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NOV-NAL.DOC -- 19980313 -- Email thread on the Novell Application Launcher
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	Feel free to add or edit this document and then email
	it back to faq@jelyon.com




Date: Tue, 12 Aug 1997 09:29:38 +0100
From: "Erik Bos, AMC afd. PC-LAN" <A.H.Bos@AMC.UVA.NL>
Subject: (Fwd) NAL 2.0 - Advanced Documentation?

>I'm trying to track down some more advanced documentation about NAL 2.0.
>I've searched Novell's KB high and low and it has opened up more questions
>then it has answered.  For instance I found reference to NAL.INI,
>NALINIT.INI and a command line parameter /A=.  But what do these do?
>
>Does anyone know if there is more documentation on NAL 2.0 available
>and if so where?

No, there is not much documentation, I hope someone is making his
own and put it on this list soon to help the others.

>Does anyone know anything further about the role and parameters of the
>above INI and command line paramaters?

I can tell you something about the Nal.ini:
If you set on the option that users can save their own Nal-desktop
settings (Launcher Configuration Tab of the User or Container object)
a Nal.ini file will appear in the windows directory (can not find how
to change this) containing settings like the size of the Nal. I
believe the Nal.ini is new in Nal 2.0. This is an example of a
Nal.ini of Windows 3.1 with Nal 2.0:

[Window]
X=152
Y=0
H=426
W=488
State=Normal
View=2
FolderTree=
FolderName=
SplitPosition=0.1907757

I hope you now have a little more understanding of the Nal.

Tip: Use NWAdmn95 at a Windows 95 workstation to configure the Nal,
even if you are using the Nal for Windows 3.1 workstations, this NDS
utility will make you understand the Nal 2.0 better.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Aug 1997 15:07:31 EST5EDT
From: Michael Peckman <PEC@STAFF.CIRC.GWU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Hide Nalexpld [from desktop]

>Is there anyway to hide the nal explorer icon, that shows up
>on the desktop.

Yes, and no.  I also didn't like seeing NAL Explorer on the desktop, so with
the help of The Mother of All Windows 95 Books, and a couple of other books I
delt with it.  After performing the steps below the NAL Explorer will be
moved to My Computer and off the desktop.

*CATCH*: The problem with performing these steps is that existing shortcuts
(.LNK files) will NOT work with this configuration -- links need to be
recreated.  Looking at a NAL Explorer shortcut in a hex viewer, the shortcut,
using CLSIDs, references NAL Explorer via the desktop (or in my case My
Computer).  I would love to know how to create shortcuts that worked no
matter where NAL Explorer lived, but...

Using the method described to remove the Inbox from the desktop you can
remove the NAL Explorer icon from the desktop:  In the registry editor,
delete the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{CF8EF420-3DF3-11D0-AC35-00C04FD9338A} (whew).
You have now broken NAL Explorer -- shortcuts no longer function!  Create a
new key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
explorer\mycomputer\NameSpace\{CF8EF420-3DF3-11D0-AC35-00C04FD9338A} with
"NAL Explorer" as the value data of the (Default) value name (M$ speak).

You can now safely create new shortcuts, save them on the desktop (or
where ever), and they should work great on this machine.  I'm in the process
of configuring all our PCs this way, so the problem with shortcuts doesn't
bother me, although I would love a better solution.

BTW, I've been thinking about creating an .INF file needed to install NAL
Explorer this way (copy files, update registry, etc.) to be run from the
login script.  With luck my workload will allow me to work on this in a few
weeks.

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Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 19:57:33 -0400
From: Doug Summers <dsummers@SHERIKON.COM>
Subject: Get rid of NAL Explorer icon ?

I coulnd't find a clean removal either. The key you need to look at is:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
explorer\Desktop\NameSpace

You'll find other keys here for the Recycle Bin, Inbox, The Internet.

---------

Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 17:55:59 -0700
From: David Hammond <DaveH@ATRI.COM>
Subject: Re: Get rid of NAL Explorer ?

Use the power toys from M$.  Just go to www.microsoft.com and download
it.  There are some nifty things in there that should have been part of
the OS.

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Date: Thu, 25 Sep 1997 16:37:39 -0400
From: Doug Summers <dsummers@SHERIKON.COM>
Subject: NAL & Win95 Task Bar -Reply

>This should be an easy one, but I cannot figure it out.  How can I get
>the Win95 Task bar to be unaccessable while running NAL???  I work at a
>school and am trying to prevent students from constantly changing the
>desktop settings, icons, etc.  Or should anyone know of someother way it
>would be greatly appreciated!

If you use system policies you can restrict this with ease.

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Date: Thu, 6 Nov 1997 09:22:30 +0200
From: Mike Glassman - Admin <admin@IAA.GOV.IL>
Subject: Re: NAL 2.0 question

>I'm trying to figure out NAL 2.0, some things I do want to try are the
>options that I can put it on the desktop and in the start menu in
>Windows 95.
>
>Can somebody explain it or tell where I can find a description of it?

For all those interested in NAL, the following site belonging to Novell
is one of the best around and gives a very good insite into the issue.

	http://nal.netpub.com

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Date: Thu, 6 Nov 1997 08:49:55 +0100
From: "A.H. Bos" <A.H.Bos@AMC.UVA.NL>
Subject: Re: NAL 2.0 question

>I'm trying to figure out NAL 2.0, some things I do want to try are the
>options that I can put it on the desktop and in the start menu in
>Windows 95.
>
>Can somebody explain it or tell where I can find a description of it?

