Searching for leads
Automating dial-up networking
Using Microsoft Anti-Virus
Windows 95 file associations
2-up printing
Worried and unwired
Standardising setup
Fighting old hardware
Printing DOS line characters
What's my chip?
Games won't play on Pentium
Windows 3.11 security
Ease Backup Pain
To partition or not to partition
Use wild cards in Explorer file searches
Boot to good old MS-DOS
Win95 tools tune your PC
Q I have recently bought a new PC laptop and I have lost the lead - now it is useless to me and I paid a lot of money for it. No-one seems to have heard of it. There is no brand name on it but the model number is: SER SOUND IO5 NOTEBOOK. It is made by Servtech enterprises in Taiwan but I cannot get in touch with them. I have sent faxes but I still cannot get in touch.
Is it possible to get a new power plug put in so I can use a more popular lead to charge my battery? My power plug is a three-pin plug but all the leads in the electronic shops that support laptops are one-pin, and my laptop is just sitting on the table and I am dying to use it. What can I do? Do you think IBM can put a new power supply in for me?
- Paul Sullivan
A Paul, A2Z computing in Rozelle might be able to help you with your power lead problem. They're also very good at solving problems like yours. Even if they can't produce the part, they can often do a spot of re-engineering, sometimes producing a reasonably priced notebook upgrade the manufacturer says can't be done. Call Sam or Rayan on (02) 555 9582. If any other readers have friendly local computer stores to recommend, or know of special services, please let us know.
Note: A2Z were able to discover that Servtech has gone out of business in Taiwan so unfortunately there's no solution for Paul, unless another reader knows of an unwanted lead.
Q Thankyou for reading this. I sent it this way because I could not find the e-mail address for the Help Screen. My problem is that when I start Dial-up Networking, I would also like to launch Netscape, Eudora and Netscape Chat at the same time - is there a way to do this? Your help would be appreciated.
- Matthew Millers
A Thanks for the question, Matthew. I am the e-mail address for the Help Screen: Neale_Morison@idg.com.au
One option for automating Windows 95 is to use the DOS batch language.
The fascinating thing is that in Windows 95 you can execute a
Windows program at the DOS prompt and it launches in Windows.
So, for example, you can create a file in Notepad that goes:
Save it as INET.BAT. The bat extension tells Windows/DOS it's a batch file. Run it by typing its name on the Run command line or at the DOS prompt, and both those programs launch and appear in Windows. You can double-click on the batch file's icon in a browser or Windows Explorer to run the batch file from Windows. You can right-click on it, select Properties from the quick menu and select the Program tab, and choose the Run Minimized and Close on Exit options. That way your programs launch without you having to see a DOS window.
For more sophisticated tricks, there's Wilson WindowWare's WinBatch. It's a batch language for Windows 3.1 or Windows 95. You can use it to launch programs, request input from users, perform calculations, and so on.
There's a complication, because a Dial-Up Networking connection isn't an application. It's a resource, perhaps best described as a mysterious set of specifications that lives within the Dial-Up Networking feature that's part of Windows 95. However, you can fudge it by using the WinBatch feature that lets you send keys to a specific Window, thus launching an icon from a browser window and sending keys to the Connection window when it appears. This is ugly programming but you can get away with it.
Yet another approach is to use Visual Basic. Version 4.0 is out for Windows 95. I haven't yet scoured through the documentation to see if it lets you launch and run a Dial-Up Networking object, but you can certainly use it to launch applications and send keys, as with Winbatch.
Q Firstly, the magazine's fabulous, you're fabulous, everyone at PC World is absolutely fabulous. I wouldn't have survived this long with my computer without you! Now to business:
A Absolutely fabulous just about describes us over here at PC World, Madeleine, although we've received an editorial injunction to lay off the Stolly-Bolly until morning tea-time.
Antivirus software works in a few different ways. The scanning method looks for the signatures or profiles of known viruses in your disk boot sectors and files. The integrity checking method tries to ensure that files aren't being altered by sinister agents. The protection method tries to stop anything changing anything on your system without your permission. This is a pain, because altering files is what computing is all about.
Most packages use scanning and integrity checking. In Microsoft Anti-Virus that checksum and date problem alerts you because the virus check program isn't bright enough to figure out whether you have a problem or not.
For integrity checking, the antivirus program keeps a checksum and a date of executable and system files. When it finds that a file's checksum and date don't agree with its stored values, it has a fair idea that someone or something has changed the file.
If you know you've changed those files yourself, you haven't got a problem. It's not always easy to know if you're responsible, because installing software can change system files without telling you. However, you have to take an educated guess. If you're pretty sure that the file has a right to be different, select Update. If you're wrong, and a virus changed the file, yes, you are giving it the seal of approval. However, you'll notice other changes in your system if a virus is at work. Being alerted that files are changing should make you suspicious but not totally paranoid.
The Delete option deletes the offending file without further ado. Not recommended. If you don't want to make a decision about the file, click Continue and it will show up with an error next time you run a virus check, until you click Update to update the file's stored attributes. The documentation is bad, there's no doubt. The only excuse is that it's more or less free.
