Tickle Version 1.1 Help Index

Welcome to Tickle, the 32-bit Windows application to keep a winsock channel alive. Did you know that most Internet Service Providers (ISP) monitor your connection for activity. If you leave the line quiet for too long they will break the connection, forcing you to redial (and risk not connecting again).

Well, Tickle is the cure! This small application will keep some “heartbeat” activity so neither the ISP or Windows95 will hang-up on you

Commands and Topics

	Installation
	Use and Navigation
	Tickle menu
	Legal
	Registering
	Other ShareWare Applications
	What is New


Installation

Simply copy all files to a new directory of your choice. Read the important Legal information before use.

The application is tickle.exe. Launch Tickle and select time and host then hit the button. From then on the heartbeat will keep you connected. and Tickle will automatically check all the links and report the results (which links are broken).

See the Use and Navigation topic for details on the settings.

That's it!


Tickle menu commands

The Tickle menu provides you a dialog pick to register your version. See the Registering topic for details.


Use and Navigation

Tickle keeps some “heartbeat” activity on your Internet connection so neither the Internet Service Providers (ISP) or Windows95 will hang-up on you as a result of prolonged line inactivity.

When launched, Tickle lets you pick a “time” and a “domain name”. The “time” is how often the “heartbeat” will be sent. Try 25. This will not abuse anyone’s server, but it will yield two heartbeats per 60 minutes - a timeout used by many ISPs.

Now for the “domain name”. Well, the way Tickle works is to request the root HTML page at the domain name location. Let’s say your ISP is called FooBarInc and they have a Web presence at http://www.foobar.com/ or http://www.foobar.com/mainpage.htm or something similar. Simply enter www.foobar.com in the box and hit Tickle’s “Start or Apply Changes” button.

Tickle will also accept “dot notation” IP addresses. For example, you could just as well type 120.0.0.1 or whatever works for you.

Still confused? Anyone who has a Web presence will work! Just use the character string immediately following the http:// up to but not including the next / character. When you start Tickle for the very first time, it will automatically supply www.usps.gov as the domain name. This is the Web site of the United States Postal Service.

The “Status:” text informs you of Tickle’s state showing words like “Starting connection”, “Tickle was sent” and finally, something like “HTTP/1.0 200 OK”. This is a very good result. If you want to know what this means read RFC1945. But the point is, you have sent something on the Internet thus keeping the ISP and Win95’s inactivity timers from expiring - what you receive is actually kinda meaningless. In this example case, the response of HTTP/1.0 200 OK is the very first part of the complete transmission of the HTML page from the target domain (Web site) and “200 OK” is as good as it gets in HTTP-speak.

The “Time until next Tickle” lets you know things are still running.

One point. If you try Tickle before you call you ISP it will sit around looking kinda dead, finally timeout in about one minute and give you a dialog box telling you to quit and try again. Tickle’s pretty good but it can’t dial the phone for you! Sometimes the initial Tickle will fail if the target server is busy. You will get a message box to that effect - just restart Tickle (and hope the server isn’t busy again).


Registering

Tickle is distributed as Shareware. It is not free or public domain. This means you may copy and distribute it freely but should you find it useful and use it beyond an initial evaluation period of 30 days you are obliged to pay the license fee.

The single user license fee is US$10. More is accepted if you find this software of superior value!

You can register this program by mail. Cash or checks/cheques can be accepted in any major currency, equivalent in value to US$10 per copy. Cash is preferred. Please use the Shareware Registration form.

Registered users will be sent a registration number to disable the reminder box. This number will be good for all subsequent Shareware versions of the program that may become available.

If you enjoy this software, do the decent thing and register!

I would be pleased to receive any comments, bug reports or suggestions for future releases. I may be contacted by e-mail at pgerhart@voicenet.com.


Other Applications

Other ShareWare Applications by the Author

If any of my other apps below look interesting contact me by e-mail at pgerhart@voicenet.com or visit my ShareWare site at http://www.voicenet.com/~pgerhart/_shware.html.

QuickChart

QuickChart permits quick and easy viewing, printing and navigation for financial data stored in MetaStock or CompuTrac format. The user is presented with crisp, clean charts.

The color scheme of the chart may be user configured. Charts may show volume and user-defined moving averages.

Toolbar buttons, arrow keys and a right mouse popup menu enable navigation among the charts. In addition, a SlideShow mode is supported to automatically sequence through a portfolio.

