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P O W E R M E N U P L U S U S E R S' M A N U A L V E R S I O N 6.0 Copyright (C) Brown Bag Software 1991 2155 South Bascom Ave. Ste. 105 Campbell, Ca 95008 U. S. A. Telephone: (408) 559-4545 Fax: (408) 559-7090 International FAX: (719) 488-9835 Resellers contact Software Resource: (800) 879-7899 or (415) 485-0800 Copyright (C) 1991 Brown Bag Software, Inc.. All rights reserved world wide. Both the PowerMenu Plus program and documentation is copyrighted. It can not be disassembled or modified without our express written consent. THE SHAREWARE CONCEPT PowerMenu Plus is distributed on a ShareWare basis. You may use PowerMenu Plus without charge for evaluation purposes. We suggest that this evaluation period be limited to 30 days of actual use. If you find that PowerMenu Plus is worth continuing to use, then you are required to pay for it. Simply complete the registration form and mail it to us with your payment. A copy of this registration can be used as a pro forma invoice. When you register your copy of PowerMenu Plus, you'll receive the latest version of the program, along with a comprehensive printed user manual and free unlimited technical support for 90 days from date of purchase. We aggressively develop our products, and as a registered user you'll be entitled to upgrades at a greatly reduced price. Most importantly though, by registering your copy of PowerMenu (or any ShareWare product), you'll ensure the survival of the convenient and risk free distribution method that brought you PowerMenu Plus in the first place. If you have received this copy from a Users' Group, "Software Library" or "SIG", and have paid a small fee (usually $3 to $10), you have NOT acquired the registered rights or continued right to use PowerMenu Plus. This fee was for the convenience of obtaining the diskette with PowerMenu Plus on it. The fee does NOT apply to the registration fee. If you obtained this disk from Brown Bag Software, the fee IS applicable towards registration if you register your copy within 90 days. You may freely copy this version of PowerMenu Plus for distribution under the ShareWare concept, without charge. You may NOT charge any fee for the PowerMenu Plus program or documentation without our WRITTEN APPROVAL (usually granted). You may NOT distribute PowerMenu Plus or it's documentation in connection with ANY commercial venture, product, publication or service without our written approval. This includes, but is not limited to, the sale of computer systems or components. WHAT IS POWERMENU PLUS? PowerMenu Plus is a DOS operating environment for your IBM PC or Compatible which provides easy access to any program on your hard disk. When you want to start a program, select it from the menu. After you install the program into PowerMenu, no interaction with DOS is required to run it. You press one or two keys and you are ready to use the program. When you're done, PowerMenu returns automatically, awaiting your next command. POWERMENU PLUS FOR THE LAN There is also a LAN version available. The single user version is for a single users on a single CPU and should not be installed on a LAN where it will be accessed by multiple users. Power Menu Plus Users Manual 2 USING THIS MANUAL This manual is shorter than previous on-disk documentation because of disk space constraints. This version of PowerMenu Plus is also more powerful than any previous. A comprehensive printed manual will accompany the registered version. Also, features may only be mentioned once in this documentation, so read it all. TYPE CONVENTIONS Whenever this manual tells you to press a key, that key will be enclosed in square brackets. For example, if you are instructed to press the Home key, you will be told to press [Home]. When you see two keys in the same set of brackets, such as [Alt-S], you should hold down the [Alt] key and hit the [S] key. INSTALLATION Installation is done automatically by a program called MINSTALL. To start MINSTALL simply place disk number one in drive A and type MINSTALL. If you have received PowerMenu from a bulletin board. Place all of the files which you downloaded in one directory and type MINSTALL from that directory. The MINSTALL program will automatically unpack and copy all the necessary files for you and copy them to the appropriate directory. It will then search your hard disk and install all of the applications which it finds in to the menu. When your done installing, change to the \MENU directory and type MENU. The initial screen you see is the PowerMenu Plus ShareWare screen which briefly explains the ShareWare concept. By pressing any key you will be prompted to hit "S" to start PowerMenu Plus, "R" to register your copy, or "P" to print the PowerMenu Plus documentation. After hitting "R" you will be presented with a login screen. You are prompted for your name and password. The main menu will then be displayed. To change or add new users to PowerMenu Plus, hit F2 to bring up the utility menu. From this menu select "USER ACCOUNTS". To change the supervisor name hit key F7 to edit this information. Once it has been changed, hit key F7 again to save the changes. You can then hit [ESC] until you return to the main menu. You can exit from PowerMenu anytime by hitting [Esc] from the main menu. THE POWERMENU PLUS SCREEN In the main PowerMenu Plus screen you will probably want to change many, if not all, of our sample menu selections. We will tell you how to do this after we discuss the elements of the PowerMenu screen. The top box contains Brown Bag's copyright notice, the date on the far left and the system time on the far Power Menu Plus Users Manual 3 right. These can be set through PowerMenu at any time (Press [F2] to see the Utility menu and select Time or Date). SELECTING ITEMS FROM THE MENU Further down is the opening menu itself. Note the ten Description Line selections under the word "PowerMenu Plus." There are three ways to activate these description lines: 1. Highlight the selection by moving the cursor bar with the [up arrow] and [down arrow] keys, and then hit [Enter]. 