README file for 95 Power Utilities ***************************************************** CONTENTS 1. How to uninstall 95 Power Utilities 2. Frequently asked questions 3. Getting technical support 4. Changes to the manual 5. Features not included in the manual 6. Setup questions and problems 7. Bugs, erratic behavior, problems 8. Database updates ***************************************************** This file contains changes that were made to the program or manual after the manual was shipped off to the printer. The changes are based on the responses and experiences of a large group of beta testers. ***************************************************** 1. How to uninstall 95 Power Utilities ***************************************************** Changes to the program code rendered the REMOVEPU program, which is referenced in the manual, obsolete. All of the files associated with 95 Power Utilities are contained in the one folder called 95 Power Utilities. No other files are created by the program and the .INI files are not altered in any way. Rather than further clutter your hard disk, the decision was made to delete the REMOVEPU program from the setup disk. Uninstalling 95 Power Utilities can be done several ways. If you have the program in your Start Menu, select Settings, Taskbar, Start Menu Programs, Remove, and then double click on the 95 Power Utilities folder. All files associated with 95 Power Utilities will be deleted. If you don't have 95 Power Utilities on your Start Menu, use My Computer or Explorer to locate the folder, and simply delete it. If you placed the program in the Startup folder, simply open to the Startup folder, and drag the 95 Power Utilities folder to the Recycle Bin. ***************************************************** 2. Frequently asked questions ***************************************************** PRINTING The printer selection dialog is shown each time you choose one of the print menu items, and is shown twice if you choose the print button. This lets you print to different files for each screen printed. If you do not wish to change the printer, simply hit enter. UPGRADES Why does 'NA' appear for Current Equipment and/or Usage? Some hardware cannot be monitored by 95 Power Utilities nor can the hardware be identified by the program under Windows 95. In these instances, NA will appear. Since the program doesn't know what hardware you currently have, it is unable to suggest when to upgrade, so those values will be zero. Use the description in the Quick Help Screen to determine if you should upgrade or add the equipment. Note that Upgrade Candidates are appropriate for every user. If you already have one of the models listed there is no need to upgrade that hardware. UPGRADES: MODEL X IS NOT LISTED The upgrade list consists of many award-winning products based on performance tests. Many awards are given each year, and not every product that has received an award can be listed. If your favorite product is not on the list, or a model that you know has won an award is missing from the list, do not despair. Perhaps the next database update will contain that model. OPENING GRAPHIC The pyramid opening graphic is displayed while the program builds the databases it needs to run. The time it takes to complete the database construction is anywhere from about 10 seconds to about 30 seconds, depending on the speed of the machine. UPGRADES: HOW DOES THE PROGRAM I NEED UPGRADES ALREADY WHEN I'VE ONLY RUN IT FOR FEW MINUTES? The upgrade analysis is based on the level of hardware usage recorded from the time the program was first run. The longer the program is run, the better the advice. See About 95 Power Utilities under the Help menu for more information. Also see the manual. WHY IS CPU USAGE SO HIGH? Some programs, such as the Windows 3.1 version of the Terminal.exe communications program and early versions of Microsoft Word, use all available CPU cycles, even when idle. This means that CPU use will appear to be very high (ie. Overloaded), even when these programs are sitting idle. You can identify this program behavior by using the Usage or System Monitor. If the values are consistently 99, then the CPU values are being artificially raised by this type of program. Minimize your use of the offending program, or change to a Windows 95 version of the software. HOW DO I MOVE THE USAGE MONITOR? WHAT ARE THE NUMBERS ON THE USAGE MONITOR? HOW DO I CLOSE THE USAGE MONITOR? The usage monitor is designed to be as compact as possible, so you can leave it running while you work with other programs. To move it, simply press and hold the left mouse button while the cursor is over the usage monitor. Then drag it to the new location and release the button. You can see what the values are by clicking on it with the right mouse button. Icons depicting what the numbers are are shown. Click again with the right mouse button to return to the numbers. To close the usage monitor, select it again from the main menu. BOTTLE: MEMORY Memory Chips, regardless of how much RAM you have, will exhibit an Overloaded pattern under Windows 95. This results from Windows 95 dynamically adjusting the different cache sizes to use all of the available RAM. Because Memory Chips are overloaded by design, the Memory Load, which is strongly influenced by the Memory Chips scores, is often High or