







      SNOOPER(TM)
      The System Checker

      Version 3.10
      November 17, 1993


      Copyright 1989-93 John Vias
      All rights reserved.

















      Here's how to reach us:

      Mail:         Vias & Associates
                    P.O. Box 8234
                    Gainesville, FL 32605-8234

      Phone:        800-332-8234 (orders only, please)
                    904-332-8234 (international orders, and tech support)
                    Monday through Friday, 10AM to 8PM, Eastern time

      Compuserve:   72260,1601 (for E-mail inquiries)
                    You can find the latest copy of Snooper (SNOOPR.ZIP)
                    in the IBM Hardware Forum (GO IBMHW), General Hardware
                    library (4)

      PCBoard BBS:  A.C.C.U.G.* 904-335-7289 (V.32bis)
                    Greg Barton, sysop

      *New BBS. Enter your real name and a password when prompted. Later in
      the logon procedure, you will be asked if you have called for Snooper
      support. Answer yes. You can find the newest version of Snooper, read
      and send us E-mail (to John Vias), and read the bulletins. Snooper is
      named SNOOPmnn.ZIP, where "mnn" is the version number (e.g., a
      hypothetical version 6.57 would be named SNOOP657.ZIP).

      The ACCUG BBS supports the Alachua County Computer Users Group and
      other PC enthusiasts. Give it a call!







                                VIAS & ASSOCIATES

      This program and its documentation were created by Vias & Associates,
      a computer consulting, programming, and technical writing firm based
      in Gainesville, Florida. If you, or someone you know, needs software
      or documentation written, edited, or designed, please contact us.
         Do you need a customized system reporting program? Perhaps one
      that writes comma-delimited files? Call us! Our rates are affordable.
         Whether it's a computer program, a newsletter, software
      documentation, or anything in between, we look forward to working
      with you!



                                  ASSOCIATION OF
                             SHAREWARE PROFESSIONALS

                    _______
                ____|__     |               (tm)
             --|       |    |-------------------
               |   ____|__  |  Association of
               |  |       |_|  Shareware
               |__|   o   |    Professionals
             -----|   |   |---------------------
                  |___|___|    MEMBER

      This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware
      Professionals (ASP). The ASP wants to make sure the shareware
      principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a
      shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member
      directly, the ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you
      resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide
      technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP
      Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a Compuserve
      message via Compuserve Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536.







                                TABLE OF CONTENTS

      VIAS & ASSOCIATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2

      ASSOCIATION OF
      SHAREWARE PROFESSIONALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2

      WHAT IS SNOOPER?  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8

      WHO NEEDS SNOOPER?  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8

      REQUIREMENTS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9

      FILES ON THIS DISK  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9

      INSTALLATION  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
         DOS Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
         Windows Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
         Upgrading from a Previous Version  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11

      THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND SNOOPER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11

      LEGALITIES  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
         Warranty, Copyright, Liability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
         License  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12

      WHAT IS SHAREWARE?  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13

      REGISTRATION/ORDERING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
         Registration Benefits  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
         Pricing  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
         Updates  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
         How To Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14

      SYNTAX  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
         Help Switches (H|?)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
         Black-and-white Mode Switch (B)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
         Desqview Mode Switch (D) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
         Non-interactive Mode Switch (N)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
         Quiet Mode Switch (Q)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
         Disk Drive Argument (D:) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
         Chip Detection Bypass Switches (C, M)  . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
         Configuration File (Sfilename])  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
         Configuration File Environment Variable  . . . . . . . . . . .  17
         Logging Switch (L[filename]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
         Log File Environment Variable  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
         Log CONFIG.SYS/AUTOEXEC.BAT Switch (F) . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
         Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19

      OPERATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
         Windows Operation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
         Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
           Exit Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
           Help Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21







           Order/registration Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
           Consecutive Drive Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
           Drive Letter Keys  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
           File Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
           Edit CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT Keys  . . . . . . . . . . .  23
           Edit SNOOPER.LOG Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  23
           Log Key  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  23
           Log to Printer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  24
           Log CONFIG.SYS/AUTOEXEC.BAT Key  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  24
           Log to Clipboard Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  24

      ERRORLEVEL  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  24

      BUGS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25
         Known Bugs and Anomalies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25