2. Press a number key. This immediately activates the corresponding program or submenu on that description line. 3. Hit the first letter of the description line. The bottom line of your screen will be a Help Line as long as you remain in PowerMenu Plus. The help line will give you quick hints as to what functions are available to you. Remember that you can get detailed help at any time by pressing [F1]. CUSTOMIZING MENUS When first installed on your system, PowerMenu Plus may not yet know which application programs you have on your hard disk. You will have to give PowerMenu Plus a little help in customizing your menu system. The edit window is opened by highlighting the description line and hitting the [Ins] key, and closed by hitting [Esc]. Press the [Ins] key now. Each white-on-black area is called an Input Field, because you are expected to input data into this field. [up arrow] and [down arrow] keys move you to the next field. TITLE FIELD The top line is the description that will appear on the menu. DIRECTORY FIELD Contains the name of the directory in which your applications program resides. CMND NAME FIELD The filename and extension (the Command Name) of the command you wish to run. There is a new option to enter "One Command or a Series of Commands." Select "Series of Commands" if you want PowerMenu Plus to run multiple commands for that menu item. Power Menu Plus Users Manual 4 PARAMETERS FIELD These are the arguments (a.k.a. Parameters) you send to the program. PASSWORD FIELD If this field is not blank, PowerMenu will ask you to type this password before allowing you to edit or run this selection. PAUSE FIELD If you put a Y in this field, PowerMenu Plus will pause before returning to the Main Menu screen. PROMPT FOR PARAMETERS FIELD If you put a Y in this field, PowerMenu Plus will prompt you for new parameters each time. COMMAND NAMES AND PARAMETERS Don't worry about these fancy DOS terms: a command name is just the name of the program you wish to run; a parameter is additional information the program needs. Command names in PowerMenu all have one thing in common: they all end with either a .EXE, .COM, or .BAT. (The resident DOS commands COPY, DIR, ERASE, REN, and TYPE are exceptions). This is called the Extension of the command name. The extension .EXE tells DOS that the file is EXEcutable, .COM stands for a DOS COMmand, and .BAT means the file is a BATch of DOS commands. When you buy a word processor, spreadsheet, or any other program for your PC, you call it up by typing the command name. To run a program, PowerMenu must know both the file name and the extension. Some common programs and their command names are: Program filename/extension WordStar ws.com Microsoft Word word.com PARAMETERS Parameters are information passed to a command name. Sometimes you need to tell the program what file to work on. you would do that with a parameter. For instance, if you wanted to edit a document on your computer, the DOS command might be: C> edlin letter.doc When you install a program in PowerMenu, that program's manual will probably explain what command to give DOS. Everything after the first word are parameters. Power Menu Plus Users Manual 5 If DOS Command is... Parameters are C>word /c letter.doc /c /c letter.doc /c C>ws thesis.txt thesis thesis.txt thesis With PowerMenu Plus, all you have to do is install this menu selection once, and editing your report is one keystroke away. If your word processor is Microsoft Word, and the program is in the \WORD subdirectory: The description would be "Microsoft Word" or "Word Processing". The directory is C:\WORD The command is WORD.COM This is how you would input the information into your menu: Highlight description line 1 with the [down arrow] or [up arrow] keys. Delete the sample 1 selection by hitting the [Del] key and answer "Y". Next, hit [Ins] to open the Edit Window. All the fields should be blank. Fill in the fields and then hit [Esc] to close the edit window. You have just installed your first menu selection! Note that you won't be able to activate this selection unless you happen to have Microsoft Word on your hard disk in the \word directory. If you know which programs you have on your hard disk, you can now customize PowerMenu to your heart's content. SUBMENUS It is possible to display as many as 4 menus on the PowerMenu screen at once. You can do this by setting up a selection to call a submenu. Submenus are set up by putting "[MENU]" in the directory field, and putting a 1-8 letter menu name in the Cmnd Name field. You will need to remember the names of your submenus in order to call them up. Your selection can call any existing submenu; if the submenu does not exist, it can be created. If you create a new submenu, it will contain blank selections until you fill them. Your initial PowerMenu screen shows you an example of a submenu call. If you open the Utilities for Computer edit window, you can see how it activates a submenu named UTILITY. ERROR MESSAGES It is possible that you will see some error messages if you make a mistake in setting up PowerMenu. These will appear on the second line from the bottom. Hit [F1] to see a detailed explanation of the error. USER ACCOUNTS Version 6.0 has the ability to maintain an almost unlimited number of separate user accounts. Each user having their own customized menus, colors, and security. There is a new option to have user Group Menus, so now multiple users can now share the Power Menu Plus Users Manual 6 same set of menus, while maintaining their own options and security level. User accounts does NOT allow more than one person to use PowerMenu at the same time. A version of PowerMenu for use on a LAN is available for that purpose. NEW USERS From the Utility menu, select USER ACCOUNTS to create or maintain your users. The available commands are displayed across the bottom line of the screen. The function keys allow you to add or change the users at will. USAGE LOG When enabled, PowerMenu will keep a log of who did what, when and for how long. There is also a powerful feature that allows creation of projects and the assigning of costs to the projects. This would allow the user to maintain billing information accurate to the minute based on projects or to analyze performance. MOVING MENU SELECTIONS (SWAP) Hitting [Alt-S] lets you drag a selection to any location on the menu. For example, dragging the 1 selection to the 5 position and then hitting [Enter] will exchange their contents. [Esc] will abort. LIST, OR REINDEX THE DATA FILES In the unlikely event that something should damage a PowerMenu data file, you can attempt to repair it with the program MENUFUN.EXE. The program is run with parameters. To reindex the menu datafile, run MENUFUN -R To list the Submenus in your menu structure, run MENUFUN -L If you are running with multiple user accounts, MENUFUN will prompt you to enter a user and supply the password. AUTOMATIC EXECUTION WITH AUTOEXEC.BAT You can have your system automatically invoke PowerMenu whenever you reboot on your computer. Just put the command menu as the last line in a file called AUTOEXEC.BAT in the root directory. The contents of a typical AUTOEXEC.BAT file might look like this: TIME DATE Power Menu Plus Users Manual 7 PATH=C:\DOS SK CD \MENU MENU BACKING UP YOUR POWERMENU FILES You should make it a practice to routinely copy your important files to a backup disk. This is true for all of your applications, and not just PowerMenu. COLOR SETTINGS Selecting "Colors" from the [F2] Utilies menu allows you to change your PowerMenu colors. Use the arrow keys to move the pointer up and down. To change the text color, use the plus [+] and minus [-] keys. Change the background color by holding down the [shift] key while pressing the [+] and [-] keys. ([ESC] will exit) To save your changes, either exit the program and come back in, or run an application. DOS WINDOW You can directly access DOS by using the WINDOW TO DOS command. When you press [F4] you'll be given a blank screen with a DOS prompt. All DOS commands are valid, and you may remain in DOS for as long as you like. When you are finished, type 'EXIT' and hit [ENTER] and you'll be returned to PowerMenu. Remember, all DOS commands (and even some commands DOS DOESN'T support) are available from the Disk Manager. KEYBOARD ENHANCERS PowerMenu Plus is compatible with keyboard enhancement products such as SuperKey, Prokey, and Keyworks. However, if you redefine one one of PowerMenu's reserved keys, you might disable some of PowerMenu's features. PowerMenu's "reserved" keys are: [F1] - [F5] [Shift-F1] - [Shift-F10] [Alt-F1] - [Alt-F10] [1]-[0] [Alt-S] [Alt-D] [Alt-T] [Home] [Ins] [Del] [down arrow] [up arrow] [Esc] Power Menu Plus Users Manual 8 Try to avoid redefining these keys while you are in PowerMenu. RAM-RESIDENT PROGRAMS PowerMenu Plus is fully compatible with RAM-resident programs such as HomeBase, SuperKey, and Turbo Lighting; just follow one simple rule: Don't load RAM-resident programs through PowerMenu! In general, you should initialize all of your RAM-resident programs when you boot your machine. Never have a PowerMenu Plus selection to "Load Sidekick." (Better yet never USE SideKick! Use our HomeBase instead!). If you load RAM-resident programs through PowerMenu Plus, you will create a "hole" in memory when you exit, and you may have to reboot. SCREEN SAVE FUNCTION PowerMenu Plus has a screen saver which turns the PowerMenu screen off after 1-9 minutes of non-use. This prevents "burn in," (permanent damaage to your screen from the same image being displayed for too long.) PowerMenu displays the message "Hit space bar to return..." at a random place on your screen and moves it from time to time. Screen save is only in effect in PowerMenu Plus and will not blank the screen in your applications programs. SUBMENUS It is possible to display as many as 4 menus on the PowerMenu Plus screen at once. You can do this by setting up a selection to call a submenu. Submenus are set up by putting [menu] in the directory field, and putting a 1-8 character menu name in the Cmnd Name field. You will need to remember the names of your submenus in order to call them up. Your selection can call any existing submenu; if the submenu does not exist, it can be created. If you create a new submenu, it will contain blank selections until you fill them. Each submenu requires about 1.8 Kb of disk space. To delete or list submenus, use MENUFUN.EXE. ANTIVIRUS PROGRAM From the Main Menu of PowerMenu Plus, press F2 to bring up the Utilities Window. Highlight the word "AntiVirus" and press the <<ENTER>> key. You can scan for viruses on your hard drive, network drives, RAMdisks or floppy diskettes . Power Menu Plus Users Manual 9 PC-HOOKUP (NEW FILE TRANSFER PROGRAM) PowerMenu Plus now includes PC-HookUp, a high speed file transfer program. This section contains instructions that will introduce you to the basic functions of PC-HookUP. PC-HookUP is more than just a file transfer system. It is also a comprehensive DOS Utility, Disk Organizer, Editor and modem communication system. A complete guide to PC-HookUP's more advanced features is found in the PowerMenu Plus Users Manual, you will receive when you register the program. PC-HookUP can be executed from diskettes or a hard drive. GETTING STARTED If you installed PC-HookUp to be run from PowerMenu Plus, bring up PowerMenu and press F2 to bring up the Utilities Window. From there, select "F" for File Transfer. The Main Screen will appear. Repeat this process on the second computer. The system will then make an electronic connection between the two computers. The Status Box located in the lower left corner of the PC-HookUP Main Screen verifies the connection by displaying Remote Active. To begin PC-HookUp, if you did not install it to work with PowerMenu Plus, type the command "PCH" at the DOS prompt followed by <<ENTER>>. IMPORTANT: Network users must begin PC-HookUp with the command PCH/N. The /N option configures PC-HookUp for use on a network. After starting the program with the /N switch and selecting "Update All Options" from the Setup Menu, you will no longer need to add the /N switch on the command line, as PC-HookUp will use the network option as the default. If the Remote Active message does not appear: 1) Make sure the appropriate port for the selected cable is displayed in the lower right corner of the screen. 2) Lower the baud rate. Instructions for adjusting the port setting and baud rate are found in the PowerMenu Plus User's Manual (the registered version) under the Setup command. THE MAIN SCREEN The PC-HookUP Main Screen consists of four boxes preceded and followed by two lines. These eight distinct areas are oriented toward either action or information. Power Menu Plus Users Manual 10 Command Line Across the top of the Main Screen is the Command Line. Select a command by entering the first letter of the command (i.e. press X for X-Fer). Path Line Directly below the Command Line is the Path Line. It displays the current drive and directory. Statistics Area The Statistics area, located at upper left, displays important information about the files and subdirectories present in the current directory, as well as the total amount of free space remaining on the disk. Function Keys Below the Statistics Area is the Function Keys Box which identifies the commands initiated when a function key is pressed. PC-HOOKUP MENUS PC-HookUP's user interface is designed to make file transfers as simple as possible. This chapter will discuss each item found on the Menu Bar (the first line in the screen shown above) in detail. To access the PC-HookUP Menu Bar, press the highlighted letter of the menu item. To select the first item in the Menu Bar, press C for Commands. The Commands menu appears. Execute a function in the Commands Menu or any other menu in the Menu Bar using one of three methods. 1) Use the up and down arrow keys to highlight desired function using the cursor and press <<Enter>>. 