To hide a server from the browser, edit:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters

Add value Hidden (REG_DWORD). Set it to 1.

Reboot the server. It may take up to ½ hour for the server to disappear from the browse lists

Out of Memory or user32.dll failure in Windows NT 4.0

If you get user32.dll failure when starting a service or out of memory errors when you have available memory, try this:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\SubSystems\Windows

Scan for SharedSection=xxxx, yyyy where xxxx defines the maximum size of the system-wide heap (in kilobytes) and yyyy defines the size of the per desktop heap. Add ",zzzz" immediately after yyyy where zzzz is the size of the hidden desktop heap created by non-interactive processes. Setting this to 512 will often solve your problem. When you're done, this string will look like SharedSection=xxxx, yyyy, zzz.

If you still get out of memory errors, increase yyyy by 256 until the application runs.

You might also delete RegistrySizeLimit from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control and setting PagePoolSize to 0 at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\Memory Management.
You will need to reboot.

Enable your DOS apps to print to a network printer

At a command prompt (or in a batch file), type: NET USE LPTx: \\computername\sharename /PERSISTENT:YES 

Displaying Your Company Logo (or other bitmap) during logon

Design an appropriate bitmap and place it in your NT directory as YourLogoName.BMP. Use 8.3 naming convention.

Edit: HKEY_USERS \.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop

Double click or Add Value REG_SZ of Wallpaper and set it to the full path to YourLogoName.BMP.
Double click or Add Value REG_SZ of TileWallpaper. 0 is Don't tile, 1 is tile.
Double click or Add Value REG_SZ of WallpaperStyle. 0 is normal, 2 is stretch to fill the screen (which is mutually exclusive with TileWallpaper = 1).
If you use a normal, not tiled logo, you can position it by adding the following REG_SZ values:
WallpaperOriginX set to the number of pixels from the left hand edge of the screen.
WallpaperOriginY set to the number of pixels from the top of the screen

Activate Screen Saver if no one logs on

Edit: HKEY_USERS \DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop

Double click ScreenSaveActive and set it to 1.
Double click SCRNSAVE.EXE and enter the full path to the screen saver you want to use such as SCRNSAVE.SCR or SSTARS.SCR.
Double click ScreenSaveTimeOut and enter the number of seconds of inactivity before activation.
You will need to reboot for this to become effective.

Never use anything other than the blank screen saver (scrnsave.scr) on a "Server" as it will steal needed cycles!

NumLock at Startup

Edit: HKEY_Current_User\ControlPanel\Keyboard\InitialKeyboardIndicators

Type REG_SZ: 2

If set to 0, NumLock is disabled for that current user after logging on. If it is 2, NumLock is enabled and will retain the settings from the last shutdown.

Change the usernames of the default users

When you install NT, two users, Administrator and Guest, are created by default. Hackers know that most users will not change the default names, so they are more likely to try to break into your system via one of these user accounts. You can protect your system by changing the usernames.

To do this, launch User Manager, or User Manager for Domains, and highlight the Administrator user. Select User, Rename from the menu bar. Type the new name in the Rename dialog box and click OK. Repeat this process for the Guest account or simply disable this account.
Changing these usernames is a simple job that can dramatically improve the security of your system.

Synchronizing System Clocks

If you've ever worked with more than one machine, you know how confusing it can get when the system clocks don't match. A simple way to synchronize the system clocks across your domain is by using the net time command.
In a Command window, type the following line at the command prompt:

net time \\machine_name /set

This will synchronize the clocks for the two machines using the system time of the computer named machine_name.
You can automate the command by adding a /y to the end of the command.
For example, if you wanted to synchronize the machine you were on with a machine named jupiter, you would type

net time \\jupiter /set /y  at the command line

Avoid buying a hub for your home office network and save money

If you're planning to create your own home office network, you may have been dreading the idea of spending $50 to $100 for a four port hub to connect your computers via 10baseT. Rather than foot this expense, you can use 10base2, a.k.a. Thinnet, instead of 10baseT and thereby avoid having to buy a hub. When you use 10base2, you connect your computers in a linear bus rather than a star bus configuration. Here's what you'll need:

* One 10base2 cable for every two computers
* One T connector per computer
* One 10base2 Ethernet card per computer
* Two terminators

All this will cost you less than 10baseT patch cables and a hub. We recommend purchasing 10baseT/10base2 combination Network Interface Cards for your computers. They usually don't cost more and you'll be able to use them to attach your computers to 10baseT cables later if you wish.

