Suggestions for Windows NT

FAQ

• How to add scroll bars to windows For a DOS Command window, use program "find" from the start button to locate "cmd.exe". Create a short cut to this program on your desktop. Then use the right button on the shortcut to modify properties. Change the fonts, window size, and number of lines. If the number of lines is too big for the window, the scroll bars appear. (Later move the shortcut to your start menu.)

  You can also go through the same procedure for a bash.exe Unix shell window which you can install from Cygwin below. I use the bash shell all the time because the DOS prompt is so primitive. You'll like having histories, pipes, and the ability to run decent scripts. Other shells are also available. If you really need a DOS command you can invoke it with cmd /c command .

  You can also improve the default telnet window. Hit Run at the Start button, and type telnet node.company.com to any node. Modify the properties of the new screen to change the awful colors and add scrollbars. These changes will be saved. ("ftp" also works.) You can also use "find" from your start button, to find the executable for telnet, and then create a shortcut to put on your desktop. The properties of the shortcut can also be edited.

• Get Unix tools for NT. Cygwin offers all the GNU tools, such as bash, gcc, perl, CVS, vim, ghostscript, file tools, tar, grep, sort, gunzip, ssh, and even X applications. You'll almost think you're running Linux.

  Get the full package from http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin/ Click on "Install now." Download the "setup.exe" to a local directory, then run. Select "Download from Internet" rather than "Install..." Select "Direct Connection" and try the first ftp site on the list. Click the buttons "Curr" and "Full/Part" to get the whole package, then "next." (It is not necessary to check the boxes.) After the download is complete, run "setup.exe" again and install from your local copy. To run X applications, make a shortcut to the X server ``C:\cygwin\usr\X11R6\bin\run.exe XWin -multiwindow -clipboard -unixkill -nowinkill'' (You may prefer to replace ``-multiwindow'' with ``-rootless'')

  Customize the shortcut and properties for the bash icon as you did for the DOS prompt.

  I was able to download additional utilities directly from a gnu website, type "./configure" and "make" in a bash window, just as I would on Unix.

  If you do not want the Cygwin tools Download Perl from a separate site: http://www.activestate.com/ .

  Set the environmental variable HOME to your desktop path, or to a subdirectory of your desktop. You will also need to extend your path. To do so, right click on "My Computer" and select "Properties." Look under the tabbed entry "Environment" for the variable PATH. Most environmental variables should be set in your home directory in the files .bash_profile (used once when a shell is started) and .bashrc (called again by all bash subprocesses). (You can get to the same tabbed pane by hitting Start Button -> Settings -> Control Panel -> System.)

  A few commands may prefer the DOS environment. Open an Exceed spreadsheet according to the default mapping of the file suffix from bash with

    % cmd /c start file.xls
  

  cmd /c start file.txt will start your default text editor on the specified file. cmd /c net send localhost This is a message will popup a dialog with the specified message.
• Replace your default browser If your installation came with Internet Explorer then you should replace it with a later version or with the latest Netscape browser. I recommend that you NOT install IE's Active Desktop. The additional changes to your system configuration will be hard to undo, and they will slow the performance of non-Internet activities. Download from http://www.microsoft.com/ or http://www.netscape.com. Look for language extensions (Pan-European, Chinese, Japanese) in separate locations.
• Get O'Reilly books. There are no Windows books of lasting value. I've found the O'Reilly books most useful, particularly those on system administration. Get at least one book that describes the list of command-line commands.
• Here are hints for everyday purposes.
  • To avoid creating endless folders as you search through the directory tree, select "View" and "Options" from any folder (File Explorer) menu bar. The first tabbed entry "Folder" will let you "Browse folders by using a single window that changes as you open each folder." Use backspace to go backwards.
  • Put a shortcut to emacs or your favorite editor in the SendTo folder (look for C:\WINNT\Profiles\username\SendTo). You can then open any file for editing with the right mouse button.
  • Anything in "C:\WINNT\Profiles\username\Start Menu" or "C:\WINNT\Profiles\All Users\Start Menu", will appear on your start button. Delete all the garbage that you don't want. Add shortcuts to useful applications.
  • To autostart any program when you login, like the exceed X-server, put a shortcut in "C:\WINNT\Profiles\username\Start Menu\Programs\Startup"
  • When you double click on a file with an unfamiliar subscript for the first time, you will be asked what program you want to use to run this type. (For example, I use *.sh for bash scripts, and *.pl for perl scripts.) If you want to change your mind later, the easiest way is to select "View" and "Options" from the File Explorer toolbar. Under the tabbed entry "File Types" you'll see a list of the file types. Select an entry and use the edit button. Rather than edit this entry, you can delete it and go look for a file to double-click on, to reset the default application. If you did not provide a file description, then the file association will only be accessible from the registry in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\classes. Delete a subscript that you do not want, then double-click a file with that subscript to reassign.
• Your process is slow, and your disk is grinding away. You will eventually notice that NT freezes up while your disk grinds away. This means that your virtual swap file is fragmented. (This information is in the Annoyances book.) To avoid this situation, you can make the minimum and maximum sizes of the swap file equal, so that it does not constantly resize.
  1. Right-click "My Computer," select "Properties," choose "Performance."
  2. Click "Change" for "Virtual Memory"
  3. Set "Initial Size (MB)" and "Maximum Size (MB)" to 2.5 times your installed RAM. I set these to 160 Mbytes for 64 Mbytes RAM.
  4. Press "OK" twice, and agree to restart the computer.
  If you waited too long and your swap file is already fragmented, then defrag a partition with Diskkeeper Lite from http://www.diskeeper.com/. Reassign the swap file to this new partition. Defrag your boot partition and reassign the swap file back to the boot partition. (Or leave the swap file on a different partition. The effect on performance is unknown.)
• Convert all your hard disk partitions from FAT to NTFS. FAT files are the same as DOS. NTFS allows you to control access, allow automatic compression, and make files smaller than 16kb. (Yes, FAT files can be no smaller.) NTFS is also more stable and less prone to corruption. To see an explanation of conversion, open a DOS console window and type "help convert". To convert your boot partition C:, type

  CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS /V
  

  It will ask if you want to convert when you reboot. Reply "Y". Reboot and you should see the conversion take place. All non-boot drives will convert immediately.
• Avoid corrupting your disk when you crash. (You will hang and crash often.) Do not routinely hit the reboot button when an application such as Internet Explorer hangs and freezes your keyboard and mouse. First try the three-finger NT salute: press the control, alt, and delete keys in that order, holding down all at once. Most of the time, you will get a "Windows NT Security" window to pop up. Hit the "Task Manager" button to pop up the Task Manager dialog. The first tabbed window labeled "applications" will list the running processes. Your hung process should be listed as "Not responding." Highlight this process with the mouse and hit the "End Process" Button.

  If you must hit the reboot button, or if you have a power failure, then you run the risk of having corrupted your disk and file indexing. You may have serious problems later without warning. The vast majority of such corruptions can be fixed automatically. After you reboot, type chkdsk /f c: to fix problems in disk partition c:. (Type help chkdsk to remind yourself of the syntax.) Run chkdsk on all your disk partitions. Your boot partition will delay repairs until you next reboot. Get it over with and reboot again immediately.

• Reduce mouse usage. You can't do without the mouse altogether, but you can reduce the inefficiency. The mouse helps you locate rarely used options, but you will want a faster way for common tasks.
  • Right-click on the taskbar, select "Properties," then the "Taskbar Options" tab. Turn on "Auto hide" and "Always on top." The task bar will hide and stay out of your way until the cursor approaches. Grab the edge of the taskbar and stretch it out toward the middle of the screen so that it can hold three or four rows of icons. You'll find the icons easier to read.
  • Notice that when focus is on your desktop, you can use the arrow keys to change focus from icon to icon. When an icon has focus, type enter to open it.
  • Control-escape will bring up the start menu. Use the arrow keys to select the desired application.
  • Type Alt-F4 to close the currently active window.
  • Make a shortcut on your desktop to an application that you use frequently, such as Netscape's browser. Right-click on the icon, select "Properties", select the pane "Shortcut", and click the mouse in the text-entry field for "Short-cut key." Type a single letter such as "n", and the field will be updated with "Ctrl+Alt+N". Now when you type these three keys, the application will start (open) immediately.
  • My keyboard has two extra keys whose keycodes were appropriated exclusively for Windows. I do not use the menu key, which duplicates the right mouse button. (I'd use it if I could easily get the cursor in the right place without touching the mouse.) More useful is the Windows key. Press Windows-E to start a File Explorer window. Once you remember this, you can delete the File Explorer icon from your desktop. Windows-m will minimize all active windows to your toolbar, to reduce the clutter. Windows-Tab, pushed repeatedly, will step through the applications on your taskbar and restore the chosen one when you release. (See the later item to see how to remap another key to a Windows key.)
  • Under "Control Panel," "Accessibility Options," and the "Mouse" tab, set "Use MouseKeys" so that you can move the cursor with the number pad arrows. I particularly like being able to hit the "+" key to emulate the first mouse button, to get focus quickly.
  • Under "Control Panel," "Accessibility Options," and the "Keyboard" tab, set "Use ToggleKeys" to get a noise when you accidentally set Caps Lock, Num Lock, or Scroll Lock.
  • Under "Start", "Settings", "Control Panel," "Mouse [Properties]," and the "StepSavers" tab, set two options "Select a window just by pointing at the title bar" and "Single-click where you normally double-click." These options will only appear if you have installed the IntelliPoint mouse driver. You can install the driver even if you have an ordinary mouse without a wheel.
  • Want to make your "Caps Lock" key into a control key, or a few other such modifications? Download http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/bin/W95KRNLTOYS.EXE Double click on it to expand in the downloaded directory. Right-click on keyremap.inf and "install." Then hit Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Keyboard and the second tabbed pane to see a few remappings. (Tip from http://sites.netscape.net/computingx/tricksnt.html.)

