Mundo do CD-ROM 12/CDROM12.iso/internet/netmedic/nm.exe/README.TXT

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NET.MEDIC RELEASE NOTES

These release notes cover the following information:

-Installation Notes
-General Notes and Known Problems
-Notes About Performing Some Basic Operations
-Documentation Notes


INSTALLATION NOTES

This section contains general notes about installing Net.Medic. For
detailed installation instructions, refer to the Net.Medic getting
started guide. Registered customers, who have access to the VitalSigns
Web site (http://www.vitalsigns.com), can download an Adobe Acrobat
(PDF) version of the Net.Medic getting started guide.

Before You Start

Before starting the Net.Medic installation process, shut down any
Internet browsers, anti-virus programs, and any earlier versions
of Net.Medic open on your desktop. As a precaution it is also
recommended that you close any other open programs before starting
the Net.Medic installation.


System Requirements

You will need the following minimum system configuration to install
Net.Medic:

(1) 16 MB of RAM (24 MB recommended)
(2) A hard disk with 2 MB of free space
(3) Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 or later operating system
(4) A disk drive that can read high-density 3.5" disks if you want to
install the product from the installation disk rather than downloading
it from the network
(5) A Pentium processor
(6) An Internet account and connection via a modem or LAN
(7) Netscape Navigator 3.x or Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.x.

Note that Microsoft NT 3.51, Netscape 4.0 Beta, and Internet
Explorer 4.0 Beta are not supported at this time.  Also, ISDN
modems are not supported.


Recommended Configuration

By default, Net.Medic is installed in your StartUp folder. This is
the recommended configuration because Net.Medic will automatically
appear in the lower-right corner of your screen (your system tray
area) every time you reboot your computer. You can quickly open the
Net.Medic dashboard (Net.Medic main window) by left-clicking once
on the Net.Medic system tray icon.


Uninstalling Net.Medic

It is recommended that you uninstall Net.Medic before reinstalling
it. Net.Medic comes with an uninstall program that allows you to
easily uninstall Net.Medic.  To use the Net.Medic uninstall
program, follow these steps:

(1) Click the Start button in the lower-left corner
of your taskbar, and choose Settings and then Control Panel. The
Control Panel folder opens on your desktop.
(2) In the Control Panel folder, double-click on the Add/Remove
Program icon.
(3) Select "VitalSigns Software Net.Medic" from the displayed list
of installed programs, and then click the Add/Remove button. The
Net.Medic uninstall program is launched and uninstalls Net.Medic.


Browser Notes

Net.Medic has been tested with Netscape Navigator 3.x and
Internet Explorer 3.x but may work with other 32-bit browsers.
Check to see if your browser is 16-bit or 32-bit.
Note that the current version of Net.Medic does not work
with AOL browsers.

During the Net.Medic installation, the installer searches for
browsers on your system. After it locates each browser, it asks if
you want Net.Medic to operate with that browser. Make sure that you
click "Yes" when asked if you want to enable Net.Medic to operate
with a particular browser; otherwise, Net.Medic will not work with
that browser.

If you just installed a new browser and Net.Medic doesn't work
with it, this is because Net.Medic hasn't been enabled to work
with it, even if you were using another version of the same browser.
In this case, you'll need to uninstall and reinstall Net.Medic
making sure you click "Yes" when asked if you want to enable
Net.Medic to operate with the new browser.


GENERAL NOTES AND KNOWN PROBLEMS

The section describes some general notes and the known problems about
the Net.Medic product. For more detailed product information, refer
to the Net.Medic getting started guide and online help system. You can
also obtain more information about the Net.Medic product at the VitalSigns
Web site (http://www.vitalsigns.com).


GENERAL NOTES

This subsection provides general notes about the Net.Medic product.


ISDN Connection

This version of Net.Medic does not support Integrated Services
Digital Network (ISDN) connections.


Firewall

Net.Medic was designed to work with most firewall configurations.
There must be outbound Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)
support at the firewall for Net.Medic to provide accurate
demarcation information when accessing external Web sites.


Proxies

Net.Medic was designed to provide support for most Intranet proxy
server environments. Net.Medic will characterize the environment
between your browser and the proxy server. ISP and Internet data
are not relevant in this case. The proxy delay is characterized in
Net.Medic's Server dashboard pane. Note that the number of router
hops shown in the Net.Medic animation pane (Activity pane) is the
number of routers between your PC and the proxy server.


Proper ISP Demarcation

If your ISP has not entered the names of their routers into the DNS
server's table then you may not get complete demarcation of your ISP.


