Overview

This CD-ROM includes a Windows 95 hypertext version of our book, Windows 95 Secrets, and hundreds of shareware, freeware, and demo packages. You can use this CD-ROM to read the Windows 95 Secrets book and to install any or all of the accompanying software. You can view and read the Windows 95 Secrets hypertext file just by clicking the large graphic on the opening screen.

You can install the accompanying software by using the controls at the right side of the program window to pick a category and subcategory, and then noting where on the CDs the software is located.

Virtually every software program also includes (in its description) and Internet address—either a Word Wide Web address or an FTP address. If you have installed a Web browser, you can use these addresses to go to the site and download the latest version of the software.

Installing Windows 95 Secrets into your Help system

If you want to make sure you have the fastest access possible to the electronic version of Windows 95 Secrets, you can copy the book files to your hard drive. The total size of the files are just over 4 MB. To install the electronic version of the book on your hard disk and integrate them into the Windows Help system, follow these steps:

1.	Using Windows 95 Explorer, click View, Options. Turn on the Show All Files option. Click OK. This ensures that the Windows\Help folder is visible in the next step.

2.	Use the Windows 95 Explorer to copy all the files from the Book directory of the CD-ROM to the Windows\Help folder on your hard disk.

3.	Right-click the Windows.cnt file in the Windows\Help folder, then click Edit on the right-mouse-button menu.

4.	After the last line in the Windows.cnt file that begins with ":index" and before the line that begins with ":link" (near the top of the file), add the following line:

:Index Windows 95 Secrets = secrets.hlp

5.	Move your cursor to the bottom of the Windows.cnt file and add the following line:

:include secrets.cnt

6.	Make sure that a carriage return ends the preceding line—that is, make sure that a blank line appears after it.

Printing descriptions of software on this CD

You can print any or all of the descriptions of the software found on our CD-ROM. To print a list of a category of software, choose a major category at the right side of the program window, and then click the Print Category button.

Installing the shareware and freeware

To install any of the software on these CDs, you first need to locate the folder in which the software is stored. You can do this by browsing on your desktop, or you can use the Windows 95 Explorer. Once you have located the folder, take a look at the files in the folder. There may be a single file, or there may be multiple files. If there is a single file, double-click the file icon. If there are multiple files, look for an executable file, typically with a name such as setup or install. Double-click that file name.

If the program fails to install, which can happen for many reasons, you should copy the entire contents of the program folder to a folder on your hard drive, and then repeat running the executable file.

Working with required DLL files

Certain files are required to be in the Windows or Windows\System folder in order to run some software on these CDs. These files are usually shared files, such as Vbrun300.dll (a Dynamic Link Library file). This file, as an example, is 390 KB in size. An incredible waste of space would occur if you had to copy this file to a different location on your hard drive for every program that required it. Therefore, shared files are usually placed in the Windows or Windows\System folder where programs can find them.

If a program on these CDs requires that a shared file be placed in one of your Windows folders, the setup routine for that program installs that file into your Windows or Windows\System folder — but only if you do not already have a copy of this file.

The CD-ROM setup routine will NOT copy any shared file over a newer copy of the same file. If you already have a copy of the file that is the same age or newer, the setup routine does not copy the version on the CD-ROM to your hard disk. The setup routine checks the internal version number within the file—not just the file date, which can be easily altered.

If a program gives you an error message such as Cannot find Vbrun300.dll it means that this file may have been moved or deleted from your Windows\System folder. You can fix such error messages by looking in the DLLs folder of the CD-ROM for the missing file. Using the Windows 95 Explorer, you can easily copy the missing file from the VBasic folder of the first CD-ROM into your Windows\System folder. You may not even need to restart Windows. Merely restarting the errant application may be enough to get your program running smoothly again.

If you take a look at the Vbasic folder, you will notice that it contains three additional folders. These each contain the proper shared files for different versions of Visual Basic, the language in which many shareware, freeware, or demo programs are developed. You can copy these files to your system folders as needed and as described previously.

Freeware and shareware

Shareware and freeware can be valuable assets, but it's important to understand the principles of this system.

What is Shareware?

Shareware refers to the "try before you buy" software distributed electronically, or on disks, by software authors. With shareware, you get a trial period to use the software, typically 30 days. After this period, you are required to register with the software author if you continue to use the software. Each program has an accompanying file that explains how to register. You did not purchase a license to the software when you purchased this book—you purchased the book and a CD-ROM, but not a license for the shareware. This is the same arrangement as if you had purchased a trial shareware diskette from a shareware catalog.

Shareware is copyrighted software owned by the software author. The authors whose shareware appears on these CDs has granted the right to allow their software to be included here. The authors of shareware programs are entitled to payment for their work, and for their efforts to keep software costs low by distributing their programs as shareware.

What is Freeware?

Freeware refers to programs that do not have a registration fee. These programs come with no technical support. If the programs do not work on your system, try other programs on the CD-ROM that will work.

Some freeware programs are also what is called public-domain software. This means that the software author has released the copyright to the program, and anyone may use the software for any purpose. Most freeware is not public-domain, however, so you should not assume that you can use a freeware program for a commercial purpose (bundling it with retail software, for example) without contacting the software author for permission.

About Copyright

The software on the CD-ROM is copyrighted by the various shareware authors, and the CD-ROM and its installation routines are copyrighted either by IDG or those who produced the CD-ROM. You may copy the contents of the CD-ROM to a computer system, but you may not distribute or sell the CD-ROM or bundle it with any product that is for sale without permission from the copyright holders. For more information, see License.rtf in the root folder of the CD-ROM.

The Association of Shareware Professionals

As shareware grew into an accepted means of distributing serious software over the last several years, authors of shareware felt a need for a nonprofit organization to promote this new form of distribution. The Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP) was formed in 1987 to "strengthen the future of 'shareware' (user-supported software) as an alternative to software distributed under normal retail marketing methods."

To resolve any questions about the role of shareware—registrations, licenses, and so on—the ASP established an Ombudsman to hear all parties. As the ASP's literature describes it, "The ASP wants to make sure that the shareware concept works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, the ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at PO Box 5786, Bellevue, WA 98006, or send a CompuServe message to 70007,3536."