line

Review Questions

Video and Windows Windows for Corporate Support Professionals

What Does The Video Adaptor Do?
Interface between the computer bus and the screen display VIDEO ADAPTOR Video logic circuits Video Memory The address buses

Video Standards CGA EGA VGA XGA Super VGA
Digital, low resolution, maximum 4 colors EGA Digital, better resolution (640x350), maximum 16 colors VGA Analogue, high resolution (640x480), maximum 64,000 colors XGA Higher resolution available, IBM defined Super VGA Defined by (VESA) Video Electronics Standards Association

Types of Screen Font Three types of screen font are provided under Windows TrueType Fonts System Fonts Fonts used in windowed DOS sessions Covered in a separate learning module

TrueType Fonts Scaleable, outline fonts that can be reproduced as screen fonts of any size greater than 6 points Below 6 points, Windows reverts to bitmapped fonts (small fonts) Small fonts are often used when ‘Print Previewing’ a page A 25% screen reduction of a 12 point font means that it is displayed at 3 point size!

System Fonts Three Types Windows System Fonts
Non-proportional fonts (as used in Notepad) OEM non-proportional fonts - used for displaying characters In the IBM-defined PC-8 character set Windows system fonts - used by Windows dialog boxes and menu systems Windows System Fonts Defined within the SYSTEM.INI file [Boot] fixedfon.fon=vgafix.fon oemfonts.fon=vgaoem.fon fonts.fon=vgasys.fon

Installing Video Drivers
The default video standard for Windows is VGA To change the video driver, use the Control Panel

Video Memory Issues Video memory is separate from main (system) RAM
Mapped into the UMBs (A and B blocks) The more video memory the better! Editing the [386enh] section of SYSTEM.INI can affect video usage The 16 MB of RAM is nice, but I want more of this too! SYSTEM RAM 1 MB (?) VIDEO MEMORY

Interlaced vs Non-interlaced Monitors
More expensive Less ‘flicker’ Better for your eyes! The whole screen is ‘painted in one sweep’ Non-Interlaced Cheaper Noticeable ‘flicker’ Do not use for long periods! Every other line is painted , per sweep OLD Extra Accessory

Grabber Files 386 Grabber Files Used for support
Allow a DOS session to be displayed within a window Select and copy text from DOS applications Copy graphics to the Clipboard Control PrintScreen In 386 Enhanced Mode, the standard VGA Grabber File is VGA.3GR Thanks We will help you Grabber Files WInOldAp Files

Graphic Accelerators The original IBM VGA standard was 8 bit!
Upgrading the video card and the amount of video memory will make a tremendous difference to the performance of Windows BEFORE Diamond Graphics card control dialog AFTER UPGRADING TO A GRAPHIC ACCELERATOR

Screen Savers Prevent ‘burn-in’ May be password protected
File extensions .SCR Can be assigned to Program Icons or shortcut keys Edit WIN.INI and add ‘pif’ to the Programs = line

Disabling the Password in the Windows Screen Saver
What happens if: The user forgets the Screen Saver password? The user leaves the company and does not remember to tell you the password? Open CONTROL.INI Change PWProtected=1 to PWProtected=0 Delete the Password= line Reset the password using the screen saver options in the Control Panel

SYSTEM.INI - [386Enh] Section - Display Settings
Display= AutoRestoreScreen= CGA40WOA.FON= CGA80WOA.FON= CGANoSnow= BkGndNotifyAtPFault= EGA40WOA.FON= EGA80WOA.FON= VGAMonotext= VideoBackgroundMsg= VideoSuspendDisable= ReserveVideoROM=

Review Questions

Communications and Windows

Windows Communication Issues
Serial port use and configuration Terminal emulation Modems Bulletin boards Faxing from Windows The WEB ...

COM Ports Under Windows
Windows recognizes 4 COM ports Configured via the Control Panel Windows ignores settings made via the DOS MODE command Windows ignores parallel to serial port redirection set up via the DOS MODE command Speeds up to 57.6 kbps supported 16550 UART chip supported fully supported

Virtual Communications Driver
All serial communication is controlled by the Windows internal Virtual Communications Driver (VCD), specified in SYSTEM.INI [386enh] device=*vdc

Advanced Serial Issues (1)
On MCA and EISA computers, interrupts may be shared. To enable this, edit SYSTEM.INI [386enh] ComIRQSharing=true Windows 3.0 supports the old 8250 UART serial communications chip Windows 3.1 supports the 16550/1650A, which uses a FIFO buffer (First In First Out)

Advanced Serial Issues (2)
Increasing the serial communication buffers If data is lost after the first 128 characters are sent, increase the size of the Windows serial buffer, by editing the SYSTEM.INI file [386enh] Com1Buffer=256 The default value is 128 Bytes

Windows Terminal Limited functionality
Supplied by Future Soft Engineering Inc., not Microsoft Not very good, but it’s free!

