Microsoft Corp is working hard to speed up Windows version 3.1 by adopting the new FastDisk technology – a virtual device only available in 386 Enhanced mode, that communicates directly with hard-drive controllers, bypassing both MS-DOS and BIOS. An internal document seen by Computer Reseller News reveals that Windows 3.1 will support more memory than the current 16Mb and will be able to manipulate OS/2 long file names on servers. Other unpublicised enhancements will include power saving features for laptops, a screen blanker, increased notepad file capacity, more comprehensible error messages and a character-based diagnostic utility. Recognising the weakness of current networking support another feature will be persistent network conncetions, which means that once loaded such connections will be made automatically at boot time. Windows 3.1 will have a power manager that after a user-defined period of inactivity shuts down the hard disk and screen display – new colour schemes will also conserve power. However, no plans have yet been revealed to launch a set of standard object libraries for Windows – something that many developers require.
