Contents review1 REVIEW: Ami-Pro Ami Professional Samna Corp. (800)831-9679 List Price: $199.00 Ami Pro -- Word-Processing Whiz in Windows Wonderful Windows. All that DOS jargon was killing me. Within a month of installing Windows 3.0, I forgot everything I ever knew about DOS. Of course, that wasn't much. I write business plans for a living. I Used to use Symphony for my spreadsheet financials and, in succession, MicroSoft Word and WordPerfect (pre-Windows versions) for my text. Each time I changed, it seemed to me things got easier, but maybe that's because I was learning to use the programs better. I thought WordPerfect 5.1 was especially neat. That's where I learned to use the mouse. And then, somebody told me about wordprocessing in Windows with Ami Pro. My whole life was transformed. I took advantage of one of those "upgrade from almost any wordprocessing program" offers and got Ami Pro for less than half its list price. What a bargain! I guess you need to know that I use a 33 mhz 386 machine with four megs of RAM (I'm upping that to eight megs next week . . . Windows loves RAM). I boot up into the Windows Apps screen and double-click on the Ami-Pro icon and I'm off and running. Didn't take long to find a minor flaw in this excellent program, however. The default background color is a yellow so pale I couldn't even see it on my SVGA screen. Made it difficult to see my margins. I didn't know it then, but that was also one of the reasons I had been unable to tell Ami to automatically number pages in a document. After laboriously numbering pages individually in a couple of my business plans, I figured I'd better see if the folks at Samna (Ami's parent before Lotus) could help me. They sure could. The friendly and helpful technician told me to bring up my Main Menu and double-click on Control Panel. Then double-click on Color. Voila! Click on the Down Arrow for lots of background color choices. I took the tech's suggestion--Ocean. Turned out to be a darker green than I'd expected. Pleasing, and very visible. Now, when I feel really glummed out, I change to Fluorescent. Cheery, bright colors. With the background color problem fixed, I could move on to the page-numbering problem. Turns out the page numbers have to be placed in the margin! The tech told me to use the mouse to place the cursor in the lower left margin, just outside the white text space. Then click on the Page Menu and select Page Numbering. Fill in the appropriate page numbers in the boxes and click on okay. Voila again! Page numbers on every page, in proper sequence. I wanted my page numbers centered, and all I had to do was place the cursor just before the number 1 and hit Control>C. All numbers moved to center position. Of course, Ami Pro is much more than mouse control, varied background colors and automatic page numbering. Its WYSIWYG on screen is pretty darn close to what comes out on paper; bold, italic, strikeover and other special characteristics are a snap; you can have frames within frames for graphics or text; importing from most wordprocessing programs is no sweat; and I love the four-level Undo feature. Add to that a choice of 54 different kinds of charts, each one easily achieved in a few keystrokes, the ability to open up to nine files at once and the ability to change type fonts and sizes just by highlighting the text and clicking on the new typeface and size and you can understand why Ami Pro has been winning top ratings with many of the magazines that review new programs. I think it's a winner. Robert P. Everett review1 dept2 REVIEW2 REVIEW: MOREWINDOWS MoreWindows Aristosoft, Inc. (415)426-5355 More Windows increases your screen size by simulating a larger (virtual) screen. The manual states MoreWindows simulates a virtual screen that is 66% larger than a VGA screen and up to 110% larger than EGA. More Windows allows you to move your mouse against the edges of the screen to pan the virtual screen into view. At this time I cannot recommend this program. After trying to install it a half dozen times unsucessfully (on three different systems) I gave up. I will try to contact the company for information on this problem and will have an update in the next issue of Electrified Windows. If you are planning on purchasing this program I suggest you contact the company first and see if thet have any information regarding installation problems from any of their other customers. REVIEW2 REVIEW3 REVIEW: FILE ORGANIZERRRRRRRRRR Pubtech File Organizer 3.1 Publishing Technologies (800)782-8324 List Price: 199.95 This program provides greater control of your system than running Windows by itself. With File Organizer installed, it gives you a more powerful, icon oriented file and disk manager. It uses a file folder system that is very similiar to the Macintosh. When Windows starts you will see icons representing your disk drives, printer and a trashcan (again