YAK - Winsock Personal Chat Program and Multi-Document Text Editor - Version 1.0 beta ===================================================================================== Copyright © 1996 - Brian Bandy and Ben Smith. All Rights Reserved. This program is protected by copyright law. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this program, in whole or in part, is not permitted without the expressed written permission of the authors. Product Description and Features ===================================================================================== Yak is a Winsock 1.1 compliant Personal Chat Program for use on any TCP/IP network, including the Internet. Yak's main feature is to allow two or more individuals to "chat" with each other over the Internet. Yak can be extremely useful for several groups of computer users, including: * Families which are separated by long distances. Yak can be used to save on long distance phone charges. Most Internet connections are made via a local phone call for a small, fixed monthly fee. * Computer hobbyists and small software developers wanting to cooperate and communicate over the Internet. * People who enjoy chatting with other people over the Internet. Yak allows you to establish remote connections with as many as 255 other Yak users. Everything you type in your Local Broadcast Window is sent to every remote user you are connected to. You can be connected to a single person for a private session, or to several people for a "conference" chat. Yak includes an address book which stores the names and IP addresses of those you "Yak" with most often. Yak includes a Notepad-like text editor which supports multiple documents. You can now be working on a text file (or reviewing one) while online Yaking with others. (This file was written using the Yak text editor feature!) Yak supports full cut, copy, paste, and delete functionality ... even ONLINE! You can cut, paste, and delete to/from any text window and the Local Broadcast Window. So you can copy a segment from a text file and paste it right into your conversation. You can copy from any window, including Remote Chat windows, and then paste into any other window, or any other Windows program. Yak supports full online editing of the Local Broadcast Window. You can move or change anything in the Local Broadcast Window, even before the current line, and your changes are immediately reflected on the remote end. You can even see when a remote user is simply hi-lighting text in preparation for a cut/copy. Yak supports a window "Snapshot" feature which allows you to select any window, local, remote, or document, and make a "Snapshot," or duplicate, in a new Document window. This makes it possible to instantly capture a copy of an entire remote conversation for editing purposes, without having to stop Yaking. Yak allows you to save your conversation windows to text files. Yak will also let you print any window's contents. Yak lets you select the font, colors, and tab stops of your choice for each type of window. There are three window types in Yak: Local Broadcast, Document, and Remote Chat Windows. Yak remembers these settings between Yak sessions. Yak performs Finger and Whois lookups. You no longer have to load a Finger client along with your chat program to lookup the IPs of those you want to chat with. Future versions of Yak will include a method of looking up Variable IP addresses automatically! (See the "Future Enhancements..." section below.) Yak allows you to transfer files to and from any connected remote user. Yak will allow multiple files to be transferred simultaneously. Currently you cannot specify *.* as your filename, but you can start a new file transfer while another is in progress. Yak offers an instant "Empty" of your Local Broadcast Window. When you press in the Local Broadcast Window, all text in the window is immediately erased ... on both the Local AND Remote ends. Yak includes an "Auto-Tile" feature which, when turned on, will automatically retile all your windows, in your preference of Horizontal or Vertical orientation, every time you open or close a Yak window. You can also select a single menu option to close all open remote windows, all open document windows, or all open windows of all types at once. Yak Document windows offer a "word wrap" toggle. Yak is extremely easy to install and use. Yak is just as easy to uninstall and upgrade. Yak consists of only one file, Yak.exe. Yak does not create any additional files internally with the exception of text files you create using the text editor. This means Yak won't hog your system's resources. Files Included in Yak10b.zip ===================================================================================== Yak.exe The actual Yak Winsock Personal Chat for Windows 95 program file Readme.txt Documentation, installation, and release notes (This file) Order.yak Registration order form License.yak Shareware license agreement -- Read before using Yak File_id.diz A description file for posting Yak on a BBS for distribution Installation ===================================================================================== A complete Yak installation consists of only one file, Yak.exe. Simply move this file into any folder on your computer's hard drive. Yak *requires* Windows 95 and an Internet connection using the Dial-up Networking Services or a Direct Connection. If you try using Yak with any winsock stack other than the one for Windows 95, we would love to hear if and how well it works. If you have a variable IP address (one which changes each time you login to the Internet), Yak may appear to "lock up" if you are not logged in before you run the Yak.exe program. Don't panic, Yak is simply looking for your IP address and will timeout and continue operation within a minute or two. This appears to be a problem with the Windows 95 implementation of Winsock 1.1. There are two ways around the above problem: 1) Make sure you're logged into the Internet before running Yak.exe. Yak WILL find your IP if you're online, even if it's a "variable" IP. 2) If you use Dial-up Networking Services for your Internet access, you can turn on the "AutoDial" feature in Windows 95's Internet Properties dialog. A) Open the "Control Panel" in