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1991-11-15
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13KB
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360 lines
When it comes to software, I have certain pet peeves. One is an
intense hatred for programs that spew files all over my small hard
drive, whether you need them or not. When I upgraded to DOS 5.0,
some of these files were created. While some of the external DOS
5.0 files are essential, others are not. They duplicate functions
that are handled much better by programs such as PC Tools or Norton
Utilities, and can be safely deleted. This flies in the face of the
dire warning on page 293 of my hologrammed DOS manual, warning you
not to remove many of the DOS 5.0 files. Even DOS itself is redundant.
The internal delete and erase commands are completely identical.
To me, DOS is an operating system with many utility programs added on.
All I suggest is that many of those utilities are unneeded if you are
not a programmer, if you do not use foreign characters, if you do not
have a 386. You should use this article in conjunction with your DOS
manual, it is, by no means, a substitute. The page numbers I quote,
come from the manual. I readily admit that I am no DOS fanatic, this
article may contain sections that are incomplete and misleading. When
they are found, please contact me at 72760,753, so I can rewrite this
tome. I'd ilke to note that all the DOS documentation I have read
stresses HOW you use a command, there is a dearth of information on
WHY you use a command.
So much for my caveats. Here is a list of the files that were created
for my standalone 286, running Windows and DOS programs with an EGA, and
how I dealt with them. All the files that I trashed can simply be
deleted onto a floppy disk or two, for the inevitable time when you need
them.
WINA20.386
This found its way onto my root directory. Most DOS reference books
make no mention of it. It only applied if you have a 386. TRASH.
4201.CPI, 4208.CPI, 5202.CPI, COUNTRY.SYS, DISPLAY.SYS, EGA.CPI,
GRAFTABL.COM, KEYB.COM, KEYBOARD.SYS, LCD.CPI, NLSFUNC.EXE, PRINTER.SYS,
If you are constantly writing in a foreign language that is not
supported well by an application, these may be needed. I write some
in Spanish, handled nicely by MS-Word 5.0. TRASH.
ANSI.SYS
This is a very arcane way of customizing your screen. I was tempted
to trash it, but in a recent article, I found some nifty DOS prompts
that use it. For that reason: KEEP.
APPEND.EXE
This makes DOS look at data files in other directories like they are
in your current directory. In a hard drive system with a good path,
this fairly irrelevant. TRASH.
APPNOTES.TXT, README.TXT
These are good to read, keep the relevant, and print out what you
require as reference. Once you do, TRASH.
ASSIGN.COM
This allows you to designate one floppy drive for another, or a hard
drive for a floppy. This is very similar to the SUBST.EXE command
and JOIN.EXE. KEEP.
Here is a situation where I have used it. I have software that only
recognizes a floppy drive A. The disk I am using fits in my drive B.
I use assign to fool my computer into seeing my drive B is drive A.
ATTRIB.EXE
This is used to change the attributes of a file, read-only, archive,
system, hidden. PC Tools does this just as well. TRASH.
BACKUP.EXE
DOS's famous backup command. In a nutshell, the backup system in DOS
is far inferior to other products such as those in PC Tools, Norton
Backup, Fastback Plus. If you have one of these, TRASH.
CHKDSK.EXE
This gives you a status report on hard drive and memory. It is also
helpful for restoring data after your system crashes, via its /F
switch. KEEP.
COMMAND.COM
Your internal command processor, the one that allows you to use copy,
rd, del and all your other favorites. One copy is installed onto
your root directory, it is always nice to have another copy around.
KEEP.
COMP.EXE
Another example of DOS's redundancy, this is similar, but inferior to
FC.EXE. If you can keep both, enjoy. Other wise, TRASH.
COUNTRY.SYS
See 4201.SYS, listed earlier. TRASH.
DEBUG.EXE
As I said earlier, I am no programmer, that is what DEBUG is for.
But I often see helpful tiny programs that you can create yourself,
using DEBUG. One such programs allows me to boot up with the Num
Lock key off. KEEP.
DELOLDOS.EXE
You use this command when you are satisfied with DOS 5.0 and you
want to delete old DOS files. After you use it, it self-destructs.
Neither TRASH nor KEEP.
