********************* NOTICE - NOTICE ************************** To conform to SIMTEL20 and Garbo requirements, the following file name changes have been made by artch@mitre.org. File name in archive <---------------> File name in documents ACESS201.TXT <---------------> ACCESS.TXT ACESD201.ZIP <---------------> ACCESD.ZIP ACESS201.ZIP <---------------> ACCESS.ZIP ********************* NOTICE - NOTICE ************************** Download ACCESS.ZIP if you do not have SHELL.DLL. Miscrosoft Windows 3.1 Beta Testers should download ACCESD.ZIP. ACCESD.ZIP is compiled using the Windows 3.0 compiler and imports Microsoft's SHELL.DLL, not included, for drag drop testing in the Windows 3.0 and 3.1 environments. If you don't know what SHELL.DLL is or means: Download ACCESS.ZIP; because ACCESD.ZIP will NOT launch for you. If you don't have SHELL.DLL, don't worry. This means that Accesses will be ready for you when Windows 3.1 is released... Because you'll have SHELL.DLL with Windows 3.1! Accesses Version 2.1 has many enhancements designed specifically for Norton Desktop that other users can use! Accesses is bug free again, at least Version 2.1. I apologize for the problems that were installed when I rushed thru the Norton Desktop fixes before and during the holidays... Boy, I made a mess of 1.1 and 1.1A. Because of the holidays, neither 1.1 or 1.1A were beta tested. I learned! Accesses Version 2.1 will now dial your modem for voice calls on your phone... Talk about accessing Windows... The primary feature of Accesses benefits those of us who hate to keep dragging windows to specific positions. Accesses moves the windows to where you want. I thought about calling Accesses "The Juggler" or maybe "Windows's Jugular" (not a spelling error). ACCESSES is a MUST program for Windows users. Accesses is addictive. Launch programs from any program and Accesses will place that program in your preset startup position. It doesn't matter if that program was closed in the wrong position the last time you ran it. If you hate dragging windows to your normal locations, Touch Accesses with the right mouse button, then touch any window, even a DOS window for 386 systems, and the window will be placed in your preferred window position or any of 8 user configurable "generic" positions. How much programming do you have to do? None. You move a window and say save this! But you do have to read Accesses's Tutor, about 5-10 minutes; because Accesses is a unique one-of-a-kind Windows program. ******** PLACING AND CLOSING WINDOWS ******** Accesses replaces your Windows Task Manager with a program that does much more than switch between applications. You can select 1, 2,..., up to ALL of your windows from the Accesses Task Manager and have them: 1. Closed. 2. Placed in their default positions. 3. Minimized, Hidden 4. Split the screen. Have one show on the Top half and the other on the Bottom half of your screen 5. Moved to overlapping Quadrants on your screen, top right, top left, bottom right, bottom left 6. Moved to top right, top left, bottom right, bottom left, right half, left half, maximized, minimized, tiled, cascaded, above icons, arrange icons, hide, swap apps and icons,... 5. Shot? Well, almost. With Accesses you can destroy some windows that won't close; although, this is a non-standard exiting procedure for most windows; however, this is a windows procedure. All of this is easily configurable. (Note: Version 2.1 significantly enhances this feature.) You decide what Top half means. You decide what Default means. You move a window to the position that you are defining and tell Accesses that's what you want defined for Top Half, or that's where you want all of your Notepad's to start up, except you want "Notepad - WIN.INI" to always start up here, and "Notepad - SYSTEM.INI" to start over there, and Winword to start up there,... Or you shoot the window (destroy). What if they are already started up and 3 hours later your screen is a mess. Select one or all the windows and tell Accesses to put them back to where you wanted them. What if you don't want to define a window's position. For example, you are testing a program downloaded from a bulletin board. Launch that program; touch Accesses pop-up window with the right mouse button; select one of 8 generic positions that can be used for all applications; touch the window you want moved. This is easier to do than to explain. Its fun to do as well. Up to a ridiculous 1024 window positions can be defined; although I haven't seen a need for defining more than 100 positions. I mean, you normally want your Windows for particular programs in one spot, but occasionally you want one to always start up in a different spot when it has a particular document. How hard is this to set up? So easy that Accesses does the 1st initialization when you 1st start Accesses. Before you start Accesses for the 1st time, the README.TXT file asks you to launch and place programs to where you want them to start up. This way Accesses already has this information when it 1st starts. How about adding more afterwards. Place those windows and ask Accesses to save those too. ******** SAVING FOLDERS ******** Accesses will save up to 10 different folders and each folder can have up to 20 programs included in it. A folder is a list of programs that you currently have running and that you want to run later as a group. Minimize the programs that you don't want saved in a folder and save the others to use when you start