Copyright: Copyright © 1986-1995 Tessler's Nifty Tools
Citation: Copyright © 1986-1995 by Tessler's Nifty Tools  -All Rights Reserved.


Contents
SuperMonitor Help Contents	To learn how to use Help, press F1...

Your Windows 3.1, Windows For Workgroups, Windows 95, and Windows NT resource monitor...

Menu Commands:
File	Actions
View	Window
Options	Help

Topics of interest:

Supported Windows operating systems

Installation and removal instructions

A bug is found in Windows 95

Windows 95 and Windows NT resource issues

Windows NT icon issues and the /i command line option

Monitoring your system resources

Reported resource usage accuracy

How SuperMonitor computes resource levels

Resource colors and what it all means

Choosing the optimal monitoring, updating, and logging rates

What you want is exactly what you see -customizing your views

How to use SuperMonitor's multiple document capabilities to determine exactly how much resources a specific program uses

Evaluation program limitations


File menu commands

The File menu offers the following commands:

New	Open a new document.
Open	Open an existing document.
Close	Close an open document.
Save As	Save a document with a new name (renames the document and its log file).
Print	Print current document's view (window).
Print Preview	Display current document's view (window) exactly as it would appear on your printer.
Print Setup	Setup your printer.
MRU 1-4	Open most recently used document.
Exit	Exit SuperMonitor.


View menu commands

The View menu offers the following commands:

Toolbar	Shows or hides the toolbar.
Statusbar	Shows or hides the status bar.


Options menu command
Options menu commands

The Options menu offers the following commands:

Log to Disk	Log file options.
Stay on Top	Stay on top or normal window behavior.
Position	Remember last window position upon startup.
Rates	Rates options.
Views	View window options.


Actions menu commands

The Actions menu offers the following commands:

Start

Stop

Reset

Restart


Window menu commands

The Window menu offers the following commands:

New Instants Window	Create new Instants view (window) of current document.
New Averages Windows	Create new Averages view (window) of current document.
New Minimums Window	Create new Minimums view (window) of current document.
Cascade	Cascade all views.
Tile	Tile all views.
Arrange Icons	Arrange all views.


Help menu commands

The Help menu offers the following commands:

Contents	Offers you an index to topics on which you can get help.
Search for Help on	Searches for a Help topic by typing or selecting a keyword.
Using Help	Provides general instructions on using help.
Product Support	Where to get technical and sales support.
About	Displays the version number of this application.


New command (File menu & Toolbar)

Opens a new (non-existent) document and its associated views as defined in the Views command (Option menu)  dialog.

Remember, SuperMonitor is a multiple-document aware program. You may have an unlimited number of documents open and monitoring your system resources.

The document name is used as the name of the log file (if logging to disk). It is not used anywhere else in the program.

Shortcuts

Mouse:	Click this button to open a new file (document)


Open command
Open command (File menu & Toolbar)

Opens an existing document and its associated views as defined in the Views command (Option menu)  dialog.

Remember, SuperMonitor is a multiple-document aware program. You may have an unlimited number of documents open and monitoring your system resources.

The document name is used as the name of the log file (if logging to disk). It is not used anywhere else in the program.

Shortcuts

Mouse:	Click this button to open an existing file (document)


Close command (File menu)

Closes the active document and all of its views. If the document was monitoring your system resources, you will first be prompted for permission to stop monitoring your system.


Save As
Save As command (File menu)

Renames (saves) the current document.

The document name is used as the name of the log file (if logging to disk). It is not used anywhere else in the program.


Print
Print command (File menu & Toolbar)

Prints the active document's active view to the printer. Only the active view of the document is printed. If your document has all three views open, you must activate each view, print it, and repeat the process for the remaining views.

Shortcuts

Mouse:	Click this button to print the active document's active view


Print Preview
Print Preview command (File menu & Toolbar)

Displays the active document's active view as it will appear on the printer. Only the active view of the document is displayed. If your document has all three views open, you must activate each view, print it, and repeat the process for each remaining view.

