Monster Media 1994 #2

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DeadWood v1.00 "If it's dead, let's bury it!" Christopher B. Eckles P.O. Box 225 Waleska, GA 30183-0225 USA 404-479-2888 Compuserve 76635,1012 This program is SHAREWARE, and is not free. LEGAL STUFF: Copyright 1994 by Christopher B. Eckles, all rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any other language or computer language in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, whether it be electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, manual or otherwise, without prior written consent of Christopher B. Eckles. Permission is granted to distribute the shareware files, unaltered and unchanged, as allowed in the accompanying files LICENSE.DOC and SYSOP.TXT. Full terms for your license to use DeadWood, along with disclaimers and other terms, are spelled out in the file LICENSE.DOC. If there is a conflict with any other document or agreement, the terms contained in LICENSE.DOC shall have precedence unless explicitly stated in writing. If you do not have a copy of this file, or cannot read or understand it, please contact Christopher B. Eckles at the address listed on the cover page above. The following is an extract of a key section of the license document: ***************************************************************** Users of DeadWood must accept this disclaimer of warranty: "DeadWood is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of DeadWood." ***************************************************************** Users are STRONGLY encouraged to read the entire manual before running any of the DeadWood programs. In particular, there are certain activities that could have unpredictable results - up to and including file loss and/or damage. BE SURE TO READ AND UNDERSTAND THE "CAUTIONS" SECTION. DeadWood has been well tested in many (not all) circumstances, and has proven to be safe when used as directed. Windows and Visual BASIC are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. 2 REASONS TO REGISTER: - You get the most recent version: less bugs and more features! - You get a printed manual, with an index, to refer to. - You get a database repair utility that may allow you to salvage your history of file use if your history file is corrupted (not uncommon). - I'll notify you of future version releases, which will be offered at a reduced price to registered users. - You won't feel guilty if you need to call for technical assistance. - The registered version doesn't keep suggesting that you register the program! - It's the right thing to do, if you use the program. Details on how to register this software are contained in the file ORDER.DOC. If you do not have this file, or cannot read it, please contact Christopher B. Eckles at the address listed on the cover page above. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS: LEGAL STUFF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 REASONS TO REGISTER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 TABLE OF CONTENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 GENERAL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 WINDOWS NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 GENERAL USE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 CAUTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 HOW DEADWOOD WORKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 THE DEADWOOD FILE INTERFACE SCREEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 MOVING THROUGH DISKS AND DIRECTORIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 MENU CHOICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 MENU (FILE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 MENU (SELECT FILES) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 MENU (DISPLAY). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 NOTES ON DELETING FILES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 INCOMPATIBLE PROGRAMS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 KNOWN PROBLEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 TROUBLESHOOTING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 INDEX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 4 GENERAL: DeadWood is a file management utility that lets you find files that are not being used. There are two parts: a file management program and a pair of small (19k total), well-behaved TSR's that track file usage under both DOS and Windows. The DeadWood TSR's and the creation/updating of the file use history have the potential to create very large files. In most cases, these will total 250,000 bytes or so. If, however, your disk activity is high, you perform infrequent updates of the history file, and/or you monitor programs that access all of the files on your hard disk (like virus checkers), these files could grow to a total of 1 Megabyte or more. Please read the HOW DeadWood WORKS section for more information on disk file size. 5 INSTALLATION: All of the files should be placed in a single directory, such as \DEADWOOD. To create a new directory, enter the command MD \DEADWOOD at the DOS prompt and press ENTER. You can then go to that directory by changing directories: type CD \DEADWOOD and press ENTER. Copy the file DEADxxx.EXE (where xxx is the version number) into the \DEADWOOD directory. DEADxxx.EXE is a self-extracting file, and when run it expands into the many files needed to run DeadWood. Simply type DEADxxx in the \DEADWOOD directory and press ENTER. You may then delete the DEADxxx.EXE file, if you wish. All of the files should be kept in the same directory. There is no need to include the DeadWood directory in your path. Some people will want to