.net 2002 March/DotNetMagazine-Issue107-Coverdisc-NET107-02-03-PCMac.bin/pc/PC Software/freeloader/DUN Manager 3.0/dunman/readme.txt

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DUN Manager - Readme File for Release 3.0 - 26th August 2002
============================================================

DUN Manager is a Windows application designed to simplify and enhance
windows networking, using both dial-up and routed connections.  Features
include single click start and hang-up of a dial-up connection defined by
time or day of week; monitoring in a call status window of up to nine
simultaneous connections or ISDN channels including those started by
other applications and routed connections (such as leased line, DOD
routers, ADSL or cable modems); start VPN call when online with dial-up;
a flashing icon while online; warning icon when a routed connections
drops; automatic disconnection options to avoid remaining online by
accident (including playing sounds); block certain connection entries at
specific times; reconnection for dropped calls but stopping at a
specified time (ie 8am) or after a specified period; delayed hang-up
until just before the next call cost increment; timed reconnection to
drop and redial a call after a specified period (where short calls are
free); alternate numbers on busy; check alive with redialling when call
drops unexpectedly; auto dial support from browsers; a scheduler for
automated connections and tasks including FTP uploads, FTP downloads,
HTTP downloads, auto email, sync files, test server, check for mail and
relay mail; detailed connection activity logs for problem finding;
session logs with about 50 different call details including cost and data
volumes (which may be exported to Excel for further analysis); session
reports with several sub reports (telecom costs, ISP usage, successful
and failed connections, and windows user); logging of non-RAS calls (such
as fax); keep alive; dial and hang-up remotely using a browser; call
waiting re-enable after connection; PC clock setting and time server;
program launching by schedule on when online; performance graph showing
data flow speeds; import and export connection entries for backup;
various diagnostics including Trace Route, Ping Host, Finger, NSLookup,
Whois, IP Connections  and Address Look-Up and a Telnet terminal;
telephone tariffs for 47 different countries, with 125 tariffs from 30
UK operators.  DUN Manager may be purchased with single or site licenses,
supports all 32-bit versions of Windows and may be run as a service on
NT4, 2000, XP and .NET Server.


Overview
--------

DUN Manager from Magenta Systems Ltd sits in the Windows system tray as
an icon, allows single click start-up and hang-up of a dial-up networking
connection defined by time or day of week, monitoring in a call status
window of up to nine simultaneous connections or ISDN channels including
those started by other applications and routed connections using leased
lines, dial-on demand routers, ADSL or cable modems.  Redialling may be
done if the initial connection speed is poor or alternate numbers dialled
on busy.  If one ISP is not available, DUN Manager can automatically try
another using sequential default connections.  How connections are
started is fully configurable, as is whether a call status window
appears.  If a logon name or password has not been specified, a window
appears before dialling starts to avoid a wasted call, or may be forced
where the password is not saved for security.  A performance graph shows
the historic transmit and receive data speeds during DUN and routed
connections, and graphs may also be viewed later for further analysis.
Calls are redialled if authentication fails, or if check alive (using
ping) fails.  Dial and hang-up can be allocated to hot keys to avoid
using the mouse.  A VPN connection can be automatically started after an
ISP connection to access a corporate LAN.

DUN Manager provides features to stop a connection being dropped (when
there are no telecom bills), to deliberately drop an idle connection (to
avoid large telecom bills) or timed reconnection to drop and redial a
call after a specified period (where short calls are free), reconnection
for dropped calls but stopping at a specified time (ie 8am) or after a
specified period, blocking to prevent certain connections being used at
specified times and keep alive will stop the ISP disconnecting due to
idling.  Data flow hang-up will drop the connection when it becomes idle,
while timed hang-up drops after a specified period, in both cases with a
warning sound and a short period allowing reset of hang-up checking to
stay on-line.  The disconnection periods and settings depend on the time
or day of week.

The flashing system tray icon is a reminder while on-line, particularly
for those with internal modems, a sound may be played periodically as a
further reminder and a call status window can regularly appear.  When a
routed connection drops, a warning icon appears.  Sound effects may be
associated with start of dialling, successful connection, periodically
while online as a reminder, as a warning of idle connections, and when
disconnected.  Sounds may be suppressed during the night.