      WISH LIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  26

      MAIN SCREEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  26
         Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  26
         Advanced Power Management (APM)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  27
         Central Processing Unit (CPU)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  27
         CPU Speed  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  27
         Virtual-86 Mode  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  27
         Numeric Data Processor (NDP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  27
         Bus  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  28
         Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  28
           Conventional Memory  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  28
           Free Memory  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  28
           Used Memory  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  29
           Extended Memory  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  29
           Ext Free . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  29
           XMS Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  29
           eXtended Memory Manager Level  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  29
           High Memory Area (HMA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  30
           A20 Line Status  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  30
           Upper Memory Block (UMB) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  30
           Enhanced Memory Specification Total  . . . . . . . . . . . .  30
           Enhanced Memory Manager Level  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  30
           EMS Memory Free  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  30
         Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  31
           Floppy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  31
           Hard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  31
           Physical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  31
           Logical  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  31
         Video  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  32
           Video Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  32
           VGA Adapter Brand  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  32
           VESA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  32
           Monitor Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  32
           Video Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  33
         Ports  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  33

      4   Snooper, the system checker







           Serial Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  33
           Parallel Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  33
           Game Port  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  33
           Sound Cards  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  34
         ROM BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  34
           Brand  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  34
           Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  34
           Plug-N-Play  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  34
           Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  34
         Mouse  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  35
           Brand and Driver Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  35
           Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  35
         Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  35
           Present  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  35
           Support  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  35
         Environment  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  36
           Free . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  36
           Total  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  36
         DOS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  36
           Brand and Version  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  36
           Shell  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  37
           Files  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  37
           Buffers  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  37
           Break  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  38
           Verify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  38
         Disk Cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  38
         Network  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  38
         Disk Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  39
           Drive List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  39
           Label  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  39
           Directory  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  39
           IDE Drive Model/SCSI Host Adapter  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  39
           Drive Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  40
           CMOS Type  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  40
           Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  40
           Heads  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  40
           Sectors/cylinder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  40
           Cylinders  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  40
           Sector Size  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  41
           Cluster Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  41
           Total Space  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  41
           Free Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  41
           Used Space (bytes) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  41
           Used Space (%) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  41
           Used Space (bar graph) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  41

      DIAGNOSTICS SCREEN  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  42
         Serial Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  42
           Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  42
           UART . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  42
           Speed  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  43
           Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  43

                                           Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  5







           IRQ  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  43
           Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  43
           Fax Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  43
         Parallel ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  44
           Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  44
           IRQ  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  44
           Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  44
         Sound Card Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  45
         Interrupt Request (IRQ)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  45
         Direct Memory Access (DMA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  45

      BUS SCREEN  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  46

      NETWORK SCREEN  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  47
         Network Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  47
         Network Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  47
         Node Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  47
         Socket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  47
         User Name  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  47
         Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  47
           Network Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  47
         Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  48
         Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  48
           Default  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  48
           Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  48
         Connections  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  48

      CMOS SCREEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  49
         CMOS Status  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  50
         Date and Time  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  50
         Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  50
         Floppy Drives  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  50
         Hard Drives  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  50
         Display  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  51
         Coprocessor  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  51
         Saving Your Changes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  51

      BENCHMARK SCREEN  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  52
         CPU Throughput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  52
         Video Throughput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  52
         Disk Throughput  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  53

      SETUP SCREEN  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  54
         Mono Mode  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  54
         Desqview Mode  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  54
         Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  54
         Drive  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  55
         Sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  55
         Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  55
         License Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  56
         Saving Your Changes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  56


      6   Snooper, the system checker







      A LITTLE BIT ABOUT SNOOPER'S AUTHOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  57

      A LITTLE BIT ABOUT SNOOPER'S CREATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  57

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  58

      INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  60














































                                           Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  7







                                 WHAT IS SNOOPER?


      Snooper is a system information utility that "snoops around" your
      computer to report its configuration and operating characteristics.


                                WHO NEEDS SNOOPER?

                                       You

      You can use Snooper to keep an eye on your memory and disk usage.
      Snooper also can help you when you are installing new peripherals or
      software. And when you are talking to technical support personnel,
      Snooper can help you answer many of their questions about your
      computer.


