PC Plus SuperCD (UK) 1998 August

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ PC Plus SuperCD (UK) 1998 August / PC Plus SuperCD 50b Issue 142 (CD142b) (August 1998).iso / handson / HelpScrn / zips / R-UTIL.EXE / lzh / SYSMON.DOC < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1998-03-31 | 12.4 KB | 239 lines

Rosenthal Engineering, P.O.Box 1650, San Luis Obispo, CA USA 93406 Copyright 1991-1998, U.S. Patent No. 5,359,659 all rights reserved. WWW http://slonet.org/~doren/ e-mail doren@slonet.org Rosenthal System Monitor (tm) One of "The Rosenthal Utilities (tm)" This utility tracks hardware and software configuration information and changes so technical support professionals can better maintain, diagnose and support your computer. Extensive tests are conducted when the computer starts each day and a detailed diary of changes is maintained. The commented, plain text report files track conditions and settings before and after the appearance of problems as they develop over time. Help desk, technical support professionals, consultants and advanced users need this vital information for making corrections. Data is shared with the bonus utility "Rosenthal History (tm)" included ABSOLUTELY FREE with paid registration or upgrade. It maintains a running time line of changes, additions and deletions made to the AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI and Registry files. (See RE_HIST.DOC) By providing plain text records of changes preceding problems, their cause and solution are identified quickly. These tools enable even less technical users to automatically keep a diagnostic log comprehensive enough to share with support professionals when assistance becomes necessary. What is System Monitor and why do I need it? Keeping todays computer systems working efficiently was nearly impossible before Rosenthal Engineering developed the patented technology that makes System Monitor possible. Just reporting the current system information is no longer enough of an insight to resolving problems without the detailed diary of changes System Monitor keeps preceding the situation. System Monitor maintains computers at optimum performance and integrity by testing, recording and extensively monitoring thousands of performance indicators. Each day your system is turned on, System Monitor re-evaluates it and records any discrepancies or diagnostic changes in a commented text file log SYSMON.DAT. Knowing what the system looked like before a problem was discovered, greatly simplifies its correction. The SYSMON.DAT log file maintained by System Monitor discloses very detailed information about the system before and after problems are introduced. Knowing the current, previous and changed system information commented along with the date and time is an extremely powerful diagnostic tool especially for "Plug and Play" applications. Because System Monitor maintains the information automatically as a time line, users with very little technical understanding can resolve problems themselves or at least provide competent information to more technically experienced support people. Technical support is much more effective when system changes are known before and after problems are discovered. The report file SYSMON.DAT is maintained as a plain ASCII text file so it may be viewed, printed, FAXed or e-mailed. By sharing the commented System Monitor (and Rosenthal History) data files, you can communicate very detailed technical information no matter what your level of expertise. Experienced users will appreciate the level of diagnostic information System Monitor provides, and neophytes can communicate to resolve problems beyond their own understanding. What Does System Monitor Do? The first time you run System Monitor, it will go through a simple installation procedure that includes a built in editor to add itself to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. From then on, each day you start your computer, System Monitor will re-evaluate your system and record changes. System Monitor is not a TSR (terminate and stay resident program) so it will not require any memory after it completes its tests. Review the SYSMON.DAT and SYSMON.HST files as you would any ASCII text file like this .DOC file. System Monitor detects problems early, usually before they are even suspected This early monitoring and detection is essential to avoid and correct problems quickly, before they can compound. System Monitor shares data with the bonus utility "Rosenthal History (tm)" included ABSOLUTELY FREE with paid registration or upgrade. It maintains a running time line of changes, additions and deletions made to the AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI and Registry files. Both Rosenthal History and System Monitor are especially useful to resolve hardware and software conflicts and provide information vital for technical support. - - - - - - - - - - - - Installation Use your systems DATE and TIME functions and verify your systems clock and calendar are set correctly. All versions of MS-Windows through WIN95 and all versions of DOS 3.3 and higher are supported. System Monitor is designed to be used before you develop problems so install it as soon as possible. Using Rosenthal UnInstall (tm) before you load System Monitor will allow you to remove it later. The first time you run System Monitor, it will insure that it has been copied to the same hard drive that your system boots from and contains the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The built in editor will aid adding SYSMON.EXE to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The up/down arrow keys will let you position System Monitor to add it after any TSRs are loaded, but before Windows or any Menu shells like Xtree, Quick DOS, PC-Shell etc. Next System Monitor will ask for your name. You'll need it later, so be sure to enter it correctly. If you have a