Thank you for purchasing: Cream of the Crop 24 Distributed by: Terry Blount Voice - 334-824-2552 BBS - 334-824-2611 Fidonet - 1:3625/441 E-mail: terry.blount@worldnet.att.net web site: WWW.toson.com/coc/index.htm Table of contents: 1. Important notice about shareware. 2. Cream.exe - the file view and retrieval program. 3. Notes on file compression. 4. A word of caution. 5. Groups of files were not included on this disc. 6. Notes on the classification/cataloging of topics. ************************ IMPORTANT NOTICE ************************ "Shareware" is a concept where you have an opportunity to try a software program before you buy it. Shareware is comparable to commercial software in quality, but not usually in price. Shareware is normally much less expensive because the author has not spent the many thousands, even millions, of dollars on advertising that commercial software companies do. Thus, the overhead is much less and your cost reflects this. If you use a shareware program for a reasonable period of time you are required to register it. Please honor the author's registration fee and register the programs you use. Many shareware programs on this cd required hundred's of hours to develop. Many of the programs you will be using were written by authors who fully depend on the support of honest users to continue making affordable software. Your registration does count! ...not only to the author and his/her family, but also when you register there are usually many additional benefits that are available. *** Information on the file view and retrieval program *** CREAM.exe This is a view and retrieval program that will assist you in retrieving and viewing the files on this disk, along with their size, date, and description. To run this program, simply type "Cream" and press enter. There is no setup required. Cream.exe is in the directory with this file you are reading now. Cream.exe is NOT for use outside this cd. Please do not place it for download on a BBS. The most unique and appreciated feature of the Cream of the Crop view and retrieval program (Cream.exe) is that it is the only such program that runs entirely on the cd. This means that you avoid setup procedures that wasted time and disc space. The features that require searches on the cd are loaded into memory for instant results, making this the fastest program of its kind. The most notable feature is the option to display the files in the Work Directory that have been uncompressed from the cd ...AND then browse the text files or execute .EXE and .COM programs or uncompress .ZIP, .LZH and .ARJ archives that the author may have placed inside the archives that are on the cd. The browse program is very complete with 35 features including search, block mark for printing (or writing to disk), text markers and Hex toggle... just to mention a few. will display a help menu with all the features available with the menu you are viewing. drops to DOS from any menu. The default for Yes and No questions is in upper case. For example if you are prompted with a message saying: "Do you want to continue? [Y/n]" Pressing any key except "N" or "n" will default to the "Yes" choice. Sometimes there is a Yes, Quit, or any other key to start over option. In this case any key other than "Y", "y", "Q" or "q" will allow you to restart the operation. The default Work Directory is on your C: drive and the path to it is determined by the Volume Label of the cd you are using. If you are working with Cream 10 the default path to your Work Directory will be C:\CREAM_10. You can override this default path by starting this program with a command line parameter that contains a "custom default path" ie. "Cream D:\TEMP" Note: Only the default path or custom default path can be erased when you are prompted with the option to erase your Work Directory at the "normal" conclusion of a session. This is a safety feature to prevent regrettable mistakes. You will not be prompted with this option and the files in your Work Directory will not be erased if you terminate Cream with the shortcut. 1. Commands that are available with almost every menu include: = Help = Exit = Drop to DOS = Return to previous menu = Work Directory Moves the files from the current Work Directory to a new directory = Process the highlighted/selected/tagged option(s) 2. Additional commands that are available when viewing the Work Directory: Execute, browse or uncompress the highlighted file. Print the highlighted file. 3. Additional commands that are available when viewing a category of files: Pressing alpha-numeric keys serve as a search feature. Copy or Uncompress tagged files Search for key words or phrases in the file descriptions. Clear search markers Note: The option to unarchive files does not allow the root directory on your C: drive to be used as a target directory. This is a safety feature to protect your system's configuration files Config.sys and Autoexec.bat from accidentally being overwritten with examples that may have been in- cluded in an archive on the cd. Notes on File Compression The programs on this cd are compressed with Pkzip from Pkware Inc. If you use Pkware for any purpose other than the one provided to extract files from this cd from within Cream.exe you are required to register your own copy. The programs on this and other shareware cd discs are compressed in order to save space and keep all the necessary support files together with the program that needs them to run. Compression also makes it possible to include the same amount of data that would require 3 or 4 cds in an uncompressed format. Many authors do not allow their programs to be distributed under the shareware concept if they are not compressed - without the distributor paying a fee for each disc distributed. This is because they know that it is unlikely they will ever receive any registration from programs that are distributed in a format that is already set up and ready to run. Please support the shareware concept