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Frequently Asked Questions

- Are your programs Y2K compliant?
- How do I run agendas automated?
- Does it run under Windows NT 4.0?
- Does AutoWinNet95 support wildcards?
- I can't use FTP download/upload over my company's firewall?
- I hate your nag screen. Why not time-limit the program instead?
- Can I download entire web pages?
- Does AutoWinNet95 have any competition?
- Why don't you download mail or news?
- Your scheduler doesn't have many features. Why not?

Are your programs Y2K compliant?

Ah yes, Y2K: the most hyped event in the history of mankind. If all our news media and doomsayers are correct, power will fail, phones will die, riots will break out on every streetcorner, the government will declare martial law and you'll be forced out of your home by hoodlums carrying AK-47's.
Well, I've got good and bad news:

Good News: AutoWinNet95, Internet Loafer and Secret Surfer are fully Y2K compliant.
Bad News: If all that crap actually happens, you won't CARE if AutoWinNet works or not!
How do I run agendas automated?

AutoWinNet95 can run agendas from the command line (instead of pressing the RUN button) by specifiying your agenda name after the program name:

Syntax: AUTOWN95.EXE Runtime

Important Note: Multiple words require quotes around them:

AUTOWN95.EXE "agenda name"

Examples:

AUTOWN95.EXE Dave
AUTOWN95.EXE WorldWideWeb
AUTOWN95.EXE "My favorite agenda"
AUTOWN95.EXE "Download some files"

Windows95 long filenames are even more confusing:

"c:\Awn95 Directory\AUTOWN95.EXE" Dave
"c:\Awn95 Directory\AUTOWN95.EXE" WorldWideWeb
"c:\Awn95 Directory\AUTOWN95.EXE" "My favorite agenda"
"c:\Awn95 Directory\AUTOWN95.EXE" "Download some files"
Does it run under Windows NT 4.0?

Yes, in fact AutoWinNet95 was designed, developed and compiled under NT Server 4.0
Does AutoWinNet95 support wildcards?

Yes - when making a FTP download or upload step or deleting an FTP file, just specify the wildcard after the pathname.

Syntax: /path/file*.zip

Examples:

/pub/upload/*.txt
/incoming/support/myfile*.z??

Remember: All FTP names are case sensitive, and web file wildcards are NOT allowed!
I can't use FTP download/upload over my company's firewall?

AutoWinNet95 does NOT currently support FTP transfers over a firewall. The library I am using to handle my FTP communications doesn't have that functionality, and it's not planned (according to their tech support) for another year.
I hate your nag screen. Why not time-limit the program instead?

Nag screens have been around since 1988, and if you've tried out more than 4 shareware programs you've seen them before. During development of AutoWinNet95, I had three choices for my shareware reminders:

- Cripple some features
- Time limit - after 30 days it won't work any longer
- Nag screen

Cripple some features
I tried this in AutoWinNet (16-bit), and got tons of complaints. The usual is "I would order your product, but I can't fully evaluate it when features are disabled".

I said "Ok, I can fix that", and put a time limit instead (stops working after 30 days). Never heard back from ANY of the 90+ people I gave the time-limited version to.

So much for that idea...

Time limit
I've written about 60 shareware programs over the past 9 years. My worst registration percentage has come from Time-limited versions.

My personal preference is to avoid time-limits, period.

Nag screen
Look at automation history:

- RoboComm - Automates dialing, download, upload, and mail transfers from Bulletin Board Systems. The shareware version has a nag up front. You must press a key to continue...
- IntelliComm - Same as RoboComm, but supports more board software. Nag screen up front.
- AutoNet (that's me!) - Dials Internet shell accounts, automating tasks such as download, upload, etc...

The nag is built around User must be present theory. If the user isn't sitting at the computer, the nag screen brings your program to a grinding halt until somebody presses a key.

Very common amongst automated systems, timer-activated sharware, and programming language tools,. For example, a shareware library for Delphi can only function under the programming environment, but not separately as an .EXE file (User must be present)

"Nags are fine, but it RUINS AutoWinNet95"
A lot of thought went into the timing and placement of my nag screen. It does not make you wait XX seconds before you can press a key, (Eg: Toolbar 2000) the continue button doesn't move around from place to place (Eg: AK-Mail), it doesn't make you type in a whole word or sentence to contine (Eg: RasPlus95), etc. Overall, it's not an irritating nag, plus gives me the benefits:

1. User must be present for program to work
2. Consistent location, therefore user acclimates to it quickly
3. Program cannot be run fully automated without registration

"But I can't fully evaluate AutoWinNet95 unless it runs totally automated"
Sure you can. Just schedule an agenda using the scheduler, press the continue button when it pops up, and watch the program go!
The registered version runs exactly the same, only no nag screen.
Can I download entire web pages?