    To change the "Caps Lock" into a control key for all users, use the following tip from http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/people/chaffee/swapnt.html :

    1. Start regedt32 to edit the registry.
    2. Select the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout
    3. From the Edit menu, choose "Add Value".
    4. Add a value named Scancode Map with type REG_BINARY.
    5. Set the value to 0000000000000000020000001d003a0000000000.
    6. Logout and log back in.
• Rebooting after corrupting your registry and system files. Let's say you had a power failure while installing a service pack. (Yes, I am that unlucky.) You run chkdsk /f c: and try reinstalling the service pack. It complains that you didn't finish a previous installation, and you need to reboot. But you just did reboot. You try to reboot, and it says your win16 subsystem is corrupt and some hidden process won't die. Oh mercy. Something in your registry or system files is trashed.

  Now is a good time to reboot with an older registry and backed up system files. As you reboot, you see a message like "Hit space bar to boot with Last Known Good Configuration." Hit the bar and see if you survive. Then try reinstalling that service pack. If your last configuration doesn't work, then use that emergency repair disk you made recently. You made one, didn't you?

  To make an emergency repair disk (ERD), stick in a floppy and run rdisk on a command line. If you install more software after making this disk and don't update the ERD, then you can still use the disk later, but you'll have to reinstall the later software. If you're about to install some hairy software, then it is probably a good time to make a new ERD, or update an old one. (Updating is fast.)

• Get Hummingbird's Exceed If you plan to work on a remote Unix machine very much, then you should get a copy of Hummingbird's Exceed, which will turn your PC desktop into an X terminal. It installs very easily. Run "ipconfig" from the PC command line to learn the IP address of your PC, then set DISPLAY accordingly on the remote Unix system.

  For easy cut and paste between X and your PC applications, right-click on Exceed on the menu bar. Select Tools-> Configuration-> X-Selection, then choose "PRIMARY" for "X Selection Associated with Edit Operations" and put checks in the boxes for "Auto Copy X Selection" and "Auto Paste To X Selection".

  With default settings, window sizes and location popups will not be correctly cleared. Right-click on Exceed on the menu bar and select Tools -> Configuration -> Performance. Check the box for "Save Unders."

  Unix GUIs may require 256 colors. To make many Unix X GUI's run under X-emulators such as Exceed, you need to adjust the X-emulator to 256 colors (pseudo-color). From the Exceed menu, open Xconfig and select the Video icon. Turn off "Preserve System Colors," and turn off "Preallocate System Colors in Default Colormap." Next, from Xconfig select the "Screen Definition" dialog, and select "PseudoColor" under "Server Visual:" (By right-clicking on the desktop and hitting Properties and settings, you can see the number of colors on your desktop. Leave this setting at a large number so you do not degrade non-X applications.)

  You may only have a two-button mouse. Open Exceed configuration and click on the Input icon. Check the box at the bottom of the dialog for "Middle Button Emulation" and increase the "Click Interval (ms)" to something like 200 ms.