Does your server or workstation have a paging problem?

If you've noticed that your server or workstation has suffered an overall performance hit, you might want to investigate the possibility of excessive paging. Using Performance monitor, examine the values of the Paging File's %Usage object and the Physical Disk's (which contains the pagefile.sys) Avg. Disk Sec/Transfer object. The product of these values is equal to the percentage of disk access time devoted to providing virtual memory for applications. If the product is greater than .10 for extended period of time, excessive paging is occurring. Unfortunately, increasing the size of your paging file won't alleviate this problem. To reduce the amount of disk access time devoted to paging, we recommend that you make more memory available to applications by adding physical RAM to your system and removing any unnecessary device drivers or system services.

Changing the location of your printer spooler folder

When you install a printer, Windows NT creates a folder to temporarily store print jobs before sending them to the print device. By default, Windows NT creates this folder in the path %SystemRoot%\System32\Spool\Printers. If you share your printers with a lot of others, your printer spooler folder can grow to be quite large, taking up much needed disk space and negatively affecting disk I/O in your boot partition. Fortunately, you can move the location of your printer spooler folder out of your boot partition and preferrably to a second physical disk. To do so, open Printers in the Control panel and choose Server Properties from the File menu. In the Print Server Properties dialog box, select the Advanced tab and enter a new path for your printer spooler folder in the Spool Folder field. Then click OK to save your changes and restart your system. Windows NT will then create a new printer Spool folder in the new location that you specified.

Why is the Intranetware client for NT so slow?

Have you noticed that opening files from a Novell file server using the Novell IntraNetWare client takes a long time? It's not your imagination. It does.

Slow file access doesn't happen if you use Microsoft's client for Novell instead of Novell IntraNetWare client. Here's why.

Microsoft added the MultinetGetConnectionPerformance API to Windows 95 and Windows NT version 4.0 to speed file access on a network. Microsoft's Novell Client supports the API call, Novell's doesn't. Without this call, things slow down appreciably. Until Novell fixes the Intranetware Client for NT, if you want performance, go with Microsoft's client if possible.

Tune a Server

Improve Windows NT and Windows NT Advanced Server systems' performance by adjusting the way the network Server object uses memory. Start Control Panel/Network, select the Server object and click on the Configure button. You'll then have four choices for optimizing the server. Minimize Memory Used is a good choice for workstations and servers on very small networks (up to five sessions). Balance is good for servers on medium-sized networks (up to 64 sessions). Maximize Throughput for File Sharing is best for Advanced Server systems that provide resource sharing for large networks (more than 64 sessions), and Maximize Throughput for Network Applications is best for Advanced Servers like SQL Server that provide application services for large networks. Reboot the computer after you change this setting.

Cure RAS Configuration Headaches

Configuring Remote Access Services (RAS) in order to connect remotely to networks doesn't have to be a confusing exercise. The answers that you are looking for may be as close as your hard disk. There is a helpful file in the \WINNT\SYSTEM32\RAS directory named RASREAD.TXT that explains many arcane details about configuring RAS with various vendors' software.

Access Ability

Install Windows NT's FTP Server software so network users with UNIX-style File Transfer Protocol (FTP) can access your system. Run ControlPanel/Network, click on the Add Software button and select FTP Server (you may need to install TCP/IP support first). NT will ask you to designate the source for the files (the installation CD or floppy drive), copy the necessary files and present an FTP Service dialog box. Specify a home directory for FTP users. Make it a directory you don't mind making publicly available, not the root of the system partition. You can also decide whether to allow anonymous FTP connections, and whether to make these the only connections you'll accept (anonymous users have Guest-level access). When you're satisfied with the FTP settings, click on OK twice and then reboot to complete the installation.

Change Driver Settings On the Fly

You can change display driver settings on the fly in Windows NT. Select Control Panel/Display and you'll get a Display Settings dialog. To change the screen resolution, adjust the Desktop Area slide control. To change the display color depth, select an entry from the Color Palette listing. You can also set the font size and display refresh frequency. Click on the Test button to see if the new settings work correctly, and when you're satisfied with the result, click on OK. Restart Windows NT to install the new settings.

