File Usage Monitor Copyright (C) Moose O'Malley, ------------------ September 2007. +===========================================================+ | T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S | +===========================================================+ | * Introduction | * Introduction | * How to use File Usage Monitor | * Limitations of File Usage Monitor | * The Future | * Monitoring How Long Windows has been running | * Special Thanks to | * Reviews / Awards / CDs | * Freeware Information | * Warranty | * Amendment History | * Contacting the Program's Author +===========================================================+ Introduction : -------------- File Usage Monitor for Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, etc. This program is free software. Anyone - any person, any company, or any business - can use this program for free. No fees or payment is required. See "Freeware Information" below. File Usage Monitor simply monitors and logs the usage of user-selected files. In many service oriented companies - particularly in Legal Offices, Accountants, Graphic Designers, Computer Consultancies, etc - customers / clients are billed for each hour of work done on their behalf. File Usage Monitor enables these companies to justify / support work invoices sent to clients by logging the amount of time spent working on computer files relating to each client. Other uses include helping staff in companies fill in detailed time / task recording sheets which require you to log what work you did during each hour of the day. As far as I know, nothing like this application exists already, and this application is completely unique. I would especially like to thank my brother, Peter O'Malley, for his original and brilliant idea for this program. Peter has got a Registered Version of the program, it is just a shame he uses a MAC not a PC !! ;) If a CPU lockout occurs or the PC hangs for a while, I have especially coded the program so that such lockouts are ignored in the log. i.e. time will not be added to the logged usage for a file while the PC is hung. You cannot also stop / pause logging if the mouse is inactive for a number of seconds that you can specify on the Settings Screen. How to use File Usage Monitor : ------------------------------- File Usage Monitor's main screen consists of a row of buttons and a grid. The grid consists of 3 columns which display displays the File Name(s), the current status of each file, and the logged usage time so far. All buttons in this program have Tooltips, so just let the mouse pointer hover over the button and pretty soon, a Tool Tip help will appear to explain what the button does. To Add files to the list to be monitored, click on the "Add File" button - the leftmost button. To see the full name and full path for a file, click on the file's row in the grid and and the file's full name will appear the below the grid. To remove a file from the list to be monitored, click on the row of the grid that the file is in, and then click the "Remove File" button - the 2nd button from the left. To Reset the Logged Usage Time for a file, click on the row of the grid that the file is in, and then click the "Reset Logged Time" button - the 3rd button from the left. To halt / stop the Logging of File Usage, simply click the "Stop / Halt all logging" on the far right of the main window. To call up help, press the "Help" button, or select the "Help" menu and choose the "Help" option. No other buttons work in this program - yet !! Limitations of File Usage Monitor : ---------------------------------- At the moment, this program can only log file usage if file locking occurs. e.g. When you edit a document in MS Word, Word "locks" the document to prevent other accesses until you finish editing and close the document. Excel, Power Point, Lotus 1-2-3, Access, WordPerfect, Corel Draw, and most large commercial packages perform this locking. Some programs, like Notepad, Word Pad, Paint Shop Pro, etc do NOT lock your files while they are being worked on. As a result of this, File Usage Monitor cannot log any access to files within these programs - yet ! But, I am working on ways around this as we speak !! (See "The Future" below). Many DOS programs lock files (such as WordPerfect for DOS, Lotus 1-2-3 for DOS, etc), and as long as these are run under Windows and other Windows applications are still multi-tasking, then File Usage Monitor will monitor file usage of files in these DOS programs as well !! If you are not sure whether the application(s) you are using lock open files, select a file for that application in File Usage Monitor and see if the "File Status" changes while the file is being edited in the particular application. Support for programs that do NOT lock files is being worked on as we speak !! The Future : ------------- This is an early release of the program, and many interesting things could be done in the future. This program could well turn into a large and complex application, with the following sorts of features : - Add a Client column so that the hours spent working on all files for a client can be easily seen. - Add a Detailed Log File for each file being monitored so that you can see the various start / stop dates / times for when work was undertaken on each particular file. - Add in a Client Report button which generates a report containing : File name, logged work time (in Hours), with a month by month breakdown and an overall total. - Add in Sort functionality to sort on the various columns. - Add in the ability to ignore file usage events of less than 15 seconds (say). - Add in extra file filters on the Select File dialog, such as *.doc, *.xls, *.wk*, *.ppt, *.drw, etc. - Help File - full blown, context sensitive help for the application. - Group Working functionality to generate reports for each client even when many people are working on files relating to the client. - A Macintosh version of the program. - Add