A Windows 95/98/NT 4.x/5.0 utility that monitors all the hard drives available to your computer, including network drives, and lets you know when they drop below a user-defined limit.
Quick Feature List
ò Monitors both local and network drives.
ò Located in the system tray out of the way until you need it.
ò Notifies you of limits reached without interrupting your work.
ò Quick access to monitored drives. (Only a double-click away!)
ò Simple configuration.
ò Drive logging of program events.
ò Works on Windows 95, Windows 95 OSR2.x, Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0 Workstation or Server.
These days hard drive prices continue to drop as their sizes rise. One would think with all this extra drive space, who would need to concern themselves with how much free space they have left.
"I have lots a free disk space on my hard drive. I think?"
Even with gigs and gigs of disk space, it seems that a lot of users still seem to devour it. Maybe this is from the ever-increasing size of new software, web browser caches, downloading programs from the Internet and what about those games? It just doesn't stop.
Wouldn't it be great if you could see in a blink of an eye how much room you have left on that single drive or all the hard drives you have? Wouldn't it even be better if your computer could notify you when that amount of free drive space fell below a pre-set limit? Well, guess what, we have the utility just for you and its called SpaceTracker.
A wide range of users from the occasional user to network system administrators can use SpaceTracker.
SpaceTracker can be used everyday by the casual computer user. Such things as monitoring disk space while you; surf the web, download some new software, install your recent software purchase, type that letter to grandma, send and receive those important faxes, scan in those great weekend photos and so much more. SpaceTracker will keep a watchful eye on your selected drives while you go about your business.
SpaceTracker has proved itself in a network setting, monitoring network disk drives and catching many atypical problems. Such things as network down time, disk full errors, network user lockouts and many other problems can be avoided or caught early. All these things can be noticed at the onset by just monitoring your network server drives. This allows you the time to respond quickly and appropriately to the problem at hand, before you receive calls from users about problems getting access to the servers drives, applications and many other problems.
SpaceTracker is distributed with a simple installation program that installs the needed files and configures it. The installation program also allowed you choose to have SpaceTracker start automatically every time you start Windows.
For those interested in what software does to your computer when it installs itself, we have listed the files that the installation program copies to your computer and located in the program directory you choose:
SpaceTracker.exe
SpaceTracker.hlp
SpaceTracker.cnt
dHp Software.url
readme.txt (this file)
install.log
RemoveSpaceTracker.exe
SpaceTracker creates the following three files once you have used it and the on-line help:
SpaceTracker Stats.txt
SpaceTracker.gid
install.old (possibly if you had a previously installed version)
SpaceTracker utilizes a newer version of Windows system COMCTL32.DLL file. The updated file is distributed with Microsoft« Internet Explorer 3.x or greater, Microsoft« Office 97, NT 4.0 SP 2 and several other Microsoft« products.
Refer to Section 8 at the bottom of this file for further infomration about the COMCTL32.DLL and where you can get an updated copy off the internet.
It is unfortunate that we live in a litigious society in which the lawyers are generally the only winners. However, that makes the following verbiage necessary:
dHp Software takes no responsibility for any damage to goods, data, systems, business, lives or small furry animals through misuse (or ill behaved behavior) of this program.
This program has been tested and checked to be æerrorÆ free. However, like any piece of software there can be incompatibility problems or little bugs that sneak in. We disclaim any responsibility for the damages to your computer, your data, your business or your life that may incur through the use of this program.
Now that we have said all that really exciting stuff, we have to say thanks for reading it!
SpaceTracker is being released with the hopes that it is self explanatory in nature and you are able to quickly start using it to track all the drives you want. However, if for some reason you run into a snag trying to use SpaceTracker or even worse you find a 'bug' please feel free to contact us for some support. We have listed our e-mail and web address below for this purpose. We will try to respond to reproducible errors in the program in a timely matter, just remember you are getting this version of the software for free.
dHp Software has tried to the best of its ability to make stable program. However, there is really no such thing in the computer industry these days and inevitably problems may arise. If such an occasion does arise, we are more than willing to take SpaceTracker bug sightings and try to resolve the problems.
dHp Software also welcomes all suggestions and comments related to the SpaceTracker package. All suggestions will be considered for possible implementation in future releases of the program. We already have a list of new features for the next release thanks to our great testers or happy users!
Current technical support questions should be directed to dHp Software.
dHp Software e-mail: dHpSoftware@bigfoot.com
dHp Software web page: http://dHpWare.simplenet.com
The following lists are the new, fixed or changed items:
Known Issues
------------
ò Currently any FAT32 harddrive over 2 Gigs in size that are monitored via a network connection will not report any more than 2 Gigs in size. This is a known 'feature' in Microsoft Windows. Local FAT32 formatted drives report properly. Just networked drives do not. Even MS Explorer will also report the drive information no more than 2 Gigs, so we are not alone!
ò Just as FAT32 harddrive over 2 Gigs in size that are monitored via a network connection will not report any more than 2 Gigs in size, so is true for some Novell mounted drives.
