Unleashing Windows: Q&A (And a Shameless Self-Promo)

This time, instead of the usual column, I figured I'd answer some the the E-mail I've been getting from readers of my column. I always answer my E-mail directly, but I've been getting some questions that might interest some of my other readers. So, let's dive into the ol' mailbag!!!

One reader asks:

<<I presently have 3.1 installed and am thinking of installing 95. Is there a way to start your system if it has 95 in it and bring up 3.1 first then switch over to 95 when you are ready. Everyone says you have to see that flying windows etc then get out of 95 to get to 3.1>>

It turns out that "Everyone" is wrong. You have a variety of options when starting Windows 95. I've talked about it some in past articles, but let's take a closer look at some of the startup options. First of all, you want to set up Windows 95 in a dual-boot configuration. If you don't know how to do this, basically install Windows 95 in a different directory than your Windows 3.1 directory. (See my past column for more details.)

The key to modifying the Windows 95 startup is the MSDOS.SYS file. This file is a hidden, read-only system file, so you'll have to turn off those attributes using File Manager (under Windows 3.1), Explorer (Windows 95) or the ATTRIB command (MS-DOS). Also, make sure that this file is always larger than 1024 bytes. When you finish editing, be sure to set the attributes back to the original settings.

First of all, to remove the graphical "Flying Windows" screen from Windows 95, use the following option in the [Options] section of MSDOS.SYS:

Logo=0

This turns OFF the Windows 95 startup logo. The default setting is 1 which displays the logo on startup.

From here you have some other options. You can either have Windows 95 display a menu on startup to let you select which operating system to use. Or, you can have Windows 3.1 come up as the default and then change to Windows 95 later. First, let's look at how to bring up the menu.

To do this you'll need to modify the following options in the [Options] section of MSDOS.SYS: BootMenu=, BootMenuDefault=, and BootMenuDelay=. BootMenu= is set to a default of 0. Changing BootMenu= to 1 allows the menu that is normally displayed by hitting F8 when the computer first starts to be displayed automatically. The BootMenuDefault= uses a number to represent which option you want to automatically start if the user does make a selection from the menu before the time set in the menu delay. The default for BootMenuDefault= is 3 for a non-networked computer and 4 for a networked computer. Finally, BootMenuDelay= specifies how many seconds the menu will be displayed before selecting the default choice. The default is 30.

However, if you want your computer to automatically use DOS/Windows 3.1 as your default operating system, the BootWin= option can be set to 0. This requires that you are using MS-DOS 5.x or 6.x. The default of 1 sets Windows95 as the default operating system. This setting does not display any menu, but automatically starts the selected operating system. To display the menu, press F8 within 2 seconds after the computer starts. (Although the time allowed for the F8 key is set with the BootDelay= option in MSDOS.SYS).

Another reader asks:

<< I'm currently working on my certification for Win95 and I wonder if you could tell me a little about the certification test's. How hard are they? What would be the best way to prepare for one? I've got the Win95 certification training package already. Do you think that will be all I need? >>

The Training Kit is pretty much every thing you'll need to know for the certification test. I've found it to be very helpful. Of course, you'll want to have a pretty good working knowledge of Windows 95 also.

<<How many questions are usually on a test?>>

It varies from test to test, but usually about 50-100 questions. You'll have about an hour to complete the exam and the questions are all multiple choice. I'm assuming you have a copy of the sample assessment exams. If you don't, you'll want to get them off the MSEDCERT forum in CompuServe or off the Microsoft Web site at: http://www.microsoft.com/.

***** Shameless Self-Promotion *****

Speaking of Microsoft Certification, if you are looking to become Certified by Microsoft as a Product Specialist, Systems Engineer, or Systems Developer, I've written some self-study tests for a company called VFX Technologies. They have a demo version of the MCP Endeavor product which is designed to help people study for the Microsoft Certification Exams. By the time you read this, you should be able to download MCP Endeavor off of AOL. Do a file search with VFX as the keyword, and hopefully, AOL will display the MCP product in the list. As of this writing however, the MCP Endeavor is only on CompuServe in the NOVUSER and WINUSER forums. (In case you're wondering, I
did the Excel 5, Mail 3.2, and Networking Basics exam.)

Ok, that's the shameless self promo. ;-)

Well, that's all the mail we'll look at this time. Next time, I'll be back to writing another column. If you have any questions about Windows 3.1, Windows 95, or Windows NT, feel free to E-mail and I'll try to answer your questions as soon as possible.

Richard Neff is a Microsoft Certified Professional, certified as a Systems Engineer with elective exams in Microsoft Mail and Systems Management Server (SMS). He is also a Product Specialist in Microsoft Excel 5.0 and Microsoft Word for Windows 2.0/6.0. He has a B.S. in Computer Science from VMI and has worked with personal computers for over 15 years. He is a contributing author to the books Windows NT 4.0 Installation and Configuration Handbook and Windows NT 4.0 Advanced Technical Reference, both published by Que Publishing. He has formed his own computer consulting company, Network Technologies Group, which specializes in Novell Netware, Microsoft Windows NT, and Microsoft BackOffice solutions. Network Technologies Group is located in Blacksburg, VA and also has a Web site at http://www.bnt.com/~netech/.

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