2) Press the highlighted letter in the function line. 3) Use the key or group of keys displayed to the right of the menu line to execute that function anywhere on the PC-HookUP screen. COMMANDS When selected, Commands Menu displays 15 functions. Two of these functions have a secondary menu designated by a caret symbol at the right side of the menu line. The secondary menus appear when a function is selected. Power Menu Plus Users Manual 11 Log Drive, Subdir or Wildcard... This function allows easy access to alternate drives, subdirectories or files. Once this function is activated, a pop-up window appears where you type in the desired drive, subdirectory or wildcard files and/or subdirectories to be displayed. Change to Highlighted Directory: This function takes you into the highlighted directory instantaneously. Display Remote Files The remote computer's files are easily viewed on your computer with the Display Remote Files function. When activating this function, your computer will display both computers' files simultaneously. Display Directory Tree... PC-HookUP provides several tools to assist in organizing files and directories. One of these tools, Directory Tree, gives you a graphic display of the directory structure of your disk. When Display Directory Tree is selected, you will be asked, Display Directory Tree for which drive? Enter the current or any active drive letter and press <<Enter>>. A graphic display of the selected drive will appear. To change drives at this point, press C. To move to any directory, highlight it and press <<Enter>>. The directory selected will automatically be highlighted the next time Directory Tree is accessed either through this function or functions in HookUP-DOS such as Copy Files and Move Files. The Directory Tree also lists the number of files that are in each directory, each file's size; as well as the total number of directories, files and bytes. Adding\Removing Directories PC-HookUP's Directory Tree allows you to add or remove directories. To add a directory, place the cursor on the desired parent directory and press the Ins key. A pop-up window appears. Type in a directory name and press <<Enter>>. The new directory will appear highlighted in the Directory Tree window. To remove a directory, place the cursor over the directory to be removed and press the Del key. You can remove directories only when: 1. The directory to be removed contains no files or subdirectories. 2. You are not logged to the directory to be removed. Power Menu Plus Users Manual 12 An error message appears when you violate one of these rules. Note: The Hacksaw feature in the HookUP-DOS menu is not constrained in this way. Use it to remove a directory and all files and subdirectories below it. Transfer Directory All files in a directory can be transferred within Directory Tree by highlighting the directory to be sent and pressing F2. Files will transfer to the current directory of the remote computer. When the transfer is complete, the Directory Tree window remains on the Local computer and the Remote shows the files it has received. Exiting Directory Tree Exit the Directory Tree window by changing directories or pressing the Esc key which will prompt for destination to be typed in. Reload Directory This function updates your directory and displays the most current list of files and subdirectories. View/Edit Highlighted Select View/Edit Highlighted to view and revise the contents of a highlighted file. File display can be in Hex or Regular fashion. Selecting this option automatically invokes PC-HookUP's built-in text editor. To access the editing mode, press F5 when the file is displayed. Rename Highlighted... Renaming a file or directory is easily done by selecting this function and typing in the desired name in the pop-up window. Change Attributes of Highlighted File When this function is activated, a pop-up window appears. Select the attribute you wish to change by moving the cursor to highlight your choice. Press <<Enter>> and the attribute will be changed. If the cursor is highlighting a directory, no action will take place. R/W: Marks the files as write or read only, not to be modified or erased. Hidden: Makes a file invisible to the DOS commands Dir, Copy, and Del and invisible to the PC- HookUP directory. Sys: DOS system files. Power Menu Plus Users Manual 13 Archive: Marks a file as having been changed. This is useful for keeping track of when files need to be backed up. Print Files or Directory Use this function to print the list of files in the current directory, the Directory Tree structure, a group of tagged files or the contents of a single file. Directory Sort Sort controls the way file names are displayed in the Directory Box. It does not affect how the files are arranged on the disk. Select Directory Sort and a secondary pop-up window appears. Use the up and down arrow keys to highlight the field used in the sort. Press enter to make your selection. File names can be sorted in the following ways: Name: Alphabetically by the eight character file name and the three character extension. Ext: Alphabetically by the three character extension. Size: Numerically by file size in bytes. Date: By the system date assigned through DOS when the file is created or modified. DOS: Unsorted, in the same order as DOS. Sort Direction Indicate which order to use: Display Low to High: Displays in ascending order. Display High to Low: Displays in descending order. Locate Files on Drive Locates files that match the specification entered in wildcard pop-up window: When file is located a second pop- up window displays six choices for action: Power Menu Plus Users Manual 14 1. Skip the current located file and continue the search. 2. Delete the current located file and continue the search. 3. Jump to the directory of the located file and highlight it with the cursor. 4. List all the located files on the screen. 5. Edit the contents of the located file. Press F5 to access editing mode when file is displayed. 6. Quit locating files. Locate Files in Subdirs Performs the same function as Locate Files on Drive except PC-HookUP searches only the current directory and its subdirectories for files specified. About... This is where you find information about PC-HookUP such as version number of the software, telephone and address of Brown Bag Software. Quit to DOS: Exit PC-HookUP by selecting Quit. A pop-up window asks for verification. X-fer: The X-Fer menu provides several methods used in file transferring. When selected, the X-Fer menu item displays a list of eleven functions described below. Highlighted: When selected, the file or subdirectory highlighted by the cursor is transferred. Tagged: When selected, all tagged files in the current directory are transferred. The Local and Target computers provide verification of each transferred file. Power Menu Plus Users Manual 15 Wildcard spec: Wildcard operates similar to the DOS wildcard. When selected, a pop-up window appears where you enter a file specification. Global characters such as ? and * are supported. The question mark serves as a replacement for any single character