WINDOWS Magazine. 2,501 Tips. The content of this file is Copyright © 1997 CMP Media Inc. and is the property of CMP Media, Inc. This material is not freeware or shareware. It may not be resold for compensation of any kind or redistributed in print or electronically or by any other means without prior written permission from CMP Media, Inc. If you have any questions about these terms, or would like information about licensing materials from Windows Magazine, please contact: psilverm@cmp.com, or write to: Paul Silverman Attn: TIPS (REQUIRED) WINDOWS Magazine One Jericho Plaza, 3rd Floor Jericho, NY 11753 Windows NT 4.0 -- Now that you've installed Microsoft's most powerful operating system, unleash its power! Setup Space on Reserve Upgrading from Windows NT 3.51 to version 4.0 is very straightforward-provided enough disk space is available. To be safe, free up 150MB and make a backup in case setup fails. NT 4.0 Setup preserves user accounts and settings, and will automatically migrate your existing Program Manager groups to Start menu folders. One major snag to watch out for is incompatible third-party device drivers. Running on Empty If you run out of disk space during an NT 4.0 upgrade, you'll be given the option to either reboot and free some space, or delete any existing Windows NT directory tree(s), or-finally-reformat your hard disk. The first option is useful if your system is configured for dual-boot to DOS or Windows 95. In that case, delete Windows NT's virtual memory paging file (PAGEFILE.SYS) which is typically 43MB or larger. If you don't have a dual-boot configuration, try the second option, which will save you about 80 MB. Note that when you delete the NT tree, all settings are lost-as is the NT Registry. You will be forced to recreate any user accounts, re-do all settings, and reinstall all applications. Assistant Manager Setup Manager, from the NT 4.0 Deployment Tools (in the SUPPORT\DEPTOOLS directory of the NT 4.0 distribution CD) helps you customize NT Setup for your organization. It's documented in Microsoft's NT 4.0 Deployment Guide. Perfect Partners You can't upgrade directly from Windows 95 to Windows NT 4.0. But you can set up a dual-boot environment. If Win95 is already installed, make sure your hard disk has an uncompressed partition with at least 150MB free, and install NT in a separate directory. (Installing NT in the same directory as Windows 95 will corrupt the Win95 configuration Registry.) You'll have to use the Windows 95 FAT file system without compression. Enterprise Windows If you need to install NT 4.0 on a large number of identical systems, create a custom setup. Tools to do that are included on the NT 4.0 distribution CD's SUPPORT\DEPTOOLS directory; but you'll have to get the documentation from the Web. Look for the Planning, Migration & Deployment links on Microsoft's NT Workstation (http://www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation) and NT Server (http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver) pages. Read the documentation carefully before attempting to use the tools. If used incorrectly, they can render an NT system unbootable. General Get Some Support NT Workstation includes client software for linking to Novell NetWare/IntranetWare servers, but if you want full support for Novell Directory Services (NDS), use Novell's 32-bit IntranetWare client for Windows NT (available at http://support.novell.com/home/client/winnt/whatsnew.htm). Forget the Salute Instead of pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete to launch Windows NT Task Manager, right-click on NT 4.0's taskbar and click on Task Manager in the resulting menu. It's Only Natural Using NT 4.0 and the Microsoft Natural Keyboard, press WIN+R to display the Run dialog box, WIN+M to minimize all windows currently open and WIN+E to start Windows NT Explorer. Performance Anxiety Many systems with factory-installed NT come with SCSI drives. These drives will give very slow uncached performance ratings on many low-level tests because their on-board write buffering is turned off by default. You don't need to turn on write caching to have excellent real-world application performance, though, because cached performance doesn't suffer from the default settings. If you still insist on turning the buffering on, you can do so using a SCSI utility from your SCSI adapter's manufacturer. But be aware that if you do, you'll have less data security, because write completion will be signaled before the data is committed to the disk surface. Bye Bye Back Slash Don't try to use the back slash from the command prompt to change drives. CMD.EXE won't let you and will give you an error message. Simply type the drive letter, followed by a colon, as in D:. Save Early, Save Often Save your Desktop arrangement often by pressing F5 when your cursor is on the Desktop. NT doesn't autosave the Desktop orientation the way Windows 95 does, so an abnormal shutdown can cause you to lose your icon placement. Don't Go Down With the Ship Pesky legacy DOS or 16-bit Windows apps running under NT can still cause problems, but NT has a way of protecting itself from crashing along with the troublesome program. Go to the program's Properties dialog (click on its icon and press Alt+Enter, or right-click and select Properties). At the bottom of the Properties dialog, click on "Run application in own memory space." If the program crashes now, it affects only its own virtual machine, not the Windows kernel. Throw Caution To the Wind You can log on automatically to Windows NT 4.0, if you don't care about security. Download Microsoft's PowerToy Tweak UI for NT (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/software/powertoy.htm) and go to the Network tab, where you can specify the UserID and password. But be aware that this will mean your system is no longer secure. No More Double-Click Make the middle button of your 3-button mouse a double-click. Instructions and a simple utility are at http://www.windows-nt.com/tipsandinfo. Whodunit NT has a couple of nifty Easter eggs. Start NT 4.0's 3D Text (OpenGL) screen saver module by select-ing Properties from the Desktop's Context menu and clicking on the Screen