DISKCOMP.COM
I have noticed that the DISKCOMP and DISKCOPY features in PC Tools
are unreliable, especially when running PC Tools in resident mode.
Thus I prefer the DOS versions. KEEP.
DISKCOPY.COM
See DISKCOMP. KEEP.
DISPLAY.SYS
See 4201.SYS, listed earlier. TRASH.
DOSHELP.HLP
Generally, the problems I have on DOS require a manual, not on-line
help. TRASH.
DOSKEY.COM
A macro program for storing and editing DOS commands. It is not
worth the space. TRASH.
DOSSHELL.COM, DOSSHELL.EXE, DOSSHELL.GRB, DOSSHELL.HLP, DOSSHELL.VID,
DOSSWAP.EXE
I do not use the MS-DOS DOS shell, for reasons of preference and
compatibility. Thus I do not need these files. DOSSWAP.EXE not
mentioned anywhere in manual. TRASH.
DRIVER.SYS
This is used with floppies, to enable the computer see another
floppy drive that it may not usually see. (or so I think) I do
not have any problems like that. TRASH.
EDIT.COM, EDIT.HLP, EDLIN.EXE
These are all down and dirty Ascii text editors. Why use one of
these when any decent word processor can edit Ascii text? TRASH.
EGA.CPI
See 4201.SYS, listed earlier. TRASH.
EGA.SYS
This restores your video when using the task switcher in DOSSHELL.
Unneeded. TRASH.
EMM386
I have a 286. TRASH.
EXE2BIN.EXE
Page 483, it is not useful for general users. TRASH.
EXPAND.EXE
You use this to retrieve condensed DOS files from the program disks.
At 14K, I can keep it. KEEP.
FASTOPEN.EXE
This is an iffy file, it acts as a type of cache, similar to that of
SMARTDRIVE.SYS and the Buffers command. Page 302 gives its
advantages and disadvantages. I don't use it because I do not run
databases or compilers, I use SMARTdrive with Windows and have
extended memory. TRASH.
FC.EXE
This is a wonderful utility that I would have gladly paid extra for.
It compares two files, and finds any differences. I love it when
comparing versions of a WIN.INI file, or other text file. KEEP!!!.
FDISK.EXE
This partitions hard disks. Other third party utilities do similar,
but this is the cleanest and least prone to incompatibility problems.
KEEP.
FIND.EXE
This finds strings of text in a file. PC Tools and Norton File Finder
do this much better. TRASH.
FORMAT.COM
This formats both floppy and hard drives. I like Norton for floppies,
but this is the best thing for formatting a hard drive. KEEP.
GORILLA.BAS, MONEY.BAS, NIBBLES.BAS, REMLINE.BAS
I am not a programmer. Someday I will get into it, but not now.
There are programs used with QBASIC. TRASH.
GRAFTABL.COM
See 4201.SYS, listed earlier. TRASH.
GRAPHICS.COM, GRAPHICS.PRO
These are used for screen dumps, something I never do. TRASH.
HELP.COM
See DOSHELP.HLP. Sorry, Microsoft. I appreciate the thought, but I
choose not to use. TRASH.
HIMEM.SYS
This driver allows you to use extended memory. For Windows, it is
essential. KEEP.
JOIN.EXE
This joins one drive to another drive, providing the other is empty.
In my eyes, you use it to temporarily rename a directory. I admit
being uncertain to the differences and uses of this, ASSIGN.EXE and
SUBST.EXE. But until someone teaches me better, TRASH.
KEYB.COM, KEYBOARD.SYS
See 4201.SYS, listed earlier. TRASH.
LABEL.EXE
Gives disk a volume label. Redundant with command in PC Tools, as
well as VOL command in DOS. TRASH.
LCD.CPI
See 4201.SYS, listed earlier. TRASH.
LOADFIX.COM
Not in the DOS Manual. With DOS now occupying upper memory, programs
can now load themselves quite low in memory. Some programs may not
like this, thus this program corrects that. Big hairy deal. TRASH.
MEM.EXE
Tells you what is occupying your memory, in much greater detail than
CHKDSK.EXE. Nice to have around. KEEP.
MIRROR.COM
This is used to restore accidentally formatted disks. PC Tools has a
version as well, thus TRASH.
