>Sure thing, Windows isn't all that easy so I understand your concern (if
>someone would be nice to explain .PIF files I would really apriciate it
>sinec I have never used them and therefor know almost nothing about them.)
OK... just a brief attempt at explaining them form my own experience:
A PIF (Program Information File) contains information about a DOS program that
Windows can use to launch the program more effectively or successfully in
extreme cases, and is treated as an executable by ProgMan and the APIs - this
is specified by the line Programs=exe,com.pif,bat in WIN.INI. The most useful
settings in it are multitasking, memory management and hardware I/O. The usual
tool for creating/editing a PIF is PIFEDIT.EXE - when this is run it will
default to either Standard or 386 Enhanced mode (Win3.1 - Win3.0 may have Real
as well) depending on which Windows is running in. Standard offers basic
settings such as amount of memory required, window states, title bars and
program filenames/directories. 386Enh mode adds multitasking options
(Exclusive - if the program is in the foreground make it the only program
running apart from Windows' Kernel and GDI if running in a windows, and
Background - allow the program to continue even if it's not the current task)
and extra memory settings.
A practical example of this: Generic Word Processor is installed in C:\WP and
is run from DOS with CD \WP ; WP /AN /OPTION. You want to add an icon to
Program Manager to launch this program. However, you tried filling in the
'Create Icon' dialog with 'Generic Word Processor', 'WP.EXE /AN /OPTION' and
'C:\WP' but you received the message 'Insufficient memory - this program
requires at least 580Kb of conventional RAM and 4096Kb of extended RAM.' So
Windows hadn't managed to provide enough memory for the program to run. What
you need to do now is to create a PIF with the program filename set to WP.EXE,
the optional parameters set to /AN /OPTION, the start-up directory set to C:\WP
and the memory settings set to 'Program requires minimum of 580Kb conventional,
4096 extended'. You can set other options if you need them - e.g. PrtSc can be
passed through to the program instead of Windows intercepting it - my old word
processor used 'PrtSc' to print.
PIFs are still present in Windows 9x - when you create a shortcut to a DOS
program Windows creates a PIF instead of a .LNK file.
One use of PIFs I have found is to create quick screensavers - write the code
as a DOS EXE because it's easier than using Windows' Screensaver APIs, then
create a PIF that disables all the Windows shortcuts so the machine can't be
switched away from the screensaver program. However, it can be killed with
Ctrl-Alt-Del - but the line 'AllowLocalReboot=0' or 'LocalReboot=0' in WIN.INI
somewhere will soon fix that...
Regards, Home page: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Horizon/8786
Ben A L Jemmett ICQ: 9848866 JGSD e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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