NewDeal Technical Support Document 244

AUTOMATICALLY START NEW DEAL

How to make your computer automatically start NewDeal when you turn it on

You can make your computer automatically start any program when you turn it on or reboot. When you boot your computer, it looks for a file named AUTOEXEC.BAT. Each line in this file contains a DOS command that is executed, in order, each time your computer boots. If you want to automatically start a program when you turn on your computer, you can put the command to run the program at the end of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

There are several options for adding the line to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file, depending on how your computer is currently booting.

If you currently boot to a C: prompt or other DOS prompt . . .

We provide a program with NewDeal that will automatically add the command NEWDEAL to the end of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

To run the program, exit any programs you are working in and change to the directory where you installed NewDeal. Then enter BT2NEW.

The command to start NewDeal will be added to the end of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

If you currently boot into another program . . .

You will need to edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and replace the command that loads the program you currently boot into with the command to start NewDeal. You can use the DOS Edit program, the DR-DOS Editor, or any other text file editor to edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. You can even use the NewDeal Text File Editor.

To edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file with the Text File Editor

  1. In NewManager, go to the World folder (click on the World button at the bottom of the screen if you aren't already in the World folder).
  2. Double-click on the Text File Editor icon to start the Text File Editor.
  3. Click on Open. In the Open File dialog box, click on the Drives button. Then click on C: to display the files at the top level (or root) of your C: directory.
  4. In the list of files that displays, scroll down until you see AUTOEXEC.BAT. Click once on AUTOEXEC.BAT, then click on the Open button.
  5. Your AUTOEXEC.BAT file will be displayed on the screen. You can edit the file like any other document.
  6. The very last line in the file should be for the program you are automatically booting into. Click on this line with the mouse cursor, then use the Delete or Backspace keys on your keyboard to erase the line. When the line is blank, type in CD\NEWDEAL so that it is on the line by itself. This command will cause your DOS prompt to change to the NewDeal directory when you boot. If you installed NewDeal into a different directory, modify the command as appropriate.
  7. With the cursor at the far left of the CD\NEWDEAL line, press Enter to move the cursor to the next blank line. Type in NEWDEAL -- the command to start NewDeal. The NEWDEAL should be on the last line of the file.
  8. From the File menu, choose Save to save the modified file. Then choose Exit from the File menu to close the Text File Editor. The next time you boot your computer, it will read the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and automatically run the commands that you added at the end of the file.

NEWDEAL.BAT versus LOADER.EXE

There are two commands you can use to start NewDeal: NEWDEAL and LOADER. Some people experience problems with their launchers, or with exiting NewDeal, when they use the NEWDEAL command, which runs a batch file. If you have these problems, try changing the NEWDEAL in your AUTOEXEC.BAT to LOADER.
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Last Modified 17 Feb 1999