Saver tab. Select 3D Text (OpenGL) from the list and click on the Settings button. Type I love NT, select OK and click on the Preview button, and the screen-saver text will say, "good?" Click on Settings again, type not evil, select OK and then click on the Preview button. A 3D screen saver will display the names of Windows NT 4.0 programmers. If you type volcano, select OK and click on the Preview button, you'll see the names of volcanoes in 3D. Themes Like Old Times If you have both NT and Windows 95 with the Plus Pack loaded on your C: drive, you can use your Desktop Themes under NT 4.0. Find THEMES.CPL and THEMES.EXE in Win95's C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory and copy them to C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32. Reboot your system. A Desktop Themes icon will appear in Control Panel. Identical Twins? NT 4.0 uses the same Windows Explorer user interface as Windows 95, so any tips for customizing Explorer elsewhere in this issue apply to NT 4.0. This includes using the TweakUI program. Smart Shopper If you're planning to buy NT Workstation for 10 or more systems (or NT Server for a LAN with 30 or more users), Microsoft's Open Licensing program may save you money. By signing a two-year flat-rate maintenance contract, you're automatically entitled to software upgrades during that period. For more information, browse Microsoft's Web site at http://www.microsoft.com and search for "open license." Peer Pressure Microsoft has changed the license for NT 4.0 Workstation so that it can't be legally used for more than 10 simultaneous inbound peer connections, including Web/gopher/ftp services as well as file and printer sharing (it may affect other services as well-we were still waiting on clarification from Microsoft at press time). What to do if you've been using NT Workstation 3.51 as a Web server? Microsoft wants you to upgrade to NT Server 4.0, and will let you do so for half price ($409). See http://www.microsoft.com/windows/common/aa268.htm for details. Free Webware Web developers and in-house intranet users can save money by using the new Peer Web Server (PWS) feature built into NT Workstation 4.0. PWS provides basically the same features as Internet Information Server (IIS) on NT Server 4.0, but is legally limited to a maximum of 10 inbound connections by the NT 4.0 Workstation license agreement. PWS is installed from the Add/Remove Programs icon in the NT 4.0 Control Panel. Disappearing GUI The Start Menu and Taskbar are two of NT 4.0's best new user interface features-most of the time. There are times, however, when you may not want to have them occupying screen real estate (when doing presentations, for instance). To make them disappear, right-click on any blank area of the Taskbar, and right-click the mouse to bring up the Taskbar's context menu. Then select Properties from that menu to display Taskbar Properties and check the Auto hide box. To get the Taskbar back, just slide your mouse to the bottom of the screen. Task Manager NT 4.0 features an enhanced Task Manager that lets you view and (if necessary) shut down not only applications, but also processes. To run it, right-click on any blank area of the Taskbar, and right-click the mouse to bring up the Taskbar's context menu. Then select Task Manager from that menu. Modem Management Different Internet Service Providers (ISPs) may require different modem settings, depending on what line negotiation protocols they use. You can customize this for your system by double-clicking the Modems icon in the Control Panel, which opens a Modems Properties dialog. Select your modem and click the Properties button, then select the Connection tab on the resulting modem-specific Properties dialog, and click the Advanced button. An Advanced Connection Settings dialog appears. The Extra Settings field on this dialog lets you type a command string that will be sent to the modem before dialing. For instance, on a Motorola TA-210 modem, the string &C1&D2E0V1%A2=95 sets up the modem to use the PPPC line-negotiation protocol, while the string &C1&D2E0V1%A2=2 sets up the older V.120 protocol. Other modems may use different command strings-check with the manufacturer. Remote Control The client side of Remote Access Services (RAS) in NT 4.0 is called Dial-Up Networking (for consistency with Windows 95). The old RAS monitor applet is replaced by a greatly enhanced Dial-Up Monitor, which is managed through a Control Panel icon. Dial-Up Networking offers blinking activity lights in an icon next to the clock on the Taskbar's right-hand side. Right-clicking on the lights displays a context menu with options to open the full Dial-up Monitor interface that provides information on any open connections. Ins and Outs of Software Like Windows 95, NT 4.0 has an Add/Remove Programs icon in the Control Panel. It's used to install and uninstall compatible software and system options (such as the Windows Messaging e-mail client, Internet Explorer Web browser, and Peer Web Server-all of which are included on the NT 4.0 distribution CD). Ex-change Your E-mail The Windows Messaging e-mail system included in NT 4.0 Workstation and Server is upwardly compatible with Microsoft's Exchange Server 4.0. To upgrade a Windows Messaging workgroup postoffice to Exchange Server, start with the workgroup postoffice files on an NT Server (if they're on a workstation, you'll have to move the postoffice to a server-ideally configured as a backup domain controller, or BDC). To do so, install Exchange Server 4.0 Service Pack 2 or higher according to the instructions. During setup you will be asked if you want to upgrade the workgroup postoffice; accept that option and continue with the Exchange Server installation. User accounts will be automatically migrated into Exchange Server. Then follow the instructions to upgrade client software on the workstations. Flashy Video NT 4.0 shows off its faster video drivers and OpenGL support with new Screen Savers: Double-click the Display icon in Control Panel, and select the Screen Saver tab. Then select a Screen Saver from the list (if you don't see any screen savers listed, run Add/Remove Programs from Control Panel, select