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DOC 1.1 documentation file ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note - this is a plain ASCII text file but contains multiple documents. You may find it most convenient to view or print this file using the DOC.EXE program supplied. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Title1:PC Magazine Utilities Title2:Volume 3 Windows Copyright:(C)1992 Ziff-Davis Publishing @@Introduction Introduction PC Magazine Utilities Disk Volume 3: Windows programs ------------------------------------------------------- Volume 3 of the PC Magazine Utilities contains 28 DOS utilities and, in this updated release, 13 utilities for Windows along with comprehensive on-disk documentation and an install program. This document describes the Windows utilities included in the package. See the document MANUALS3.TXT for details of the DOS programs. Installing the programs ----------------------- The Windows utilities are supplied compressed in the ZIP file WINPROGS.ZIP. The install program (started by typing GO) will unpack the files to your hard disk. You can then change to the new directory containing the programs and try them out. After installing the software, you can view this documentation by changing to the relevant drive and directory and entering the command DOC. Program summary --------------- These Windows utilities perform a variety of small but useful tasks as described below. You'll find full information about the function of each program, along with instructions for setting it up and running it, in the document for each program. CFGSAVE Adds a 'Save configuration' menu option to the Program Manager in Windows 3.0 D'BUTTON A freeware program, D'BUTTON lets you quickly access two applications of your choice with a simple mouse click INCTRL A powerful tool for dedicated Windows users, INCTRL monitors the installation process of a new application, allowing you to easily put things back to normal if the install program fails part way through and to fully de-install the program at a later date PROGSET A neat and easy way to alter file associations and remove obsolete items from the WIN.INI startup file STARS A freeware program providing an animated 'star field' instead of the normal static Windows desktop or wallpaper scene. WINEXT A powerful utility that provides great flexibility and control over the way programs are launched from the Program Manager or by double-clicking on a data file WINFO A freeware utility providing a detailed report on Windows' status and configuration WINFSR A tiny program to provide a convenient running display of Windows Free System Resources WININI Short but sweet, running WININI re-reads the WIN.INI startup file after you make changes directly to it so those changes can take effect without you having to stop and restart Windows WINMODE A useful DOS-level utility that reports if Windows (or the DOS 5.0 task switcher) is loaded to a batch file or other program WINWHERE A versatile Windows file finding program that includes the ability to generate a batch file to perform your chosen operation on all the files it finds WPRINT Taking advantage of new features in Windows 3.1, WPRINT provides drag-and-drop file printing from the Windows File Manager; just pick up a text file or BMP graphic with the mouse and drop it on the WPRINT icon to print it WSMOOTH A Windows equivalent to the popular PC Magazine SMOOTH file viewer, WSMOOTH lets you browse text files with smooth scrolling @@CFGSAVE CFGSAVE Gene Kavner Program Manager utility for Windows 3.0 version 1.0 ------------------------------------------------------- CFGSAVE adds a 'Save configuration' menu option to the Windows 3.0 File Manager, allowing you to rearrange or update your Program Manager desktop display and save the new layout without having to exit and restart Windows. The one-step save facility is so simple and intuitive that you will soon feel it's a natural part of Windows. Installation ------------ CFGSAVE works with Windows 3.0 and consists of the two files CFGSAVE.EXE and CFGSAVE.DLL. These can installed to a hard disk directory and run in the usual manner. However, CFGSAVE is best installed by having it load each time you start Windows. To do this: * Copy CFGSAVE.EXE and CFGSAVE.DLL to your main WINDOWS directory. * Edit your WIN.INI file to load the program when Windows starts. Be sure to take a copy of your WIN.INI file before making changes to it in case you accidentally delete or alter important items within it. * Find the [Windows] section in WIN.INI and look for the load= line. You may need to add a new one if one is not defined but there is usually at least a blank load= line. * Add CFGSAVE.EXE to the list of programs given on the load= line. Your WIN.INI file should now look like: [Windows] ... ... load=CFGSAVE.EXE otherProgram otherProgram ... ... * Restart Windows. When you now restart Windows there will be no visible difference in how the Program Manager and other applications are displayed until you select the File item in the Program Manager's menu. When the pull-down menu is displayed, you'll see the new Save Configuration menu item. Now, any time you make a change to the Program Manager you can save your configuration by simply selecting Save Configuration from the Program Manager's menu. Please note ----------- CFGSAVE is an application separate from the Windows Program Manager but it does rely on specific features of the Program Manager. As a result, the present version on CFGSAVE works only with Windows 3.0. If you like CFGSAVE, you may want to keep an eye out on PC MagNet, PC Magazine's on-line reader service, for a new version of the program that will work with Windows 3.1. @@DBTN DBTN David Hughes Push-button program launcher version 1.2f ------------------------------------------------------- D'Button is a small freeware program by David Hughes. It displays a small window containing two buttons which you can set up to quickly launch two Windows programs of your choice; keep useful programs like the Windows calculator and notepad a simple mouse-click away. D'Button is supplied complete with its original documentation in the text file DBTN.TXT and also in a Windows Write document DBTN.WRI. Please read this document before using the program. @@INCTRL INCTRL Neil J Rubenking Windows installation controller version 1.0 ------------------------------------------------------- INCTRL.EXE is an Installation Control program for Windows. It supervises an application's install utility and writes a report file of changes made to your system. Installation ------------ INCTRL works with Windows 3 and is installed in the usual manner. The program file is INCTRL.EXE. No other files are necessary to use INCTRL. You must be using Windows in Standard or Enhanced mode for INCTRL; the program will not work with the Windows 3.0 real