This is for Two or more users of Netscape on one computer. It requires only minor use of Regedit.1. Start Netscape and go through all the Setup Options. Set them for the first user including the Mail and News directories.
2. Close Netscape and click START | RUN, then type in regedit and OK. Move to and highlight the rung on the registry ladder at: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.Default .. Export and save this branch on the desktop. This branch includes "RemoteAcess", the area where the default AutoDial DUN is stored. Then re-configure the Navigator options and reconfigure the default DUN used by AutoDial under the menu item Program\Settngs\Internet. Repeat the export as above saving the *.reg file with a different name, i.e., "ISP-2.reg" and "ISP-1.reg".
Double clicking on the appropriate icon will load the configuration AND AutoDial for a selected ISP. The only down side to this is that you now create *.reg files that are larger than the files created by selecting the rung of the registry ladder that only includes the Netscape settings. I think the convenience is well worth a couple extra "file allocation units".
3. (Skip this step if all users will use the same Mail and News folders and Bookmarks.)If you wish to have seperate address books, bookmarks and Mail and News then run Explorer and create some folders. You need to create under \Navigator a folder \user.
If you wish more than two users, create folders for usernames under this. For each user create \Mail and \News. Using right click on the Mouse create New text files and name them addressbook.htm and bookmark.htm in the user directory.
4. Now restart Netscape and go through all the Options and setup for the second user. Be sure to change the Mail and News directories if they are to be different.
5. Close Netscape and run regedit again. If you have set up seperate directories for each user, then you must edit some keys now. The first is Address Book. Double click File location and change the location of the addressbook. The next is Bookmark. Double click File Location and edit the bookmark filelocation.
6. Now Export \Netscape Navigator to the desk top and name it. Double clicking the file will install the preferences for each user before starting Netscape.
To make a small batch file, start Notepad and cut and paste this to it. You will need to make path changes etc to make this work on your system. Save each as usersname.bat.
REM Begin bat file for installing a registry file for multiple users. regedit username.reg /s
[drive]: "[drive]:\path\netscape.exe"
REM End of Batch file.Be sure to put " " around the command line for Netscape.exe as it is a long filename.
Method TWO - Multiple Profiles In WIN95 Win95 Control Panel | Passwords | select the option that allows each user to have their own preferences (it's the second one). Start | Shutdown | Log off and back on. Log on with the new username,-- it'll want a password, and it'll want confirmation.
Now, start Netscape, cancelling the connection if you want to do it offline, and set it up with all your new preferences, just as if you freshly installed it on a new computer,-- username, servers, and everything. The only thing that takes a little creativity is that if you want to keep separate mail and news stuff, you have to specify different mail and news directories, such as "Mail2" and "News2" (aren't I clever?).
Now, whenever each username logs on, all the preferences and settings will be there, no registry stuff, no nothing except just log on with the username.
One little thing it doesn't do for me yet,-- whatever identity I log onto Win95 with, the default DUN connection that pops up when launching Netscape et al is the same. To use the alternate provider, I have to go to the DUN folder and launch the other connection.
What I was describing doesn't require a reboot. When you select Start | Shutdown, you get 4 choices, the 4th of which is "Close all programs and log on as a different user". If you select this one and click Yes, then it takes only a few seconds for the OS to close everything and come back with the logon dialogue, in which you enter the desired username and password.
Both methods accomplish the same thing, I think. My point was that it is very simple, and the OS will take care of storing and sorting out the individual preferences of each user. They are all stored in the registry under the username, and whenever someone logs on, the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER is set to point to the applicable set of entries in HKEY_USERS. One doesn't have to go into the registry at all.
I keep different usernames because of different ISP accounts. The only program I have that in itself accommodates this type of situation is Pegasus, but even there, one has to close the program and restart it with the other username.
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