Tech Tips WIN95 for the Reporting to the MAX

by Larry Sweat, Support Manager

WIN95 has become the predominant operating system for IBM compatible personal computers and small local area networks. It is a good network client operating system and a suitable server operating system for small peer-to-peer networks. Early releases of the WIN95 operating system contained some serious programming errors that have since been corrected with patches available from Microsoft's web site. One very critical patch fixes a number of serious problems with the virtual network redirector program. Systems that have not been updated with the patch are erratic and unreliable. System lockups, data damage or loss, file locking problems, and printing problems have all been related to errors in the redirector program. We require that the virtual redirector program patch be applied to any WIN95 computer (including stand-alone computers) before running any Reporting to the MAX including Point of Sale and Non-profit Versions products. The patch is named VRDRUPD.EXE and is available from the download area of our web site. It is a self-applying patch. Just run the executable file on all of your WIN95 computers. The following files are installed into the WINDOWS/SYSTEM directory by VRDRUPD.EXE:

VREDIR.VXD
Version 4.00.1116
Date/Time 9/11/97 11:16a
Size 156,773 bytes

VNETSUP.VXD
Version 4.00.1112
Date/Time 5/30/97 11:12a
Size 17,595 bytes

If you would like to read more specific information about the VRDRUPD patch and the problems it fixes, go to Microsoft's web site at http://support.microsoft.com/support and search for keyword VRDRUPD. WIN98 is shipping and we are starting to experience support calls from customers running our products on Microsoft's newest operating system. Both CMS product lines function correctly on WIN98 stand-alone computers and un-mixed WIN98 networks; however, the FILES= requirement in the CONFIG.SYS is dramatically increased over WIN95. With Point of Sale for Windows multi-tasking with 2 other programs, we had to increase FILES= from 100 to 250 before we could run without errors. At this time, our Quality Assurance Department reports problems running WIN95 clients on a WIN98 peer-to-peer. Until this is researched and resolved, we advise against mixing the two operating systems on a peer-to-peer network.

Microsoft, Inc. has released the Microsoft Service for NetWare Directory Services (MSNDS). This enables WIN95 clients to connect to NDS servers and interact with NDS features. It also includes the ability to connect to bindery-based NetWare 3.x servers. We have encountered a few isolated sites that had problems running multiple clients in CMS ACTPlus on their Novell Server with WIN95 clients or mixed WIN95/WFW3.11 clients. The MSNDS resolves this problem. It is available for download from Microsoft's website and is included in the Windows 95 Service Pack 1. SP1 is available for $14.95 from the Microsoft Order Desk at (800) 360-7561 or you can download it for free from the web site. To get instructions for downloading SP1 go to http://support.microsoft.com/support and search for keyword MSNDS.