Why Is the Config.sys Important
What is this Config thing that Windows user want's to get ride of----is it important?? Let's talk about it:
The Intelligent CONFIG.SYS :
Windows no longer needs a CONFIG.SYS. Well--ok, but is that good. It dang sure can use one. If you don't have one on your system, you're boat is out of the water....
Call it the old days if you will but the only way to get certain things done when a computer booted up is through two files stored in the main directory of your boot disk/sector. They're AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS. ONLY the Lord and Microsoft knows why two files were needed when CONFIG would have done nicely. If ONLY Microsoft had changed the way DOS works—but some things just never get explained. So we've been stuck with a (AUTOEXEC, of which is nothing more than BATCH Files, a list of commands) and a sys file (CONFIG), (the great one) for years.
Many PC users who wouldn't get within miles of their CONFIG.SYS will happily screw up their AUTOEXEC.BAT with line upon line of commands, for the simple reason that batch files are easy to understand. Type a command on a line in a batch file and the PC is happy to execute whatever the command says, COOL Huh!!!!!
SOoooo, what the heck are SYS files? Some of the things CONFIG.SYS does can be handled by AUTOEXEC.BAT and vice versa, but there are important tasks that only CONFIG.SYS can handle. The SYS files are one thing (or many things, depending on how deep you want to go into the way your computer works), but CONFIG.SYS is something else again. It's also, just a list of commands, just a text file that has instructions for the computer, line by line. So let's remember, CONFIG.SYS is like AUTOEXEC.BAT. NOT exactly, but it sure does have a lot of similarities. The important thing is that running DOS and Windows get themselves organized each time they start. When PCs boot up, they have to find their drives, check their peripherals and feed their memory needs.
THE REASON:
CONFIG.SYS always goes to the front of the line when the PC boots up. After the PC runs
its BIOS routines—the Basic Input Output System, IT THEN LOOKS for a CONFIG.SYS and
SAYS what's NEXT. Old or NEW BIOS, the principle is the same. This means CONFIG.SYS gets a
chance to do its thing before DOS has a chance to load its command processor. (Let's not
get technical. Part of DOS is just code that deals with disks and the screen, (that sort
of thing). The other part is called the "command processor." (Where when you
type a command or a batch file, the command processor does the work.)
This is GREAT then, the CONFIG.SYS can tell the
PC to load memory managers or CD-ROM drivers or network things before DOS gets a chance to
find out what happening---hehehe, and it's for a good reason, if the PC tried to load that
kind of stuff after DOS finished loading, a lot wouldn't work.)
WANT MORE??
CONFIG.SYS can even push the DOS command processor out the door and load a substitute.
That what the shell= line in CONFIG.SYS does. Very few users ever stick a substitute
command processor onto their PCs these days, (but it can be done very easily by just
naming it), with the full path, right after the shell= statement.)
THE GOODY PART:
Because CONFIG.SYS has all this POWER, and because it gets first crack at memory and other
things before DOS can grab anything, you're always better off putting commands in
CONFIG.SYS THAN (AUTOEXEC.BAT), if you can get away with it. Many of the items that have
been routinely written into AUTOEXEC.BAT can, indeed, be put instead into CONFIG.SYS. PATH
is a good example. Your can put the PATH statement in CONFIG.SYS. (a better way for one
thing), the PATH will be established before the command processor even starts running.
(For another), the PATH statement takes up slightly less memory when you put it in
CONFIG.SYS than when you stick it in AUTOEXEC.BAT.
Most users (probably, nearly all users) who have functioning AUTOEXEC.BATs have their SET instructions in the wrong place. Put them in CONFIG.SYS, not AUTOEXEC.BAT.
SOooo, you say --- the advantage AUTOEXEC.BAT normally has is that it runs programs. You can't get CONFIG.SYS to do that. Right?---WRONG!!!!!!
CONFIG.SYS can run programs. It won’t run Microsoft Word or your browser, but it can run utilities. The command that does this is INSTALL (or INSTALLHIGH, which uses memory better). Typical programs that can be loaded by CONFIG.SYS include FASTOPEN and SHARE (both of which are off-limits in Windows 95 on up, however). But many other small programs will load nicely in CONFIG.SYS. If you are loading some sort of utility in your AUTOEXEC.BAT using a LOAD or LOADHIGH command and want to see if it works when it's loaded by CONFIG.SYS, go ahead and try it. It might not work, and you might get a crash, so boot up and test simple operations before you do anything serious.
SOoooo, play around with it, just add a ( ? ) mark in front of the command--so when ask--you can just bypass it if it causes a problem and edit it out later.
So Now, Do You Want Your CONFIG.SYS back?? I Bet You Do....If you have a Opinion about Config, E-Mail it.
