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- HSI FreeSpace Version 1.7 (March 27, 1999)
- ==========================================
-
- Development & Design by Sascha Imme
- (Based on an original idea by Sven Ziegler)
-
- Copyright (c) 1998-99 HSI Softworks
-
- Special Thanks to Damien Carbery for helping me solve a very annoying problem.
-
- Quality Assurance & Beta-Testing:
- Wilfried Pankoke, Martin Pataky-Istok, Helmut Kaehler, Leif Widmark
-
- Do you have questions, comments or bug reports?
- - Email me at sascha.imme@hsi-softworks.de
-
- Be sure to visit the HSI Softworks Homepage: http://www.hsi-softworks.de/
-
-
-
- Contents
- --------
-
- 0. History
- I. What's FreeSpace?
- II. System Requirements
- III. Installation/Removal
- IV. How to use
- V. Limitations
-
-
-
- 0. History
- ----------
-
- Note: Changes and new features mentioned in the history might not have made it
- into the documentation yet. So it is recommended to read the following
- carefully!
-
-
- 1.7
- ...
-
- * Removed the "Beta". Some bugs are still left - probably! :)
-
- * The FS dialog is now resizable. This should satisfy all users with large
- screens (19" anyone? Sven? :)).
- The size of the dialog is saved. The next time you'll start FS it'll look
- (hopefully :)) exactly the same as when you closed it.
-
- * FS now supports wave file playback as Watch alert. You can combine it with
- the display of the dialog box you're used to.
-
- * Some cosmetic changes.
-
-
- 1.62 Beta
- .........
-
- * Fixed a serious bug that crashed FreeSpace when values below 0.1 are to be
- displayed.
-
- * The drive list now displays a drive's free space in the selected size AND
- always in % (in brackets)
-
- * The position of the FreeSpace dialog is now saved and restored at startup.
- If you need to re-center the dialog, you can do so in the menu appearing
- when right-clicking the FS icon in the system tray.
- NOTE: This feature might not yet work absolutely correctly. This is mainly
- because I didn't have the time to test it thoroughly.
-
-
- 1.6 Beta
- ........
-
- * This release is much more a beta than the previous ones. The new features
- are pretty much untested, but the general functionality shouldn't have
- suffered. The reason why I released this version nevertheless was the great
- demand for the watches (see below).
- If you discover any bugs, write me an email (as usual).
-
- * One the most desired features has been added: Watches! What the hell IS a
- watch you might ask now. Well, a watch watches (the name somehow implies it,
- doesn't it?) the free space of a specific drive. If it drops below the
- critical value (can be set in the watch options -- available when double-
- clicking a drive entry in the list or via the pop-up menu appearing when
- right-clicking an entry) you'll get informed about it. For now the only
- action that can be set in the watch options is a message box. It is system
- modal, i.e. it'll be on top of all other windows so that you can't miss it.
- The pop-up menu also allows you to completely remove a watch and loosing all
- settings connected to it. A watch can be temporarily disabled by unchecking
- all actions. Checking at least one action re-enables the watch with the old
- settings.
- Note 1: If you free some space and afterwards fill up your drive again you'll
- be notified again.
- Note 2: Be aware of rounding when selecting another unit in the watch options.
- The critical value might slightly change.
-
- * FreeSpace is now able to auto-restart (e.g. after changing the language) even
- if the executable has been renamed. Nothing important, but it was annoying...
-
- * In changing the above, I discovered that FreeSpace used the file name as its
- registry key, i.e. altering the file name resulted in the creation of a new
- key. Now only a FreeSpace-key will be created, no matter what you do with the
- name.
-
- * Enhanced the drive list by using IE4's new feature of putting a checkbox into
- a list. Those silly plus-signs aren't any more! :)
- Btw, you don't necessarily need to install IE4 in order to use this new
- feature, the affected DLL (comctl32.dll) can be updated stand-alone, too.
- Visit Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/msdn/downloads/files/40Comupd.htm
- for details and the download.
- Note: Windows 98 users already have a recent version of comctl32.dll.
-
- * Changed the About-Box and added a button to instantly view the readme-file.
- Note that the readme-file to be opened is selected according to your language
- setting.
-
- * The widths of the drive list's columns are saved and restored.
-
- * Right-clicking an entry in the list allows you to specifically set which unit
- should be used for its values (i.e. Byte, KB, MB, GB). Values below 1 MB are
- always displayed in an appropriate size (something like 0.000001 GB would
- look somehow ridiculous, wouldn't it?).
- These settings are saved, but only for the drive letter, not for the specific
- drive.
- The bottom entry in this menu allows you to reset the columns' widths in
- case you completely messed them up. :)
-
- * The free space (in %) of all selected disks added together is displayed in
- the tray icon's tool tip text. Just place the mouse cursor on the FreeSpace
- icon and within a blink of an eye you know about your system's drive usage.
-
-
- 1.4 Beta
- ........