Edit .INIs in a Jiffy

You can adjust most settings in your .INI files or, even more easily, through Control Panel. But when you need to make low-level changes, you can get at the equivalent information using the Windows NT Registry. The key KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\IniFileMapping contains subkeys that represent each .INI file in the system and provides the equivalent Registry location. For instance, the SYSTEM.INI subkey contains a 386Enh line, which lists the mapping as SYS:Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WOW\386Enh. "SYS:" indicates the entry is for the system rather than a user. If you examine HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft \Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WOW, you'll see a 386Enh subkey containing the information you'd find in the [386Enh] section of Windows 3.1's SYSTEM.INI file.

Compression-able

Increase disk capacity in Windows NT 3.51 with NTFS' built-in compression feature. Compression is transparent to the user, and you can set it on a per-directory or per-file basis. You control it from NT File Manager's File/Compress and File/Uncompress menu entries, or with the COMPACT command-line function. The performance is good enough to use full-time on both workstations and servers.

Tune a Swap File

Enhance Windows NT's performance by tuning the size and location of your swap file. First, run Control Panel/System/Virtual Memory to see what the initial size of the swap file is set to, and compare this with the size of PAGEFILE.SYS. If it's larger than the initial size, Windows NT has expanded it dynamically. It's probably too small, so set it to a larger size. You can also examine the Committed Bytes and Commit Limit Counters in the Performance Monitor Memory object. When Committed Bytes approaches the Commit Limit, the page file will expand dynamically, and that slows performance. High-performance systems--especially servers--can run better by distributing page files across multiple disk drives. Use Control Panel/System/Virtual Memory to add a page file for each available disk. This works only for systems with multiple hard disks. Systems with multiple partitions (and logical drives) on one hard disk perform most efficiently with a single swap file.

Can't re-apply that HOTFIX?

If you can not re-apply a HOTFIX because the system reports it is already installed, and you can't remove it via HOTFIX /remove, edit:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT \CurrentVersion\HOTFIX and delete the Hotfix entry.
Then use Explorer to navigate to %windir%\HOTFIX\Hf00... and delete the HOTFIX entry.
Reboot and re-apply the HOTFIX. If you know that you will be re-applying a Service Pack, try removing the HOTFIX first.

Windows NT Short File Extensions

There's a registry setting that makes 4+ character extensions look like 3 character extensions. NT 4.0 defaults to ON so that DEL *.htm will also delete *.HTML.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\system\currentcontrolset \control\filesystem value: Win95TruncatedExtensions: REG_DWORD:
0 = on
1 = off

Shutdown button on the Welcome dialog box

To display a shutdown button at Login, edit:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT \CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Value: ShutdownWithoutLogon REG_SZ 0 or 1
When this value is set to 1, you can select Shutdown from the Welcome dialog box. If the value is 0, the Shutdown button does not appear.

Manage the WinNT Boot Menu

In Control Panel \ System \ Startup/Shutdown, you can set the default instance and the default timeout. To add/delete or change entries, you must edit C:\BOOT.INI. This is a Read-only, Hidden, System file so in a command prompt you must type
attrib -r -h -s c:\boot.ini
Now you can edit the file in any text editor such as notepad. You can delete unwanted entries (don't delete the "VGA mode" entry for an active instance), change the text (from "Windows NT Server Version 4.00" to "MyCompany Server") or add a missing entry. You can append " /sos" to the end of an entry to see the driver names as they are being loaded. Add
/maxmem=xx
to test the impact of less memory on your system, where xx is the number of megabytes. If you set the "timeout" to -1 (timeout=-1) WinNT will always boot to the default. When adding entries, you must understand the ARC path:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(Z)partition(W)\
or
scsi(X)disk(Y)rdisk(Z)partition(W)\
where Z is the disk number (starting at 0) and W is the partion on that disk (starting at 1). If you look at the "Target Device" entry in %windir%\repair\setup.log you will see the "Z" and "W" entries for your booted instance of NT. The "X" and "Y" entries for "SCSI" are more complicated and are beyond the scope of this "Tip". For addition information, see KB article Q102873.

Don't forget to set the attributes back (attrib +r +h +s c:\boot.ini).

