Microsoft KB Archive/78364

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Explanation of Device Contention and Windows

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Q78364

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Windows versions 3.0, 3.0a, 3.1, 3.11

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SUMMARY
When more than one application is running at the same time in Microsoft Windows 386 enhanced mode, the applications sometimes request the use of a device such as a printer or a modem at the same time. The device contention options determine how Windows responds to these requests.

MORE INFORMATION
The device contention options apply only when a non-Windows application is one of the applications requesting access to the device. When more than one Windows application requests access to a device, Windows handles their use of the device without these options.

The device contention options are described in the following table. Generally, it is a good idea to accept the standard settings. Situations that might warrant changing the settings are included in the option descriptions.

Use This Option     To Do This ---     --

Always Warn         Specify that a warning message be displayed every time an application tries to use the device when the device is already in use. The warning message asks you which application should be given control of the port.

In most situations, you should select this option.

Never Warn          Specifies that any application can use the device at                     any time, without a warning message. However, this means that two applications could conceivably try to                    use the same device at the same time; this may produce undesirable results, such as a garbled printed document.

Select this option when you are absolutely sure that no more than one printing or communicating application will try to use the device at the same time.

Idle                Specify the number of seconds after an application stops using a device before another application can use the same device without causing the warning message to be displayed. The range is from 1 to 999 seconds.

Use this option when the device is capable of                    switching back and forth between two applications. For example, you might use Cardfile to automatically dial an on-screen service and then switch to another application to communicate with the service. In this example, you would specify a short delay, such as two seconds.