the Windows NT Setup tab, double-click Accessories, and make sure the Screen Savers item is checked). The most impressive is 3D Maze (OpenGL), inspired by a famous video game that we're all doomed to play at least once. Make Your Point You can make NT 4.0 look a bit friendlier with Custom Mouse Pointers. Double-click the Mouse icon in Control Panel, and select the Pointers tab. Pick from the list of available Schemes (if the list is empty, run Add/Remove Programs from Control Panel, select the Windows NT Setup tab, double-click Accessories, and make sure the Mouse Pointers item is checked). You can also custom-design your own Mouse Pointers (including animated ones) using tools in the NT Resource Kit. CD Surprise NT 4.0's distribution CD includes numerous utilities first found in the Windows 95 Plus Pack. Among the items provided are the Internet Jumpstart Kit, including Internet Explorer 2.0, and the 3D "Space Cadet" Pinball Game (both installed using Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel), as well as additional Display settings. The latter may be found by double-clicking the Display icon in the NT Control Panel, and selecting the Plus! Tab. You can select larger icons (best at display resolutions above 800x600) and change the appearance of system icons including My Computer, Network Neighborhood, and the Recycle Bin, among other options. A Perfect View Unlike past versions, NT 4.0 offers Dynamic Display Settings that let you change screen resolution and color depth on-the-fly. Double-click the Display icon in the NT Control Panel, and select the Settings tab. Then reset the Color Palette to the desired color depth, and the Desktop Area to an appropriate screen resolution. Click OK, and the new settings will take effect immediately (reboot if the system has to load new fonts). Customization Back to the Future If you're using NT 4.0 but prefer the NT 3.x interface, there is a procedure that will almost return you to that older look-and-feel. First, right-click on the Start button, and select Explore from the context menu. An Explorer window will open, with the Programs folder in the right-hand pane. Right-click on it, and select Create Shortcut. There will now be a Shortcut to Program Manager folder in the right-hand pane of the Explorer. Click on it, drag it to the desktop, rename it Program Manager, and double-click to open it. By default, it will open in large icon view, and the folders within it correspond exactly to NT 3.x Program Manager groups. One of the icons will be Windows NT Explorer. Right-click on it, create a shortcut, drag the shortcut to the desktop, and rename it File Manager. It will open in Explorer (two-pane) view, and will default to the root of your system disk. To finish the job, move the standard NT icons to a portion of the screen where they're out of the way (unfortunately, you can't delete them), and set the Taskbar to Auto hide. Double Vision Some users like NT 4.0's new desktop so much they want to make the two-pane explorer view the default. You can do that with the NT Registry Editor (you'll need to be logged in as Administrator to do this): Start/Run REGEDT32.EXE. Select HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Folder/shell/open/ddexec and change the first entry from [ViewFolder("%I",%I,%S)] to [ExploreFolder("%I",%I,%S)]. As a check, switch back and forth between open/ddexec and explore/ddexec-the entry should be the same for both. When they are the same, close the Registry Editor. Now, double-clicking on any folder will open in a two-pane Explorer view. Optional Sights Experienced users may find some of Explorer's default settings annoying. To set up an "expert's view" of Windows NT Explorer, start it (from Start/Programs), and select View/Options. Click the Show all file radio button to avoid hiding system files, check "Display the full path in the title bar," "Display compressed file and folders with alternate color" and "Include description bar for right and left panes." Then click OK. Top it off by selecting View/Details. A Clean Desktop It's possible to do without the NT 4.0 desktop altogether-helpful for computers with little memory. To shut down the NT desktop while leaving NT up and running, right-click in the Taskbar and bring up Task Manager. Select the Processes tab, and find explorer.exe on the displayed list. Click to select that name and then press the End Process button. NT will display a warning message. Ignore it and click the Yes button. NT Explorer will shut down, taking with it all desktop icons, the Start menu and Taskbar. Task Manager (and any other open application) will continue to run (and if you click the Performance tab you'll find that you've gained 1MB to 3MB of RAM). You can now start programs from the Applications tab's New Task button. To get your desk-top back, click New Task and type in explorer.exe. Deleted Desktop If you can do without the regular NT 4.0 desktop permanently, it's possible to start with just the Task Manager-or even with an NT command prompt. To do so, launch the NT Registry Editor (Start/Run REGEDT32.EXE) and select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/WinLogon. You'll see a list of values in the right pane. Double-click on the one called Shell (set by default to Explorer.exe). You can now type in the name of any valid NT program. For a command prompt, type CMD.EXE, for the NT Task Manager, type TASKMGR.EXE, and so on. Then close the Registry Editor and log off. When you log back in, you'll get your new default shell instead of the NT desktop. To get the original desktop back, run EXPLORER.EXE. Smart Start You can add your own folders and items to NT's Start Menu. Right-click on Start and, to create an item for the currently logged on user, select Explore. To create a new global item for all users, select Explore all users (this requires Administrative access). Either way, you'll get a two-pane explorer view with the Programs folder in the right pane. To add a new folder (equivalent to an NT 3.x Program Manager Group), double-click the Programs folder to open it, and then select File/New Folder. To add shortcut icons in the folder, open it by double-clicking on it, then