mode. To install the program file: * Copy INCTRL.EXE to a suitable hard disk directory. You can use your main WINDOWS directory, create a new one or add INCTRL to a directory you already have for smaller Windows programs and accessories. To start INCTRL directly: * Run the program file INCTRL.EXE from the Windows Program Manager, File Manager, MS-DOS Executive or whatever shell/launch program you like to use. You can either choose 'File' 'Run' and then enter the command INCTRL (you may need to give the drive and directory where INCTRL is stored, e.g. C:\WINUTILS\INCTRL) or double-click on the filename in the File Manager or other program launcher display. To create an icon for INCTRL in the Windows Program Manager display: * Select a suitable program group by clicking on it once (e.g. Accessories). If you prefer, you can create a new program group by choosing 'New...' from the Program Manager 'File' menu and then selecting 'Program Group'. * Select 'New...' from the Program Manager 'File' menu. * Choose 'Program Item' and click okay in the 'New Program Object' dialog. * In the 'Program Item Properties' dialog, click on 'Browse' and then use the mouse to locate the INCTRL.EXE program file and double-click on it. * Click 'Okay' back in the 'Program Item Properties' dialog and the INCTRL icon should appear in your selected program group. You can now start INCTRL by double-clicking on this icon as normal. Using INCTRL ------------ It takes hardly any more effort to install a new Windows application under INCTRL's supervision than to go through the usual File... Run dialog under Program Manager. After bringing up INCTRL, you press one button to select the install program and press a second to choose a filename for the output report. Although this documentation discusses INCTRL using a Windows 3.1 common dialog box for file selection, INCTRL does not require the COMMDLG dynamic link library. If you don't have COMMDLG.DLL on your system, INCTRL will simply use a different file selection dialog box. When you've selected both the install program to be run and a name for INCTRL's output report, the grayed-out Perform Install button will be enabled. Press it and INCTRL will take over the installation. There will be an initial delay as INCTRL memorizes the file layout of the fixed disks on your system. During this interval a small window will appear to let you know what's happening. INCTRL also makes copies of WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI at this time, using the names WININI.$$$ and SYSINI.$$$. After these preparations, INCTRL executes the application's install program; then you simply follow the application's instructions to complete the installation. After the installation is finished, INCTRL writes a header (which includes the install filename and the current date and time) for its output report. It then scans your fixed disks again, checking each file and directory against the disk contents it memorized earlier. For items already present on its list, INCTRL compares the current size and date/time stamp with their previous values. If the stamps are different, INCTRL notes that the file has changed; if they are the same, it removes the file from the list. Any file not present on the list was obviously added during the installation, so INCTRL writes its name to the output report. When this second scan of files and directories is complete, the only files left from INCTRL's original list will be those that were changed during the installation or those that were deleted. INCTRL first flips through the list and reports the name of every item that was marked as having been changed by the install program. Since every file that exists on-disk was either removed from the list or marked as changed, any remaining files not marked as changed must have been deleted by the install program. INCTRL reports these as well, even though it's unusual for an install program to erase files. Next, INCTRL compares the saved copy of WIN.INI with the current WIN.INI. It compiles a list of all the section headings from the old file and checks that list against the section headings from the new file. If any were added during the installation, it writes their names to the output report and adds them to the list. INCTRL doesn't report on sections deleted from WIN.INI. It follows the same procedure in examining SYSTEM.INI. For each section in the .INI file, INCTRL gets a list of all the keys (for example, Load) contained in that section of the old file and reports on any keys that were added in the new file. Then it checks the value of each key from the old file against the value of that key in the new file. If they differ, it writes both the old value and the new to the output file. INCTRL will notify you if it finds a duplicate section name or a duplicate key within a section of an INI file. Normally, the Windows functions that create the keys don't allow creation of duplicate key names. A particular exception occurs in the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI, however, which can have any number of lines with the key DEVICE. Windows accesses these lines during initialization, without going through the normal INI-handling functions. INCTRL also treats this key specially; it simply counts the number of times it occurs in the old and in the new files and reports if the new file has more DEVICE lines. The listing below shows an abbreviated version of a sample INCTRL report, which was generated while installing the After Dark screen saver. That application's install program copied 81 files and 5 directories to the disk, added a DEVICE= line to SYSTEM.INI, and added the programs AD.EXE and ADINIT.EXE to the LOAD= line in WIN.INI. There are 8 files listed as changed: 3 .INI files and 5 from an earlier incomplete attempt to uninstall the program. Be warned that some install programs take a two-step approach that fools INCTRL: They copy a secondary install program to the hard disk and then execute that program. INCTRL thinks the installation is over when the primary program ends, so it reports that the only file added was the secondary install program. You may be able to work around this situation by using INCTRL to re-execute the secondary install program. If it reinstalls the remaining files, they'll show up as changed files in the INCTRL report. Configuring INCTRL ------------------ By default, INCTRL scans all fixed disks on your system looking for file and directory changes. If you have one or more disk partitions that are never used for Windows applications, you can speed INCTRL's search and reduce its memory requirements by excluding those drives from examination. To do so, create the ASCII file INCTRL.INI in your Windows directory with a single section called [Excluded drives]. For each drive you want to exclude, add a key line such as c=1 to that section. For example, to