AFTER READING THIS FILE, CLICK THE "FILE" MENU (IN THE WINDOWS PROGRAM) AND CLICK OFF "PSL-NEWS". PsL CD Meets PsLWeb =================== Starting this month, you can now access the PsL Monthly CD-ROM with your favorite Web browser, assuming it supports opening local files, as all of the major ones do. Just open "File Manager" (in Win31) or "My Computer" (in Win95) and find the INDEX.HTM file in the root directory of the CD. Double-click on it and it should start up your browser and load the INDEX file. If that does not work, start up your browser, click on the "File" menu, and click on "Load File In Browser" (or similar command). Once you have the Index file loaded, it will guide you from there. While we would like to believe that our CD access program is easy and intuitive to use, the fact is that many people already know how to use their browser and will find it an even easier way to access the CD. You will find other differences in the browser files as well. One browser feature which we think you will like is the ability to jump from the CD onto a site on the Web. In addition to shareware links, we have started off our first Web-Shareware CD with a list of our Top 10 Favorite Web Sites. Picks Of The Month: ================== (Click on a program name to install it.) ---Windows: Boot 95 [WIN\UT_SYSTM\BOOT95.ZIP] allows you to easily check or uncheck all the settings (including the undocumented ones) influencing the boot procedure of your Win95 system. Requires VB40032. ClearDoc [WIN\UT_DSKFI\DOCCLEAR.ZIP] automatically clears the Win95 Document menu after a specified amount of time. Features include the ability to bypass confirmations, and the ability to choose whether the files are deleted to the Recycle Bin or not. File Ferret 32 [WIN\UT_DSKFI\FERRET32.ZIP] is a powerful file locating utility for Win95. Features include the ability to search multiple disk drives, multiple file masks, date/size ranges, test searches, export and printing capabilities, and more. Fshred [WIN\UT_DSKFI\FSHRED.ZIP] is a powerful file deletion utility that helps prevent the reconstruction of deleted files. It renames the file to be deleted and overwrites it at least twice with nonsense characters before finally deleting it. Requires VBRUN300. Lock Workstation [WIN\UT_SYSTM\LOCKWK11.ZIP] is a system security package for Win95 that adds password protection to the following keys: CTRL+ALT+DEL, ALT+TAB, and CTRL+ESC. Features include a log file of the attempts to access your machine, the ability to play a wav file every time someone enters the wrong password, and the ability to display a custom message to the person that is trying to enter your machine. Requires the 32-bit VB4 runtime files. Magic Shell [WIN\UT_SYSTM\MAGICSHL.ZIP] is a unique icon-less program management shell for Windows. This allows you to design a screen using a bitmapped graphic file with "hot spots" that you define with a mouse. Clicking on a defined region can then activate a program. Other features include screen linking, batch execution, command line options, and more. Calendar 97 [WIN\UT_SYSTM\PERSCAL1.ZIP] is a computerized monthly calendar for the home, optimized to print a nice calendar to display on your refrigerator. Holidays, moon phases and daylight/standard time changes are automatically displayed. You can add various events such as birthdays, anniversaries, or any annual, monthly or one time events. Requires Win95. Reading is Kids' Stuff [WIN\HOME\READKS10.ZIP] is a complete system for selecting and tracking books your child reads. The expandable database contains over 800 quality children's books with detailed information on each book, such as type, subject, pages, and reading level. You can also print reports of books to read, books that have been read, and books you own. Secret Agent (16-bit) [WIN\COMMUNIC\SA16V120.ZIP] allows off-line access to all the information Netscape saves in its disk cache. When you close down your link to your service provider, you can revisit all the pages you accessed during your session, complete with in-line images and working links between accessed pages. You can extract graphic files, examine HTML source code, and build full off-line versions of the best multimedia web presentations. Requires WIN31+ and Netscape 1.1 or higher. Docu-Clear [WIN\UT_DSKFI\SETUP_DC.ZIP] can automatically delete files from the Win95 Documents menu, as well as delete leftover installation files from the TEMP directory. This is an easy way to help clean up your hard drive. Solitile for Windows [WIN\GAMES\SOLWIN.ZIP] is based on the ancient game of Majhongg, where you try to remove pairs of matched tiles to clear the playing field. Features include several different tile sets and board layouts, a MIDI soundtrack, the ability to take back multiple moves, and much more. Treesize [WIN\UT_SYSTM\TREESIZE.ZIP] adds an entry to the context menu of a folder or drive that shows you the size of the folder, recursively including all subfolders. Scanning is done in a thread and the wasted space can be displayed, so it is easy to find areas on the disk where a lot of space is wasted. The results can be printed in a report. Requires Win95. ---DOS: Notyet [DOS\MVP\NOTYET.ZIP] is a unique and challenging arcade game where you must try to match up colored trigrams to clear a level before advancing to more complex levels. Your "blaster" resides in the center of several spinning circles, and you shoot the trigrams so they will line up. Special effects such as warps, black holes, yin/yangs, and more will impede your progress. Requires a 486+, 8 meg RAM, and VGA. A soundcard is recommended. CD-ROM Sections Of The Month: ============================ Following is a list of the sections from the most recent CDs. By getting all of these CDs, you would have every program/file in PsL's collection. Programs for both DOS and Windows are included in each group. Vol. Num. 5 4 Programming for DOS & Windows (new files since V.4, N.6) 5 3 Communications, Networking, Internet for DOS and Windows 5 2 Education (math, science, languages, reading/spelling, gradebook, study aids) 5 1 Words & Graphics (new files since V.4, N.3) & all OS/2 (word processing, drawing program, clip art, desktop publishing, spelling/grammar checkers, hypertext, fonts, printer utilities, and more.) (OS/2: all OS/2 files since V.4, N.1) 4 12 Utilities For DOS & Windows (new programs since V.4, N.1) 4 11 Home Applications for DOS (home accounting, hobbies, home/auto maintenance, astrology, genealogy, religion, collecting, and more.) 4 10 Home Applications for Windows 4 9 Business (accounting, finance, general business, time managers, general business, database, spreadsheet, mailing list managers, and more, since V.3, N.11) 4 8 Games and Sounds & Music for DOS (since V.3, N.10) 4 7 Games and Sounds & Music for Windows (since V.3., N.9) 4 6 Programming (new programs since V.3, N.8) (assembler, Basic, C, Cobol, Fortran, Pascal, Modula, Visual Basic, general tools, and more.) 4 5 Communications & Networking (comm programs and utilities, BBS systems, programs for FAX cards, pagers, etc., plus networking pgms.) 4 3 Words & Graphics (new programs since V.3, N.5) 4 1 Utilities for DOS & Windows and All OS/2 Programs (new programs up to 1/96, since V.3, N.4 CD) 3 11 Business (up to 11/95) 3 10 Games and Sounds & Music for DOS (up to 10/95) 3 9 Games and Sounds & Music for Windows (up to 9/95) 3 8 Programming (up to 8/95) 3 7 Communications & Network (up to 7/95) 3 5 Words & Graphics (up to 5/95) 3 4 Utilities for DOS & Windows and All OS/2 Files (up to 4/95) FUTURE CD's: Following is the schedule for the section-of-the-month for coming CDs. Because the number of programs in each section continues to grow each month, it may be necessary to split up one or more of the following sections onto separate months' CDs. If this is important to you, check before ordering. ("Vol." indicates the year. "Vol.4" is 1996, "Vol.5" is 1997. Volume 1 appeared in 1993, so Volume 2 is 1994, Volume 3 is 1995, Volume 4 is 1996, and Volume 5 is 1997. The "Number" is the month number, so Vol.4, Num.11 is November 1996.) Vol. Num. 5 5 Games, Sounds & Music 5 6 Business Apps 5 7 Home Apps 5 8 Utilities 5 9 Words and Graphics Problems: ======== In all the years of producing the PsL Monthly CD, we have NEVER found a single problem caused by a "bad CD copy". If you cannot get a CD to work on your machine, please try it on another machine if possible. Otherwise, please read the following Q&A's. If none of this works for you, return the CD and we will check it and replace it if necessary. (1.) "My machine locks up or reboots when I try to install a program." You have one of the small percentage of systems with a CD-ROM driver that is incompatible with PKUNZIP. To get around that problem, we have placed a public domain unzip program on the CD. To invoke it with the DOS-based program, run it using the syntax: "PSL_SHRD /U" (without the quotes). In the Windows based program, select UNZIP in the window that appears after pushing the Install button. In Windows, you can