similiar to the Mac). It allows you to drag and click on icons to sort, move and copy files. Click on one of the drive icons and a window will open up showing folders that represent your directories on that drive. Click on a folder and another window opens to show subdirectory folders and icons for all of your files. You can use the mouse to select a group of files and then drag them to the trashcan for example. or you can click on a text file and drag it to the printer icon and the file will be sent to your printer. When I first started Windows with Pubtech installed I was a little intimated since I had only started using Windows a few months ago. At first the screens seemed a little to busy with icons for not only the Windows and Non-Windows applications but all of your data files, batch files and executable files as well. However, after a little practice I really enjoy the extra power this program gives to Windows. It really makes file organizing operations easier than using the File Manager that comes with Windows. I also like the ability it provides to let you create and save "custom desktops" with all your applications and data files already loaded. Instead of having to start each application and load in a data file seperately each time you run Windows, you can select a "custom desktop" and open them all at once. Also included in the package is the Text Editor. It is a good replacement for the Notepad that comes with Windows. It works with text files of any size and even gives you font control. I think this is a good addition to Windows for both beginners and advance users looking for more power than that offered by File Manager. Dept1 LETTERS Dear E.W. Just wanted to say I really enjoyed the preview of your first issue. At first I didn't think I would like a Disk Magazine. I thought I would get tired of reading on the screen, but with the large size of the text and the good choice of colors along with articles & reviews that aren't to long works great. Sign me up as a subscriber and keep em coming! One suggestion - More, more, more. Especially more reviews in each issue. MORE IS ON THE WAY. We welcome your suggestions and comments on this magazine. It will grow and improve every issue with your input. Send your letters to the below address. Editor PRO-DATA 7151 El Cajon Blvd. Ste. L San Diego, CA 92115 Dept1 LeftArrowButtonGroup buttonUp buttonUp RightArrowButtonGroup buttonUp buttonUp QuitButtonGroup buttonUp buttonUp :PHYSSIZE "contents" buttonUp buttonUp contents showNameProp dept2 AD GALLERYENTS Your Ad here will help you reach Windows users! Single issue rate - $90.00 Yearly (6 issues) Discount rate - $480 SAVE $60.00 Call (619)464-0767 for more info.. Going into Business? You need a business plan! Our BPA "mini business plan" costs only $595 and is ready in just a few days. We're the "Don't-Do-It-Yourself" experts. Business Plan AssocIates Modem/Fax/Phone (714) 683-3914 Your Ad here will help you reach Windows users! Single issue rate - $150.00 Yearly (6 issues) Discount rate - $840 SAVE $60.00 Call (619)464-0767 for more info.. AD GALLERYENTS Your Ad here will help you reach Windows users! Single issue rate - $200.00 Yearly (6 issues) Discount rate - $1140 SAVE $60.00 Call (619)464-0767 for more info. Your Ad here will help you reach Windows users! Single issue rate - $90.00 Yearly (6 issues) Discount rate - $480 SAVE $60.00 Call (619)464-0767 for more info.. :PHYSSIZE LeftArrowButtonGroup buttonUp buttonUp RightArrowButtonGroup buttonUp buttonUp QuitButtonGroup buttonUp buttonUp :PHYSSIZE "contents" buttonUp buttonUp contents showNameProp dept4 L7L7L7L7L7L7L7L7L7L7L7L7L7L7L7L7L7L7L7 Remember the only way to receive any more issues of this magazine is to subscribe. Only this first issue will be available free. On paper or a 3X5 card please print clearly your Name, Address, and Phone Number. Also state which disk size you want - 5 1/4 or 3 1/2. Make your check or money order out to PRO-DATA and mail to the following address: PRO-DATA 7151 El Cajon Blvd. Ste. L San Diego, CA 92115 tonup buttondown buttonup buttondoubleclick buttonup buttondown buttondoubleclick Subscription Formmmmm 1 Year (6 Issues) - $39.95 2 Year (12 Issues) - $49.95555555555555555555555555 Highlight1 NEW PRODUCTS deskMinder This is an application to make the Windows user interface even easier to operate. It gives you a colorful desk with drawers that are used to hold your files. Open a drawer and pop your data files into folders. You can launch Windows and non-Windows applications. You can create custom icons for your applications. There are also icons on the desk for a calculator, notepad etc. Clicking on these will run Windows' calculator, notepad etc. TechSoft (513)825-8386 List Price: $199 Magic Cursor! This Cursor utility allows you to enlarge or customize the standard Windows arrow cursor. If you do not want to take the time to design your