• Input of Chinese Go to Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Regional Options. On the "General" pane, check boxes for Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. Hit the "Apply" button. Your Windows installation disk will be requested for the installation of files, followed by a reboot. Go back to the Regional Options General pane. Hit the "Set default" button at the bottom and set System Locale to "Chinese (PRC)." (I leave the "Your locale (location)" as English at the top of the General pane. The purposes are different.) Next click the "Input locale" pane. Hit the "Add" button and add Input locale "Chinese (PRC)" and "Chinese Simplified - MS-PinYin98" as the Keyboard layout. It should indicate that you can switch between this input mode and the default English by hitting cntrl-space. Reboot one more time. Even works with Word 97 and Mozilla mail. Use arrow keys to back up and change characters that you have typed, and use space bar to select.
• Install Linux for dual-booting. You can leave NT on your boot partition C: and arrange for a dual boot to Linux on another partition, say D:. Install Linux on the partition D:. The installation will ask if you want the Linux boot record at the top of the Linux partition. Say yes. Do not put it on the NT boot partition because you will then be unable to boot directly into NT. Suppose that this Linux partition is called /dev/hdb2 in Linux. Then copy the 512 of the linux boot record onto a floppy with

  dd if=/dev/hdb2 of=/dev/fd0/linux.boot count=1 bs=512
  

  Reboot into NT. Copy the file linux.boot off the floppy onto your C:\ root directory. Modify the boot.ini file to point to this file. Add a line like

  c:\linux.boot="Linux RedHat 5.1 (Kernel 2.0.34)"
  

• Get a description of your configuration. On Windows NT, click the Start Button -> Administrative Tools (Common) -> Windows NT Diagnostics. The print button will let you save all information to a file.

  On Windows 2K, click Start Button -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> System Tools -> System Information -> System Summary.

  On Windows XP, click Start Button -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Information. Save to a text file.

• Block doubleclick from your browser. Doubleclick is responsible for most of the banner ads you see on webpages. They are evil because they track your browsing and match to sites where you have given your identity to buy something. To block them, add the line "127.0.0.1 doubleclick.net" to C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\drivers\etc\HOSTS. Or try the web proxy at http://junkbuster.com/ .
• For scripting in the unnamed horrible scripting language, read "Windows NT Shell Scripting" by Tom Hill, from MTP.
• Monitor running process with Process Explorer www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.html  
• Check the dependencies of dll's with bindump
• Remove Windows Messenger, a horrible security hole.

  This method prevents programs that use the Messenger 
  APIs from using Windows Messenger. Outlook 2002, Outlook 
  Express 6, and the Remote Assistance feature in Windows XP 
  are examples of programs that use these APIs and that depend 
  on Windows Messenger.
  1. Start Registry Editor. To do this, click Start, click 
     Run, type regedit.exe, and then click OK.
     If the following registry subkey already exists, go to step 6:
     HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Messenger\Client
  2. Click the following registry subkey:
     HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft
  3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click Key. 
     Type Messenger for the name of the new registry key, and then 
     press ENTER.
  4. Click the following registry subkey: key:
     HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Messenger
  5. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click Key. 
     Type Client for the name of the new registry key, and then 
     press ENTER.
  6. Click the following registry subkey: key:
     HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Messenger\Client
  7. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD 
     Value. Type PreventRun for the name of the new DWORD value 
     and then press ENTER.
  8. Right-click the PreventRun value that you created in 
     step 7, and then click Modify. In theValue data box, type 1, 
     and then click OK.
  9. Quit Registry Editor.
  

• We've had a problem running a JRE from SUN if installed with the wrong permissions. It may complain about an "Error loading" a jvm.dll or about an access violation for java.exe .

  Use Explorer to find the JRE folder such as sys\windows\JRE\j2re1.4.1_01 in the application directory.

  1. Right click on the JRE folder icon
  2. select Properties
  3. Security tab
  4. Advanced button
  5. Permissions tab
  6. select Everyone
  7. View/Edit button
  8. click boxes for execute and read permission
  9. OK button
  10. back to Permissions tab
  11. IMPORTANT: check box "Reset permissions on all child objects ..." at the bottom
  12. hit the Apply button
  13. To be sure that the changes occured, check the execute and read permissions on bin\java.exe , bin\client\jvm.dll , and all other dll's in the bin directory.
  A lazier way to fix the permissions may work. Simply drag and copy the entire client directory to a different drive. If it doesn't work, then the permissions inherited from the new parent folder may be bad.

Bill Harlan

After installing plain NT and getting on the network, I upgrade in the following order.

