[WinLoad, Version 1.0: Copyright by HLS/Aachen/1991] ---------------------------------------------------- (NO WARRANTY: see disclaimer below) WinLoad automatically loads DOS- and Windows-Applications after Windows has been booted. It does this "in the background", that means that you can begin your work immediately after Windows has been booted. To do this only the following is required: * copy the files WINLOAD.EXE, WINLOAD.TXT and WINLOAD.HLP to the directory where you want to have them (WINLOAD.EXE and WINLOAD.HLP must be in the same directory in order to access online help), * make a copy of your current WIN.INI (after successfull installation of WINLOAD you can delete the copy!), * add WINLOAD.EXE as usual to one of your program groups (only needed for initialization or changes of setup). Prepare WinLoad to load your applications ----------------------------------------- Start WinLoad as a usual Windows application, e.g. by double clicking on the WinLoad icon in the program managers group window. The WinLoad main window and then the SetUp dialog box should appear on the screen. With the dialog box you can set up a list of programs and select for each program is initial window size (minimized, normal or maximized) and the delay time before the next application is to be loaded. The programs from the list can be loaded after(!) the Windows boot process has been completed. In addition, the "Load=" and "Run=" lines in the [Windows] section of your WIN.INI file can be changed via the SetUp dialog box. When you are running WinLoad for the first time, the following is recommended: - Start the Windows Help Application by pressing the "Help" button of the SetUp dialog box or selecting "Help" from WinLoad main window's system menu; the information presented to you is the same as the information provided in WinLoad.TXT, which is an ASCII file. - Remove those entries of the old "Load=" and "Run=" lines, which you want to be started asynchronously after Windows startup, and add them to the WinLoad program list as described below; it's a good idea to do this one after another for each entry. - The "Load=" line must contain "WinLoad", otherwise WinLoad will not start to load automatically. If the "Load=" list does not contain "WinLoad", it will be appended automatically after closing the SetUp dialog box by pressing the "OK" button. You can insert a new entry "WinLoad" yourself in the "Load=" list (if WinLoad cannot be found, insert "PATH\WinLoad.exe", where PATH is the full path name). How to change the WinLoad program list -------------------------------------- The WinLoad program list contains programs which are to be loaded after Windows has been booted. The programs from the list are loaded in the given order. The first entry in the WinLoad program list is always "WinLoad". For this entry you can select the size of the WinLoad main window, and as delay time the time WinLoad waits before loading the first application (the second program in the list). This delay time is also the default for all other applications. * Append new entries to the list: - Enter the name of the program you want to load in the edit control of the combo box (the browser can be used to search for files). If WinLoad cannot find it when loading your programs (in the Windows directory, it's System subdirectory or via the PATH variable), you should give the full path name and extension. Parameters can be appended as well. Parameters and, if no path is supplied, program extension (default: EXE) are optional. If there is a link for the given extension in the [Extensions] section of your WIN.INI file, WinLoad will try to load the appropriate program during automatic loading. - Press the "Append to list" button; the new entry will appear at the end(!) of the list. - Select the initial size and, if required, change the delay time. * Change existing entries: - Select the list entry you want to change. - If you want to change it's "Initial size", simply check the appropriate radio button. - If you want to change it's "Delay" value, simply enter the new time. The value is interpreted as milliseconds and should be between 1000 and 60000 (1 - 60 seconds). If the selected entry is the first ("WinLoad"), all entries which previously had the same delay value as "WinLoad" will receive the new delay value. - If you want to change it's name, path and or parameters, simply make the appropriate changes by editing the text in the edit control of the combo box or by using the browser, then press the "Change entry" button. * Delete entries or change their position in the list: - Select the list entry you want to delete or shift. - Press the "Cut from list" button. The entry will be removed from the list and be displayed in the "Private clipboard" area. - If you wanted the entry to become a new position, select the appropriate list entry. Then press the "Paste into list" button. The contence of the "Private clipboard" will be inserted after the previously selected entry, and will then be selected itself. - The contents of the "Private clipboard" remains unchanged until the "Cut from list" button is pressed again, and can be pasted into the list more than once at different positions. * Browse for files: - Instead of editing the text in the edit control of the combo box, the file browser can be used. To do this, press the "Browse ..." button. - A new Browser dialog box appears, which let's you walk through your directory trees as usual. - If you found the desired file, press "OK", and after the dialog box disappeared the name of the file is copied into the edit control of the combo box of the SetUp dialog box. It can then still be changed if needed, before the "Append to list" or "Change entry" button is pressed. - If the Browser dialog box is closed by "Cancel" or by selecting "Close" from the system menu, nothing is changed in the edit control of the combo box. * Comments: - Comments can be added to the WinLoad program list as well as programs; any string that starts with a ';' is treated as a comment. - Comments offer a simple method to disable list entries by simply prepending them with a ';' instead of removing them from the list, since comments will be ignored during automatic loading. * Exiting from the SetUp dialog box: - Press the "OK" button to save the