No. You can fetch individual files (index.html, picture.gif, frames.jpg), but not entire web page structures. The web download was meant mainly for program files, or basic html retrieval.
For example: You find a must have program on www.winfiles.com, but the download web site is always busy! So.. simply schedule it for web download overnight, when the Web site is less crowded.

"Can you recommend good Offline Browser?"
As always, www.windows95.com has a great listing of Offline World Wide Web Browsers
My personal favorites are Teleport Pro and Anawave Websnake
Does AutoWinNet95 have any competition?

Of course, but we crush them all ;-)
A complete list of Automation Tools can be found, but here's my opinion from trying them all out:

Internet Agents - this program was in beta for about two years, then the company dumped it. There's no help file, to download it requires 6 meg of HD space because all the programs, instead of being combined into one slick interface, are scrambled into different directories. Upon startup, it looks great. Very intuitive, easy to manage. Once you get past the fluff, you'll find a huge lack of functionality, and dozens to "soon to come" features will never be implemented since the company changed names, and dumped this product.

Want to purchase Internet Agents? Reach in your wallet, and grab $90.00

AutoBot - Extremely simplistic with almost no features. The program appears to be a big advertisement for their Web Space Provider services. Also been in beta releases for the past two year or so...

Want to purchase AutoBot? Reach in your wallet, and grab $30.00

File Dog - Again... extremely simplistic with almost no features. It can FTP a file for you, or check your mail (you can't download mail, though)

Want to purchase FileDog? Reach in your wallet, and grab $30.00

The Others... - Tons more automation programs, but they're not Internet specific. Plus, most force you to learn their batch file language, or simply press buttons on your favorite applications. Can you say tedious?

Conclusion? With AutoWinNet95, you get 16 and 32-bit support, 30 steps encompassing FTP Mail Web Weather HeadlineNews Usenet Program-Automation, ZipFiles, auto-dial and hangup, unlimited free upgrades and tons more.

Why don't you download mail or news?

AutoWinNet95 simply checks your mailboxes, and launches your favorite mail program when messages are waiting.

Why? Currently, there's a plethora of great mail and news programs with features galore. Integrate web pages, send sounds, video inside the mail, multiple mailboxes, filtering, etc. So... rather than re-invent the wheel and end up with an inferior program, I chose to simply launch yours. Plus, if I wrote a mail or news program (please remember boys and girls - it's just little old me over here writing this program. I don't have any help), I would have to contend with:

1. Why doesn't your mail IMPORT and EXPORT messages to Eudora, TranSoft Mail, Cybercreek, Ak-Mail, Pegasus, Microsoft Mail, Netscape Mail, etc.??
2. Why can't I use my Eudora, TranSoft Mail, AkMail, Pegasus, Microsoft Outlook, Netscape Mail mailing lists and filters? I spent a lot of time creating those!
3. You only support POP3 for mail fetch? What about POP - I have a non-standard unix mailbox.
4. My favorite program (Eudora, etc..) doesn't like AutoWinNet95's messages. Even though (Eudora, etc..) uses a non-standard file format for their messages, can you add support for it please?
5. I tried out Forte's Agent newsreader, and it's so much better than yours. Why does your news reader suck? In fact, I would register your program, but until your newsreader is equal to or better than all others on the market, I'll never buy it.

Also, storing mail and news would require database functionality, thus conflicts with existing database engines on your machine, 4 meg worth of extra .DLL files I need to distribute, the whole program would slow down considerably, more hard disk access, slower response times, plus possible Alias confliction or the remote possiblity I could toast your huge SqlServer files needed for that big presentation tomorrow. No thanks!

Sorry guys - I had to draw a limit somewhere, and mail/news retrieval/storage is the bottom line. Working a full time job, taking care of the kids drains a lot of my spare time. That's why I tried to competitive-price AutoWinNet95, so you could receive the most features for a just thirty bucks. I hope you can understand...
Your scheduler doesn't have many features. Why not?

Too much to do, not enough time... You can find some better schedulers here.