Introduction

Please note: This help file covers all 3 versions of CyberBuddy. Some of the features covered may not be included in the version you are running.

The CyberBuddy program makes use of Microsoft Agents to speak to you when certain events take place. These include:

- The  time of day

- Reminders to yourself

- Messages from your friends

- Email in your Mailboxes

- The latest news

- Weather Reports

- Jokes

- Inspirational Thoughts

- Stock Quotes for your selected stocks

- Internet Speed Reporting

- When Web Pages Change

- Compliments

- Caller ID  (Version 4 only, with special equipment)

CyberBuddy can also read stored documents or text that you type to the screen.

CyberBuddy provides direct text-to-speech messaging and voice messaging with other CyberBuddies.

If you have Speech Recognition installed. (versions 3 and 4) CyberBuddy can listen for your Spoken Commands.

There is even a CyberBuddy Web Cam option so you can see and talk to CyberBuddies.

Microsoft Agents are small cartoon characters that are animated and can speak through the use of a text-to-speech engine. These agents must be installed before CyberBuddy can operate. Windows 2000 comes with agent support installed. There are many characters to choose from. CyberBuddy can make use of any of these characters.  For a more detailed explanation of Microsoft Agents and installation please go to http://www.thecyberbuddy.com.  You will find links to download characters and even a link for custom characters that can be made from photos, drawings etc.

If Agents are not installed, CyberBuddy will run an installer to install the agents for you. You must be connected to the internet for the installer to work (unless you are using the CyberBuddy CD-ROM).

When the program is started, it will automatically run in the system tray. To bring the program up, click on the CyberBuddy icon in the system tray. You can also bring the program up by double clicking the Agent Character when it appears.

Double Clicking the Agent Character will also stop any talking or actions in progress.

Right Clicking the Agent Character will bring up a pop-up menu. This menu allows you to directly access many of CyberBuddy's features.

The CyberBuddy tray icon will change with certain functions. If email is available, the icon will animate. If CyberBuddy is busy checking for information, the CyberBuddy icon will have it's mouth and eyes closed, as if in deep thought. See the CyberBuddy Icon  section for an explanation of the different icons.

About

Tells about CyberBuddy

Click on the "Check for Updates" button to have CyberBuddy check the current version. You can also select to have CyberBuddy open your browser, and go to the CyberBuddy homepage at www.thecyberbuddy.com. Here you can check to see if you have the latest version of the program. Check often for new features.

Take a Tour

Let your Agent character show you the CyberBuddy program.

Please Note: CyberBuddy makes use of a number of commercial servers on the internet to gather the information for the news, weather, stocks etc. As such, the reliability of information is partly reliant on the reliability of those servers and whether on not the information remains in the format CyberBuddy expects. If you are not receiving information or are receiving incorrect information, there may be a problem at one of these servers. If one of the servers changes format, CyberBuddy may need to be updated to accept the new format. Check the CyberBuddy homepage often for updates, news and tips.

The latest information, software updates, etc. for CyberBuddy can be found at the CyberBuddy website at www.theCyberBuddy.com

Your help is needed! Have you seen a problem or bug with CyberBuddy?  Have suggestions for features? Maybe would just like to give some praise? Please, go to the CyberBuddy homepage at http://theCyberBuddy.com to report it. Thanks.

"The Unpredictable CyberBuddy, you never know what he will say next."


About

Tells about CyberBuddy

Check for Updates

Click on the "Check for Updates" button to have CyberBuddy check the current version.

Homepage

Click this to have CyberBuddy open your browser, and go to the CyberBuddy homepage at www.thecyberbuddy.com . Here you can check to see if you have the latest version of the program. Check often for new features.

Take a Tour

Let your Agent character show you the CyberBuddy program.

Online Tutorials

Click here to have CyberBuddy open your browser, and take you to the Online CyberBuddy Tutorials. If you have Internet Explorer, click one one of the listed tutorials ans it back while your CyberBuddy characters show you how to use the features of CyberBuddy.


Send Voice
Voice Messaging

You can send a voice message to another CyberBuddy.  Your message will be spoken, in your voice, by your friend's Agent Character.

Please review the text-to-speech Messaging section before using the Voice Messaging function.

Voice Setup

In most cases, CyberBuddy will setup the voice compression options for you. These options allow your voice to be recorded and compressed for transmission over the internet. If your "Talk" button is grayed out (disabled) or if you wish to change the type of compression, do the following:

Click on the Setup button next to the "Talk"  button. This will bring up the Voice Setup window. There will be some detailed instructions in this window as to the selection of voice compression options. Click on "Audio Compression Selection" and make a choice as detailed in the instructions.

Note about compression: You, and the CyberBuddy user you are communicating with, must be capable of using the same compression selected. The options shown are compression options that should be available on most computers. You may select others, but make sure your friend's computer also has the same compression capability. The higher the level of compression, the faster your voice will be sent.

Microphone Volume

The voice setup window also contains a volume control for your microphone. To adjust your microphone volume level, click on "Setup" next to the "Talk" button and adjust the volume slider.

Note: If you do not see a volume slider, CyberBuddy was unable to find the microphone volume control. You will need to set it manually in the Multimedia section of Control Panel in "My Computer" or from the volume control settings in the system tray.

Test Voice

The "Test" button next to the "Talk" button is a Push-to-talk button like the "Talk" send button. Click and hold it until the red light appears, speak a message and release. You should hear your message spoken by your CyberBuddy character. If you do not, check your volume control settings. You may also need to select a different audio compression setting (see Voice Setup above).

Sending a voice message

The "Talk"  button on CyberBuddy works like the "push-to-talk" button on a walkie-talkie.

To send a voice message, make sure your friend's UIN or IP address is in the "Send to UIN or IP address" box. (See "Send to IP address" section ).

Click and hold the "Talk" button until the red recording light appears, speak your message and release the button. That's it. Your message is sent.

The recording light will change to yellow/white while being transmitted. It turns green if the receiving CyberBuddy receives it ok.

When your "Talk"  button is grayed out (disabled), CyberBuddy is busy sending or receiving voice.

When you receive voice, a text message will appear in the Rcv box indicating "Voice From" and your CyberBuddy friend's name.

If your want to hear the last voice message sent to you repeated, Right click the agent character and select "Last Voice Msg".

The Status indicator Light

The status indicator above the Voice button gives the following indications:

Gray – Idle

Red – Recording your voice

Yellow/White – Your voice is being transmitted to your friend

Green – Your friend has received your last voice message

Black - There was an error in your last voice transmission

Purple/Blue – You are receiving a voice transmission

Note: Voice messaging, like the text-to-speech messaging will not work if you or your friend are behind a firewall or are using a proxy server.


News

CyberBuddy can bring you the latest news. Check the "Check for News" box to have CyberBuddy gather breaking headlines at designated times.

CyberBuddy will give you the headlines. You can also get the full story from the News Page on the CyberBuddy Website: http://thecyberbuddy.com . Right click the agent and select News Page to go there.

Select how often you would like the news to be checked. You can check every 15 minutes or up to every 3 hours (180 minutes).  Although the news is checked as often as you indicate, you will not  receive any news unless the headlines have changed since your last news check.

Select the desired news categories. At least one category must be select in order to receive any news.

Select the number of headlines (1 to 5) that you would like to receive for each category.

Press the "Check News Now" to get the latest headlines, if available.

Note: If you right-click on the Agent Character, a pop-up menu will appear that will also allow you to check news.

Web Page

Brings the news web page up in your browser. Get the details for the headlines. You can also right click the Agent character to get this selection.

Clicking on the Agent Character after a news report has been read will repeat the news report.

Double Clicking the Agent Character will stop the news report in progress.

Note on News: Remember that if the "Updates Only" box is checked, the news will be heard only when the content changes. This means that even  if  you check for the news every 15 minutes, you will not hear a news report until the headlines change. Also, the news server filters out headlines that are too many hours old, so if you do not get headlines for a selected category, there may not be breaking news in that category at the moment.

Want you own customized news channel? Check out the Web Watching Wizard section.


Time

You can ask your Agent Character to announce the time on the hour, half hour or quarter hour.

The time announcement can also be customized in Custom Messages.


Weather

CyberBuddy can be set up to check your local weather. The weather can be checked for most U.S. Cities and many other cities around the world. Use the setting below to configure your CyberBuddy to present your weather.

Check for Weather

Checking this box enables CyberBuddy to check the weather automatically at the selected intervals.

Current Conditions

The "Current Conditions" portion of the weather report will be presented, if available. This is the current temperature, humidity, winds etc. (This is not available at all times of the day, for all cities).

Forecast

Forecast for the days weather conditions will be presented, if available.

Extended Forecast

CyberBuddy searches for the portion of the forecast for the next few days, if available.

Note: Any, or all, of the above selections may be made. But at least one must be made. Note also that since forecasts and observations change constantly, there may be times of the day when one or more of the selections will not bring any results.

Check Every Number of Minutes

Determines how often CyberBuddy will try to retrieve the weather for you.

Only Updates

When this box is checked, CyberBuddy will only inform you when the weather report changes. If the box is not checked, CyberBuddy will give you a weather report each time it is found as determined by the "Check Every Number of Minutes" setting.

Temperature

If your weather report contains both F and C temperatures, this selection will allow you to set your preference for temperature type. Note that the server may not deliver the temperature in your preference, in which case CyberBuddy will report the temperature as available. For example: If you select C and the temperature is only reported in F, then the temperature will be given in F.

Weather Location

This is where you tell CyberBuddy the location that you wish the weather for. You can enter a Zip code, major city name, or 4 letter ICAO Airport Code. To test, you can click "Check weather now" to have CyberBuddy check the weather with your settings, or click "Web Page" which will bring you to the Weather Server Web Page for the location selected. Check the CyberBuddy home page, in the "FAQ/Troubleshooting" section for links to sites that list the 4 letter Airport Codes around the world.

Some pages listing airport codes:

http://www.ar-group.com/icaoiata.htm

http://www.tmdg.co.uk/browse/

or do a search for ICAO Airport Codes.

