WinDOwS Tricks - Part 2
[Don't load]
snd.cpl=no
joystick.cpl=no
midimap.drv=no
This means that the old Win31 Sound
Applet loads in WfWG's Control Panel (replacing "no" with "yes" on the "snd.cpl=" line, would disable it, preventing this
applet/icon from showing).
The Win95/98/ME counterparts for the .CPL applets mentioned above are:
| ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
This way you can add/modify/delete/remark these lines to enable/disable ANY/ALL Control Panel Applets, without moving or deleting the actual files. Example:
[Don't load]
Desk.cpl=yes
This line disables the Display Properties, preventing it from appearing in the Control Panel. Therefore changing it to:
Desk.cpl=no
enables (shows) the Display Properties
in Control Panel.
Note that you can replace "no" with "0", "off" or "false". Similarly, "yes" has the same effect as "1",
"on" or "true" (but don't type the quotes).
Save your CONTROL.INI file and close Notepad when you're done. Changes take
effect next time when you open Control Panel.
This feature is useful to block access to your system settings if someone
else shares your PC, and you would like to keep your own customized Desktop, for security purposes.
NOTE: For a complete list of all Win9x/ME Control Panel Applets and what they do, see "STUBBORN CONTROL PANEL APPLET - Part 1", also in MYTIPS95.TXT [part of W95-11D.EXE].
CAUTION: I have noticed on some Win95/OSR2 systems (especially
with MS IE 4/5 installed), that ANY value/letter(s)/number(s) after the equal sign prevents an applet/icon from appearing in
Control Panel!
So if you disabled a .CPL applet under the CONTROL.INI [Don't load] section, and you don't want to delete
that particular line, just remark it with a semicolon (;). Example:
[Don't load]
;
Desk.cpl=no
UPDATES:
In case you'd like to move it back to its original location, just left-click anywhere on your Taskbar once, or drag/resize the Taskbar. That's it.
NOTE: This trick might not work on some OSR2/Win98 systems, or/and if you installed MS Internet Explorer 4/5/6.
To make the Start button disappear, follow these steps:
NOTE: You'll have to restart Windows to make the Start button reappear. :(
SMARTDRV 2048 16 A+ C+ D /N /Q
where A is the floppy drive, C is the hard
drive, and D is the cd/dvd drive. Notice the absence of a plus sign after D, because cd/dvd drives are read-only. :)
I
prefer the universal CD/DVD driver for DOS [UIDE.SYS, free],
because it is compatible with most internal IDE/ATAPI CD/DVD drives of ANY
speed, and takes only 2.3 KB of upper memory.
NOTE: See "CD-ROM DRIVERS 4 DOS", also in MYTIPS95.TXT [part of W95-11D.EXE], for complete details.
Alternatively you can load Smartdrv from CONFIG.SYS using INSTALLHIGH, AHEAD OF ALL OTHER INSTALL/INSTALLHIGH lines, if any (example):
INSTALLHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE 2048 16 A+ C+ D /N /Q
to cache your other devices/TSRs
that eventually load later in the sequence from your CONFIG.SYS, thus speeding up disk access.
In this case you need
to specify the FULL path and the file extension (.EXE).
I suggest using the /N parameter with CAUTION! It
allows the return to the MS-DOS command prompt BEFORE writing the entire data back to disk (before the
completion of the previous DOS command), which may result in data loss, especially if a sudden power surge
occurs!
The /Q switch (Quiet) tells Smartdrv not to display its status info while loading.
The first number
(in this case 2048) sets the DOS mode cache size (also called "InitCacheSize") to 2048 KB (2 MB), and the second
number (16), called "WinCacheSize", "shrinks" the cache size under Windows 3.1x/9x to 16 KB to preserve memory.
The
minimum "WinCacheSize" valid value is said to be 128 KB (per Microsoft guidelines), but I found out that 16 KB is THE
minimum accepted, if using SMARTDRV.EXE version 5.00 (included with MS-DOS 6.xx) up to 5.02 (bundled with Windows 9x).
Windows 9x loads its own 32-bit disk cache, and if properly configured doesn't use Smartdrv anyway.
In the above example,
the Smartdrv extended memory size (if Microsoft EMM386.EXE or a similar 3rd party memory manager is loaded in your
CONFIG.SYS, and set to provide extended/expanded/upper memory, with the RAM switch) is 2048 KB.
