Windows NT Tips #12


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*1. NO WINDOWS KEY         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0   
We have a Windows key question from Nancy P.:   

"How can we disable the Flying Windows key in Windows NT
 Workstation 4.0 when it appears on the keyboard?"   

Several readers have wondered how to disable the Windows key.
 Fortunately, we also received the following REG file from reader
 Charles D. As usual, be careful when using REG files--they can
 harm your system.   

To create the file, run Notepad and enter the following. Where
 you see BLANK LINE GOES HERE, press Enter to enter a blank line.   

REGEDIT4    
BLANK LINE GOES HERE    
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet 
\Control\Keyboard Layout]   
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03, 
00,00,00,00,00,5b,e0,00,00,5c,e0,00,00,00,00   
BLANK LINE GOES HERE   

Now choose File, Save As. Name the file NoWin.reg and click Save.   

To merge the file with your current Registry, double-click its
 icon and click OK when the dialog box opens to tell you the job
 is done. The change will take effect the next time you start
 the computer.   

Note: Be very careful when entering the Scancode. If you should
 enter an incorrect number or enter a number in the wrong place,
 your keyboard may not function properly.   

To regain the Windows key, run Notepad and create the REG
 file shown here.   

REGEDIT4    
BLANK LINE GOES HERE    
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet 
\Control\Keyboard Layout]   
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00, 
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00    
BLANK LINE GOES HERE   

Choose File, Save As and name this file KBWin.reg. Click Save to
 close the dialog box and save your file. Double-click the file's
 icon to merge it with the Registry. After a restart, your
 Windows key will once again function.


*2. MAKE IT NTFS         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
This Windows NT Workstation 4.0 question is from
subscriber Del M.: 

"How do you format a floppy disk with NTFS? When I right-click
 the drive A: icon in My Computer and choose Format, the only
 option appears to be a FAT format." 

This is correct. You can't format a floppy using NTFS. When you
 format a floppy disk using Windows NT Workstation 4.0, even when
 your system uses NTFS the floppy gets formatted with FAT.


*3. A NEW STARTUP NAME         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Here is a request from reader Bill D.: 

"I remember seeing a tip on how to change the name of the
start-up folder to something else. Could you discuss this again?" 

Sure can. The original tip was from reader Marlin S., who used
 this technique to make his personal start-up folder more
 obvious. Here is the tip. 

"I discovered that I could rename the start-up folder to anything
 I wanted as long as the first eight characters of the name are
 'startup' and a space. For example, I named the common startup
 Startup -- Common, and I renamed the company domain startup to
 Startup -- Company. 

Now, when I need to add something to a start-up folder, I know at
 a glance which folder to use."


*4. CHECK THE FOLDERS         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Here's a tip submitted by subscriber Pat D.: 

"If you need to find out the size of a folder in Windows NT
 Workstation 4.0 very quickly, all you have to do is choose
 Properties. The Properties dialog box displays the folder's
 location, the number of files in the folder, and the number of
 bytes contained in the files."


*5. TURN ON NUMLOCK         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0  
We have more Numlock questions this month. Here is one from
 reader Nancy P.:  

"How can you get the NumLock key to stay on in Windows NT
 Workstation 4.0? Setting it up in the BIOS does not work."  

This is one of those questions we get on a regular basis. Some
 people seem to have problems getting Numlock to turn on when
 Windows NT Workstation 4.0 starts, and others don't have the
 problem. Some readers have said that SP5 cures the problem and
 others say it doesn't. Our experience is that the Numlock won't
 stay on in Windows NT Workstation 4.0 unless we make some
 changes to the Registry.  

Since so many readers have a problem with Numlock, we wrote a
 REG file several months ago to make the necessary Registry
 changes. Although we always test any REG files we create, we
 can't guarantee it will work as expected on your system.   

To generate the REG file, run Notepad and enter the following
 exactly as shown. Where you see BLANK LINE GOES HERE, press
 Enter to enter a blank line.   

REGEDIT4  
BLANK LINE GOES HERE   
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Keyboard]  
"InitialKeyboardIndicators"="2"  
[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Keyboard]  
"InitialKeyboardIndicators"="2"  
BLANK LINE GOES HERE   

Now choose File, Save As and choose a folder for your new REG
 file. Name the file Num.reg and click Save to save the file
 and close the dialog box. Next, double-click the Num.reg icon
 to merge the file with the Registry. After you run Num.reg,
 turn on Numlock and restart the computer. When Windows NT
 Workstation 4.0 starts again, Numlock stays on.


