







 The Cat's Out of The Bag!


                The Twenty Pound Black and White Furry Windows Expert!
                       Copyright 1995 by Bob Miller


      Bob Miller's  Stanley Does Windows

      Purrfectly Yours   by Stanley

 Dear Stanley,

      I've just switched to Windows 95 and I'm bewildered.  Do I still need
      to use SmartDrive?   What about Memmaker?

 Dear Bewildered,

      SmartDrive still serves a purpose for sessions being run from a prior
      DOS version or in SAM but is counterproductive when '95 is running.
      Memmaker still works, be absolutely certain, though, that you use the
      95 version and not the old one.  It's not needed by most folks!


 Dear Stanley,

      The swap file is using a HUGE amount of space on my hard drive.
      Should I change it?  How?

 Dear Space conscious,

      You didn't say which version of Windows you are running. If '95,
      leave it alone.  '95 uses a dynamic swap file that is much brighter
      than you are. However, if you are running an older version of
      Windows, you have encountered the brain dead algorithm that
      determines the size of the PSF. It is always too large.  Most people
      find that a 4 MB PSF is just about purrfect.


 Dear Stanley,

      How come you know so much?  Aren't you just a cat?

 Dear dumb-dumb.

      Just a cat indeed!  Cats were once worshipped as Gods and we have
      never forgotten it.  We have spent thousands of years domesticating
      you poor humans and, clearly, still have a ways to go.  But, to
      answer your question, I started with Windows 1.0 and have used and
      tweaked every version since.  I also get and read four national
      on-line message nets every day that are devoted to Windows.

      But there is no substitute for trying things yourself.  Just make
      sure that you have a current backup of all your important files.


 Dear Stanley,

      I started my system today and got a corrupt group message.  What
      happened and how do I prevent it from happening again?

 Dear Corrupt,

      Usually, this is caused by shutting off Windows while it is still
      running instead of exiting to a DOS prompt first as you should.
      But, sometimes, it just happens.

      It is easy enough to recreate the lost group (Program Manager, File,
      New, Program Group) but it is better to have copies of all your .grp
      files (and .ini ones too) safely stored so that a rebuild is nothing
      more than a copy job.  The .grp files are stored in Progman.ini.


 Dear Stanley,

      I have 16 megs of ram and 606 free when Windows starts but, when
      adding a new program, I get very low on memory messages or all my
      icons turn black.  What is causing this?

 Dear Hi-color user,

      You are running afoul of the maximum limit of icons per group window.
      This number is directly proportional to the depth of color you are
      using. At 256 colors, you can have 50 icons, at 65k colors, 27 and at
      16.6mm, 16. No way around this so either reduce your color depth or
      use more groups. BTW, you are limited to 40 groups no matter what.


 Dear Stanley,

      I find Explorer hard to use.  I wish Microsoft had left File
      Manager behind.  Can I use my old one?

 Dear Missing,

      You don't need to.  There is a new, but not improved, version in
      '95.  Just use the RUN command to start Winfile.


 Dear Stanley,

      What is the true meaning of life?

 Dear True,

      42. Tuna fish is also acceptable


 Purrfectly yours,

 Stanley

 We understand from our sources, with the understanding, of course, that
 confidentiality will be preserved, that a special friend of Stanley's
 paid him a call over the Thanksgiving weekend. His handlers have leaked
 the news that Turkey is an acceptable substitute for tuna and can be sent
 in lieu of an honorarium to his human bob.miller@msn.com The Butterball
 brand is one of his favorites.


                                   ww











