WELCOME TO REMOVE-IT 95 DEMO VERSION This is a demonstration version of Remove-It for Windows 95. This DEMO is a fully functional version of Remove-It 95. Only the ability to delete files or create backups, etc. is disabled. You will, however, be able to see and fully understand how these functions work. To uninstall the Demo, Choose the Start Menu | Settings | Control Panel, choose the Install/Uninstall folder tab, select Remove-It for Windows 95 version 3.0, click on the Add/Remove, button, and follow the Remove-It uninstall Wizzard prompts. Thank you for choosing Remove-It! Remove-It is the safest and easiest way to remove unneeded applications and files from your PC. Remove-It has a wealth of features that let you safely free up wasted disk space by deleting unneeded files, fonts, etc. from your PC. Please see Chapter 1, "Introducing Remove-It", of the Remove-It 95 User's Guide for a brief overview of Remove-It's functions. If you did not purchase Remove-It directly from Vertisoft, please be sure to complete and mail us the postage-paid registration card. By registering your purchase you are eligible to receive: - Product support - Advance notice of upgrades - Special offers on other Vertisoft products This readme file contains the following sections: - Important Notices - information you should read before running Remove-It. - User's Guide Addenda - information that was not available at the time the User's Guide was published. - What's New - a list of the new and enhanced features in Remove-It 95. IMPORTANT NOTICES 1. The Remove-It 3 for Windows 95 that is on this disk is designed to run in Windows 95. This disk will not install in Windows 3.1. If you have Windows 3.1 on your system, use the Remove-It 2 disks that came with this product to install Remove-It in Windows 3.1. 2. If you are upgrading from Remove-It 2, your Log-It and Backup records that you created do not require conversion to be used in Remove-It 95. Simply copy them into the Remove-It 95 Backup directory. However, the REMOVEIT.CRT file is not transferable to Remove-It 95 due to the fact that Smart Disk Agent operates completely differently in Remove- It 95 versus Smart Disk Custodian in Remove-It 2.0. If you are upgrading from Remove-It 1, your Log-It and Backup records that you created must be converted to be used with Remove-It 95. See the instructions in the User's Guide Addenda section below for more information. Be aware that the Log Record Files (Log-It) created using Remove-It 1 and 2 do not address issues related to the Windows 95 System Registry. Information contained in the Windows 95 System Registry will be left behind as a result of using old Remove-It Log Record Files to remove an application. These orphan entries may be removed by finding them in the Clean-It function's Orphan Registry Entries folder. This applies most specifically to applications "Designed for Windows 95" whose installation was logged using Remove-It 1 and 2's Log-It function. 3. If you have a 540 MB or larger IDE hard drive that has been partitioned with Ontrack Computer Systems' Disk Manager software, and you don't have DMDRVR.BIN and XBIOS.OVL on the bootup disk, Recover-It will think that the partitions and beginning sectors are wrong and will try to write back the correct information. This results in a total loss of access to the drive(s) information and the drive has to be formatted and all programs must be reinstalled. Please see the Recover-It section below for more information. 4. The file and application usage information in Watch-It may not be accurate under the following circumstances: - If less than 30 days have elapsed from the day you installed Remove-IT. - If you do not load the Smart Disk Agent when you run Windows and let it complete 100 percent of its file scan. USER'S GUIDE ADDENDA General 1. This is a single-user version of Remove-It. You may install it on a network drive, but it is not licensed for multi-user access with two exceptions. Its Smart Fingerprint utility and its Install-It utility may be accessed by multiple users. To inquire about multi-user products and licensing, call Vertisoft Systems at 803-295-2623. 2. In Find-It or Watch-It, if the number of files to be displayed in the list box exceeds 8,000, a dialog box with the message "List is too long" is displayed. Windows cannot display more than 8,000 files in a list box; however, it is safe to continue working. The "extra" files will simply not be displayed in the list box. Since it is extremely inconvenient to work with such a great number of files at a time, we recommend you use the Drives to Search and Files to Search options to limit the set of files being analyzed. 3. The collection of pre-logged installation records that are contained within the Remove-It Information Knowledge Base (RTAGENT.DAT) are not sensitive to the location of application folders or sub-folders. Regardless of where or how an application contained in the IKB records has been installed, Remove-It 95 will located and accurately remove such applications. However, if you use Log-It to create an installation record for an application on one system, then transfer that Log-It Log Record File to another system where the directory structure for that application is completely different, using that Log Record File will result in either incomplete or inappropriate application and file removal for that application. We do not recommend the transfer of Log Records created on one system to a completely different system unless the installation and directory structure for that application referenced by that Log Record File is 100% identical on both machines. 