Troubleshooting Windows

When you consider the large number of commands and codes (most of which you
never see) required to run Microsoft Windows, it’s pretty amazing that it works
at all. One wrong line or character in the code can set off a string of error
messages. And as you add programs to your Windows environment, the
amount of programming code and commands becomes greater and greater,
adding to the likelihood for errors.

Unless you’re extremely lucky, you’re bound to install a program that isn’t compatible
with your system at some time. Or you might make a mistake in Windows,
bringing on error messages that must be fixed before you can continue
working. Or you might get a piece of hardware that isn’t compatible with your
system, requiring some troubleshooting on your part.

The term “troubleshooting” sends many novice computer users scrambling to the
telephone to call technical support personnel. But don’t dial just yet. Taking the
time to discover the nature of errors can be like detective work. You may find
enough clues to solve the problem yourself. And even if you can’t, anything
you learn about the problem will make it easier for the technician to help you,
saving you time on the phone. A vague description of a problem with little or
no help from you will lead to a difficult and drawn-out call for help. In the
process of discovering the nature of computer problems, you’ll find yourself
learning about Windows as well. Here are some troubleshooting tips you can
use.

A First Step.

No good detective would enter a dangerous situation without some backup. You
shouldn’t either. Before trying any troubleshooting, make certain you have
backup copies of your Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files. At the DOS prompt
(which usually looks like C>), type

copy autoexec.bat autoexec.cop

followed by the ENTER key. Then type

copy config.sys config.cop

followed by the ENTER key. These commands will put copies on your hard drive. You
may want to put a copy of these files on diskette as well (by typing an a: or a b:
 before the name of the copy, depending upon which diskette drive you’re
using). Making copies of these two files is important before you attempt any
troubleshooting, because you can at least return your system to its previous
status if you experience major problems while troubleshooting.

NOTE: If you make any changes to your Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files at any time,
you must reboot your computer to have the changes take effect. So if you think
a piece of hardware or a software package isn’t working correctly, make sure
you reboot your computer because the changes to the two files might not have
taken effect yet.

As you start troubleshooting, you may get some help from an unexpected source—the
system itself. Windows’ programs often provide some clues about why they’re
not working. You’ll need to write down any error messages that are displayed
and have them available, either to help you solve the problem or to give the
technical support person if you call. And Windows often will display its own
error messages, letting you know which type of problem occurred and the
offending program. Sometimes locations of the problem are given as well.
Again, write these down.

Any additional information you can give the technical person—such as a chronological
description of all actions you took prior to the problem’s occurring—will
benefit you because you’ll get a faster and more complete solution to your
problem. Items to keep in mind when considering what could have caused a
crash—a system shutdown—include any recent installations of hardware
devices (such as a sound card or modem) or software applications. The
installation programs provided with some Windows software packages will
place files onto your hard drive that could cause other programs to work
incorrectly.

Built-in Detective.

Windows has its own built-in detective for finding system errors, called the Dr.
Watson utility. When Dr. Watson is in use and Windows discovers an error in
an application, Dr. Watson will record the system information and display a
dialog box with the events that led up to the error. (The utility is named after
Sherlock Holmes’ famous sidekick in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective
stories and novels. Dr. Watson always documented Holmes’ findings as the
great detective worked on a case.) Windows’ Dr. Watson utility will record any
errors and information about the errors in a file called Drwatson.log, which can
be opened using the Windows Notepad (see “Using Notepad” in this issue).
Technicians might need information collected by Dr. Watson when they try to
 help you fix an error.

If you would like Dr. Watson to start

automatically each time you use
Windows, you’ll need to create a Dr.
Watson icon and then place it in the
StartUp group. Open the StartUp group
window (you’ll find it in Program
Manager). Then, choose the New
command from the Program Manager
File menu. Click on the Program Item
option button and click on the OK
If you place the Dr. Watson command button to gain access to the
icon in your StartUp Program Item Properties dialog box.
program group, it will Type Dr. Watson on the description line
start automatically and c:\windows\drwatson.exe on the
when you run command line. Click on the OK button.
Windows. You’ll see a Dr. Watson icon (a doctor
with a stethoscope) in the StartUp
window, and this utility will kick in whenever you start Windows.

If you would rather just run Dr. Watson periodically, you can pull it out of the StartUp
group and place it in any other group you like. To do this, click on the doctor
icon and, holding down your mouse button, position the icon over the group
you want to put it in. Let go of the mouse button. (This procedure is called
dragging and dropping.) Then you can double-click the icon whenever you
want to start the utility.

Alternate Modes.

Windows must run in Standard mode on an 80286 microprocessor, but it can run in
standard mode on newer microprocessors. 386 Enhanced mode, however,
works only with an 80386 or faster microprocessor.

You’ll find that 386 Enhanced mode is more efficient than Standard mode and that you
will have more control over non-Windows applications in 386 Enhanced mode.
Running in Standard mode can cure some problems you might experience with
certain programs, though, so if you have problems with a program, try running
it in standard mode to see if it works there.
 Installation Problems.

Problems can occur as soon as you begin installing Windows. Although Windows
installation will be smooth sailing for most people, certain hardware or
software configurations can cause the initial installation to backfire.
(Sometimes a computer will crash, that is, fail suddenly, while running
Windows, and you may want to reinstall the software; we’ll discuss that
process later.)

Incompatibility. During the initial installation, the Windows Setup program will
search your computer for memory-resident programs that can cause
incompatibility problems with Windows. (A memory-resident program, also
called a terminate-and-stay-resident program or TSR program, is always
loaded into memory so it can be called to the foreground at any time, even
when another program is in operation. An example of a TSR is a notepad
utility.) When you install Windows, any incompatible TSRs installed on your
computer will cause Windows to generate an error message listing them.

The Setup.txt file on Windows installation diskette 1 contains a list of specific

incompatible TSRs and advice about how to handle them. Setup might not find
all of the TSRs that can cause problems, though. And if you add an
incompatible program after you’ve installed Windows, you won’t be warned
because Windows can’t detect the troublesome program before a crash occurs.
(Some incompatible TSRs have updated versions that are now compatible with
Windows. Call the manufacturer to find an updated version.)

Locked Up. The Setup program runs in MS-DOS for awhile before switching into
Windows. If Setup locks the computer while running in the DOS mode, the
program probably had a problem detecting your installed hardware items, such
as type of display, mouse, or keyboard. You’ll know your computer is locked
up if it appears that all processing has stopped and your computer will accept
no input from you.

You’ll need to run the Setup program again, but type setup /i at the DOS prompt this
time. The /i notation forces Setup to perform a customized installation, through
which you manually specify your system’s hardware. On-screen instructions
will guide you through the manual process.

If Setup locks a little later, while switching from DOS to Windows mode, you’ll need
to take some precautionary measures before starting Setup again. Close any
applications in memory, because messages sent to the screen during Setup can
lock the program. Make certain your DOS version is at least 3.1. (Type ver at
the DOS prompt to see which version you have. Any version number 3.1 or
greater is compatible with Windows 3.1.)
 Hardware problems can occur at this point in the
program as well, because Setup
sometimes incorrectly identifies older
monitors and therefore sends incorrect
signals to the monitor. Restart the Setup
program and type setup /i at the DOS
prompt, as described above, and
manually specify your monitor.
The About Program Manager Windows Won’t Start. If you later have
pop-up window problems starting Windows, you may
displays which mode need to edit your hardware configuration
Windows is running in via Setup. From the DOS prompt, type
near the bottom of the cd windows and press the ENTER key to
window. switch into the Windows directory. Then
type setup to access the System
Information screen, which will list the hardware found in your computer. If you
find an incorrect hardware listing, you can edit the list by following the on-
screen instructions. If you don’t find any incorrect hardware settings, press the
F3 key to return to the DOS environment.

Try running Windows again. You might need to

call the computer’s manufacturer to
determine its compatibility with
Windows.

Running Windows.

Error messages sometimes will pop up as you

The Setup.txt file gives advice use Windows. We’ll look at some of
about which products these errors and their solutions.
are compatible with
Windows. Corrupt Program File. If Windows won’t run
because of a corrupted program file
(which you’ll discover through an error message, which will tell you which file
is corrupted), you can copy that single file from your Windows program
diskette onto your hard drive. The files on the Windows program diskettes are
compressed, but the Expand.exe file (which should be in the Windows
directory on your hard drive) will expand the files for you.

First double-click on the File Manager icon in the Main window. Then search the
Windows program diskettes to find the file you want to copy.
NOTE: The files on the Windows program diskettes will have the same names as the
files on your hard drive, except the last letter of each file’s extension is
replaced by a line. The file extension is the part of the file name to the right of
the period.

To find the file, place a Windows program diskette into the drive and click on the
drive’s icon in the upper-left portion of the File Manager window (the drives
are identified with lowercase letters; a and b are generally the diskette drives).
The listing of files will appear in the right half of the screen. Continue
swapping Windows program diskettes and clicking on the drive icon until you
find the correct file. After you find the diskette with the correct file on it, exit
the File Manager (double-click on the control menu bar) but leave the diskette
in the drive.

Next, click on the File menu in the Program Manager window. Select the Run
command to gain access to the Run dialog box. On the command line, type
expand followed by a space, the diskette drive letter, and the name of the file
you want to copy (complete with underline character). Then type a space and
the location and name you want for the copied file. For example, if you were
replacing a corrupted Calc.exe file, you would type

expand b:calc.ex_ c:windows\ calc.exe

on the command line of the Run dialog box. (This example assumes that the diskette
was in the B: drive, the hard drive was the C: drive, and you wanted the new
file to be in the Windows directory.) Click on the OK button. Your screen will
turn black for a few seconds while the expansion program runs and then return
to the Windows environment. The file now should work correctly. If not, you
may have a damaged Windows program diskette.

Out Of Memory. If, as you’re running Windows, you see an out-of-memory error,
such as “insufficient memory to complete this operation,” immediately save
any files you’ve been working with. Then close all applications you may have
open, and try to run the program again that generated the error. If the
application works properly this time, you had too many files open at once and
there wasn’t enough RAM available to meet the application’s needs. (Make
sure you’re running in 386 enhanced mode, if possible.)

If the application still doesn’t work, you might have a corrupted file. Try reinstalling
the program in a new directory and running it again. If it works, delete the
original program files and use the reinstalled files. If it still doesn’t work, you’ll
need to contact the application’s manufacturer.
 Mouse Problems.

Few things are as frustrating as a mouse that won’t work properly, especially in a
mouse-dependent environment such as Windows. Here are some ways to get
that mouse scampering again.