                       MIS Managers/Network Administrators

      If you are in charge of keeping a large installation of PCs up and
      running, Snooper can lend a hand. For example, it's perfect for
      collecting hardware inventory information. Add Snooper to a user's
      login script with the right command line parameters, and it will
      collect information on that node into a file on the server. You can
      then assemble the files into a database of configuration information.
         Afterward, you can tell at a glance which users need DOS upgrades
      simply by referring to the database, without visiting each site or
      calling each user. Major corporations are already using this method
      to collect inventory data with Snooper.
         Also, we would be glad to create a customized version of Snooper
      to assemble all the information you need, and in the format you
      specify.


                   Consultants, Technicians, Support Personnel

      You'll find Snooper helpful for showing at a glance what kind of
      machine you are dealing with when you must troubleshoot or upgrade
      it. Also, you can use Snooper to help you ensure the machine
      recognizes equipment you installed. If you installed a mouse, for
      example, ensure Snooper's display shows mouse information. If it
      doesn't, the mouse may not work. Snooper also can help you maintain a
      log of machines you've worked on. Then, the next time a customer
      calls, you already have a good idea of the configuration of that
      customer's computer.







      8   Snooper, the system checker







                    Hardware and Software Vendors, Programmers

      After you buy an appropriate license, you may give away copies of
      Snooper with each computer or software package you sell. You'll
      receive several benefits. First, Snooper will make troubleshooting
      over the telephone faster, easier, and less expensive. As you know,
      many computer problems are caused by incompatible DOS versions,
      incorrectly-installed hardware, and the like. You can find out much
      about a customer's system by asking her to run Snooper, then relay
      the relevant information. Also, because we can make your company's
      name appear on Snooper's screen, every time your customers run it,
      they will remember it was you who gave them this useful utility.


                                 Computer Dealers

      Snooper's display is useful in providing a continuous at-a-glance
      display for potential customers of a machine's specifications. No
      more scrambling to learn a machine's specs. Simply run Snooper. You
      also can determine easily the configuration of used computers you're
      considering buying.


                                   REQUIREMENTS

      You may want to postpone reading the rest of this manual to run
      Snooper. Go ahead! Snooper normally doesn't affect your computer in
      any way except to write a log file if you ask it. Here are its
      requirements:

         * IBM PC or 100% computer
         * 256K RAM
         * DOS 3.1 or higher
         * a video card

      In short, Snooper should run on your computer. Make sure Snooper is
      in your current directory or on your path. Then just enter "snooper"
      at the DOS prompt. See below for keystrokes you can use in the
      program. Press <Esc> to exit Snooper.


                                FILES ON THIS DISK

      All of the following files should be on this disk or in this
      compressed file. If any are missing, or if they don't all have the
      same date and time, please don't redistribute the remaining files.







                                           Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  9







      Contact one of the distribution points listed on the front page for a
      complete (and possibly newer) version.

      Filename     Description
      SNOOPER.EXE  Snooper, the system checker. To order, press <F1>, <O>.
      SNOOPER.CFG  Sample configuration file (not required to run Snooper)
      SNOOPER.DOC  Snooper's main manual (this file)
      SNOOPER.HST  Snooper's revision history
      SNOOPER.ICO  Icon file for Windows 3.x
      SNOOPER.PIF  PIF file for Windows 3.x
      VENDOR.DOC   Information for disk vendors and sysops
      FILE_ID.DIZ  Description file some BBSs will use automatically.
                   Thanks for uploading!
      SNREAD.ME    Brief quick-start material


                                   INSTALLATION

                                 DOS Installation

      Installation couldn't be easier. Simply copy all files to a
      subdirectory on your hard or floppy disk. Switch to that
      subdirectory. You can print this manual by copying it to your
      printer. The command:

         copy snooper.doc prn

      usually works, assuming SNOOPER.DOC is in the current directory and
      your printer is attached to your first parallel port. Of course,
      Snooper shows you how many parallel ports you have. My, what a useful
      utility!


                               Windows Installation

      To use Snooper under Microsoft Windows, follow the instructions under
      "DOS Installation." When all files have been copied:

         1.   Invoke Windows.
         2.   In Program Manager, select an appropriate program group.
         3.   Select New from the File menu.
         4.   Click on New Program Item.
         5.   For Description, type "Snooper."
         6.   For Command Line, type Snooper's full path. For example, if
              Snooper resides on your C: drive in your "\UTILS" directory,
              use the command line "C:\UTILS\SNOOPER.EXE" here. (If you
              want to use the .PIF file, edit it with PIFEDIT to point to
              SNOOPER.EXE. Then follow these instructions but make Command
              Line point to the .PIF file instead.)
         7.   Click on Change Icon and enter the path to SNOOPER.ICO.
         8.   Last, click the OK buttons until you return to the Program
              Manager's main screen.

