Index
Fire Exit for Windows version 1.0

The following Help Topics are available:

What is Fire Exit?

About Author...

Configuring Fire Exit

Registering

For Help on Help, Press F1


What is Fire Exit?

Fire Exit is a program that was created as a fast way to get out of Windows.  As opposed to finding Program Manager (or whatever your Windows shell is) and closing it, you can double-click on Fire Exit and it will exit Windows!  However, it doesn't stop there.  For those times when you make system changes and want to restart Windows, you don't have to exit Windows and type 'Win' at the DOS prompt anymore.  Fire Exit also will restart Windows or it can reboot your PC if need be.  Fire Exit can be configured in several ways.


About the Author...

Fire Exit for Windows was written by Robin Lee, a programmer/analyst for a utility company somewhere in central Illinois.  By day, I write applications for PCs in SQLWindows and by night I program in C (gasp!).  I decided that now was the time to put my new compiler to work and actually do something constructive!

I have been programming now for over 5 years, doing mostly PC work (primarily in SQLWindows) the last 2.  I got my start as a mainframe programmer writing COBOL programs that went against IMS DL/1 databases!  Quite a switch, huh?  Always wanted to write programs for the PC, but never found anything that I wanted to write.  That was until I started using Windows and ideas suddenly sprang to life.

I wrote Fire Exit in C hoping one day to port it to C++ and then possibly to NT.  I really would like to learn C++, but using it for this program might be overkill.

By the way, this is my first attempt at a shareware program.  I've already got plans in the works to do plenty more, but for now this will suffice.


Configuring Fire Exit

Fire Exit was designed to be easy to use and very flexible.  Often there are times when you might need to exit Windows or reboot, and the conventional ways just won't work!

The default configuration for Fire Exit is for it to exit Windows when you double-click on its icon.  In this configuration, it also verifies that you want to actually exit Windows.  This gives you a chance to cancel the process just in case you really didn't mean to exit Windows!

Fire Exit also gives you the capability to change what double-clicking on its icon does.  There is an options dialog box that allows you to select the action that double-clicking produces.

The options dialog is accessed through the system menu and is shown above.  As you can see, you can elect to have Fire Exit exit Windows, restart Windows, reboot your PC, or bring up a dialog box prompting you what to do.  All you have to do is select one of the four radio buttons depending on what action you'd like to take and click on OK'.  You also have the option  of selecting 'Verify on Exit'.  When this option is selected, you are asked if you want to proceed with the double-click action.

The options dialog also gives you the ability to reboot or restart Windows directly without having to double-click on the icon.  Clicking on the 'Reboot' button will reboot (naturally) and clicking on the 'Restart" button will restart Windows.

The last option on the Options Dialog box was 'Exit Dialog Box'.  When you have this option selected and you double-click on Fire Exit, it produces this dialog box:

This way you don't have to select a definite double-click action.  You can be presented with all the options.  This is especially useful if you do several exit actions in the course of using Windows.

Fire Exit also keeps track of what your last configuration was so you don't have to reset it every time you start the program.


Registering

Shareware is a great concept!  How else can you legally try out software before paying for it?  Some of the best software programs I've seen have been developed as shareware.  Make sure that you always register a shareware program if you use it past the trial period.  I'm mentioning this now because... This IS a shareware program and if you use this program for more than 30 days and feel that it is useful and you want to keep using it, please register it with me by sending $20 in a money order or check to:

Robin Lee

1327 W. Riverview

Decatur, IL 62522

If you do, I can send you the newest release of Fire Exit plus inform you of other programs I'll be creating.  I also kindly left off any nag screens and did not purposefully cripple the program.  I know how annoying that can be and I did not create this program to become rich.  However, I do need to eat, (drink and be merry) and pay my bills!

If you have any questions or would like to send me comments about Fire Exit, I can be reached through CompuServe.  My id is:  71614,1401.

Thanks for using Fire Exit!!