~The PC Guru's Toolbox By Neil Hopkins It's a common enough phenomena - you've had a PC for a while, tinkered around a bit with the config.sys and autoexec.bat files to get a game running, mentioned it to someone and before you know it you've aquired a reputation as a techie PC guru. Now, whenever a friend, workmate or distant relation takes the plunge and buys a PC you find yourself on the recieving end of plaintive cries for help in setting up, configuring and just plain sorting out their new toy. Fortunatly, there is a way to do this that involves the minimum of fuss and long winded training of the PC novice - the PC guru's toolbox. Over the ten years or so that I have been using PCs for work and play I have accumulated a useful selection of utilities that I keep neatly bundled together in a directory that I call 'util'. It doesn't really matter what you call it as long as it is included in the path command in your autoexec file :- PATH=C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS;C:\UTIL The utilities fall into several categories : Setups and Configurations ------------------------- Autoexec and config files cause more bewilderment for the average PC user than everything else put together. Every game seems to insist on a subtly and inexplicably different combination of EMMs, BLASTERS, HIMEMS and MOUSES (or should that be mice!!). Relax. 99% of setups fall into one of three categories. The bare minimum (for games like Doom that use dos extenders or in built memory managers), EMM setup for most other games that use emm386 and windows setup for running windows. How do you swap between them ? Well there are several options, you can set up a boot disk for each alternative - this is actually quite a good option for complete novices. You can combine all of the options in one file with a boot time menu - the drawback to this is that installations that update these files usually can't cope with boot menus and up wreaking all sorts of havoc. The most practical option is to keep copies of each setup, and switch between them with batch files (see later). The setups are as follows, obviously these may need tweaking with diffent mouse or sound card drivers, or possibly vesa drivers and mscdex for windows/multimedia. 1. The Bare Minimum ------------------- autoexec.min prompt $p$g path c:\dos;c:\util config.min device=c:\dos\himem.sys devicehigh=c:\dos\mouse.sys dos=high buffers = 30 files = 30 2. EMM setup ------------ autoexec.emm prompt $p$g path c:\dos;c:\util config.emm device=c:\dos\himem.sys device=c:\dos\emm386.exe devicehigh=c:\dos\mouse.sys dos=high files=30 stacks=9,256 3. Windows ---------- autoexec.win c:\dos\smartdrv.exe /x @echo off prompt $p$g path c:\windows;c:\dos;c:\util set temp=c:\tmp win config.win device=c:\dos\setver.exe device=c:\dos\himem.sys device=c:\dos\emm386.EXE noems device=c:\dos\mouse.sys dos=high files=30 stacks=9,256 It is also worth backing up windows .INI files from time to time, particularly before you install a new bit of software. Batch Files ----------- To switch between setups, all you need is a simple batch file to overwrite the existing setting with the appropriate one from the util directory. emm.bat copy \util\autoexec.emm \autoexec.bat copy \util\config.emm \config.sys cls @echo EMM set up - now press Reset ... You can set up a minimum.bat and a windows.bat in a similar fashion. It may be worth setting up simple batch files to run various games and programs, so that all your friend has to do to run doom for example is type 'minimum', reboot the PC and type 'doom'. It is probably best to avoid using menu front ends to launch games, unless you can find one that makes minimal demands on memory. File compression utilities -------------------------- Your util directory should certainly include a copy of pkzip, pkunzip and pkzipfix as this is probably the most widely used format for compressed files. The other two that are worth having are arj and lha, as they do crop up on some BBS systems. I use two batch files for zipping up and unzipping directory structures as follows : zipdir.bat pkzip -Pru c:\zip\%1 %1/*.* pause deltree %1 unzdir.bat pkunzip -d c:\zip\%1 cd %1 These files can be used as follows. Suppose that you have a game with various subdirectories that you want to compress and leave on your hard disk to come back to later. All you need to do is type zipdir xwing which will then create xwing.zip in your c:\zip directory, and remove the uncompressed files to save space. To get the game (and it's directories) back simply type unzdir xwing which will uncompress the game and put you in the right place. Note that if you are using doublespace or stacker, this will not save you a great deal of space, but it may still be convenient to archive directory structures before backing something up. Also, the zipdir command won't re-compress files if they haven't changed (assuming that the archive is still in place), so you can, for example, play xwing for a bit, zipdir it, and it should just save your pilot files. If you use windows, a front end for zip is useful - my personal preference is winzip. It is very useful to be able to select a zipfile, look at the contents, unzip it to a check-out directory, virus scan it and have it set up in a program group, all from a single mouse click. Winzip will also manage arj and lha archives. Disk Utilities -------------- These are obviously a matter of preference, scandisk and defrag from dos 6 are fine for most instances, but norton utilities or PC tools disk fix are worth having on a separate disk. As an aside, it is a wise precaution to have boot disks with all of your disk fixing utilities to hand in case of extreme hard disk disasters. Unlikely, but it is always better to be safe than sorry! File Viewers/Editors -------------------- A byte editor is useful, as is a simple text editor in case dos edit is not present. PC vi is my own somewhat idiosyncratic choice, as I am used to using UNIX, probably not recommended for casual users. As for graphics files, cshow is the compuserve file viewer that will let you look at all GIFs, BMPs etc. A MOD file player may come in handy, but these items are not crucial - it depends what you use your pc for in day to day use. Other Files ----------- Always make sure that you have a copy of any SVGA vesa drivers that you use - univesa is a good general purpose driver that seems to work well with most SVGA cards that I have used. Also, any sound card set up files and drivers should be backed up to util. Conclusion ---------- PC gurus don't necessarily have to know more about the more esoteric bits of a PC than other people, it is just a case of finding which things work well, making a note of them and pulling them together. So, when you have collected all of your favorite utilities together, as opposed to being scattered through the DOS and WINDOWS directories, and copied them onto a handy disk, it should be a simple task to set up a new PC (or restore one after a disaster) with the minimum of hassle. Now all you need to worry about is setting up Windows 95 when it arrives!