Absolutely and categorically no. I will never give out anyone's E-mail address without their permission. People who insist on sending out these E-mail mailing lists will have to look somewhere else for addresses.

3.0.3 is the latest version of the 32-bit code and 2.8.6 is the latest version of the 16-bit code.

Effective May 7, I have made an agreement with a commercial vendor to continue development of my timer. Hopefully they will be in a position to work out some of the problems that I have been unable to fix, and also to add some enhancements that I have to had time to include in the software.

The current release is NEOCOM Online Timer Pro Version 1.1, and is priced at $24.95 plus $5.00 shipping and handling. You can get further information from NEOCOM Microspecialists, Inc. at

Software@NEOCOMm.net

Tel: 800-766-6861 8am-5pm ET

Fax: 540-666-0534

If you register and have the software sent to you via E-mail (MIME encoded), NEOCOM will not charge a shipping and handling fee.

Please understand that you are under ABSOLUTELY no obligation to purchase this version unless you want to. The Freeware version was released long before I made the agreement with NEOCOM, and if you are happy with it, fell free to continue to use it.

NOTE: If you are still using Windows 3.x and the 16-bit timer, you need to verify that NEOCOM has a 16-bit version available. I do not know if it is available at this time, so be sure to check before you order! 

AT&T is the only service I know of that exceeds the 24-character limit, however they do. There is nothing in the Freeware version (and yes, it was released before AT&T started using those long passwords) that can be done to extend the limit of the fields. The commercial version mentioned above does have the username and password fields set to 32 characters (no, it was NOT done that way simply so you would buy the commercial release, it was added as a fix to this problem). 

The USR Winmodem is NOT compatible with CCM. It does not have a UART and the signals are not properly asserted to the serial port. In short, it will not work in autodetect mode. 

IF YOU ARE NOT RUNNING WINDOWS 95 DO NOT USE THIS SECTION

Windows 95 initializes the modem when it dials and again when it ends the communication session. This frequently causes problems because for several brands of modem, it disables the &C1 command in one way or another. This problem can be resolved by editing the modem settings in the System Registry.

First, some precautions:

1) If you aren't comfortable editing the Windows registry, STOP NOW! It isn't hard, but you have to be VERY careful or you can really mess things up. You can get a program from Microsoft's web site at http//www.microsoft.com/KB/Softlib/default.htm named Configuration Backup(do a search for CFGBK.EXE) that will make a backup copy of the registry so that you can restore it if problems occur. This is HIGHLY recommended.

2) I don't guarantee that changing the registry settings will work, and I don't know that they won't cause problems with other software.

In other words, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! I will show you where the section in the registry is, but any editing to the registry is done completely at your own risk.

If you want to continue, start REGEDIT running (it should be in your Windows directory, or if not there on the CD or diskettes that Windows 95 came on). This will bring up a dialog very similar to Explorer. The left side shows registry Keys, and the right side expands the keys into their values.

The "Branches" in the left side are initially collapsed, or in other words, you don't see the subkeys beneath them, just like a directory tree in Explorer or File Manager. If they have a little box with a "+" sign in it, you can click the "+" sign to expand the branch.

Follow these down until you find the modem settings. Just click the "+" signs beside the key and it will expand to show the next one.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

System

CurrentControlSet

Services

Class

Modem

0000

When you open "0000" you will see a value that reads "INIT". If you double-click the icon that reads "2" in the right side of the screen, you can edit the init string. You can completely disable the resetting be changing this line to read just AT<cr> . I'd recommend not taking anything out, but you can try adding the &C1 command if it isn't already there.

Also, when you see the "0000" double-click it (on the "0000" text) and it will show you a bunch of values in the right side of the dialog. One of them will read "RESET", and will probably show ATZ<cr> at the far right of the screen. This should be the command that Windows 95 uses to reset the modem. You might try editing it to remove the "Z" or replace it with &C1 so that the reset command is AT&C1<cr>.

