You should use disk and file management utilities designed specifically for Windows 95. This way, you can avoid losing long filenames and data. In some cases, you can use the LFNBK utility to remove and later restore long filenames on a disk so that you can run a utility that is not compatible with long filenames (as described in "Using the LFNBK Utility for Temporary Compatibility" later in this chapter).
Caution
Stacker® 4.0 from STAC Electronics and similar disk optimization utilities, including DriveSpace 6.x for MS-DOS, are not compatible with long filenames. If you already have such compression software on the computer, you should not experience problems. However, if you install such software under Windows 95, the long filenames already on the computer will be destroyed, and other critical errors could occur.
Contact the software manufacturer for information about Windows 95-compatible upgrades for your disk utilities.
You can ensure disk integrity by putting ScanDisk in the STARTUP directory so that it runs each time the operating system starts. Also, back up critical files once a week to ensure data security, and run Disk Defragmenter at regular intervals to optimize disk I/O performance.
Windows 95 automatically provides long filename support. However, Windows 95 file systems and OS/2 HPFS each have slightly different ways of defining 8.3 filename aliases for long filenames. If you are using a mixed network environment, be sure to understand the differences (as described in this chapter). Then to help minimize any naming conflicts, define and publish a file naming policy for users who share files. Tips for file naming polices are provided later in this chapter.