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BY: John D. Ruley
You may not be able to rid yourself of that weight around the waistcoat, but you can get NT into shape without even breaking a sweat. Performance Monitor (PerfMon) is a powerful tool that's great for finding performance bottlenecks. You'll find it in NT Program Manager's Administrative Tools group.
Before you start, turn on disk performance counters. (Disk counters are turned off by default because they degrade disk performance by around 10 percent.) You can do this from an NT Command Prompt window by entering diskperf -y. Then you'll need to restart NT. And don't just log out--shut down and restart.
With the disk counters on, start PerfMon, select Chart view (which is the default) and click the plus button to add items. You'll see an Add to Chart dialog that lists system objects and their associated counters. Before you do anything else, click the Explain>> button. That will expand the dialog to add a Counter Definition to any counter as it's selected. Now find the objects and counters shown in the graphic "Counter Intelligence." As you find each, read the description and click on the Add button to add the counter to your chart.
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Counter Intelligence
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Bars and Stripes
On symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) systems, you'll have multiple instances of the Processor object--add % Processor Time for each. On systems with more than one hard disk (or disk partition), you'll have multiple instances of the Logical Disk object--add % Disk Time and Disk Bytes/sec to each.
When you've added all the counters, click on the Add to Chart dialog's Done button. You should now see a strip-chart display like the one shown in Bars and Strips." The colored lines indicate activity for each counter. Because most of the counters are idle, the lines are jammed together at the bottom of the display. Adjust the size of the Performance Monitor window to something you're comfortable with and make sure all the counters are listed. Then select File/Save Chart Settings so you don't have to add each counter manually to get back to this point.
With that out of the way, let's review what each counter does. First, select PerfMon's Options/Always On Top item. This prevents other windows from covering up PerfMon. Next, select PerfMon's window and hit the Backspace key. One of the colored lines will turn into a wide white line. Use your up- and down-arrow keys to select each line in turn; you'll end up with % Processor Time highlighted.
So far, you just have a jumble of lines at the bottom of the display, and you can pick out only the white one. But that's about to change. With % Processor Time highlighted, try moving your mouse. Notice how % Processor Time rises? For a better show, try wiggling the mouse vigorously back and forth. On my 486/33 system, this generates about a 50 percent reading. That's Performance Monitor's true value--it lets you see what's burning up time on your system.
Now that you see how it works, let's try a few experiments. Start a Windows NT Command Prompt (from the Main group in Program Manager). As you do this, watch the PerfMon display. You'll see % Processor Time and Page Faults/sec peak as you launch the Command Prompt. You'll also see disk activity on whichever disk the NT system files are located. It's easiest to see this if you use the Backspace and arrow keys to highlight each line in turn.
Here's a tip on what PerfMon can do for you. Look closely at Page Faults/sec. It's a direct measure of virtual memory (paging) activity on your system. If you have adequate RAM, Page Faults/sec should be zero most of the time, rising to a narrow peak (no more than two seconds wide) of 50 pages/sec or less when you launch an application. If you don't have enough RAM, you'll see activity that extends over several seconds, or a peak that rises to 100 pages/sec or above.
The only cure for this problem is to add RAM. If you run NT isolated (not networked), you might buy yourself some space by eliminating any installed network components, but the sad fact is NT works best with plenty of memory.
Next, select the Command Prompt (you may want to tweak the size and position of the PerfMon window so you can see both the prompt and the window) and type the following commands:
c:
cd \
dir /s
This generates a directory that lists all files in all subdirectories on your C: drive or partition. (If it's a small partition, pick another drive letter.) If you watch in PerfMon (remember to use the Backspace and arrow keys to highlight each line in turn), you should see % Processor Time rise to nearly 100 percent. That's because it takes a lot of CPU cycles to write all that text to the screen. You should also see small peaks for % Disk Time and Disk Bytes/sec, because NT spends a little time reading directory information from the drive, and a lot of time displaying it. As with the last test, if you have plenty of RAM, Page Faults/sec should stay at zero. If RAM is limited (either you don't have enough or you're running too many apps), you may see some paging activity.
Now's a good time to show you another way to look at PerfMon data. Select Options/Chart, and a Chart Options dialog appears, which allows you to customize settings. Try clicking on the Histogram button, then click on OK. Now you'll see an animated bar chart instead of the lines (see Bars and Strips). Try the dir/s command again and watch the bars--you'll see the performance variation.
