[Ham-Computers] DOS Windows Size in W98SE/W95B Followup

[jandlmiller at bellsouth.net]

Thanks, Aaron, with your kind help it's totally fixed!  This problem had existed for many years, and only recently did I decide to try to do something about it.

If your Win9x knowledge is fading at all, it's doing so very slowly.  You suggestions ignited some recall that I always find amazing.  For example, I had forgotten that .pif holds the data.  Finding the correct .pif was easy with Start/Find/Files or Folders.  For reference, the correct .pif is on the path C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office/Shortcut Bar/Office.  That info is academic as you can't directly edit the .pif. 

Your suggestion about putting another MS-DOS shortcut on the Windows Desktop was valuable.  I did so and then had thee shortcuts to MS-DOS: Start/Programs, Windows Desktop, and the Office97Pro toolbar.  I selected Properties for all three and made certain all the parameters for all three were exactly the same.  Then I went to the Office97Pro toolbar, selected the MS-DOS shortcut, selected Restore to get to MS-DOS window that was too small to be useful, and selected the capital A button to get to the Font tab.  From this MS-DOS Prompt Properties window, and looking at the Font size: window I saw the setting was Auto.  I selected TT 5x9/Apply and kept up this downward sequence until I had the size and font for the Restore window matching the other two Restore windows size and font.  Finally, when all three were the same, and thus the problem resolved, I reset to Auto/Apply.

As followup questions, thinking now only about WinXP and the Command Prompt window you see when you select Start/All Programs/Accessories/Command Prompt (that has no capital A button or any other button) how to change font, or do you?

Also, can you grab the lower right corner of the window with the diagonal arrow and SAFELY change it?

John W0IKT 

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 30 May 2007 20:06:23 -0700
From: "Hsu, Aaron (NBC Universal)" <aaron.hsu at nbcuni.com>
Subject: [Ham-Computers] RE: DOS Windows Size in W98SE/W95B
To: "Computers (or other) used for amateur radio,
communications, or
experimenting" <ham-computers at mailman.qth.net>
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John,

Shortcuts to DOS/Command prompts generally have an associated
"PIF" file. The PIF is what tells Windows how to handle a text-
based (DOS) program. This includes the default font size as
well as memory management and other functions.

It sounds like the "MS-DOS prompt" shortcut in your Office
toolbar is set to run in a "maximized" window by default. In
Win98, IIRC, the "Maximized" view creates a window that's 80
characters wide (columns) by the full length of the screeen
vertically (rows). The overall size is dependent on the font
type and size selected. When you hit the "restore" button,
you're restoring the MS-DOS prompt to it's "native" size of
80x25 (cols by rows).

In order to change the default behaviour of running in
"maximzed" mode, you'll need to edit the PIF that's associated
with the shortcut in the Office shortcut bar. Let me put on my
thinking cap here as I don't have Win98 handy...hmmm, actually,
I do have a virtual 98 session handy...but it doesn't have the
Office shortcut bar. I'll explain how to create/modify the
shortcut PIF, but you might need to find where the PIF for the
Office bar shortcut is stored.

Let's start by creating a shortcut to MS-DOS. Right-click on
the desktop -> New -> Shortcut. In the "Create Shortcut"
wizard, type in "command" (no quotes) as the "Command line",
then press "Next". The next box should default the shortcut
name to "MS-DOS Prompt". You can keep it or change it - then
press "Finish".

You should now have a new shortcut to MS-DOS on your desktop.
Right-click on the shortcut -> Properties. You're now in what
*was* the old PIF Editor (Win31 days). It was integrated into
the shell in Win9x. On the "Program" tab, you'll see some of
the settings for running this shortcut. The "Run" box near the
bottom dictates whether the MS-DOS Prompt will run as a "Normal
window" (80x25), "Maximized" (80 x screen height), or
"Minimized" (in the task bar). Try each one and start the
shortcut to see how each one affects the MS-DOS Prompt. I
would recommend "Normal window" for most purposes as it can be
"re-sized" easily.

The "Font" tab allows you to chose what font to use for the
"Windowed" MS-DOS Prompt. If you select "Auto", it will chose
the font size based on your Normal MS-DOS Prompt window size
(more on this later). If you chose an X by Y font size, then
the MS-DOS Prompt will be "fixed" to using that font size and
the MS-DOS window will be sized according to the font.

So let's try some font settings. Set the shortcut to "Normal
window" and the font size to "Auto". Then start the shortcut.
The window should start as a normal window that partially fills
the screen. "Grab" the bottom corner of the window with the
cursor and drag it diagonally down and to the right. If you
have your screen set to at least 800x600, you'll notice that
the size of the window changes as you move the bottom right
corner. This is the auto font-size in action - the font will
change based on the size of the window. Here's something to
remember...if you resize the window, the size is saved when you
close the MS-DOS prompt. So the next time you start the *SAME*
shortcut, it will be at the same window size.

