WinGo Program   V01.00
======================
Copyright (c) 1993 by William K. Walker


The WinGo program is a simple utility that starts Windows -- or any 
other program -- after a certain number of seconds.

To use it, simply type WINGO at a DOS command prompt. WinGo will display 
a few lines of text along with a countdown timer. When the countdown 
reaches zero, Windows is started. To abort WinGo, press the Escape key. 
If you don't want to wait for the countdown to finish, press the Enter 
key. Here's what a typical display looks like:

  +------------------------------------------+
  |              WinGo  V01.00               |
  |                                          |
  |   Press Esc   key to abort;              |
  |         Enter key to start immediately   |
  +------------------------------------------+
   Windows will start in 20 seconds.

The time (20 seconds in this example) counts down to zero.

The most obvious way to use WinGo is to place it at the end of your 
AUTOEXEC.BAT file. When you boot your computer, WinGo will give you an 
opportunity to either start Windows or to escape to the MS-DOS prompt.

To get a short "help" message, type WINGO ?.

WinGo is controlled by the settings in the WINGO.INI file. You can edit 
this file with a text editor such as EDLIN (no accounting for taste) or 
EDIT if you wish to change WinGo's behavior. The WINGO.INI file 
distributed with the WinGo program looks like this:

;  WINGO.INI -- WinGo program initialization file
;
;  Settings:
;
;           Timeout   - number of seconds until Windows starts
;           WinRunCmd - command used to start Windows
;           WinRunTxt - description of the Windows version in use
;
Timeout = 20
WinRunCmd = win
WinRunTxt = Windows

On my system, I'm running Windows for Workgroups, I start up windows 
with a batch file, and I'm impatient. So, my WinGo settings are as 
follows:

      Timeout = 10
      WinRunCmd = c:\bat\w.bat
      WinRunTxt = Windows for Workgroups 3.11

You can change WinGo's settings to run any program you'd like. For 
example, if

      Timeout = 10
      WinRunCmd = c:\prodigy\prodigy myname
      WinRunTxt = Prodigy

then WinGo would display "Prodigy will start in 10 seconds", count down 
to zero, and execute the "c:\prodigy\prodigy myname" command.

You don't have to use WINGO.INI. If WinGo can't find its initialization 
file, it just uses the default values. These are:

               Timeout = 20
               WinRunCmd = win
               WinRunTxt = Windows

If you make a mistake editing WINGO.INI, WinGo uses the default value 
for the command that was entered incorrectly.

Installation
------------
The easiest way to install WinGo is to copy the files WINGO.COM and 
WINGO.INI into a directory in your PATH. Your DOS or WINDOWS directory 
is a reasonable choice. If you have a "utilities" directory, that's even 
better.

Error Messages
--------------
WinGo can produce two error messages:

?WINGO-Warning: Error reading initialization file; using default values

This message appears if WINGO encounters problems reading from the 
WINGO.INI file. It does not mean that a settings command was entered 
incorrectly or that WinGo could not find WINGO.INI. In other words, 
something is seriously screwed up. Either the WINGO.COM program is 
corrupted or WinGo encountered some obscure system interaction.

?WINGO-Error: Unable to execute the command line "Text..."

Text... is the text of the command line. (I.e., the text following the 
"WinRunCmd =" line in WINGO.INI.) Either there is something wrong with 
the command itself (invalid characters are the most likely cause), or 
the program or batch file that is supposed to be run cannot be found. 
It's also possible, though less likely, that the program you are trying 
to run doesn't have enough resources -- e.g., not enough memory, the 
FILES= setting is too small, etc. In general, any valid MS-DOS command 
can be executed by WinGo.

Tech Notes and Goodies
----------------------
Timeout values must be in the range 1 through 999 seconds. WinGo will 
use the default value of 20 seconds otherwise.

The WinRunTxt string may optionally be enclosed in quotation marks; 
WinGo will strip them when it reads the text in. The only real reason to 
use quoting is to include some additional white space on either side of 
the text.

You can use the WINGOINI environment variable to specify a different 
name and location for WINGO.INI. For example,

          SET WINGOINI=C:\UTIL\WGWINGO.INI

tells WinGo to use an initialization file named WGWINGO.INI in the 
C:\UTIL directory. Note: If you define WINGOINI, WinGo takes it as 
gospel. If the file you specified with WINGOINI cant be found, WinGo 
looks no further; it just uses its own default values.

WinGo makes every reasonable effort to find WINGO.INI. Unless the 
WINGOINI environment variable is defined, WinGo searches the PATH. If 
that doesn't work, it looks in WinGo's "home" directory (the directory 
from which WinGo was run).

WinGo returns the following errorlevel codes:

      0  -  normal exit, including user abort
      2  -  WinRunCmd command line did not execute

Author! Author!
---------------
In the unlikely event that you find any bugs in this program or if you 
have any suggestions for improvement, drop me a line.

William K. Walker
North Valley Digital
740 Alpha Road, Box 149
Alpha  OH  45301-0149
513-426-0344 (voice and fax)

nvdi@mcimail.com
CompuServe: 71066,24
  MCI Mail: nvdi
     Telex: 6503331675 (6503331675 MCI UW)

Legal Stuff
-----------
This program is freeware, but it is not in the public domain. This means 
that I retain the copyright but you may distribute this program freely, 
subject to the following restrictions:

1) The original WINGO.COM, WINGO.TXT and WINGO.INI files must be 
included in any distribution of this program.

2) You may not charge a fee for this program other than, possibly, a 
nominal charge to cover your costs for media and/or shipping.  WINGO 
1.00 may be included as part of a software collection and posted on 
bulletin board systems as long as these distribution methods are 
operated on a non-profit basis.

3) You may not distribute WINGO 1.00 in any fashion that incurs 
financial gain unless you get written permission from the author 
(William K. Walker at the above address) first.

4) You may not disassemble or modify WINGO.COM.

In short: Enjoy WINGO, hand it out to your friends, upload it to your 
favorite BBS, but don't try to make a profit with it without talking to 
me first.

Disclaimer
----------
Finally, given the litigious nature of society today, I have to state 
that I make no guarantee that this program will not cause problems on 
your computer system. I'm not responsible for any damages, direct or 
consequential. I've made every reasonable effort to ensure that WINGO 
1.00 works as described above but, after all, this program is free and 
it is provided "as-is."
