with a lot of programs and second you don't need that much. I use memmakerfrom dos 6.0 and have about 615k conventual memory and no problems at all.With all that said about conventual memory I believe the most problems withnew programs are incorrect sound board settings. Sometimes the auto-detectsettings of the programs will incorrectly detect your IRQ settings and othertimes the software will just use the default settings and they may be wrong.First thing to try if you have problems getting a program to run is redo thesetup for no sound or PC Speaker. If the program then runs then you know itsa sound board problem. Sometimes you have to completely re-install theprogram to be able to re-configure it but most often you can just run eithersetup or Install from the program directory. Sometimes there are even optionsin the program itself to re-configure the sound. Most important thing to knowIs the 3 settings of your sound card. Example. Most sound Blasters and SoundBlaster Pros default to the following settings.IRQ  =  7Port =  220hDMA  =  1Most Sound Blaster 16 boards default to the following.IRQ  =  5Port =  220hDMA  =  1The most common problem I have is with my Sound Blaster 16. Most programsdon't have a setup for the 16 so I have to choose the sound blaster Pro andthen the program just configure for IRQ 7 and I am at IRQ 5 even though Mysound blaster 16 is 100% compatible with the Sound Blaster pro. A simplecustom setup of the program for IRQ 5 and I am ready to Rock and Roll.Q. Can I install the programs from the Hard drive without unzipping to all       Those floppy disks. A. I thought you would never ask. I very seldom Unzip programs to Floppydisks anymore. Especially with the new Msdos 6.0 SUBST Command. Firstthings First.More hard drive space is required to do this but if you have it its the bestway to install programs.. I will walk you thru the following Installation of a gamecalled Mystery that is 12 1.44 Meg Files., Without touching a floppy disk. Ifwe take for granted that the 12 .ZIP files are located in your C:\DownloadDirectory, Then we need to make a temporary Directory on the hard drive in order to install this game. I use C:\temp so go ahead and make that directorywith the following dos command.C:\Download > MD C:\tempThen from the Download directory where all the .Zip files are. By the way the.Zip files are named as follows Myst_01 thru Myst_12 for our example. Issuethe following dos command.C:\Download > Pkunzip -d Myst* c:\tempOK now that command will start with the first file found and start Unzippingthe files to the C:\Temp directory. Most Likely at some point during the second file one of the files will contain the same Filename as a file from the first .Zip file. Example The File File_ID.Diz will be on every disk so when it reaches the second on the Pkunzip program will Halt and Tell you that thesame file exists and wants to know if you want to Skip, Overwrite, ETC.The Command I always use is 'A' For always overwrite existing files. Thisway the Pkunzip program will continue to process all 12 .Zip files with outasking for confirmation of overwrite every time. Remember 99% of the timethe software companies will always have different filename on all of the filesand it will always be the .nfo and BBS Advertisements that are overwriting. OKafter all this is done you may want to delete the .ZIP files from your Harddrive if your running short of space. OK now we need to make Dos think thatthe files are on Floppies Instead of the Hard drive so this is where the SubstCommand comes in. From any dos Prompt issue the following command. C:\download> SUBST A: C:\TempWe have now substituted the c:\temp directory on your hard drive to the A:Floppy drive. You can substitute the B: Drive if you like the Install programdoes not care which Floppy you install from as long as it thinks its a Floppyand not the Hard Drive. Anyway now anytime you or any program trys toaccess the A: Floppy Dos will send it to the C:\Temp directory.Now switch to the Gigantic floppy by typing A: and return from the dosprompt. To test the Subst drive try Dir and you will see all those files fromthe Unzipping of the 12 files. OK enough fun now just type Install or setup and you are on your way to installing the game. Most often the complete game will install in a fraction of the time it would take from floppies. Sometimesit will hesitate between disk 1 and disk 2 etc asking you to put disk 2 in A:drive and press any key. Just press any key each time and your on your way.OK now that everything is installed look in your c:\Temp directory for any.NFO or readme files and any crack patches you may need and then once allthat is taken care of delete everything in the c:\temp directory. As I saidbefore most programs for Dos will install this way but there are exceptions.If you try this and it fails then Please read on as there are many other waysto Install programs without having to use floppies.Q. What if the Program files are overwriting and not just the .NFO files.A. Occasionally Software companies will have the same filename on each diskso that when you try to Unzip to the hard drive the file from Disk2 overwritethe file on disk 1 etc. In this case you will have to Multi-task to Install programs such as this.Q. I just hate to use floppies , Is there any way of avoiding this as the    hard drive is so much faster.A. YES!!! I will address this subject right now. I have only had to unzip tofloppies about 1 in 1000 programs. Here is a set of Examples. OK Lets assume the worst case, There are 12 files and each as a different Volume labelwhich is required by the install. Also the file names on each disk is the sameso that if you unzipped all 12 disks to the same directory they would overwrite and you would be left with only one file. This is what to do!. follow each step exactly. you can try this with any multi disk program justfor practice. Step 1.  Load Windows and Drop to a Full screen dos window by double clicking         on the Dos Prompt Icon.Step 2.  Unzip disk 1 to the Substitute B: Drive using the -D -$ . This will          only unzip the first disk and Label the Hard drive with the stored         Volume Label. The Volume Label will also be Present on the Subistuted         B: drive.Step 3.  Press "CTRL ESC" which will bring back Windows and the Task Manager.         From here select Program Manager and from the Program Manager Open         another Full screen Dos session.Step 4.  Now from the second DOS Window select B: and Type Install or Setup to         Start the installation process. The Installation will now proceed          properly as the correct volume label is present and only the correct          files from disk 1 are in the substitute drive. Now you will soon be          requested by the Install program to Please Insert disk 2.Step 5.  