Windows 95. B) Open the "Internet" control. C) Select the "AutoDial" tab (1st tab in the dialog). D) Check the "Use AutoDial" box. From this point on, every time you run Yak without first logging into the Internet, Windows 95 will prompt you to connect to your provider. Yak supports several sound events. To set them, first run Yak.exe. Then, select "Sounds" from the Windows 95 Control Panel and scroll down the list until you find the "Yak" application heading. Due to copyright restrictions, and to minimize the size of the Yak distribution file, default sound files are not provided. Simply select from any sound files already on your system. Uninstallation ===================================================================================== A complete Yak installation consists of only three files, Yak.exe. Simply remove this file from your system to uninstall Yak. Note, however, that Yak stores all of its run-time "settings" in the Windows 95 Registry. You might want to remove these settings before deleting the Yak files from your system. To remove these settings, do the following: 1) Run Yak.exe 2) Select "Forget ALL Settings..." from the "Options" menu 3) Click the "Yes" button in the dialog box to remove all registry settings for Yak 4) IMMEDIATELY close Yak! 5) Delete the Yak files Many of Yak's internal settings are saved in the registry at the time you perform an action altering them. For example, each time you move or resize the main Yak application window, the new window coordinates are stored in the registry. Therefore, to make sure all registry entries have been completely removed, do NOT perform ANY actions within Yak after "Forget ALL Settings..." has been selected. If you close the Yak application IMMEDIATELY after forgetting all settings, no further settings will be saved in the registry. You will in no way harm or hinder the operation or performance of your computer by leaving the Yak registry settings intact. No other application installed on your computer will use or reference Yak's registry settings at any time. Yak's registry settings take up a very small amount of space (less than 1Kb) on your hard drive. Therefore, there is no risk to leaving them in your registry. When future versions of Yak are released, they will be able to reference any of the registry settings which already exist. So, when you upgrade, all you will have to do is copy the new Yak files over the old ones and run it. Your tabs, fonts, colors, address book entries, window positions, etc. will still be available to the new version. Future Enhancements Planned for Yak ===================================================================================== * Help File -- Soon, Yak will include a help file. Context-sensitive help is also planned for the near future. * Mail Notification Window -- Yak will check your POP3 mailbox on a user-defined interval and allow you to launch a mail client of your choice. * Variable IP Resolution -- Yak will keep a list of "online" IP addresses for those you Yak with most often. * Private chat windows -- Yak will allow private conversations between two users during a conference session. * UNIX Talk Compatibility -- Yak will support connections with UNIX Talk and NTalk clients. * MAPI E-Mail of Window Text -- Yak will allow you to send the text in any window to any e-mail address. * DNS Lookups -- Yak will allow lookups of Local and Remote IP numbers and names. * Unlimited Text Size -- 64Kb limitation of text windows will be eliminated. * "Smiley" Toolbar -- Yak will offer a floating and dockable "Smiley" toolbar. The toolbar will include tooltips to describe the emotions of each smiley. * Simultaneous Editing -- Yak will allow more than one person to edit a single text file online simultaneously. All connected users will be able to edit, save, and print the file. Registration ===================================================================================== Yak is protected by Copyright law. We have released Yak as "Shareware" so as to allow you, the user, to "try it before you buy it." You are allowed to use the non-registered version of Yak without paying for it, provided you do so as specified in the License.yak file. You are also allowed to copy and distribute the Yak10b.zip file provided you do so as specified in the License.yak file. If, after your evaluation of Yak, you decide that you like the product and would like to continue using it, you are required to complete and return the order form with your payment. See the Order.yak file for pricing details. Both the non-registered and registered versions of Yak are identical in features and functionality. The only limiting feature added to the non-registered version is a "nag box" which appears every five minutes to remind you to register the software. You will receive the following benefits when you register Yak: 1) A registered copy of Yak, without the nag box 2) Registered copies of all new Yak versions as they are released 3) Free technical support via e-mail or via Yak itself 4) Information about updates to Yak and new products developed by the authors 5) A warm, fuzzy feeling because you are a good person who has done the right thing by supporting Shareware Note From the Authors ===================================================================================== We decided to create Yak for several reasons: 1) We wanted to become more proficient as Windows 95 programmers. 2) We wanted a personal chat program with all the features we felt were important. We use Yak to communicate ourselves. We use it as an aid to developing software together because we live hundreds of miles apart. 3) We wanted to keep in touch with our extended families. Our family members live throughout the United States and England, and Yak provides us with a very inexpensive way to keep in touch. We hope you enjoy using Yak as much as we enjoy creating and enhancing Yak. If you find a special use for Yak, please share it with us. We would love to hear how Yak helps you. If you have any ideas for new or better features, please don't hesitate to share them as well. We can be very responsive. You won't be waiting months or years for upgrades and revisions. Enjoy! Brian Bandy Ben Smith bbandy@whc.net benbean@ionet.net