serial number, you should enter it exactly as it appears. You may try System Monitor for 30 days without a serial number by just pressing enter without a serial number. To add your serial number later, enter "Y" when prompted (a blue message) when the program runs. System Monitor will prompt you to remove any floppy diskettes and power off your computer to restart it. The command like /? switch displays version dates and other options. - - - - - - - - - - - - Making Sense Out of the SYSMON.DAT and SYSMON.HST files You can view, copy print or e-mail SYSMON.DAT as you would any plain ASCII text file. Don't be overwhelmed by the tremendous amount of detailed technical information System Monitor records in the SYSMON.DAT file. Especially if you don't understand all of it. Trouble shooting is a real skill, and the best trouble shooters learn how to focus on the meaningful information relating to the problem being resolved, while not being distracted by all the additional extraneous information. Because System Monitor evaluates your computer before and after problems surface, changes are drawn to attention. Several help desk and technical support knowledge basses now support System Monitor so be sure to share the reports when requesting assistance. A list of added files is maintained for each drive as #:\SYSMON.HST. Files in CACHE directories are not displayed but counted to reduce clutter generated from internet and on-line sessions. With a little practice, you'll be able to distinguish the meaningful changed information from the clutter. Your computer won't always boot up exactly the same each time. A power on cold boot, warm boot (Ctrl-Alt- Del), and pressing reset will all behave differently. Not all software will run the same each time and it's not uncommon for some interrupt vectors to change for no apparent reason. Additionally some scheduled software like automatic back-ups or periodic anti-virus scans will be noted by System Monitor. With very little practice, you'll quickly learn which changes are important and which can be ignored. The important thing is that System Monitor records them before you have a problem, so you can concentrate on changes that have caused a problem and dismiss changes that occur normally. Each system and configuration will be unique. Few users will understand all the information revealed in the SYSMON.DAT file, but when technical support is required, System Monitor and the bonus utility Rosenthal History provide the needed answers to turn an otherwise frustrating experience into a simple and obvious solution. A number of technical reference books go into more detail on the internal workings of your computer beyond the scope of this .DOC file. - - - - - - - - - - - - Rosenthal History (tm) (FREE BONUS!) The bonus utility "Rosenthal History (tm)" is included ABSOLUTELY FREE with paid registration or upgrade. It maintains a running timeline of changes, additions and deletions made to the AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI files. An easy to understand, plain text file (RE_HIST.DAT) history report can be referred to when uninstalling software or to resolve conflicts. Add Rosenthal History and begin recording the timeline as soon as possible. Read the RE_HIST.DOC file for a complete description of this very highly acclaimed, must have utility. - - - - - - - - - - - - Computer Manufacturers, Resellers and Consultants Because System Monitor maintains a diary of changes, it should be installed on new or upgraded systems in advance of technical support calls. This is especially appreciated by customers during their critical first month and falls within the FREE evaluation period. Installing the unregistered version on customers systems is acceptable, and encouraged. - - - - - - - - - - - - Orders outside the U.S. All international orders are sent by air-mail. See the order form (SM_ORDER.FRM and/or RU_ORDER.FRM) for shipping and handling rates. Yes! Visa or Master Card can now be accepted and makes currency exchange to US Dollars very simple. Please be sure to make your payment in "US Dollars" either by (US) cash, Visa or Master Card, international money order or check drawn on a US member bank. Otherwise banks want a fifty dollar processing fee to cash a twenty five dollar check. Sorry, euro-checks can not be processed. - - - - - - - - - - - - Software License agreement You are encouraged to copy and distribute this software provided it remains unmodified, complete in its original form, and no fee (other than a nominal copy charge) is required. You may not make any changes or modifications to the software, and you may not decompile, disassemble or in anyway reverse engineer the software. This software is provided "AS IS" without warranties of any kind. Responsibility rests entirely with the user to determine its fitness for a particular purpose. ROSENTHAL ENGINEERING SHALL NOT IN ANY CASE BE LIABLE FOR SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT OR OTHER SIMILAR DAMAGES ARISING FROM ANY USE OF THIS SOFTWARE. Some states may not allow these limits on warranties, so they may not apply to you. In no case shall Rosenthal Engineering's liability exceed the license fees paid by you to Rosenthal Engineering for the right to use the Licensed Software. Use, duplication, or disclosure by the U.S. Government of the computer software and documentation in this package shall be subject to the restricted rights applicable to commercial computer software as set forth in subdivision (b) (3) (ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at 252.227-7013 (DFARS 52.227-7013). The Contractor/manufacturer is Doren Rosenthal, Rosenthal Engineering, P.O.Box 1650, San Luis Obispo, California 93406. This constitutes the entire agreement and understanding between the parties and supersedes any prior agreement or understanding whether oral or written and may only be modified in writing.