The  following  review  appeared  in the April 11,  1994  issue  of  Infoworld 
Magazine on page 30.

                      Window Manager / Brian Livingston

          Control your Windows configuration with these nifty tools


Having  multiple Windows configurations is a royal pain. I've written  before 
about  trying  to  maintain different configurations for  different  users  by 
switching  between separate WIN.INI and PROGMAN.INI files. But  changes  that 
are made to INI files by installed applications only affect the current set of 
INI files. So this approach works only when you have a very simple  alternate 
configuration that rarely changes. For example, you want your child to see  a 
Program Manager with nothing but a Games group, which you set up.

Now  a  new  edition  of some much needed tools provides  a  powerful  way  to 
maintain alternate Windows configurations on the same machine - with a  single 
set of INI files.

The  software is called Tessler's Nifty Tools (TNT). This is a collection  of 
some 30 DOS and Windows utilities, each of which solves a specific problem.

I  last wrote about TNT in the August 30,1993 issue  ("Microsoft's  SmartDrive 
update  confronts  common  data loss," page 28). At that  time,  one  of  its 
utilities,  VERS,  gave  me a handy way to trick a program  that  requires  a 
certain DOS version, but isn't fooled by Microsoft's SETVER.

With  release  3.6, TNT adds a versatile item to its  toolbox  -  Config 
Control   (CFGCNTRL.EXE).  This  utility  allows  you  to  determine   whether 
particular lines exist within WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI, or any text file.

You can then add or delete certain lines or whole sections. In this way,  you 
can determine the Windows configuration you want in place when Windows  starts 
up.

Portable computers provide one example of how handy this can be. Laptop 
users  may  be connected directly to a network while in the office,  but  must 
dial in to the network when on the road.

Windows  handles  this  kind  of situation poorly.  You  might  need  to  use 
different  video  drivers:  one  for an office monitor  and  another  for  the 
internal monochrome screen when the monitor is not available.

Similarly,  you  might  need different PROTOCOL.INI settings  when  using  LAN 
software in the office than when using remote-access software.

Trying  to  maintain  separate SYSTEM.INI and  PROTOCOL.INI  files  for  these 
different configurations is a nightmare.

With  Config Control, you can use a single set of INI files. You first use  a 
batch file or other means to determine whether the LAN or remote configuration 
is  appropriate. Config Control then deletes inappropriate lines in your  INI 
files and adds the lines you need.

This  process is controlled from commands in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, or  in  a 
separate  text file you create. Usually, you need to edit only two  or  three 
lines in an INI file in order to switch the affected drivers.

Other  TNT  utilities  provide  more capabilities  that  Windows  lacks.  For 
example,  Windows  has almost no capability to detect  current  conditions  in 
order to change its configuration - you usually must run setup.

Tessler's  If-On-Screen  (IFONSCRN) comes to your rescue. It can  detect  any 
text that is displayed on your screen and take appropriate action.

For example, if access to a network device fails (because the network is  down 
or  not  attached), If-On-Screen can read the "Device not found"  message  and 
branch accordingly. With this capability, you can anticipate situations  that 
a Windows configuration should be able to handle.

Once  you've detected the current status, you can run a Config Control  script 
or pass keystrokes to any foreground application.

You can even control any mechanical device that's attached to a parallel port. 
This  allows you to set off a loud alarm attached to a computer that is  in  a 
distant room (using the IfBuzz device that Tessler's company also sells), have 
a dialer call your pager, and so on.

Send  $29  for  CfgCntrl, $29 for IfOnscrn, or $159 for the whole  set  of  30 
utilities.