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DOCUMENT TITLE: Readme.1st (ICF.TXT)
Short description of ICF Shareware version
DOCUMENT DATE: April 13, 1992
Copyright (c) 1992 LanTelligence Corporation All rights reserved
Address any correspondence to:
Compuserve: 70274,46
Bix: Lantel
Delphi: Lantell
Exec-PC: Lantelligence Corp
PREFACE
============================================================
This is an update (v1.60) to our ICF program. Changes made
include:
- Shareware version offers all command functionality!
- More on-line help available
- Manual included!
HELLO
============================================================
Welcome to the Inventory Capture Facility (ICF) by LanTelligence
Corporation. It can:
- report what programs are installed (user-defined database)
- show what microchannel boards are installed (user-defined)
- find files on all drives, local and remote
- report on memory, cmos, and other system info
- report on network data (currently LanMan only, Netware soon)
- function as a super-file-finder
- capture config files (autoexec, config.sys, ini files)
- save all info in dbase, lotus 1-2-3, or ascii delimited files
ICF collects inventory information from PC's and writes the data to industry
standard file formats so that it can be read and processed by any popular
database or spreadsheet package. Maybe you've developed (or were
thinking about developing) a home-grown inventory system for your
company or clients, or you've used one of the commercially-available
products. Instead of being limited by your own time or the limited reports
provided by others, the sole purpose of this program is to give you the
data you need in the format you need, so you can use your favorite tool to
get those reports done and move on to something else.
This program is invaluable for organizations that want to perform
company-wide audits of PC software and hardware. While the
inventory-collecting abilities will make the corporate PC staffs'
jobs easier, ICF can also display the results of software identification and
file searches on the screen, making it a valuable utility for users as well.
This short guide is a brief description of the program. It should provide
you with the necessary details to determine if ICF is for you and your
organization. It also provides sample commands you can try with the
shareware version posted here. Address inquires, comments,
suggestions and (god forbid) complaints to LanTelligence Corporation
at any of the electronic mail ID's at the top of this document or:
LanTelligence Corporation
P.O. Box 144242
Miami, FL 33114-4242
This document is divided into two sections. Section I contains information
regarding ICF, its capabilities and benefits, and price information for the
different licensed versions available. Section II is a brief ICF Quick Guide
to allow you to use and evaluate ICF. Note that there are many additional
options and strategies for using ICF than can be described here.
SECTION I - ABOUT ICF
CAPABILITIES
========================================================
A quick list of what ICF can do...
FLEXIBLE OUTPUT OF DATA - Data collected from ICF can be displayed on
the screen or output to dBASE (.DBF), Lotus 1-2-3 (.WK1) or Ascii delimited
files. Just about every major spreadsheet and database program either
supports these formats directly or provides conversion tools to bring the
data in.
NATIVE OPERATING SYSTEM SUPPORT - ICF is available in versions for
DOS and OS/2. Use the DOS version for DOS and Windows systems. If you
have OS/2 workstations, you have an identically functioning version for
those as well! And the OS/2 version is native, so no DOS-box is required
(i.e. OS/2 servers).
COMMAND-LINE DRIVEN - The program is entirely command line driven.
There are many commands and options available to control how ICF
operates.
POWERFUL INVENTORY AND DATA COLLECTION ABILITIES - This
includes being able to collect the following information:
MAIN COMPUTER INFORMATION - Processor, memory (different
types), serial and parallel ports, mouse and video
information.
CMOS INFORMATION - Settings as defined in CMOS tables,
including floppy and hard drive types, memory, etc.
ADD-ON HARDWARE - If you have microchannel (MCA) computers,
ICF will dynamically report on all boards installed in them.
This does not require the reference disk!
INSTALLED SOFTWARE - Most important to some organizations
attempting to maintain legal compliance, ICF collects data
about all software found on the computer. Best of all -- you
control what it searches for!
PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT - This refers to standalone, physical
equipment such as displays, modems, etc. If the data is
entered by the user or ICF administrator, ICF will
automatically merge it with all the other data collected.
CONFIGURATION FILES - The complete text of files are captured,
including CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT or STARTUP.CMD
files, and optional Application Configuration Files such as
LANMAN.INI and WIN.INI.
AUTORUN FACILITY - ICF can be set up to automatically run only when
changes are detected to the configuration. You can run it from
AUTOEXEC.BAT, STARTUP.CMD, or network logon scripts and it will
automatically collect inventory data if the configuration has been changed!