put the DeadWood TSR's in their AUTOEXEC.BAT file. This is a good idea, generally, because it loads the DeadWood TSR's automatically whenever the computer is started. It can also be useful to include the TSR's early in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file once in a while - this allows you to monitor the files used during startup (such as your disk cache or other TSR's). Once a TSR is loaded, the original files on disk may not be accessed again. If the DeadWood TSR's are loaded afterwards, these earlier TSR's files may be listed incorrectly as Unused. If you put the TSR's early in your AUTOEXEC.BAT you will probably be loading other TSR's after the DeadWood TSR's. This may prevent you from being able to unload the DeadWood TSR's, because TSR's generally must be unloaded in reverse order. This would prevent you from being able to do certain functions (such as update the usage history) until you remove the DeadWood TSR's from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and reboot the computer. In other words, loading the TSR's at the very start of AUTOEXEC.BAT is interesting to do on occasion, but not recommended for frequent use. 6 WINDOWS NOTES: An icon (DEADWOOD.ICO) and PIF (DEADWOOD.PIF) file are provided to assist users who wish to use DeadWood under Microsoft Windows. DeadWood functions well as a DOS application under Windows, though the TSR's must be loaded and unloaded outside of Windows. You can run Deadwood via the file manager, or you can create a program group which simplifies repeated running. To create a group, perform the following steps: Go to the Program Manager, and select FILE. Select NEW from the menu. Choose PROGRAM GROUP and choose OK. This brings up a window that allows you to enter the Program Group Description: enter DeadWood and choose OK. This creates an empty program group on the screen. Once again go to the Program Manager, and select FILE. Select NEW from the menu. Choose PROGRAM ITEM and choose OK. This brings up a window that asks you to input several items. For DESCRIPTION, enter DeadWood. For COMMAND LINE, enter C:\DEADWOOD\DEADWOOD.PIF. For WORKING DIRECTORY, enter C:\DEADWOOD. Choose OK. This creates a DeadWood item in the program group, with a standard MS-DOS icon. Again, go to the Program Manager, and select FILE. Select PROPERTIES from the menu. Choose CHANGE ICONS. An error may occur, indicating that there is no icon for DeadWood. Choose BROWSE, and select the DeadWood directory from the list of directories. Then select the DEADWOOD.ICO file from the file list. This changes the DeadWood icon to the tree icon, which is the proper one. 7 GENERAL USE: The DeadWood file management program may be used without the TSR's. Most people will run the TSR's for a while, then use the DeadWood file management program. This provides you with information on file usage, which is collected by the TSR's. To start the TSR's: at the DOS prompt in the DeadWood directory, type DLOAD and press ENTER. This runs a batch file that is the same as the following commands (the hard way): Type DEADTSR1 and press ENTER. Then type DEADTSR2 and press ENTER. Always run both TSR's together. Once the TSR's are running, use your computer as you normally would. You could also concentrate on just one application, and make extra-heavy use of it - change fonts, print, spell check, etc. The TSR's are watching what you do - do it all! Before running the DeadWood file manager, unload the TSR's. You may be able to run the file manager with the TSR's active, but you will be unable to update the history file with file information recently collected by the TSR's. To unload the TSR's: at the DOS prompt in the DeadWood directory, type DUNLOAD and press ENTER. This runs a batch file that is the same as the following commands (the hard way): Type DEADTSR2 /U and press ENTER. Then type DEADTSR1 /U and press ENTER. The TSR's may be loaded or unloaded in any order. After the TSR's have run a while, it can be interesting to look at the file DEADWOOD.DAT. This is a list of the files that have been accessed by your programs, in order. Also listed is the method of access (Usage Code). This list is deleted when the DeadWood database is updated. The Usage Codes are as follows: C - Create file (while TSR's were active) E - Execute file O - Open file for Read or Write F - Find file with given name or wildcards Start the DeadWood file manager by typing DEADWOOD and pressing ENTER at the DOS prompt in the DeadWood directory. The DEADWOOD.DAT file will continue to grow as you use the TSR's. It would be good practice to periodically unload the TSR's and update the DeadWood database, to keep this file to a reasonable 8 size. When you run the DeadWood program, you are prompted to perform an update if the DEADWOOD.DAT file exists (and the TSR's are not active). One way to clear all of the DeadWood history is to delete the data file(s). First unload the TSR's. Then, in the DeadWood directory, type DEL *.DAT and press ENTER. 9 CAUTIONS: 1) Never use disk repair/management utilities while the TSR's are loaded. This caution applies to defragmentation, file repair, and other utilities included in such programs as Norton's Disk Doctor, Optune, SCANDISK, and the like. 2) Some programs, such as virus checkers, will create a tremendous level of file activity, and list all of your files as used - for which there is no useful purpose to track. Listing every file on your disk could make the DEADHIST.DAT file grow very large (about 500k for every 100 MB of files on disk). 3) Never load or unload the TSR's while inside Windows. Unpredictable results may occur. Windows may tell you that the TSR's have been unloaded when the unload procedure has failed. 