The Microsoft Anti-Virus program software provided with DOS 6.x is a rebadged Central Point Anti-Virus, version 1.0. It uses virus profiles that can be updated. Symantec has taken over Central Point, so Symantec is maintaining the virus profiles. You can find the most recent version on the Symantec forum on CompuServe (GO SYMANTEC); the Symantec BBS in Australia on (02) 879 6322; or the Symantec FTP server on ftp://ftp.symantec.com The update file is self-extracting and includes instructions.
Virus writers are a wicked, irreverent crew, with no respect for Microsoft, and they've been particularly industrious in writing new viruses that defeat the DOS 6.x antivirus software. However, MS Anti-Virus will pick up the commonest ones, like Form, Stoned and Michelangelo, and with updated virus signatures will handle somewhat more recent ones like Junkie and Lixi-bin.
Furthermore, Ed Taylor of Symantec has this to say:
"The most current signatures available are dated 9/1/95, and are available at www.symantec.com or ftp.symantec.com They are located in the CPAV directories. For MSAV the file to look for is DOSAV.EXE. For MWAV the file to look for is WINAV.EXE. These are self-extracting archive files that should be executed (expanded) in a temporary, empty directory. Each contains a README.TXT file with update instructions.
"Readers have a valid question if they ask why there aren't newer signatures than 9/1/95. The official statement is that Symantec has communicated to Microsoft that this is a service we will no longer be providing.
"Here is what I tell our on-line customers: MSAV/MWAV has a maximum limit of 1,600 virus signatures - there are over 6,000 known viruses. Additionally, the technology used by MSAV/MWAV cannot detect many of the newer polymorphic viruses that encrypt themselves with changing encryption keys so they have no consistent signature, stealth viruses that use techniques to hide themselves from detection and multipartite viruses that infect both files, and floppy or hard drive boot sectors.
"To have better protection and cleaning abilities, you might consider purchasing a full-featured antivirus program like Central Point AntiVirus (CPAV) or Norton AntiVirus (NAV). Feel free to contact Customer Service for more information on these products by leaving a message in the Orders & Upgrades section of our CompuServe forum (GO SYMDOS or GO SYMWIN) or on our Symantec BBS.
"In a nutshell, continued use of MSAV/MWAV will generate a false sense of security. This product - which was excellent at the time it was created - has not been kept up to date with current virus technology, and Microsoft has announced no plans to do so. No new signatures can be added, only changes that reflect the more common viruses that are being seen (in the US) and are detectable with the older technology."
- Ed Taylor
Security & Enterprise Product Support
Symantec Corporation
Thank you, Ed. Conclusion: you're better off to get a new antivirus program. You can take Ed's recommendation of Norton and Central Point products with a grain of salt - Symantec owns Norton, too. There are plenty of antivirus products, and which are good and which are bad is hotly debated.
The main thing is to get an antivirus program which provides frequently-updated virus profiles, or one which doesn't need virus profiles.
Commercial programs include the Norton AntiVirus, also from Symantec; S&S Software's Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit; IBM AntiVirus 2.2; and McAfee's VirusScan. We reviewed some antivirus software in our February 1996 issue, with Dr Solomon's and McAfee's coming off quite well.
Get McAfee's VirusScan from Computerware on (02) 252 3546; download from http://www.mcafee.com; or from the Computerware BBS on (02) 247 5510.
Call Symantec technical support on (02) 879 6577. For Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit call LoadPlan Australasia 03 9690 0455.
We looked at Invircible, Thunderbyte and VET in our July 1994 edition. For Invircible call Dataprotect on (049) 57 0785. For Thunderbyte call (07) 204 5000. For VET, an Australian product, call Cybec on (03) 521 0655.
F-Prot and Thunderbyte have done well in some independent testing that judges packages on how many viruses they catch.
You can also download antivirus software from the Internet. Just search for "virus". If you want to download antivirus software, the important thing is to get the latest version. On our Web page at http://www.idg.com.au/pc.world we've put a list of pointers to virus vendor and download sites. We've provided a few pointers to antivirus software on the main shareware sites in Australia, but because versions are so quickly out of date, it's best to browse the appropriate directories on these sites to find the very latest software. If you want shareware virus protection, don't forget to test it with antivirus software before you run it. Bit of a circular argument there, but that's viruses for you.
Q I received my PC World tonight and read it cover to cover. I love the Help Screen and hints and tips. I also love the humour you used to reply to multiple boot comments you received. I have two questions.
First, the urgent problem. Using tips 6 and 7 on page 224 of the February issue, I incorrectly associated the .jpg extension to CorelSHOW on my computer. I do not know how to undo it. I want to disassociate the extension from the application. After looking around I discovered this changes the c:\windows\system.dat file. I attempted to fiddle with it in WordPad, and I got corrupt registry messages. I restored it to what it was (I had made a backup copy).
Simply put, when I right-click a file that has the .jpg extension (a JPEG file) I now only get the "Open" option, the "Open with" is gone. You can easily try this yourself.