NO TSR IMPLEMENTATION! - Forget about having to load more TSR's to
collect your inventory data. ICF is a standalone program that doesn't take
up precious memory or conflict with other resident programs.
HOW TO GET STARTED USING ICF
========================================================
Shareware versions of ICF for both DOS (versions 2.0 through 5.0) and
OS/2 (versions 1.1 through 2.0) are available on CompuServe and popular
BBS's for downloading. Most commands and options are functional in the
shareware version - the major limitation being that it cannot be run from a
LAN drive or a floppy. Use the Quick Operation Guide below to learn
sample commands in order to test and use the program.
IF YOU NEED HELP
========================================================
Send us Email at any of the electronic mail ID's shown at the top of
this document.
IF YOU LIKE ICF
========================================================
Order a copy! ICF can be used on a single computer, but the benefits
associated with it are really gained when used on many or all
computers in your organization. ICF is priced aggressively to make it easy
to obtain it (especially in relation to similar products!). An order form
appears at the end of this document.
The price schedule shown below is broken down into the following
different types of licences. Prices are subject to change without notice.
SHAREWARE VERSION - Free - This version demonstrates capabilities
and is accompanied with this documentation. It is free if it is downloaded
from CompuServe or other BBS's. It can be used for 30 days.
SINGLE-COPY LICENSE - $25 -Covers use of ICF on a single PC, which
CANNOT be a file server. Data cannot be saved to a floppy disk.
Manual is on disk.
*** All the licenses below include a single spiral-bound reference
manual. ***
MULTI-COPY LICENSE - $95 - Covers use of ICF on one file server OR 50
individual PC's (these are mutually exclusive).
BUILDING LICENSE - $495 - Covers use of ICF on all file servers and
computers in a single building. Multi-building sites and campuses must
have one Building License for each building.
SITE LICENSE - $1,995 - Covers use of ICF on all file servers and
computers in all buildings in a single zip code.
COMPANY LICENSE - $4,995 - Provides unlimited use of ICF throughout an
organization.
These license arrangements were developed to offer different
opportunities to easily acquire ICF depending on the size and structure of
your organization. We recognize that for the most part keeping track of
individual license counts is difficult at best.
WHAT IF YOU DON'T LIKE ICF
========================================================
Well, we tried. You can sent us a letter or Compuserve Email indicating
why you didn't like it, or what changes must be made in order to make you
a customer. Of course, you may have no need for a program with these
capabilities. But then you probably wouldn't have read this far, anyway!
LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR SHAREWARE VERSION
========================================================
You are permitted to use the Shareware version of ICF for 30 days starting
from the first day of use to determine of ICF is suitable for your use. After
30 days you must purchase one or more Licenses as described above if
you want to continue using the program.
The Shareware version may be distributed to others as long as no profit or
money is involved in the transaction, excluding nominal distribution and/or
duplication fees.
LanTelligence Corporation and its officers make no warranty expressed or
implied regarding the suitability of the program, or any other programs
associated with LanTelligence Corporation, with any particular application
or use thereof.
SECTION II - ICF QUICK OPERATION GUIDE
========================================================
Use some of the examples below to try ICF. But first a quick summary is in
order. The following major commands are available:
PROGRAMS - identifies programs installed on the computer
STATUS - detailed list of computer status
FILES - finds any or all files
AUTO - performs STATUS command only if configuration changes
The general format for running ICF from the command line is:
ICF command /option1 /option2 ...
Most commands output to the screen by default. If you want the data saved
in a file, specify either the /DBASE, /LOTUS or /ASCII options. Each ICF
command generally produces a data file with a different layout or file
structure. In addition to these, there are over 200 other options that
control the operation of ICF. Options can be specified on the command
line, in the ICF= environment variable, or in a ICF.INI file (or a combination
of all three). These have a cumulative effect that permits extensive
customization. For example, if ICF is utilized on a LAN then a shared
ICF.INI file will be read from a public disk. Then user-specified options are
processed either from their own .INI files, environment variables, or the
command line.
EXAMPLES - PROGRAMS COMMAND
========================================================
ICF PROGRAMS
Identifies programs found on all local drives. It uses files called
ICFPROG1.DBF through ICFPROG9 (up to 9 files at once) to perform the
identification process. Demo versions of these are supplied with the this
version. Since these are DBASE files, you are free to modify these to add
your own software. Paid license versions of ICF include the latest full
database.