also elect to use WinZip to dearchive files. (2.) "There are no files on the CD." "There are no files in one of the directories." "I get an error trying to copy a file from the CD." We have only had a few such complaints, but in all cases, there was nothing wrong with the CD. Some of the users who made the complaints were able to read the CDs without error on other machines or even when trying later on the same machine. We suspect that the problem is with dust or dirt in the drive or, more specifically, on the laser lens, or on the CD-ROM disc itself. If you do not have a CD lens cleaner, get one from your dealer. Also inspect the non-printed side of the CD for dust or debris. One caller took the CD out, wiped it off, put it back in, and it worked. Maybe it was dirty or maybe just re-seating it helped. (3.) "When I install from the Windows access program, it tells me FILE NOT FOUND." Some combination of flukes in Windows/DOS cause some systems not to be able to find PKUNZIP.EXE on the CD-ROM drive. The solution is to copy PKUNZIP.EXE into your WINDOWS directory on your hard disk. SOUND BLASTER PRO OWNERS: On the January 1995 CD-ROM, we went over 600MB on the CD for the first time and a couple of people with Sound Blaster Pro cards and CD drives were unable to get a directory on the CD. If you have a Sound Blaster Pro and have this problem on a future CD-ROM, ask Creative Labs for a new CD-ROM driver. Frequently Asked Questions: ========================== (1.) "Why don't you install the programs on the CD ready to run instead of in ZIP format?" There are many reasons: - Many programs try to write back to the directory that they are installed in, which cannot be done on a CD. - Many programmers require that their programs be distributed in archived format. - Some installation programs configure the software to the system they are installed on, so that a program installed on our system may not work on yours. - Because we add a section of PsL's disk-based library to the CD each month, there is not room to have all the programs dearchived. - For use of the CDs on BBSs, files must be in archive format. Distributing the programs in archive format makes for a much neater package, making programs easier to find. Dearchiving a program to hard disk only takes a few seconds and by using a temporary directory, you can easily delete the files when done. (2.) "Are the same programs repeated on each month's CD?" No. The \DOS, \WIN, and \OS2 directories contain only the new programs received by PsL during the last 30 days. In addition, we put a different section of our disk-based library on each month's CD. (3.) "I'm not interested in the section of PsL being added to the CD this month. Why should I have to pay for a CD with a section I don't want in order to get the lower subscription price?" The majority of each CD contains new programs received during the last 30 days. These are programs of ALL types and now usually total over 400MB. Rather than leave the rest of the CD empty (as we did during the first year of producing the CD, we fill it in with a different section of our library each month. Even if you don't care for that section, there are tons of programs on each CD for all interests. (4.) "After the PSL_NEWS program installs a file, the program sometimes has to be installed again from those files. Why can't it just be installed once directly from the CD-ROM?" Some shareware authors have custom installation programs which create directories, put files in specific directories, configure the program to the user's specific hardware, etc. We cannot have multiple INSTALL programs in the same directory and it would be cumbersome to have a separate directory for each program, so we are forced to archive such programs, resulting in their having to be dearchived from the CD-ROM before they can be installed with the author's installation program. Contacting PsL: ============== Your comments and suggestions are appreciated. We are striving to make this the ideal CD for sysops and vendors, as well as for individual and users. We will implement every possibly suggestion which will still allow us to produce the CD in a timely manner and which will not degrade the CD is some other way. If you are a programmer and want your program distributed on this CD, simply send it on disk to the address below, or email us and tell us where we can download it from your BBS or Web page. Public (software) Library P.O.Box 35705 Houston, TX 77235-5705 Voice: 713-524-6394 FAX: 713-524-6398 CompuServe: 74777,3465