Windows NT Tips #8


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TipWorld - http://www.tipworld.com
The Internet's #1 Source for Computer Tips, News, and Gossip

Proudly presents:
The Windows NT Tip of the Day

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*1. LOCK IT UP

Windows NT Workstation 4.0
Here's a tip from reader Nancy W.:

"Some Windows NT Workstation 4.0 users don't know that you can
 easily prevent others from accessing your Windows NT Workstation
 4.0. If you need to leave your desk for a while, just press
 Ctrl-Alt-Delete. When the Windows NT Security dialog box opens,
 click Lock Workstation. No one can access your workstation
 without a password. When you get back to your desk, just press
 Ctrl-Alt-Delete, type your password, and press Enter to get
 back to work."

Thanks for the tip, Nancy.


*2. MOVE IT DOWN

Windows NT Workstation 4.0
Here's a question from reader--and new Windows NT Workstation
 4.0 user--Frank D.:

"I recently added Windows NT Workstation 4.0 to my Windows 98
 computer. As originally configured, my computer used one drive
 with two partitions (both 2.1GB formatted as FAT partitions),
 and one drive (5.1GB formatted as FAT32). I installed Windows
 NT Workstation 4.0 onto the second partition and converted that
 partition to NTFS.

"When I use Windows NT Explorer, the FAT32 partition appears as
 drive E:. Of course the drive isn't accessible to Windows NT
 Workstation 4.0. Is it practical to use Disk Administrator to
 change the drive letter to something like X so it appears more
 out of the way in Windows NT Explorer? Will this have any effect
 on the drive letter in Windows 98?"

Yes, you can use Disk Administrator to change that drive letter.
 Click Start, Programs, Administrative Tools (Common), Disk
 Administrator. When Disk Administrator opens, click the FAT32
 (Unknown) partition and choose Tools, Assign Drive Letter. When
 the Assign Drive Letter dialog box opens, click the arrow at the
 right side of the Drive Letter list box and select a new letter
 from the list (we used X). Make sure you don't select a letter
 already in use. After you make your selection, click OK. Disk
 Administrator opens a dialog box asking if you want to continue.
 Click Yes, then choose Partition, Exit to close
 Disk Administrator.

Since you won't have any programs running on the FAT32 partition,
 you should have no problems with this drive letter change. The
 change will have no effect on Windows 98.


*3. COLORS AND PATTERNS
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Reader Larry F. comments that many Windows NT Workstation 4.0
 users don't know you can set your colors and patterns in NT
 4.0's Disk Administrator. 

Larry is correct. You can easily set both the colors and the
 pattern of drive information when Disk Administrator is in the
 default Disk Configuration view. To do this, choose Options,
 Colors And Patterns. When the Colors And Patterns dialog box
 opens, click the arrow at the right side of the Color And
 Pattern For list box to expand the list. Select the drive you
 want to change from the list, then click a new color and/or
 pattern. After you make your selections, click OK to close the
 dialog box and record your changes.


*4. SAVE TO A FLOPPY         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Looks like we're having a short run of Disk Administrator tips
 these days. This tip came from reader Karen K. 

"Before you use Disk Administrator to make changes to your
 Windows NT Workstation 4.0 disk setup, you need to save the
 current configuration. To save your configuration, run Disk
 Administrator (click Start, Programs, Administrative Tools
 (Common), Disk Administrator. When Disk Administrator opens,
 choose Partition, Configuration, Save. The program prompts you
 to insert a blank formatted floppy into drive A:. Insert the
 disk and click OK to continue. 

"Label your new floppy Original Disk Configuration. Now you can
 proceed with any changes you want to make using Disk
 Administrator. It's worthwhile to save any configuration that
 is working for you so later on you can get back to it if you
 have a problem. Just label each floppy disk so you can tell
 which configuration is which." 

Thanks for the tip and the good advice, Karen.


*5. FLOPPY FORMATTING         
 
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Here's a question from subscriber Drago M.: 

"I have three boxes of old 720KB floppy disks a friend gave me.
 I need to format these disks, but Windows NT Workstation 4.0
 always tries to format them to 1.44MB instead of 720KB. Then
 either the format fails, or I have disks with many errors. Can
 I format these disks in Windows NT Workstation 4.0, or do I have
 to format them using MS-DOS on some other computer?" 

You won't need to use another computer--Windows NT Workstation
 4.0 offers the 720KB format as well as the default 1.44MB
 format. Try this: Insert one of the 720KB floppies into drive
 A:, then right-click that drive's icon in My Computer. Choose
 Format from the pop-up menu. When the Format dialog box opens,
 click the arrow at the right side of the list box labeled
 Capacity, then select 3.5", 720KB, 512 bytes/sector from the
 list. Now click Start. The format should proceed normally and
 result in a usable 720KB disk (provided the disk is good). 

