          Windows 95 Setup/Config/Tweak/Speedup/Fixes Hints/Tips/Tricks/Hacks

                             (My Own Windows 95 tips)



* IMPORTANT: FIRST BACKUP Win95's Registry and System Files (SYSTEM.DAT,
             USER.DAT, SYSTEM.DA0, USER.DA0, MSDOS.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT,
             CONFIG.SYS, SYSTEM.INI and WIN.INI) BEFORE ATEMPTING TO MAKE ANY
             CHANGES !

* NOTE: The following tips/tricks/speedups/fixes have been discovered and
        tried by me, but with no guarantee they will also work on your
        Windows 95 system!
        So take extreme CAUTION when modifying your System settings!
        Faulty changes to your System settings may result in system crashes
        or/and lockups!
        Hope you'll find something useful in here. Enjoy!
        If you have any comments/ideas/questions/sugestions etc... send me a
        "wire" at:
        AXCEL216@aol.com

* BUG WATCH: PC World urges Windows 95 users to send e-mail with any bug
             reports you might discover while running Win95 or/and Win95
             applications at:
             bugwatch@pcworld.com



MYTIPS95.TXT Topics Contents:

COMPLETE MSDOS.SYS REFFERENCE *
MSDOS.SYS ATTRIBUTES
DOS MEMORY *
DUAL BOOT
REGISTRY BACKUP/RESTORE
MS-DOS PROMPT
RETURN TO DOS
SET TEMP *
DEFRAG/SCANDISK
DOS HIGH *
LOCALLOADHIGH *
WORD VIEWER
CLOSE BATCH
SWAP FILE
EXTRACT
MSD
LASTDRIVE *
MEDIA PLAYER
CONTROL PANEL
DITCH DRVSPACE
WIN SWITCHES
FIRST LOGO
SWITCHES *
SYSTEM.INI *
ANYTHING GOES
CFGBACK
DATE/TIME FUN
RESTORE AFTER INSTALL
WATCH YOUR PROMPT
LOAD/RUN
AUTOMATIC ZIP
FIND
REINSTALL 95
FAST, FAST, FAST


FOOT NOTE: the topics marked with a (*) are memory management tips, and most
           of them are also detailed in MEMORY.TXT, also included.





COMPLETE MSDOS.SYS REFFERENCE *

1. The [Paths] section:
[Paths]
WinDir=C:\WINDOWS       (default)
WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS   (default)
HostWinBootDrv=C        (default)
UninstallDir=C:\        (default)
2. The [Options] section:
[Options]<1>        Default                                    Nondefault
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BootDelay       =2  Initial startup delay (seconds)<2>
BootFailSafe    =0  Enables Safe Mode for system startup
BootGUI         =1  Automatic Windows 95 startup               Start command prompt
BootKeys        =1  Startup keys F4, F5, F6, F8 enabled
BootMenu        =0  Hide startup menu (press F8 to display)    Show startup menu<3>
BootMenuDefault =1  Indicated menu option is highlighted<4>
BootMenuDelay   =30 Delay (seconds) before running highlighted
                    menu item (only if BootMenu=1): 1-99
BootMulti       =1  Startup key F4 enabled                     F4 disabled<3>
BootSafe        =1  Safe mode startup available
BootWarn        =1  Display safe mode startup warning and menu
BootWin         =1  Enable Windows 95 as operating system      Enable previous OS
DblSpace        =1  Load DBLSPACE.BIN (if present)
DisableLog<#>   =0  Enable creation of BOOTLOG.TXT file        Disable BOOTLOG.TXT
DoubleBuffer    =1  SCSI controller needs double-buffering
DrvSpace        =1  Load DRVSPACE.BIN (if present)
LoadTop         =1  Load COMMAND.COM or DRVSPACE.BIN at top of
                    640K memory
Logo            =1  Display animated logo as Windows 95 loads<5>
Network         =1  Networking enabled<6>
SystemReg<#>    =1  Load Registry modules on startup           Don't load Registry
<1> Default action is taken if a line doesn't appear in the [Options] section.
    Except as noted, nondefault action is opposite to default.
<2> Delay allows time to press the function key. Default is 0 if BootKeys=0.
<3> If BootKeys=0, then BootMenu=1 and BootMulti=0 don't change default action.
<4> Menu option 3 is highlighted if a previous Windows 95 load failed.
<5> Logo=0 may solve 3rd party memory management conflicts.
<6> Network=1 must be present or the Safe Mode with Network support doesn't
    appear as option 4 on Startup Menu.
<#> These switches are UNDOCUMENTED (DisableLog=0 and SystemReg=1)!


MSDOS.SYS ATTRIBUTES

To edit MSDOS.SYS in DOS mode, I created a batch file named SYS95.BAT, with
the following lines:
@ECHO OFF
C:
IF NOT EXIST \WINBOOT.SYS ATTRIB +A -H -R -S \MSDOS.SYS
IF NOT EXIST \WINBOOT.SYS EDIT \MSDOS.SYS
IF NOT EXIST \WINBOOT.SYS ATTRIB -A +H +R +S \MSDOS.SYS
IF EXIST \WINBOOT.SYS ATTRIB +A -H -R -S \MSDOS.W40
IF EXIST \WINBOOT.SYS EDIT \MSDOS.W40
IF EXIST \WINBOOT.SYS ATTRIB -A +H +R +S \MSDOS.W40
Run SYS95 from any DOS prompt (including a DOS window).
I assumed that your bootup drive is drive C:, and that you have the directory
C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND mentioned in your path, in AUTOEXEC.BAT. EDIT.COM should
also be in a directory in your path (installed in \WINDOWS\COMMAND by
default). Change the drive letter if different on your system.
Some prefer to dual-boot: keep the ol' DOS version 6.xx (and Windows 3.1x) and
install  Win95 in a separate directory. That's when you have the choice, at
bootup time, to boot in your new Win95 configuration, or chose to boot to your
old version of DOS (and eventualy use Windows 3.1x, if you kept it on your
hard disk).
If you dual-boot (read the 4th topic in MYTIPS95.TXT on dual-boot) and choose
to boot with your ol' MS-DOS version 6.xx, MSDOS.SYS is renamed to MSDOS.W40,
so this batch file contains the variables necessary to edit MSDOS.W40 (the
name given to msdos.sys by Win95 boot routine, when you choose to boot with
your MS-DOS 6.xx version). In DOS 6.xx, make sure the \DOS directory is on
your path (in autoexec.bat), and that you have EDIT.COM in the \DOS directory.
SYS95.BAT is included here.
UPDATE: DL the complete Power Toys set (latest version, 8/27/96) from this
        Microsoft site:
        http://www.microsoft.com/windows/download/powertoy.htm
        There is a great utility included with the Power Toys package, called
        TweakUI. Use its interface to make changes to your MSDOS.SYS file,
        from inside Win95, at a push of a button. TweakUI is available for
        separate download from the same URL. After installation, TweakUI's
        icon can be found in Control Panel.