Secondly, the not-so-urgent problem. Tip 11 on page 225 of the February issue showed how to install Quick View: Start-settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs-Windows Setup-Accessories-Details. So far so good, but THERE IS NO QUICK VIEW as a selection option. What am I missing? Thanks heaps. Keep up the good work.
- Sinan Koray
A Thanks for the positive comments, Sinan. To edit an association, you open the folder browser or the Explorer on any directory, and select View-Options, File Types tab. Now browse the list for JPEG Image (you'll scroll there quickly if you just press J). Click the Edit button to open the Edit File Type dialogue box. Now in the Actions list, select Open and click the Edit button.
In the Editing Action dialogue box select the Application used to perform Action field and browse for the application you want to associate with this application.
You can actually set up a long list of different applications, by choosing different Action keywords. Open is reserved, and corresponds to the application that is launched when you double click on the file name in a browser window, but you can make up your own actions - the name of the application you're opening it with is a good action word.
The actions appear in the pop-up menu when you right-click on the file name in the browser window.
For example, in the Edit File Type dialogue box, click the New button. In the New Action dialogue box, Action field, type PSP, then in the Application used to perform action field, click the Browse button to locate your copy of PaintShop Pro.
Once you've associated a file with an open command, you don't get the Open With option in the pop-up menu. I wish you did, but this is not a bug, it's a feature. If you want to be able to choose on the fly from a range of applications to open a document, put a shortcut to the application in the Windows\SendTo directory. Now when you right-click on the document and select SendTo from the pop up menu, all the applications in your SendTo directory are listed.
You're not missing anything with QuickView. It has to be installed, and there are QuickViews on the Win95 CD and more in the PlusPack. In the Win95 setup choose Accessories, click the Details button and find QuickView on the list. If it doesn't appear in your list, maybe you haven't got the final release Windows 95 CD-ROM.
Q I read about your Help Screen from PC World, so I have e-mailed you a quick question -hope you can help me.
How can I print something from two pages into one page? I mean, you have a two-page document and wish to print on one page, where both pages are side by side. This is good to save paper and make documents easy to read. I usually do this in Unix, where you can do this type of printing. But I don't know how to do it on a PC. Thankyou for your help in advance. By the way, is it possible to print multiple pages on one page?
- Lily
A Lily, it sounds like you want to do something like a 50 per cent reduction on a photocopier; to print two A4 pages half-size on a single A4 page. This is called two-up printing.
With some printers, printer drivers and operating systems this
is easy. For example, on a Lexmark Optra LX, using the Windows
95 driver, you can go to the printer properties page, Paper tab,
and in the Layout section choose 2 up. In the Orientation
section choose Landscape. Your documents will all print
out half-size, two to a page, with the correct page numbering
and so on. With this printer and printer driver you can also choose
four-to-a-page printing. Panasonic's KX-P6100 GDI printer also
does 2-Up or 4-Up (see page 24, PC World August 1995).
If your printer won't handle this, you have to do it in your word
processor or other application. Unless there's a special shrink-to-fit-two-pages-on-one
function available in your application, you have to format the
page to fit. How you do it all depends on your word processor.
I'll give you an example from Microsoft Word 7, because that's
what's loaded on my machine at the moment.
To print a single-column portrait layout, half-size on two pages side by side on a landscape sheet, do the following:
1. Select the File-Page Setup, Paper Size tab, and click the Landscape button.
2. Select Format-Columns, and choose a two-column layout.
3. Select Format-Styles, and change the font size on all your styles to half their original point size.
You'll also have to manually readjust font sizes not affected by styles. You'll have to readjust any drawings, tables and so on.
You can have two basic templates, one for half-size double page landscape, and one for full-size portrait. If the documents have identically named styles, switching from one layout to the other is easier.
This approach works on any printer, but your page numbering won't work. I agree with you that it's a good way to print documents, and every application should provide the option. That's one more feature for the next version. Let's hope it doesn't add 40Mb to the disk footprint.
Maybe other readers will be able to suggest alternative approaches. There might be printer filters of some kind that do what you want between the application and the printer.
On the Garbo Internet software download site there's a two-up program called 2-up111.zip, reported to print two 66-line pages in PostScript on one A4 page.
Q I am having problems establishing a PPP connection through CompuServe using the Internet Explorer in Windows 95. I have read and tried everything related to this topic in the related forums, but no one seems to have my particular problem. When I start the Internet explorer, it brings up the dialler which dials in and apparently establishes a connection. It says it is connected to CompuServe, but Explorer fails to work. It brings up the message "Unable to find www.home.msn.com. The address may be incorrect. Unable to open http://www.home.msn.com/. The item may have been moved to a different address, or it may not be available right now. Please try again later."
When I try opening other Web pages it brings up similar messages. The timer on my dialler runs and indicates it is connected. When I press the Details button on the dialler, it indicates that the Protocols are "Unknown". I would appreciated any suggestions you might have.
- Philip
A This question provoked a rapid response on CompuServe. Thorsten from Germany replied immediately with his own settings:
"Hi Philip, Try this!
Start system Control Panel and select the Internet.
Select Properties and then Server type.
