
From: gordonf@vcn.bc.ca (Gordon Fecyk)
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.win95.misc,comp.os.ms-windows.setup.win95,comp.os.ms-windows.networking.win95,comp.os.ms-windows.apps.compatibility.win95,comp.answers,news.answers
Subject: Windows 95 Frequently Asked Questions and Answers Part 5 of 14
Followup-To: comp.os.ms-windows.win95.misc,comp.os.ms-windows.setup.win95,comp.os.ms-windows.networking.win95,comp.os.ms-windows.apps.compatibility.win95
Date: 14 May 1996 01:42:44 GMT
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Summary: These postings list many questions asked in said newsgroups,
         and answers them as best as I can.  I make references to other
         Web sites and FAQs when appropriate.  Visit the WWW home of
         this FAQ (http://www.intouch.bc.ca/win95) for the appropriate
         links.  This section is the 5th one: Basic Usage and tips
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Archive-name: windows/win95/faq/part05
Last-Modified: 1996/04/29
URL: http://www.intouch.bc.ca/win95/faq5.htm

5) Basic Win95 usage 

...vs Windows 3.x 
...vs MS-DOS (tm) 
What is this "Explorer" thing? 
How do I... 
...find my old Win 3.x programs? 
...make a program read a file I click on? 
...change what program opens what kind of file? 
...run Windows 3.x programs? (including Windows games) 
...run MS-DOS apps? 
...run MS-DOS utilities? (Xtree (tm), Norton Utilities (tm), etc) 
...run MS-DOS games? 
...format or copy disks? 
...search for files? 
...search for files with certain information in them? 
...add my own items to the Start Menu? 
The Desktop, Start Menu, and shortcuts 
...change my display resolution? 
...change my display driver? 
...disable the "Full window drag" feature of MS Plus? 
Some MS-DOS utilities are missing. Where can I get them? 
Should I buy these new fancy utilities for Win95? 
...Norton Navigator (tm) ? 
...un-installers? 
...anti-virus programs? 
...Microsoft Plus (tm) ? 
...RAM compression programs? 
Top ten mistakes running Windows 3.x programs 
Top ten mistakes running MS-DOS programs and games 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Basic Win95 usage vs Windows 3.x 

Win95 sports the cool new Explorer Desktop, in an attempt to be 
more Mac-like. Try to forget what you know about Program 
Manager, File Manager, Print Manager, etc because very little of it 
applies! 

Win 3.1 programs will run like they used to; the window might look a 
bit different, and there might be some extra buttons on the border, but 
they will work otherwise. 

Get used to using your right mouse button. On an Amiga, the right 
button was a "menu" button, which brought up a hidden menu. On 
OS/2, it brings up menus for each object you click on. On Win95, it 
much acts like the OS/2 right-click except it pretty much works on 
anything; window title bars, the Start Menu, any kind of icon, 
properties sheets, whatever. 

Win 3.1 programs run in a single process under Win95, 
co-operatively multitasking as they always did since Windows/386. 
This means one Win 3.1 app can suspend the entire Win 3.1 session. 
In fact, one Win 3.1 app can suspend all of Win95! This is purely for 
compatibility. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Basic Win95 usage vs MS-DOS (tm) 

Microsoft kept DOS for compatibility and nothing else. Win95 
includes MS-DOS 7.0, which under Win95, is a multitasking DOS. 
DOS programs run in protected sessions like Win95 programs do, 
and the system pre-emptively task-switches between Win32 sessions, 
DOS sessions, and the single Win 3.1 session. 

COMMAND.COM is now a 32-bit command prompt, when running 
under Explorer. Win95 can unload it on command, unless a DOS 
programs is running from it. Some Win32 character-based programs 
can run from COMMAND.COM, if they don't depend on Windows 
NT features. Outside of Explorer, COMMAND.COM, and the rest 
of DOS, is just DOS. 

