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September 3, 1999 Diskeeper[R] 5.01 (Build 330t) for Windows[R] 95/98 and Windows NT[R] 4.0 For x86 Platforms This text file provides information you should know about this version of Diskeeper. TRIALWARE INFORMATION ===================== 1. This copy of Diskeeper is a full-featured version with all the functionality of the retail product. The only difference between this and the retail version is that this version will expire 30 days after you install it. 2. For information about purchasing Diskeeper, including volume discounts, contact your reseller, or contact Executive Software at Tel. Nr. + 44 1342 327 477. A detailed list of Diskeeper resellers is available from the Executive Software Web site at www.execsoft.co.uk. PLATFORMS AND OPERATING SYSTEM VERSIONS SUPPORTED ================================================= This version of Diskeeper is supported on Intel x86 (or compatible) platforms running Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT 4.0. Note that Diskeeper requires OSR2 or higher on Windows 95 systems. OVERVIEW OF DISKEEPER 5.0 ========================= Diskeeper continues to improve with each new version, and this version is no exception -- we have made numerous changes and enhancements as the result of feedback from customers worldwide. Support for Windows 95 and Windows 98 workstations has been added, truely making Diskeeper "The Standard in Entire Network Defragmentation"[TM]. The Windows NT version of Diskeeper 5.0 introduces Frag Guard[R], a feature that permits automatic defragmentation scheduling of the Master File Table (MFT) and paging file at boot-time, when needed. Frag Guard also has an online feature to keep MFT and paging file fragmentation at a minimum. Diskeeper 5.0 relies on both the Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) and the Microsoft Management Console (MMC). DCOM is used for communication between the various components that make up Diskeeper. For example, when a Diskeeper defragmentation operation is scheduled to begin, the Diskeeper controller module uses DCOM to send a message to the defragmentation engine to begin the defragmentation process. The MMC provides a single point of control for system utilities such as Diskeeper. The MMC is used as a central location for a variety of Microsoft and third-party administrative tools. Note that Internet Explorer 4.01 or higher must also be installed on your computer for MMC operation. In most cases, Windows 95 systems are not running either DCOM or the MMC by default. On Windows 98 and Windows NT systems, DCOM is installed by default when the operating system is installed, but the MMC is an additional installation. The Diskeeper setup process automatically installs DCOM and the MMC on your computer if it determines either are not already installed. MAJOR FEATURES IN THIS VERSION ============================== The following features have been incorporated into this version of Diskeeper. All of these functions are available from the Action menu in the Diskeeper MMC Snap-In: Frag Guard ---------- Frag Guard (in the Windows NT version only) is a breakthrough new feature for Diskeeper. Frag Guard and the Diskeeper Boot-Time defragmentation function combine to address the defragmentation of two critical sections of an NTFS volume, the Master File Table (MFT) and the paging file, and keeps them that way. Frag Guard has an online mechanism that minimizes MFT and paging file fragmentation, greatly reducing the need for boot-time defragmentation runs. This mechanism also monitors the fragmentation levels of the MFT and paging file, and automatically sets a boot-time defragmentation operation to run when either of these levels exceeds a threshold that you set. The boot-time defragmentation will only occur during a time period you specify. The dialog box that controls the Frag Guard settings is displayed during setup, but can also be accessed later from the Action menu. Note that in order for Frag Guard to provide any benefit on most volumes, it is necessary for you to run a full Boot-Time defragmentation of the volume. This includes defragmenting the MFT and paging file, as well as defragmenting and consolidating the directories. This manual Boot-Time defragmentation run "clears the way" to allow Frag Guard to fully function. Set It and Forget It[R] Scheduling ---------------------------------- The Set It and Forget It mode allows Diskeeper to run automatically in the background while users and other processes are active on the system. To run Diskeeper in the Set It and Forget It mode, first create a schedule specifying the times Diskeeper either will or will not be allowed to run on a specific disk volume, then start the scheduled defragmentation job. After a defragmentation schedule is created for a volume, Diskeeper will follow that schedule until you explicitly stop it. The defragmentation job will run as scheduled, whether you are logged onto the computer or not. Also, multiple Set It and Forget It defragmentation jobs