I find the default (Graph) form of the chart more useful--most of the time. But the Histogram can be especially helpful in certain situations, such as evaluating load balancing on an SMP system. To get a feel for how fast system components are, find a file of several megabytes--try your WINNT/SYSTEM directory--and from the command line execute this command: copy YourFileNameHere stuff.dat /v
This will make a duplicate of your file, named STUFF.DAT. The /v (verify) switch will read file data back in after it's written, forcing a high level of disk reads as well as writes. You'll see this as a dramatic rise in the % Disk Time and Disk Bytes/sec counters for the disk on which you're performing the copy. If the latter is pegging at 100, adjust the scale of the chart so you can see how high the value is going. To do this, select Options/Chart and start with 200 in the Vertical Maximum field. You may need to repeat the file copy a few times before you have a feel for what's happening. You can also switch back to the Graph view, which offers the advantage of showing how the values change over time. Try it both ways.
On my 486/33, which has a not-especially-fast SCSI hard disk, Disk Bytes/sec peaks at around 1MB/sec. That's combining reads and writes. You can look at those separately if you like; the Logical Disk object includes counters for each. Again, watch for excessive Page Faults/sec during the copy. If you see a sustained high value--I've seen it go as high as 400 per second on systems with 12MB of RAM--you're wasting time paging instead of copying. And as I've said before (sorry if I sound like a broken record), add more RAM. There are few things sillier than beating the daylights out of a high-performance hard disk and processor because you don't have enough RAM.
So far, we've looked at memory and disk performance. What about performance over a network? This is where PerfMon shines. Click on the plus sign again, and this time look closely at the resulting Add to Chart dialog. At the top is a Computer: field, which by default lists the name of your computer. If you're networked, you can type in the name of any other Windows NT workstation or server, and remotely monitor counters on that machine. That's a particularly nice feature because of a dirty little secret I'd better warn you about: PerfMon is a bit of a pig. It takes up several megabytes of memory when running and hogs the CPU when drawing data on the display. A great way to bog down a network server--especially one that's a little short on RAM--is to run PerfMon on the server console.
The good news is running PerfMon remotely doesn't require anywhere near as much RAM and won't hog the CPU. It will use up network bandwidth, though, but not all that much, provided you keep the chart update interval to one second or more. So, a good way to monitor servers is to run PerfMon from an NT Workstation on the same net.
Aside from running PerfMon remotely, you can use it to monitor network performance directly. To do this, add Bytes Total/sec for both the redirector and server objects. The former indicates client-side network activity from your system; the latter indicates activity in response to requests from other systems. As with the disk counters, a good first step is to copy a several-megabyte file--this time over the network--and watch what happens. Standard Ethernet (either coax or twisted-pair) has a bandwidth of 10Mbps. Because there's a certain amount of overhead in whatever protocol you're using, that translates to a bandwidth of less than 1MBps. I've rarely seen systems that could sustain much more than 500KBps. If the network is at all loaded, 300KBps is a more realistic figure.
PerfMon is a marvelous tool for finding the bottlenecks in your system, but in practice these bottlenecks depend on how you use your system. For instance, if you're doing client-server transaction database work, your system may be bottlenecked in disk performance even if it has a slow network card. Why? Because even though each transaction represents a fairly small amount of network activity (that's what the client-server model is all about), it still has to be committed to disk. If the transaction requires updating several tables, it can cause a lot of disk activity.
For this reason, it's important to characterize how you use your system. Here, too, PerfMon can help. Select View/Log. This presents a very simple text display.
As in Chart view, click the plus-sign button to add objects to the log. Note that you pick objects this time, not counters.
(I recommend you start with the same ones you used in Chart view-- Processor, Logical Disk, Memory--and if you're networked, Redirector and Server.) Once you've chosen the objects you want, select Options/Log. The resulting Log Options dialog lets you specify a logfile name and directory, as well as how often you want to update the log. Enter a name and click on the Start Log button. PerfMon starts collecting data, and as it does, it displays the file size. When you're finished collecting data, select Options/Log again and press the Stop Log button.
So far, so good, but what can you do with this? Select View/Chart, then Options/Data From. When the Data From dialog appears, type in the name of your log file. You can then add counters to the chart just as you would for a regular chart, but you're getting the data from the log file. You can also export data in comma-separated-variable format, which most spreadsheets can import.
