WINmortization PRO version 2.1 Release - Manual Addendum _______________________________________________________________ Contents Changes In The Program from version 2.0a to 2.0b Changes In The Program from version 2.0b to 2.1 Troubleshooting Contacting Tech Support Compatibility problems ------------------------------------------------------------ Changes In The Program From Version 2.0a to 2.0b ------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Changes to the Desktop. The APR (annual percentage rate) button is now located on the Loan Data window. It functions in the same manner as before. The desktop buttons no longer show their selection on the button face. The current selection (ie. Payment frequency, compounding period etc.) is now found in an information box at the bottom of the desktop. There is a new information display on the bottom of the desktop. When a button or text entry area is selected the function of this button or text entry is displayed on the bottom of the desktop. You can either TAB to the button or text entry box or click on it without releasing the mouse button to see this information. Two new buttons have been added to the desktop. The first is called Variable To Calculate. In previous versions of WINmortization PRO the desktop screen only calculated the Payment, every other variable was entered. Now, with version 2.0b, you can calculate ANY desktop variable. Click the Variable to Calculate button and you will be presented with a list of variables that you can calculate. Select the variable (ie. Amortization Period) that you want calculated by clicking on it. Your selection will be displayed in the upper right hand corner of the desktop. You may now fill in the other variables. N.B. The variable that you have selected for calculation cannot be modified manually. The scroll buttons and text entry boxes will not function for that variable. The next new button is Calculate Unknown. When you have all of your data entered, click this button to automatically calculate the unknown variable (this is the variable that you selected above using the Variable to Calculate button). N.B. When payment is the variable to calculate, it calculates automatically. You do not need to press the Calculate Unknown button. However, for every other variable you must press the Calculate Unknown button. 2. Changes to the schedule setup. Schedule setup now has another print option. It is called Print Only At Subtotal. When this button is selected, the amortization schedule only shows the values at the subtotals. For example, if you were printing an amortization schedule for a 25 year, monthly payment, mortgage subtotalled at Calendar Year End, you would only get 25 lines printed, one for each subtotal, rather than 300 lines. This significantly speeds up output. The Print Partial button of previous versions has been replaced with a Print Range button. You can now select a range of payments to print. Enter the starting and ending payment numbers in the boxes under the button. For example, if you wanted to print just the 10th year of a mortgage where you made monthly payments you would click the Print Range button and then enter 120 for first payment and 132 for the ending payment. Now when you print you will only see the printout for that range. Users now have a choice of what type of schedules to print. previously you were limited to a regular amortization schedule, WINmortization PRO now has the ability to also print Sum of Digits (sometimes called rule of 78) schedules. In the Schedule Setup windows there is a section called Calculation Type... Here you are given the choice of amortization schedule to calculate. Select the type of schedule you wish printed. 3. Changes to the Comparison Tool. Now, along with Interest Rate comparisons you can also do cost of loan comparison tables. To do this enter the Interest Rate Comparison window as normal. You will notice a new button called Calculation Options. Click the button and you will be presented with a choice of what type of comparison (interest or cost of loan) that you want to perform. Click on the appropriate button and then select OK. Now click the Calculate button and your prefered comparison will be shown. 4. Changes to the interface. Most buttons in WINmortization PRO now have keyboard equivalents for easier selection without a mouse. On the Desktop for example, the Compounded button has the last "d" underlined. This tells the user that pressing the "ALT" key with the "d" key will activate this button. Most buttons can be selected in this manner, by pressing the "ALT" key along with whatever letter is underlined in the Button title. 5. Printout Inprovements. When printing a schedule there is now a Cancel button on the "Please Wait.." window. Click this and your printout will be stopped in progress and what has already been calculated will be shown. 6. Speed Improvements. Overall speed of the new version has been increased upto 35% in some places. The speed of the schedule printouts has been increased by upto 50% in some circumstances. 7. Balloon Payment Improvements. There is now a selection on the balloon payment window that allows continuous balloon payments. This check mark box will enable a continuous balloon payment if it is selected (ie. contains an X). Enter the amount for this continuous balloon payment. N.B. You still can enter 10 individual balloon payments along with a continuous balloon payment. In essence having a balloon payment on top of a balloon payment. 