in functionality to save the File Usage Log periodically (say every 5 minutes), to minimise the impact of a total system crash on the log. - Add in a Setup screen to enable the user to customise the program. - Work on getting File Usage Monitor to log file usage in applications that do NOT lock files while they are being worked on. See "Limitations of File Usage Monitor" above. - Anything else ? Just Email me with suggestions / comments !! The list is almost endless !! What upgrades I do depends on what sort of response I get to this program, and what other suggestions I get. Monitoring How Long Windows has been running : ---------------------------------------------- Need to keep track of how long you use Windows ? Many people need to do this inorder to coordinate Backups and other activities. Well, File Usage Monitor can help !! Many files that are opened (with write locks) when Windows starts and are closed down when Windows exits. These files are perfect for monitoring how long Windows has been running. For example, in Windows 95, these files can be used : c:\Win386.swp c:\windows\system\Mapisp32.exe c:\windows\system\winspool.drv c:\windows\system\systray.exe c:\windows\Win386.swp (Windows Swap File) Suitable files are not hard to find - press Ctrl-Alt-Del when Windows 95 starts up and look at the list of system files. There are other utilities where you can see loads of other drivers that are loaded as well if you want to use others. Or you can hook into files belonging to other Windows applications - such as McAfee's virus scan that loads when Windows starts : c:\Program Files\McAfee\Vshwin32.exe Special Thanks to : ------------------- I would especially like to thank the following people : - My brother, Peter O'Malley, for his original and brilliant idea for this program. Peter has got a Registered Version of the program for coming up with the idea, but it is just a shame he uses a MAC not a PC !! ;) (If Delphi is ever released on the MAC, I will do a MAC version specially for you Peter !). - Markus Oberhumer & Laszlo Molnar who have developed "The Ultimate Packer for eXecutables" (aka UPX), which is used to compress the 32 bit EXE to less than 40% of it's original size. Check out : * http://cdata.tvnet.hu/~ml/upx.html * http://wildsau.idv.uni-linz.ac.at/mfx/upx.html Sadly, this utility doesn't support Windows 16 bit executables, so I am still searching for a good cheap / free Windows 16 bit EXE Packer. Reviews / Awards / CDs : ------------------------- None so far. Freeware Information : ----------------------- This is free software. Anyone - any person, any company, or any business - can use this program for free. No fees or payment is required. However, if you find the program useful, then please consider making a PayPal donation to support my efforts. (To make a donation, please run the program and select the "About" option under the Help menu, and then click the PayPal link on the "About" screen). Warranty : ---------- This software and the accompanying files are provided "as is" and without warranties as to performance or merchantability or any other warranties whether expressed or implied. The user assumes the entire risk of using this software. If you do find any faults with this program, email me and let me know. Amendment History : -------------------- Vers Date Description 1.0 18-Apr-1997 First Public Release. Thank to my brother, Peter O'Malley, for his original and brilliant idea for this program. 1.1 24-May-1997 Save settings automatically on Windows shutdown (Registered Users only). Start Minimised if set in Shortcut / settings (Registered Users only). Improve application startup - size and position form before user sees it. Put a Status Bar at the bottom of the Main Window to hold Icon & object tool tips. Add in Menu items for viewing my Shareware Catalog, Readme file, and Registration Form. 1.2 13-Jun-1997 Save Window Height and Width on exit, and enable Main Window to be resized. Build a 32 bit version for Windows 95 / NT which enables Long File Names to be used, and also enables File Usage Monitor to be placed on the Icon Tray. Make the "Add Files to be Monitored" button multi-select, so you can add many files at once. Add in a "Reset Usage" for all files button. 1.3 11-Jan-1998 Fix a long standing but very elusive problem to do with "DateEncode" errors which occured on some machines under some conditions. Once I could replicate the error, it was reasonably straight forward to get a workaround for what was another bug in Delphi. (3,216 lines of code / comments.) 1.4 18-Jul-2000 Add in the ability to Pause logging if a certain period of mouse inactivity is encountered. (Added in specially for Mark Radford). (6,691 lines of code / comments.) 1.5 17-Apr-2001 Add in support for "Big Fonts" and "Other Sized Fonts" - with these Windows resizes the windows automatically - but only sometimes and it doesn't always do it right, so now I make sure my main window is the right size before doing any scaling, etc. i.e. I make it fit the component(s) that extend the furthest right and furthest down the form. See the Start Menu -> Settings -> Control Pannel -> Display -> Settings Tab -> "Advanced" button -> "General" tab for your PC's settings in this area. Bring program up-to-date with my latest code libraries. (8,381 lines of code / comments.) 1.5b 20-Nov-2002 Bring the program up to date with my latest code libraries. Registered Users - please contact me via email. (28,694 lines of code / comments.) 1.5f 3-Sep-2007 This program is now FREEWARE - see "Freeware Information" above. If this program was not downloaded from my Home Page, then it is possibly an old version. The latest version of this program is available from my WEB page - see below. Mike "Moose" O'Malley ____________________________________________________ Moose's Software Valley - Established July, 1996. WEB: http://move.to/moose ____________________________________________________