Install over the Network

Windows NT comes with a DOS-based character-mode installation program (WINNT.EXE) for over-the-network installation from a central shared CD or hard disk. To use it, share the CD-ROM on the network. Or, for better performance, copy the contents of the CD-ROM to a hard disk directory and share that on the network. Then install any DOS-compatible network access software (WFWG, LANtastic, NetWare or Microsoft's Workgroup Connection 5-pack) on the target machine that will let it access the shared installation files. Next, complete the appropriate configuration steps to gain access to the network, and you'll be able to run the DOS WINNT.EXE program directly from the DOS command line (don't run it from an Enhanced-mode Windows DOS prompt because the application wasn't designed to run within Windows). WINNT.EXE automatically copies over the files from the source CD or hard disk, boots NT and continues the installation from there. Be sure to install the necessary network software components so NT can use the network. To customize your installation, edit the DOSNET.INF file in the directory with WINNT.EXE and type WINNT /? to examine the possible control switches for remote installation.

Synchronize your system's clock

As you probably know, the clocks in most PC systems tend to drift easily, which can be a real pain if you need to be on the same time as everyone else in your workgroup or domain. If you have administrative privileges to your NT Workstation, you can use the NET TIME command to synchronize your workstation's clock with another workstation or server's clock. To do so, open a command line or Run dialog box and enter the command:

NET TIME \\ComputerName /SET /YES

Where ComputerName is the name of the workstation or server that you want to synchronize with. If your workstation is a member of an NT domain, you may want to synchronize your clock with your Primary Domain Controller. To run this command every time you log on, put it in a batch file and add the file to your Startup Menu.

Create secret network share

Sometimes you need to be discrete when sharing information on your network.
To create a secret network share, right click on the folder that you want to share and choose Sharing... from the context menu. In the resulting Properties dialog box, select the Sharing tab and click the Shared As option. Then add a dollar sign ($) to the end of the text in the Share Name field and click OK. Users who have the proper access privileges will still be able to access the share by using the UNC path name (\\servername\secret$), but users won't see the share's name listed in the Network Neighborhood browse list. Unless a user knows where to look, he or she won't be able to access your secret network share.

Making RAS start automatically

Do you have Microsoft's Remote Access Service running on your NT Server?
Do you want it to start when your server starts? Here's how:

Select Settings from the Start menu and click Control Panel. Next, double click Services. When the list of services appear, click Remote Access Server, and then click Startup. Click Automatic and then click OK. Finally, click Close.

How do licenses work on MS Cluster Server?

When you have several NT Servers gathered together in a cluster, you may wonder how the licenses work for your applications. Do the licenses apply to the CLUSTER or to each server?

Microsoft's answer: It depends.

Microsoft claims that each application vendor determines its own licensing policies for applications running in a clustered environment. Microsoft's own policy is that for its applications, each application must be separately licensed for each server on which it is installed. Check with your application vendor to find out their policy on clusters.

What do I do when my PDC dies using NDS for NT?

Sometimes something goes wrong and your servers crash. There's no controlling it. But what do you do if your NT server crashes and you're using NDS for NT and want to relink your NT domain with the NDS tree and Domain object without manually re-creating the domain users and re-migrating them?

If you have a Backup Domain Controller in the domain that has NDS for NT installed on it, you're in luck. All you have to do has to do is promote the BDC to a PDC, rebuild the original PDC, and demote the second PDC when the orginal comes back online.

If you don't have a BDC in your domain, things get rougher. First, you'll have to reinstall NT on the server using an emergency recovery disk for that specific server. (This is important because the SID identifier for the server has to be the same as it was orginally). Next, install NDS for NT and place the new domain object in a temporary Organizational Unit. Make sure you use the same name for the new domain and server that you used orginally. Delete the domain object and SAMMIG.EXE dated 4/17/98 or later. (If yours is older contact Novell Technical Support.)

SAMMIG detects that the migrated domain no longer exists and allows you to browse the tree for the original domain. It will then update the NT registry to point to the original domain and re-grant user access to the domain. Reboot the NT server, and everything should be fine!

Broadcasting urgent network messages

NT 4.0's Messenger Service makes it easy to broadcast urgent messages to other NT4.0 users on the network. To do so, open the Command Prompt window and use the NET SEND command with the following syntax:

NET SEND {computername| * |/DOMAIN[:domainname] /USERS} message

So, to broadcast an urgent message to everyone on the network, type

NET SEND * This is an urgent message! The Server is shutting down!

