How to set the properties of a Win 9x DOS box for the best results

This topic is intended for use on Win 9x(Windows 95, Windows 95 OEM, Windows 98, Windows 98 2nd Edition, and Windows Me).

For Win NT (Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional) see: How to set the properties of a Win NT DOS box for the best results.

Windows 9x DOS Boxes (Console Virtual Machine Properties).

This topic reviews the suggested properties of the DOS Box (usually for a BAT or PIF file) in which to run the MonTel Server. To select the properties use the button third from the right on the appropriate DOS box. In this eample we are running the MonTel Server in a DOS Box. However the settings will also work to set up a PIF file (or shortcut or LNK file) for a BAT file or for the SERVER.EXE program itself.

The Program Tab. This will probably have the correct location for the file. You should change the working directory, and you may wish to also change the Icon.

Select the Advanced button, and you may want to change the Icon as well:

Icons can be found in the MOTEL.EXE file, or specifically as ICON files in the support directory.

Now selecte the other tabs and check that the settings are the same as below: (The Font settings are just to save memory - and are not necessary here)

Memory: (Note that you system may not allow you to 520K free. In this case you will need to make modifications to CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT to allow the DOS prompt to have sufficient conventional Memory.) Protect the conventional memory. Note that the MonTel Server does not require XMS or EMS memory, however, you will need HMA to maximise the conventional memory available to DOS.

Fast ROM emulation will only have limited effectiveness even though the Server is a pure text application, since the Server writes directly to Video (intercepted by Windows). Make sure that Dynamic memory allocation is checked off, or MonTel may not be able to obtain memory from the system (even though it is the only thing running in the DOS box) when it needs.

Selecting Idle sensitivity as Low, will give the Server a longer time slice, limiting the impact of other programs. MonTel will surrender the time slice when the serial port buffer is empty or a call record is saved.

It is important to make sure that Always suspect Background is unchecked. To play it safe, also disallow the screen saver.

Press OK and exit the DOS box to restart it with the new settings.