7/96 News: Notes From The Lab

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From Winmag Central

• While Microsoft hasn't provided a fix for the Windows 95/NetWare 3.11 long-filename-support problem (Newstrends, March), we have a short-term answer. We avoid using IPX over the dial-up connection by putting the Gateway Service for NetWare setup on our NT RAS server. It translates between TCP/IP (used over the dial-up) and IPX/SPX (used by the NT server to talk to the NetWare 3.11 server volumes). That prevents the timeout presented by Win95's client IPX stack, and since NT is more robust at IPX, it handles the 3.11 correctly. The downside: The software gateway can only handle a few RAS connections at a time.
• At the Microsoft Technical Editors conference this spring, the company seemed ready to make good on its promise to "be the Internet." Its biggest strengths may be ActiveX technology-delivering richer Internet experiences through downloadable components (scroll bars, buttons and so on) that will become part of interactive Web pages-and FrontPage, which promises to make everyone a Webmaster overnight. Still, few ISPs support the extensions necessary to make either offering very useful.
• Incidentally, at the same gathering Microsoft treated us techies to a token of their infection. A version of the Concept or DMV virus -which was not detected by Norton AntiVirus for NT-found its way into our labs via the TechEd CD-ROM. To rid yourself of the scourge, acquire SCANPROT.DOT and its associated README.DOC file from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/kb/softlib/mslfiles/wd1215.exe. Also available on this CD-ROM as \DIST\WM\WMFILES\9607JUL\WD1215.EXE.
• Fred Langa, our Editorial Director, logged a curious Matrox Millennium driver bug. It seems an older version can cinch a LapLink 95 remote-control host very tight. LapLink maker Traveling Software blames the video driver's unusual handling of GDI calls. As a workaround, you can use version 2.30 of the Millennium driver (at http://www.matrox.com/mgaweb/ftp_mw95.htm) as 16771230.zip and 16772230.zip. With the new driver installed, right-click on the Desktop and choose Properties. Click on MGA Settings, then on Advanced. Uncheck PowerGDI Acceleration and click on OK twice.

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Virus Alert

• The Nuclear Macro Virus, a new strain of Word virus, is making the rounds, and it's as dangerous as it sounds. Neither McAfee's VirusScan nor Microsoft's SCAN.DOC or SCANPROT.DOT finds or completely fixes this strain, but SCANPROT at least warns you if a document has embedded macros. Start by installing SCANPROT.DOT, available from http://www.microsoft.com/kb/softlib/mslfiles/wd1215.exe Also available on this CD-ROM as \DIST\WM\WMFILES\9607JUL\WD1215.EXE. Check under Tools/Macros in Word for macros called AutoExec, AutoOpen, DropSuriv, FileExit, FilePrint, FilePrintDefault, FileSaveAs, InsertPayload and Payload. Delete these, leaving AutoExit, FileOpen, InstVer and ShellOpen-the macros for SCANPROT.DOT-intact. Exit and re-enter Word, and follow the instructions in README.DOC.
• Fans of Norton pcAnywhere32 will be happy to hear Symantec has produced a service release for the program. The patches boost the performance of the mouse, keyboard and 16-bit apps. The readme file is chock-full of tips like "To enable remote file transfer support with NetWare volumes, your Novell NetWare password should be the same as your Windows NT password." Actually, Symantec has not tested and does not support it under NT 4.0.
• Sure, all this talk about the sealed PC and the IEEE 1394 bus from Microsoft sounds good, but there's something familiar about all this. Wasn't there some PC company named after a fruit that trod this very same path with SCSI?

Low-FAT NT