This is a powerful capability for determining how an NT system is being used. I recommend you set up the log for a specified test interval of, say, one hour, and with a reasonable data collection rate of, perhaps, once every 30 seconds. Run PerfMon in the background (or over the network from another machine), and use your system as you normally would. You'll notice some degradation in performance as PerfMon logs data, but it won't be severe.
Once you have that information, take a long, hard look at it. What are the maximum and average Disk Bytes/sec, Redirector Bytes/sec and Server Bytes/sec?
If any of those readings are spending much time near their limits, you're looking at an I/O bottleneck. Remember the tests we did earlier copying large files? Those determined the limits. Look at the Redirector object's Network Errors/sec.
If that's anything more than zero, you need to look in the system event log to see if you have a network configuration problem. Is the % Processor Time staying at or near 100 percent? If so, you may want to think about a CPU upgrade. And don't forget Page Faults/sec. If it's averaging 100 or more, you need to add RAM.
Certain NT applications, such as the Microsoft SQL Server database, add their own application-specific counters. These can be extremely helpful. SQL Server's Cache Hit Ratio counter, for instance, is key to getting the database configured properly. If it's less than 90 percent, you need to increase SQL Server's dedi-cated memory setting. If that, in turn, leads to a lot of page faults, you need more RAM.
One annoying limitation of PerfMon is that it doesn't provide a direct measure of video display performance. It does, however, provide an indirect one. Look at the Process object's CSRSS instance. This is NT's Client-Server Redraw Subsystem, and it provides graphics support for all applications (each has a thread in CSRSS). Look at % Processor Time in this object and compare it with that of the Processor object. If CSRSS\% Processor Time is consistently hitting half or more of Processor\% Processor Time, you may want to think about a better video card.
Aside from using PerfMon to monitor, log and analyze system performance, you can also use it to benchmark systems--and networks of systems. To do that, you need a way to put a reproducible load on the system (or network). You'll need a workload simulator for that. I haven't the space to go into detail on that topic, but if you're interested, pick up a copy of Optimizing Windows NT (Microsoft Press, 1994) by Russ Blake, Volume 4 of Microsoft's Windows NT Resource Kit. This book provides complete coverage of the NT Performance Monitor and comes with a set of diskettes that provide a workload simulator. The latter is a bit complex, but well worth the effort if you really want to know your system's capacities--and limits. And where else can you read the line: "There are many ways to make your computer go faster--for example, you can drop it from a 10th-story window..."
John D. Ruley is WINDOWS Magazine's editor-at-large and resident Windows NT expert. To find his E-Mail ID Click Here
BY: John D. Ruley
Object Counters
Processor % Processor Time
Logical Disk % Disk Time
Disk Bytes/sec
Memory Page Faults/sec
From the Add to Chart dialog, click on Explain>> and find these objects. Clicking on the Add button adds each counter to your chart.
BY: John D. Ruley
This trace shows virtual memory paging while you copy a large (6MB) file in the background.
Performance Monitor also provides a display mode that gives an animated bar chart of system performance. Here you'll see application-specific performance counters from Microsoft SQL Server, including both transactions/sec and the all-important cache hit ratio (in white).
BY: Jim Boyce
WIN95 IS A GREAT equalizer, relegating even old Windows pros to novice status. For instance, you're probably used to getting things done in Program Manager and might be feeling a little lost without your program groups.
And what about all those icons you've created on your Windows 95 desktop? If you delete one, are you deleting the file itself or just the icon? It might not be a problem if you delete the company picnic newsletter, but nuking those quarterly reports that are due tomorrow is no picnic.
Most of all, you've probably become used to some of Windows 3.x's short-cuts and are beginning to feel that using Win95 is a little like wading knee-deep through molasses. Take heart. This month I'll share some Win95 tips that'll help you turn pro in no time.
Q: With Windows 3.x, I kept all my applications in one program group for easy access. How can I simulate the same thing with Windows 95?
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Take a Shortcut
A: The best way is to create a folder for shortcuts to all the applications and documents you routinely use. Right-click on the desktop, then choose New/Folder from the Context menu to create a new folder named, appropriately, New Folder. The name will be highlighted, so replace it with whatever folder name you prefer. Next, double-click on the folder's icon to open it. Open Explorer or My Computer and locate the executable or document file to which you want to create a shortcut. Right-drag the file into your new folder, then choose Create Shortcut(s) Here from the Context menu to create a shortcut to the application or document.
