Registry Wranglin' Plus wanderin' domains and more memory malfeasance AN UNRULY REGISTRY Q: When I start my PC, the Windows 95 desktop appears, followed by a message saying that Windows has detected a problem with the Registry and that I should restart Windows to reinitialize the Registry. If I restart, I get the same message. If I try to back up files to my floppy drive, I'm told there's no disk in the drive, when in fact there is. If I select drive A: in Windows Explorer, I'm told the drive isn't accessible. Otherwise, the system works fine. Help! A: One thing's clear: The Registry is confused. The easy way to straighten it out is to go to the Control Panel, double-click the Add New Hardware icon and let Windows 95 go through its automatic device detection process. This should clear out any device confusions and restore existing devices Windows has lost track of--like the floppy disk drive. (That's assuming the drive, its interface, and the cable are all intact and functioning properly.) If this doesn't improve things, you must reinstall Windows 95. That should rebuild a clean Registry. And if this doesn't work, it's time to get down--down to the DOS prompt. Shut down Windows, selecting "Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode." When the DOS prompt appears, log onto the \WINDOWS directory. You'll now delete two Registry files, SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT, and their backups, SYSTEM.DA0 and USER.DA0. But first you must remove a passel of attributes so the files can be deleted. At the prompt, type ATTRIB -R -A -S -H SYSTEM.DAT and press Enter. Do the same for SYSTEM.DA0, USER.DAT, and USER.DA0. Then type DEL SYSTEM.DAT and press Enter. Do the same DEL for the other three files. You'll then have to reinstall drivers for your CD-ROM drive and reference them in CONFIG.SYS, then reinstall Windows 95 without any bad Registry files to confuse it. The install program should pick up your previously installed applications, though not your desktop preferences. To avoid this hassle in the future, once Windows 95 is running right, run the Registry Editor (select Start*Run, type Regedit, and press Enter), select Registry*Export Registry File, and save a copy of your new, spanking clean Registry on a backup floppy disk. While you're at it, make a bootable system emergency floppy that includes MSCDEX.EXE and your CD-ROM drivers. If you have Norton Utilities for Windows 95, create a Rescue floppy disk. Kissing DOS Good-bye and Better Icons AUTOEXEC tricks, finding memory, and more LIFE WITHOUT AUTOEXEC.BAT Q: I have a problem with Windows 95. When I select Start*Run and type SysEdit, the AUTOEXEC.BAT window is empty and I get the message, "SYSTEM CONFIGURATION EDITOR C:AUTOEXEC.BAT cannot open this file." But an AUTOEXEC.BAT must exist, otherwise my PC wouldn't work, right? A: Contrary to popular belief, Windows 95 doesn't need AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI, or SYSTEM.INI files to do its thing. The first two are only necessary to load DOS-level device drivers and parameters for old or unique hardware Windows 95 can't deal with. The INI files are there for any Windows 3.1 (16-bit) applications you might be running, such as Corel 5 or Winword 2.x. Windows 95 keeps this kind of crucial data in its Registry. For instance, what if you need DOS-level drivers to install Windows 95 from a CD-ROM? Once Windows 95 restarts and realizes it can support your CD-ROM drive, it will remove your old drivers from CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT. About the only thing you might need to reference in CONFIG .SYS is HIMEM.SYS, which Windows 95 needs to access your PC's RAM. But Windows 95 can usually find and load this file just fine. In fact, if you're loading DOS device drivers or terminate-and-stay-resident programs via CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT, you may be inhibiting Windows 95's performance. The solution is to remove the relevant statements in these two files. Then use Windows 95's Add New Hardware function to find the devices and install its own drivers for them. If that doesn't work, get Windows 95-specific drivers from the manufacturer and use Add New Hardware. This time, click No when asked to let Windows 95 detect the device. Then click the Next button and pick the device type from the list. In the next dialogue box, click the Have Disk button, stick the vendor floppy in the drive, and follow the instructions. If this procedure goes successfully, you'll probably have to remove the commands that load the device's drivers from AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG .SYS. Then restart the system. Windows 95 Mysteries Solved The mondo file and the sluggish PC TO UNDO OR NOT TO UNDO Q: I recently installed Windows 95 and now I have a 15MB file in my root directory called W95UNDO.DAT. Can I remove it? A: W95UNDO.DAT is created by Windows 95 during installation if you select the option to uninstall Windows 95 and restore your old DOS and Windows 3.1 files at a later time. It contains a compressed archive of all of your DOS and Windows 3.1 files. Remove this file at your own discretion. Just remember: Without the .DAT file, there's no way to return to your previous DOS and Windows 3.1 setup. You would have to reinstall them and all your Windows applications from scratch. For those who are about to install Windows 95, save yourself future grief--keep a copy of both Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 on your system. The trick is to copy your entire Windows 3.1 setup into a new directory called \WIN95. Once this is done, install Windows 95 over the files in \WIN95. Windows 95 will pick up all the necessary references to your existing programs, and you'll have an untouched copy of Windows 3.1 in \WINDOWS. To make a copy, exit Windows 3.1 and at the DOS prompt, type each line below and press Enter. CD\ MD WIN95 XCOPY C:\WINDOWS\*.* /S/E C:\WIN95 Run Windows 3.1 from \WIN95 and install Windows 95, selecting the option that overwrites your Windows 3.1 files (the ones in \WINDOWS). Using this trick, you'll preserve Windows 3.1 and DOS and thus be able to use Windows 95's dual boot option. And if Windows 95 doesn't install properly, at least you will have a working DOS/Windows system to use. WINDOWS 95: NOT SO FAST Q: Before Windows 95 came out, a number of PC magazines used the beta and claimed this new operating system would run about as fast as Windows for Workgroups. I took their advice and upgraded to Windows 95 as soon as I could. What a mistake. My 60MHz Pentium with 8MB of RAM started running like a 486SX! I uninstalled Windows 95, restored Windows for Workgroups, backed up my important data files, formatted my hard disk, and then installed Windows 95 again. The result was the same. As a last resort, I downloaded WinTune for Windows 95. It didn't find any configuration problems, but it did suggest I add more RAM. Is this my only solution? I'm on a budget! A: While adding more RAM would probably help, I suspect your system BIOS may have a bug or two or your system setup (stored in CMOS) isn't optimized for Windows 95. Every system is different, but here are a couple of general tips to try. First do the basics: Defrag your PC's hard disk, make sure Windows 95's swap file option is on (that's the default), and make sure you are not loading unnecessary TSRs via AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS. In CONFIG.SYS, set Buffers= to a value between 6 and 10. Next, click Start, select Settings*Control Panel, double-click the System icon, and click the Performance tab. Make sure File System and Virtual Memory indicate 32-bit. If they don't, click the appropriate heading in the Select an item box, click the Details button, and follow the recommendations for optimizing your system to take advantage of Windows 95's 32-bit disk and file system. This process may simply involve getting a 32-bit Windows 95 driver from your hard disk vendor or using one supplied with Windows 95. However, if your drive is connected to an older 8- or 16-bit ISA adapter card, you'll have to take stronger measures. If your system has an IDE connector built into the motherboard, simply remove or disable the ISA card and plug your drive into this connector. If it doesn't, you will have to buy a compatible 32-bit adapter. If you are using disk compression, make sure the software is compatible with Windows 95. Even if it is, con- sider disabling the feature. Disk compression slows performance considerably because your PC's processor must decompress and compress data as you read and write it. Next, check your system's configuration settings stored in CMOS. Look for parameters relating to the external CPU cache (a special chunk of high-speed RAM that works with the PC's processor) and set it to write-through mode. This maneuver will avoid potential conflicts between Windows 95 and the cache controller circuitry. If you can set the block mode transfer method, pick PIO mode 3 or 4. Contact your system manufacturer (or the company that made your PC's BIOS chip) and find out if specific settings will speed up Windows 95 operations. If the BIOS was developed long