Then press the [ENTER] key, and everyone on the network running NT4.0 Workstation or Server will see your message. Remember, don't enclose the message in quotes. NT's default installation enables the Messenger Service.
To prevent broadcasts from reaching your desktop, you must stop this service in the Control Panel's Service applet.

Can't create new printer with the Add Printer wizard

If you're using the Add Printer wizard to create a new printer and you're getting an error that the operation couldn't be completed and that the RPC Server is unavailable, what happened is that the Spooler Service failed or didn't start. Go to Control Panel, Services and click on Startup. You can also specify to start the service automatically when the computer is started. If this doesn't resolve the problem, got to Start, Run and type NET START SPOOLER.

Prevent users from changing video resolution

One of the most useful features of NT is the ability to change video resolution and color depth on the fly. Unfortunately, some users will try to push their systems beyond the configuration's capabilities.

You can prevent users from changing the video settings by changing the permissions on the settings key for the video card. The exact location of this key will vary, depending on the specific type of video card, but our key was located at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Hardware Profiles\Current\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\mga_mil\Device0.
You should be able to find your card type in place of mga_mil, and you may have more than one device listed. Change the permissions for each device you wish to restrict.

Setting the administrator password during unattended install

If you want to set the administrator's password during an unattended installation of NT Workstation or Server 4.0 with UNATTEND.EXE, do the following:

In the 386 directory, create a folder called $oem$. In this folder create a text file that contains the following lines:

[commands]
 ".\net user administrator <Password>"

Save this file as CMDLINES.TXT. Next, copy NET.EXE into the $oem$ folder.
Finally, in UNATTEND.TXT, verify that the value for OEMPREINSTALL equals YES. Now, if you run UNATTEND.TXT, the administrator's password will be set to the value you assigned to Password in the CMDLINES.TXT file.

Updating DHCP databases

Are you thinking about upgrading your server from Windows NT 3.51 to Windows NT 4.0 and have DHCP services installed? If yes, did you know that the DHCP database must be converted during the upgrade because the database engine has been changed in NT 4.0? This process happens automatically during the upgrade, but it's a good idea to perform the following steps before the upgrade. Stop DHCP Services through Control Panel, Services, and make sure that you have an equal amount of free disk space as what the DHCP database and its log files require now. The files are located in the \SYSTEM32\DHCP\351DB directory. Then go ahead and start the upgrade. The database conversion process starts automatically after you confirm that you want the database converted. Note that the database can't be converted back to its old format, but a backup of the files are made and placed into the directory where the original files were located (see above).

User statistics at a glance

If you ever need to see when users have last logged into the network, you can use a utility called USRSTAT.EXE, which is available in the Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit. When you execute this utility, you will see the user name, full name and the date and time of the last logon of every user on every domain controller. This can be useful, for example, if you want to identify accounts that have not been used in a long time and might need to be deleted.

Using the NET command to add or delete computer accounts

You can use the command line to add or delete computer accounts. In the following examples, computername is the name of the computer account that you want to add or delete.

To add a computer account, type NET COMPUTER \\computername /ADD
To delete a computer account, type NET COMPUTER \\computername /DEL

Lock-n-Unlock Workstation

As you probably already know, you should never leave your Workstation unattended while your account is logged on. However, logging off from your Windows NT session allows other users to logon locally or to the network.

Fortunately, you can lock your Workstation without ending your Windows NT session while preventing others users (except local or Domain Administrators) from logging on. To do so, press [CTRL]+[ALT]+[DELETE] simultaneously to display the Windows NT Security dialog box. Then Click the Lock Workstation button. The Workstation Locked dialog box will appear, displaying a message that states that the workstation is in use and locked.
To unlock your workstation, press [CTRL]+[ALT]+[DELETE] simultaneously again and enter your password in the Unlock Workstation dialog box.

Keyboard Shortcuts

In a previous tip, we told you how you to quickly access NT's desktop by right-clicking on the task bar and choosing the Minimize All command. However, there is a quicker way to access the desktop using keyboard short cuts instead of the mouse. To minimize all open windows, press [Windows] +[m] (hold the Windows key and press the m key).
Other shortcuts that use the Windows key include:

[Windows] + [Shift] + [m] = Restore all minimized windows
[Windows] + [e] = Open an Explorer Window
[Windows] + [r] = Open the Run dialog box
[Windows] + [f] = Open the find files dialog box

Using your company logo on the logon screen

When you press [CTRL]+[ALT]+[DEL} to logon to your Windows NT workstation, the Winlogon program displays the NT Logo as wallpaper behind the logon dialog box. Wouldn't it be nice to use your company's logo on the logon screen instead? To do so, save your company's logo as a bitmap file in the system root directory. Then use the Registry Editor (REGEDT32.EXE) to open the subkey

HKEY_USERS\DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop

Select the Wallpaper entry for this subkey and choose the String... command from the Edit menu. In the resulting String Editor dialog box, change the value to the path and filename for your logo's bitmap file. Then click OK to save your change, close the Registry Editor and restart your system.