      10   Snooper, the system checker







      Snooper's icon should appear in the selected program group. You're
      done! To run it, double click on its icon.


                        Upgrading from a Previous Version

      If you are using an older version of Snooper, simply copy the new
      files over the old. Read the history file, SNOOPER.HST, to find out
      what has changed since the version you were using was released. If
      you need more details, refer to appropriate sections of this manual.
         Future configuration files are likely to be backward compatible
      with older ones. The documentation will state if they aren't.


                          THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND SNOOPER

      As we designed and wrote Snooper, we kept several design
      considerations in mind:

         * We wanted it to be useful to both beginners and experienced
           users, for the casual user and the technocrat. If you don't know
           what "NDP" means, don't worry. This manual will help you.
         * We wanted Snooper to run instantly, and to show everything it
           knows on one (well, maybe a few) screens. With Snooper, you
           needn't wait for lengthy searches and you needn't pull down six
           menus to find what you want.
         * We strived for accuracy in its reports. This fact sometimes can
           explain differences between Snooper's reports and those of
           similar but inferior programs. 
         * We tried to make Snooper as aesthetically pleasing as possible.
           Too often an otherwise excellent program is ruined by a garish
           (and permanent) color scheme. Snooper's display is, we think,
           attractive and easy to read. If you don't like its color scheme,
           you can always change it. To reduce clutter, when the answer to
           a report would be zero, none, or not applicable, Snooper simply
           leaves that report area blank.
         * We wanted to make Snooper intuitive and easy to use. We made the
           keystrokes and command line switches similar to other programs
           so you wouldn't have to learn yet another interface. For
           example, typing "snooper/?" at the DOS prompt or pressing <F1>
           from the Main screen displays help screens, just as you'd
           expect.


                                    LEGALITIES

      Here's the nasty part. Please bear with us while we assault you with
      the usual barrage of disclaimers and legal mumbo-jumbo. It is an
      unfortunate but necessary addition to every software manual published
      in our litigious society. End of lecture.



                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  11







                          Warranty, Copyright, Liability

         * SNOOPER IS SUPPLIED AS-IS. IT IS NOT GUARANTEED FOR FITNESS OR
           SUITABILITY FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
         * USE SNOOPER AT YOUR OWN RISK. NEITHER JOHN VIAS, NOR VIAS AND
           ASSOCIATES, WILL BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES--ACTUAL,
           CONSEQUENTIAL, OR OTHERWISE--FROM THE USE OF, OR THE INABILITY
           TO USE, SNOOPER, OR FOR ERRORS IN ITS DOCUMENTATION.
         * VIAS AND ASSOCIATES WARRANTS THE MEDIUM UPON WHICH WE DISTRIBUTE
           SNOOPER, IF GIVEN REASONABLE CARE, TO BE FREE OF DEFECTS IN
           MATERIALS AND WORKMANSHIP FOR AS LONG AS YOU USE THE PRODUCT.
         * ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE HEREBY EXPLICITLY
           DISCLAIMED. YOUR RIGHTS MAY VARY FROM STATE TO STATE.
         * SNOOPER, THE SYSTEM CHECKER, AND ITS DOCUMENTATION ARE
           COPYRIGHTED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
         * THE BRAND NAMES USED IN THIS MANUAL ARE TRADEMARKS OR REGISTERED
           TRADEMARKS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE MANUFACTURERS.
         * ANY DISAGREEMENTS ABOUT SNOOPER WILL BE SUBJECT TO THE LAWS OF
           THE STATE OF FLORIDA.


                                     License

      We encourage individuals, user groups, shareware vendors, and others
      to use, copy, and distribute Snooper in compliance with the following
      restrictions:

         * You are hereby granted a limited license to use Snooper for an
           evaluation period not to exceed thirty (30) days. After that
           period, you must either discontinue use of Snooper or register
           with the author (see below).
         * You are encouraged to pass Snooper along, but please distribute
           the program and its related files together, intact and
           unmodified.
         * Don't reproduce the printed documentation in any way.
         * Don't distribute Snooper as part of any product or service
           without our prior written permission.

