Problems with Win 95 and Compaq Shell

[Jo_24]

I have Win 95 on a Compaq Presario 4760. I recently downloaded a new virus checker, and it told me that I had two viruses - one called mscsd.exe at c:\windows\options and the other called sointgr.exe at c:\windows. I deleted both of these files.
I am now getting a message that is worrying me a little every time I turn the computer on:
"Compaq Environment. Your system shell has changed. The Compaq software will work with your new shell, but the new shell will not work with your Compaq software. Do you wish to keep your Compaq software working?"

Have I inadvertantly deleted some important files in removing the 'viruses'? If not, then how do I sort out the system shell problem? Aside from installing the new virus checker, I haven't done a great deal to the computer recently. I don't want the computer to crash at the moment, as I am currently in the middle of my dissertation!

[Norman_21]

OK Jo,

Goto Start>Programs>Startup
and post the results here. Also, look at the very bottom right corner of the screen when Win95 Start. Do you seen any icons sitting at the task bar. Try disabling them and set them not to load when Windows start.

Please keep us updated.
Thanks and good luck.

[Jo_24]

Ok - When I do Start, Programs, Start up, I get: AntiVirus & Trojan (the new program I installed), Compaq VideoCD Watcher, Microsoft Office and Norton Program Scheduler.

On the task bar, I have the Norton Anti Virus, No-Ads (a pop-up blocker) and the Program Scheduler (along with the Compaq Easy Access Buttons, the Home Base and the Volume button) How do I stop any of these loading at start up?

[Norman_21 · Accepted solution]

Hi again,

Sorry for the delay. I think you gonna have to leave the Norton Anti-Virus.
Try right click on the Compaq software icons that is in the task bar, then look for properties to disable windows to load it at startup. The more Windows load programs at start the lower performance you get. However, if you didn't find any option to trun it off, goto the Control Panel> Add/Remove Programs and see if you can remove it from there.
To remove the programs from The Startup option:
Start>Settings>TaskBar & Start Menu.
Click on the Advanced Tab>Click Remove>Select StartUp and then delete all of them.
Note:
Deleting the programs from the StartUP will not delete the programs, it'll just prevent those programs from loading at startup.

Hope this help.

[Jo_24]

Cheers - I've kept Norton appearing at Start up, but got rid of the rest. I've also got rid of the new anti-virus program - and the computer seems to be behaving itself, although it still crashes fairly regularly - problem with 95 as a whole I think! :)

[Jon Finley]

Some general cleanup tips with Windows 95

Monthly:
1. Look for and remove any temporary files you find. These will be files that start with the '~' character, and or end with '.tmp'.

2. Run scandisk and defrag.

3. Make sure that you have at least 30Meg of disk space free for 95's dynamic swap file.

Add memory. Windows 95 LOVES to have 64Meg of RAM or more. If you are running current versions of software, then look at 128Meg of RAM.

Windows 95 is VERY dependant on the first 640K of RAM, and wants to see at least 540K free at startup (at your desktop).

To check, click on Start, then Run, type 'COMMAND' and press enter. Type 'MEM /C/P' press enter, and look for the convensional memory free value.

If it is less than 540K free (or if you just want to attempt to optimize it further), then do the following.

while still at the DOS prompt,
enter the following commands:

copy c:\config.sys c:\config.old
copy c:\autoexec.bat c:\autoexec.old

sysedit

Within the System Editor, locate the CONFIG.SYS window.

Use the following as a template:

C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
FILESHIGH=99
BUFFERSHIGH=10,0
LASTDRIVEHIGH=Z
DOS=HIGH,UMB


(Note that the above lines should be the first lines in the CONFIG.SYS file.)

Any additional lines that start with 'DEVICE=' can be changed to 'DEVICEHIGH'.

Save the changes by clicking on File, Save.


Find the AUTOEXEC.BAT window. Any line entry that launches a TSR (Norton, DOSKey, CD-ROM, etc.) can be changed so that the command line starts with 'LH' or 'LOADHIGH'.