exclude drives C: and D:, add the following: [Excluded drives] c=1 d=1 Your Windows directory is the default storage location for INCTRL report files. To make another directory the default, add a [Directories] section to INCTRL.INI and assign that directory to the ReptDir key, as, for example: [Directories] ReptDir=E:\INCTRL Uninstalling with INCTRL ------------------------ Although INCTRL gives you the information you need to uninstall a program, you'll have to make some decisions based on this information. Your first step is to delete the program's icon from the Program Manager group that contains it. If the program has a group all its own, you can delete the whole group. Now run your favorite file manager and, into your editor of choice, load the INCTRL report for the application to be removed. Look first for entire directories added during its installation: you can usually delete these entirely. You should at least consider the possibility, however, that you may have created data files in a program-created directory that you're thinking of deleting. If you're not sure, try individually deleting the files INCTRL reports in that directory and examine any that are left over. You can, of course, delete a private .INI file if the program installed one, but most files added to the Windows and the System directories are intended to be shared with other programs. Thus, it may not be safe to delete .DLL, .DRV, .FON or .EXE files that were installed in either of these directories. If you want to be sure, rename rather than delete these possibly shared files and then restart Windows. Bring up each program you installed after the program being removed and make sure it doesn't depend on the renamed files. If this test succeeds, you can delete the renamed files. If one of your programs refuses to run without a particular renamed file, rename it back and add that filename to the INCTRL report for the dependent program. INCTRL's list of changed files is provided for your information; most of the time you won't want to delete any of these, since the installation program either updated them or simply recopied them on your disk. Either way, they were there before the installation and should probably stay after you uninstall the program. If changes were made to WIN.INI or SYSTEM.INI, bring up the affected .INI file in your favorite ASCII editor. A new section is much like a new directory -- you can probably erase the whole thing. If one or more .EXE files were added to the LOAD= or RUN= lines in the [windows] section of WIN.INI, remove them. Don't simply restore the "before" value of the line unless you're sure that other programs have not subsequently been added to these lines. On the other hand, some programs are associated with a particular file extension in the [extensions] section. Once the program is gone, you'll probably want to delete the WIN.INI line for that association. Other .INI file changes must be considered on a case-by-case basis. If you're not sure whether it's safe to delete a line, turn it into a comment by putting a semicolon at the beginning of the line. Then restart Windows and run each program that was installed after the program being removed. If they all work, you can either delete the now-commented lines or leave them in place as comments. In case you find that one of your other programs does depend on a particular .INI file line, remove the initial semicolon and add the line to the INCTRL report file for that program. Neil J. Rubenking is technical editor of PC Magazine. Sample INCTRL Report -------------------- This is an abbreviated version of the report INCTRL produced after installing the After Dark screen saver. \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ INSTALLATION REPORT - B:\INSTALL.EXE Produced by INCTRL, Copyright (c) 1992 by Neil J. Rubenking Wed 4/1/1992 09:20:29.06 *** FILES AND DIRECTORIES ADDED *** DIR : E:\AFTERDRK FILE: E:\WINDOWS\AFTERDAR.GRP FILE: E:\AFTERDRK\AD_LIB.DLL FILE: E:\AFTERDRK\ADINIT.EXE FILE: E:\AFTERDRK\AD.EXE . . . FILE: E:\AFTERDRK\ADMODULE.SDK\BLANKER\MNAME.RSC Install program added 81 files and 5 directories. *** FILES AND DIRECTORIES CHANGED *** FILE: E:\WINDOWS\AD.CFG FILE: E:\WINDOWS\ADMODULE.ADS FILE: E:\WINDOWS\AD_PREFS.INI FILE: E:\WINDOWS\PROGMAN.INI FILE: E:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.ADK FILE: E:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.INI FILE: E:\WINDOWS\WIN.INI FILE: E:\WINDOWS\WININI.ADK Install program changed 8 files and 0 directories. *** KEYS CHANGED IN WIN.INI SECTION [windows] *** BEFORE: load= AFTER: load=e:\afterdrk\ad.exe e:\afterdrk\adinit.exe 1 keys changed in WIN.INI section [windows] *** KEYS ADDED TO SYSTEM.INI SECTION [386Enh] *** 1 DEVICE= lines added to the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI 1 keys added to SYSTEM.INI section [386Enh] \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ @@PROGSET PROGSET Robert Dickinson Windows file association editor version 1.0 ------------------------------------------------------- PROGSET provides two useful functions for Windows users. It will painlessly and reliably remove program details from your WIN.INI startup file without the possibility of corrupting it. And it will let you easily add to or alter file 'associations' in WIN.INI; the entries that tell the File Manager (or other program launcher) which application to start when you double-click on a data file. Installation ------------ PROGSET works with Windows 3 and is installed in the usual manner. The program file is PROGSET.EXE. No other files are necessary to use PROGSET. Please note that while this version of PROGSET can be used with Windows 3.1, some of the new items introduced in Windows 3.1 WIN.INI files should not be removed with the program. Be careful when removing installed programs not to remove items which are part of the Windows 3.1 system. To install the program file: * Copy PROGSET.EXE to a suitable hard disk directory. You can use your main WINDOWS directory, create a new one or add PROGSET to a directory you already have for smaller Windows programs and accessories. To start PROGSET directly: * Run the program file PROGSET.EXE from the Windows Program Manager, File Manager, MS-DOS Executive or whatever shell/launch program you like to use. You can either choose 'File' 'Run' and then enter the command PROGSET (you may need to give the drive and directory where PROGSET is stored, e.g. C:\WINUTILS\PROGSET) or double-click on the filename in the File Manager or other program launcher display. To create an icon for PROGSET in the Windows Program Manager display: * Select a suitable program group by clicking on it once (e.g. Accessories). If you prefer, you can create a new program group by choosing 'New...' from the Program Manager 'File' menu and then selecting 'Program Group'. * Select 'New...' from the Program Manager 