PC COMplete 4.1 - Automated E-mail package Copyright 1990 David Batterson E-mail usage continues to grow at a remarkable rate, particularly due to surging numbers of LANs worldwide. Managing the flow of mail and files to and from all these e-mail addresses can be a real bother. Lotus gave it a shot a while back when they (in cooperation with MCI Mail) created Lotus Express. While a good idea, Lotus Express is a memory-hog, and has no EMS support. Its interface/command structure is equally poor. I don't recommend using it. There's a new player, though, called PC COMplete, and Ver. 4.1 was recently released. It's more than just a communications program with log-on scripts. Any decent comm program will do that. PC COMplete is designed specifically for e-mail, rather than an all- purpose modem program you'd use for calling BBSs. PC COMplete only offers plain vanilla XMODEM, no YMODEM and ZMODEM (the current fave of BBS callers). But that's probably OK for the purpose it was designed for. While you can use it as a interactive terminal program to call CompuServe, MCI Mail, and many other mail services, its fundamental value is to post, grab and run! Busy executives, office staff, salespersons, and other heavy e-mail users don't want to waste time checking their e-mail. (I've personally experienced leaving MCI Mail messages for individuals, and having them fail to retrieve the messages for weeks or even months.) I wrote a script for MIRROR III, so I can type one letter from my C:\ prompt, and capture any messages in my MCI Mail box. I could amend the script so it would also send any messages I had prepared previously. PC COMplete does this for you and more. No scripts are necessary either, just some configuration time. Besides good ol' MCI Mail, there's support of HPDesk, OnTyme, SprintMail, CompuServe's EasyPlex mail, Dialcom, UNIX Mail, VMS Mail, Envoy 100, and direct PC to PC (with both using PC COMplete). Many off-net mail systems are supported through Novell's Message Handling Service (MHS) for LAN messaging. These include IBM's PROFS, All-in-1, Wang OFFICE, EasyLink (recently purchased by AT&T) and X.400 systems. There are also MHS gateways for FAX and Telex (that old dinosaur) usage. I'm not a LAN user so didn't test that aspect of PC COMplete. I had to limit my evaluation to MCI Mail messages, since that's the only e-mail service I use. Nope, there's no support of PRODIGY. Some users will like PC COMplete's interface, while others may not. It's function-key based for the most part. If you're comfortable using the F keys a lot, you'll feel right at home here. This latest version offers new shortcut keys, such as -M to start an automated mail session, or -S to send MHS mail. However, program designers Michael Geary and Richard Moore decided (for whatever reason) to go against the grain. PC COMplete doesn't permit the usual pressing of to exit to previous menus. I found that a bit irritating. After preparing a message in the program's editor, you must press to return to the main menu. I kept hitting instead of . (How about a re-do, guys?) You can run PC COMplete as stand-alone or as a TSR. However, the TSR is for LAN use ONLY, not for direct modem access. So it won't stay in memory and dail up MCI Mail repeatedly (unless you are using a LAN gateway to MCI Mail). Most users of PC COMplete use it in a LAN system, so this is forgivable. It still beats the socks off that second-rate Lotus Express. You may send attachments with messages, i.e., binary files, such as snappy spreadsheet stuff, dandy dBASE data, and wonderful WordPerfect words. For MCI Mail attachments, however, you'll have to use a LAN gateway as there is no direct support of the X.PC protocol (required of Lotus Express users). Not that many MCI Mail subscribers are attaching files anyway. But there's a way to do it if you need to. Heavy e-mail folks should be happy with this program, especially you LANatics out there. It'll save you time and trouble. PC COMplete lists for $229. For information, contact Transend Corp., 884 Portola Road, Portola Valley, CA 94028; 415-851-3402; MCI Mail: 308-1736. # David Batterson enjoys receiving e-mail. Send some to him via MCI Mail: 273-7218.