Rich's Ramblings
by Rich Schinnell
A pox on the software installation programs that mess around with my machine.
I am sick and tired of installing software that has arbitrarily decided that its graphics viewer is better than what I already use. I have been running Windows 95, and I paid the shareware registration fee for LaserView Pro. LVP is a great JPEG and other format graphics viewer. It is priced reasonably and works; what more could you ask for? Microsoft and Mustang Software both think that I don't know what I am doing, evidently.
I installed QModem for Windows 95 (Mustang Software), and I immediately had to go through and change back all my preferred viewers for graphic images to LaserView Pro. The QModem graphics viewer is probably good, but no thanks . . . I decide what to use.
Microsoft's new Internet Explorer Version 2.0 Is the latest culprit. That program might be the best thing since sliced bread, but I had to spend over an hour undoing the things it changed. Every .JPG, .GIF, and such were changed to use the viewer for Internet Explorer. The same as QModem95.
Please, I have had enough. Ask me if you wish to change things. Don't just arbitrarily make changes that you think are the ones I would choose. Thank you very much.
Vern Buerg's LIST
One of the least known neat utilities that works the way it's supposed to is LIST by Vern Buerg. It is the best danged file viewer and searcher that I have found. And the price is right.
Every now and then I want to look at a bunch of files and find a string of text or some keyword. All I do is type:
LIST . /FKWORD
and LIST searches all the files in the directory for the KWORD. When it finds the first one, it stops and lets me see the context. I can continue to the next occurrence or document with the ALT+A key combination, which means find again. Piece of cake, and it is so easy and intuitive.
LIST is available on our Members Information eXchange (MIX) BBS at (301) 738-9060. Download it and give it a try. Use the built-in help, and you will be pleasantly surprised. It is the best shareware program out there. LIST91C.ZIP is the latest that is available on the MIX.
PKZIP
While you're at it, grab another program that I use all the time and you might like: PKZ204G.EXE, the standard everywhere in the world for unzipping and zipping files that you get off of BBS systems.
I would recommend that you execute the program PKZ204G.EXE in a separate subdirectory after you download it as it will self-extract into lots of files. The two main programs that you will always need are PKZIP.EXE and PKUNZIP.EXE. I would suggest that you copy these two programs to your C:\DOS subdirectory so that they will be in your path. This way you can use them anywhere on your disks.
As always, I recommend all new programs be unzipped into a separate directory the first time so that you can delete them if you don't want them. If you download files into a common directory and then unzip them in that same directory, you will regret it; some .ZIP files have lots and lots of files included.
One of the least used features in PKZIP is the ability to zip up large files onto several floppies. Yes, it will compress a file or files and store them on consecutive floppies, spanning several of them. You can even store the subdirectory names in the .ZIP file. Another neat feature among the programs included with PKZ204G is the ability to create self-extracting archives, enabling you to give others a large file that they don't need to have to know how to unzip. They only have to type the file's name, and it will self-extract. Great piece of shareware.
When you extract several .ZIP files into the same directory, you won't be able to keep track of them all, and you're going to end up with garbage in your directory. There is a neat program that Vern Buerg distributes in his LIST archive that you should use: FV.COM. It will let you view what's in each .ZIP file before you decide to unleash PKUNZIP on it. Of course, PKUNZIP has the -V option that will also let you view the contents of the .ZIP prior to unzipping it.
SDIR
Another program that is worth its salt is the 1983 version of SDIR.COM. It is only 1,536 bytes, and it will give you a sorted directory on your screen. It sorts by date, extension, size, or leave the directory unsorted. It will allow you to see any hidden files in your directory. Greatest little free program I would never be without.
CSE
There is another. It is called CSE, which stands for C Screen Editor. It is a great little ASCII text editor that allows you to do some of the things that EDIT does not. Like deleting or moving a vertical block of text. You can move lines of text, replicate, or delete them. Make mass changes of words and such. Great little FREE program. The latest is named CSE310.ZIP. Dates back to 1991, but it still works great today. I kinda like the older version better than 3.10, but you can get used to it.
F-PROT
Everyone should have one of the better anti-virus checkers, and F-PROT (FP-220.ZIP) is among the best. It is free for personal use, and it will check your hard disks and floppies for viruses. If you have children who bring diskettes home from school or college, you definitely need F-PROT. The same goes for those of you who swap disks with other members. You never know whether someone else has a virus on his machine and doesn't know it. Better to be safe than sorry. Check it out before you even try to do a DIR on the disk. Some viruses are sneaky and can ruin your whole day.
So, with PKZ204G.EXE, LIST91C.ZIP, FP-220.ZIP, SDIR.COM, and CSE310.ZIP, you'll have some real great utilities, all of which you should have in your toolbox.
Oh, before I quit for this month, remember to backup your important data. Back when I was in the US Navy, there was an expression: "A collision at sea can ruin your whole day." The same goes for a hard disk crash. It can ruin your whole week. BACKUP! And while you're at it, please make some SYSTEM bootable diskettes for your A drive:
FORMAT A: /S
End of lecture! <G>
Rich Schinnell is the president of Capital PC User Group. He is also the SYSOP of the Software Library BBS since 1982. Rich is retired from the USN and from Vitro Corporation. He hangs around the CPCUG office to keep the staff in line and does a small bit of consulting on the side. Mostly on real challenging projects. He can be reached on the Internet at schinnel@cpcug.org and by phone in the evenings at (301) 949-9292.
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