                                                                    
          README FILE FOR Microsoft OnLine 2.00 (6 March 1991)           
                                                                     

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FILE LIST
---------

 Installation Files
    setup.exe - OnLine installation application
    online.inf - installation information file

 Application Files
    online.exe - user interface application
    comapp.exe - communications server application
    memmgr.dll - application memory manager DLL
    proisamw.dll - ISAM database
    gedit.dll - text display control
    isamrepr.dll - ISAM repair tool
    olutil.dll - ISAM compact utility
    online.hlp - OnLine help file
    bugform.txt - template for reporting problems

 Utility Application Files
    pkzip.exe - archival utility
    pkunzip.exe - unarchive utility
    pkzipfix.exe - archival file repair utility
    pkzip10.txt - archival utility user's manual
    pkzip11.txt - archival utility updates for version 1.1

 Logon Script Files
    logon.dia - default logon script
    logoff.dia - default logoff script
    hayeson.dia - enhanced logon script for Hayes compatible modems
    hayesoff.dia - enhanced logoff script for Hayes compatible modems
    abort.dia - clean up script file

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INSTALLATION
------------

Installing the Microsoft OnLine 2.0 application is done by running
OnLine's setup.exe application from the Windows 3.0 Program Manager.
Use the "Run" command on the "File" menu and type a:\setup. This will 
begin the Microsoft OnLine 2.0 installation process. 

The setup program will also query for a Windows group into which the 
OnLine application will be placed. If you choose no group from the 
selection list, the application will be installed, but no icon will be 
added to the program manager's group. This can be added at a later time 
using the commands of the program manager.

OnLine 2.0 setup will overwrite a preexisting directory with the same 
name, in the event that you wish to install a new version over an older 
version of the software.

OnLine uses a file called "online.ini" in your Windows directory to
store initialization information.  If you have used a previous version
of OnLine 2.0, you can either leave this file in place or delete it.

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GENERAL RELEASE NOTES
---------------------

The first time you start up the Microsoft OnLine 2.0, the "User 
Configuration" screen will automatically be displayed (unless the 
online.ini file resides in the Windows directory from a prior 
installation of OnLine 2.0). You should also go to the "PC 
Configuration" screen (select "Communications", then "PC Configuration") 
and complete the fields.

The main application is online.exe, and the communications server 
application is comapp.exe. Notice that the comapp icon may be "restored"
to view the status of file transfers.

This version of the application will give an audible beep whenver
it writes an entry to the error-log file, online.err, which is found
in the data directory.

If you are unable to run the application on com1, try com2. If you
are running the debugging kernel of Windows, use com2 for OnLine 2.0.

The default logon.dia and logoff.dia files should work for Hayes
compatible modems. These should be tried first, to connect to the 
host. Additional information on the logon and logoff script files
is available in the application's help system. 

The file archival utilities, pkzip and pkunzip, must be run from a
DOS window within Windows, or directly from the DOS prompt. At this 
time there are no equivalent Windows versions of these utilities.
 
The *.dll, *.dia files should reside in the same directory as the 
*.exe files.

Multiple Accounts/ROP Files 
---------------------------

Several sites have pointed out that they use several accounts with
one OnLine installation and wondered how they could keep their SR
databases separate.  Similarly, some people use OnLine both at work and
at home and want to keep SRs in only their work OnLine database.  While
we plan on a more comprehensive solution in the future, we now make the
following recommendation as a work around.  You can maintain several
OnLine databases in the data directory, renaming the desired one to
online.mdb before starting the OnLine application (you cannot change
databases while the application is running).  For example, if you have
accounts MS90001 and MS90002, then name the corresponding database files
MS90001.MDB and MS90002.MDB.  If you want to keep an account's SRs in 
the same database while using separate machines, copy the current 
online.mdb file to a floppy and transfer it to the data directory of the 
machine you are about to use (again, OnLine must not be running when you 
make the database file transfer).

