Scanner 2.3
-----------

Content:

1. Purpose And Usage
2. Optimization by Parallel Scanning
3. Attention: Scanner And Transparent Compression
4. Language Support
5. System Requirements
6. Installation/Deinstallation
7. Terms of Use
8. Known Bugs And Limitations
9. FAQ
10. Version History


1. Purpose And Usage

The Scanner provides a visualization of your media usage. To show the
relations optimally, all files and folders of the selected disk(s)
are displayed together in one diagram - with an area size proportional
to the used space. Smaller objects are invisible, of course. So the
Scanner is not intended to be a File Manager.

The Scanner uses an extended pie chart with concentric rings. Outer
segments represent deeper directory levels. When you move the cursor
over a particular colored area you will see descriptive information
about it. Right-click on it to open it's context menu. It provides 
several actions depending on the object type:
  - Zoom into a folder (also directly available via left-click)
  - Rescan a folder
  - Open a file/folder with the appropriate application
  - Recycle a file/folder (delete it by moving it to Recycle Bin)
  - Remove a file/folder

After the initial scan you get a hard disk summary. To get similar
results for any other drives on your computer, please select the
appropriate button on the left side. Clicking on the selected drive
again causes a rescan action. Determine which drives are part of the
summary by using the "Summary" switch in the drive context menu
(right-click the appropriate button).

Use the "Back" button to change to the previously focused folder, 
"Parent Folder" to step up in the folder hirarchy. The "Rescan Folder" 
button causes rescanning of the focused folder only.

Additionally, the program provides fast access to two means of space
regain: Software Removal and empty the Recycle Bin. Note: while the
latter function will be recognized automatically, you should let the
display update after you removed software.

If you detect any bugs, please report them to me. Include an exact
description of your drives and the logfile 'Scanner.log', which you can
generate by pressing 'L' from the Scanner.


2. Optimization by Parallel Scanning

This paragraph is only of interest to you, if your system contains more
than one physical hard disk. The program is capable of scanning all
disks simultaneously, thereby reducing the scan time. Each drive has a
context menu (right-click the appropriate button), where you can adjust
the physical device ID. Drives with different numbers are beeing
scanned simultaneously. Note: Do not adjust partitions on the same
physical disk to different numbers - you'd make the program slower!


3. Attention: Scanner And Transparent Compression

Some tools allow transparent use of compressed files, i.e. after 
installation most applications see compressed files (such as ZIP) as 
folders and can easily open and browse them just like normal folders. 
Tools like that are a real problem for the Scanner, because in the case 
of compressed files the file number and sizes reported by the system do 
not correctly indicate the used disk space.

Usually, transparent compression tools have some options dialog, where
you're asked for a list of applications which see compressed files as 
files, not as folders. If you want the Scanner to work correctly under 
transparent compression, please add it to this list.


4. Language Support

Scanner is capable of detecting the language of your windows system. If
a translation for this language is available, Scanner will automatically
use it. In case you experience problems with your localization, please 
delete the file 'Scanner.lang', so the program will appear in English.

If you'd like to have the program in your native language, but it 
appears in English on your system, you may send a translation of all 
used words and phrases (see following list) to me
(mailto:mail@steffengerlach.de), I'll include it.

  Scanning...
  Bytes
  Files
  Total
  Used on
  Free on
  Summary
  Recycle Bin
  Virtual Memory
  Application Wizard
  Empty Recycle Bin
  Parent Folder
  Back
  Rescan Folder
  Version
  Zoom
  Rescan
  Open
  Recycle
  Remove
  Physical Device ID
  Cluster Size
  Auto Detect


5. System Requirements

Windows 95/98/NT/ME/2000
High Color display (or better)


6. Installation/Deinstallation

After you have unpacked the ZIP-Archive, the Scanner is ready for use.
If you want to incorporate the program into the Start Menu, it has to be
done manually. To uninstall, simply delete all Scanner.* files. The
program does not change the Windows system directory.


7. Terms of Use

This software is Freeware. Usage is not time-limited and does not
require registration. Everyone is permitted to distribute the package in
any way without my explicit agreement, provided the copyright remark and 
my email address are not being removed.

Copyright (C)2000 by Steffen Gerlach

Visit my freeware page for the latest version:
http://www.steffengerlach.de/freeware/ 

Complaints, comments or proposals may be sent to:
mailto:mail@steffengerlach.de


8. Known Bugs And Limitations

- There are no buttons for drives after the first 13.
- You can't zoom into folders that are too small to be visible from the
  parent folder.
- The network drive support doesn't work with each system. I can't fix
  this bug at the moment, because I don't have the equipment.
- The program has not been tested with compressed or protected folders
  under Windows NT/2000 and will probably not work correctly with them.
- If the recycle bin folder has a name different from the standard name
  ('RECYCLED'), it will not be recognized by the program; means it will 
  be displayed as a normal folder, doesn't count as free space and is
  not automatically being rescanned if necessary.
- Windows 95A does not provide the API function required for cleaning
  the Recycle Bin. The appropriate button does not appear.
- The displayed values for used space are a very little (usually much
  less than 1/1000) smaller than they really are. Since the numbers are
  being rounded anyway, this shouldn't be relevant.
- Drives with file systems which are not accessable for Windows can't be
  scanned, even if a button for them appears.


9. FAQ

Question: Does the program have a problem with calculating folder sizes? 
E.g. for my cookies folder, which contains several thousands of very 
small files, it displays a size of some hundred MB, but the files make 
not even one MB in total.

Answer: The Scanner shows used space, not cumulated file sizes. Those 
values may be very different, particularly in the case of small files 
combined with a large cluster size, because each file consumes a whole 
cluster in minimum. The cluster size depends on the file system and can 
be up to 32 KB.

Question: After launch, the program immediately starts scanning all hard
disks. I dont like that, because this process takes rather long on my 
system and I'm only interested in some selective information. What can I 
do?

Answer: Use the context menus of the drive buttons to unselect some or 
all of the disks from the summary. In the latter case, the program will 
start without scanning, with an empty display.

Question: Why doesn't the window allow resizing? A larger size could be 
used to display many more details.

Answer: Enlarging the display is not as effective as it might seem. Even
a doubled chart radius usually doesn't allow more than 40% additional 
visible objects, but increases time and memory consumption of the chart 
calculation process by factor 4, making the tool too heavy for an 
average present PC.


10. Version History:

2.3 (06/06/00)
  - serious bug (with files >=2GByte) fixed

2.2 (05/09/00)
  - uncommon display problems in high color mode fixed
  - support for languages with different character set

2.1 (01/17/00)
  - chart object context menu
  - experimental network support

2.0 (07/25/99)
  - folder zoom
  - drive selectable, all drive types supported
  - automatic k/M/GBytes display
  - optional parallel scanning of drives
  - no more limitation on the total folder number

1.6 (07/05/99)
  - display preparation speeded up

1.5 (05/30/99)
  - multi-lingual

1.4 (05/04/99)
  - serious bug (on partitions >=4GByte) fixed

1.3 (05/02/99)
  - serious bug (with more than one large partition) fixed
  - Scanner can generate logfiles now

1.2 (04/17/99)
  - button graphics changed
  - anti-aliasing can be turned off now

1.1 (04/14/99)
  - serious bug (when 16384+ files) fixed

1.0 (03/14/99)