select File/New Shortcut and follow the on-screen directions. PIF-Poof! NT 3.x users who've upgraded to NT 4.0 might ask, "Where did my PIF editor go?" The answer is to the property sheet for the program. Browse for it in Windows Explorer, and right-click on the application's icon. Then select Properties from the resulting context menu. The resulting Properties dialog includes Program, Memory and other tabs that offer the same functionality of the old PIF editor. A Space of Its Own The Start button's Run... item has a Run in Separate Memory Space checkbox. If you have to do this frequently, create a shortcut to the program's icon in Windows Explorer, right-click on the Shortcut icon, and select Properties from the resulting context menu. The Shortcut tab on the Program's Properties dialog includes not only a Run in Separate Memory Space checkbox, but also a field for the directory to start the application in, and options to run the program minimized or maximized. Command and Control NT 4.0 supports some significant enhancements to the NT command prompt. You can get a list by starting a command prompt and typing CMD /? |More. With extensions enabled (they are by default) programs associated with a file type can be started just by typing the name of the file. For example, typing MYDOC.DOC at the command prompt will launch whatever program is associated with the .DOC. You can disable command enhancements with the NT Registry Editor (REGEDT32.EXE). To do so, edit HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Command Processor, and set Enable Extensions to 0. Foreign Keystrokes Multilingual users can benefit from NT 4.0's support for multiple keyboard layouts. These are set from the Input Locales tab on Control Panel/Regional Settings. You can add one or more additional input locales and layouts, set up a special key combination to change layouts, and display a two-letter locale identifier on the Taskbar. Optimization Memorable Pages The most significant optimizations in any NT system-short of making sure it has enough physical RAM to begin with-are the Virtual Memory settings. These are set in Control Panel/System/Performance tab. Click the Change button to bring up Virtual Memory settings for your system. You can have multiple pagefiles, one per logical disk drive. An optimal configuration calls for one pagefile on each physically separate drive. Hit the Road NT isn't an ideal system for portable computers, but the new Hardware Profiles feature in NT 4.0 does help. Start Control Panel/System and select the Hardware Profiles tab. You can make a copy with the Copy button, then click Properties to examine (and change) its settings. The most important of these is an option to disable all network features (which you don't need on the road). Once you've created the new profile, restart your computer. You'll have an option to select which profile you want immediately after NT starts up. Hold on to that Memory You can save some memory on small networks by adjusting NT Server's Server Object settings, which are set in Control Panel/Network's Services tab. Select Server from the list and click the Properties button. If you don't have 256 users, consider setting Minimize Memory used, which allocates buffers for up to 10 users or Balance, which allocates buffers for up to 64 users. RAM Recommendations For NT Server, Microsoft has some online planning guides that can help you with RAM requirement questions. Check the planning, migration and deployment link on the NT Server Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver. Priority List Like past versions, NT 4.0 lets you tune how much of an advantage the foreground application receives over background applications. However, the interface to this has changed; it's now a slide-bar control on Control Panel/System/Performance tab. The default position is maximum boost, which gives the foreground application the highest priority. Set it to None for UNIX-style (equal priority to all desktop tasks) behavior, and set it to the middle position for a good working compromise. Help Basic Training The basic Help Files included in both NT 4.0 Workstation and Server provide a simple introduction to NT 4.0 (including a short-but effective-tutorial on the new interface for NT 3.x users), a list of the most common How To... items, some tips and tricks mainly related to the Windows Explorer, a guide to the Internet tools included with NT, a reference list of NT command-line functions, and a Glossary. They're all accessible from Start/Help. Online Assistance Aside from the basic help that's standard in NT 4.0 Workstation, NT 4.0 Server offers a Books Online item in the Start menu's Programs folder. It provides Windows Help versions of NT Server reference manuals, including a Concepts and Planning guide that covers management and administration issues, and a Networking Supplement that covers details of NT Server's network protocols and features. Panic Button You can get help for most dialogs and property sheets in NT 4.0 by pressing the F1 key-even when the dialog or property sheet lacks a Help item. Commanding Feature At the NT 4.0 command prompt, you can get help on any built-in function with the HELP command. For example, type HELP DIR for help on NT's command-line directory function. Network Assistance NT 4.0 supports an extensive set of command-line network functions inherited from Microsoft's LAN Manager products. To get a list of the commands type NET HELP, and then for details on any command type NET HELP command. For example, NET HELP VIEW gives help on the NET VIEW command. Hardware NT Hot List Before you try to use new hardware with NT, check the current NT hardware compatibility list (HCL) to see if NT works with it. The HCL is included on the NT 4.0 distribution CD-ROM (look for HCL.HLP in the CD's SUPPORT directory), and it's also available online at http://www.microsoft.com/BackOffice/ntserver/hcl/hclintro.htm. Device Driver Dilemma Incompatible device drivers can be a problem when upgrading from NT 3.x to NT 4.0. In particular, Microsoft drastically changed the video architecture in NT 4.0 to improve performance. Hence, NT 3.x video drivers are completely