4) Never run DEADTSR1 without DEADTSR2. After a short period of time, DEADTSR1 will crash. This is caused by DEADTSR1 accumulating an ever-increasing list of files accessed, and never having this list cleared by DEADTSR2. DEADTSR2, when run, simply creates a custom interrupt which does nothing until called by DEADTSR1. The batch files (DLOAD and DUNLOAD) load and unload both of the TSR's together. 5) The maximum filename + path length allowed is 50 characters ("C:\dir\file.txt" = 15 long). Longer values will be truncated, and will be listed as Unused. 6) The filename capture TSR has a 100 character buffer. At any given time, up to 100 characters of file use information (approx. 4 file names) may have been recorded without being written to the disk file yet. To flush this buffer (as you may wish to do before turning the computer off) simply enter a DOS command consisting of random characters (such as "abcabcabc") and press ENTER. The system will search your PATH for this file, creating enough meaningless file entries to flush the buffer. 7) File and directory names cannot contain chr$(19) (!!). This symbol is used by the TSR's to delimit entries. Any such files/directories will be listed as Unused in DeadWood. It would be (ahem) rather difficult and unusual for this to occur, so normal people shouldn't worry. 10 8) MOST DOS- and Windows-based file access will be recorded by the TSR's. The following file operations will not be recorded by the TSR's: Rename Get/set file size, date, time Get/set file attributes Set/clear file access locks Print spooler interface (using PRINT.COM) Delete file Some file Creation (with unique file name, generally used for temp files) Direct disk access (sector reads/writes) 9) Be sure that you exit the DeadWood file manager before turning your computer off. The history data file may be damaged if the machine is turned off while the database engine is still working. 10) The DeadWood TSR's have been lightly tested while FASTOPEN was active, without apparent problems. Nonetheless, the author considers FASTOPEN to be extremely dangerous to all but the most organized minds (who may be able to lead normal lives given extended therapy), and use of FASTOPEN is discouraged. 11) The DeadWood TSR's may be loaded high (see your DOS manual). Unfortunately, the TSR's are unable to detect themselves when a copy is loaded high, and it becomes possible to have one set of TSR's loaded high and another set in normal memory. This situation could have unpredictable results. I'm not sure what would happen, since when the beta tester relayed this situation I was laughing too hard to think to ask. 11 HOW DEADWOOD WORKS: The DeadWood TSR's track file usage, and this information is used by the DeadWood file interface to mark files as used or unused. DEADTSR1 intercepts interrupt 21, and looks at all of the DOS calls that 1) involve disk use, and 2) send a file name. The file operations that are not tracked are listed in the CAUTIONS section. DEADTSR1 adds the filename (with drive and path) and DOS access code (C,E,O, or F) to its buffer. When this buffer becomes longer than 100 bytes, it starts trying to call DEADTSR2. If DEADTSR2 is called and performs successfully, then the buffer is cleared. DEADTSR2 is called by DEADTSR1 via interrupt 80. When called, it seeks the buffer value in DEADTSR1 and writes the values to the DEADWOOD.DAT file. This file is opened for APPEND when the TSR is started, and remains open until the TSR is removed. The data file is opened/created in the same directory that the DEADTSR2.EXE file is in. The DeadWood TSR's can create some rather large files, particularly if you don't use the DeadWood interface to update the history file very often (DEADWOOD.DAT is deleted after the history is updated). On the author's system, starting Windows, running one application, and exiting adds about 10k to the DEADWOOD.DAT file! Since this file is just a list of files that DOS tried to access, and each entry is only about 20 bytes, this means that over 500 files were referenced! The creation of large files could be a problem on some systems, since DeadWood is most useful to people with disk space problems. To minimize this, the TSR's have been designed to limit the opportunity to eat your remaining free space. The following checks are in place: When DEADTSR2 starts, it checks available space on the drive containing DEADTSR2.EXE. If this value is above 250,000 bytes, then no further action is taken unless a DISK FULL error is detected during a write in DEADTSR2. If a DISK FULL error occurs (starting with lots of free space), then recording of file use stops without notifying the user. If less than 250,000 bytes is free on startup, then available disk space is checked before every disk write by DEADTSR2. If this value falls below 25,000 then recording of file use stops without notifying the user. 12 If recording of file use stops because of limited disk space, then a window pops up when the DeadWood file interface is started. This window indicates that file tracking stopped because of limited disk space. When the DeadWood file interface is started, it searches for the DEADWOOD.DAT file in the same directory. If this file exists, it asks the user whether it should update the history file. The history file, DEADHIST.DAT, is the file that is used to determine if displayed files are used or unused. If the TSR's are active and the data file exists, then a window pops up explaining this and recommending that the user exits and unloads the TSR's before continuing: the opportunity to update the file history is not offered. If the user selects