own, It comes with many cursors already done for you. It can be turned on and off by HotKey and can be automatically loaded when you start Windows. FanFare Software (818)886-8787 List Price: $79.95 Right On! This utility lets you create custom actions for the middle and right mouse buttons. You can send keystrokes or run programs etc. It allows you to use the Shift, CTRL and ALT keys in conjunction with the mouse buttons for even more actions. It can be turned on and off by HotKey and can be automatically loaded when you start Windows. FanFare Software (818)886-8787 List Price: $49.95 Dine Windows 3.0 This is a nutrition program for Windows. It contains a database of almost 6,000 foods. You can enter your favorite recipes and Dine Windows will give you a nutritional analysis. You can also enter the food that you eat during the day and the amount of physical activity you get and Dine Windows will give you an analysis for the day. Dine Systems (716)688-2492 List Price: $295.00 Correct Grammer For Windows A program that checks grammer, spelling and sentence structure of your Windows programs. It runs directly from Word for Windows, AMI & AMI Pro. Using the Windows Clipboard you can even check PageMaker, Ventura and Excel documents. It allows you to edit your writing as you work. Writing Tools (800)543-3873 List Price: $99.00 WinMan A front end for Windows that is designed for Networks. It gives you a colorful, icon menuing system. It even has a log on feature to keep track of users of the Network. Runs on Novell, LanManager, 3COM and Vines. Computer Systems Integration Services (214)517-3637 List Price: $49.00 + $10.00 each additional work station ProKey for Windows A utility program that automates mouse and keystroke sequences. You can play back keystrokes, load and run applications and more. RoseSoft (206)562-0225 List Price: $99.00 MoreFonts 2.0 A font design and generation program. It includes 17 scalable typefaces. For all Windows applications including PageMaker, AMI Pro Excel, Word for Windows etc. Besides giving you many typeface choices you can then add special effects such as Shadow, Woodgrain, Outline, various patterns etc. Brown Wagh (408)378-3838 List Price: $149.95 Tiffany Plus A utility for capturing screens. At the press of a HotKey, you can capture a screen in one of several formats such as .PCX, .BMP, .TIF etc. You can then place the capture in your Desktop Publisher or Word Processor. Anderson Consulting & Software (509)427-5335 List Price: $89.00 ScrapBook + Allows you to store and catalog your clip art library, scanned images, drawings etc. Lets you view mini thumbnails of your graphics or you can select by keyword. When you have found the graphic you want you can copy it to the cliboard and then paste it into your Windows application. Eikon Systems, INC (415)349-4664 List Price: $149.95 ACCPAC Simply Accounting A quick and easy to use Windows accounting package. Includes General Ledger, AP, AR, Payroll, Inventory, Job Costing, Invoices, Statements, Check Printing and Mailing Labels. It produces standard Accounting Reports. Computer Associates (800)645-3003 List Price: $199.00 dept4 HighLight2 CONTEST Well Here it is, Electrified Windows' first contest. If there is a good amount of particapation it will be the first of many. This one is for all you programmers out there. Send in your best ToolBook or Visual Basic Program. Pick any catagory you want - Game, Utility, Educational, Productivity etc. Just make sure the entire program was written by you. Don't use any material Copyrighted by anyone else. The programs will be judged mainly on the following: 1. Originality (Something new - not another Tetris Clone) 2. Quality (NO BUGS!!! Good interface design - Colors, Graphics, Sound etc.) 3. User Friendliness (On-line help, documentation file etc.) 4. Speed (Fast! Fast! Fast!) The prize will be for the best TOOLBOOK or VISUAL BASIC Program received by Janurary 15th 1991. The winner will be announced in the Feb/Mar issue. The winning program will be included in that issue. The prize is a $300.00 gift certificate towards Windows software. Now for the rules. This contest is for Electrified Windows Subscribers only! You must either have already sent in your subscription fee or send it in along with your program. The programs must be complete with all features enabled. Source code must be included. Do not protect the programs in any way. If you want the disk returned include a return mailer with your address and the proper postage ready to be mailed. Disks will not be returned without it. All programs become the property of PRO-DATA. Do not send any programs that you wish to Copyright yourself. You can send in as many programs as you want. The more programs you send in the better chance you have of winning. Mail your programs to the following address: PRO-DATA DEPT. C 7151 El Cajon Blvd. Ste. L San Diego, CA 92115 