OK, let's now pick a "fixed" font size. Change the shortcut so
it uses the 5x8 font size, then start the shortcut. Notice
that the window is pretty small as the font size is small (5
pixels by 8 pixels). Now try to "grab" and resize the window -
notice that it may resize the width, but it adds scroll bars -
this is because you've "fixed" the font size and Windows won't
let you re-size the contents of the window.

OK, what about "maximized" MS-DOS prompts. If the font is set
to "Auto", "Maximize" just uses the largest font size available
to make an 80 column window that fits the width of the
display. The number of rows is depending on how many can fit
on the screeen (top to bottom). If the font size is set to a
"fixed" size, then the maximized window will be in the font
size selected - 80 columns across by so many rows down. Notice
that if you try to manually resize the "maximized" window by
"grabbing" an edge or corner, it won't resize the window. As
far as windows is concerned, you've "Maximized" the window and
it won't allow you to resize it (short of changing the font
size).

For reference, I believe the PIF file was integrated with the
shortcut in Win9x, so if you modify the settings, the shortcut
itself is updated. However, actual PIF files are still valid
in Win9x for compatibility (BTW, PIF is a carryover from
Win31).

So, to summarize:

- You can't manually "resize" a "maximized" MS-DOS Prompt
window.
- You can't resize the contents of a "fixed" font size MS-DOS
Prompt window.
- You *can* resize the window of an "auto" font size MS-DOS
Prompt window.
- Font (and other MS-DOS based) settings are stored in the
Shortcut/PIF file.
- My recollection of Win9x settings is fading quickly <g>.

Hopefully, there's enough info here to help you figure out
what's going on. In my opinion, your Office toolbar MS-DOS
shortcut is set to run at "maximized". You'll need to change
this to "Normal" to get the behaviour you want. Try looking
for the shortcut here:

c:\program files\msoffice\office\toolbars

IIRC, Office 97 might have installed in the root, so chop off
the "Program files" part.


73,

- Aaron, NN6O


-----Original Message-----
From: ham-computers-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:ham-
computers-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of
jandlmiller at bellsouth.net
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 8:14 AM
To: ham-computers at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Ham-Computers] DOS Windows Size in W98SE/W95B

This may or may not be related to Robert Downs' post on Sat 26
May 2007 and Aaron's response on Tue 29 May 2007.

In Win98SE (or also in W95B) I have a question about changing
the physical size of the DOS window. To be sure we are all on
the same page, here is what I see:

1. Start/Programs/MS-DOS Prompt opens the DOS window on top of
Windows Desktop. On my screen the DOS window in which the
Command Prompt (C:\>)is located probably consumes 70-80 percent
of the total screen area. On the toolbar at the top, at far
left is the Font windows with a drop-down arrow. The Font in
my window says "Auto." There are seven buttons to the right of
the d-d arrow the last of which is the capital A button. (Most
of us know that the button with four red arrows that I've
dubbed the "button of death" causes a full-screen that can be
reset only with ALT-ENTER.) At the far right and above this
tool bar are the three familiar buttons, and on this 70-80
percent window they say, on my screen, Minimize - Restore -
Close.

2. When I select the middle (Restore) button the DOS window
becomes smaller. Perhaps 40-50 per cent of the total screen
area is consumed.

How do I increase or decrease the total screen size, should I
want to do so? I am reluctant to attempt the sizing arrows
because of 3. below.

3. This one may be an unresolved bug issue in Win98SE and/or in
the Office 97 Pro toolbar. Note the difference from the
description in 2 above:

Striking the MS-DOS button on the Office 97 Pro toolbar,
located vertically along the right side of my screen, causes
the DOS window to appear on top of Windows Desktop. On my
screen the DOS window in which the Command Prompt (C:\>)is
located probably consumes 70-80 percent of the total screen
area. On the toolbar at the top, at far left is the Font
windows with a drop-down arrow. The Font in my window says
"Auto." There are seven buttons to the right of the d-d arrow
the last of which is the capital A button. At the far right
and above this tool bar are the three familiar buttons, and on
this 70-80 percent window they say, on my screen, Minimize -
Restore - Close.

When I select the middle (Restore) button the DOS window
becomes smaller. Perhaps 20-30 per cent of the total screen
area is consumed. I am sure I have forced the smaller size by
using the sizing arrows, but I do not know how to recover to a
larger physical size window that I would see when selecting the
Restore button.

When I return to the Desktop and once again use
Start/Programs/MS-DOS Prompt, I can repeat exactly what is
described above. The second window size, using Restore, is
larger when using Start/Programs/MS-DOS Prompt than it is when
using the Office97 Pro toolbar.

Once answer, I suppose, is to totally uninstall Office 97 Pro
then reinstall it.

Any ideas?

John W0IKT