------------------------------------------------------------------------- Space Patrol V2.2.1.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Space Patrol monitors your local hard disk drives for low disk space and provides a notification when the configurable threshold level is reached. Space Patrol can be used on any of the supported Windows operating systems. Unlike the built-in provision in some of the Windows operating systems, Space Patrol gives you full control over the threshold level and, where possible, provides a consistent notification user interface for all supported operating systems. Space Patrol - Copyright (c) 2002-2006 JD Design, All Rights Reserved ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note ---- You might like to print this file so that you can easily refer to it during installation. You can re-read this file after installation by clicking the Start -> Programs -> JD Design -> Space Patrol -> Readme menu item. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Installation ------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can execute the SpaceCon.msi file directly from your web browser (if you're accessing Space Patrol from our web site), or download it and run it from your hard disk, or from the supplied floppy disk (if you've ordered one with your registration). If you don't have an up-to-date copy of the Windows Installer, you may need to install a more recent version. For Windows 9x/ME use this URL: http://download.microsoft.com/download/WindowsInstaller/Install/2.0/W9XMe/EN-US/InstMsiA.exe For Windows NT/2000, use this one: http://download.microsoft.com/download/WindowsInstaller/Install/2.0/NT45/EN-US/InstMsiW.exe If Microsoft have changed the location of these redistributables, try the following starting point and look for the Windows Installer Redistributables: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/ The setup will copy files to your computer and then prompt you for your registration information (which you can skip if you're evaluating it). During setup, you'll have the opportunity to configure the settings, and once you've completed that, the last step of Setup informs you that Space Patrol is installed and briefly tells you how to use it. If you're upgrading an existing version, setup may need to restart Windows. Installing under Windows NT (NT4, 2000, XP, Windows 2003 Server, Vista) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- You need to run the installation from an account with Administrator privileges. Administration Installation --------------------------- The installer supports the MSI administative installation options. For example: msiexec /jm spacecon.msi "Advertises" Space Patrol on all the machine's users Programs menu items. When a user invokes the Start->Programs->JD Design->Space Patrol->Readme option, the installation will complete. or: msiexec /a spacecon.msi Performs an "administrative" installation to a shared network location. Files Installed by Setup ------------------------ Setup copies the following files to the installation folder: SpaceCon.exe The Space Patrol configuration program SPMonitor.exe The Space Patrol monitor program SpaceCon.hlp Help for Space Patrol SpaceCon.txt This file Setup will also add relevant registry entries and Start menu items. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- How Do You Use Space Patrol? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Setup configures Space Patrol to start monitoring automatically when you log onto the computer. It does this by a shortcut in the user's Startup Programs menu group. You can configure Space Patrol during Setup, or at any time, by using Start->Programs->JD Design->Space Patrol->Configure Space Patrol. Space Patrol displays your disk drive information and suggests where you may want to alter the setting. The monitoring can be enabled per-disk drive, and for those operating systems that have an inbuilt low disk space notification facility, Space Patrol lets you disable the OS facility. For Windows 98/ME this check box mirrors the facility in the Windows Disk Cleanup, Settings dialog box - but it does it for all your disk drives. For Windows XP this setting affects the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer NoLowDiskSpaceChecks registry setting. See MS Knowledge Base article Q285107 for the details of this setting. 1. To alter the threshold setting, select the drive and double click (or use the Modify button). 2. Alter the notification level using the "Modify Notification Threshold" dialog. 3. If you want to disable the operating system facility, check the "Disable operating system's built-in low-disk space checking facility" button. 4. When you've configured the settings to be how you want them, press the Apply button to commit the settings. Note that this operation requires privilege to write to restricted areas of the registry, so if you're not an adminstrator this operation may fail - it will inform you if it does. If you've altered the settings so that the low space setting is effective you should see a notification icon appear in the taskbar notification area. On newer operating systems you'll also get a more visible balloon tooltip shown for a few seconds. This balloon tooltip will re-appear periodically, getting less frequent the longer the low space situation persists - so as not to annoy you too much! An unregistered version contains the full functionality, but won't automatically apply the saved settings when you log on - you have to run the "Configure Space Patrol" menu item and press the Apply button. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Purchasing a license ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please see our web site: www.jddesign.co.uk When you receive your registration information, enter your registered name and number into the About dialog box. You can access this dialog from the main dialog's About button. You must enter the information exactly as it appears. The case, spaces, and punctuation of the name are significant, and the number is composed of the characters 0-9, A-F and again, the case of the letters is significant. If you register the set of utilities, be sure to use the correct registration number for each product. You can check that registration has worked by re-displaying the About box from the main dialog. When the product is successfully registered your registration name is displayed in the About dialog rather than the entry fields. Updates ------- Any updates to the current version are free to registered users by downloading the latest version from our web site. Your current registration number will continue to work with updates. Problems/FAQ's? --------------- For up-to-date information, check the FAQs on our web site. Removal ------- Use the Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs applet and choose the Space Patrol item. Revision History ---------------- V2.2.1.0 26 Nov 2006 ---------------------- Windows Vista compatible version. Reworked to separate the monitoring and configuration functionality into separate programs so that it works with Vista UAC. V2.2.0.0 9 April 2006 ---------------------- Installation defaults to "everyone". Cosmetic changes to balloon tooltip texts. Adopted the new registration number scheme used by our other products. Fix some potential issues highlighted by Visual Studio's static code analysis & Application Verifier tools. V2.1.0.1 19 April 2004 ----------------------- Fixes a cosmetic issue where the "Disable operating system's built-in low-disk space checking facility" check box was not being set correctly under Windows 98. V2.1.0.0 1 Jan 2004 -------------------- Added new recommendation category for < 15% capacity figure to advise about defragmenter limitation. Extended existing recommendation messages. Added the "Set to 15%" button facility to the the Modify dialog - again w.r.t. the defrag facility. Added "Run Explorer" command to the context menu to quickly open Explorer expanded at the appropriate disk drive. Changed nomenclature to match names used by Explorer. Dynamically update the text of the mouse-over (non-ballon) tooltip to reflect the current free space. Changed the refresh timers to be less intrusive. Refresh less often (now starts at 5 mins - was 2 mins, increasing to 2 hours - was 1 hour), display the balloon tip for a slightly shorter period (10 secs). Allow the subsequent non-display of the balloon tooltip in the current session. V2.0.0.2 1 Nov 2002 -------------------- Resolves a problem with unregistered usage that could result in Explorer hanging if the startup notification message was allowed to timeout. The message now displays as a topmost window. V2.0 02 Oct 2002 ----------------- Although this is V2, it's the first release of this major change from the original Win98 specific SpaceCon program. Support ------- We maintain a list of frequently asked questions on our web site. If you have a technical question, please check there to see if you can find an answer before contacting us. We will post the latest versions of our utilities on our web site as soon as they are available, so please take a look to keep up to date and to see what other software and services we offer. Web Site: http://www.jddesign.co.uk/ If you have any suggestions for improvements to any of our utilities, please contact us via email (our up-to-date address is on our web site's contacts page). It's always good to hear from people using our products, and we appreciate your taking the time to tell us. Thanks JD Design