This document briefly summarises SpeedyFinder7. It describes the features and most important information you should know about SpeedyFinder7 to get you using it quickly. For those who do not like reading manuals, I suggest you quickly browse through this document.
SpeedyFinder7 is a Control Panel that offers many useful improvements to the System 7 Finder™ in one inexpensive package. It won the 1993 US MacUser award for Shareware utilities.
It can speed up copying, remove the delay when renaming files, empty the Trash fast, automatically resolve Aliases for Get Info, opening documents of one application with a different application, and much more. See “SpeedyFinder7.doc” for more details. New users, please take the time to read that document.
One of the safety features of this Control Panel is that the “Finder” file in your System Folder is not modified in any way. This means that if you don’t want to use SpeedyFinder7 then you can remove it without any damage or change to your System setup whatsoever.
Note that the “Copying Options…” button is disabled on purpose. You must register to enable this button. It allows you to configure the backgrounder. See below for more information.
SpeedyFinder7 is released as Shareware. This is a system of software distribution that lets you try software for a period of time (4 weeks in SpeedyFinder7’s case) and if you decide to keep on using it then you are obliged to register the software. See the About Registration section below for details about registration.
To install SpeedyFinder7, drag the files “SpeedyFinder7”, “SpeedyFinder7 Extension” and “SpeedyFinder7 Help” to your System Folder’s icon. Be sure to drag to the icon and not to inside the System Folder! When you do so, a dialog will appear asking you to confirm that some items need to be placed in certain folders: click OK to this dialog box. Then restart your Mac. Open “SpeedyFinder7” (it will be placed in your Control Panels folder) and set it to your preferred settings. Close the Control Panel and start using your Mac. It’s that simple. Try copying files. Try opening a MacWrite document even though you don’t have MacWrite: you will be asked what you want to open it with! Try inserting a floppy disk: SpeedyFinder7 will tell you its size and if it’s locked (if you configured it to do so). Try experimenting on the features and see for yourself whether your Mac works faster.
Note that the “SpeedyFinder7 Help” file contains Balloon Help information only. You may delete it if you wish to save some space.
Note that some features may not work if certain Extensions are installed - see “SpeedyFinder7.doc” for details about these features.
Upon registration, I will send to you (preferably via e-mail* if you have it) instructions on how to convert your SpeedyFinder7 into a registered version which activates the SpeedyFinder7 backgrounder. The backgrounder performs fast background copying and fast emptying of the trash. It is much faster than the Finder™ and allows you to continue to use the Finder™ while it does its job in the background. COPYright™ v1.0 does a similar thing but SpeedyFinder7 is much faster than COPYright™. * I can send e-mail to the following services: Internet, AppleLink, CompuServe, America Online, NiftyServe, FidoNet, MCI mail, Genie, Calvacom (France) and to those BBSes that have an internet connection.
Registration also entitles you to a discount to Aladdin’s Desktop Tools utilities. As of this writing, I do not have any details and you should contact Aladdin Systems, Inc. for information and not me. Their addresses are in the Control Panel and the Release Notes.
To register, please fill out the information in the ‘Registration Form…’ dialog in the control panel. Please include your current version and if available, an electronic mail address for fast delivery of the registration instructions.
If you do not have e-mail, then I can fax the registration instructions to you if you are in Australia or North America but only if you nominate a *dedicated* fax number.
The registration fee for international users is US$25 cash or US$30 bank/personal cheque/check drawn through a US bank. Canadian residents note that the fee is in US$ and that you cannot write “US$” on your personal checks - they *must* be drawn through a US bank. Australian residents *only* can pay Aus$25 cash or cheque. Underpayment is not accepted.
Japanese users can send Yen2,500 cash in an envelope (you may prefer to send Yen3000 to avoid putting a coin in the envelope). If you wish to pay by other means in Yen (for example, cheque or fund remittance), contact Toru Nishioka on NiftyServe ID PEE00205 (from the internet, send email to PEE00205@niftyserve.or.jp).
All other forms of payment including travellers cheques, EuroCheques, MasterCard, Visa, etc are not acceptable. Sorry.
Site licenses at very competitive rates are available. Contact me for more information.
Send your registration and letters to:
Victor Tan
42 Waratah Avenue
Randwick NSW 2031
Australia
Here’s a “final check list”:
• don’t forget the Registration Form
• double check your payment details - especially that you have *signed* the cheque and that its details are correct
• ensure your e-mail address is *exactly* correct ( and legible! )
• be aware that air mail from Europe or the USA takes about 2 weeks to get to Australia (and just as long to get back).