Locate the other applications and documents and do the same thing to create shortcuts to them in your folder. If you leave the folder open when you shut down your PC, it will reopen in the same location the next time you start Windows 95. If you minimize the folder before you shut down the PC, it will appear minimized on the taskbar when Windows 95 starts.
If you want even quicker access to some applications and documents, create shortcuts to them on the desktop. If you've already created your new folder and placed shortcuts in it, hold down the Ctrl key and left-drag the objects from the folder to the desktop. Windows 95 will copy the shortcuts there.
Q: Through all my experimenting, I have a lot of icons on my desktop. I'm worried that if I delete them, I'll be deleting their associated files. What should I do?
A: That depends on what the objects are. If you delete a shortcut from any location, whether the desktop or another folder, you won't lose the file associated with the shortcut. It's just like deleting a program item from a Program Manager group in Windows 3.x. The icon is deleted, but the file remains on your hard disk. However, your desktop can include objects that aren't shortcuts. If you inadvertently move an object to the desktop (which is the WINDOWS/DESKTOP directory) rather than creating a shortcut to the object, deleting its icon will delete the file it represents. Shortcuts' icons have a little arrow in their bottom left corner. You can delete these little guys as often as you like, and you still won't delete the files they represent. For objects other than shortcuts, open Explorer and drag the object back into its original location.
Q: In Windows 3.x, I used a utility that let me assign shortcut keys to programs so I could launch a program by pressing its shortcut key combination. Can I do the same thing with Windows 95 without a special utility?
A: You sure can. Create a shortcut on the desktop for each application that needs a shortcut key (as explained earlier). Then right-click on the shortcut and choose Properties, or select the shortcut and press Alt+Enter. Click on the Shortcut tab to display the Shortcut property page. Click on the Shortcut key text box, then press the shortcut key combination you want to assign to the shortcut. Choose OK to close the property sheet. Then press the shortcut key combination to test it.
Q: I recently purchased a Microsoft Natural Keyboard. I know I can use some special shortcut keys with it in Windows 95, but I can't find anything that lists these shortcut keys. What are they, and where are they documented?
A: You'll find them in the Windows 95 Resource Kit, located on the Windows 95 CD-ROM in the file Admin/ Reskit/Helpfile/ Win95rk.hlp. Open the Help file, then search for the phrase Microsoft Natural. If you don't have the Resource Kit, take a look at Take a Shortcut."
Q: I'd like to be able to open desktop objects without closing my open applications. Is there a quick way to get to the desktop without minimizing everything first?
A: Two options come to mind. Create a shortcut on the desktop to the Windows/Desktop folder. Then, open the shortcut's property sheet and assign a shortcut key to it. When you press the shortcut key, a folder will open that contains all the objects on the desktop. Here's another method: Choose Start/Run, enter desktop in the Open combo box and click on OK.
Q: Even though I like Windows 95, I'm not quite ready to give up on Windows 3.x. I installed Windows 95 to a new directory instead of upgrading over my existing Windows 3.x directory. Is there an easy way to make my system boot to Windows 3.x?
A: You can boot your previous version of DOS and run Windows 3.x without much fine-tuning. All you need to do is edit your MSDOS.SYS file, located in the root directory of your PC's boot disk. First, change the attributes of MSDOS.SYS so you can edit the file. Boot the system to Windows 95. Then from the Windows 95 command line, enter the command ATTRIB -S -H -R MSDOS.SYS to change the file's attributes. Next, use either Notepad or Edit to edit the file. In the [Options] section, add the settings BootMulti=1 and BootMenu=1. Save the file, then restore its original attributes with the command ATTRIB +S +H +R MSDOS .SYS. Restart the system, then choose the last option from the Boot menu to boot the system to DOS.
If you want DOS to boot automatically instead of Windows 95, you need to edit MSDOS.SYS again and add the setting BootWin=0 to the [Options] section.
Place a semicolon (;) in front of the BootMenu=1 setting if you don't want the Boot menu to be displayed each time the system boots.
Jim Boyce is the author of Inside Windows 95 (New Riders Publishing, 1995). To find his E-Mail ID Click Here
BY: Jim Boyce
Create shortcuts to your often-used applications and documents. Assign shortcut keys for even quicker access. Below are some useful shortcut keys for Microsoft Natural Keyboard users.