Also, the default Smartdrv
upper memory cache buffer is 16 KB. [kinda huge, huh...]
But you CAN decrease Smartdrv's upper memory read-ahead
BUFFER size by using the /B:xxxxx switch. Example:
SMARTDRV 2048 16 A+ C+ D /N /Q /B:8192
which takes only 8 KB (8192 Bytes) of upper memory, not 16 KB as in the previous example (with no /B
switch).
Another Smartdrv parameter you may want to adjust is the ELEMENT size (the /E:xxxxx switch). The
default Smartdrv element size is 16384 Bytes (16 KB). Meaning that Smartdrv moves/copies a 16 KB "chunk" of data at a time.
This may be enough for routine MS-DOS mode operations (copying/moving files around), but if you do frequent DOS disk
maintenance tasks involving huge files, a 16 KB element might not be good enough. You can increase the element size to 32768
Bytes (32 KB).
NOTE: SmartDrive's BUFFER and ELEMENT sizes can be adjusted ONLY in 8 KB (8192 Bytes) increments, from a minimum value of 8 KB up to a maximum of 64 KB (65536 Bytes), and the ELEMENT size MUST be a multiple or at least equal to the BUFFER size!
And this is an example of fully optimized AUTOEXEC.BAT Smartdrv command:
SMARTDRV 2048 16 A+ C+ D /N /Q /B:8192 /E:32768
Now you're talking! This particular Smartdrv
line takes only 22 KB of upper memory, and only 2 MB of extended memory, while improving disk performance!
To determine if
your disk performance has REALLY increased after all this tweaking, keep in mind that SMARTDRV's cache "hit rate" must
stay around 80-85% (ideal value), or at least 70%. To do this, start by running:
SMARTDRV /S
from the native MS-DOS prompt. You'll see a screen similar to this:
"Microsoft SMARTDrive Disk Cache version 5.02 Copyright 1991,1993 Microsoft Corp. Room for 256 elements of 8,192 bytes each There have been 2,150 cache hits and 350 cache misses Cache size: 2,097,152 bytes Cache size while running Windows: 16,384 bytes Disk Caching Status drive read cache write cache buffering ------------------------------------------------- A: yes yes no C: yes yes no D: yes no no Write behind data will not be committed before command prompt returns."
The Smartdrv settings shown here are
the ones used in the example above.
Now calculate Smartdrv's effective cache "hit rate" using this formula:
CH : (CH + CM) x 100 = HR%
where:
By substituting these parameters with the real values above, you get:
2150 : (2150 + 350) x 100 = 86%
It is best to keep Smartdrv's hit rate between 70 and 85%.
If your hit rate is less than 70%, the cache isn't very effective, and you
should increase the "InitCacheSize" number.
Beyond 85% typically means that you allocated SMARTDRV more RAM than it really
needs. In this case, decrease the "InitCacheSize" number until your "hit rate" falls around 80-85%, and let other "memory
hungry" programs use the extra RAM (i.e. Windows), especially if your computer has only 32 MB or less of installed
memory.
If you prefer to determine your disk cache hit rate "the easy way" [:)], download one of these DOS
utilities:
To view all SMARTDRV available parameters from any DOS prompt, run:
SMARTDRV /?
You'll get this screen:
"Installs and configures the SMARTDrive disk-caching utility.
SMARTDRV [/X] [[drive[+|-]]...] [/U] [/C | /R] [/F | /N] [/L] [/V | /Q | /S]
[InitCacheSize [WinCacheSize]] [/E:ElementSize] [/B:BufferSize]
/X Disables write-behind caching for all drives.
drive Sets caching options on specific drive(s). The specified
drive(s) will have write-caching disabled unless you add +.
+ Enables write-behind caching for the specified drive.
- Disables all caching for the specified drive.
/U Do not load CD-ROM caching module.
/C Writes all information currently in write-cache to hard disk.
/R Clears the cache and restarts SMARTDrive.
/F Writes cached data before command prompt returns (default).
/N Doesn't write cached data before command prompt returns.
/L Prevents SMARTDrive from loading itself into upper memory.
/V Displays SMARTDrive status messages when loading.
