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The Best of Windows 95.com 1996 September
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WIN95_09964.iso
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qo1bw95.zip
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README.TXT
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1996-09-11
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**********************************************************************
Quick Open For Windows 95 -- By Moshe Martsiano -- JULY 1996
**********************************************************************
Visit My Home Page : http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/1714/
Find and Act On Folders in A Flash
1. Installing Quick Open
Unzip the qo1bw95.zip file and place all its files in the same directory. You must unzip the
file using the -d flag in order to unzip the subdirectories correctly as well. Don't use a long file
name as your Quick Open folder. Use something short such as "QO".
Make sure you have at least additional 100K in drive C for the database file that QO creates
listing all your directories.
The very first time you run the qo.exe file, the "About" window will open. This is where you
register for evaluation purposes. After you click the OK button, and this time only, the
options window will open automatically. Use the add button to add the directories you want
to monitor for changes. Remember that every directory you choose and all its subdirectories
are scanned. For example, "c:\", will monitor the entire C drive and "c:\windows" will
monitor the windows directory and all the its subdirectories.
2. Usage
QO will appear as a folder icon in the tray or notification area on the right side of the
Taskbar. You can access it by left clicking that icon. You can also access it off of the keyboard,
by pressing ctrl + / or ctrl + \. To leave the dialog box, hit Esc.
When you access QO, the QO dialog box will pop up. The first time only, press the refresh
button, and wait until the QO builds the database of monitored directories. You can do other
things in other applications. After the refresh, you are ready to use the application. In fact,
you don't have to use the refresh button, QO will auto-refresh but it will take more time to
auto-refresh if you are also doing other things.
In the QO dialog box type all or part of a folder name and hit enter. QO will instantly open
an Explorer window to that directory.
If more then one folder is found a list will be presented. Double click on the item you want
work with or press the open button after selecting a item from the list. You can select
multiple items by holding the ctrl key and left clicking items and them pressing the open
button.
If you create or rename a monitored directory, QO will detect it and refresh that directory in
the background. If you choose to delete a monitored directory, you may want to press the
refresh button to immediately rebuild the entire database; searches will then be faster.
QO is by default placed in your StartUp folder, so it runs when you start Windows 95 and
can monitor your folders.
QO takes very little CPU time; it will not slow down your computer! On a 486 computer
you won't notice it automatically refreshing your monitored directories list. You can check
this by using Microsoft kernel tools available via the Internet.
Enjoy the program and don't forget to register.
3. Configuring Quick Open
Under the Options button, you specify the drives or directories you wish to monitor.
Remember that every directory you choose and all its subdirectories are scanned. For
example, "c:\", will monitor the entire C drive and "c:\windows" will monitor the windows
directory and all the its subdirectories.
Also under the Options button, you specify the default action for the Open button. This will
determine the action taken when you press the Open button or double click on a folder. You
can choose a folder window, an Explorer window or activate any of your four user-defined
buttons.
Lastly, under the Options button, you can customize the four user-defined buttons to take
specific action on a folder you find. With QO, you can use its database and search capabilities
with other applications. You can use the selected folder or folders as a parameter to other
applications. For example you can launch a graphics viewer such as ACDSee and give it the
folder you want to view. If you search for "Images" and get a folder list of "Images" and
"Images of flowers", you can select one or both of them and click the Viewer button. ACDSee
will open in the folder you selected. If you select both of them, two instances of ACDSee will
open, one for each folder. You can do the same with compression utilities. If you select more
then one folder and click the compress button you will see multitasking in action as your PC
will compress several folders at the same time.
The buttons you see the first time you run QO contain default values. The default values will
only work if the path "c:\util\qo" is the path in which you installed QO and you have the
applications that were specified in the command line executable fields. If not you can
customize the buttons.
To customize a button, open the Options dialog. In the table in the middle of the dialog, the
four buttons are listed each with three fields. "Button Text" is the text to appear on the
button. "Command Line Executable" is the full path of the application and the executable
name. "Parameters" is the parameters to be passed to the application. You can pass the selected
folder by using "???". For example, to compress files using the ARJ compression format, type
"ARJ" as the button text, "c:\comp\arj" as the command line executable and "-i1 -va -r -jm ???
-t" as parameters. When the Arj button is pressed after you selected the "C:\windows" folder,
Arj will compress the directory by executing: "c:\comp\arj -i1 -va -r -jm c:\windows -t".