can be run at the same time on separate volumes. To stop a Set It and Forget It defragmentation job, open the Set It and Forget It dialog box from the Action menu, highlight the disk volume for which you want to stop the schedule, then click Stop. By default, Set It and Forget It defragmentation jobs are run at "Lowest" Windows priority. As an option, you can change the priority at which Diskeeper runs for Set It and Forget It jobs. To do this, select the Priority option from the Action menu. Note that raising the priority of Diskeeper jobs can impact the performance of other tasks on your system running at the same time, but will reduce the amount of time needed to defragment your disk volumes. Exclusion List -------------- Choose the Exclusion List option from the Action menu to create an Exclusion List. In some cases, you may have files or directories of files you do not want to defragment. For example, you might not want to defragment temporary files that will soon be deleted. Any files or directories can be excluded from Diskeeper processing by creating an exclusion list. Selectable Run Priorities ------------------------- Use the Priority option on the Action menu to select the Windows priority at which Diskeeper defragmentation jobs run. You can set the priority independently for both "Set It and Forget It" and "Manual Defragmentation" defragmentation jobs. By default, scheduled, "Set It and Forget It" defragmentation jobs run at the lowest Windows priority. Also by default, "Manual Defragmentation" jobs run at the normal Windows priority. The priority for either type of defragmentation job can be changed with the Priority option. Running at the lowest priority minimizes the system performance impact when Diskeeper is defragmenting a disk volume. However, defragmentation jobs running at the lowest priority can take substantially longer to complete than those running at higher priorities, since Diskeeper "backs off" for any process running at a higher priority (even screen savers). For this reason, you may have occasions where you want to run Diskeeper at a higher priority. In these instances, use the higher priority options. Keep in mind, though, that your system performance may be impacted when Diskeeper is run at higher priorities. Event Logging ------------- Use the Event Logging option on the Action menu to enable and disable the recording of various Diskeeper events to a log file. On Windows 95/98, the Diskeeper log file is named DkEventLog.txt, and it is stored in the directory where Diskeeper is installed. This text file can be viewed with Notepad, or your choice of text editor programs. On Windows NT, the Diskeeper information is logged in the Windows NT Application Event Log. See the "After the Installation" section of the Diskeeper Help for information about setting up the Windows NT Application Event Log for optimum logging operation. KNOWN RESTRICTIONS AND BUGS IN THIS RELEASE =========================================== 1. Diskeeper 5.0 is not supported on Windows 2000 systems. Do not use this version on any disk volumes that are accessed by Windows 2000 systems, even under dual-boot situations. A separate version of Diskeeper that runs on Windows 2000 will be released at a later date. 2. Diskeeper 5.0 will not defragment NTFS volumes formatted under Windows 2000. 3. Under Windows NT, Diskeeper 5.0 will not defragment FAT32 volumes. It will, however defragment FAT32 volumes when running on Windows 98 systems. 4. Connecting to remote computers with the server version of Diskeeper can take up to 1 minute, depending on your network connection and traffic. 5. The Diskeeper Server version does not support remote connections on a peer-to-peer network. 6. Hot-keys and tabs on dialog boxes do not work and may be incorrectly focused on a background window. 7. If User Profiles are enabled on Windows 95/98 systems, Diskeeper will only be available under the logon of the user who installed it. If you are using multiple user profiles, you can install Diskeeper from within each profile to make it available to that profile. 8. Although Diskeeper attempts to lock removable drives, some may not be lockable, or may eject anyway if the eject button is used. Data corruption may occur if you eject a removable disk while defragmentation is occurring on that disk. 9. When multiple disk volumes are scheduled to be defragmented with the same starting time, defragmentation is started on the volumes one at a time, with one-minute intervals between each starting time. This is by design. 10. The Boot-Time Defragmentation feature is only available in the Windows NT version of Diskeeper. Under Windows 95/98, directory consolidation is not necessary, since directories are automatically defragmented by Diskeeper in its online mode. Swap file defragmentation under Windows 95/98 is not supported in this version of Diskeeper. 