Faxing From Windows Install a fax/modem card (either stand-alone or networked) To send a fax simply ‘print’ to the fax driver PC must be left on in order to receive faxes

Bulletin Board Services
CompuServe Use WINCIM as a front end Internet Useful for obtaining information, upgrades, and drivers

SYSTEM.INI - [386Enh] Section Serial Port Settings
COMxAutoAssign= COMxBase= COMBoostTime= COMxBuffer= COMdrv30= COMxFIFO= COMxIrg= COMIrqSharing= COMxProtocol MaxCOMPort=

[Ports] Section of WIN.INI
Lists all ports to which devices are attached Overrides any values set up by the DOS MODE command in the AUTOEXEC.BAT COM port settings may be configured by selecting the Ports icon within the Control Panel Using a setting such as LPT2.DOS will force Windows to bypass the normal Windows printing methods, or printing directly to a port. Windows will use the DOS LPT method instead Using a setting such as FILE=: will make Windows prompt you for a file name and print to disk Alternatively, if you create a setting such as MYFILE.DSK, then Windows will automatically print to a file called MYFILE.DSK. Note that the extension DSK does not mean anything in Windows

Review Questions

Customizing Windows and Windows Applications

Application INI Files Some applications use text-based INI files
Others use compiled files which cannot be edited Contain custom settings for the application Such as which spell checker to use WINWORD.INI Using the information below this slide in your course notes: Where, by default, will Ami Pro look for documents? Where, by default, will Ami Pro look for macros?

Customized Microsoft Application Installations
x Get familiar with Microsoft STF Setup files Very big files! Open them in a spreadsheet (Excel) for easy manipulation Work in combination with INF files Allows customized, automatic, networked installations Why specify that you want a UK checker during the installation? Specify it in the installation files!

Customizing Application Menus and Toolbars
Items may be added to or removed from the menus or toolbars In MS Word 6, selecting this icon and dragging it to a toolbar would give you an icon, that when clicked, will send the active document across your system

Extending Application Functionality
Most Applications allow extensions Microsoft Word Internet Assistant allows creation of Internet Web pages You can also use a standalone version of Word for viewing and printing Word files, and give this to persons who do not have the full product

SETUP /P Undocumented feature used to reset the default Program Manager groups and program icons (as defined in SETUP.INF)

Customizing WIN.COM (1) WIN.COM is not supplied on the Windows 3.1 installation disks It is generated during installation, by combining three files WIN.CNF A small file used to detect the configuration of the PC to which Windows is being installed VGALOGO.LGO (or similar file) Used to switch the PC into the correct graphic mode, according to the video hardware on the target PC VGALOGO.RLE (or similar file) A bitmap containing the graphics image that is displayed each time you start Windows, stored in a Run Length Encoded (RLE) format

Customizing WIN.COM (2) COPY/B WIN.CNF+VGALOGO.LGO+MYPIC.RLE WIN.COM
Create your own customized RLE file and manually combine the three files using the DOS COPY command COPY/B WIN.CNF+VGALOGO.LGO+MYPIC.RLE WIN.COM Use WINGIF - freely available shareware to manipulate RLE files Use a 4 bit/pixel format

Review Questions

Optimizing Windows and Windows Applications

CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT
Use the latest drivers, in either the DOS or Windows directories Optimize your path WINDOWS DIR/S filename DOS

Wallpaper and BMP Files
No Wallpaper Within applications, display Bitmaps as ‘Place Holders’ Word for Windows 6 Options/View tab

Memory and CPUs More RAM CPU
The more the better CPU Pentiums and 586s Faster clocking speeds Remember the USER and GDI will often run out before your memory is full!

Disk Optimization Issues - (1)
Use of DOS and Windows produces file fragmentation The more fragmentation, the slower the disk access, and the worse the performance! DEFRAG Supplied with DOS 6 Speed disk From Norton Utilities Compress From PC Tools

Disk Optimization Issues - (2)
Use of a virtual disk 32 bit access On-board caching SCSI 2

Linking vs Embedding Objects
Faster Takes up more disk space Linking Slower Saves on disk space Automatic linking ensures updating of the latest linked object information, but will slow you down

INI Settings The main Windows INI files include:
WIN.INI SYSTEM.INI PROGMAN.INI CONTROL.INI WINFILE.INI Remember most Windows applications also have dedicated INI files

Bus Types and Graphics Bus Types Graphics ISA EISA MCA
Local bus technology Graphics Graphics Accelerator cards

Windows Eats Hardware! If you really need peak Windows performance get the best, fastest, newest hardware you can afford!