Windows the next time. Oh my gosh. You've launched the wrong desktop. Do you have to wait for all 20 programs to launch to stop Accesses? WhatDoYouThink? Click the mouse and the mess stops. A folder can include multiple documents for MDI (Multiple Document Interface Programs). Accesses has a Table of up to ten programs that you can define to "Run only ONE copy" and load all other documents into that one program. You can launch a folder from a Program Manager icon using a command line like Accesses.exe !FolderNo8 and Folder Number 8 will be launched. ******** MDI programs - like WINWORD ******** This "Run only ONE copy" will work when you double click on a document name from a program that uses the WIN.INI extensions to load a document. For the computer jocks, from Accesses you can modify the WIN.INI extension to something like the following: doc=accesses.exe winword.exe ^.doc And from File Manager or Program Manager you can launch that document. If Winword is not running Accesses will launch it with that document. However, if Winword is already running, Accesses will load that document into the existing copy of Winword or for any 9 other MDI programs, Excel, etc. You can even set up folders for just Winword to be loaded with multiple documents. **** LAUNCHING and PLACING Programs from other Programs ***** For example, Program Manager uses a command line to run programs from the Icons displayed in Program Manager. Say you have an Icon set up with the command line: NOTEPAD.EXE WIN.INI. You can change the command line to: ACCESSES.EXE NOTEPAD.EXE WIN.INI And then Accesses will launch Notepad with the WIN.INI document and then place notepad where you have it defined to start up. The same goes for any other program. Eg. For 386 computers: "Accesses.exe DOS.PIF dosprogram.exe" will move the DOS window to where you have it defined. Accesses has its own user configurable menu where the user can add their favorite utilities to launch. Ctrl+Esc from any program and launch another program from Accesses. Ctrl+Shift+Esc from any Windows program opens a Run Dialog box where you can select from another menu of Accesses, or launch any program from your Windows directory, or click to another directory to launch a program. While launching programs, you'll want to monitor memory usage.... ******** MEMORY DISPLAYS and USAGE ******** Accesses pop-up can be configured to display % Resource Memory Free, and/or Date, and/or Global Memory Free, and/or time. The pop-up window of Accesses always stays on top of the other windows and can be made as small as the word Format on a menu bar. You can Hide the pop-up if you don't like pop-ups; but some of the Mouse Click features of Accesses will be disabled. I don't think you'll want to hide the pop-up. You can even configure Accesses to hide itself after so many minutes of inactivity so that it does not pop on top of screen blankers or so that it gets out of your way when you don't need it. "Off the WALL Software" always concentrates on Minimizing Resource Memory used. While in the background, Accesses uses less than 1% of your System Resource Memory. Accesses switches task list modes depending on resource memory available and can operate on as little as 1-2% resource memory; although, you shouldn't run windows with such low memory. How many copies of Accesses are running at one time? Only one. Accesses is now your Task Manager and replaces TASKMAN.EXE. To be fast, Accesses does keep some of itself in Global Memory. Users normally have no problem with Global Memory usage. Accesses is NOT using a windows hook, so Accesses is not slowing your computer down. The only significant resource used is a total of one timer for the alarms/memory gauge. ******** MOUSE CLICK FUNCTIONS ******** The mouse cursor changes to show you the Left Mouse Double click and a Right Mouse Single Click functions when you move the cursor over the Accesses pop-up window. You can mouse click on Accesses to: 1. Pop your main menu to the top focus 2. List your System Information: Hard Disk Space Available, Floppy disk space available, floppy disk size, Windows operating mode,... 3. Open a Run Programs Dialog Box where you can launch programs. 4. Open a Move next window by mouse clicking dialog box 5. Open the Task List 6. And up to 5 more windows can be "Attached" to pop to the top when Accesses is clicked in a particular position similar to your main menu above. ******** ALARMS ******** Up to ten alarms can be set for either today or as a daily alarm. Daily alarms are saved to Accesses.ini. ******** PHONE CALLING ******** Accesses uses your modem to dial a phone number from a directory that you can configure. What else can I say. ******** Shareware ******** Accesses Version 2.1 also provides the unregistered user the option of deinstalling the SYSTEM.INI changes on exit. Accesses is Shareware. For now, the registration cost is $24. Unregistered copies have a 12 second message built into the startup and a shorter message built into the shutdown; otherwise, unregistered copies are fully functional. If you knew how much work went into Accesses, you wouldn't believe how cheap it is. You can download Accesses from ACCESS.ZIP found on CompuServ - WINADV board (slow to receive updates) CompuServ - PCMAG UTILFORUM board (fast updates) CompuServ - NORUTL board (fast updates) Accesses Version 2.1, Copyright 1991 by Theodore F. Wall. Ted Wall Off the WALL Software 7680 Cottonwood Lane Pleasanton, CA 94588-4322 510-484-4129