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- *******************************
- * *
- * CMFiler -- Version 5.36 *
- * *
- *******************************
-
- The following features have been added or improved since the printing of
- the CMFiler Version 5.35 User's Manual:
-
- Support for VGA 25/43/50-Line Display:
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- If your VGA monitor is set up in one of the standard display
- configurations, CMFiler will recognize it and permit on-the-fly changes
- to 25-, 43- or 50-line display through the Shift-O user Options screen,
- last line. The selection is recorded as the default for the next
- execution of CMFiler. You can also force your VGA into a specific
- display with one of the explicit command line arguments @V25, @V43 or
- @V50.
-
- Expanded Support for Laptop Displays:
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- There are two classes of laptop computers for which CMFiler has not
- previously provided adequate support because of their unconventional
- (compared to desktops) displays with respect to the high-intensity bit of
- the color attribute. The high-intensity bit is the way a monitor gives
- you bright white on blue instead of normal white, for example, or bright
- yellow instead of brown. The high-intensity bit is crucial to many of
- CMFiler's displays.
-
- The first class of these unconventional laptops, of which some Epsons and
- Packard-Bells are members, do not respond to or show little effect of the
- high-intensity bit. For this case we have devised an alternative color
- attribute set, invoked by E (for Epson, the first of these laptops we
- contended with) on the next-to-last lline of the Shift-O user Options
- menu, or @E on the command line.
-
- The second class responds in inverted sense to the high-intensity bit,
- and it is found in Tandy black-and-white LCDs and some color LCDs. For
- this case we have added a switch to the Shift-O Options menu above the
- monitor type selection.
-
- If you have a laptop that is not giving you an easily readable display,
- try various combinations of color sets and positions of the "high-
- intensity inverted" switch. If none of these works, please contact
- NoVaSoft with the symptoms.
-
- Choice of Sort Algorithm:
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- The user may pick between "bubblesort" and "quicksort" sorting
- algorithms, depending on which proves faster in actual use. The original
- bubblesort was replaced with quicksort in Ver 5.35a based on a
- theoretical gain in sort time , but quicksort's performance has proved
- too variable and is in many cases slower than bubblesort. For this
- reason, bubblesort was put back in as an alternative sort method. You
- may toggle between the two by pressing A in the Ctrl-O Order mode screen.
-
- Quicksort works particularly well in a large directory where the natural
- DOS order is nearly the same as the order in which files are being sorted
- by CMFiler. One way to reestablish a particular order to a large
- subdirectory is to move all the files. Just create a new directory in
- the same level as the directory to be reordered, tag and move all the
- files to the new directory, delete the old one and rename the new to the
- old name. This has the effect of reconstructing the directory table in
- the order in which the files are moved.
-
- New Floppy-filling Function:
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- A new function has been added to fill target floppies in A or B drive
- from a source hard disk directory. Floppies must be already formatted,
- but need not be completely empty. The function is "smart", in that it
- looks first to see if any files tagged for filling from the source
- directory already exist on the floppy, updates them only if needed, and
- then adds files as tightly as they will fit, untagging files in the
- source as they are successfully copied.
-
- Put the first floppy to be filled in A or B, and set up this drive as the
- target. Set up the directory with the files to copy as the source, tag
- all the files to be used as "fill", and press Shift-I. CMFiler first
- asks how much space you want to reserve for growth on each floppy disk,
- and then proceeds with filling the first. After each floppy disk is
- filled, you may either keep going or escape. You may even suspend the
- operation and, as long as you don't disturb any tags on the source
- directory, then resume it where you left off.
-
- New Method of Clearing Slack Space During Copy:
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- The old method of ensuring no sensitive or classified information was
- inadvertently carried into the "slack space" of the last sector written
- during file copy operations was to clear the DOS input/output buffers
- before writing. The location of this buffer structure varies somewhat
- among operating systems. CMFiler's ability to find it in networks was
- not fully reliable, and DR DOS reacts very badly to this technique.
-
- The new method for clearing the last-sector slack space is system-
- independent, uses standard functions only, and actually results in
- shorter file copying times. It is always invoked, and the I/O buffer
- clearing switch in the Shift-O menu has been redefined as a "wipe-file"
- switch below.
-
- Wipe-File Feature:
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- A wipe-file option has been added which causes all of the data in any
- file being deleted or overwritten during a copy or move to be completely
- obliterated before the DOS file delete service is invoked. It is not a
- widely recognized fact that the DOS delete service simply changes the
- first character in the filename in the directory listing, and resets the
- File Allocation Table entries for the clusters previously used by the
- file, but otherwise leaves the clusters containing the actual data alone.
- Thus, a disk showing no files may actually have a wealth of data, if one
- is smart and patient enough to read each cluster and figure out how they
- fit together. This option may be exercised with the switch on line 3 of
- the Shift-O user Options menu.
-
-
- CMFiler -- Errata 1-2
- Individual Configuration on Networks:
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Different users on a network may specify their own .CFG configuration
- file through a parameter passed in the environment. The parameter is
- called CF-CFG, and should include the complete file specification. For
- example, if C:\PROGRAMS is the network common area for programs, and
- CMFiler is in this directory as CF.COM and CF.OVY, and U is a user's
- logical drive, and the directory SETTINGS is where that user keeps
- miscellaneous program configuration data, the batch file:
-
- SET CF-CFG=U:\SETTINGS\CF.CFG
- C:\PROGRAMS\CF
-
- will run CMFiler from the common program area, and tell CMFiler to look
- on U:\SETTINGS for CF.CFG. (The file CF.CFG is created if it is not
- already there.)
-
- Miscellaneous:
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- 1. The trash can is renamed ~TRASH~ to put it at the end of the
- alphabetical directory list.
-
- 2. The directory size limit has been increased from 1200 to 2400 files,
- if sufficient memory is available. The size limit in the tree mode has
- been increased from 505 to 1700 directories.
-
- 3. In the editor, the Home and End keys now produce the following
- sequential effect: go to beginning/end of line, top/bottom of page,
- beginning/end of file.
-
- 4. Shift-R (Refresh panel from disk) is added for main module, and
- reconfigured from Alt-R in tree.
-
- 5. The file lists in ZIP, ARJ, LZH, ARC and EXE self-extracting files
- may now be seen just by putting the cursor on the file and pressing
- Enter. This facility sees the filenames even when compressed files of
- different types are packed into a single file.
-
- 6. The file date/time facility is expanded to allow mass date/time
- setting of tagged files.
-
- 7. CMFiler protects antivirus signature/integrity data files. The
- default name assumed for the Stiller Research Integrity Master's
- integrity data files is updated to the name ZZ##.IM from )(.ID,
- consistent with Integrity Master's default naming convention in version
- 1.24a and later. It may be changed with the command Alt-I (for "IDname
- change").
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- CMFiler -- Errata 1-3
-