Review Questions

Fault Finding in Windows

Fault Finding Procedures Within Windows
? Be logical Isolate from the network Use a clean boot Sort out DOS first

Beware of Misleading Messages!
What do you mean ‘out of memory’ ‘OUT OF MEMORY’ Windows favorite error message

README Files Provided With Windows
Files stored in the Write file format include: README.WRI WININI.WRI SYSINI.WRI PRINTERS.WRI NETWORKS.WRI SETUP.TXT Text-based files: README.TXT APPNOTES.TXT Text-based INF files: APPS.INF SETUP.INF Try reading the files! WINDOWS RESOURCE KIT

Installation - Fault Finding
If the Windows Setup routine hangs when switching from the text-based to graphical-based part of the installation It may indicate that Setup had incorrectly identified your hardware Use SETUP /I to install, using default hardware settings, which ignore your particular hardware If Setup hangs for no apparent reason It may be due to a TSR conflict, or a network pop-up message Disable all network pop-up systems during installation Check your SETUP.INF file to identify common TSRs that upset the Windows Setup routine There are two TSR sections using the Editor search routine Setup Error codes are documented in the Microsoft PSS ID Numbers Q82770, Q & Q82772 Use Microsoft TechNet!

BOOTLOG.TXT Start Windows by typing WIN /B
The log file BOOTLOG.TXT, (created within the \WINDOWS directory) will list each element of Windows as it loads and indicate success or failure of the attempt to load Useful for investigating the loading order of the items that make up Windows Illustrates why you should not install too many fonts (they are all initialized during the Windows Startup process) Successful loads are indicated by Load start finished by Load success Errors indicated by a Loadfail error message As well as being used for troubleshooting, the boot log gives a detailed view of the file loading order within Windows

WIN /D:x You can start Windows in troubleshooting mode by entering WIN /D: followed by a parameter, as below: C Turns off 32 bit file access F Turns off 32 bit disk access S Specifies that Windows should not use ROM address space between F000:0000 and 1 MB for a break point V Specifies that the ROM routine will handle interrupts from the hard disk controller X Excludes all of the adapter area from the range of memory that Windows scans to find unused space

Clean Boot If the system hangs when switched on, and you suspect the fault is in CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT Try booting from a floppy disk with minimal configuration files If using DOS 6 (or greater), depress the Shift key when you use the words ‘Starting Microsoft DOS’. This will bypass the configuration files Pressing F8 (DOS 6 or later) will allow you to conditionally process the configuration files CLEAN VIRUS FREE

SYSEDIT Allows to you edit: CONFIG.SYS AUTOEXEC.BAT WIN.INI SYSTEM.INI

Useful Undocumented Tool
MSD Useful Undocumented Tool Can be used with switches for extra flexibility /B Runs MSD in mono /I Bypasses initial hardware detection /F[drive:][path]filename Requests input and writes an MSD report to the specified file /P[drive:][path]filename Writes an MSD report to the specified file without first requesting input /S[drive:][path][filename] Writes a summary MSD report to the specified file. If no filename is specified, output is to the screen

System Info. - Available in Recent Microsoft Applications
Powerful, free system viewer Click here for further options!

DrWatson A software tool supplied by Microsoft to help find bugs
Run DrWatson in the background and if the system fails it will log system values in DRWATSON.LOG Send the log to Microsoft (or your in-house developers)

Disabling the Local Reboot
Pressing Control+Alt+Del Normally displays a screen explaining that pressing Enter will kill the active program (that may have just hung), or that pressing Esc will return you to that program. Pressing Control+Alt+Del will cause a complete system reboot To disable this local reboot feature edit SYSTEM.INI [386Enh] KybdReboot=false This will not stop a program from crashing, but will return you to the DOS command line when you press Control+Alt+Del This may be useful when pressing Control+Alt+Del causes the system to hang rather than entering a local reboot

Bypassing Startup Group
Depressing the Shift key while Windows is loading: Causes Windows to bypass the Startup group Is useful where, inadvertently, a large number of program icons may have been moved or copied into the Startup group May also be useful if the Startup group contains a Windows-based virus checker, or log-on mechanism to other machines, such as minis or mainframes Hey you’ve missed me out!

DOS and PIF Files If a DOS program is not working properly, first try running it under DOS then examine the relevant PIF file Assuming one exists! Tell me what you want and I will think about it

System Resource Limitations
Program Manager ‘Help About’ Does not report on the individual System resources With regard to the GDI, USER, and Menu heaps System Info Available in the Help utilities of most recent Microsoft applications, such as Word 6 Will report on the GDI and USER heaps The Resource Monitor Available with the Windows Resource Kit allowing you to dynamically monitor the system resources No more! Avoid multiple re-loads of programs (Microsoft Excel!) Beware certain screen savers (early versions of After Dark!)

Creating New .INI files (minus third party drivers) using SR_ files
Useful for replacing damaged or corrupted INI files Useful for troubleshooting SYSTEM.SR_ WIN.SR_ CONTROL.SR_ SYSTEM.INI WIN.INI CONTROL.INI EXPAND

TechNet Monthly CD-ROM from Microsoft Bug fixes Knowledge Base
Updated drivers

Microsoft Keyfax Useful if you do not have a modem to access bulletin boards, or a CD-ROM player to access TechNet Request a main index menu Then request specific topic sheets to be faxed to you

Review Questions

Windows for Corporate Support Professionals

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