17462                                                     
@9@Set Preferences...@0@                                  
                                                          
This panel is used to set your personal                   
preferences about the way certain things work             
in MEGA-Check 2.  The changes made on this                
panel affect MEGA-Check 2 globally.                       
                                                          
@1@Globals@0@                                             
                                                          
Because of the required Ledger Account fields             
on every transaction, using the Account                   
Selector repeatedly may slow you down due to              
the time it takes to redraw (unless you have a            
fast machine).  Selecting @1@Account Selector             
- Window only@0@ will cause MEGA-Check 2 to               
draw only the window of the @2@Account@0@2.hlp           
@2@Selector@0@.  The disadvantage, of course, is2.hlp    
that you won't have the maintenance tools                 
available to you except from the @1@Maintain              
Accounts...@0@ menu option under the Tables               
menu.  By itself, it is hard to notice any                
difference in the time it takes to draw the               
entire Account Selector as opposed to just its            
window, but using it for a series of fields in            
a row may be noticeable.                                  
                                                          
If @1@American Date@0@ is set then you must               
enter all dates in either the American or                 
international formats.  MEGA-Check 2 will also            
display all dates in the format "mm/dd/ccyy"              
(assuming the slash "/" is the                            
@1@Separator@0@).  If @1@American Date@0@ is              
not set then you must enter all dates in                  
either European or international format.  The             
@1@Separator@0@ character of your choice can              
be used to separate the month, date and year              
components of the date (though you are never              
required to enter any separator character).               
For more information see @2@Information@0@trantbl.hlp    
@2@MEGA-Check 2 stores in each transaction@0@.trantbl.hlp
                                                          
@1@Center Dialogs@0@ tells MEGA-Check 2 to                
center panels on the screen.  If this option              
is deselected all panels will be centered                 
@8@under the mouse pointer@0@ when they are               
opened.  For mouse experts, this may be                   
preferred since the next button they want to              
click will more likely be closer to the mouse             
pointer when the panel opens.                             
                                                          
@1@Movable Dialogs@0@ lets you drag any panel             
to a new location by clicking and dragging any            
portion of the dialog that isn't occupied by a            
button or field (i.e. the rounded title box).             
Once again, people who are very quick with the            
mouse will probably want to leave this option             
deselected since missing a button will cause              
the panel to be repositioned.  Also note that             
if @1@Draw Background Panels@0@ is set to                 
@1@Yes@0@ that moving panels will consume                 
quite a bit of memory for the intangible                  
benefit it provides.  That's because                      
MEGA-Check 2 uses a screen buffering method of            
redrawing the panels (only when this option is            
set to yes) which translates to an average of             
about 10K - 30K average memory per panel that             
is open.  So if you are three panels deep and             
@1@Draw Background Panels@0@ is set to Yes,               
those three panels are buffered up to a max.              
of around 90K.  The memory is released when               
the panels are closed, however.                           
                                                          
@1@Underscores@0@ turns on the key helper.  An            
line is placed under the letter in the button             
that can be used in conjunction with the                  
@1@Control@0@ key to activate that button.  If            
you prefer not to see these lines, deselect               
this button.                                              
                                                          
@1@Zoomboxes@0@ controls whether the pretty               
GEM zoomboxes will zoom when panels are opened            
and closed.  If you have a slow machine, you              
may want to turn this button off since it does            
take a @8@little@0@ longer to open panels (not            
much though).                                             
                                                          
@1@Data Entry@0@                                          
                                                          
@1@Auto Capitalization@0@ will capitalize the             
first letter of each @8@blank@0@ entry field.             
You can temporarily override this function by             
holding down both shift keys while typing the             
letter.                                                   
                                                          
@1@Auto Complete@0@ enables the powerful                  
feature available to all MEGA-Check 2                     
"listable" fields, which "interprets" your                
typing and finishes it out for you as soon as             
it figures it out.  This is a great time-saver            
and we highly recommend leaving this button               
selected.  It can be temporarily disabled by              
typing a character that you know isn't the                
beginning of anything in the list (for                    
example, a period ".").  Once the entry is                
typed, go back to the beginning of the line               
and delete the period.                                    
                                                          
@1@Auto Tab@0@ will cause the cursor to                   
automatically advance to the next field when              
it is typed past the end of the current                   
field.  If it is not set, the last character              
of the field being typed will be replaced for             
every new character typed there.                          
                                                          
@1@Other Preferences@0@                                   
                                                          
@1@Check alarms on Open@0@ will automatically             
check all model alarms when your financial                
file is opened.  This option is recommended.              
                                                          
Selecting @1@Keep Backup Generation@0@ will               
tell MEGA-Check 2 to automatically keep the               
two most current generations of your financial            
files, but will require roughly twice as much             
disk space to store both of the files.  If you            
use a hard drive or never have problems                   
running out of disk space, this option is                 
highly recommended.  If something happens to              
your @1@.MC2@0@ file, you may be able to load             
the @1@.BAK@0@ file with the same prefix, but             
it will not have the most recent changes made             
in the last session.                                      
                                                          
@1@Default Startup Paths@0@                               
                                                          
@1@Data File Path@0@ can be set by positioning            
the cursor and right clicking the mouse.  The             
system fileselector will appear, asking you to            
set the path you want MEGA-Check 2 to default             
to whenever you select the @1@Open...@0@                  
function.  Remember that if you open or save a            
document from a path other than the Data File             
Path, MEGA-Check 2 will use that path for the             
remainder of the session, until you exit                  
MEGA-Check 2 and reload it.                               
                                                          
Set the temporary @1@Work File@0@ MEGA-Check 2            
needs to perform various functions.  It will              
be deleted whenever you quit.  We recommend               
the fastest disk you have that has 100K or                
more of available space (less will work, but              
100K is safe).                                            
                                                          
Set the temporary @1@Report File@0@ that                  
MEGA-Check 2 uses to store the randomly                   
accessed @4@current report file@0@.  It is                
created every time a new report is generated              
to the @1@Window@0@ device (set in @2@Report@0@21.hlp    
Options@0@) and accessed from the21.hlp                  
@2@View Current Report@0@ panel.  Like the Work24.hlp    
File, this file is deleted whenever you quit              
MEGA-Check 2.                                             
                                                          
@9@Related topics@0@:                                     
                                                          
  @2@MEGA-Check 2 Conventions@0@convent.hlp              
  @2@Valid date formats@0@trantbl.hlp                    
  @2@Field editing@0@fldedit.hlp                         
  @2@Field conventions@0@fldconv.hlp                     
  @2@Models@0@models.hlp                                 
  @2@Creating and editing reports@0@7.hlp                
  @2@Viewing Reports@0@24.hlp                            
                                                          