Shortcuts

Mouse:	Click this button to preview the active document's active view


Print Setup
Print Setup command (File menu)

Displays the printer setup dialog box for your printer.


Exit command (File menu)

Use this command to end your session.  You can also use the Close command on the application Control menu.

Shortcuts

Mouse:	Double-click the application's Control menu button.

Keys:	ALT+F4


MRU 1-4 command
MRU 1-4 command (File menu)

Displays the last four documents that were accessed. Click on one of these to quickly open the file (document).


Toolbar command (View menu)

Use this command to display and hide the Toolbar, which includes buttons for some of the most common commands in the program.  A check mark appears next to the menu item when the Toolbar is displayed.

See Toolbar for help on using the toolbar.


Toolbar

The toolbar is displayed across the top of the application window, below the menu bar.  The toolbar provides quick mouse access to many tools used in this program,

To hide or display the Toolbar, choose Toolbar from the View menu (ALT, V, T).


Status bar command
Status Bar command (View menu)

Use this command to display and hide the Status Bar, which describes the action to be executed by the selected menu item or depressed toolbar button. A check mark appears next to the menu item when the Status Bar is displayed.

See Status Bar for help on using the status bar.


Statusbar

The status bar is displayed at the bottom of the program window.  To display or hide the status bar, use the Status Bar command in the View menu.

The left area of the status bar describes actions of menu items as you use the arrow keys to navigate through menus.  This area similarly shows messages that describe the actions of toolbar buttons as you depress them, before releasing them.  If after viewing the description of the toolbar button command you wish not to execute the command, then release the mouse button while the pointer is off the toolbar button.


Log to Disk command (Options menu)

This command displays a dialog box that allows you to customize log files. Click on any of the dialog options for more help...


Stay on Top command (Options menu)
Stay on Top command (Options menu, System menu)

Forces SuperMonitor to always be on top of all other programs. When you want to monitor your system while a wide variety of programs are executing, we suggest that you minimize SuperMonitor and make it stay on top so that its information is always visible. You may also execute SuperMonitor full screen while it is on top.

Note that when SuperMonitor is minimized (as an icon) you can access its system menu and perform a variety of useful commands (Stay on Top, Start, Stop, etc.) without having to maximize SuperMonitor, issue the command, and then re-minimize it.


Position command (Options menu)

With Position disabled (not checked), SuperMonitor always starts executing almost full screen. If you want SuperMonitor to remember its last size and position right before it terminated, so that the next time you execute it, it will display in the same place as during its previous execution, enable this option (check it).


Rates command (Options menu)

This command displays a dialog box that allows you to customize the sampling rates of SuperMonitor... Click on any of the dialog options for more help...


Views command (Option menu)
Views command (Options menu)

This command displays a dialog box that allows you to customize the start up behavior of SuperMonitor... Click on any of the dialog options for more help...


Open a new document

If this option is checked, then at the start of the program, SuperMonitor will automatically open a new document. If not checked, then you will have to manually open a new or existing document before monitoring may begin.


Start scanning system

If this option is checked, then at the start of the program, SuperMonitor will automatically instruct the new document to start monitoring your system's resources. If not checked, then you will have to manually start your document.


Open views: Instants

If this option is checked, each document will automatically display your system's instantaneous (Instants) resource usage. If not checked, then you will have to manually open this view through the Window menu.


Open views: Averages

If this option is checked, each document will automatically display your system's average (Averages) resource usage. If not checked, then you will have to manually open this view through the Window menu.


Open views: Minimums

If this option is checked, each document will automatically display your system's minimum (Minimums) resource usage. If not checked, then you will have to manually open this view through the Window menu.


Active view: Instants

This group of choices determines which view will automatically be made active when SuperMonitor first executes. Only one view may be selected.

This choice makes the Instants view be active upon program startup.


Active view: Averages

This group of choices determines which view will automatically be made active when SuperMonitor first executes. Only one view may be selected.