/Q Does not display status information.
/S Displays additional information about SMARTDrive's status.
InitCacheSize Specifies XMS memory (KB) for the cache.
WinCacheSize Specifies XMS memory (KB) for the cache with Windows.
/E:ElementSize Specifies how many bytes of information to move at one time.
/B:BufferSize Specifies the size of the read-ahead buffer."Depending on how much memory (RAM) is installed in your system, you can further tweak the Smartdrv size to cache more (and larger) files. My Pentium II machine has 128 MB SDRAM, so I set Smartdrv's "InitCacheSize" to 8192 KB (8 MB), and the "WinCacheSize" to 16 KB (minimum allowed). This is my AUTOEXEC.BAT SMARTDRV line:
SMARTDRV 8192 16 A+ C+ D /N /Q /B:8192 /E:32768
There is no need to
load Smartdrv with "LOADHIGH" ("LH" for short) in AUTOEXEC.BAT, since it is "smart" enough to
find the optimum memory configuration upon loading, provided you have EMM386.EXE (or a similar upper memory manager) loaded
in your CONFIG.SYS.
These are my OWN recommended optimum Smartdrv "InitCacheSize" values based on your installed
RAM amount:
As a rule of thumb try to keep Smartdrv's "InitCacheSize" within 1/6 of your installed RAM, and at 1/8 if you have less than 32 MB.
REQUIRED ADDENDUM:
By loading ONLY the HIMEM.SYS device at startup
(which can be further tweaked in your CONFIG.SYS file), your machine provides ONLY EXTENDED memory available to
programs/TSRs, NOT upper or/and expanded!
To enable the use of UMBs (Upper Memory Blocks) and the Upper Memory
Area (UMA) for loading devices/drivers/TSRs high, and/or EXPANDED memory (still needed by some older DOS
programs), you need to add/tweak a CONFIG.SYS line for EMM386.EXE, the default Microsoft upper/expanded memory manager (comes
with MS-DOS 6.xx and Win9x).
Below are EMM386.EXE alternative configurations to properly load Smartdrv in upper AND
extended memory (and AVOID the use of CONVENTIONAL memory), you can further tweak to match your system needs:
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS I=B000-B7FF D=256
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM I=B000-B7FF D=256 AUTO
The expanded memory version above takes an extra 64 KB of UMA to load EMM386's Page Frame. The "AUTO" switch yields the use of expanded or extended memory to programs, as needed.
Windows 95/98 users: open the MSDOSDRV.TXT file with Notepad (located in your Windows folder) to see all available EMM386.EXE parameters.
MS-DOS 6.xx users: run:
HELP EMM386.EXE
from any DOS prompt, to see all available EMM386.EXE switches.
NOTE: Read also the related EMM386.EXE and SMARTDRV.EXE topics in MEMORY.TXT [part of W95-11D.EXE], for more details.
Have a "smart" computing day!
FYI: Check out these Smartdrv related pages:
FYI: More info + tools:
Here we go:
WORKAROUNDS:
WORKAROUNDS:
WORKAROUNDS:
ECHO Y | DEL %winbootdir%\RECENT\*.*
DELTREE.EXE/Y %winbootdir%\RECENT
A similar solution is described in "CLEAR DOCS & MORE...", also in REGISTRY.TXT [part of W95-11D.EXE]. You can also use CLEAR.BAT [also part of W95-11D.EXE] in a Win95/98 DOS box for the same purpose.
WORKAROUND:
When you see the first CMOS POST (Power On Self Test) screen during boot, press Del, F1, or the appropriate key to access your BIOS Setup. Go into the "BIOS Features Setup" menu (title might be different depending on your motherboard/BIOS type/model), and disable the "Boot Up Floppy Seek" option (title might be different). Save your changes and reboot.
WARNING: Certain boot sector viruses can "invade" your BIOS and render your PC "unbootable"! Therefore scan ALL your drives AND your computer's memory periodically, using your favorite Virus Scanner tool, especially after downloading files from untrusted Internet sites.
WORKAROUND:
To isolate the possible "culprit", remark those device= lines one at a time, using a semicolon (;) in front of each line. Example:
[386enh]
; device=vsbpd.386
Now start a search for all these devices/files on
ALL your drives, and then safely delete all "device=filename.ext" entries that don't point to actual files anymore (but
BACKUP FIRST!).