*6. COMPARE FILES         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0  
The following question comes from reader Alan L.:  

"I have discovered that there are two MS-DOS programs in Windows
 NT Workstation 4.0 you can use for file comparison--FC and Comp.
 Why are there two? Which one is best to use?"  

Since FC compares files on a line-by-line basis, it is the best
 one to use when you need to compare two text files. Let's
 suppose you have two text files named Text1.txt and Text2.txt.
 At the command prompt, type:  

fc text1.txt text2.txt  

and press Enter. FC reports on how the files compare.  

You should use Comp to compare all files other than text files.
 If you have two binary files, Binary1.bin and Binary2.bin, type:  

comp binary1.bin binary2.bin  

and press Enter. Comp reports on how the two files compare.


*7. A NEW EDITOR         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0  
Here is a Windows NT Workstation 4.0 question from
 subscriber Jean S.  

"Several years back, I always used Edit.com as the default batch
 file editor. I still prefer to use Edit.com rather than Notepad,
 but Notepad is the default in Windows NT Workstation 4.0. Is
 there a way to change the default editor to Edit.com, so that
 when I right-click a batch file and choose Edit,
 Edit.com opens?"  

You can make Edit.com your default editor with a simple Registry
 edit. As you know, you should be very careful when editing the
 Registry. With that in mind, click Start, Run. Type  

regedit   

and click OK. When RegEdit opens, navigate to
 HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\batfile\shell\edit\command
 In the right pane, double-click the Default icon to open the
 Edit String dialog box. Type  

c:\winnt\system32\edit.com   
  
and click OK. Choose Registry, Exit to close RegEdit. Restart the
 computer. After the computer restarts, choosing Edit from a
 file's right-click menu opens the file in Edit.com.


*8. A PORT CONFLICT         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Here is a hardware Windows NT Workstation 4.0 question
 from reader Juan C.: 

"I have four COM ports in my Windows NT Workstation 4.0 computer.
 I need to use three of the four COM ports, but I can't get COM 1
 and COM 3 to work together. Can you tell me what
 might be wrong?" 

The problem is that you are trying to assign two devices to the
 same interrupt--COM 1 and COM 3 share an interrupt, as do COM 2
 and COM 4. In general, you can assign two COM ports with the
 same interrupt as long as you don't use the two ports at the
 same time. However, if you are running a single program that
 uses two COM ports, it may not allow you to assign COM 1 and
 COM 3. In this case, you could try COM 1 and COM 4. 

When you have different programs using the COM ports, you usually
 won't have a problem as long as you don't try to use them
 simultaneously. For example, if you have a modem on COM 1 and
 then try to use COM 3 while the modem is active, you will create
 a conflict.


*9. SELECT WITH THE MOUSE         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Reader Paul A. sent in this Command Prompt question: 

"It looks like I'll be working with the Command Prompt quite a
 bit for the next few months. Is there any way to use the mouse
 to select text in the Command Prompt window just as you would in
 Notepad? It is a real drag to choose Command, Edit, Mark,
 and so forth." 

Yes, you can use the mouse to select text in the Command Prompt
 window. To do this, close any open Command Prompt windows and
 click Start, Settings, Control Panel. When the Control Panel
 opens, double-click the Console icon. When the Console Windows
 Properties dialog box opens, click the Options tab. Now select
 the check box labeled QuickEdit Mode. Click OK to close the
 dialog box and apply your new setting. Open a Command Prompt
 window and you'll find you can use the mouse to select text.  

After you select the text you want to copy, press Enter to send
 it to the Clipboard.


*10. RESTART WINDOWS NT WORKSTATION 4.0         
  
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Here is a question from reader Frank S.: 

"I think I may have a bug in my Windows NT Workstation 4.0
 installation. When I need to restart Windows NT Workstation 4.0
 without restarting the computer, I select the "Restart the
 computer?" radio button and hold down Shift while I click Yes.
 Instead of simply restarting Windows NT Workstation 4.0, I get
 a complete computer restart. Can you tell me how to restore
 this function to work properly?" 

All is working properly. Holding the Shift key during a restart
 works in Windows 95/98, but not in Windows NT Workstation 4.0.
 To restart Windows NT Workstation 4.0 without a complete
 computer restart, click Start, Shut Down. Select the radio
 button labeled "Close all programs and log on as a different
 user?" and click Yes to continue. When the log-on dialog box
 appears, log yourself in again.
