HSI FreeSpace Version 1.7 (March 27, 1999)
==========================================

Development & Design by Sascha Imme
(Based on an original idea by Sven Ziegler)

Copyright (c) 1998-99 HSI Softworks

Special Thanks to Damien Carbery for helping me solve a very annoying problem.

Quality Assurance & Beta-Testing:
Wilfried Pankoke, Martin Pataky-Istok, Helmut Kaehler, Leif Widmark

Do you have questions, comments or bug reports?
- Email me at sascha.imme@hsi-softworks.de

Be sure to visit the HSI Softworks Homepage: http://www.hsi-softworks.de/



Contents
--------

0.   History
I.   What's FreeSpace?
II.  System Requirements
III. Installation/Removal
IV.  How to use
V.   Limitations



0. History
----------

Note: Changes and new features mentioned in the history might not have made it
      into the documentation yet. So it is recommended to read the following 
      carefully!


1.7
...

* Removed the "Beta". Some bugs are still left - probably! :)

* The FS dialog is now resizable. This should satisfy all users with large
  screens (19" anyone? Sven? :)).
  The size of the dialog is saved. The next time you'll start FS it'll look
  (hopefully :)) exactly the same as when you closed it.

* FS now supports wave file playback as Watch alert. You can combine it with
  the display of the dialog box you're used to.

* Some cosmetic changes.


1.62 Beta
.........

* Fixed a serious bug that crashed FreeSpace when values below 0.1 are to be
  displayed.

* The drive list now displays a drive's free space in the selected size AND
  always in % (in brackets)

* The position of the FreeSpace dialog is now saved and restored at startup.
  If you need to re-center the dialog, you can do so in the menu appearing
  when right-clicking the FS icon in the system tray.
  NOTE: This feature might not yet work absolutely correctly. This is mainly
        because I didn't have the time to test it thoroughly.


1.6 Beta
........

* This release is much more a beta than the previous ones. The new features
  are pretty much untested, but the general functionality shouldn't have
  suffered. The reason why I released this version nevertheless was the great
  demand for the watches (see below). 
  If you discover any bugs, write me an email (as usual).

* One the most desired features has been added: Watches! What the hell IS a
  watch you might ask now. Well, a watch watches (the name somehow implies it,
  doesn't it?) the free space of a specific drive. If it drops below the
  critical value (can be set in the watch options -- available when double-
  clicking a drive entry in the list or via the pop-up menu appearing when
  right-clicking an entry) you'll get informed about it. For now the only
  action that can be set in the watch options is a message box. It is system
  modal, i.e. it'll be on top of all other windows so that you can't miss it.
  The pop-up menu also allows you to completely remove a watch and loosing all
  settings connected to it. A watch can be temporarily disabled by unchecking
  all actions. Checking at least one action re-enables the watch with the old
  settings.
  Note 1: If you free some space and afterwards fill up your drive again you'll
  be notified again.
  Note 2: Be aware of rounding when selecting another unit in the watch options.
  The critical value might slightly change.

* FreeSpace is now able to auto-restart (e.g. after changing the language) even
  if the executable has been renamed. Nothing important, but it was annoying...

* In changing the above, I discovered that FreeSpace used the file name as its
  registry key, i.e. altering the file name resulted in the creation of a new
  key. Now only a FreeSpace-key will be created, no matter what you do with the
  name.

* Enhanced the drive list by using IE4's new feature of putting a checkbox into
  a list. Those silly plus-signs aren't any more! :)
  Btw, you don't necessarily need to install IE4 in order to use this new
  feature, the affected DLL (comctl32.dll) can be updated stand-alone, too.
  Visit Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/msdn/downloads/files/40Comupd.htm
  for details and the download.
  Note: Windows 98 users already have a recent version of comctl32.dll.

* Changed the About-Box and added a button to instantly view the readme-file.
  Note that the readme-file to be opened is selected according to your language
  setting.

* The widths of the drive list's columns are saved and restored.

* Right-clicking an entry in the list allows you to specifically set which unit
  should be used for its values (i.e. Byte, KB, MB, GB). Values below 1 MB are
  always displayed in an appropriate size (something like 0.000001 GB would
  look somehow ridiculous, wouldn't it?). 
  These settings are saved, but only for the drive letter, not for the specific
  drive.
  The bottom entry in this menu allows you to reset the columns' widths in
  case you completely messed them up. :)

* The free space (in %) of all selected disks added together is displayed in 
  the tray icon's tool tip text. Just place the mouse cursor on the FreeSpace
  icon and within a blink of an eye you know about your system's drive usage.