      Shareware vendors, rack vendors, CD-ROM and book publishers, and
      other businesses are also subject to the following restrictions:

         * Your advertisements, catalogs, and other literature must clearly
           explain that the user must pay the author for shareware he or
           she uses, and that the money paid the vendor for the disk does
           not satisfy the user's obligation to the author.
         * If the version you have is over six months old, please ensure
           that you have the most current version by finding Snooper on
           Compuserve or on its distribution BBS (see the first page of
           this manual for distribution points).
         * If we ask you to stop distributing Snooper, do so.

         OK, enough legal stuff.

      12   Snooper, the system checker








                                WHAT IS SHAREWARE?

      Snooper is distributed by a marketing method called shareware. Those
      of us who distribute software via this technique believe:

         * People should be able to evaluate a program in its actual
           operating environment, which a computer store is not;
         * They should have a reasonable time to evaluate it, which is
           longer than a computer salesperson's patience will allow (trust
           us, we know);
         * Users are honest enough to register the program with the author.
           The user not only will gain a clear conscience, but also will
           encourage the programmer to improve the software, which in turn
           is good for the user;
         * Commercial software is too often overpriced. Because many
           shareware authors don't have to pay for advertising, fancy
           packaging, toll-free numbers, and other commercial marketing
           necessities, we are able to keep costs down.

      Keep in mind that shareware is not free. We shareware authors expect
      those of you who use our programs to pay us for our efforts just as
      you pay writers of commercial software for theirs. We're just nicer
      about collecting it.


                              REGISTRATION/ORDERING

      As stated above, you are granted a limited license to evaluate
      Snooper. If you continue to use Snooper after a 30-day evaluation
      period, you must pay the author for it. Although you may have paid a
      shareware vendor a few dollars for this disk, you should know the
      author gets none of that money. Just as you have to pay for
      commercial software you use, you must pay for shareware you use. This
      is called registration. You can think of it as ordering the
      registered version of the program.
         Volume discounts, and customized versions are available and
      encouraged. Please contact us for details. We will need to know how
      you wish to use or redistribute Snooper and how many copies you
      expect to use or distribute.













                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  13







                              Registration Benefits

      Your registration fee entitles you to:

         1.   A printed 60-page manual.
         2.   The most recent version of Snooper on disk.
         3.   Notification by mail of the next update.
         4.   Lifetime free technical support (see the first page of this
              manual for contact information). This is a toll call.
         5.   A license number to personalize your copy and prevent the
              Registration Reminder Screen from appearing.
         6.   The peace of mind in knowing you have legitimized your use of
              Snooper and supported the shareware concept.
         7.   Our undying gratitude.


                                     Pricing

      For pricing, please consult the following chart. You will receive one
      disk and one manual.

         Users    Discount  Price per user
         -----    --------  --------------
         1-9                $39.00
         10-49    20%       $31.20
         50-99    40%       $23.40
         100-249  60%       $15.60
         250+     BIG       call!

      If you need more disks or manuals, or you have some special need,
      please contact us for further information.


                                     Updates

      Updates are available to registered users for a significant discount.
      Currently, they are only $15 for the latest version on disk, and a
      printed manual. The disk also will include the history file, so you
      can see what changes have been made. You can order an upgrade any
      time, and a new version will be sent to you. We will delay shipment
      until the next release, if necessary.


                                   How To Order

      It's very quick and easy. You can order by phone with a credit card.
      Or send your registration in US funds drawn on a US bank with a
      business, personal, traveler's, or cashier's check; or a money order,
      Postal Money Order, or American Express International Money Order.
      You can send cash through the mail, but we can't guarantee we'll
      receive it.


