~Today's Top DOS Tip

~By Simon Burrows


`For this  month's instalment of the 'Top Tips' section, I thought
`I'd turn my eye to those of you, who, like me, have severe memory
`problems whilst  trying to  run some  of the  more  memory-hungry
`software on  the market.  I've found  that quite  a bit  of  this
`software doesn't  necessarily need  to have a mouse driver loaded
`for it to work, so, obviously, a good way to free up memory is to
`not load it in the first place.  However, if you state the driver
`in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file like nearly everybody else, there is no
`easy way of not loading it when you don't need to; that is, until
`now...
`
`I've designed  a little  system where  the user  is  prompted  on
`whether or  not he wants to load the mouse driver, every time the
`PC is  turned on.  The system  isn't too complicated, although it
`does involve  editing the  dreaded AUTOEXEC.BAT file to get it up
`and running.   When it does work, however, it's as easy as pie to
`use, and, as far as I can see, is completely fool-proof too!
`
~`The system I'm talking about uses a small file called CHOICE.COM
~`which  comes  with  all  versions  of  DOS  from  v6.0  upwards.
~`Unfortunately, there is no such program in DOS v5.0, so you will
~`have to  either stick  without it, or design a more crude method
~`of the system yourself.
`
`Basically, the  idea is  simple.   Go into your main hard drive's
`root directory   (nearly  always C:\), and make a back-up of your
`AUTOEXEC.BAT file by typing "COPY AUTOEXEC.BAT AUTOEXEC.BAK". Now
`edit the  file AUTOEXEC.BAT  by typing  "EDIT C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT" at
`the command  line.  Next, use the up and down cursors to scan the
`file  to   find  a   line   that   reads   C:\DOS\MOUSE.COM,   or
`C:\WINDOWS\MOUSE.COM or  D:\WINDOWS\MOUSE.COM, and,  once  you've
`found it, delete it.

`You're now  ready to  insert the mouse-driver-loader-system lines
`into the  AUTOEXEC.BAT file.   Where in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file the
`lines go  can vary  from machine  to machine.   Basically, if the
`DOSSHELL or  some other  'menu system'  loads automatically  each
`time you switch your PC on, then the lines needed to do that must
`be left  at the  bottom of  your AUTOEXEC.BAT.   In  those cases,
`insert  the   following  lines   just  above   the  bottom  line.
`Otherwise, the  following info can be inserted straight in at the
`bottom of the file.

`When you know where you are inserting the lines, go to that area
`of the file then copy the following text down, exactly as it is
`shown here :-


~:LOAD_MOUSE
~@ECHO OFF
~@CLS
~@CHOICE /N Do you now wish to load the mouse driver "MOUSE.COM"?

~IF ERRORLEVEL 255 GOTO ERROR
~IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO NO
~IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO YES~IF ERRORLEVEL 0 GOTO BREAK

~:YES
~@CLS
~@C:\DOS\MOUSE.COM
~@GOTO END

~:NO
~@CLS
~@GOTO END

~:BREAK
~@CLS
~@ECHO Don't press CTRL+BREAK or CTRL+C you silly fool!
~@ECHO If you don't want to load the mouse driver, just press 'N'!
~@PAUSE >NUL
~@GOTO LOAD_MOUSE

~:ERROR
~@ECHO Whoooops!
~@ECHO.
~@ECHO Press any key to crash the mouse-load system...
~@PAUSE >NUL
~@GOTO LOAD_MOUSE

~:END
~ECHO.


`Now.   If you  entered the  text right at the bottom of the file,
`then it  is now ready to go.  If, however, you put it one line up
`from the  bottom because  the bottom line loaded a menu-system or
`DOSSHELL, put the line to load these directly under the line that
`reads "ECHO."  at the  bottom of  the text you just typed in, and
`then it'll all be finished.
`
`If you  now reset  your PC,  you should  see the  new  set-up  in
`action.   When the other tasks in your AUTOEXEC.BAT are complete,
`the screen  should clear and a message asking whether you want to
`load the mouse driver should appear the top of the screen.  There
`are now a few options :-
`
`þ  If you  do  want  to load  the mouse driver, then press Y, the
`   screen will  clear again, the mouse driver will load, then the
`   file ends.
`
`þ  If you  don't want to load the mouse driver, you press N, the
`   screen clears, and the file ends.
`
`þ  If you press CTRL+BREAK which would normally  stop everything,
`   you will be asked if you want to  terminate the batch job.  If
`   you press 'Y', you get dumped straight back to DOS, and if you
`   press 'N',  then you'll  get given a message about the  proper
`   way to quit the mouse-load system, then the system will reload.
`
`þ  If you press any other  key then a warning beep will sound and
`   you'll get another chance to enter your choice.

`þ  And, finally,  if there is some other  unknown error, a little
`   warning message will come up, and the system will stop.


`If  this  does  not  work,  then  there  must  be  some  conflict  
`between software, or  some  other  error.  I  cannot go  into the 
`possibilities  now  except that  you could  check  that  the file 
`MOUSE.COM is stored in your C:\DOS directory like my system tells 
`your PC it does.If not edit the appropriate line. If that doesn't  
`make any difference then you will have to delete the AUTOEXEC.BAT 
`file, then  reinstate  the  backup  of  it you  made  by  typing: 
`"REN AUTOEXEC.BAK AUTOEXEC.BAT".


~Well, that's all folks, keep smilin'...


~Simon Burrows