Press "CTRL ESC" Again and from the task manager screen select the         1st or other Dos window. From this dos window delete all the files in         B: and Unzip the second disk to B: which will also put the proper          files in the Substitute drive and re-Label the volume label as          required by the install program.Step 6.  As you should see by now just repeat this process until all the disks         have been processed and thats all there is to it.               Q. How do I get rid of a Subst drive so I can use my floppy again.A. Will you have to choices. This command will remove the subst drive in theabove example  SUBST A: /D as long as you don't try to issue that commandfrom the A:\> prompt.  Rebooting your computer will also eliminate the SubstDrive.I personally never use my 1.2 Meg Floppy Drive so I always Subst that drivefor c:\temp in my Autoexec.bat file. That way it is always there when I needit. I still have my 1.44 drive B: available for use with floppies. Q. If the Media was originally on 1.44 floppy disks and I use My 1.2 Meg          Floppy for the Subst Drive will I have problems.A. No! Most install programs only look to see if your installing from a floppydrive and not the hard drive so if it finds A: Or B: It will install fine.Q. How much space will be taken on my Hard drive using a subst Drive.A. Will in the above example without deleting files in between the process youcould have as much as 80 Megs of space used just to install one program. OKfollow me in this example.12 1.44 Meg .Zip files in the C:\download directory ====== 20 MegsAll those files Unzipped in to the c:\temp directory ===== 20 megsThe Game installed in the hard drive c:\game         ===== 40 megsRemember the 40 Megs installed is because the install program uncompressedthe files when it installed itself.Anyway it took 80 Megs to install but now you can delete everything except theinstalled game so your down to 40 Megs.Q. Will the Subst command work in Windows.A. Interesting question.  If you subst a floppy Ie SUBST A: C:\DOS orwhatever and load windows, then yes file manager will treat the A: drive as aSubstituted drive. Not much here is accomplished here because all programs will install in windows with out having to Unzip to Floppies. There are (2)    methods to install programs from the hard drive. Both will be covered in     complete detail .Q. It seems that there are a lot of programs that have a File called              Install.dat or disk.Id on each disk and when unzipping them to the hard drive the install.dat file always overwrite the next on so then the installation fails after after looking for the 2nd file. How Come?A. It is very common for the software companies to use the Install.datinstallation routine. What they do is have a text file on each disk calledInstall.dat that contains a list of all files on that disk with there respective sizes. Then the Install.exe program reads the Install.dat andinstalls those files checking to see if the size is correct on the list Thenyou insert the next disk and it reads the Install.dat file again and so on.This is a very convenient way for them as when they update the program a slight change to the install.dat and the same install program works. The problem for us is that after Unzipping multiple files to one Directory on thehard drive you see we only end up with one Install.dat file so when you run the Install.exe it installs only the files from one disk and stops asking formore disks with different Install.dat files. Some people get around this by making there own Install.bat containing a list of all the files from every disk so after they unzip all the files to the hard drive you copy the customInstall.dat over the one existing one and install from the subst drive. This reads the custom Install.dat and all the files are installed. An example ofthis can be found on the Patch for 3D Studio Version 3.0 for Subst Install. Also using windows to Multi-Task as in the example above is another effectivemethod to use to install programs such as this.Q. What is the best way to install programs in windows with out using floppiesA. No Problem. I have 2 methods that seem to work for 100% of allsoftware I have tried. First just forget about Subst Drives when working inwindows and Unzip all files to one Directory on your hard drive just as youwould with dos programs, Overwriting all files. Next load windows and theFile Manager and select the directory that contains the unzipped files. Example C:\temp   Then from the list of files in the right most window within file manager select Setup.exe or Install.exe just as if you were Installing from Floppies. This will load and run the install or setup program as normal.The exception to this is that the setup program will sometimes prompt you thatit cant find files and it is looking for them in the Disk1 directory or the Disk2 directory. This is very common and can easily be tricked. For exampleif the prompt is something like this Cant Find  [ c:\disk1\FileX ] then youknow its the Disk1 Directory trick.  Go to Dos and create a Disk? directory for every .Zip File the program has. Example if there are 4 .Zip Files Namedas follows in the c:\Download Directory.lots123-1.ziplots123-2.ziplots123-3.ziplots123-4.zipMake four directories on your hard drive as follows.MD C:\disk1MD C:\disk2MD C:\disk3MD C:\disk4Then Unzip the four files as follows. Pkunzip lots123-1 c:\disk1Pkunzip lots123-2 c:\disk2Pkunzip lots123-3 c:\disk3Pkunzip lots123-4 c:\disk4 OK then return to windows and select c:\disk1 from the File manager and selectSetup or install. The installation will proceed as normal. Then remember todelete all files and directories used in installation. This is an example that Iwould use after the program is installed from Dos. Deltree c:\disk1Deltree c:\disk2Deltree c:\disk3Deltree c:\disk4Ok will also if you have the same problem with files over writing then justas before only unzip one file at a time and switch between the WindowsFile Manager install program and a Full screen Dos window.Q. What are the commands for .ARJ files and are they similar to .ZipA. Sure. The one thing that is different is there is only one program to ARJ and Unarj files with the .ARJ Extension where as with PkWare there is Pkzip the Zip files and Pkunzip to Unzip files. The following examples are for ARJ.Remember you need version 2.41 or newer version of the file ARJ.EXE inyour C:\Dos directory.To arj all files from the B: Floppy to a file called game in the c:\wares