Intermedia 1998 January/inter1_98.iso/internet/pft111/readme.1st

Text File | 1997-07-02 | 14KB | 351 lines

PhoneFerret Trial Edition
July 2, 1997

============
Requirements
============

1. You must be running Windows 95 or NT4. The Ferrets will not run
   on Windows 3.x.
2. If you are an AOL user, you must be running the new 32-bit AOL 3.0
   for Windows 95 software. The Ferret apps will NOT work on previous
   versions or on AOL 3.0 for Windows 3.1

============
Installation
============

To install, simply run the executable included within this archive.
During the installation procedure, you will be asked a few
simple questions to ensure that everything is setup properly.

You may abort the installation procedure at any time by pressing
the CANCEL button.

Once installed, an extensive online help system is available
by selecting "HELP TOPICS" from the "HELP" pull-down menu.

============
Registration
============

You may order any of the Ferret products by selecting the "ORDER"
option of the "HELP" menu. Orders can also be placed
through one of the following URL's:

     http://www.netcent.com/ferretsoft/
     http://www.ferretsoft.com/

==============
Site Licensing
==============

Parties interested in site licenses for the NetFerret suite
should contact NetCent Communications directly, at:

    Email: [e-mail]
    Phone: [phone]

=========================
Common Questions/Problems
=========================

Following are some of the common questions/answers regarding the
various Ferret products. Please be sure to read through this
listing, prior to requesting technical support.

Q: I'm getting no search results.

A:There are a number of potential answers and things to check for:

1. Check whether your LAN or ISP connects to the Internet
through a proxy (firewall). If so, go to View|Options|HTTP
proxy and enter the proxy configuration details. If not, then
make sure that these details have been left blank (not checked).

2. Your TCP/IP protocol stack (winsock) may not be compatible
with the Ferret. Specifically the Ferrets require a true 32-bit
winsock, and have problems working with older 16-bit winsocks
such as Trumpet Winsock. All development and testing is done on
the Win95 TCP/IP protocol stack that comes standard with the
operating system, and we therefore suggest using this
implementation. For the best possible help on configuring the
Win95 stack, read Boardwatch Magazine's definitive "how to"
guide - http://www.boardwatch.com/mag/95/nov/bwm11.htm

If you are not sure which winsock you have installed, check
the Ferret's Help About window, which in all newer versions (beta
0.95 and higher) report which stack is installed.

3. If you are an AOL member, you will only be able to use the
Ferrets with the 32bit AOL Version 3.0 for Win95. Other versions
will NOT work.

4. Especially in the case of international connections outside of
North America, a direct link through to the search engines from
your ISP can go down temporarily. When in doubt try using ping
from the DOS prompt to check that you can access a search
engine from your machine. For example: ping www.lycos.com

Q: Does WebFerret run on AOL (America Online)?

A: The NetFerret utilities will run on the new 32-bit America
Online 3.0 for Windows 95. They will NOT work on previous
versions or on AOL 3.0 for Windows 3.1

You can check what version you have by going to the Help |
About window of your AOL software. You should see America
Online 3.0 for Windows 95

If you have not got the correct version, you can upgrade:

1. Select the Members | Member Services | Helpful Software |
Download Latest and Greatest Version of AOL menu item.

2. Select AOL 3.0 for Windows 95

3. Select Upgrade Now

Q: Which Operating Systems do the Ferrets run on?

A: The Ferrets run on Windows 95 and NT4. The NetFerret code
has been written to be portable, however all the Ferrets rely
heavily on the operating system's multi-threading capabilities to
search multiple databases simultaneously. As multi-threading is
not present in Windows 3.1, it is unlikely a Win3.x version will be
developed. Versions for other operating systems, such as UNIX or
MAC, may be developed in the future.

Q: Can I add my own search engines?