changes to WINLOAD.INI (see below), - press "Cancel" to quit without saving, or - select "Close" from the system menu (a message box will prevent you from loosing your changed data without confirmation). Required settings in WIN.INI ---------------------------- In most cases, WIN.INI will already be o.k. for use with WinLoad, and you won't have to change it. Here are some hints for advanced users. WinLoad stores it's settings by default in a profile named WINLOAD.INI (see description below); if you want another profile to be used instead, add - if not present - a new section [Private Profiles] to your WIN.INI file, which should contain a with a line named "WinLoad=...", where "..." stands for the name of the file you want to use. By default, this section should read: [Private Profiles] WinLoad=WINLOAD.INI WinLoad uses the extensions found in the "Programs=" line in the [Windows] section to decide which file names denote programs. For Windows 3.0, this line should read "Programs=com exe bat pif"; it should not contain other extensions! For program names without path and extension, EXE is assumed and no checks are performed. If a program name has an extension not contained in the "Programs=" line as described above, WinLoad searches in the [Extensions] section of WIN.INI for an apropriate line and builts the correct command, if possible. Additional information ---------------------- * To reopen the SetUp dialog box, choose "SetUp ..." from the system menu. * To force WinLoad to begin loading, choose "Start!" from the system menu. * If WinLoad is started by the "Load=" line from WIN.INI during Windows startup, it begins loading automatically. * If WinLoad is started after Windows has been booted, or by the "Run=" line from WIN.INI instead of the "Load=" line, the SetUp dialog box is being opened automatically. * Once WinLoad has started to load applications, the "SetUp ..." and "Start!" items in the system menu will be disabled. Loading can only be stopped by terminating WinLoad (e.g. by double clicking on the system menu bar). WinLoad will terminate at latest when all applications from the WinLoad list have been loaded. * WinLoad cannot be run more than once at a time. Any attempt to run more than one instance of WinLoad will terminate silently. * If you still want applications other than WinLoad to be startet at Windows boot time, you can of course add them to the "Load=" or "Run=" line in the [Windows] section of your WIN.INI file by using the SetUp dialog box or editing WIN.INI as usual. Description of entries in WINLOAD.INI ------------------------------------- (you can change all settings via the "setup" dialog box and do not need to edit WINLOAD.INI, but some old fashioned people prefer this method) Entries in the [WinLoad] section of WINLOAD.INI have the form: ::= =[],[],[;] ::= "a non negative number without leading zeros" ::= "a non negative number consisting of 2 to 5 digits" ::= Maximized|FullScreen|NormalSize|Iconized|Minimized ::= [Path]ProgramName[.Extension] [Parameters] The first entry must have 0 as , the second 1, and so on. Entry 0 has a special meaning: is the time (in milliseconds) WinLoad waits before the first application is loaded and, by default, the time before each next application is loaded. If omitted, 5000 ms is the default. is the initial window size for WinLoad. Default is "NormalSize". should be "WinLoad" (this is ignored). For each program to start a line with key (sequence number, greater than 0) is required. The sections and are optional. The section is required; it tells WinLoad the name of the executable file which contains the application that is to be started by WinLoad. If this file cannot be found in the Windows directory, it's System subdirectory or via the PATH variable, the full path name is required. Parameters and, if no path is supplied, extension (default: EXE) are optional. If the name given here is linked to an application via the [Extensions] section of your WIN.INI file, WinLoad will try to load the appropriate program. If the program name is preceeded by the comment character ';', the line will be ignored during automatic loading. tells WinLoad the initial window size for the application, where "FullScreen" is the same as "Maximized" and "Iconized" is the same as "Minimized". The value can be abbreviated, but a minimum of two letters is required. If this field is missing or invalid, the default value "NormalSize" is assumed. tells WinLoad how much milliseconds to wait before the next(!) application is to be loaded. Default is value for WinLoad. The values should be in the range 1000,...,60000. If not, they will be adjusted as appropriate. Example for the entries in the [WinLoad] section of WINLOAD.INI (assuming that extension ".cal" is linked to CALENDAR.EXE, for example): [WinLoad] ;---Example: Settings for WinLoad---------------- 0=5000,Norm,WinLoad ;---Example: Settings for applications to load--- 1=2000,Mini,\win3\util\freemem.exe 2=,,\win3\util\perfmetr.exe 3=5000,Mini,clock.exe 4=5000,Mini,\win3\std.cal 5=5000,Mini,winfile.exe 6=5000,Norm,\win3\util\scrpeac3\saver.exe 7=1000,Mini,\win3\gms\wineyes.exe Copyright & Disclaimer ---------------------- WinLoad is CharityWare. It may be copied and used freely by anyone, as long as WinLoad.HLP and WinLoad.TXT are copied also and nothing has been changed. If you find WinLoad useful and continue to use it, please give something for charity to an organization you think to be worth it (e.g. 1% of your monthly income, or more). WinLoad is nevertheless copyrighted and protected by several laws. It may not be sold by anyone except me without my written permission. This also includes shareware- and public-domain-software-traders. If they want to sell my program or want to charge anything for copying it, they need my approval. ABSOLUTLY NO WARRANTY FOR ANYTHING! Since this program is for free, I do not guarantee anything. Although WinLoad was developed and tested very carefully, the author cannot be liable for any damage caused by any use of the program; if you use the program, it's your own risk! WinLoad seems to work fine on my machine. I use it every day and it has never crashed anything. But if it does so on your computer be aware that you use(d) it on your own risk. Version 1.0: Copyright by HLS/Aachen, 1/1/1991