The biggest difference between old DOS and DOS 7.0, is it does not 
allow direct disk writes, to prevent filename corruption and virus 
infection. Effectively, if a program tries to write to the disk directly 
while outside of Win95, you will get an evil message telling you to 
restart your computer. Normally this is good, but some "good" 
programs (like Windows 3.1 running 32-bit disk access, which 
DOES work in DOS 7.0 by the way) need to access the disk 
directly. If you can trust such programs, type: 

LOCK C: (or whatever drive letter)

before running the program. Notice, however, that LOCK C: only 
works outside of Explorer (like when you "Restart the computer in 
MS-DOS mode" for example), and within Explorer, no direct writes 
are allowed under any circumstance. 

Some DOS TSRs no longer supported under Explorer are PRINT 
and SUBST. As a general rule, don't run any DOS TSRs that fiddle 
with the disk handler (such as Norton SMARTCAN or CASMGR) 
or require direct access to hardware (like PRINT). 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

What is this "Explorer" thing? 

Like I wrote above, it's Win95's new default shell. Explorer actually 
has two big parts and several little ones. The two biggest parts you 
will see right away are the Desktop and the Taskbar. I won't go into 
details, because Microsoft has lots of basic stuff about these two 
devices. 

I will go into details on the little pieces, however. Microsoft combined 
the functionality of many utilities (including File Manager, Control 
Panel, Print Manager, Remote Access, Windows Setup, PIF editor) 
into it. Control Panel is pretty obvious and works much the way it did 
back in Win 3.1. The others were completely renamed and 
re-worked, and it'll just take some "Exploring" (pun intended) to learn 
them. 

Running "EXPLORER.EXE" with Explorer running will merely open a 
File Manager style window, with directory trees and split displays. 
"Exploring" directories like this is great for power users who need to 
find something fast. Right-click on any folder or drive and select 
"Explore" to begin "Exploring" from that point. You aren't running 
multiple processes of Explorer; you're merely opening another 
Explorer window separate from the Desktop. 

Print Manager got replaced by the Printers folder in "My Computer". 
You create and maintain printers here, though there is a shortcut to it 
from Control Panel, for compatibility. When you create printers here 
you may use Win 3.1 printer drivers (though I don't recommend this) 
or Win95 drivers. Microsoft claims NT drivers will install here as well. 

Remote Access gets replaced by Dial-up Networking, which is now a 
general network connection through modems. Dial-up Networking 
covers regular RAS connections, Internet connections, and 
connections to NetWare Connect servers for remote NetWare log 
ins. 

Windows Setup is kinda scattered all over the place, but you'll find 
the main components in the Control Panel's Add New Hardware, 
Add/Remove Programs, and System programs. 

PIF files are now "Shortcuts to MS-DOS Programs", and you bring 
up a DOS program's properties to edit its PIF file. Check out How to 
run DOS programs in Win95 for details. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

How do I find my old Win 3.x programs? 

Win95 Setup copied all your group files (.GRP) from Program 
Manager into a directory called (what else), "Start Menu". It copied 
the icon groups into little directories which you can view by pressing 
the Start button, and selecting "Programs". 

One notable exception to this, is Setup eliminated the "Main" program 
group entirely. It'll relocate Main items into the root of the Start Menu, 
and remove icons that no longer apply (like File Manager). 

If a program installer just copied a .GRP file to the hard disk, rather 
than add the icons through the Windows APIs like its supposed to, 
you can add that group to the Start Menu by finding the .GRP file 
itself, and opening it (double-clicking it). If programs also try to 
change PROGMAN.INI, which contains the group listings, Win95 
will move them to the Start Menu the next time you restart. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

How do I make a program open a file I click on? 

Explorer lets you browse your hard drive and click on documents, as 
well as programs. This works exactly like clicking on documents in 
File Manager; simply double-click on the document. 

If you click on a file with an extension it doesn't recognize, Explorer 
offers up a list of programs and lets you choose which one you want. 
You can also give a descriptive name to the file type (such as "Doom 
data file" for .WAD files). 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

How do I change what program opens what kind of file? 

To edit file types, select the View menu and Options in any 
Explorer window. Hit the "File types" tab and you can edit, add, or 
delete known file types. Some file types are hidden from this display 
(such as "System File") to keep you from hurting them. I'll tell you 
how to find them later. 

