[TRLog] No DOS box in Windows Millenium? That true?

[Robert Brandon]

When looking for things that screw up CW keying, I'd look first in the
Windows "SYSTRAY".  That's the little row of icons in the lower right hand
corner.  Many of the items in there run all the time (Virus Checker, Program
Scheduler, etc.).  They wake up periodically and grab your processor.  Click
around on them, close each in turn, and see if you can find a smoking gun.

Using the option to boot Windows into DOS is a mixed blessing -- it will
load HIMEM.SYS and other basic memory management files.  But it may also
load other things that aren't necessary, such as CD-ROM or sound card
drivers.  These can rob the conventional memory that TR uses.

I'd say it's well worth the effort to look back through the TR archives and
build a good AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS.  Set these up on a floppy and boot
that way.  You may want to look into the COMSPEC command.  This allows you
to boot from one set of operating system files (i.e., those on the floppy),
and then switch over to another set (i.e., those on your hard drive).  That
will speed things up.  I like using SMARTDRV, too.

Alternatively, when Windows boots, hit F8 as soon as the "Starting Windows .
. ." message appears.  Choose the step-by-step boot option, and skip CD-ROM
and sound card drivers.  (This will work, but might be frustrating should
you have to reboot for some reason at 3 AM.)  :-)

Robert K5PI

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