1.4 Beta
........

* Some changes to the general look of FreeSpace (changed some silly icons, too)

* Fixed a serious bug in the detection of available drives which caused problems
  when there're gaps in the drive order (e.g. C:, D:, G:). Discovered through an
  accidental change of my CDROM's drive letter.

* It is now possible to select which drives should be included in the overall
  statistics by clicking the drive's row. Whether or not a drive is to be 
  included is indicated by a plus sign (+) in the newly created column 'Stat'.
  Of course these settings are saved, too.

* Discovered an awfully hidden and very mean "division by zero"-bug. Although
  it was unlikely to ever happen I removed it. Nice programmers do this! :)

* Added command-line support for selecting drives on startup. Drive letters
  may be provided in various forms.

  Examples: FreeSpace.exe /deg
            FreeSpace.exe /g e d
            FreeSpace.exe /e: d: g:

  All forms give the same result. It doesn't matter in which order you supply 
  the letters, or whether you include spaces and colons.



I. What's FreeSpace?
--------------------

FreeSpace is a little utility that shows you the usage of all logical drives
connected to your system. HDDs, Network drives, removable media, RAM disks
and CDROM-drives are supported. FreeSpace gives you information about the
volume labels and file systems (e.g. NTFS, FAT) as well.
You can choose between automatically or manually refreshing the drive data. It
is also possible to set FreeSpace to minimized state on startup. This makes it
more convenient to load it on Windows startup. All that remains of FreeSpace
when it is minimized is an icon in the system tray. Left-clicking the icon
displays or hides FreeSpace, so that it is easily available whenever you need
it.



II. System Requirements
-----------------------

* FreeSpace is a native Win32-Application and runs under all Operating Systems
  supporting that platform.

  OSes which definitely work because Beta-Testing was performed on them:
  Windows 95, Windows 95a, Windows 95b and Windows NT 4.0

  OSes which should be compatible with FreeSpace, but haven't been
  available for testing: Windows 98, Windows NT 3.51

  In order to work, Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) 4.2 DLLs are required.
  Since most programs today use MFC it is more than likely that the necessary
  files are already installed on your system, so this package does not include
  them.

* There are no special hardware requirements. As long as your system is capable
  of running Windows, it's sufficient to run FreeSpace.



III. Installation/Removal
-------------------------

Installation is quite simple. Just copy FreeSpace to a location of your choice.
Only the executable is required. FreeSpace doesn't use any additional files,
except for the MFC DLLs which usually reside in the System-Directory.
The settings are stored in the registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\HSI
Softworks\FreeSpace. No additional configuration files are created upon
execution.

To remove FreeSpace from your computer, just delete the files you copied. To
remove every trace of FreeSpace's existence on your computer delete the Registry
Key as well.



IV. How to use
--------------

Using FreeSpace is easy and self-explanatory. All drives found on your system
are displayed in the list. The columns show (from left to right): An icon
representing the drive type, the drive letter and the volume label. The file
system, the size of the drive, the free and the used space. You can change
between large or small icons in the settings.
Below that list are the summaries for all drives added together and a
graphical representation of the overall disk usage. You can choose whether
you want all drives included in the summaries or only fixed HDDs by selecting
the appropriate checkbox in the settings.
Enabling Auto-Refresh disables the Refresh button and automatically refreshes
the drive data in a given interval which can be set by clicking the More
Settings button. You can also switch to another language in the More Settings
dialog.
The System Info button displays a dialog with some information about your
system. If you might be affected by the "Older Windows Version"-Bug (cf.
section V. Limitations), you'll see a remark there as well.



V. Limitations
--------------

* Due to the architecture of some Windows versions, FreeSpace may calculate
  incorrect values for some drives. This has not been reported yet, but
  according to the Win32-API Documentation it might happen. Affected systems
  are Windows 95 prior to OSR2 and Windows NT 3.51. The more recent versions
  of Windows don't have this deficiency anymore. You can check whether you
  might be affected by that problem by looking in FreeSpace's system info.
  KEEP IN MIND THAT THIS IS NOT A BUG OF FREESPACE!

* FreeSpace only detects drives which are available under the current OS. For
  example, NTFS partitions are detected under Windows NT only. You don't see
  them under Windows 9x.

* The usage of drives mounted by NTFSDOS isn't determined by FreeSpace.

* FreeSpace has problems in detecting drive letter changes. Since it doesn't
  happen too often that someone changes the drive letters under a running OS
  (which is AFAIK only possible under NT) I haven't changed it yet. With
  increasing demand (better: with ANY demand) I'll do it of course.
  Hint: A workaround to this problem is clicking the "Icon Size"-checkbox or
  - wouldn't you have guessed it? :) - restarting FreeSpace.