Note: Before you use the Registry Editor, make sure that you have a current backup of your workstation's Registry. Making even simple mistakes when editing the Registry can have disastrous results.

Using the Title command to make your MS-DOS sessions easier to identify

Normally, when you start an MS-DOS window, Windows NT displays a default title in the window. Normally an MS-DOS window is called Command Prompt. If you're running multiple DOS sessions on your workstation, it can become confusing to find the program you want to view from your Taskbar.

Fortunately, you can execute the DOS Title command to change the current windows title. The command is very easy to use. The format for the Title command is:

Title string

where string specifies the new text for the windows title. For example, to change a DOS windows title to Accounting Software, you enter the command:

Title Accounting Software

from the DOS command line of the DOS window. Windows NT then changes the title of that MS-DOS session to Accounting Software.

Bugs with Windows NT Workstation and NetWare

Have you encountered problems using Windows NT Workstation on a Novell network? If so, you re not alone. Some of the problems are caused by bugs and incompatibilities between Windows NT Workstation and NetWare. These unresolved bugs and incompatibilities include:

If you try to change your password on a 3.x or 2.x NetWare server, Windows NT prompts you for the Novell NDS tree.

When you run a VI editor to open a read-only file on a File and Print Services for NetWare (FPNW) server, it may open a new file for editing as though the original wasn t there. However, when you use the VI editor on the same file on a NetWare server, the file opens with no problems.

16-bit programs may not be able to use long filenames on NetWare servers.

NetWare login scripts that include the ENDIF command may produce errors on a Windows NT Workstation.

When you turn off Packet Burst on Windows NT 3.51, the computer may not be able to copy files larger than 1,450 bytes to or from a Novell server over Ethernet. The copy can also fail if the NetWare server doesn't have Packet Burst turned on and Packet Burst is enabled on Windows NT.

Login errors can occur after you remove the NWLink IPX/SPX Compatible Transport on a computer running Windows NT that has the RAS server service installed and previously had the IPX protocol enabled for RAS dial-in.

Revealing NT Easter Eggs

The developers of Windows NT couldn't resist hiding a few buried treasures in the operating system. NT's 3D Text(Open GL) screen saver alone contains three Easter Eggs. To view them, right-click on the desktop and choose Properties to open the Display Properties dialog box. Click the Screen Saver tab in this box and select the 3D Text(Open GL) from the Screen Savers drop-down list. Then click the Settings… button and enter the name of one of the Easter Eggs described below in the Text field. When the 3D Text (Open GL) screen saver launches, it will the display the Easter Egg you requested.

Volcano-This Easter Egg displays the names of all of the volcanoes in the West Coast portion of the "Ring of Fire." (Is there only one volcano with multiple names or several volcanoes?

I Love NT-This Easter Egg zooms the word good followed by a question mark around the screen.

Not Evil-The name of this Easter Egg is an anagram for I Love NT. It displays the a full listing of NT's developers.

Creating passwords that are easy to remember, but hard to crack

Remembering passwords is sometimes difficult, especially if the system administrator requires you to use a password that contains numeric and non-alphabetic characters and mixed letter cases. However, using a mix of characters makes it much harder for a hacker to crack your password. As you probably know, writing a password down on paper is a common cause of security breaches. Fortunately, you can use a simple character substitution scheme to create a password that's easy to remember but hard to crack.

First, think of an easy-to-remember two- or three-word phrase. Substitute the numbers 0, 1 and 5 for the letters O, L and S, respectively. You can also replace spaces (which are normally illegal in a password) with a non-alphabetic character such as a tilde or an ampersand. Use uppercase letters for vowels and lowercase letters for consonants. With this system, an easy-to-remember but easy-to-crack password like "the bulls" becomes thE&bU115.

How do I stop a "Stop: 0x0000001E" error message during Setup?