Overloaded as well. Conversely, the Memory Page File and Virtual Memory will normally show a very low amount of usage. Windows 95 does everything possible to avoid having to use Page Memory, which is very slow compared to memory chips. The Virtual memory space is so vast that it is unlikely you will ever use even a tiny fraction of the available space. ACTION: WINDOWS BOSS If you change the characteristics of the 95 Power Utilities main window, you may not be able to change them back. For example, if you hide 95 Power Utilities, you cannot make it visible again! Avoid changing 95 Power Utilities, just as you should avoid changing KERNEL32 and Program Manager windows. ***************************************************** 3. Getting technical support ***************************************************** You must send in your registration card to qualify for free technical support. The best way to get answers to your questions is to leave an E-Mail message for SilverLock Software. You can contact us on CompuServe at: 72324,2314 You can leave us a fax message by calling: (714) 248-1623 If you wish to speak with a Technical Support representative, call: (713) 827-1988 (9AM to 5 PM Central Time) Regardless of how you contact us, please leave a complete description of the problem. Include what type of hardware you have, when specifically the problem occurs, and what symptoms alerted you to the problem. We will diagnose your problem and get back to you with a solution or workaround as soon as possible. We would prefer to receive questions by E-Mail, Fax, or through the mails rather than by telephone. This gives you a chance to fully describe the situation, and gives the technical support representatives a chance to work with the problem and develop a solution. This is often faster than talking to a technical support representative in the first place, because in many cases the representative can do little more than take down the information and then adjourn to try to duplicate the problem and then devising a work-around or fix. We want 95 Power Utilities to be completely bug-free and to be the best software utility package on the market. The extreme complexity of the analysis the program performs, and the newness of the Windows 95 operating system means that some problems are inevitable. Please bear with us through this transition to Windows 95. Bug fix versions will be made available free of charge through our Technical Support system. ***************************************************** 4. Changes to the manual ***************************************************** REMOVEPU This program is not included on the installation disks. It is not needed to cleanly remove 95 Power Utilities from your system. See (1) above for more information. POWER START Power Start is the table in the manual that helps you identify which tool to apply to which problem. If you are at a loss as to where to start to solve your particular problem, use the Power Start table to begin your investigations. KEEP MONITORS ON TOP This feature was moved to the Monitors menu, and is the default case. When checked on the menu, this feature keeps the Monitors on top of any other window you may open. When unchecked, the monitors can be covered over by other windows, including the 95 Power Utilities windows. Monitors that are not kept on top can be easy to 'lose' under all the windows on the system. Note too that monitors do not disappear when you minimize or icon the 95 Power Utilities window. To hide the monitors when you minimize the program, close all of the monitors before minimizing the main 95 Power Utilities window. ***************************************************** 5. Features not included in the manual ***************************************************** HELP The Help toolbar button and menu entry were not mentioned in the manual. Help will guide you around the screen, explaining what everything is and how to use it. It is the best place to familiarize yourself with the power and features of 95 Power Utilities, and where to turn for more information. To use Help, choose the toolbar button or menu entry, then double click on your selection from the Help window that appears. This starts a short Help session. The small window will position itself near the item it is currently describing. Click on the down arrow to drop down a description of the item. When you are ready to proceed to the next item, click the Next button. Done ends that Help session and returns you to the Help screen. Most Help sessions consists of less than 10 items each. As with all of the windows in the program, click the X in the upper right corner to close the Help screen. You can leave the help screen open while you work, if you wish, but full-time help is always available in the Quick Help Screen to the right of the Main Screen. RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON You can right click on the gray areas of the screen to activate the Help features. CLICKING ON THE MAIN SCREEN Clicking on an entry in the Main Screen will scroll you to the appropriate explanation in the Quick Help Screen. This is the fastest way to get more information about what is shown in the Main screen. ***************************************************** 6. Setup questions and problems ***************************************************** SETUP