If the pointer arrow is on-screen but won’t move, or if the pointer arrow doesn’t appear
on-screen at all, your hardware setup could be incorrect or you might have an
incorrect device driver installed. To check whether the mouse hardware setup is
correct, access the Windows Setup icon in the Main program group window. If
your mouse isn’t working, you’ll have to use the keyboard. Use the ALT-TAB
key combination to bring the Program Manager to the foreground. Use ALT-W
to access the Window menu and choose the Main window. Use your arrow
keys to highlight Windows Setup and press ENTER.

Your system’s display monitor, keyboard, mouse, and network settings are listed in the
Windows Setup window. If the settings are correct, press ALT-O and select the
Exit command. But if any of the listings are incorrect, you can edit them by
press ALT-O and choosing the Change System Settings command. In the
dialog box that appears, you can use the Up and Down arrow keys to see the
different choices in the highlighted box. Use the TAB key to move between
boxes. Press ENTER when you have edited the system settings. Windows then
will ask if you want to restart your computer to have the changes take effect.
You will need to restart the computer to see if Windows now will recognize
your mouse.

NOTE: If you restart Windows, you’ll lose any data you haven’t permanently saved, so
save any open files, close all programs, and then restart Windows.

You could have an incorrect mouse driver installed as well. Highlight the Control
Panel icon in the Main window and press ENTER. Then highlight the Drivers
icon and press ENTER. In the list of installed drivers, make certain the correct
driver for your mouse is listed. If not, press ALT-A to access the Add button
and select the correct mouse driver from the list that appears. (You’ll need
Windows program diskettes to install the driver.) If your mouse isn’t included
in the list, you probably need to install a driver from a diskette that was
included with the mouse.

Of course, if you can’t get your mouse to work and you need the computer
immediately, you can navigate Windows using the keyboard alone as we
discussed above. It’ll feel like switching from a sports car to a bicycle, but it
can be done. Accessing menus is as simple as using the ALT key in
combination with the menu’s underlined letter key. You can select a command
 by pressing the command’s underlined
letter key. Use the ESC key to get out
of a menu without making a selection.
Using key commands isn’t the perfect
solution to mouse problems, though—
problems can occur with keyboard
commands, too.
Windows Setup allows you to
change your system’s
hardware configuration.
Key Combinations.

Some programs designed for Windows will have difficulty using certain key
combinations. This usually occurs because another application running in the
background is using the key combination for another purpose or because
Windows has reserved the key combination for its use. (If you attempt a key
combination while using an application, but a Windows function occurs
instead, then Windows has reserved the key combination, and it overrides the
application’s request for the combination.)

You can give the application priority for the key

combination, though, by editing the
application’s program information file
(PIF) (which gives Windows
information about where to find a
program and how to use it). Double-click
on the PIF Editor icon in the Main
program group window. Click on the File
menu and select the Open command.
Find the PIF for the application you want
The Expand command allows to edit and double-click on its name.
you to pull a Then click on the Advanced button. Near
compressed file off a the bottom of the Advanced Options
Windows program window is the Reserve Shortcut Key
diskette and replace a section. If any of the checkboxes are
corrupted file on your selected for the seven key combinations
hard drive. listed, those key combinations are
reserved for the application. You can
click on any empty check box to add the X and allow the program to use the
combination instead of Windows.

The reverse works, too—if you try a key combination usually reserved for Windows,
and something happens inside the application, the PIF of the application
probably has been edited to give it priority over Windows for using the key
 combination. You would use the same process to access the PIF and give
Windows priority by removing the X.

If, while running an application in 386 Enhanced mode, a beep sound occurs on each
keystroke, Windows probably has suspended the application. You can start
using the application again with the ALT-ENTER key combination, which
should return the application to a full-screen display.

Monitor Problems.

As you work with Windows, you might notice problems with your monitor, including
an unreadable display. The problem usually is in the Windows display driver,
which allows Windows to interact with the board controlling the display.

Incompatible Display Adapter. If starting non-Windows applications brings on an

error message concerning an incompatible display adapter, you probably need
to change the display driver. But you first can edit your hardware configuration
via Setup, as described earlier in the Installation Problems section, to make
certain it has the correct display adapter listed. (A display adapter , also called
a video adapter, is the hardware that controls the output of video signals from
the computer to the monitor.) If the display adapter is correct, you’ll need to
make sure your display drivers are accepted by Windows. You might need to
contact the display’s manufacturer to obtain an updated display driver that
works with Windows.

Blank Screen. First, check to see that your monitor is properly plugged in to the
computer and power source. If everything is hooked up, and Windows, the
Windows logo, or Windows applications don’t appear properly on-screen, you
probably have either a damaged display driver or a driver that can’t handle
non- maskable interrupts (NMIs). (An NMI is a message sent by hardware to
the microprocessor that takes precedence over all other messages to the
microprocessor.) Usually, NMIs are issued only to the microprocessor for
errors such as system crashes. But some display adapters use NMIs to switch
the video signal when a higher resolution (or sharper display) is needed. These
NMIs can cause the screen to stop being refreshed because the device drivers
shipped with Windows can’t handle those video switches. (When a screen is
refreshed, it is essentially redrawn to maintain a constant image.)

If you have such a display problem (in which the screen will go blank or the Windows
logo will scroll off screen), you usually can escape from it with the ALT-F4
key combination, followed by ENTER, which will allow you to exit Windows
and return to the DOS prompt. You can correct the problem by using the
 monitor’s user guide to find information on turning off NMIs or by obtaining
an upgraded display driver that can work with NMIs.

Some display problems in Windows are specific to certain brands of monitors. The
Readme.wri file in the Windows directory contains information for specific
hardware brands.

Reinstalling Windows.

If you can’t get Windows to work properly after trying a variety of troubleshooting
ideas, you may have one or more corrupted Windows program files. In that
case, you may need to install Windows again. We’ll show you how to reinstall
the operating environment without losing your settings. You’ll first want to
make copies of your Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files as we discussed earlier.

Don’t delete any of the original Windows files on your hard drive. Instead, make sure
you have enough hard drive space for a second installation of Windows (about
10.5MB) and create a new directory (we’ll call it WINDOWS.TES) for the new
installation of Windows.

To create a new directory from the MS-DOS environment, make sure you’re at the root
directory (you’ll see the DOS prompt all by itself at the top-right corner of your
screen). At the DOS prompt, type md windows.tes and press ENTER. Then
type dir windows.tes at the DOS prompt and press ENTER to make sure the
directory was created properly. (If the directory wasn’t created, you’ll see a
“file not found” message. Try again.) After you know the new directory exists,
insert Windows program diskette 1 into your diskette drive, type a:setup at the
DOS prompt (or b:setup , if that’s the drive you’re using), and press ENTER to
start the installation process.

Follow the on-screen installation instructions, making sure Windows is installed in the
WINDOWS.TES directory and not the WINDOWS directory. (You can use
either the Express Setup or the Custom Setup. Both will ask you to specify
which directory you want Windows installed in. (See “Basic Windows Setup
Tips” in this issue for more information about installation options.)

If, after the reinstallation, Windows doesn’t run from the new directory, you probably
have a corrupt file or a hardware failure. You will need to back up all your data
files and then delete all files and applications from your hard drive. Install
Windows on the empty hard drive and try running it.

If Windows still doesn’t work, you either have corrupted Windows program diskettes
 or a hardware problem. If Windows does run, you can reinstall your Windows
applications and data files one at a time. If Windows stops working after
installing a particular program, your problem probably lies with that one. Call
the manufacturer to see if an updated version is compatible with Windows.

If, after the reinstallation, Windows runs from the new directory, you probably have a
problem with some Windows program files in the original directory. Using the
reinstalled Windows files from the WINDOWS.TES directory, you’ll need to
rename all .GRP files and .INI files before you can discover where the problem
is.

First, double-click on the File Manager icon in the Main program group. Click on the
WINDOWS.TES directory, then click on the upward arrow followed by two
periods in the listing of files on the right half of the File Manager screen. Then
click on the File menu and select the Rename command. Type *.grp on the
From line and *.grn on the To line. Click on the OK button. All files in the
WINDOWS.TES directory with a .GRP extension now should have a .GRN
extension. Click on the File menu and select the Rename command again. Type
*.ini on the From line and *.inn on the To line. Click the OK button. All files
in the directory with an .INI extension now should have an .INN extension.

Now copy all of the files from this reinstallation into your original WINDOWS
directory, overwriting any duplicate files. Try running Windows from the
original WINDOWS directory. If Windows runs this time, you’ve found and
replaced the corrupted file or files.

But if Windows still doesn’t run from the WINDOWS directory, you might have a
problem with the original .INI files. Start Windows from the WINDOWS.TES
directory. Double-click on the File Manager icon, click on the original
WINDOWS directory, and click on the upward arrow in the list of files. Click
on the File menu and select the Rename command. Type *.ini on the From line
and type *.ino on the To line. Click on the OK button. Then select the Rename
command again. Type *.inn on the From line and type *.ini on the To line.
(These commands will cause the .INI files from the reinstallation to be used
with the original Windows.)

Try running Windows from its original directory. If Windows runs this time, one of the
original .INI files was corrupted. Because the .INI files control directory
settings for your applications, you’ll need to reinstall your applications so the
.INI files have the correct settings. But be certain to back up your data files
before reinstalling the applications.

If Windows doesn’t run after you replace the .INI files, the problem lies somewhere in
the original Windows directory. Because the reinstalled Windows ran from the
 WINDOWS.TES directory, you can use that installation. Delete the original
WINDOWS directory and all of its files. In the WINDOWS.TES directory,
rename all of the .INN files with an .INI extension and rename all of the .GRN
files with a .GRP extension (as described above). You’ll then need to reinstall
all of your applications so the new .INI files have the correct settings. Be sure
to back up your data files before reinstalling the applications.

Additional Tips.

You can use a number of basic troubleshooting

options to try to solve problems on your
own or to pick up additional information
so a technical support person can help
you.
The Advanced Options dialog One of the best options is trying to reproduce the
box in the PIF Editor problem in both Standard mode and 386
lets you set keystroke Enhanced mode to determine if the
combinations for use problem occurs in only one mode.
with a particular
application. Two helpful resources for solving Windows
problems are the Windows User Guide
and the Readme.wri file in the WINDOWS directory.