DOS MEMORY *

You might need, at some point, to exit Win95 to plain ol' DOS (version 7.00),
to play a stuborn DOS game or to start a weird DOS application, that won't run
from inside Win95, at a DOS prompt, or from Win95's DOS mode (with the vmm32
module loaded in memory). That's because Win95 takes over your system's memory
resources (even if releases some for DOS programs, but not enough for some of
them, and sometimes causes conflicts).
Example: a DOS game like Magic Carpet 1 by Bullfrog, CANNOT BE PLAYED FROM
INSIDE WIN95, AT A DOS PROMPT (try to use solution C described bellow, if B
doesn't work).
Falcon 3.0 flight simulation on CD-ROM, on the other hand, requires at least
608KB of low DOS memory to start (Win95's DOS mode provides only a maximum of
609KB of conventional memory, which could be insuficient for some programs to
start).
So you have 3 solutions, to be able to run your favorite DOS programs/games:
A. Create custom autoexec.bat and config.sys for each of your DOS games, and
reboot your computer with that particular configuration, just to play a game,
and then reboot again with the regular Win95 GUI (time consuming), or:
B. Other DOS games, like "STNG: A Final Unity" by Spectrum Holobyte, or
"Magic Carpet 2" by Bullfrog, can be played through a PIF file, from inside
Win95, by alocating all conventional memory (600KB or more) and at least 8MB
of extended memory to the PIF settings. For this to work you need to delete
your autoexec.bat and config.sys files and reboot (not before you BACKUP your
startup files) and if you'd like to have custom environment variables, place
WINSET.EXE (located on your Win95 install CD-ROM, in \ADMIN\APPTOOLS\ENVVARS)
in your Startup group (create a shortcut for it), and enter any SET PATH=
or/and SET <variable>= lines into Winset's command line (and restart Win95).
Good news: Bullfrog released the new "Magic Carpet 2" that can be played
from within Win95. Beware: this game requires at least 8MB of extended RAM
to play, and 16MB for high resolution graphics!
The new Lucas Arts game "The Dig" can also be played in a DOS session from
inside Win95 (with the apropriate PIF settings, stated in the game's
documentation). Or:
C. Try to get as much memory as you can, out of the Win95 operating system
and JUST EXIT WIN95 and start your DOS program/game, without rebooting.
When you're done playing your favorite game, you can return anytime to the
Win95 interface by typing "WIN".
To make sure you CAN exit Win95 to DOS prompt (when you answered "Yes" to
"Restart the computer" from the Start icon), you will HAVE to:
<1> Add/modify the line bellow to read:
SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM C:\ /E:512 /L:140 /U:140 /P
or something similar as the LAST line in your CONFIG.SYS. That is provided
you have a copy of COMMAND.COM in your boot drive's root directory (copy
COMMAND.COM from \WINDOWS\COMMAND to your boot drive's root folder, if it's
not already there).
If the PATH= line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT is pretty long (in MS-DOS 7.00 you
can exceed the 127 character long path limit), change "/E:512" to "/E:624"
(in the above example), to make sure you can fit the entire path statement
into the environment memory pool. You'll need something bigger than "/E:624"
ONLY if you have VERY long PATH=, PROMPT= and/or WINPMT= and some other SET
lines/statements in your AUTOEXEC.BAT (increase environment size to "/E:800"
or "/E:1024"in the above example).
<2> Move the files LOGOS.SYS and LOGOW.SYS from your Win95 directory
to any other folder (i.e. create a special folder called \WINDOWS\LOGO).
<3> Add/modify these lines in the [Options] section of MSDOS.SYS:
[Options]
BootGUI=0 -> To prevent the automatic start of Win95 after processing the
             autoexec.bat file
BootKeys=1 -> Startup keys enabled: F4-F8
BootMulti=1 -> Allows bootup with your ol' OS (MS-DOS 6.xx) as a choice
               (if you kept it on your hard disk)
BootWin=1 -> Enables Win95 as OS
BootMenu=1 -> Shows Boot menu options
BootMenuDefault=5 -> To boot with the "Command prompt only" option (see the
                     "Microsoft Windows 95 Startup Menu below)
BootMenuDelay=3 -> Delay in seconds until keypress if no option is chosen
When you boot with all these MSDOS.SYS options, you will be presented with
the following startup screen (you'll have 7 choices if you're not connected
to a network):
Microsoft Windows 95 Startup Menu
=================================
 1. Normal
 2. Logged (\BOOTLOG.TXT)
 3. Safe mode
 4. Step-by-step confirmation
 5. Command prompt only
 6. Safe mode command prompt only
 7. Previous version of MS-DOS
         Enter a choice: 5
F5=Safe mode Shift+F5=Command prompt Shift+F8=Step-by-step confirmation[N]
"Normal" (choice 1) allows you to boot into Win95 OS, option 5 "Command
prompt only" boots to MS-DOS prompt without loading the "WIN" module in
memory (Win95 doesn't process the Registry), and if you want to boot with
your ol' DOS version, choose option 7.
To be able to edit MSDOS.SYS, you need to change its attributes. Run these
commands from DOS prompt:
ATTRIB +A -H -R -S C:\MSDOS.SYS
EDIT C:\MSDOS.SYS
ATTRIB -A +H +R +S C:\MSDOS.SYS
or create a batch file with these lines, name it SYS95.BAT, and place it
in a directory in your path (specified on the PATH= line in AUTOEXEC.BAT).
<4> Exit Win95 (click "Shut down", "Restart the computer" and answer "Yes").
<5> Put all your DOS mode drivers/TSRs that you were running in the ol' DOS
version 6.xx, and that will need to run your DOS games (CD-ROM driver, Mouse
driver, Sound driver, Smartdrv, etc...) back into your AUTOEXCEC.BAT and
CONFIG.SYS (load them HIGH with "DEVICEHIGH" in CONFIG.SYS and "LH" in
AUTOEXEC.BAT).
Start Windows 95 from a batch file, to include these lines:
WIN
MODE CO80
Now you're ready to reboot your system, and you're on.
The line "MODE CO80" above, returns the DOS display to the default of 80
columns mode.
You can also create startup files with multiple bootup choices (in MS-DOS
6.xx fashion).
You will notice a difference, after booting straight to DOS mode with the
new MSDOS.SYS, when you run "MEM /C /P": the module "WIN" is not in memory
anymore, and you have only one instance of "COMMAND" loaded in upper memory
(therefore you have more low RAM available, and with a little luck you can
have up to 625KB)!
I found out that in this configuration, I can start ANY dos program/game,
and NOT run out of memory (625KB of free low RAM!), with ALL drivers/devices
TSRs loaded in upper memory (above the 640KB limit), using Win95's own
EMM386.EXE to alocate all extended RAM memory as expanded (using the "AUTO"
switch).
Here is an example of loading the MS-DOS 7.00 memory managers in CONFIG.SYS:
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE X=C000-C7FF I=B000-B7FF M3 D=256 RAM AUTO ALTBOOT NOTR
The switch "NOTR" is not documented (prevents EMM386 from detecting a Token
Ring Network Adapter, which detection may hang some machines). "NOTR" is NOT
enabled by default (you need to add it to EMM386.EXE's line yourself!).
By the way: try to avoid the "HIGHSCAN" switch on the EMM386.EXE line! It may
be dangerous to your health (it may lockup your machine on bootup!). The "RAM"
switch does the same job on searching the Upper Memory Area (UMA) for unused
UMB-s (Upper Memory Blocks), and providing the system with all available
upper memory blocks, for loading devices high.
NOTE: for more info on HIMEM.SYS/EMM386.EXE parameters, pop in your Win95
install CD-ROM, change to your CD-ROM drive, go to the \OTHER\OLDMSDOS folder
(found on the Win95 install CD-ROM only) and  run "HELP" from the CD-ROM:
HELP EMM386.EXE
and press Enter, and then:
HELP HIMEM.SYS
and press Enter.
You will also NEED to read the text files CONFIG.TXT and MSDOSDRV.TXT located
in your Windows 95 folder, if you want to "mess" with your CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT, to adapt them to your needs.
NOTE: ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR STARTUP/REGISTRY FILES BEFORE MAKING ANY CHANGES !!!


DUAL BOOT

Step by step installation for a dual-boot menu for DOS 6.xx+Win 3.1x and
Win95/DOS 7 on your system:
You have the choice of the OS to boot with. Doublespace/Drivespace drives can
also be handled with this method. Use this to keep running your old programs
under your old DOS6/Win31 OS, while testing the new Win95 OS:
1> Copy (duplicate) your whole Windows 3.1x directory and all subdirectories
to another directory, like \WIN3. Copy \DOS to another one like \DOS6.
2> Edit all INI files in the WIN3 directory and change all references from
\WINDOWS to \WIN3 (open them with a plain text editor: EDIT.COM does the job).
Start a Search/Replace pattern for all \WINDOWS instances to be replaced with
\WIN3. Also, while running the new copy of Win31, delete the REG.DAT file
(found in \WIN3), and then open File Manager, go to the \WIN3\SYSTEM
subdirectory of the current running Win31 copy, and double click on all the
.REG files there, to create a new/updated REG.DAT file. You will also have to
modify all the program groups and all items in them, to point to the new
location of Win31 (the new \WIN3 directory).
3> Open your MS-DOS 6.xx version of AUTOEXEC.BAT with a text editor (use
EDIT.COM in DOS mode), and REM the PATH= line. Copy it, and paste it as the
next line, and modify the Windows directory to point to \WIN3, and \DOS to
read \DOS6. If you also load IFSHLP.SYS (the Win31 32bit disk access driver)
in your CONFIG.SYS, change its path to point also to \WIN3. If you load
HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE from your Win31 directory, you will have to modify
their path too, to point to \WIN3. If you load them from \DOS, (the default
MS-DOS 6.xx directory), change their path to \DOS6.
4> Reboot, restart Win31 and install Win95's SETUP through Win31's Program
Manager: File/Run. Win95's install will rename your old CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT files to CONFIG.DOS and AUTOEXEC.DOS. In the dual boot menu, if
you choose to boot with the "Previous version of MS-DOS", Win95 renames them
back to CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT, and backups the Win95 versions with the
.W40 extension (AUTOEXEC.W40 and CONFIG.W40).
5> After the Win95 install is done, at Win95's Desktop use Notepad with
"select all files" to edit CONFIG.DOS and AUTOEXEC.DOS and change all
\WINDOWS references in them to \WIN3, and all \DOS references to \DOS6.
6> The following lines MUST appear in the [Options] section of your
MSDOS.SYS file (if you use Doublespace/Drivespace disk compression you MUST
change both MSDOS.SYS files: the one on the boot drive and the one on the
compressed drive):
[Options]
BootGUI=1
Network=0
BootMulti=1
BootMenu=1
BootMenuDefault=7  => to boot in MS-DOS 6.xx. Use 1 to boot with Win95 OS.
BootMenuDelay=30   => default number of seconds to select an option.
To add these lines, first, open "My Computer" and use the menu bar to
View/Options/View/Show All Files, and also uncheck "hide MS-DOS file
extensions". Then double-click on the MSDOS.SYS icon and look. If it doesn't
have all the above lines, you'll need to edit this file and put them in.   
Since the MSDOS.SYS file is a "read-only/hidden/system" file, you'll need to
first change its attributes and then use Notepad to insert the new line(s).
Then you have to change the attributes back to their original states when
done, to protect the file, and make it recognizable by Win95 OS.
To change the attributes, click on the MSDOS.SYS icon using your RIGHT mouse
button. Select Properties and uncheck the attribute blocks.
Exit, make your text changes and save the file. Now change the MSDOS.SYS
attributes back to: hidden, system, read-only.
7> Exit Win95 and reboot. You should now see the dual boot menu and be able
to select which mode (OS) you want to boot with: the first option: "Normal",
allows you to boot into Win95, and option 7, "Previous version of MS-DOS",
lets you boot with your old DOS+Win version (MS-DOS 6.xx+Win3.1x). The boot
menu that you will see next time, looks like this (if you are not connected
to a network):
Microsoft Windows 95 Startup Menu
=================================
 1. Normal
 2. Logged (\BOOTLOG.TXT)
 3. Safe mode
 4. Step-by-step confirmation
 5. Command prompt only
 6. Safe mode command prompt only
 7. Previous version of MS-DOS
         Enter a choice: 1
F5=Safe mode Shift+F5=Command prompt Shift+F8=Step-by-step confirmation[N]
8> Any programs installed after this will ONLY appear in the system you were
running at Win95's install time!
Example: if you installed MS Excel (the 16bit old version) under Win95 you
have to install it again under DOS6+Win31 if you want to run it under both
systems.
You can install the program to the same directory both times and you'll
simply overwrite the files to avoid having 2 sets of the same program on your
hard disk. If you have 2 different versions of the same application, one for
Win31 and the other for Win95 (let's say a 32bit application, incompatible
with Win31), install them in different directories (one for Win95, installed
through Win95's setup, and one for Win31, installed through Win31's setup).


