PC Util 3/pc_util_3.iso/Scanner/scanner_setup.exe/#setuppath#/Scanner.en.txt

Text File | 2003-09-04 | 10.5 KB | 300 lines

Scanner 2.6
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Content:

1. Purpose And Usage
2. Optimization by Parallel Scanning
3. Attention: Scanner And Transparent Compression
4. Language Support
5. System Requirements
6. Installation/Deinstallation
7. Terms of Use
8. Known Bugs And Limitations
9. FAQ
10. Help!
11. Version History


1. Purpose And Usage

The Scanner provides a visualization of your media usage. To show the
relations optimally, all files and folders of the selected disk(s)
are displayed together in one diagram - with an area size proportional
to the used space. Smaller objects are invisible, of course. So the
Scanner is not intended to be a File Manager.

The Scanner uses an extended pie chart with concentric rings. Outer
segments represent deeper directory levels. When you move the cursor
over a particular colored area you will see descriptive information
about it. Right-click on it to open its context menu. It provides
several actions depending on the object type:
  - Show/Hide folder contents
  - Zoom into a folder (also directly available via left-click)
  - Rescan a folder
  - Open a file/folder with the appropriate application
  - Recycle a file/folder (delete it by moving it to Recycle Bin)
  - Remove a file/folder

After the initial scan you get a hard disk summary. To get similar
results for any other drives on your computer, please select the
appropriate button on the left side. Clicking on the selected drive
again causes a rescan action. Determine which drives are part of the
summary by using the "Summary" switch in the drive context menu
(right-click the appropriate button).

Use the "Back" button to change to the previously focused folder,
"Parent Folder" to step up in the folder hirarchy. The "Rescan Folder"
button causes rescanning of the focused folder only.

Additionally, the program provides fast access to two means of space
regain: Software Removal and empty the Recycle Bin. Note: while the
latter function will be recognized automatically, you should let the
display update after you removed software.

You can change the size of the application window with the buttons "+"
and "-". Please note that a big window causes the application to
consume a large amount of memory and might not work correctly on every
system.

If you detect any bugs, please report them to me. Include an exact
description of your drives and the logfile 'Scanner.log', which you can
generate by pressing 'L' from the Scanner.


2. Optimization by Parallel Scanning

This paragraph is only of interest to you if your system contains more
than one physical hard disk. The program is capable of scanning all
disks simultaneously, thereby reducing the scan time. Each drive has a
context menu (right-click the appropriate button), where you can adjust
the physical device ID. Drives with different numbers are beeing
scanned simultaneously. Note: Do not adjust partitions on the same
physical disk to different numbers - you'd make the program slower!


3. Attention: Scanner And Transparent Compression

Some tools allow transparent use of compressed files, i.e. after
installation most applications see compressed files (such as ZIP) as
folders and can easily open and browse them just like normal folders.
Tools like that are a real problem for the Scanner, because in the case
of compressed files the file number and sizes reported by the system do
not correctly indicate the used disk space.

Usually, transparent compression tools have some options dialog, where
you're asked for a list of applications which see compressed files as
files, not as folders. If you want the Scanner to work correctly under
transparent compression, please add it to this list.


4. Language Support

Scanner is capable of detecting the language of your windows system. If
a translation for this language is available, Scanner will automatically
use it. In case you experience problems with your localization, please
delete the file 'Scanner.lang', so the program will appear in English.

If you'd like to have the program in your native language, but it
appears in English on your system, you may send a translation of all
used words and phrases (see following list) to me
(mailto:[e-mail]), I'll include it. Please look in which
context the words appear before translating them.

  Scanning...
  Bytes
  Files
  Total
  Used on
  Free on
  Summary
  Recycle Bin
  Virtual Memory
  Application Wizard
  Empty Recycle Bin
  Parent Folder
  Back
  Rescan Folder
  Version
  Zoom
  Rescan
  Open
  Recycle
  Remove
  Physical Device ID
  Cluster Size
  Auto Detect
  Show
  Hide


5. System Requirements

Windows 95/98/NT/ME/2000/XP
High Color display (or better)


6. Installation/Deinstallation

After you have unpacked the ZIP-Archive, the Scanner is ready for use.
If you want to incorporate the program into the Start Menu, it has to be
done manually. To uninstall, simply delete all Scanner.* files. The
program does not change the Windows system directory.


7. Terms of Use

This software is Freeware. Usage is not time-limited and does not
require registration. Everyone is permitted to distribute the package in
any way without my explicit agreement, provided the copyright remark and
my email address are not being removed.

