CD-ROM Aktiv 1/CDA1_96.ISO/novell/tapcis.inf

Text File | 1995-11-11 | 14KB | 270 lines

Tap into CompuServe Using a Tool That Makes Sense...
    Let TAPCIS Become Your Personal CompuServe Assistant

TAPCIS 6.0...
   *  Connects you to the world through electronic mail and
      the thousands of forum communities available on CompuServe.
   *  Makes participating simple and enjoyable.
   *  Actively manages the information you ask it to send and receive.
   *  Helps you find the "nuggets of gold" amidst the flood of material
      now available online.

And TAPCIS does all of this while eliminating all the INEFFICIENCIES
that are an unavoidable part of using ANY non-automated tool (including
WinCIM) to access mail, forums, and other CompuServe services.

TEST DRIVE TAPCIS...FREE! Simply download TAPTRY.EXE from the TAPCIS
Forum Library 1/TAPCIS(R) or from one of over 100 other forums around
CompuServe. After that, you can purchase TAPCIS for as little as $39.50,
with a 90-day Money Back Guarantee! (Optional professionally printed
manual and disk are $19.50 + shipping and handling).

You can also receive TAPCIS right away by ordering it through CompuServe
Mail (Support Group 74020,10) using a major credit card, by calling us
toll free at 1-800-872-4768, by sending us a check, by faxing us a
company purchase order, or by charging TAPCIS to your CompuServe account
using the online ordering service (GO CIS:SWREG).

Help is available 24-hrs a day through the TAPCIS Forum (GO CIS:TAPCIS).
We're here to answer all your questions. Please stop by and visit.

TAPCIS 6.0 for DOS is compatible with computers running DOS, Microsoft
Windows 95, Windows 3.1x, Windows for Workgroups, Windows NT, and IBM
OS/2 Warp. Minimum system: 286 with 640K RAM and 4 megabytes of free
disk space. Recommended system: 386 or better with 2M of available
extended or expanded memory and 5M or more of free disk space.

========================================================================
Support Group, Inc.                             Toll free 1-800-872-4768
Lake Technology Park                                Phone [phone]
McHenry, Maryland 21541-0130 U.S.A.                   Fax [phone]

INTERNET: [e-mail]             CompuServe Mail 74020,10
========================================================================


What Others Have to Say About TAPCIS

   Congratulations on the release of a marvelous program. Very
   intuitive, attractive interface, efficient. Good documentation. There
   are many things I don't know how to do yet, but each time I look for
   something, I find it.
                                          -- Tom Bunn 72321,544

   When I first started using TAPCIS, it cut my daily message runs from
   2 hours down to about 20 minutes.
                                          -- Dan Widdis 71053,1677

   I have been a TAPCIS user for over three years and love it. I've
   tried other offline readers, and they are just too slow. Your help
   menus are great, as is the manual. Actually, the TAPCIS program seems
   to be the best software I have in my library. It does what it says--
   and very well.
                                           -- Anne Adams 71231,2303

   Thank you for resisting the strong pressure to release a product that
   was not ready--that is almost unique in the software world today. I
   will admit it has been a long wait, and I have experimented with
   other navigators. In my judgment nothing approaches the usability of
   TAPCIS. When I factor in the TAPCIS sysops who truly make my problem
   'their problem' and continue with me until it is solved, you have a
   lifetime customer.
                                          -- Ernie Stroxtile 72657,3540

   I _HATE_ 'new,' but I love TAPCIS 6.0. I keep finding different ways
   to use it. The best software purchase I've ever made.
                                          -- Joseph Stans 76250,3423

   I was never much of a TAPCIS 5.43 fan. I used it, but I didn't like
   it very much. I think I've used almost everything out there. But
   TAPCIS 6.0 is absolutely wonderful. T6 probably cut the time required
   to do my forum messages by at least one-third. The Views facility is
   just exquisite.
                                          -- Ralph Alvy 71333,2075

   I like to think of TAPCIS 6.0 as the Last Great DOS Application.
   While some might find the lack of a Windows TAPCIS a problem, the new
   version is a textbook example of the ultimate refinement of a DOS-
   based interface:  the point is that TAPCIS gets the job of CompuServe
   access done in the most efficient, intelligent, and value-laden way
   possible. Don't resist TAPCIS merely because it is not a WinApp. Use
   the product that is now the most cost-effective and customizable way
   to access CompuServe, and you will find that it rewards every moment
   you spend learning the product and configuring it to your specific
   online interests. Use the product because it manages every aspect of
   the CompuServe experience brilliantly.
                                           -- Scott McGrath 72241,325


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What Is TAPCIS?

TAPCIS is an "access program" for CompuServe. This means that TAPCIS
becomes the "interface" between you and what is available on the
CompuServe Information Service (CIS).

In essence, TAPCIS is a program through which people interact. While you
can use TAPCIS to retrieve stock quotes, weather, the latest hourly
news, and other "data" automatically, CompuServe's main value is as a
human resource. Our computer software is simply a tool to help you open
the door to thousands of large and small online communities where people
share their expertise, their questions, and their friendship. These
communities are called "forums."

For TAPCIS to work in this role, it needs to make it easy for you to
*participate*. To us, "making it easy" means that TAPCIS lets you take
part in the give and take on the forums and in private mail while
respecting both your time and your money.

TAPCIS does this by *automating* the work that you would have to do if
you wanted to participate using the usual methods. The vast majority of
CompuServe customers use the service "interactively." They have not yet
discovered the savings that come from automation, so they spend a lot of
their online time instructing CompuServe to move from one area to
another and waiting for information to appear on their screen so they
can read it.