If you use Microsoft Exchange, there is an additional set of commands in the branch:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

Software

Microsoft

At Work Fax

Local

Modems

TAPI100013983

ResetCommand.

and you might want to check that one.

Again, I DON'T KNOW THAT THESE WILL WORK, and if you don't feel comfortable doing it, don't! A few people so far have tried it, and they report that it resolved their problems, however you do so AT YOUR OWN RISK. 

This is documented in the Help file. Any time the timer is monitoring the serial port, these controls are disabled to prevent changing values that are currently being used. To enable them, click the [STOP] button. 

The title of one of the two frames will be displayed in blue characters. This denotes the display that will be shown when the program is in a minimized state (either an icon or Floating Dialog). If you put the mouse cursor inside the display frame whose title is blue and click the left button, it will change modes (unless it happens to be the right frame and Prime Time is not enabled, in which case nothing will happen). If you put the mouse cursor in the OTHER frame and click the left button, the blue title will switch from one side to the other. Click the left button again, in the same frame, and it will change modes. In other words, depending on which frame has the blue title and which frame you want to switch the mode in, it may take two mouse clicks in that frame to get it to switch.

It's a lot easier to do than to explain, so just try it and you'll see what I mean. 

To make it work, all you need to do is set everything to negative values. On the VALUES page of the EDIT dialog, set the RESET VALUES to the negative equivalent of the time you want to count down from. For example, if you get 40 hours a month and want to count down from that, set the TOTAL TIME RESET VALUE to -40:00:00. The next time you do a reset, it will reset to this value and count down from it. You can also adjust your current settings to read properly if you want to. Using the 40 hour limit above, and assuming that your CURRENT VALUE for TOTAL TIME is 10:00:00, subtract this from the reset amount (40:00:00 - 10:00:00 = 30:00:00) and set your CURRENT VALUE for the TOTAL TIME to the remainder (i.e. -30:00:00 in this example). Since things are counting backwards, this needs to be set to the amount of time you have left.

Also, if you are using any "Warnings" be sure to set them to negative values also. A 5-minute warning would be set at -00:05:00 instead of 00:05:00.

That's really all there is. Just change the signs on everything since the math stays the same regardless. The display will suppress the "-" sign in front of the time, and it will count backwards. I don't use it like that myself, but several people do and seem to like it. 

When Setup asks if you want to update CTL3DV2.DLL answer NO. That is the part of the installer code that is causing the problem, and if you skip it everything else will install properly. Odds are good that you didn't need the CTL3DV2.DLL file anyway, but if you do you can use the EXPAND.EXE utility to expand it.

EXPAND CTL3DV2.DL_ CTL3DV2.DLL

MOVE CTL3DV2.DLL \WINDOWS\SYSTEM

be sure to NOT leave a copy of CTL3DV2.DLL in the same directory as the program or you will get an error message about it not being installed correctly. That file must reside in the Windows or Windows\System directory (unless you have Windows installed in a different directory of course). 

Multiple Instances of the program should not be run. The code to prevent it is actually in the application, but it is not working properly. I have resolved the problem in the 32-bit version and it is fixed in the commercial release mentioned above. The 16-bit code should be fixed soon also. 

On the MAIN DIALOG of the timer, click the little down arrow beside the combo box that shows the currently active Setup. This will bring up a list box that shows all of the timer Setups that you have created. The first one in the list box is Index Number 1, the second is index number 2, and so on. For now, just note the index number of the setup that you want to automatically launch.

Click the EDIT button, and on the first page of the dialog, check the Enable Program Launch check box, and click the DIAL-UP NETWORKING CONNECTION radio button. Then click the [BROWSE] button, and select your DUN connection from the list shown, and click OK on the list box. Finally click the [OK] button on the EDIT dialog to return to the main menu.

Now click the CONFIGURE button, and on the START page, check the box that reads EXIT TMIER WHEN MODEM CARRIER DROPS, and the one beneath it that reads ONLY WHEN A COMMAND LINE PARAMETER IS PASSED. This will let the timer exit automatically when the modem drops the carrier.