Weather Location examples:

18360   Chicago  London   Paris   KEWR  EGLL

Web Page

Brings the weather service web page up in your browser. You can also right click the Agent to get this selection.

Check Weather Now

Checks the weather report from the weather server.

Note: If you right-click on the Agent Character, a pop-up menu will appear that will also allow you to check weather.


Internet Speed

As CyberBuddy downloads various items from the internet for you, it keeps track of the speed of it's operation. If desired, you can get a report of this speed at certain times. You can also get an instantaneous report by clicking the "Speed Report" button.

CyberBuddy needs to collect a sufficient amount of data before it can determine the average speed that you are running at. So, if you select to have the speed reported at certain time intervals, the reports will not begin until CyberBuddy has collected the needed amount. The amount of data is determined by how many other options such as weather, news and stocks, you have selected and how often.

By getting a report every once in awhile, you can see how your internet speed is over time. The speed is averaged since the time CyberBuddy was started.  Note that this speed is not only determined by your internet connection, but by the speed of the servers that CyberBuddy connects to. The speed report should provide an idea as to the average normal traffic flow to your computer from these sources. The Speed is given in Bytes per Second. This is not the same as your modem rating which is in Bits per Second. It is a measure of how many actual bytes were downloaded in a time period.

Speed Reports

Will give speed reports at the selected time intervals after enough data has been collected.

Speed Reports at Number of Minutes

Determines how often speed reports will be given.

Now

Give a speed report now.


Jokes and Thoughts
Joke of the day

Thought of the Day

These are jokes, thoughts, inspirational sayings and such that are posted by other CyberBuddy users. When these boxes are checked, CyberBuddy will check, at random times, for a new joke or thought. If no new jokes or thoughts have been posted today, CyberBuddy will attempt to select a joke or thought from an archive.

Click the "Get" button to search for a joke or thought now.

Do you know a good joke, or have a nice inspirational thought? Share it with other CyberBuddies. Your message will be broadcast to thousands of CyberBuddies around the world. Click the "Post a Joke or Thought" button to post a message on one of the CyberBuddy servers. You must be online before doing this. Your message will remain on the server for one day. (if it's really good, it may be placed in the CyberBuddy archive on the server). All messages are "G" rated. The rules are posted on the entry page.


Feel Good Messages

Isn't it nice when someone gives you a compliment or a pat on the back for a job well done? Wouldn't it be nice to have someone around to feed you compliments. Let CyberBuddy make your day. This is especially great if you have small children using the computer. You can have special messages that surprise them and give them a boost.

The "Get" button will play one of your messages now.

To add or change the Feel Good Messages, go to the Custom Message section.


Remind
Reminders

CyberBuddy is a handy tool  for providing important reminders. When the reminder comes due, the character will appear, move around the screen and attempt to get your attention alerting you that you have a reminder. Click on the character to get the reminder message.

To enter reminders:

1. Type the desired reminder text in the "Reminder Message" box.

2. Set the Date and time for the reminder with the drop down  Date and Time boxes.

3. Select the Reminder type:

One Time – The reminder is a one time reminder that will not repeat

Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly – The reminder will come up at the designated time and will then repeat at the interval selected.

4. Click the "Add Reminder" button

When a reminder comes due, the agent character will move around the screen and call you to get your attention. It will continue to do this until you click on the character. If the reminder came due while your computer was turned off or CyberBuddy was not running, the reminder will pop up shortly after CyberBuddy is started.

Note: The reminder dates are stored in MM/DD/YY format.

Note: The reminders are stored in a file named "reminders.lst" in your CyberBuddy Folder. If you want to backup your reminders or copy them to another CyberBuddy, you can copy this file.

Editing / Deleting Reminders

To Edit a reminder, click on the reminder in the reminder list. The "Add Reminder" button will change to "Edit Reminder". A "Delete" button  and a "New" button will appear. If you just want to delete this reminder, click the delete button. If you do not want to edit this reminder, but want to enter a new reminder, click the "New" button. Otherwise, make any changes you would like and click the "Edit Reminder" button. You reminder list will be updated with the changes.

Pre-Remind On

Tells you about reminders coming due in the next 3 days.

When Cyberbuddy is first started, or, if the screen saver has been on for more than 4 hours and you come back to your computer, the program will check to see if there are any reminders coming due in the next 3 days. If the reminders are not daily or weekly reminders, and this option is checked, CyberBuddy will tell you that they are coming up soon.


Read

CyberBuddy can read typed text, text documents,  web pages, and CyberBuddy Documents (special documents created just for CyberBuddy with a .cbb extension).

You can type directly into the read window or Cut and Paste from another document to this window. Click "Read" and your CyberBuddy will read the text to you.

The "Paste" button can be used to paste text that has been copied or cut from a document. To copy text from a document:

Highlight the text by dragging the mouse across the text while holding the left mouse button.

Then select "copy" from the edit menu, or press CTL C on the keyboard.

Switch to the CyberBuddy program, select the "Read" tab and click "Paste".

Read

This button will read the text in the window above.

Paste

Use this button to paste text from the clipboard into the window above.

Read URL

You can have CyberBuddy read whole web pages to you. Type or copy the URL (web address) of the web page and click "Read URL". You can double-click the character at any time to stop reading.

Read a Document

CyberBuddy will read text documents (.txt files),  Web Page documents (.htm or .html files), and CyberBuddy Documents (.cbb). Click this button and select the desired document to be read.

Pause Reading / Stop Reading

To pause reading, click the Character once. He will finish reading the current line, then pause. If you leave him paused, he will remind you every minute or so that he is still paused. To resume reading, Click on the character once.

To stop reading, double-click on the character.

CyberBuddy Documents

CyberBuddy Documents are special text documents that are created especially for CyberBuddy. These documents contain special "command tags" that control animations, sound effects, character changes, and more. If a CyberBuddy Document file is located on a web site, and you have Internet Explorer, you can click on the document and CyberBuddy will read it. If you have a CyberBuddy Document on your hard drive, you can double-click it and CyberBuddy will read it.

A free program is available for building the special CyberBuddy documents. See the CyberBuddy homepage for the "CyberBuddy Story Builder".

Drag and Drop

You can also have CyberBuddy read a text document by dragging the text document from  windows explorer and dropping it on CyberBuddy.

CyberBuddy will read text documents , HTML (web page) documents, or CyberBuddy Documents.

Read the Clipboard

If you right-click the agent character or tray icon, a popup menu will appear. One of the selections in this menu is "Read Clipboard". This will take whatever is in the clipboard, paste it to the read screen, and read it.


Buddies

CyberBuddy Instant Messaging

This is where you can enable Instant Messaging and Voice Messages with other CyberBuddies. If your friends have CyberBuddy, you can send messages that will be spoken by the Agent Characters. The messages can also contain animation actions. See the "Send" tab section for more details.

You have the following options for receiving messages from other CyberBuddies:

- Instant Messaging Disabled  - No messages will be received

- Instant Messaging Enabled  - Allow receiving of messages from other CyberBuddies

- Messages from Contact List Only – Messages can only be received from CyberBuddies that are listed in your CyberBuddies list.

These selections affect incoming text-to-speech messaging as well as incoming voice messages.

My CyberBuddy UIN

This is your CyberBuddy User Identification Number (UIN). It is automatically assigned the first time you go online with CyberBuddy. This is very much like an ICQ UIN. Give this number to your friends so that they can add it to their CyberBuddies list and be alerted when you are online with CyberBuddy. If you have just installed CyberBuddy and your UIN does not show, try clicking the "Server Update" button.

Publish My UIN

When this box is checked, your UIN will be included in a directory along with the name or nickname in the box provided, as well as any comments you enter in the corresponding box. You can see the directory by clicking on the "CyberBuddy Buddies Page" button.

This will help if you would like to talk with other CyberBuddies.

 If you have checked this box, and later un-check it, your name will drop off the list automatically in several hours.

The comment box will take comments up to 200 characters. You can type in special interests or a little about your self. (Advanced users: This comment can also contain limited HTML so you can highlight your comment with colors, bolding etc.)

Online Announcements

Check the appropriate boxes to have CyberBuddy announce when your contacts go online or offline on ICQ.

- Announce when users come online – Lets you know when a contact arrives online

- Animated announcements  -  When the animated announcements box is checked, these announcements will come with greater flair.

- Online Popup - Causes CyberBuddy to Popup when someone comes online, even if "Silent in Screen Saver" is selected in the "General" tab of CyberBuddy.

CyberBuddy Directory

If you are online, this button will open your browser and take you to the web page with the latest information on CyberBuddy Instant Messaging, and a list of CyberBuddies who are online like to chat.

CyberBuddies List

This is a list of the UIN's of your friends. When you go online, CyberBuddy will check to see if the people in this list are online. If they are online, they will appear in the top box on the "Send" page.

Also, if you have selected "Messages From Contact List Only", you will receive messages and voice transmissions only from the people in this list.

To add a new Contact to your Buddies List:

1. Type their name in the box provided

2. Type their UIN in the box provided

3. Click "Add/Update"

Note: You can also add someone to this list automatically if they are currently listed in the "Online" list on the "Send" tab. Just double-click their listing in this online list and CyberBuddy will ask if you want to add them to your buddies list.

You can delete someone from the list by clicking on their name then click "Delete"

When you have finished making changes to this list, click "Server Update" to have CyberBuddy check the online condition of your friends in the list.

Away Message

If you sometimes leave the computer when you are online, you might want to leave a message in case any of your friends try to contact you. It's like an answering machine.

Type the desired message in the space provided.

Check the box marked "I'm away now" when you are going to be away. If the "Auto Away" box is checked, CyberBuddy will respond with the away message when your screen saver is on.

To hear what your message will sound like, click the "Try" button.

Advanced Users: You can add animation here as well, the same as in the "Send" screen. Use && followed by the desired animation such as &&wave. Make the animation command the only thing on that line. To leave a more personal message, use the ## command which will replace the ## with the recipients name. For example: Sorry I missed you ##.

I'm away now

Will give your away message to anyone that sends a message to your cyberbuddy.

Auto Away

With this box checked, CyberBuddy will respond with your away message whenever your screen saver is on.


Send Text to Speech
Send Text to Speech Messages

Instant Messaging with speech and animation.