Activate: PPP: Windows 95, Windows NT 3.5, Internet
Activate: Software compression on
Acivate: TCP/IP
all other is deactivated.
Select TCP/IP setup
Activate: Let server assign IP address
Activate: name server address
Input first DNS: 149.174.64.41
Input second DNS: 149.174.64.42
Activate: IP-header compression
Activate: Use standard gateway in remote network
These are my settings and all work fine. Hope this helps."
And WIZOP Richard is on the case with this response:
"Your DNS and Gateway settings are crucial. They can be found on the Network control in Control Panel. Select the TCP/IP protocol which is bound to your modem and take a look at the Properties. There is a lot to set in there.
"The other thing is to look at a file in Library 1 ('7 Steps to CIS and Internet') which describes the process of hooking up to CIS PPP and the Internet."
I would add that your service provider should have full documentation to tell you how to set up access in Windows 95, Windows 3.1 or any other platform, and only your service provider can tell you the correct DNS (Domain Name Server) settings for their service. Get in touch with support and ask them to fax you the precise details.
Q I am responsible for the maintenance of a computer training facility where we have 11 PCs running Windows 95. I need to be able to standardise the setup of each PC on startup. Under DOS/Windows this was easy - I just included in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file a routine to copy a standard collection of INI and GRP files into the WINDOWS directory. This is not successful with Windows 95. I have also played around with USER.DA0, SYSTEM.DA0 and SYSTEM.DAT to no avail.
I have e-mailed an expert in the USA but he could not offer a solution. I would appreciate any advice you could offer.
- Simon Ardley
A Thanks for your question Simon. Is the idea that the computers are used for training, and the users just mess up the setup in the course of training, so you have to go back to a standard configuration?
I assume you have a network. What about having a standard configuration on the network? Copy the whole system over onto every PC. This is a good way to ensure the setup is clean. It's hard to be sure if you just copy a few initialisation settings.
The Win95 registry files have a .dat extension. You can back up the registry using a utility called cfgback.exe, supplied on the Win95 CD-ROM in the OTHER\MISC\CFGBACK directory. It backs up all the necessary bits of your configuration, and lets you restore it as well. I don't know if you can automate it easily. Let me know if this is any use.
Q I have a curly one for you. I don't know how to solve it despite repeated attempts and three-figure phone bills.
My daughter was given an XT computer with an internal modem by some Chinese friends returning to Hong Kong. As Moses probably used this modem to download the tallies for the Christians versus Lions matches, you can bet that it is 1,200 baud. Yes it may be slow, but it does save three-quarters of an hour travelling time to read my e-mail.
The problem is trying to get this modem to work in a Post-Modern, Impressionist computer - that is, a 486SX-25 clone. On the XT, the comms software was Crosstalk (version not known). This software predates the use of interrogating clock speeds to set appropriate timing delays. Hence, when used in the 486 computer, the dial time of 60 seconds flashed by in a matter of seconds. I managed to edit the configuration file for this, setting appropriate delays to allow the modem to finish dialling and wait for a response before timing out and hanging up.
So far so good.
Why don't you use Windows Terminal instead I hear you say? Been there, done that. In fact I tried Telix, Terminal, Softcomm and just about anything else I could lay my hands on. From memory, Terminal did not recognise the modem as even being attached. DOS software like Telix didn't find the modem when I did a scan for it either.
The modem worked OK when in the XT, but when placed in the 486 and using the same software (with appropriate delays) it would not. It would dial the number, the phone would answer and the host modem would respond, but this modem would not recognise the response and so hang up. Remember that this was exactly the same software, dialling prefixes and all.
Is there some major incompatibility or problem in using this 8-bit modem in a 16-bit slot? I didn't think there was for the reason of backward compatibility. My best guess would be that when plugged into a 16-bit slot (which I assume also runs at a faster rate), the modem runs faster and the incoming response is not interpreted correctly, thus allowing the time-out to elapse.
Some cynics have said that it would be cheaper for PC World to simply buy me a cheap modem than to spend money on wages to answer and/or print a response. But in the true spirit of the Wright brothers, determination and perseverance will win out. My motto is NEVER, EVER SURRENDER.
From the deep dark recesses of my memory I remember a utility called "Slow" that was intended to slow down the computer so that games could be played at the correct pace. I don't know that this would work, since it affects the clock speed, similar to inserting wait states, and not the speed of bus throughput. Also, I could not find anywhere in the BIOS where I could control bus speed.
The ball is in your court, good luck.
- Steve Gower
A Yes it is a curly one, Steve. I'm not sure about this scheme to buy you a modem rather than try to solve your problem. It just doesn't fit in with our goals as a profit-making business unit.
Trying to get really old hardware to work is a huge hassle, especially if you don't have the right documentation or even know the make and model of the product.
To be brutally honest, I think you'd be better off buying a cheapo 14.4Kbit/sec modem. You could even get a 9,600bit/sec at a ridiculously low price and expect it to work. You might be able to get one of these for less than three figures, and that seems to balance well against the phone bills you're talking about. Why fight progress? Machines are sent to destroy us, but there's no reason to encourage them.