'File' menu. * Choose 'Program Item' and click okay in the 'New Program Object' dialog. * In the 'Program Item Properties' dialog, click on 'Browse' and then use the mouse to locate the PROGSET.EXE program file and double-click on it. * Click 'Okay' back in the 'Program Item Properties' dialog and the PROGSET icon should appear in your selected program group. You can now start PROGSET by double-clicking on this icon as normal. Using PROGSET -------------- PROGSET starts up with a dialog box listing your Windows file associations. Its Add, Modify, Remove, and Exit buttons can be selected either by clicking with a mouse or by typing the Alt-underscored letter combination for the desired button. Two radio buttons at the top of the display switch between viewing and altering file associations and removing details of programs that have installed themselves in your WIN.INI file. You can move through the list of items either with the mouse or with the Up- and Down-Arrow keys. Typing an initial letter advances automatically to the next item listed that begins with that letter. PROGSET will always ask for confirmation before it removes anything from WIN.INI, so you can feel free to experiment without actually deleting anything from your WIN.INI file. You can Add, Modify, or Remove file associations, and you can Remove installed programs. To edit the file associations in WIN.INI, begin by selecting the File Associations mode with the appropriate radio button. Both the Modify and Remove functions act on the currently selected file association from the listbox. When you choose Add or Modify another dialog box will appear that provides fields for the file extension and the command line, together with OK, Cancel, and Browse buttons. In Add, you enter both the file extension and the command line; in Modify you simply enter or modify the command line. In either case, you can choose the Browse button to help you locate the file to be associated with the extension. The Browse function works like a File Open dialog box: you select drives and directories until you locate the desired file and then either double-click the file or select OK. If you choose to enter the command line manually, you must remember to follow the [Associations] section format: ext = appname.exe ^.ext For example, if you want the Windows Notepad program to be started when you double-click on a .DOC type file in the Windows File Manager, you would enter: DOC=notepad.exe ^.DOC If you use the Browse function, the proper default command line parameter is inserted for you. To remove a file association just click Remove and select Yes when PROGSET asks you to confirm your intention. To remove (or un-install) a program from WIN.INI, simply select the installed Programs mode with the appropriate button from the top section of the PROGSET window. Then pick out the desired program from the listbox and hit the Remove button. PROGSET will again ask if you really want to remove the selected section. Click Yes and it's gone. Remember, however, that when you remove an installed program with PROGSET you aren't actually deleting its files, but only removing the program's section from your WIN.INI file. Because PROGSET is a fairly simple application there is no need for a main application menu. For this reason the "About..." function is located in the system menu. You can access the system menu by clicking the little box in the upper left corner of the PROGSET window or by typing Alt-Spacebar. (The picture in the system menu box represents a spacebar, making the Alt-Spacebar combination easy to remember.) To exit PROGSET, just click the on the Exit button or type Alt-X. @@STARS STARS David Stafford Animated desktop display version 2.0 ------------------------------------------------------- STARS by David Stafford is a freeware alternative to the normally static Windows desktop or 'wallpaper' display. Running STARS replaces the desktop with an animated star field display... you can adjust the speed of the stars using options available by clicking once on the Stars icon. STARS is supplied complete with its original documentation in the text file STARS.TXT. Please read this file before using the program. @@WINEXT WINEXT Fran Finnegan Extended file associations in Windows version 1.0 ------------------------------------------------------- One of the convenient features of the Windows Program Manager and File Manager is that double-clicking on a data file will start the application it goes with and open that file ready for viewing, editing and so on. Windows does this by associating particular programs with particular file extensions in the [Extensions] sector of the WIN.INI startup file. For example, the line txt = notepad.exe ^.txt tells the Program Manger and File Manager that double clicking a .TXT file should open that file in the Windows Notepad. WINEXT is an unusual utility designed to overcome limitations in this 'file association' mechanism and make it much more useful. WINEXT allows you to create associations for programs not available in the DOS PATH and to say exactly which directory should be current when the file is opened... the normal file association can start a program in an inappropriate directory. You can also pass a full range of command line options to the started program or enter them as the program is run. Installing WINEXT ----------------- WINEXT works with Windows 3.0 and 3.1 and consists of the program file WINEXT.EXE. To set up the program, copy its program file to a suitable hard disk directory. You can use your main WINDOWS directory, create a new one or add WINEXT to a directory you may already have for smaller Windows programs. The directory you keep WINEXT.EXE in MUST be on your DOS command PATH (usually set in AUTOEXEC.BAT) or else Windows will not be able to find the program when it is required. Using WINEXT ------------ WINEXT can be run directly from the Program Manager or File Manager as normal but it is rarely useful to do this -- WINEXT is designed to operate behind the scenes by being called by Windows through new lines added to the [Extensions] section in WIN.INI. The program can also usefully be used in the command line entered in the Program Item Properties dialog for a particular icon. WINEXT and WIN.INI ------------------ In principle, all you do is add a new [Extensions] line that associates a particular file type with the WINEXT.EXE program. This line also includes the name of the program that you really want to run for the type of file in question, along with any additional items which you want WINEXT to carry out or pass to that program. When you double-click a file of this type, WINEXT is started and it will, in turn, start the relevant program for you. The full syntax for WINEXT within the WIN.INI is: ext=winext.exe [?] d:\path d:\path\program.ext [arguments] ^.ext [arguments] (this should be