There is also a help section on Voice Messaging.

With CyberBuddy, you can send Instant Messages with Speech and Animation. You can send to one or many at the same time.

(Some shortcut keys are listed at the end of this section.)

Note: The features below that have to do with chatting with multiple buddies will only work if your buddies also have version 2.10.01 or later.

You can send a message to a friend, or group of friends, that are currently online, and also using CyberBuddy. The message will be spoken by your friend's CyberBuddy.  In addition, your message can contain actions that will animate your friend's Agent Character. When you send a message, your friend's CyberBuddy program will speak the message in the character you have selected as the "Send Instant Messages" character in the Character and Speech Options page (if they have that character).

In order to use this feature you must know your friends CyberBuddy User ID Number (UIN). If your friend is listed in your "CyberBuddies List" on the "Buddies" page, their name, UIN and last time on should appear in the "Online List". A CyberBuddy Icon next to their name indicates that they are online now with CyberBuddy.

If your friend sends a message to you, their UIN will automatically be shown in the "Send to UIN address" box.

Sending to One Person ( Private )

1.  If your friend is on the "Online List" and a CyberBuddy Icon is next to their name, click their name,

         or

-  Select from the "Send to Name" list.

         or

- Type your friends UIN  in the space provided.

2. Type your message in the "Send" box

3. To the right of the Send button, make sure the button says "Private". if it says "Group", click on it to change.

4.  Click the "Send" button (or press ENTER) to send

Sending to Many Buddies ( Group )

To send a message to a several Buddies

1. Check the boxes next to your Buddies names in the Online List.

2. Type your message in the "Send" box

3. To the right of the Send button, make sure the button says "Group". if it says "Private", click on it to change.

4.  Click the "Send" button (or press ENTER) to send

Private /  Group  Button

The button to the right of the "Send" button determines whether you are sending to a single individual listed in the UIN box,  (this is the Private setting) or whether you are sending to Buddies in your list (Group setting). Click on this button to change it's setting.

Online  List

The Online List shows your CyberBuddies  that are currently online. If you click on one of these contacts, the "Send to Name" and "Send to UIN" fields will be filled in automatically. If the CheckBox is checked, this Buddy will be sent a message when you Send to "Group".

If your Buddy is running CyberBuddy, you will see a CyberBuddy Icon next to their name (if you or they are not behind a firewall). If the Icon is a green, smiling CyberBuddy, your friend is ready to receive messages. If the Icon is a red CyberBuddy with a small frown, your friend is in "Away Mode" or is not receiving messages. If it is blue, it means that you are sending to a list of buddies, and that particular buddy is not receiving you. If it is green and looks like it is in a TV screen, it indicates your buddy is on with CyberBuddy Web Cam.

Shown below are the various online icons:

Online List Popup Menu

For a list of operations, right-click in the Online Screen to bring up a menu. The following are items in the menu:

Synchronize with Checked Buddies

Synchronizes with all active Buddies the List. See Synchronization below.

Add to Buddy List

This function take the selected Buddy in your Online List and will add the selected Buddy to your "Buddies List" on the Buddies tab of CyberBuddy. In the future, your Buddy will be notified when you go online.

Remove From Online List

Removes the selected user from the Online List.

Check All

Checks All in the list.

UnCheck All

Clears all in the list.

Block UINs

If you wish to block messages from a particular sender, you can use the Block UIN feature.

Update List Status

Normally, anyone in your Buddies list that comes online is detected and added to the Online List.  You can ask CyberBuddy to update the list with this selection.

Pause List

This is a handy way to temporarily quiet the incoming messages from the list. When paused, the messages can still be seen in the Receive Window, but they will not be heard. Private messages will still be heard. This is a great way to momentarily talk privately with someone without being bothered by the incoming messages from the Online List. When you are Paused, people sending messages to you in the list will see your status as being Away.

Synchronization

CyberBuddy has a unique function that allows you to Synchronize your Online Contact list with those of your Online Buddies. Here's how it works:

Let's say you've just come online, and start chatting with Bob. Bob is already chatting with several other people. It happens that those other people are not currently in your Online List. If you right-click to bring up the menu, click "Synchronize with Checked Buddies". Now, all the Buddies that Bob is chatting with will be added you your Online list and visa versa.

Note: To see other people who are online. Go to the Buddies tab, click on the "CyberBuddy Buddies Page" button and go to the CyberBuddy online directory.

Animate

You can add actions and sounds to your message. These actions will be expressed by your friend's character when the message is received. Clicking this button will bring up a small window with animations to select from. Click on an animation to select. Then click "Add". The action item will be added in your message to send at the cursor position. (Note: If you Double-Click the item, it will also be added.)  Click the "Try" button to see the animation. You can create an interesting message by adding a number of actions between lines of text.  Note the short cut keys at the bottom of the page to place some of these animations.

Tip: If you right-click in the Animate Window, you can choose from the "Short List", "Full List" of Character Animations or "Sound Effects" list.. When you select the Full List, it will show all the animations associated with the character along with special CyberBuddy animations. When you select "Sound Effects", a list of some available sound effects will be displayed. If you right click again, you will see another selection called "Full Sound Effect List'. With this, you can get the full, current list of sounds from the server.

To find more sound effects, and for an explaination of how sound effects work, go to the CyberBuddy homepage at http://theCyberBuddy.com and look for the Advanced Functions section.

Auto Animate

CyberBuddy automatically adds animations to your outgoing messages based on key words. Advanced users, see the Auto Animate section to see how these animations can be changed.

Send To UIN

This is your friend's CyberBuddy User Identification Number (UIN) or current IP address.

If your friend is in the Online List, you can get this automatically. Click on the desired name in the online list. The UIN and  name will be filled in.

If your friend has just sent you a message, their UIN and Name will appear in the appropriate boxes automatically.

Name

This is the CyberBuddy name of the person that you are sending to.

When someone sends to you, their name is put here. This is a drop down box that will remember the names and UIN of the last 15 different names that have sent to you.

Also, when you click on a name in the contact list, the name will show here.

Receive Message Window (RCV)

You will see your incoming messages here. When a message is received you will see the person's name, and the character they are using (if they have ver 2.08 or later). If you were away when the message came in, you will see the time the message came in. When you receive a message, the message will be spoken by the character of the sender (if the sender has ver 2.08 and you have the character installed). If you do not have the character of the sender, your character will not change. If the Senders name is in brackets like this; [Sender] then the message was sent Privately, if the message is in brackets like this; <Sender> then the message was sent to the group. If there is a hyperlink in the message, it will be highlighted and underlined. You can double-click the hyperlink to open it in your browser.

Send Message Window (SEND)

This is the area to type in your message to send. There are a number of Text Shortcuts and ShortCut Keys that can be used. You can also define User Definable ShortCut Keys for quick entry of messages and animation when chatting.

Send

Sends your message to your friend. If the message was received, your CyberBuddy Character will look pleased and your message text will clear in the Send box.

You can also "Send" by pressing CTRL-S or ALT-S on the keyboard. If the "Enter Key Sends" option is checked, the Enter key will also send.

Preview

Allows you to see how your message will sound and appear on your friends computer.

Clear

Clear the text in the message screen;

Ping

You can see if your friend is online and using CyberBuddy. Click the Ping button, with your friends UIN or IP address in the "Send to UIN or IP Address" box. If your friend is online, and is using CyberBuddy,  CyberBuddy will inform you. No response indicates your friend is not online with CyberBuddy.

Note: Ping will only work if your friend has CyberBuddy 1.09 or greater, and neither you, nor they are behind a firewall.

Page

This is the CyberBuddy Paging function. Use this function to Page your buddy if they are not otherwise responding. When a Page is sent, your buddy's CyberBuddy program will alert them that you are trying to reach them. The page will be received even if they have their list paused, are in away mode, or their screen saver is on. When a page is sent, it will send a loud alert sound on the recipients computer.

Tip: If you are busy or away from the computer, you can lower your computer volume or pause your online list and tell your friends to page you if they need you.

Note: Pages will only be received if the recipient has the sender in their contact list or online list and they are "checked" in the list. The recipient must also have "Paging" enabled in the Advanced Functions section.

Note on Sending Messages:

The message sending function uses a point to point communication protocol. No servers are involved in the communication. This means that the messages are sent fast but the message sending function may not work if you or your friend are behind a firewall, router, or are using a proxy server.

Say Who From

At the start of each message received, CyberBuddy will say Who the message came from.

Play What I Send

If you like to hear what the messages you send sound like, check this box.

Show What I Send

When this box is checked, you outgoing messages will be shown in the Receive Message area along with your received messages.

Enter Key Sends

When this box is checked, the Enter Key will send the message the same as clicking the "Send" button.

Popup on Message

When this box is checked, an incoming message will cause the CyberBuddy screen to popup and show the "Send" page.

Save Chat to File

When this box is checked, your Instant Message chat sessions will be saved to a file. You can review this file at a later time by clicking on the Saved Chat button that will appear when this box is selected.

Saved Chat

If the Save chat to File box is checked, a button will appear that allows you to review the saved chat file.

Auto Correct

Sometimes, when we use Instant Messaging, our fingers fly across the keyboard faster than we are thinking about spelling and such. CyberBuddy tries to catch some of the common errors and correct them when you send. You can alter the way CyberBuddy does this. Check the Auto Correct section.

Text Short Cuts

The following common abbreviations will convert to the indicated text:

lol    :  ha! (looks pleased)

rofl  :  ha ha ha-hah! (gestures up)

cu    :   C U  (waves)

tx      :   Thanks! (waves)

ru     :   R U

btw  :   By The Way

wb   :   Welcome Back!

brb   :    Be Right Back

bbl   :   Be Back Later (waves)

ic      :    IC

*g*  :  (looks pleased)

*s*  :   (looks sad)

Sound effects short cut words:

bellylaugh : sounds a big laugh

tvsoap : sounds a soap opera music file

playsuspense: plays a suspense organ file

moo : makes a cow noise

fanfare : trumpet fanfare

applause : sounds applause

bigbell : sounds a big bell

yo : says Yo!