Are you sure you have the interrupts and jumpers and all that set to something sensible? If you can't figure out how to do this, there is little hope. Have you ever got the thing to work at all?
I've found a couple of old AT utilities that cripple a machine so it runs slowly. Send a self-addressed stamped disk if you want to try them out.
I know the never-surrender feeling you have. I spent an inordinately long time getting a sewing machine 256K Compaq portable XT, circa 1985, to work, and collecting software that performed vaguely useful functions on it. That was a success, but only in the sense that it runs. The usefulness of the activity is strongly in question.
Just remember that this piece of hardware is not alive. Its old red LEDs will not gleam with evil triumph when you give up. It will not experience a static surge pang of defeat if you succeed. It is just a collection of obsolete components. It is like an empty milk carton. You wouldn't try and pick up your e-mail with an empty milk carton, now would you?
Q First I must congratulate you and the staff on a well-done magazine. Before I start on my problem I would like to let you know that I have been trying for several months to get Australian PC World from my local newsagent, and was told they could not get it. Now I have to travel 150km to a large town to get the magazine. Now, on with my problem.
I have a Star LS-5 Laser Printer. The problem is when I print in DOS the printer does not print properly. I have enclosed a copy of a print-out of the font sheet, Star LS-5 status and setup report and a part of a document file. On the doc files, the border I have highlighted is supposed to be a double solid line border, but instead it comes out with just garbage. Also, it does not print the words I've highlighted on the right-hand side; it cuts off the rest of the word instead of word-wrapping the word.
The document file I've enclosed was supposed to be two pages and stopped printing after one page, with the data light still flashing on the printer. This often happens after large doc files. What causes it and how can it be rectified? I have tried DOS word processors and text editors that I have. It looks alright on the screen, but it prints the same as the doc file I sent you.
I have Windows for Workgroup 3.11 and Microsoft Works. When I try to put a DOS-based text or word processor file into Microsoft Works it still does not do it right. When I do any Windows .WRI files they print out okay.
- Raymond Wozencroft
A Raymond, the newsagent problems have an easy solution. Subscribe! We'll deliver PC World right to your door (or PO box in your case).
As for your Star printer problems, I think we have an easy solution there too. The boxes and borders aren't printing out because you're not using the PC character set. Solving this is easy in Windows, and easy but elaborate in DOS. Windows first:
In Windows 3.x and Windows 95 there's a TrueType font called MS LineDraw.
Open your DOS documents in Write (or WordPad in Windows 95). In
Write, choose No conversion, so as to leave all the line
characters intact. Select all text, choose Character-Font
and select MS LineDraw. Now you just print the document.
You don't have to make any changes to your printer settings. Write
takes care of formfeeds, and you can adjust margins, font size,
headers and footers in Write to ensure it fits on the page. Best
of all, this works for any printer.
Now for the DOS solution. Your printer has an in-built PC character
set - they're the fonts with names starting with PC, PC-8, PC-8DN,
PC-850 on your font list sheet.
You can set the font through the front panel of the printer. Call the friendly Star Micronics support staff (Mark in WA), and he'll guide you through the sections in the manual on changing the font: (09) 344 2488. Alternatively, you can use escape sequences to set the font via software.
Beside each font on your font list sheet is an escape sequence that you send to the printer to switch to that font. You only have to do it once, and after that the printer stays in that font until you restart it, reset it or some other command tells it to change.
I suggest you use one of the condensed fonts, say the R004 PC-850
set. For that the escape sequence is:
<ESC>(12U<ESC>(s0p12.00h10.0v0s0b3T
<ESC> stands for the Esc character, which has the character code 27 in decimal notation or 1B in hexadecimal notation. You can insert this in a file using the DOS Edit command. Start it by typing Edit at the DOS prompt.
In the Edit window, type <Ctrl>P<ESC> to insert the edit character. That is, press the Control key, then P, then the Esc key. <Ctrl>P tells Edit to insert a literal character, not to interpret the character as a command key. It works for any control character you want to insert.
Type in the escape sequence, and save the file under a name like PC-850.txt.
Now when you want to switch to that font, send the escape sequence to the printer with the DOS command:
copy PC-850.txt LPT1
You have to do this once before you print from DOS. You'll have to do it again every time you print from Windows or use a word processor program that may send escape sequences to the printer.
If you want to create those boxes and borders yourself in DOS Edit, you can type their key values directly into DOS Edit by typing <Alt> followed by the three-letter character code on the numeric keypad. For example, the single line horizontal characters are 196: horizontal line, 179: vertical line. The corner characters for creating boxes are, clockwise from top left, 218, 191, 217 and 192. Find an Extended ASCII character set or Code Page table for the full details on these characters.
Escape sequences and character codes. That's DOS printing for you.
The reason your documents are clipping at the margins is not a printer problem. The lines in your documents are more than 77 characters wide, which is what the margins are set to on your printer. Using the condensed font should fix that problem too, allowing you to fit 80 characters per line or more.
