************************************************************************* README.TXT for NetSwitcher for Windows 95 & Windows NT Version 1.99o ************************************************************************* Description of NetSwitcher: NetSwitcher is a utility which addresses a problem in Windows 95/NT which afflicts users who need to connect to more than one network. For example, if you regularly work in two different locations and use a notebook computer with an Ethernet card, you may need to have different IP addresses, netmasks, gateways, hostname, etc. Microsoft’s Network Control Panel allows you to change these but it is a manual, time consuming, and error prone process. NetSwitcher solves this problem by "memorizing" your networking setups and allowing you to restore them when you need to change hookups. If your new setup requires a reboot, NetSwitcher will prompt you to reboot. If, however, a reboot is not required, then unlike the Network Control Panel, no reboot will be requested. NetSwitcher also solves a problem with Microsoft’s Dial-Up Networking utility in Windows 95. If you have more than one ISP (Internet Service Provider) where you have to use a different domain name server (DNS) for each one, then NetSwitcher will change this part of your setup for you without requiring a reboot. You may say, "Oh, the Dial-Up Networking connection setup menu has a place for me to specify the DNS address for each connection. Why can’t I just use that?" Well, you can say that, and you can use that, but it doesn’t work! So you need to change your Network Control Panel settings each time you want to use a different ISP, and do a reboot for it to take effect. Or, you can use NetSwitcher to change this setting for you. Remember - NetSwitcher is SHAREWARE. You may evaluate NetSwitcher for up to 15 days without any registration requirements. After that time, you must either register and pay the registration fee or discontinue using NetSwitcher. NetSwitcher will not disable itself or do any nasty things to your system, however, even if you choose to violate the SHAREWARE agreement. It will, however, continue to "nag" you to register. To register and receive your license key, send cash, check, or money order in the amount of US$8 to me at: J.W. Hance 1950 E Greyhound Pass #18, Box 305 Carmel, IN 46033 USA If you are outside the USA, please send a Postal Money Order or Bank Check payable in US Dollars. ********************************************************************** Quick Start ********************************************************************** NOTE: Please follow these instructions even if you are just upgrading from an earlier version of NetSwitcher. 1) If you aren't running Windows 95, don't bother going any further. NetSwitcher work with, and only with, Windows 95. 2) After NetSwitcher starts, press the HELP button for more information. NetSwitcher is Copyright © 1996 J.W. Hance - All Rights Reserved ************************************************************************* Special Notes for Windows NT users ************************************************************************* 1) There is a problem with the InstallShield installation program on NT 4.0. The NetSwitcher program will not be added to the Start Menu. Otherwise, the program is installed correctly. Just add it manually to the start menu if you need it there. 2) To run NetSwitcher in a useful manner (i.e. to be able to change the network settings) you will probably have to be ADMINISTRATOR or at least have registry READ & WRITE priviledges over the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry tree. 3) Not all the network setups are modifiable under Windows NT. If you notice that some are not changing, then NT does not support that operation. ************************************************************************* Release Notes ************************************************************************* Release Notes for Version 1.99o 1) If the IPX/SPX frametype was not installed, then users received a warning about it every time they ran NetSwitcher. This was annoying. That dialog now includes a "Don't show me this again" check box to inhibit further messages about this subject. 2) Fixed a problem reported on an IBM adapter where the device was not being found due to the DeviceID key needing to have the CardType prepended before finding the ENUM key. Release Notes for Version 1.99n 1) Fixed a problem which causes NetSwitcher to continue running as an invisible window if the user closed NetSwitcher from the window close button in the top right-hand corner of the application. 2) Removed the Cancel button as it was doing the same thing as the OK button and users were being confused by what the difference was. 3) Renamed the OK button to Done to better reflect what was going on. 4) Made NetSwitcher come up in a simplified (i.e. smaller) window by default. The user can now choose a "More Details" button to see all the parameters. Release Notes for Version 1.99m 1) When an adapter didn't have the IPX/SPX protocol bound to it and it was selected from the adapter selection combobox, NetSwitcher would abort even though the only control affected was the IPX FrameType. Changed things so that if IPX is not bound to the adapter, just the IPX FrameType listbox is disabled and NetSwitcher continues. Release Notes for Version 1.99l 1) Added the AutoReboot directive to the setup file. This causes NetSwitcher to automatically reboot the computer (i.e. it doesn't prompt the user if it's OK) if necessary after applying the new setup file. USE WITH CAUTION if you run NetSwitcher from a batch file or from your StartUp folder. It's possible to cause an infinite reboot loop if you use this option carelessly. 2) Added support for the IPX/SPX protocol FrameType setting in both the NetSwitcher dialog and the setup file. This allows those users who have network cards which don't auto detect the IPX frametype (auto is the Win95 default) to specify this as a part of their setup. Release Notes for Version 1.99k 1) Again fixed the 3COM driver problem. It was not fully fixed the first time. Release Notes for Version 1.99j 1) Fixed problem reported with newer 3COM Etherlink III 3C589 card drivers where NetSwitcher reported that the adapter was not found. Release Notes for Version 1.99i 1) Fixed problem with OEM branded version where the license key timed out after the 10-day evaluation. Release Notes for Version 1.99h 1) Added the RunCommand directive to the setup file. This will attempt to execute the given command (as well as any arguments) specified after the APPLY button is clicked or automatically if the AutoApply directive is specified. Release Notes for Version 1.99g 1) Support for Windows NT Workstation 4.0. Not all the items which are shown on the screen can be changed under NT. Currently only the following can be changed: IP Address, NetMask, Gateway, DNS Server, DNS Enable, Use DHCP, DNS order, Hostname, Domain Name, LM Hosts File, WINS servers, WINS Enable, WINS ScopeID, ComputerName. 