before Windows 95 hit the streets, they are not going to be fully compatible. Find out if replacing the BIOS, a fairly cheap option, will help. You might also consider boosting your PC's system cache from 256K to 512K. Finally, you may need to break down and buy that RAM. You can run Windows 95 in 8MB of RAM, but 16MB is the realistic minimum. WINDOWS 95 WON'T LOAD Q: Windows 95 won't install properly on my Pentium. When installation is completed and my PC restarts, I get Microsoft's ethereal blue sky and then my system hangs. What's wrong? A: Judging from the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files you've sent me, I suspect several DOS-level device drivers are causing the problem. Since Windows 95 provides most of its own drivers for common hardware devices, boot up with a "clean" configuration. In CONFIG.SYS, only load HIMEM .SYS, EMM386.EXE, DOS=HIGH, and your CD-ROM driver. In AUTO EXEC.BAT, leave only your SET PATH statement; the SET TEMP=C:\TEMP command; and the line that loads MSCDEX, the DOS extension that recognizes your CD-ROM drive. Forego drivers for sound cards, scanners, and the like; Windows 95's hardware wizard should find these and install them. Reboot your system, run Windows 3.1 and run the Windows 95 setup. If Windows 95 is missing a scanner or other hardware device, don't sweat--you can add the necessary drives later. If Windows 95 still won't load, take the following steps. Check for hardware conflicts. Run a DOS-based diagnostic program (such as MSD.EXE in the \WINDOWS subdirectory) to uncover any hardware conflicts. If you find any, reconfigure the involved peripherals. Remove all nonessential hardware such as a CD-ROM adapter, a sound card, and so on. If Windows 95 installs and runs, add back each device and restart Windows 95. When Windows 95 hangs, you will have found your culprit. Check with the motherboard or BIOS vendor and see if different settings or a new BIOS chip will make the difference. © 1996 Jim Aspinwall. All rights reserved. WINDOWS 95 STALL TACTICS Q: I've connected my PC to the office LAN and now Windows 95 freezes every so often. The hourglass icon shows for a couple of seconds. This never happened under Windows 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups. What's going on? A: Windows 95 does a lot of wonderful things for us, including keeping track of network connections, presumably in the background. These connections may include several network drives and printers you have access rights to. Windows 95 also keeps track of printers and drives attached to your PC. If you insert a CD-ROM or search a floppy with Explorer, Windows 95 will note it. With all this checking going on, Windows 95 may need a moment or two to collect its thoughts. If it bugs you, try the following steps. Log off other systems, "unmap" removable drives, and "unshare" your PC from dynamic devices on the LAN, such as a shared fax server. If the delay happens when you're using a specific application, clear its file history list, especially if it refers to files on floppies, CD-ROMs, or shared network drives. To clear the list in Word 6.0, for example, you would select Tools*Options, click the General tab, uncheck the Recently Used File List, and click OK. Suppress image display, which will also speed up scrolling. In Word 6, you'd select Tools*Options, click the View tab, check the Picture Placeholders box, and click OK. When you're viewing a document, use View*Normal instead of the other page view options. Clear out stuff that Windows 95 may be tracking. To clear the documents menu, select Start*Settings*Taskbar, click the Start Menu Programs tab, and click the Clear button. To clear all the entries in the Start menu's Run box, you'll have to edit the Registry. Select Start*Run, type RegEdit, and click OK. In the Registry, select Edit*Find and type RunMRU. In the right window you'll see a list of items starting at "a," followed by path and file name information. Select all the items a through z (but not Default or MRUList) and delete them. Then double-click MRUList, erase the characters in the Value Data box, and click OK. Exit the Registry Editor, restart Windows 95, and voilˆ-the Run box is clear. Programs that run in the background-especially TSRs-can cause similar problems because many check disk and file activity periodically. If you can, avoid using memory resident antivirus programs, Windows 3.x applications, FirstAid for Windows 95, HiJaak for Windows 95, time-driven scheduling programs, and programs that receive faxes in the background. 1996 Jim Aspinwall. All rights reserved.