The failure to print out the final page is probably lack of a final formfeed. You can press the formfeed button on your printer, or send a formfeed character. This is character code 12 in decimal or 0C in hexadecimal. You can put this in a file all by itself by simply typing copy con formfeed.txt at the DOS prompt, then typing <Ctrl>L followed by Ctrl<Z> and <Enter> (Ctrl<Z> is how you end a file - it's the end of file character for ASCII files.)
Then you can copy formfeed.txt to the printer port to eject the last page.
If you really want to be ultra-sophisticated (for DOS) put it all together in a batch file called dosprint.bat, which contains the lines:
When you want to print the file fred.txt from DOS, just type dosprint fred.txt.
This is such primitive stuff. Windows makes life a lot easier for printing and fonts.
Q First, I want to tell you how useful and informative I have always found your column, no less under your hand as under Jan Wikström's. It's the first thing I turn to when I get PC World each month.
In the February edition there is a great article on upgrading computers. My system is something over 18 months old now, and I'm looking to upgrade the processor with a clock doubler/tripler or an OverDrive chip, but I can't do it until this problem is sorted out. My problem is I'm not certain what sort of CPU I have, or rather, I know what it is but not what it equates to.
The motherboard manual and the startup screen refer to it as an IBM 486SLC2, but MSD reports it as a 486SX. I'm not even sure what the clock speed is; a reference I sneaked a look at in a bookshop said the SLC2 ran at 25MHz but the vendors called it a SLC50 on the docket, or a "Slick 50". (At any rate, I have the turbo switch disabled so I can run Doom!) This all leaves me just a little confused.
So, as far as upgrades are concerned, what sort of chip do I have? Any help would be much appreciated.
- Jack Mullaly
A It sounds like your chip is an IBM-manufactured CPU - not very common in this country - equivalent to an Intel 486DX2-50 (that is, a double-speed 50MHz chip).
On IBM's Web site at http://www.ibm.com, it's described as "a powerful IBM 486SLC2 microprocessor with a 16K internal cache. Running at 50MHz internally, this processor is comparable to a 33MHz 486SX chip."
It's identified as an SX because it doesn't contain a maths co-processor.
Is your system an IBM-manufactured one? The only two mentioned on IBM's Web page were the Personal System/2 53 and the 53LS 486SLC2.
In any case, we can't find enough information to advise you on your upgrade path. If you want to upgrade the chip, you'll have to find a service department or computer store who knows something about your machine. You may be able to get help from a computer store that isn't personally acquainted with your machine if you have all your documentation. Try calling IBM support, if you don't mind hanging about on the phone and you have a customer support number.
Q Foolish enough to fall for the Microsoft hype, I bought Windows 95 on the day of its release and installed it in my old 486SX-33 (8Mb RAM, 250Mb HDD, SB Pro sound card, single-spin CD and a fast, 12,000-something video card). Most features of the program did run, if slowly; some ran badly, and a number not at all.
Let's move with the times, I thought, and ended up with a Pentium 100, 16Mb RAM, 1.2 Gb HDD, MAD16 Pro sound card, Creative quad-spin CD and faster, 22,000-or-whatever video card.
In the Pentium I tolerated Windows 95 for some weeks, until it was clear to me that the program was a disaster, so I formatted the HDD and reloaded DOS 6.22 plus the entirely satisfactory Windows 3.1
The frustrating and costly exercise left me with a problem - CD games which ran like purchased ones in the 486 do not run on the Pentium. King's Quest 5 (KQV) claims "unable to initialise your audio hardware" then freezes, KQVI sound distorts and Discworld chokes-up after the first moment of speech and music. KQVII, Myst, Lost In Time, Return to Zork, etc run as they should. I have tried every likely combination of address, IRQ and DMA, and a bagful of drivers with differing results but no remedy. What else should I look at?
Why am I bothering you instead of my computer supplier? Because, in my experience, the multitude of experts who talk words and double-words, can't tell the difference between bytes and nibbles once they collect your money.
- Ted Matulevicius
A Your letter sounds like the cry of a man in the last throes of desperation. Try to put things in perspective. They're only little beige appliances, after all. People have lived rich, fulfilling lives without ever getting their PCs to work.
I'm very interested to know more specifically what it is that you disliked about Windows 95. I agree that there's plenty to dislike, but not enough to abandon it. It's certainly slow on a 486SX-33, 8Mb, but on a Pentium 100 with 16Mb it should be very acceptable. Maybe the hardware problems you were having made Windows 95 look worse than it is. You do have to persevere, but if you do my feeling is that it's better than Windows 3.x. You're not getting the most out of your 16Mb of memory with Windows 3.x.
Your games problems sound like bad Sound Blaster compatibility to me. Sound Blaster is the de facto standard and just about every game supports it. The MAD16 is an old card. Heartland Computer Technology in Northmead ((02) 890 2577) used to distribute it to Harvey Norman, but stopped two years ago. It's difficult to get information about it. There may be drivers that you have to run, and parameters that you have to set, to ensure Sound Blaster compatibility. If you've located these and are doing everything the documentation tells you to, then it may be hard to fix.