Ctrl+WIN+F Find another computer on your LAN WIN+M Minimize all Shift+WIN+M Undo minimize all WIN+BREAK Display System Properties dialog box WIN+E Start Explorer WIN+F Find files or folders WIN+F1 Start Help WIN+R Display the Run dialog box WIN+Tab Cycle through taskbar buttons
BY: John Woram
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A Home for your Sounds
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Sound Check
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I Heard That!
TIRED OF WINDOWS 3.x's default sounds--TADA.WAV, CHIMES.WAV and, of course, the unforgettable DING.WAV? Then you'll be glad to hear this: Windows 95 offers a much expanded applet, and this month I'll highlight a few of its features.
First, the Sound applet has a new name and a new Control Panel icon. Instead of Sound, it's now called Sounds. And instead of a pair of eighth-notes chasing an ear, you'll see a loudspeaker superimposed over a System icon. The usual double-click brings up an Events window, with a list of almost 20 activities to which you can assign a distinctive sound. If a sound is already assigned, a speaker icon pops up to the left of the event description, and the name of the associated .WAV file appears in the Sound box. After you've experimented with various sound options, you can use the Schemes box to save your choices.
As you can see (and hear), the basic Sounds system is similar to its predecessor, although Windows 95 more than doubles the list of events. For instance, you can now assign a specific sound to the opening and closing of every Windows application. But if you do this, you'll probably be sick of the whole works by the end of the day and more than ready to enjoy the sounds of silence. You may want to play around with a variation on this procedure by assigning sounds to just one application. If nothing else, this will tip you off when the kids open something they shouldn't. Here's how to do it.
First, open the Registry Editor and sequentially click on the plus sign in front of the HKEY_CURRENT_USER, AppEvents, Schemes and Apps folders. You should now see several folders, including Explorer and MPlayer. Click once on the Apps folder to open it, then open the Edit menu and select the New and Key options. You'll see a new folder below the others, followed by a boxed New Key 1 legend. Overtype it with the filename (without the extension) of the executable file to which you want to assign sounds. For instance, type WinWord to set up a sound folder for Word. If the box around New Key 1 disappears, you can bring it back by highlighting the legend and then selecting the Edit menu's Rename option.
With the new WinWord folder name still highlighted, again use the Edit menu to create new folders (choose New/Key) labeled Close and Open. Once that's out of the way, exit the Registry Editor, open Control Panel and double-click on the Sounds applet. If you scroll down the Events list, you should now find a new entry for WinWord, with indented Close and Open sub-entries. Highlight either one and then click on the Browse button to view the list of available .WAV files in the C: \WINDOWS\MEDIA folder. You can also browse through other folders until you find the .WAV file that strikes your fancy. If you want to go sound-shopping, highlight any .WAV file and then click on the Preview button to hear the sound. Once you hear what you like, click on the OK button; that sound is assigned to the Open (or Close) event for WinWord only.
Finish up by clicking on the Apply button and then closing the Sounds Properties dialog box.
If you wander back into the Registry's WinWord folder, you'll now find . . . more folders. WinWord's Close and Open folders each contain a .current folder (note the leading period and lowercase initial "c"). Highlight either one, and the Name and Data window will show the complete path and filename for the sound file you selected. If you want to preserve the selected sounds for posterity, reopen the Sounds applet, click on the Save As button and enter an easy-to-remember name in the Schemes box. Next time you open the Registry, you know what's going to be there, don't you? Yes, more of them. WinWord's Close and Open folders now have another set that uses the name you assigned to the sound scheme. If you subsequently create other sound schemes, just open the Schemes window to change from one to the other.
Repeat the procedure to assign a different sound pair to as many applications as you'd like to hear from. Just don't forget the No Sounds scheme for when you've had enough.
If you want more than opening and closing sounds, some Windows applications provide their own aural arsenals that you can turn on and off at will. I'll use WinCIM--the CompuServe Information Manager--to demonstrate how an application may write its sound-event data to the Windows 95 Registry. I'll also show how you can tweak that data to further customize your own sound system. The details will vary from one application to another, but the same general principles apply.
Version 1.3 of WinCIM has a setup option that enables voice announcements. These announcements tell you if you have mail waiting, verify you've just entered or left a forum, and signal other events during a modem session. You can turn it all off if you like, but it might be handy while you're getting used to the software because the voices tell you that you've really done what you thought you did.
Upgrading to WinCIM version 1.4 shouldn't affect your existing sound support. However, the single-diskette version of the upgrade doesn't contain the sound files, so if you use it to do a fresh install, you won't automatically get this feature.