Throughput Pane's Send and Receive Statistics

Net.Medic reports the send/receive bytes of all the network connections
combined. Consequently, if you have a modem and a LAN connection
and are transmitting data on both of these interfaces, the data is
combined into one. The send and receive chart in the Net.Medic's
Throughput pane reports the combined send and receive information.


Combined Modem and LAN Adapter Cards

If you're using a combined modem and local area network (LAN)
adapter card, some of the tests applicable for the LAN environment
will fail when Net.Medic is not on a LAN.


Data in Net.Medic's Health Log and E-mail Notifications

Net.Medic has a health log, which reports the conditions that
Net.Medic has encountered with your online connections. You can
obtain a diagnosis and prescription for a problem listed in the
health log by double-clicking on the health log entry.

Sometimes the recommended prescription for a problem is to contact
the person responsible for the problem. If the prescription is to
send E-mail to the appropriate resource (for example, your ISP or
webmaster) and it is a chronic problem, click Notify in the
Net.Medic Diagnosis window and Net.Medic will display a preformatted
mail message which you can send.

The last column of the health log indicates how many times Net.Medic
has encountered the problem over the last 30 minutes. A problem is
considered to be "chronic" when this count exceeds 10. It is
recommended that you wait until this count exceeds 10 before
sending an E-mail message. This practice will minimize flooding the
webmasters, system administrators, and ISPs with E-mails about
intermittent problems. This, in turn, will enable them to focus on
solving chronic problems that plague your online connections.

When Net.Medic generates an E-mail message it automatically includes
details about the encountered problem. This information is obtained
from the health log. Note that the data reported in the health log
and E-mail notification applies to the data of the last event that
contributed to the entry in the health log.

Before sending the E-mail, Net.Medic asks for your permission to
send it. When sending a Net.Medic E-mail notification, you can enter
only one address on the "To:" and "Cc:" fields.


Number of Entries in the Health Log

In the health log, color is used to signify the severity of a condition.
Yellow indicates a warning condition (low severity) and red indicates a
problem condition (high severity). By default, Net.Medic reports warning
and problem conditions in its health log. You can easily change this
default and have Net.Medic only report high-severity problems in its health
log. This, in turn, will reduce the number of health log entries and focus
on the problem conditions that you should probably investigate further.
To have Net.Medic report only high-severity problems in the health
log, follow these steps:

(1) In the Net.Medic Health Log window, pull down the View menu.
(2) In the View menu, choose Hide Low Severity.


Accuracy of Net.Medic

Net.Medic provides indices of performance-relative measures that
you can use to compare how fast one Internet Service Provider (ISP),
Web site, or page download is compared to another. It is not a
performance metric.

Net.Medic uses analysis techniques that calculate performance
measurements as closely as practical within the limits of the
Microsoft Windows and Internet environments. Because of these
limits, and because Net.Medic was designed to minimize diagnostic
traffic over the Internet, the results calculated by Net.Medic are
close approximations, not absolute measurements. In some instances,
Net.Medic provides the best estimate of performance for a specific
attribute based upon sampling of available data; in other cases,
Net.Medic is able to more precisely calculate the attribute based
upon available data. In addition, Net.Medic employs baselining
technology which enables the software to trend the end-user's
unique performance experience and to assign indices of relative
health which become increasingly accurate over time.

If you are interested in tools for metering performance where
precise accuracy is important, there are numerous tools to complement
Net.Medic, such as the ones listed in the Related Products Web page at the
VitalSigns Web site. The cost of such tools can range from thousands
of dollars per unit to hundreds of thousands of dollars per unit.


Product Information

Product information is available instantly, 24 hours a day, 7 days
a week via the World Wide Web at http://www.vitalsigns.com.


KNOWN PROBLEMS

This subsection covers the known problems with the current version
of the Net.Medic product.


DNS AutoCure Problems

The Domain Name System (DNS) server is a computer that acts as the server
for a domain. (A domain is a part of a network in which the data processing
resources are under common control. Each domain in a network is managed by
a domain name server.) One of the main functions of the DNS server is to
convert the host names of network nodes to IP addresses. If the primary
DNS server fails, the secondary DNS server handles the responsibility.
If the secondary DNS server fails, Net.Medic supplies a backup DNS server.

The Net.Medic cure for DNS status alarms inserts the address of a reliable
DNS server on the Internet. This DNS server will become the new secondary
DNS server and the existing primary DNS server remains unchanged. Note that
the existing secondary DNS server, however, will become third in your list
of DNS servers. Any existing DNS server, which was third in the DNS server
list prior to the AutoCure, will be retained in the Net.Medic cure log but
will be discarded from the DNS server list.