Check the CyberBuddy homepage for additional sound effects shortcuts

Shortcut Keys

(You can also define your own shortcut keys in the Send Shortcuts Window).

ENTER key sends the message (if the "Enter Key Sends" box is checked)

(The shortcut keys can be upper or lower case)

CTRL-S or ALT-S  sends the message.

These shortcut keys add animations to the message

ALT-R adds a random gesture to message.

ALT-E adds "explain" gesture to message.

ALT-W adds "wave" gesture to message.

ALT-G adds "Greet" gesture to message.

ALT-F adds "Fly" gesture to message.

ALT-P adds "Pleased" gesture to message.

ALT-T adds "Think" gesture to message.

ALT-C adds "Confused" gesture to message.

ALT-A adds "Announce" gesture to message.

ALT-X adds "GetAttention" gesture to message.

ALT-U adds "Uncertain" gesture to message.

ALT-0 through 9 are User Defined shortcut keys, set in Advanced Options.

These shortcu keys add speech tags to the message

CTRL-R "Robot Voice" monotone

CTRL-W Whisper

CTRL-E  Emphasized word

If you double-click in the Send Window, the word emphasis tag (\emp\) will be placed at the cursor position.


Email


Email Overview
Email

If you have any problems setting up email, check the troubleshooting FAQ on the CyberBuddy homepage at www.theCyberBuddy.com. There is a special section for email.

CyberBuddy can check your POP (non-web based) mailboxes and alert you when mail arrives. CyberBuddy cannot check web based mail such as hotmail. Certain web based email services such as yahoo mail, have POP mail connection available. Even hotmail can be setup to alert another email account when mail is received. You could therefore have hotmail alert a POP type account of a new mail message. This POP account could be checked by CyberBuddy. Check the CyberBuddy home page for any information regarding special mail setups.

Although CyberBuddy is not intended to be a full Email client, it contains many Email features.

Note: When CyberBuddy shows you your mail, it does not delete it automatically from the server like your regular Email client program does. You can, however, choose to delete the Emails from the server yourself. This is explained below. Also, CyberBuddy will ignore any attachments contained in your email.

When Email is found, the CyberBuddy Icon in the system tray will animate.

See the following Email Sections:

Setting up Email Accounts

Email Screen

Reply to Email

Send Email

Email Filter


Email Accounts
Email Account Information Section

Mail Accounts

Contains a list of your mail accounts (up to 50). When the checkbox is checked, that mail account is active and will be checked.

Description

A descriptive name for the mailbox. CyberBuddy will announce this name when mail is found. This is also the name that appears in the Mail Account list.

Mail Server

The name, or dotted IP address of your incoming mail server.

User Name

The username for the mail account.

Password

The Password for the mail account.

Test

Will test the connection to the mail server. CyberBuddy will use the information you have supplied in the appropriate fields to check for connection to the mail server.

Add

Add or Update a new mail account to the list. Fill the required information in the appropriate fields then click Add. The mailbox will be added to the account list, or, if it already exists, will update the account in the list.

Delete

Delete a mail account from the list.


Email Screen

Check Mail Interval

Determines how often CyberBuddy will check for mail.

If this is set to 0, CyberBuddy will not automatically check email. It will check email when you click "Check Email Now" or when you right-click the character and select "Email".

When Email is found, the CyberBuddy Icon in the system tray will animate.

Moving your mouse over the tray Icon will show the number of emails found.

Email  Popup

With this checked, the CyberBuddy program will pop out of the system tray and display the Email page when Email is found.

Read From

When this box is checked, CyberBuddy will tell you who the Email is from when mail is found.

Read Subject

When this box is checked, CyberBuddy will tell you the subject of Email when mail is found.

Read Message

When this box is checked, CyberBuddy will read the mail message to you. Reading of the mail message is limited to the first 1000 characters.

Filter

This button will bring up the Email filter window. This function will allow you to filter out certain emails.

Send Email

You can send simple email (no attachments etc.) with CyberBuddy.

If you want to send an email, click this button. This will bring up the Email Send Window.

Get Email Now

Checks all mail accounts for mail.

Note: If you right-click on the Agent Character, a pop-up menu will appear that will also allow you to check Email.

A "Stop" button will appear when checking email. Clicking this button will quit the email check.

Email List

When Email is found, a list box will show, listing all your email messages from your various mail boxes. There will also be 3 new buttons showing:

View

Brings up a message box that retrieves and shows the complete selected Email message.

When the message is showing, you can select to have CyberBuddy Read the message to you or you can reply to the email. Pressing "Reply" will bring up another box which is explained below.

Read

Retrieves the full Email from the server and reads it to you. Any attachments for the Email will be ignored.

Delete

Deletes the selected message, or a group of selected messages (you can select more than one).

To select the desired message, click on it when it is shown in the list. If you double click on a message, it will bring the message up in the Mail Message Box.

If a mail message list is not showing, there are currently no email messages.

Reply Window

When you view an Email, you have the option to reply. Pressing the Reply button will bring up the Reply Window.

Pause Reading / Stop Reading

To pause reading, click the Character once. He will finish reading the current line, then pause. If you leave him paused, he will remind you every minute or so that he is still paused. To resume reading, Click on the character once.

To stop reading, double-click on the character.


Reply
Reply Window

When you view an Email, you have the option to reply. Pressing the Reply button will bring up the Reply Window.

If this is the first time you are using the reply window, you will need to fill in a couple of fields.

Email Server – This is the SMTP mail server that you normally use for sending email.

User ID – Most servers do not use this but if your server requires it, fill this in.

Return Adr – The email return address you wish to show.

Once these are filled in, CyberBuddy will remember them.

Click "Send" to send your reply.


Send Email

You can send simple email (no attachments etc.) with CyberBuddy.

If you want to send an email, click this button. This will bring up the Email Send Window.

If this is the first time you are using Email Send, you will need to fill in a couple of fields.

Email Server – This is the SMTP mail server that you normally use for sending email.

User ID – Most servers do not use this but if your server requires it, fill this in.

Return Adr – The email return address you wish to show.

Once these are filled in, CyberBuddy will remember them

Fill in the "Send to" and "Subject boxes", enter you message in the space provided and

click "Send" to send your email.


Stocks

CyberBuddy has the capability of retrieving delayed stock quote information. You can select up to 25 different stock symbols. CyberBuddy can report the price, change, volume and last transaction time, or some combination of these. You can tell CyberBuddy to only notify you when the stock moves in a particular direction or when it exceeds certain limits.

Note: Quotes are delayed. Data and information is provided for entertainment purposes only, and is not intended for trading purposes.  Neither the program author nor any of its data or content providers shall be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

Enable Stock Reports

Checking this box enables CyberBuddy to retrieve the selected reports at the designated intervals.

Report

This section indicates what you wish CyberBuddy to report on the retrieved information.

-Last Transaction Time

-Trade Volume

-Price Change

Check Stocks Time

Determine how often to check for stock changes.

Stock List

This is where you will enter the information that you want for each stock quote.

Stock Number

The number wheel lets you select the Stock from your list of stocks ( 1 – 25).

Move the number wheel to the stock desired or to a blank stock selection if a new one is to be entered.

Symbol

Enter the stock symbol for the desired stock

Delete

Deletes the current stock symbol at the current list location.

Announce When

This is where you tell CyberBuddy when you would like to hear about a certain stock.

Note:

CyberBuddy keeps track of stock reports as it retrieves them, if nothing has changed, not even the volume or transaction date, then CyberBuddy assumes that the market has closed and will stop giving you reports. This is to keep from bothering you when the market may be closed.

Every Time – Will announce the stock status each time a report is retrieved

Any Change – Any change in the price

Positive Change – Announce when the price goes up.

Negative Change – Announce when the price goes down.

Outside of limits – Here, you can tell CyberBuddy to alert you when a stock exceeds a certain limit.

If the Upper Limit box has a number in it, CyberBuddy will alert you when the quote is above this price.

If the Lower Limit box has a number in it, CyberBuddy will alert you when the quote is below this price. You may use both boxes to set a "limit window".

Note: Only decimal numbers may be entered in these boxes, fractions are not allowed. For example: 21.5 is permitted while 21 ½ is not.

Check Stocks Now

Will retrieve the latest stock information for the selected stocks and will report according to the criteria you have set for each stock.

Full Stock Report

Will retrieve the latest stock information for the selected stocks and will report on all of your stocks, regardless of the criteria you have set for each stock. In other words, it will give a report for all the stock symbols you have listed.

Web Page

Brings the stock quotes web page up in your browser. See the details for your selected stocks. You can also right click the Agent Character to get this selection.


General

My Name

Type your name in here. This is how CyberBuddy will address you.

 Hint: Don't put it in all capital letters or CyberBuddy may say the individual letters instead of your name.

Pronounced

 It is possible that your name is not pronounced the way it is spelled. If this is the case, misspell your name in this box so that it sounds correct. Click the Try button to see how it sounds. CyberBuddy will now show your name correctly and will pronounce it correctly. When you send instant messages, your recipient will also hear the correct pronunciation.

I am connected to the Internet Via

Choose the type of internet connection that you have.

Most people will have a standard dialup connection.

If you are using a cable modem or have a permanent connection to the internet with a LAN, select the second option.

If you are on a network that uses a proxy server, select the third option and fill in the appropriate information in the proxy fields. If you do not know the proxy port, leave it at 80.

 If you are using CyberBuddy on a computer without an internet connection, select Dialup.

Proxy

This need only be filled in if you have selected "Proxy Server" in the internet connection box.

Speech Recognition Enabled (versions 3 and 4)

Enables the speech recognition capability of CyberBuddy. To have CyberBuddy listen for commands, press and hold the Speech Recognition Hot-Key. This is usually the Scroll-Lock button. See the speech recognition section for details.

Character and Speech Options

This button will bring up the Character and Speech options window. Here you will be able to select agent characters and set various speech options.

Speech Recognition Options (Versions 3 and 4)

This button will bring up the Speech Recognition Options Window.

Advanced Options

Brings up the Advanced Options Screen.

Caller ID/ Phone (Version 4 only)

Brings up the Phone Functions Window.

