For technical help, comments, or problems email me at:
chaspel@kagi.com
1. Welcome
Thanks for trying out BetterAlarms. It is a simple, easy program to remind you of important events. It will let you set alarms to remind you to take a break, take the cookies out of the oven, or call someone on their birthday.
If you have any questions or comments please send me email at chaspel@kagi.com.
Notations used in this User Guide
When an instruction refers to cmd-I that means to hold down the command (cloverleaf or apple) key on the keyboard and while still holding it hit the I key.
Menus, menu items, and command keys all appear in bold.
File, Folder and Application names appear in “quotes”.
Important Note
BetterAlarms will not sound alarms if it is not running. Therefore if you Quit or Close BetterAlarms beware that the alarms will not go off.
System Requirements
System 7.0 or greater. Fully compatible with Mac OS 8 and 8.1. BetterAlarms is international date compatible and is Year 2000 compliant.
2. Installation
1. Copy the “BetterAlarms Folder” to your hard drive if it isn't already there.
2. Double-click on the application “BetterAlarms”.
3. BetterAlarms will create an Alarms file and preferences file for you. You will now be asked whether you would like BetterAlarms to launch at startup. To get the most out of BetterAlarms you should say Yes. You can always change this setting later.
4. You will now see a registration screen. If you have paid for the BetterAlarms and received your registration number click Register and then proceed with the instructions for registering the BetterAlarms, otherwise wait 9 seconds and then click Done.
That’s it, you’re ready to use BetterAlarms.
NOTE: Until you pay for BetterAlarms and register it, you will have to wait 9 seconds every time you start BetterAlarms. Also, you will not be able to make alarms recur yearly.
3. Registering
1. Double-click on the application “Register BetterAlarms” located in the BetterAlarms Folder.
2. Enter your name, your email address, and the number of single user licenses you desire (or Site or World-Wide licenses).
3. Save, Copy, or Print the data from the “Register BetterAlarms” program and send the data and payment to Kagi. See below in Notes on Payment for more information.
4. You will be sent a registration number and registration name.
5. Once you have the registration number select Register from the Apple Menu or click the Register button in the About box or Splash Screen.
6. Enter your registration name exactly using the same capitalization as it was sent to you.
7. Enter the registration number exactly as it was sent to you.
8. Click the Register button.
NOTE: If the Register button is not enabled it means that you have entered either the registration name or registration number incorrectly.
Thank you for registering. I hope you love BetterAlarms.
Notes on Payment
If paying with Credit Card or First Virtual, you can email or fax the data to Kagi. Their email address is sales@kagi.com and their fax number is +1 510 652-6589. You can either Copy the data from “Register BetterAlarms” and paste into the body of an email message, or you can Save the data to a file and you can attach that file to an email message. There is no need to compress the data file, it’s already small. If you have a fax modem, just Print the data to the Kagi fax number.
Payments sent via email are processed within 3 to 4 days. You will receive an email acknowledgment when it is processed. Payments sent via fax take up to 10 days and if you provide a internet email address you will receive an email acknowledgment.
If you are paying with Cash or USD Check you should print the data using the “Register BetterAlarms” application and send it to the address shown on the form, which is:
Kagi
1442-A Walnut St #392-OTJ
Berkeley, CA 94709-1405
USA
You can pay with a wide variety of cash from different countries but at present if you pay via check, it must be a check drawn in US Dollars. Kagi cannot accept checks in other currencies, the conversion rate for non-USD checks is around USD 15 per check and therefore is not practical.
If you have a purchasing department, you can enter all the data into the “Register BetterAlarms” application and then select Invoice as your payment method. Print three copies of the form and send it to your accounts payable people. You might want to highlight the line that mentions that they must include a copy of the form with their payment.
Kagi cannot invoice your company, you need to act on my behalf and generate the invoice and handle all the paperwork on your end.
Please do not fax or email payment forms that indicate Cash, Check, or Invoice as the payment method.
Payments sent via postal mail take time to reach Kagi and then up to 10 days for processing. Again, if you include an email address, you will hear from Kagi when the form is processed.