Reload Windows and see if that annoying floppy LED still goes on.
IMPORTANT:
Do NOT remark/delete ANY SYSTEM.INI "device=*" lines that have an asterisk (*) as the first character after the equal sign! These are Win95/98 virtual drivers, NOT real files, and they are needed for Windows 95/98 proper operation! Example:
[386enh]
device=*dynapage
[windows]
load=c:\windoz\wintsr c:\stuff\winstuff
run=c:\myprogs\myprog.exe
WORKAROUND:
Remark one file at a time (by using a semicolon in front of the file name, and moving that file entry on a separate line), to prevent Windows from trying to load/run it at startup. Example:
[windows]
load=c:\windoz\wintsr
; c:\stuff\winstuff
run=
; c:\myprogs/myprog.exe
Restart
Windows and see if the floppy drive is still accessed.
Now start a search for all files listed on the "load="/"run="
lines, on ALL your drives, and then safely delete all "filename.ext" entries that don't point to existing files (but
BACKUP FIRST!).
[boot]
drivers=mmsystem.dll
but it may also have other devices/drivers besides the Windows default "mmsystem.dll". All drivers (executables) on this line can have one of these file extensions: .DLL, .DRV, .386 or .VXD. No matter how many drivers are listed, they MUST ALL be on this same line, each separated by a space. Example:
[boot]
drivers=mmsystem.dll driver.vxd
c:\stuff\weird.386
Note that all files located in C:\Windows\System (default for your Windows System folder) don't need to have their path mentioned on SYSTEM.INI's "drivers" line.
WORKAROUND:
If your "drivers" line has other commands listed, beside "mmsystem.dll", proceed with the same steps as described at paragraph #5 (above), to disable (remark) them, one at a time. Restart Windows and notice any differences.
WORKAROUND:
Run Explorer, open your Startup folder, and determine which entries (shortcuts/links) are not valid anymore (actual files on your drives). Delete them (but BACKUP FIRST!).
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce\Setup
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServicesOnce
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx
Look in the right hand pane of each key
above. You'll see a list of programs there.
More info @ MSKB.
WORKAROUND:
Write down/print a hard copy of all programs/executables found under these Registry
keys, and then search ALL your drives for the correspondent file names.
BACKUP your Registry and System files (SYSTEM.DAT,
USER.DAT, SYSTEM.INI, WIN.INI, CONTROL.INI), and then safely delete/or move to a backup drive/folder all obsolete entries
under the Registry keys above. Highlight each item you want to delete, and press Del. Answer OK to the confirmation
screen.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID
WORKAROUND:
Find the incriminated floppy/removable disk, copy the .DLL or .OCX files you found to a directory on your hard disk, and then change their path in the correspondent CLSID Registry subkey to point to the new destination.
WORKAROUND:
If WINSTART.BAT is on your path line, specified in your AUTOEXEC.BAT, move it to a different location, NOT in your path! You can also open WINSTART.BAT with Nopepad, to see the program names listed there. Then if you decide to keep WINSTART.BAT in its original location, you can "remark" the program(s) you don't want Windows to run upon startup with a double colon (or using the old fashioned "REM"), followed by a space. Remark one line at a time, and then restart Windows after each change. Example:
:: C:\PROGRAMS\MYPROG
WORKAROUNDS:
WORKAROUND:
Obviously, you need to delete/move ALL such PIF files (but BACKUP first!), or avoid running those programs.
FINALLY:
This step might be necessary for all topics above: REBOOT, RESTART or RELOAD Windows to cure the problem!
UPDATES:
"Some programs keep their own Recent file history in
WIN.INI, others do so in the Registry. Whenever my A: led flashes, the first thing I do is start Regedit and Sysedit, find
A:, very often I find the entry.
On some rare occasion I found it in another .ini file.
The "FindFast" from MS Office
97 installs, even when you tell setup not to. It not only accesses A:, but all directories on all drives.
Today I
reinstalled Office, as well as a lot of other programs on my new 9 gigabyte hard disk, and forgot about FindFast. On the
worst possible moment this bug-with-a-name started indexing my 9 gig...
My system was so slow that even starting Regedit
took me two cups of coffee. Only after deleting all keys containing "findfast" the noise of clicking HD heads
stopped.
