Using The Software Support Utilities; Dell-Installed Software Support Utilities; Backing Up The Software Support Utilities; Software Support Utilities On Diskette - Dell Precision 410 User Manual

Chapter 2

Using the Software Support Utilities

Y
our Dell system comes with software support utilities
on diskette or on your computer's hard-disk drive. These
software support utilities include system utilities, system
services, and bus-mastering enhanced integrated drive
electronics (EIDE) drivers, all of which are documented
in this chapter.
For information on the additional software support
utilities you received with your system, refer to the
following:
•
Video drivers — See the documentation from the
video card manufacturer. (Video drivers support the
video graphics requirements of a variety of monitors
and application programs running under the
Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 or Microsoft Win-
dows 95 operating system.)
NOTE: Some video cards provide video drivers only
for the Windows NT operating system.
•
Audio drivers — See Chapter 6, "Using the Inte-
grated Audio Controller," of this guide.
•
Network interface drivers — See Chapter 5, "Using
the Network Interface Controller," of this guide.
System utilities and services can be used to safeguard
your system and to explicitly control certain hardware
features. Refer to "System Utilities and Services" found
later in this chapter for information about these utilities.
Bus-mastering EIDE drivers are provided for the Win-
dows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 operating systems. These
drivers can off-load certain functions from the system
microprocessor, providing a performance improvement
during multithreaded operations (instances where several
application programs are running simultaneously). Refer
to "Bus-Mastering EIDE Drivers" found later in this
chapter for information about these utilities.
D
ell-Installed Software Support
Utilities
If no software support diskettes were shipped to you, the
system utilities, services, and bus-mastering EIDE driv-
ers are already installed on your hard-disk drive in two
different forms: as working utilities, operative immedi-
ately, and as diskette images.
In case you later need to reinstall the files for any reason,
you need to copy the diskette images to a backup diskette
(see the next section, "Backing Up the Software Support
Utilities"). From the backup diskette, you can install the
desired file(s) to a directory on your hard-disk drive. Fur-
ther instructions for installing the utilities, services, and
drivers are provided later in this chapter.
B
acking Up the Software Support
Utilities
Dell recommends that you create original diskette copies,
or program diskette sets, of your Dell-installed software.
You will need these diskettes if you ever want to recon-
figure or reinstall your Dell-installed software. To create
program diskettes, use the Dell DiskMaker program to
create program diskette sets (available through the Dell
Accessories program folder).
S
oftware Support Utilities on
Diskette
If you received Dell software support diskettes, the Dell
system utilities, services, and bus-mastering EIDE driv-
ers are provided on these diskettes. To use a utility,
Using the Software Support Utilities 2-1