🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1990Dec21.022146.7301@javelin.es.com> bgeer%javelin@dsd.es.com 

>I was playing with multiple sessions -- WordPerfect, Windows Paint, &
>GWS shareware gif viewer.  I tried to alt-esc while GWS was running
>(displaying a .gif in 640x480x256), the screen went "funny" (wierd
>colors, mostly), & I had to re-boot.

First, switching out of a high-resolution graphics mode into windows is
dangerous - Windows doesn't always know how to handle the mode.  Avoid
this if at all possible.

Second, I would guess that your hard disk corruption was caused by two
things: 1) the graphics problem, and 2) the fact the your GIF viewer
was probably making heavy use of the hard disk at the time you
tried to switch.  Moral: Avoid switching tasks during heavy hard disk 
access or when in a high resolution graphics mode.  

Solutions:
    1.  (Best solution) - Find a Gif viewer that runs under Windows.
        I'm working on this right now.  If you can find a good
        program, it should run in the highest resolution possible,
        as long as you have a Windows driver for your video card.

    2.  Modify (or create) the .PIF file for your GIF viewer.  Make sure
        the following items are set properly:
              Display Usage - Full screen - if you try to put a 
                   high-res screen in a Window, you're bound to
                   screw up something
        On the Advanced options screen:
	      Video memory - High graphics
              Monitor ports - High graphics
              Allow fast paste - Disabled
              Allow close when active - Disabled
              Disable ALL reserved shortcut keys except:
                   Ctrl-Esc - to allow you to bring up the task list
                   Alt-Space - to allow you to bring up the control
                               box for the current window
                   (These two keys will give you an escape in an 
                   emergency.  But don't use them unless you have to!)

These settings should keep you safe (no guarantees).  One exception to
the above rules: it's usually okay to switch out of a program like a Gif
viewer AS LONG AS IT'S IN TEXT MODE when you switch.

Hope this helps!

Paul Buddington
Yale University