-
- * Some changes to the general look of FreeSpace (changed some silly icons, too)
-
- * Fixed a serious bug in the detection of available drives which caused problems
- when there're gaps in the drive order (e.g. C:, D:, G:). Discovered through an
- accidental change of my CDROM's drive letter.
-
- * It is now possible to select which drives should be included in the overall
- statistics by clicking the drive's row. Whether or not a drive is to be
- included is indicated by a plus sign (+) in the newly created column 'Stat'.
- Of course these settings are saved, too.
-
- * Discovered an awfully hidden and very mean "division by zero"-bug. Although
- it was unlikely to ever happen I removed it. Nice programmers do this! :)
-
- * Added command-line support for selecting drives on startup. Drive letters
- may be provided in various forms.
-
- Examples: FreeSpace.exe /deg
- FreeSpace.exe /g e d
- FreeSpace.exe /e: d: g:
-
- All forms give the same result. It doesn't matter in which order you supply
- the letters, or whether you include spaces and colons.
-
-
-
- I. What's FreeSpace?
- --------------------
-
- FreeSpace is a little utility that shows you the usage of all logical drives
- connected to your system. HDDs, Network drives, removable media, RAM disks
- and CDROM-drives are supported. FreeSpace gives you information about the
- volume labels and file systems (e.g. NTFS, FAT) as well.
- You can choose between automatically or manually refreshing the drive data. It
- is also possible to set FreeSpace to minimized state on startup. This makes it
- more convenient to load it on Windows startup. All that remains of FreeSpace
- when it is minimized is an icon in the system tray. Left-clicking the icon
- displays or hides FreeSpace, so that it is easily available whenever you need
- it.
-
-
-
- II. System Requirements
- -----------------------
-
- * FreeSpace is a native Win32-Application and runs under all Operating Systems
- supporting that platform.
-
- OSes which definitely work because Beta-Testing was performed on them:
- Windows 95, Windows 95a, Windows 95b and Windows NT 4.0
-
- OSes which should be compatible with FreeSpace, but haven't been
- available for testing: Windows 98, Windows NT 3.51
-
- In order to work, Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) 4.2 DLLs are required.
- Since most programs today use MFC it is more than likely that the necessary
- files are already installed on your system, so this package does not include
- them.
-
- * There are no special hardware requirements. As long as your system is capable
- of running Windows, it's sufficient to run FreeSpace.
-
-
-
- III. Installation/Removal
- -------------------------
-
- Installation is quite simple. Just copy FreeSpace to a location of your choice.
- Only the executable is required. FreeSpace doesn't use any additional files,
- except for the MFC DLLs which usually reside in the System-Directory.
- The settings are stored in the registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\HSI
- Softworks\FreeSpace. No additional configuration files are created upon
- execution.
-
- To remove FreeSpace from your computer, just delete the files you copied. To
- remove every trace of FreeSpace's existence on your computer delete the Registry
- Key as well.
-
-
-
- IV. How to use
- --------------
-
- Using FreeSpace is easy and self-explanatory. All drives found on your system
- are displayed in the list. The columns show (from left to right): An icon
- representing the drive type, the drive letter and the volume label. The file
- system, the size of the drive, the free and the used space. You can change
- between large or small icons in the settings.
- Below that list are the summaries for all drives added together and a
- graphical representation of the overall disk usage. You can choose whether
- you want all drives included in the summaries or only fixed HDDs by selecting
- the appropriate checkbox in the settings.
- Enabling Auto-Refresh disables the Refresh button and automatically refreshes
- the drive data in a given interval which can be set by clicking the More
- Settings button. You can also switch to another language in the More Settings
- dialog.
- The System Info button displays a dialog with some information about your
- system. If you might be affected by the "Older Windows Version"-Bug (cf.
- section V. Limitations), you'll see a remark there as well.
-
-
-
- V. Limitations
- --------------
-
- * Due to the architecture of some Windows versions, FreeSpace may calculate
- incorrect values for some drives. This has not been reported yet, but
- according to the Win32-API Documentation it might happen. Affected systems
- are Windows 95 prior to OSR2 and Windows NT 3.51. The more recent versions
- of Windows don't have this deficiency anymore. You can check whether you
- might be affected by that problem by looking in FreeSpace's system info.
- KEEP IN MIND THAT THIS IS NOT A BUG OF FREESPACE!
-
- * FreeSpace only detects drives which are available under the current OS. For
- example, NTFS partitions are detected under Windows NT only. You don't see
- them under Windows 9x.
-
- * The usage of drives mounted by NTFSDOS isn't determined by FreeSpace.
-
- * FreeSpace has problems in detecting drive letter changes. Since it doesn't
- happen too often that someone changes the drive letters under a running OS
- (which is AFAIK only possible under NT) I haven't changed it yet. With
- increasing demand (better: with ANY demand) I'll do it of course.
- Hint: A workaround to this problem is clicking the "Icon Size"-checkbox or
- - wouldn't you have guessed it? :) - restarting FreeSpace.
-