Bank of America's HomeBanking with Managing Your Money
Version 2.10
MECA Software, L.L.C.
May 09, 1996

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 READHB.TXT         
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This file contains late-breaking information about Bank of 
America's HomeBanking with Managing Your Money, Version 2.10 
that is not contained within the documentation.

Please refer to the MYM Readme file for information 
specific to Managing Your Money.


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Bank of America's HomeBanking with Managing Your Money
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 A. Additional Initialization Strings:  Refer to the mdm.dat 
file located in your boamym directory for a list of additional 
initialization strings.

 B. Time-out message: If you receive an error message that you 
have not responded within 3 minutes but in fact you have been
active in your HomeBanking session, it may be due to the quality
of your connection to HomeBanking.  You may reconnect immediately 
to HomeBanking. Be sure to check that your last transaction was 
processed properly, if necessary.

 C. Appearance of Data: If on occasion the information showing
on your screen looks somewhat scrambled you can click on another
area of HomeBanking. You may then return to the original area 
right away.  The cause of this may be due to a poor telephone 
connection with HomeBanking.

 D. Assigning Unique QuickCodes:  Unique QuickCodes can be 
assigned automatically by either choosing the Review option 
when you connect to HomeBanking the first time or by choosing 
Create Unique QuickCodes from the File menu.  If perhaps this 
process takes place but a QuickCode remains non-unique, you 
should manually change it using the Edit QuickCode function.

    Occasionally, when the system assigns numbers in the last 
position(s) of a non-unique QuickCode, the number sequence may 
be out of order or a number may be missed entirely.

    It is recommended that you do not change your account 
QuickCodes if you are downloading transactions more than 
once during a statement period.  This may cause duplicate 
transactions to be recorded in your MYM Account Register.

 E. If you are using any fax modem programs, they may need 
to be closed before you begin HomeBanking.

 F. If you are a CheckFree user, you must disable MYM-Pay prior 
to converting your dataset.  Remember, you cannot disable MYM-Pay 
if you have pending payments.

 G. Norton Desktop for Windows:  This program may cause problems 
while using your HomeBanking program.  If you have problems, you 
should disable Norton Desktop while you use HomeBanking.

 H. Read Mail/Announcements:  You may delete an email message or 
announcement only as you view them the first time you flip through 
the messages in your mailbox.  Once you select the "Next Message" 
button, the "Delete" button becomes inactive for the previous 
message.  You can always go back into email, start from the 
beginning and delete your messages as you go along.

 I. Modem Setup Information:  For more information regarding 
your modem setup defaults, please read the sections below.  Also,
you may refer to the mdm.dat file located in your boamym directory. 

Baud Rate
---------
In HomeBanking, baud rate refers to the speed at which 
your computer talks to it's modem. This does not necessarily have 
to be the same speed at which your modem communicates with 
HomeBanking.  The reason for this is that most modern 
modems come with data compression and error correction.

Parity and Data Bits
--------------------
This is a form of error correction. Data is sent to and from 
HomeBanking in bytes. These bytes contain 8 bits of 
information, which can either be on or off. When you use 
parity, the computer only uses 7 of these bits to send the 
information. The 8th bit is used as a check to confirm the 
previous 7 bits were received correctly.
The computer checks to see how many of the 7 data bits are on. 
Then the computer will add the 8th bit (the parity bit) to make 
the total number of on bits either even or odd, depending on 
what was selected in the program. If the setting is none, 
then the computer will just leave the 8th bit as off.
HomeBanking currently uses EVEN parity and 7 data bits. Some 
other online services use no parity and 8 data bits, and use 
their own error checking, or rely on the modem's error 
correction.

Stop Bits
---------
Modems send information serially, one bit after another. For 
every byte that is sent, you first send a start bit, then 
the 8 bits of the byte and then a stop bit. Sometimes the 
other modem is set up to expect to receive 2 stop bits, or 
maybe none at all. However nearly all online services use 1 
stop bit, as is the case with HomeBanking.

Initialization strings
----------------------
Your computer sends commands to it's modem using the Hayes 
command set. These instructions begin with 'AT' which is 
short for Attention. What follows are the actual commands.
The default command for HomeBanking is '&F'. This tells the 
modem to restore the factory defaults from the software in 
the modem. 
Some older modems do not have this command built into 
the modem so you will need to use another string. 'Z' is the 
command which resets the modem to the power on state. This 
command will work with most modems which do not like the 
'&F' string.
If your modem does accept the '&F' string but still does not 
seem to connect properly, you should consult the instruction 
guide which came with your modem. You may find that '&F' on 
your modem is set to reset the modem without flow control 
enabled. This means that the baud rate you select in 
HomeBanking must match the baud rate the modem connects at. 
What you want is to reset the modem with flow control 
enabled, and set to hardware. This command is usually '&F2', 
but it is possible it is different on your modem. Your 
documentation for the modem will have a list of what the 
different numbers after the '&F' do on you modem, so look 
down the list until you find the one which resets to flow 
control enabled. If there is a choice between hardware and 
software flow control, you should select hardware flow 
control.