You sometimes can lose control of a program because of an error, and you can’t halt
the application through normal means. For example, a character might start
repeating itself endlessly on your screen, or the program might not respond to
your keystrokes. Your first attempt to stop the error should be the CTRL-C key
combination. If that doesn’t work, try CTRL-BREAK.

If that doesn’t work, you can try quitting the application by using the Task List. First,
press ALT-TAB to return to Windows. Then press CTRL-ESC to bring the
Task List window to the forefront. From the list of applications in the Task
List, click on the one with the error, and choose the End Task command to halt
the application.
 If you’re unable to return to Windows with
ALT-TAB, you’ll have to perform a
warm boot on your computer with
CTRL-ALT-DEL. ( Cold boots, by
contrast, involve turning the computer’s
power off and on.) Or, you might need to
push the reset button on your computer
or turn it off and on to start over.
The Change System Settings NOTE: Rebooting the computer will cause you
dialog box lets you to lose any information you haven’t
change components permanently saved.
used with your
computer. Like detective work, solving computer problems
involves simply logical thinking. Re-
trace your steps to before the problem occurred to see if you can find the cause.
Try to remember if you added any applications or hardware that could have
caused the crash. Note any clues you find. Your list might be enough to help a
technical support person solve the problem over the telephone. Or you might be
able to solve the problem yourself, thanks to your stellar detective work.

by Kyle Schurman

Common Error Messages

Nobody wants to see error messages pop up on-screen, but they sometimes
appear anyway. Here are some fairly common error messages and a few
tips about what to do about them.

Cannot Find File Specified In Win.ini (Or One Of Its Components). When
Windows starts, it looks at the Win.ini file to see if any programs need to
be loaded immediately into memory. If a file is listed on either the load=
or run= lines in Win.ini, that file is loaded into memory when Windows
starts. Some programs, upon installation, automatically place their file
names into the Win.ini file. If you’ve later deleted the program files,
 Windows will be unable to find the program files as specified in Win.ini.
You’ll need to edit Win.ini to remove the specification. Double-click on
the Notepad icon in the Accessories group. Click on the File menu and
select the Open command. Double-click on the Win.ini file. (You might
need to change the List Files Of Type line to *.* and you may need to
search a different directory to see the file.) Save the changes, exit
Windows, and restart your computer.

Insufficient File Handles. You need to edit your Config.sys file. Double-click on
the Notepad icon in the Accessories group. Click on the File menu and
select the Open command. Double-click on the Config.sys file. (You
might need to change the List Files Of Type line to *.* and you might
need to search a different directory to see the file.) Find the FILES= line
in the Config.sys file, and increase the number by 10. Save the file, exit
Windows, and restart the computer. If the error message persists,
continue editing the Config. sys file, increasing the FILES= line by 10,
until the error message stops.

Insufficient Memory To Complete This Operation.

If you ever see this message, save any open files immediately. Then close all
applications and try opening the application that generated the error
message. If it opens properly this time, your computer didn’t have
enough memory available previously. If the program still generates the
error message, you might need to reinstall it. Or you can call the
application’s manufacturer for more information about memory
allocation.

Stack Overflow.

This message means your Config.sys file has been changed. Double-click on the
Notepad icon in the Accessories group. Click on the File menu and select
the Open command. Double-click on the Config.sys file. (You may need
to change the List Files Of Type line to *.* and you might need to search
 a different directory to see the file.) You should see a STACKS=9,256
line. If any other number appears on the STACKS= line, edit the line to
change the number to 9,256. If you don’t see the STACKS=9,256 line,
add it at the bottom of the Config.sys file. Save the file, exit Windows,
and restart your computer.

General Protection Fault.

If you get this message, it means your system does not have enough memory
resources to do what you are asking it to do. If you had quite a few
programs open at the same time, it might mean you will need to close
some of them down, or it might mean you need to add more memory to
your system.

When you get the error, your computer will be completely locked up. You must
restart it by using the reset button or turning the machine off and then on
again.

Then, open just the program that produced the error message. If it works now,
you may have had too many other programs open. But if you had only
one or two programs open when the error message first appeared, or if
you get the error message again, it means either you have a problem with
the program (you might need to reinstall it) or you have a problem with
your hard drive. It might be time to seek professional help.

Troubleshooting Windows NT
Jump to first occurrence of: [TROUBLESHOOTING] [WINDOWS]

Windows NT is a popular network operating system

that comes with the popular Windows interface. Its
combination of power and ease of use are major
factors in its emergence as a leading network
operating system for small and medium-sized
businesses. Windows NT also is a widely used
networking solution for departmental and branch
offices in large enterprises.

Despite Window NT’s obvious ease of use and general robustness, problems still
 occasionally arise. This article examines several Windows NT features that
sometimes need troubleshooting. We’ll look at corrupt system and boot files,
networking connectivity issues, printing, modem operation, and disk space
recovery and compression.

Corrupt System Files Or A Bad Boot Partition.

It is easy to tell when your system files become corrupt or your boot partition fails to
work because you cannot get Windows to run. You can take two routes to make
your Windows NT system operational again. First, you can attempt to recover
the Last Known Good System. Second, you can attempt to recover with the
Emergency Repair Disk and related techniques.

In general, Windows NT provides two configurations from which you can start your
computer. These are the default configuration that your system saved when you
last shut it down, and the Last Known Good Configuration that your system
saved from your last successful logon. If you attempt to install some new
hardware or software, you can disable your system. Failed system components
become a part of your default system when you shut down your computer. In
this situation, your default configuration will fail to start Windows NT. Recall
that the Windows NT logon process offers the Last Known Good Configuration
whenever you attempt to start your computer, so it is always readily available
to recover from damaged default configurations. Press the Spacebar when the
computer instructs you to do so if you want to log on with the same
configuration as your last successful system startup.

There are a variety of reasons the Last Known

Good Configuration method can fail to
recover from the inability to start your
computer, including startup failures
stemming from corrupted files. A virus
can corrupt files essential to startup.
The Emergency Repair Disk can
replace damaged system files, fix
Figure 2. This dialog illustrates incorrect Registry information, and
the client/server nature rebuild the startup environment.
of the DHCP server
service that you can During initial installation, Windows NT gives
invoke from Windows you the option to create an emergency
NT server. repair disk (ERD). You should always
choose that option. Figure 1 shows a
table with the files on the ERD along with a brief description of their contents.
 As you add hardware and software services to your system, remember to
update the ERD. A utility named Rdisk.exe can update your repair disk with
your present configuration. You can run Rdisk.exe from either Windows NT
Explorer or from a command line. It is preferable to use the command line so
you can run it with the /s switch. This creates new copies of the Default, SAM,
and Security files (see Figure 1). Without these files, you will lose your default
user profile and user passwords.

To use the ERD to recover from catastrophic errors, follow these steps. First, start your
computer as you initially did when you were installing Windows NT. This will
typically involve putting a CD in the CD-ROM drive, and your first boot
diskette in the A: drive.

Second, run Winnt.exe. Type R when it asks if you want to install Windows NT Server
or repair files. Third, insert your ERD when instructed to do so. Fourth, follow
the on-screen instructions. Fifth, after the final message, reboot your computer
with a CTRL-ALT-DEL key combination.

If you did not update your ERD with the /s switch, then you will need to reconstruct
the default user profile and the system passwords. There is a way around this if
you made backup copies of the appropriate files with the Windows NT backup
utility. In that case, you can restore the files from tape after you reinitialize
your system. The three files that you want are in the system
root\system32\config folder. Their names are Default, Sam, and Security.

To perform a recovery with the ERD, you need the setup diskettes from which you
installed Windows NT. If you have misplaced these, you can re-create them
from the Windows NT setup CD. Run your installation program from the CD
(for example, Winnt.exe) with a /OX switch. This will create the three
diskettes. Store these with the ERD.

If you cannot recover your operating system with either the Last Known Good
Configuration method or the ERD, then you must reinstall Windows NT in a
new directory. Start the system with an MS-DOS boot diskette so you can run
the Windows NT install program. After installation, manually recover the old
System Registry file, and selected other backup components, from the ERD.
Delete the old system root folder to recover the disk space.

DHCP & TCP/IP Addresses.

Networking is an especially important area of Windows NT. You want to be able to

add a new computer to the network and just have it run without any special
 settings. It would also be great if workers could move laptops around the
network, and just plug them in and go. One critical element linking clients to a
network is the protocol. The best ones have large communities of users and
developers who work with them. Perhaps
the most rapidly spreading network
protocol is Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). It
also is the preferred protocol for UNIX
systems. Finally, Windows NT warmly
embraces it and offers powerful ways of
linking clients to servers with it.

TCP/IP. This is a very popular network-

addressing format; the Internet uses these Figure 3. A Document
addresses, and many intranets use the Defaults dialog lets
same technology. Unlike NetBios you set the page
Enhanced User Interface (NetBEUI), orientation for all jobs
TCP/IP networks are routable. This is coming from a printer.
because you can integrate its subnets into
a whole network through routers, which
are parts of communication networks that receive transmissions and forward
them to their destinations using the shortest route available. NetBEUI is a
DOS-based network environment that is not routable.

There are three major components to TCP/IP addresses. IP addresses are 32-bit fields
comprised of four 8-bit bytes. IP conventions impose some additional
constraints on the values that these bytes can take. IP addresses must be unique
within your network or the Internet if you register your site for the Internet.

Second, a subnet field consists of another four 8-bit bytes. Subnet fields represent one
of the ways an organization can segment its IP addresses. Because many
organizations will divide their networks into subnets based on the third field,
this second one is not critical, especially for small and mid-sized businesses.

The third TCP/IP address component refers to the routable segments of a network. One
router can create two segments. Because geography sometimes defines
function, IP addresses on either end of a router can define natural segments
within a company network. Just like the other components, the third TCP/IP
address field contains four 8-bit bytes. You do not have to specify this third
field unless your network includes routers.

While it is important to understand you do not need to know much about IP addressing
for a small network, you may find it comforting that your small network shares
a protocol with large multinational organizations. The more you are willing to
 learn about IP addresses and TCP/IP in general, the better you can position
your business to take advantage of this lingua franca of Internet addressing.
One excellent place to start is with the first IP address component. Recall that
it, like the other two components, contains four bytes. Because each byte
contains 8 bits, each byte’s decimal values can range from 0 to 255, which is
the same as binary 11111111. IP conventions segment these bytes into two
parts. One part designates the network ID for hosts. The second part refers to
the host IDs. Depending upon the traffic at the site, hosts can contain one
through three bytes. The remaining bytes designate network ID addresses for a
host.