The alternative is to let TAPCIS become your personal assistant, your
"CompuServe Expert." You tell TAPCIS, "Get me everything I want... Now!"
TAPCIS races out and retrieves the information at the fastest speed and
lowest cost possible and stores it on your computer's hard drive. While
TAPCIS does this work online, you are free to do other things. When you
are ready, you can either read the information without delay or take
your time... while incurring no extra cost.

One of the wonders of TAPCIS is that as you participate, CompuServe
becomes more and more enjoyable. We know from over nine years of
experience that TAPCIS users consistently find CompuServe a gratifying
way to spend a part of their lives.


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What You Can Do

TAPCIS is designed around three primary tasks:

   *  Reading Messages from CompuServe Mail, Forums, and Services
   *  Writing Messages to CompuServe Mail and Forums
   *  Downloading and Uploading Files

Reading Messages ---

TAPCIS retrieves messages from Mail and forums, disconnects from
CompuServe, and lets you read the messages offline at your leisure. You
can save, print, and erase these messages. To make reading messages
easier for you, TAPCIS keeps an "index" of the messages, noting which
ones you have read, printed, held for future action, etc.

TAPCIS also keeps previously read messages in the same file with new
ones (up to a total of 16300 of them, per forum!). This lets you easily
refer to previous messages in a "conversation," which on CompuServe is
called a "thread."

We believe that the computer should do the work of isolating the
messages of interest to you. Through a powerful sorting and filtering
capability which we call "Views," TAPCIS lets *you* choose the messages
you want to read... all with a couple of keystrokes or mouse clicks.
When you decide you want to remove older messages from the file, you can
erase or archive them using a simple process called "aging and
rewriting."

If you don't have time, money, or interest to follow all of the messages
in a forum, you can have TAPCIS scan the message headers. Then, you mark
the ones that look interesting, and TAPCIS will retrieve just the marked
messages next time online. And TAPCIS remembers... It pre-marks headers
and offers intelligent suggestions based on what you marked in the past.
It can even mark or skip messages based on keywords you provide.

Writing Messages ---

Being an active forum participant should be easy and inexpensive. To us,
that means that writing replies should be no more than a keystroke away.
To reply to a message using TAPCIS, just press [R]. Compose your message
using the built-in TAPCIS editor, and press [Alt+R] to release it to the
Out box. It will be sent automatically the next time TAPCIS visits
CompuServe.

You can prepare and send a new message at any time by pressing [W] and
filling in a simple "envelope." You can even attach a file and send it
to an unlimited mailing list of friends and associates via CompuServe
Mail. If you see something interesting, you can forward that to a friend
as well, simply by pressing [O]. Of course, if you forget these hotkeys,
you can always use the Write Menu, available by clicking on it with the
mouse or by pressing [Alt+W].

These are just a few of the capabilities at your disposal when you are
using TAPCIS to communicate with people publicly in forums or privately
through CompuServe Mail. And remember, whether you are editing a message
or deciding which Write Menu option is the one to choose, detailed help
is always just a press of the [F1] key away....

Downloading and Uploading Files ---

Forum message areas are dynamic; the information exchanged is fresh,
current, and ever changing. Forum messages are short, usually just a few
paragraphs, and always less than 10,000 characters. And after a short
period of time, they disappear ("scroll") from the forum, as new
messages and new conversations take their place.

The forum's "Libraries" are where information is stored for a longer
time. In the libraries, you can find files containing everything from
archived message exchanges to utilities, programs, help files, graphics,
video clips, sounds, and more.

How do you know what is available in a forum's libraries? Let TAPCIS
build a "catalog" for you. You do this using the Library | Library
search [L] command. Tell TAPCIS the forum, library section numbers you
want to search, the keyword(s), and the "age" of the files that are
likely to interest you. Next time online, TAPCIS will create a catalog
with matching files for you.

Reading a file catalog uses most of the same commands and concepts as
reading messages, including the use of Views. You can even write new
messages [W] and forward file descriptions [O] from the catalog.

Retrieving a file from a library is called "downloading." When reading a
catalog, you can press [D] (Action | Download) to tell TAPCIS to
download the current file the next time it goes online. Whether you tell
TAPCIS to download one file or one hundred, it will do all the work
online at the fastest possible speed, without your intervention. When it
is done, you will find the files in your download directory (see Setup |
Directories) where you can use them as you would any other disk file.

Contributing a file of your own to a library is called "uploading." In
forums where member-contributed files are encouraged, you can use the
Library | Upload command [Alt+L][U] to tell TAPCIS to upload a file for
you automatically the next time it goes online. You compose and save the
file description while offline, and when you connect, TAPCIS automatic-
ally responds to all of CompuServe's file upload questions and prompts.

Other Services ---

TAPCIS can also automate the retrieval of data from other services
including AP News, Executive News Service, current stock quotes, billing
history, What's New on CompuServe, Online Today, weather, ZD Net news,
syndicated columnists, and more. It does this through "service scripts"
which can be downloaded from the TAPCIS Forum, Library 2/Scripts &
Tools. Just add them to the list of forums/services you want TAPCIS to
visit, and let TAPCIS do the rest!


------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR MORE INFORMATION

Contact us at Support Group, Inc., via our CompuServe forum
(GO CIS:TAPCIS), via CompuServe Mail 74020,10, via the Internet
[e-mail], or call us at 1-800-872-4768.


We thank you for taking the time to read about TAPCIS. If there is any
way that we can be of service to you, please let us know.

Rick Wilkes 76701,23
TAPCIS Publisher

P.S.  Our stated purpose is to help create an online community that
      demonstrates the best that human beings have to offer. If you have
      any ideas on how to assist in that endeavor (even if completely
      unrelated to TAPCIS), please feel free to drop me a note. I look
      forward to hearing from you.