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Service Hints & Tips |
Document ID: DSHY-3V2K5X |
CrossBrand - OS/2 Hints & Tips
Applicable to: World-Wide
OS/2 Hints and Tips
O If the system locks up, before rebooting with CTRL-ALT-DEL, try CTRL-ESC. Do not hit additional keys and do not move the mouse. Wait for up to one minute. Either the Window List or an error message should pop up. You may close the offending application at this point; allow some time for it to close. (Try ALT-ESC if you have disabled CTRL-ESC in that application's DOS Settings. If you do not get any response, press CTRL-ESC or ALT-ESC repeatedly until the dialog appears.) Note that the Workplace Shell can recycle, independently of running applications, if it crashes.
O Use Migrate Applications, where possible, to build icons to launch programs. As part of OS/2 V2.1, IBM provides a tool to help you set up most of your programs to run as well as possible under OS/2, be they DOS, Windows or OS/2 programs. To run this tool, open the OS/2 System folder, open System Setup and double-click on Migrate Applications; then follow the instructions.
O Run Windows applications from the icon generated by Migrate Applications; this will ensure that the program has the correct settings to enable it to run
O It is possible to change an icon simply using Drag and Drop. To do this, open up the Settings notebook for the object and choose the General page. Then simply drag the new icon and drop it on the old icon in the notebook.
O Use shadows in the Startup folder to autostart applications on boot-up. Refer to the Using OS/2 manual for details of how to do this.
O Insert SET_RESTARTOBJECTS=STARTUPFOLDERSONLY into CONFIG.SYS. Ensure that the system always boots up in the same state. This will prevent OS/2 from restarting those programs which were running when the system was last shut down. In some situations where users are being confused by multiple logon panels, it can be helpful to remove 'CONNECTIONS' from the line SET AUTOSTART=PROGRAMS, TASKLIST,FOLDERS,CONNECTIONS.
O Note that the E editor now has an autosave option. (Select File - Autosave.)
O The OS2.INI and OS2SYS.INI files are no longer locked, so once you are happy with the way you have your desktop, copy them to \OS2\INSTALL\ where they can be retrieved bypressing ALT-F1 during boot-up. Refer to Page 434 of the Using OS/2 manual.
O Note that even though there are NO OS/2 viruses in existence, your system can still be infected by DOS viruses, and you can still infect diskettes and programs. Always use an OS/2 anti-virus program.
O Under the FAT file system, OS/2 stores key data in two hidden files called EA_DATA._SF and WP_ROOT._SF. Under NO circumstances attempt to delete these files.
O Shadow the WIN-OS/2 clock into the startup folder to initialise a shared WIN-OS/2 environment for subsequent Windows programs to run in. This ensures that when you start a Windows application, the WIN-OS/2 environment is already there, thus saving the overhead of building thisenvironment afresh.
O If you have multiple Windows applications running in the same WIN-OS/2 environment, ensure that the first one loaded has sufficient resources (DPMI, EMS, XMS etc ) to support all programs that you intend to run in that WIN-OS/2 environment.
O If you have very special settings for a particular Windows program (for example, a FAX application) check the Separate Session option in its settings notebook. This will load the program into its own unique, protected WIN-OS/2 environment.
O You can add items to the OS/2 Desktop Menu by dropping them onto one of the 'Settings' pages. To achieve this, perform Open-Settings-Menu and drop the object (for example, an OS/2 Window from the Command Prompts folder) into Actions on the Menu section. Adding an item to the Desktop Menu also makes it less likely that you will accidentally hit the Arrange option!
O If you have added an OS/2 or DOS command line to theDesktop Menu you will notice an error message Command Processor not found appearing each time you open a prompt from the Desktop Menu. To avoid this, put a % symbol
into the parameters field (Open-Settings-Program) of the object you wish to place on the Desktop Menu.
O To get an OS/2 Window with a 102-character line format, type:
MODE CO80,102.
To change an OS/2 Window to 102-character line format, create a file called LINES.CMD which contains the above mode command. Then change the parameters field of the OS/2 Window to:
/K LINES.CMD
Ensure that the LINES.CMD program is on the OS/2 path.
O To change into a directory that has spaces or other characters in the directory name, type: CD "This directory name has spaces in it"
O Use the Lockup on Startup option so that the Lockup Screen is displayed as soon as the machine boots. From the OS/2 Desktop Menu choose Open-Settings-Lockup-Lockup on Startup.
O To get help on any OS/2 command, type:
help [commandname]
For example, help xcopy.
O Use the symbol "&" to strings command together. Forexample, in order to remove the directory called C:\FRED
you can type:
DEL C:\FRED & RD C:\FRED
O Adding the line LOADHIGH DOSKEY to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file gives you the same command line retrieval in a DOS session that you have in an OS/2 session.
O If you want to add a DOS Device Driver (for a scanner, for example) and you want it to be available in all DOS sessions, then put the driver into the OS/2 CONFIG.SYS file. If you do not want the driver in all DOS sessions, then put it in the DOS Settings-DOS Device section for the particular DOS session.
O You can sort the output of the DIR command in any order you wish. You can sort by name (the default with a HPFS drive) or use DIR /n. You can sort by date (DIR /od), size (DIR /os) or extension (DIR /oe). You can also order in reverse by adding a -- (minus sign) after the /o (for example, DIR /o--d). For more information type:
help DIR.
O Typing: pmchdsk C: gives you a graphical chkdsk output. You must supply a drive letter as a parameter.
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OS/2 | |
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Date Created |
01-06-98 | |
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Last Updated |
02-06-98 | |
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Revision Date |
01-06-99 | |
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Brand |
Cross Brand | |
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Various | |
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Various | |
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