YES and updates the history file, the DEADWOOD.DAT file is processed. DeadWood goes through the list of filenames in DEADWOOD.DAT one line at a time, and if there are no internal blanks in the filename the program checks to see if the file exists. Because of this, your diskette drive may spin occasionally if you did any diskette access while the TSR's were active. Once a DRIVE DOOR OPEN error is detected (no diskette in your drive), the update routine will no longer look for files on that diskette drive. If the file exists, then the filename is added to the DEADHIST.DAT file (if it isn't already there) and the file access code is added/updated. If you access files on a diskette while the TSR's are active, and a diskette containing the same filename is loaded when the update process occurs, then the usage for that diskette (drive) will be recorded in the DEADHIST.DAT file. This usage information will be accessed if there is a diskette loaded and you use the file interface to examine the diskette. In this case the history would, for example, record filenames accessed in the root directory of the A drive. These filenames could over time have come from multiple diskettes. In practice, filenames from diskette accesses will rarely be recorded. The processing of the DEADWOOD.DAT file involves a lot of disk access, so don't be alarmed if your disk drive makes lots of noise (it shouldn't start smoking or screaming - that would be bad). At the end of the update procedure, the file DEADWOOD.DAT is deleted. The DEADHIST.DAT file is an ISAM file from Microsoft's Visual BASIC for DOS. This means that file access is fast, even for large files. It also means that a data file with just a few file accesses will create an initial file size of 65,000 bytes plus. This data file is intended for single user access, and cannot be accessed by multiple users on a network. 13 When the DeadWood file interface is run, a list of the currently existing files in the selected directory is obtained from DOS. Then the history file is searched, filename by filename, to see if there is a matching entry. If there is a match, the definition of "used" is checked, and the appropriate usage codes are appended to the file info on the screen. 14 THE DEADWOOD FILE INTERFACE SCREEN: The display screen is made up of several parts. Across the top is a list of menu items (File, Select Files, etc.). In the upper right corner is a button labeled "Mark Highlighted". Under this is a short bar for selecting the drive to display, and a small box containing directory information for selecting which directory is displayed. The currently selected directory is highlighted in this box, and is also printed above the list of files. Under the file list box are values for the total size of the files displayed, marked, and unused, as well as the total disk space free on the currently selected drive. At the bottom of the screen is a list of file access codes. These codes are used by the program to let you know what kind of access the "used" files have had. This list of codes and the 'number of bytes unused' are not displayed if there is no history file yet (i.e. if you have not yet run the TSR's and updated the history). Aside from the menus, you move from item to item by either clicking on the desired item with your mouse or by using the Tab key. Most of the time, the program focus will be in the file list. If you wish to move to the drive box you would move the cursor onto the box and click once, or use the Tab key until the box is highlighted. You may delete or move large numbers of files at a time. Do this by marking all of the files that you want to take action on. You mark files by first highlighting the file you want to mark. Then you either 1) press the spacebar, 2) press ENTER, 3) press Alt+m, 4) click on the 'Mark Highlighted' button with your mouse, or 5) double click on the file you want to mark. 15 MOVING THROUGH DISKS AND DIRECTORIES: The displayed file list is from the selected directory. Selecting other disks and directories does NOT change the current DOS directory or drive (in other words, exit the program and you will still be in the DeadWood directory). When you first start DeadWood, the file list displayed is from the current directory - usually \DEADWOOD. To change directories, first highlight the directory box by clicking on it, or by using Tab. If the directory you want to examine is displayed, simply double click on it or highlight it using the arrow keys (up/down) and press ENTER. Since only the subdirectories and parent directories are displayed, most of your directories won't be visible. Simply select the directory that is the parent of the one you want to display (often C:\). Then, the directory you want will be displayed as a subdirectory. Some parent directories, such as the root directory (C:\), will have lots of subdirectories, so you will have to scroll through the list until you find the one you want. For example, on my disk, DeadWood is a subdirectory of the root directory, and the directory box looks like this when I start DeadWood: C:\ DEADWOOD (highlighted) If I want to see the files in C:\WIN\SYSTEM, I first double click on C:\, then find WIN by pressing W, double click on WIN, then find the SYSTEM subdirectory and double click on it. The directory box entry then looks like this: C:\ WIN SYSTEM (highlighted) To change drives, the easiest way is with a mouse. Click on the down arrow to the right of the drive box. A list of all valid drives drops down, and you can use your mouse to click on the drive you want to examine. Without a mouse, use Tab to highlight the drive box. Then enter the single letter of the drive