Quiet Time

You can set CyberBuddy to be quiet during certain hours of the night or day. Check the box marked "Silence CyberBuddy" and set the desired quiet times. He will still perform all functions but his voice and sound effects will not be heard.

Silent in Screen Saver

With this option checked, CyberBuddy will be silent for most functions when your screen saver is on. Some functions will override this. Reminders will still popup. If you have selected email popup, Online Notify Popup, or Popup on incoming message, these will override this selection.

Change Active User

If you have Multiple Users in the CyberBuddy program (see Advanced Options), a button will appear on this tab called 'Change Active User". This button can be used to change the current program user.


Custom Messages

CyberBuddy will allow you to customize some of the announcements that are made for various functions. This provides the capability for a truly personalized CyberBuddy. You can access the Custom Messages window by clicking the button marked "Custom Messages" on the "General" options page.

At the top of the Custom Message window there is a drop-down selection for various Message Type functions. Select the Message Type that you would like to change or add messages for.

When the Message Type is selected, a list of the messages currently available for that function will be shown. Each message is on a separate line. CyberBuddy chooses messages from the list at random. Make changes to the list as desired.

If you do not want messages for a particular function, just delete all the message lines for that message type.

There are a number of special tags that can be placed in the message to alter the speech. They are as follows:

## - When ## is encountered in a line, CyberBuddy will replace the ## with your name. For example:

##, how are you doing?

Will ask you by name, how you are doing.

\emp\ - This tag, placed before a word, will cause that word to be emphasized. For example:

This is an \emp\important word.

\map="spoken"="written"\ - This tag statement allows words to be seen in the message balloon differently than they will be spoken. For example:

The \map="whinnd"="wind"\ is blowing.

Gives the correct pronunciation for the word "wind".

Punctuation, hyphens and miss-spelling of words may be necessary to get the desired spoken phrase.

Try – You can hear what your message will sound like. Place your cursor anywhere on the message line that you would like to hear. Then click "Try" to hear that message.

Click the "Done" button when finished changing messages.


News-Time-Weather-Etc.

This section covers many of the announcements that CyberBuddy can make based on certain events. The various items are:

Time

News

Weather

Internet Speed

Joke of the Day

Thought of the Day

Feel Good Messages


Email Filter

Tired of spam?  CyberBuddy can help.

CyberBuddy can filter out email, containing certain words or phrases, in the sender's email address or email subject line.

Filter Windows

The Email Filter Form has two Windows. These windows contain words or phrases to look for in the email. Each word or phrase should be on a separate line.

The left window contains words or phrases to look for in an email sender's "from" address.

Here you can put in a specific address such as:

badboy@spam.org

This would filter email from this person. It would also filter email from abadboy@spam.org or thisbadboy@spam.org since both of these addresses contain "badboy.org"

You can also deny email from a whole domain such as:

spammers.net

This would filter any email that had spammers.net in the "from" address.

The right window contains words or phrases to look for in the "subject" line of an email. Any email received that contains any of the words or phrases will be filtered. For example entries such as "make money" and "traffic" would filter out emails with subjects such as:

"make money today" or "drive more traffic to your site".

Put all individual words or phrases on separate lines.

Each line for filtering must contain at least 3 characters.

The filtering words are not case sensitive. "Make Money" is the same as "make money".

With Filtered Email

Here you tell CyberBuddy what to do with the email. If you check "Delete", CyberBuddy will just delete the filtered email when it is found. If you select "Ignore", CyberBuddy will list the filtered email in the email window, but will not announce it.

Tip - adding addresses to be filtered:

You can add email addresses to the "filter from" list, directly from the main email screen. When the list of received email is showing, select the desired email. Then right-click. A popup menu will appear. Select Add to Filter. CyberBuddy will ask if you want to add this email address to the filter list.

Tip - To see how it works:

When you receive an email that you want to be filtered in the future, select something from the "from" or "subject" and put it in the appropriate window on the email filter form.  Or select the item and right click to add that address to be filtered. Click "Done" to save the changes to the form.

Now, click the "Get Email Now" button. You should see that CyberBuddy has now filtered this email.

Recently Filtered

Curious about the email that CyberBuddy has filtered? Click this button to see the last 25 emails that CyberBuddy has filtered for you.


Character Options
Character and Speech Options

This window will allow you to select an agent character or characters for CyberBuddy. In addition, you can alter the way the agent speaks as well as some other options for the character.

In order to select characters, you must have the characters installed in your computer. When CyberBuddy is initially installed, it is normally installed with one character (unless it has been installed from the CyberBuddy CD-ROM The CD-ROM installs several characters). Hundreds of characters are available. Many of them are free. Try the CyberBuddy home page at TheCyberBuddy.com for links to more characters.

Use Multiple Characters

CyberBuddy can use a single character for all of it's functions or can use a variety of characters for different functions. If this box is checked, a box will appear that allows you to select different characters for different functions. When you click on a particular function, all the settings for that character will apply to that particular function. Even if you have only 1 character installed, you can choose different voices or pitches for different functions. The variations are endless.

Agent Character Selection

If you have a selection of agent characters and want to change the current character selection, Browse for the desired character here. If you have a character called "Random", CyberBuddy will select a character at random for this function. When you select a character, the Character Animations box will show the available animations for the character.

Select Voice

This drop down selection box will contain the voices currently installed in your text-to-speech engine(s). Select a desired voice for your character. There is a box below with a "Say" button that can be used to test the speech.

Character Animations

This box will show the available animations for a selected character. When a character is created, it is designed with a number of animations. If you double-click an animation in the list, the selected character will play the animation.

Pitch

This slider is used to adjust the pitch of the voice. Different speech engines use this pitch control differently. Move the slider around and test with the "Say" button. Sometimes, moving the slider a bit to the left will increase the pitch rather than decrease it.

Speed

This slider adjusts the speaking speed of character.

Volume

This slider adjusts the volume for the character. It is normally full to the right.

To test the speech, click on the "Test" button of the speech options panel.

Agent Size

You can alter the size of the character with the slider. The center position is the default character size.

Show Messages in Balloons

Checking this box will cause the speech text to appear in cartoon speech "balloons" next to the characters as the speech is heard.

Character Sound Effects

Many character have sound effects associated with certain movements. When this box is checked, the sound effects will be heard.

Hide When Idle

Use the check box and desired time interval to cause the character to automatically hide when it has been inactive for the indicated number of seconds.

Screen Start Position

Sometimes, the Agent Character moves around the screen to get your attention. But usually it will come up in a corner if the screen so that it is not too intrusive when it gives you information. This selection determines which section of the screen you prefer.

Background Music Volume

When CyberBuddy is reading a story, or a tutorial, or giving the tour, music is sometimes played in the background. This music is played using the computer's midi synthesizer. Different computers can have different volume levels on the synthesizer. If the background music is too loud or too soft, it can be adjusted to your preference here. Once adjusted, CyberBuddy will remember the adjustment and will make future background music playing using the modified volume level.

Speech Control Panel

This will bring up the Windows Speech Control Panel (if installed on your computer).

Character Properties

This will bring up the Windows Character Property Editor


Web Watching Wizard

With the Web Watching Wizard, CyberBuddy can monitor web sites for you and tell you when something has changed on a site. CyberBuddy can just tell you when the page has changed, or it can read the changed portions to you. Have a favorite sports site, financial page, specialized news etc? Let CyberBuddy keep a watch on them while you do other things.

Announce

Here you select what CyberBuddy should tell you about the Web page:

None - Web Watching Wizard is off

Announce Change - CyberBuddy will tell you when a web page has changed It will only announce this when there is new content on a page. It will not announce when the web page has changed because items have been deleted.

Read Changed Text - CyberBuddy will tell you when a web page has changed and will try to read the changed section, if content has been added to the page.

Check Pages Every...

Tells CyberBuddy how often to check the pages while you are online

Additional Filtering

This allows CyberBuddy to try to determine what information on the page may be of interest.

When this is checked, CyberBuddy will attempt to filter out lists of links and other items that do not appear to be interesting text areas of a page. This can make the reading of a page more meaningful.

Check Now

Tells CyberBuddy to check the web pages now. The first time a page is checked, CyberBuddy just makes a copy of the page, to be checked against later.

Web Page URLs to check

This is the list of web pages you would like CyberBuddy to keep track of. To add a page:

Type the Web Address (URL) of the web page in the box at the bottom of the list. Click the Add URL button to add the URL to the list. To delete a web page from the list:

Click on the URL in the list to highlight it, then click the Delete button.

Use the Get button to test the URL or get the particular web page now.

The Show Button will bring the selected page up in your browser.

Pause Reading / Stop Reading

To pause reading, click the Character once. He will finish reading the current line, then pause. If you leave him paused, he will remind you every minute or so that he is still paused. To resume reading, Click on the character once.

To stop reading, double-click on the character.


Speech Recognition Overview

(Versions 3 and 4 only)

You can talk to CyberBuddy and tell him to do a number of things. For example:

•	 Ask for the Time, Date, News, Weather, Stocks, Internet Speed etc.

•	 Ask him to get or read your email.

•	Ask for a joke, thought or Feel Good Message

•	Tell him to change characters

•	Tell him to raise or lower his volume

•	Ask him to read a web page or to load a web page in your Favorites or Bookmarks to your browser.

•	You can ask him to run certain programs for you.

•	Tell him to dial a phone number of a friend.

•	There is even a speech driven calculator

And more…

The Microsoft Speech Recognition Engine must be installed on your system before you can use Speech Input Feature. Currently, Microsoft has only a U.S. English version of the speech recognition engine. See the CyberBuddy Website at http://thecyberbuddy.com  for details on downloading this free software. Once installed, the speech recognition engine should be "trained" to your voice in order to be effective. Training for speech recognition consists of reading text shown on your screen into your microphone. As more text is read, the speech input engine learns more about your particular voice patterns. You may not have to train the speech recognition engine to operate CyberBuddy, but it will be more effective if you do.

Once you have installed the speech recognition software, and have trained it, you are ready to use it with CyberBuddy.

Before a command can be understood, CyberBuddy must be listening. The Speech Recognition Engine has a "Hot Key" to place it in Listen Mode. This is usually the "Scroll Lock" key. Press and hold this key key to have CyberBuddy listen.

