 NETWORKING
TIPS |
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 Using
More Than One Modem at a Time
Seeing Servers Your Are Connected To When OnLine
Backing Up Your ISP Settings
Forcing Alpha-Numeric Passwords
Speeding Up Internet Searches
Auto-Dial Internet Connections (Win98)
Opening the Make New Connection Dialog Box
Help Stop Modem Disconnects
Speeding Up Your Modem's Dialing
Showing Your Actual Modem's Connection Speed
Increasing Modem Performance
To Find Your IP Address
Using UNC Network Names with Files
Changing the Number of Rings Before Dial-Up Server Answers
Resetting Forgotten Dial-Up Server Password
Monitoring Your Dial-Up Connection
Fixing a problem with Shortcuts that keep network UNC connections
Starting a Dial-Up Connection from the Command Line
Device Contention when trying to use a Modem
Unable to Browse the Network
Auto-Dialing for 32-bit Internet Applications
Changing your Modem's Initialization String
Increasing the Modem Timeout
Potential problems leaving 16-bit winsock.dll's Go
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Using More Than One Modem at a Time |
(Win98,
WinME and Win2000)
If you have two phone lines in your home and want to use them both to
dial out,
you can use MultiLink, which will effectively double your connection speed.
Create a dial-up connection like your normally would.
Right click on the icon and select Properties
Click on the Multilink tab
Click on Use additional devices
Click on the Add
Click on the other modem you would like to use
If your ISP allows, you can use the same phone number, otherwise enter
an additional phone number to dial.
You should now connect with both modems.
You can confirm this by opening up your dial up connection in the System
Tray after you connect.
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Seeing Servers Your Are Connected To When OnLine |
To
see what servers you are connected to when on the Internet
Simply run Netstat |
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Backing Up Your ISP Settings |
| If
you want to save your ISP settings (name, phone, login id etc.) for future
installations:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ RemoteAccess
Select Registry / Export Registry
Make sure Selected branch is checked
For the name, enter any name that will help you remember the purpose
of the .reg file
Now if you need to restore your ISP settings after a new installation
of Windows, you just need to import this file Go
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Forcing Alpha-Numeric Passwords |
| In
order to force passwords that just use alpha-numeric characters
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion
\ Policies \ Network
Create a DWORD entry called AlphanumPwds
Give it a value of 1
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Speeding Up Internet Searches |
When
you go to a web site, the first thing that happens is that a query goes
out to the DNS server for IP address of the web site.
In order to eliminate this query, you can simply add the IP address and
web name into the HOSTS file in the Windows directory.
To find the IP address, just PING the web name (ping www.microsoft.com)
For
example, Microsoft would be:
207.46.130.149
www.microsoft.com #.url
You
can do this for all the sites you regularly visit.
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Auto-Dial Internet Connections (Win98) |
| If
Win98 is not automatically dialing your Internet Connection:
Open up the Dial Up Networking box
Click on Connections / Settings
Uncheck Prompt for information before dialing Go
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Opening the Make New Connection Dialog Box |
| This
command line will pop up the "Make new connection" window. rundll
rnaui.dll,RnaWizard /1 |
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Help Stop Modem Disconnects |
| If
you modem goes offline frequently, it may be due to a temporary lost carrier.
To lengthen the time the modem will go offline after the carrier is lost,
change the modem properties.
Open up the Control Panel
Double click on the Modem icon
Click on Properties / Connection / Advanced
In the Extra Settings, enter S10=10
This will enable the modem to stay connected without a carrier for up
to 10 seconds.
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Speeding Up Your Modem's Dialing |
| For
Win95, to make that modem dial much faster:
Open up the Control Panel
Double click on the Modem icon
Click on Properties / Connection / Advanced
In the Extra Settings enter S11=x , where x is how many milliseconds
each tone sounds. Try S11 = 1, then dial, you'll be surprised.
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Showing Your Actual Modem's Connection Speed |
Normally
when you open up the modem icon in the system try, it shows the port connect
speed.
So see your actual modem speed:
Go
Control Panel
Open up the Modems icon
Click Properties
Click on the Connection tab
Click the Advanced button
In the Extr Settings, put ATW2L0 (the last character is a zero) Go
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Increasing Modem Performance |
| To
increase modem performance when connecting to the Internet:
Disable compression on your modem
In SYSTEM.INI under 386enh section put in: COMxBUFFER=1024 (x is your
modem port number )
Add AT%C0 (that's a zero),to the extra settings line of your modem's
properties.
Switch errror correction off
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To Find Your IP Address |
| To
find your IP address when connected:
Open Explorer
In the Windows folder find the file WINIPCFG.
Drag a shortcut onto your screen.
Now when you are online you can double click the shortcut to see your
IP address and other data.
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Using UNC Network Names with Files |
As
already mentioned, you can use long file names in an MS DOS Box.
But you can even use UNC-style network names.
Example:
DIR \\server\share1\dir1
will give you all files on the computer named "server", in
the share named "share1" and in the directory "dir1".
This
does not work with CD, but it will work with MD, RD, DIR, COPY, MOVE,
REN, and so on.
I use this in combination with a batch file to copy files to a number
of computers on a network
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Changing the Number of Rings Before Dial-Up Server Answers |
| To
change the number of rings before Dial up Networking Server answers:
Find the INF file for the modem in the \WINDOWS\INF directory. The
filename will begin with "mdm" and end with characters desciptive
of the manufacturer, ie. "supra" for Supra Express modem.