      14   Snooper, the system checker







         To pay by Visa or MasterCard, just call our tollfree order line
      (listed on the first page of this manual). If you prefer, you can
      have Snooper print an invoice (see below). Then fill it out and mail
      it.
         If you want Snooper to print an invoice for you, run Snooper and
      press <F1> for help, then <O> for ordering information. Then press
      <P> and read the invoice-printing screen. Make sure your printer is
      ready. Finally, select the port you want Snooper to print the invoice
      to. You may print to any valid parallel or serial port, or to a file
      called SNOOPER.INV. (You can then edit SNOOPER.INV with a word
      processor and print it.) Make checks payable to "Vias and
      Associates."
         If you're ordering Snooper for a business, you can pay via a
      purchase order. Just send a copy of the invoice you just printed to
      your Purchasing department and have them forward a purchase order to
      us. When we receive the P.O., we'll send your manual, disk, and
      license number, and send an invoice to your Accounts Payable
      department. This is faster than having to contact us first to send
      you an invoice.
         Thank you for registering! We hope you enjoy and benefit from
      Snooper for years to come.


                                      SYNTAX

      There are several switches and options you can use to change
      Snooper's operation. Enter them after Snooper's name at the DOS
      prompt. They are all optional and all case-insensitive. You may
      preface them with hyphens or slashes if you wish.
         Some have long-name forms, so in a batch file, you can easily see
      what the switch is for. They all have single-letter forms, as well,
      for faster entry on the command line. In fact, Snooper only notices
      the first character (except where it expects filenames), so you can
      create your own long-name forms (e.g., "Black-and-White" instead of
      "B/W").
         If you enter an invalid parameter, Snooper will display its first
      help screen (command line syntax), and show you the invalid
      characters. Here is a diagram of Snooper's command line options. All
      options are in brackets to indicate they are optional. Each is
      described fully in the following sections.

         SNOOPER [H(elp)/?] [B(/W)] [D(esqview)] [N(on-interactive)] [Q(uiet)] [D:]
                   [C(PUSkip)] [M(athChipSkip)] [F] [C[file]] [L[file]]


                               Help Switches (H|?)

      "H" and "?" are help switches. If a help switch is specified, Snooper
      displays help screens that show command line syntax and examples and
      keystrokes you can use while in the program. Press <O> from a help
      screen to see registration information. Snooper ignores certain other
      command line switches when you specify a help switch.

                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  15








                         Black-and-white Mode Switch (B)

      Normally, Snooper senses if it is being run on a machine with a
      monochrome card and automatically uses its black-and-white background
      color. However, Snooper can't tell if your PC emulates a color card
      but has a monochrome, color composite, or LCD display, such as most
      laptops. If you use such a machine, you should try using the
      black-and-white switch. Usually, Snooper's display will be more
      legible, but it depends on the particular display. Also, you can
      configure Snooper's colors to create the most readable color scheme
      without using this switch (see Setup key, below).


                             Desqview Mode Switch (D)

      Snooper automatically detects Desqview and uses the BIOS to write to
      the screen instead of writing directly to the video map. If you have
      an old CGA adapter (on which you may see "snow" when Snooper draws
      its screen) or if something interferes with Snooper's detection of
      Desqview, you may want to use this switch.


                         Non-interactive Mode Switch (N)

      Use the non-interactive mode switch, "N," when you want to run
      Snooper from a batch file and don't want to have to press <ESC> to
      exit. Snooper will get information from only one disk drive and
      return to DOS. This command is especially useful when combined with
      the logging switch (explained below).


                              Quiet Mode Switch (Q)

      When Snooper runs in quiet mode, it suppresses its screen output, and
      returns the user to DOS (as if the N switch had been used). It will
      only gather information for the Main screen. The ERRORLEVEL variable
      and logging features operate as usual. ANSI detection is disabled.
      This mode is great for batch files, networks, software installation,
      and so on, when you don't want the user seeing Snooper's display.


                             Disk Drive Argument (D:)

      D: represents a disk drive letter followed by a colon. Use it to
      specify the disk drive whose information you want to see first. You
      can, however, see information from each of your drives, explained
      under "keystrokes" below. If you don't specify a drive, or if you
      specify an invalid one, Snooper will use the current drive.




      16   Snooper, the system checker







                      Chip Detection Bypass Switches (C, M)

      A few machines lock up during Snooper's microprocessor or math
      coprocessor detection routines. When this happens, Snooper will draw
      its background and then stop. The message box in the lower right
      corner of the display will indicate which switch to use. If you have
      this problem, all you need to do is rerun Snooper, specifying one or
      both of the compatibility switches. The "C" switch prevents Snooper
      from checking the CPU (microprocessor) type (it also keeps Snooper
      from being able to determine certain computer types and other
      information). The "M" switch prevents Snooper from determining which
      math coprocessor your computer has. We hope these switches are now
      obsolete.


