Tips for Windows 3.1/3.11

Tips for Windows 3.1/3.11(11 - 20)

Shorten That Path: Don't let your path statement in AUTOEXEC.BAT become very long. The more directories you add, the longer it takes to search when DOS is loading. Most applications will add themselves to the path during installation, and you may eventually end up with an 'Out of environment space' error. Very few Windows programs need to be in the path, since they're not launched from a command line. You can delete the unnecessary references from the path statement using SYSEDIT.

Know When to Exit Windows: Don't run DOS-based disk repair utilities, disk defragmenters or even DOS CHKDSK with the /F parameter inside a DOS window. If you do, you may damage your hard disk. Instead, exit Windows and start those utilities from DOS. For the same reason, you should always exit Windows before turning off your PC.

Debug Your Configuration: If you're using MS-DOS 6.0 or higher and have a problem while your PC is booting, you can use two convenient features that let you debug CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT. When the system displays the 'Starting MD-DOS' message, press the F8 key and DOS will prompt you before executing each line in CONFIG.SYS. Then it will ask you whether you want to run AUTOEXEC.BAT. This is especially useful if you need to skip a bad device driver or find out which driver is displaying an error message. You can also press the F5 key if you want to completely skip the processing of CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT.

Remember What Your Mama Told You: Share!: Windows for Workgroups' ability to share devices can save money and streamline office procedures. You can use a single tape drive to back up all the machines on a WFWG network by first using WFWG's File Manager to share the root directories of each machine. The tape-drive-equipped machine will "see" the other machines' hard disks as if they were local and will be able to back them up. Similarly, a single CD-ROM can serve any number of WFWG-connected machines.

Spool DOS Print Jobs on the Nearest WFWG Print Server: Printing to a local printer from DOS can cause problems when the printer is being shared on the network - DOS applications don't use the Print Manager and, therefore, can't be properly controlled as part of the print spooling process. To get around this, you need to print to another machine on the network, which in turn will send your print job back to your machine for printing. It sounds complicated, but here's how it works: First, go to another machine (not the print server) on the WFWG network, and use Print Manager to connect to the shared printer. Next, install a printer driver on the LPT1.DOS port on the machine that's connecting to the print server over the network - this will effectively "re-share" the connected printer (assuming that it has been assigned to the LPT1.DOS port). Then share the printer on LPT1.DOS over the network. Finally, go back to the print server, and use Print Manager to connect a printer port (for instance, LPT2) to the new shared printer on the WFWG network. With this done, printing to the LPT2 port will spool the print job to the Print Manager on the second machine, which in turn will send it back for printing on the print server.

Connect with Windows for Workgroups Without the Windows: You don't need to run Windows to use WFWG's connectivity. You can access remote drives, printers and devices by typing NET START at a DOS prompt on any machine on which WFWG has been installed. This can be useful for quick-and-dirty sharing. Once it's done, typing NET will bring up a pop-up program allowing you to access shared resources.

Don't Hog That CD-ROM Drive: You can share a CD-ROM in WFWG, but you have to have it set up properly, and you must use the latest (16 bit) version of MSCDEX. Install the CD-ROM drive per the manufacturer's instructions, then edit AUTOEXEC.BAT; find the line containing MSCDEX and add /S to that line. This will enable remote sharing in MSCDEX. Then restart the computer, run WFWG and share the CD-ROM from File Manager.

Too Many Fonts: Windows loads very slowly when it carries the heavy baggage of too many fonts. You may need all those fonts when you use a desktop publishing program, but you want a speedier startup procedure for other applications. Make a copy of your WIN.INI file and name it WIN.FNT. Using a text editor such as SYSEDIT, search for FOT. Insert a semicolon in front of each line that loads a TrueType font, such as ONYX BT (TRUETYPE=TT0519M_.FOT, to disable the entire line. Leave Arial, Times New Roman, Courier, and your favorite fonts intact. Resave WIN.INI, and the next time you load Windows, it will come up significantly faster. You may also notice an increase in available Windows memory. For those occasions when you do need all of your fonts, rename WIN.INI as WIN.OLD, and copy WIN.FNT to WIN.INI.

More Icons: If you want your icons closer together, edit your WIN.INI file and go to the [Desktop] section. Add the line IconVerticalSpacing=44. Save, exit, and restart Windows. This will place icons neatly on top of each other. You can experiment with the value.

Fast Disk: To boost disk access performance, go into the Control Panel's 386 Enhanced option. Select Virtual Memory, Change and turn on Use 32-bit File Access and Use 32-bit Disk Access. You should see a 5 to 10 percent performance improvement in everyday activity.