Back to floppies:
After installing IE4 I found out that Mijenix Explorer Plus was constantly accessing A:. A
free updated version of Explorer Plus solves this problem."
NOTE: This MSKB article explains how to disable FastFind.
"I have another
answer that fixed this problem for me.
Using TweakUI (or something
similar) you can hide the A: drive from the My Computer or Windows Explorer screens. The problem I was having is whenever I
open these windows it would access the Floppy Drive, and hiding it fixed the problem (good ole Windows). If you don't have
TweakUI, you can hide the A: Drive in the registry, go to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Create a new Binary Value called NoDrives, with value 01 00 00 00, or create a .REG file in Notepad:
-----Begin cut & paste here----- [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer] ------End cut & paste here------
REGEDIT4
"NoDrives"=hex:01,00,00,00
Oh yeah, you
can always add a shortcut to the A: Drive on your Desktop or Start Menu if you still wish to access it, or do like I do and
use the Windows key and R together (on a MS Natural Keyboard), then type A: and press Enter.
Or if you don't have a
Windows key try Ctrl-Esc then R (unless you have an application in your Start Menu starting with R)."
NOTE: See "HIDE YOUR DRIVES!", also in REGISTRY.TXT [part of W95-11D.EXE], for more details.
"Under System -> Performance -> File System -> Floppy Disk
-> uncheck the "Search for new floppy disk drives each time your computer starts" box.
But the Biggie (at least for
me with tape drive backup SW installed), there are 3 VXDs in C:\Windows\System\Iosubsys: unless you have a floppy/parallel
port tape drive you should rename DRVWQ117.VXD and DRVWPPQT.VXD to something like *.OLD, as these sniff the
floppy/printer ports, causing unwanted floppy access at startup. Search also the Registry and *.INI files for references to
them, but the renaming is quicker. And NEVER access anything from a floppy in Win95/98, copy whatever you need to a HD
first."
NOTE: See "SPEEDUP YOUR GUI STARTUP!", also in
MYTIPS95.TXT [part of W95-11D.EXE], for details on how to do this.
"While my tip correcting the floppy drive being accessed and the drive light left on during bootup annoyance by renaming HSFLOP.PDR and letting Windows use the DOS floppy driver works, I finally located the source of my problem. A patch was required so that OSR2 would handle my AMD 380 MHz CPU. That patch contains an updated floppy driver. The problem arose when the patch didn't remove the references to the old driver in:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\fdc\0000
The patch placed the new driver information under a key that contained the old floppy driver date. By deleting all entries referencing the old floppy driver (for some reason I had 5) and correcting the date in the remaining key to coincide with the subordinate listing the new driver date, the problem was solved, but ONLY AFTER doing this: Control Panel -> System -> Device Manager -> Floppy disk controllers -> Standard Floppy Disk Controller -> Properties -> disabled the hardware profile. Floppy drive works fine and the light doesn't turn on anymore."
"This has always worked for me: in Explorer, select
View -> Folder Options and choose the File Types tab. Run slowly down the list of file associations one by one with the down
arrow on your keyboard, until you hear your A drive seek.
Then either edit or remove the offending association (you may
have more than one)."
[windows] load=c:\windoz\wintsr c:\winstuff\stufftsr c:\virus\virustsr c:\scan\scantsr c:\programs\progtsr c:\blahblah\blahtsr c:\whatever\whattsr
It
is not necessary to specify the extension if that particular file is recognized by Windows as an executable (.386, .DLL,
.DRV, .EXE, .VXD etc).
Windows will load only the first 5 programs in the above example because the last 2 are beyond
Windows' capacity of recognizing lines longer than 128 characters.
But if you put the last 2 programs in this example on
the "run=" line, they will be processed, but ONLY AFTER Windows reads and processes the "load=" line:
[windows] load=c:\windoz\wintsr c:\winstuff\stufftsr c:\virus\virustsr c:\scan\scantsr c:\programs\progtsr run=c:\blahblah\blahtsr c:\whatever\whattsr
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
and
look in the right hand pane. You'll see a list of programs there. You can add/modify/delete them at your will (with CAUTION
though).