This can be done at the trustee object of the application object,
just click on the application Tab at the "trustee object properties
page" and look at the upper part of that screen, if you understand
that you can implement your new knowledge at the lower part of the
screen by filling the right boxes.

I assume you are using NWAdmn95 or (I havn't done it) NWAdmnNT. Some
of these boxes only work for Windows 95 and Windows NT, but you will
notice that too.

You can use the following object types as trustees of application
objects: User, Group, Organisational Unit, Organisation, Country,
Alias and Organisational Role. I haven't tried the last three but
they should work too.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 6 Nov 1997 16:13:35 -0500
From: Matt Hartley <mhartley@RIMAMFG.COM>
Subject: Re: NAL 2.01 - Go or No?

>We are running NAL 2.0, and are considering upgrading to 2.01.  Have
>there been any big problems with this upgrade?  We are using Roaming
>Profiles on our NT workstations, and 2.01 seems to address issues with
>Roaming Profiles and software distribution.

When we upgraded from 2.0 to 2.01 some of our Windows 95 machines would
lock up from time to time.  We uninstalled NAL from the machine and no more
problems.  Also, we had a ton of problems in getting NALEXPLD to execute
from the login script.  I even posted the problem to the list but received
no solution except to reinstall 2.0.  Then all problems were resolved.  I
would say be cautious, and if you do install 2.01, make sure you have 2.0
somewhere in case things go wrong.  HTH!

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Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 12:24:00 -0800
From: "Nellis, Ken" <Ken.Nellis@JACOBS.COM>
Subject: Remove NAL icon from desktop

Per the NAL faq, NAL doesn't have an uninstall per se, but you can
remove the NAL Explorer from the desktop by running:

	nalexpld /u

and reboot the PC after the icon is removed.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 11:17:55 PST
From: Kevin Miller <kevinm@UHS.BERKELEY.EDU>
Subject: Re: NAL

>My login script looks like this
>
>MAP M:=\\DISTCAR\MAINT
>etc.
># nalw95
>
>The thing is NAL launches before windows.  when I exit NAL, windows
>continues its bootup process.  Is there a way to get NAL to launch as
>if it was in the startup menu in win95?

Make a .lnk file that points to NAL.  Copy it to the Startup folder as
part of the login script.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 09:24:52 +0100
From: Joop van Buuren <vanbuuren@COH.FGG.EUR.NL>
Subject: Re: NAL - hit logging?

>Does anyone have experience in logging useage of a particular application
>launched by NAL?

A suggestion would be:

Try (never did it myself) to make a routine which can be used for all apps
to monitor.  You can use some NAL internal variables like :

%*;APP:Caption%           which represents the Application Icon Title
%*;APP:Path%              which represents the Path to the .EXE
%*;APP:GUID%              which represents the Application GUID
%*;APP:Version String%    which represents the Version Stamp

as well as many other internal Variables (See NAL help files about this
subject)

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 6 Jan 1998 10:52:17 -0500
From: Novell-List Depot <nov-list@DART.ORG>
Subject: Re: NAL: To use or Not to Use

We love it.   We have been using it for about 2 years now.

The original purpose is that it allowed us to dynamically place
icons on user's Win31 computers.   Basically, we had CDROMS and
applications/documents that were distributed across different
sites and servers.   By clicking on the icon, AppLauncher would
automatically map the drive letters, and relevant 'stuff'.

For our computer challanged users... its great.

Currently, AppLauncher can even install applications on your desktop,
and mess with your registries.  Win95/NT too.

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 05:28:04 -0800
From: Brian Horakh <bhorakh@CI.ESCONDIDO.CA.US>
Subject: Novell Application Launcher Exposed

I have completely dissected the Novell Application Launcher, and
written a few utilities to make up for some of its shortcomings.
If you use NAL in your enterprise then you absolutely must go to
this site. All the utilities are free, with source code.  If you
are a developer there is also a white paper disclosing the internals
of the AOT file.

	http://www.ci.escondido.ca.us/cityhall/infosys/nal

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 21:46:39 +0100
From: Richan Postmus <Richan.Postmus@HSIJ.NL>
Subject: Re: NAL

>Is it possible to get NAL to start immediately after logon.
>We are running 4.1x servers and NTW4.

EXIT with nalexpd in your login script.

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 13 Mar 1998 00:18:00 -0400
From: "BURTT, PETER (AEL)" <PBURTT@GOV.NB.CA>
Subject: Re: NAL Startup ?

>My (limited) understanding of snAppShot is that NAL will make all the
>PC's have the same reg changes.  The snapshot of what I want to change
>will include things I don't necessarily want to change.  If each person
>has their own desktop, they will all be the same.  Is this correct?

Snapshot actually takes two images of the registry, .ini files, files
on the hard disk, etc. There's a "before" picture and an "after"
picture. Snapshot then calculates the changes made in between time,
and the operations required to perform these changes can be imported
into the NAL object.

In other words, the only things the NAL object will change is what
changed during the installation process.

You can view/change the registry edits, .ini file edits, etc. at any
time.

NAL is quite neat. A couple of words of advice...

 - since the snapshot is making an image of the whole PC, it works
much more quickly if you are taking an image of a PC with a minimal
installation. A snapshot of my personal Win95 PC would take forever,
because the last 6 months of shareware and game demos have bloated
my registry to huge proportions, and the snapshot has to read and
parse the _entire_ registry - twice!. Also, the snapshot records the
size/date of every file on the hard drive, so it pays to minimize
these as well. We take our NAL snapshots from installed machines,
saves time and grey hairs.

 - remember that you are making unattended file copies, registry edits,
etc! Be sure you test thoroughly before you roll out a new app to a
couple of hundred users...

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