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	2 June 99 Hello From the Tech Chair First of all, thanks for the all of the compliments we have received on the technical articles we have been sending you! We were informed that you prefer brief, concise articles that are powerful and require little time to read. Fortunately, I have the same preference and I believe that we are in a "win - win" relationship! Please see the book review section below for a tightly packed tips style book that cuts right to the good stuff . SP5 The latest Service Pack is released, as I am sure most of you know. The SP5 I downloaded was about 34MB and loaded with no ill effects. I did not have any pre-existing condition that needed a new SP, but I was interested. The readme.txt is on the site here: http://support.microsoft.com/download/support/mslfiles/NT4SP440.TXT You can download it to see what fixes are new. Get it first then decide. If you're on SP3 and want the Y2K fixes of SP4 but were a little gun-shy, standby a few weeks to see the reports on SP5. I hereby invite any SP5 sites to report to me so I can share the data. Send them directly to me with SP5 in the Subject line and I'll share the data. I'd like to know what situations were fixed at your site and the benefits you've seen. Also share your 'less than optimum' reports. Tip I've learned a fantastic repair process for the blue screen message: INACESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE. After I tell you, I will give some examples of how you can get the error. If you're stuck on this blue screen, take your Windows NT Setup Boot floppies and begin a new install. Do not upgrade but choose 'N' for a new install. When prompted for a directory name, choose WINNT2 by simply adding a '2' to the suggested location, which is the current location of your crashed NT. Choose "Leave the Current File System intact" when given the partition choices. By installing to the same partition you will be given the chance to do a complete scan. This is it! Do the thorough scan and when it's complete, you will see a message that indicates that changes were made and to press 'F8' to restart your computer and begin the setup. Remove your floppy and/or your CD-ROM and press it. When your machine reboots you will see your familiar boot menu and the process continuing normally. What's left is to log in to your regular installation. There will be no WINNT2 directory or changes to your boot.ini but simply your repaired NT installation. On one occasion I helped an Administrator do this and at the end I could hear the cheering in the background when the file server came back online. I do not profess that this works every time or is appropriate for all instances of the above error. I do sincerely proclaim that it has worked dozens of times to a complete recovery. I am trying to discover what the exact tool is from Microsoft and how to isolate it as a recovery tool. You will know it when I do (if it is not proprietary). That's a promise! Your Copy of Windows 2000 (This is a repeat but worth it) I have gotten so many requests for information on how to get the Beta of Windows 2000 that I could not respond to them all. The answer is that Microsoft has made available a new program whereby you can purchase membership in their beta tests. You can join by purchasing TECHNET and the option for beta testing. For the complete information go to: http://microsoft.com/technet You will then have access to all their beta software. Windows 2000 Tip One of the new features is the ability to edit NTFS files when doing an Emergency Repair. The option asks for your Administrator password and sends you to a command prompt where you can view, rename and edit files on an NTFS partition. Book Review Title: Key to Optimizing and Tuning Windows NT 4.0 (Windows NT Magazine Instant Solutions) Author: James Michael Stewart Publisher: 29th Street Press ISBN: 1-882419-99-5 Here is a new book from Windows NT magazine that is packed full of no frills, direct steps for many of the tricks that will optimize your system. Worth special mention is the section on setting up several performance monitors for both the machine and the network. I found these steps easy to follow and clear to understand. This small book can definitely help your system and will fit in your back pocket. It has lots of screen captures and descriptions of utilities. This is one of a series of Windows NT magazine books called Instant Solutions. It looks a bit pricey but the value is the time you will save wading through much larger and more expensive books for the tips. Tidbits There are occasions when you will have a piece of unused hard disk space on which you can create a very small partition. If it is less than 15MB, it will be formatted to 12-bit FAT. All other FAT volumes will be 16 bit (until Windows 2000 where FAT32 will also be an option). We here in Tech Support have been providing information in these articles to help you. Roger Capps Windows NT Technical Support Manager   If you have any comments about this article or any requests for new technical articles e-mail
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