that you want to examine. For example, to change to the D: drive, Tab to the drive box (it will then be highlighted) then touch the d key. 16 MENU CHOICES: Use the Alt key or the mouse to activate the menu options. Most people will use Alt plus the highlighted letter to drop down the main menu lists. For example, Alt+f drops down the File menu. You can also click on the menu item (in this case File). You can also use the arrow direction keys and ENTER. The About DeadWood menu item displays a screen that tells a little bit about the DeadWood program. The Help menu item displays a few paragraphs of general information that you can scroll through. Once a menu has dropped down, use your mouse to click on the item that you want to execute. You can also use the up/down arrow direction keys, or use Alt plus the highlighted letter of the menu item (for example, Alt+d to delete the highlighted file). Some of the menu items have shortcut keys. These keys - actually keystroke combinations - allow you to directly execute the function without going through the process of opening the menu and selecting an action item. The shortcut keys are displayed on the menu, next to the menu item that they refer to. For example, the shortcut key for 'Delete Highlighted' is Ctrl+D. To quickly delete the highlighted file, simply hold down the Ctrl key and press d. This is exactly the same as selecting 'Delete Highlighted' from the File menu. 17 MENU (FILE): - Delete Highlighted (shortcut key Ctrl+D). This function deletes the highlighted file, regardless of whether there are marked files or not. There is an 'are you sure' prompt. - Delete All Marked (shortcut key Ctrl+A). This function deletes all marked files. A prompt is displayed asking you whether you want to delete the file, skip it, delete all marked without further prompt, or cancel the delete operation. You can use the delete option to step through all of the marked files, one at a time, deciding to delete or skip each one. Cancel stops further deletion, and does not undo the file deletions that have already been done. - Move Highlighted... (shortcut key Ctrl+M). This function moves the highlighted file to another disk or directory, regardless of whether there are marked files or not. When selected, a window pops up asking where you want the file moved to. This window contains both a drive bar and directory box, similar in function to those on the main screen. See the section titled MOVING THROUGH DISKS AND DIRECTORIES for instructions on selecting a (destination) drive and/or directory. There is an 'are you sure' prompt. - Move All Marked... (shortcut key Ctrl+O). This function moves all marked files to another disk or directory. When selected, a window pops up asking where you want the files moved to. This window contains both a drive bar and directory box, similar in function to those on the main screen. See the section titled MOVING THROUGH DISKS AND DIRECTORIES for instructions on selecting a (destination) drive and/or directory. A prompt is displayed asking you whether you want to move the file, skip it, move all marked without further prompt, or cancel the move operation. You can use the move option to step through all of the marked files, one at a time, deciding to move or skip each one. Cancel stops further moves, and does not undo the file moves that have already been done. Rename Highlighted... (shortcut key Ctrl+R). This function allows you to rename the currently highlighted file. It does not allow you to enter a path. This means that the rename is used only for renaming inside the currently displayed directory. - View Highlighted (shortcut key Ctrl+V). This function views the currently highlighted file, regardless of whether there are marked files or not. The view routine is useful in helping to decide the contents of a file, but because it is an ASCII viewer, 18 files such as your word processing or graphics file may not be easy to decipher... This function is most useful for files such as those having an extension of .BAT or .TXT. - Directory Maintenance >>. This function brings up another menu, when selected. Your two choices are to 'Add Directory...' or 'Remove Directory...'. Both choices will pop up the drive/directory selection box, similar in function to those on the main screen. See the section titled MOVING THROUGH DISKS AND DIRECTORIES for instructions on selecting a (destination) drive and/or directory. When adding a new directory, you are selecting the parent directory of the new one. You are then prompted for a unique directory name. There is an 'are you sure' prompt. When removing an existing directory, you are selecting the directory to be removed. There is an 'are you sure' prompt. The directory that you are deleting must be empty - no files still in it - to be deleted. Also, there can be no subdirectories. You may delete the currently active directory, in which case the parent directory is selected and displayed. - Delete History... This option allows you to delete (clear) the history file, which in essence starts you with all files being Unused again. It may be useful to do this occasionally, as your file use patterns may change, or one-time used files will be marked as used. This is also useful if you have made the mistake of using a virus checker while the TSR's were active, and all of your files are listed as used! This is the functional equivalent of deleting the file DEADHIST.DAT. - Exit (shortcut key Ctrl+F4). This function exits the program. The shortcut key, Ctrl+F4, exits without the 'are you sure' prompt. Mouse users could also click on the square in the upper left corner, and select Close from the menu that drops down. You can also double click on this square, which exits without further prompt. 