and register the programs that you use. Extra Features! Also included in the root directory is a program named AVGage.exe. This program will calculate the average date of ALL the ZIP files on a cdrom disc and return the average age/date of the disc. This utility can also be used to find the average date of a group of files in a subdirectory or on a hard drive. To use this utility in that manner place it in you path and change to the directory you wish to process before you execute AVGage.exe. A Word of Caution All risks involved with using the programs on this cd are assumed by you alone. Some programs on this cd, especially those that manipulate the data on your hard drive, (ie. optimizers and low level disk management) can potentially cause loss of data. Be careful! Reading the docs and taking serious the warnings is the only reasonable thing to do. BBS Support Programs Cream of the Crop has many features to assist Sysops in setting up and running the cd online. All the automatic setup utilities have been modified to identify and correctly setup Cream of the Crop with systems running cd rom changers under a single drive letter. No manual editing will be necessary. Most of the automatic setup utilities will allow a Sysop to insert the volume label before the file category name. For example, "Games" can be displayed to the callers as "(Cream_??) Games" This feature will enable callers to more easily locate the latest files and know the cd they are located on. This feature is not available on all the automatic bbs setup utilities because the length of the file category description field afforded by the bbs is sometimes too short to add this extra information. This feature is optional and will be asked when running the programs and answering for the normal questions. Cream also has a Wildcat drop in database (Look for the drop in file - located in the root directory) to assist Wildcat BBS Sysops in rapidly/easily setting up this cd. Thanks to Gene Geiger for this help and *NO* thanks to the folks at Mustang Software who promised technical assistance but never helped. Cream also has a utility that will build the control file for RomDoor. Execute Romdoor.exe and answer the questions. Cream also has a utility that will build the control file for EZrom and Sfrom. Execute EZ_SFrom.exe and answer the questions. Cream also has file descriptions in every directory under the name File.bbs that have the extended portion of the file descriptions broken up to resemble the Pcboard format. Note: you can also use AnyStyle.exe to build file descriptions any way you like.. and it will increment the file names and put them in on your hard drive. If you run a Maximus, Proboard, Remote Access, Quick BBS, PcBoard, or Spitfire BBS one of the following programs may? automatically set up this disk for your bbs file database structure in only a few minutes. Since the file base structures used by these BBS's change frequently it is likely that some of these programs may not work with a later release. ALL of these programs will AUTOMATICALLY copy (and correctly format) the Files.bbs from this cd to suit the structure of your bbs and increment the file names, placing the "Files." ( or File.bbs in some cases) into the directory you specify. Please backup your file data base before you run any of these programs. For an extra precaution, you can copy your file databases to a temporary directory and use your temporary directory to set up this disk. If the setup is satisfactory when you view it with your BBS management program (or text editor) then you can copy it to your BBS home directory. These programs are NOT to be used outside the scope of this cd rom disk. Please do not place them on a BBS for downloading. AnyStyle.exe If you run a BBS software that was not mentioned above this utility will build file listing in almost _ANY_ format. You may want to convert the file descriptions into your favorite format even if you don't run a BBS. This utility will do that. You have numerous combinations of options to choose from. You can include or exclude the file size, and date columns or commas in the file sizes _AND_ wrap the extended portions of the file descriptions to comply with any format you like... including insertion of control characters. You also have 3 options as to the style of file naming incrementing. Even with all these options it is still very simple to operate. Just execute "AnyStyle" from the directory with this file you are reading now and answer the questions. MX_Cream.exe This is the program to set up Maximus BBS. Actually it builds your "Filearea.ctl" control file then you can run FB to compile the changes. It is important that your Filearea.ctl be correctly formatted so that the last area can be located to provide accurate file naming when the Files.bbs are reformatted and copied to your fixed media path. "Area " MUST begin on column #1 (at least for the last record in your Filearea.ctl control file). Sorry only numeric incrimination is supported. (ie. The format: Area A, Area B, Area C, etc is NOT supported.) This program has several added options that will be obvious to you when you run it. You may want to read the section of your docs that explains the advantages and disadvantages of including the file size and date column before you execute this program and have to make that decision. SF_Cream.exe This is the program to set up Spitfire BBS. You will need to know the path to your Sffarea.dat file and your display directory where "Sffiles." will be placed, before you run this program. The extended descriptions will be automatically formatted with the #2 control character for Spitfire when the Sffiles. are being created in your display directory. QB_Cream.exe This is the program to set up Quick BBS. You will need to know the path to your Filecfg.dat and your "File list" path directory before you run this program. When you use this program you will be given an option to override the default and select a