ELECTRIFIED WINDOWS SizeTopage "ELECTRIFIED WINDOWS" syslockScreen MenuBar enterBook leaveBook enterBook SizeTopage ELECTRIFIED WINDOWS leaveBook System `D|D|5 `D|D|5 `D|D|5 Courier `D|D|5 System `D|D| System Tms Rmn `D|D| `D|D| `D|D| `D|D| Rc_Q\[S :PRINTLAYOUT `D|D| Script `D|D| `D|D| Script `D|D| `D|D| `D|D| `D|D| SearchTarget c"file" c"help" SizeTopage "ELECTRIFIED WINDOWS" syslockScreen MenuBar enterBook leaveBook enterBook SizeTopage ELECTRIFIED WINDOWS leaveBook Page Pict :PHYSSIZE REVIEWS AMI PRO MOREWINDOWS PUBTECH FILE MANAGERR WINDOWS SHAREWARE WINDOWS TIPS & TRICKS TOOLBOOK HINTS ButtonShadow buttonUp buttonUp CLICK HERE PREMIER ISSUE AUG/SEP 1991111 :PHYSSIZE A DISK MAGAZINE FOR WINDOWSSSSSSS AND MORE ... buttonup buttonup buttonup buttonup previous buttonup buttonup NewBook nofocus Welcome to the Premier Issue of ELECTRIFIED WINDOWS. A disk magazine devoted exclusively to Windows. We will have feature articles to help you get the most out of Windows and Applications that run under it. We will have hardware and software reviews. Hints and Tips on Windows and Window applications. We will have a Windows Shareware library that will grow with every issue. And much more... Are you tired of wading through many PC magazines searching for an article or review of a Windows product? Are you tired of looking through pages and pages of DOS Shareware and finding only a few Windows programs? If you answered YES to these questions then this is the magazine for you! ButtonShadow buttonUp buttonUp CLICK HERE Please keep in mind that the size of this free issue was kept small so it could be passed around in a quick fashion. The following issues will be much larger and will include some screen shots of the programs being reviewed and even working demos of some of the reviewed programs. We welcome your suggestions and comments on this magazine. It will grow and improve every issue with your input. We also welcome any Hints & Tips or articles for possible inclusion in future issues. Send them to the below address. Don Welsh FROM THE EDITORS DESK PRO-DATA 7151 El Cajon Blvd. Ste. L San Diego, CA 921155\fi CONTENTS buttonup buttonup previous buttonup buttonup FEATURES Windows Tips & Tricks ToolBook Hints REVIEWS AMI-PRO MORE WINDOWS PUBTECH FILE ORGANIZER HIGHLIGHTS New Products Contest Click on the left arrow to go backwards. Click on the right arrow to go forwards. Or click on the article title to go straight there. DEPARTMENTS LETTERS AD GALLERY WINDOWS SHAREWARE SUBSCRIPTIONNNNNNNEVIEWS AMI-PRO EXCEL 3.0 PUBTECH FILE MANAGER Feature2 feature2 buttonUp buttonUp feature2 Feature3 feature3 buttonUp buttonUp feature3 Review1 review1 buttonUp buttonUp review1 Review2 review2 buttonUp buttonUp review2 Review3 0;,Y review3 buttonUp buttonUp review3 Dept1 dept1 buttonUp buttonUp dept1 Dept2 dept2 buttonUp buttonUp dept2 Dept3 "wincat30.tbk" buttonUp buttonUp wincat30.tbk Dept4 dept4 buttonUp buttonUp dept4 HighLight1 highlight1 buttonUp buttonUp highlight1 HighLight2 highlight2 buttonUp buttonUp highlight2 Contents LeftArrowButtonGroup buttonUp buttonUp RightArrowButtonGroup buttonUp buttonUp FindButtonGroup ButtonUp SysError ("Enter the SearchTarget xfound" f"OK" ButtonUp ButtonUp Enter the text to search for... cancel SearchTarget not found Search text not found! AgainButtonGroup ButtonUp SysError SearchTarget xfound" f"OK" ButtonUp ButtonUp SearchTarget not found Search text not found! Again QuitButtonGroup buttonUp buttonUp :PHYSSIZE "contents" buttonUp buttonUp contents showNameProp NewBook nofocus Shareware Authors may send their Windows programs to us for possible inclusion in our Shareware Library. Send them to the above address. Don Welsh Publisher / Editor Don Welsh Associate Editor Pam Johns Graphic Artist Bill Hamilton butors Robert Everett Bob Marlowe Scott Thomas Don Welsh ess. magazines searching for an article or review of a Windows product? Are you tired of looking through pages and pages of DOS Shareware and finding only a few Windows programs? If you answered YES to these questions then this is the magazine for you! ButtonShadow buttonUp buttonUp CLICK HERE Contributors Robert Everett Bob Marlowe Scott Thomas Electrified Windows is published Bi-Monthly and is Copyright (c) 1991 by Pro-Data. ELECTRIFIED WINDOWS IS LICENSED "AS IS". PRO-DATA MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO THIS MAGAZINE, THE INFORMATION IT CONTAINS, ITS PERFORMANCE, QUALITY, OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE CONTRIBUTORS MAY OR MAY NOT BE THE SAME AS THOSE OF THE PUBLISHER OR PRO-DATA. Don Welsh FROM THE EDITORS DESK Feature2 Windows Tips & Tricks In every issue this column will have several tips and tricks for Window and Windows applications. Well here we go... 1) A quick way to select multiple files in the file manager ( and some other Windows applications as well). If the files you want to select follow one another in a file list just select the first file with the mouse. Then hold the shift key and click on the last file you want selected. This will select the first, last ans all files in between. 