Again, click on File, Save to save the changes.

Last, close the open windows, and re-start windows 95.

To check the results, run MEM /C/P as outlined above.

If this is too technical, post a copy of your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files here, and I'll post what the changes should be.

Jon

[Jo_24]

Hi Jon,
I've got as far as sysedit, but I get bad command or file name come up. In Dos I am working under the line C:\WINDOWS\Profiles\Jo\Desktop
should I have gone back to just C:\WINDOWS?

[Norman_21]

Hi Jo again,

To run the sysedit, go back to the Windows GUI and Click Start>Run then type sysedit and press Enter Key.

To find about your path configuration, just type path at the command prompt and see if Windows has the correct path that you get when you are at the command prompt.

Hope this help.
Good tips from Jon Finley.

[Jo_24]

Cheers guys! :) It's not freed up a lot of memory - but it gives me a little more space to play around with!

With regards to the system config - you said that the lines you posted should be the first in the file. I've only added in the LASTDRIVE HIGH line, and made the DEVICEHIGH etc changes you suggested. After adjustment, mine now reads:

DEVICEHIGH=C:\Compaq\Support\dfilter.sys
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS I=E800-EFFF
DOS=HIGH,UMB,AUTO
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\CPQIDECD.SYS /D:IDECD001
FILESHIGH=99
BUFFERSHIGH=10,0
FCBSHIGH=10
SWITCHES=/F
LASTDRIVEHIGH=Z

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\DISPLAY.SYS CON=(EGA,850)
Country=044,850,c:\windows\COMMAND\country.sys

Should I change the order of the lines so that they match yours, or are they ok as they stand?

[Norman_21]

Jo again,

Here is the update. If you have any error or problems, please drop a line:

@echo off (this will hide the following during boot up)
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:ON (Turn the Test Memory to ON)
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS I=E800-EFFF
DOS=HIGH,UMB,AUTO
rem DEVICEHIGH=C:\Compaq\Support\dfilter.sys (Remark this line so it will be ignored during bootup time, it's just a driver which I assume that you removed from the startup, if you get any error remove the "rem").
FILESHIGH=99
BUFFERSHIGH=10,0
LASTDRIVEHIGH=Z
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\CPQIDECD.SYS /D:IDECD001
FCBSHIGH=10
SWITCHES=/F

Good luck.

[Jo_24]

I've got a couple of errors when reloading:

Unrecognised command config.sys
There is an error in your config.sys file line 1
Code page operation not supported on this device
Device error during select.

Does this mean it didn't like the @echo off? I've removed the rem from the DEVICEHIGH=C:\Compaq\Support\dfilter.sys line as well, to see if that makes a difference.

[Norman_21]

Ok Jo,

Try turning the Memtest to off and see what will happen.

Let me know how it goes.I'm following up now.

Thanks

[Norman_21]

Jo,

I've found this article good for you for future use and general education. Please save this link in your favorites.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/default.asp?url=/technet/archive/win95/rk17_tun.asp

Good luck again.

[Jo_24]

Cheers! That's now sorted the problem out - it all reloads fine without errors now.

I'll take a look through the article - though not being a 'techie', I have already spotted bits where I don't understand all the words!

Thank you both for all your help.

[Jon Finley]

'@echo off' is only used in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

From DOS days, when the default was to display (echo) all of the commands and their output to the screen. ECHO OFF will turn off the echo, but the command itself displayed on-screen. The '@' sign was added somewhere around DOS 3.3 to hide the display of the 'echo off' command.

Also, the first three entries:
DEVICEHIGH=C:\Compaq\Support\dfilter.sys
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS I=E800-EFFF

shouldn't have DEVICEHIGH on them. HIGHMEM and EMM386 are the two drivers that create high memory and enable management of the memory.

DEVICE=C:\Compaq\Support\dfilter.sys
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS I=E800-EFFF


Also, in Windows, you have a tool called System Info (Start, Accessories, System Tools, System Info) that will show you memory usage (and LOTS of other things).