Steps to Produce Multiple Database Files 
----------------------------------------

If you require separate database files for different accounts, here is
how they can be created.  Change to OnLine's data directory.  If there
is already an online.mdb file, delete it (first exporting any desired
data to disk file).  If there is a ROP file rop.fil, delete it also.
Now start OnLine.  It will create a new database file and tell you that
you need a ROP file.  Connect to the host to get the ROP file.  Now
disconnect and quit OnLine.  Go back to the data directory and rename
online.mdb to the account ID that you used to log in just now
(MSnnnnn.MDB).  Delete the ROP file rop.fil.  Now restart OnLine.  It
will create another online.mdb and tell you about the need for a ROP
file.  Connect again, this time using your other account.  You will
receive the ROP file for this account and it will be added to the
database.  Disconnect and quit OnLine.  Back in the data directory,
rename online.mdb to MSmmmmm.MDB (this time using the second account's
ID).  The ROP file is no longer needed and can be deleted if desired.

Now you can rename the appropriate database file to online.mdb before
using the corresponding account.  As an aside, it is a good idea to
regularly back up important data (in this case, your database files)
to a safe place.

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NOTES ON CONNECTING TO GE
-------------------------

As with OnLine 1.0, OnLine 2.0 uses a logon script called logon.dia, and
an analogous script for logging off, logoff.dia. You should take a look
at the default logon.dia and logoff.dia files to see if the modem 
commands in each are compatible with your modem. The default command set 
in each of these files will be Hayes-compatible commands. 

If you are having trouble logging onto the host, watch the status line
at the bottom of the OnLine application's client area for messages that
indicate which step of the logon sequence is being evaluated. This will
offer some information about the failure point of the logon sequence.
If you have an external modem, it is also useful to watch whether or not
DTR is reset, the number of "sends" that occur before failure, whether 
the modem goes "off hook", and whether or not carrier detect occurs.
These are the pieces of information that you can use to determine where
the logon script file is failing. It may be necessary to display the 
factory settings of your modem, or the current settings if you have
changed them or used some other communications application that may have
changed them, in order to determine why the logon sequence is failing.

If the modem is reaching the point of carrier detect, and then the logon
sequence is failing, you should check to see if your account numbers and
passwords are correct. 

If the default logon.dia, logoff.dia files do not work, make backup 
copies of logon.dia and logoff.dia and rename hayeson.dia, hayesoff.dia 
to logon.dia, logoff.dia respectively. You should also check the modem 
commands that are issued in the logon script file to be sure they are 
compatible with your modem.

MNP Mode ("Reliable mode")
--------------------------

A number of users have reported problems connecting with MNP enabled.
If you experience problems, disable MNP and retry.	Also, please 
submit a service request, as we are very interested in solving these 
problems.

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REPORTING BUGS
--------------

Please report any bugs, comments, or concerns about the OnLine 2.0
application by sending in a Service Request on the problem to the 
OnLine 2.0 product identifier, listed in your service request
product list, under the DOS operating system.  The file "bugform.txt"
that comes with OnLine 2.0 can be used as a template for problem
reports.

***********************************************************************

KNOWN PROBLEMS AND WORK AROUNDS IN THIS RELEASE
-----------------------------------------------

9600 baud access to the host is not available, or reliable in all 
locations. The OnLine application will connect and reliably communicate 
with the host at 1200 and 2400 baud rates. We hope to offer 9600 baud 
access reliably very soon.

Some OEM versions of DOS preload the share.exe utility, which will cause 
a sharing violation during the OnLine setup and installation process at 
the point where the second setup disk is read for the first time. This 
happens because the installation disks have different volume labels. If 
you encounter this problem, you should temporarily rename share.exe, 
reboot, and install OnLine 2.0. Once installation is complete you can 
change back to share.exe. In general, this is not a problem for most 
versions of DOS.

Running the application with low free system resources (viewed via the 
Windows program manager About... box) may lead to some problems in the 
DDE communication link between the client and server applications on the 
PC. The application generally requires at least 15% free system 
resources in order to start up, with another 12% needed to logon and 
connect to the host computer. As additional document and list windows 
are simultaneously created, further system resources will be needed. If 
you encounter an error message due to low system resources, while 
attempting to open a window, you may want to close other applications 
currently on the desktop.

Occasionally, while the Email service is checking for new email on the 
host, a host error will occur. This may result in the Email portion of 
the OnLine application returning to an "idle" state. To resume 
communications with the Email portion of the application, it will be 
necessary to disconnect and reconnect to the host.