If you are getting some co-operation from your computer supplier, ask them to try a true Sound Blaster 16 in its place and see if you can run all your games. If it does work, ask them to let you exchange the MAD16 for a Sound Blaster.
According to Brenton at Creative Pacific support, a lot of the games that claim Sound Blaster compatibility read the BLASTER environment variable. If changing it makes no difference, either you haven't struck one of those games or there's something wrong. He suggests:
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4
or possibly, depending on your IRQ settings:
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T4
If it were a Sound Blaster card, you could softset the interrupts and DMA channels on the Sound Blaster card, using the setup software. He doesn't know about the MAD16.
Maybe your MAD16 works a little like the Media Magic ISP16 Sound
Blaster-emulating card in my machine. There's a program called
IPINIT.EXE for soft-setting the interrupts, DMA channels and other
parameters. It also sets the BLASTER DOS environment variable
when it's finished. There's also another environment variable
involved, and you have to run an initialisation program to start
Sound Blaster emulation when you start the machine, so the related
settings in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file are:
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T4
SET ISP16=C:\ISP16
C:\ISP16\ISPINIT /b
Q I have a problem with other people coming in at weekends and using my computer at work. Much of the information in the computer is confidential (ie, Employees and Wages) and should be protected; however, the main problem is that I often find that my setups have been changed requiring lengthy and difficult re-configuring.
I have the Windows 3.11 operating system on a stand-alone computer, but can't find anything on it to set passwords (other than if the computer is being used in a network system, which it is not). There is also a facility for setting passwords on the screensaver, but the password protection only applies when the screensaver is operating, not when you first turn on the computer.
Is there any way that I can put a password on my system that will give me security and prevent this kind of thing from happening in the future?
- Bob Lent
A Bob, security has always been a problem for Windows 3.x, because it sits directly on DOS, which has no security at all. Windows 95 is considerably better. As we explained in our February 1996 issue, on page 184, you can set up individual user profiles with customised access to files, and a private desktop that no other user can change. It's still not hacker proof, but at least it's "casual vandal" proof.
In Windows 3.x there is very little security. The easiest way to stop people using your computer at all is to lock it up. Physically is best. If you can't do that, then virtually - many PCs have a password you can set in the CMOS settings. This prevents the system booting unless the password is supplied. As you boot, look for the prompt that tells you which key to press to move to the CMOS settings program stored in your computer's ROM (read-only memory). Browse through the settings program for a password option. Be very careful with this - make sure you note the password, and don't change anything else you're unsure of.
If you have to allow people to use your system, but don't want them to change the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS configuration files, or Windows desktop settings, it's tricky.
One approach would be to back up your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, and all the .ini files in your Windows directory. Just copy them to a floppy disk and keep it with you. Then if someone has changed your settings, copy them back off the floppy to restore your old settings.
We discussed a freeware program called SecureGroup in our February issue on page 205. It's a password security system that allows you to lock other users out of specified program groups, and prevents them exiting to DOS to do any damage, or using a DOS window. You can download it from our Web page at http://www.idg.com.au/pc.world This won't stop a determined hacker, but it stops accidental destruction.
Q Every issue of PC World tells me at least a dozen times to back up my data. Can you provide a definitive list of files (for Windows 95, preferably) that I should archive the next time I read this caveat?
- Grant Miller
A Judging by most magazines and books, only crazed daredevils don't back up their data every day. The reality is that backing up several hundred megabytes is time-consuming and complicated, and restoring it even more so. With so many programs and operating systems now available on CD-ROM, reinstalling them is often a lot less work - but it won't bring back lost data and configuration files.
Windows 95 makes matters even worse. Currently, no native Windows 95 backup program comes with a command-line restore utility, which means you have to reinstall Windows before you restore anything. Existing DOS and Windows 3.x backup programs don't support Windows 95's long file names, and Win95's own backup program is short on tape drive support.
I can't provide a definitive list of files to back up, but I can give you a simple guideline: Back up those files you can't live without, or can't restore from another source. That means data files, configuration files (including the various .ini files), and any programs for which you don't have installation disks. Don't forget e-mail and fax program in-boxes, Windows Cardfile, Schedule+ data, communications program scripts and dialling directories, and, of course, config.sys and autoexec.bat.
You'll find backing up easier if you put all these files on the same hard disk or partition or, better still, under one subdirectory if that's practicable. To make backup even more painless, use the Backup applet in the Systems Tools folder contained in Windows 95's Accessories folder (see "Win95 tools tune your PC").
Q I read a suggestion that you should partition a 1Gb hard drive into eight 127Mb logical drives to create more efficient 2K clusters. I remember reading somewhere that each drive letter requires a small amount of conventional RAM. Eight hard drive partitions, one floppy disk drive, and one CD-ROM make 10 letters. Where is the balance between storage efficiency and RAM? Also, does Windows 95 suffer from the same cluster-size conundrum as DOS?
- Peter Maggio
A Drive partitioning is a matter of taste, and with hard disk prices continuing to fall, often a moot point. Depending on how you use your hard disk, one scheme may make more sense than another. If your files are generally small, choosing smaller partitions may be more efficient.