1. Improve the default display by right-clicking Properties on the desktop.
2. Download and apply the latest Service Pack from Microsoft.
3. Convert all disk partitions to NTFS. Turn on compression.
4. Add pkzip, tar, and gzip (or WinZip) so you can unzip other utilities.
5. Add DiskKeeper Lite, and defrag your disk. (Included with W2K.)
6. Set equal minimum and maximum swap sizes, as described above.
7. Update the browser.
8. Install Exceed, Cygwin tools, java.
9. Clean up the start button tree and the SendTo directory.
10. Add a default network printer.

FAQ for my office

• How to map a remote home directory to a folder. Hit "My Computer" with the right button and select "Map Network Drive." (Or start a File Explorer and look under menu item "Tools".) The system picks a free drive letter for you, like "H:".

    Connect to "\\spitfire.denver.lgc.com\username"
    Connect as "lgc\username"
  

  The double bashslashes are important. If the file server name spitfire.denver.lgc.com is not recognized, then see the comments below about setting a DNS server. You can also set a default domain denver.lgc.com so that \\spitfire should work.

  This remote file server happens to be a Samba server running on Unix. If you have the same login name on Unix and your PC, then everything should work the first time. It should not be necessary to type in your password. If your login name is not recognized, or if it requests a password, then ask the sysadmin who maintains Samba to add your name and password to a privileged list. I am not sure if it helps to have the same password on both machines, but I do.

  If you install a Service Pack and can no longer connect to a Samba server, then ask the sysadmin to reconfigure to handle encrypted passwords. The alternative is to hack on your registry with information in Microsoft's Knowledge Base under Q166730, to disable encrypted passwords. Run the registry editor (regedt32.exe), go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE subtree and find the key \system\currentcontrolset\services\rdr\parameters .
  Click "Add Value" on the Edit menu and add the following:
  Value Name: EnablePlainTextPassword
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Data: 1
  Click OK, exit the editor, and reboot.

  You can now drag and drop from your new drive letter as from any folder. If Samba is configured improperly, files copied from NT to Unix will introduce extra carriage return characters. To avoid this problem, use ftp, put the file inside a tar file, or compress it first. (Install tar and gzip from Cygwin below.) Exceed comes with a "Hummingbird Neighborhood" which presents an FTP site like an Explorer window.

  You may discover that you cannot unmount a remote drive, and the drive gets remounted each time you log in. If so, type on a command line:

    % net use g: /delete
  

  where g: is the drive letter that is remounted.
• Set your TCP/IP DNS address server and domain search order. The DNS server is responsible for telling your computer how to find IP addresses by name (rather than 4-byte number) on the internet. Test with "nslookup".

  On NT 4, you'll be able to change a DNS server address by following Start Button -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Network -> Protocols -> TCP/IP Protocol -> Properties -> DNS -> DNS Search Order -> Add.

  On Windows 2000, follow Start Button -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Network and Dial-up Connections -> right click Local Area Connection -> Properties -> Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) -> Properties.

  At our office, you need to set the principal/preferred server to 111.111.138.22, and optional backups to 111.111.138.25, 111.111.88.36, or 111.111.93.12. The order matters. Remove any extraneous addresses that may already be on the list.

  To get the correct default domain on NT 4, set Start Button -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Network -> Protocols -> TCP/IP Protocol -> Properties -> DNS -> Domain -> "denver.lgc.com" On the same page you can set multiple default DNS suffixes "denver.lgc.com", "ad.lgc.com", and "lgc.com". Eventually reboot.

  On Windows 2000, follow Start Button -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Network and Dial-up Connections -> right click Local Area Connection -> Properties -> Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) -> Properties -> Advanced -> DNS panel -> DNS suffix -> "denver.lgc.com" On the same panel set "Append these DNS suffixes (in order)" -> "denver.lgc.com", "ad.lgc.com", and "lgc.com".

• Set your WINS Address name server. WINS resolves names from NetBIOS, which registers machines on a proprietary MicroSoft network. If any machine uses WINS, then all must use it. Find the panel Start Button -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Network -> Protocols -> TCP/IP Protocol -> Properties -> WINS Address . Set the primary WINS server to 111.111.138.20 and the secondary to 111.111.93.45, and a third to 111.111.167.25. (I check "Enable NETBios over TCP/IP" and "Enable LMHOSTS Lookup.") Eventually reboot.
• Access the DENVER domain. Find the panel Start Button -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Network -> Identification -> Change. Set "Member of Domain" to "DENVER". If all goes well, you see a message "Welcome to the Denver domain," and you can see and access network services. More likely, this didn't work, and you need more help.

  After you reboot, you should be able to select a Domain as "LGCDEV" when specify your login name and password.