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You can host multiple Domain Name System (DNS) names for specific customer areas with only one IP address on your Web server. All you need is Web server software that supports Active Server Pages (ASP), such as Windows 95 Peer Web Server or Windows NT Internet Information Server (IIS). Just follow these three simple steps:
- Change your Web server administrator default home page to default.asp rather than (or along with) default.htm.
- Change your root directory home page and other virtual directory home pages to the new .asp extension.
- Add the following ASP code to the top of your Web server root directory default.asp home page. This code redirects each alternative DNS name to the appropriate virtual directory:
When you have this code in place, customers entering another.dns.name will bypass your default home page and go directly to the designated home page. By enabling and using ASP code in your Web pages, you can provide many other customization and automation benefits in addition to this simple solution for handling multiple DNS names.
—Paul Noeldner
noeldp@classic.msn.com
A Tip on a Tip
Rick Cogley's tip "Open a CMD View of Explorer Folders" in the November 1997 Reader to Reader was a great idea. But after using it for about an hour, I grew tired of the many clicks required to use SendTo->newcmd. So I made some simple modifications. Now I only need to right-click the folder I want to go to and select Command Prompt. With this modification, you can also select a Drive Folder. Here is how to modify Cogley's tip in Windows NT Explorer:
- Copy this batch file into your c:\winnt directory:
REM NEWCMD.CMD
@echo off
CD "%1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
TITLECMDStartedat:%1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9 from Batch %0
START /B
- Select Options under View.
- Tab to File Types.
- Select Folder.
- Click Edit to edit the Folder Type.
- Select New to add a new option.
- Under Action, enter: Command Prompt.
- Under Applications used to perform action, enter: C:\WINNT\NEWCMD.CMD.
- Click OK, and exit Explorer.
—Jeff Mathewson
Jeff.Mathewson@iff.com
An Important Connection
I'm the systems administrator of a small NT network consisting of two NT servers—a Primary Domain Controller (PDC) and a Backup Domain Controller (BDC)—and several workstations. For some time, I had problems with not being able to log on to the network when adding workstations. When I tried to synchronize the PDC and BDC, I received error messages in the log and error notices on other workstations telling me to reestablish the trust relationship. I assumed that trust relationships applied to only multidomain networks and suspected that I had somehow created more than one domain in the network.
After studying several NT books, however, I discovered that you must connect your PDC to the network before loading the BDC. (Simply referring to the domain by the same name is not enough.) Although many systems administrators might automatically make this connection first, I didn't because I have an experimental network in which I often reload software and rebuild machines in the network. Now that I have reloaded the BDC with the PDC connected to the network, I have no problems.
—Ricky Hensman
rhensman@freenet.uk.com
The Install from Hell
My experience with running Netscape Communicator 4.03 on Windows NT Server 4.0 with Service Pack 3 is that Communicator 4.03 is solid and its browser performs faster than Internet Explorer (IE) 4.0's browser. However, I didn't like the new mail user interface. In addition, I needed to access other email accounts on Exchange and Compuserve. So I decided to migrate to Outlook 97.
Outlook doesn't import Internet email from Netscape, but Outlook Express does. So I figured that I could load the email into Outlook Express and then export it to Outlook 97. But first I had to install IE 4.0, which turned out to be the install from hell.
Microsoft gave Internet Service Providers (ISPs) the opportunity to brand their copies. Branding gives ISPs access to the title bar, Favorites, and the desktop. When I installed IE 4.0, I discovered that my ISP had gone wild with this access, so I tried to uninstall the program. The Registry still contained numerous orphan entries, and IE 4.0 files were still all over the system drive. I erased all the offending files I could find, but I'm sure I didn't get all of them.
Then I went to the ZD Net and downloaded all 60MB of cabinet (.cab) files. Despite the presence of these files, IE's Active Setup still wanted to go to the Web to download files. Thus, I had to manually extract the cabinet files and manually edit the setup file.
When I was editing the setup file, IE 4.0 gave me a choice of directories. But when I executed the setup, IE put a few token files in my chosen location and then promptly installed most of the files in another location—Program Files on the system drive. The system drive happens to be the smallest drive. (Afterward I learned that you can change a value in the Registry to control where IE installs the files. This value is at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\microsoft\windows\currentversion\programfilesdir.)
With IE installed in locations ordained by the Microsoft gods, I examined the results. My most painful discovery was the use of URL files to keep track of bookmarks. This usage is akin to using .LNK files to keep track of menu entries.
IE's approach to keeping bookmarks is wasteful compared to Netscape's approach. I am using a small FAT partition for the system partition. The cluster size is 8KB, which means that every bookmark takes up 8192 bytes. My 127 bookmarks take up more than 1 million bytes—and this calculation doesn't include any space that directory entries use. Netscape used only 23,505 bytes to keep track of my bookmarks and much more. I only wish Netscape would let me specify an external mail program or give me access to multiple mail connections.
—Bob Eng
wizard@bitsmart.com
Buyer Beware
As all Windows NT graphics professionals know, NT is a stable, robust operating system, with graphics routines in the kernel. As a result, NT is a splendid operating system for graphics work. However, MetaTools—the makers of Kai's Power Tools, Kai's Photo Soap, KPT Bryce, and more—doesn't seem to agree.
About a year ago, I bought Kai's Power Goo. The sales representative had assured me that Kai's Power Goo would work with NT 3.x and NT 4.0. It didn't.
I went to MetaTools' Web site to find a fix. MetaTools had no fix but promised to release one shortly. Over the past year, I have regularly checked the Web site for the promised fix and have been disappointed each time.
Then I went to the Voice and Vision exposition in Helsinki, Finland, where I saw a demonstration of Kai's Photo Soap. I asked the demonstrator about my problem. She put me in touch with Matti Hallikainen, who had fixed the problem by replacing the axiom.dll file in the %SystemRoot%\system32\ directory with one that he created. Hallikainen mailed me the file, and my Kai's Power Goo has worked perfectly ever since. This file is available for free download at http://max.nma.fi/index.php?pg=goo.
MetaTools' Web site at http://www.metatools.com/goo/goo.html states that, "Kai's Power Goo is a 32-bit native application, optimized for Intel-based Windows 95 and NT and Apple Macintosh/Power Macintosh platforms." How can Kai's Power Goo be optimized for NT if it doesn't work under NT?
—Max Romantschuk
max@provico.fi