This choice makes the Averages view be active upon program startup.


Active view: Minimums

This group of choices determines which view will automatically be made active when SuperMonitor first executes. Only one view may be selected.

This choice makes the Minimums view be active upon program startup.


Arrange views by: Tile

If this option is checked, SuperMonitor will tile (side by side) your views upon program startup.


Arrange views by: Cascade

If this option is checked, SuperMonitor will cascade your views upon program startup.


Resources in each view: User

If checked, causes the User resource vertical usage bar to appear in all future document's views. If not checked, then the resource won't appear.

Checked resources always appear left to right within a view in the following order:

User, GDI, Memory, RAM, Virtual


Resources in each view: GDI

If checked, causes the GDI resource vertical usage bar to appear in all future document's views. If not checked, then the resource won't appear.

Checked resources always appear left to right within a view in the following order:

User, GDI, Memory, RAM, Virtual


Resources in each view: Memory

If checked, causes the Memory resource vertical usage bar to appear in all future document's views. If not checked, then the resource won't appear.

Checked resources always appear left to right within a view in the following order:

User, GDI, Memory, RAM, Virtual


Resources in each view: RAM

If checked, causes the RAM resource vertical usage bar to appear in all future document's views. If not checked, then the resource won't appear.

Checked resources always appear left to right within a view in the following order:

User, GDI, Memory, RAM, Virtual


Resources in each view: Virtual

If checked, causes the Virtual resource vertical usage bar to appear in all future document's views. If not checked, then the resource won't appear.

Checked resources always appear left to right within a view in the following order:

User, GDI, Memory, RAM, Virtual


View: Restore defaults

Pressing this button restores the dialog box options to the state that the program was shipped in.


View: OK

Saves your changes (if any) to the program's INI file and immediately alters the operation of the program.


View: Cancel

Disregards any changes that you made in this dialog box.


Start Command
Start command (Actions menu, System menu, & Toolbar)

Selecting this command tells the active document to start monitoring your system resources.

Note that when SuperMonitor is minimized (as an icon) you can access its system menu and perform a variety of useful commands (Stay on Top, Start, Stop, etc.) without having to maximize SuperMonitor, issue the command, and then re-minimize it.

Shortcuts

Mouse:	Click this button to start the active document.


Stop Command
Stop command (Actions menu, System menu, & Toolbar)

Selecting this command tells the active document to stop monitoring your system resources.

If the document was logging data to disk, this command stops the logging, and closes the disk file.

Note that when SuperMonitor is minimized (as an icon) you can access its system menu and perform a variety of useful commands (Stay on Top, Start, Stop, etc.) without having to maximize SuperMonitor, issue the command, and then re-minimize it.

Shortcuts

Mouse:	Click this button to stop the active document.


Reset command
Reset command (Actions menu, System menu, & Toolbar)

Selecting this command tells the active document to stop monitoring your system resources and then resets the document's data.

Note that when SuperMonitor is minimized (as an icon) you can access its system menu and perform a variety of useful commands (Stay on Top, Start, Stop, etc.) without having to maximize SuperMonitor, issue the command, and then re-minimize it.

Shortcuts

Mouse:	Click this button to reset the active document.


Restart Command
Restart command (Actions menu, System menu, & Toolbar)

Selecting this command tells the active document to stop monitoring your system resources, resets the document's data, and then starts again.

Note that when SuperMonitor is minimized (as an icon) you can access its system menu and perform a variety of useful commands (Stay on Top, Start, Stop, etc.) without having to maximize SuperMonitor, issue the command, and then re-minimize it.

Shortcuts

Mouse:	Click this button to restart the active document.


New Instants Window command (Window menu)

This command opens a new Instants view for the active document. Only one view of this type may be opened per document.


New Averages Window command (Window menu)

This command opens a new Averages view for the active document. Only one view of this type may be opened per document.


New Minimums Window command (Window menu)

This command opens a new Minimums view for the active document. Only one view of this type may be opened per document.