19 MENU (SELECT FILES): - Mark Selected (shortcut key <F9>). This function allows you to mark large numbers of files at a time, based on certain file name attributes. When selected, a window pops up asking you to enter the file name selection criteria. For example, you could use this function to highlight all of the files with a 'BAK' extension by selecting all files that meet the '*.BAK' criteria. You can use the wildcards ? and * in this window. - Mark All (shortcut key <F3>). This function marks all of the files currently displayed. It could be used to delete all of the files in the directory, or to move them all to another disk or directory. If you are only displaying certain files, such as Archive or Unused files, you would only be marking those files. - Mark All Unused (shortcut key <F5>). This function marks all of the files listed as 'Unused'. It has no effect if there is no history file. Remember that you can vary your definition of 'Unused' in the Display menu. - Unmark All (shortcut key <F4>). This function unmarks all marked files. You can unmark files one at a time by 'marking' them again. The mark feature used for individual files is a toggle switch - mark once and the file is marked, mark again and it is unmarked. The three 'group mark' functions listed above do not toggle the mark, they simply ensure that the selected files are marked. 20 MENU (DISPLAY): - Display Filter... This function allows you to add another display criteria to the file list. A window pops up asking you to input a file name criteria, using wildcards. For example, this feature could be used to display ONLY those files with a filename of *.BAK. This selection is in addition to the 'Show (type)' functions listed below. When you enter a new filter criteria, the entire list of files in the directory is again reviewed for display-ability based on both the display filter and show (type) values selected. - Show Unused Files Only. When selected, this function changes the list of files displayed. This is a toggle switch, and changes value when you select it. For example, the default is False. To show only the unused files, click on this item or highlight it and press ENTER. This changes the value to True: you are jumped back to the main screen, a diamond is placed next to the menu item, and the file list is displayed with the new show criteria. - Show Hidden Files. When selected, this function changes the list of files displayed. This is a toggle switch, and changes value when you select it. For example, the default is True. To NOT show the files that are only Hidden, click on this item or highlight it and press ENTER. This changes the value to False: you are jumped back to the main screen, the diamond next to the menu item is removed, and the file list is displayed with the new show criteria. - Show ReadOnly Files. When selected, this function changes the list of files displayed. This is a toggle switch, and changes value when you select it. For example, the default is True. To NOT show the files that are only ReadOnly, click on this item or highlight it and press ENTER. This changes the value to False: you are jumped back to the main screen, the diamond next to the menu item is removed, and the file list is displayed with the new show criteria. - Show Archive Files. When selected, this function changes the list of files displayed. This is a toggle switch, and changes value when you select it. For example, the default is True. To NOT show the files that are only Archive, click on this item or highlight it and press ENTER. This changes the value to False: you are jumped back to the main screen, the diamond next to the menu item is removed, and the file list is displayed with the new show criteria. - Show Normal Files. When selected, this function changes the list of files displayed. This is a toggle switch, and changes value when you select it. For example, the default is True. To NOT show the files that are only Normal, click on this item or 21 highlight it and press ENTER. This changes the value to False: you are jumped back to the main screen, the diamond next to the menu item is removed, and the file list is displayed with the new show criteria. - Define Unused... This function is used to determine which files are listed as "Unused" on the file list, and which have the file access codes next to them (being used). When selected, a window pops up asking you to define which files are USED. The five types of access are listed: Created, Executed, Opened for read/write, Find specific file, and Wildcard find. Most users should use the default definition of used: any file access at all. This is the safest, most conservative definition. Generally, the only other use will be to eliminate the Wildcard finds, and possibly the Find specific files. Eliminating these finds could dramatically increase the number of files listed as unused. While this simplifies the screen and your decision process, there is a small chance of increasing the likelihood of deleting a required (though not actually USED used, if you know what I mean) file. - Colors... This function allows you to change the colors that DeadWood uses. When selected, a window pops up which lists the various screen elements. For each element, you may select a ForeColor (foreground), and for some you also select a BackColor (background). Choosing OK after making changes will save the new color scheme. Choosing Cancel resets the colors to the previously active colors. - Save Setup. This saves 1) the 'Define Unused' criteria, and 2) the 'Show (type)' criteria to a disk file, which is recalled every time you restart DeadWood. The colors are saved separately, and the 'Display Filter' criteria are not saveable. 