The Internet is a loose association of networks that follow some common numbering
and naming conventions. InterNic (http://rs.internic.net/internic/index.html)
allocates and keeps track of the distribution of IP addresses. There are three
popular classes of IP addresses with the labels A, B, and C. Class A networks
allocate three bytes for hosts. Each of these networks can accommodate 16,
777, 214 hosts per network. This is two fewer than the theoretical limit of
16,777,216. Because there is only one byte remaining in the IPs for the host
IDs, the theoretical upper limit of these super networks is 256. The maximum is
less than that because zero and 127 are not legitimate values for the first byte.
In addition, addresses of 224 and above are set aside for other purposes.

Most small and medium-sized businesses will be class C networks. These designate the
network ID with three bytes and retain a single byte for the host IDs. The
InterNic offers 2,097,151 such networks. Each of these networks can have up
to 254 hosts. This is two fewer than its theoretical limit.

You do not have to register your TCP/IP network with InterNic. The main advantage
of this registration is Internet access. Your organization may prefer to keep
their main business network private. Of course, organizations can opt to
support both private intranet networks for private information, as well as public
Internet networks for Internet sites and interactions with customers, vendors,
and the public.

While subnet addresses, the second IP field, are not important unless you segment your
network based on subnet fields instead of gateway addresses, you nevertheless
need one when specifying an IP address for a workstation node on the network.
Use a default value of 255.255.255.0 for class C networks, and a value of
255.255.0.0 for class B nodes. If you find a need to use this second field in
addition to the third one, then you can stray from the default values recommend
here.

The optional, third component of a TCP/IP address is the default gateway address. This
is the address of the router that connects a subnet to other network segments.
 Recall that this field is unnecessary unless your network contains one or more
routers.

DHCP Servers & Clients. Windows NT dramatically simplifies specifying and using
TCP/IP addresses. One major element driving the simplicity that Windows NT
brings to the topic is its Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) servers.
A second element is the ease with which Windows clients can interface with
the servers and use the IP addresses.

The goal of DHCP is to provide a scaleable and dynamic TCP/IP addressing capability
with the ease of administration of a NetBEUI or Appletalk network. A DHCP
server leases IP addresses to client workstations. Administrators have a
graphical user interface for installing and controlling the server. One server can
accommodate up to 10,000 users, but network administrators can run multiple
DHCP servers across a whole network. Backup server support, bandwidth, and
the persistence of connections are the kinds of network issues that can drive the
number and distribution of DHCP servers across a network.

Because clients lease and return IP addresses to

a server, network administrators do not
have to track which clients have which IP
addresses. If this information is handled
improperly, computer workstations will
not connect to a network. Users can
move their laptop workstations around a
large multiserver network, and the local
DHCP server will automatically provide
a valid IP address. Remote sites without
Figure 4. A printer Properties an onsite IT person can just buy a
dialog with the computer and physically connect it. The
Scheduling tab DHCP server automatically will provide
selected. This tab a valid IP address.
permits you to regain
control of your All this ease of use demands some simple steps
computer faster by at both the server and client ends of the
turning on spooling. network. Installing and configuring a
DHCP server involves assigning a valid
IP address to the server computer. At a minimum, you will need to set an IP
address and a subnet mask, the second address component. If you have one or
more routers on the network, then set a default gateway address for the router
that connects the server to the rest of the network. It is highly possible, even
likely, that this step will already be accomplished as a result of installing the
TCP/IP protocol or setting up the network server and router.
Next, you will want to add the DHCP server service to the Windows NT server
offering this capability. Open the Control Panel and double-click the Network
icon. Choose the Services tab. Next, click Add, select Microsoft DHCP Server
from the Network Service list box, and close the dialog by clicking OK. Enter
the full path to the DHCP server files on the installation CD (use d:\i386 when
the CD-ROM dive is D: and you want to install the server on a computer with
an Intel processor). After installing the DHCP server, the Administrative Tools
menu gains a new item named DHCP Manager. Use this item to configure your
initial DHCP server and add new DHCP servers.

Employ the Scope menu for the DHCP manager to configure your DHCP server. At
the least, you will want to specify a starting and ending IP address range. The
server leases these addresses to its clients. You also require a subnet mask.
Make this 255.255.255.0 for a class C server with no subnets within it. The
Scope Create dialog allows you to specify a duration in days, hours, and
minutes for leasing its IP address pool to clients. You also should name your
scope. This allows the specification and retrieval of several scopes that might
serve different needs. While the DHCP server can be no more complicated to
set up than just that, it also offers scores of other options for fine-tuning the
performance of the server. Keep in mind you can have multiple DHCP servers
on a network. Create additional DHCP servers after the initial one from the
Server menu of the DHCP Manager dialog.

Figure 2 shows a pair of dialogs that illustrate the coordination between DHCP servers
and their clients. The left panel shows the Scope Properties dialog. The Scope
name, My Scopes for Smart Computing, acts as a reference for the scope
settings. This particular scope contains a pool of 21 IP addresses from
192.168.1.10 through 192.168.1.30. The lease duration is three days. When a
client checks out an IP address, it retains that address for up to three days
before it expires. In general, the more IP addresses you have relative to the
number of clients, the longer you can tolerate your leases. Assigning them
some duration is preferable to making them Unlimited because it guarantees the
DHCP server will not permanently give up an IP address.

The right panel in Figure 2 shows how a client on the TCP/IP network references the
server. First, it brings up the TCP/IP properties dialog and goes to the IP
Address tab. This dialog is accessible through the Network icon in the Control
Panel. Double-click the TCP/IP protocol line for the network adapter. After
opening the correct dialog, select Obtain An IP Address Automatically.
Clicking OK on the TCP/IP Properties and Network dialogs causes the machine
to install the settings as it reboots. When it opens again, it interfaces with the
TCP/IP network. The link is through a dynamically assigned IP address. It may
take several minutes before opening the link for traffic.
 Printing Problems.

Many things can go wrong with printing. One of the most common complaints is that
the printer doesn’t print at all. If you are lucky enough to get your documents
out of the printer, they can come out looking wrong. For example, you may
want a document to print in landscape mode, but it comes out in portrait mode.
Other related difficulties could be printing two or four documents to a single
physical page when you desire a one-to-one matching between your document
and physical pages. A third type of problem is slow printing time. In addition,
you may have a “ghost” printer driver that will not go away, even after you
deleted it from the Printers folder.

If your print job just will not emerge from your

printer, there could be several sources
of difficulty. One obvious cause is that
you are directing the job to the wrong
printer. Open the Printers folder, right-
click the printer, and choose Properties
from the Context menu. Next, click
Print Test Page. If the page does not
print, click No. This leads you through
a series of diagnostic checks to verify
why your printer is not working. If the
test page appears at the printer, return
Figure 5. The Dialing to your application. Choose Print from
Properties dialog lets the File menu, or an equivalent
you adjust many command, and verify to which printer
parameters for you are sending your job. Make sure
telephone calls, such as the job references the printer that
the outside line and printed the test page.
long-distance prefixes.
Another reason a job can fail is lack of unused
disk space at the print server. Simple
pages such as the test page may print, but pages with large graphics or many
fonts can fail to appear. Some pages can require as much as 10 megabytes
(MB) of free disk space at the print server. Check the amount of storage on a
print server’s hard drive to discover if this could be the cause of a job’s failure
to print. Double-click the My Computer icon on your Desktop to open it. Right-
click your hard drive and select Properties from the context-sensitive menu.
The General tab reports the drive’s amount of used and free space. If space is
your problem, consider removing any large files that you no longer need.
Another strategy is to empty your Recycle Bin. Right-click the Recycle Bin
 icon on your Desktop, and choose the empty option. A third disk space
recovery strategy targets files that start with temp or have a .TMP file
extension. Microsoft system applications create temporary files such as these.
You can remove these files to gain more space.

Microsoft acknowledges a printer bug with Windows NT. When you print to a local
printer, it sometimes will return a message saying the requested resource is in
use and then prompt you to retry or cancel the job. If you select the retry
option, Windows NT completes the job. In this situation, you can eliminate the
message by adjusting the Transmission Retry option. This same solution can
sometimes help with documents that have many fonts and graphics. These jobs
also can fail to print (sometimes without a special message) just because the
printer times out before completing the job. The solution starts with the
opening the printer’s Properties dialog. Recall that you do this by opening the
Printer’s folder, right-clicking the printer, and choosing Properties. Select the
Ports tab. Highlight the selected port, and then click Configure Port. Enter a
larger value (90 or more) into Transmission Retry and click OK.

You may be working on a project that requires all its pages to appear in landscape
mode. While you can accomplish this from within an application, you can just
as easily update the Default settings for the printer. Access the dialog to
accomplish this by right-clicking the printer in the Printers folder and choosing
Document Defaults. The layout of these dialogs varies according to the types of
functionality the printer has. Figure 3 shows one for a Hewlett-Packard
LaserJet 4000 that has four tabs. The Basics tab for this printer permits control
of the page orientation. The figure shows the Landscape radio button selected.
With this setting, all print jobs come out in landscape mode unless a user
explicitly overrides the default setting in the application. Other tabs for the
LaserJet 4000 allow a multitude of formatting options including watermark
effects that print in the background on each page and control over the number
of document pages that appear on each physical page. Avoid using the
Document Defaults menu option for any settings that do not pertain to all or
most print jobs from a printer.

When computer users complain that their printing is taking too long, they often mean
one of two distinctly different things. These remedies apply exclusively to local
users of the print server. First, users may want the printer to return to them
faster after they submit a job. In this situation, the computer is staying with the
job until it completes. When the job is a long one, users lose control of their
printer for as long as it takes to print the job. You can correct this problem by
opening the printer’s Properties dialog to the Scheduling tab. Make sure you
select the Spool print documents radio button. This option lets your application
drop off the print job at the server and return control to you before the job
actually finishes. See Figure 4 for a dialog with spooling invoked. A second
 type of complaint for slow printing is that the job does not come out of the
printer fast enough. You also can address this problem from the Scheduling tab.
Choose the Print Directly To The Printer radio button. This turns off spooling
and expedites your job at the printer. You will lose control of your computer
for the duration of the print job, but you will get your job back faster. This is
because the print spooler works in the background so it feeds pages to the
printer at a slower pace than if your computer attends to it directly.