I welcome feedback (bug reports), suggestions for enhancements, or just plain chat. Write to the above address or the following E-mail address:
from InterNet: victort@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU
from AppleLink: victort@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU@INTERNET#
from CompuServe: >INTERNET:victort@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU
from AOL: victort@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU
from eWorld: victort@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU
There are still some incompatibilities that remain with this release of SpeedyFinder7. Some of you may not experience problems with the listed software due to differences in some of the settings of SpeedyFinder7.
Those confirmed by me are: NoBalloonMenu, Get More Info, Now Compress, Microsoft Excel v3.0 and v4.0, AutoDoubler Internal Compressor, FileTyper 4.1 or earlier, Snitch, System 7.5’s Find File and Find Pro II (both by Bill Monk), Now QuickFiler’s Find, and Now QuickFiler.
Those unconfirmed but reported are: WordPerfect 3.0, Freehand 4.0, SAM 3.0 and 3.5, Datebook/TouchBase PRO 4.0, FinderXtender, CPU’s EasySync 1.0.1, FWB’s Hard Disk Toolkit 1.3.0 or earlier, MicroNet Raven’s 8100 (striped) disk array, and CompuServe Mail for PowerTalk.
Most of these problems are minor and most will not affect the majority of users. Many have work-arounds. See “SpeedyFinder7.doc” for work-arounds and further details about the problems.
A few tips: if an application crashes, try disabling the “Hide Balloon Help” option. If the crash goes away, please let me know so I can warn other users. The other tip is not to use the “optimal” options if you encounter some “there is not enough memory” messages. Switch to 50% or 75% of available memory instead (or whatever you prefer). If you have RAM Doubler installed then the 25% setting can improve performance.
This release is a bug fix release. All registered users are advised to upgrade to this version. Remember to turn off virus utilities before using the updater program otherwise you will corrupt the Control Panel!
Problems with the 1.5.9g release that have been fixed in 1.5.9h:
• no longer crashes or delays on shut down,
• no longer freezes when you copy or eject floppy disks,
• added the SpeedyFinder7 Extension to allow SpeedyFinder7's Alias Resolving feature to work with System 7.5’s Find File and Now Utilities 5.0’s QuickFiler,
• added Norwegian, Danish and Swedish menus. Translation courtesy of Bård Engen.
• added French-Canadian, French-Swiss and German-Swiss menus.
• the “SpeedyFinder7 Help” file now displays a message describing its purpose when you double-click it. Added because some users were confused about its purpose.
Problems with the 1.5.9f release that have been fixed in 1.5.9g:
• Help file placement. The best place to put the “SpeedyFinder7 Help File” is in the System Folder, that is, in the folder with the small Mac icon on it, ie, the same folder that the System and Finder are located in. You can also put it in any of the following folders: Apple Menu Items, Control Panels, Extensions, and Preferences. SpeedyFinder7 will look in all of them to locate it.
• System 7.5 aware. Note that System 7.5’s “Safe Install” application is NOT a reliable guide. I installed a plain System 7.5 and then ran the “Safe Install” application. It reported that about 13 of the Control Panels that IT (yes, the System 7.5 Installer) just installed were incompatible with System 7.5. So, despite what this application tells you, version 1.5.9g and later WILL work with System 7.5.
• Macintosh Easy Open. This extension comes as part of System 7.5. It replaces the functionality of document linking. When Easy Open is installed, SpeedyFinder7 will tell you so and disable its document linking.
• Help Menu and Apple Guide. Versions prior to 1.5.9g are unable to hide the Help Menu when Apple Guide is installed.
• Keyboards. Selecting a new keyboard with the “Keyboards” control panel caused freezing in 1.5.9f. This has been fixed in 1.5.9g.
• Find File Extension. New with System 7.5 is the “Find File Extension” part of the enhanced Find File by Bill Monk. This interacts with the alias resolving features. You must make SpeedyFinder7 load before the Find File Extension if you wish to use the alias resolving feature reliably.
• User-definable Finder™ menu command keys. Those added keys in previous versions were fixed. With 1.5.9g and later you can define whatever key you like. It doesn’t check for duplicates though, so use with care and change at your own risk!
• Now Utilities v5.0. Conflicts with Now Utilities v5.0 and “Get Info” in the Finder™ have been fixed. Now QuickFiler v5.0 has the Now Find feature which interacts with SpeedyFinder7 just like the Find File Extension is System 7.5.
• Attention Japanese users: You can now pay with Japanese Yen. The fee is Yen 2,500. US$ are still preferred but for your convenience Yen are acceptable. For your convenience and safety, you may prefer to put Yen3000 in the envelope to avoid sending a coin.
• InterNet users who have “finger” capability can finger “victort@extro.ucc.su.oz.au” for the latest information about SpeedyFinder7.