Since older DOS applications don't understand long file names, some programs may not work
when executed directly. Instead you can write a batch file to change to the right folder first,
and then execute the application. Examples of this kind of batch file are in the "BATCH"
folder in your Quick Open folder. If you use a batch file, use "c:\command" as command line
executable and "/K c:\util\batch\ mybatch ???" as a parameters. Paths may vary on your
computer. If you don't know how to write batch files, just copy the example, and use it as a
template, understand that the %1 or %2 signs in those batch files are parameters that transfer
from the command line to the batch file where %1 is the first parameter and %2 is the second
parameter passed.
4. Troubleshooting
4.1. QO crashed!
When you manually refresh QO, it uses all of its resources for the refreshing operation. If you
put another window on top of QO dialog box, and then return to QO, it might not repaint it
self and you will get a "white" dialog box. QO isn't stuck. Wait until the cursor becomes your
regular cursor. As long as your cursor is the wait cursor, QO is refreshing. If you specified
many directories or very large drives, the building operation might take some time. Be patient
and do other things with other applications in the meantime, and return to QO after a few
minutes. This happens only with manual refresh; with SmartRefresh you won't even know
that anything is happening. If you still have a problem, please mail me and tell me exactly
what you did before QO crushed.
4.2. I typed a folder name that exist on my drive, but QO didn't find it!
If this is the first time you ran QO, you get nothing because QO is still monitoring your
drives and creating its database. Wait a few minutes and try again.
If this is not your first time and you have used QO successfully before, maybe some other
application, or a power failure damaged the QO database. In that case, you can try to turn
your machine off and restart. If QO still isn't working, use the manual Refresh button to
rebuild your database. This will fix the problem.
4.3. QO prompts me to enter my folders under the Options dialog as if it were the first time I
had used it, but it not the first time!
QO configuration data was deleted. Try reentering your folders under the Options button
and try using QO. If it still isn't working, you have to use the manual Refresh button to
rebuild your database. This will fix the problem.
4.4. I installed new software, then tried to find it in QO but QO didn't find the folder!
You might want to wait for a while and check it again, QO takes care of your computer
resources, and maybe it decided to wait until you do some lighter work so it won't disturb
you. Maybe it is refreshing its database right now and you just don't know it! If you have an
average size disk with many folders in it, this should take several minutes since you launched
the installation program. Let QO do it's job and check out that folder later. You can also use
the manual Refresh button to rebuild your database.
4.5. I am crazy , but I wan't to unintall QO
well you are crazy ! , QO currently has no offical uninstall , but if you
want to delete it completly just erase the program files from the folder
you extracted them to , then erase the shortcut from :
\windows\start Menu\startup
that's it , for those of you who want to uninstall it in order to install
it again due to technical problem , I got no soloution currently , but
I am working on that , in the meantime just email me with exact details
of what you encountered and what you want to do and I will give you
a solution ... my email is moshmar@inter.net.il
5. Tips
5.1. You can open ANY drive folder, even if you did not include it in your monitored folder
list. Type the drive letter and a ":", for example, "f:", and press Enter or the appropriate
custom button.
5.2. You can add hot key control to your custom buttons by adding an '&' just before the
letter you want to be used as hot key. For example, "Dos &Window" will make a button you
can activate using the mouse or by pressing ALT+W
5.3. You can access system folders faster with QO. For example to get to your StartUp folder,
where each item represent an application that will be activated when the system start up, just
type "startup", hit enter, and you're there.
6. Registration
You are free to download the program and use it for a 10 day evaluation period. After that
you must delete the program or register and pay for it. Registration costs only $12 (US).
Registration entitles you to e-mail notification of new versions, bug fixes, and, most
importantly, it will keep me writing shareware software for your benefit.
To register do the following:
A. If you wish, you can e-mail me with your comments, any requests for features, and tell me
that you mailed me the registration fee. My email address is moshmar@inter.net.il
B. Send $12 (US), cash only, with your name, address and email address, by regular or certified
mail to:
Moshe Martsiano
Shabazi Street 14/2
Ramla
ZipCode 72418
Israel
You might want to mail it using certified mail, the type of mail where the mailman must get
me to sign for the envelope, to be sure I'm the one who gets it.
I will send you a registration number to unlock the software protection. The number will be
sent to you via e-mail only. Be sure to include your e-mail address or you won't get the
registration number.