There is another bug in the Windows NT print

server that affects the deletion and
installation of replacement printers.
You will not even notice this unless you
have to delete and reinstall a print
driver. The problem is that when you
delete a printer, Windows NT retains it
in its file structure although it removes
the printer from the Printers folder.
Figure 6. Here is a search Therefore, when you reinstall the print
specification to list all driver for a printer device, the operating
files greater than or system thinks you are trying to install a
equal to 500KB on a second printer for the device. The
drive. principal difficulty here is that you have
to give your replacement print driver a
different name than the first one. You also may want to assign a new share
name so clients point at your replacement print driver.

The solution to this “ghost” print driver that hangs around even after you delete it is
not difficult, but it does expose you to some advanced Windows NT features.
You have to remove the print driver from your disk, and make sure the
operating system recognizes the change you made. For a detailed explanation
of the solution, Go to the Microsoft Support Online database
(http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q135/4/06.asp) and view
article Q135406. You have to invoke the Registry editor (regedt32.exe) to find
the name of the print driver you want to remove from your hard drive. This
likely is a file with a .DLL extension. After getting the name out of the
Registry, you must open the system32/spool/drivers folders within your
Windows NT system folder. Before removing the driver, you may have to
disable the Windows NT Spooler service. You can do this by double-clicking
the Services icon in the Control Panel. Scroll down the Services list box and
disable Spooler while you delete the unwanted print driver. After removing the
file, restore the Spooler service to automatic startup. None of these steps is
hard, but you may find that they take you to some places that you do not
usually go.
 Modem Problems.

Modems fall prey to all the connection and operation problems of any device.
However, modems are special in that they deal with a service that is beyond
your computer, namely the telephone line. Modems enable your computer to
reach beyond the confines of its own hard drive or its local network. With a
modem, you can talk to the world, if only you can get it to work.

The most obvious kind of difficulty is that nothing happens when you dial a number
with your application program. One clear indication that this is the problem is
that you don’t hear anything after you dial a number. Normally, you can expect
to hear the digits dialing, a screeching noise as your computer’s modem reaches
out to another to make a connection, and then silence as the two computers
connect. If you do not hear this progression of sounds, the first place to look is
at the modem cables. If you have an internal modem, make sure it is seated
firmly in its expansion slot. Of course, you also need to make sure a telephone
line is physically connected to your modem. Many modems have a pair of
receptacles for accepting a telephone line. One is for the external line and the
other is for a local telephone receiver that you can plug into the modem to
automate dialing. Verify that your telephone line goes to the external line
receptacle and not the one for a local receiver.

Another factor that could cause a connection failure between your modem and the
telephone line is the port designation. Actually, this problem relates to an open
line between your computer and modem. The operating system may think your
modem connects to a different port than one it plugs in to. Double-click the
Modems icon in the Control Panel to see which port your computer checks for
the modem connection. The General tab on the Modem Properties dialog lists
all the modems registered on your computer along with the port that the
computer expects to see them. Make sure your modem attaches to the correct
port. If you have an external modem and a computer with more than one serial
port connector, just plug it into one of the other port connectors. Then, try to
make the connection with the software.

Your modem may physically dial a number, but it still can fail to make a connection
with another computer. This can happen because it dials the wrong number.
There are at least a couple of easy ways that this can manifest itself. First, your
modem could fail to dial a “9” for an outside line. Second, your long-distance
service may require a prefix that appears twice or not at all. You can address
both of these issues (and several others besides) from the Dialing Properties
dialog box. Display this dialog by opening the Modem Properties dialog and
then clicking its Dialing Properties button. Figure 5 shows the dialog. Enter
 appropriate prefix values in the outside line and long-distance boxes. Click OK,
then close the Modems Properties dialog. Try again to make your connection.

An easy way to tell whether you need to adjust the prefixes is to use Phone Dialer, a
built-in Accessories application. Open Phone Dialer, enter a telephone number
from a keypad, and click the Dial button. Phone Dialer displays a dialog
showing the number it is dialing. This includes any prefixes that Windows NT
automatically appends from the Dialing Properties dialog. After seeing the
number in the Phone Dialer’s Dialing dialog, you can return to the Dialog
Properties dialog and correctly set your prefixes. For more information on
Phone Dialer, see “Working With . . . Phone Dialer” in this issue.

It is popular to refer to workers who travel a lot as “road warriors.” These people have
special needs from their computers and modems. In particular, they are likely to
want to use company calling cards to make connections so they can minimize
costs and charge bills to a telephone expense account. If your road warriors
have Windows NT on their laptop or they use Windows NT desktop computers
at client offices, they will want to know how to select their calling card to make
calls. To do this, open the Dialing Properties dialog and click the Dial using
calling card check box. Next, click the Change button to the right of the check
box. Once you are in the Change Calling Card dialog, select the calling card
you use. Type your calling card number (and PIN, if necessary) in the Calling
Card Number box. Then, click OK twice (once to close each of the two dialogs
that you traversed to enter the calling card information).

If your experience is like ours, you usually will need to insert a small pause after
typing the access number for the calling card. With Windows NT, this requires
creating a new custom calling card rule. A custom rule is mandatory because
you cannot adjust the built-in calling card rules. Start the rule by clicking New
in the Change Calling Card dialog. You can click a button to copy any built-in
rules as a starter point for a custom rule. Place one or more commas before the
H in the Long Distance and International call boxes on the Dialing Rules
dialog. Each comma inserts a two-second delay after the access number for the
calling card.

Road warriors also will need to change their calling location as they travel between
countries and cities. The place to do this is also within the Dialing Properties
dialog. If they regularly visit the same set of locales, they will want to establish
a library of dialog property settings. Start by entering the settings for a new
locale as described above. When you have the settings you need for a locale,
type a new string naming the settings in the Dialing From box. Then, click
New. This saves the settings with that name. Later, when a person returns to a
locale, a click of the Dialing From combo box opens a list of previously saved
setting names. Choose the one for a locale, and then proceed to make calls from
 that location without any other
special steps.

Running Out Of Disk Space?

There are two rules about hard drives that

will probably always be true. First,
Check out Microsoft's Windows buy as much hard drive capacity as
NT Workstation support you can afford. Having a lot of free
site at space always will be advantageous.
http://www.microsoft.com/ The space is handy for storing large
products/prodref/428_sup. database files. The second hard drive
htmsite for support rule is that no matter how much you
options. buy it will always be less than you
need. This means you will have to
monitor your hard drive use carefully and take appropriate actions to manage
what’s on it because reduced hard drive capacity slows your applications. This
outcome is especially problematic at a Windows NT server because it can slow
a whole network of client workstations, each of which might have adequate
hard drive space.

Recall that you can monitor the amount of free space on a drive from the My Computer
icon. It also is helpful to empty the Recycle Bin on a regular basis so it does not
store a large backlog of unneeded files. If there are one or two files you want to
preserve, consider zipping them and saving them on a diskette or a Zip disk.
You also can use the Windows NT compress and expand utilities available with
the Windows NT Resource Kit. This kit is an extra expense (about $150 from
Microsoft Press; http://mspress.microsoft.com; 800/677-7377). If your job
includes administration of a Windows NT network, you may very well decide
that it is not an extra expense, but simply the price to do your job well.

If you are trying to recover disk storage, it makes sense to look at your largest files.
The question is how to you find them? Once you do find them, how do you
discover the best candidates for deletion? The Windows NT Find utility is the
answer to both questions. The trick is to use the Advanced tab. This tab permits
you to search for files by size. Figure 6 shows how to specify a search for all
files greater than 500KB. Once you run the search, you can sort the data by file
name, path, size, extension, and date last modified. After sorting by size, you
can scan your largest files to see if there are any obvious candidates for
deletion. Remember, you do not have to delete them. You can zip them and
store them on a removable medium. Another way to filter your return set is by
file name. This will help identify duplicate versions of an application or data
 file. Again, you can either delete or export obsolete file versions. These
techniques can add a significant amount of storage space to your system. We
used the techniques discussed in this paragraph and the preceding one to
recover nearly 200MB of storage on a single disk partition in about 10 minutes.

Perhaps the single best way to get more disk space from your present configuration is
to apply disk compression. This allows you to about double your present
overall capacity. It also is superior to the Compress and Expand utilities
because Windows NT will compress and expand files on-the-fly. You do not
have to run a special program, such as Expand.exe, to run a compressed file.

Windows NT compression functions similarly to the Microsoft disk compression

utilities for MS-DOS and other Windows platforms. However, it is distinctly
different in several important areas. First, Windows NT compression works
exclusively for NT file system (NTFS) partitions. You cannot use Windows NT
compression with file allocation table (FAT) partitions. You have to convert the
partition from FAT to NTFS before performing any compression. Second,
Windows NT compression can work for individual files and folders, as well as
whole drives. Earlier Microsoft disk compression technology was an all-or-
none proposition for a partition. Third, Windows NT will not run on partitions
compressed with earlier compression techniques, even if they are from
Microsoft. Fourth, MS-DOS and other Windows platforms cannot view files
compressed with NTFS compression. You must uncompress Windows NT files
for viewing with other Windows versions or MS-DOS.

To compress a partition from within Windows NT Explorer or My Computer, start by

clicking the volume that you want to compress. Next, chose Properties on the
File menu. Then, enter a check in the Compress check box and click OK.
Before beginning, a message appears that prompts you to click a check box to
compress subfolders, as well. Click OK to launch compression for the whole
partition. You can apply the same strategy to individual folders and files by
changing your initial selection in Windows NT Explorer or My Computer and
your reply to the message asking whether to apply compression to subfolders.
Because Windows NT compression is not available for FAT partitions, the
Compress check box is not available for FAT drives and volumes.

In addition to the menu-based approach to compression, Windows NT offers

command-line support. This approach offers batch file execution. You can
submit a series of individual files for compression. The command is compatible
with the * and ? wildcard parameters. Furthermore, you can ignore errors that
may occur for any individual file and continue execution for others. The menu-
based approach ceases compression if it encounters an error for any file. An
error can result from a file being used by another program. Any error can lead
to a folder or volume containing a mix of compressed and uncompressed files.
 You can compress or uncompress all the files with the command-line support
for compression. The command-line support also is convenient for selectively
removing compression from a small set of files.

If you are interested in compression and your files are presently on a FAT partition,
you might be wondering if you can convert your file format from FAT to
NTFS. The short answer is “yes,” and there are two ways to do it. The easiest
and most straightforward way is with Convert.exe. This utility program
converts a drive in FAT format to an NTFS format. The second technique relies
on Disk Administrator to create and reformat a volume as an NTFS partition.
This approach is faster than using the Convert.exe program, but it has the
unfortunate side effect of destroying all existing data on the drive. On the other
hand, using Convert.exe can take hours. Microsoft recommends scheduling it
for overnight operation. Perhaps the best compromise is to back up the FAT
data to another drive. Reformat the original FAT drive with Disk Administrator
to NTFS format. Then, you can copy the backup files to the newly formatted
NTFS partition.

