Flex your intellectual muscle

[Editor's Note: Solve this month's Windows NT problem and get the chance to win $100 or a copy of one of the author's books about NT. Email your solutions (do not use an attachment) to challenge@winntmag.com. Include your full name, mailing address, and connection to NT (e.g., administrator, user). Because of the number of entries, we cannot reply to all respondents. Look for the solution to this month's problem in the November issue.]

Problem
Moira was a network administrator for a small business. The business grew, and Moira had to add servers and workstations. Multiple servers meant she had to learn and make notes about replication. We've found her notes about adding servers. Your challenge is to determine which of her assumptions are correct and which will cause her a problem.

  1. Regardless of file extensions or attributes, the system automatically replicates all files placed in \winnt\system32repl\export.
  2. If you properly configure the replication process, the system will use both workstations and servers as sources of exports.
  3. The configuration option to include the account database (SAM) is part of the Advanced setup for replication, and you must configure the option properly to avoid separate replication processes for the SAM.

MAY WINNERS
Congratulations to Christopher Abbott, a network administrator in Milford, Connecticut, and to Linh Pham, an IT manager in Beaverton, Oregon. Christopher won first prize of $100 for the best solution to the May Reader Challenge. Linh won second prize of a copy of Windows NT Troubleshooting (Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 1998).

Problem
Bob DeZiner handles all the graphics development for his company, including Web site, stationery, logo, and product design--you name it; he draws it. He has a variety of graphics applications on his computer, and he uses specific applications for certain file types (e.g., .gif, .jpeg, .per, .tif).

Marvin DeGeek, the company's IT director, likes to be on the cutting edge. One night he updates everyone's computer with the latest service pack. The next morning, Bob can't access his file associations. Every time he double-clicks a graphics file, Paint opens. Bob is livid--he throws stuff around his office; he shreds his Pantone color book and tosses the confetti into the air. He bellows, "Bring me the head of Marvin DeGeek."

Marvin shows up and says, "No big deal; we can easily fix the problem." Bob screeches, "You call hacking the Registry easy?"

Marvin tells Bob that one of two non-Registry-hacking methods will restore his file associations within 15 minutes. What are these two methods?

Solution
Four possible solutions exist for this problem, but you could submit any two correct responses to enter the challenge.

  1. Open Windows Explorer or My Computer, and select a file with the extension you want to reassociate. Hold down the Shift key and right-click the file. Open With appears on the shortcut menu. Click Open With, choose the appropriate program, and select the Always use this program to open this type of file check box. (You must select the file first, then hold down the Shift key and right-click the file. If you only right-click the file, Open With doesn't appear on the shortcut menu.)
  2. From the Windows Explorer menu bar, select View, Options, and the File Types tab. Take either of the following actions:

    Option 1. Select each file type you want to reassociate, and click Remove and Yes. Close the Options dialog box, and from Windows Explorer, double-click each file type (one at a time). When the Open With dialog box appears (which it will because you removed the association), choose the appropriate software and select the Always use this program to open this type of file check box.

    Option 2. Select a file type, and click the Edit button. In the Edit File Type dialog box, select Open and click the Edit button. Enter the path and filename of the appropriate application. (You can use the Browse button to assist you.) Repeat for each file type that you need to reassociate.

  3. Run Winfile to launch the old Windows 3.x File Manager. Select a file with the extension you want to reassociate, and choose File, Associate. Select the new software.
  4. Run associate.exe, which is a command-line utility from the Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Resource Kit. Use the syntax 
    associate.ext filename [/f]

    where .ext is the extension you want to associate, filename is the executable program to associate .ext with, and /f overwrites the existing entry without questions.

End of Article


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