Cascade command (Window menu)

Cascades (overlaps) all views of all documents on your screen.


Tile command (Window menu)

Tiles (displays side-by-side) all views of all documents on your screen.


Arrange Command (Window menu)
Arrange Icons command (Window menu)

Arranges all iconic views on your screen.


Contents command (Help menu)

Use this command to display the opening screen of Help.  From the opening screen, you can jump to step-by-step instructions for using this program and various types of reference information.

Once you open Help, you can click the Contents button whenever you want to return to the opening screen.


Search for Help on... command (Help menu)

Use this command to search for help on a topic or keyword of your choosing.


Using Help command (Help menu)

Use this command for instructions about using Help.


Product Support command (Help menu)

SuperMonitor is NOT free. Unregistered evaluation versions may be freely shared. Registered, purchased versions may NOT be shared. Unregistered versions are limited to 3 minutes of consecutive monitoring per document. Purchased versions are fully functional.

Site licenses and quantity discounts are available upon request. Feel free to contact us for a complete description of all of TNT's 35 programs in the collection.

Tessler's Nifty Tools (TNT)  Release 5.0

430 Canyon Woods Place Suite A

San Ramon, Ca. 94583

(510) 244-5449

CompuServe: 71044,542

Internet:   71044.542@compuserve.com

More information on using this program may be found in the SuperMon.Doc or SuperMon.Txt files...


About command (Help menu)
About command (Help menu & System menu)

Use this command to display the copyright notice and version number of your copy of this program.


Installation and removal instructions

To install:

Copy the following files to any single area of your PC's disk:

•	SuperMon.exe

•	SuperMon.hlp

•	Super32.dll

A typical destination might be:  C:\TNT\SUPERMON

To uninstall:

Delete the above files along with SuperMon.ini from your Windows directory (typically c:\windows).


Monitoring your system resources

SuperMonitor can monitor your system's USER, GDI, Memory, RAM, and Virtual memory resources. You can customize your views to show precisely the resources that you are interested in. See Views command (Option menu)  for more information.

SuperMonitor can display the following resource information each within its own view window:

•	Instantaneous resource usage (in percent free) of your system.

•	Average resource usage (in percent free) of your system.

•	Minimum resource usage (in percent free) of your system.

Each view displays the resources that you chose above.

USER resource

GUI (Graphics Device Interface) resource

Memory resource

RAM resource

Virtual resource


USER resource:

This is a 64 KByte resource that includes handles to windows and menu objects, etc.

The System Resources number reported by Program Manager's Help About dialog box reports the lower of the USER and GUI resources currently available.


GUI (Graphics Device Interface) resource:

This is a 64 KByte resource that includes handles to brushes, pens, bitmaps, device contexts, and regions, etc.

The System Resources number reported by Program Manager's Help About dialog box reports the lower of the USER and GDI resources currently available.


Memory resource:

This is the summation of real physical memory and virtual memory which is your swap file located on your fixed disk.


RAM resource:

RAM (random access memory) is the physical memory chips installed in your PC. Real physical memory is significantly faster than virtual disk based memory. In systems that don't have enough physical memory installed, Windows must swap programs in and out of real memory and into the virtual memory which slows down your applications.

SuperMonitor is ideal for users and PC administrators need to determine how much physical memory to purchase for the user's PC. Simply monitor the RAM and Virtual resources!


Virtual resource:

This is pseudo memory that Windows creates from your disk swap file in 386-enhanced mode. Programs don't actually execute in virtual memory. Programs only execute in real physical RAM memory. Programs are swapped to RAM physical memory when they need to execute, and are swapped to virtual memory when Windows is low on RAM physical memory and needs more free RAM physical memory.


Resource colors and what it all means

SuperMonitor's vertical resource status bars change color based upon their percentage free level. The colors and their meanings are as follows:

Color	% free	Resource condition
Green	60 - 100	Excellent
Yellow	30 - 59	Fair
Red	0 - 29	Critical

Resources that become red may cause instability in Windows...