A: The Ferrets do not have a facility for users to add new search
engines. This is mainly due to the complexity of reading and
formatting returned results for display in the NetFerret lists
(unlike other products, the NetFerret utilities do not require that
you open up your Web browser in order to view the results). We
can add new and updated search engines configurations "on the
fly" without having to release new versions, or you having to
download updates.

Q: In which order are results returned?

A: Each request to each engine is fired off simultaneously, but
independently, using different "threads". The results are listed in
the order that they are received, not on a per engine basis. The
response time of a particular engine will vary greatly depending
on the conditions of the link to that engine and the current
operating load on the engine at that time. Since different engines
contain different data, results will obviously differ in content,
which is why you should use many engines in order to get the
most complete set of results.

Q: Why don't I always get the number of results I expected
to?

A: There are a number of reasons you may not get the number of
results you would have expected, particularily if you've requested
a very large number. Some of the search engines may report
having found 1000s of results, but don't actually produce them
all. The Ferrets can only extract the actual number of results
produced. Other search engines have limits to the number of
results they produce, in an effort to prevent server overload. In
other cases, the multiple connections that the Ferrets make to
engines, all returning results simultaneously, may cause quite a
load on your connection, and lead to timeouts. This can also be
why you sometimes get a slightly different number of results for
the same query at different times, especially between peak and
non-peak times.

Q: My web browser is not launching (or the "wrong" browser
is launching)

A: WebFerret does not directly control which browser to launch,
but rather looks in the registry to determine the current default
HTTP protocol client i.e. the current default browser, and the
commands to launch a URL. These registry entries are setup by
your browser. A simple test to check if these registry entries are
correct, is to type a URL in the Start | Run menu dialog. This will
load the URL into your default browser, providing the browser's
registry entries are correct.

Many users have both Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape
Navigator installed. These two browsers will tussel over
ownership of the HTTP protocol handler in some cases will ask
you, upon running them, if you wish to make that browser the
default. If, for example, WebFerret is launching Internet Explorer
and you would rather have Netscape launch, open up Netscape
and when it asks whether to make Netscape the default, answer
yes. It will then be made the default HTTP protocol handler in
your registry.

If you have previously chosen "not to be asked the question
again" for either browser (or you are not asked whether to make
that browser the default on start-up), and wish to switch
allegiances again, you will probably have to re-install. One of the
benefits of two free choices ;->

WebFerret will load Netscape Communicator 4 release 4, but not
launch the URL. This is due to a bug in this release of Netscape
Communicator, in that it doesn't fill in it's registry correctly. This
means that WebFerret and anything else that uses Internet
Shortcuts (like clicking on a URL in MS Word, entering a URL from
the Start|Run menu etc) will not work. To fix this you can do the
following:

1. Run regedit from your Start|Run menu
2. Find HTTP (Edit|Find menu)
3. Drill down to http\shell\open\ddeexec
4. Double click on the Name field (should say "default")
5. Edit the Value data field so that it reads "%1" . It should just
be a case of enclosing the existing %1 in double quotes.
6. Click on OK, and the value should then read ""%1"".

Q: How do I search for a specific phrase?

A: Enclose the keywords in double quotes for WebFerret to treat
them as a phrase, e.g. "search engines". WebFerret will query all
selected search engines with the phrase, and for those engines
that don't support phrase searching, will process the results
before displaying them. Sometimes the engines that do support
phrases still return results that are not phrase matches, but that
are the closest match the engine could find. If you find some
search engines are consistently returning irrelevant matches, try
deselecting them from the View|Options|Search Engines menu in
Webferret.

Q: Which news server should I use for NewsFerret?

A: You need to ask your ISP (or company LAN administrator) for
the DNS address of their news server, for example:
news.yourisp.com. Most ISPs will carry news groups on their own
servers for the exclusive use of their customers. If your ISP does
not carry news group, ask them for the URL for the nearest public
news server, however due to the high load on these servers it is
likely that the response will be slow.