Note that the DNS AutoCure is ineffective for Net.Medic users on Intranets
that are behind a firewall. The firewall prevents queries to resolve the
host names of network nodes that are located outside of the Intranet. If
Net.Medic detects this situation, it may disable the DNS AutoCure. If the
cure is disabled, the AutoCure button in the Net.Medic Diagnosis window
will be grayed (dimmed).


AutoCure for Failed Restart Connection Problems

When using AutoCure for failed restart connections, the restart may fail
because the underlying DDE layer will prevent data from being received.


Remote Modem Disconnect Problems

When a remote modem disconnection occurs, Net.Medic sometimes reports this
situation as a normal disconnect.


Page/Site Visit Problems

In rare cases, Net.Medic may report visits to different Web pages and
sites as a single Web page visit if the visits occur in quick succession.


Display Colors Problems

If you are using Net.Medic on a laptop computer that has an older color
monitor and you're running other applications, the Net.Medic display
(dashboard window and browser inlay) does not always use the proper display
colors.  To workaround this problem, follow these steps to change
Net.Medic's display mode from 256 color to 16 color.

(1) Pull-down the Net.Medic View menu and choose Preferences.
(2) In the displayed Preferences window, click the Colors tab.
(3) In the displayed Colors panel, click the 16 color mode radio button.
(4) Click OK to implement the changes and close the Preferences window.



NOTES ABOUT PERFORMING SOME BASIC OPERATIONS

This section contains information about performing some basic
Net.Medic operations. For information on how to get started with
Net.Medic, refer to the Net.Medic getting started guide. For
step-by-step instructions on using Net.Medic, refer to the Net.Medic
online help system.


Starting up the Net.Medic Program

If you placed Net.Medic in your Startup folder during its installation,
then Net.Medic will automatically start every time you boot up your
computer. This is the recommended setup so that Net.Medic works every
time you connect to the Internet.

If you did not place Net.Medic in your Startup folder, then open
the folder that you placed the Net.Medic program into and click on
the Net.Medic icon.  If you donÆt remember where you put the
Net.Medic program, then click on the Start button in the lower-left
corner of your screen and use the "Find Files or Folders" utility
to locate the Net.Medic program and icon.

You can also start up the Net.Medic program from your taskbar by
selecting the Net.Medic menu option from the Start/Programs submenu.
For instance, if youÆve installed Net.Medic into the Startup folder,
then you would click the Start bar, choose Programs, StartUp, and
Net.Medic. When you restart your computer, the Net.Medic icon
appears in the lower-right corner of your screen, which is called
your system tray. To open the Net.Medic dashboard, left-click once
on the Net.Medic system tray icon.


Shutting Down the Net.Medic Program

Net.Medic's background monitoring process continues to track your
online activity for you even when the Net.Medic dashboard is closed
(minimized) on your desktop. To shut down the Net.Medic program and
its background processing, you must exit Net.Medic.

To exit (shut down) Net.Medic, follow these steps. (1) Right-click
on the Net.Medic icon (a cross shape) in your system tray.
(2) From the Net.Medic pop-up menu, choose Exit. Net.Medic's
background monitoring processes stop and the Net.Medic icon is
removed from your system tray. (If you've placed Net.Medic in your
Startup folder, the Net.Medic icon will automatically reappear in your
system tray when you restart your computer.)


Checking If Net.Medic Is Running

To check if the Net.Medic program is currently running, simply look
for the cross-shaped Net.Medic icon in your system tray (the
lower-right corner of your screen). Even if you close the Net.Medic
display, its background monitoring component continues to record
your online activity for you unless you exit the Net.Medic program.


Opening the Net.Medic Dashboard

To open the Net.Medic dashboard, you can either left-click on the
Net.Medic system tray icon, or right-click on the Net.Medic system
tray icon and choose Dashboard from the pop-up menu. To quickly open
all the panes in the dashboard window, pull down the Net.Medic View
menu and choose Open All.


Closing the Net.Medic Dashboard

To close the Net.Medic dashboard, click the "X" (Close) button
in the upper right of the Net.Medic dashboard window, or pull
down the Net.Medic File menu and choose Close.


Finding Out More about the Net.Medic Dashboard

Balloon help is available for certain objects in the Net.Medic
dashboard. If you move the mouse pointer over an object (such as a
gauge or icon), Net.Medic will display a line of text describing
that object.  For example, move your pointer over the Web site
(server) icon in the top pane (the Activity pane).  Net.Medic
displays the name of the server in a line of text called "balloon
help".

Net.Medic's balloon help only appears for panes snapped in its
dashboard window.  I.e. balloon help won't appear if a pane is
extracted out of the dashboard window as an inlay on the browser
window or as a floating pane.

