In Windows 95, MSDOS.SYS is a hidden, read-only text file that incorporates all of the Windows 95 start-up switches. To edit it, you'll first need to make the file visible: Open My Computer, choose View, Options, and click on the View tab, then check the radio button labeled Show all files. Next, use Explorer to find MSDOS.SYS. Right-click on its icon and uncheck the Read-only box to temporarily change its attributes for editing. Finally, launch Notepad or another text editor and open the file. Be sure to reset the read-only attribute after you've finished.

The complete list of MSDOS.SYS switches is in the Windows 95 Resource Kit on the CD-ROM. These switches (all entered under the [Options] section) are worth learning:

To eliminate the animated Windows 95 logo, add the line LOGO=0.

For easier dual-booting between Windows 95 and Windows 3.x, add the line BootMenu=1 to automatically display the Startup menu each time you reboot, and BootMulti=1 to enable the MS-DOS option on the menu. (Of course, this assumes you preserved your DOS installation in a separate directory).

Add BootMenuDelay=n (where n is a value in seconds) to trim the 30-second delay before the default Startup menu item runs. Set the default menu choice by adding BootMenuDefault=n (on most systems, 3 is Windows 95).

Finally, to prevent most users from starting up in anything other than normal Windows mode, add the line BootMenu=0.

---