Windows NT is a full-featured operating system with a friendly, familiar Windows

interface. Despite its graphical interface, there are a number of potential
problems that can keep you from gaining the maximum benefit from the
system. We have tried to show you some of the more common problems you
may encounter, and we have offered some information so perhaps you can
avoid problems in the future.

by Rick Dobson

Emergency Repair Diskette Contents

File Name Contents

Autoexec.nt Copy of <systemroot>\System32\Autoexec.nt;
this initializes the MS-DOS environment within NT
Config.nt Copy of <systemroot>\System32\Config.nt; this file also
 assists with initializing the MS-DOS environment
Default._ A compressed copy of Registry key
HKEY_USERS\DEFAULT
for recovering the default user profile
Ntuser.DA_ A compressed copy of <systemroot>\Profiles\Default
User\Ntuser.dat.
This allows the repair process to recover user profiles,
if necessary
Sam._ A compressed copy of Registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM
to assist with recovering passwords
Security._ A compressed copy of Registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SECURITY
to assist with recovering passwords.
Setup.log Log of installed files with their cyclic
redundancy check information
Software._ A compressed copy of Registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE
System._ A compressed copy of Registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM

Configuring & Troubleshooting Windows

Jump to first occurrence of: [TROUBLESHOOTING] [WINDOWS]

Microsoft Windows 3.1, the popular graphical operating environment, is

designed to make computing easier and more productive. Windows itself,
however, can be fairly complicated, and configuring and troubleshooting
Windows, even for advanced users, can be a challenge.

What follows are Windows configuration and troubleshooting tips offered by

Jim Blakely, technical associate for WUGNET, the Windows Users Groups
Network. Blakely is also a Microsoft Certified Professional who specializes in
working with Windows and is co-author of “Windows Configuration Secrets,”
scheduled to be published this month.
 Memory

Despite Microsoft’s claim that you can run Windows 3.1 with 2MB of
random-access memory (RAM), you really need 4MB to do anything useful
on a standalone system. If you’re running desktop publishing or graphics
programs, or multimedia applications that include sound and video, you’ll be
better off with 8MB.

Windows can use all the memory you have, so the more you have, the better. If
you run out of physical memory, Windows can use virtual memory, which is
space on your hard disk used by the Windows swap file to simulate memory.
The problem is that Windows slows down when it uses virtual memory since
accessing data from your hard disk is many times slower than accessing it from
RAM.

One way to improve access times is by using a disk cache, which is usually a
software program that temporarily stores recently accessed data from the hard
disk in memory. The SmartDrive disk cache that comes with DOS and
Windows is a good one, and if you’re using it, the default sizes are usually your
best choices.

SmartDrive and some other disk caches let you cache both disk reads and
writes, that is, data that’s been read from the hard disk and data that’s about to
be written to it. Enabling both read caching and write caching can improve
performance more than read caching alone, but it can be risky. If your system
locks up before the disk cache has written data to the disk, your files or even
your entire hard disk can become corrupted.

To disable write caching with SmartDrive 5.0 and 4.2, use the parameter /x
when loading it, which people typically do from their Autoexec.bat file. If
SmartDrive were located in your DOS subdirectory, the line would read:

c:\dos\smartdrv.exe /x

Some people try to improve Windows’ performance by installing a RAM disk,

which is a virtual or simulated hard disk, and then directing their temporary
files to it. Microsoft recommends against this idea, for good reason. A disk
cache serves the same purpose as a RAM disk and is more efficient. What’s
more, some newer programs, such as Word for Windows 6.0, create temporary
files that take up a huge amount of space, as large as 6MB. If your RAM disk is
smaller than this, and you direct temporary files to it, you’ll experience general
protection faults (GPFs) and your system will lock up.

Hard Disk Space

Windows and Windows applications also require a lot of hard disk space.
Microsoft Office, which includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, for instance,
can take up a whopping 100MB of hard disk space with a full installation.

If you’re buying a new computer system or adding a new hard drive, it

generally makes sense to get at least 200MB of hard disk space.

As mentioned previously, Windows uses part of your hard disk space as virtual,
or simulated, memory, through its swap file. This allows you to run more
programs simultaneously and load larger files.

A rule of thumb is that the Windows swap file should be double the size of
system RAM, with a good size for many purposes being 16MB. If you’re
running Microsoft Office with OLE 2, you may experience GPFs if your swap
file is smaller than 16MB.

When you create a swap file, Windows recommends that it be up to four times
your system memory if you have the free hard disk space. If you create too
large a swap file, though, system performance will decline. If you don’t have a
lot of free hard disk space, Windows won’t use more than half of your available
contiguous free space.

Since a permanent swap file requires contiguous, or unfragmented, hard disk

space, you should run Defrag or a third-party utility to consolidate your free
space before installing one. A permanent swap file is almost always better than
a temporary swap file—most importantly, it’s faster. Windows can access data
from a permanent swap file directly, rather than having to use DOS’ file
functions.

One reason to opt for a temporary swap file is if you’re using a SCSI hard disk
controller that’s not compatible with a permanent Windows swap file. If your
SCSI disk controller works with 32-bit disk access, however, it’s probably
compatible with a permanent Windows swap file.
 32-Bit Access

The single biggest performance improvement you can make to your

configuration is to enable 32-bit disk access. You do this by going into Control
Panel, double-clicking on the 386 Enhanced icon, clicking on the Virtual
Memory button, clicking on Change, and making sure there’s an X in the box in
front of “Use 32-Bit Disk Access.”

When you enable 32-bit disk access, you let Windows access your hard disk
directly rather than using DOS to do so. If you’re running Windows for
Workgroups 3.11, enabling 32-bit disk access will improve performance even
more, since Windows for Workgroups also features 32-bit file access.

You can also make other performance-enhancing changes to your Windows

configuration files, particularly Win.ini and System.ini. A number of third-
party programs exist that help with this, which can be tricky. [See “Windows
Configuration Utilities.”]

Windows Add-Ons

One popular way to customize Windows is to use a replacement or

enhancement to Program Manger, File Manager, or both. The most popular of
these add-ons are Norton Desktop for Windows, PC Tools for Windows, and
Hewlett-Packard’s Dashboard.

Program Manager in particular is limited, in that it doesn’t let you create groups
within groups for organizing program icons. It also uses a relatively large
amount of system resources, which is the area in memory where Windows
keeps track of bitmaps, icons, menu bars, and other components. Running out
of these resources can cause a your system to crash. Hewlett-Packard’s
Dashboard is particularly adept at using system resources efficiently.
Troubleshooting Windows

Anybody running Windows eventually experiences general protection faults

(GPFs), which are caused when a program tries to access memory that another
program is using. Often your only option is to terminate the program you’re in,
which can cause you to lose data you haven’t previously saved. You may be
able to reload the program, but your best bet is to exit Windows completely and
restart it.

The most common cause of GPFs are faulty video drivers. You can experience
GPFs caused by video drivers even when printing, since they play a role here in
addition to writing data to your monitor. The best way to avoid these problems
is to make sure you have the latest driver for your video card—contact your
system vendor or video card manufacturer to check.

Sometimes Windows problems manifest themselves by causing your entire

system to lock up. When this happens, first try a warm boot (press Ctrl, Alt,
and Del simultaneously). If this doesn’t work, do a cold reboot (press the Reset
button or turn your computer off and on again).

After you reboot from a system lockup, you should run CheckDisk, ScanDisk,
which is a new and considerably enhanced tool included with MS-DOS 6.2 or a
similar utility. These tools will detect and fix lost clusters or crosslinked files
on your hard disk, which can cause your system to lock up again.

Sometimes problems result from switching video modes. Most applications

keep track of where you keep windows and other components on-screen, and
the positions of these components can change after switching to a different
video resolution. If you normally keep a window at the lower right hand corner,
for instance, when switching modes you may find that the window is mostly or
even entirely offscreen.

If a window is entirely offscreen and you can’t grab it with your mouse, one
trick is to bring up Task List by pressing Ctrl-Esc, and selecting Cascade. This
will place all your open windows in the middle of the screen, overlapping
slightly. You can then resize and reposition the windows as you’d like.
 Troubleshooting Tools

Microsoft includes a number of tools that can help you or a tech support person
diagnose Windows configuration problems.

Microsoft Diagnostics (MSD) provides information about installed memory,

your video driver, disk drives, and other system components. If you have a no-
name video driver, for instance, it will tell you what video chipset you have,
which can help you get an updated driver for it.

Dr. Watson is a useful tool if you’re experiencing frequent GPFs. Running Dr.
Watson when a GPF occurs creates an entry in a log file that a tech support
person can use to help find out what’s causing the problem. Most often you’d
run Dr. Watson at the direction of a tech support person.

This is just a sampling of the numerous ways you can configure and
troubleshoot Windows. Using a third-party configuration utility will uncover
many more

Troubleshooting Windows 95
Jump to first occurrence of: [TROUBLESHOOTING] [WINDOWS]

One of Window 95’s selling points is its great

reliability. But it’s not foolproof, and, as with other
operating systems, you’ll eventually experience
problems.

Win95 itself does a good job of helping with

troubleshooting. Press F1 from the Desktop or
choose Help from the Start menu, My Computer, or
Explorer. If you’ve selected Help from My Computer or Explorer, left-click
Help Topics. Left-click the Contents tab, and double left-click
Troubleshooting; you’ll see a list of topics from which you can choose.

To make troubleshooting even easier, we’ve compiled tips from the Win95 help
system, various Readme files, the Microsoft Windows 95 Resource Kit, online
support files, and our own experiences. Having this information in one
convenient place can make it easier for you to get out of a bind.
 Memory Problems.

One of Win95’s advantages is that it doesn’t have the same system resource
limitations as Windows 3.1. Nevertheless, it does require a lot of memory to
run efficiently. Microsoft says you can run Win95 with four megabytes (MB)
of random-access memory (RAM), but a more realistic minimum is 8MB. For
most users, Win95 will benefit greatly by upgrading to 16MB of RAM.

If you receive an error message telling you your PC doesn’t have enough
memory to run a program, immediately quit any programs that you don’t need
and close any documents you aren’t using in programs you want to keep
running. Then, restart your computer by left-clicking the Start button and
choosing Shut Down. From the Shut Down menu, select Restart The Computer.
(You may need to close some programs before you shut down.)