If you need the WinCIM sounds, download the compressed WCM WAV.EXE file from the CompuServe WinCIM technical forum (GO: WCIMTECH) and move the file into the C: \CSERVE\SUPPORT directory or into Windows 95's own C: \WINDOWS\ME- DIA directory. Or put it in any other directory where you want to store .WAV files. Run WCM- WAV.EXE once in the directory you've chosen, and the expansion process generates 20 .WAV files and two .TXT files.
The file SND- FILES.TXT lists the name and contents of each .WAV file. The WCISND.TXT file is more important because it contains information that you must insert in your WIN.INI file. Open the file in NotePad or any other Windows text editor, and copy the block of lines beginning with "WinCIM" to the Clipboard. Then close this file, open WIN.INI, scroll down to the [sounds] section and paste the entire block into the file.
Close and reopen Windows 95, and have a look at the [sounds] section of the WIN.INI file. You'll actually find nothing there but a lonely SystemDefault= line. Fear not; your data isn't lost. Windows 95 found the pasted information and moved it into the Registry, where you'll now find a collection of WinCIM folders in two locations: HKEY_CUR- RENT_USER, AppEvents, EventLabels; and HKEY_CURRENT_USER, AppEvents, Schemes, Apps, .Default.
If you click on the plus sign next to any WinCIM folder in the .Default folder, you'll find an empty .Current folder. Here, an uppercase C follows the period, but the folder's purpose is the same. When you get around to selecting a sound for a WinCIM event, Windows 95 will record its path and filename in this folder.
Because the WinCIM filenames aren't exactly intuitive, you may need to do a bit of experimenting to match each sound event with the appropriate .WAV file, or refer back to the SNDFILES.TXT file for a summary of each file's spoken content. If you like, you can insert this information in the pasted WIN.INI block before closing and reopening Windows 95. To do so, change WinCIM Enter Forum=,WinCIM Enter Forum to WinCIM Enter Forum=,WCENTFOR.WAV, WinCIM Enter Forum.
If you perform edits such as these before saving WIN.INI and exiting Windows, Windows writes the inserted filename (WCENTFOR.WAV, in this example) into the appropriate .Current folder, sparing you from slogging through this operation via the Sounds applet. And you don't need to use the specific file set CompuServe provides. You can use the Windows Sound Recorder applet and a microphone to create your own voice announcements or enable any other set of .WAV files.
The beauty of such audio support is no doubt in the ear, if not the eye, of the beholder. For the visually impaired, the audio cues may be quite a valuable tool. For others, the sounds may be a nice enhancement at first but could become a nuisance after the nth repetition. Once the nuisance factor outweighs the novelty, you can silence the sounds.
Here's another sound feature you'll find useful if you occasionally hit the Caps Lock key by mistake and WIND UP WITH A FEW LINES THAT LOOK LIKE THIS. You'll also want to try it out if now and then a row of 88888s or 22222s shows up when you think you're using an arrow key to maneuver the cursor up or down.
Open Control Panel and double-click on the Accessibility Options icon. If you don't have one, double-click on the Add/Remove Programs icon, click once on the Windows Setup tab and check the box next to Accessibility Options in the Components list. Click on OK, and the icon should appear in Control Panel. Now you can double-click on it.
Select the Keyboard tab and check the Use ToggleKeys box. The next time you hit Caps Lock, Num Lock or Scroll Lock by accident (or on purpose), you'll hear a high-pitched tone as the selected function is enabled, or a low-pitched tone as it's disabled. This can be a nice warning for the touch typist who hits the wrong key every now and then and doesn't realize it immediately. While you're at it, look over the rest of the Accessibility options. You may find other features worth trying.
One final note: If you've enabled some Accessibility options, you may hear a short descending-pitch warning tone if the computer is inactive for a while. After that, the options are disabled. This is no bug; it's a feature. According to one of the Help screens, this bu... er, feature "is useful if more than one person uses the same computer." If you have trouble following such logic, click on the General tab and clear the "Turn off accessibility features after idle for: " check box. That keeps the selected features enabled permanently, or until you decide to disable them yourself.
It's been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. How much is a sound worth? Well, that depends. Used in moderation, a little audio support is a nice enhancement to your overall system. Or you can pull out all the stops and then ask the boss for the rest of the day off. You won't be missed.
John Woram is the author of Windows Configuration Handbook (Random House, 1993) and The PC Configuration Handbook (Random House, 1990). To find his E-Mail ID Click Here
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