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POWERQWK.DOC
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1991-08-03
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POWER-QWK v2.14 Shareware from POWERLINE SYSTEMS Ltd
(C) Gale Green and PowerLine Systems Limited 1991
POWER-QWK is SHAREWARE. This means that you can try it out
to ensure that it suits your needs before you pay for it. It
is not free software and if you continue to use the program
AFTER 4 WEEKS OF TESTING YOU MUST REGISTER IT. If you do not
wish to register you must cease using the software. Info on
the very low registration cost is included at the end of
this DOC file. There is also a file named PRINT.ME included
with Power-Qwk which you can print and post to register the
software, Upon registration you will be sent a registration
number which will not only allow you to register this
version of the software but also future versions. Register
now and support the Shareware concept.
This program may not be sold or included with any commercial
product without written permission from Powerline Systems
Ltd.
Contents
~~~~~~~~
1. Background and Introduction to Power-QWK
2. Installing Power-QWK
3. Running Power-QWK
3.1 Getting Started
3.2 Configuration Manager
3.3 The Message Base and Topics Menus
3.4 The Bulletins Menu
3.5 The Conference Menu
3.6 Messages and Replies
3.7 The History Menu
3.8 Reading Files and Bulletins
3.9 Automating Power-QWK
4. Acknowledgments
5. Disclaimer
6. Registration and Support.
1. Background and Introduction to Power-QWK
Power-QWK was born of my dissatisfaction with the
offline readers available for bulletin boards and
Online Services such as Direct-Line.
None that I found offered any facilities for retaining
mail or bulletins in an orderly accessible manner -
they simply allowed the unpacking and reading of mail
packets which, once read, were of no further value.
Power-QWK, written for Direct-Line but usable on any
Online Service which has a QWK mail door, is a full
Message Base Manager. The principal facilities are as
follows:
- permanent storage of all downloaded messages,
bulletins and standard files such as the NEWFILES
listing;
- full ANSI emulation for spectacular viewing of
animated messages and bulletins; ANSI format
bulletins are recognised automatically by
Power-QWK;
- friendly, effective, access to your message base
with one-key commands for go-to-next,
go-to-previous, find-next-in-thread, and so on;
- DOS filing and printing of any message, file or
bulletin, even printing ANSI bulletins as long as
they don't contain upwards cursor repositioning
sequences;
- reply to a message received or 'say' an original
message, automatically including received messages
in reply files to allow them to be quoted in your
replies, optionally importing the contents of a
DOS file into the message; several methods for
'fancy' quoting;
- having written a message, it can be recalled at
any time prior to upload (even in a later
Power-QWK session) to be edited or to have changed
its Addressee, Destination Conference, Subject or
Public/Private Status;
- reply deletion; you can change your mind about
sending a message right up to the moment of
upload;
- taglines: witty one-liners added to the ends of
your messages and replies; either selected by you
for each message or added randomly by Power-QWK
(or omitted if you don't like taglines);
- Power-QWK supports any number of tagline files;
- tagline stealing: you can 'grab' a string of
characters for insertion in your tagline file from
any file, bulletin or message while it is on
display;
- almost everything configurable, including screen
colours, file names, directory names, options,
etc;
- multiple message bases if you subscribe to more
than one Online Service;
- automatic treatment of NEWFILES, appending to the
list maintained by Power-QWK, ignoring the
standard files which appear as new every day on
Wildcat! services; a sort feature allows you to
sort the NEWFILES list into alphanumeric sequence,
if your mail packets are obtained from a Tomcat
mail door.
- automatic memory of which files, messages and
bulletins have been read plus the ability to mark
as read or unread or delete;
- message base prune facilities with the ability to
keep as many day's messages as you wish (may be
different in each conference) plus the ability
either to discard pruned messages or save them in
a Prune Archive file (which looks to Power-QWK
just like another conference so even pruned
messages may be viewed and replied to just as
though they were still in their original
conference);
- rebuild and validation facilities to ensure the
integrity of your message base following power
failure or installation of a new version of
Power-QWK;
- automatic installation procedure to ensure that
Power-QWK is installed properly with the correct
layout and complement of help and configuration
files. This procedure does not corrupt any system
files such as config.sys or autoexec.bat.
- many other features will have been added since
the document you are reading was first written.
Please read the file HISTORY.DOC for details of
all new facilities added with each release of the
product.
2. Installing Power-QWK
Power-QWK Installation could not be simpler. All you need to
pre-create, if you don't have them already, are the DOS
directories you wish to use for downloading mail packets and
uploading reply packets.
You may use the same directory for uploading and downloading
but many people prefer to keep the functions separated.
If you have to create these directories, DO NOT create them
in your Power-QWK directory - this is reserved for files and
directories created by Power-QWK itself. To create the
directories, use the DOS command MKDIR, or MD for short.
e.g., MD C:\DOWNLOAD
MD C:\UPLOAD
or, if you already have a general communications directory
called, say, COMMS then
MD C:\COMMS\DOWNLOAD
MD C:\COMMS\UPLOAD
Provided with Power-QWK is a file called INSTALL.EXE. If you
execute this file and then answer the straightforward
questions which appear on the screen from time to time,
Power-QWK installation should take no longer than a couple
of minutes.
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO INSTALL Power-QWK