incompatible with NT 4.0. If you use one of the standard video drivers from the NT CD, you'll get an updated driver automatically when you upgrade. If you use a third-party driver, check with your vendor for NT 4.0 compatibility. Besides video drivers, SCSI and printer drivers are also affected. Antique Cards Drivers for some older SCSI cards have been removed from the basic NT Setup, and are now located in the DRVLIB directory on the NT distribution CD. To install NT on a system with one of these cards, you'll have to create a driver diskette by copying the relevant files onto a floppy before running NT Setup. Applets Explore the Web Microsoft's Internet Explorer 2.0 Web browser is included with the NT 4.0 distribution CD. To install it, start Control Panel/Add/Remove Programs, select the Windows NT Setup tab, double-click Accessories, and check the Internet Jumpstart Kit item. Click on OK and follow the instructions. Fatal Distraction NT 4.0 includes Microsoft's 3-D Space Cadet Pinball Game from the Win95 Plus Pack-it shows off the vastly improved video performance in this version. To install it, start Control Panel/Add/Remove Programs, select the Windows NT Setup tab, double-click Games, and check the Pinball item. Click on OK and follow the instructions. Terminal Reincarnation The old Windows Terminal accessory from NT 3.x is replaced by a new Hyperterminal accessory in NT 4.0. To install it, start Control Panel/Add/Remove Programs, select the Windows NT Setup tab, double-click Communications, and check the Hyperterminal item. Click on OK and follow the remaining instructions. Write Time for a Change The old Windows Write accessory from NT 3.x is replaced by a new WordPad accessory in NT 4.0. To install it, start Control Panel/Add/Remove Programs, select the Windows NT Setup tab, double-click Accessories, and check the WordPad item. Press OK and follow the on-screen instructions. New Image NT 4.0 comes with a completely new Imaging accessory developed by Wang. Install it by using Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs icon-select the Windows NT Setup tab, double-click Accessories, and check the Imaging item from the list. Then click on OK and follow the instructions. With this tool, you can view, edit and annotate a wide variety of common image-file formats. It also supports scanners and presumably will support fax when NT 4.0 fax support arrives later this year. Administration Wonderful Wizards NT 4.0 Server has a new set of Administrative Wizards, which provide semiautomatic step-by-step assistance in performing common administrative tasks, including: user account and user group management, file/folder access, print drivers, program setup, modem installation, network client setup, diskette creation and license management. To use the Wizards, select Start/Programs Administrative Tools, and pick Administrative Wizards from the list. Performance Detective Use NT Performance Monitor to log performance data over extended periods of time-it's particularly useful on servers. Start Performance Monitor, and select View/Log. Then select Edit/Add to Log, and add the objects you're interested in. Select Options/Log and specify a path for your log file, and how often you want to update the log. Then click on Start Log. To view the log data, select View/Chart, then Options/Data From... and type in the name of your log file. You can now add counters to the chart as usual. Policy Police NT 4.0 Server includes a Windows 95-compatible System Policy Editor (in the Start menu's Programs/Accessories/System Tools folder). It allows an administrator to restrict a particular user's application rights. To use the editor, start it and select File/New. To add policies for a specific user, select Edit/Add User and double-click on the user's icon. Clicking on any category in the resulting Properties dialog will expand it to list categories and settings available to restrict the user. Once you've created all the policies you need, save the file. Serve up the Internet Internet Information Server (IIS) 2.0 comes bundled with NT Server 4.0. To install this combination Web, gopher and ftp server: Run the Add/Remove Programs icon from the NT Server Control Panel, select the Install/Uninstall tab, and pick Microsoft Internet Information Server from the list. Then follow the on-screen instructions. Once IIS is installed, it's controlled using an Internet Server Manager (ISM) application located in the Microsoft Internet Server folder of Start/Programs. Browse the Possibilities IIS 2.0 in NT Server 4.0 can be controlled using either ISM or an administrative Web-page. The latter allows you to manage IIS from any Web browser. To start the Web-based version of ISM, launch Internet Explorer and type http://servername/iisadmin (if you're logged in locally you can use localhost for the servername). The resulting Web page provides practically the same functionality as the ISM application. Please note: Normal Web access is inherently insecure; we recommend that you use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) with encryption when using this tool. Gift Certificate ... IIS 2.0 in NT Server 4.0 supports Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for secure communication on the Internet-but to use SSL, you need a certificate. To get one, run Key Manager from the Start menu's Microsoft Internet Server folder. Select WWW Service from the list and choose Key/Create New Key. Fill in the form with your server's IP address and your company information-and create an alphanumeric password for your certificate. When you click on OK, Key Manager creates a certificate request file. Send that file to a Certificate Authority (CA) such as Nortel/Entrust (http:/www.nortel.com/entrust). For a fee, the CA will send a security certificate file. ... For Corporate Security When you've received your certificate file, open Key Manager again, select the key you created earlier, and select Key/Install Key Certificate. SSL-compatible browsers can now access your site via Secure HTTP protocol by typing https:// instead of http:// in front of the URL. You can require SSL to be used with specific IIS Web pages (such as the administrative