2) The Windows NT Support should be considered BETA at this time and should be evaluated carefully. Release Notes for Version 1.99f 1) Added the ability to specify a FORCE to the reboot windows dialog. Some users had noted that certain programs including MacAfee Viruscan prevented NetSwitcher from rebooting Windows 95. Release Notes for Version 1.99e 1) Added more meaningful error messages when the user does not have the TCP/IP Protocol bound to the selected network adapter. Previously, NetSwitcher gave the "Adapter Not Found" message. This is not correct, the adapter is found, it's just not configured correctly. Release Notes for Version 1.99d 1) Changed build environment from Symantec C++ 7.2 over to Microsoft Visual C++ 4.2. Hopefully everything still works OK. 2) Added check box for "Use DHCP". This has the same effect as setting IP Address = 0.0.0.0 and Netmask = 0.0.0.0. 3) Added check box for "Use DHCP for WINS". 4) The EDIT mode is ON by default for registered users. 5) Tied several of the dialog controls together where it made sense. - If DHCP is enabled, IP and Netmask are read-only and set to 0.0.0.0 - If Use "DHCP for WINS" is set, then "Use DHCP" is also set. - If "Use DHCP" is cleared, then "DHCP for WINS" is also clear. - If "WINS Enabled" is set, "DHCP for WINS" is clear. - If "WINS Enabled" is clear, WINS Servers and ScopeID are cleared. 6) Added config file directives "DHCPWINS" and "NODHCPWINS". Release Notes for Version 1.99c 1) Fixed problem with spaces in ComputerName, WorkGroup, and NTDomain fields. If these strings contain spaces they MUST be enclosed in single quotes ('). For example: ComputerName 'MY COMPUTER' NTDomain 'MY NT DOMAIN' Release Notes for Version 1.99b 1) NT Domain logon was not working correctly. Release Notes for Version 1.99a 1) Added support for Windows NT Domain Logon for Windows 95 Clients. 2) If you find that your previously registered version is no longer registered. Please re-enter your registration key following the original instructions. Release Notes for Version 1.98b 1) APPLY in Edit Mode (registered version only) didn't display the reboot menu when changes were made to setups. 2) Added suspend mode choice to the reboot menu. This works as well as a reboot on those machines which support suspend/resume. Release Notes for Version 1.95 1) Fixed a problem with Xircom Network adapters Release Notes for Version 1.92BETA 1) Added the capability to change the setups for the MS Windows networking ComputerName and Workgroup for this who use them. Note that changing either of these require a reboot to take effect. Release Notes for Version 1.91BETA 1) Fixed a problem which occurred with dual function (i.e. modem & network) PCMCIA cards. Release Notes for Version 1.9BETA 1) Fixed (hopefully for all cases this time) a problem with some ISA plug-and-play and PCMCIA ethernet adapters. 2) Added capability to handle multiple network adapters of the same type in the system. 3) Added the REGDUMP utility to help in extracting the relevant registry data for debugging any remaining cases where #1 above is still not working. Release Notes for Version 1.85BETA 1) Fixed problem which occurs when an network adapter is PCI or ISA plug-and-play. Note that if you have more than one network adapter of the SAME TYPE installed in the system, NetSwitcher will probably give you a message like: "Multiple Adapter Enumerations - See the file 'README.TXT'" If this happens to you, follow the instructions at the end of this file titled "Dumping your Registry". 2) Added "AutoApply" directive to the ".nsw" file. If present, and everything else is OK, NetSwitcher will change setups without even appearing on the screen. If a reboot is required, however, you will be prompted before it actually happens. I could add an auto-reboot option as well so someone could run NetSwitcher from a startup script or something. Let me know if this could be useful. Release Notes for Version 1.8BETA 1) Added ScopeID field needed for WINS servers. 2) Added Adapter line to config file which will automatically select that adapter when the .nsw file is loaded. 3) Renamed application to netsw.exe from netswitcher.exe as some users were having trouble unzipping the long filenames. Release Notes for Version 1.7BETA 1) I think the problem with failing to find the correct settings for a PCMCIA adapter has been fixed. 2) There seem to be problems reboot some computers. If you get a message about a failure in ExitWindowsEx(), please EMAIL me the error code. 3) Removed the -force switch and replaced it with the -install switch. 4) Added feature to remember the last selected adapter. 5) Added -noadapter switch to disable auto selection of last adapter. This might be useful if you swap out adapters and NetSwitcher fails to start. Release Notes for Version 1.6BETA 1) Problem finding the correct network adapter settings on a very few machines. Seems to be involved with portable computers having PCMCIA network adapters. 2) This version will "time out" after the 10-day evaulation period. After that time it will "nag" the user to register the program. 3) Added the -force switch to reregister the "nsw" file type with Windows 95 in case the user moved NetSwitcher's home directory. *********************************************************************** Dumping Your Registry *********************************************************************** NetSwitcher uses several settings in your Windows 95 registry to figure out what your current setup is and modifies these to make the changes you request. Unfortunately, Microsoft has chosen not to document much of this information. In developing NetSwitcher, I have tried to anticipate as much of what might be in the registry but it is not an exact science. If you get a message directing you here, please follow these instructions for dumping out the contents of your registry so that I can analyze it and correct NetSwitcher to take your situation into account. To dump the registry do the following: 1) Click the START menu, then choose Run... 2) Click the Browse button and navigate to the NETSW home directory. You should see the program "regdump.exe". 3) Double click on "regdump.exe" and click OK. 4) Regdump will ask you to input your EMAIL address. 5) Regdump will write it's output to a file called "regdump.out" in the NetSwitcher directory. 6) EMAIL the regdump.out (preferrably compressed with ZIP) file to me at: joe@bysnet.com.