You can do much more than Open a document. Some document 
types have more options than Open if you right-click on them. For 
example, .BAT files have an "Edit" menu which brings up Notepad. 
To add this functionality to your own documents, go back to the "File 
types" tab and find the file type you want to add this to, and hit Edit. 
You can then Add an action, such as "Edit", which launches a 
separate program and opens that file. This worked great for me; I 
have an "Edit" option added to all my HTML documents which 
launches MS-Word, and "Open" launches Mosaic. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

How do I run Windows 3.x programs? (including Windows 
games) 

If there's an icon in the Start Menu, you can run it from there. You can 
also find the executable itself by browsing the hard drive, then opening 
it. Self-installing archives, such as Win95 Service Pack 1, are one 
kind of Windows program you'll need to run by browsing and 
opening. 

If you don't see your old program group on the Start Menu, or if a 
program just copied a group file (.GRP) to the hard disk, just find the 
.GRP file it installed and Open it. This runs a converter that builds 
Shortcuts for the Start menu. 

Windows programs will even run from a DOS session under Win95. 
Type the name of the executable like you would for any DOS 
program. You can open documents from the DOS session with the 
START command (just like the Start Menu "Run" command). 
"START MyDocument.doc" will run Microsoft Word, and load 
MyDocument.doc into memory. 

A handful of Win 3.1 and Win 3.0 programs won't recognize that you 
have a newer version of Windows, and report an error like, "This 
program requires Windows 3.1 or better". Well, you have a "Setver" 
kind of workaround for such programs in Win95; the [Compatibility] 
section of WIN.INI. For example, to install Outpost 1.0 on Win95, 
you can edit WIN.INI so "INSTALL=00020000" instead of 
00040000; that number is a Windows version reporting number. This 
will make INSTALL.EXE think it's running in Win 3.1. Later on, if the 
main program acts the same way, you can add entries to WIN.INI 
with that version ID that matches Win 3.1. A handful of entries exist 
already, for known programs. 

NOTE: Win95 will restore any changes you make to programs 
called INSTALL or SETUP in the [compatibility] section of 
WIN.INI. When you make your changes, do them from 
SYSEDIT.EXE, run your installer, then re-boot. Win95 instantly 
changes the entry back to 00040000 after the program finishes 
installing. 

There's a cute utility for real dumb Win 3.1 programs; 
MKCOMPAT.EXE, in your Win95 directory. Run this program to 
turn on compatibility switches to make dumb programs work. This is 
a last resort, and I'd rather you harass the program's publisher or 
author to make them fix it. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

How do I run MS-DOS apps? 

You can either run a DOS session by hitting 
Start/Programs/MS-DOS Prompt and run the DOS program from 
there, or open it from Explorer. If it's a DOS program, Win95 will 
start a DOS session and load the program into it. 

NOTE: If you launch a DOS program from Explorer, it will create a 
PIF file for it (Also called a "Shortcut to MS-DOS Program"). If it 
can't write to the directory where the program resides, it will write the 
PIF file to %WINDIR%\PIF. 

If you want to avoid making four hundred PIF files, run the MS-DOS 
Prompt first, then run the program within that session. It will use the 
program properties built into the default PIF (DOSPRMPT.PIF) 
instead of making one. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

How do I run MS-DOS utilities? (Xtree (tm), Norton Utilities 
(tm), etc) 

Like any other MS-DOS program, but avoid utilities that do direct 
disk writes, like DOS versions of SpeedDisk, Norton Disk Doctor, 
DiskEdit, etc as these won't work in DOS sessions, because Win95 
won't let you perform direct disk writes in a DOS session. 

If you have to run these kinds of utilities, you must exit to DOS 
(Restart computer in MS-DOS mode) and LOCK the hard drive you 
will edit (LOCK C: ). This will allow the direct disk access to work. 

Utilities to avoid include DOS versions of ScanDisk, Defrag, and all 
their cousins. Win95 comes with Windows version of these utilities 
that work with long filenames etc, and Peter Norton has Win95 
versions of his utilities, too. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

How do I run MS-DOS games? 

