Put the PC User Plus CD-ROM in your CD reader. In Windows 95, click on the Start button and select Run, then Browse. In Windows 3.1, select the File - Run menu in Program Manager and click the Browse button.
Select your CD reader (usually D:), find SETUP.EXE, and then run that file.
This brings up our setup program. By default the Destination Directory is set to D:\. If your CD-ROM drive uses another drive letter (eg: E: or F:) change the Destination Directory to your CD-ROM drive Letter. Do not change this line to a location on your hard disk. It must point to your CD-ROM drive.
The PC User Plus interface was created using Asymetrix Multimedia Toolbook. The setup program will install a runtime version of Toolbook onto your hard disk. Use the default directories for this, so other Toolbook applications can use the same runtime files. You'll need just over 3Mb disk space.
You only need to do this once. If you already have the Toolbook runtime files installed (from another program or from a previous PC User Plus CD), they will not be installed again unless some files need to be updated. No other files are installed to your hard disk, and no changes are made to your AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS files.
The setup program also creates a program group with the icons for PC User Plus and the current Readme file. The same icons will work with future issues.
Got a problem?
While every care has been taken to ensure the PC User Plus disc will run well on all systems, we cannot guarantee that it will.
If you encounter any problems installing your PC User Plus CD you can fax on: (02) 267 4909; e-mail at: pcuser@acp.com.au; or snail mail to: GPO Box 37, Sydney NSW 2001. Please include a detailed description of the problem and the system you are running, and mark it to the attention of PC User's Hardware Editor Philip Moore. Problems with any of the shareware, public domain, sampler, demo or driver software we must gently but firmly refer to the respective authors; we try to pick good items but can't accept any responsibility as to their quality or suitability.
Disclaimers and legal Mumbo Jumbo
While every care has been taken to scan programs for viruses and ensure they work
as promised, PC User cannot be held responsible for any damage to your system
caused either directly or indirectly by any application included on the PC User Plus CD.
Known problems
Running PC User Plus under OS/2
Toolbook and therefore the PC User Plus CD may not run under OS/2. If so, use a dual boot setup to boot directly into Windows, or bypass the Windows front end and hand-install any programs they want to try. There's a listing of this month's contents in the Readme.wri file.
Using large fonts
The PC User Plus Navigator may not display correctly with certain video cards if your Screen resolution is set to use large fonts. If this happens you will notice a white border around the backdrop image, and text and buttons will be misplaced and appear to be cut short.
To resolve this you need to reset your screen resolution to use small fonts. You could also contact the manufacturer of your video card and see if there is an updated Windows driver that would fix this problem.
Trident Video cards
Some readers have reported problems running the PC User Plus Navigator with a Trident Video card. It appears that when running in 8 bit (256 colours) resolution the Trident drivers have problems. If you can change your screen resolution to 16 colours it should work (though won't look nearly as good), or ideally, a resolution of "thousands of colours", also called Hi-Colour or 16-bit colour; provided your video card is capable of this (will require 1Mb of video memory). You can also try upgrading the drivers in Windows. Look in the Drivers section of this CD, or if you have a modem, search the Internet or local BBS's for the latest versions.
Operating PC User Plus
Once you have run the SETUP program, you do not need to run it again. As you receive your new disk each month, just put it into your CD reader and double-click on the existing PC User Plus icon. If you also double-click on the Readme icon, you'll see the current edition of this file.
To run the PC User Plus front-end program comfortably, you need at least a 486 DX2/66 with 8 Mb RAM, a double speed CD reader and is best viewed at 640 x 480 or 800 x 600 resolution at 256 colours. If you run your monitor at Thousands of colours (16 bit) or Millions of colours (24 Bit) colour depth, video clips and other graphic elements will look much better, and the program may even run faster.
The front end will run on any machine that can run Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 and has any CD reader, though you'll need to be patient on older machines and slower drives.
Individual programs and demos included on the disk will have their own system requirements, which may be higher. Video demos included on the CD will usually require at least a double speed CD-ROM drive.
The PC User Plus Windows front-end is provided to make browsing and installing what's on the disc each month easier for most people. If you'd rather do things the hard way, or if you are having problems with the PC User Plus interface, you can bypass the front-end program and install or run programs directly from the CD using File Manager, Win95 Explorer, or DOS (for DOS based programs). Occasionally, this may even be required.
Picking goodies
The main menu of PC User Plus is a set of subject area buttons. Click one of these to get access to the individual items that belong in one area - the Toolkit, for example. There is no menu system and the interface has been designed to be as intuitive as possible., so you should be able to find your way around easily.
To install the programs and other items on such an area menu, just click the obvious button. Some programs can be run straight from the CD without cluttering up your hard disk; this will be clear from the buttons.
Using shareware
Most of the Windows programs create their own Program Manager groups and icons, so running such a program couldn't be easier - just double-click its icon. To run other Windows programs and DOS programs, you can either install an icon and use that, or double-click on the main program file in File Manager, or select File - Run - Browse in Program Manager (or Start - Run - Browse in Windows 95) and select the main program file. If you decide to install an icon for a program that doesn't already have one, there's a description of the easiest ways at the end of this file. In some cases you will be able to run a program directly from the PC User Plus front end. This allows you to test a program before copying it to your hard disk. In other cases, such as some of the regular Toolkit programs, we have even created a setup routine for them for your convenience.