Note, the first time during a program session that CyberBuddy is put in listen mode, there might be a slight delay before the first command is heard. This is due to the Microsoft Speech Recognition Engine being loaded.

Speak your command clearly. CyberBuddy is listening for key words. Sometimes, your speech is more natural if you use the command in a normal phrase. For example: "What is today?" will work as well as "Today" when asking for the date.

Check the Speech Commands section for specific commands.

Speech Training

Training the speech recognition engine helps the computer understand your voice. To get to the Training Mode:

Go to the General Tab on CyberBuddy, click the Speech Recognition Options button. In Speech Recognition Options, click theSpeech Control Panel button. Select the Microsoft Speech Recognition Engine then click the Training button.

Important: Remember, training the speech recognition engine and the correct adjustment of your microphone parameters will add to the accuracy of CyberBuddy in understanding your speech. These items can be adjusted on the Speech Options Window in the Speech Control Panel section. The quality of your microphone can be very important to the success of speech recognition.

If  you have problems with Speech Recognition. See Speech Recognition portion of the Troubleshooting/FAQ section of the CyberBuddy homepage at http://thecyberbuddy.com.


Speech Commands
CyberBuddy Speech Commands

(Versions 3 and 4 only)

The following commands may be used to perform different functions. You should not need to memorize them, they should follow the natural speech for the desired functions. Sometimes CyberBuddy will think it heard something but is not sure. If CyberBuddy has trouble understanding a command, it may ask you to repeat it or ask if it heard it correctly. Answer "Yes" or "OK" if it is correct.

For:	Say:

Help (Shows this Page)	need,get,show or load help

Time	Current Time , Time is, What Time

Restore Program (Un-minimize)	Restore or Open Program

Check Email	Check or Get Email

Read Current Email	Read Email

Send an Email	Send or Compose Email

Weather	Get or Check  Weather or Forecast

News	Check, Get or Gather News

Stocks	Check, Get or Gather Stocks

Date	What is Date or Today

Internet Speed	What is (the, my, the current, etc.) Speed

Program Exit	Exit,Quit or Close Program

Minimize Program, hide agent	Hide or Go Away

Quiet/Stop	Quiet, Silence, Stop

Jokes	Tell, Get, Find ,(Do you know, Do you have) (a, me a, etc.) Joke

Thoughts	Tell, Get, Find, (a, me a, etc. ) Thought

Feel Good Message	Feel Good, How are you

Raise Volume	Raise Volume, Volume up, Higher Volume, Louder

Lower Volume	Lower Volume, Volume Down, softer, quieter

CyberBuddy Directory	Buddies Page or Budies Directory

CyberBuddy Homepage	Home Page

Move Around	move around or fly around

Say Hello	Hello

Changing Characters

To Change to another Character, say "Get Character" or "Load Character" or "Find Character" followed by the character's name. The character will load and will become the current default character. For example "Load Character Merlin".

Calculator

CyberBuddy has a built-in, speech-driven, four function, Calculator. See the Calculator Page for commands.

Web Browsing

You can use Speech Recognition and CyberBuddy to browse the Internet. See the section on Web Browsing.

Run a Program

CyberBuddy can be configured to understand your commands to run certain programs. To set this up, use Windows Explorer. In the CyberBuddy folder, there will be a sub-folder called "ShortCuts". In this folder, create shortcuts to any program you wish to have CyberBuddy start for you. The name of the shortcut will be used as the name to speak to run that program. There are some examples already in this folder. Try saying "Notepad".

Dial a Phone Number

To access the Phone Function say "load phone" or "get phone".

In certain circumstances, CyberBuddy can dial phone numbers for you. With the self -contained Phone Book, you can ask to dial a phone number by speaking the person's name. See the Phone Functions section for details.

Important: Remember, training the speech recognition engine and the correct adjustment of your microphone parameters will add to the accuracy of CyberBuddy in understanding your speech. These items can be adjusted on the Speech Options Window in the Speech Control Panel section.


Speech Recognition Options

(Versions 3 and 4 only)

Speech Input Accuracy

When CyberBuddy is listening, it sometimes thinks it hears what you are saying, but is not quite sure. You may notice that in the Listening Tips Balloon, below the character, the command you spoke is shown, but the character does not respond to it. This is because it was not very confident that that is what you actually said. By changing this Slider, you can change how strict CyberBuddy will be in listening to your commands. If you move the slider towards the Least end, you may get more incorrect commands. If you move it towards the Most end, CyberBuddy will not respond unless it is more confident that it understood your command. In most cases, this slider should be in the center.

To Request Web Pages

CyberBuddy can be made to understand commands to load Web Pages that are contained in Internet Explorer Favorites, or Netscape Bookmarks. (Actually, any bookmark file can be used). Select a bookmark file and/or whether Internet Explorer Favorites will be used.

To get to one of these web pages, say "Web Page" or "Web Site". CyberBuddy will acknowledge and will then ask what site. Speak the name of the Site the way it is shown in the bookmark or Favorites. Note, you may want to rename these to make it easier speak. For more information, see the section on Web Browsing.

Tip: Create a special bookmark file with web sites that you wish CyberBuddy to be able to load.

Speech Control Panel

This will bring up the Windows Speech Control Panel (if installed on your computer).

When the Window is shown, click on the Speech Recognition Engine. There are a number of Parameters that can be adjusted for Speech Recognition including Adjust Microphone Settings and do more Training. Remember, the more training you do, the more accurate CyberBudy can be with speech input.

Character Properties

This will bring up the Windows Character Property Editor. Of particular interest in this section is the "Speech Input" section. Here you can select the following options:

Characters Listen for Input when pressing the ??? key. - This is where the "Hot Key" to put the character in Listen mode can be selected.

You can also select the amout of time the Character will listen after the key button is released.

Display Listening Tips - This is the text box that appears below the character that indicates it is listening.

Play Tone When you can speak - This controls the slight blip that is heard when the Character is listening.


Calculator

(Versions 3 and 4 only)

CyberBuddy has a built-in, four function, Calculator that is operable with Speech input. To get the calculator say: "Load Calculator" or "Get Calculator". When CyberBuddy is in the calculator mode, only calculator commands will be recognized. When speaking numbers, the individual numeric digits must be spoken, as if you were entering the numbers on a keyboard. The following commands will be recognized:

Note: When the Calculator Mode is running, all other functions will be halted.

Note: If the bottom of the calculator is cut off and you are using large fonts on your computer, check the Skin size in Advanced Options.

For:	Say:

Help (Shows this Page)	need,get,show or load help

Numeric Entry	The Number (0 through 9) (0 is "zero")

Decimal Point	point, period, dot, decimal

Add	Plus, And, Add

Subtract	Subtract, Minus, less, take away

Multiply	Times, Multiply

Divide	Divide, Over,  By

Result	Equals, Result, Total, Is, Answer

Clear Entry	Clear, Erase, Delete

All Clear	Clear All, All Clear, Start over, Erase all

Verify the current entry	Verify

Close Calculator	Close Calculator, Exit Calculator, Shut down calculator

Quiet/Stop/Pause	Quiet, Silence, Stop


Phone Dialing

(Version 4 only)

To bring up the Phone Window say "load phone" or "get phone".

On the left side of the screen there will be a Phone Dialer, on the Right side, is the Phone Book.

Normally, the phone functions are used to dial a number with voice input. However, the phone screen can be used to dial a number with key entries.

The phone dialer operates much like a standard telephone. You can click on the numeric digits and the number will appear in the area below the digits. If you make a mistake, click the "Clr" button next to the number display. When the number has been entered, click "Dial" to dial the number. The number will be dialed using the current "Dialing Properties". The dialing properties can be seen by clicking on the "Dialing Properties" button. When the number is dialed, you must pick up a telephone handset connected to the phone line. CyberBuddy will dial the call, but does not act as a speakerphone. CyberBuddy will disconnect from the dialer automatically after about 15 seconds. The great feature here is to be able to dial someone automatically from the Phone Book, by saying their name.

Voice Commands for the Phone Dialer

For:	Say:

Help	Help

Numeric Entry	The Number (0 through 9) (0 is "zero")

Clear Entry	Clear, Erase, Delete

Verify the current entry	Verify

Dial	Dial

Hang Up	Hang up

Close Phone Functions	Close Phone, Exit Phone, Shut down phone

Quiet/Stop	Quiet, Silence, Stop

To dial the number of someone in the Phone Book, say "Call" or "Get" and the name of that person.

When you are done with the Phone Functions, be sure to close the Phone Window. CyberBuddy will not perform many functions when this window is open. When the Phone Window is open, CyberBuddy is only listening for Telephone Function commands.

Note: If the bottom of the Phone Window is cut off and you are using large fonts on your computer, check the Skin size in Advanced Options.


Phone Book

(Version 4 only)

The Phone Book serves two purposes:

1. Provides a quick way to ask to call a person with the phone dialer.

2. Provides a name for Caller ID to announce. (see Caller ID)

The Phone Book is a list of names and telephone numbers. To add a number to the list,  type the name in the space provided, and the telephone number in the supplied space.

The names will be shown in alphabetical order in the list. You can type the name as Last Name, First Name (note the comma separator) or First Name Last Name. Example: John Smith or Smith, John. If you use the Last Name, First Name option, CyberBuddy will recognize this and will expect to hear First Name Last Name when you ask for the number to be dialed. For Example; You have entered the name as Smith, John. When you ask CyberBuddy to dial the number you would say "Call John Smith".

The phone number entered should contain the area code but no other special dialing codes. The appropriate dialing codes will be added by the "Dialing Properties".


Caller ID

(Version 4 only)

CyberBuddy can tell you who is calling.

You must have a special Voice Modem for this function to work.  This function is not supported by all versions of Windows.

And, of course, you must have Caller ID provided by your phone company.

Check the CyberBuddy Homepage FAQ for details on the different modems that will work for Caller ID. The is much more detail on the Caller ID capabilities in this FAQ.

To enable this function, check the "Enabled" box next to Caller ID. If your modem does not support Caller ID, leave this box unchecked.