in the file name or extension. The asterisk can be substituted for multiple characters. All files in the current directory that match the file specification are transferred. All files listed: When the All files listed option is selected, all of the files residing in the current directory, whether tagged or untagged, are transferred. Entire Drive: It is possible to transfer any or all files, directories and subdirectories on the entire drive by selecting this option. The contents of the transfer is determined by a file specification entered in the pop-up window. A duplicate of the Local computer's structure is recreated beneath the current directory of the Remote. All Files and Subdirs: All Files and Subdirs has the same effect as Drive, except transfers are limited to the files and subdirectories of the current directory. The contents of the transfer is determined by a file specification entered in the pop-up window. The Local computer's structure is retained similar to that described in Entire Drive above. Subdirs via Find: Transfers all files in current directory and its subdirectoires that match specification entered in Locate Files in Subdirs... Subdirs via Find: Locates all files in current directory and its subdirectories that match the specification and asks for confirmation before transferring. Will continue to locate and transfer files until search is complete or the Esc key is pressed. Drive via Find: Locates files matching the specification and asks for confirmation before transferring. Will continue Power Menu Plus Users Manual 16 to locate and transfer files until search is complete or the Esc key is pressed. Chat with Remote: Allows exchange of messages between two computers. When activated, this function produces a beep and clears the Main Screen from both monitors. The Chat screen appears. The Chat screen has two sections. The top portion displays the character input of the Local computer while the bottom half shows messages from the Remote. Messages typed on either keyboard appear on both screens simultaneously. The messages can be edited in the usual manner, but they cannot be saved to disk. Phone: The Phone menu contains options related to PC-HookUP's telecommunication capability. Hayes compatible 300-2400 modems are supported. The instructions in this manual were written with the assumption that you are familiar with the operation of your modem. Phone Book: Phone Book creates a data base of phone numbers. It also stores modem speed, port and other technical settings for each. When selected the following window appears. Adding an Entry: Press the Ins key. The cursor appears in the Name field. Enter the name and press <<Enter>>. The cursor moves to the Number field. Enter a phone number with the complete dialing sequence. For instance, 1 plus the area code for long distance. If you are dialing through a switch system that requires you to dial 9 to get an outside line, enter the 9 before the number, separated by a comma for time delay. To insure tone dialing insert the letter T prior to the number entered. For example, T9,1- 312-555-1212. Press <<Enter >>. A pop-up window appears containing communication settings. These settings must be correct for proper communication. Typically the first four will need to be verified. The balance are for special communication needs. Use the arrow keys to make changes, press <<Enter>> or <<Esc>> when finished. Mode: Choose PCH to communicate with PC-HookUP, TERM for all other communication systems. DIAL is used for voice transmission in speed dialing. Baud: Power Menu Plus Users Manual 17 Choose the speed (300-2400) for the Local and Remote computers. The speed selected must match the remote system. Port: Select the interval port serving the modem. Type: Dialup dials number and waits for response from modem. Saving an Entry There are two ways to save your Phone Book entries, <<Enter>> and <<Esc>>. When <<Enter>> is pressed, a popup window appears asking if you want to save your new entry to disk. Respond with Yes or No. The modem will then dial the highlighted number. When <<Esc>> is pressed, a pop-up window appears asking if you want to save your new entry. Respond with Yes or No. You will then return to the Phone command. The modem will not dial the highlighted number. The Phone Book stores all entries in the file PCH.PHN. If this file does not exist or is not located in the current directory or path, a pop-up window will appear asking if you would like to create such a file. If the file already exists, enter No and locate the file and then copy it to the path or current directory. Calling an Entry Place the cursor over the desired number and press enter. The modem will automatically make the call. Editing an Entry Edit an entry by placing the cursor over the listing and press F5. Input the new information and press <<Enter>>. Deleting an Entry Place the cursor over the entry to be removed and press the delete key. Respond Yes in the pop-up window. Save changes as described above. Force Modem Hang up This command disengages the modem so it will be ready for the next call. Dial a number... Type the number and press enter. The modem will automatically make the call but the system does not save the number. Power Menu Plus Users Manual 18 Capturing the exchanged information At any time you can collect all information sent to and from the Remote computer by pressing the Alt and C keys simultaneously. This will invoke a pop-up window where you enter the name of the file to be stored. When you wish to stop collecting information and close the file press Alt C again. This ASCII file can then be viewed or printed by PC- HookUP. Set to Answer calls Incoming calls are automatically answered. When connected, PC-HookUP performs as if the computers were in the same room. PCH File Transfers PC-HookUP connects with a remote computer running PC-HookUP and works as if the computers were connected locally. Send and receive files as you would when using PC-HookUP. Remember that pressing F4 will display the current directory of the Remote. Receiving files via X-Modem protocol Since we have no way of knowing which system you will be communicating with, we can not include a tutorial. However, we will provide a brief example of exchanging files with a typical bulletin board. Sign on in the normal manner. Prepare the Remote system to send a file using the X-Modem protocol. This usually involves viewing the available files and selecting one. In this instance, EXAMPLE.FIL. A typical bulletin board ready to send message would be: Download what? EXAMPLE.FIL X-Modem send of EXAMPLE.FIL ready. Transfer Time 2 Min, 19 Sec (Approx.) Now that the Remote system is ready to send, tell PC-HookUP to receive the file by pressing F4. A pop-up window will appear for you to enter the name of the