Reported resource usage accuracy

SuperMonitor accurately reports USER, GDI and Memory utilization because Windows provides well-documented resource information to SuperMonitor.

In order to compute RAM and Virtual memory utilization, SuperMonitor must resort to using poorly documented Windows functions that are not as accurate as they should be. SuperMonitor's Memory free value will not be the same as Program Manager's Help About memory free number because SuperMonitor uses a more accurate algorithm than Program Manager uses. Usually, SuperMonitor and Program Manager will have very similar answers.

SuperMonitor usually reports 100% accurate resource utilization numbers, but occasionally its RAM and Virtual answers are off by 1-5% by stating that you are using more memory than you actually using. This small error should be insignificant in your assessment of your PC's resource usage.

Since Memory is the summation of RAM plus Virtual memory, you would think that your RAM and Virtual resources would precisely add up to the size of your Memory resource. This isn't exactly true. Since Memory, RAM and Virtual resources all use different algorithms with different computational precisions, Memory approximately equals RAM plus Virtual memory.

If Microsoft improves their functions, we will immediately incorporate them into SuperMonitor and will notify you of the upgraded product. Thank you for understanding...

Keep in mind that both SuperMonitor's and Program Manager's Memory free number (and SuperMonitor's RAM free number) is memory/RAM that is available to Windows programs after Windows has finished loading any device and LAN drivers (VxDs). If you think SuperMonitor has incorrectly reported your memory/ram, you have probably forgot to subtract any RAM used by any disk caching software (like SmartDrv), RAM disk memory, DOS memory resident software, and memory used by Windows device drivers in your computation...


Evaluation program limitations

Evaluation versions of SuperMonitor are fully functional except that each document is limited to five consecutive minutes of system resource monitoring. After five minutes, SuperMonitor will automatically stop the document. The document can not be restarted. You may however, open a new document and monitor your system for another five minutes. You may freely share unregistered evaluation versions of SuperMonitor.

Remember! Purchased SuperMonitor programs are not limited in any way. You may not share purchased copies of SuperMonitor.


Scan system every N milliseconds

Determines how often SuperMonitor will attempt to monitor your system's resources.

In order to "catch" resource allocation "spikes", we recommend that you monitor your system every 50 milliseconds. Slow PCs may not be able to monitor every 50 milliseconds, but will automatically monitor as fast as possible.


Update display after N consecutive scans

Determines how often SuperMonitor will update its display with current resource usage statistics. To reduce SuperMonitor processor overhead on your PC's CPU, we recommend that you update your display as infrequently as possible. If you only need to see updated statistics every one second, don't update more frequently. At 50 milliseconds, sample rate, the default display update after 18 scans is equal to approximately once every second (18 * 50 = 900 msec).


Log to disk after N consecutive scans

Determines how often SuperMonitor will write a snapshot of your system's resource utilization to your disk log file. The less frequent you write to disk, the smaller your log file will be. At 50 milliseconds, sample rate, logging to disk after 18 scans is equal to approximately once every second (18 * 50 = 900 msec).

Remember: You must enable logging to disk through the Options  dialog box.


Rates: OK

Saves your changes (if any) to the program's INI file and immediately alters the operation of the program.


Rates: Cancel

Disregards any changes that you made in this dialog box.


Rates: Restore defaults

Pressing this button restores the dialog box options to the state that the program was shipped in.


Log (save) data to disk

Checking this box enables logging of system resource usage to a disk file. The name of the disk file is the name of the document. To change the name of the log file, rename your document via the Save As command.


Save to disk via: Fast writes

Select this option for fast disk writes. If your Windows session crashes while you happen to be logging to disk, your SuperMonitor log file will most likely be empty and your collected data will be lost. For safer but slower logging, see Save to disk via: Slow writes .


Save to disk via: Slow writes

Select this option for slow (safe) disk writes. If your Windows session crashes while you happen to be logging to disk, your SuperMonitor log file will most likely still contain your data.