You are including a range of memory (E800-EFFF). If you want to try to increase the amount of free conventional memory, using the tool, you can find other areas of memory that are NOT being used, and include them as well.

Jon

[Norman_21]

Hi Jo again,

Jon is right about the @echo off, it is mostly used with batch files, when you write a dos script in a *.bat or in autoexec.bat which is a batch file.It has no effect within the windows configuration environment. You make a search in google for "@echo off tutorials".
However, if you want to optimize the memory in your PC, a good way is to install the memmaker utility which was used in DOS version. This utility will allow to optimize the memory the way you want and that's when your config.sys settings change.
here is a good step by step
article.
http://2fix.bvu.edu/help/apps/win95/E9J2HBQ9L.ASP

Sorry it's along time since I used Win95 and DOS. You may consider upgrading your OS to Win2K unless the applications you are using are only supported by Win95.

Thanks and good luck.

[Jo_24]

Jon wrote:
>You are including a range of memory E800->EFFF). If you want to try to increase the >amount of free conventional memory, using the >tool, you can find other areas of memory that >are NOT being used, and include them as well.

How can I find which areas of memory aren't being used? When I go into the memory section of System Tools, this is what I get. Sadly it doesn't make a great deal of sense to me!

x00000000 - x0009FFFF System board extension for PnP BIOS
x000A0000 - x000AFFFF Compaq Presario
x000B0000 - x000BFFFF Compaq Presario
x000C0000 - x000C7FFF Compaq Presario
x000E0000 - x000E1FFF Motherboard resources
x000EE000 - x000EFFFF Motherboard resources
x000F0000 - x000FFFFF System board extension for PnP BIOS
x00100000 - x017FFFFF System board extension for PnP BIOS
x40000000 - x43FFFFFF Compaq Presario
x44000000 - x440000FF NETGEAR FA310TX Fast Ethernet PCI Adapter
xFFFE0000 - xFFFFFFFF Motherboard resources

Xman: I'll try the Dos program - will let you know how I get on! I did consider upgrading the OS, but with only a 1.75 G hard drive (of which I have 401 M left), I didn't think it would fit! And as the computer itself is now over 7 years old, I wasn't sure how much longer the rest of the computer's components would last, even if I installed a new hard drive.

[Jo_24]

(And apologies for the arrows in the quoting of Jon's bit - I didn't realise that the reply form was that much narrower than the forum!)

[Jo_24]

3rd post in a row! I'm afraid I can't install the Dos program - I don't have the Win 95 CD (I am at uni, and it is somewhere at home, hidden away in the frenzy of us moving house (sadly this has now been the state for 3 years!))

[Jon Finley]

On the 95 CD is MSD (Microsoft Diagnostics) under "Memory", it will give you a visual chart of what is free and what is used.

\other\msd\msd.exe

send me an email and I'll send it to you.

js_finley@hotmail.com

BTW.. I thought that MEMMAKER was an old DOS utility 5.0 - 6.21 I can't find it on my 95 CD.

Jon

[Jon Finley]

Jo emailed a question about MSD, and how to increase that amount of available memory.

MSD - shows us the first 1024 K of memory (conventional memory DOS, WFW, 95, 98, ME)
from A000 to FFFF and whether it is currently used or free memory. If it's FREE memory, we can add it in for use by DOS.

Note that each 'F' or 'U' (16 characters in total) = 0x40 or 64 bytes an entry starting at E000 ends at E03F, so counting across we woud have:
EC00, EC3F, EC7F, ECBF, ECFF, ED3F, ED7F, EDBF, EDFF, EE3F, EE7F, EEBF, EEFF, EF3F, EF7F, EFBF, EFFF

So for EF3F its memory area is from EF00 to EF3F with the next area starting at
EF40 and ending at EF7F.

Lets say that MSD shows that we have a memory area FREE that ranges from E000 to E67F but that E680-E7FF is used already. You already had an included range of E800-EFFF so the entry would appear like the following:

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS I=E000-E67F I=E800-EFFF


Ok..... class dismissed :-)

Jon