Make a copy of this file.
Edit this file with notepad and look for a string "HKR, Answer,
1,, "ATA<cr>".
Change to HKR, Answer, 1,, "None".
A few lines up from this should be the line HKR, Monitor, 1,, "ATS0=0<cr>"
Change the value of the S0 register to the number of rings you would
like to have the modem answer on.
Remove the modem by using the Control panel | System | Device Manager.
Reinstall the modem using the REFRESH Button.
This should install the modem using the updated INF file. Go
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Resetting Forgotten Dial-Up Server Password |
If
you forget the password you set for you Dial-Up Server
simply delete (or rename) the RNA.PWL file in the WINDOWS directory |
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Monitoring Your Dial-Up Connection |
There
are some system checks you can use to see how good your ISP and Phone
lines are.
You either net OEM SR2 or the ISDN Accelerator Pack 1.1 installed
Make
sure SYSMON is installed. You can add this through the Control Panel
/ Add New Programs
Run SYSMON
Select Edit / Add Item
Click on Dial-Up Networking Adapter
Select CRC Errors
Click on OK
If you have lots of CRC errors, either the phone lines or your modem
is having problems.
You
can also add Framing Errors and Timeout Errors if you are still having
problems and your phone line appears ok
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Fixing a problem with Shortcuts that keep network UNC connections |
By
default, when you create a shortcut to a network application, both the
Drive letter and UNC connection are stored as part of the shortcut.
The reasoning that if the drive letter gets reassigned or deleted, the
UNC connection will serve as an additional way to ensure that the application
is available.
This can also be a problem because when you want to re-assign the drive
to a new server, it will still make the connection to the old one through
the UNC
To disable this feature, there is a program called SHORTCUT.EXE in
the Admin / Apptools / Envvars directory.
Execute the program with a -? to see a description of the available
switches. Go
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Starting a Dial-Up Connection from the Command Line |
You
can dial your ISP from a command line. This can make it easy to create
a batch file that will
do things like dial, start your e-mail and web browser.
The
syntax is:
rundll rnaui.dll,RnaDial connectoid
Note:
The RnaDial and connectoid components of the command line are case sensitive
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Device Contention when trying to use a Modem |
| Occasionally,
when trying to use your modem, you might get the following errors:
Another
program is using the selected Telephony device. Try again after the
other program completes.
or
Cannot initialize port
The
state of Windows 95 device contention is determined by the value for
the "COM n AutoAssign=x"
setting in the [386Enh] section of the System.ini file,
where n is the number of the serial port and x is a value from -1 to
1000.
The
default setting in Windows 95 is -1. This setting causes Windows 95
to not release a serial port previously used
by a non-Windows-based program.
If
you need hot-swapping capability between an MS-DOS-based communications
program and a Windows-based communication program,
add the following entry to the [386Enh] section of the System.ini file:
Com
n AutoAssign=0 Go
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Unable to Browse the Network |
If
you do not have a logon password, Windows95 might have problems when you
try and browse the network.
Try the following steps to solve the problem.
Start REGEDIT
Go to Hkey_Local_Machine \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Current_version
\ Network \ Real mode net
Delete the line that says AUTOLOGON=0
Save the changes and reboot the system
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Auto-Dialing for 32-bit Internet Applications |
If
your 32-bit Internet applications do not automatically invoke your
Windows 95 Dialer, here is a way I found to enable this feature.
First, bring up an internet application such as Netscape or Internet
Explorer.
Next, manually dial into your internet provider by double-clicking your
connection icon.
Once connected, go to the Control Panel and double-click on the Internet
icon.
Once the window open, uncheck the checkbox titled "Dial whenever
an Internet Connection is needed".
Click the check box again and make sure there is a check in the checkbox.
Next, click the APPLY button.
Finally , click the OK button.
Once you do this, close your internet application and disconnect from
your internet provider.
Re-start your Internet application and the Windows 95 dialer should
start up.
NOTE: From my experience, all Internet applications will be effected
and will automatically start the Windows 95 dialer. Go
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Changing your Modem's Initialization String |
Start
REGEDIT
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ System \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \ Class
\ Modem \ 0000 \ Init
Change the settings to the values for your modem |
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Increasing the Modem Timeout |
If
your modem it timing out during file transfers or loading Web Pages,
you might try increasing the timeout period.
To
change it:
Start
Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / System / CurrentControlSet / Services / Class
/ Modem / XXXX / Settings
Where XXXX is the number of your modem
Move to the right panel and double click on Inactivity Timeout
The number of minutes for a timeout should be entered between the brackets.
For example, a US Robotics Sportster could have S19=<30> to set
it to 30 minutes.
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Potential problems leaving 16-bit winsock.dll's |
If
you re having problems getting some of your winsock applications
to work under Win95, make sure you delete any old 16-bit winsock.dll's.
If
this file is in the directory were the application resides, it could
cause problems. Programs that could have problems like this are:
Ewan.exe
(Telnet app)
WSIRC.exe (IRC app)
WSGopher.exe (Gopher app)
NX.Exe (NewsXpress)
Netscape v.1.0
We found that if the software listed above is in the same directory
as the
Trumpet Winsock.dll file, then they will NOT work under the MS-TCP/IP
stack.
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