Only use this option if you have Windows stability problems. Slow writes significantly slows down your data logging rate. For faster but less safe logging, see Save to disk via: Fast writes .


Include log file name and time stamp

Check this box to include the name of the log time and the date and time of its creation at the top of your log file.


Include installed memory summary

Check this box to include a summary of the amount of memory in your system at the top of your log file.


Include field headers

Check this box to include descriptions of the data fields that will appear in your log file. These descriptions help you understand the columns of data that you are analyzing.


Data delimiter: Commas

Select this option for a comma delimited log file. When importing this file into your spreadsheet, tell your spreadsheet that the delimiter is a comma.


Data delimiters: Spaces

Select this option for a space delimited log file. When importing this file into your spreadsheet, tell your spreadsheet that the delimiter is a space.


Data delimiters: Tabs

Select this option for a tab delimited log file. When importing this file into your spreadsheet, tell your spreadsheet that the delimiter is a tab.


Save in units of: Bytes

Select this option when you need a high degree of accuracy in your data. This high degree of accuracy significantly increases the size of your log file. Since most people don't need this precision, don't use it unless you need it. The data is reported in units of bytes -like 16462643 rather than in megabytes which would be 15.7 .


Save in units of: MBytes

Select this option when you need a less accurate reporting of your data. This setting is best for most people. The data is reported in units of megabytes -like 15.7 rather than in bytes which would be 16462643.


What to save: Instants

Brings up the Instants resource data fields dialog box where you may choose which fields to actually log to disk.


What to save: Averages

Brings up the Averages resource data fields dialog box where you may choose which fields to actually log to disk.


What to save: Minimums

Brings up the Minimums resource data fields dialog box where you may choose which fields to actually log to disk.


Log data: OK

Saves your changes (if any) to the program's INI file and immediately alters the operation of the program.


Log data: Cancel

Disregards any changes that you made in this dialog box.


Choosing the optimal monitoring, updating, and logging rates

The following options in the Log to disk  dialog box discuss optimal rates:

Scan system every N milliseconds

Update display after N consecutive scans

Log to disk after N consecutive scans


What you want is exactly what you see -customizing your views

The Views command (Option menu) dialog box discuss viewing exactly what and only what you want to monitor.


How to use SuperMonitor's multiple document capabilities to determine exactly how much resources a specific program uses

Since SuperMonitor monitors your overall system resources at any moment in time, you might think that its impossible to determine the exact resource requirements of a specific program. Well, you're wrong!

By opening multiple documents and starting multiple monitoring sessions, you can precisely determine any program's resource requirements by performing the following steps:

1.	Open a new document and for the sake of this example, call it BaseDoc1.

2.	Command BaseDoc1 to start monitoring.

3.	Command BaseDoc1 to stop monitoring. This document's views now show

 baseline resource levels before running your program.

4.	Open another new document and for the sake of this example, call it Doc2.

5.	Command Doc2 to start monitoring.

6.	Execute your program and use it for as long as you wish.

7.	When you are ready to terminate your program, stop Doc2 from monitoring.

8.	Exit your program.

The exact resources that your program required may be determined by subtracting Doc2 values from BaseDoc1 (for example, if BaseDoc1 had 75% GDI free, and Doc2 had 70% GDI free, then your program required 75 - 70 = 5% GDI). Cool!


Windows 95 and Windows NT issues

Windows 95 resource usage more closely mirrors Windows NT than Windows 3.1 !

In Windows 3.1, your "Memory" resource was defined as an approximate summation of the available memory in RAM and in virtual memory (swap file). Per Microsoft, in Windows 95 and NT, the "Memory" resource is now the amount of memory available in the global heap. Don't expect to see the same "Memory" free values in Windows 95 and NT as you often saw in Windows 3.1 .