Web-page described above) by checking the "Require secure SSL channel" box on the Directories tab of ISM (with the Web service selected). Auto Pilot Normally, Windows NT requires human intervention to log on after a reboot. But you can reset the server to log in automatically. Start the NT Registry Editor (REGEDT32.EXE) and edit HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/Winlogon. Set the AutoAdminLogon value to 1, the DefaultUserName and DefaultDomainName values to a valid user account and create a new value called DefaultPassword of type REG_SZ. Enter the password for the account into that value (a word of caution: the password will appear in clear text). The next time you reboot, the system will automatically log back on. Perfect Print Jobs Printer Management has changed significantly in NT 4.0. NT 3.x's Print Manager application has been replaced by the NT 4.0 Printers folder in Start/Settings. To install a new printer (or connect to a network printer) double-click the Printers folder's Add Printer icon. The Add Printer Wizard will appear. To install a new local printer, select the My Computer radio button. To connect with a print server, select the Network Print Server button. Then press the Next button and follow the on-screen directions. Once your printer is installed, it will have an icon in the Printers folder from which you can manage its print queue. What's in a Name? Like previous versions, NT 4.0 supports the Internet-standard Domain Name Service as a way to connect human-readable names (mips40.jruley.net) with 32-bit IP addresses (10.2.4.4). NT Server 4.0, however, adds a new DNS Server service. To install it, start Control Panel/Network, select the Services tab, and add Microsoft DNS Server. Microsoft DNS supports both static (UNIX-style) and Windows Internet Name Service (WINS)-compatible dynamic naming, and is controlled through a new DNS Manager application in the Start menu's Administrative Tools folder. Check out the Help/Table of Contents from the DNS Manager; it includes a long and helpful "how-to" list. No Postage Necessary NT 4.0 (Server and Workstation) includes a free workgroup version of Microsoft Mail that can be used in conjunction with the Windows Messaging e-mail client. To create a new Microsoft Mail Postoffice, start Control Panel/Microsoft Mail Postoffice, select Create a new Workgroup Postoffice and click on Next. Enter the path to a disk or directory for storing messages and user files for the postoffice, and click on Next. Confirm the directory, enter administrative account data in the resulting dialog, and click on OK. Mail will advise you that it has created the workgroup postoffice. It will also remind you that the postoffice directory needs to be shared on the network so other users can find it. Troubleshooting Resolving Conflicts An Interrupt Request (IRQ) conflict is a situation where two hardware devices are contending for a single IRQ. NT 4.0's improved Windows NT Diagnostics tool makes troubleshooting IRQ conflicts a snap. Start by checking the IRQ settings for the problem card in Control Panel. Then launch NT Diagnostics (from the Start menu's Programs/Administrative Tools folder), bring up its Resources tab and see what driver owns that IRQ. If the two disagree, you've found your problem. Wiretap NT NT Server 4.0 includes a software-based protocol analyzer or so-called "sniffer" dubbed Network Monitor. To install it, start Control Panel/Network, select the Services tab, click on Add and pick Network Monitor from the list. Once installed, a Network Monitor item is added to the Start menu's Administrative Tools folder. To start it, just select that menu item. To capture network data, Select Capture/Start. After a dozen or so network frames have been captured, select Capture/Stop and View. You'll see a screen with summary data (see John D. Ruley's December 1996 Windows NT column for more information). Lead the Pack As we went to press, NT 4.0 was just hitting the streets in shrink wrap. However, rumors were already circulating about its first service pack (SP). If past experience is any guide, SP1 for NT 4.0 will be available by the time you read this-look for it at Microsoft's support Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/support). Select Windows NT Workstation or Server from the GO! list, and look for information on service packs (NT 3.51 is up to SP4 at this writing). Web Site Problem Solver Microsoft's Web site has a support area (http://www.microsoft.com/support) with step-by-step guides to troubleshooting problems. To find them, pick Windows NT Workstation or Server from the GO! list. Topics with online guides available include: Applications, Directory Replication, Fault Tolerance, Licensing, Remote Access, Support Resources, User Profiles, File Systems, Joining a Domain, Printing, Setup and Trust Relationships. Dramatic Recovery If an NT 4.0 system should ever fail to boot, you might recover if you have an up-to-date Emergency Diskette. Normally, one is created during NT Setup. You can also make one using Windows NT's Repair Disk utility: Start/Run RDISK.EXE, and click on Create Repair Disk. Note that you should update your emergency diskette after installing new software or updating user accounts. Using the emergency diskette requires the three NT boot disks. If you don't have the disks, make them with NT Setup: Start/Run WINNT32.EXE /O from the \i386 (or \MIPS, \ALPHA or \PPC as appropriate) directory of your NT distribution CD. The /O switch instructs NT Setup to create the boot diskettes only. Obscuring the Fax Since NT 4.0 requires new video, printer and installable file system (IFS) drivers, some NT 3.x applications which depend on those drivers won't work. Applications affected by this problem include fax software that functions as a custom NT print driver, most NT remote control hosts (the client software usually continues to work), and Network File System (NFS) connectivity applications. If you use any application from these categories, check with your vendor before upgrading to NT 4.0-you'll be glad you did! Unbound On multiprotocol networks, it's easier to troubleshoot connectivity problems if only one protocol