                *-*-*-* Platinum Xpress/Windows *-*-*-*
               (c) copyright 1998 by Santronics Software

PX/WIN 3.0 is a major update with many enhancements, changes, and fixes.
Overall, the Look and Feel (GUI) is the same.

Below is a summary of whats new, as well as a section on the Top issues
that you should read about to explore and check out, especially for Mail
and File Hubs.

In short, this upgrade maintains  backward compatibility with PX/Win 2.0
thus, making this a plug and play upgrade.

Summary of What's new in PX/WIN v3.0 update
-------------------------------------------

  * Many bugs fixed across all applets.  See history.txt file to read
    the chronological history.  Short list of major fixes:

      - Problem w/ PXONLINE and WCCONFIG under NT 4.0 fixed.
      - Problem w/ Stream Write Errors under Win95 fixed.
      - Problem w/ Modem reset errors (due to Stream Write Problem) fixed.
      - Problem w/ Fidonet Packet 8 character passwords fixed.
      - Fixed minor bug with Manual Poll Dialog not searching for sysop
        name.
      - Ensure PXSTART starts applets in right directory.
      - Check File Announcement was not being saved in PXCONFIG.
      - Fixed a D'Bridge File Request Bug.
      - Problem w/ Areafix/FileFix Forwarding Zone Matching fixed.
      - Memory Leak in processing *.MSG messages fixed.

  * Improved Database Management Facility

  * Year 2000 compliant operations.

  * Better operations under NT 4.0.

  * Better operations under Win32 with smaller memory footprint when
    running all the PX applets on the same machine.

  * Better support for Automatic Time Changes to reset Events.

  * Better support for Fidonet Points and FSC-39 packets.

  * Better Com Port Support for ISDN, HARDWIRED setups.

  * Support for External FAX utilities for receiving and sending faxes.

  * Better support for Magic Name Updating.

  * Better support for "Time Zone" information in Fidonet Mail.

  * Drastic improvements and new features in TIC Processor and
    File Arrival Announcement System.

  * Support for External "TIC SCANNERS" by using a PXFSCAN.BAT
    file.

  * Enhanced support for "Sorted" Echo Bundle/Packets mail tossing.

  * Improved logic for Zmodem recovery.

  * New utilities such as PXCMD.EXE to control the shutdown of
    PXONLINE and PXECHO.

  * New utility PXHATCH.EXE for command line batch tic hatching.

  * Complete Revamp of Sysop Editor with countless new features
    and changes, including an Address Book Manager, Held Mail
    Manager, Better Search System,  "Must Reply" Manager,
    Internet Header Filter, TagLine and Signature Manager, etc.

  * Improved operations for FIDOMSG "Online Netmail" utility
    for WinServer.

  * New Caller ID Filter support

  * Improved Bad Mail/File Manager in PXECHO.

  * PXONLINE now handles uncompressed echo packets (does not make
    them orphan).

  * Improved NodeDiff/NodeList processing and updating.

  * New option to relax seen-by checking in Echo Exporter.

  * New GLOBAL management features in PXCONFIG.

  * Better Areafix/FileFix Request Manager operations. Now shows
    complete echo description in queries.

  * Mailer Auto Drop to BBS "Timeout" option

  * Major enhancements in NA/NO auto update system.

Detail Specific Items to Think About When Upgrading
---------------------------------------------------

1) Automatic Mail/File Network NA/NO Update System.

   For Mail and File hubs, a major rework was done to the Network
   Manager which should provide a powerful automated update system.

   When new NA/NO arrived, the auto system will clean up your master
   echo databases, the personal echo databases and the node/echo links
   databases.  Previously, NO echos were deleted. That is no longer the
   case.

   Major importing and exporting features were added which basically
   do the same thing the automated update system does.

   A NA/NO update reporting feature was added where you can have a
   report created showing what echos were added to the master and what
   echos were deleted from your system.  This feature is excellent
   when you have a LOCAL echo shared by your nodes

   You can use the PXUTILS.EXE utility to update the NA/NO files.

   For FILE Networks, please note that the "Default Passthru Path"
   is now called the "Default Passthru Base Path".  This means that
   the File Passthru Echo directories will be created below the
   passthru base path defined.  This was how it was suppose to work
   in PX/WIN v2.0.

2) Security/Flags System

   A major problem with PX/WIN v2.0 was fixed where if you defined
   securitys for echos and nodes, and then later changed the value
   in the Security Setup Manager, it was possible to have hidden
   links when they should not be any links.

   This problem was fixed.  Now when you make changes to the security
   setup, PX/WIN will double check and make a global change to all
   echos and nodes.

   This is one reason for running PXREPAIR /ALL when installing the
   upgrade to make sure there were no hidden links.

   On a related note, the new Global Manager will also do double
   checks on links when you make global changes to echo securities.

3) Global Change Manager

   A major enhancment to PX/WIN v3.0 was the addition of a global change
   facility for the Node Manager and the Mail/File Echo Managers.

   Now it is possible to global change options eliminating the tedious
   long work on editing individual echos and nodes.

4) TIC Processor File Announcement Manager

   For File Hubs, major new features were added to the File Announcement
   system.

   In short, you now have new abilities long desired by file hubs. The
   PXCONFIG online help was updated to explain this new section.

   By default, eveything will be the same.  However, if you were looking
   for some unique announcement postings, see the discussion of the new
   "Conference Group Tag" which helps separate announcements of multiple
   echos into the same mail conference.

5) FTP/HUBS Node Internet Directories

   For FTP/HUBS, a new feature of creating "ftp internet" directories
   is now available.

   It is quite simple in nature.

   Per Node, you can now default an IMPORT and EXPORT subdirectory
   where PX will put files.

   Note:

   This was not fully "Explored" for all situations so the odds are
   good that we might had to add a few more things.  But for now,
   PX will honor the directories for each node.

   When I designed it, the design intent was to augment this PX feature
   with a FTP SERVER concept where:

      a) You have an FTP server on your system,

      b) You wish to offer FTP distribution to FTN downlinks,

      c) You created a subdirectory for each FTP node downlink, such
         as:

               c:\ftpsvr\hsantos
               c:\ftpsvr\gpetersen

      d) You use your FTP SERVER manager to define FTP user accounts:

            user         password        user ftp directory
            ---------    --------        ------------------
            hector       ********        c:\ftpsvr\hector
            gary         ********        c:\ftpsvr\gary

      e) and you use PXCONFIG Node Manager to define Internet Export
         and Import Directories:

         1:135/382 (hector)

             export:  c:\ftpsvr\hector\out
             import:  c:\ftpsvr\hector\in

         1:290/111 (gary)

             export:  c:\ftpsvr\gary\out
             import:  c:\ftpsvr\gary\in

   Theoritically, the above such work fine, however, I recognized that
   now that we added such a powerful feature to PX, that we might have
   to expand it alittle more.   It will be up to you to tell me what
   you will need in this section.
