   A Shareware Product Review:


                              Change Of Address

                      Copyright 1995 by John M. Campbell

 Microsoft Windows 95 will be on the street by the time this edition of
 WindoWatch appears, and countless copies of the successor to Win 3.x will
 be in the hands of users anxious to upgrade. Perhaps the most common
 installation question will be whether to allow '95 to overwrite the old
 Windows, or to install it to a new directory. Choosing the first option
 will destroy the Windows 3.x system, making it impossible to retreat back
 to the old and familiar interface that may have taken countless hours to
 fine tune and tweak.  Choosing to install '95 to a new directory will
 preserve the existing Windows, but will require reinstalling almost every
 Win 3.x application under '95 - not a prospect that most people would
 relish.  What to do?

 I believe it was Jeff Marchi who first proposed a good solution to the
 problem of preserving a 3.x Windows installation, while still having all
 Windows apps available for use in '95.  Jeff's solution involved copying
 the Windows 3.x directory, and its subdirectories, to a new location
 under a different name.  Then, the user would manually change all INI
 files to point to that directory.  For example, if C:\WINDOWS was copied
 to C:\WINOLD, all of the INI files (in the WINOLD directory) that had
 lines pointing to C:\WINDOWS would be edited to substitute C:\WINOLD.
 Windows 95 would then be installed over WINOLD.

 Jeff's solution does work, but it involves a lot of searching and editing
 of INI files if one has a multitude of Windows applications.  Of course,
 most text editors have a search and replace feature, but the user still
 must look at every INI file.  If only there was an easier way to automate
 the editing,  I thought.

 Then, I saw the featured utility Change of Address (COA) in the
 June 13, 1995 issue of PC Magazine.  COA was developed to ease
 the task of moving Windows applications to a different drive or
 directory, by changing address strings in INI, GRP and Registration
 Database entries.  The utility features a browser that makes it easy to
 choose which entries to change, as well as INI and GRP file editors, in
 case the user prefers to make changes manually. I quickly realized that
 COA was made to order for the task at hand.

 Here is how I used COA to prepare my system for the Windows 95
 Preview Edition, which I installed on Partition I of my second
 hard drive.  First, I copied E:\WINDOWS and all its subdirectories to
 I:\W95.  Then, I edited my path statement in AUTOEXEC.BAT to point to
 I:\W95.  It was now time to use  COA.  (If you decide to follow this
 procedure, be sure to change the drive and directory names I use in the
 following explanation to those you will be using.)

 COA loads with three windows visible; File List, Find and Replace, and
 Registration Database Viewer.  Clicking the "+" icon located below the
 File List Window brings up a standard dialog box labeled "Get GRP and INI
 Files."  We aren't concerned with GRP files, since all of the Windows 3.x
 apps will remain where they were.  But a number of INI files have lines
 that point to Windows itself.  These lines must be edited.


 At this point,  you would choose the "I:\W95" directory.  A list of all
 INI and  GRP files will appear in the File Name window of the Dialog Box.
 Choose "INI Files Only" in the File Type field.  You may Shift- Click on
 all of the files, or only on those you know contain a reference that
 needs to be changed.  Now, click on "OK."  All of the chosen INI files
 will appear in COA's File List Window.  Next, move over to the Find and
 Replace Window, and enter "E:\WINDOWS" in the Find What: field.  Move
 down to the Replace With: field and specify "I:\W95."  Click the "DO IT"
 icon.

 That's it!  COA will search for all occurrences of "E:\WINDOWS"
 in every INI file, and change the reference to "I\W95."  And if any
 Registration entries contain a reference to "E:\WINDOWS," those will be
 changed too.

 You are now ready to install Windows 95 over the I\W95 copy of
 Windows 3.x.  Have fun!

 I didn't mention several other features COA offers.  Remember that the
 program was written to ease moving Windows apps to different directories.
 COA has both INI and GRP file editors.  Any of these type files can be
 brought into the appropriate editor and modified as needed.

 Also, the Windows Registration Database can be imported into a special
 window, where it appears in tree form.  Any branch can be expanded and
 edited.  To edit a line,  just drag it into the Find What: box under Find
 and Replace.  You can then replace the line with a new string, as you did
 with the INI files.  Be careful, though.  Every occurrence of the
 selected string in the Registration Database will be replaced - not just
 the line you started with!

 I obtained COA Version 1.0 as COA.ZIP (272625 bytes) from the
 Utilities Section of the Ziffnet TIPS Forum.  (The filename may be
 slightly different now, if a later version is available.)  COA can also
 be found on Channel 1 as COA.ZIP - Conference 57, and on other BBSes that
 make PC Magazine utilities available for download.  If a BBS separates PC
 Magazine utilities into monthly files, look for June, 1995.

 John M. Campbell is a regular WindoWatch contributing writer. He the
 manager of the Elkins office of the W.V. Unemployment Compensation Board.


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