Then what?
There is nearly always a file type .DOC, .WRI or .TXT, or something like README.1ST in the same directory as the item you're interested in. This will contain some instructions to the user, for configuration and sub-installation as well as use. Wherever possible we have included a program's ReadMe file in the PC User Plus front end. Many recent Windows programs have no such files and you're expected to run the program and refer to its online help file for instructions. If you want to be a little more cautious than that, look for a file type .HLP and just double -click it: that way, you can read the online help without running the program. .DOC and .TXT can usually be read with Notepad, and .WRI needs Windows Write. The easy way to open .TXT and .WRI files is to double-click the file name. If you're going through several, open Notepad or Write, then drag one file at a time from File Manager and drop it somewhere on the title bar. This is also the way to deal with most .DOC files, as double-clicking one will open your heavy-duty word processor and suddenly you're killing flies with a sledge hammer.
Setting up icons
OK, your choice is installed. You've studied the README files and all other TXT, WRI or DOC files. Maybe you've already tried the program by double-clicking the main program file in File Manager, or by doing the File, Run, Browse thing. Anyway, you're ready to set up an icon for easy repeated program running. There are several ways to do this, but I want to tell you about the quickest and easiest, not because I think you're lazy, but just because the more automatic a method is, the smaller are the chances that something will go wrong.
Windows 3.x
Program Manager icons are easy to use, but could be a drag to set up. A drag-and-drop, that is. The method recommended as standard in the Windows manual is hopelessly cumbersome and I never use it. Here's how you do it the easy way: Open File Manager to the directory that contains the main program file you're interested in. Grab File Manager by the title bar and drag it down just far enough that both that program file and the Program Manager group you want its icon in (it doesn't have to be open) are visible. Drag the main program file from the File Manager and drop it into the group or on the group icon. Select the new icon and press <Alt> + <Enter>; this brings up the Program Item Properties dialogue box so you can give the icon a name you like and set up the working directory if you need one. How you recognise the main program file? Let me clue you in on some reliable signs. The main program file usually has a name similar to the program and the extension .EXE (or rarely .COM). For example, the main program file of Lotus Organizer is ORGANIZE.EXE and that of Microsoft Paint is MSPAINT.EXE. PaintShop is PSP.EXE.
Windows 95
Windows 95 has no Program Manager, but in return, Explorer wears three faces and you can set up a program to run from an icon in any of them. The very easiest when you're doing a temporary setup for trying something out is to open Explorer as File Manager or as a group window showing the main program file. Grab the main program file with the right mouse button and drop it on to the desktop. Select Create Shortcut(s) Here from the menu that pops up. If you need to change the name, just single-click twice (don't double-click) on it and type in your choice. If you use the new program a lot, you may want to leave that shortcut on the desktop. If you're keeping it but using it only occasionally, you should move the icon to the Start menu. There's a super-easy way to do this, and a merely easy but more orderly one. The super-easy way is to drag the shortcut from the desktop on to the Start button, then delete the original (select it and press <Del>). This adds a menu option to the main run of the menu. If you want your program to start from one of the cascaded sub-menus, right-click on the Start button and select Open. This opens the menu as an ordinary Explorer window (which it is). You can now open or create a sub-window (which is tied to a cascaded sub-menu) and right-drag the shortcut icon off the desktop and into that window. Select Move Here and you're done.
Order!
Many installation programs insist on creating a program group with icons (or, in Windows 95, a sub-menu cascaded off the Programs option) for you, which is kind but can be a jolly nuisance. When your program groups proliferate beyond a certain point, what do you have? You have too many program groups. You also have confusion and a waste of time finding the program you want in the mess. You also have far too many icons, because most installers also create icons for Readme and Help files, and sometimes special operations of the main program. These you can mostly delete, because once you're using the program, you'll access the online help from within it, as well as any special operations. The Readme file you'll only read once, and if you should need to check it again, the file is still there even if the icon is gone, so you can load it into Notepad or Write the usual way. Fortunately, drag-and-drop makes it easy to reorganise. In Windows 3.x, just drag the icon out of its superfluous program group and drop it where it logically belongs, then delete the unneeded empty group. In Windows 95, open the Start menu by right-clicking, then treat it like a set of nested program groups. Your logic may not be quite the same as mine, but I find it easy to locate a drawing program in the Graphics group/option, a desktop utility in the Desk group/option, a web surfboard in the Comms group/option and so on. I even have a Scratch group/option for trying out odds and ends until I decide to keep them, which is an idea you might like to consider. One final tip: if you do decide to organise your groups, it's not necessary to create all new ones; start by renaming existing groups. In Windows 95, just click twice on the name and type what you want; in Windows 3.x, select the group but don't open it, then press <Alt> + <Enter> and the Properties dialogue box comes up with the group name selected and ready for typing.
