PostNote  Copyright 1993, 1994 by Anthony Zackin

NOTE: This program is NOT being distributed as "freeware" nor "shareware",
but rather as "Tzedakah-ware" (pronounced like Neil Sedaka) from the Hebrew 
word for charity.  The idea of Tzedakah-ware is that if you find this 
program useful you will make a donation to a bona fide charity.  Do it in 
your name and take a tax deduction.  For more information see the PostNote 
program startup screen or "Help | About".

INSTALLATION

If you've downloaded these files from a BBS then copy them to a temporary 
directory or to a floppy.  From the Program Manager select "File | Run" and 
specify SETUP.EXE in the directory you copied the files to.

Note: you probably can ignore messages regarding DLL files being in use.

If you have problems installing this program close all other running programs
before trying to re-install.  This may require shutting down Windows and
restarting it.  If you have to restart Windows remember to hold down a shift
key while Windows is coming up to prevent the Start Up group programs from 
being launched.

If your system has virus protection enabled, e.g., Central Point's PC 
Tools' Anti-Virus, then try disabling the anti-virus software temporarily:
turn it off, exit and restart Windows, install PostNote, then re-enable the
anti-virus code, exit and restart Windows again.

Once PostNote has been installed you may run it from the program manager by 
clicking on its icon.  The default PostNote file, POSTNOTE.DAT, has been
specified as the initial PostNote file to use: it is the first and only
argument after the program name, POSTNOTE.EXE, on the command line.  This 
file contains a tutorial as well as a number of sample notes, including a
legal disclaimer, PostNote tips and a little description of what 
Tzedakah-ware is.
  
You should read the tutorial note first.  The tutorial will be the top most
note in the default file, POSTNOTE.DAT.  Follow the directions in the 
tutorial note to get a feeling for some of the features of the program.

Once you've played around with the sample file and are ready to create your 
own data you've got two choices.  You can kill (delete) any unneeded 
windows from the POSTNOTE.DAT file and continue to use that for your own 
needs.  Alternatively, you can create a new file and retain the sample 
file as is.  I would recommend the latter course of action for two reasons: 
(1) you may want to refer to information in POSTNOTE.DAT in the future and 
(2) if you should re-install PostNote at a later time your data file will 
be overwritten by the installation disk's POSTNOTE.DAT file.

To create a new file select the "File | Open" option on the main menu.  Then 
enter a new file name, i.e., one that does not already exist in your 
PostNote directory.  It is recommended that you keep all of your 
PostNote files in the same directory and that you use the extension ".DAT" 
for all PostNote files. This is not required, however.  

After initializing any notes you should then exit PostNote using the main 
menu command: "File | Exit".  Now, go to the program manager and update the 
properties for the PostNote item.  Add your PostNote data file name, e.g., 
NOTES.DAT, at the end of the command line replacing the reference to 
POSTNOTE.DAT.  For example, the command line should look similar to the 
following: "c:\postnote\postnote.exe NOTES.DAT" (without the quotes, of 
course).  Note, if you do this step before creating the NOTES.DAT file then 
PostNote will create it for you automatically the first time you run 
PostNote with this new command line.


ADMONITIONS

Note: PostNote was not designed to replace your text editor or word 
processor or database program.  It was designed to let you easily store and 
retrieve small quantities of information (fewer than 32,000 characters per 
note) and to make that information easily and quickly available.  Use it to 
keep small name/address/phone lists, to take notes while you're on the 
phone, to put up reminders on your screen when you've got something 
important to do, etc.  It also can be quite useful as a scratchpad when 
cutting and pasting disparate pieces of text.

Please don't try to read in very large files into your notes.  If you do so 
you will only find yourself running out of memory, even if you have 16MB of 
RAM on your system!  Speak to Microsoft about that one.  Stick to small to 
moderate sized notes and you should be just fine.

If you should run into a problem or have a suggestion please send me a note 
(no pun intended).  See the startup screen or "Help | About" for my address
or look for me on Compuserve.  I hope you will find PostNote as useful as I
do and will reward a deserving charity accordingly.

Tony Zackin