Contents
 ComSpeed (Windows)

Contents:

Program description

Configuring the program

Running the program

ComSpeed and Windows 95

Frequently asked questions

Author:

Stefan Cordes

Am Kockshof 24

D-40882 Ratingen

Germany

Tel: +49/2102/895 816

Fax: +49/2561/91371-7324

Compuserve: 100331,3700

Internet: 100331.3700@Compuserve.com

    or: scordes@usa.net

WWW: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/cordes/


Description of program
Program description:

ComSpeed shows the speed of your modem connection.

Features of ComSpeed (Windows):

- Runs on Windows 3.0, Windows 3.1x, and Windows 95

- Setup program included (supporting complete uninstallation!)

- Setup will add ComSpeed to any national startup group

  (Germany = Autostart, USA = Startup, ...)

- Online Help

- Scans all COM ports for activities

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Configuring the program
Configuring the program:

You don't have to tell ComSpeed which COM port your modem uses. It will be auto-detected.

You must start ComSpeed before you start your communications program.

If you don't, the active COM port cannot be detected and ComSpeed will "count" on COM?:

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Running
Running the program:

Resize the ComSpeed window to the size you like. The font size will be adjusted automatically, so that all data displayed fit into the window.

To view the log file press "File..."/"View Logfile..."

You can edit the logfile with a database program (Excel, ...): "comspeed.log" is located in the same directory as the program files.

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CPS
ComSpeed displays:

CPS? Baud?

If your Modem is a "14.4" it can transfer 14400 bits per second. To transfer one byte requires 10 bits (1 start, 8 data, 1 stop bit). So your modem can transfer a maximum of 1440 bytes per second.

CPS (characters per second) is equal to bytes per second.

Window displays:

You see 3 rows: Read, Write, R/W

Read counts the bytes transferred to your PC,

write counts the bytes send from your PC to the modem, and

R/W represents the sum of both.

The columns mean:

Count: Total amount of bytes transferred during this session.

Time: The time that was required to transfer these bytes

CPS: The current CPS rate (= bytes transferred the last second)

AvgCPS: The average CPS rate your modem achieved during this session

If your connection is excellent, the final values in the column "AvgCPS" should show

1440 for a 14.4 Modem, 2880 for a 28.8 Modem, and 6400 for 64k ISDN.

Good values are 1000 for a 14.4 Modem, 2000 for a 28.8 Modem, and 4500 for 64k ISDN.

Logfile

The logfile documents the values shown in the bottom row (R/W).

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Win95
ComSpeed and Windows 95:

If your operating system is Windows 95, ComSpeed will show "32-Bit" in the left column of its window.

If this indication is not shown, you can only monitor 16-bit comms applications with ComSpeed, and not the Dial-Up Network.

Why does "32-Bit" not appear on your setup?

- you are not running MS Windows 95

- the file .vxd is invalid or missing,

  run the installation program again or copy comspeed.vxd

  from your installation disk.

- you forgot to reboot after installation

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Faq
ComSpeed Frequently asked questions:

Why does ComSpeed start always minimized?

If you want to change the position of the ComSpeed window youcan choose File Preferences and click on following options:

- Normal Window:

- Minimized (default)

- Tray Icon (Win95 only): Displays ComSpeed in the right, lower corner in the task bar

- Hidden: The window does not appear anywhere on the screen. To show the windowagain, you have to run ComSpeed twice.

Why does xxx CPS stand for when ComSpeed is minimized?

In minimized mode the icon text shows the sum of bytes read and write the last second (in the normal window: R/W CPS). So you can see, if activities are on your modem line, or if the modem is idle.

Does ComSpeed affect communication speed?

Normally not!

ComSpeed takes about 100 more CPU instructions to hook the com-activity. On a 486DX100 that are 1 microsecond (1/1 000 000 sec.).

Transmitting a char to the modem takes 100 microsecond at fastest (115k baud) and normally 400 microseconds.

So it is enough time to monitor the modem port.

If you have a very slow system (386DX33) and you have your computer doing many other activities, then ComSpeed may affect the speed.

What does comspeed show?

see ComSpeed displays

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