15th November 2001

Every once in a while, I need to troubleshoot someone's Internet connection remotely. What's the first thing we need? An IP address. In Windows 9x, most of us relied on WINIPCFG.EXE; in Windows XP, we have to rely on something else. When you're alive on the command line, use IPCONFIG.EXE. Though, if you're not already in a shell, its information will flash across the screen and disappear quicker than it came. There's another way to get network connectivity data within Windows. Right-click the Network Neighborhood icon on your desktop (assuming you have it turned on in Windows XP) then select Properties. Double-click the active Internet connection icon (mine is labeled "Local Area Connection" - but yours may be different). You should now see a small status sheet on your screen. Flip over to the Support tab and click the Details button. Everything you need should be there: MAC Address, IP Address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, DHCP Server, DNS Server, and WINS Server. Press CTRL+C while you're in the window and all of that stuff will be copied to the clipboard! If neither of these methods work for you in Windows XP, try whatever used to work for you before the upgrade.

And while I've brought this up before, consider this tip addition a refresher. Moving from Windows 95 to 98 wasn't too paneful for most of us. Most of our old applications worked well, and if they didn't, we scoured the Web for updated versions. Moving from 98 to XP has been more dramatic (as far as code compatibility is concerned). The future for 16-bit programs is grim, indeed. Do you still rely on DOS for doing stuff? Why!? Dude! It's almost 2002 - your drive should have nothing but 32-bit binaries. If you insist on using your Pentium 4 2.0 gigahertz machine to run EDIT.COM, well... that's your prerogative. But before you do, be sure you're in the better environment. How so? Well, you can actually get to a command line two different ways in Windows XP. CMD.EXE is the shell of choice; not only does it respond faster in Windows XP, it should also run those "classic" apps you've still got somewhere on your disks. Should you run into problems with this native 32-bit shell, consider trying those same command line programs under the command of COMMAND.COM. But, like I said, try to use CMD.EXE whenever possible; there's nothing 16-bit about it. To run either shell, click Start | Run and enter its file name.