Q: I'm getting no results in NewsFerret

A: The first thing to check with NewsFerret is that you've got your
news server DNS address right. If you do not know the DNS
address, ask your ISP (in this way NewsFerret is different to the
other Ferrets, which searches multiple public databases). It'll just
say "0 results found" if it can't find your news server.

Q: IRCFerret isn't recognizing mIRC or PIRCH as my IRC
client

A: Both mIRC and PIRCH cannot be detected via the registry,
which is how IRCFerret locates the other IRC clients. Rather,
IRCFerret detects where mIRC and PIRCH are installed by
searching the Start Menu. This means you that when you install
mIRC or PIRCH, you must choose the option of adding the
application to the start menu, or "add icon to program group".
After installing mIRC or PIRCH, you'll need to run them once, and
thereafter IRCFerret will detect them under the View|Options|IRC
Client menu.

Q: I cannot find my own email address with EmailFerret

A: This is most likely because the names you have tried are
currently not in the databases EmailFerret searches. Visit the
database(s) with your Web browser and submit a new record with
your details, and try again. For example, go to
http://www.whowhere.com to add your email address.

Q: Why doesn't EmailFerret produce the large number of
results I want?

A: EmailFerret is not intended to be used to extract lists of
people for mailing lists or other similar purposes. Large queries
tend to flood the search engines, and some engines limit the of
results for that reason. EmailFerret is intended to be used to find
the email addresses of specific people you're looking for.
Structuring your query in way that produces specific results will
help you find the addresses you're looking for, and prevent server
overload.

Q: With EmailFerret my email address was only found by
one search engine

A: EmailFerret searches multiple databases simultaneously,
returning results from those engines that respond first, and
automatically discarding duplicates - hence the reason your name
is only found by one engine. If you wish to experiment, use the
View | Options | Search engines dialog to switch databases on
or off.

Q: EmailFerret is not launching my email client

A: To identify which email client to use in the "Mail to:" function,
EmailFerret checks the currently installed mailto: URL handler in
the Win95 registry. This will usually be the last email client you
installed, however some email clients do not configure
themselves in the regsitry, and therefore EmailFerret will not
know which client to support.

A quick and simple test to check whether the mailto URL has been
set:
1. Go to the Start | Run menu.
2. In the dialog box, type: mailto: ... e.g. mailto:[e-mail]
3. Press enter and this should open up the default email client
the mailto URL has been set.

The registry key is:
\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\shell\open\command .... HOWEVER
we don't recommend you change this setting manually unless
you're absolutely confident with changing the registry settings
correctly. The safest way to setup the mailto: URL handler is to
re-install the email client you want to use as your default client.
If this does not work, we recommed that you contact the support
staff for that product for assistance.

=======
SUPPORT
=======

If you are experiencing a problem, support is available by email.

First: Please be sure to read the "Common Questions/Problems" section
of this document.  Most problems that might be encountered are
described there.

Second: if the answer to your problem is not there, you can send
an email to [e-mail]. To ensure the fastest response
to your message, please be sure to include the following information:

- Name of the utility.
- Version of the utility. If it is not the latest version, we
  will invariably suggest upgrading as our reply. Type of Internet
  connection you have (LAN at work, regular dial-up ISP, AOL).
- What you have done so far to try rectify the problem you're having.
- What TCP/IP stack (winsock) you are using (you can check this by
  looking in the About Box on any Ferret).
- Your email address.

The more information you can provide, the easier it will be to answer
with the right information in one round.

==============================
FerretSoft Contact Information
==============================

Postal Address:
  FerretSoft LLC
  1209 Hill Road North
  Suite 109
  Pickerington, Ohio 43147

Phone: [phone]

Important Email Addresses:
Comments: [e-mail]
Bug Reports: [e-mail]
Info & Sales: [e-mail]

==============
Distributed By
==============

NetCent Communications
http://www.netcent.com/ferretsoft/
mailto:[e-mail]