Windows 95 "grabs" a significant amount of your RAM for caching of its components. It is typical for SuperMonitor to report as little as 10-30% of RAM free (on a 16 MByte system) because of Windows 95's caching. Windows 95 will release some of its cached components and thus free up some RAM when an application program needs more RAM. When this happens, you will see SuperMonitor's percentage RAM free increase!

In Windows 3.1, the virtual memory (swap file) was fixed in size. In Windows 95, you can either choose to have a fixed size swap file or let Windows 95/NT manage your swap file. In Windows NT, it is always variable. If you let Windows 95 manage your swap file, the size of your swap file is equal to the amount of free disk space on your hard disk. Windows 95/NT will shrink the swap file when another application needs more disk space. If you are using dynamic swap file sizing, and are logging your swap file usage percentages rather than the actual bytes used to disk, you might want to include the size of the swap file in your log file so that your percentages can reference the size of the swap file at the time of the data sampling.


Supported Windows operating systems

SuperMonitor accurately reports resource usage under Windows 3.1, Windows For Workgroups 3.11, Windows 95 and Windows NT. SuperMonitor automatically detects which Windows operating system it is executing under and adjusts it's resource monitoring algorithms to always give you the most accurate answers.


Windows NT icon issues and the /I command line option
Icon issues and the /i command line option

Since Windows 3.1n supports dynamically changing icons for its minimized applications, SuperMonitor (when executed under Windows 3.1) automatically uses dynamic icons that contain vertical resource usage bars.

Since Windows 95 does not support dynamically changing icons for its minimized applications, SuperMonitor (when executed under Windows 95) automatically uses static icons.

Since Windows NT will soon be receiving the same user interface look and feel of Windows 95, SuperMonitor automatically uses static icons.

You may force SuperMonitor to use dynamic icons by appending a /i+ to the end of SuperMonitor's command line. E.g.  SuperMonitor.exe  /i+

You may force SuperMonitor to use static icons by appending a /i- to the end of SuperMonitor's command line. E.g.  SuperMonitor.exe  /i-

This command line option is useful for Windows NT users who want dynamic icons and realize that once Windows NT gets the new Windows 95 GUI, they'll have to forgo dynamic icons and remove the /i+ option from their SuperMonitor command line.


How SuperMonitor computes resource levels

SuperMonitor uses different algorithms to compute resources when executed under different operating systems...

Under Windows 3.1n:

USER & GDI data is calculated with GetFreeSystemResources() and ToolHelp SystemHeapInfo() functions.

Memory data is calculated by examining the global heap.

RAM and Virtual data is calculated with Win32's MemManInfo() function and a lot of special secret hush-hush knowledge.

Under Windows 95 and NT:

USER & GDI data is calculated with GetFreeSystemResources() and ToolHelp SystemHeapInfo() functions.

Memory data is calculated by examining the global heap.

RAM and Virtual data is calculated with GlobalMemoryStatus and a lot of special secret hush-hush knowledge.


A bug is found in Windows 95

In the process of testing SuperMonitor under Windows 95, we discovered a significant bug in Windows 95! Any application that runs minimized (iconic on the TaskBar) under Windows 95 will behave improperly! When Microsoft acknowledges and fixes this bug (we hope in the first upgrade package sometime in 1996), we will release a new version of SuperMonitor that works 100% perfectly. Check CompuServe or the InterNet for new versions of SuperMonitor.

The bug is as follows: When any program is run "minimized", Windows 95 should tell the application that it is now iconic (as it does in Windows 3. 1 and NT). Instead, it mistakenly tells the application that it is windowed. For SuperMonitor, this means that SuperMonitor can not always correctly change its iconic title. We get around this bug by opening SuperMonitor as a windowed application and then we minimize it. In this manner, we can tell that we have gone iconic. This results in a flash of SuperMonitor's main window before it goes iconic.

Once iconic, pulling up SuperMonitor's system menu via a right mouse click, and choosing Start or Reset doesn't always update its title. Even though the title isn't correct, the program has indeed started or reset itself. When it is restored to a window, the title and data are always correct.