Tips for Windows 3.1/3.11

Tips for Windows 3.1/3.11(21 - 30)

Maintenance Mode Setup: If you can't get into Windows to change specific hardware settings (such as video driver or mouse driver) you can go into "maintenance mode setup" from MS-DOS. To do this, type SETUP from the WINDOWS directory in MS-DOS.

Burning the Midnight Oil: Some people loose all sense of time when they work. Make sure the clock is always visible by clicking once on the minimizes clock icon and selecting "Always on top." The clock program will also display the time and date when minimized.

Use NOEMM Setting in SYSTEM.INI: Modern applications almost never use expanded (EMS) memory. You're only two-thirds of the way there if you add NOEMM to the EMM386 line in CONFIG.SYS an set EMMSIZE=0 in the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI. Even if you set the latter line to 0, Windows still loads the EMM driver. So give your RAM some breathing room by adding the line NoEMMDriver=ON right after the EMMSize=0 line in SYSTEM.INI.

Got Enough Files and Buffers?: Sometimes that out-of-memory error message means something completely different. Windows might just have run out of available file handles or buffers. Many systems come preconfigured with a woefully minimal 30 files and 10 buffers set in CONFIG.SYS. Try setting both numbers higher depending on the applications you run most often. Set FILES=50 and BUFFERS=20 as a bare minimum. If you use more than one large application at a time, bump the settings to 80 and 30, respectively. If you regularly work with many large applications, including a database, kick the numbers to 120 and 80. You'll pay a price in conventional memory, but if you use Windows applications exclusively, that's irrelevant.

Back Up SYSTEM.INI and WIN.INI: Even if you back up the rest of your system only as often as Hailey's Comet appears, back up these two files regularly. Someday a rogue application will change one byte in one of these files and cause Windows to go to never-never land. When it does, you'll replace the appropriate INI file with its backup, and you'll be back in business.

Type as Fast as You Can: If you type very fast, you can fill Windows' keyboard buffer, causing characters to disappear. To increase the keyboard buffer size, edit WIN.INI and go to the [Desktop] section. Set TypeAhead= to a number from 0 to 2,047 (bigger is better).

Icon See Clearly Now: Windows and most Windows applications include an extensive list of icons. To get an idea of how many, go into Program Manager, select an application, and Alt+Enter to bring up its properties. Click on Change Icon, Browse and open MORICONS.DLL. You'll see lots of icons. Want more? Open PROGMAN.EXE or any Windows EXE, ICO, or DLL to see what icons it holds.

New Program Manager Items: Add an item to Program Manager just by dragging it from File Manager. If the item is a Windows program, you'll probably get a nice icon, too.

Troubleshooting Windows Startup: When Windows refuses to load properly, the first diagnostic tactic is to run WIN/B at the command prompt. The /B switch creates a text file called BOOTLOG.TXT in your Windows directory. The log will sometimes point out the name of the Windows component that needs to be replaced or updated. If you rename a newly created BOOTLOG.TXT file to something like BOOTLOG.BAK, you can compare it to the next file made and tell what went wrong. To temporarily disable certain Windows features and track down potential problems, try these startup switches: /D:X excludes the entire upper memory block (UMB) area; /D:V shuts down Windows' ability to handle hard-disk interrupts; /D:S disables system ROM breakpoint searching; /D:F turns off 32-bit disk access; and /S starts Windows in Standard mode. If Windows will start with only one of these settings, your task is a lot easier.

Logical Grouping: If you primarily use Windows to launch the same applications, create a special group to hold them. In Program Manager select File, New, Program Group. Name it something like Applications. Now open the program groups that include the icons of your favorite applications, and hold down Ctrl as you drag the icons into your new Applications group. Holding down Ctrl copies the icons, rather than moving them. Next, maximize the Applications group and save your settings. Now your main Program Manager desktop will be a kind of quick-launch tool.