If you need to format a 720KB floppy disk from the Windows NT
 Workstation 4.0 Command Prompt, type: 

format a: /f:720 

and press Enter. 

Note: Some floppy disk drives detect the 720KB floppy disk and
 refuse to format it to 1.44MB. Other drives don't perform the
 detection and attempt to format the floppy to 1.44MB even though
 the format results in many disk errors.


*6. A FEW SHORTCUTS         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Here's a list of some Windows NT Workstation 4.0 shortcuts from
 reader Paul C.: 

"I thought many of your new subscribers might not be aware of
 some of the Windows NT Workstation 4.0 keyboard shortcuts, so I
 decided to send in a list of the ones I use all the time." 

* Alt-Tab switches to a different active application  
* Alt-Shift-Tab moves backward through the active applications 
* Alt-Space opens the active window's Control menu 
* Ctrl-Esc opens the Start menu 
* Ctrl-Shift-Esc opens Task Manager 

"For those who have a Windows key, you can also use
 the following:" 

* Windows-M minimizes all windows and gives you immediate
 access to the desktop 
* Windows-Shift-M undoes the minimize 
* Windows-Tab cycles through the taskbar buttons 

"These are the ones I consider necessary when working with
 Windows NT Workstation 4.0." 

Thanks for the tip, Paul.


*7. A QUICK TRIP TO THE INTERNET         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Reader Marlon S. asks us to point out that you can go to an
 Internet site using the Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Run command.
 To do this, click Start, Run. When the Run dialog box opens,
 type your target Internet address and press Enter. For example,
 you might type 

http://www.pcworld.com 

and press Enter to navigate to the PC World site. This works if
 you're connected to the Internet, or if your system is set up to
 dial the ISP when you open the browser.


*8. SEARCH FOR A STRING         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Reader Louis V. sent in this tip request: 

"Could you do a tip on how to locate a text string in a file
 using only the tools that come with Windows NT Workstation 4.0?
 I can use the Command Prompt with a batch file if necessary." 

You can indeed locate a text string in a file using the Command
 Prompt. Let's look at how this works. First open a Command
 Prompt window and type:  

copy con test.xxx 

and press Enter. Now type:  

This is line one of a test file  

and press Enter. Now type: 

This is line two of the test file 

followed by Enter. Finally, type: 

F6 

and press Enter. Pressing F6 tells the system to insert an
 end-of-file mark, and pressing Enter saves the file. To search
 for a string in Test.xxx, type: 

find "one" test.xxx 

and press Enter. Find will display: 

This is line one of a test file 

This is the line that contains the search string.


*9. MULTIPLE PROGRAMS         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Reader Jane M. submitted the following tip. 

"You have reported that a person can run two programs on the
 same line in the Windows NT 4.0 Workstation Command Prompt
 window. To run two programs, you type in their names separated
 by an ampersand (&). For example, you'd type: 

Program1 & Program2 

"and press Enter. In this example, Program2 starts as soon as
 Program1 finishes executing. 

"This is OK if you're sure Program1 will run. If Program1 should
 fail, Program2 will never start. If you should run across a
 situation where you need to run Program2 only if Program1 fails,
 you can enter: 

Program1 || Program2 

"and press Enter. Program2 will run only if Program1 fails to 
execute." 

To test Jane M.'s tip, open a Command Prompt window and type: 

copy con test.cmd 

and press Enter. Now type: 

mem 

and press Enter. Now type: 

nada 

and press Enter. Finally, type: 

F6 

and press Enter (F6 adds an end-of-file mark and Enter saves the
 file). At the command prompt, type: 

test || chkdsk 

and press Enter. The file Test.cmd will first run Mem and then
 attempt to run nada. Since running nada is doomed to failure,
 Chkdsk will now run. Note that if you reverse the contents of
 Test.cmd, Chkdsk will not run. That is, if Test.cmd is: 

nada 
mem 

mem will run after nada has failed. Since the last instruction
 in Test.cmd was successful, the system doesn't attempt to run
 the second file.


*10. DO YOU NEED SP5?         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0  
Service Pack 5 is ready now. To get the information you need to
 decide if you should apply Service Pack 5 to your systems, go to  

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/dailynews2/050599.htm  

If you decide to use Service pack 5, you can either download it
 or purchase the CD-ROM for $19.95. To order the CD, go to  

http://www.pcworld.com/r/tw/1%2C2061%2Ctw-nt0527%2C00.html