BetterAlarms requires a registration code to unlock all the features. If you do not have an email address, please enter your complete postal address, including what country you live in. If you do not have an email address you should also select the Postcard Receipt option so that Kagi can send you your registration code. Kagi transmits the registration codes via email and paid postcard receipt only.
4. Deinstalling
1. Quit BetterAlarms if it is running.
2. Remove the files “BetterAlarms DB” and “BetterAlarms Prefs” from the “Preferences” folder of the “System Folder”.
3. Remove the file “BetterAlarms alias” from the “Startup Items” folder of the “System Folder” if it exists.
4. Remove the folder “BetterAlarms Folder”.
5. Using BetterAlarms
The Alarms window
BetterAlarms has one window for viewing your alarms. It has a number of columns which give information about an alarm. Below is a list of the columns and what they show you:
1. Status - This column indicates whether an alarm has gone off or not (done/not done) which is represented by a checkmark or lack of one.
2. Recurring - This column tells you whether an alarm is scheduled to go off only once (blank space in the column), or every year, month, week, day, hour, or minute. All these, except the once only, are represented by circular arrows with the recurring frequency noted in the middle of the arrows with a letter. For example, a yearly alarms has a “Y” in the middle of the circular arrows.
3. Icon - This column indicates which icon if any, you have chosen to flash when your alarm goes off.
4. Sound - This column indicates whether you have chosen to have a sound chime when your alarm goes off.
5. Date - The date the alarm is set to go off, or the first date the alarm will go off if it is recurring.
6. Time - The time the alarm is set to go off, or the first time the alarm will go off if it is recurring.
7. Title - The title of the alarm. This is not displayed when an alarm goes off. However, it makes identifying what an alarm is for easier.
What an alarm looks like when it goes off
When an alarm goes off it will bring up a dialog with the text you have specified in the message part of the alarm (see Adding/Editing an Alarm for more information). The sound you have chosen, if any, will chime, and the icon you have chosen, if any, will flash in the upper right corner of the menubar (the applications menu).
Adding an Alarm
1. Select Add Alarm (cmd-I) from the Alarms menu.
2. Type in the date you want the alarm to go off.
3. Type in the time you want the alarm to go off.
4. Select from the Repeat popup whether you want it to repeat Every Year, Every Month, Every Week, Every Day, Every Hour, Every Minute or Never(once only).
5. Select an icon to flash when the alarm goes off from the Icon popup.
6. Select a sound to chime when the alarm goes off from the Sound popup. The sound choices are all the sounds you have installed in you System as System Beeps.
7. Type in a title for your alarm. This is only for identification purposes and will not display when the alarm goes off.
8. Type in the message you want to display in the dialog when the alarm goes off.
9. Click the Save button.
Editing an Alarm
1. Double-click on an alarm in the list or click on an alarm in the list and select Edit Alarm (cmd-E) from the Alarms menu.
2. Change the alarm settings to whenever you want the alarm to occur.
3. Click the Save button.
NOTE: Alarms that have already past and are then edited to not have taken place yet, or are changed to repeat will automatically be marked undone.
Deleting an Alarm
1. Select the alarm in the list.
2. Select Delete Alarm (cmd-R) from the Alarms menu.
3. Confirm that you want to delete the alarm by clicking Yes.
Adding a Quick Timer
A Quick Timer is an alarm which you want to go off soon. In hours or minutes and therefore don't want to have to set a date and time.
1. Select Add Quick Timer (cmd-T) from the Alarms menu.
2. Type in the number of hours from now you want the alarm to go off.
3. Type in the number of minutes from now you want the alarm to go off.
4. Select an icon to flash when the alarm goes off from the Icon popup.
5. Select a sound to chime when the alarm goes off from the Sound popup. The sound choices are all the sounds you have installed in you System as System Beeps.
6. Type in the message you want to display in the dialog when the alarm goes off.
7. Click the Save button.
NOTE: All Quick Timers have the same title “Quick Timer”.
Closing or Quitting
If you close the BetterAlarms window it will quit the BetterAlarms application. When BetterAlarms is not running you will not be notified of any alarms.
