Contents
 	NetSwitcher™ for Windows 95

Introduction

Installation

Creating Setup Configurations

Loading Setup Configurations

Licensing Netswitcher


Introduction

NetSwitcher™ for Windows 95

What is NetSwitcher™?

NetSwitcher™ is a utility which addresses a problem in Windows 95 which afflicts users who need to connect to more than one network.  For example, if you regularly work in two different locations and use a notebook computer with an Ethernet card, you may need to have different IP addresses, netmasks, gateways, hostname, etc…  Microsoft’s Network Control Panel allows you to change these but it is a manual, time consuming, and error prone process.  NetSwitcher™ solves this problem by “memorizing” your networking setups and allowing you to restore them when you need to change hookups.  If your new setup requires a reboot, NetSwitcher™ will prompt you to reboot.  If, however, a reboot is not required, then unlike the Network Control Panel, no reboot will be requested.

NetSwitcher™ also solves a problem with Microsoft’s Dial-Up Networking utility in Windows 95.  If you have more than one ISP (Internet Service Provider) where you have to use a different domain name server (DNS) for each one, then NetSwitcher™ will change this part of your setup for you without requiring a reboot.  You may say, “Oh, the Dial-Up Networking connection setup menu has a place for me to specify the DNS address for each connection.  Why can’t I just use that?”  Well, you can use that, but it doesn’t work.  So you need to change your Network Control Panel settings each time you want to use a different ISP, and do a reboot for it to take effect.  Or, you can use NetSwitcher™ to change this setting for you.

NetSwitcher™ is a SHAREWARE program and is Copyright © 1996 by J. W. Hance. It is distributed freely for your evaluation.  You are granted a 10 day temporary license so that you may evaluate NetSwitcher™ in your environment.  After that time, the evaluation license expires and you then have two choices.

1.	You may discontinue using NetSwitcher™ and you are under no further obligation.

2.	You may license NetSwitcher™ by paying the license fee.


Topics
Installation

System Requirements

NetSwitcher™ runs only under Window 95 and only on computers which can run Windows 95.  If you are using NT it won’t work, if fact, it will detect NT and abort.  NT handles it’s network setups very differently that Windows 95 so even if I let NetSwitcher™ run on NT, you wouldn’t like the results.  Obviously, you must have a 386 or better processor and (gasp) at least 4MB of RAM, it runs best in 64MB of RAM (but then just about anything will).  There must be some sort of network adapter present in your system, although the Dial-Up Networking “adapter” will suffice.  NetSwitcher™ also assumes that you are using Microsoft’s TCP/IP stack which is included with Windows 95.  It is unlikely that NetSwitcher™ with work with third party stacks like Trumpet, NetManage, Distinct, and others. NetSwitcher™ is a true 32-bit executable program and was built using Symantec C++ Version 7.21 and MFC 3.2.

Installation of NetSwitcher™ is quick and easy.  Since you are reading this HELP file, you have obviously downloaded the distribution archive and unpacked it.  NetSwitcher™ should be installed in a directory of it’s own and all of the files in the distribution archive should be placed in the same directory as the executable.  If you did not do it this way, make it so now.

When you run NetSwitcher™ for the first time, it must register the file type “.nsw” with Windows 95 as a data file for the NetSwitcher.Exe application.  If you later move NetSwitcher™, you will need to run NetSwitcher.Exe from the command shell with the “-install” switch.  This will re-register the “.nsw” file type with the new executable file location.

To install or reinstall NetSwticher™ open a command shell, set your working directory to the directory where NetSwitcher™ lives and type:

Example: C:\NETSW>netsw -install

Making your first setup file is as simple as this:

1. In the dropdown dialog box named “Network Adapter” select one of your network adapters.  If there is only one, choose it.  If you have no adapters listed then you cannot use NetSwitcher™.  You should see the currently configured parameters displayed in the various fields.

2. Now click the SAVE button.  This will display a FILE SAVE dialog navigator.  Save this in a file with a name of your choosing.  Don’t put an extension other than “.nsw” on the file you save or NetSwitcher™ will not recognize it as one of it’s data files.