ICF PROGRAMS C /DBASE
Same as above, but only search drive C: and save the data in a DBASE
file.
ICF PROGRAMS /LANDRIVES /LOTUS
Searches for programs on all drives, including remote drives, and saves
the data in a LOTUS 1-2-3 file.
ICF PROGRAMS /FINDEXTS
There are different strategies associated with capturing software
information. One is knowing all the programs you are looking for before
you do the scan. Another is capturing the .EXE and .COM files to do a
matchup after the data has been collected. ICF supports both. The above
command uses /FINDEXTS to specify that .EXE and .COM files that are not
matched so software in the database (ICFPROGn.DBF) should be included
in the output file as well so that the administrator can identify programs
unknown at scan time.
ICF PROGRAMS /FINDEXTS /PROGINFO
The /PROGINFO option includes file size, date, and time with the collected
information.
EXAMPLES - STATUS COMMAND
========================================================
ICF STATUS
Displays all status information on the screen.
NOTE: File structures using /DBASE, /LOTUS, or /ASCII options:
Because of the requirement to process a flexible amount and
variety of data depending on what information is being collected,
the format of a DBASE, LOTUS, or Ascii delimited file consists of 2
fields. The first field is the ID field and contains a number
representing the type of item stored in the VALUE field. The second
field is the VALUE field and contains the actual VALUE (i.e. number
or character string) of that item.
If you want to process these files or merge them in with master
databases of some sort, you will need to know what the ID's mean.
You can guess, but there are 2 ways to save you some time. One
is simple: buy the program and get the documentation. But-- as we
want you to be able to evaluate ICF, you can also specify the /DESC
option. This will result in a third field created in the file, which will
be filled in with a generic description of each particular item.
While using this structure may seem unwieldy, it offers several
advantages: 1. Items (especially character strings) can be of fairly
long length. 2. If you have a configuration management / tracking
program you can easily read these files without learning lots of
different file structures. 3. Future versions of ICF can include more
additional types of status information without changing the
structure (just more ID's will be created). 4. It supports status
information that is repeated, such as software programs and
installed boards found, lines from configuration files, etc.
ICF STATUS /ASCII /NST:P
Same as above, but saves the data in an ascii delimited file and the /NST
(NoStatus) option causes the Program search to be skipped. Separate
other information categories to be skipped by using the following letters
separated by commas:
B = boards M = memory
A = main O = mouse
I = id's P = programs
L = lan D = diskinfo
T = text files W = ini files
C = cmos
* Note: Boards are only detected in Microchannel computers. The
ID's are displayed along their descriptions. The descriptions come
from files ICFMCA1.DBF through ICFMCA9.DBF. You can add your
own if necessary.
ICF STATUS /DBASE /FILENAME=FILE1 /NST:P,D,W,T
Perform the status command, save the data in a dbase file named
FILE1.DBF, and skip the status check for programs, disk information, ini
files, and text files.
ICF STATUS /DBASE /USERNAME=SMITH
Store the status information in a dbase file and set the user name to
SMITH.
ICF STATUS /DBASE /USERNAME=SMITH /FILENAME=$USERNAME
/OUTDIR=S:\ICF
Same as above but the $USERNAME results in a file name consisting of
the first 8 characters of the specified user name. The file is saved in
S:\ICF directory.
ICF STATUS /ASK /ASCII
ICF can collect data on physical, stand-alone equipment that cannot be
recognized programatically. It does through the /ASK option. If this option
is specified on the STATUS command, a screen appears permitting you to
enter information describing the user (name, location, notes), and make,
model, serial numbers and notes for computers, modems, displays,
printers, etc. This information is then saved in a hidden file (by default:
C:\AUTORUN.DAT and can be changed with an option) so it is read
automatically each time the STATUS command is used.
AUTO COMMAND
=========================================================
The AUTO command is an extension of the STATUS command, shown in
the example below:
ICF AUTO /BATCH
The AUTO command is an extension of the STATUS command, and ICF
has several key features that make it easy to use. The AUTO command will
tell ICF to quickly check for any configuration changes (including software!)
made to the computer). Only if changes are detected will a full status
check be performed.
ICF also provides several options that are "shortcut" options. They actually
set many other options for you so you can quickly use ICF to capture status
information.