file as you would like it stored on the Local computer. Input the filename and press <<Enter>>. PC-HookUP will verify that it is receiving the file. When complete the Remote system gives the awaiting command message. Sending files via X-Modem protocol: First tell the Remote system to receive a file: Upload what? NEWFILE.FIL Power Menu Plus Users Manual 19 X-Modem receive of NEWFILE.FIL ready. When the Remote computer is ready to receive, press F2 to send the file. Enter NEWFILE.FIL in the pop-up window and press <<Enter>>. PC-HookUP will begin sending the file and verify the process on the screen. When finished, the Remote system awaits your next command. Speed Dialing Store your most commonly dialed numbers in Phone Book and use PC-HookUP as a speed dialer. Add numbers in the normal manner and select DIAL in mode. When selected, the number is dialed and you can talk to the party that answers. For a better voice level, press any key after the connection is made, to release the modem. Dial a number Quick calls are made by Dial. When chosen, a pop-up window appears. Enter the number to be dialed. Include all necessary numbers to complete the dialing sequence. Press <<Enter>>. A pop-up window will appear with the message, Awaiting Answer and the modem will begin to dial. PC- HookUP will communicate with most popular modem packages including: bulletin boards, Cross talk, PC-Talk, TelPak and dial-up services. Dial defaults to PCH mode. If you are calling a computer that is running a modem package other than PC-HookUP, then you must enter the Terminal mode. Do this by selecting Terminal after the connection is made. Reenter Terminal Mode Sometimes it is necessary to temporarily exit the communication mode and return to the Main Screen. To do this, press F10. A pop-up window will appear asking if you want to exit Terminal. Do so by pressing <<Enter>>. The Main Screen will appear, but your modem will remain connected to the Remote computer. When you finish, select Reenter Terminal Mode from the Phone menu and you will again have access to the Remote computer. Occasionally the connection with the Remote computer will be broken when you temporarily exit the Terminal mode. When this occurs, select Phone Book and redial to re-establish connection. Problems and Solutions When you try to use Phone options and there is no response from the modem it can usually be attributed to one of several problems. The most common is a wrong Port setting. Make sure you have indicated the correct port through the Phone Book or Select X-fer Port function under Setup. Also make sure the Baud rate accommodates the Local and Remote modems. Sometimes the Status Box will display the message, receiving garble. This means the connection has been made, but stray data has entered the line. You can correct this Power Menu Plus Users Manual 20 situation by pressing F9. Remote Active should appear and PC-HookUP is ready for work. Tag The Tag commands allows you to mark (tag) groups of files. Files will remain tagged until you change directories, select Clear or press the F9 key. In addition to the tag options explained below, the space bar, minus key and plus key perform tag functions as explained in the Quick Start section of the manual. Highlighted: Tags file highlighted by the cursor. All files: Tags every file in the current directory. Tag per Wildcard spec: Tags files in the current directory that match a file specification entered in the pop-up window. If no matches are found, no files are tagged. Untag per Wildcard spec: Removes tags from all files that match a specification entered in the pop-up window. Invert Tags: Reverses tags. Removes the tags from the files that have been marked and tags the files that were not marked. Clear Tags: Removes all tags from files in the current directory. Retag Files marked: After a successful transfer of tagged files, the tag markers change from triangles to hyphens. By using the Retag option, the tags are restored. Only the files in the current directory that have hyphens can be retagged. Tag all Below Highlighted Tags the highlighted file and all those below it. Even files that are out of view will be tagged. per Date/Time spec... Tags all files between a specified range of date and time. For example, select the per Date/Time spec option. A pop-up window appears containing the prompt Low, followed by a default date and time. Enter the date and time of the oldest file to be Power Menu Plus Users Manual 21 tagged and press <<Enter>>. A second prompt, High, appears. Input the date and time of the most recent file to be tagged and press <<Enter>>. PC-HookUP tags all files within the specified range. PC-HookUP allows for tagging shortcuts in the per Date/Time spec entry to make tagging easier. Prune (global erase) Prune is a powerful option that helps you maintain your disk drive by enabling you to readily delete several files with one simple command. First, the files in the current directory are deleted. Then files within associated subdirectories are removed. The directory structure remains in tact although all files are removed. It is strongly suggested that you carefully review the following example before attempting to use Prune. Prune/Hacksaw Example Select Prune or Hacksaw. If logged to the root directory, a pop-up window appears. If you wish to delete all the files and save the DOS and Read Only files respond Yes. This will save the files needed to boot your system. If you respond No, all files will be deleted and you will not be able to reboot your system. A second pop-up window appears with the prompt, Here Save. Response to this applies to the current directory. All saves the files in the current directory and deletes all others. None deletes all files. A third pop-up window appears. Enter a file specification and press <<Enter>>. Before PC-HookUP deletes all matching files, it will ask for verification. This helps to prevent inadvertent file deleting. As the files are deleted, they are listed on the screen. You can interrupt Prune or Hacksaw at any time by pressing the Esc key. However, files deleted prior to pressing Esc will not be restored. Hacksaw (delete subdirectories) Hacksaw operation is similar to Prune. While Prune is limited to removing files, Hacksaw removes files as well as directories and subdirectories. It is important that you read the preceding example on Prune and Hacksaw before attempting to use Hacksaw. We suggest using it on a floppy disk before you try it on your hard drive. Improper use could delete important information. Status Box Beneath the Function Keys Box is the Status Box. Information regarding the status of the electronic connection is found here. Power Menu Plus Users Manual 22 Condition Line Immediately below the Status Box is the Condition Line. It will display