There are a number of steps you can take to help prevent memory error
messages in the future.

1. Remove any of the programs from the StartUp group that you don’t need to
run automatically when you start Win95. To do this, right-click the Start
button, left-click Open, double left-click Programs, and double left-click
StartUp. Point to programs you don’t want to run at startup and press DELETE.

2. Delete files from your hard drive that you no longer need. They may be
taking up space that Win95 could use for memory management.

3. Use hard drive space as virtual memory. To do this, left-click the Start
button, select Settings, and choose Control Panel. When you’re in Control
Panel, double left-click System, left-click the Performance tab, then Virtual
Memory. Make sure the box called Let Windows Manage My Virtual Memory
Settings is checked. If it’s not, left-click it, choose OK, then restart the
program. The space Win95 will use for virtual memory depends on the amount
of free hard drive space you have.

Disk Space Problems.

Win95 uses a lot of disk space. When you upgrade from Windows 3.1, you
need 35MB to 40MB of free disk space for the operating system alone. If you
install Win95 in a new directory, you have the option to boot to your previous
DOS/ Windows 3.1 setup, but you’ll need 50MB to 55MB of free hard drive
space. Remember, though, that you need extra space for your applications.
You can check how much free hard drive space you have by double left-clicking the
My Computer icon, left-clicking the hard drive icon, choosing File, then
Properties. You also can display the free hard drive space automatically in My
Computer by left-clicking the View menu and selecting Details.

There are several steps you can use to free up hard drive space.

1. Empty the Recycle Bin. To do this, double left-click the Recycle Bin icon on
the Desktop. ( NOTE: Make sure you no longer need any files that are there.)
Left-click the File menu, then choose the Empty Recycle Bin option.

2. Use ScanDisk to check for errors that may be consuming disk space. Select
Programs from the Start menu; from the Programs menu, choose Accessories,
then System Tools, and left-click ScanDisk. Left-click the drive that contains
the files and folders you want to check. Check Standard and press Start.

3. Back up to diskettes or tape cartridges any files you no longer need on your
hard drive, then delete them from your hard drive. To do this, choose System
Tools as described above, left-click Backup, and choose the folders or files you
want to back up. When you’ve backed up unneeded files, double left-click My
Computer or Explorer, locate the folders or files you backed up, and delete
them. Then empty the Recycle Bin. You can bypass emptying the Recycle Bin
by highlighting the folders or files and pressing SHIFT-DELETE.

4. Remove any Windows components that you don’t use. To do this, select
Add/ Remove Programs from Control Panel and left-click the Windows Setup
tab. From the list on-screen, double left-click a category, clear the check box
for each program or component you want to remove, and choose OK.

5. Create more usable disk space by using DriveSpace disk compression. To do

this, choose System Tools as described above and left-click DriveSpace. In the
Drives On This Computer list, choose the drive you want to compress. From
the Drive menu, left-click Compress, then left-click Start.

If you haven’t previously backed up your files, do so before compressing your

hard drive in case anything goes wrong. Left- click Back Up Files and follow
the on-screen instructions.

General Hardware Problems.

Win95 makes it easier to avoid problems when you’re installing new hardware
devices, such as a modem or a scanner. But you still can experience conflicts,
particularly with older devices. When more than one device on your system
tries to use the same resource (for example, a specific location in memory), a
hardware conflict can result.

The Hardware Conflict Troubleshooter in the Troubleshooting section of the

Win95 help system can be an invaluable tool in helping resolve such conflicts.
Press F1 from the Desktop or select Help from the Start menu, My Computer,
or Explorer. If you’ve opened Help in My Computer or Explorer, left-click
Help Topics. Left-click the Contents tab, double left-click Troubleshooting, and
double left-click the If you have a hardware conflict option.

If you prefer a less structured approach—and you have some technical

knowledge about the components of your system—you can resolve hardware
conflicts using Win95’s Device Manager. To do this, open the Control Panel,
double left-click System, and left-click the Device Manager tab.

In short, you first must identify a free resource and assign it to the device that’s
causing the conflict. Then disable a conflicting device to free up its resources.
Rearrange the resources used by one or more other devices to free up resources
needed by the device that’s causing the conflict and change the jumpers on
your hardware to match the new settings.

Printing Problems.

Win95 can improve printing times, but faster printing isn’t much help if you’re
printing garbled pages or can’t print at all.

If you try to print but have nothing to show for it, check your printer first. Make
sure it’s plugged into your computer and into an electrical outlet, that the
printer’s power switch is on, and the printer is online. Check to make sure
there’s paper in the printer, the paper isn’t jammed, and you don’t need to
change the cartridge, ribbon, or toner.

If this search doesn’t reveal a problem, check to see if you have at least 2MB
free hard drive space. Double left-click the My Computer icon, select the hard
drive icon, open the File menu, and choose Properties.

Then, check the printer driver. Choose Printers from the Settings menu, left-
click the icon of the printer in question, open the File menu, choose Properties,
and left-click the Details tab. The printer driver must match the printer you’re
using; if it doesn’t, select New Driver and make the necessary changes. Also
check the other printer settings by left-clicking the other tabs to ensure the
settings match what is installed in your printer.

Check your spooling settings. While in the Printer Details dialog box, select
Spool Settings. If the Spool Data Format is set to EMF, try changing the setting
to RAW. If it’s set to RAW, try turning spooling off by left-clicking Print
Directly To The Printer.

If nothing has worked, re-install your printer. To do so, choose Printers from
the Settings menu, left-click the icon of the printer in question, open the File
menu, and select Delete. Then double left-click the Add Printer option and
follow the instructions.

If you’re printing over a local-area network (LAN), you can check for
additional things. In the Printer Details dialog box, check the Print To The
Following Port list box to make sure the path to the printer is correct and still
exists.

Other Win95-related printing problems, which include partially printed pages,

garbled printing, and unusually slow printing, are covered in the Win95 help
system.

Display Problems.

You often can solve problems with your video display by making sure you
have the correct and most recent printer driver, which is software that tells
Win95 how to communicate with your video adapter.

Win95 comes with many drivers for popular adapters. If one for your adapter is
not included, you may be able to obtain it from Microsoft’s Windows Driver
Library (WDL). You also may be able to obtain a more recent driver for your
adapter than the one included with Win95.

The quickest way to obtain a new driver is to download it using your modem. If
you have Internet access, you can access the WDL by directing your Web
browser to http:// www.microsoft.com, by using Gopher to reach
gopher.microsoft.com, or by using file-transfer protocol to ftp.microsoft.com.
If you have a CompuServe account, type (Go: msl). If you’ve subscribed to
The Microsoft Network (MSN), go to the Windows 95 area. And, finally, you
can modem directly to Microsoft at (206) 936-6735.

If you don’t have a modem or don’t know how to use it, you can receive a
diskette that contains the driver you need by phoning Microsoft Product
Support Services (the number is in your Win95 documentation).

If you’ve downloaded a driver, it will be in a compressed format. You first

have to extract it by double left-clicking the file from My Computer or
Explorer.

To load the driver, open Control Panel and double left-click the Add New
Hardware option. When asked, “Do you want Windows to search for your new
hardware?”, left-click the No option. Select the hardware type for the driver
you’re installing, and then left-click Have Disk. Specify the location of the
driver file and follow the on-screen instructions.

You can correct other display problems through the Advanced Graphics
Settings dialog box. From Control Panel, open System, left-click the
Performance tab, and choose Graphics. Drag the slider bar to experiment with
different settings.

CD-ROM Problems.

If Win95 can’t detect your CD-ROM drive, the drive doesn’t work. Windows
specifically detects proprietary Panasonic, Mitsumi, and Sony CD-ROM drives.
You also can use SCSI and IDE CD-ROM drives. ( SCSI, or Small Computer
System Interface, connects peripherals to computers through a series of
connections called a daisy chain; only one device on this chain is actually
connected to the SCSI port on the computer. IDE, or Integrated Device
Electronics, is a disk drive interface in which the controller electronics reside
on the drive itself.)

If Win95 doesn’t recognize your SCSI or IDE CD-ROM drive, first check for
conflicts. From Control Panel, open System, and left-click the Device Manager
tab. Verify that a SCSI or IDE controller exists in the device tree. (If the SCSI
or IDE controller branch is not available, look up Adding, Hardware in the
Win95 Help Index.)

Open the branch for the SCSI or IDE controller by left-clicking the plus (+)
sign. Left-click the controller and choose Properties. On the General page,
verify that the Device Status message states, “This device is working properly,”
and that the Device Usage check box is enabled for Current Configuration.
Left-click the Resources tab and verify that the Conflicting Device List
displays “No Conflicts.” If a conflict exists, the conflicting devices are listed.

Next, verify that the Resource Settings match the actual hardware settings of
the controller. Refer to the documentation that came with your SCSI or IDE
controller.

If you have multiple devices connected to a SCSI or IDE controller and Win95
doesn’t support one of them with a protected-mode driver, you’ll have to use an
MS-DOS driver supplied by the device’s manufacturer. It’s a good idea,
though, to check with the device manufacturer to see if it has a protected-mode
Win95 driver.

Modem Problems.

Win95 comes with several new communications features, including MSN and
Microsoft Exchange. To take advantage of them, you will need a modem that’s
correctly configured to communicate with Win95.

Some communications programs designed for Windows 3.1 install driver files
that are incompatible with Win95 and may cause modems and communication
(COM) ports to stop working. To verify that the correct Win95 files are being
loaded, compare the file sizes and dates of Comm.drv and Serial.vxd in the
SYSTEM subdirectory of your Win95 directory with the original versions on
the Win95 installation diskettes or CD-ROM. Then, confirm that the following
lines are in the System.ini file:

[boot]

comm.drv=comm.drv

[386enh]

device=*vcd

To revert to the default communications drivers for Win95, open System from
Control Panel, left-click the Device Manager tab, and select Communications
Port Entries.

To detect and install the Win95 drivers, run the Add New Hardware Wizard in
Control Panel. Also, verify that your modem is configured correctly by double
 left-clicking Modems in Control Panel. Ensure
that the manufacturer and model for your
modem are correct. If not, run the Install New
Modem Wizard to detect the modem.

