Tamalpais Technologies - The Login Checker (Version 2.02)
Copyright (c) 1991, 1992 - All rights reserved



Introduction 

One day, I was sitting at my desk at work (I am a MIS / Help Desk manager for 
a major software company) when the phone rang. It was someone from the 
Marketing deparment, they were in Excel in Windows and they could not print to 
the printer, it gave them some error message.  I explained to the person 
(who has great Marketing skills but little computer skills) that the problem 
most likely was due the fact that she had not logged in. This got me 
thinking... This was the third call that day for a problem related to the fact 
that the employee had not logged in.  Of course I couldn't blame the employee, 
the message that they were not logged in flashes by as the rest of their 
AUTOEXEC.BAT file is executed.  

I asked myself, why didn't Novell make the login.exe program check to see
if you logged in correctly and if not, ask you to try again?

So I dusted off my 'C' manuals, turned on my tunes on and got to work on trying 
to correct this little problem.  Hence, the birth of The Login Checker.   I
implemented it at the company that I work for and after 3 weeks of not having 
ANY calls related to not logging in (and having no one complain about any 
problems with The Login Checker itself - could the first try be bug free??)  
I decided that maybe others could benefit from this handy dandy tool. After 
only 2 months over 200 people downloaded it from Compuserve, so I must have
been right!  Over 1300 people downloaded version 1.00!

After having it in place at work for a couple of months I noticed another 
hidden benefit.   Many of the employee's liked to add there login name after 
the login call in their AUTOEXEC.BAT (saving them from having to type it in).  
This was great for them but frustrating to the Help Desk staff because if you 
wanted to do any work setting up there machine you had to either not login 
(and miss whatever setup pertained to the network in their AUTOEXEC.BAT) or 
change their AUTOEXEC.BAT and reboot.  What a pain.  With The Login Checker, 
all we needed to do was press return at the PASSWORD: prompt and type in our
own login name and password instead.  Life is good again and we go home 
smiling now (most of the time!).

The easiest way to test the Login Checker and use it is to simply copy the 
two files (TTLOGIN.EXE and TTLOGIN.CFG) to the LOGIN directory and change 
your AUTOEXEC.BAT to use TTLOGIN.EXE.  If you ever feel the need to login 
using the regular Novell login, you can always type LOGIN.EXE.  

I hope you The Login Checker is as useful to you as it was to us.  Many 
thanks to all of you who have send me your comments on the program and 
those of you who have joined our family of registered users. Please 
send me any comments you have about the product, good or bad, and any 
ideas you have that would improve it.   


Time Savings

For every 100 employees, about four of  them will not log in correctly into 
your network.  Most of the time, this will result in a call to the help desk.  
If that help desk call takes an average of six minutes to solve, two employees 
could be working on something else for a total of 12 minutes... 

4 x 12 = 48 minutes daily
48 x 22*  = 1056 minutes a month
1056 / 60 = 17.6 hours a month

(*22 is the average number of working days each month) 

The login Checker will insure that your end users will log into the network 
correctly every time.  The program monitors the login and verifies that it 
was successful.  If the login sequence was not a success, it will ask you if you 
want to attempt the login again. How much does 17.6 hours of work time cost
your company every month?

With this product, network users never bother the help desk again! 



Description:

The Login Checker is a program that is designed to check whether you have 
logged into a Novell network or not.  This is advantageous for several 
reasons:

                *       Less typing and frustration when logging in.
		*       Less calls to the MIS / System Administration  /
                        Help desk - because employees will know when they 
                        type their login name or password incorrectly.
                        (Most of the time they do not know they did not
                        login because the login command is part of the 
                        autoexec.bat file, so the 'Access denied' message 
                        scrolls past before they can read it).

                *       If a station is set up to login with that person's
                        login name (I.E. LOGIN MIKE), pressing return with
                        TTLOGIN will ask you for the new login name, so that
                        if someone else wants to log in to that station (such
                        as System Administrators!) all the network commands in 
                        the 'AUTOEXEC.BAT' file that requires network login
                        are still executed.                        


How to Use:


Copy the two files (TTLOGIN.EXE and TTLOGIN.CFG) into the F:\LOGIN directory
(you must be logged in as supervisor to do this).  Then type (or add to your 
`autoexec.bat' file):

                        ttlogin <LOGINNAME>

You will need to keep LOGIN.EXE in that same directory.  You do need to be 
in the \LOGIN directory to use this program.  If you login without making 
any mistakes, it will look and act just like regular LOGIN.EXE.  If you 
mistype your login name or password, The Login Checker will ask you if you 
want to login again.  This continues until you either login correctly or 
answer no to the question.



