Pondering the fate of Win 3.1 (YAU-PC)
by Alan Zisman
(c) 1999. First
published in Vancouver Computes,
April
1999
Dave Francis wondered:
I just received a new computer at work with Windows
95 OS.
Every time I booted up my old computer with Windows 3.1 OS the numbers
lock would stay engaged, however, when I leave numbers lock on and
reboot
on my new computer I have to activate numbers lock every time I go into
Windows 95. Is there any way I can go into settings so that
numbers
lock is on all the time?
Alan Zisman wrote back:
Try adding a line reading:
NUMLOCK=ON
to Config.sys.
Alternatively, check the system CMOS BIOS setup...
often there's a NumLock
On/Off command there.
Jim Thorleifson asked:
I have a Dell 200 MHz classic Pentium and am
wondering about
upgrading the processor. I have heard about an AMD K6-2- 3D chip that
will
drop right in but have been unable to find any reviews. Is this a good
option and are there any other alternatives?
Alan Zisman answered:
The K6-2 is probably the best alternative for you-- if
your system bus
and BIOS will allow it (many or most P-200s will)... for reviews, check
Tom's Hardware Page (www.tomshardware.com).
The K6-2 is currently the best-selling CPU in the
US... outselling the
Pentium-II in retail-sold computers.
J. Moore wondered:
I have a network of windows95 systems, no real
server.I need to eliminate
the logon at startup.
Alan Zisman responded:
Open Control Panel... double-click on the Network
item.
Change the Primary Network Logon setting from Client
for Microsoft Networks
to Windows Logon.
Restart.
When you're asked for a logon, type a name (any name
will do), and leave
the password blank.
You'll be asked to confirm the password-- leave it
blank and just press
Enter (or click OK).
After that, you won't be asked to log on anymore.
Berry Van Hombeeck queried :
Is there a driver (or other option) to use the PC's
internal speaker
as Wave-device ? There was one for Win3.x, but for Windows95 ?
Alan Zisman replied:
There is no Win95 speaker driver... but the Win 3.1
one works as well
(or poorly) as ever.
Kevin Anderson pondered:
What is the write.exe in the Windows 95 directory?
It's only 5K,
so it's too big to be a shortcut and too small to actually be Write
(which,
being about 250K, is even larger than WordPad). Opening it only
seems
to open WordPad?
Alan Zisman pontificated:
That's correct (I almost wrote 'that's write, er
right')... it's just
a pointer to WordPad. It's only there to re-direct any Win 3.x software
that's coded to look for Write.
You can replace it with a copy of Write.exe ?borrowed?
from a Windows
3.1 system?Write has a number of functions, such as headers/footers and
page breaks, that Microsoft left out of the newer WordPad.
ALLAN FUNG questioned :
Even with NT only on the drive, I still get a
bootloader menu with
two items: 1)WinNT and 2) winNT (vga). Both choices seem to bring
up the same results. Do you know the reason for the two items
coming
up?
I understand the thing about FAT32 not being
compatible with NT,
but I keep wondering why the install hung when I had win98 on the
drive.
I'm going to try to get win98 back on the drive - in its own partition.
Alan Zisman answered:
1) The NT(VGA) option is sort of the NT-equivalent to
W9x's Safe Mode...
a way to boot up even if your video driver is incorrect.
2) If your C: partition was a FAT32 W98 partition, it
would cause the
installation problem you describe. In order to have W9x and NT on the
same
machine, you need a FAT16 C: partition-- even if either or both of the
OS's are installed onto a different partition.
Both require a tiny bit of boot files on the C:
partition... and FAT16
is the only common file system.
Jim Jeffcoat wrote:
What exactly will happen with Windows 3.1, 3.11,
etc. (or for that
matter DOS 6.2x) after 12/31/1999 ?
Will it be functional at all? Will some things
work, others
not?
Alan Zisman responded:
Microsoft has released two different File Manager Y2K
patches-- one
for Windows for Workgroups 3.1x, and the other for plain Windows 3.1x.
These correct problems in that program sorting files by date. (Check
www.microsoft.com/y2k)
Other than that, the Windows 3.1 family should continue to work as
advertised.
That?s assuming your system bios that can handle the
date change (or
has been patched using something like Symantec's free test &
patch).
HOWEVER... that doesn't guarantee that individual
applications or individual
datafiles will work correctly. For example, Microsoft claims that MS
Access
1.0 and 2.0 is NOT Y2K compliant, and cannot be patched to be made
compliant.
As a result, they also list versions of Office that
contain that Access version as non-compliant.
Being non-compliant does not mean that the program or
datafile will
stop working, but that if your data specifically requires date-related
sorts or calculations, it will not return accurate results. Many Access
2.0
databases, for example, are not date-dependent, and would continue
to work as advertised.