The Net.Medic product also comes with an extensive online help
system. This help system provides detailed information about the
objects in the dashboard along with step-by-step instructions on
how to use Net.Medic. To access the Net.Medic online help system,
choose Help from the Net.Medic Help menu or click the Help
button (?) at the top of the Net.Medic dashboard window.


Snapping a Net.Medic Pane onto Your Browser

Because Net.Medic works so closely with your browser, you can display
one of Net.Medic's panes as an inlay in your browser. This feature
allows you to conserve desktop space and to work primarily within one
window as you "surf the Web."

To snap a Net.Medic pane onto your browser, follow these steps:

(1) Check that your browser is open.
(2) Move your mouse over the pane you want to snap into the browser,
and right-click on it. A pop-up menu appears.
(3) Choose "Snap on Browser" from the pop-up menu.

Net.Medic remembers the last pane snapped onto the browser and will
automatically resnap it the next time you start the browser. Note
that Net.Medic offers you a choice of keeping the pane in the browser
or in the Net.Medic dashboard window, but not both. Because there is not
enough real estate in a browser, you can only snap one pane onto the
browser at any one time. Most people have a favorite pane that they
like to have visible all the time, and only bring up the Net.Medic
dashboard when they want more information.

If you are having problems snapping a pane onto your browser, check
that your browserÆs toolbar preferences are set to support pictures
and text. For example, with Netscape Navigator 3.0 choose General
Preferences from the Options menu. The Preferences window opens
with the Appearance panel displayed. In the Toolbars section of
the Appearance panel, verify that the Pictures and Text option is
selected, and then click OK.


Snapping a Pane onto the Dashboard

To get a Net.Medic pane out of your browser and back into the
dashboard window, right-click on the Net.Medic pane in the browser
and choose Snap on Dashboard from the pop-up menu. The pane snaps
back onto the Net.Medic dashboard window.


Eliminating All The Screen Real Estate Used by Net.Medic Except
the Browser Snap-On

Once you've snapped the desired pane onto your browser, you can
use either of the following methods to close the Net.Medic
dashboard without closing the Net.Medic inlay: (1) click on
the "X" (Close) button in the upper right of the Net.Medic
dashboard window, or (2) pull down the Net.Medic File menu and
choose Close.


Snapping the Net.Medic Ticker Tape onto Your Browser

In addition to snapping a dashboard pane onto your browser, you can
snap and detach the Net.Medic ticker tape onto your browser. With
Netscape Navigator, you can snap a dashboard pane and the ticker
tape concurrently. With Internet Explorer, you can only snap a
dashboard pane or the ticker tape.

If the dashboard pane or ticker tape does not snap onto your browser,
check that your browser window is not minimized (closed) on your
desktop.


Displaying E-mail Messages in the Net.Medic Ticker Tape

Net.Medic can display the subject field of certain mail messages
in its ticker tape.  To do so, you must enable this option in the
ticker tape preferences window and the mail message must meet
these criteria:

(1) The message must be unread
(1) The message must have been delivered via the Microsoft Messaging
    API (MAPI)
(2) The subject field of the message must begin with the string "VitalSigns:"


System administrators can customize the search string used to determine
if an unread E-mail message should be displayed in the Net.Medic ticker
tape. To change the default search string ("VitalSigns:"), you must use
the Registry Editor to change the value of the SERVICE_PROVIDER_KEYWORD
registry variable, as described in the Net.Medic online help system.


Accessing the Net.Medic Help System

Net.Medic comes with a robust online help system. To access the help
system, pull down the Net.Medic Help menu and choose Help, or click the
Help button (?) in the Net.Medic dashboard windowÆs toolbar.


Using Net.Medic's Identify Feature

You can use Net.Medic's Identify feature to quickly identify your ISP,
Intranet, or the current remote Web server. For example, to identify
your Intranet, right-click anywhere in Net.Medic's Intranet pane and
choose Identify from the pop-up menu. Note that this Identify feature
will not work unless you have access to Internet sites that are running
the "whois" protocol.


DOCUMENTATION NOTES

The following are notes that relate to the Net.Medic documentation.


Notes About the Net.Medic Manual

On page 17 of the Net.Medic getting started guide, Table 3-3 includes a
New Browser command under the Help menu. The New Browser command presently
does not appear in Net.Medic's Help menu because the feature is currently
not implemented.


Ordering a Net.Medic Manual

Our download and bundled software do not include a manual or disk set.
Consequently, it is recommended that you back up your downloaded copy
of the Net.Medic product.


Accessing Net.Medic's Data Sheet and White Paper

Visit the VitalSigns Web site at http://www.vitalsigns.com to view and download
a HyperText Markup Language (HTTP) version or an Adobe Acrobat (PDF) version
of Net.Medic's data sheet and white paper.