University administrators say problems have occurred when a user running Windows 95 connects that machine to a network running the Novell Netware operating system, one of the most popular versions for allowing a group of computers to operate collectively, or over a ''network.''
Windows 95 has a new network feature that allows computer users to share information stored on each other's computers. The problem, according to people who have worked with the software, is that a computer running Windows 95 can be configured to masquerade as an organization's Novell Netware server, or centralized ''control'' computer. When that occurs, the computers trying to talk with the server shut down, or ''crash,'' university officials say.
Utah State University already has instituted a policy forbidding its students and staff from using a specific type of Netware networking feature that's built into Windows 95.
''We have published a policy that we will come and break your kneecaps if you do this, so please don't,'' said Joe Doupnik, a professor of electrical engineering at Utah State University in Logan, Utah.
Besides Utah State, representatives from the University of Kansas and some other institutions have reported similar problems.
So far, no corporations have reported any troubles with the popular new operating system, according to a Microsoft spokesman. That suggests, according to computer experts, that it is only in less regulated environments - such as college campuses - where there may be problems. At larger corporations, the computer network is closely managed by experts who would know how to avoid the traps that could lead to the woes being experienced at some universities.
The problem reported by the universities has to do with the inner workings of Novell's Netware operating system. Under normal circumstances, when a desktop computer running Novell's client software is turned on, one of the first things that the computer does is send a request out on the network for the nearest Novell server, said Doupnik. Under normal circumstances, the nearest Netware server responds to this request and tells the client computer how to go about accessing files on the organization's local area network.
But when a Windows 95 computer configured to act like a server is attached to the same network, Doupnik said that computer can respond first. The result is that the person who has requested information from the network ends up with an unresponsive, or dead, computer. For the user running a computer with the Windows 95 operating system, nothing appears to be wrong.
Microsoft, meanwhile, denies that the problem exists.
''We have done extensive testing with Novell's products,'' said Mike Conte, a group manager with Microsoft's Personal Systems Division. ''There was an issue . . . during the beta [test period], but actually the problem has been fixed for months.
''Normally, people won't encounter this issue at all, because it won't be turned on,'' Conte said, referring to the program that turns on the specific networking function. If users do turn it on, he said, they need to specify a ''preferred network'' for Novell Netware clients to use. Windows 95 will then automatically send the client's requests to the appropriate Netware server.
But computer system administrators - and Novell itself - disagree. Novell and Microsoft are competitors in the lucrative networking software market.
William Donahoo, director of product marketing at Novell, said his company has offered to work with Microsoft, but the Washington-based king of desktop operating systems has rebuffed Novell's overtures.
''We have several license programs and computability testing programs,'' Donahoo said. ''They have not wanted to participate. They have wanted to do it on their own.''
Donahoo said there is a way for system administrators to prevent system crashes, but representatives from the universities say they have been unable to resolve the problem.
For example, Michael McGinnis, a network consultant at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, said a student at that university on Friday caused havoc on the network system when he tried to hook up to the network after he had installed Windows 95.
McGinnis said it took him and two other computer consultants three hours to track down the culprit.
''I have had the problem, and I have gotten e-mail messages from system administrators at three other universities who have seen the problem,'' McGinnis said.
McGinnis called Microsoft for technical support. ''I spent an hour on the phone, and couldn't get to anyone at Microsoft who knew anything about this problem. I talked to one tech support guy who said he didn't know of any such problem. He gave me a phone number of another Windows 95 Networking Support Group at Microsoft. I have not called them yet, because I didn't have authorization to spend $35.''
About this last point, McGinnis is particularly resentful. ''We bought 375
copies and they won't let me talk to a tech support person unless I pay
them.''