                         Configuration File (Sfilename])

      A configuration file contains options to be used for Snooper's
      defaults. Colors, license number, B/W mode--these options and others
      can be specified in the configuration file. To create one, see the
      instructions under Setup key, below.
         When it starts, Snooper looks for the environment variable
      SNOOPCFG (see below), which points to a configuration file. If
      SNOOPCFG hasn't been defined, Snooper looks in its home directory
      (i.e., the directory in which SNOOPER.EXE resides) for a file called
      SNOOPER.CFG.
         Use the Configuration File option to load a different
      configuration file, useful if you have multiple files, as on a
      network. Note that the filename is required if you use this switch.
      If Snooper can't find the file you specified, it will say so in the
      message box. Also, if the configuration file's size is incorrect (as
      may happen with an old configuration file and a new version of
      Snooper), it will report the file to be invalid. To maintain its
      integrity, don't attempt to modify the configuration file manually.
      Use the Setup screen.


                     Configuration File Environment Variable

      Snooper searches the environment for a variable called SNOOPCFG. You
      can set the SNOOPCFG variable by typing:

         set snoopcfg=variable










                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  17







      at the DOS prompt. "Variable" can be any valid filename.

      Command line parameters that follow the specified configuration
      filename override the config file's options. Those that precede it
      are overridden by the config file's options. In the following
      example, Snooper would load a configuration file called
      C:\UTILS\SNOOPER.BOB.

         snooper /Sc:\utils\snooper.bob /b

      Despite its contents, Snooper would run in B/W mode because the B/W
      mode command line switch was specified after the configuration
      filename.


                           Logging Switch (L[filename])

      "L" is the logging switch. When you use the logging switch, Snooper
      copies its display to a file or port just before it terminates. The
      optional filename tells Snooper the file you want it to log to. The
      default is SNOOPER.LOG. Logging is especially handy to use in batch
      files for getting printouts of Snooper's output for later reference.
         If no log file exists, Snooper will create one. If one already
      exists, Snooper will append the new data to the end of the old file.
      In this way, you can create one file with system information for all
      the computers at your site.
         The log file grows by 2000 bytes each time Snooper copies a screen
      to it. Thus, you easily can tell by looking at the file's size how
      many screens you have already logged. For example, if the log file is
      8000 bytes, you've logged four screens (8000/2000 = 4). Of course, if
      you use the Log System Files key, which copies the CONFIG.SYS and
      AUTOEXEC.BAT files to the log file, it will no longer follow this
      convention.
         The file is formatted to be easily readable with the DOS "TYPE"
      command, as in:

         type snooper.log

      Snooper first checks for a log filename on the command line. Simply
      type it immediately following the "L" like this:

         snooper /Lc:\files\snoop.dat

      If you want Snooper's output to go to your printer, just specify the
      port it's connected to (omit the trailing colon). So if your printer
      is on LPT1:, type:

         snooper -Llpt1





      18   Snooper, the system checker







                          Log File Environment Variable

      If you don't specify a log filename, Snooper searches the environment
      for a variable called SNOOPLOG. (This variable used to be called
      SNOOPER. In this release, you may still use the old name, which was
      retained for compatibility. However, it probably will not be
      recognized in future versions.) You can set the SNOOPLOG variable by
      typing:

         set snooplog=variable

      at the DOS prompt. "Variable" can be any valid filename or even a
      port, such as PRN. For example: 

         set snooplog=prn

      If you don't specify a log file on the command line or with the
      SNOOPLOG variable, Snooper writes a file named SNOOPER.LOG in the
      current directory.
         Because not all printers can print line-drawing characters,
      Snooper translates its borders to ordinary (low ASCII) characters
      (hyphens, vertical bars, and plus signs). This way, virtually any
      printer can accurately reproduce Snooper's display. Therefore, you
      should use the logging keystroke or switch and not the <PrtScr> key,
      which doesn't translate the line-drawing characters.

      NOTE: If you have an early Color Graphics Adapter, you may see "snow"
      (interference) on your monitor during the logging process. Don't be
      alarmed. This is normal and will not hurt your machine.

