Remote printing simplified
Keying in on files in Windows 95
Finding Faulty Fonts
Q I use Word for Windows at home to draft papers for school and would like to print them out on the school's printers. The problem is that the school's computers are loaded with WordPerfect for Windows. Converting my files is time-consuming and not completely effective. I discovered from Print Manager Help that I can print documents to a .prn file and then print from that file. This helped me make the .prn file, but I'm not sure how to get the file printed after I take the disk to school.
- Shawn Traudt
A The DOS copy command is probably
the easiest way to send your print file to the printer at your
school. And with a batch file, you can make the process even easier,
whether your school uses Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups or
Windows 95.
First, on the computer at your school, use Notepad to make a batch file that contains the following command:
copy /b %1 lpt1:
If the printer is connected to a port other than LPT1, you'll have to change the last item accordingly. And if your school uses Windows 95, you'll need to add a second line, cls, so the batch file window will close automatically. (Be sure there are no carriage returns in the batch file after the "cls" - not even one right after the "cls", which some text editors add automatically.) Name the batch file printme.bat.
Next, associate the .prn extension to this batch file. In Windows 3.x, select the print file in File Manager and choose File-Associate. Type the full path and name of your batch file (such as c:\windows\printme.bat) and press <Enter>. Then use the Windows PIF Editor to make a program information file for your batch file: for Program Filename, type the path and name of your batch file. Check Close Window on Exit to make the DOS window go away when the batch file is finished. Then save your PIF in the Windows directory with the same name as your batch file except for the extension - for example, printme.pif.
In Windows 95, select the .prn file and press <Shift>+<F10>. Choose Open With from the pop-up menu. Check Always Use this Program to open this type of file. Next, click the Other button and type in the path and name of your batch file. Then click Open and OK.
That's it. Now, whenever you bring a .prn file from home, you can just double-click on it in File Manager or Explorer and wait for the results to emerge from the printer.
Q I find it's quicker to use the keyboard rather than the mouse for most of my work. The File dialogue boxes in Windows 95 add great new abilities, but they really slow me down. I'm used to dialogue boxes that I can open with a keyboard shortcut, and that let me start digging through file and directory lists by pressing <Tab>. But in Windows 95, the dialogue box opens with the cursor in the file name box instead of in the file and folder list. That's no good if I want to type a long file name or path! To get to the file list, I have to press <Tab> five times! Isn't there a way to change the default cursor location?
- Chris White
A You could press <Alt>+I and then <Tab> in each file dialogue box to get to the File list, but that's still a bit cumbersome. Here's a work-around created in the old Windows Recorder.
Since you apparently upgraded from a previous version of Windows, you may still have Recorder on your computer. If not, find recorder.ex_ on your Windows 3.x floppies. Then open a DOS window, type expand and follow the prompts on screen.
Start Recorder, then start a program that uses the Windows 95 file dialogue boxes; this sets the stage for your recording. Press <Alt>+<Tab> to switch back to Recorder, and choose Macro-Record. Give your macro a name and assign it a shortcut key. The keys you choose will supersede matching keystrokes in all other applications when your macro file is running. In this case, <Ctrl>+O is a good choice since many programs already use it to open the File Open dialogue box and you won't have to worry about pre-empting those keys in those applications. Type O and click the <Ctrl> check box.
Set Playback to Any Application and set Speed to Fast. For Record Mouse, select Ignore Mouse. Make sure Enable Shortcut Keys is checked. Click Start.
If you set up everything properly, your application should now be active. Press <Alt>+F, then O to open the File-Open dialogue box. Press <Alt>+I and then <Tab> to move the cursor to the file and folder list. Click the Recorder icon on the taskbar. Make sure that Save macro is selected, and then click OK. In Recorder, choose File-Save to save the macro to a file.
To make sure that your macro is always available, right-click the Start button and choose Open or Explore and navigate to the Startup folder in the Programs folder. Then use My Computer or Explorer to open another file window and locate the Recorder .rec file in which you saved your macro. If necessary, position the windows so that you can see the Startup folder and the .rec file icon at the same time. Now use the right mouse button to drag the .rec file to the Startup folder window. Choose Create Shortcut(s) Here from the pop-up menu.
Select the new shortcut, and press <Alt>+<Enter> to open its properties sheet. Press <Ctrl>+<Tab> to display the Shortcut tab. Choose Minimized from the Run list to make sure Recorder starts as an unobtrusive icon on the taskbar when you turn on your PC.
Now whenever you want to see a File Open dialogue box, press <Ctrl>+O. Then you can cursor to the folders and files you want.
Even though this macro was designed for Windows 95 dialogue boxes,
it should work adequately with any Windows application that uses
the normal Open command on a File menu. You can make a similar
macro to open the File-Save As dialogue box as well.
Q I have used Windows for Workgroups 3.11 for a year with no problems. But now when I start some applications, I get an annoying message: "Invalid TrueType Font Detected. An application used a TrueType font that caused an error in Windows. Quit all applications, and then restart Windows." When this happens I must quickly save my work and restart Windows because I can't read anything I type. How can I solve this problem? I have a lot of TrueType fonts and don't know which one is causing this.
- Trias Hermanu
A As you surmised, the solution
is to replace the corrupted font. But how do you find it? Fortunately,
this is easy, though not obvious.
Start Control Panel and double-click the Fonts icon. Select each font and look at the line at the bottom of the dialogue box that reports the size of the font on the disk. Any font that's listed as 0K or 2K is probably corrupted. You'll be prompted with a message that states "You may need to remove and reinstall the font."
With the bad font selected, click Remove. When prompted, check the Delete Font File From Disk option and then click Yes.
Once the corrupted font is gone, the next step is to restore it from your original Windows disks (or from a third-party font package).
Click Add in the Fonts dialogue box, and insert one of the disks in your floppy drive. Select that drive to see a list of the fonts on the disk. If the disk you inserted doesn't have the font you want, insert another and double-click the drive letter in the Directories list to refresh the fonts list. When you find the font you want, select it and then click OK.
Scott Dunn