ллллл лл лл K-TOOLS "Take control of your desktop" ллллллл ллллллл лл лл лл пп Copyright (c) 1992-94 by ARK ANGLES лл лл лл мм All Rights Reserved ллллллл ллллллл DESK CADDY PRODUCT AND INSTALLATION INFORMATION OVERVIEW Desk Caddy is a multi-purpose object oriented PC Organiser and Desktop Manager with a load of powerful features in a single integrated package. o File Manager with powerful file and directory manipulation commands to handle individual files, groups of files, or whole directory trees o Program Starter with user definable menus of unlimited levels to run external programs or built in functions o Diary with action lists for any day, week, month or year, to do lists, and scheduler to give reminders or run programs at any time o Print Manager to queue, format and print files in the background o Multi-file Editor with cut/copy/paste, undo and search facilities o Text file Viewer, plus ability to define an external viewer program o File Association to automatically load files into external programs o Four function Calculator o Perpetual Calendar o Post Notes to stick reminders anywhere on the screen o A couple of Games including Mine Sweeper o Macros to automate complex tasks All this is provided in a simple and consistent windowed environment. The functions can be activated from the Menu Bar or by direct selection with the Mouse or by Shortcut Keys. Desk Caddy is consistent in many ways with the operation of Windows (by Microsoft) and OS/2 (by IBM), and can be used as an introduction to those operating environments or an alternative to them on lower powered PCs. Desk Caddy is also part of a larger family of K-Tools products. o K-Tools Workplace has all the functions of Desk Caddy plus an even more powerful file and directory manager, hex file viewer, hypertext book compiler, disk and directory synchronisation, memory monitor, multiple stored desktops, extended online Help, and lots more. o K-Tools Utilities is a set of standalone file and directory management programs to copy files without overwriting newer versions, encrypt and decrypt files, remove whole directory trees, wipe files to prevent future recovery, and more. Compatible with Workplace, ideal for automation of complicated processes. o K-Tools Workplace Professional is the complete Workplace program plus Utilities giving you total control through both the integrated desktop and command line. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Desk Caddy runs on any IBM compatible with 512KB of memory and MS-DOS version 3 or higher. INSTALLING DESK CADDY 1. Put the Installation Disk in drive A: or B:. 2. From a DOS command line enter "x:INSTALL" (where x is the name of the drive with the Installation Disk). 3. Press "I" to begin installation. When requested, enter the drive and/or directory to install the program to, or just press to accept the default. 4. Press "X" to exit from the Install utility, and then enter "KMENU" to run the program. The program can also be run from within the Install utility by pressing "R". 5. If you want to be able to run Desk Caddy from anywhere, add the directory to your PATH statement in AUTOEXEC.BAT. To use Desk Caddy as your main Shell program, add the command "KMENU" to the end of AUTOEXEC.BAT. RUNNING DESK CADDY Desk Caddy uses a special batch program called KMENU.BAT to enable it to completely remove itself from memory to run large programs. To ensure that the program resumes properly for all functions, you should run KMENU.BAT rather than DESKCAD.EXE itself. Just enter KMENU to run the program. GETTING STARTED WITH DESK CADDY When Desk Caddy runs you will see a Menu Bar across the top of the screen and a Status Line along the bottom. The whole area in the middle is called the Desktop, and that's where all activity in the program will take place. Almost everything that happens in Desk Caddy will be in Windows and Dialog Boxes somewhere on the Desktop. You can have almost any number of windows open at once, and can rapidly move between them, thereby allowing you to switch between tasks very quickly. At first, you will probably see just a single window on the desktop called the Program Starter. In the Program Starter press the and arrow keys to highlight the different items in the list. Press , or click with the mouse on the [Open] button to open or activate the selected item. Press the key to jump around the window: this will cycle through the list and the two buttons that make up the contents of the window. Press to cycle backwards. Or you can jump directly to any control by pointing directly to it with the mouse cursor and pressing the left mouse button - this is known as "clicking" on an object. Now let's take a look at the Menu Bar. Press to pull down the File menu. You can also do this by clicking on the word File. Use the and arrows to highlight the various menu items, and the and arrows to select different pulldown menus. You can activate any menu item by selecting it and pressing , or simply by clicking on it with the mouse. Now let's see some of the things Desk Caddy can do. Go to the Tools menu and select the File Manager item. This will create a new window on the desktop which contains an input line, a list of directories, a list of files in the current directory, and some buttons. Press twice to jump down to the files. Use the arrow keys to highlight the file named REGISTER.TXT. Having now selected a file, you can perform some action on it such as view, move, rename or delete to name a few. Desk Caddy knows about many different kinds of objects such as windows, files, directories, diary items, text and the desktop itself. The six items on the Menu Bar reflect these different types of objects. For example, the File menu contains operations that relate to whole files and directories. The Edit menu has text-related operations. The Tools menu contains a number of different objects that you can use on the desktop. The Window menu has several operations that relate to individual windows on the desktop. And the Desktop menu deals with operations which affect the application as a whole. Finally, the Help menu is one of the most useful as it gives access to a wide range of information about Desk Caddy. Select all the operations on the Tools menu to see many of Desk Caddy's objects and functions. Use the Help screens to learn about them. And, above all, experiment! Desk Caddy will not let you do anything destructive without giving you a warning first! And, if you need further help, you can call ARK ANGLES any time during your 60 day trial period. CUSTOMISING DESK CADDY Many functions of Desk Caddy can be customised through the Options, Mouse, Video Mode, Colours, Country and Set Date/Time operations on the Desktop pulldown menu. Additional File Associations can also be created using the Open To|Associate operation on the File pulldown menu. MORE HELP REQUIRED A major feature of Desk Caddy is it's ability to provide a complete working environment on a single 360KB disk. To achieve this, the online Help has been deliberately curtailed in favour of cramming in as much function as possible. To get complete information about all of Desk Caddy's powerful functions you will need the manual, which you can only get by registering.