Copyright (C)2002 by Steffen Gerlach

Visit my freeware page for the latest version:
http://www.steffengerlach.de/freeware/

Complaints, comments or proposals may be sent to:
mailto:[e-mail]


8. Known Bugs And Limitations

- The number of accessable drives depends on how many buttons fit to
  the chosen window size.
- You can't zoom into folders that are too small to be visible from the
  parent folder.
- The network drive support doesn't work with each system. I can't fix
  this bug at the moment, because I don't have the equipment.
- The program has not been tested with compressed or protected folders
  under Windows NT/2000 and will probably not work correctly with them.
- If the recycle bin folder name doesn't start on 'RECYCL', it will not
  be recognized by the program; means it will be displayed as a normal
  folder, doesn't count as free space and is not automatically being
  rescanned if necessary.
- Windows 95A and NT do not provide the API function required for
  cleaning the Recycle Bin. The appropriate button does not appear.
- The displayed values for used space are a very little (usually much
  less than 1/1000) smaller than they really are. Since the numbers are
  being rounded anyway, this shouldn't be relevant.
- Drives with file systems which are not accessable for Windows can't be
  scanned, even if a button for them appears.


9. FAQ

Question: Does the program have a problem with calculating folder sizes?
E.g. for my cookies folder, which contains several thousands of very
small files, it displays a size of some hundred MB, but the files make
not even one MB in total.

Answer: The Scanner shows used space, not cumulated file sizes. Those
values may be very different, particularly in the case of small files
combined with a large cluster size, because each file consumes a whole
cluster in minimum. The cluster size depends on the file system and can
be up to 32 KB.

Question: After launch, the program immediately starts scanning all hard
disks. I dont like that, because this process takes rather long on my
system and I'm only interested in some selective information. What can I
do?

Answer: Just do what you want to, don't let the scanning process stop
you. The scanning will automatically be abandoned if you order something
else.

Question: Why is the window resizing of the Scanner that awkward and not
smooth as usual in Windows applications?

Answer: The process of painting and smoothing the special pie chart
takes too much time for a fast, continuous resizing.

Question: Why can't I pass a command line parameter telling the program
the initial folder? This would make the use of the Scanner much more
flexible, e.g. for context menus.

Answer: Unfortunately, the program has to scan the complete drive to
learn its cluster size (see section 10).

Question: One/some of my hard disks appear as hard disk symbols in the
drive list to the left, but are not shown in the summary chart. A bug?

Answer: Probably it was yourself who (accidently) removed these drives
from the summary. See section 1.

Question: Which language did you use to create this program?

Answer: Delphi 4.


10. Help!

Unfortunately I'm not a Windows system expert. So some things about the
Scanner are not working as satisfactory as they probably could. If you're
interested in helping optimize the Scanner, and you know the solution to
one of the following technical problems, please contact me
(mailto:[e-mail]).

- Cluster size: The only way I know to query partition cluster size is
  the API function GetDiskFreeSpace, but this one returns incorrect
  values. So the program has to make use of a logic cluster size
  detection, which is unsecure and requires scanning the complete
  partition.
- Physical devices: I don't know a (fast and secure) way to learn about
  the association of partitions with physical disks. Currently, you have
  to do this setting manually (see section 2).
- Recycle Bin: There's an API call to query the location of the Recycle
  Bin folder, but it doesn't seem to work.


11. Version History:

2.6 (04/13/02)
  - show/hide option

2.5 (09/01/01)
  - parallel scanning errors of version 2.3 fixed
  - variable window size
  - less strict recycle bin recognition
  - application responds during scanning

2.3 (06/06/00)
  - serious bug (with files >=2GByte) fixed

2.2 (05/09/00)
  - uncommon display problems in high color mode fixed
  - support for languages with different character set

2.1 (01/17/00)
  - chart object context menu
  - experimental network support

2.0 (07/25/99)
  - folder zoom
  - drive selectable, all drive types supported
  - automatic k/M/GBytes display
  - optional parallel scanning of drives
  - no more limitation on the total folder number

1.6 (07/05/99)
  - display preparation speeded up

1.5 (05/30/99)
  - multi-lingual

1.4 (05/04/99)
  - serious bug (on partitions >=4GByte) fixed

1.3 (05/02/99)
  - serious bug (with more than one large partition) fixed
  - Scanner can generate logfiles now

1.2 (04/17/99)
  - button graphics changed
  - anti-aliasing can be turned off now

1.1 (04/14/99)
  - serious bug (when 16384+ files) fixed

1.0 (03/14/99)