3. You have now saved your current setup.


Topics
Creating Setup Configurations

There are two basic ways to create setup configuration (or “.nsw” files) for NetSwitcher™:

Method One - “Setup and Save”

1. Using this method you go through the manual process of setting each value the way you want it in the Networking Control Panel.  I recommend this method  at the beginning as it makes sure that you have each value set just the way you want it.

2. After you have changed your setup, you must reboot Windows 95.

3. After rebooting, you can now run NetSwitcher™.  Choose your network adapter from the menu dropdown box and choose SAVE.  Be sure you save it under a different filename from any previously saved setups unless you are wanting to replace that setup.  Each setup is stored in it’s own file.

4. Repeat the steps 1-3 above until you have created all the setups you need.

Method Two - “Copy and Edit”

1. The setup files (i.e. “.nsw” files) are ASCII files and can be edited with any text editor.  For example, you could edit one of your saved setups in the Windows NOTEPAD editor.  Following is what one of the setup files looks like:

#

# NetSwitcher Setup File

#

NETSWITCHER_FILE_VERSION '1.0'

Adapter ‘Dial-Up Adapter’

#AutoApply

IPAddress 123.4.5.6

IPMask 255.255.255.0

DefaultGateway

NameServer 123.4.5.10

HostName joebob

Domain supernet.com

SearchList

LMHostFile C:\WINDOWS\lmhosts

NameServer1

NameServer2

#ScopeID

EnableDNS 1

NodeType 1

#

# End of NetSwitcher Setup File

#

All you need to do is make the changes you want to the different setup values and save this out as a replacement for the current setup file, or do a SAVE AS to create a new setup file.  If you leave the value BLANK after the setup directive, it will be set to BLANK.  If you comment out the line (with a “#” in the first column, that setup parameter will not be changed from it’s current value.

Here is a description of each of the configuration file directives:

(Directives marked with a * will require a reboot after they are changed)

NETSWITCHER_FILE_VERSION

Don’t mess with this one.  If it’s wrong or different, NetSwitcher™ will not install this setup file.

Adapter

This is the name of the adapter to apply the setup to.  If this line is not included in the setup file, then one of the adapters must be selected from the Network Adapter combobox.

AutoApply

If this line is present (and uncommented) NetSwitcher™ will automatically (i.e. without user intervention) apply the setup as specified in the file being loaded.  If there is an error in the file, however, the AutoApply will be ignored.  The NetSwitcher™ window will not appear if a “.nsw” file containing AutoApply is double-clicked or dropped onto the NetSwitcher™ icon. If a reboot is reguired, NetSwitcher™ will still prompt you for a reboot.

IPAddress*

This is the IP address you want to set for the network adapter in the A.B.C.D notation.  Be sure it is a legal TCP/IP address.  Remember that each of the A, B, C, & D number must be between 0 and 255.  If you set the address to 0.0.0.0, that tells the network adapter to get it’s address from the host (i.e. server).  This is most commonly used with the Dial-Up adapter running PPP (point-to-point protocol).

IPMask*

This is the Netmask to setup for the adapter.  Please don’t guess what this should be.  Ask your network administrator or ISP.  It will often be 255.255.255.0 but not always.  If it’s wrong you could cause problems on your segment of the network.

DefaultGateway*

This is the IP address of your router or gateway machine.  In your environment, you may not have or need one, so it might be blank.  If you are inside a company and are trying to get out to the internet, you probably will have to set this.  If you are using Dial-Up with PPP, you usually don’t have to set this.

NameServer

This is the IP address of your DNS nameserver or nameservers.  There can be more than one but there don’t have to be any if you enter all of the hosts your want to talk to into your LMHOSTS file or just use their IP address. For a single nameserver it will just be an IP address like 123.1.2.3.  For multiple, it will be a comma separated list (without spaces) like 123.1.2.3,123.2.3.4,123.4.5.6. If you don’t know the IP address of your nameserver, ask your network administrator or ISP.

HostName

This is your hostname but without your domain information.  So if your PC is mypc.mycompany.com, HostName would be set to mypc.

Domain

This is your domain, but without your hostname.  So if your PC is mypc.mycompany.com, Domain would be set to mycompany.com.