The PC clock can be automatically corrected from an internet time server
and DUN Manager will act as a time server for other PCs on the LAN.
Other applications may be launched when a connection starts or hangs-up,
hanging-up when an application completes.  Call waiting can be disabled
before a connection and re-enabled afterwards.  A web server is built-in,
showing the call status remotely in a browser for users on a network
accessing the internet through a proxy server and allowing calls to be
dialled or hung-up.  The web server can also serve other local pages for
a LAN.

A scheduler allows connections to be automatically started at specified
times and repeated until a particular time.  Once connected, the scheduler
will run an application or perform various other specified tasks including
FTP uploads (with auto zipping), FTP downloads (resume failed, auto
unzipping), HTTP downloads (such as virus identity updates), auto email,
sync files (for backup), test web servers, check for POP3 mail with a
notification window, and relay POP3 mail to another address.  The FTP and
sync files tasks may be used for automating uploads to web sites,
transferring only changed files and removing old files, or downloading
webstats, and include automatic zip and unzip.  A Task Log records all
files copied, uploaded or downloaded.  Batch files are supplied to allow
auto Sophos AntiVirus updating.

Auto dial support means that when an application attempts to open a
connection to a remove server (by clicking on a web link), DUN Manager
will automatically dial the default connection (which may depend on the
time or day of week), optionally giving a warning prompt first.  If DUN
Manager is not running, it is automatically launched for auto dial.  A
minimum gap between may be specified between scheduled and auto dial
connections, hang-up may be after a specified period or when they become
idle, but then delayed until just before the next call cost increment.

An activity log stores all progress messages for each connection, the
phone number dialled, session duration and performance statistics, and is
designed to be useful to ISPs for resolving connection problems.  Logging
shows multi-link calls separately, and also non-RAS calls (such as fax,
HyperTerminal and Ameol2).  If the modem keeps connection diagnostics
(K56K, X2 and V90) these can be automatically logged after each call.
Old logs are automatically deleted after a specified number of days.

Connections entries may be exported and imported for back-up or to copy
to other PCs.  An ISP database allows entries to created automatically.

A session log keeps about 50 different call details including cost and
data volumes (which may be exported to Excel for further analysis).
Session reports include several sub reports (telecom costs, ISP usage,
successful and failed connections, and windows user).  Each telephone
number dialled can be defined with a different telecom tariff, to allow
for discount schemes like BT Best Friend.  The time left in seconds until
an incremental call cost will occur is shown.  DUN Manager includes
telephone tariffs for 46 different countries, with 125 tariffs from 30 UK
operators.  Holidays may have special tariffs. The UK tariffs are taken
from the Magenta Systems Ltd. UK Telecom Tariff Comparison web site:

http://www.magsys.co.uk/telecom/

DUN Manager also includes various internet diagnostic utilities,
including Address Lookup, Reverse Lookup, Ping Host, Trace Route, Finger,
NSLookup, Whois, IP Connections and a Telnet terminal for accessing
remote servers.   All these utilities save up to 50 previously used host
names, easing subsequent diagnostic sessions.

DUN Manager is shareware, developed by Magenta Systems Ltd, in the UK,
and supports all 32-bit versions of Windows.  It may be run as a service
on NT4, W2K and XP (only once registered).  The advantages of a service
are that it can be set to run immediately the PC boots without needing a
user to logon, and that it can then only be stopped by an administrator
logon.

DUN Manager may be evaluated for 30 days, but must be registered if usage
is to continue.  Until registered, after 20 days DUN Manager will display
a nag screen for a short period after each connection which must be
cancelled manually.  Registration costs £25 (UKP) which is about US$38 or
40 euro with discounts for site licenses, and is usually done from the
Registration option within DUN Manager via email with an encrypted credit
card number or by printing a page to be faxed or snail mailed.  DUN
Manager may also be registered via a secure web site
at: http://www.magsys.co.uk/dunman/


Tariffs
-------

Tariffs are included for the following 46 countries: Argentina, Australia,
Austria, Bahrain, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece,
Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Jersey, Kenya, Lebanon,
Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritius, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,
Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden,
Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Venezuela
and the UK.