The Stop: 0x0000001E message may occur after the first reboot during Windows NT Setup. It may also occur after Setup is finished. You may get the error because:

1) Your disk drive is full.

2) You have an incompatible Third-party video driver

3) You have an incompatible system BIOS

To fix the problem, solve each symptom one at time starting with freeing disk space. Next, remove the video driver. Go back to plain VGA if necessary. Finally, upgrade your computer's BIOS.

Binding multiple frame types in NT Workstation 4.0 and Novell Client 32

Depending on your network configuration, you may be running more than one type of IPX frame type. Microsoft NT Workstation 4.0 only allows you to specify a single IPX frame type. Normally if you want to use multiple types, you can use the Autodetect option. If you use Autodetect, NT searches for multiple frame types in the following order:

Ethernet 802.2
Ethernet 802.3
Ethernet II
Ethernet SNAP

This may not be the best order for your network.

You can specify more than one frame type to be bound when the network services are initialized by making changes in the Registry. The key you'll need to change is

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NWlnkIpx\NetConfig\<NIC /Adapter Driver> : PktType

PktType is a multiple string value (REGEDIT32), which means you can make more than one entry as long as the values are on separate lines. The following values are possible:

ff - Autodetect (cannot be used in conjunction with other values)
0 - Ethernet II
1 - Ethernet 802.3
2 - Ethernet 802.2
3 - Ethernet SNAP
4 - ARCnet

You can determine what frame types are bound by using the IPXROUTE CONFIG command at a Command Prompt.

NT Server doesn't restrict you to a single frame type like NT Workstation.

Avoiding username errors with NDS for Windows NT

If you use NDS for NT on your network to integrate your Netware and Windows NT servers, you may have enountered the following error when trying to create a new user in User Manager for Domains on a domain that you've migrated:

"You specified a Username which is already in use by another user. Choose a Username which is not already in use by another user or group."

This error can occur if there's an NDS object in the "Default User Creation Context" of the NDS Domain Object with the same name as the NT user you are trying to create. This object can be any NDS object, not just a user or group.

To avoid the error, make sure the new NT name for the user or group is unique for both the NT Domain and the NDS context.

Adding applications to your Send To folder

When you right click on a file in explorer, you can choose to Open with .. or Send To. You can add applications to your Send To.
Create a Shortcut to your application (right click the ProgramName.exe) and copy (or cut) the Shortcut to
%windir%\Profiles\YourUserId\SendTo.
Now, when you right click on that file with a non-standard extension, you can Send To your application.

Add new options to that right click in Windows NT 4.0

When you right click on a file in Explorer, the valid choices for that extension are presented. To add a new choice, select view/options/File Types. Scroll to the file type you wish to ammend, select it, and click the Edit button. Click the New button. Type the "Action" (Edit, Smile, Print, view, ...) and the full path to the application (and any command line switches/parametets) required to perform the "Action". If you want to change an "Action", click "Edit" instead of "New". I suggest you edit the "Actions" of "Text Document", "Write Document" and any type that uses DDE such as "Microsoft Word Document" to see the possibilities.

Changing NT's Login splash screen when using Netware's Intranetware Client for NT

With the Novell intraNetWare Client for Windows NT, the default login screen that you see when you press [Ctrl][Alt][Delete]is bitmap file called NWELCOME.BMP. You'll find the file in the WINNT directory on your computer.

You can change this to just about anything you want. To do so, go to the Network icon in Control Panel. Click the Services tab and select the properties for Novell intraNetWare Client for Windows NT. Click the Advanced Login tab and change the name of the file in the Bitmap Filename field.

Make sure you've copied the name of the new bitmap into your WINNT directory. Also make sure the bitmap you want to use is in .BMP format.

Kill hung processes when logging off

When you tell NT to shut down, it first sends shutdown requests to any running processes. Most 32-bit applications honor these requests and shut down, but older 16-bit apps running in the Virtual DOS Machine often won't. When this occurs, the operating system prompts you with a dialog box asking if you want to kill the task, wait for the task to die on its own, or cancel the shutdown. By modifying the Registry, you can automate this process.

You can force NT to kill all running processes on shutdown by adding a REG_SZ value named HKEY_USER\<SID>\ControlPanel\Desktop\AutoEndTasks and set the value to 1. You can also add this value to  HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT so that all new accounts will shut down the
same way.

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