REGISTRY BACKUP/RESTORE

If you make changes to the Registry, and you end up not being able to
restart/load Win95, there is still a chance: reboot your computer in DOS
mode (MS-DOS mode is required for all procedures mentioned here), and type:
REGEDIT
and press enter. You will be presented with this screen:
Imports and exports registry files to and from the registry.
REGEDIT [/L:system] [/R:user] filename1
REGEDIT [/L:system] [/R:user] /C filename2
REGEDIT [/L:system] [/R:user] /E filename3 [regpath]
/L:system       Specifies the location of the SYSTEM.DAT file.
/R:user         Specifies the location of the USER.DAT file.
filename1       Specifies the file(s) to import into the registry.
/C filename2    Specifies the file to create the registry from.
/E filename3    Specifies the file to export the registry to.
regpath         Specifies the starting registry key to export from.
                (Defaults to exporting the entire registry).
... Which means YOU ARE SAVED! (only IF YOU BACKED UP the registry files
beforehand!).
Microsoft designed a DOS mode for editing the registry, when everything else
fails. To make it work, load Win95, run Regedit, click Registry, click
Export Registry File, choose your backup folder (let's say \BACKUPS), then
type in a name for the exported file and save it as SYS95. The file will be
saved with the .REG extension. Now go ahead and mess with the Registry as
much as you want. If Windows doesn't restart/load/work after your newly made
changes, exit Win95 to MS-DOS mode (or reboot with the "Command prompt only"
option, if you have Win95 boot menu present on your screen), and type:
REGEDIT /E \BACKUPS\SYS95.REG
to backup the Registry in MS-DOS mode, into the SYS95.REG file.
To recreate the Registry from SYS95.REG, type:
REGEDIT /C \BACKUPS\SYS95.REG
and press Enter.
Win95 saves a backup copy of the Registry itself, as SYSTEM.DA0 and USER.DA0,
in \WINDOWS. If, for any reason you can't restart Win95, boot in MS-DOS mode,
and change the names of these two files back to the original:
CD\
MD \BACKUPS
ATTRIB -H -R -S \WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DAT
ATTRIB -H -R -S \WINDOWS\USER.DAT
MOVE \WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DAT \BACKUPS
MOVE \WINDOWS\USER.DAT \BACKUPS
ATTRIB +H +R +S \BACKUPS\SYSTEM.DAT
ATTRIB +H +R +S \BACKUPS\USER.DAT
ATTRIB -H -R -S \WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DA0
ATTRIB -H -R -S \WINDOWS\USER.DA0
REN \WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DA0 SYSTEM.DAT
REN \WINDOWS\USER.DA0 USER.DAT
ATTRIB +H +R +S \WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DAT
ATTRIB +H +R +S \WINDOWS\USER.DAT
and press Enter after each line. You can create a batch file containing all
these lines and run it after you exit Win95 to DOS prompt (if something
happened during your last Win95 session, and you can't restart Win95 with the
present configuration files).
If you didn't back up the Registry, so there is NO SAVED FILE to recreate the
Registry from (and there is no valid backup made by Win95), there is still a
LAST CHANCE: in your boot drive's root directory, you can find a hidden file
called SYSTEM.1ST (contains all the original registry settings you first
started Win95 with, when you installed it). Copy it as SYSTEM.DAT to your
\WINDOWS folder, using these command lines at the DOS prompt:
MD \BACKUPS
ATTRIB -H -R -S \WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DAT
MOVE \WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DAT \BACKUPS
ATTRIB -H C:\SYSTEM.1ST
COPY C:\SYSTEM.1ST C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DAT
ATTRIB +H +R +S C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DAT
ATTRIB +H C:\SYSTEM.1ST
and press Enter after each line (same as above: create a batch file with the
above lines, and run it in DOS mode).
You will now have to start customizing/setting up Win95 again from ground up
(but at least NOW it's working).


MS-DOS PROMPT

To go to the ol' MS-DOS command prompt screen from Win95 (which is so well
hidden by Microsoft under Windows GUI interface), there are 2 ways:
1. Click Start, Programs, MS-DOS prompt icon to start a DOS prompt session
inside Win95. Type "EXIT" to return to the Win95 interface.
To remind yourself that you are running a Windows DOS session, add/modify
these lines in your AUTOEXEC.BAT to read:
SET PROMPT=Real DOS Mode Prompt!$_$P$G
SET WINPMT=Type EXIT and press ENTER 2 return 2 Windows 95!$_$P$G
The SET WINPMT= statement line is what you'll see as prompt, during your
DOS session, and you won't forget to go back to Win95 when you're done in
your DOS session.
2. To go to the real DOS (version 7.00, called MS-DOS mode, which is
actually the 16bit layer underneath Windows), click Start, Shut Down,
choose "Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode", and click Yes.
Your PC will perform a warm reboot, if you don't hold down the Shift key
(if no modifications are made to your MSDOS.SYS file), loading the DOS
real-mode 16 bit drivers specified in DOSSTART.BAT, located in your Win95
folder (Win95 renames it AUTOEXEC.BAT).
To boot to DOS with different configurations, if you need to run different
(weird) DOS programs/games with high memory requirements, make as many
desktop (or create a new DOS Games folder) shortcuts to MS-DOS prompt as
you want, give them different names (similar to your DOS programs/games),
and right click on each one of them, choose Properties, to create custom
CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT to load your real mode drivers/TSRs necessary
for each application/game and reboot with that specific PIF file/icon
settings.
When you set up a Program Information File (PIF) to run an MS-DOS program
in MS-DOS mode, you can select the "Specify a new MS-DOS configuration"
option. If you select this option, you can create a CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT file to be used when you run that MS-DOS-based program.
When you run a program in this manner in Win95, the CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT files in the boot drive's root directory are renamed to
CONFIG.WOS and AUTOEXEC.WOS, and the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files
specified in the PIF are copied to the root directory. Also, the entry
"DOS=SINGLE" is added to the top of CONFIG.SYS specified by the PIF to
cause Win95 to start in DOS mode only, and then go back to Win95's GUI,
when you're done in DOS.
If you turn your computer off or restart it while it is running in MS-DOS
mode, the PIF-specific CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files are retained in
the root directory, and the computer restarts in MS-DOS mode, without
letting you return to Win95. If this happens, remark the DOS=SINGLE line
at the begining of the CONFIG.SYS. Reboot, and now you can return to
Win95's GUI.
When you quit the MS-DOS-based program properly, the PIF-specific
CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files in the root directory are replaced by
the original files.
PIF specific CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files are created ONLY if you
select the "Specify a new MS-DOS configuration" check box for an MS-DOS
program that will run in Win95's DOS mode.


RETURN TO DOS

To return to the Plain DOS command prompt after you chose to "Shut down
Windows 95", by clicking the Start button, and then Sghut Down, all you need
is edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (found in your root folder of your Win95 boot
drive), and add these two lines at the end of AUTOEXEC.BAT:
WIN
MODE CO80
You can open AUTOEXEC.BAT with Notepad in Windows, or with EDIT.COM in DOS
mode.
Save the file and reboot, for the changes to take effect.
You also choose a different alternative: create a DOS batch file to start
Windows 95 from, and place a command line, as the last line in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT, to execute the batch. The batch needs to have the same two
lines above:
@WIN
@MODE CO80
After you're done at the DOS prompt, you can restart Win95 by running the
batch.
What relly happens: when the shut down sequence is done, all you see is the
Win95 shut down logo displayed (Win95 uses by default the LOGOS.SYS file
located in the Windows 95 folder), but you won't see the DOS prompt ('cause
Microsoft wants to hide it, making you believe that you have a Windows only
graphical OS).
By executing "MODE CO80", you actually return to DOS prompt's default video
mode of 25 lines by 80 columns, so you can freely type DOS command lines,
or start your favorite DOS programs (especially the ones that won't work
from a Windows 95 DOS prompt window/full screen, even started through
customized PIF files).
It is possible to go back to the DOS prompt, after exiting Windows, because
Win95 is only a partially enabled 32bit graphical OS, layered on top of the
16bit ol' MS-DOS plain command line OS.


SET TEMP

Undocumented! If, for any reason, you decide to choose a different "temp"
(temporary) directory for storing Windows temporary files (i.e. let's
say a RAM disk), you will need to add these 2 lines to your CONFIG.SYS:
SET TMP=D:\TEMP
SET TEMP=D:\TEMP
considering D:\TEMP the new "temp" directory on your RAM drive, created
by loading this device driver in your CONFIG.SYS (Win95 users):
DEVICEHIGH C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\RAMDRIVE.SYS <parameters>
To create the new directory D:\TEMP, add this as the last line to your
AUTOEXEC.BAT:
MD D:\TEMP
Then delete the Win95 default "temp" directory: C:\WINDOWS\TEMP (and if
there are SET TEMP= or/and SET TMP= lines in autoexec.bat you'll have to
remove/remark them, too). Reboot.
If the "temp" variable is not mentioned in your config.sys, Win95
automaticaly creates the default "temp" directory (the \TEMP subdirectory
under your \WINDOWS directory) at startup.
NOTE: For RAMDRIVE.SYS complete refference, read its topic in the
      MSDOSDRV.TXT file, found in your Win95 folder (default \WINDOWS).
      Open MSDOSDRV.TXT with Notepad in Windows.