22 NOTES ON DELETING FILES: Please note: DeadWood makes it much easier to determine which files are safe to delete, but personal judgement and common sense are still required. Almost every computer user laments his or her decision to not buy a larger hard disk. Many users have to delete files in order to make room to do something else - the trick is knowing what to delete! Deleting files is a bit of an art form. It's easy to delete all of the *.BAK backup files, and maybe the *.ZIP files that have already been expanded. But once you start deleting files in, say, your word processing directory, things stop being easy. You'll find hundreds of files with strange names. DeadWood can tell you, for certain, that a file wasn't used while the TSR's were active. Smart users will use the TSR's to monitor several "heavy-duty" sessions before making decisions on which files to delete. You should recall files large and small. Preview, change fonts, use your macros, spell-check, print, and anything else that you are likely to do. In order to BE SURE, you have to DO EVERYTHING THAT YOU WILL EVER WANT TO. Only then will you have the freedom to highlight all of the unused files and delete them. You can change your definition of "Unused" via the DISPLAY menu option. The most important decision here is to decide whether a wildcard search qualifies a file as used or not. A file is listed as having been searched by wildcard if a program or command was executed listing a filename that contains a wildcard (usually ? or *). For example, entering the DOS command DIR *.* will wildcard search every file in your directory. This wouldn't be a good reason to NOT delete a file. An editor might look for all of the BASIC files, *.BAS, when asking you which file to open. It is possible, though unlikely, that an important file is accessed only via a wildcard search. Because of this, the most conservative option is to include wildcard searches in your definition of "Used," and avoid wildcard searches while the TSR's are running. Some programs require the physical presence of a certain file to run, even though they never use the file. For example, the MS- DOS EDIT command won't work if the file QBASIC.EXE is missing. As a result, generally files with an "F" access shouldn't be deleted. This is a clear indication that some program asked for that file by name. 23 Most of us will take a less conservative (lazier) route. We'll do the basic functions, then use DeadWood with a bit of experience to delete the useless files that are cluttering our disks. It is a very good idea to move files temporarily before deleting them. This is called SAFE DELETING. Simply create a subdirectory called DEAD in your directory, move all of the unused files into it, and continue running for a few days or weeks. Eventually it will become obvious that the files in that subdirectory aren't needed, and they can be deleted. Remember that most of us have needed to re-load individual files from the original installation disks at one time or another. Oh, yes - there are a few files, such as COMMAND.COM, IO.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, and CONFIG.SYS that shouldn't be deleted. They'll often be listed as Unused because they are used when you turn the computer on, before the TSR's are started. I put this warning in because a relative of mine recently confessed to "weeding these files out" during an intense disk space crisis. Disk space quickly became the least of his worries. <g> Be careful about deleting files in the DOS directory if you aren't familiar with DOS. You can go years without needing XCOPY, and then find a situation where this utility is the only solution. The same holds true for many of the other executable files. Files in the root (C:\) directory should be deleted with caution, as well. This is often a place where silly stuff accumulates, and you can usually find lots of files to delete here. WINA20.386 is another file to avoid deleting, as it is required for certain Microsoft Windows operations. 24 INCOMPATIBLE PROGRAMS: The TSR's use DOS interrupt 80. Any program that also uses this interrupt will crash the system (the screen will lock up and the keyboard won't respond). This interrupt is generally reserved for the old GW-BASIC interpreter, which is rarely used today (Please don't write letters telling me how valuable GW-BASIC is!). The modern QBASIC interpreter appears to work fine with DeadWood. Modern programs created and compiled with BASIC, such as BASIC PDS, Visual BASIC, and the like should run fine. You may have problems with the following programs: 1) GW-BASIC Interpreter - This is the program supplied with early versions of DOS. While QBASIC works fine, other BASIC interpreters may have the same problem. 2) BASIC PDS Editor (QBX.EXE) - QBX appears to work fine, but the TSR's are deactivated, and usage tracking stops until the TSR's are unloaded and reloaded. The Visual BASIC Editors for both DOS and Windows appear to work fine, and usage is tracked without problem (much of DeadWood was developed under VBDOS with the TSR's running). 25 KNOWN PROBLEMS: 1) Under certain circumstances, the DOS cursor is turned off. The cursor can usually be reactivated with the "MOUSE ON" command. See your mouse software manual for details. 2) File usage may not be tracked under Novell Networks. 3) Hidden directories are not displayed on the directory list. This will be fixed in a future release. 4) After using the VIEW FILE option approximately 90 times during a single session, the program crashes with an "Out of Stack Space" error message. This will be fixed in a future release. 