At this point, you can click the [LAUNCH] button to start the program, but we can go one step farther, so click [EXIT] to exit the timer.

Right-click on an open area of your desktop, or in a folder into which you would like to add an icon for the timer, and select NEW and then SHORTCUT from the menu that is displayed. Click the [BROWSE] button, and select the timer in whatever directory you have installed it in. Before you click NEXT> though, you need to edit the command line.

At the END of the command line, enter a space, the letter "L" and the Index Number you noted in the first paragraph. The end of the command line would look something like CCM30.EXE L1 if the index number was 1. Now click NEXT> , and give the icon a name that is meaningful to you, and finally click FINISH to create the icon.

Now you can simply double-click the icon and it will start the timer, select the Setup that you specified with the Index Number, and automatically start the Dial-Up connection that you specified on the EDIT dialog. 

On the MAIN DIALOG of the timer, click the little down arrow beside the combo box that shows the currently active Setup. This will bring up a list box that shows all of the timer Setups that you have created. The first one in the list box is Index Number 1, the second is index number 2, and so on. For now, just note the index number of the setup that you want to automatically launch.

Click the EDIT button, and on the first page of the dialog, check the Enable Program Launch check box, and in the field below enter the path and name of the program that you want to launch, or click the [BROWSE] button and select it from the standard Windows file selection dialog. Then click the [OK] button to return to the main menu.

Now click the CONFIGURE button, and on the START page, check the box that reads EXIT TMIER WHEN MODEM CARRIER DROPS, and the one beneath it that reads ONLY WHEN A COMMAND LINE PARAMETER IS PASSED. This will let the timer exit automatically when the modem drops the carrier.

At this point, you can click the [LAUNCH] button to start the program, but we can go one step farther, so click [EXIT] to exit the timer.

Open the Program Group into which you would like to install a new icon for the timer. If you already have an icon set up, just right click it to select it (don't double-click it to start the timer, just click it once to select it). On Program Manager's menu, click FILE then either NEW or PROPERTIES depending on whether you are creating a new icon or modifying the existing icon. To create a new one, click the BROWSE button, and select the timer in whatever directory you have installed it in.

For either method, you need to modify the command line at this point. At the END of the command line, enter a space, the letter "L" and the Index Number you noted in the first paragraph. The end of the command line would look something like CCM20.EXE L1 if the index number was 1. Now click OK (or give it a title if you are creating a new icon).

Now you can simply double-click the icon and it will start the timer, select the Setup that you specified with the Index Number, and automatically start whatever program you identified on the EDIT dialog of the timer. 

This is a problem that several people have mentioned since I released 3.0.3, and at this time I do not have an answer as to what is causing it. I am still trying to figure out what the problem could be, however I cannot reproduce it here.

I have been told by one user that when he started Windows with the timer in his Startup folder he had the problem, but when he took it out of the Startup group, the problem went away. That is something you might want to try if you are starting it from the Startup group.

Other than that, I really don't have an answer at this point. 

It's difficult to be exactly specific on setting up the Trumpet script because there are variables on your system, and also in each Trumpet script. I'll give it a shot though.

The general format of the script line will be:

EXEC "c:\xxx\xxx\CCM20.EXE 1"

where "c:\xxx\xxx" is the actual path on your system to the timer. The "1" at the end denotes the timer Setup that you want selected. On the main dialog of the timer, the drop-down list box (just beneath the title bar of the dialog) will list all your setups when the small down arrow is clicked. The first one in the list is number 1, the second is number 2, and so on. If you have only set up one, it will be number 1.

There are three important things to note in the formatting of the command.

1)	The entire path, file name and "Index Number" are enclosed in quotation marks.
2)	There is a space between the word EXEC and the opening quotation mark of the path.
3)	There is another space between the .EXE part of the file name and the Index number.