is active at a time. To disable network bindings for one or more protocols, start Control Panel/Network, and select the Bindings tab. To view the network bindings associated with any Service, click the [+] box to the left of the Service's icon. You can then select any binding and click the Disable button. When all bindings for protocols other than the one you want to test are disabled, click the OK button. Proper Protocol If you're having trouble with NT 4.0 systems "seeing" each other on a TCP/IP network, various IP troubleshooting tools are available. From an NT command prompt, run IPCONFIG.EXE to check the local IP addresses, then use PING.EXE to check low-level connectivity. Also, run NET VIEW to check high-level connectivity. Mailbox Repair If you should encounter a problem with NT 4.0's built-in Windows Messaging e-mail client, try the Inbox Repair Tool from the Start menu's Programs/Accessories/System Tools folder. Click on Browse and locate your .PST file (the file your local mail is stored in), then click on Start. The repair tool will scan the file looking for errors, and if necessary, will rebuild it for you. New Technology A No-RISC Offer Users who run NT 4.0 on RISC-based systems (Digital Alpha, Mips or PowerPC) will be pleased to learn that Microsoft has found a way for you to use Win95 applications. The new technology, called Windows Support for x86 Applications on RISC (WX86 for short), is currently being previewed on Microsoft's Web site, but may move. Check WINDOWS Magazine's Web site at http://www.winmag.com/ew/ntrisc.htm for the latest details. Directory Assistance As of this writing, the most exciting NT technology preview is Microsoft's Distributed File System (DFS). Based on technology developed for Cairo (NT 5.0), DFS acts as a network directory. When a client system attempts to access a DFS directory or file, the DFS server resolves the reference to the physical location of the file, which can be on another physical server that's not running DFS-or NT, for that matter. Whether DFS will continue to be available for download, or be rolled into a service pack, is not clear as of this writing. Check WINDOWS Magazine's DFS page at http://www.winmag.com/ew/dfs.htm for up-to-date information. Searching for Answers At press time, Microsoft was beta testing their Internet Search Server product for IIS on NT 4.0. The beta is available for download from a link on Microsoft's NT Server Web page (http://www.microsoft. com/ntserver). Developed using technology from Microsoft's forthcoming "Cairo" (NT 5.0) product, Internet Search Server makes it easy to create an automatically indexed search page for your Web content. Future Fling Microsoft has developed an NT-based proxy server (currently in beta test under the code name Catapult) for NT Server 4.0. Catapult can function as a proxy at the Windows Socket level-supporting any socket-based application (including most Internet applications) or as a direct Web proxy. Final distribution plans for this product were not clear at press time-check Microsoft's NT Server Web page (http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver) for the latest information. Exchange Dead Letters You can delete messages permanently by right-clicking on the deleted items bin and then choosing Empty Folder. You can also hold onto deleted messages and later remove them manually: Select Tools/Options, choose the General tab, and uncheck "Empty the Deleted Items folder upon exiting." Total Recall When you send a message, it's first passed on to the Outbox. If you have second thoughts about sending it, there's a brief window of opportunity to click on Quick-which will cancel the message prior to distribution. Raid on Mail You can install Exchange so that it scales properly to accommodate your company's growth. First, buy a system with the most powerful processor available-you might even consider one that supports more than one processor. Next, keep the transaction logs on separate, mirrored disks. Note that Exchange's performance can actually degrade when using RAID arrays. However, RAID arrays will provide much better I/O performance for the Information Store. The optimum Exchange Server configuration will have a combination of a hardware Raid 5 disk array and RAID 1 (Mirrored) disks sets. Finally, get lots of RAM. Microsoft's recommended minimum is 16MB, but Windows Magazine suggests nothing less than 32MB. Mail Migration If you're a local Exchange user, store data in the Private Information Store. However, every month or so migrate your Exchange files to a PST file for archiving purposes. To do so, move into the Properties in Exchange client, Add a new Personal Folders File and create the file in a user directory on a server where it can be backed up. You can then drag messages to be archived to the PST file. Your personal folder can also be removed from the properties of Exchange client. When the archive needs to be recalled, you can add your Personal Folders File back into Exchange client. The Weakest Link By default, Exchange will not set up the link monitors, which check the status of various connections to other sites. To activate a monitor, select Tools from the menu bar and choose Start Monitor. Monitors can also be started by typing Admin /m from the command line. Backup Plan If you don't have a third-party backup product, you can use the backup utility built into NT to backup Exchange Server. By the way, that utility is actually upgraded during Exchange Server's installation to support the on-line backup of Exchange. There is one caveat: The on-line backups support only the information and directory databases. If you want to backup other Exchange components, you have to take Exchange off-line or use a third-party backup product. SimServer To better estimate how much hardware horsepower Exchange will require, check out LoadSim. It's included on the Exchange Server CD and can simulate a specified number of electronic mail, scheduling and public folder users on Exchange Server. Access Denied If your workstation can't access Exchange Server, check out the RPINGC32.EXE utility. It's included on the Exchange Server CD-ROM and lets you run a remote procedure call (RPC) Ping from the server or from a workstation. Another simple way to test your server configuration is to load the Exchange client on the server. If the client works fine on the server, then the problem exists on the network. The Root of the Matter Any errors that occur during the Exchange Server installation can be tracked though the SETUP.LOG file. This file is located at the root of where Exchange has been installed. In addition to step-by-step information about the installation procedure, it offers data about the state of Exchange Services and any errors that were found loading the services. Move Mail on the Net Exchange clients can connect to Exchange Server over the Internet through Internet Service Providers. First, make sure Internet routers and firewalls have TCP port 135 open so that Exchange remote procedure calls can communicate over the Internet. You will also need to add the Exchange Server's name and IP address in your HOST file. Test communications with the RPC Ping utility included on the Exchange CD to verify that you can actually "talk" to your Exchange Server over the Internet. Next, authenticate the Domain in which the Exchange Server resides. A simple way to make that happen is to uncheck "Network security during logon." You'll find this option on the Advanced tab of Exchange Server Service within the Exchange client. Log Off Check the event log daily to make sure that your system is running cleanly, but only use Exchange Server's diagnostic logs when there is a problem or you suspect that there's a problem. Turning on all of the logs will generate a great deal of unneeded information. Site Management It's possible to manage all of your Exchange sites from your NT desktop. To do so, run the Exchange Setup and when prompted for the Setup Options, uncheck Exchange Server and only install the Exchange Administrator and the OnLine books. The Online books are also optional, but they come in handy. Pack it On Service Pack 2 for Microsoft Exchange Server should be applied immediately. To find the pack, go to the Web page http://www.microsoft.com/kb/softlib/ and search for Exchange. The Service Pack requires that the Exchange Services be shut down temporarily, so you'll need to install the Service Pack during off-hours. Local Rules Local groups can be used only if the Exchange servers are in the same site and the servers are Domain Controllers within the same Windows NT domain. Networking Broadcast Quality If you're adding Windows NT systems to LAN Manager 2.x domains, you'll need to enable LAN Manager-compatible broadcasts in the NT systems. Click on the Control Panel/Network icon, select the Server object and click on the Configuration button. In the dialog box, check the Make Browser Broadcasts to LAN Manager 2.x Clients box. Shut down and restart the system to make it visible to LAN Manager users. Messenger Service If messages don't reach their destination(s) when using the "net send" command, turn on the Alerter and Messenger services in the Server applet of the Control Panel. Also, make sure that the intended recipient is not logged in to multiple machines (only the machine first logged into will receive the message). Legal Advice To display legal warnings on a user's monitor when he logs in, go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon key. Next, add two keys of type REG_SZ named "LegalNoticeCaption" and "LegalNoticeText" to act as the dialog title and body respectively. Think Synch Synchronize the time on your NT system with the domain controller or another NT machine, by typing: net time \\nts /set on the command line, where nts is the name of the NT machine with which you want to synchronize. UNIX Unity To mount an NTFS drive letter from an NT server onto a UNIX machine using NFS, check out Sunsoft's PCNFS or NetManage's Chameleon software packages. Hello, Out There When a Windows NT system has trouble accessing a network, try the net send and /BROADCAST commands. To use them, type net send /BROADCAST Is there anybody out there? If the system is working properly, the text message "Is there anybody out there?" will appear on the screen of all LAN Manager and NT systems on the local network segment. If not, then even low-level data packets are not being transmitted, indicating that the network card is misconfigured or the wrong driver is installed. Light at the End of the Tunnel Save money on long-distance dial-up connections with the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) support built into NT 4.0. It allows you to create a virtual private network (VPN) on the Internet. With PPTP set up at both ends of a network connection, you can have a secure VPN over the Internet-eliminating long-distance charges (other than what you pay for Internet access). Mistaken Identity In some cases, NT 4.0 can fail to recognize a second drive in a 2-disk EIDE setup. The EIDE adapter is misidentified as a generic ATAPI controller by NT 4.0 Setup, which automatically loads the ATAPI.SYS driver. To correct the problem, disable ATAPI.SYS (using Control Panel/Devices) and load the appropriate EIDE driver. Remote Diagnosis In NT 4.0, the Windows NT Diagnostics tool has been modified to permit network operation, letting you retrieve information for a remote computer as if you were logged onto the system console. To do this, start NT Diagnostics (from the Start menu's Programs/Administrative Tools folder) and use the File/Select Computer... menu. The only information you can't view remotely will be certain details on the Display tab, and Environment properties for the locally logged-in user. ********************************************** Copyright © 1997 CMP Media Inc. WINDOWS Magazine (ISSN 1060-1066) is published monthly with two bonus issues a year for $24.94 per year by CMP Media Inc., 600 Community Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030. Periodicals postage paid at Manhasset, NY, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to WINDOWS Magazine, P.O. Box 420215, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0215. Registered for GST as CMP Media Inc. GST# 131288078, Agreement Number 0225932. 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