Installation
------------

DUN Manager comprises a program file DUNMAN.EXE (about 1.5 Mbyte in
size, and four small DLL files.  Installation will therefore not
effect any other Windows applications.  No software will be installed
in the Windows directory.  The only prerequisite is Windows 95 (any
version), Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or
Windows .NET Server, with TCP/IP networking and Dial-Up Networking
(Remote Access Services) installed. DUN Manager will work on 486/66 PCs
with 16 Mbytes of memory, but anything slower is not recommended.  For
Windows 95, it is strongly recommended that Microsoft Dial-Up Networking
1.2, 1.3 or 1.4 upgrades are installed, these are available from the
Microsoft web site, performance statistics may not be available with
earlier DUN versions. Windows 98 and later had reliable DUN as delivered.

DUN Manager is usually distributed as a ZIP file which should first be
unzipped into a temporary folder.  If you do not already have it, the
Winzip application from http://www.winzip.com/ (or from most magazine
cover CD-ROMs, Tucows archives, etc) is strongly recommended.  The
program SETUP.EXE should then be run to install DUN Manager.  About
2 Mbytes of disk space is required for the software and documentation,
but more will be required if logging is used.

If you have received an executable with a version number like
DUNMANS.EXE, this should be run just like SETUP.EXE to install the
software.

If DUN Manager 2.0d or later is already running, it will be stopped
automatically as installation commences. The DUN Manager icon is placed
on the desktop, allowing easy start-up.

A number of WAV sound files suitable for the events in DUN Manager may
be downloaded from the DUN Manager web site in file DUNSOUND.ZIP,
which should be unzipped into the C:\WINDOWS\MEDIA or C:\WINNT\MEDIA
directory for convenience with the specific directory then set in.
Preferences, General - Sounds.

On Windows NT4, 2000 and XP, 'DUN Manager Service' is added to the
Services list, with manual start-up and the account of the current user
(but no password).  If this is a fresh installation, DUN Manager should
first be run normally from within Windows, all the preferences and
connections set-up and tested.  Note that DUN Manager must be registered
and show 'registration validated OK' before it may be started as a service.
From the Services window, access 'DUN Manager Service' properties, change
to automatic start-up and add the password for the account (it must be an
administrator level account).  The DUN Manager service may now be started
from the Services window, if it fails to start look in the Application
Event Log for the reason.  On Windows XP, don't attempt to use the
'Administrator' logon or there may be an immediate blue screen dump, also
XP accounts may have been set-up without passwords, but one must be added
before it can be used to run a service.

Now that installation is complete, you should follow the steps for Initial
Set-Up and Use in the Help file.


Uninstalling
--------------

DUN Manager may be removed from the Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs,
or by running the program UNINSTAL.EXE in the installation directory.
The uninstaller will remove all installed programs and files, and all
registry entries including auto start-up and auto dial.  It will not
remove any log files that DUN Manager may have saved, but these can just
be deleted, if not needed.  The DUN Manager Service may be removed by
running the program DMSERVC.EXE -UNINSTALL.


Distribution
------------

DUN Manager may be freely distributed via web pages, FTP sites, BBS
and conferencing systems or on CD-ROM in unaltered zip format, but no
charge may be made other than reasonable media or bandwidth cost.  Any
notifications must state that DUN Manager is shareware with nags until
registered with Magenta Systems Ltd.  Please email Magenta Systems Ltd
if you distribute DUN Manager in some way, so you can be notified of
upgrades or other important changes.


Copyright Information
---------------------

DUN Manager is copyright Magenta Systems Ltd, England, 2002.

Magenta Systems Ltd
9 Vincent Road
Croydon
CR0 6ED
United Kingdom

Phone [phone], International Phone [phone]
Fax [phone], International Fax [phone]

Support Email: [e-mail]
Web: http://www.magsys.co.uk/dunman/
Download: http://www.magsys.co.uk/dunman/dunman.zip
Sound files: http://www.magsys.co.uk/dunman/dunsound.zip

There is also a support conference on the CIX conferencing system,
cix:magsoft.  Information on joining CIX may be found at
http://www.cix.co.uk/ or http://www.conferencing.co.uk/