ò If you set the refresh time below the time setting of your screen saver on some machines, the screen saver never starts.
The problem can be avoided if you set the refresh rate above the idle time for your screensaver. This has been proven to solve this problem.
New Items
---------
o Added the ability on drive percentages to be less than 1%. Now you can set it between 0% and 0.9%.
o Added Total column to the drive listing in the Options window. Now you can see what the total disk space quickly!
o Added hot tracking to the disk tracking list (underlines the entries as you move the mouse over each one.)
o Added more detailed error message handling.
o Added sort order up/down arrow on the drive listing headers in the Options window.
o Added so the current sorted column selected and direction is saved and restore upon next startup, allowing you to select how the tray icons should be sorted each time SpaceTracker is started.
o Added the ability for the program to wake-up the computer during a screensaver when a limit is reached.
o Added this read me file to the beginning of the install program so you can see what you are installing, before actually installing it. :)
o Added Startup Splash Screen/About Box/Thank You's!
o Added a check box to the Options tab to allow the Startup Splash screen to be turned on and off.
o Added the dHp Software tab page to the Options window with new web links.
o Added SpaceTracker Assistant windows that are displayed when there are no drives being tracked and SpaceTracker is started. We all need a little assistance from time to time. :)
Fixed/Changed Items
-------------------
o Fixed several registry-reading problems that could occur and result in index errors occurring.
o Fixed a problem with NT users not having local administrative rights not being able to run SpaceTracker at all.
o Fixed a problem where the screen saver would not start on some machines if SpaceTracker was running.
o Fixed a problem with the Start button flashing on Windows 95/98 and Windows NT machines with Internet Explorer 4.x installed.
o Fixed a problem with Internet Explorer 5.0 common control update causing the program to crash on startup.
o Fixed it so when you used the refresh button in the Options screen, the refresh rate countdown starts over from that point.
o Fixed a problem with the ability to click on the Refresh button and Exit the program, causing it to crash.
o Fixed a problem with the Edit and Delete buttons not being disabled when no drive selected in drive list.
o Fixed a slight problem Insert/Delete control in the disk tracking list and focus problems.
o Fixed it so when the Options window is displayed it will fit completely within the desktop. (Taking into account the Taskbar or Application bars on the desktop).
o Fixed a problem with the Browse For Space dialog not functioning properly for certain system configurations.
o Fixed some drawing problems with the drive listing.
o Fixed some sorting problems with the drive listing.
o Fixed a problem with text not being right aligned when column heading is clicked to change sort order of drive listing.
o Fixed several memory/resource leaks.
o Changed/updated some of the screen graphics to represent what the function is better.
o Changed the install to check NT users have local administrator rights during install.
o Changed it so that all drive icons are obtain from the system and match the drive icons that are seen in Explorer or Browse windows. This includes those shown in the Edit Settings window.
o Changed the startup warning on Pre-OSR2 Windows 95 machines to be shown each time you re-install the software. Just so repeat users know that Pre-OSR2 Windows 95 version do not support 2+ Gig drives, both locally and remote.
o Changed it so all messages that are displayed (error messages or information) are now in message boxes that are centered over opened window, instead of center of screen.
o Changed popup messages used to display limits being reached with new timed message boxes that automatically disappear after preset amount of time or you click the OK button.
o Changed the install to notify you that you need a newer COMCTL32.DLL system file when it starts, instead of notifying you after searching your drives for a current version of SpaceTracker.
o Changed the message displayed regarding the common control update to include Microsoft's web site address for the new COMCTL32.DLL.
** See below for greater details on this file.
o Changed it so the Edit window now centers itself over the Options window.
o Changed it so Settings are now saved when Options window is closed, instead of when SpaceTracker shuts down. So if Windows crashes at shutdown, last setting changes will have been saved.
o Changed the percent slider on the Edit Window to a disabled state if the drive being edited is 0.00 Mb total. (Example: Empty CD drive).
o Changed the Information tab in the Options window to include new information, new style and got rid of dynamic meters that only displayed for Windows 95 users. New processor information is the newest additions to this section.
o Changed main SpaceTracker tray icon to include when the next refresh will occur or is occurring in the ToolTip text.
o Changed it so that no critical messages are displayed with a message box that will automatically disappear after a timeout period. This way you can be away from you computer and SpaceTracker will not sit there forever with a message box displayed.
o Changed the refresh rate to support a range of 5 seconds to 30 minutes.
o Changed the way the refresh interval is handled so it is a little more friendly to power saving enabled machines.
o Changed the startup routine to allow for quicker starting.
o Changed several portions of the program design for quicker operation.
o Changed a few of the popup menu sidebar captions and appearances.
o Changed it so SpaceTracker is no longer multiple threads. Resulting in actually better performance due to overkill before.
o Changed the about tab to be shown as an About button on the dHp Software tab that brings up the About Splash screen.
