^1Introduction
^1------------
Mem Plus is a "command line" program that was designed to provide
you with more information about memory usage than you will get
when you use DOS's "MEM" command. "Command line" refers to the
fact that you can run the program only from the DOS prompt (i.e.,
the command line) when no other programs are running.

^1Installation
^1------------
^ISTEP 1
Copy Mem Plus to one of the subdirectories in your computer's
PATH statement. There are two ways to find out which
subdirectories are in your path if you don't know. Simply type
"PATH" and press Enter while at the DOS prompt (for example,
C:\). DOS will display the "path" it follows, loading programs
into memory and/or making them available, every time you turn on
your computer.

Another way to determine your computer's PATH statement is to
look at your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. You can use DOS 5.0 or later's 
built-in text editor to view this file, your own word processor 
or Swiftview (published on ODM #75).

^ISTEP 2
You are ready to run Mem Plus. At the DOS prompt, type "MEMP" and
press Enter. Memory information about your system will appear on
the screen. Most systems will generate multiple screens of
information. You must press a key to advance to the next screen.
When the DOS prompt appears, the report is finished. NOTE: This 
program is not compatible with some memory resident programs 
(TSR's), especially virus checkers.

^1Printing Your Mem Plus Information
^1----------------------------------
To print a Mem Plus report on your computer, type "MEMP >PRN" at
the DOS prompt. You also can print the information using the
"Print Screen" button on your keyboard.  Note: you must make sure
you printer is turned "on" and is "on line" before pressing this
key, and you must press it once for each screen of data.

^1The Mem Plus Report
^1-------------------
The Mem Plus Report is dated (top line) so that you'll be able to
"track" your memory situation, if you so desire. The report
contains six sections of data--all separated by dashed lines to
promote quick visual digestion. A list of those six sections and
descriptions of their content follows:

^ISTANDARD MEMORY AREA (max 640K)
This section lists the programs and devices installed in your 
computer that may require some of the standard, i.e. Random 
Access Memory (RAM), in your computer. The memory each program 
requires or uses is shown in bytes and in kilobytes. The memory 
sizes for device drivers is not shown. Also shown are the 
addresses (or places in memory) where those programs and devices 
are located. The last line lists the largest free area (the 
amount of RAM that is available to other programs) in both bytes 
and kilobytes (K). 

^IUPPER MEMORY AREA (640K to 1024K)
This section lists the same information that is found in the 
STANDARD MEMORY AREA except that the largest free area may occur 
at any location in the list and is the amount of RAM that is 
available to the next program loaded high. NOTE: This program is 
compatible with EMM386 and all fully QEMM-compatible memory 
managers; for others it might not display all programs loaded 
high. 

^IUPPER AND HIGH MEMORY STATUS
This section shows the items that are enabled or disabled in your
high memory area (that area of memory above 640K and below 1
megabyte (MB). Except for DOS, these are generally "preset" and
you will not have to worry about them. If you have DOS 5.0 or
later and your report does not indicate here that DOS is "loaded
high" and is enabled (a "yes" in the Status column), you should
consult your DOS manual. Why?  When DOS is loaded into high
memory instead of RAM, it frees RAM for use with memory intensive
programs such as Windows (TM). If your system configuration isn't
already set up in this manner, you may want to give it a try.

^IDOS VERSION
This section shows which version of DOS you are using and how DOS
affects your conventional or standard memory area (RAM). The
first line shows how much total conventional memory is available.
Since On Disk Monthly's current minimum requirement is 640K, your
report will probably display that size here. If the figure is
less than 640K, you probably have problems running some On Disk
Monthly programs. The second line shows how much of your
conventional memory is free or available for other programs to
use. This is the figure that will increase as you unload or
disable memory resident programs (TSRs). The third line shows how
much of that memory is available in a contiguous formation (in
one big chunk). Ideally, this number will match the number in the
second line of this section.

^IEMS VERSION
This section shows the version of the Expanded Memory System
(EMS) driver that your computer is using and shows how this
memory is allocated. Five lines of information may be found here:
standard expanded memory, total expanded memory, used expanded
memory, contiguous expanded memory and free expanded memory.
Note: Instead of listing the previous information, Mem Plus may
show that an EMS driver is not installed. See "What is Expanded
and Extended Memory?" below for an explanation of expanded
memory.

^IXMS VERSION
This section shows the version of the Extended Memory System
(XMS) driver that your computer is using and also shows how this
memory is allocated. Five lines of information may be found here:
standard extended memory, total extended memory, used extended
memory, contiguous extended memory and free extended memory.
Note: Instead of listing the previous information, Mem Plus may
show that an XMS driver is not installed. See "What is Expanded
and Extended Memory?" below for an explanation of extended
memory.

^1Command Line Options
^1--------------------
The following command line options are available for Mem Plus
users. At the DOS prompt, type:

MEMP...........to create a Mem Plus report of your system
MEMP /?........to access this list of command line options
MEMP /NOPAUSE..to create a non-pausing Mem Plus report
MEMP /ENDPAUSE.to pause at the end of the report

^1What is Expanded and Extended Memory?
^1-------------------------------------
The very first personal computers were equipped with only 64K of
random access memory (RAM). As PCs developed, that standard rose
to 128K, 256K and 512K. Today, the minimum standard is 640K, but 
even that amount isn't enough to handle graphical programs, 
multi-tasking and multi-media.

Why don't computer manufacturers just increase the 640K standard?
Compatibility. In order for machines ranging from a 486-66Mhz to
an XT to be able to run the same software (maintain
compatibility), the processors and memory configurations must be
compatible and meet certain standards.

Thus, the 8086 microprocessor (utilized in an XT) has set the
memory limit at 1MB by its own processing limitations. DOS has
also contributed to this limit because it operates in "real
mode," which means that DOS cannot access any memory beyond
1MB--even though most 386 and 486 computers have at least 2MB of
RAM.

Two possible solutions to this memory crunch are expanded memory
and extended memory, both of which can increase memory capacity
by many megabytes. Most commercial software can utilize this
extra memory, even if DOS cannot.

The memory standard created some years ago by Lotus 1-2-3, Intel
and Microsoft (LIM for short), allows you to add up to 8MB of
memory to a PC on an expansion card. This type of memory is
called Expanded Memory.

Extended Memory refers to the additional memory--memory that
extends beyond the 1MB boundary--that may be found on 286 and
higher end computers. This type of memory existed for a long time
before there were any software standards that took advantage of
it. The XMS standard of memory allows multiple programs to access
extended memory and other memory areas simultaneously. HIMEM.SYS
by Microsoft Corp. is probably the most widely known driver for
XMS memory. If you've got a recent version of MS-DOS or Windows,
you'll probably find this driver in your CONFIG.SYS.

^1Why Do I Need This Information?
^1-------------------------------
There are many reasons why an advanced PC user might need to know
more about his system than DOS's "MEM" function supplies, but the
advanced PC user is likely to already own more sophisticated
memory utilities than Mem Plus. The novice and intermediate PC
user, however, might consult Mem Plus to find out why a new
program won't run or to see if a program he is considering for
purchase will run on his system.

No matter what your computer skill level, you might use Mem Plus
to determine if removing a TSR from memory will enable you to run
a new game. And you can determine which TSR(s) to remove based on
the sizes listed for each in the Standard Memory Area section of
the Mem Plus report. Mem Plus is one handy command line DOS
utility that you'll be using for years to come.