To add an item to the list, highlight Run (left hand pane) and right-click in the same pane. Select New, String
Value. Name it something similar (or identical) to the program name you want to add, and then right-click on it. Select
Modify, and now type the full path, file name and extension for your program. Click OK. Done.
Restart Windows when
you're done, so the changes can take effect.
And don't forget to BACKUP YOUR ORIGINAL FILES BEFORE
MAKING ANY CHANGES!
Now you're ready to create the FAST Desktop shortcuts described below.
Just do the
following:
C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SYSDM.CPL, System,1
or:
C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SYSDM.CPL,,1
for the "System Manager" link;
NOTE: To have the other System Properties tabs open automatically from separate
shortcuts, replace 1 in the SYSDM.CPL command lines above with:
2 = for the Hardware Profiles
tab;
3 = for the Performance tab.
C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DESK.CPL,InstallScreenSaver
for the "Display Screen Saver Preview" link;
C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MAIN.CPL
for the "Mouse Settings" link;
C:\WINDOWS\SNDVOL32.EXE
for the "Sound Volume" link, in case you don't like the yellow speaker icon displayed on your taskbar, for everybody to mess with it.
FYI: You don't have to mention the full
paths for any of these files, since your \Windows and \Windows\System folders are already included on your PATH.
But I
placed the file/folders names here to speed up the access to each file, by not letting your system search through the PATH
line for the location of each file, which is a little bit time consuming. [And we DO want FASTER performance, don't we?
:)]
Now just (double)-click on each new
Desktop icon to go there FAST, every time you want to:
UPDATE: ".CPL files are automatically by default associated
with:
%WINDIR%\rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL %1,%*
One may need to rename
the:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\cplfile\shell\cplopen
Registry key to 'open'."
[Thank you Yuri!]
RUNDLL32.EXE SHELL32.DLL,SHExitWindowsEx #
The # flag can be any integer number between -1 and 9. Depending on the particular value substituted as parameter on the command line above, you can force Windows 9x/ME to carry out one of the following actions:
NOTES:
CAUTION: Older, cheap, low quality, incompatible and/or defective computer hardware components, poorly written software drivers and/or programs may sometimes be responsible for undesirable lockups or data loss during the Windows shutdown/poweroff sequence.
RUNDLL32.EXE USER.EXE,ExitWindows
and call it "Shutdown!" or "Poweroff!" if using Win95B/95C OSR 2.1 - 2.5 or Win98/ME, because these OSes perform also a complete poweroff on ATX motherboards supporting this feature.
RUNDLL.EXE USER.EXE,ExitWindowsExec
Note that you canNOT use RUNDLL32.EXE for this last command with Win98/ME because their GUI does NOT support this 32-bit DLL API redirect from the command line, and after all USER.EXE is only a "plain" 16-bit executable. :(
From now on, (double)-click on one of the shortcuts created above, and you'll be taken to
the plain DOS prompt, back to the GUI, or stare at the black monitor screen in only 1 swift move. :)
Don't forget to
SAVE your work and close ALL open programs FIRST, BEFORE shutting down or restarting Windows!
Have fun.
FYI: More info on Win9x/ME shut down switches using RUNDLL(32) redirects:
"Sometimes Win9x
can fail to boot with a VFAT error message, this error either halts the system asking the user to reboot or reboots
automatically.
But I have found a solution to this problem:
To replace MSDOS.SYS with the one from your Win9x repair
disk. If this is not available, use a text editor (like Notepad) to create one, or repair the existing one.
The critical
entries are those found under the [Paths] heading. It needs to include these valid lines (change WINDOWS with your Win9x
folder name if different):
WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
HostWinBootDrv=C
If these settings are corrupt or missing VFAT will fail to load halting the system in its tracks."
NOTE: I recommend using SYS95.BAT [part of W95-11D.EXE], to edit MSDOS.SYS.
UPDATE: "Looks like it can't find IFSHLP.SYS to load."
[Thank you
Yuri!]
"Another fix for this is to add:
DOS=AUTO
to your CONFIG.SYS file. This causes MS-DOS 7.xx to load SETVER.EXE, IFSHLP.SYS and (if not specified) HIMEM.SYS on startup. Without IFSHLP.SYS loading at startup (which adds support for VFAT, by the way), Windows 9x won't know what to do with itself. :)"
