SYMANTEC CORPORATION PETER NORTON PRODUCT GROUP December 5, 1990 NORTON UTILITIES 5.0 and WINDOWS COMPATIBILITY Most of the programs that make up the Norton Utilities are compatible with Windows 3.0, although some features may be inaccessible. Any programs that might conflict with Windows will recommend that you exit to DOS, and those that are not safe to run under Windows will not run. There are two main concerns with running DOS applications of any type under Windows. The first involves disk access, and the second involves use of memory. Windows is an operating system, much like DOS is an operating system, but Windows runs on top of DOS and actually uses it to perform disk and file operations. The Norton Utilties can work with disks far below the DOS level, and this is where conflicts can occur. Because Windows can possibly interfere with any disk access that is not its own, the best way to avoid trouble is not to run anything that may conflict. Several of the Norton Utilities fall into this category. Windows also maintains open files on the disk, and trying to move things around on the disk could cause damage to these files. For instance, on a 386 machine running in Windows Enhanced mode, it is not unusual to have a 3 or 4 MB file kept open while running Windows. As you can imagine, running something such as Speed Disk with a 3 MB open file will really make a mess of things. For the first time, the Norton Utilities include two programs, Norton Cache and Diskreet, that can use extended and/or expanded memory. This may cause conflicts with Windows' own memory management unless steps are taken to avoid potential conflicts. Do not install the cache from Windows, or you could lock your system cold. Most likely, no damage will be done, but you will have to reset the computer. The programs that are not safe to run under Windows will display a message explaining why they will not run, then they will exit automatically. The user cannot override this message. Those programs that will run but could potentially cause conflicts will display a recommendation that the user exit to DOS, but the user can choose to ignore the warning and continue, as long as they remember not to do any operations that could be destructive. Programs that will not run at all under Windows: Calibrate Speed Disk UnErase Programs that will run but are not recommended to be run under Windows: Disk Monitor Disk Tools File Fix Safe Format UnFormat Programs that will run without complications under Windows: Batch Enhancer File Find Install Norton Control Center Norton Change Directory (NCD) Norton Program (Norton Integrator) WipeInfo The following programs have some restrictions when running under Windows: Norton Disk Doctor - Will find errors, but will not make any corrections to the disk. In other words, it will read from, but not write to, the disk. Exit Windows and re-run NDD if there are problems that need to be corrected. Disk Editor - Same problem as Disk Doctor. Should be run in Read-Only mode to be safe. Norton Cache - Can only be used with Windows running in Real mode. Cannot be used in Standard or Enhanced mode. Conflicts with Windows' SMARTDRIVE cache in Standard and Enhanced mode. Diskreet - When running under Windows, all NDisks should be set to Manual open only. In addition, Quick Close, Auto Close Timeout, and the Screen Clear and Keyboard Lock features will be disabled. To prevent memory conflicts, the /NOHMA switch must be included when the device driver is loaded into the CONFIG.SYS file. Example: DEVICE=C:\NORTON\DISKREET.SYS /NOHMA File Fix - May cause problems when unzapping a dBASE file. File Save - As a general rule, File Save should be loaded and activated BEFORE running Windows. System Information - The CPU benchmark will not reflect the true speed of the computer. In fact, it will fluctuate wildly. Image - Should be run before loading Windows. Written By: Ed Carlin Technical Support Specialist