8. Preferences A new screen has been added to WINmortization PRO that will allow you to customize the program according to your needs and preferences. In the File menu select Preferences and this screen will appear. For a more detailed description of this feature please refer to the on-line help file. ------------------------------------------------------------ Changes In The Program From Version 2.0b to 2.1 ------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Multiple Phase Loans (variable interest rates) In the Shedule Setup window you can now choose to setup a multiple phase (variable rate) loan in the Calculation Type... section. If you select Multiple Phase, you will then have to go and click the Setup Multiple Phase Loan... button to configure the multiple phase loan. When the multiple phase loan window appears enter the payment number the change occurs on, the new interest rate (if any), the new payment (if any) and/or the new payment frequency. If you leave any of these fields set to 0 the program will automatically calculate the field. For example, if you left the payment field set to zero but made the interest rate change to 10% and the payment frequency go to weekly, a new payment value would be calculated when the shedule was printed. If you change the payment frequency on a certain payment number to a different value only the calendar year subtotalling option will work from that point on. 2. Interest Owed When The Start Date and First Payment Date Are More Than One Payment Period Apart If your loan's start date and first payment date are more than one payment period apart the program will calculate the interest you need to pay over this period according to the number of periods that they differ. When you print your schedule a window will appear with what WINmortization PRO calculates this interest to be. Check it and modify it if it differs from the amount the lending institution is actually charging. Then select how you would like this interest accounted for: 1. Add it to the loan amount and calculate a new payment amount. 2. Make a balloon payment on the first payment date to pay it. 3. Ignore it as if it didn't exist. Select Continue to print the schedule. --------------- Troubleshooting --------------- Q. How can I get the latest version of WINmortization Pro when it is available? A. Because we are devoted to providing our users with the best product available we are continually updating our software with new versions. Some versions (maintenance upgrades) will be sent out free of charge as requested. However sometimes we release a major upgrade of the software with significant improvements. In this case we normally charge a small upgrade fee for software that is significantly improved over an earlier version. Call our sales line to find out if a new version has been released. You can then order this update through them. Q. Setup will not completely install the software, I keep getting errors, why? A. Probably one of three things is occurring. Either you don't have 1 MEG of free hard disk space, some of the resource files were accidentally erased off the original install disk, or you do not have Windows 3.x setup correctly. If you cannot fix this problem yourself feel free to call Etter Industries technical support at (902) 835 - 6060. Q. WINmortization PRO will not load, why? A. The most probable cause would be that some of the support files such as a .dll is missing. If this is the case just reinstall the program again in the same directory as it was originally located. This will not ruin your data files. There are also some sharware products that were not written to work in a friendly manner with other software. Sometimes a program like this conflicts with WINmortization PRO. Simply, through trial and error, try and locate this file and exit it before running WINmortization PRO. If for some reason you cannot get WINmortization PRO to run feel free to contact Etter Industries technical support at (902) 835-6060. Q. I can't read some text on the screen. A. If you have a different color scheme other than the Windows default then this may cause problems. The colors that should remain the same as the Windows default are the blacks and whites. If you mix these, some things may not show up correctly. If you have this problem with WINmortization PRO you probably will also run into it in other software packages. ----------------------- Contacting Tech Support ----------------------- Etter Industries Tech support can be reached at (902) 835-5431 by fax and (902) 835 - 6060 by voice. Please have all the necessarry information such as the exact problem, what you were doing when it occurred, etc. ---------------------- Compatibility Problems ---------------------- WINmortization PRO was extensively BETA tested and no incompatibilities were found with existing commercial software. If you do come across one please contact tech support immediately so the problem can be rectified. ------------------------- Comments and Enhancements ------------------------- At Etter Industries we are very concerned about meeting consumer needs. If you have any suggestions for product, or customer support enhancements please fax us your suggestions at (902) 835 - 5431 attention Heath Moore, Vice President, Software Development. Should you be the first to make a suggestion which is later incorporated into a new version of the package, we will send you the upgrade free of charge for your valuable suggestion.