all on ONE line in WIN.INI.) As previously, ext is the extension of a data file. The optional ? parameter option causes WINEXT to bring up a message box that displays the ext= entry and the new command line and gives you a chance to cancel the command before it is executed. This is useful when you are adding and/or modifying your [Extension] entries in WIN.INI. Once you are comfortable with how WINEXT operates you can then simply delete the ? parameter from your ext= lines. The d:\path section of the syntax specifies the drive and directory in which you wish to be when the program has been started and loaded with its associated data file. Note that the d:\path start-up drive/directory may be . or .. , which will have the effect, respectively, of keeping you in the directory containing the data file or of changing to its parent directory. If you enter an invalid path, WINEXT will warn you in a message box. The d:\path\program.ext specifies the drive, directory, and name of the program you want to associate with the data file's extension. The program may be any DOS or Windows executable file or a batch file. (.PIF files have their own way of doing what WINEXT does, so they aren't relevant here.) If program does not contain an extension, then .EXE is assumed by Windows. If the program is not preceded by a drive and/or directory path, Windows will search for it in the following order: the current working directory (which is now d:\path, since WINEXT switched to it); the Windows directory; the Windows \SYSTEM directory; the directories listed in the PATH environment variable; and the list of directories mapped in a network. The optional arguments parameters (in both places in the syntax) are any parameters peculiar to the application specified that you may want to include. These would be used for compiler switches or compression/decompression utilities, for example. Putting double-quotes ( " ) around arguments causes a group of arguments to be considered as a single argument. For the ^.ext portion of the WINEXT syntax you can do one of three things. First, you can simply replace the .ext with the data file extension, as in a normal WIN.INI file. Because WINEXT has been loaded, however, when you double-click on a file with the associated ext in File Manager or the MS-DOS Executive, WINEXT remembers the current directory the data file is in, but switches to the drive and directory specified by d:\path. Note that if WINEXT does not detect a qualified filespec (one that includes a drive or path), it prepends the current directory containing the data file. This assures that all applications started by WINEXT will receive a fully- specified data filename. Second, for the ^.ext you can use the caret alone, with no data file extension specified. This will cause the data file extension to be stripped off. This is useful when dealing with programs (AUTOCAD, for example) that do not require extensions on the command line or that may indeed not work properly if the data file extension is present. (If you have a particular need, you might even supply an ext that is different from your data file's extension.) Third, you can use * in place of ^.ext to tell WINEXT not to include any data filename on the command line. This option is particularly useful if you want to use WINEXT as a program item in a program group of Program Manager, as will be shown in the examples below. Note that in order to use the caret (^) by itself, or to add arguments after the ^ or ^.ext, or to use the asterisk (*) and no filename, you must manually edit your WIN.INI file. You can use the System Configuration Editor, Notepad or a plain ASCII text editor. (Remember too that you must restart Windows, or use the PC Magazine WININI utility, in order for the WIN.INI changes to take effect.) Example -------- The following line added to WIN.INI shows one way WINEXT can be used. wks=winext.exe D:\123 123.exe * This might be used to start an old version of Lotus 1-2-3. Like a number of DOS applications, you must be in the directory holding the program files to run version 1A of Lotus 1-2-3; using WINEXT in this way ensures that the 1-2-3 directory (D:\123) is current when the program starts. The * as the last item tells WINEXT not to pass the data file's name to 1-2-3 since 1-2-3 will not accept a filename on the command line like this. Using WINEXT with Program Manager --------------------------------- The WINEXT syntax described above can be used in the Command Line section of the Program Item Properties dialog associated with a particular icon in the Program Manager. Using this technique, you can create Program Manager icons that start particular programs in various ways. Example ------- In a Command line used to start Word for Windows, you might use the line: winext.exe + c:\worddocs winword.exe /n * This would start Word for Windows (assuming it to be in the DOS PATH as usual) but with the current directory set to C:\WORDDOCS so that the files in this directory are immediately available when you choose File and Open. The + starts Word for Windows with a maximised window. The /n tells Word NOT to display a blank new document. Finally, the * tells WINEXT not to pass a data filename to the program. @@WINFO WINFO David Hughes Windows System Information version 1.0f ------------------------------------------------------- WINFO is a small freeware utility that displays useful configuration information about your Windows environment. The program's report is more comprehensive than many alternatives and includes a detailed summary of video information. WINFO is supplied complete with its original documentation in the text file WINFO.TXT and also in a Windows Write document WINFO.WRI. Please read this document before using the program. @@WINFSR WINFSR Fran Finnegan Monitor Windows free system resources version 2.1 ------------------------------------------------------- The 'Free System Resources' (FSR) in Windows is really just a fancy name for the amount of free memory available to two key components of Windows; the graphics device interface (GDI.EXE) and the user interface (USER.EXE). This lock of memory is vital as all open Windows applications must share it; if you run enough big programs at the same time, or programs which hog FSR, you will run out of memory and possibly lock up your machine, even if it's a 16Mb or 32Mb system. WINFSR is a small utility that allows you to easily monitor FSR. You can determine how a particular program uses FSR or just use it as a running count to warn you that the system may be becoming overloaded. Installation ------------ WINFSR works with Windows 3.0 and 3.1 and is installed in the usual manner. The program file is WINFSR.EXE. No other files are necessary to use WINFSR. To install the program file: * Copy WINFSR.EXE to a suitable hard disk directory. You can use your main WINDOWS directory, create