USER'S REFERENCE Disk Usage Meter 3.0 Copyright (c)1995 J.B. Langston III All Rights Reserved Disk Usage Meter 3.0 USER'S REFERENCE Page 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ SECTION I: Welcome and Thanks Welcome to Disk Usage Meter 3.0 and thanks for using it. I wrote this because of my own need to know what percentage of my hard drive was used. I find it very useful and use it daily. I hope you will too. SECTION II: System Requirements System: Any system that will run DOS will probably run USAGE Memory: 219K free conventional memory Display: Prettier with color but works just fine on monochrome Operating System: MS-DOS, and ONLY MS-DOS Version 5.0 or greater. If that's not clear enough: NOT Windows '95, NOT OS/2, NOT anything else that is NOT *MS-DOS* 5.0 and up SECTION III: Installation Instructions Since you're reading this file, you've apparently already unzipped the distribution file, so I won't waste your time explaining how to do that. From this point, you need to complete the following steps to properly install: 1. Copy the file USAGE.EXE to any directory that is in your path. For example, I keep all my handy little utilities in a directory called C:\UTILITY, so I keep my copy of USAGE there, but you can copy it to any directory you choose; just make sure it's in your path. 2. Make sure the directory containing the MS-DOS utility CHKDSK.EXE is included in your path statement. Most people won't have to worry with this step, but just to make sure, you can type PATH at the DOS prompt (aka the C:\>) to check for the presence of the directory containing your MS-DOS files. This directory is usually C:\DOS but may be different (possibly C:\SYS or C:\BIN) if you have an older version of dos or have been tinkering with the directory DOS was installed in. 3. Make sure you have a valid TEMP variable. Many people will already have one, but you may not. To check, type SET at the DOS prompt and look for a line that says "TEMP=xxx." The directory that this variable points to is listed after the = sign (where the "xxx" is). The TEMP variable must point to a directory that actually exists on a non-write protected drive that has enough space on it to hold the temporary files created by USAGE (generally, 2K or more free space will do). 4. Type USAGE at the DOS prompt to check the installation. If you encounter any error messages, refer to the ERROR MESSAGES section of this file to find a solution. SECTION IV: ERROR MESSAGES #01: Missing Environment Variable --------------------------------- You MUST have the "TEMP=xxx" environment variable set. It is NOT optional. There is no way the program will run without it. To check for the presence of the temp variable, type SET at the DOS prompt. A listing of all your variables is displayed. If the TEMP= variable is not listed, or spaces appear between the TEMP and the =, correct it by typing "SET TEMP=xxx" with no spaces except between SET and TEMP. XXX refers to the directory where you want the temp files to be placed everytime you run USAGE. #02: Error Accessing work Disk --------------------------------- If this error occurs, you have either assigned the TEMP= variable to a CD-ROM, Write-Protected, Network, or otherwise un-writeable disk drive, or you have assigned the TEMP variable to a directory that does not exist. To fix this, set the TEMP= to a directory that actually exists. For any practical applications, this directory would have to be on your hard drive. #03: Requires MS-DOS 5.0 or Greater ----------------------------------- This program absolutely will NOT under any circumstances run under any operating system other than *MS-DOS* 5.0 or greater. MS-DOS does not mean PC-DOS, it does not mean Novell DOS, it does not mean DR-DOS, it does not mean OS/2, it does not mean Windows '95, it does not mean any other strange little operating system that runs DOS applications, IT MEANS MS-DOS, MADE BY MICROSOFT AND ONLY MICROSOFT, AND ONLY MS-DOS. If you don't use MS-DOS, too bad. #04: CHKDSK is not responding ------------------------------------ This occurs in two cases, each with its own error message: 1. If error #04 is preceeded by "Cannot CHKDSK a network drive," it means exactly that (sort of). If you try to run USAGE on a network drive, or CD-ROM drive, CHKDSK will not work, and therefore USAGE will not work. 2. If error #04 is preceeded by "bad command or filename," it means that CHKDSK is not in your path statement or the default directory. USAGE does not go looking through all the files on your hard drive to find CHKDSK, it simply issues the command in the default directory, and DOS will only find it if the directory containing CHKDSK.EXE is in the path (usually C:\DOS). To set the path, type PATH=xxx, where X is the path of the directory of your DOS files. V. LEGAL @#$@#!%## This is copyrighted freeware. I don't ask a fee for it, and you can copy it as much as you want, but don't screw with the code and don't claim this program as your own. Don't use it as part of a commercial package, and don't sell it. I wrote it as freeware, and it should remain freeware. I make ABSOLUTELY NO warranty of any kind about this program (express, implied, or any other BS legal terms that lawyers can think up to describe warranties).