LOCKS UP THE MACHINE This indicates a severe problem with the setup program, your hard disk, or configuration. Contact Technical Support for help. FILES ARE NOT COPIED TO THE DIRECTORY Files may not be copied if the disk is full, or if it is write protected. Also, if you are trying to install the program to a floppy drive, any files that exceed the capacity of the floppy disk will not be copied. "FILE NOT FOUND" ERROR MESSAGE This message indicates that a necessary file is either not present on the floppy disk, or has become damaged. Contact Technical Support to receive a new disk. DIRECTORY NAME You can specify any directory name on any hard disk with enough space. The program will check your disk space to ensure that it is sufficient for the installation. NOT ENOUGH DISK SPACE The setup program looks to see that you have at least 5 MB free before attempting the installation. Even though 95 Power Utilities uses slightly less than 2 MB for the average installation, the additional free space is needed for swap files, for temporary data storage, and for the setup program to decompress the files. Once the program is successfully installed, the extra 3 MB will be freed. ***************************************************** 7. Bugs, erratic behavior, problems ***************************************************** 95 Power Utilities is a cutting-edge program that uses the new Windows 95 operating system to its fullest. Bugs, erratic behavior, and problems are likely to occur with such a new program running on such a new operating system. Please bear with us as we fix these problems. If you encounter a problem, call Technical Support and report what you have found. If you can reproduce the problem again, and can build a list of the steps needed to make the problem appear, your time with the Technical Support representative will be shortened considerably. USAGE MONITOR: TYPING SPEED DOESN'T CHANGE The typing speed is designed to be cumulative, so it will not change very often. Typing speed is measured in increments of 12 words per minute, so fine measurements are not possible. Read the section in the manual about typing speed for more information. BAD MODEMS A modem that appears to the system as if it were working, but in reality is not, will cause 95 Power Utilities to lock up during start up. This occurs only in those rare instances where the modem is of a design that it cannot be identified by Windows 95 either. If you were able to get Windows 95 to detect your modem, this should not cause a problem for 95 Power Utilities. TYPOS, MISSPELLINGS, GRAMMAR ERRORS The massive amount of text in the program has been edited, but errors are still likely to be present. There is enough text description in the program to make a 500 page book. GOLF GAMES DOS golf games require split-second timing for mouse clicks, if you notice that your mouse appears to be 'slow' or 'unresponsive', close 95 Power Utilities before continuing with the game. Be sure to start 95 Power Utilities after you finish the game, or data collection will not take place. The slowness in the mouse actions is a result of the data collection process. While most programs are completely unaffected, golf games and other programs that use the mouse in 'non-standard' ways may be affect. We apologize for the inconvenience. SLOW MOUSE OR KEYBOARD See the description under Golf Games for solving this problem. NO MODEM USE IS SHOWN Windows handles communications devices in a 'first come, first served' fashion. Once a program has taken control of the modem, there is little another program can do find out what is going on with the modem while it is running. Every effort has been made to force the modem to reveal some of it's activity, though not every modem and communications program pair will comply. One solution is to use a program that replaces the standard Windows communications drivers with ones that allow several programs to use the same port at the same time. Under Windows 3.1 programs such as KingCom perform such functions. SOUND CARD TEST IS STATICY The sound card test IS static. Using what is known as Pink Noise, the sound card test sends this noise continously to the speakers until you click another test button or the X in the upper right corner of the window. Static is used since it is easy to hear even when there is a lot of background noise, and because the pink noise used contains the complete spectrum of sounds. AFTER DARK A beta version of the After Dark screen saver for Windows 95 was found to cause erratic behavior in 95 Power Utilities. The exact reason for the problem is not known. Avoid running After Dark while using 95 Power Utilities. VIRUS SCANNERS Some anti-virus programs will report that files have been accessed after running the Inventory tools under the Programs menu. The files are read in order to build the inventory, but are not altered. ***************************************************** 8. Database updates ***************************************************** Database updates for the Boost, Coach, and Upgrades sections are available on-line free of charge. They will be stored at our corporate CompuServe ID as soon as it is established. Until then, you can get new databases by sending an E-Mail message to the address listed above. New databases will be available about every 3 months or as needed. 10/20/95