DEFRAG/SCANDISK

To have Defrag run unattended every time you start Win95, create a shortcut
for Defrag with this command line and place it in the Startup folder:
C:\WINDOWS\DEFRAG.EXE /ALL /F /NOPROMPT
meaning: defragments all your hard (and RAM) drives, performs full,
unconditional defragmentation and it won't prompt you when it's done
(automatic exits the program when the job is done).
Same for Win95's ScanDisk: to run Scandskw unattended, type in the Scandskw
shortcut command line box:
C:\WINDOWS\SCANDSKW.EXE /A /N
to scan all your hard (and RAM) drives, performing a standard scan (no
surface scan) and to exit upon completion, without prompting you for
confirmation.
If you installed System Agent that comes with MS Plus! (a must have), you
can schedule Defrag and ScanDisk to do periodic unattended "runs" on your
hard drive(s) using the above switches.
Windows 95 Disk Defragmenter switches:
DEFRAG [drive: | /all] [/F | /U | /Q] [/noprompt] [/concise | /detailed]
drive:     Drive letter of the disk to be optimized
/ALL       Defragment all local, nonremovable drives
/F         Defragment files and free space
/U         Defragment files only
/Q         Defragment free space only
/CONCISE   Display the Hide Details view (default)
/DETAILED  Display the Show Details view
/NOPROMPT  Unattended mode: do not stop to display confirmation messages.
Windows 95 ScanDisk switches:
SCANDSKW [drive:] [/A] [/N] [/P]
drive:          Specifies one or more drives to be checked
/A or /All      Checks all local, nonremovable hard disk drives
/N or /Non      Interactive Starts and closes ScanDisk automatically
/P or /Preview  Runs ScanDisk in Preview mode (doesn't actually write
                changes to disk)
dblspace.nnn
or
drvspace.nnn    Checks the specified unmounted DoubleSpace or DriveSpace
                compressed volume file, where nnn is the filename extension
                for the hidden host file.
NOTE: the DOS version of ScanDisk has same switches (can only be used AFTER
      you exit Win95 to MS-DOS prompt). Type "SCANDISK /?" for more info.
Those of you who purchased the Microsoft Plus! Package for Windows 95 can
achieve all the above by scheduling SysAgent to do all the chores (you'll
still need to add these switches to the Defrag and Scandskw command lines).
IMPORTANT: There is A DANGEROUS UNDOCUMENTED SCANDISK SWITCH (MS-DOS mode),
to be avoided by all means !!! Here it is:
SCANDISK /O
It deletes all Long File Name (LFN) references, without any way of
restoring the lost LFN-s !!!


DOS HIGH *

With all the TSRs/drivers/devices loaded in the upper memory area (UMA),
using "DEVICEHIGH" in CONFIG.SYS and "LH" in AUTOEXEC.BAT, you may be able to
get a maximum of 623KB of conventional memory at DOS prompt OUTSIDE WIN95,
when you choose to Shut down the computer from the Start/Shut Down menu,
without using any special memory management "advanced" features (provided by
most of third party memory managers outhere: QEMM, NetRoom, 386MAX). You'll
NEVER need more than 619KB of conventional RAM EVER for ANY DOS program!
This is possible because Win95 can move the FILES, STACKS, LASTDRIVE and FCBS
to the upper memory area (above the first 640KB). The BUFFERS are moved to
the high memory area (HMA), the first 64KB of RAM above the first meg.
These new features are implemented in the Win95 OS and can be achieved by
adding these lines to the beginning of your CONFIG.SYS file (the numeric
values here are only the average example, and you should change them to suit
your own system needs):
DOS=HIGH,UMB,NOAUTO
BUFFERSHIGH=10,0
FILESHIGH=60
LASTDRIVEHIGH=H
FCBSHIGH=1,0
STACKSHIGH=0,0
or go with the "conservative" version (let the OS do the work for you):
DOS=HIGH,UMB,AUTO
BUFFERS=10,0
FILES=60
LASTDRIVE=H
FCBS=1,0
STACKS=0,0
The AUTO switch doesn't need to be mentioned (it's the default).
NOTE: For more info about these new Win95/DOS 7.00 features READ these 2 text
      files found in your Win95 folder: CONFIG.TXT and MSDOSDRV.TXT.


LOCALLOADHIGH *

For maximum DOS memory in a Windows DOS session, add/modify the line:
LocalLoadHigh=1
to the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI, found in the Win95 folder (default is
\WINDOWS). This will give you an extra 2-8KB (or more, depending on your
system configuration) of conventional (low) memory in a DOS session.
Default Windows setting in SYSTEM.INI is: LocalLoadHigh=0.
If you run the DOS mode TSRs/drivers/devices loaded high in your CONFIG.SYS
and AUTOEXEC.BAT files (loaded with "DEVICEHIGH" and "LH" by EMM386.EXE),
and have a memory configuration (on bootup, before launching Windows) of
less than 16KB of free upper RAM (the Upper Memory Area: UMA, is the first
384KB of memory above the 640KB boundary), make sure to remove the following
line, or better, remark it with a semicolon (;), in the [386enh] section
of your SYSTEM.INI file, located typicaly in C:\WINDOWS, like this:
; LocalLoadHigh=1
If this line has a numeric value of "1", you won't be able to start Windows
with less than 16KB of free upper memory on some systems!
This applies to Windows 3.1x (386 enhanced mode only) as well as to Win95.


WORD VIEWER

For those of you who would like to view Word files, without having MS Word
or MS Office installed, the Windows 95 install CD-ROM provides a viewer:
pop in your Win95 setup CD-ROM, then in Explorer double-click your CD-ROM
drive icon, go to the \OTHER\WORDVIEW folder, and run SETUP. That's it. Now
look in the Accessories folder: you'll find an icon for Wordview. Now you
can view those .DOC files without garble (Wordpad doesn't provide the
Word-type filters for viewing such files).


CLOSE BATCH

To have the DOS style batch files close upon completion, when you run them
from a Win95 desktop shortcut icon (or folder/program item):
Right click on the icon, click Properties, select the Program tab, and
check the "Close on Exit" box. Click OK.


SWAP FILE

WARNING: Undocumented and VERY DANGEROUS IF NOT DONE PROPERLY !!!
Windows 95 uses by default a permanent, resizable swap file (WIN386.SWP),
found in your Win95 folder (default \WINDOWS). If you are a dual-boot user
(you're still running Win31+DOS6 and Win95/DOS7 on the same drive), you
are probably using the Win31 permanent swap file (386SPART.PAR), located
in the root directory of your Windows drive (usually C:\).
Win31's permanent swap file CAN ALSO BE USED by Win95 as its own!
*** FIRST BACKUP YOUR SYSTEM/REGISTRY FILES (WIN95 AND WIN31 VERSIONS)!!!
To enable this undocumented feature, you need to edit Win95's SYSTEM.INI
file, located in your Win95 folder (default \WINDOWS) and add/modify these
lines in the [386enh] section:
PagingDrive=C:
MinPagingFileSize=10320 => defines the lower limit of the swap file (if
                          Win31's permanent swap file size is 10240KB!)
PagingFile=c:\386spart.par => to use Win31's permanent swap file as Win95's.
Optionally, you can set this upper limit to your swap file:
MaxPagingFileSize=61920
to have a 60MB maximum size swap file to use with Win95.
Specifying the upper limit for the swap file, allows for a less frequent
hard drive thrashing, thus making the task of reading from/writing to the
drive easier.
Edit SYSTEM.INI with a text editor (Notepad). Save changes. Restart Win95.
IMPORTANT: you have to specify the correct size of your Win31 swap file
           in hexadecimal system. Example: if you chose a 10240 KBytes
           permanent Win31 swap file (in the 386 Enhanced icon in Control
           Panel), then the Win95 swap file size MUST be 10320 KBytes (as in
           the above exmple). The principle is to choose a multiple of 1032
           KBytes in Win95's SYSTEM.INI to match Win31's swap file size
           specified as a multiple of 1024 KBytes in Win31's SYSTEM.INI.
In this example 386SPART.PAR is 10,567,680 bytes (10MB) in length.
Win95 provides a way of (re)sizing its own swap file thru the Device Manager.
Access it by right clicking on "My Computer", then click Properties, click
the Performance tab, click Virtual Memory, and click "Let me specify my own
virtual memory settings". Change the Minimum value to 10 (the above example).
BE AWARE: Win95 might delete the line "PagingFile=c:\386spart.par" from
SYSTEM.INI's [386enh] section, after you resized the swap file thru the
Device Manager. If this happens, add the line yourself (no quotes).
You will have to reboot after clicking OK, to make the changes take effect
(Win95 will prompt you to reboot anyway).
In Win31's SYSTEM.INI file, you MUST have the following lines in the [386enh]
section, to make the 32bit disk/file access work:
device=*pageswap
device=*PAGEFILE
device=*wdctrl => ONLY for IDE/EIDE hard drives smaller than 528MB (default),
; or if you have a hard disk bigger than 528MB, use this one:
; device=wdcdrv.386 => for Western Digital (E)IDE hard drives bigger than
                       528MB (driver version 2.6),
; or this one:
; DEVICE=MH32BIT.386 => ONLY for Conner (E)IDE hard drives bigger than 528MB
                        (driver version 7.02).
device=ios.386 => loads protected mode Windows 386 enhanced device manager
device=vxdldr.386 => loads the virtual extended memory driver for handling
                     32 bit disk access in Win31
device=vcache.386 => enables Win31's 32bit file access in Win31 !
32BitDiskAccess=on => turns on 32bit FastDisk access in Win31!
PageBuffers=32 => to increase the number of paging buffers (optional)
PermSwapDOSDrive=C => default, uncompressed (fastest) swap hard drive
PermSwapSizeK=10240 => Win31 permanent swap file size in KBytes (Win95's swap
                      file size in this case MUST be 10320 KB) !
... And this line, in the [vcache] section of SYSTEM.INI (Win31 and Win95):
MinFileCache=2048 => if you chose a 32bit file access size of 2048 KBytes
                     (2MB) through Control Panel, 386 Enhanced icon, Virtual
                     Memory, Change Virtual Memory Settings, Use 32bit File
                     Access, Change size (Win31).
                     In Win95 you'll have to edit SYSTEM.INI manually and add
                     or modify this line yourself (in Notepad).
Optionally, you can also set the upper limit on the file cache size, to reduce
hard drive thrashing, in SYSTEM.INI, the [vcache] section (Win31 and Win95):
MaxFileCache=4096
to allow the file cache size to grow up to 4MB.
Choose a MaxFileCache of 4MB ONLY if your system has at least 16MB of RAM
installed! A MaxFileCache greater than 4MB won't increase performance
significantly anyway.
WDCDRV.386 and MH32BIT.386 Win31 protected mode 32bit drivers can be found on
AOL. Go to keyword Western Digital and from the Software menu download
WIN31.EXE for wdcdrv.386 (or for Conner hard drive owners, bring up the File
Search icon, type in MH32BIT, and download the file 32BIT.EXE).
You can (probably, I didn't test it with other drive brands!) use WDCDRV.386
for all main brand models IDE (and EIDE) hard drives larger than 528MB that
support Win31's 32bit disk access feature (also called FastDisk).
In Win31's SYSTEM.INI, you can use only ONE of the 3 drivers mentioned above
depending on the size/model of your hard drive (Windows default is *wdctrl,
but you'll need a custom driver if your IDE hard drive/s is/are bigger than
528MB).
If you have a SCSI hard drive you'll have to get a 32bit Windows 3.1x disk
access driver from your drive manufacturer (only for the SCSI hard drives
supported by Win31's 32bit feature).
Reboot. Now you can safely delete Win95's default swap file, WIN386.SWP,
found in your Win95 folder.
MAKE SURE TO FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS EXACTLY (AND CHOOSE YOUR OWN SWAP
FILE SIZE IN WIN31 ACCORDING TO YOUR NEEDS AND THE AMOUNT OF MEMORY (RAM)
INSTALLED IN YOUR SYSTEM) ! Otherwise you may get a:
1. "Corrupt Windows swap file" message when you run Win31, and you'll have
to delete and reassign a new permanent swap file in Windows 3.1x's Control
Panel !
2. Or a VFAT error message (or a 32bit disk access error) when trying to
load/start Win95 !
If your PC has 4MB of RAM, choose a 48MB swap file (really hope you have
more RAM than that, to have Win31 and especially Win95 work decently on
your system).
If your PC has 8MB of RAM, choose a 32MB swap file.
If your PC has 16MB of RAM, choose a 24MB swap file.
If your PC has 32MB of RAM, choose a 12MB swap file.
If your PC has 64MB of RAM, choose a 8MB swap file.
These are my own estimates (you'll figure out your own, to have your Win31
or/and Win95 system run properly).
Windows 95 users: after making such modifications, ALWAYS check the Device
Manager's Performance tab for any "MS-DOS mode 16bit access drivers"
messages, that would impair disk performance under Win95! You SHOULDN'T
HAVE any such messages to start with (the File System and Virtual Memory
lines should all state "32-bit" and you should see this message at the
bottom: "Your system is configured for optimal performance")!
Good luck!