5) If you use the mouse to mark the highlighted file by clicking on the 'Mark Highlighted' button, the highlight bar does not advance to the next file. The preferred method when using a mouse is to double click on the file name itself. 26 TROUBLESHOOTING: - Computer Locks Up: The DeadWood TSR's have been tested on a number of computer systems with a wide variety of software. It is likely, though, that some software "just won't work" while the TSR's are active. If the TSR's work for most of your other software, then there is nothing you can do - it just isn't compatible. Use DeadWood to analyze the other 98% of your software. Please write or send me a Compuserve email and I will add this program to the list of incompatible programs. Please don't phone me with this kind of information. If your computer always locks up when you load the TSR's, then the problem is probably another TSR or device driver that is trying to use the same DOS Interrupt. Try to find this program by booting your computer from diskette and loading your TSR's and device drivers one by one until the computer locks up with the DEADTSR's. Then remove the offending program (temporarily) from your AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS file. - "DATABASE NEEDS REPAIR": This error message results when the file DEADHIST.DAT has been damaged. It is repairable by using Microsoft's Visual Basic for DOS ISAMREPR program - which is supplied with registration. If you have the repair program, simply type ISAMREPR DEADHIST.DAT and press ENTER. This error is almost always caused by turning off your computer before exiting the DeadWood file management program (The DEADTSR's do not affect this). A quick fix is to delete this file by using the command DEL DEADHIST.DAT and pressing ENTER. Then run the TSR's again to accumulate another history. - Device I/O Error: Computers using MS-DOS version 3.10 may experience this error when running DeadWood with the history data. This is caused by a problem with the ISAM data engine. One beta tester experienced this problem with a more recent version of DOS while using the DeadWood interface with active DEADTSR's - the problem disappeared when he unloaded the TSR's prior to running DeadWood. - Some Items on the Screen are Invisible: This is common, particularly with mono screens. To fix this, simply change the color values in the Color Control Panel, in the Display Menu. First try disabling the 3-D option, then try using different colors. In case you can't see the screen to do this (ha-ha), the sequence (once inside the DeadWood program) is Alt+d, C, Alt+t, ENTER. - Cursor Doesn't Work in Windows: The cursor may not work when the program is run under Windows and is displayed in a small window. This is usually a result of your video or mouse drivers not allowing this ability. You may try adding the line 27 "MouseInDosBox=1" to the [nonWindows-App] section of your SYSTEM.INI file. DeadWood can be run full screen from within Windows to avoid this problem. - Can't Unload TSR's: This is usually caused by putting the TSR's early in your AUTOEXEC.BAT and/or loading other TSR's after the DeadWood TSR's. TSR's generally must be unloaded in reverse order - that is the last TSR loaded must be the first TSR unloaded. If you have the TSR's in your AUTOEXEC.BAT, edit this file and either remove the startup commands or move them towards the end of the file. To unload the DeadWood TSR's, simply type DEADTSR1 /U and press ENTER, then type DEADTSR2 /U and press ENTER. These commands should be entered from within the DeadWood directory. - The DeadWood file manager crashes immediately: This may occur if you have upgraded your DeadWood from an earlier version. The current version requires a different format database. You must delete the old database, DEADHIST.DAT, and any records pending update, DEADWOOD.DAT, before running the new version. 28 TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE: Technical assistance is available, for FREE, both before and after registering the software. Most people who ask for help before registering will end up sending me money - so the more helpful I am, the more successful I'll be! There are three ways to receive help: Via Compuserve (PREFERRED): I check Compuserve most days, including weekends. My User ID is 76635,1012. Send me a message and I'll be happy to respond. I particularly like suggestions for improvements and people telling me what a genius I am. By Mail: I try to give particularly clear and complete responses to mailed inquiries (hint, hint). I can be reached at the following address: Christopher B. Eckles P.O. Box 225 Waleska, GA 30183-0225 USA By Phone: If your problem is urgent, I am available to take phone calls. Please be sure that you are VERY clear on what your problem is. PRECISELY what are the error messages? Does the error happen EVERY time? (Don't call to tell me that something strange just happened once!) What version of DeadWood are you using? You may call me at 404-479-2888 during the following hours: Monday } Tuesday } 8:00am to 3:00pm Eastern Standard Time (EST) Wednesday } Thursday CLOSED - My day to volunteer at Kennestone Hospital Friday } 8:00am to 3:00pm EST Saturday } 1:00 to 5:00pm EST (often) Sunday CLOSED Please don't call collect. Please don't call outside these hours. Please don't leave a message for me to return your call if you do try to call outside of these hours. Oh, yes - be VERY sure that you have read the manual, including the sections on CAUTIONS, KNOWN PROBLEMS, and TROUBLESHOOTING. Ich kann etwas Deutsch sprechen, aber ich bin nicht fliessend. 29