2) To quickly bypass the Windows logo when starting Windows just type WIN followed by a space and the name of a Windows executable program. Or you can type WIN followed by a space and a colon. 3) Do you use Wallpaper. It's colorful and makes Windows look neat but it also is a memory hog. Unless you have plenty of RAM select NONE under the desktop option of the control panel. 4) The quickest way to switch between several open applications is to double click the mouse anywhere on the background wallpaper or press CTRL-ESC. This will bring up the task list from which you can easily switch applications. 5) Windows places it's icons to close togeather. With a long description they can overlap other icons. Under the desktop option of the control panel you can adjust the spacing Windows uses to seperate icons. Click on the up arrow to increase the spacing (I set mine at 110) and then click OK. 6) With several windows open at once sizing them to where you can see your other minimized icon can be a real hassle. A quick way to accomplish this is to minimize all your applications except for the one you presently want to work on. Double click on the background wallpaper or press CTRL-ESC to bring up the Task List, and click on Tile. Your present applications window will automatically resize leaving room below the window for your minimized applications. 7) I know several people that have had to reinstall windows quite a few times (myself included - first I changed mice and had to reinstall, then I changed to a laser printer and had to reinstall again, then I changed video cards and had to reinstall again. Next my new printer quit working and I had to send it back for repair and I had to reinstall windows again for my old dot matrix printer). Instead of messing with the disks every time you can create a directory on your hard disk ( if you have room) and copy the five Windows disks to that directory. You can then run setup from that directory and you wont have to use the floppies at all. 8) Windows comes with a utility called Sysedit.exe to view and edit important system configuration files (Autoexec.bat, Config.sys, Win.ini and System.ini). Unfortunately Microsoft does'nt include an icon on your desktop for it. However you can add it yourself. It is located in the Windows\System subdirectory. 9) Some people think if you delete an icon in Windows you delete the associated program also. This is not true. Many people delete the icons for the games that come with Windows, but you must also use the file manager or DOS and delete the executable programs as well (sol.exe and reversi.exe). 10) Make sure you back up your WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI files regurarly. When you install Windows Applications they store information in these important files. I back them up before I install any new Windows applications. If you decide not to keep the app on your hard drive and delete it may not clean up the changes it made to WIN.INI and it could possibly keep Windows from starting the next time you run it. Feature3 ToolBook Hintss With Asymetrix' ToolBook you can easily create very visually appealing programs. You can have all sorts of colors, sound and animation in your programs. This series of articles will give you hints on making better ToolBook programs. The first installment will be on SPEED! When looking at a new program for the first time most people will notice if the program runs quickly. Speed is even more important for a ToolBook program because the graphics and animation can really slow it down. Below are several things to keep in mind when programming with ToolBook. SLOWER FASTER Background objects Foreground objects Round objects Angled objects Text in transparent fields Text in opaque fields Vector fonts Bitmap fonts Complex draw objects Bitmaps Turning to a page with different background Turning pages same background Large page size Small page size These are a few basic hints to get a speedy program out of ToolBook. Also, do not overlap an object over a record field. It will slow down all of your record fields. Likewise, do not overlap objects in front of scrolling fields. It will slow the scrolling considerably. One of the best ways to make your program seem faster is to provide feedback to the user. If the program is busy and the user has to wait give him a message to that effect. You can use an hourglass or a moving guage to let the user know how long he has to wait. Don't let your user sit at his computer and wonder if the program is doing something or has crashed. Well thats it for this issue. My next article will have design hints for a good ToolBook program interface. Feature2 HighLight2 Feature1 REVIEW3 Highlight1 Feature3