<<Version 97.11.03>>
Fixed/Changed
-------------
ò Fixed a problem with the Steady Background and Lightbulb setting not working properly on drives with no tray icon.
ò Fixed a problem with Add drive dialog.
<<Version 97.11.01>>
New Things
----------
ò Brand new installation/setup program.
ò New Options tab for changing all SpaceTracker settings.
ò New default settings for new drives that are added on new Options tab page.
ò New Edit drive information window with drive information and settings.
ò New enhanced popup menus for both main tray icon and drive tray icons.
ò New flag is displayed next to drives that go below defined limit in the drive tracking list.
ò New notification actions for system tray icons, with active example.
ò New Refresh button on the Disk Settings page.
ò Added the ability to add a drive to the tracking list with the INS key.
ò Added the ability to remove a highlighted drive from the tracking list with the DEL key.
ò Added Used disk space in the stats file when recording a drive event.
ò Added UNC name for network drives in the stats file when recording a drive event.
Fixed/Changed
-------------
ò Fixed a problem with CD-ROM drives that have no disc not filling in all information when added as a new drive.
ò Fixed button staying on taskbar when SpaceTracker starts during Windows startup and not disappearing to system tray.
ò Fixed problem with dead network drives that come available after SpaceTracker starts not updating drive tracking list icons.
ò Fixed drive popup menus so that they disappear when you click anywhere outside of them.
ò Fixed some saved settings problems that would confuse network drives and disconnected local drives.
ò Fixed some other saved settings problems.
ò Fixed a problem with dead network drives causing Windows 95 OSR2 and NT 4.0 machines to hang or freeze for a long period of time.
ò Fixed list index errors on editing a network drive that is no longer connected.
ò Fixed where the stats file is placed. Now it stays within the program directory.
ò Fixed some Novell drive errors.
ò Fixed a problem with shutting down Windows with SpaceTracker still running.
ò Fixed a problem with the startup banner not disappearing after startup completion.
ò Fixed a problem with locating the Help file.
ò Fixed problems related to Microsoft's updated system files (IE 4.0)
ò Fixed problems related to tracking of CD-ROM's.
ò Fixed problems related to Small and Large display fonts.
ò Fixed problem related to setting drive refresh limits too low.
ò Fixed long volume name displaying format in several areas.
ò Fixed UNC name messages.
ò Changed the entering of drive minimums to a percentage slider.
ò Changed the way the stats file saves information. It now is comma delimited for easier import to a database or other program for analysis.
ò Changed SpaceTracker stats file from SpaceTracker Stats.txt to SpaceTrackerStats.txt to resolve some default text editors from thinking it is two files.
ò Changed a few things on the System Information page.
ò Changed date/time formatting to support other international versions.
ò Changed Serial number format to proper HEX format.
ò Changed it so that SpaceTracker Options window displays a button, on the taskbar when open.
ò Changed it so when sorting drive tracking list, system tray icons get placed in new sorted order.
ò Changed ToolTips on drive icons to include UNC names.
<<Version 97.02.10>>
New Things:
ò Added support for partitions over 2 Gigs (only on Windows 95 Build 1111 or greater/Windows NT 4.0)
ò Added ability to display drives as icons in system tray
ò Added drive meters on new drive meter icons
ò Added warning notification to individual displayed drives in the system tray
ò Added Popup warning messages
ò Added System Information tab page (Windows 95 Only)
ò Added modest regional date and time formatting to log file
ò Added UNC Listing for network drives
ò Added better UNC support for mapped network drives
ò Added sorting by all listed drive information
ò Added status bar to display drive information
ò Added popup menus to display drive information on drive meter icons
Fixed/Changed:
ò Fixed warning limits over 1 Gig
ò Fixed calculation error on large partitions
ò Fixed multiple drive limits being reached and not reporting correctly in log file
ò Fixed Options window not coming to top of other windows when already open
ò Fixed Explorer button reaction
ò Cleaned up some task bar problems in NT 4.0
ò Changed the refresh spinner box with a slider bar
ò Changed the minimum warning method to flashing meter gauge in the system tray
ò Changed the format of drive information in the Options window
ò Changed network password dialog so password is hidden (masked)
ò Changed the program main icon to reflect the new meter feature
ò Plus fixed some other little critters
<<Version 96.11.11>>
This was the first public release of the SpaceTracker program.
Microsoft« used to have very difficult redistribution policy about their COMCTL32.DLL system file. (Which happens to be an system file that SpaceTracker requires a specific version or newer to operate as designed.)
It basically stated that to redistribute their COMCTL32.DLL, you have to distribute Internet Explorer with your application. Well, after quite a few folks raised some dust over this requirement, they've loosened the "rules" a little bit.
Since we felt that some people would not need the updated version, we did not feel that we would integrate it into the setup at cost of an additional 500K install. Due to this decision, we still need to provide a way for those that do not have the updated system file to get it. We have listed the web locations to get the updated version below:
