OsoSoft's Filer 4.0 -- Unregistered Copyright 1992, 1995 by OsoSoft Help File LICENSE INFORMATION This is the unregistered version of Filer 4.0. Filer is a shareware program. You may try this copy of the program for a period not to exceed 30 days to determine whether or not it is suitable for your needs. After that time, if you continue to use the program, you must pay for your copy and Register with the author. To pay and register, use the OsoSoft Program Info command in the Help Menu to print the Order form. The Registration payment for this program is $25. You can also pay with a Visa or MasterCard by calling OsoSoft at (805) 528-1759 during normal West Coast business hours. Or FAX your credit card order to (805) 528-3074. OsoSoft programs may also be ordered on CompuServe in the SWREG forum. SWREG orders will be charged to your CompuServe account. Registered users receive the very latest version of the program, a printed manual, automatic notification of major upgrades, and support. In addition, when you register, you'll always be entitled to upgrade to new registered versions at no charge on the OsoSoft BBS at (805) 528-3753 or in the OsoSoft support section on CompuServe (GO OSOSOFT). Registered users are entitled to unlimited free support by telephone, fax, on the OsoSoft BBS, and in OsoSoft's Compuserve support section. Registered users will also receive an offer for a Free Trial Membership on CompuServe, where OsoSoft has a support section. To access the OsoSoft support section, give the command: GO OSOSOFT. Support Unregistered users receive only a minimum of support, limited to some installation help, if necessary. If you call the OsoSoft voice number for support as an unregistered user, you will be asked to register and pay at that time by credit card. REGISTRATION REMINDER From time to time at random, while viewing files or when you exit Filer you'll occasionally see the About window, which reminds you to pay for your copy of the program. This screen will not appear in registered versions. To hear a message, if you have a sound card, click on the speakerbutton. To access the Order form, click the [Register] button. Click [OK] to exit to Windows or to return to Filer. CONTACT INFORMATION OsoSoft is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP) and the Software Publishers' Association (SPA). OsoSoft 1472 Sixth Street Los Osos, CA 93402 OsoSoft BBS: (805) 528-3753 Voice Order Line: (805) 528-1759 FAX Order Line: (805) 528-3074 CompuServe ID: 71571,222 or GO OSOSOFT HOURS OsoSoft business hours are 7 AM to 4 PM, Pacific Time, on weekdays. Calls outside those hours are not appreciated. ASP OMBUDSMAN NOTICE This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting that member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49422-9427 USA FAX 619-788-2765 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. UNINSTALLING FILER Should you choose to uninstall Filer, first remove the Filer Icon from Program manager. Click once on the icon, then press the key. Answer Yes to the prompt. To delete the program files, use File Manager or the DOS DELTREE command to remove the directory where you installed Filer. You may have copied several DLL and VBX files into your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. You may refer to the list of files in your distribution copy of the program for the names of these files, which you may wish to delete. CAUTION: The DLL and VBX files installed with Filer may be required by other programs on your system. Use caution before deleting these files if you copied them into WINDOWS\SYSTEM. USING FILER 4.0 FINDING FILES Entering a Pattern After you start Filer by double clicking on the Filer icon, you'll see the Filer interface on your screen. In the upper left of the screen is a text box for entering your search specification. Just click inside the box and type your own search pattern to replace the *.* default entry. Use any normal DOS wildcard criteria for your pattern. You can search for a single file by name or for any group of files meeting your search criterion. NOTE: Enter only filenames here, without any path information. Filer can't search for directories. Choosing Drives If you want to search only a single drive, select that drive in the drive list before starting the search. Now, click the [Search Current Drive] button or the [Search All Drives] button to begin your search. If you wish to cancel a search, click the [Cancel Search] button while the search is in progress. Filer will look for matching files, giving you a count of those it finds as it goes. Once the search is done, a list box will appear containing all the matching files. Above the list box, you'll find a count showing the number of files found. You can use the scroll bar to view more files. Viewing More Files NOTE: Filer can only display 1000 files at one time in the list box. If more files are found, you'll see the More Files label. Click [Next] to view additional files or [Previous] to move back to a previous list. If there are already filenames in the file list box when you start a new search, Filer will ask if you want to clear the list. If you answer [Yes], you'll start a new search from scratch. Note: Filer always returns to the C: Drive following each search. Changing Font Size On some systems, complete file specifications are too long to display visibly in the list window. If a filename extends past the right edge of the list box, you can change to a smaller font to display your filenames. To do this, give the Small Fonts in List command in the Options menu. To return to the normal font size, give the command again. FINDING DUPLICATES Over time, we all accumulate duplicate files on our hard disks. These duplicates can eat up precious hard disk space. Filer can locate and list those duplicate files to help you eliminate the ones you don't need. Simple Search To do a simple search for duplicate files, set a pattern, just as you do for finding files. Then, click the [Find Duplicate Filenames] button. Filer will first search for the files you specified, on your hard disk or hard disks, but will skip any floppy or CD-ROM drives. It then searches the list for duplicated files, cleans up the list, calculates the space used for duplicated files and shows you a list. HINT: While you can use the *.* wildcard for duplicate searches, this can take a long time, especially on today's large hard disks. It's always best to search for duplicates by specifying specific file extensions. For example, DLL files are often duplicated, so searching for *.DLL is a good way to find duplicated files. Search Current List If you've already done a file search, you can click the [Find Duplicate Filenames] button to search your current list. Just answer [No] when asked if you want to clear the current list. VIEWING FILES After Filer finds your files, you can view details about any file by clicking once on the filename. If the [Show File Details] check box is marked, a window will appear showing information about your selected file, including date and time, size, attribute information, plus the type of file and information on whether the file is associated with a program and whether Filer can view the file or preview it. [View] Button Once you have a list, you can view individual files. Just double click on a filename, or click the [View] button to view the currently selected file. For some file types which do not display directly in Filer, you'll see the first 4096 bytes of the file in the text box to the right. If you're viewing a binary file, such as an EXE file, some characters will appear as + or - characters. These are unprintable characters. Text files will appear normally, wrapped to fit inside the text box. Viewing Graphics Files If you've chosen a graphic with the extensions WMF, RLE, ICO, PCX, TGA, DIB, or BMP, you'll see the image contained in the file. If the image is too large to display completely, you'll see the upper left corner. To view the complete image, or as much as will fit on your entire screen, click the [Zoom] button. To return to the Filer window, click the [Return] menu item on the Zoom display. NOTE: Filer no longer displays GIF files, due to a patent dispute with UNISYS, which demands royalties to be paid even for free or shareware software if that software can display GIF files. OsoSoft regrets having to remove this format, but had no option. Playing Sound Files If you've selected a sound file with a WAV or MID extension, Filer will play the sound or musical passage. NOTE: You must have a sound card installed to hear these files. Showing Movie Files If you've selected an AVI (Video for Windows) or MOV (QuickTime for Windows) file, Filer will display the movie in a window. For AVI files, you can click any of the View buttons which appear to see the movie in a different size. For MOV files, use the maximize button on the window to change the viewing size. NOTE: You must have the appropriate driver installed to view these files. NOTE: You can stop the display of any movie file by clicking on another filename, or by clicking on the movie window for AVI files. HINT: Many MultiMedia CD-ROM applications include AVI and MOV files which you can't see from within the application. Most often, these files were left on the disk by accident, and can be very interesting to view. Filer lets you explore your CD-ROM disks without loading the application. Viewing TrueType Fonts If you've selected a TrueType Font file (TTF), Filer can show you a sample of the font. You can view both installed and uninstalled TrueType fonts in this way. This is especially useful if you have a CD-ROM full of TrueType fonts, since it lets you preview the fonts without first installing them. The name of the font appears above the font display. To view the complete character set for the font, use the scroll bars to move down in the display. HINT: You can type in the font sample display if you want to see how a particular phrase appears in the previewed font. Display Icons If you've clicked on one of the graphics, sound files, or movie files listed above, you'll see an icon near the file list when you select a file. You can also click this icon to display the file. If you've selected a TTF file, you'll see a [Font Sample] button which serves the same purpose. [Clear] Button At any time, you can click the [Clear] button to clear a file display and return to the File Information screen. MANAGING FILES Filer includes all the tools you need to manage your files. All of these tools depend on your first getting a list of files on the screen with one of the search tools. Then, you select the files you want to manage in the list. Selecting Files Most Filer commands can operate on either a single file or on multiple files. To select a single file, just click on it. To select multiple adjacent files, just click and drag over the files you want to select. To select multiple, non-adjacent files, hold down the key while you click on the files you want to select. Deleting Files Filer can delete files from any non-write-protected drive. Start by selecting a file or files, then click the [Delete Selected] button. Two confirmation boxes will appear, and if you click [Yes] on both, you'll delete the selected files from the disk. If you've selected multiple files, another confirmation box will appear with each file. Answer Yes to delete, No to skip that file, or Cancel to tell Filer to stop confirming each deletion. NOTE: If you know you do not want to confirm each deletion, uncheck the Prompt Before Each Deletion menu command in the Options menu. CAUTION: Make sure you really want to delete a file or all files before clicking [Yes] in the confirmation box! Once you've deleted the files, you will be able to get them back only with an Undelete utility! Wiping Files When you delete files from your computer, the data is not removed from your disk. The file name is merely removed from your drive's directory. A skilled person can still find and view your data. If you need to remove a file completely from your drive and make it unreadable by anyone, use the [Wipe File] button or the Wipe File and Delete command in the Utilities menu. This command overwrites the file with a space character, then deletes the file. It completely obliterates all data stored in that file. CAUTION: This command works only on one file at a time, for safety's sake. Once a file has been Wiped, not even an undelete utility can recover the data. Use this command with caution. Copying Files Filer lets you copy files from one location to another. First, select the files you want to copy in the list box, then press the [Copy Selected] button. You'll be asked for a destination directory. Type this information, including drive and path information if necessary, then click [OK]. If you click[Cancel], no files will be copied. Renaming Files Filer can rename files. Select a single file, then give the Rename File command in the Utilities menu. Filer will present the current filename to you and let you edit it. When you click [OK] the file will be renamed and the list updated. If you click [Cancel] no renaming will take place. Moving Files You can also move files from one directory to another. Filer will delete the original file after confirming the copy. As with all commands, select the files you want to move, then press the [Move Selected] button. You'll be asked for a destination directory. Type this information, including drive and path information if necessary, then click [OK]. If you click [Cancel], no files will be moved or deleted. Comparing Files When you're searching for or deleting duplicate files, or any other time you're using Filer, you may want to compare two files to see if they're identical. To do this, select two files, then give the Compare Files command in the Utilities menu. Filer will first compare the files sizes. If they do not match the comparison ends. Next the files' dates and times will be compared. If they do not match, Filer will inform you and ask you whether you want to continue. Then, Filer compares the two files, byte for byte, and tells you whether they match or not. NOTE: With large files, comparisons can take some time, so please be patient. CAUTION: Be careful when deleting duplicate files to do a comparison on any files you're not sure of. This is especially true with DLL, VBX, and other files required by Windows. Directory Tree By default, Filer shows only the files found during the search. However, you can modify this process. Two check boxes appear just above the list box. If you check the [Show Directories Only] check box, Filer will ignore your search specifications and list your drive(s) directory structure instead. This is a very useful tool. Printing a list of your computer's directory structure can help you find directories later. In addition, the [Don't List Directories] check box, which is normally checked, can be disabled. If you do this, Filer will find the files, but will also list all your directories as well. NOTE: While Filer can list directories, it cannot delete, rename, move, or perform most other management operations on them. If you try, Filer will display a message and abort the action. This is done for data safety reasons. If you want to manipulate directories, use File Manager instead. Printing File Lists Filer's Print File List command in the File menu sends whatever is in the list box to your printer. Printouts have a 1-inch left margin, but top and bottom margins are whatever your printer supports as its default. ERRORS Filer automatically handles most errors you'll encounter, informing you of the error when one occurs. Filer attempts to display all graphics files in the formats supported. However, a defective graphic file in any format may cause a crash, including a General Protection Fault (GPF). If this occurs, go ahead and exit the program in the GPF dialog box. You can then restart Filer. If this occurs, it's a good idea to delete the offending file from your hard disk. EXECUTING, LAUNCHING, and EDITING Below the Filer list window is a large button, marked [Execute or Edit Selected File]. With a file highlighted in the file list window, click this button. If the file is an EXE or COM file, you'll run that program. WARNING: Not all files with these extensions are standalone programs. Be sure the program you try to execute will run properly before pressing this button. Do not run any .EXE or .COM file with which you are not familiar. If you do so, some files may actually damage your data. Proceed with extreme caution. If the file is a PIF or BAT file, this button will either run the file, or load it into an appropriate editor, depending on the setting for that file type in the Options menu. The default settings are to edit BAT files and to run PIF files. Use the Options menu to change the settings if you want to do something else. If you run a DOS program from within Filer, it will run but, if the program executes, then normally returns to the DOS prompt, you'll return to Filer instead. WINDOWS ASSOCIATIONS For all other files, if you have an association for that file type in your WIN.INI file, Filer will load the appropriate program, with your selected file loaded into the program for editing. You can view a list of file extensions and their associated applications with the View Windows Associations command in the Utilities menu. CUSTOM ASSOCIATIONS Not all file types have associations set up in Windows. This is especially true with files created by non-Windows programs. For this reason, Filer lets you set up custom associations. To do this, select the Utilities menu, then click on the Edit Custom Associations command. You'll see a new window. Creating Associations Type an file extension you want to associate with a program in the first field. Type the extension completely, including the period character, as in .LST, but do not include any wildcard characters. In the next field, type the complete file specification of the program you want to use to edit this file type. Include the drive designation, the entire path and the complete filename, The entry should look like: C:\UTIL\LIST.EXE Naturally, you'll substitute your own information. If you like, click the [Test Program] button to load the program and make sure you have it right. When you're satisfied, click the [Replace] button to add the association to the list. If you want to add another association, click the [View Next] button and create anothe association. You can use the [View Next] and [View Previous] buttons to step through the list. Just remember to click the [Replace] Button after adding or editing an association. To make these associations permanent, click the [Save] button. Filer will save the associations you create, loading them each time the program starts. To use the associations only in the current session, and to return to the main Filer window, click the [Return] button. NOTE: If you create associations for file extensions which also have a Windows association, your custom association takes precedence when you click the [Execute or Edit Selected File] button. You can use this feature to create special associations you'll use only with Filer. SEARCHING FOR TEXT Filer has another very important and powerful feature. It can find files which include any text you specify. This lets you locate any file on your hard disk by looking for internal data. This search routine works in all files, including binary files. Here's what you do: Start by doing a normal file search in the File Search window. For example, if you know that your file will have the extension DOC, but don't know what drive it's on, use that extension, then use the [Search All Drives] button to locate all the DOC files. For other searches, use whatever search method works best to get a list of files which might contain the text you want. NOTE: You can search for text in ANY type of file, including binary files. Once Filer has found the target files and displays them in its file list, click the [Text Search] button. You'll see a new window. Specifying Search Text In this window, you can specify up to 4 search strings. Just type them in in the fields provided. Press or to move between fields. Since searches are done precisely for the text you specify, make certain that you type what you want to find. A single word per field makes the most sense. After entering text, select the search options. Check either the [AND] or [OR] option, depending on whether you want to search for files which contain text in all the fields or any of the fields. The default is AND. By default, Filer pays no attention to capitalization. If you want to search for text exactly as it is in the fields, in a case-sensitive way, check the [Case Sensitive] box. If you've selected AND as your Boolean criterion, check the appropriate box to search for the combination of text in all fields [Within Paragraph] or in [Entire File]. Use the [Within Paragraph] option to find words which are close to each other. Performing the Search To start the search, click the [Search] button. Filer will search through all the files in the list selected in the File Search window. You'll see which file is being searched at all times. When a file is found which contains the text strings, it will appear in the list. To cancel a search in progress, click the [Cancel Search] button with the hourglass cursor. Once the search is complete, you'll have a list of all files containing your search text. You can select any of these files, then execute or edit the file using either Windows or custom associations. To conduct a new search in the same list of files, press the [New Search] button. This clears the list. To return to the File Search window, click the [Return] button. Your list of found files remains intact, allowing you to conduct a new file search, then continue your text search with another list of files. You can repeat this process as often as you like. The file list will grow until you click the [New Search] button. Printing a Search List As in the File Search window, you can print the list of files found in a text search by clicking the [Print] button. This list will contain full information on your search, including search text, and search criteria. GETTING HELP Filer can always display a brief help message for any command or on-screen object. Just click on the object with the right mouse button. A message will appear in the title bar at the top of the Filer Window. If you need more help, use the commands below, in the Help menu: Help with Filer You'll see a new window. On the left is a Topic Index. On the right is the Help information. To view help on a topic, simply click on that topic in the Topic Index. To return to Filer, click the [Exit] button or the Return to Program command. About Filer View version information about Filer and find the OsoSoft support access numbers. OsoSoft Program Ordering You'll see an order form for OsoSoft products. To learn more about a product, click the [Info] button next to that product's listing. To order, type the number of copies for each product . The rest is automatic. Click the [Print] button to print the form.