different record number to begin setting up this disc. This option is dangerous if you do not understand its purpose. If you have a empty record in your file data base (the area name description field is keyed on to determine an empty record) QB_Cream will will find it first and assume that it has reached the end of your file settings. This record number will be the default setting used to begin setting up this cd. You should know the record number that is your highest file area setting to verify (and correct if necessary) the default setting. This option to use your own default setting to begin the setup of this cd is also useful if you wish to _insert_ this cd in place of one you are removing. The cd you are removing _MUST_ have used at least 27 file areas in order that sufficient space be available to insert the 27 file areas on this disc without overwriting the next cd's file directory records. If all this is unclear to you it would be a good idea to call 334-824-2552 for support. RA_Cream.exe This is the program to set up Remote Access version 5.0 or later. You will need to know the path to your Files.ra and your "Alternative file list path for read-only media" path before you run this program. When you use this program you will be given an option to override the default and select a different record number to begin setting up this disc. This option is dangerous if you do not understand its purpose. If you have a empty record in your file data base (the area name description field is keyed on to determine an empty record) RA_Cream will will find it first and assume that it has reached the end of your file settings. This record number will be the default setting used to begin setting up this cd. You should know the record number that is your highest file area setting to verify (and correct if necessary) the default setting. This option to use your own default setting to begin the setup of this cd is also useful if you wish to _insert_ this cd in place of one you are removing. The cd you are removing _MUST_ have used at least 27 file areas in order that sufficient space be available to insert the 27 file areas on this disc without overwriting the next cd's file directory records. If all this is unclear to you it would be a good idea to call 334-824-2552 for support. PC_Cream.exe This is a simple program to _assist_ the setup of Pcboard BBS. PC_Cream will copy the Files.bbs file listings to the directory of your choice on your hard drive * AND * increment the file listing names, ie. Dir1, Dir2, Dir3 etc. The extended description portion of the file descriptions will be correctly formatted for Pcboard format. The listing of the file area descriptions is included (under the name DIR) in this directory. PB_Cream.exe This is the program to set up a Proboard BBS. You will need to know the path to your FileCfg.pro and the path to your "listing file" directory. Since Proboard (and the structure for FileCfg.pro) is written C and this program is written in Pascal it is not easy to determine how many file areas you currently have setup. If you are currently incrementing your file listings in the File.bbs naming format you should set up a separate directory for this program to place the file listings for each version of Cream of the Crop. The file listings will be named File1.bbs, File2.bbs etc. and the corresponding path and names of these files will be written to your FileCfg.pro. Remember to run "Pbutil FI" when you finish to reindex your file base. It has been reported that Proboard cannot correctly display the filesize when commas are used. This program will remove the commas from the filesize. TB_Cream.exe This program will setup TBBS. Just run it and answer the questions. It will build the .FAR files and reformat the file listings to comply with TBBS standards. The comma in the file size will NOT be included. RB_Cream.exe This program will setup RBBS. Just run it and answer the questions. It will build the .DAT files and reformat the file listings to comply with RBBS standards. Crm2tag.exe This program will setup TAG. Just run it and answer the questions. It was written by Jonathan Murray and supplied freely to help his fellow TAGBBS sysops set up any volume of Cream of the Crop. The file "Crm2tag .doc" can be found in the directory with this file you are reading now. Thanks Jonathan! The following groups of files were not included: Sexually explicit (adult) files and text, pictures (gifs, fli, animation, fracturals, graphics, clipart, fonts, images, cartoons --- except when they were included with another program by an author to support a game or demo), music (Cmf, Mid, Mod, Mus, Rol, Voc, Wav, etc.) and Macintosh & Unix operating system support programs. Files were cataloged under the following 22 categories: Business and Financial Communication Programs Compression Programs Data Base Programs Educational and Health Files Frequently Asked Questions & News Game Levels/Addons/Hints/Solutions Games Graphic/Image Viewing/Editing Hard Disk & File Management Math, Autocad, Science & Engineering Networking and LAN Files OS/2 Support Programs Printing & Publishing, Mailing Programming Religion Files Sound, Speaker & Music Text/WEB Editing & Word Processing Utilities / Drivers / Diag Virus Prevention Windows Support BBS Support Files Note: The "Windows" category contains only windows utilities. Programs that require windows are cataloged in their respective areas such as Business, Comm, Compress, Database, Games, Printing, Sound and Virus. Please read the file descriptions carefully to determine if the program requires Windows. Final Notes The files on this cd have been scanned for known viruses. All possible efforts were made to prevent commercial software from accidentally getting included on this disc. If you detect a virus or a program that is not released under the shareware concept, please report your finding to Terry Blount at 334-824-2552 or P.O. Box 36, Bayou La Batre, Al.36509 Thank You.