Are you tired of getting the "The Application xxx has unexpectedly quit because an error of type zz occurred" message ? Are you depending on this application to keep running at all times, even when you're away ? Then you should investigate "Keep It Up" (KIU), the new utility by the author of Autoboot.
A. What does Keep It Up do ?
KIU watches certain applications and monitors if they are still running. If an application no longer runs because it "unexpectedly quit" or because the user quit it, KIU will attempt to relaunch this application (and open certain documents) or restart the computer. This will ensure that your application is always running and available. This is especially important for all kinds of server applications.
KIU can also restart your Mac at certain scheduled moments in time. This feature can for example be used to prevent memory fragmentation in your server.
KIU 1.3 has a new feature called "Protected Quit" (see preferences). This prevents users from accidentally quiting KIU.
Keep It Up requires System 7. It is compatible with System 7.5
B. What does Keep It Up NOT do ?
KIU will not restart the system in case of a "System Error". When this happens, you will get a "bomb" and the entire system comes to a halt. To cure this, you should run "Autoboot". Autoboot is another utility written by yours truly, which restarts a mac in case of a System Error or freeze up, and I recommend running it alongside with KIU.
KIU only acts on "application errors". These kinds of errors don't halt the entire system, but only one application and you get the infamous "The Application xxx has unexpectedly quit because an error of type ZZ occurred" message.
Keep It Up and AutoBoot together will ensure maximal availability of you computer.
C. How to use Keep It Up.
Configuring KIU is really simple. If you launch KIU for the first time, it will create a folder called "Keep it Up Items" in the Preferences folder in the System folder (analogous to the Startup Items in the System folder).
If you put an alias of an application in this folder, or one or more aliases of documents belonging to the application, KIU will "watch" this application ("watched application") and relaunch it if it (unexpectedly) quits, re-opening the documents. KIU can watch up to 30 applications, though I wouldn't advice to put more than 5 aliases in the "Keep it Up Items".
After you put an alias in the "Keep it Up Items", quit and relaunch Keep It Up, in order for KIU to notice the changes in the folder.
Tip: make an alias of the "Keep it Up Items" and put it somewhere accessible (e.g.) in the same folder as KIU. This allows you to easily manage the aliases .
All you still have to do, is put an alias of KIU in the "Startup Items" folder. At startup, KIU will be launched, and KIU will launch the "watched applications", opening the selected documents. You could also put an alias of the "watched applications" or documents in the Startup items for the same effect, though I would advice to let KIU do the initial launching.
While KIU is running, it will put up a small window:
This window is only there because system 7 likes to quit applications that have no windows open in case of memory shortage. This little window prevents Keep It Up from being quit.
Using Quickeys with Keep It Up.
Quickeys has a useful option to trigger a certain sequence when an application is launched. You can use this option to properly configure the application which KIU has just relaunched.
To do this, you must define the Quickeys sequence as belonging to the application only. First launch the application. In the Quickeys dialog, you must select the keyset belonging to the application (not the Universal keyset!!!). Now record your quickeys sequence. When recording is over, use the "Timer Options" to trigger the sequence a couple of seconds after the application is launched.
D. How does Keep It Up work ?
Keep It Up keeps an eye on all of the "watched applications", i.e. those applications of which you put an alias in the "Keep it Up Items" folder. If you put an alias of a document belonging to an application in the "Keep it Up Items" folder, KIU will also watch the application. You should not put both an alias to an application and aliases to documents of that application in the KIU Items.
If one of those "watched applications" is no longer running, because it "unexpectedly quit" or because the user quit it, KIU will attempt to relaunch this application and open any documents that were in the "Keep it Up Items" folder.
As a consequence, when you're sitting at your computer, you would never be able to quit such an app, because it would be relaunched immediately. To avoid this, KIU will not become active until a certain time has elapsed in which the user performed no keyboard/mouse interaction (like a screen saver). This time is user configurable. This idle time is not respected when KIU is launched, because this would prevent your system to get on-line as soon as possible after startup.
You can also specify 2 periods during which KIU will not attempt to launch any applications. This is useful for people who need some applications to quit for a certain period of time (e.g. a BBS application needs to quit when the computer communicates with other nodes to transfer mail)
If KIU does not succeed to relaunch the app (e.g. not enough memory) or the number of relaunches exceeds a predetermined setting, it will restart the entire system. Before KIU restarts the computer, it will warn you that a restart is pending (notification with a voice alert). You can now still quit KIU to prevent the restart. If the computer is left unattended, it will be restarted after a configurable amount of time.
