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Use System Editor (SYSEDIT.EXE) to edit WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI, AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files all in one session. Choose Run from the File menu in Program Manager, type SysEdit
and press Enter.
Access SysEdit easily by creating an icon for the program in one of your groups. Drag and drop SYSEDIT.EXE from Windows' SYSTEM directory in File Manager to any program group on your main desktop.
Speed up keyboard input in non-Windows applications by setting KeyIdleDelay=0
in the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI. That value determines how long Windows ignores idle calls after simulating a keystroke into a virtual machine. The default is 0.5 seconds. Some applications may respond sluggishly if this value is modified, but others may speed up significantly.
Change the DeviceNotSelectedTimeout setting in the [Windows] section of your WIN.INI file if you're having trouble getting Windows to talk to your printer. This setting defines how long Windows will wait for a device to respond before it delivers an error message.
Back up your .INI files before you tweak them. The simplest way is to create a new subdirectory with a name such as INIBAK, then copy all the .INI files from your Windows directory into it. Make sure that you copy them instead of moving them if you use File Manager to make your backups. If anything goes wrong while you're modifying your .INI files, you can simply restore them from the Backup subdirectory.
Does your machine mistake some double-clicks for drags? You can make Windows less sensitive to mouse movement when you're double-clicking by increasing the DoubleClickHeight and DoubleClickWidth values in the [Windows] section of WIN.INI. The parameters represent the number of pixels the cursor must travel after a click before dragging begins.
If you're having trouble printing from Windows, increase the TransmissionRetryTimeOut parameter in the [Windows] section of WIN.INI. This line defines the length of time Windows will attempt to retransmit characters to a printer.
If you receive files created with fonts you don't have, you can substitute different ones. Go to the [Font Substitutes] section of WIN.INI and type [missing font] = [near substitute]
.
To speed up non-Windows application performance, add the line FileSysChange=Off
to the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI. That disables notification of File Manager when non-Windows applications create, rename or delete files. It also allows you to run non-Windows applications exclusively, even when they modify files.
If some non-Windows apps seem to go to sleep in the background and never execute (or execute very slowly), wake them up by decreasing the IdleVMWakeUpTime parameter in the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI. That forces timer interrupts after the specified number of seconds has passed, even if the non-Windows application doesn't use timer interrupts. It may also speed up response. This entry's value is rounded down to the lowest power of two (such as 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64). The default is 8.
If you don't have access to a working printer, you can send all printer output to a file and copy it to a printer later. Make Temp.prn=
the first line of WIN.INI's [Port] section and restart Windows. Select the Printer icon from Control Panel and click on the Connect button. Choose TEMP.PRN as the printer port, and all Windows printing will go to this file. Later, you can copy TEMP.PRN to a disk and then copy it to LPT1 on a system connected to a printer.
Don't change the [boot.description] section unless you know exactly what you're doing. It contains a list of strings describing the devices you can change when you run Setup. If you change these entries, you can't use Windows Setup to update drivers to newer versions.
If you're having keyboard problems in Windows, you may need to edit the Type setting in SYSTEM.INI's [keyboard] section. If the entry is blank or missing, Windows sometimes incorrectly selects a default type based on the system BIOS. Windows may select an 84-key type when the keyboard emulates 101 keys, for instance. Valid settings are 1 (83-key IBM-PC type), 2 (Olivetti 102-key), 3 (84-key IBM AT-type) and 4 (101/102-key extended AT-type).
You can have Windows start with many Windows programs in place of Program Manager by setting shell=[program name]
in the [boot] section of SYSTEM.INI. For example, shell=WINWORD
will substitute Word for Program Manager. You might want to do this if you're using a system exclusively for word processing and you have only a small amount of RAM.
Reduce the CachedFileHandles number in the [boot] section of SYSTEM.INI if you have problems running Windows from a network server. That parameter sets the number of used executable (.EXE) and dynamic link library (.DLL) files that can remain open from the server simultaneously. Some networks have an upper limit on how many files can be open at once. If that limit is lower than Windows default 12, trouble ensues. Valid numbers are 2 through 12.
Increase the CommandEnvSize setting in the [NonWindowsApp] section of SYSTEM.INI if you're having trouble with default paths and prompt strings in non-Windows applications. This sets the amount of space COMMAND.COM reserves to store path names and other environment variables. By default, Windows uses the environment size specified by the /E parameter in the Shell= line in the CONFIG.SYS file.
You can increase the vertical space between icons to allow more room for titles, or decrease the space to pack your icons tightly. Set the IconVerticalSpacingParameter in the [Desktop] section of WIN.INI to the number of vertical pixels you want between the lower edges of stacked icons. Unfortunately, there's no Control Panel-based method of adjusting this number.
Add this line to the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI if you're losing characters your modem receives: COM*x*buffer=2048
, where *x* is the number of the Com port supporting your modem.
If there are certain lines in your system files you don't want to execute--but you don't want to delete them--disable or "remark" them instead. Type REM
followed by a space in front of those lines in your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. In WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI, files type a semicolon followed by a space in front of those lines.
If you've got a new hard disk that's faster than the old one, put your swap file on it. Specify the drive and directory for the file on the Swapdisk= line in the [NonWindowsApp] section of SYSTEM.INI.
Sometimes, if you try to associate a file extension with an application in File Manager, the Browse button is dimmed. When that happens Windows is accusing the extension of being a program. For example, you may have tried to associate .BAT with Notepad to speed editing of DOS batch files. You can eliminate that misapprehension by deleting the extension from the Programs= line in the [Windows] section of WIN.INI.
Double-clicking on the wallpaper, or pressing Ctrl+Esc brings up Windows' Task Manager. You can alter that behavior to bring up the program of your choice by adding or editing the Taskman.exeline in the [Boot] section of your SYSTEM.INI file so the parameter equals the name of the program you want.
Increase the number of screen lines from 25 to 50 for the DOS box by placing SCREENLINES=50
in the [Non-WindowsApp] section of SYSTEM.INI.
You can disable many of the features of Program Manager, which is a handy security tool. At the end of the PROGMAN.INI file, start a section called [Restrictions]
. In the section add any or all of the following lines: NoFileMenu=1
(to remove the File menu and disable command hotkeys); NoRun=1
(to prevent anyone from selecting Run from the File menu); EditLevel=4
(to disable the alteration of program groups and icons); NoSaveSettings=1
(to disable automatic saving of settings); and NoClose=1
(to make it impossible to close Windows except by rebooting).
If you'd like Print Manager to appear minimized when you start Windows, add PRINTMAN.EXE to the Load= line of your WIN.INI file.
You can eliminate the eight-line help message that's displayed when you start a DOS prompt running under Windows by adding the line DOSPromptExitInstruc=Off
to the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI.
The Microsoft Mouse driver likes to see more memory than it actually needs to load in high memory. If you can't load that driver high and need it for DOS, try loading it before anything else. It'll see more memory upon loading, upping the odds it will load high. Once in high memory, it will relinquish to your other drivers what it doesn't use.
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