DOS

Windows installation sometimes enables double buffering, which slows down disk access and may not be necessary. Exit Windows and type
SMARTDRV
at the DOS prompt. If every entry under the buffering column is no, then you can probably turn off double buffering. (Some SCSI controllers require it, so check your manual first.) Use Notepad to open CONFIG.SYS and locate the line, DEVICE=C:\*PATH*\SMARTDRV.EXE /DOUBLE_BUFFER, where *PATH* is the path to the SMARTDRV.EXE file. Highlight and remove /DOUBLE_BUFFER from the line.

If you load a new app and something goes wrong, it's likely to cause a problem with your INI and .GRP files. Make daily backup copies of these files automatically by using Notepad or SysEdit to add the following lines to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file before the WIN line:

cd \windows

copy *.grp *.gbk /y

The /y switch on each copy line suppresses a confirmation prompt to overwrite an existing file. If something goes wrong with Windows during the day, you can easily recover your old setup. Just exit to DOS and type:

cd \windows

copy *.gbk *.grp /y

Add frequently used local directories to File Manager's drive icon bar for point-and-click access. To display a directory as a drive, edit CONFIG.SYS by setting the LastDrive= command to Z. Then edit AUTOEXEC.BAT by adding a line that tells File Manager to substitute an unused drive letter for a particular directory. For example, add

SUBST F: D:\PROJECTS
to your AUTOEXEC.BAT, then reboot. File Manager should display the F: drive, which actually represents your D:\PROJECTS directory. This also makes it easy to copy and move files to your D:\PROJECTS directory--just click on and drag them onto the F: drive icon.

If there's a CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT line you no longer need, think twice before deleting it. Instead, insert REM and a single space at the head of the line and it will be ignored during startup. If you subsequently discover you really do need the line after all, just remove the insertion and it will be back in action. Or, once you're really sure you don't need the line, you can remove all of it.

You can also use REM to insert remarks in CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT for informational purposes only. Just type REM, a space and then a short explanation of the line immediately above or below. This can be helpful in recalling the purpose of various switches and other parameters required by a device driver or TSR program. You can also use a semi-colon, with no space after it, to do the same thing.

Chances are you have duplicate copies of EMM386.EXE, HIMEM.SYS and SMARTDRV.EXE in your C:\DOS and C:\WINDOWS directories. If you use any of these files, make sure the appropriate line in CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT points to the latest version.

During setup, many Windows applications add their own directory to your PATH statement, and some go so far as to place it at the head of the statement. In most cases, Windows doesn't need the new information, and you can keep the DOS PATH statement trimmed of all this excess baggage. If Windows needs to know the location of an executable file, highlight the program icon, open the File menu and select the Properties option. Then add the complete path to the command line.

Many Windows applications allow you to select a custom directory name during the setup procedure, and you can use that feature to keep track of the application's version. For example, when installing Word for Windows version 6.0, change the default directory name from C:\WINWORD to C:\WINWORD6, or WINWORD.600. Later on, you can tell at a glance which version of an application is installed in each directory with a customized name.

If a DOS application has trouble with 32-bit file access, you may see an "application has violated system integrity" message. If the message appears consistently, open Control Panel's Enhanced applet, click on the Virtual Memory button and disable 32-bit file access. If that resolves the problem, then there is indeed a conflict between the application and 32-bit file access.

Give yourself the choice of staying in DOS or loading Windows when you start up by adding the following three lines to the end of your AUTOEXEC.BAT:

@ECHO To exit to DOS, press CTRL+C. To load Windows,

WIN

If the WIN command is already there, just add the other two lines above it. When AUTOEXEC.BAT executes, it will echo the "To exit" text to the screen (the @ sign in front of ECHO supresses the word ECHO from printing to the screen). The PAUSE statement stops execution and echoes the text "Press any key to continue." Press Ctrl+C and AUTOEXEC.BAT aborts before the WIN command and delivers you to the DOS command line. Press any other key and the file moves on to the WIN command and loads Windows.

If you have MS-DOS version 6.*x*, you can troubleshoot various startup problems by pressing function key F8 when the "Starting MS-DOS" message appears. If you do, the system displays the contents of your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, one line at a time. As each line appears, press "y" and watch for an error message before the next line is displayed. Or, press "n" to bypass a line that you suspect is causing trouble. At any point in the procedure, press function key F5 to bypass all remaining lines, or press the Escape key to execute all remaining lines with no further pauses.

DOS EDIT is an excellent tool for small text-editing chores, such as writing batch files and macros. This handy applet comes with MS-DOS version 5.0 and later. You can run it three ways:

From the command line in a DOS session. Change to your DOS directory and type EDIT.

By clicking on its icon. From Program Manager, choose File/New. Click on Program Item, fill out the Program Item Properties dialog box and select one of the DOS icons.

By typing or browsing to its command in Program Manager's File/Run dialog box.

This DOS editor requires the presence of Microsoft QuickBASIC. So even if you're not a BASIC programmer, don't erase the QBASIC.EXE file in the DOS directory if you plan to use the EDIT.COM utility.

Never run a DOS disk defragmenter, Norton's Disk Editor, or any other disk-repair utility from a DOS window within Windows. Such utilities can cause serious damage if a Windows application tries to access the hard disk at the same time. To avoid tragedy, exit Windows first, then run the DOS utility.

If you want to use your mouse in a DOS session under Windows, make sure the following lines are in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:

set MOUSE=C:\WINDOWS\MOUSE.COM

C:\WINDOWS\MOUSE.COM

Revise both lines as required to indicate the actual path and filename for your DOS mouse driver. If the mouse does not function in a DOS window, add or edit the following line in the [NonWindowsApp] section of SYSTEM.INI:

MouseInDosBox=1

This line is required if you're using an older (version 3.0) grabber file. Otherwise, it should not be needed at all.

If you never use your mouse with DOS applications, you don't need to load a mouse driver. Windows has its own mouse support, so you can delete the mouse support lines in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and save some precious memory resources.

Windows normally won't let you close DOS sessions without manually switching to and exiting from each one. Change this by using PIF Editor to create or modify the PIF of the app you want to close. Click on the Advanced button and check the Allow Close When Active box. Never close any DOS app that's in the process of disk or other I/O activity because this may cause DOS to become unstable and crash your system.

Tired of the eight-line help message that appears when you start a DOS session in Windows? Turn it off by adding the line
DOSPromptExitInstruc=Off
to the [386Enh] section of your SYSTEM.INI file.

With MS-DOS version 6.*x*, you can create a customized startup menu with different system configurations. Edit your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files to specify which devices and TSRs will load in two or more customized configurations. For example, you can create one menu option that loads only the basic system drivers, another that adds on network drivers and so on. For detailed information and examples, change to your DOS directory at the DOS prompt and type HELP MULTI-CONFIG.