Signature Sucker is a compact and quick utility for gathering the creator signatures of all the products you have installed on your system. These creator signatures are what give each product and its documents their icons when viewed in the Finder邃｢. Although Apple Computerﾂｮ, Inc. keeps a database of all registered product signatures, they consider the information to be confidential to protect unreleased software (as can be expected).
Signature Sucker was created to feed the need. It uses our wickedFind file search engine which quickly scans your disk drives for the necessary information. The wickedFind engine is also used in some of our other products, such as Version Tracker as an XCMD and the MPWﾂｮ tool 窶忤ickedFind窶.
When you submit your Signature Sucker document, it will be loaded into the master database. Any obsolete duplicate products will be removed and a new master listing of products will be created and released from time-to-time. Eventually we hope to have the most extensive product information list known to man!
Signature Sucker requires only a few steps:
窶｢ Click the Save button below.
ﾂｰ A document save window will appear allowing you to name the document and choose its location. The default name is taken from the Chooser窶冱 窶弑ser Name窶 with the date appended. Click the Save button to continue.
ﾂｰ Another window will appear allowing you to choose which disk volumes you want to scan. Use the Shift-key to extend the selection or the Command-key to enable/disable specific items. Either click the OK button to continue with the entries you selected or the All button to continue and use all the disk volumes in the list (no matter what their status is).
ﾂｰ Next, you will given the opportunity to enter a comment or note within the document. This feature can be used to send us (Mi Concepts) a note or comments about Signature Sucker. After entering your comments, click the OK button to include them or the Forget button to omit them.
ﾂｰ Finally, all the necessary information required by Signature Sucker will be gathered and saved in the file. It may only take a few seconds or a few minutes to gather the information. Signature Sucker displays an indicator to let you know its progress. Unfortunately you cannot use your system while this information is being gathered.
窶｢ Send the document to one of our addresses below, either through the mail or electronically. (If sending the document electronically, please compress the document first.)
Inside Signature Sucker:
The information gathered by Signature Sucker includes the product name, type, signature ID and version number. The document you submit will be loaded into the master product database. All personal information is considered confidential. Once your document has been processed, there are no connections to you. The master listings that are distributed will contain product information only.
We reserve the right to remove certain products from the database. Currently these include products that do not have a creator ID, "self extracting archives" or products whose version information indicates that the product is under development. (However, some released products have incorrect version information so this may not apply.)
When the signature sucking process begins, there will be a lot of disk activity on the volumes you selected! Do not be concerned. It takes about 2-3 seconds to gather a list of all the products on the disk. However, it takes another 15 to 30 seconds to gather the version information for all the products. The actual time depends on the disk speed and the number of products installed. Scanning a CD-ROM disk can take 10 minutes or more. (About 30 seconds to gather the product list, the rest in obtaining the version information.)
Signature Sucker may not work with some file servers. If your server is incompatible, it will be skipped. Also, only HFS (Hierarchical Filing System) disks are scanned, which is the standard format since the Mac Plus was introduced. Any MFS (Macintosh Filing System), Audio CD's, ISO/High Sierra CD's or other non-Macintosh format will also be skipped.
Send your Signature Sucker document to:
Mi Concepts
P.O. Box 8822
Kentwood, MI 49508
竏 NOTE: If you send a disk with your document, include $1 for postage or a self-addressed stamped envelope and we will return it to you with the latest Signature Sucker document file.
or electronically:
AppleLink: Mi.Concepts
CIS: [71121,3421]
America Online: MiConcepts
GEnie: jmiles
Distribution Restrictions:
Signature Sucker is a Freeware product and can be distributed as long as no distribution fees are charged (except for hourly on-line time fees). Contact Mi Concepts for any other distribution arrangements.
Demo Disks:
If you would like two demo disks of all the latest and greatest products from Mi Concepts, send $10 to our address above. Our current product line includes: Mi Utilities (Mug Shot II, Version Tracker and others), Turbo View, Gizmo邃｢, DAfx, Mug Shot Lite邃｢, Zz Top, and XCMD's such as dispGIF, MiBalloonoid, MiVolumeLister and wickedFind.
Revision History:
05/21/91 Created.
06/22/91 Released 1.0.
06/27/91 Released 1.01.
窶｢ Removed personal settings information
窶｢ Clarified the use of product information.
Mug Shot Lite and Gizmo are personal trademarks of James K. Miles.
Apple Computer, Finder and MPW are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