a new one or add WINFSR to a directory you already have for smaller Windows programs and accessories. To start WINFSR directly: * Run the program file WINFSR.EXE from the Windows Program Manager, File Manager, MS-DOS Executive or whatever shell/launch program you like to use. You can either choose 'File' 'Run' and then enter the command WINFSR (you may need to give the drive and directory where WINFSR is stored, e.g. C:\WINUTILS\WINFSR) or double-click on the filename in the File Manager or other program launcher display. To create an icon for WINFSR in the Windows Program Manager display: * Select a suitable program group by clicking on it once (e.g. Accessories). If you prefer, you can create a new program group by choosing 'New...' from the Program Manager 'File' menu and then selecting 'Program Group'. * Select 'New...' from the Program Manager 'File' menu. * Choose 'Program Item' and click okay in the 'New Program Object' dialog. * In the 'Program Item Properties' dialog, click on 'Browse' and then use the mouse to locate the WINFSR.EXE program file and double-click on it. * Click 'Okay' back in the 'Program Item Properties' dialog and the WINFSR icon should appear in your selected program group. You can now start WINFSR by double-clicking on this icon as normal. Using WINFSR -------------- WINFSR provides two displays. A dialog box displays operating mode and total memory usage as well as the percentage of FSR available and separate figures for GDI and USER components. Clicking on the 'Hide' button removes this display, leaving just WINFSR's icon at the bottom of the screen. The icon shows simply the % free for FSR; this display is continually updated as you work. A number of options are available from the main display by clicking on 'Options'. You can choose either a fancy or plain icon display and change the icon's name (under Windows 3.1, you may prefer to delete the default name 'System Resources' to produce a smaller icon title). The % option allows you to leave WINFSR running as an icon but have its dialog box pop-up to warn you when you're running short of FSR. Normally, WINFSR will pop-up if FSR gets below 20%, at which point you should probably save your work or close down some programs. You can adjust this to a different figure if you prefer. WINFSR and WIN.INI ------------------ WINFSR stores its current settings in your WIN.INI file in a section titled [WINFSR]. You can adjust these lines manually using a text editor. If you remove WINFSR from your system, you should delete this section from your WIN.INI file. FSR Calculation --------------- There is no 'official' way to calculate FSR so you may see different results from programs similar to this one. WINFSR takes into account free global memory as well as local memory for example. @@WININI WININI Fran Finnegan Register changes to WIN.INI immediately version 1.0 ------------------------------------------------------- WININI is a small but useful Windows utility that you can run immediately after altering your WIN.INI startup file within Windows using the Notepad, Sysedit or another text editor program. WININI will then read the newly changed WIN.INI into memory so that other programs can take account of the changes in it; you don't have to stop and restart Windows. Installation ------------ WININI works with Windows 3 and is installed in the usual manner. The program file is WININI.EXE. No other files are necessary to use WININI. To install the program file: * Copy WININI.EXE to a suitable hard disk directory. You can use your main WINDOWS directory, create a new one or add WININI to a directory you already have for smaller Windows programs and accessories. To start WININI directly: * Run the program file WININI.EXE from the Windows Program Manager, File Manager, MS-DOS Executive or whatever shell/launch program you like to use. You can either choose 'File' 'Run' and then enter the command WININI (you may need to give the drive and directory where WININI is stored, e.g. C:\WINUTILS\WININI) or double-click on the filename in the File Manager or other program launcher display. To create an icon for WININI in the Windows Program Manager display: * Select a suitable program group by clicking on it once (e.g. Accessories). If you prefer, you can create a new program group by choosing 'New...' from the Program Manager 'File' menu and then selecting 'Program Group'. * Select 'New...' from the Program Manager 'File' menu. * Choose 'Program Item' and click okay in the 'New Program Object' dialog. * In the 'Program Item Properties' dialog, click on 'Browse' and then use the mouse to locate the WININI.EXE program file and double-click on it. * You may want to alter the description item to read 'WIN.INI changed' to act as a reminder that you should run the program after each time you alter WIN.INI directly in Windows. * Click 'Okay' back in the 'Program Item Properties' dialog and the WININI icon should appear in your selected program group. You can now start WININI by double-clicking on this icon as normal. Using WININI ------------ WININI is straightforward to use. After making changes to the WIN.INI file with the Notepad, Sysedit or other text editor program, just run WININI. This reads in the new file and informs other applications that one or more changes have been made to it. Good Windows applications running at the time will look to see what the changes are and take account of them if appropriate. @@WINMODE WINMODE Fran Finnegan Check for Windows or task switcher version 1.0 ------------------------------------------------------- A number of DOS programs should not be run when Windows is running. For example, CHKDSK should not be used with its /F switch. Other DOS programs require a special switch or option when run in a DOS session to ensure that Windows does not conflict with their operation. WINMODE provides an easy way for a batch file to spot whether Windows is running or indeed whether the MS-DOS 5 task switcher, where many of the same limitations apply, is loaded. Format ------ WINMODE Inside a batch file, this sets the ERRORLEVEL to say whether or not Windows is loaded. The following values are returned and can be tested with the IF ERRORLEVEL batch command: 0 No Windows or Task switcher (plain DOS) 1 DOS 5.0 Task switch is running 2 Windows 3.xx in standard mode is running 3 Windows 386 2.xx is running 4 Windows 3.xx in enhanced mode is running WINMODE normally also reports its findings to the screen. You can hide this message in a batch file by redirecting the program's output to the NUL device. For example, in the batch file use: WINMODE >NUL If you're using WINMODE in a batch file just to ensure that a program that should not be used when in a multi-tasking situation is not accidentally run, you need only use lines like this: WINMODE >NUL IF ERRORLEVEL 1 THEN GOTO NOGO ... command to run program ... :NOGO ECHO Program only available from plain DOS prompt Of course, you can use more extensive IF ERRORLEVEL tests to take different actions or produces different messages as appropriate. @@WINWHERE WINWHERE Marc Adler Windows file finder version 1.0 ------------------------------------------------------- WINWHERE searches for files by name, date and/or size. The program will search through sub-directories and across several drives in a single step. It also has the ability to create a batch file that performs a particular command on each file found so, for example, you can quickly locate all the .LOG files on your hard disk(s) and create a batch file to move them off onto floppy disks. Installation ------------ WINWHERE works with Windows 3.0 and 3.1 and is installed in the usual manner. The program file is WINWHERE.EXE. No other files are necessary to use WINWHERE. To install the program file: * Copy WINWHERE.EXE to a suitable hard disk directory. You can use your main WINDOWS directory, create a new one or add WINWHERE to a directory you already have for smaller Windows programs and accessories. Ideally, the directory containing the WINWHERE.EXE file should be in your DOS command path (set with the PATH command, usually in AUTOEXEC.BAT) so that you can run WINWHERE from any drive or directory but this is not necessary. To start WINWHERE directly: * Run the program file WINWHERE.EXE from the Windows Program Manager, File Manager, MS-DOS Executive or whatever shell/launch program you like to use. You can either choose 'File' 'Run' and then enter the command WINWHERE (you may need to give the drive and directory where WINWHERE is stored, e.g. C:\WINUTILS\WINWHERE) or double-click on the filename in the File Manager, MS-DOS Executive or other program launcher display. To create an icon for WINWHERE in the Windows Program Manager display: * Select a suitable program group by clicking on it once (e.g. Accessories). If you prefer, you can create a new program group by choosing 'New...' from the Program Manager 'File' menu and then selecting 'Program Group'. * Select 'New...' from the Program Manager 'File' menu. * Choose 'Program Item' and click okay in the 'New Program Object' dialog. * In the 'Program Item Properties' dialog, click on 'Browse' and then use the mouse to locate the WINWHERE.EXE program file and double-click on it. * Click 'Okay' back in the 'Program Item Properties' dialog and the WINWHERE icon should appear in your selected program group. You can now start WINWHERE by double-clicking on this icon as normal. Using WINWHERE -------------- WINWHERE presents a single dialog box in which you can enter your search specifications. * On the left, select the drives that you wish to search using the mouse... hold down Shift and click to select more than one drive. WINWHERE will search every directory on each of the drives you highlight. If you do not select any drives on this list, WINWHERE only searches the current directory. * Enter the filename to search for. You can include Wildcards here. * If appropriate, click the check box for date searching and enter a date to search for. You can have WINWHERE look for files created or last changed on, before or after a particular date. * If appropriate, click the check box for size searching and enter a size to search for. You can have WINWHERE look for files that are shorter than, exactly equal or longer than a given size. * Click 'Okay' to start the search... WINWHERE shows the files found in a list box on the right of its display. * Click 'Quit' to leave WINWHERE. Using the 'Add File...' and File type options --------------------------------------------- WINWHERE includes a shorthand mechanism for entering the type or names of files you wish to search for. To the right of the filename item is an item labelled 'File Type' which is normally set to 'Anything'. You can add new File Types by clicking the 'Add File...' button and entering appropriate details. For example, if you often want to search for PCX image files, click 'Add File...' and then enter 'PCX' for 'File Type' and '*.PCX' for 'File Spec'. You can now choose 'PCX' from the File Type list with the mouse and *.PCX will automatically appear in the 'Filename' item. The file types you create are stored in your WIN.INI startup file under the item [where]. If you need to change or remove types, edit WIN.INI with the Windows Notepad or other text editor. Be sure, as always, to keep a back-up copy of WIN.INI in case you make a mistake. Creating a batch file to process found files -------------------------------------------- WINWHERE includes a useful ability to create a batch file to process each of the files it has located in a search. For example, you might free up some disk space by searching all of your drives for .BAK (back-up) files and then create a batch file to delete them. To do this: * Search for the files you want as normal * With the searched files showing, click 'Find Options'. In the 'Generate Batch Command' dialog, enter your batch command. WINWHERE creates one line in the batch file for each file found. Type a ! at the point in the command where the file's name should go. For example, if you wanted to delete all the selected files, you would type: DEL ! * Type a name for the batch file, for example, CLEANUP.BAT * Click 'Okay' * WINWHERE creates the batch file and then offers to run it for you. Choose Yes if you want the file run immediately. If you choose No, the batch file will be stored in the WINWHERE directory where you can examine or run it later. * WINWHERE's batch file creator can be used for other purposes too. For example, if you enter just a ! as the batch command, WINWHERE will create a text file that lists each of the found files. This might be usefully printed out as a reference or used as a file list with other utilities. @@WPRINT WPRINT Philip B Eskelin Jr Drag-and-drop file printer for Windows 3.1 version 1.0 ------------------------------------------------------- WPRINT lets you print a text or bitmap file in one easy mouse operation. Simply click on the file you wish to print and drag it to the WPRINT icon... WPRINT will print your file when you release the mouse button. WPRINT uses Windows 3.1's drag-and-drop features and does not work with Windows 3.0. Installation ------------ WPRINT works with Windows 3.1 and is installed in the usual manner. The program file is WPRINT.EXE. No other files are necessary to use WPRINT. To install the program file: * Copy WPRINT.EXE to a suitable hard disk directory. You can use your main WINDOWS directory, create a new one or add WPRINT to a directory you already have for smaller Windows programs and accessories. Ideally, the directory containing the WPRINT.EXE file should be in your DOS command path (set with the PATH command, usually in AUTOEXEC.BAT) so that you can run WPRINT from any drive or directory