Warning: if KIU restarts the computer, any unsaved work will be lost forever.
KIU always keeps a log file of all relaunches, restarts, etc... You will find this "Keep It Up log" in the System Folder. You can view this log file by selecting "Open Log File" from the file menu. This will launch TeachText and open the log file, so you must have TeachText (or localised equivalent for non-English systems) on your harddisk. This is done according to the new philosophy of writing small specialised applications which are tied together by apple-events.
E. Keep It Up Preferences.
If you select the KIU preferences dialog, you can configure several settings:
1. Idle Time before activation: KIU will not attempt to relaunch any applications until this time has elapsed since the user last used the mouse or keyboard. This allows you to quit an application and do other things with your computer. If set to zero, any "watched application" will be immediately relaunched if you quit it.
This idle time is not respected when KIU is started: if the computer can not detect user action within 5 seconds after KIU is launched, KIU will ignore the idle time and proceed to launch the "watched applications". This will allow your system to get on-line as soon as possible after startup.
2. Background Speed: if set to slow, KIU might occasionally "miss" mouse or keyboard activity and relaunch an app, even if you're sitting at you computer. The fast mode will prevent this, but will slow down your computer slightly.
3. Restart computer: if you uncheck this, KIU will simply exit instead of restarting the computer. You should uncheck this option if you only want KIU to attempt relaunches.
4. Number of Launches : if this number is exceeded, the computer will be restarted. Don't set this number too high, because a high number of relaunches indicates the system needs a restart. Only relaunches are counted (not the initial launch of the applications). If set to zero, KIU will never attempt to relaunch an app, but will always restart the computer if an application is not running.
5. Restart Delay: The computer will wait for this period before it restarts the computer. This allows for user intervention.
6. Secondary restart Delay. KIU has a kind of a backup-scheme which also monitors the other applications, but which also runs when KIU doesn't get regular processing time. The backup scheme can not relaunch the app but only restart the system (without a warning nor entry in the log file!!!). You should set the secondary restart delay as high as possible. You can set it as low as 1 minute, but this might result in unpleasant "unexpected reboots". Recommended setting: at least 20 minutes.
7. Protected Quit. If this is checked, the Quit Item in the File Menu will be disabled unless you hold down the shift key during menu selection. This is a safeguard to prevent KIU from being accidentally quit.
F. Keep It Up Scheduling
When you select "Schedule" from the File menu, you can specify 2 scheduling options:
First of all you can set KIU to disable itself during 2 periods of the day. Check the appropriate checkbox to activate this option. Set the periods by clicking on the 'begin' and 'end' time displays (00:00 in the boxes). You can reset a period by setting the begin time equal to the end time
Secondary, you can also tell KIU to restart the computer on a regular time basis. You may have all kinds of reasons to do this, e.g. because sometimes your server becomes too slow if it isn't restarted from time to time. Check the appropriate checkbox to activate this option. Set the days of the week on which you want the computer to be restarted and click on the "at 00:00 " time display to set the correct hour.
KIU can restart the computer in two ways. The first way ('clean restart' checked) is as if you selected 'Restart' in the finder 'special' menu. The applications will be quit one by one. Unfortunately, if one application puts up some dialog, the restart will be stopped. The second way ('clean restart' unchecked) is as if you pressed the reset button on your mac. The Mac will be restarted for sure, but data may be lost because the applications aren't terminated in a normal way. Do not uncheck 'clean restart' unless you're absolutely sure you know what you're doing.
If you don't check the 'clean restart' option, the Restart Delay (see KIU preferences) will be obeyed: The computer will warn the user and wait for this period before it restarts the computer. This allows the user to cancel the restart.
Note: the restart will not function if:
* the computer is not idle (see preferences, 'Idle Time before activation' above) at restart time.
* other applications do not give KIU processing time at restart time.
G. Shareware
This software is shareware. This is not another term for free software, as many people seem to think. Shareware software must be paid, just like ordinary commercial software. The difference is that a shareware author uses cheap distribution channels to keep costs down and this system also allows you to evaluate the software before you decide to purchase it.
You may evaluate KIU for a reasonable amount of time. You will be regularly reminded to pay your shareware fee by a notification. This message, when not dismissed, will remove itself after 1 minute to allow foreground processing to continue. The message will also be logged.
After you pay your fee, you will receive a serial number, which you must use to register your copy. The messages will disappear.
