home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Windows News 1997 January
/
WnewsNo40.iso
/
bench
/
snoop344
/
SNOOPER.FAQ
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1996-07-18
|
10KB
|
201 lines
SNOOPER(tm)
Serious System Information
Copyright 1994-1996 Vias and Associates
Frequently-Asked Questions (and Answers) About Snooper
Table of Contents
Acquisition and Version Questions
How do I know if I have the latest version?
Where can I get the latest version?
Pricing and Payment Questions
How much does Snooper cost?
How can I pay for Snooper?
How do I order?
Technical Support Questions
Snooper goes bonkers under Microsoft Windows. Why?
Snooper locks my machine at the Main screen. What do I do?
Snooper locks my machine in the Diagnostics screen. What do I do?
I get erroneous results from Snooper. What's wrong?
Acquisition and Version Questions
How do I know if I have the latest version?
If the version you have is over six months old, there probably
is a newer version out. To know for sure, check the locations
mentioned in answer to the following question.
Where can I get the latest version?
See the first page of SNOOPER.DOC or Snooper's Ordering
Information help screen (in Snooper, press <F1>, then <O>) for
places to get Snooper. Also, see below.
CompuServe
It is always available on CompuServe, in the PC Hardware Forum
(GO PCHW), General Hardware Library (4), under the filename
SNOOPR.ZIP (note there's no "E" in the filename).
BBS
Another place to get the latest version is the PC-Ohio BBS at
216-381-3320. Log on with your real name and password and at
the Main Board Command prompt. Snooper is in the free files
directory.
FTP
You can get the latest version of Snooper from the Association
of Shareware Professionals FTP site at:
ftp.asp-shareware.org/pub/asp
WWW
You can get the latest version of Snooper from our Web site at:
http:/ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jvias
Pricing and Payment Questions
How much does Snooper cost?
Currently, Snooper costs $39 for a single user license,
including domestic shipping. For foreign orders, add $5
shipping. California residents add local sales tax.
If you plan to use Snooper to gather information across a
network, or to send out Snooper disks to clients or branch
offices to gather system info, or in any other way that might
allow more than one person to run it at the same time, you MUST
purchase a site license or distribution license. Pricing for
multi-user licenses is individualized for your situation, and
our customers have found it surprisingly affordable. Call us
at the phone number listed both on the first page of Snooper's
manual and on Snooper's Ordering Information help screen (in
Snooper, press F1, then O).
How can I pay for Snooper?
Currently, we accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American
Express, by phone or fax. Of course, we also accept cash,
checks, and money orders by mail.
How do I order?
Registration (ordering) is fast, flexible, and easy. When you
register, you will receive the latest version of Snooper on
disk (specify disk size), a 70-page printed manual,
notification of major upgrades, and discounts on any future
products we may release. All this for only $39, including
domestic shipping! For foreign orders, add $5 shipping.
California residents add local sales tax. Here are a few ways
to register:
PHONE: Call tollfree 800-332-8234 during regular business
hours (Pacific Time) and order with your Visa,
MasterCard, Discover, or American Express card.
If you can't call tollfree, dial: 415-921-6262.
FAX: Fax the enclosed order form (ORDER.FRM), completely
filled out, with credit card info, to: 415-922-3197.
MAIL: Mail the enclosed order form (ORDER.FRM), completely
filled out, with credit card info or a check or
money order, to:
Vias and Associates
PO Box 470805
San Francisco, CA 94147-0805
COMPUSERVE: GO SWREG and order number 2535. Snooper's
registration fee will be added to your CompuServe
bill.
You'll feel great when you register Snooper and you'll know you've
done the right thing by paying for the software you use and by
helping support the shareware concept. Try it, you'll see!
Technical Support Questions
First let us say technical support issues concerning Snooper are
relatively rare. True, like most programs, it won't work on every
single machine out there. There are simply too many combinations of
hardware and software products to make a product 100% compatible with
everything. That said, Snooper is very good at gathering system
information quickly and accurately without interfering with the
computer's operation. If you do have a problem running Snooper,
please read the following section. If, after trying these procedures,
you still can't get Snooper to run properly, please write or call our
technical support number (listed on the first page of Snooper's
manual). We'll do our best to help.
Snooper goes bonkers under Microsoft Windows. Why?
Snooper was not designed to run under Windows. Many users can run
at least the Main screen but other screens may cause lockups or
erroneous results. The Benchmark screen, for example, wasn't
designed to work in a multitasking environment. And the
Diagnostics screen may cause a lockup when it checks serial port
IRQs. If you need this information, simply exit Windows
completely and run Snooper from the DOS prompt.
Snooper locks my machine at the Main screen. What do I do?
Sometimes, in Snooper's message box in the lower-right corner of
the screen, there will be a message such as "Use /t" or something
similar. This is a command line switch Snooper suggests you use
to avoid the lockup. If you see such a message, make a note of
the switch it mentions, reboot your machine and re-run Snooper
with the command line switch indicated. In the above example, you
would type "snooper /t" at the DOS prompt (without the quotes, of
course). This will often solve the problem. If you follow this
procedure and Snooper then mentions a different switch, re-run it
with both switches specified.
If there is no message in the message box, you'll have to do some
experimentation. Read the section of Snooper's manual that
discusses command line syntax and try all the switches together
that disable certain detection routines (e.g., /c /n /t /i). If
Snooper runs, eliminate one switch at a time until you find the
one (or two?) you need.
If the above techniques don't work, try bypassing your CONFIG.SYS
and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. With DOS 6.x, you can press a function
key to do so. (Enter "VER" at the DOS prompt to check your DOS
version.) With earlier DOS versions, load each file into a text
editor (e.g., the DOS EDIT program) and type "REM " (there's a
space after the REM) in front of every line. Then save the file
and reboot. This will cause DOS to ignore those lines,
effectively bypassing the file. If the above technique works,
remove the "REM " from one line at a time until you find the
program that's interfering with Snooper. If everything seems to
work OK for the next few weeks, you can probably do without that
program anyway.
And if none of the above works, it may just be that your system is
not compatible with Snooper. Sometimes a ROM BIOS or DOS version
will have a subtle bug, or the timing on the motherboard wasn't
perfect, or something in your system just wasn't designed to fully
implement an industry standard.
Snooper locks my machine in the Diagnostics screen. What do I do?
Chances are, if you specify the "/O" command line switch when you
invoke Snooper, it will work OK.
I get erroneous results from Snooper. What's wrong?
There are lots of things that can interfere with Snooper's ability
to gather accurate information. As we mentioned above, BIOS and
DOS bugs, motherboards not being designed quite right--and a host
of other possible problems. Also, some hardware tries to look
like other hardware. Most mice, for example, try their darndest
to look like Microsoft mice. So if you have a different brand of
mouse, and Snooper reports that you have a Microsoft mouse, well,
it was simply fooled. You can try following the procedures above
(under "Snooper locks my machine"). If you still have specific
questions about why Snooper is reporting what it is, you can call
us on our query line and ask (for the phone number, again, see the
first page of SNOOPER.DOC or Snooper's Ordering Information help
screen--press <F1>, then <O>).
All this having been said, it is still gratifying to hear many
customers tell us Snooper is the most accurate system information
program they've seen.
Thank you for trying Snooper.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.