Perfect Recall is a combination information/file manager designed to relieve information overload. Those who live on their computers will find get the most value from it while new computer users will get the benefit of starting out on the right foot not to mention gaining a powerful yet "no-brainer" free form database.
Perfect Recall was originally written to finally lay to rest the distressing fact that while your computer is supposed to be so great at handling information you are never-the-less dependent on your own memory to recall exact filenames as well as where the files are kept. What everyone really wants is for the computer to help recall filenames and if it can do that then it might as well automatically start the necessary application program along with the desired file already loaded. Now that is the way a computer should work and that is what Perfect Recall does and more as we shall see.
There are other programs such as CMfiler which effectively attach long descriptions to files. There are also programs like WizManager for Windows which can list all the files in a directory and load one into an application. These are good programs for simple needs. Perfect Recall is required when comprehehsive information AND file management are needed together as is the case when managing more than 500 files.
Perfect Recall's first level of service lets you store information directly in databases you create to meet your special needs. It's so easy to make these databases that a first day computer user could do it. Labeling information stored is about all there is to it. (name fields) For example if you created a database for addresses you might use;
That's not hard! To initiate a database the program will ask for an approximate number of spaces to store typical entries. There is no need to be exact or worry about future needs. Why not you ask? Well, because Perfect Recall allocates space on the fly! Suppose you normally expect someone's first name to be around 12 characters. One day you have to enter one 200 characters long. No problem. Just type it in. 200 characters is the limit of any one item, such as someone's name. A total of 18 items can be listed plus a 10 line paragraph. In practical terms you are limited only by space on the computer screen. The total number of database entries is 2,000,000,000 plus a few hundred thousand more. Rest assured, you will not run out of space.
Perfect Recall provides services far beyond just storing information within itself. It's the combination of information storage AND file management together that makes it so valuable. File management is accomplish by attaching files to information in the databases. Recalling a file is done by searching the databases you created. When the information is found so is the desired file. From there the file can be loaded directly into its application from Perfect Recall. When finish, just exit the application and you will return to Perfect Recall where you were.
This can even be done with applications that can not normally load files when launched! This is accomplished with special programs that pass the filename after the application starts.
Although Perfect Recall will launch any application under DOS or Windows, it really shines in making your word processing program into the biggest file cabinet you ever had. Think about it. Almost any information can be written down. With Perfect Recall you can record anything big or small in a text file and find it later by searching one of your databases under Perfect Recall and fetching the file and word processor on demand. Suppose you had a list of account and ID numbers for credit cards, bank accounts, PIN numbers and related customer phone numbers. Forget trying to make a whole database just to record this special type of information. Just set up a general documents database in Perfect Recall with a single line description. Then make an entry for "Personal ID account numbers" and attach the filename. To get it back just search for "personal", "ID", "account" or "numbers". See why information just can't be lost? You need only remember some vague related detail and presto it's found. No more fuss, just work naturally.
Databases can be created to handle anything you can think for because you make them.
Businesses has the most pressing need for Perfect Recall since all past work is a precious resource. Perfect Recall is particularly useful since files can be kept on the hard disk or floppies. One important side benefit is the ability to maintain a stack of numbered floppy disks for long term storage yet while Perfect Recall keeps track of which floppy each file is on.
In a similar fashion, files of interest on CD-ROMs can be tracked as well. If a file on CD might be needed in the future, just make an entry for it under Perfect Recall like anything else. Come to think of it, that's not a bad way to do long term research.
Business has a special need for Perfect Recall since it makes the peculiarities of one persons hard disk directory structure irrelevant. Anyone can sit down and work at someone else's machine without knowing its setup. Perfect Recall will handle the details of file location and application launching.
Security in business settings is handled with a variety of password levels. Lock up the entire program or selected pieces of it with one or more passwords. Great for keeping people out of personal stuff or sensitive business data. There are two types of locks. One keeps information from being viewed and the other permits viewing but prevents changes. These locks do not alter the files themselves, just the ability to find them using Perfect Recall.
Perfect Recall is designed to handle vast quantities of information as demonstrated by the MX Shareware Database. To do this effectively, information within each database must be divided up into groups called categories. For example a letters database might have a Personal Letters category and a Business Letters category. All letters are stored in the same place (database) but by using categories you can group similar ones together and work with just that group.
Categories can then be orgainized into a tree structure which will grow with your needs. One typically starts out very simple. Perhaps you have a single letters category representing the entire contents of a letters database. When this first category gets up to 100 or 200 entries you may find many of them can be grouped together as personal letters thus cleaning things up a bit. No problem. Just make a new Personal Letters category and move over selected entries. A good category tree structure will make thousands of files seem like just a handful.
Below is an outline of a very simple category tree structure. Here PERSONAL and BUSINESS are path only categories. They contain nothing themselves while the sub-categories do. Note that there are two LETTER categories. Each entry in the single LETTERS database is associated with either PERSONAL/letters or BUSINESS/letters categories.
PERSONAL main category LETTERS sub-category (of the letters database) ADDRESS sub-category (of the address database)
BUSINESS main category LETTERS sub-category (of the letters database) ADDRESS sub-category (of the address database)
The category tree will not strangle you. If something doesn't turn up where you expected, just tell the program to look in all categories at once. This means, using the above example, you could search both PERSONAL LETTERS and BUSINESS LETTERS at the same time.
You are free to work with individual categories or whole databases. The beauty of Perfect Recall is its ability to guarantee you will find something if it exists and confirm with certainty if it does not.
Perfect Recall's search capabilities are powerful, simple and accessible in several different ways. If we got into this subject in any detail we would end up with a complete set of documentation here. Instead I'll just hit on the basic approach. Remember the little address example shown earlier? Well, a search screen would look just like this. Simply type something in and execute.
This search finds all persons named Joe in California. Simple right? Of the many special functions the most important is the DESPERATION search. This operation finds a word or phase no matter where it occurs. It's a great tool for those times when you can't remember a thing except a likely word.
I could go on for days and never cover all that's available in Perfect Recall. Here is a few things we haven't covered.
What else would you expect form a total solution product ?
Perfect Recall is designed to become the center of all your computing work. When fully employed it changes the computer from a task oriented machine to a total information handling system.
Perfect Recall will extend great ease of use to new computer users. However, getting the program to launch application programs does require a fair understanding of the system. The new computer user will probably need some outside help even though pre-configured setups have been provided. Once set up, however, Perfect Recall requires no understanding of the system.
This program is a cross between a commercial product and shareware. Because the program is large and the documentation contains over 200 graphics, it is not possible to download with a modem. The program must be ordered from MicroExcel or copied from someone who already has it. The documentation can be ordered separately without purchasing the program. This is important since only the documentation can walk you through every setup detail.
A newly installed copy will be fully functional, however it will require registration when 50 new database entires is reached. Database entries created with the auto-import utilities for existing files do not count towards the 50 new entry limit. It takes most people several months to create 50 new files so there is plenty of time. You could side step this limit by creating files and then continually bringing them in using the auto-import tools but I know you'll find this program valuable once you're into it.
The registration can be done as a single $80 payment or split into a $35 first payment and a $45 second payment. If split in two, the first payment occurs at 50 entries and the second at 200.
Call 408 636-6968 to order the program and documentation for $26.00.