Mail Archives: djgpp/2000/09/16/06:41:09
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At 10.41 09/12/2000, JohnT wrote:
>The number of read-only files should not increase as one runs DOS
>sessions under Windows but I haven't checked on that. I also can't
>say whether Defrag treats read-only files as unmoveable. Also, not
>many applications mark files as read-only in any case. Files are
>deleted by changing a bit in the file header or FAT table, and Defrag
>doesn't mind those---it just gets rid of the deleted entries in whatever
>holds those headers. Files in the recycle bin of Win9x just stay there
>until you delete them or tell Win9x to, as far as I know.
Hmm... I've gotten lost in this thread... Is this problem in Win 3.x or Win
9x? (I'm guessing 3.x) If the former, then it may be a temporary swap file
causing the problem... (Same thing can happen in 9x if you let Windows
control your memory. Just don't ask me what you should set it to for your
machine... I usually have to tinker... <g>) Just make your swapfile
permanent and that problem goes away... If you use Open/DR-DOS or MS-DOS's
deletion watcher, it will do *very* strange things to your filesystem.
Unmoveable blocks is just a manifestation. The Recycle Bin clones for Win
3.1 are just as bad. Long file name utilities can cause problems, as can
some buggy Win32S apps. (The original Free Cell springs to mind.) And most
defraggers refuse to move any files with any or all of the RHS attributes
set... (Read only, Hidden, and System respectively.) To check this do a
"dir /s/arhs" (without quotes of course) and see how many things show up.
If this is DOS 5 or newer, you can pretty much safely attrib -RHS io.sys,
msdos.sys, and *.com in C:\. You may as well do 386spart.par while you're
at it. Then defrag and set everything back before you reboot. You may also
have a failing hard disk or a virus, as well... So be sure to check those
things out...
>I think there are 1 or 2 reserved attribute bits in a DOS file header,
>and that may be the source of the unmoveable clusters too, but
>I've scanned my disk for them with a McAfee utility (dmdos.exe)
>and haven't seen anything reported.
I think MS only has one or two left to exploit... ;) Does that utility look
for LFNs? I seriously think that if you have any sort of Win 9x Long
Filename Handlers installed (API or otherwise), this would be a good place
to look for problems...
>A really good book for Win95 or Win 98 is the Microsoft Technical
>Reference Manual. Problem here is, the Win95 manual doesn't do
>much good in understanding my Win 3.11 system! But my old trusty
>software is for DOS/Win3.x, so I don't really want to convert.
Don't! If you won't even get a perceived benefit, it's not worth it. My
roommate (fairly forcefully) upgraded a neighbor to 95 just so she could
get IE 5 (even though I remember seeing a Win 3.x version... But I'm "DOS
boy", so I don't know anything... :/ ) Over the past couple of weeks, she's
learned how to use the Start menu. She pretends to like it, but... I think
she would have been much better off staying as she was since it not only
required upgrading her memory and OS, but all of her apps too... At least
he could have started her off with Program Manager as her shell and weaned
her that way... Oh, well... Too late now. So, stick with what you like.
Even though I have a couple dozen web browsers in Win98, I still do most of
my major browsing using Lynx and Arachne for DOS. And I use Sidekick 2.0 as
my PIM. It's what works. And that's what is important. As long as we can
fix this nagging issue with your defragger... ;)
>John
Of course you could always try another defragger... Norton's Speed Disk is
fairly decent IIRC... I never used it much on Win 3.1... I used mostly
Central Point stuff... Which became MS stuff with DOS 6.x.. But that's
ancient history... ;) The Mac version at the time was great tho'... Don't
remember the PC version at the time being too far behind. (Just don't get
me started with their 32bit versions. That's when I *knew* Peter Norton
sold out...)
I'm sure I've forgotten quite a few things, but it's 3am and I only got in
a bit ago and need sleep... Hurts my coherency. Oh, wait... I fail that one
generally anyway... ;)
I've been fairly quiet in here lately as I've been busy. Looking for work
and stuff... But I try to at least catch up on the list at least once a
week... But combined with my other more than a dozen lists (in just this
one email program...) I have a hard time being quick replying sometimes.
But, feel free to contact me with any further questions. And it may be a
good idea to keep this on the list just so a final resolution can end up in
the archives. If it hits one person, it is likely to hit another at some point.
I wish you luck.
- --Matt
P.S. Sorry about all the ellipses... I use them much more often when I'm
tired. Just think of me as the next Herb Caen... ;) (For those of you who
don't recognize the name, don't worry. Most people in the San Francisco Bay
Area know it well. San Franciscans should know of the section of the
Embarcadero which bears his name at least...)
P.P.S. Sorry about this long, rambling post. I promise I won't post again
till I sleep. ;)
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