DOS 6 does Windows - Microsoft Corp - Product Announcement

Home Office Computing, May, 1993 by Kay Yarborough Nelson

Also: Bargain Fonts and Windows 4.0 Update

A better DOS than DOS 5, and it does Windows better too? You betcha. DOS 6 is a Windows user's dream. It offers a built-in disk-compression program that freed up 82MB of space on my 200MB hard-disk drive, a memory optimizer and disk defragmenter, several new commands, and all sorts of neat CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT tricks (like making your own start-up menu and setting up different configurations on the same machine). It also sets up a Microsoft Tools group in your Windows Program Manager and installs three Windows utilities. This is such hot news that we'll devote a large part of this column to a quick look at the capabilities of these useful new goodies.

Anti-Virus for Windows, included with DOS 6, can check for 1,000 different computer viruses, and you can add to the list by purchasing update files from Central Point Software (from which Microsoft licensed the program). The DOS Setup program puts Anti-Virus for Windows in the Microsoft Tools group, but to make it run as a TSR (terminate-and-stay-resident) program, you'll need to drag its icon into your StartUp group. From then on, it will automatically scan your drives and report any suspicious virus-caused activity.

Microsoft Backup for Windows makes it easy not only to back up but also to archive files you no longer need onto floppy disks. As part of the backup process, it creates a catalog of information about the files you backed up so that you can easily locate individual files later.

Microsoft Undelete for Windows lets you undelete files you've already scrapped. How many files? Well, it depends on how much space you have on your hard-disk drive. The files you delete aren't physically deleted, just moved to a hidden directory, so you can be almost certain you'll get them back again. Want to devote 20 percent of your total hard-disk space to holding deleted files? You can. There are other, less space-eating methods of tracking your undeleted files, but this one is the safest. If you're worried about taking up too much disk space, just remember all the hard-disk space you'll reclaim with DOS 6's new disk-compression utility.

MORE NEAT FONTS

A few columns back, I recommended Typecase, a nifty collection of TrueType fonts for Windows at ridiculously low prices (less than a buck a font) from SWFTE International ([800] 237-9383). Well, they're back, this time with Type-case II, another great bargain. There are useful text fonts in this collection, as well as display fonts for headings, signs, and presentations. I picked out at least 20 text fonts that I had to have from this collection (you don't have to install them all); then I started choosing display fonts.

In addition, Typecase II comes with a bonus set of commonly used icons such as recycling and wheelchair-access symbols and compass points that can be used in maps, charts, and presentations. The Typecase fonts in both collections are sealable from 1 to 999 points, and they can be printed on any printer Windows supports. For only $50 for Typecase II you get more than 100 fonts. What a great deal!

HIGH HOPES FOR WINDOWS 4.0

Don't expect it for a while--in fact, I saw some gossip in this morning's paper saying it might be two years--but when Windows 4.0 (code-named Cairo) is available, guaranteed, we'll all be switching. Rumor has it that Microsoft is putting in long hours on improving the user interface. Now if only program developers would standardize the keyboard shortcuts ....

KAY YARBOROUGH NELSON is the author of Friendly Windows (Bantam, 1993) as well as Voodoo Windows (Ventana Press, 1992) and The Little Windows 3.1 Book (Peachpit Press, 1992).