Date: Wed, 17 Dec 97 02:13:36 -0900
From: EvangeList <evangelist@apple.com>
Subject: Tidbit - Win95 on the Net

Keyword: Advocacy, Windows Daymares

This tidbit is from:

Dennis McElroy

Recently I was asked to setup four Win95 machines for TCP/IP access to 
the university network and the internet. I knew that Win95 could either 
be relatively easy or very quirky. This latest experience just confirmed 
this impression. None of the machines would recognize the ethernet cards 
even though these had been configured earlier in the week. I had to 
reinstall the software for the cards. Upon doing this, machine 1 started 
freezing up on startup. I had to start up in safe mode, remove the 
drivers and start over again. After the third try the machine finally 
recognized the card and setting up TCP/IP was relatively straight 
forward. Machine 2 worked as advertised. Following the same procedures as 
had been used on machine 1, machine 2 worked without a hitch. Machine 3 
on the other had would not recognize the card. After 7 attempts to 
install the drivers we finally reinstalled the OS. This solved the 
problem. Machine 4 was even worse. Upon installing the drivers for the 
ethernet card, the computer promptly stopped recognizing the CD-ROM 
drive. We checked for address conflicts (there were none) and even tried 
removing the drivers for the card. No luck. To this point the machine is 
still refusing to recognize the CD-ROM. So, after 4 hours of work...3 of 
4 machines are now on the net. Having done this many times on Macs, I can 
honestly attest that it never takes more than 10 minutes to get a mac 
online. Guess this just confirms that plug and pray is alive and well.

Dennis McElroy
Educational Technologist
Drake University School of Education 
Des Moines, IA 50311>