a message if an error occurs during transmission. Directory Box The large box to the right of center is the Directory Box. It displays the files that are in the current directory, seventeen files at a time. If your directory contains more than seventeen files you can use cursor movement, described below, to view the files that are not shown. Communication Line Below the Directory Box is the Communication Line which lists the current communications parameters. Help System Any time you are using the program and need further instruction, you can access the on screen help system by pressing the F1 key. Pop-up Windows PC-HookUP requests information essential to complete a task or process through pop-up windows. Some pop-up windows prompt you with a question, others require you to enter the information directly. To answer a question, place the cursor over your selection and press <<Enter>>. You can also select an answer by pressing the first letter of your choice (i.e. Y for Yes). The highlighted answer is the default response. Press the Esc key to exit a pop-up window or move up one step in the Command Line structure. Cursor Movement There are several different cursors in the PC-HookUP system. Typically, cursors are the highlighted areas of the screen. For this quick booklet we will limit our discussion to the cursors found in the menus and Directory Box. These two are responsible for a majority of the work you will do with PC-HookUP. The arrow keys are the simplest way to move the cursors (Num Lock must be off). The up and down arrows move the Directory Box cursor. Other keys that control the Directory Box cursor are Home, End, PgUp and PgDn. Take a moment to become familiar with how different keys affect cursor movement. Transfer A File For the purpose of this Quick Start Section we refer to the two computers as Local and Remote. Local is the transmitting computer. Remote is the receiving computer. To send a file, position the Local computer's Directory cursor over the file you wish to send and press F2. PC-HookUP will Power Menu Plus Users Manual 23 automatically copy the file to the current directory of the Remote computer. Once the process is complete, the file will exist on both computers. When sending files, it is important to make sure you are working in the correct drive and directory on both computers. This insures that files will end up where you want them. Changing the Current Drive Changing the current drive can be accomplished through the use of the F3 key. For example, to switch from the A drive to the C drive, press F3 and enter C: at the pop-up window. PC-HookUP instantly changes to that drive. Changing the Current Directory Use the F6 key to change directories. Place the cursor over the desired directory listing in the Directory Box and press the F6 key. You can also change directories using the F3 key as described above. Tagging Files To PC-HookUP a tag indicates a request for action. Typical file actions include: transmitting, copying, deleting and printing. Tag highlighted files by pressing the space bar, plus (+) or minus (-) keys. Each key acts as a switch, turning the tags on and off. Space Tags the file highlighted by the cursor and the cursor moves down one position. Plus key Tags the file and moves the cursor down one position. Minus key Moves up one position and tags the file. Placing the cursor over the current directory indicator located at the top of the Directory Box and pressing the space bar will tag all of the files in the directory. Multiple File Transfers Using the Tag feature makes transmitting a group of files simple. Tag all of the files you wish to send and press F2. PC-HookUP will automatically send any files that have been tagged to the current directory of the Remote. If no files have previously been tagged, PC-HookUP assumes that the file highlighted by the Directory Box cursor is to be sent. Room To Send When you are sending files it is important to make sure there is enough room on the Remote computer to receive them. Power Menu Plus Users Manual 24 The available space is shown in the Statistics Area. Compare the Dir Free size on the Remote computer to the Tagged total size on the Local computer. If you forget to check the space available and attempt to send more files than the Remote can receive, PC-HookUP will notify you through a pop-up window. This window gives you three options: Retry Try again after you have changed the diskette on the Remote computer to one that has more space available. Skip Skip the current files which you are attempting to send and scan the directory to choose a smaller file which would fit in the room remaining. Quit discontinue the transmission. process. At times you may wish to stop during transmission. Do this by using the Esc or F10 keys. The Esc key will automatically halt the transmission. The F10 Key will pause, giving you the message, Paused type Esc to quit. Deleting Files After a file is sent, it may not be necessary to store it on the Local computer. To delete it, position the cursor over the file and press the Del key. A pop-up window appears to insure that you do not delete the wrong file. When several files are tagged and the Del key is pressed, a pop-up window will appear asking if you wish to delete all tagged files. To delete all of the files in a directory, place the cursor over the current directory indicator and press the delete key. Remote Mode The Remote mode enables you to control the activities of both computers from the Local keyboard. While in this mode the keyboard of the Remote computer is inactive. The F4 key acts as an on and off switch to enter and exit the Remote mode. After pressing F4 a mirror image of the Remote computer's directory is displayed on the left side of the Local screen. Switch Directories When the Remote mode is invoked the cursor appears in the Remote directory on the Local computer. To switch cursor control from the Remote to the Local directory press the Tab Power Menu Plus Users Manual 25 key. Press it again and control moves back to the Remote directory. While in the Remote Mode, the Remote directory covers the statistical area. If you wish to view this area, press the F1 key. The cursor location will determine which computer's statistical information is displayed. For example, if you wish to view the statistical area of the Local computer, make sure the cursor is resting within the Local directory, and press F1. Press Esc and the Remote directory will return to the display. Remote Busy Message When one computer is involved in a task that is not directly related to file transmission, the Remote Busy message appears in the Status Box of the other computer. When the task is finished the Remote Active message should return. If it doesn't, press F9 to refresh the screen. Add/Delete Directory