   For Experienced System Adminstrators:
   
System Adminstrators can easily give everyone access to TTLOGIN, without
having to modify everyone's machines.  This is recommended for System
Adminstrators that have experience with DOS and Novell. If you do not
have much experience, you may want to use the method suggested above.

Here's how:

	  * Login as supervisor.
	  * Copy TTLOGIN.EXE and TTLOGIN.CFG into the F:\LOGIN directory.
	  * Using `attrib' or another utility, remove the
	    'READ ONLY' tag from Novell's LOGIN.EXE program.
	  * Rename the orginal LOGIN.EXE to another name:

                    REN LOGIN.EXE LGN.EXE

          * Rename TTLOGIN to LOGIN.EXE:    
 
                    REN TTLOGIN.EXE LOGIN.EXE

          * Use an ASCII editor to change the first line in TTLOGIN.CFG to the 
            new name you gave Novell's LOGIN.EXE (LGN.EXE).
          * Reset the `READ ONLY' attribute on Novells LOGIN.EXE (now LGN.EXE). 

This makes it so that if anyone types LOGIN (or it is in an `autoexec.bat'
file), it will automatically call The Login Checker.  Be careful NOT to delete 
Novell's LOGIN.EXE.  You will need that to log in.

If you want to login without using The Login Checker, simply type the new name 
you gave Novell's (LGN.EXE).
                
System Adminstrators can also modify the second line, which may help to 
explain to end users which file server they are logging into.



Registration: 


  Register this product and you will receive:

           * The very latest version (with extra features)
           * Information on other Tam Tech products
           * A clear conscience!


  The Login Checker is shareware (give one to a friend!), but NOT freeware
  You must register the copy (and pay the fee) to use it (we do want to eat!)

  When you register the copy, Tamalpais Technologies will send you the latest
  version.  This copy will include all new features developed so far.

  Some ideas we may include in the future are:

      *  The ability to check for more than one file server on a network
      *  Ability to explain to end users which server they are logging into
	 (Done, see above)
      *  New features that we dream up before you get it!

      Cost is:     $30 for every 50 network users


                   Network users:                    Price
	    ------------------------------------------------
	           1   to 50                         $30.00
	           50  to 100                        $60.00
                   100 to 150                        $90.00
	           150 to 200                        $120.00

	           Site license:  Over 200 people?   $150.00




  To register the product, please send check, cash or money order to:

	   Tamalpais Technologies
	   PO Box 125
	   Larkspur, CA 94977

           (415) 927-0333


We will also except purchase orders.

To print an order form, run 'ORDER.BAT' by typing:   ORDER



Tamalpais Technologies Complete Satisfaction Guarentee ...


     The Login Checker comes with a 60 day money day back
     guarentee.  If you are unhappy with the product for any reason,
     Tamalpais Technologies will refund your money in full. Simply call or
     write TamTech within 60 days of purchase.




Paying through Compuserve


You can now register Login Checker through Compuserve!  It will get billed
directly to your Compuserve account.  Simply type GO SWREG and follow the
instructions.  Keyword is 'TamTech'.

You will need to order 1 copy for every 50 users.  For example, if your company 
has 150 network users, order 3 copies (and you will be billed $90).  You can
use the chart above as a reference.

If you would like to order multiple copies (for several sites) instead of for
more users at one site, please Email us through Compuserve and explain how 
you would like it broken down.
 


Suggestions / Support:


We welcome suggestions for improved features for The Login Checker, as well as
ideas for new utilities you'd like to see.  We already have some idea's we are
playing with for future releases, such as automatic path correction (so that
when you logout your path is returned to it's healthy state), message ability
- so that the System Administrator can notify the user what server they are
logging into, etc.

To contact us, write us at the above address, send us a Compuserve Email (to
73257,2166)  or call Tamalpais Technologies at (415) 927-0333.  We would like
to here from you, so please do write or call us and tell us your complements,
problems, or new feature ideas.



Disclaimer:


This software has been tested thoroughly and is believed to be free of
problems, however, software is one of the most complicated kind of product
produced by humans. No person can be absolutely and completely certain that a
piece of complicated software will work in any given machine and environment.
Therefore, you are completely responsible for determining the fitness of this
program and Tamalpais Technologies and it's staff are not liable for any damages.



About Shareware . . .


Shareware is a concept of "Try before you buy" software.  It allows you, the 
customer to look at and use software before purchasing it.  This program is
the full working version of the Login Checker, it is not crippled in any 
way.  

Shareware works because people share good programs. If you like the Login 
Checker and it works for you, give a copy to a friend!

We at Tamalpais Technologies live off the proceeds generated by shareware 
sales.  Your registration allows us to create more products. Thank you for 
your support.