4. If you have maintained both Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 active on your system (Dual Boot), there are several items about which you should be aware. Clean-It may identify as Orphans items that are located in the Windows and System directories for Windows 3.1. This is due to the fact that your Windows 3.1 operating system is inactive and unreferenced during your Windows 95 session. We recommend that you exercise caution and not select for removal any items clearly identified as belonging to Windows 3.1 for this reason. Duplicate files in Find-It that are identified as belonging to Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 (Whether in the Windows or System directories of either version), should not be removed. Unless you are certain that the removal of one or both of these identified duplicate files is OK, files in these directories for either version of Windows should be left alone. Because of the dual nature of a dual boot system, you may see what appear to be duplicate entries in both the Smart Disk Agent alert dialog screens and in Watch-It. This is due to the fact that these applications are setup to run in both Operating System environments and it is normal. Be sure to exercise caution in removing any such items for this reason. Similar duplicate entries may appear in other functions for the same reason. Again caution is recommended in such cases. 5. You can remove applications from your system by dragging their program icon of program folder icon to the Remove-It 95 icon, and releasing the mouse button. Remove-It will use the Express Removal method to remove the selected application. Remove-IT 1.0 Conversion Utility 1. Remove-IT 95 installs a conversion utility which will convert Log-IT (*.lrf) and Backup files (*.irf) from Remove-IT version 1.0 format to Remove-IT 95 compatible format. The conversion utility is installed in the Remove-IT 95 directory during Remove-IT 95 installation. to use this conversion utility use the following procedure: a. Click the Start button on the desktop and choose Programs. Locate the Windows Explorer and single click this shortcut to load Explorer. b. After Explorer is loaded, locate the Program Files folder and double-click this folder to display all its subfolders. Locate the Remove-IT 95 folder and double-click to open it and display both the Remove-IT 95 files and the Remove-IT 95\Backup subfolder. c. The conversion utility is located in the Remove-IT 95 folder under the filename RTCONV.EXE. The conversion utility loads your old files into memory, performs the conversion, then copies the converted file(s) into the directory from which the utility was run. d. When you have located the file RTCONV.EXE, double-click to execute and run the conversion utility. e. You are presented with a button bar selection menu from which you may choose the conversion option you wish to execute. Whether you choose to convert backup files or log records, you are shown a folder selection box on the left side of the conversion dialog. f. Scroll the folder listing until you have located the directory where your Remove-IT 1.0 files are located. To expand a drive or folder display, simply double-click that drive or folder. When you locate the appropriate folder that contains your log and backup record files, they are displayed automatically in the file list display area on the right. The conversion utility only displays Remove-IT 1 *.lrf or *.irf files. No other files are, or can be, displayed by the conversion program. g. You can only convert one file at a time. This is a safety precaution against possible file corruption. Select and highlight a file to convert and choose OK to start the conversion. You are shown a display message indicating that the file you had chosen has been converted. The old path and filename and the new path and filename are displayed. The conversion utility automatically copies your converted files to the same location as that of the file RTCONV.EXE (conversion program). That location path is displayed in the message box. h. After choosing OK to continue, you are asked if you wish to delete the old log or backup file. You may choose Yes to delete it, or No to keep the copy of your original Remove-It 1 log or backup record. We recommend that you not delete your old record files until you have made sure that the conversion process completed successfully and the converted records are both accessible and function in Remove-IT. If you retain your old log and backup records, the conversion can always be performed again if there is a problem with any file you have converted. i. Once you have completed converting a record you are returned to the Conversion Menu and you may choose to either Exit or to convert another file. j. Note for convenience, you may copy the file RTCONV.EXE from the Remove-IT 95 folder to the Remove-IT 95\backup folder. Running the conversion utility from the backup folder causes the program to automatically copy your converted files to that folder so that you will not have to do so later. Also, note that these instructions assume that you elected to use the default folder for installing Remove-IT 95. If you have elected to install Remove-IT 95 in other than the default (Program Files\Remove-IT 95), you need to remember to use your installed folder path when referring to the location of Remove-IT 95 and RTCONV.EXE as specified in these instructions. Installation 1. At the end of the Remove-IT 95 installation, if you choose to either load Remove-IT or the Readme file, or both, and remove the diskette from the drive prior to the execution of the finish command in this dialog, neither