Optimizing Windows for Games, Graphics & Multimedia By David L. Farquhar Unconfirmed error reports are from readers. They have not yet been approved or disproved by the author or editor and represent solely the opinion of the reader. If you have any technical questions or error reports, you can send them to booktech@oreilly.com. (Please specify the printing date of your copy.) This page was updated October 20, 2000. Here's a key to the markup: [page-number]: serious technical mistake {page-number}: minor technical mistake : important language/formatting problem (page-number): language change or minor formatting problem ?page-number?: reader question or request for clarification UNCONFIRMED errors and comments from readers: ?10? In the second paragraph, you say that when making the boot disk you should insert a blank disk and copy the zip.exe file to it... Shouldn't I be copying the unzip.exe to this disk? I'm going to want to unzip my windows.zip file when i reboot aren't I? Once I have executed the unz540x3 file, I should copy the unzip.exe file to a drive by (Copy unzip.exe a:\)... Also the line for creating the zip file in Windows command should be (Zip -r -S windows.zip c:\windows\*.*) I think? (10) The third line of the fourth code listing on the page now reads: "zip -R -S c:\windows.zip c:\windows\*.*" Should read: "zip -r -S c:\windows.zip c:\windows\*.*" In context, this is important! The first line zips all of c:\, the second only c:\windows. Exectuting the first line I saw with puzzlement that zip was adding files in the "Program Files" directory. Why? According to my zip documentation, -R means zip everything in the current directory, -r everything in the argument directory. The second line does what we want. The first doesn't. (16) I find that my Windows 98 wants MS Sans Serif and MS Serif as well as the fonts mentioned in the second paragraph. And Word wants Tacoma. (21) In the first paragraph in the section "Tune the Hidden Windows Disk Cache Settings", the numbers are unclear. Do we read byes? k? mb? {48} Regarding the list of files you can move without issues into C:\Windows\Command: I have found that when I move Win.com into C:\Windows\Command under the original version of Windows 95 Upgrade, with Office 97 SR1, SR2, etc. Windows cannot resolve domain names. When I move it back to C:\Windows, name resolution comes back. What on Earth Win.com has to do with domain name resolution is beyond my comprehension, but that's what's happening for me. {48} I also encountered the previously reported domain name resolution problem when win.com is moved into \windows\command. This problem occurred on two different machines, one running 95a (Pentium 200/128MB/Internal MWave modem/IBM Aptiva) and the other 95B (Pentium 90/40MB/External GVC modem/Compaq Prolinea). Both have Office 97 small business edition and IE5.5 installed and all the required updates from Microsoft. The 95a machine also has Netscape 4.71 and both browsers were affected. On next page, I was not able to move the font folder by editing the registry. This would get reset to the original folder after every re-boot. {136} The recommended 2nd config.sys line now reads: "device=c:\windows\command\emm386.exe noems" However, on p.141, the recommended 2nd line of config.sys reads as follows: "device=c:\windows\command\emm386.exe ram hiscan" Which one is correct? Or, if each of the files is meant to be used in certain situations, what situations might those be? (179) Is the example subnet 168.192.0 or 192.168.0? I assume the latter. [195] Don't know if others are experiencing the same thing, but on my PC, I'm encountering the following problems: -- line 3 -- "REN C:\WINDOWS C:\WINOLD" yields the error "Invalid parameter - C:\WINOLD" Line should read "C: {Enter} REN WINDOWS WINOLD" -- line 8 -- "C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MOVE CABS C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS" yields the error "C:\CABS => C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS [Unable to open source]" Don't know fix this one. {201} Section: Post-Installation Magic; In this section, the author makes the useful suggestion of using the DOS version of the GPL'd InfoZip program to make a backup of the windows directory after a fresh install. This is an excellent idea, but there is a problem that the author does not note. The DOS version of InfoZip (zip v2.3, unzip v5.40) does not support long filenames when not running under Win9x. Thus, any file in the windows directory that does not follow the 8.3 naming convention will have it's filename changed when restored (e.g., Standstone.bmp becomes SANDST~1.BMP). While this is a minor annoyance for things like bitmap files, it can be more serious for other types of files. For example, the device drivers for my DVD drive use long files names that get changed on restore; thus, my DVD drive no longer functions. As another example, the name of subdirectory "Start Menu" gets mangled and thus has to be renamed. Perhaps I'm not following the procedure correctly, but if not, then this represents a fairly troublesome issue that might ought be addressed in the next edition of the book. One alternative might be to backup the windows directory while running under Windows 9x, and then backup the registry files USER.DAT and SYSTEM.DAT separately while in DOS mode. <201> The URL for the infozip programs has changed. It's now at "ftp://ftp.freesoftware.com." [206] Installing Win98SE to a RAM disk: I followed the instructions to the letter, I think. And I cannot get WIn98SE past the first reboot. It hangs at "Starting Windows for the first time" screen. When I don't use "SUBST" in the autoexec, everything works. But then I can't get the RAM drive to work properly. Also: UMBPCI does not work with all chip sets. I have a Dell Dimension L550r, for which UMBPCI refuses to load.