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- What is Application Access Software?
- Application Access Software is software that makes it easy for you to use other software programs.
- LAUNCH! is designed to give you the quickest, most convenient access to your Windows 3.0 or DOS
- programs when running Windows 3.0 (or higher).
-
- LAUNCH! and File Manager
- The preferred way to use LAUNCH! is in conjunction with standard Windows 3.0 File Manager.
- LAUNCH! can start up any of your programs in the current working directory as determined by File
- Manager. This is much more convenient and flexible than maintaining "program groups" under Program
- Manager.
-
- LAUNCH! and Memory
- LAUNCH! is started by double clicking the Windows 3 background and terminates immediately after
- starting the program of your choice. Therefore, it is always available for use without occupying valuable
- memory!
-
- LAUNCH! and You
- You'll find that your main active programs run faster because its easier to LAUNCH! auxiliary programs
- when you need them than to preload them into memory. You'll find yourself using many more utility
- programs because they are so accessible!
-
- Installing Launch!
- To install, put the Launch floppy disk in either the a: or b: drive. Run the launch.exe program. On the
- system menu (the 'minus sign') select Install Launch! Answer yes to all install questions.
-
- Starting Launch!
- Once installation is complete, double clicking anywhere on the Windows 3.0 background starts up
- Launch.
-
- Launching applications
- Just click on the program's Launch button to start it.
-
- The first time you start Launch, command.com (the DOS command processor) will be the only program
- with a button. See "Adding applications" for information about making buttons for additional programs.
-
- Running applications
- If you want to start an application which does not have a button, use the Run/Add menu. Use the mouse
- to select the program from the listbox and click the RUN button.
-
- Adding applications
- If you wish to create a Launch button for a program, use the Run/Add menu. Use the mouse to select the
- program from the listbox and click the ADD button.
-
- Deleting applications
- If you wish to remove a program's Launch button, use the Run/Add menu. Use the mouse to select the
- program from the listbox and click the DEL button. This deletes the Launch button the next time you
- start Launch; it does not delete the program itself (use File Manager for that).
-
- Next / Prev
- These menu items are selectable only if you have more than 20 Launch buttons defined. Next/Prev then
- show you additional pages of Launch buttons. The maximum number of Launch buttons supported is
- 400.
-
- Parameters
- Use the Parameters menu item or the Parameters check box in the Run/Add... dialog box if you want to
- be prompted for parameters to pass to the program being launched.
-
- Launch directory
- Launch inherits your current working directory when you start it up. This directory is shown in the title
- bar of the Launch window. This directory becomes the current working directory of any program you
- launch.
-
- You may change Launch's current working directory (and so change the current working directory of the
- program you launch) by using the Dir menu. Use the listbox to select the desired directory and click OK.
-
- Some Technical Details
-
- Launch.ini file
- Launch creates an initialization file called launch.ini in your windows directory. This file stores the
- names of all programs which have buttons. The ADD and DEL functions use this file. If for some
- reason DEL doesn't seem to remove a button, you can remove buttons by editing this file (any text editor
- will do). You can also ADD buttons by typing in program names - follow the format of names which are
- already there.
-
- What Install does and how to undo it
- Install makes two modifications to your Windows 3 setup. Install renames taskman.exe to taskmgr.exe
- (modification 1). Install copies the Launch executable file, launch.exe, to the windows directory and
- names it taskman.exe. This is why Launch gets started by double clicking the Windows 3.0 background.
-
- Install changes the system.ini file to boot File Manager (winfile.exe) instead of Program Manager
- (progman.exe) by modifying the line "shell=progman.exe" to be "shell=winfile.exe" (modification 2).
-
- To undo installation, undo the two modifications mentioned above and delete the file launch.ini.
-