Remove-IT nor the Readme will load. This is because the command to execute these functions is located on the installation diskette. There is no problem with your system or the Remove-IT application if this happens. Find-IT 1. The Select Files dialog box has an Assistant command button. Choose this command and the Find-It Assistant will suggest which of the duplicate files are the safest to remove. Reinstall-IT 1. If you are using Reinstall-It or the standalone Install-It program (added by Transfer-It to a self-installing archive) to install an upgrade for an existing application, the application's program icons may be duplicated. This occurs in an Express Install or if the Replace Files and Icons option is not set to All Files and Icons. You can change the Replace Files and Icons option to All Files and Icons, or you can simply select the duplicate icons in the program group and press the Delete key to remove them. Recover-IT 1. Recover-IT will not work with floppy disks that have been compressed using DoubleSpace, DriveSpace or Stacker. If you attempt to use a floppy disk that has a Compressed Volume File (CVF) on it (e.g. dblspace.000, drvspace.000, Stacvol.dsk), The result will be the following error message: "Error on Disk A:" This is due to the fact that a floppy disk with a CVF cannot be formatted. You must first remove the CVF file before these disks can be formatted under DOS or Windows. Consult your disk compression program's documentation for instructions on how to remove the CVF and format floppy disks that have been compressed. 2. Recover-It formats and supports the creation of emergency recovery disks on both low and high density disks. If you receive a "Track 0 Bad" error message this may be due to one of two possible causes: You have selected a format option for the wrong type of disk, or the disk is defective. First, check the disk type (high or low density) and then make sure that you select the correct format option. If you are certain that the selection and disk type are correct, then try another diskette. 3. If you have a 540 MB or larger IDE hard drive that has been partitioned with Ontrack Computer Systems' Disk Manager software, and you don't have DMDRVR.BIN and XBIOS.OVL on the bootup disk, Recover-It will think that the partitions and beginning sectors are wrong and will try to write back the correct information. This results in a total loss of access to the drive(s) information and the drive has to be formatted and all programs must be reinstalled. You may either boot your system and wait for the drive overlay to load they will need to copy the DMDRVR.BIN and XBIOS.OVL to the Recovery disk. This is accomplished as follows: a. Create a temporary directory on the hard disk b. Insert the original Ontrack Disk Manager disk into drive A: or drive B: c. Copy the files DMDRVR.BIN and XBIOS.OVL from the Ontrack Disk Manager disk to this temporary directory. d. Execute Recover-It e. In the Recover-It "Select files to be stored to the Recovery Disk" dialog, choose Add. f. Locate the temporary directory where the files DMDRVR.BIN and XBIOS.OVL were copied. g. Hold down the CTRL key and single mouse click on each file to highlight both so that both files are displayed in the File name: text box. h. Click the Add command button to add these files to the list of files to be copied to the Recovery Disk. i. After selecting any other files to add to, or store on, the Recovery disk, choose finish. These files will be copied to the Recovery Disk along with all other selected files during the creation of the Recover-It emergency recovery disk. Note that this procedure must be used each time a new Recovery Disk is created. **Note: This error was encountered with version 6.03 of Disk Manager - we do not know what the effects are on version 7.0 of Disk Manager. WHAT'S NEW IN REMOVE-It 95 New! Designed for Windows 95. Remove-It now supports long filenames, drag and drop, and the System Registry. New! Move-It - lets you easily move your applications from one drive or folder to another including network drives. Enhanced! Clean-It - now lets you delete and view unneeded cyber-junk files that accumulate on your system from the Internet, online services, and incoming faxes. Also, Clean-It now lets you delete orphan DLLs, orphan Registry entries, and more in addition to fonts, backup files, clip art, help files, screen savers, temp files, sound files, movie files, etc. Enhanced! Smart Disk Agent - in addition to alerting you to unneeded and unused applications and files that can be removed. It now lets you set alerts for virtually all of the categories of unneeded files that are identified by Clean-It including cyber-junk. In addition, it alerts you to low system resources, memory and disk space. Enhanced! Log-It - now automatically records 32-bit installation program changes including the System Registry. Enhanced! Installation Knowledge-Base - now this encyclopedia of application installation profiles includes over 1,000 popular DOS, Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 applications. The Knowledge-Base lets Remove-It provide the most accurate and complete removal of previously installed applications of any application removal utility. Enhanced! Find-It - new Find-It Assistant recommends which files are safest to remove. Enhanced! Recover-It - now backs up and restores the System Registry and Start menu configuration. Enhanced! File Viewer - in addition to being able to view ASCII, Hex, ZIP, PCX, BMP, TGA, and AVI files, Remove-It's file viewer now lets you view GIF and many TIF files. Again thanks for choosing Remove-It. -- Vertisoft Systems, Inc.