but this is not necessary. To load WPRINT: * Run the program file WPRINT.EXE from the Windows Program Manager, File Manager, MS-DOS Executive or whatever shell/launch program you like to use. You can either choose 'File' 'Run' and then enter the command WPRINT (you may need to give the drive and directory where WPRINT is stored, e.g. C:\WINUTILS\WPRINT) or double-click on the filename in the File Manager, MS-DOS Executive or other program launcher display. To create an icon for WPRINT in the Windows Program Manager display: * Select a suitable program group by clicking on it once (e.g. Accessories). If you prefer, you can create a new program group by choosing 'New...' from the Program Manager 'File' menu and then selecting 'Program Group'. * Select 'New...' from the Program Manager 'File' menu. * Choose 'Program Item' and click okay in the 'New Program Object' dialog. * In the 'Program Item Properties' dialog, click on 'Browse' and then use the mouse to locate the WPRINT.EXE program file and double-click on it. * Click 'Okay' back in the 'Program Item Properties' dialog and the WPRINT icon should appear in your selected program group. You can now start WPRINT by double-clicking on this icon as normal. Running WPRINT -------------- To use WPRINT, first load the program by running it. Double-click on the WPRINT icon in Program Manager or use the 'File' 'Run' menu option. When started, WPRINT will appear as an icon at the bottom of your screen and display a 'WPRINT Settings' dialog box. Click 'Okay' to accept the current settings or make adjustments as necessary (see below). WPRINT now runs just as the icon at the base of the screen. To print a file, click on it in the Windows File Manager and, with the mouse button held down, drag the file over the WPRINT icon. When the mouse cursor changes to what looks like an earmarked piece of paper with a cross in it, let go of the mouse button. WPRINT will now print the file. WPRINT can be very handy with multiple files... simply select a group of files in the File Manager (with 'File' 'Select Files...' or by Shift-clicking each one) and then drag any one of the selected files to WPRINT; each file selected will now be printed in turn. WPRINT menus ------------ WPRINT has its menu options tucked away on the normal system menu (alongside Move, Close, Restore and so on). Click once on the WPRINT icon when it's running to use these options. You can choose 'Print file' to print a particular file by selecting it in the normal way or 'Settings...' to check or change the current WPRINT settings. WPRINT settings --------------- The WPRINT settings dialog provides control over printer setup through the normal Windows printer setup dialog box and lets you specify how bitmap (.BMP) files should be printed... you can choose fit to page, printer resolution or have the image magnified. @@WSMOOTH WSMOOTH Richard Hale Shaw Windows text file browser version 1.0 ------------------------------------------------------- A text-browsing utility, designed specifically for use in Microsoft Windows 3, that provides smooth, bi-directional scrolling at user-selectable speeds to ease reading from the screen. WSMOOTH is a Windows-based version of the PC Magazine Utility SMOOTH.COM (SMOOTH uses hardware scrolling techniques and can only be used in Windows if run full-screen). Installing WSMOOTH ------------------ WSMOOTH works with Windows 3.0 and 3.1. The program file is WSMOOTH.EXE. No other files are necessary to run the program. To install the program file: * Copy WSMOOTH.EXE to a suitable hard disk directory. You can use your main WINDOWS directory, create a new one or add WSMOOTH to a directory you already have for smaller Windows programs and accessories. To run WSMOOTH: * Run the program file WSMOOTH.EXE from the Windows Program Manager, File Manager, MS-DOS Executive or whatever shell/launch program you like to use. You can either choose 'File' 'Run' and then enter the command WSMOOTH or double-click on the filename in the File Manager, MS-DOS Executive or other program launcher display. To create an icon for WSMOOTH in the Windows Program Manager display: * Select a suitable program group by clicking on it once (e.g. Accessories). If you prefer, you can create a new program group by choosing 'New...' from the Program Manager 'File' menu and then selecting 'Program Group'. * Select 'New...' from the Program Manager 'File' menu. * Choose 'Program Item' and click okay in the 'New Program Object' dialog. * In the 'Program Item Properties' dialog, click on 'Browse' and then use the mouse to locate the WSMOOTH.EXE program file and double-click on it. * Click 'Okay' back in the 'Program Item Properties' dialog and the WSMOOTH icon should appear in your selected program group. You can now start WSMOOTH by double-clicking on this icon as normal. Command Format -------------- This format can be used when starting WSMOOTH with a 'File' 'Run' menu option or similar. WSMOOTH [filename] [msecs] [pixel rows] [/W] Using WSMOOTH ------------- WSMOOTH lets you use the mouse or the keyboard to display a file and control the scrolling speed. If you invoke WSMOOTH without specifying a filename, a file selection dialog box will be displayed. Once a file is selected, the program will immediately begin scrolling the file in its window. Scrolling direction is set using the Up and Down Arrow keys or a single mouse click on the arrows on the vertical scroll bar. PgUp and PgDn flip a screenful at a time, and Home and End take you to the top or bottom of the file. The spacebar or a single left mouse click mouse click will freeze scrolling and a subsequent keystroke or mouse click will resume. You exit WSMOOTH by pressing Esc, selecting Exit from the File menu, or double-clicking the System icon. The msecs parameter lets you set the frequency at which WSMOOTH scrolls the screen. By default, msecs is set to 100 (milliseconds), so it will scroll about 10 times a second; a value of 1000 will cause WSMOOTH to scroll approximately every second. The pixel rows parameter (set to 1 by default) lets you adjust the number of rows of pixels scrolled, from 1 to 9. While scrolling you can also control the number of pixel rows scrolled at a time in three ways: using the plus and minus keys; double- and single-clicking the right mouse button; or pressing one of the number keys. Zero brings WSMOOTH to a standstill; numbers 1-9 steadily increase the rate. Notice that WSMOOTH gets progressively less smooth as you increase the pixel row setting toward 9. The /W switch causes WSMOOTH to strip the high bit from each character before displaying it. This feature proves useful when viewing WordStar files or others that use the high bit to format the document. Try it if a document you're viewing occasionally appears to contain graphics characters. Please note that WSMOOTH is limited to text files of 30K in size.