If your current modem does not appear in the list

of installed modems, left-click Add, and select
the appropriate modem. If the manufacturer and
model are not correct and are not available from
the list, try the Hayes-compatible option for
Generic Modem Driver; set the maximum baud
The list of rate supported by the modem and press OK.
troubleshooting Remove any other modem entries in the list to
topics in eliminate conflicts.
Windows 95’s
online Help Next, check that your modem is enabled. To do
system can aid this, open Control Panel, choose System, and
you in finding left-click the Device Manager tab. Select your
what ails your modem from the list and left-click Properties.
PC. Make sure the The Device Is Present, Please Use
It option is checked.

Then make sure the port settings are correct. To begin, choose Modems from Control
Panel. Select your modem and left-click Properties. Left-click the General tab
and verify that the listed port is correct. If not, select the correct port and left-
click OK. Left-click the Connection tab and check the current port settings,
such as baud rate, data bits, stop bits, and parity.

Left-click Advanced to check error control and flow control. If you’re using a
Windows 3.1 communications program, turn off these advanced features. Then
make sure you’ve selected the correct UART type.

You may experience dropped characters or other data transmission problems if

you’re using a 386 computer that’s not equipped with a 16550 UART and are
trying to communicate at a rate greater than 9600 bits per second (bps). If you
have an older 8250 or 16450 UART, consider replacing it with a newer one. (A
UART, or universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter, is a controller chip
on the serial port that handles the communication between a modem and a PC.
Many PCs have low-speed 8250 or 16450 chips, which don’t handle
connections of 14.4 kilobits per second [Kbps] or higher very well.)

To check your modem’s bps rate, choose Modems from Control Panel. Select
your modem and left-click Properties. Left-click the General tab and set the
rate to the correct speed.

Determine that the serial port I/O address and IRQ settings are properly
defined. To do this, choose System from Control Panel, then left-click the
Device Manager tab and select Ports. Pick a specific port and left-click the
Properties button. Left-clicking the Resources tab displays the current resource
settings for that port; to find out the correct settings, consult your modem’s
manual. (IRQs, or Interrupt Request Lines, are physical hardware
connections over which peripherals send requests for service to the CPU. An
I/O port is a connector on the PC in which you plug a cable from another
device and through which information flows between the two units.)

In the Resources dialog box, check the Conflicting Devices list to see if the
modem is using resources that conflict with other devices. If so, left-click
Change Settings and choose a configuration that does not have resource
conflicts.

Don’t use a modem on COM3 if there is a serial mouse or other device on

COM1. The COM1 and COM3 (and COM2 and COM4) ports usually use the
same IRQ and can’t be used simultaneously on most computers. If possible,
change the COM3 and COM4 port to an IRQ setting that is not in conflict.
Also, some display adapters have address conflicts with COM4 ports. To avoid
this conflict, use another COM port or replace your graphics adapters.

Uninstalling Windows.

If Win95 proves too problematic or you just want to return to your old
Windows 3.1 setup, you can uninstall Win95. To take advantage of this option,
however, you must have chosen Save System Files during Setup or have
installed Win95 into a directory other than the one you use for Windows 3.1.

It’s best to run Win95’s own Uninstall program from within Win95. This
removes all long file name information from your hard drive. To begin, choose
Add/Remove Programs from Control Panel, then left-click the Install/Uninstall
tab. Choose Windows 95, left-click the Add/Remove button, and follow the
directions.

If you can’t get Win95 to run and you want to throw in the towel, boot your
computer using the Windows 95 Emergency Repair Diskette that you should
have created during Setup. Type uninstal at the A> prompt.

If you don’t have a Windows 95 Emergency Repair Diskette, boot your

computer using any bootable MS-DOS diskette and type the following at the
A> prompt:
 c:\windows\command\uninstall.exe

This assumes that C: is the drive on which

Win95 is installed and WINDOWS is the name
of your Win95 directory. If not, substitute the
correct drive letter and directory.

Hopefully, you won’t come to this. If you run

The Device Manager, into problems, have a little patience, follow these
found under tips, and chances are, you’ll get things working
Control Panel’s just the way you like them
System icon,
can help you
Windows 95/98
update the
status of
hardware
components.
Jump to first occurrence of: [TROUBLESHOOTING] [WINDOWS]

General Interface & Settings Tips

Log on to Windows 98. When you log in to Windows 98 (Win98) for the first time,
you will see the Welcome To Windows dialog box. Type your user name and password and
click OK. Your password will appear as asterisks (*) on the screen. In the Set Windows
Password dialog box, type your password again in the Confirm New Password box, then
click OK. If you don't want a password, you can leave the box blank and click OK.

Set up multiple user profiles in Windows. If more than one person uses your PC,
you may want to set up multiple user profiles, which lets each user set up a unique
configuration for the Desktop. To set up a new profile, select the Start button, Settings, and then Control Panel. Next,
double-click the Passwords icon to open the Passwords Properties dialog box. Then, click the User Profiles tab and click
the Users Can Customize Their Preferences and Desktop Settings radio button. Then, in the User Profile Setting section,
click the setting you want. Windows will ask you to restart your system. Next time you start your system, you will need
to type in a new user name and password for the new user profile.

Change your password. If you want to change the password for your user profile, open the Start button,
Settings, and then Control Panel. Double-click the Passwords icon, then select the Change Passwords tab. Next, click
the Change Windows Password button. Then, type in your old password, your new password, and your new password
again. When you finish, click the OK button.

Boot into DOS. You can easily go to DOS instead of Windows' graphic user interface (GUI) when you start up
your computer. From a DOS C:\> prompt, start Windows by typing win. Choose Run from the Start menu, type
notepad in the Open field, and then press ENTER. Choose Open from the File menu and choose All Files (*.*) next to
Files Of Type. Type msdos.sys next to File Name (make sure you are searching in your hard drive) then change the line
BootGUI=1 to BootGUI=0. Save the file and exit Notepad. The next time you start your computer, you'll see the DOS
prompt instead of the flying Windows. (NOTE: Most likely, the default setup for Msdos.sys is as a read-only file. To
change this so you can edit the file, right-click the file and choose Properties. Select the General tab and uncheck the
Read-Only box next to Attributes.)

No logo. If you want to boot into Windows, but you do not want to see the same old flying logo, you can simply
turn it off. Open the file Msdos.sys in Notepad. In the [Options] section, add the line Logo=0, save the file, and exit
Notepad. (NOTE: Most likely, the default setup for Msdos.sys is that it is a read-only file. To change this so you can edit
the file, right-click the file and choose Properties. Select the General tab and uncheck the Read-Only box next to
Attributes.)

Replace screens with a bit-mapped image. You can replace Window's startup and shutdown screens with any
320 x 400 pixel bit-mapped file. This means you can use just about anything you can open in, or create with, Paint (use
the Attributes command on Paint's Image menu to specify the size). Save the bit-mapped file you want to use as a
startup screen as Logo.sys in your root directory (C:\WIN DOWS). For the shutdown screens, save the file you want to
use instead of the "Wait" message as Logow.sys and save the replacement for "It is now safe..." as Logos.sys, all in your
root directory. To preserve the original screens, rename them first (such as Logo.bak, Logow.bak, and Logos.bak).

Use the Windows 3.x interface with Win95 or 98. In the root directory (C:\WINDOWS), double-click
Progman.exe. You will then have Windows (Win95) or Win98 running under the Windows 3.x interface.

Clean up the Desktop. Normally, Windows starts up with your Desktop the way you left it. Any folders that
Windows 95
Jump to first occurrence of: [TROUBLESHOOTING] [WINDOWS]

General Interface & Settings Tips

1 Boot into DOS instead of Win95. You can first go to DOS instead of Win95’s graphic user
interface (GUI) when you start up your computer. From a DOS C:\> prompt, start Windows
by typing win. Choose Run from the Start menu and type notepad. Choose Open from the
File menu and choose All Files (*.*) next to Files Of Type. Type msdos.sys next to File
Name (make sure you are searching in your hard drive) then change the line BootGUI=1 to
BootGUI=0. Save the file and exit Notepad. The next time you start your computer, you’ll see
the DOS prompt instead of the flying Windows.

2 Win95, but no logo. If you want to boot into Win95 but not see the same old flying logo, you can simply turn it
off. Open the file Msdos.sys in Notepad. In the [Options] section, add the line Logo=0, save the file, and exit
Notepad. ( NOTE: Most likely, the default setup for Msdos.sys is that it is a read-only file. To change this so that
you can edit the file, right-click the file and choose Properties. Select the General tab and uncheck the Read-Only
box next to Attributes.)

3 Replace screens with a bit-mapped image. You can replace Win95’s startup and shutdown screens with any
320 x 400 pixel bit-mapped file. This means you can use just about anything you can open in, or create with, Paint
(use the Attributes command on Paint’s Image menu to specify the size). Save the bit-mapped file you want to use
as a startup screen as Logo.sys in your root directory (C:\WINDOWS). For the shutdown screens, save the file
you want to use instead of the “Wait” message as Logow.sys. Save the replacement for “It is now safe...” as
Logos.sys, all in your root directory. To preserve the original screens, rename them first (such as Logo.bak,
Logow.bak, and Logos.bak).

4 Use the Windows 3.x interface with Win95. In the root directory (C:\WINDOWS), find and double-click the
Progman.exe file. You will then have Win95 running under the Windows 3.x interface.

5 Clean up the Desktop. Normally, Win95 starts up with your Desktop the way you left it. Any folders that were
open when you shut down are opened again. Programs that are in your StartUp folder also will automatically start
when you start Win95. To start with a clean Desktop (all the folders closed and the programs in the StartUp folder
bypassed), press SHIFT when the Windows wallpaper starts to load—in other words, when you hear the Windows
startup sound.

You can make this change permanent (until you change it) by using the System Policy Editor. When the Policy
Editor starts, if you’re asked to open a template file, choose Admin.adm in your WINDOWS folder and click OK.
Then Select Open Registry from the File menu, double-click the Local User icon, open
LOCAL_USER\SHELL\RESTRIC TIONS, check Hide All Items On The Desktop, and click OK. Select Save
from the File menu, then click the Desktop and press F5 to refresh the display.

6 Different ways to launch Control Panel and its properties settings. From the Start button, select Settings,
then select Control Panel. Or, you can double-click the My Computer icon on the Desktop, then double-click the
Control Panel icon. The Control Panel window displays an entry for each area of system control. Double-clicking
any of these entries displays a properties dialog box that lets you configure that aspect of the system. Many of
these property sheets can be launched in other ways. For example, right-clicking the My Computer icon on the
Desktop and selecting Properties from the pop-up menu displays the same property sheet as double-clicking the