PsL Monthly 1996 May/psl-monthly-shareware-cdrom-vol4-no5.iso/psl_news/ezdos.doc

Text File | 1996-01-02 | 8KB | 222 lines

           PsL PD/Shareware CD-ROM Access Program

    Copyright 1996 Nelson Ford, PsL ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

                          CONTENTS
   (Double-click a Contents line to jump to that section.)

Introduction
The Main Directory Listing
Individual Directory Listings
Getting More Program Details
Viewing Screen Shots
Installing/Copying Files from the CD
Tagging Programs For Later Review
Searching for Text
Using the Full Database Program


                        Introduction

The PsL Database contains write-ups of

1. The New and Updated Programs:

Each month we receive over 1000 new and updated programs.
Regardless of the section of the month being featured, the
new/updated programs can include every type of program we
carry (games, business, utilities, etc.) for DOS, Windows
and OS/2. We test, review and organize these programs and
put them on the monthly CD-ROM. The rapid, low-cost
distribution of the latest pd/shareware to users was the
founding basis of the PsL Monthly CD-ROM


2. The Section of the Month:

Each month we put a section of our complete library on the
Monthly CD-ROM, in addition to the new/updated programs.
Over a *ten-month period, our entire library appears on CD,
then the cycle repeats, with each category being updated for
the thousands of new/updated programs received during the
last *ten months. (*Number of months in the cycle is subject
to change.)

Normally, the new/updated programs take up half of the 660MB
CD and the section of the month takes up the other half.

When you start the program, you will see a list of the
directories on the CD. Double-click on a directory to see
its files.

The list for a directory shows for each file the file name,
size, and a one-line description. Double-click on the file
name for a longer description, registration fee of shareware
programs, and author's name.

Press Ctrl-M to return to the main CD directory listing or
double-click on the box above the listing which displays the
directory name and description.


                 The Main Directory Listing

The Main Directory Listing is the first listing you see when
the program starts. It shows all the directories on the CD,
along with a one-line description.

At the end of the list of directories is PsL News for the
month.

Double-click on a directory name to see the files in it, or
you can press the Enter key or Ctrl-G to "Go to" a
highlighted directory or use the Directory menu. Use the
cursor keys or the mouse and scroll bar to scroll and page
through the directory listing,

When you are in a directory listing, you can press Ctrl-M or
use the Directories menu to return to the Main directory.


               Individual Directory Listings

When you Go to a directory listing from the Main Directory
Listing, you will see a list of all the programs in that
directory, showing each program's file name, ZIP file size,
and a one-line description.

To return to the Main Directory Listing, press Ctrl-M or use
the Directories menu.

Use the cursor keys or mouse and scroll bar to scroll/page
through the directory listing.

You can enlarge or reduce the size of the window to see
more/less text. You can also change the font size by
pressing a key with plus or minus on it. (For the key with
"+" and "=" on it, you do not have to press the shift key.)
Or you can use the Edit menu to change font size.


                Getting More Program Details

To see more information about a program, including the
shareware registration fee, if any, and the author's name,
double-click on the line with the file name. You can also
just press Enter on a highlighted file name line, or use the
Programs & Show-More-Detail menu.

To return to the directory listing, double-click on the file
name again, or use the Directories menu to Go to the
directory, or press Ctrl-G, or press Enter while on the file
name line.

Programs can be installed/copied and screen shots viewed
from either the directory listing or the detailed program
listing. See the following pages for more information about
those functions


                    Viewing Screen Shots


Screen shots of some programs have been included in the
SCREENS directory of the CD. Due to limitations of DOS,
screen shots cannot be viewed in the DOS version of the CD
Access Program.


            Installing/Copying Files From the CD

After finding and displaying a program you wish to install
or copy, click on the Programs menu. Alternatively, you can
press Ctrl-I to install or Ctrl-C to copy a ZIP file from
the CD.

Use the drive and directory boxes to select where you want
the program installed or copied. The file box is shown just
so that you can see the files already in the directories.
You can create a new directory if you wish. In fact, it is
generally better to unZip to an empty, temporary directory
so that it will be easier to delete the files when done.

Select a dearchiver to use. PKUNZIP and UNZIP are ready to
use on the CD-ROM.

After you have selected a drive and directory, click
Install/Copy. The program will be dearchived from the CD-ROM
to the selected directory. You can then quit the CD Access
Program to run the dearchived program, or continue
installing more programs.

IMPORTANT: A few programs may come in more than one archive
file. In this case, the second archive will have a separate
entry in the directory listing with a comment to see the
first file in the set for a description. When installing or
copying the program, you must install/copy each file in the
set individually. (In the main database program, all files
in a set are copied in one command.)


Files for each program on the PsL CD are combined into an
archive file to keep them from getting mixed up with the
files from other programs. The PsL program dearchives these
files to your selected directory. However, it is not
uncommon for there be an installation program which must be
run after you have unZipped the files.

We are frequently asked why the user must go through two
installations in cases like this. The answer is that many
authors require the distribution of their programs in this
manner and we must comply.


             Tagging Programs For Later Review

When looking through program descriptions, you may tag a
file to come back to later. (This is often referred to as a
"bookmark".) While on a file name line, press Ctrl-T to tag
the program, or use the Programs-Tag menu to tag it.

To go back to a previously tagged program, use the
Programs-Prior menu or press Ctrl-P. To go to the next
tagged program, use the Programs-Next menu or press Ctrl-N.

This feature works whether in a directory listing or in the
detailed program listing.

To untag a file, use the Programs-Untag menu or press Ctrl-U.


                     Searching for Text

For lengthier directory listings, you can do a text search
to locate text easier than scrolling through the listing.

Use the Edit-Search menu to enter the text to find.

Use the Edit-Find-Next-Match menu for the next occurence, or
press F3.


              Using the Full Database Program

PsL's full set of CD-ROMs contains over 20,000 different
programs. The full PsL PD/Shareware Database Program
("PsL_DB.EXE") on each CD lets you search for and read about
all of those programs.

It also lets you search for programs on the current CD by
program name, file name, program type, key word,
author/publisher's name, as well as by free text search.

PsL_DB displays full contact information, when available,
for the authors of all the programs.

PsL_DB will also let you view screen shots, install
programs, and perform other functions more technical than in
this program.

PsL_DB is a Windows app and must be run from Windows.