To quit BetterAlarms:
• Select Quit (cmd-Q) from the File menu or
• Select Close (cmd-W) from the File menu or
• Click the closebox of the BetterAlarms window.
6. Additional Options
Hide in Background
This option when set hides the BetterAlarms window when it is not the frontmost application. The alarms still work while the BetterAlarms window is hidden. To turn this option on or off:
• Select Hide in Background from the Setup menu.
Launch at Startup
This option sets BetterAlarms to launch everytime you start your computer. This is the recommended setting since the alarms will only go off if BetterAlarms is running. It accomplishes launching at startup by saving an alias to the BetterAlarms application in the “Startup Items” folder in the “System Folder”.
To turn this option on or off:
• Select Launch at Startup from the Setup menu.
A. License Agreement
WARNING
READ THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT BEFORE INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE. CHARLES HASPEL IS WILLING TO LICENSE THE ENCLOSED SOFTWARE TO YOU ONLY UPON THE CONDITION THAT YOU ACCEPT ALL OF THE TERMS CONTAINED IN THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT. BY INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE, YOU WILL INDICATE YOUR ASSENT TO AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS, THEN CHARLES HASPEL IS UNWILLING TO LICENSE THE SOFTWARE TO YOU, IN WHICH EVENT YOU SHOULD RETURN THE PACKAGE IF ANY, TOGETHER WITH ALL ITS ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS AND PROOF OF PAYMENT, TO THE PLACE FROM WHICH IT WAS ACQUIRED FOR A FULL REFUND.
License
You are permitted to use BetterAlarms, version 1.0, (the “Software”) on any single computer, provided the Software is in use on only one computer at a time. "Use" means loading the Software into memory or installing the Software onto the hard disk or any other storage device of that computer.
You are not permitted to rent, lease, lend, sublicense or otherwise temporarily transfer the right to use the Software or the user documentation accompanying the Software (the “User Documentation”). You may permanently transfer all of your rights to use the Software to another person, provided that you at the same time transfer all copies of the Software (or destroy all copies not transferred) and the User Documentation.
You are not permitted to reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise attempt to render source code or file format from the Software.
Your right to use the Software and the User Documentation terminates automatically if you fail to comply with the terms of this License.
Copyright Protection
The Software is owned by Charles Haspel, and is protected by various laws, including United States copyright law and international copyright treaties. Therefore, you must treat the Software like any other copyrighted material, except that you are permitted to make archival copies of the Software for backup purposes, provided that you destroy all archival copies in the event you permanently transfer possession of the Software, or if your continued possession of the Software ceases to be rightful. You may not copy any printed version of the User Documentation.
Limited Warranty
Charles Haspel warrants that the media on which the Software is furnished if any will be free of defects in materials and workmanship for a period of one (1) year from the date of receipt. CHARLES HASPEL DISCLAIMS ALL OTHER WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE SOFTWARE, USER DOCUMENTATION AND MEDIA, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of implied warranties, so these exceptions and limitations may not apply to you. This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may have others which vary from state to state.
Remedies
Charles Haspel’s entire liability and your exclusive remedy for breach of this Limited Warranty shall be, at Charles Haspel’s Option, either (1) refund of the price paid, or (2) replacement of the defective media and the User Documentation. Under no circumstances shall Charles Haspel be liable to you for any claim for damages (including special, incidental, or consequential damages) resulting from loss of data, business interruption, or other similar event, even if Charles Haspel has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
U. S. Government Restricted Rights
The Software and User Documentation are licensed to the U. S. Government with RESTRICTED RIGHTS. Use, duplication, or disclosure by the U. S. Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013 and the Commercial Computer Software clause at 48 CFR 52.227-19, as applicable.
Contractor/manufacturer is Charles Haspel, c/o Kagi, 1442-A Walnut St #392-OTJ, Berkeley, California 94709-1405.
General
This license shall be governed by the laws of the State of California. This License may only be modified in writing signed by you and Charles Haspel.
Please direct questions concerning this License, in writing, to Charles Haspel, c/o Kagi, 1442-A Walnut St #392-OTJ, Berkeley, California 94709-1405.