EXTRACT

When you run EXTRACT from a DOS prompt, you'll see this:
Microsoft (R) Diamond Extraction Tool - Version (16) 1.00.0530 (04/3/95)
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corp 1994-1995. All rights reserved.
EXTRACT [/Y] [/A] [/D | /E] [/L dir] cabinet [filename ...]
EXTRACT [/Y] source [newname]
EXTRACT [/Y] /C source destination
  cabinet  - Cabinet file (contains two or more files).
  filename - Name of the file to extract from the cabinet.
             Wild cards and multiple filenames (separated by
             blanks) may be used.
  source   - Compressed file (a cabinet with only one file).
  newname  - New filename to give the extracted file.
             If not supplied, the original name is used.
  /A         Process ALL cabinets. Follows cabinet chain
             starting in first cabinet mentioned.
  /C         Copy source file to destination (to copy from DMF disks).
  /D         Display cabinet directory (use with filename to avoid extract).
  /E         Extract (use instead of *.* to extract all files).
  /L dir     Location to place extracted files (default is current directory).
  /Y         Do not prompt before overwriting an existing file.
This is a MS-DOS utility, located in the \WINDOWS\COMMAND folder, to extract
Win95 files from the installation Cabinet files located on your Win95 install
CD-ROM (or on your Win95 install floppies).
It's useful if you want to copy any of the Win95's installation files to your
hard disk. For example, run:
MD C:\EXTRACT
EXTRACT /A D:\WIN95\WIN95_02.CAB *.DRV C:\EXTRACT
to extract all the .DRV files from all the WIN95_*.CAB files to the \EXTRACT
directory. You need to have the Win95 CD-ROM in your CD-ROM drive, or the
target Win95 install floppy in drive A:
EXTRACT /A A:\WIN95_02.CAB *.DRV C:\EXTRACT
To automate the task of extracting necessary files from Win95's .CAB install
files, create a batch file with these lines (and name it EX.BAT):
@C:
@CD\
@MD \EXTRACT
@CD \EXTRACT
@EXTRACT D:\WIN95\MINI.CAB %1 %2
@EXTRACT /A D:\WIN95\WIN95_02.CAB %1 %2
@EXTRACT /A D:\WIN95\PRECOPY1.CAB %1 %2
@EXTRACT /A D:\PLUS_1.CAB %1 %2
Put EX.BAT in a directory in your path specified on the PATH= line, in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT. From now on, when you need to extract a particular file, run:
EX <file_name>.<extension>
Replace <file_name> with the name of the file you're looking for, and
<extension> with the file's extension. Example:
EX MSDOSDRV.TXT
Extract will search all Win95 and MS PLus! CAB files on the Win95 or MS Plus!
CD-ROM, and extract the specified file(s) in the \EXTRACT directory, created
by the batch file.
For those of you who have the floppy disk version of Win95 install, look up
the EF.BAT file included in this archive, to extract any CAB file from any
Win95 install floppy CAB file (make sure you have your first Win95 install
floppy in your 3.5 inch drive A before running EF.BAT).
For those who have the Win95 install CD-ROM, use the ECD.BAT file included
in this zip, for the same purpose (CAB file extraction). Make sure you have
your Win95 install cd-rom in the drive before running ECD.BAT. 

MSD

MSD.EXE is the MS-DOS based MicroSoft Diagnostics utility, that you might
need one day (hope not...), to run to see how your System, Memory, Devices,
TSRs, Video, Mouse, Disks, Ports, etc. are configured and if there is any
hardware conflict.
The MSD.EXE file is located on your Win95 install CD-ROM, in the \OTHER\MSD
directory. It is not installed by Win95's setup by default.
You need to manually copy MSD.EXE from the Win95 CD-ROM to a directory in
your path (default is \WINDOWS\COMMAND). Type:
MSD
and press Enter, from the DOS prompt (try first to run MSD from outside
Win95, in MS-DOS mode, by choosing to boot with the "Command prompt only"
option, for example).
Play around with the screens, and if you want, you can print/save to a file
a full report of your system configuration.


LASTDRIVE *

If you don't specify a LASTDRIVE= line in your CONFIG.SYS, Win95 sets
the last drive on your system to Z by default, similar to:
LASTDRIVE=Z
in CONFIG.SYS.
If you are not connected to or using a network, you lose a few hundreds
bytes of low or upper memory, because you probably have a total of 3 to 9
drives on your system (about 7 if you use a disk compression utility,
like MS-DOS's Drvspace or Dblspace).
Every additional drive letter mentioned by the LASTDRIVE statement takes
up 96 bytes of memory.
If you use Drvspace/Dblspace/Stacker, or other disk compression utility,
add/change the LASTDRIVE= line to read:
LASTDRIVE=M
If you don't use any disk doubler/compression utility, change to:
LASTDRIVE=D
if you have 1 hard disk and 1 CD-ROM drive installed.
If you have 1 hard disk and 2 CD-ROM drives, set:
LASTDRIVE=E
If you have 2 hard disks and 2 CD-ROM drives, set:
LASTDRIVE=F
NOTE: Before making any changes to your startup files, BACK THEM UP:
      AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS (located in C:\ root).
From a DOS prompt, run:
MEM /C /P
and write down how much free conventional/upper memory you have.
Then open CONFIG.SYS with Notepad, put LASTDRIVE= as one of the first
lines (after the DOS=HIGH,UMB line), save the changes, and reboot.
Go to that MS-DOS prompt again, and run:
MEM /C /P
again, to see if you gained any amount of free upper or/and conventional
memory.


MEDIA PLAYER

Undocumented! You can configure Media Player (MPLAYER.EXE, installed in
\WINDOWS by Win95 setup) to open, play once, and then close any of the
media clip files (AVI, FLI, FLC, MID, RMI, WAV, MPG, MPE, MVB, MOV etc).
In Explorer click View, Options, and then the File Types tab. Choose the
file type you want to be played once and then closed by Mplayer (any of
the media files listed above, if listed on your Files Types list).
In the File Types window, choose for example the MIDI Sequence (RMI, MID)
files, click Edit, highlight Actions:, click Play, click Edit, and then
Browse to find Mplayer.exe. In the "Application used to perform action:"
box, type a space after "C:\WINDOWS\Mplayer.exe", and then type
"/play /close". The text in the box should look like this (skip the
quotes-unquotes):
C:\WINDOWS\Mplayer.exe /play /close
Click OK, click OK again, and then OK one last time. Now you should be
again in Explorer's main window, back where you first started.
You can repeat this operation with all media clip files listed above
(and more if you have any installed by your multimedia software).
From now on, when you double-click a MID or WAV file, Mplayer will play
the file once, and then exit, without prompting you for action, or
waiting for you to manually click all the necessary closing buttons.
This is also useful for previewing new media files.
You can now create a shortcut to play and then close automatically your
favorite media clip file (MID, RMI, WAV, AVI etc.), on the desktop, or
in the Startup folder, when you first load Windows 95.
Enjoy!


CONTROL PANEL

Open Explorer, click View, click Options, and then the Files Types tab.
Click New Type..., and type Control Panel in the "Description of type:"
box. Then type CPL in the "Associated extension:" box. Now click the
"New..." button at the bottom, type Open in the "Action:" box, and then
type C:\WINDOWS\CONTROL.EXE in the "Application used to perform action:"
box. Click OK, then OK again, and OK one more time. Now you should be
back in Explorer's window, where you started.
From now on, when you double-click on a .CPL file in Explorer (located
in the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM folder), that particular Control Panel File
opens the same as it would from the real Control Panel, and you can
change the settings for that item.
The same thing can also be achieved in File Manager, all you need
to do is double-click on any of your .CPL files, located in your
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM folder.