When there is an incoming call, CyberBuddy will announce the call. The identity of the caller will be announced using information in the following preference:

1 If the person calling is in your Phone Book, he will use the name that you have entered in your Phone Book to identify the caller.

If not,

2. If the caller's name is provided, the name will be given.

If not,

3. If the caller's number is provided, then number will be announced.

If not,

4. A reason, such as "Unidentified Caller" will be given.

The Caller ID information will also be shown in the Caller ID window just above the dialing buttons. This will also list the last 25 callers.


Phone Functions

(Version 4 only)

With CyberBuddy, Microsoft Speech Recognition, and certain modems, you can have CyberBuddy perform some phone functions for you.

Note that the phone functions may not work with all modems and operating systems. Also, it will not work if you are currently using the modem for something else, such as when you are online. You must have a telephone attached to the same telephone line as the modem. CyberBuddy will dial the call, but you must talk via the telephone handset. CyberBuddy is not a speaker phone.

To bring up the Phone Window say "load phone" or "get phone".

On the left side of the screen there will be a Phone Dialer, on the Right side, is the Phone Book.

See the following sections:

Phone Dialer

Phone Book

Caller ID


Web Browsing with Speech
Web Browsing with Speech Recognition

(Versions 3 and 4 only)

You can browse the web without clicking a single link. While browsing you can choose to look at the pages in your browser or have CyberBuddy read the pages for you. Once you have asked CyberBuddy to load a web page, CyberBuddy will learn the hyperlinks on the page. You can then just ask for the hyperlink to go to the next page. Here are the details:

Web Pages

There are 3 ways to ask CyberBuddy to get a web page:

•	Read or Show a web page listed in the Web Watching Wizard list in the WWW tab of CyberBuddy.

•	Read or Show a web page listed in Internet Explorer Favorites

•	Read or Show a web page contained in a bookmark file

Read or Show a Web Page from Web Watching Wizard list)

To get a Web Page that is Contained in the List of Web Pages on the "Web Watching Wizard" (WWW) tab, say "Read" followed by the URL to read the page or "Load" or "Show" followed by the URL to load the page in your browser. For Example: "Load Yahoo dot Com" If Yahoo.com is in the list, CyberBuddy will understand the command and load the web page.

Read or Show a Bookmarked Page or Favorites Page

CyberBuddy can also be made to understand commands to load Web Pages that are contained in Internet Explorer Favorites, or Netscape Bookmarks. (Actually, any bookmark file can be used). This is slightly more involved because CyberBuddy must memorize all those site locations. To set this up, go to the "General" tab and select "Speech Recognition Options". In the section "To Recognize Web Pages" you can select a bookmark file and/or whether Internet Explorer Favorites will be used.

Now, to read one of these web pages, say "Read Web Page" or "Read Web Site".  To show one of these web pages, say "Load Web Page" or "Load Web Site". To CyberBuddy will acknowledge and will then ask what site. Speak the name of the Site the way it is shown in the bookmark or Favorites. Note, you may want to rename these to make it easier speak.

Once you have loaded the initial page, you can begin browsing.

Hyperlinks

When CyberBuddy is told to load or read a web page, it will memorize the hyperlinks on that page. To go to a hyperlink, just say the name of the link.

List Hyperlinks

CyberBuddy can tell you what hyperlinks are on the page. Say "list links" or "List hyperlinks". CyberBuddy will speak the hyperlinks that are active on the page.

Go Back

Much like the Back button on a browser, CyberBuddy will return to the previous web page.

Read this Page

If you are using CyberBuddy to browse by showing pages in your browser, you can ask him to read the current page to you. Say "Read this web Page" or "Read current web Page".

Start Over

To start over, just say "Load Website" or "Read Website" as you did to begin browsing.

Stop Browsing

To stop browsing, just say "Stop" or "End" or "Quit" "Browsing"


Icons
Icons in the System Tray

When CyberBuddy is running, the CyberBuddy icon in the System tray will tell you something about the current condition of the CyberBuddy Program.

You will notice that there are usually two icons in the system tray when CyberBuddy is running. One is the CyberBuddy Icon as shown above. The other, is the icon for the Agent Character that is currently loaded.


Advanced Options

To get to the Advanced Options Window, click the Advanced Options Button on the General tab of CyberBuddy.

No Greeting on Startup

When this option is selected, CyberBuddy will not offer a greeting and say the day and date when the program is started.

Less Animate Agent

Removes some of the animations (and therefore much of the fun). Use only if you must, like if you use CyberBuddy on your desktop at work and need to have him more reserved.

Custom Messages

This button will bring up the Custom Message window that allows you to personalize some of the CyberBuddy speech items.

Send Short Cuts

This will bring up the Send ShortCut Window.  These Short Cuts all you to insert common phrases that you define, automatically in the instant messaging send text.

Select Language Files.

Some of the CyberBuddy text files have been translated into various languages by volunteers. You may select from the current files translations here. Some languages have had more than one volunteer provide a translation. For example, there may be German1 and German2. You can select the translation that best suites you. Please note that these files may not translate all of what CyberBuddy says, but should translate most of it.

In order to have these language files sound correct in your computer, you must have a text-to-speech engine installed for the desired language. Go to the CyberBuddy homepage at http://thecyberbuddy.com and select the "More Languages" section for directions on installing the required engine.

Note: If you have the CyberBuddy CD-ROM most of the available Language Engines are included on the CD-ROM.

Change Skin

You can customize the way CyberBuddy looks by changing it's "skin". Clicking this option will bring up a file dialog with a list of available skins for CyberBuddy. Select a skin and the look of the CyberBuddy program will change.

Skin Size

When CyberBuddy is started, it attempts to determine the font size settings of your computer. It then selects a skin size based on that determination. If, for some reason, CYberBuddy cannot detect the correct size, you may find that the bottom of the CyberBuddy program is cut-off. This selection allows you to force CyberBuddy to use a skin size and bypass the automatic detection. You may need to exit CyberBuddy and restart it for this to have effect. This setting will affect the main program, the phone unit (version 3 and 4) and calculator unit (version 3).

Email Signature

Text in this box will be added to Email Sent or Replied to, as an email signature. You can place plain text or HTML in the box.

Message Time Settings

CyberBuddy gives certain messages such as Joke and Thoughts at random times. These setting allow you to adjust how often the different messages will be given.

Paging

These options are for the Paging function of Instant Messaging.

Allow Page

Check this box to allow your buddies to page you with CyberBuddy. Paging is a way for your buddies to get your attention if you are away from your computer or have instant messaging paused. It uses a loud sound to attempt to get your attention.

Page Sound

Use this button to customize the sound you hear when receiving a page from your buddies.

Synchronization Enabled

Synchronization is the way CyberBuddy "synchronizes" your online list, with others during Multi Buddy Chats. (See the Instant Messaging section.) If you do not ever want to be brought into a multi buddy chat by one of your friends, you can uncheck this box. Unchecked, you will not be able to see or be seen, on the online list of other CyberBuddies during Multi Buddy chat sessions. Private Instant Messaging will still work.

File Transfers Enabled

CyberBuddy has a built-in file transfer function that lets you share files with your CyberBuddys. To use thise function, you must have this box checked. When this is enabled, you will see a "File Transfer" button on the Send tab of CyberBuddy. See the File Transfer section for details on operation.

Launch CyberBuddy on Startup

With this option checked, CyberBuddy will launch and minimize when you start Windows.

Multiple Users

If you have more than one CyberBuddy user on you computer, you may want to set the program up with multiple user profiles. This option allows you to define multiple CyberBuddy users. Each user will have their own options and UIN.

Type the name of the new user in the space provided. (Note: this does not have to be the actual name of the user, it is the name that CyberBuddy will use to load the profile for that user. You may for example have John1 and John2 as the profiles but the actual names of the users may both be John.). Click "Add New User". CyberBuddy will setup the new user.

To delete a user profile, click on the name in the list. The right-click and select delete.

When there are multiple users in a CyberBuddy program, there will be an additional button on the General Tab called "Change Active User". This button will allow you to switch between users.

Restore Default Options

This button will restore all of the original program options as when you first installed the program. It will not, however, erase your UIN or any additional Users that have been added to the multiple user list.


File Transfer

CyberBuddy has a built-in file transfer function that lets you share files with your CyberBuddys. To use this function, you must have "File Transfers Enabled" checked in the Advanced Options. When  enabled, you will see a "File Xfr" button on the Send tab of CyberBuddy.

File transfer will not work behind many firewalls and routers. However, CyberBuddy does have a function to help in a number of these situations. CyberBuddy allows you to send a file or request to receive a file from a buddy. The reason having send or receive is as follows: Let's say that Buddy A is on behind a router or firewall,  and Buddy B is on a normal connection. The following are possible conditions:

A can send a file to B.

B cannot send a file to A. BUT

A can receive a file from B.

It may be a little confusing at first, but you will see as you use the function. If you have a problem sending a file to a friend, ask them to receive the file instead. As long as one of you has a normal connection, this should work.

With the file transfer function you can send files, or ask to receive file from another buddy. Your buddy must have file transfer enabled.

File Transfer Progress

To show the progress of the file transfer, the Agent Character will start at the top left of your screen. It will gradually move across the top of the screen. When it reaches the right side of the screen, the transfer is done. You will also see a progress bar, just above the "Talk" button on the send tab.

Sending a file.

To send a file, make sure you have a buddy selected in the UIN box, then click file transfer to bring up the file transfer window. Select "Send a file to". Browse for the file to send then click "Request to Send File". If your buddy accepts, the file transfer will start. The file will be placed in a folder called "Files Received" in the recipients computer. This folder is under the CyberBuddy folder (usually C:\Program Files\CyberBuddy).

Receiving File

To receive a file, make sure you have a buddy selected in the UIN box, then click file transfer to bring up the file transfer window. Select "Receive a File From". Now type filename in the box provided. The filename must include the extension. Example "Mytextfile.txt". Your Buddy must have placed this file in a folder called "FilesToSend". This folder is under the CyberBuddy folder (usually C:\Program Files\CyberBuddy).