I go into a whole wack of detail on this subject, but to make life real 
simple, run your games in DOS sessions under Win95, like you would 
any DOS application. A handfull of useful Properties settings to turn 
on include, "Protected", "Prevent DOS programs from detecting 
Windows", "Full Screen", and "Always Suspend". 

DOS games can work with protected mode CD-ROM, sound, and 
network drivers easily. All the real mode hooks are there. Basically, 
you don't need to load any DOS drivers for anything to make a game 
run. 

For more details, jump to the Running MS-DOS Games section. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

How do I format and copy disks? 

Right-click on the floppy drive in "My Computer" and selelect 
"Format". Get used to using the right mouse button. To copy disks, 
right-click on the drive and select "Copy..." 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

How do I search for files? 

Explorer has a nifty file find tool built in. Right-click on where you 
want to start searching and select "Find". You could also hit Start 
Menu/Find. 

You can search your entire computer (including floppy drives and net 
drives), or a single drive for a file. Type in the filename (or part of the 
filename) and hit Find. Wildcards (*, ?) are permitted but not requred. 
Don't forget you're dealing with long filenames now. 

You can search text within files, search for files with certain dates, 
certain sizes, even search for computers on a network. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

How do I add my own items to the Start Menu? 

The Start Menu's just filled with shortcut files. The easiest way to add 
an item is to drag an icon on top of the Start button. 

If you're a bit more selective on where you want to put the shortcut, 
right-click on the taskbar and hit Properties. Select "Start Menu 
Programs" and you can add or remove items. The Shortcut Wizard 
helps you find the item you want to make a shortcut to. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Desktop, Start Menu, and shortcuts 

The Desktop and Start Menu are just directories on your hard drive, 
filled with .LNK files, or Shortcuts. They may also have regular files in 
them, but Start Menu items have to be .LNK or .PIF files. 

If you right-click on the Start button, you can Open the Start Menu 
like any other disk directory and move stuff around. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

How do I change my display resolution? 

Right-click on any empty Desktop space and select "Properties". You 
can change the wallpaper, screen saver, appearance of windows, and 
display mode. If you change display resolution without changing the 
colour depth, Win95 will re-size the desktop and ask you if it's OK to 
use it. If you change the display's colour depth (like 8-bit to 16-bit for 
example) Win95 will re-start. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

How do I change my display driver? 

In Display Properties, select the settings tab. Hit the "Change Display 
Type" button. This will let you change the video driver and monitor 
driver. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

How do I disable the "Full window drag" feature of MS Plus?
Microsoft Plus' "Display Enhancements" are a bit of a processor hog. 
You can turn off the Full Window Drag by hitting the "Plus" tab in 
Display Properties, and just turning it off. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Some MS-DOS utilities are missing. Where can I get them?
You might be looking for QBASIC or some other item from DOS 6 
missing here. These are available on the CD-ROM version. They're in 
DRIVERS\OTHER\OLDMSDOS, and you'll find a batch file that will 
copy them to your %WINDIR%\COMMAND directory. After a 
reboot they'll be available. You need to reboot because these are 
direct copies of DOS 6.22 programs, and the batch file SETVER's 
them to that version. 

If you installed Win95 on top of old DOS, your DOS directory will 
still be in your path, and you can run the old DOS utilities without 
having to install them from the CD-ROM. Setup will conveniently add 
them to the SETVER table. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Should I buy these new fancy utilities for Win95? 

...Norton Navigator (tm) ? 

If you used Norton Desktop you'll instantly miss FileAssist and those 
cool toys. I suppose it's OK, but a system running Navigator requires 
more RAM than Win95's Explorer does by itself. Expect additional 
disk swapping after installing this. 

New users should just try Explorer for a while first. There's no real 
point to buying a shell extension when you don't know how to use the 
default shell. After all, why would Microsoft spend so much time 
developing this interface, only to have you buy shell enhancements for 
it? Such shell extenders are really for power users only. 

...un-installers? 

A must-have, if you run many old Win 3.1 programs. Make sure you 
obtain a Designed for Windows 95 version; Win 3.1 un-installers 
don't recognize The Registry, where Win95 stores most of its 
configuration info. 