SearchList

This is the default domain which is appended to hostnames which do not have a domain name before trying to look them up in the DNS database.  For example, if you have set SearchList to mycompany.com, then if you try to telnet to xyz, it will default to xyz.mycompany.com.  This parameter is commonly used to keep you from having to type in the full domain name for your local hosts.  There can be more than one domain in the SearchList, separate the different domain names with a comma.

LMHostFile

The file LMHOSTS is normally found in \WINDOWS\LMHOSTS and is where you can manually enter IP addresses of hosts which are not in the DNS database of your DNS server or if you don’t use a DNS server but don’t want to remember the IP addresses all the time.  If you want to have a different LMHOSTS file for each setup, then you can change which one is used by setting this one to a different pathname.  Be sure to use the full file system pathname for this parameter.

NameServer1 & NameServer2

These are used by the WINS configuration.  I don’t use WINS, don’t know what it is or have any way of testing it but some have asked for this support.  Use at your own peril!  Please EMAIL me if I don’t have this right.

ScopeID

This is related to the WINS setup.  Some sort of name goes here which allows your computer to “see” other computers in the same scope.

EnableDNS

This is set to 1 to enable the DNS lookup for the specified nameserver and set to 0 to disable DNS lookups.

NodeType

This seems to be related to the WINS setup.  If you configure and enable WINS, NodeType should be set to 8.  Otherwise, set it to 1. This is all I currently know about this parameter.


Topics
Loading Setup Configurations

There are five ways to get a setup file into NetSwitcher™.

1. Invoke NetSwitcher™, select a Network Adapter, press the LOAD button, choose a setup file, press the APPLY button.

2. Invoke NetSwitcher™,  select a Network Adapter, drag a “.nsw” file onto the NetSwitcher™ window, press the APPLY button.

3. Drag a “nsw” file onto the NetSwitcher™ application icon, choose a Network Adapter, press the APPLY button.

4. Double click on a “.nsw” file, choose a Network Adapter, press the APPLY button.

5. From the command shell type: netsw setup.nsw, choose a Network Adapter, press the APPLY button.

It’s up to you, use the method you are most comfortable with.  Note that no changes are made unless you press the APPLY button.  The OK and CANCEL buttons do the same thing, they quit the application.


Topics
Licensing NetSwitcher™

NetSwitcher™ is SHAREWARE.  You may evaluate it for up to 10 days before deciding if it is worth the registration fee. If you do not feel it is worth the registration fee, you are under no obligation to continue using it nor are you under obligation to pay for it. In fact, if you choose not to license NetSwitcher™, you will be in violation of this license agreement if you continue to use it.  It is also against the terms of this license agreement to de-compile, disassemble, or otherwise reverse-engineer NetSwitcher™.  If you want to know how NetSwitcher™ works, please EMAIL me and I’ll be glad to explain it to you.

NetSwitcher™ is Copyright © 1996 J.W. Hance with All Rights Reserved.  NetSwitcher™ may be freely distributed provided that all files (including this HELP file) are included with the distribution.  NetSwitcher™ may also be included on CDROM or other compilations of programs provided that all files and documentation are included.

The paid license allows you to run as many copies of NetSwitcher™ on as many computers as you have or use.  If there is more than one user, then those additional users require their own licenses.  Corporate, site and source code licenses are also available at modest prices.

To register your copy of NetSwitcher™, please send (preferably a check) for US$8.00 to me at:

J.W. Hance

11711 N. Meridian Street, Suite 540

Carmel, IN 46032 USA

Be sure to include your EMAIL address with your registration so that I can send you the registered version.

Please feel free to contact me via EMAIL at: joe@bysnet.com or 72617.2205@compuserve.com

The latest version of NetSwitcher™ can always be found at: http://www.bysnet.com/netsw.html

THIS SOFTWARE AND THE ACCOMPANYING FILES ARE SOLD "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED.  Because of the various hardware and software environments into which NetSwitcher™  may be put, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED.

Good data processing procedure dictates that any program be thoroughly tested with non-critical data before relying on it.  The user must assume the entire risk of using the program.  ANY LIABILITY OF THE SELLER WILL BE LIMITED EXCLUSIVELY TO PRODUCT REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF PURCHASE PRICE.