Next you need to figure out where in the script file to put the line. This is somewhat tricky sometimes because not all scripts execute all the way to the end of the file (as I have lately found out). Look through the file for a line that reads something like "And now we are connected". Putting the EXEC command right after that generally works pretty well since it insures that you have a connection before the timer starts, and it is normally at the point where you are just starting to be logged in. If it doesn't work there, move it up in the script a few lines and try again, but try not to get to close to the top of the file or the timer will start before your modem is connected. This could cause you to get invalid log entries or multiple instances of the timer running if the modems don't actually connect properly. 

Windows 95 scripting does not have any capabilities for executing an external program. The examples in the Help file were for Trumpet scripting which DOES support an EXEC command for external programs. 

When you start the timer from the Startup group (or folder under Windows 95), do not let Windows handle minimizing the timer or you may not get the proper minimized display mode. Instead, let the timer take care of minimizing itself.

On the START page of the CONFIGURE dialog of the timer, check the box that reads START PROGRAM MINIMIZED AS AN ICON, and UNCHECK the box just below this one that reads ONLY IF A COMMAND LINE PARAMETER IS PASSED. On the DISPLAY page of the CONFIGURE dialog, select the desired minimized display mode, NORMAL ICON or FLOATING DIALOG (or Taskbar Tray Icon under Windows 95).

WINDOWS 3.x

Open the STARTUP group, and click the timer icon once to select it. On PROGRAM MANAGER's menu, select FILE then PROPERTIES. On the dialog shown, select NORMAL WINDOW as the display mode, not MINIMIZED or MAXIMIZED.

Right-click the START button, and select EXPLORE from the menu. Double-click PROGRAMS then double-click STARTUP. When the STARTUP folder is opened, right-click the timer shortcut, and select PROPERTIES from the menu. Then click the SHORTCUT tab and in the drop-down list labeled RUN, select NORMAL WINDOW, not MINIMIZED or MAXIMIZED.

Apparently I am not setting the path properly and CompuServe's software is not able to find all the files it needs to run. The only way I know of to get around this problem is to move all of the timer's files into the same directory as the CompuServe files. This should resolve the problem although I do not know that for certain. You will also need to change the paths on the icons for the timer software to point to the CompuServe directory if you do that.

Windows 95

Start Explorer, and find Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Connect Monitor. Right-click on each of the icons in the Timer's folder and select PROPERTIES from the menu that is displayed. Click the SHORTCUT tab, and in the TARGET edit field change the path that is currently there to the one in which your CompuServe software and the timer now reside (or click the FIND TARGET button and use Explorer to find it). Then click [OK].

Open the Program Group that contains the timer icons. For each icon, click it to select it (don't double-click it to start the timer, just click it once to select it). On Program Manager's menu, click FILE then PROPERTIES. Modify the path that is currently there to reflect the onein which your CompuServe software and the timer now reside, then click [OK].

Two things to watch out for with the .CBA files: 1) Do not use ANY long file names anywhere in them. The Windows API functions do not recognize them. 2) Put a blank line at the end of the file. This usually allows the last line to be executed properly. 

We are looking into it, and may add something in a later version.

The log file can be generated in two methods that are suitable for importing into a spreadsheet for calculations. Refer to the help file for more information. 

Some services require that a "Special" character be put in front of or behind the username and/or password. For example, "#SCraig" instead of just "SCraig". This varies from one service to another, some use them, others do not, and I have no way of knowing whether yours does, and if so, what character it uses.

If this is not the case with your service, it is possible that the password has gotten corrupted in the INI file. You can try editing the CCM30 file and removing the line that reads "Password=" for the appropriate setup. The next time you dial you will be prompted for a new password. 

This problem has been mentioned to me many times, and it always seems to appear on days of the month greater than 20. I do not have a fix for it at this time. 

I'm not certain, but I think this is caused by a missing entry in WIN.INI. In the [FontSubstitutes] section make sure there is an entry that reads Helvetica=xxxxx where "xxxxx" is the name of a font on your system (such as Arial or MS Sans Serif).