Be very careful of installing Win95 programs with such an un-installer 
active. Designed for Win95 apps include their own un-installer, and if 
you use the utility's un-installer instead of the program's own, the 
un-installer can remove more than it's supposed to. It could also 
remove less. CleanSweep 95 (tm), for example, warns you to this 
effect. Heed that warning! 

The nifty thing about Designed for 95 un-installers, is even 16-bit 
programs will show up in the "Add/Remove Programs" control panel 
when the un-installer tracks them. This will cause confusion, though, if 
you track Designed for 95 apps, because you will have with two 
entries in this list. 

The publishers of un-installers are preying on the fear of new Win95 
users that they HAVE to use a "professional un-installer" for even 
Designed for 95 apps. Get serious. If a program can't un-install itself it 
doesn't deserve the logo. Complain to them, or to Microsoft, who 
awarded the logo rights to them. 

...anti-virus programs? 

Again, Designed for Windows 95 is the key. Otherwise, run the 
anti-virus software outside of Win95. 

...Microsoft Plus (tm) ? 

Also a must-have, if you have a fast machine. System Agent makes up 
most of the purchase price by itself, running maintanence programs 
like ScanDisk and Defrag unattended. 

The other cool stuff that comes with it are for power users only, 
though its web browser will get you started on The Internet with 
minimal fuss. Later on you can install Netscape Navigator or MS 
Internet Explorer 2.0, or even NCSA Mosaic like me, to replace this 
cheap web browser. 

...RAM compression programs? 

Yeah right. Build Washboard Abs in three weeks. "I was a 98 pound 
weakling until I installed SoftRAM 95." RAM compression only 
works when there's a defined API for accessing data RAM, as there 
is a defined API for accessing disks, and there is no such thing in 
Win95. At least, there's no way to regulate how the program accesses 
any RAM it allocates. 

Save yourself the hundreds of dollars of invested time and buy more 
RAM instead. These programs were great for Win 3.1, where they 
fixed inadequacies in the operating system. Win95 has considerably 
more horsepower by itself, but it thrives on a 16 MB system for 
running the big mainstream apps. MS Works 4.0, however, will run 
on an 8 MB system effortlessly. Try the techniques in Swap file & 
caching theory to speed up the system and run more programs. 

If you really need the power to run 100 programs at once, buy a big 
computer and install Windows NT, which will run all the Win95 apps 
anyways. Then you'll have no resource limitations, no swap file 
limitatations, in fact, no DOS limitations. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Top ten mistakes running Windows 3.x programs 

10) Installing a Win 3.1 un-installer 

9) Installing a Win 3.1 communications program (replacing Win95 
COMM.DRV) 

8) Installing a Win 3.1 utility pack 

7) USING a Win 3.1 utility pack 

6) Installing a Win 3.1 app that replaces core system files 

5) Installing a Win 3.1 backup program, especially since Win95 
backup programs are here for FREE 

4) Installing Norton Desktop for Win 3.1 and expecting it to work 

3) Installing a RAM compression program for Win95 

2) Installing a RAM compression program for Win 3.1 

1) USING a RAM compression program for Win 3.1 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Top ten mistakes running MS-DOS programs and games 

10) Loading CTMM16.SYS (SB16 driver) in Win95 because a 
game manual said to do it 

9) Loading MSCDEX.EXE in Win95 because a game manual said to 
do it 

8) Making a boot disk before realizing how .PIF files work, because 
a game manual said to do it (I think you get it by now) 

7) Installing QEMM 8.0 (or any version) just because you can't get 
one game to work 

6) Adding EMM386.EXE to CONFIG.SYS before learning how 
PIF files work 

5) Letting a "techie" friend add EMM386.EXE (or any other real 
mode driver) 

4) Letting a "techie" friend make your game work before he reads this 
FAQ 

3) Running Norton SpeedDisk 6.0 and forgetting you have long 
filenames now! 

2) Making a boot disk for a game before seeing the "Prevent DOS 
programs from detecting Windows" switch, or before specifying a 
special DOS config for that program 

1) Running Win95 with a host of DOS drivers and memory managers. 
Get Win95 drivers for your stuff and make Win95 perform like 
Win95! 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

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