DITCH DRVSPACE

If you don't use (and I strongly recomend NOT TO) Drvspace, the disk
compression utility that comes with Windows 95 (and updated by the MS
Plus! Package for Win95), it's good to free some disk space and delete
all Drvspace related files. In Explorer, or in File Manager start a file
search, begining with the root folder (default is C:\) for the DRVSPACE
files. Type in the search box: DRVSPAC*.* and click OK. You will get
a list of all Drvspace files (with the following extensions: .BIN,
.DLL, .DRV, .VXD, .EXE, .HLP, .INI, SYS, etc...). Highlight all these
files and delete them. Don't worry about making backup copies, you can
always find them on your Win95 install disk(s).
Some of these files might not show in the Find windows, because you need
to set Explorer (or File Manager) to display ALL SYSTEM FILES INCLUDING
HIDDEN FILES.
If you ARE using Drvspace, DO NOT DELETE ANY DRVSPACE FILES YET!
Better, upgrade your hard disk, (a 1GB hard drive sells now for under
$200). To be able to delete the files, UNINSTALL Drvspace first, then
reboot your system, and now delete all related Drvspace files.
Drvspace only slows down your system (and it's not 100% safe), and of
course, is a cheap, temporary solution for getting extra disk space.
You'll end up looking for a bigger hard drive some day anyway.


WIN SWITCHES

When you run WIN /? from a DOS prompt, you get this screen:
Starts Windows.
WIN [/D:[F][M][S][V][X]]
/D    Used for troubleshooting when Windows does not start correctly.
  :F  Turns off 32-bit disk access.
      Equivalent to SYSTEM.INI file setting: 32BitDiskAccess=FALSE.
  :M  Enables Safe mode.
      This is automatically enabled during Safe start (function key F5).
  :N  Enables Safe mode with networking.
      This is automatically enabled during Safe start (function key F6).
  :S  Specifies that Windows should not use ROM address space between
      F000:0000 and 1 MB for a break point.
      Equivalent to SYSTEM.INI file setting: SystemROMBreakPoint=FALSE.
  :V  Specifies that the ROM routine will handle interrupts from the hard
      disk controller.
      Equivalent to SYSTEM.INI file setting: VirtualHDIRQ=FALSE.
  :X  Excludes all of the adapter area from the range of memory that Windows
      scans to find unused space.
      Equivalent to SYSTEM.INI file setting: EMMExclude=A000-FFFF.
These switches are meant to provide you with options for starting Win95 in
special modes (safe, bootlogged, etc.), if you are having problems running,
and/or loading Win95 on your system.
For example, to start Win95 in safe mode, run:
WIN /D:M
which is similar with using boot option 3 from the "Microsoft Windows 95
Startup Menu".
To be able to load Win95 manually, after your PC is done processing your
CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT, from the DOS prompt. or from your AUTOEXEC.BAT,
you will have to edit MSDOS.SYS (a hidden, read-only, system file, located
in C:\ root), and add/modify the line BootGUI to read:
BootGUI=0
in the [Options] section.
To edit MSDOS.SYS in DOS mode, create a batch file named SYS95.BAT, with the
following lines:
@ATTRIB +A -H -R -S C:\MSDOS.SYS
@EDIT C:\MSDOS.SYS
@ATTRIB -A +H +R +S C:\MSDOS.SYS
and run "SYS95" from any DOS prompt under Win95.
SYS95.BAT is included in this archive.
Hope you'll never have to use those troubleshooting WIN.COM switches...


FIRST LOGO

Do you remember the logo that showed up on your screen when you first
booted into your freshly installed Windows 95?
You can have that logo displayed anytime as your Win95 bootup logo.
Just extract the file called SULOGO.SYS from the WIN95_10.CAB cabinet
file found in the \WIN95 folder on your Win95 install CD-ROM.
Use the DOS mode batch file ECD.BAT included with this archive (for
those of you who have the Win95 install cd-rom). Run the following
command line from any DOS prompt:
ECD SULOGO.SYS
ECD.BAT will create the \EXTRACT folder on your C: drive, and will
extract SULOGO.SYS there. Now you need to move SULOGO.SYS to your boot
drive's root directory (default is C:\), and rename it to LOGO.SYS (you
may also want to backup your original Logo.sys file, in case you've got
attached to it, and might wish to use it again some day).
You can also remove the now empty \EXTRACT folder.
Next time you'll boot into Win95 you'll see the new logo displayed as
your startup screen.
NOTE: To have a logo displayed on Win95 startup, you need to add/modify
      a line into the [Options] section of your MSDOS.SYS file, a
      hidden, read-only, system file found on your root directory of
      your boot drive (usually C:\) to read:
      Logo=1
      To edit MSDOS.SYS run SYS95.BAT (a DOS batch file also included
      in this archive) from any DOS prompt.
You can also use the LOGO.SYS file included here, as your Win95 bootup
logo: just place it in C:\ root (after backing up yours), and reboot.


SWITCHES *

SWITCHES=/E:288
Use this command ONLY in your CONFIG.SYS file as your config.sys first line
(for more info about the SWITCHES command, read the CONFIG.TXT text file
located in your Win95 folder, default \WINDOWS).
With the value chosen above, Win95 moves only 288 bytes of Extended BIOS
(EBIOS) to the conventional memory area. Valid values for /E: are 48-1024.
You may gain up to 1KB (1,024 bytes) of free conventional memory by using
this line in Config.sys!
I had a gain of 768 bytes of low free memory using this SWITCHES line!
You also need to have the lines bellow in your config.sys:
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
for this to work.
You need to adapt the /E: parameter value on your SWICHES line to your own
system configuration. Begin with 512:
SWITCHES=/E:512
reboot, and go to a DOS prompt. Now run:
MEM /C /P
You'll see that the first module loaded in memory (on your MEM screen) is
SYSTEM. Look at the conventional memory footprint of this module (you may be
able to decrease it by lowering the value on the SWITCHES=/E: line).
Decrease it by 64 to begin with, which means the new SWITCHES line will look
like this:
SWITCHES=/E:448
Reboot, and repeat the operations above (go to a DOS prompt, and then run
MEM /C /P).
Compare the new SYSTEM module size in low memory. If it's smaller now, then
decrease the SWITCHES value again by 64, and keep repeating these steps until
you won't have any more free conventional memory gain. Keep the value that
gives you a maximum free low (conventional) memory (the smallest SYSTEM
module memory footprint).
There is another useful parameter to use with the SWITCHES command:
SWITCHES=/F
The /F parameter skips the 2 second delay before processing the startup
files at bootup (the /F parameter is valid for all MS-DOS versions above
6.00 and including Windows 95, which is actually loaded on top of MS-DOS
version 7.00).
Better, use both parameters on the same SWITCHES line (you can't have two
SWITCHES lines in your config.sys):
SWITCHES=/E:288 /F
Happy tweaking!


SYSTEM.INI *

These are some helpful lines to add/modify to the [386enh] section of your
SYSTEM.INI file, found in your Win95 folder, default \WINDOWS.
Open SYSTEM.INI with Notepad:
MinSPs=4  => to increase the spare stack pages (to prevent possible stack
             fault situations);
EMMExclude=A000-FFFF  => not to allow Windows to search for unused RAM
                         in the upper memory area (UMA) on startup: safer on
                         some systems (especially if you still have any real
                         DOS mode TSR-s/devices/drivers loaded in your
                         CONFIG.SYS or/and AUTOEXEC.BAT files);
DMABufferSize=64  => to give your 16bit sound card have enough room to play
                     music (MID, RMI, MOD) files (16bit DMA channel HI-FI
                     stereo buffer size);
PageBuffers=32  => for faster hard disk buffered read and write operations.
COMBoostTime=1  => decrease character download time with high speed
                   communication software (increase it if you are loosing
                   characters during modem high speed transfers)
COM1Buffer=1024  => your fast modem port: COM1 or COM2 (at least 9600bps)
NOTE: Backup your SYSTEM.INI before making any changes!


ANYTHING GOES

You can choose any .BMP, .ICO, .CUR, .ANI, .PCX, .GIF etc. format
(or create your own bitmap/image/picture with any of these mentioned
extensions) as your mouse pointer(s).
Open Control Panel, double-click Mouse, and browse through your image
files folders (choose "All files" from the browser menu), and pick
let's say an ICO file (with a pleasant/funny/apropriate shape/size,
to be your default mouse pointer).
Click OK and you'll see your mouse pointer change to the image of that
file instantly. You can repeat this operation with any or all your
Win95 mouse pointers.
If you downloaded Paint Shop Pro 3.1x (or Lview Pro), or/and an icon or
image editor (like MicroAngelo, or IconEditor Pro), you can create, edit,
modify, convert a BMP to an ICO format, or the other way around (this is
only a simple example).
You can even decrease the size of a full screen BMP (that you created or
scanned, let's say in Paint Shop Pro) to let's say 64x64 pixels, in
256 colors, and make that bitmap your main mouse pointer.
The same principle applies to any of your Desktop/Program Files or
Folders shortcut icons. Right-click on a desktop shortcut icon, click
Properties, then click Shortcut, and then click Change Icon. Browse
through your image files folders (with the "All files" choice
highlighted), and highlight any BMP, ICO, GIF, PCX, CUR, ANI etc...
file. Click OK.
You can also do all this in Explorer (... don't you love Windows 95
already?!). In Explorer's main window click View, Options, File Types,
highlight the desired file type, and click Edit. Now click Change
Icon, and browse through your folders with the "All files" choice,
highlighted, until you find an image/bitmap/icon/cursor/etc to your
liking. Click all the OK buttons till you clear all the dialog boxes.
NOTE: I included in this archive 66 original icons (32x32 pixels, 16
      colors) in Windows DLL format (Dynamic Link Library), you can use
      as shortcut icons for your favorite programs/games, or/and as mouse
      pointers. The file name is MYICONS.DLL. Enjoy.


CFGBACK

I found a neat little Registry backup utility called CFGBACK.EXE, located
in the \OTHER\MISC\CFGBACK folder on the Win95 install CD-ROM. Using it,
you can backup up to 9 copies of your Registry files (SYSTEM.DAT and
USER.DAT).
You can choose any destination (hard, floppy or tape drive) for the backup
file, and you can restore the Registry from any of the backed up files
anytime. You can even "program" CFGBACK through System Agent (MS Plus!
users) to do periodical backups of your Registry files.
Hope you'll never be needing those system backups.