11. If you are running Internet Explorer 4.0 and using Dial Up Networking (DUN) with a modem, starting Diskeeper can cause the DUN dialog box to be displayed. To work around this, disable connecting through a modem or install Internet Explorer 5.0. Internet Explorer 5.0 may show similar results if the "Always dial my default connection" option is set via the Tools | Internet options | Connection tab set. 12. If you install other software that also loads the MMC, be aware that the other product may install an older version of the MMC. If this occurs, Diskeeper may not operate correctly, and should be reinstalled. 13. FAT volumes larger than 2GB formatted on Windows NT can not be defragmented under Windows 95/98. This is due to a 2GB FAT volume limit on Windows 95/98 systems. 14. The free space figures displayed in the Diskeeper MMC snap-in may not match those shown in the Diskeeper report view if you are running Norton Protect. 15. If you are defragmenting a remote computer with the Server version of Diskeeper, shutting down the remote system can cause the MMC on the local machine to generate an application error. 16. When you use the server version of Diskeeper 5.0 to connect to computers running earlier versions of Diskeeper, the information normally shown in the Diskeeper snap-in (such as capacity and free space figures) is displayed as zeros (0). This is because the earlier versions do not collect this information at the GUI level. 17. When you use the server version of Diskeeper 5.0 to connect to computers running earlier versions of Diskeeper, the progress bar at the bottom of the Diskeeper snap-in display will proceed to 100% several times -- once each time an individual "pass" completes on the pre-V5.0 computer. 18. When the Notification option has been enabled in the Automatic Boot-Time section of the Frag Guard dialog box, the scheduled restart will not occur unless you are logged off the computer. 19. When a Diskeeper 5.0 server is connected to a workstation running Diskeeper 4.1, and the MMC is shut down and re-started on the server, the graphic display showing the remote machine is blank. 20. Keeping the Frag Guard dialog box displayed for long periods of time can affect the operation of other Diskeeper components. 21. When the post-defragmentation summary report is displayed, scheduled Set It and Forget It defragmentation jobs are prevented from starting. Close the summary report to allow the scheduled defragmentation to occur. 22. During periods of high Diskeeper activity (such as starting and stopping analysis and defragmentation on many disk volumes in rapid succession), "orphan engines" may be present on your computer. These processes will appear in the Windows NT Task Manager under the Processes tab. In some cases, the orphan engines will self-terminate; in other cases you may need to manually end the process via Task Manager. KNOWN INCOMPATIBILITIES ======================= 1. Diskeeper 5.0 may not be compatible with anti-virus products that check each file when the file is opened. This behavior, found in McAfee and Norton anti-virus tools (as well as others), has occasionally been reported to conflict with the file movement methods used by Diskeeper. To prevent a Windows NT "bug check" crash, it may be necessary to disable the "active file scan" options of these products during a defragmentation run or before a boot-time defragmentation operation. NOTE: This incompatibility has only appeared at a very small number of sites. Thousands of users are successfully running Diskeeper with anti-virus products. 2. Running McAfee VirusScan 3.1.4a and scheduling a boot-time defragmentation operation can result in an erroneous system corruption message. No damage actually occurs. 3. Diskeeper will not run on disk volumes that are locked by utilities such as Scandisk. 4. Software products that use their own file-update synchronization, bypassing the Windows NT file-locking and synchronization techniques, are not compatible with Diskeeper. Attempting to defragment files on a computer running this type of software can result in data corruption. 5. We have noted occasional problems in defragmenting volumes that have been configured or resized with Partition Magic. If you are having problems defragmenting a volume, and it has previously been configured or resized with Partition Magic, it may be necessary to backup, reformat, and restore the volume prior to running Diskeeper. 6. When using an IOMEGA JAZ drive with the IOMEGA Quick.exe application installed, you may receive the following blue screen error message when you log on to the computer using an administrative account: Stop 0x0000000A (parameter,parameter,parameter,parameter) IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL. The IOMEGA Quick.exe application is installed in the Startup group to start automatically. It sends invalid system calls that are only allowed when logged on as an administrator. When the Diskeeper Boot-Time operation is run, the Quick.exe application is delayed in starting, thus causing the above problem. 7. The Matrox Millenium G200 AGP video card only displays 25 lines at boot-time, and will not scroll until about 49 lines have been written. If the "Pause at End" Diskeeper Boot-Time option has been selected, the Boot-Time process appears to hang, because the user does not see the message. 