Although OnLine 2.0 has been tested with numerous modems, not all modems 
and models have been exhaustively tested. The default logon and logoff 
script files that are distributed with the application should work for 
Hayes compatible modems. Common differences with other modems will 
reside in the content of the initialization commands sent to the modem, 
and in the timing delays for various modem commands. If you are having 
problems initializing the modem in preparation for connecting to the 
host, you may want to compare your modem commands to the Hayes command 
set to determine the differences and modify your logon.dia file 
appropriately. A complete listing of the logon script command set is 
provided in the OnLine Help feature, under the Telecommunications help 
topic.

Attempting to upload files that are several megabytes in size may cause 
the host to reach a soft-resource limit. If this limit is reached, the 
OnLine application will terminate the file transfer with an error 
condition from the host. This will be detected by the system operator, 
but you should contact your Microsoft OnLine account representative to 
let them know about the problem. The resource limit can be increased, 
but at this time there have been no occurrences of this problem outside 
of the testing process.

Under certain conditions, it is possible to create an Unrecoverable 
Application Error (UAE) during the OnLine setup process, if during setup 
you switch tasks to the Windows program manager. It is recommended that 
you let setup run to completion before task switching to another 
application. If you do encounter this problem, you should remove any 
directories and files that were installed up to that point, and restart 
the installation process.

OnLine 2.0 should not be used to access a communications port that is 
already in use, or that has been left in a bad state from a previous 
communications application. OnLine will notify you that another 
application is accessing the communications port when it tries to 
connect to the host, but may hang if the communications port is left in 
a strange state from a prior communications session. If in doubt, simply 
turning your modem off, then on, should reset the modem so that OnLine 
can recognize it.

The Email address dialog "To:" and "Cc:" address edit fields will not be 
cleared and reset via the dialog's clear address button when either of 
the fields contain the maximum address length possible. The addresses 
can be cleared by selecting the text in the window and deleting it with 
the customary edit commands.

It is possible to have an invalid sort order in the list of Email items 
following sequences of large insertions and deletions of items to and 
from the list. This problem is being corrected in the next version of 
the application.

Importing a disk file into either a View or Compose text window will 
concatenate a single CR-LF pair onto the end of the text. This problem 
is being corrected in the next version of the application.

Certain high-resolution video adapters may alter the relative spacing 
among the edit controls in the Compose and Query windows. It may cause 
the visual clipping of text in the control. This problem is being 
corrected in the next version of the application.

There is a problem with the database query operator for word root 
expansion (the '*' operator), in that it may not work correctly, 
resulting in a subset of the correct articles being returned. We have 
not found this error to exist in all queries using the root-expansion 
operator. If you are in doubt about the resultant query list when using 
the operator, you should attempt to generalize the query by using other 
search terms. 

There are minor visual problems in the text display windows regarding 
the placement and visual updating of the cursor and scrollbars. Deleting 
and undoing the deletion, occurring near the text window boundary when 
scrollbars have to appear and subsequently disappear to accommodate the 
volume of text in the window, may leave the cursor positioned in the 
wrong line, or may leave the scrollbar visible when it is unnecessary. 
This condition usually goes away once when the next line of text is 
added to the window. It does not alter the actual content of the text in 
the window but is simply a problem in the visual display. This is being 
corrected in the next version of the application.

Uploading large Email messages (20 kbytes or more) will lock the 
Windows desktop while the upload is in progress. This is being corrected 
in the next version of the application.

During message or file posting to the Read-Write Bulletin Board, the 
desktop bulletin board list window is disabled for the duration of the 
posting period. This reflects some idiosyncrasies of the host bulletin 
board service and will be corrected in the next version of the 
application.

If you are using a PAD instead of a modem to connect to the host, you 
may encounter some problems in trying to disconnect from the host. If 
the OnLine application fails to see a final host acknowledgment from the 
host, it will time out after 30 seconds then disconnect. This time out 
period may appear as if the host is not responding to the logoff 
sequence.

There are some minor problems while running the application in standard 
mode with low, free system resources. This is being worked on for the 
next version of the application. 

Removing an item from the Email message list requires that the PC 
application also remove the item from the host. This process takes about 
ten to fifteen seconds to complete. 
     
Microsoft OnLine 2.0 uses Windows Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) to 
communicate between the user-interface client application and the 
communications server application. While using OnLine 2.0 in the "off 
line" mode, only the client application is started; the server 
application only runs while you are connected to the host. If the client 
application is abnormally terminated while you are connected, it may not 
be possible to terminate the server application unless done through the 
Windows Program Manager. This is being improved in the next release of 
the application.
