For Cougar Mountain Software Support's
Professional Version (V2012, V2011, V2010, V2009, V12-V6)

Tech Tips-Millenium  for the Reporting to the MAX

Larry Sweat
Technical Support & Information Systems Manager

Microsoft's Windows Millennium Edition commonly called Windows ME, hit the streets last month and is now available as an option on most new computers. ME is the latest upgrade to the WIN95/98 operating systems.

We have not completed certification testing of our products on the final shipping version of the O/S, so we are not recommending it yet. We do have a few customers on Windows ME. The only problem we are aware of emanates from the difference in the way WIN95/98 and Windows ME set the maximum file handles. All of our products require that the file handles be set higher than the
Windows default. Windows ME ignores the CONFIG.SYS file, so putting a FILES statement in the CONFIG.SYS does nothing. Instead you must edit the SYSTEM.INI file to set the file handles.

Editing the SYSTEM.INI
The SYSTEM.INI file is a vital windows system file. If it is changed inappropriately, Windows ME may not boot up at all. Before modifying this file, verify that you have a working Windows ME emergency boot disk (Windows ME prompts the user to create a boot disk when Windows ME is being installed) and a good backup of the SYSTEM.INI file. Boot the computer with the emergency boot disk once prior to proceeding to verify that the boot disk works.

1.If the disk doesn't work or you don't have a boot disk, create one by doing the following:
2.From the Windows desktop, go to Start, Settings, Control Panel.
3.Select Add/Remove Programs.
4.Select the Startup Disk tab at the top of the window.
5.Click on the Create Disk button.
6.Follow the on-screen instructions.

Do a test boot with your emergency boot disk in your floppy drive and verify that you are able to access a DOS prompt. Reboot again with the emergency boot disk removed from the floppy drive. You are now ready to modify your SYSTEM.INI file.

Modifying the SYSTEM.INI file From the Windows desktop select Start, Programs, Accessories, Notepad.

1.Select File, Open and look in the Windows directory for the SYSTEM.INI file.
2.Double click on the SYSTEM.INI file.
3.With the SYSTEM.INI file open, Find the section with the header [386Enh].
4.Insert a line in the [386 Enh] section, preferably on the first line following the section header.
5.Type this text on the inserted line: PerVMFiles=250
6.Select File, Save and then File, Exit and restart windows.

The Technical Support FTP Server
Many of you are aware of and have used our Technical Support FTP server. If you have not, you might want to. When sending large data sets to us, the FTP server is faster and more reliable than e-mail attachments. In order to use the FTP server, you must have an FTP Client. There are many different FTP clients and some can be downloaded from the Internet. Search for  FTP Client and you
will get a bunch of hits. 

Once you have your FTP client installed, follow the instructions that came with your client for uploading a file to an FTP server. Here is the FTP Host Name, Username, and password you will need to upload to our FTP server.