8. The Hercules Terminator AGP 128/3D "GLH" 8MB also does not appear to display the full Boot-Time dialog, and thus appears to hang when the "Pause at End" option in the Diskeeper Boot-Time option has been selected. INSTALLING DISKEEPER ==================== Windows NT Note: If you have previously installed Diskeeper Lite on your computer, Executive Software recommends that you uninstall it before proceeding with the installation of Diskeeper. If, however, you decide to leave Diskeeper Lite on your system, be aware that uninstalling Diskeeper Lite after the installation will remove certain Windows NT registry entries used by Diskeeper, and you will need to re-install Diskeeper. Use the Add/Remove Programs applet in Control Panel to uninstall Diskeeper Lite. Note: On Windows NT machines, you must have Service Pack 3 or higher installed. Also, you must be logged into an account that is a member of the Administrators group Note: Install Diskeeper into a different directory folder than the folder you are installing from. Follow these steps to install Diskeeper: 1. The Diskeeper Trialware package is a self-extracting compressed file. Download the Trialware package into a temporary directory. 2. From Windows Explorer, double click file you downloaded in the temporary directory. Once started, Setup will ask you where you want the installation files to be unpacked. The default location will be \DiskeeperServer\ or \DiskeeperWorkstation\ (depending on the version you are installing) under your Windows system temporary folder. Either select the default or specify the desired folder. 3. If Internet Explorer 4.01 or higher is not installed on your computer, the Diskeeper Setup program is paused and you are directed to a Web site where the latest version of Internet Explorer is available for downloading. Microsoft Management Console (MMC), which is the interface for Diskeeper, requires Internet Explorer. 4. If the MMC is not installed on your computer, the Diskeeper Setup program is paused and the MMC Setup program is started automatically. 5. After the MMC files are installed, the Diskeeper Setup program resumes. 6. The Setup program checks to confirm DCOM is installed on your computer. If it is not, the Diskeeper Setup program exits and the DCOM Setup program is begun. After a short period of copying files, the DCOM installation is complete. 7. Click Next when the welcome message appears. 8. Diskeeper detects and removes any previously installed Diskeeper software and asks if you want to keep the previous settings. 9. As an option, you can change the destination location for the Diskeeper files. By default, Diskeeper is installed in one of the following locations on your Windows system volume, depending on the version installed: \Program Files\Executive Software\Diskeeper\DiskeeperSvr \Program Files\Executive Software\Diskeeper\DiskeeperWks To choose another disk volume or directory, click Browse. If you choose another volume or directory, click OK to accept the new destination location. Any valid local disk volume and directory name is acceptable. If the directory you specify does not exist, a new directory will be created by the Setup utility. 10. After accepting or editing the path name, click Next. 11. You are next given the option to change the program group in which Diskeeper will reside in your Windows Start menu. 12. You are then presented with the opportunity to register Diskeeper online. 13. On Windows NT only: Accept or modify the Frag Guard default settings and click OK. 14. After Setup is complete, you must restart your computer, before running Diskeeper. 15. To run Diskeeper, click the Windows Start button and select Programs, Executive Software, and then Diskeeper. UNINSTALLING DISKEEPER ====================== Follow these steps to remove Diskeeper from your computer: 1. From Control Panel, double click "Add/Remove Programs". 2. Click the "Install/Uninstall" tab. 3. Highlight "Diskeeper". 4. Click "Add/Remove". This removes the Diskeeper program files from your computer. 5. When prompted, click "Yes" to remove the Roboex32.dll shared file, unless you know of other programs on your computer that also use this file. If this is the case, click "No" instead. 6. It may be necessary to manually delete the Diskeeper installation directory after the uninstall process is complete. Note: If the MMC and DCOM have been installed on your computer, they will not be removed when Diskeeper is uninstalled. (c) Copyright 1999 Executive Software International, Inc. All rights reserved. Diskeeper, Executive Software, Frag Guard and "Set It and Forget It" are registered trademarks owned by Executive Software International, Inc. "The Standard in Entire Network Defragmentation" is a trademark owned by Executive Software International, Inc. Microsoft, Windows, and Windows NT are registered trademarks owned by Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.