Personally, I prefer to create partitions just under 512Mb because, to me, the inconvenience of partitions smaller than that outweighs the few megabytes lost to 8K clusters. (Clusters are the units of space allocated to files on the hard disk. All the clusters on a disk are the same size, but that size depends upon the size of your disk's partitions.) Larger partitions and their concomitant larger clusters (16K for 512K to 1024K partitions, and 32K for 1024K-plus partitions) are a big waste. Formatting an entire 1.2Gb drive as a single partition squanders hundreds of megabytes, since every file, no matter how small, eats up 32K. But if you're only using 500Mb of your hard disk anyway, who cares?
As to the RAM cost of drive letters, it's small - 10 drive letters cost only a few hundred bytes. And yes, Win5 still uses DOS's File Allocation Table file system, so it suffers from the cluster-size problem.
Q Does Windows 95's Explorer let you filter the file display with a wild card (such as *.txt, for viewing only text files)? Or is there any other way to view files of a certain type? This was a cinch in Windows 3.1's File Manager.
- Harry Miller
A The Explorer has taken some undeserved flak for being different from File Manager. If you're willing to learn a new trick, press <F3> in any Explorer window (or in any folder window, including My Computer, Network Neighborhood, and Control Panel), type the path and file name - wild cards included - on the Name & Location page, and press <Enter>. To limit your search to one directory, make sure the Include subfolders box is unchecked. If Explorer isn't open, you can get to the same Find dialogue box by selecting Start-Find-Files or folders.
If you still need a bit more incentive to abandon File Manager in favour of Explorer, consider this: With one command, you can turn frequently executed file searches into one-click desktop shortcuts. The next time you do an oft-repeated search, in the Find dialogue box, select File-Save Search to tack your criteria to the desktop. Choose Options-Save Results before you save the search to include the list of found files, a nice tool for comparing the contents of a disk or directory before and after a particular operation. Windows 95 gurus will give the shortcuts plain-English names (with the .fnd extension) and drag them to the Start menu.
If you'd rather not have to learn a new interface, no problem: Windows 95 includes a 16-bit version of File Manager that's nearly identical to that in Windows for Workgroups. Open Explorer and double-click WINFILE.EXE in the c:\windows folder, or select Start-Run, type winfile.exe, and click OK.
Q Before I upgrade to Windows 95, I need some answers to a few questions. I know that programs such as Norton Utilities don't work under Windows 95's 32-bit structure. Can I bypass Windows 95 and boot up directly to DOS? If so, would the utilities run?
Adam Dylla
A Yes, after you've upgraded to Windows 95 you can still boot to your previous DOS version. But no, you can't use most 16-bit disk- and file-related utilities, mainly because you risk losing Windows 95's long file names. Symantec has released Windows 95 versions of several Norton products (see "Tools rush in," October 1995, page 64).
Even if you upgrade to 32-bit versions of your favourite applications, you may still want to boot to your old version of DOS so that you can run Windows 3.x or programs that aren't compatible with Win 95. If you choose the dual-boot option and install Windows 95 to a directory other than the one containing Windows 3.x, just re-boot your system, wait for the Starting Windows 95 message, and press <F4>. Or press <F8>, then select Previous version of MS-DOS from the resulting menu.
If you installed Windows 95 over Windows 3.x, your old DOS files are still there, but Windows 95's dual-boot feature is disabled. To enable it, switch to the root directory of your boot drive, and either enter attrib -h -s -r msdos.sys at the command prompt, or right-click the MSDOS.SYS file in the Explorer, select Properties from the resulting menu, and uncheck Read-only in the Attributes section of the Properties dialogue box. Next, open MSDOS.SYS in a text editor and change bootmulti=0 in the [Options] section to bootmulti=1, or delete the line, since bootmulti=1 is the default. Save the file and reset its attributes by entering attrib +h +s +r msdos.sys, or by selecting from its properties sheet in Explorer.
As long as you're mucking around inside MSDOS.SYS, you should know about some of the other Windows 95 boot options you can set there. For example, instead of pressing <F8> to call up the boot option menu every time you start Windows 95, make the menu appear automatically by adding the line BootMenu=1 to the [Options] section. As with DOS 6.x's CONFIG.SYS multiconfiguration menus, you can specify a default menu choice (BootMenuDefault=) and a delay time (BootMenuDelay=), during which you can choose another menu item. To see how little things have changed under Windows 95's hood, add the line BootGUI=0 to the same section, and restart Windows. Your system will boot back up to a familiar command prompt. To start the Windows 95 graphical interface, just enter win at the prompt.
- By Scott Spanbauer
Some things never change. Upgrading to Windows 95 doesn't mean
you can skip system maintenance chores. But it does make them
easier. The System Tools folder in the Accessories folder contains
several utilities that help you protect data, optimise performance,
and check your disk's integrity. Backup lets you copy your entire
hard disk or selected files to a floppy disk or tape. The Disk
Defragmenter speeds up disk access by reassembling fragmented
and scattered files. To detect and fix errors on your disk, run
ScanDisk. If you buy the Microsoft Plus Companion product, you
get enhanced versions of some of these tools.