MODE.COM
This helps configure one's computer. I have a modem and a LaserJet II.
I have never used it in 4 years of computing. TRASH.
MONEY.BAS
See GORILLA.BAS. listed earlier. TRASH.
MORE.COM
Involved with displaying files, one screen at a time. I have never
used similar commands in DOS 3.2 or 3.3. TRASH.
MSHERC.COM
Undocumented, this seems to have something to do with a Hercules
graphics card. I have an EGA. TRASH.
NIBBLES.BAS
See GORILLA.BAS. listed earlier. TRASH.
NLSFUNC.EXE
See 4201.SYS, listed earlier. TRASH.
PACKING.LST
Undocumented, the packing list. TRASH.
PRINT.EXE
A down and dirty way of printing a file from a DOS prompt. At 15.5K,
I can afford it. KEEP.
PRINTER.SYS
See 4201.SYS, listed earlier. TRASH.
QBASIC.EXE, QBASIC.HLP
Like I said, I am not a programmer, yet. I would love someone to
offer me a book or a program on learning programming, in a way I can
understand. Until then...TRASH.
RAMDRIVE.SYS
This sets up a RAM drive on one's system, a hard disk that uses RAM.
I have quite a bit of RAM now and experimenting with how using a RAM
drive can speed up my system on Windows. For that reason, KEEP.
README.TXT
See APPNOTES.TXT. Good to read, keep the relevant, and print out
what you require as reference. Once you do, TRASH.
RECOVER.EXE
With RESTORE.EXE and BACKUP.EXE, the backup system in DOS. Very
dangerous and much inferior to a commercial backup. TRASH.
REMLINE.BAS
See GORILLA.BAS. listed earlier. TRASH.
REPLACE.EXE
The more I read of this, the more I like it. When copying files
from one place to another, this command allows you either to update
files, or to copy only new files not on destination disk. In the
right hands, a bit easier than a shell. KEEP.
RESTORE.EXE
See RECOVER.EXE. TRASH.
SETVER.EXE
In the myriad of DOS programs out there, anarchy exists. Some
programs only will work with a certain version of DOS. SETVER.EXE
fools flaky programs into thinking it is the correct version. KEEP.
SHARE.EXE
This program is used on networks to lock and share files. On a
standalone, it is irrelevant. TRASH.
SMARTDRV.SYS
This sets up a cache for using Windows. KEEP.
SORT.EXE
This sorts text within files. No big deal. TRASH.
SUBST.EXE
This allows you to use another drive letter for a directory or drive.
Can be very convenient for accessing subdirectories. KEEP.
SYS.COM
Used to put system files on a disk or diskette. Improved version.
KEEP.
TREE.COM
Displays the directory tree. Any shell does it, even Windows's
File Manager. TRASH.
UNDELETE.EXE, UNFORMAT.COM
Undeletes and unformates files, like the PC Tools version. Thus
it is redundant. TRASH.
XCOPY.EXE, XCOPIER.BAT
At first, XCOPY.EXE is just a fancier version of COPY. But by
using XCOPIER.BAT, a brilliant batch program listed in PC
Computing's 8/91 issue, it becomes indispensible. XCOPIER.BAT
solves the problem of copying files onto more than one floppy
disk via DOS. XCOPIER.BAT prompts you to put in a new disk when
the first disk(s) is full. Here it is:
:BEGIN
ECHO Setting attributes on %1
ATTRIB +A %1 %3
ECHO XCOPYing %1 to %2
:RUNXCOPY
XCOPY %1 %2 /M %3
IF ERRORLEVEL 4 GOTO AGAIN
GOTO END
:AGAIN
ECHO Change disks then
PAUSE
GOTO RUNXCOPY
:END
KEEP!!!
SUMMARY
-------
So, my final head count is 59 TRASH, 22 KEEP, 1 added batch file and 1
file that commits hari-kari. I have not taken an exact amount of space
these trashy files take up, but it is at least 1.5 MB.
Again, if anybody can add their expertise to this tome, please drop a
line.
My thanks to PC/Computing Magazine, especially Chris DeVoney, whose DOS
column is a monthly "can't miss".
Howard Wexler
Compuserve 72760, 753
P.S. All opinions above are my own and should not be confused with that
of a knowledgeable DOS jockey.