Transmission errors.
--------------------
If while you are in HomeBanking you notice that you have 
strange characters, or the text in a text box appears garbled 
you have probably had a transmission problem. There are 
various things that could cause this.

Line noise - This can be caused in a variety of ways. It 
could be the phone line. If this is the case, disconnecting 
and reconnecting may fix the problem. If you normally have 
a hissing line when making phone calls, this will also affect 
the modem.  You should check the phone cabling in your house 
and have the local telephone company check out your line. 
Another common cause of sudden disconnection and line noise 
is if you have another phone on the same line and someone picks 
it up. This will either disconnect you, or it may corrupt what 
is being received from HomeBanking. Either way, disconnecting 
and then reconnecting should fix the problem.

Serial Port - If you have an older PC or an older internal modem 
you may have problems with some baud rate settings. This can 
be caused by having the speed set too high. If you think 
this might be causing a problem, try lowering the speed to 
19200 or lower. 
Some serial ports also have problems if you try to set the 
baud rate at 14400 or 28800. The easiest way to check this 
is to try changing the baud rate to one of the other 
options. If you have a 14400 or higher speed modem, it is 
normally better to set your baud rate to one faster than the 
modem anyway, as this allows the modem to try and compress 
the information you are sending it, and to allow it to 
correct errors before they reach your computer.

PC Setup - Things such as your hard drive being fragmented 
(having your files saved as small segments all over the hard 
disk, rather than in one place), not having enough memory or 
running memory compression programs can all cause your 
PC to be slowed down and interfere with the serial 
ports. If you are running any programs which claim to 
increase the amount of RAM in your machine, these can cause 
the system to slow down and it is recommended you switch 
these off while using any programs which use the modem. 
You should use CHKDSK or SCANDISK at least once a month to 
check the state of your hard drive. This can correct small 
errors before they cause problems. Once you have done this 
run DEFRAG which will tidy up your hard drive.

Data Compression, Error Correction and Speed Buffering
------------------------------------------------------
Most modern modems made in the last few years have these 
features built in to allow the modem to send information 
faster and more reliably. With data compression, the modem 
will look to see if it can reduce what information actually 
needs to be sent down the phone line. It takes the 
information your computer sends and will send a 
compressed version along the phone line. This means that 
while your modem may only send 1440, or 2880 characters a 
second down the phone line, your computer 
may be sending and receiving much more than that.
Error correction means that the PC needs to do less 
checking of the data it receives and sends as the modem does 
this automatically. This reduces the effects a bad phone 
line or other phone related problems can have on the 
information you are sending.
Speed buffering is what the modem does to the information 
that the computer sends it. In order to be able to compress 
the data and check for errors the modem needs to get 
information from the computer faster than it can send it. 
Even if you have data compression on your modem, if your 
baud rate is set at the speed the modem sends information 
across the phone line you will not see any advantage. To get 
the best 'throughput' (the actual amount of information sent 
from computer to computer) it is best to feed the modem 
information as quickly as you can.
The exception to all this are modems which have software 
compression and error correction. Any modem which claims to 
be a Rockwell RPI modem or has software compression falls 
into this category. With these modems the error correction 
and compression is done by the modem drivers which come with 
the software. This means that the modems can be cheaper, but 
they also have problems working with some software.

V Numbers
---------
You will often see V numbers quoted around modems, they mean 
the following
 
V21  -   The modem can operate at 300bps
V22  -   The modem can operate at 1200bps
V22bis - The modem can operate at 2400bps
V23  -   The modem can operate at 1200/75 bps
V32  -   The modem can operate at 9600bps
V32bis - The modem can operate at 14400bps
V34  -   The modem can operate at 28800bps
V42  -   The modem has error correction
V42bis - The modem has data compression

MNP numbers are also quoted sometimes.
MNP1-4 is another kind of error correction. 
MNP5 is another kind of data compression.


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Bank of America's Customer Service maintains a "Fax Back" 
library of frequently asked questions.

To obtain this information, please dial the telephone number 
located at the top of your monthly bank statement and select 
'HomeBanking' from the menu.

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