One shortcut option is /BATCH. Among other things, this option
suppresses many messages from being displayed on the screen, and
signals data to be saved in .DBF format if no other filetype is specified.
The overall effect is to make it easy to automate inventory collection by
placing the following in an AUTOEXEC.BAT, STARTUP.CMD, or logon
script file:
ICF AUTO /BATCH
EXAMPLES - FILES COMMAND
========================================================
ICF FILES
Displays on the screen a listing of all files found on all local hard drives.
ICF FILES D /ASCII
Saves a record of all files found on D: in an ascii delimited file.
ICF FILES EXE /LOTUS
Saves a record of all files with "EXE" in the filename in a 1-2-3 worksheet.
Note that ICF will normally search the entire filename for the specified
text. In this example, "ICFEXE.DAT" would also be matched. This special
processing usually makes it simpler to specify what files you're looking
for. It also makes for a powerful file finder, as the next example
illustrates.
ICF FILES SAM /LANDRIVES /FILENAME=$TEMP
Finds files that have "SAM" anywhere in the filename. Remote drives are
included in the search. The special filename $TEMP specifies that the file
should be named with a unique number so it can be saved on a LAN drive.
OTHER OPTIONS FOR FILES COMMAND
============================================================
Some other options you may want to try with the FILES command are listed
below:
/SKIPDRIVES skips specified drives from being searched
(i.e. /SKIPDRIVES=DE)
/LANDRIVESO includes ONLY remote drives in search
/NODESCEND do not descend directories
/NSD don't show <DIR> entries
/DOSEARCH use normal wildcard file matching
/SORTE sort by extension before displaying
/TOTEXT compute totals by extension
/ALLEXT include all extensions in TOTEXT report
/TOTALS display totals summary
/NOALIGNEXT don't align extensions in file display
/PROTECTED search for only hidden, system or RO files
/NORMAL exclude protected files
/BIGFILES include only big files
(controlled by /BIGFILESIZE)
/SMALLFILES include only small files
(controlled by /SMALLFILESIZE)
/PAUSE pause every screenfull
/RINGBELL ring bell when done (useful for batch jobs)
/SIZEK show file sizes in K units
OTHER GENERAL OPTIONS
============================================================
/ASCII produce ascii delimited output file
/DBASE produce dbase .DBF output file
/LOTUS produce lotus .WK1 output file
/OVWR overwrite existing data file
/APPEND append to existing data file (excl. lotus)
/OUTDIR use this drive\directory for output files
/INDIR use this drive\directory for input files
/NEEDSPACE check for req'd disk space before running
(/NEEDSPACE=50) specifed in K units
/QUIET suppress status messages
/USERID specify userid for inventory collection
(also used for /FILENAME=$USERID)
/USERNAME specify username for inventory collection
(also used for /FILENAME=$USERNAME)
/COMPUTERID specify computer id for inventory collection
(also used for /FILENAME=$COMPID)
ORDER FORM
============================================================
Each package comes with a DOS and OS/2 version of ICF and manual on
disk. The SINGLE-COPY version cannot be run from a file server, and
data cannot be saved to a floppy disk.
Payment Method: Make checks payable to LanTelligence Corporation.
Purchase Orders:
We accept purchase orders from state-supported schools,
hospitals, banks, governmental agencies, and Fortune 2000
companies. Mimimum order for purchase orders is $95. We will
also invoice other well rated companies - please send in
credit information including 3 credit references, bank with
account number, address and contact, and your D&B number. Terms
are Net 15 Days.
To: LanTelligence Corporation
P.O. Box 144242
Miami, FL 33114-4242
From: Company name :__________________________________
Street :__________________________________________
City, State, Zip: __________________________________
Contact Name: __________________________________
Phone: _________________
Fax: ________________
Date :_______________
Order: Select from the following products:
PRODUCT PRICE QTY TOTAL
EACH
========================================================
SINGLE-COPY LICENSE $25 ____ _______
MULTI-COPY LICENSE $95 ____ _______
BUILDING LICENSE $495 ____ _______
SITE LICENSE $1995 ____ _______
COMPANY LICENSE $4995 ____ _______
SUB TOTAL _______
SALES TAX (in Florida, 6.5%) _______
TOTAL _______
* LOTUS, 1-2-3, and DBASE are trademarks of their respective companies.
Copyright (c) 1992 LanTelligence Corporation All rights reserved