QuickChart is small and fast - an alternative to financial fatware.

FullDisk

FullDisk permits quick and easy profiling of the contents of a local or network drive. Menu selections permit:

rescanning as needed

choosing the units for display results (bytes, kilobytes or megabytes)

When launched, FullDisk searches your drive for all sub-directory trees and the file sizes therein starting with the currently selected drive. A color-coded list box shows the results and a pie-chart depicts the usage within that tree / drive.

MetaFix

MetaFix permits you to modify the disk files for MetaStock or CompuTrac format data including:

	editing a single quote
	adjusting a quote series for a split
	adjusting a quote series for Price or Volume multipliers
	deleting a quote
	displaying underlying facts about a quote series
	automatically scanning for potential splits

No files are ever deleted - any edited .DAT file is first saved with the extension .BAK. This is unlike comparable applications! Also, the automatic split-search is unique and provides suggested split ratios for both forward and reverse splits.

MetaFix is small and fast - an alternative to competitive financial fatware.

URLegal

Think you’ve gotten some broken links? Well, offer up your bookmark files and URLegal, will find those bad links.

URLegal is a 32 bit application. You can choose a single file to test or recurse through sub-directories. Each HTTP URL in each file is automatically tested by attempting to connect on the Web to the target site and receive the specified HTML page.

The results of the test are displayed in a text window and can be exported to a text file or an HTML file.

A “re-run” button exists so that, with a single mouse click, you can completely re-test only the failed links (without wasting time re-testing all the good ones). This is useful as URLegal may be forced to declare some links as broken when the real problem is that the target server is very slow.

URLegal offers 21 filtering options on the results so that you can learn all the sordid details of the target URLs or simply the infamous 404 bad boys (the dreaded “Not Found” pages).


Registration Form

Print this form and send it with your remittance to:

Paul Gerhart

101 Magella Court

North Wales, Pennsylvania

19454 USA

Please give an e-Mail address if you have one so I can inform you of your registration code as soon as I receive your order, and give timely information on upgrades.

Tickle Registration Form.

I wish to register ____ copies of Tickle .

I enclose a check for $US______	($10 per copy)

I enclose cash for $US______	($10 per copy)

Name(s)	_______________________________________________

Company	_______________________________________________

Address	_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

Code	___________________

Country	___________________

E-Mail	___________________

Where did you obtain Tickle from? _____________________________

It would be helpful for me if you could tell me how you use the program. I can then use this information when planning new features for future versions. Also provide any comments/suggestions.

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

Thank you!


Important Legal Stuff

Disclaimer and Agreement

Copyright

Registering

License


Disclaimer and Agreement
Disclaimer of Warranty

Users of Tickle must accept this disclaimer of warranty. If you do not accept this

disclaimer, do not use Tickle.

"Tickle IS SUPPLIED AS IS. THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, WHICH MAY RESULT FROM THE USE OF Tickle EVEN IF THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES."


Copyright

Tickle is protected by US and international copyright laws.

Tickle is distributed as Shareware. It is not free or public domain. This means you may copy and distribute it per the License but should you find it useful and use it beyond an initial evaluation period of 30 days you are obliged to pay the license fee.

Unregistered use of Tickle after the 30-day evaluation period is in violation of federal copyright laws.

Click here for Shareware Registration form. If you find Tickle useful, do the decent thing and register!

Tickle Copyright © 1996.


License

You should carefully read the following terms and conditions before using this software.  Use of this software indicates your acceptance of these terms and conditions.  If you do not agree with them, do not use the software. All presumption of warranty is disclaimed - see the Disclaimer of Warranty for the specific language.

You are hereby licensed to:  use the Shareware Version of the software for a 30-day evaluation period; make as many copies of the Shareware version of this software and documentation as you wish; give exact copies of the original Shareware version to anyone; and distribute the Shareware version of the software and documentation in its unmodified form via electronic means.  There is no charge for any of the above.

You are granted a limited license to use Tickle, to copy and distribute it, provided the following conditions are met:

1.	No fee may be charged for such copying and distribution other than actual costs incurred, except for a nominal distribution fee.
2.	Tickle may ONLY be distributed in its original, unmodified state, complete with data files and this documentation.
3.	Tickle may not be distributed as part of a package or group of programs.
4.	The paid registered version may NOT be distributed.


What is New

What is New in 1.1?

Version 1.1 is the first official release.