DATE/TIME FUN

Did you know that you can change the date and time display format to your
liking? The Control Panel/Regional Settings/Date/Time won't let you mess
around with those settings too much (you're limited to a number of
characters and types of symbols), so you'll have to hack a little.
It's very easy, as almost anything goes. Let me explain. Just open your
WIN.INI file, found in your \WINDOWS folder, with Notepad.
NOTE: Before messing around with this file, MAKE A BACKUP COPY JUST TO BE
      ON THE SAFE SIDE!
And, if you would be on the safe side, would you read (and eventually do)
all this?!...
Back to the business at hand: in WIN.INI, scroll down to the [intl] section
(stands for "International"). It should look something like this:
[intl]
iCountry=1
ICurrDigits=2
iCurrency=0
iDate=0
iDigits=2
iLZero=1
iMeasure=1
iNegCurr=0
iTime=1
iTLZero=0
s1159=AM
s2359=PM
sCountry=United States
sCurrency=$
sDate=/
sDecimal=.
sLanguage=enu
sList=,
sLongDate=dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy
sShortDate=MM/dd/yy
sThousand=,
sTime=:
And now for the fun changes. As you can see, the "iTime=" line has on my
machine a value of 1. After Win95 is installed, the default value is 0.
It changes actually the looks of the time display in Explorer, File Manager,
Status Bar, and in whatever application/utility shows the date and the time.
When it is 0, the time looks like this: 12:00:00AM (don't you hate somebody
telling you it's 12, midnight?) I do, so with the value of 1, the date looks
like this: 00:00:00AM (we're doing better already..., just read on).
The line "iDate=" has 1 as default value. That means the date looks like this:
1/1/96. I don't like this look, so I changed it to 0. Now it looks like this:
01/01/96.
Also, the date and time separators, the "sDate=" and respectively "sTime="
lines, can be changed to most any punctuation and/or symbol crosses your mind.
I personally tried these: / (default separator for the date), -, =, +, \, |,
: (default separator for the time), ;, ~, `, ', ", @, #, $, %, ^, &, *, (, ),
[, ], {, }, _, and even the . (period), and the , (coma). You decide which
ones you like best for your own date/"time machine".
You can also change the way the date shows the order: month/day/year, or
a bit bizare: year/month/day, etc. Just modify the "sShortDate=" line to the
way you see today's date.
Same principle applies to the way the long date shows: the "sLongDate="
line (capital M on this line means the name of the month is going to begin
with a capital letter).
You can find infinite combinations, to make the date/time look good on your
screen, so ... Make my day...
The only annoying thing is that you'll have to restart Windows 95 after you're
done fiddling.
Have fun.


RESTORE AFTER INSTALL

I realized the most reliable method of restoring your original files after a
Windows program install/setup routine modified/replaced/deleted/added other
files to your original Windows and Windows System files is to create separate
directories for all Windows and respectively Windows System files, and copy
ALL the files there, before installing any new software program/application.
This means that you don't have to buy/try/regret any "CleanSweep 95",
"Uninstaller", "RemoveIt", or other fancy "install watch dog" utility.
This method works always, with one axception, that I know of. When you install
the Quick Time Movies Extensions to play MOV-s and view PIC-s on your Windows
system, at some point during the setup process, the installer will ask for your
approval to delete all the old versions of Quick Time Movie files found on your
hard drive(s), which means it will also erase the ones in your BACKUP
directories (just created by the batch file bellow), if you answer YES to that
question.
The fix is to answer NO to the question! Let it delete ONLY the files in your
current WINDOWS and WINDOWS\SYSTEM directories.
To backup/restore all your Windows and Windows System files use the two batch
files described below.
I called this first batch file BACKUP95.BAT, and here are its command lines:
@ECHO OFF
ECHO If you are in a DOS window, please abort this program:
ECHO hold down Ctrl and press C, and then return to Windows 95
ECHO by typing EXIT and pressing Enter.
ECHO Then exit Windows 95 to the MS-DOS Mode Prompt.
ECHO Run this program again from the MS-DOS mode command line.
C:
CD\
IF NOT EXIST \WINBOOT.SYS GOTO DOIT
IF EXIST \WINBOOT.SYS GOTO DONTDOIT
:DOIT
SET COPYCMD=/Y
MD \WIN95
MD \SYS95
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\*.* -H -R -S +A
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DAT -H -R -S +A
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\USER.DAT -H -R -S +A
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\*.DA0 -H -R -S +A
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\TTF* -H +A
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\SHELL* -H +A
COPY \WINDOWS\*.* \WIN95
COPY \WINDOWS\SYSTEM\*.* \SYS95
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DAT +H +R +S +A
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\USER.DAT +H +R +S +A
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\*.DA0 +H +R +S +A
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\TTF* +H +A
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\SHELL* +H +A
SET COPYCMD=
:DONTDOIT
ECHO Your original Windows System Configuration has been backed up.
ECHO Now type WIN and press Enter to restart Windows...
If your Win95 boot drive is different than C:, change the drive letter, and
if your Win95 folder is other than WINDOWS, change it to your actual Windows
folder name in BACKUP95.BAT (open it with Notepad in Windows, or EDIT.COM in
DOS mode).
What BACKUP95 basically does, is to copy ALL the files from your \WINDOWS
folder and from your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM folder to the new created folders:
\WIN95 and respectively \SYS95.
After finishing installing a new program, you can restore back your original
Windows configuration (uninstall utilities, that use the Shield Wizard Install
feature, claim to remove all traces of an installed program, through the
"Add/Remove Software" feature, accessed through Control Panel in Win95, but in
real life they still leave files scattered on your hard drive, or/and phantom
entries into your system files: Registry, System.ini, Win.ini, etc). Some
uninstallers will sometimes prompt you to manually remove some of the files
created by the install routines. I found out that this way to recover from a
buggy install works better and painlessly. Give it a try.
I called the restore batch file RESTOR95.BAT.
NOTE: To make both these batch files work, you need to exit Windows 95 to the
      MS-DOS mode command prompt (NOT just go to a MS-DOS window prompt) !
At the DOS prompt, run BACKUP95, and then load Windows by running WIN.
Setup/install your program, and if you are not satisfied with it for any
reason, or you'd like to remove it entirely from your system, exit Win95 to
the MS-DOS mode again, and run RESTOR95, to wipe all current Windows and
Windows System files, and revert to your original configuration, before the
install.
Some install routines will replace DLL, VBX, VXD, DRV, EXE or/and other
crucial Windows system files with their own versions, even if you already have
the most recent versions installed! The conclusion is that you won't be able to
run your other programs that require particular versions of the replaced files
after such an install! This is usually valid for older Windows programs, but I
wouldn't count on that!
So beware when you unleash a setup/install program to run freely on your
system!
Here are RESTOR95.BAT command lines:
@ECHO OFF
ECHO If you are in a DOS window, please abort this program:
ECHO hold down Ctrl and press C, and then return to Windows 95
ECHO by typing EXIT and pressing Enter.
ECHO Then exit Windows 95 to the MS-DOS Mode Prompt.
ECHO Run this program again from the MS-DOS mode command line.
C:
CD\
IF NOT EXIST \WINBOOT.SYS GOTO DOIT
IF EXIST \WINBOOT.SYS GOTO DONTDOIT
:DOIT
SET COPYCMD=/Y
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\*.* -H -R -S +A
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DAT -H -R -S +A
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\USER.DAT -H -R -S +A
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\*.DA0 -H -R -S +A
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\TTF* -H +A
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\SHELL* -H +A
DEL \WINDOWS\*.*
DEL \WINDOWS\SYSTEM\*.*
COPY \WIN95\*.* \WINDOWS
COPY \SYS95\*.* \WINDOWS\SYSTEM
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DAT +H +R +S +A
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\USER.DAT +H +R +S +A
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\*.DA0 +H +R +S +A
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\TTF* +H +A
ATTRIB \WINDOWS\SHELL* +H +A
DELTREE /Y \WIN95
DELTREE /Y \SYS95
SET COPYCMD=
:DONTDOIT
ECHO Your original Windows System Configuration has been restored.
ECHO Now type WIN and press Enter to restart Windows...
So just run RESTOR95 from the DOS prompt (MS-DOS mode, OUTSIDE Win95) to get
back your previous Windows configuration (ALL the files you had in your
\Windows and \Windows\System folders before running the installer).
NOTE: To speed up the use of these two DOS batch files, install Smartdrv.exe
      in your AUTOEXEC.BAT to cache your most used disk drives, in DOS mode.
      Example of AUTOEXEC.BAT Smartdrv line:
      SMARTDRV 2048 A+ C+ D /N
      where I presumed that: A is your primary floppy drive, C is your hard
      drive, and D your cd-rom drive.
      The /N switch allows Smartdrv to return to the prompt BEFORE finishing
      the write operations to the disk! Use it carefully!
Both files: BACKUP95.BAT and RESTOR95.BAT, are included in this archive.
I hope you'll find this backup/restore method as useful as I did.