Distribution:
You can distribute this software by giving it away to friend, upload it to a BBS or online services like Compuserve or AOL, or send it to any ftp site. Basically you can distribute it any way you like, as long as you don't ask any money for it, other than a small charge related to distribution costs (cost of a disk, postage or download fee) and keep it together with this unmodified document in the original compressed archive this product came in.
You may not sell this product or bundle it with any other products (commercial or other) without explicit written permission by the author of this software.
You may not modify Keep It Up or this document in any way nor distribute Keep It Up without this document or the other files and applications that came with it.
Check the KIU web pages if you want info on the latest release, download sites, tips, ...
http://www.vl-brabant.be/mac
Price:
The fee is U.S. $25 or BEF 825 for the one copy; $15/copy or BEF 500/copy if you buy more than one copy. Mind you: you don't pay for the number of users, but for the number of Macs you run AutoBoot on.
You will receive a personal registration number which will reflect the number of copies you paid for . Please allow 5 to 6 weeks for response.
A site license is U.S. $250 or BEF 8250. This gives you the right to install as many copies as you want on one site. I will give full support to the best of my possibilities (e.g. problem solving, modification of AutoBoot for specific needs…).
For a multi-site license, please contact me for pricing.
If you want to sell this product with any of your products, please contact me, and we'll work something out.
Payment:
Please always use the supplied registration form. Write clearly !
You can pay in U.S. dollars if you use cash, International Postal Money Order or a check drawn on a non-Belgian bank. You must pay in BEF if you use a Eurocheck, check drawn on a Belgian bank or wire transfer.
You must use one of the following methods:
a. cash: you can send cash dollars or Belgian Franks. Included the payment with your shareware registration form.
b. Eurocheck: (available in the E.C. only). The Eurocheck must be made payable in Belgian Franks (BEF) and the Eurocheck cardnumber must be on the back.
c. check drawn on a Belgian bank: The check must be made payable in Belgian Franks (BEF) and drawn on a Belgian bank.
d. check drawn on any non-Belgian bank: U.S. dollars. Please add $18 to the shareware fee to cover international banking costs. This fee must also be paid for federal drafts, international drafts, foreign drafts, cashier's checks, etc ... I will not accept your check unless this fee is added !
e. International Postal Money Order: Ask your Post Office for an International Postal Money Order. They will send the payment directly to me, so you will need to send the registration form separately. You can choose to pay in U.S. dollars or Belgian Franks.
f. Wire transfer: you can also transfer the payment directly to my bank account. The payment must be made in Belgian Franks. You must make sure that you take all costs (local, foreign and currency conversion costs) on your behalf, i.e. make sure I receive the full amount. Don't forget to send your registration form by regular mail, or I will not be able to process your order !!
Which method do I choose ?
The cheapest way to pay is cash, the safest way is by wire transfer. The easiest ways are cash or regular check, but the check is more expensive due to the $18 banking fee. If you live in Europe, go for the Eurocheck. If you live in a country which has a well established Postal Service (e.g. Japan), use the Postal Money Order. For largers amounts by companies, use the wire transfer or the check drawn on a Belgian bank.
From contacts with people in the U.S.A, I learned many people don't pay shareware fees because they think it is a hassle to get money to Europe. It isn't ! The simplest way (for small fees, less than $50), is to send CASH. My experience tells me this is quite a reliable method. Put the money inside a piece of paper (the registration form) and put it in a firm envelope, so that you can't see it when you hold it to the light. Send the letter by air mail.
My address:
Karl Pottie
Orkaanstraat 21
8800 Rumbeke-Roeselare
Belgium (Europe)
My e-mail adress on the internet (also reachable from Applelink, Compuserve, AOL; check for details on how to reach me at your online service):
karlp@macbel.be
Check the KIU web pages if you want info on the latest release, download sites, tips, ...
http://www.vl-brabant.be/mac
If you want to send me a bug report, be sure to state Macintosh model, system version, used inits (system extensions) and cdevs (control panels). Describe the problem as clearly as you can: what happens ? Which circumstances ? Can you eliminate the problem by turning off some extensions ?
LIMITED WARRANTY AND LIABILITY:
THIS SOFTWARE COMES 'AS IS'. I CAN NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE OR LOSS OF DATA CAUSED BY THIS PRODUCT DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, WHATEVER THE NATURE OF THE DAMAGE. I DO NOT GUARANTEE THAT KEEP IT UP WILL IN PERFORM AS DESCRIBED IN THIS MANUAL.