You can add and remove directories through the use of the Del and Ins keys. Pressing Ins will produce a pop-up window to prompt you for a new directory name. Input the name of the directory to be added and press <<Enter>>. The new directory will be placed under the current directory. To delete a directory, position the cursor over the directory to be removed and press Del. PC-HookUP will not delete the current directory or a directory that contains files or subdirectories. Power Menu Plus Users Manual 26 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS The minimum system requirements to run PowerMenu are: IBM PC, XT, AT or compatible computer A hard disk A floppy disk drive 512K Bytes of RAM (only 3Kb RAM impact when running programs.) PC- or MS-DOS Version 3.10 or greater Color monitor (optional) GLOSSARY [Alt] key The key labeled Alt at the left of your keyboard. This key is most often used by holding it down and hitting another key. AUTOEXEC.BAT The batch file run automatically by DOS whenever you reboot your computer. batch file A text file containing a list of commands to be carried out by DOS. clock/calendar card An accessory for your computer which keeps the correct time and date even when your computer is turned off. Some computers have these as standard equipment. [Ctrl] key The key labeled Ctrl at the left of your keyboard. This key is most often used by holding it down and hitting another key. cursor The flashing underscore on your screen that indicates where text will appear should you press a key. Also directs your attention to a particular area of the screen. cursor bar The line of reverse video text on your screen. The cursor bar is moved with the [down arrow] and [up arrow] keys.directory An imaginary "room" an your hard disk which contains files of similar types. There are DOS commands to allow you to create, change to, and delete directories. [Enter] key The large key to the right of your keyboard. On some computers, this is labeled [Return]. Power Menu Plus Users Manual 27 [Esc] key The key on your computer labeled Esc, meaning Escape. file Computer term for a group of data on your disk. The text of a report, the numbers in a spreadsheet, and instructions to a program are all examples of disk files. function keys The ten keys labeled F1 - F10 on your keyboard. highlight A PowerMenu selection is highlighted when the cursor bar is over that selection. \MENU directory The directory on your hard disk where all of your PowerMenu files reside. parameters Information sent to a DOS program at runtime. PREMIER TECHNICAL SUPPORT SERVICE Brown Bag Software now offers Premier Techincal Support. This new service includes free technical support and product upgrades for a period of one year. The annual fee for Premier Support is only $29.95. *(Note: Without Premier Support you will only receive free Technical Support for 90 days from date of purchase.) COMBINATION PARALLEL/SERIAL CABLE AVAILABLE A combination parallel/serial cable is available for use with PC-HookUp. Direct link (Use of the Combo Cable) provides the fastest and most error free file transfers. This cable enables you to take advantage of serial transfer speeds up to 115,200 baud. Each end of this 6 foot cable contains a 25 pin serial, a 25 pin parallel, and a 9 pin serial connector. Our cables are shielded and are UL approved. The cost is only $29.95. Prices includes shipping & handling. California residents add appropriate sales tax. SITE LICENSES AND BUNDLING ARRANGEMENTS Corporate site licenses and bundling arrangements are available direct from Brown Bag Software. Site licenses can be used to distribute large quantities of PowerMenu Plus and its documentation within a specific organization at very reasonable prices (hundreds of dollars less per copy than competing products). Power Menu Plus Users Manual 28 Bundling arrangements can be used to distribute copies of PowerMenu in order to promote some other product or service. Note that neither of these activities is permitted under the limited license granted to all users of PowerMenu without the expressed written consent of Brown Bag Software. A NetWork ("LAN") Version of PowerMenu Plus. Contact Brown Bag Software in Campbell, CA USA via fax 408-559-7090 or voice 408-559-4545 for information on the PowerMenu Plus LANPAK or see your Software Dealer. Resellers contact our destributor Software Resource at (800) 879-7899 or (415) 485-0800. REMEMBER, you get the latest version when you register. REGISTRATION IS NOT OPTIONAL. If you want to continue to use PowerMenu Plus, you are required to register it. If you don't know if you're already using a registered copy, call Brown Bag software. SPECIAL LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Register PowerMenu Plus for only $89.95 and receive another Brown Bag Program for only $29.95. LIMITED ONE PER CUSTOMER. Call us at (408) 559-4545 or FAX (408) 559-7090 for more details. ORDERING POWERMENU PLUS To order PowerMenu Plus fill out the order form and mail or fax it with payment or credit card information to: Brown Bag Software Phone Orders - 24 hours Atten: Orders (408) 559-4545 2155 South Bascom Ave. Fax: (408) 559-7090 Suite #105 Campbell, CA 95008 USA International FAX: (719) 488-9835 Resellers: Contact Software Resource at: (800) 897-7899 Power Menu Plus Users Manual 29 POWERMENU PLUS ORDER FORM Product Price Qty Amount ------------------------------------------------------------- PowerMenu Plus 6.0 $89.95 ------------------------------------------------------------- PowerMenu Plus (Upgrade) $29.95 ** ------------------------------------------------------------- Subtotal: ------------------------------------------------------------- California Sales Tax: ------------------------------------------------------------- Shipping and Handling $7.50 ------------------------------------------------------------- Total: ------------------------------------------------------------- ** Registered users of PowerMenu. who purchased PowerMenu after 7/15/91, upgrade is free plus $5.00 shipping and handling. All products include 5.25" & 3.5" size diskettes. Prices Subject to Change Without Notice ------------------------------------------------------------- Serial # from your copy of PowerMenu Plus:___________________ PAYMENT ENCLOSED: ____CHECK ____ AMERICAN EXPRESS American Express Card #:_____________________________________ Exp. Date:_______________ Signature:___ ___________________ Exact Name on Amex. Card:____________________________________ Send My order to: Name:________________________________________________________ Company:_____________________________________________________ Address:_____________________________________________________ Phone:________________________ FAX:_________________________ Power Menu Plus Users Manual 30