WATCH YOUR PROMPT

I just discovered two "bugs" in MS-DOS, two issues that MS-DOS (any version)
can't deal with on a PROMPT= line (mentioned in your AUTOEXEC.BAT or in your
CONFIG.SYS):
1. Don't use the "=" (equal sign) inside your PROMPT= line!
If you do, MS-DOS will try to interpret all the characters after the "=" as a
command, and will try to execute it, and you'll get an error message:
"Syntax error"!
Example of PROMPT line that uses an equal sign (it's the second "=", the first
one is part of the prompt notation, and is not necessary):
SET PROMPT=WINDOWS=My Windows 95 System$_$P$G
or simple, without the notation "=" (but it MUST be replaced with a space):
PROMPT WINDOWS=My Windows 95 System$_$P$G
NOTE: The "SET" command is not necessary in this case (same applies to the
PATH= statement).
2. If you are using a multiconfiguration menu bootup in your CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT, which must have the menu names in square parentheses in your
CONFIG.SYS, and GOTO type of colon preceded menus in your AUTOEXEC.BAT, then
DO NOT USE THE SAME WORDS AS YOUR MENUS AS THE FIRST WORDS ON YOUR PROMPT
LINES! If you do, you'll get another error message:
"Label not found"!
Example of generic multiconfiguration menus in Config.sys that use matching
words for the prompts in Autoexec.bat (to show the PROMPT bug):
[COMMON]
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
[MENU]
MENUITEM=WINDOWS,Boot to Windows 95
MENUITEM=DOS,Boot to DOS 7 Mode
[WINDOWS]
DEVICEHIGH C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
SET CONFIG=WINDOWS
[DOS]
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM
DEVICEHIGH C:\CDROM\CDROM.SYS /D:MYCDROM
SET CONFIG=DOS
Corresponding Autoexec.bat:
SET PATH=C:\;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND
GOTO %CONFIG%
:WINDOWS
SET PROMPT=WINDOWS 95 System$_$P$G
SET WINPMT=Type EXIT & hit Enter 2 return 2 Windows 95!$_$P$G
WIN
GOTO END
:DOS
LH C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX /D:MYCDROM /M:20 /E
SMARTDRV A+ C+ D /N
SET MOUSE=C:\MOUSE
LH C:\MOUSE\MOUSE
SET PROMPT=DOS 7 System$_$P$G
SET WINPMT=Type EXIT & hit Enter 2 return 2 Windows 95!$_$P$G
C:\MENU\MENU
:END
That's it. Gee, it took me a while to figure out why I had error messages
at bootup...


LOAD/RUN

NOTE: I discovered the following is a limitation in Windows 3.1x. Could also
      very well be a limitation in Windows 95. Till proven otherwise, I'll
      keep this as a Windows 95 limitation, and its workaround topic.
      Here we go:
If the "load=" line in your WIN.INI's [windows] section exceeds 128 characters
(the Windows programs/TSR-s that load at startup), the executables listed
there beyond the 128 character limit WON'T BE PROCESSED by Windows. It's just
another Windows limitation. To have those programs load anyway, you can load
them from the "run=" line, found in the same section of your WIN.INI (WIN.INI
is located in your Windows directory).
Example of "load=" line longer than 128 characters:
[windows]
load=c:\windows\wintsr c:\stuff\winstuff c:\mydocs\mydoctsr c:\virus\virus c:\now\nowtsr c:\programs\program c:\blahblah\blahblah c:\etc\etc
Windows will load only the first 5 programs, because the last 2 are beyond
Windows capacity of recognizing lines longer than 128 characters.
But if you put the last 2 programs in the above example on the "run=" line,
they will be processed, only after Windows reads and processes the "load="
line:
[windows]
load=c:\windows\wintsr c:\stuff\winstuff c:\mydocs\mydoctsr c:\virus\virus c:\now\nowtsr c:\programs\program
run=c:\blahblah\blahblah c:\etc\etc
Another solution is to load most (or all) of your Windows startup programs
from the Startup group (which sometimes gets too big for my taste).
To edit WIN.INI, you need to open it with Notepad.
Restart Windows when you're done.


AUTOMATIC ZIP

NOTE: This tip is ONLY for MS-DOS command line users!
      Windows users can use Winzip 6.1 (or better) 32bit for Windows 95,
      to achieve the same backup features, described bellow.
      Winzip 6.1 can be DL-ed from most of the popular web software sites.
      AOL members can DL it from AOL's "Windows 95 Software" area (keyword
      WIN95), and then go to the "Hot! - Top Windows 95 Files" area.
There are two batch files included in this archive: ZIPHARD.BAT and
ZIPFLOP.BAT. They are designed to automate the task of backing up files,
and compressing them the same time, to save disk space. These batch files
use PKZIP.EXE version 2.04g, part of the PKWare Package, the most used DOS
zipping/unzipping utility (it can be found on almost any software site on
the web).
AOL members can download the PKZIP/PKUNZIP package by clicking the File
Search icon (on AOL's menu bar). Then type:
PKZIP.EXE
in the text box (make sure to check the "All dates" box, and optionally,
you can check the "DOS" box, to narrow the search time). After download,
create a new directory on your hard drive called ZIP. Install all PKWare
files into \ZIP.
Copy the two batch files mentioned above into the same directory.
Now you're ready to roll...
To zip (and compress) all files in a given directory (and subdirectories
for that matter) on your hard disk, run ZIPHARD from a DOS prompt window,
by creating a PIF for it (in Windows), or straight from the plain DOS
command line, outside Windows.
All you have to do is type the name of the zip file (without extension, up
to eight characters), and you'll also have to type the name of the
directory that contains the files you want to zip up.
That's it. If your zipped directory has subdirectories, the batch will
take care of that too, zipping all subdirectories and the files in them
(recursing all subdirectories).
To zip the files from a directory on your hard disk onto a floppy disk
(the default is A:), run ZIPFLOP from a DOS prompt. Just make sure to
mention the zip name (again, without extension), and the name of the
directory (subdirectory) where the files you want to zip reside.
NOTE: ZIPFLOP is designed to make one zip file, and wiil be placed on
multiple floppies (spanned), if necessary, so make sure you have enough
floppy disks handy, to swap the floppies when prompted by PKZIP's routine!
Example of using ZIPHARD (same principle applies to ZIPFLOP):
ZIPHARD DOS DOS
to zip all files in your \DOS directory (and subdirectories, if any).
The zip file (DOS.ZIP) created by running this command line, is located
in the newly created \ZIPTEMP directory, on the same hard drive.
IMPORTANT: The zip filename has to be identical with your wanna-be
           compressed directory name on your hard disk!
Make sure to change the drive letters (edit the BAT files with Notepad in
Windows, or EDIT.COM in DOS mode) if different on your system: I presumed
that your hard drive is C:, and your 3.5 inch floppy drive is A:.


FIND

To find a file location in DOS mode, when you know its filename, or
extension, I created a small DOS style batch file, called FIND.BAT.
To use it, run this command from a DOS prompt:
FIND FILENAME.EXT
where "FILENAME" is the name of the file you want to display, and "EXT" is
the file's extension.
To locate multiple files, use DOS "wildcards" ("*" or "?").
For example run:
FIND *.TXT
to locate all TXT (text) files on your current drive.
To locate all the files that begin with the letter A, run:
FIND A*.*
These are FIND.BAT command lines:
@CD\
@DIR /A /O:GEN /P /S %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
The batch file FIND.BAT is included here. Enjoy.


REINSTALL 95

One dark, cloudy day I had to reinstall Windows 95 on my system (some weird
program made some faulty changes to the Registry files, and rendered my Win95
system inoperable). I was in dire straits, because I had made no backups of my
most recent Registry files (and too lazy to restore from older backups).
So I proceeded to reinstall Win95 ON TOP OF THE EXISTING COPY. Of course I made
a backup copy of the entire drive before hand. The Win95 installation went like
a charm (I have to admit Microsoft IS good at some things, at least at keeping
your previous custom settings).
It took me almost two hours (because I installed Win95 from my speedy 8x
CD-ROM), but my previously highly customized Win95 system was operable once
again, at full speed, and with all the settings I worked so hard for available
once again. It even asked me if I wanted to keep the newer coopies of my
upgraded system files (I have had updated the Kernel, OLE, Shell, etc, to the
newly improved versions). I wish every Win95 feature would work like this, and
for everybody outthere.
I never thought I'd say this: "Way to go, Microsoft!"
Though I had to reinstall my new ATI Mach64 DirectDraw and my Sound Blaster 16
Full Duplex drivers, because Win95 installed its own older drivers during setup.
UPDATE: For owners of ATI Mach64 PCI video controllers (WinTurbo or Graphics
        Pro Turbo models), ATI Technologies has posted the new version 2.2 of
        their DirectDraw display drivers for Win95. You can DL the new ATI
        32bit drivers from:
        http://www.atitech.ca/drivers/drivers.html
UPDATE: For owners of Sound Blaster 16 or AWE 32 sound cards, Creative Labs
        has new drivers for Win95 (version 4.28) which provide, among other
        features, Full Duplex for video Conferencing. They're available from:
        http://www.creaf.com/wwwnew/tech/ftp/ftp.html
NOTE: The Microsoft 95 Upgrade Service Package version 1.0, is available at:
      http://198.105.232.7/windows/software/servpak1/sphome.htm
      for free for Microsoft Windows 95 registered users.
      It's also available on AOL at keyword WIN95 (the Windows 95 area).
      Other useful Microsoft Windows 95 web DL sites:
      - Microsoft Windows 95 New Technology (upgrades) web page:
      http://207.68.137.35/windows/software/updates.htm
      - Microsoft Free Windows 95 Software web page:
      http://207.68.137.35/windows/software.htm
UPDATE: Microsoft's Windows 95 Support Page has moved to:
        http://207.68.137.36/support/products/windows95/windows95.htm
I hope you'd never have to use this method (or any other for that matter) to
recover from an unexpected Win95 crash (oops... did I say "crash"? Oh, I'm
sorry Microsoft, I meant "third party software bug..."!?).


FAST, FAST, FAST

For those of you who are lucky to have a fast 28,800 or 33,600 baud modem
installed with a fast 16550AFN UART on your system, there is a way to maximize
your UART transfer speed. Just open your WIN.INI file, located in your Windows
directory, with Notepad. Scroll down to the [Ports] section. Under it, you'll
find the COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4 lines, each followed by an equal sign, and by
some numbers and letters. Replace those lines with these:
COM1:=921600,n,8,1,p
COM2:=921600,n,8,1,p
COM3:=921600,n,8,1,p
COM4:=921600,n,8,1,p
Save your file, and restart Windows. From now on, you will experience very
fast transfers when using your Web Browser, Online Service software, or/and
your Fax/Communications applications.
NOTE: You can also do this in Windows 95 by right-clicking on the "My
      Computer" icon, and then left-click Properties. Choose the "Device
      Manager", and then Ports. Click the "Serial communications port" you
      want to set (the one that has your modem connected to it), and then
      select Properties for that particular port. In the Port Settings
      screen, change the number to show 921600 baud (bits per second).
      Click OK to save your settings, and you're on!