Then click "Request to Receive File". If your buddy accepts, and the file is in their folder, the file transfer will start. The file will be placed in a folder called "Files Received" in the recipients computer. This folder is under the CyberBuddy folder.

Auto Accept List

You can have a list of your Buddy's UINs that you will always accept file transfers from. When a UIN is in this list, the dialog that asks you to accept the transfer will not be shown. To add a UIN, right-click then select add. To delete, right-click and select delete. WIth auto accept you can have your buddy leave a file or receive a file while you are away.

Received Files

Clicking the Received Files button in the files transfer window will bering up Windows Explorer, showing the files that you have received.


Short Cut Keys

When sending messages, there are a number of short cut keys that CyberBuddy has defined for adding animations to your text. These shortcuts are listed at the end of this section. In addition, Cyberbuddy allows you to define your own shortcuts and assign them to the keys ALT 1, ALT 2, ALT 3, ALT 4, ALT 5.

When sending messages, pressing and holding the ALT key while pressing a number key (1 through 5) will add you defined text into the message.

This window allows you to enter the text that you would like to have appear. You can also add an animation command or series of animation commands. An animations command starts with '&&' followed by the character animation. (For a list of available animations, click the "Animate" button on the Send tab.)

So, for example, your defined text for ALT1 might be:

"Hello, how are you today? &&wave"

or perhaps multiple animations such as

"&&getattention &&announce &&fly"

The Standard Short Cut Keys that CyberBuddy has defined are:

Shortcut Keys

ENTER key sends the message (if the "Enter Key Sends" box is checked)

(The shortcut keys can be upper or lower case)

CTRL-S or ALT-S  sends the message.

These shortcut keys add animations to the message

ALT-R adds a random gesture to message.

ALT-E adds "explain" gesture to message.

ALT-W adds "wave" gesture to message.

ALT-G adds "Greet" gesture to message.

ALT-F adds "Fly" gesture to message.

ALT-P adds "Pleased" gesture to message.

ALT-T adds "Think" gesture to message.

ALT-C adds "Confused" gesture to message.

ALT-A adds "Announce" gesture to message.

ALT-X adds "GetAttention" gesture to message.

ALT-U adds "Uncertain" gesture to message.

ALT-0 through 9 are user defined shortcut keys set in Advanced Options.

These shortcu keys add speech tags to the message

CTRL-R "Robot Voice" monotone

CTRL-W Whisper

CTRL-E  Emphasized word

If you double-click in the Send Window, the word emphasis tag (\emp\) will be placed at the cursor position.


Auto Animate

With AutoAnimate, CyberBuddy will automatically add animations to your message based on keywords and punctuation in the text. This helps to speed up instant messaging.

The following is for more advanced users:

Cyberbuddy determines what animations to place in text using a file called "autoanimate.txt". This file will be found in the folder for the current user. If there is only one user on the system, it will be in the CyberBuddy folder. If there is more than a single user, it will be found in the folder ..\CyberBuddy\Users\Username.

The file is a standard text file that can be edited using notepad. The format of the file is as follows:

search text|&&animation

Basically, it is the word or words to look for, followed by a pipe symbol "|", followed by the character animation. All character animations must begin with &&.

The word or words to look for are not case sensitive. "look" is the same as "Look". The word can be found by it self or as part of a word or phrase. For example, if you have the following command:

look|&&search

CyberBuddy will add the search animation for any line containing look. So the following lines would have the &&look animation added:

Look

Looking

I am looking for it.

The first word found in the file will be used. So the order that the search words appear in the file is significant. For example, if you had the following in the file:

ok|&&pleased

look|&&search

CyberBuddy would never use the look animation. Since, "ok" is contained in the word "look", and it appears first in the file, CyberBuddy would always play the &&pleased animation for "look". To fix this, just change the order.

look|&&search

ok|&&pleased

This would work fine.


Auto Correct

Sometimes, when we use Instant Messaging, our fingers fly across the keyboard faster than we are thinking about spelling and such. CyberBuddy tries to catch some of the common errors and correct them when you send. You can alter the way CyberBuddy does this.

The following is for more advanced users:

Cyberbuddy determines what corrections to make in text using a file called "AutoCorrect.txt". This file will be found in the folder for the current user. If there is only one user on the system, it will be in the CyberBuddy folder. If there are more than a single user, it will be found in the folder ..\CyberBuddy\Users\Username.

The file is a standard text file that can be edited using notepad. The format of the file is as follows:

search word|replacement text

Basically, it is the word to look for, followed by a pipe symbol "|", followed by the replacement word or phrase.

The word or words to look for are not case sensitive. "cant" is the same as "Cant".

cant|can't

In the example above, CyberBuddy will correct for the missing appostrophe.

When making the correction, CyberBuddy will look for the search word as an individual word on the line.

This feature can also be used to expand abbreviations into full words or even into sentences.

Take the following example:

#2|This is the text I want to see

In the above example, #2 will be replaced by the sentence shown.

Limitation: CyberBuddy will only replace the first occurrence of the search word in a line. If, in the above example, #2 appeared twice in a line that was sent, only the first #2 will be replaced by the sentence.


Block UIN

You can block messages from a UIN (User Identification Number);

If you wish to block messages from a particular sender, you can use this feature.

To Block a particular user, right click in the Online Contact list to bring up the menu. Then, Select Blocked UINs. This will bring up a small window. Within this window will be a list of UINs to block.

To add a UIN to the Block List, right click in the window and select "Add UIN".

To delete a UIN form the Block List, click on the UIN to higlight it. Right click in the window and select "Delete UIN".


Web Cam

Note: The CyberBuddy Web Cam Program must be installed for these functions.

The CyberBuddy Web Cam is available on the CyberBuddy CD-ROM. The CyberBuddy CD-ROM can be obtained from http://TheCyberBuddy.com/page40.html

Check the CyberBuddy website at http://TheCyberBuddy.com for more information.

If you have the CyberBuddy Web Cam Server program installed, there will be a button on the "Send" tab labeled "CAM". This will bring up the Web Cam control panel.

You can see some of the people you chat with, and they can see you if you take advantage of the CyberBuddy Web Cam features.

The CyberBuddy Web Cam is composed of two parts:

1. The Web Cam Viewer. The Web Cam viewer allows you to see the Web Cams of the CyberBuddies you are chatting with. The viewer uses your browser to display the images.

2. The Web Cam Server. The Web Cam server uses your Web Camera, or a stored image, to send to the other CyberBuddies you are chatting with.

Web Cam Control Panel

To bring up the Web Cam Control Panel, click the "CAM" button.

Start Web Cam Server

This will start the Web Cam Server program.

Some notes about Web Cam operation:

In Group Chat Mode:

You will only send to, and receive from, buddies in your Online List that are checked.

In Private Chat Mode:

1st, click on the buddy in the Online List that you wish to chat with, or type the person's UIN in the Send to UIN box on the Send tab of CyberBuddy. Then, click the "Group" button to make it "Private". Now, you will only be sending and receiving Video from that person. If you also use the Voice Mode, you now have a video phone!


Web Cam Server

The CyberBuddy Web Cam is composed of two parts:

1. The Web Cam Viewer. The Web Cam viewer allows you to see the Web Cams of the CyberBuddies you are chatting with. The viewer uses your browser to display the images.

2. The Web Cam Server. (This section). The Web Cam server uses your Web Camera, or a stored image, to send to the other CyberBuddies you are chatting with.

The CyberBuddy Web Cam Server is used to send an image to the Web Cam Viewers of the buddies you are chatting with.

Starting the Web Cam Server.

To start the viewer, click the "CAM" button. A control panel will popup. Now click the "Start Web Cam Server" button.

Web Cam Server Functions

If you have a Web Cam, the first thing you must do is select the the Camera/Driver to be used. Click "Options" then click "Capture Driver". Select the Camera/Driver desired from the drop down box.

Image Type

This is where you can select the image you would like to be seen by the other CyberBuddies.

Continuous Capture - With this mode selected, the program will automatically capture a new image from your web cam every few seconds.  This is the method used to send your live pictures to the other CyberBuddies.

Single Capture- With this mode selected, the program will only capture an image when the "Capture Now" button is clicked.

Use Image File- In this mode, your web cam is bypassed. Use the "Select Image" button to select an appropriate image from your hard drive. The program will automatically send a resized version of the image.

Slide Show-In this mode, you are asked to select an image in a folder. The web cam server will then randomly select images within that folder to be shown on the cam server. The image will change each time someone accesses your cam server to receive an image.

Options

Use the options selection of the Menu to set the various parameters for your particular web cam.


Web Cam Viewer

The CyberBuddy Web Cam is composed of two parts:

1. The Web Cam Viewer (This Section). The Web Cam viewer allows you to see the Web Cams of the CyberBuddies you are chatting with. The viewer uses your browser to display the images.

2. The Web Cam Server. The Web Cam server uses your Web Camera, or a stored image, to send to the other CyberBuddies you are chatting with.

Web Cam Viewer

To start the viewer, click the "CAM" button. A control panel will popup. Click the Start Button in the "Cam Viewer Browser Page" section. This will activate the web cam viewer. In a few seconds, you browser should open up with a page showing the active web cams of the people you are chatting with. This page will update as specified in the next section. This page will also update automatically when new buddies come online or go offline.

Update Every __ Seconds

Use this control to specify how often the web cam viewer page should be updated. If you are on a slow connection this should be at least 30 seconds. If you are viewing a number of images, this time may need to be increased to 60 seconds or more.

Include My Image

When this is checked, the image you are sending will also be included on the Web Cam Viewer page in your browser.

Auto Start Cam

With this option selected, the CyberBuddy Web Cam server will start automatically when you start CyberBuddy.

Cams to View

This window shows the list of cams currently online in your buddy list. When a cam is checked, it will be shown in the viewer. To de-select a cam, uncheck it. To refresh the list, use the Refresh Button.

Refresh

Refreshes the "Cams to View" list.

If the buddies you are chatting with have CyberBuddy Web Cams active, you should see the pictures in your browser. These pictures are reduced in size to allow for a number of pictures to be shown. If you wish to see any of the pictures in their full size, just click on the picture shown in the browser.