      NOTE: Snooper must find the screen buffer to log its display. It will
      find it even if it has been moved by a program adhering to the
      Relocatable Screen Interface Specification (e.g., Desqview, Topview,
      and Memory Commander).


                      Log CONFIG.SYS/AUTOEXEC.BAT Switch (F)

      Specify this switch and Snooper will, upon exit, copy your CONFIG.SYS
      and AUTOEXEC.BAT files to the log file, with headers and footers
      identifying the beginning and end of each. You can use this with the
      logging switch, above; it will use the same log file.


                                     Examples

      Some examples will help clarify Snooper's options.

         snooper /h

      Snooper will show its help screen and examples.


                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  19







          snooper sd:\utils\snoop.cnf e:

      Snooper will load the configuration file named C:\UTILS\SNOOP.CNF,
      then show information from drive E: and wait for keystrokes. <Esc>
      quits.

         snooper -B/W c: non-interactive log

      Snooper will use its monochrome display colors, get drive information
      from drive C:, write a log file named SNOOPER.LOG, and return to DOS.

         set snooplog=prn
         snooper -l\snoop.dat

      Snooper will show information for the current drive and wait for
      keystrokes. After you press <Esc>, it will write a log file in the
      root directory of the current drive called SNOOP.DAT. Recall that a
      log filename on the command line overrides the SNOOPER environment
      variable, so Snooper does not log to "prn." There will be a quiz
      later.


                                    OPERATION

      After the following brief account of Snooper's operation, we will
      describe a few parts in greater detail.
         When you first invoke Snooper, it looks for its default
      configuration file and configures itself accordingly. Then it reads
      its command line, looking for switches. It loads a configuration file
      if you specified one. Recall that command line switches that follow a
      specified config file override that config file's options.
         Because of the EGA's notoriously buggy cursor routines, we thought
      it would be wise to leave the EGA cursor alone, so it stays on. On
      all other video systems, Snooper turns off the cursor to make the
      display a little cleaner.
         It then gets country-dependent information from DOS, based on the
      COUNTRY command in your CONFIG.SYS file. (You don't have to use it
      unless you live outside the U.S.) The information tells Snooper how
      to arrange and punctuate the date, time, and numbers.
         At the bottom of its display, Snooper shows the day, date, and
      time according to DOS. This feature comes in handy when you want to
      view a log file of Snooper's output and you wouldn't otherwise know
      when it was made. It also allows you to check your computer's date
      and time for accuracy (Some AT clocks run slow).
         After Snooper shows you its display, it awaits certain keystrokes.
      Invalid keystrokes may cause Snooper to beep. This feature, added
      partly to aid visually-impaired users, can be turned off via the
      Setup screen.
         When you press <ESC>, Snooper writes a log file if you told it to,
      turns the cursor back on, sets the ERRORLEVEL batch file variable,
      may display its Registration Reminder screen if you haven't yet
      registered (and why not?), and returns you to DOS.

      20   Snooper, the system checker








                                Windows Operation

      Snooper performs somewhat differently under Windows. If Snooper is
      idle, it gives up its time slice immediately. What this means is
      Snooper won't slow down your other running programs. The only
      drawback is that the time display freezes. Just press the spacebar
      when Snooper's window is active to update the time.
         In Windows 386 enhanced mode, Snooper turns off IDE model
      checking, which interferes with 32-bit disk access. Also, if you
      invoke the Diagnostics screen (in Windows or any other detected
      multitasker or network), a message pops up warning you that what the
      Diagnostics screen must do may disrupt other currently running
      applications. You are given the option of continuing or returning to
      the Main screen.
         You can paste Snooper's display, as text, into the Clipboard (see
      Paste to Clipboard key, below).


                                       Keys

      Run without any options or switches, Snooper shows information from
      the default drive and continuously displays the current time and date
      at the bottom of its screen. While Snooper is running, it awaits
      certain keystrokes that affect its operation.
         On the last line of each of Snooper's displays, there is a list of
      available keystrokes to jog your memory. Note that on the Main
      screen, because of space limitations, not all the available keys are
      listed. However, they are all listed on the help screen (press <F1>
      from the Main screen to view it). Explanations of Snooper's secondary
      screens are given after those for the Main screen, below.


      Exit Key

      The <Esc> key returns you to the Main screen if you're not already
      there. If you are, it exits Snooper and returns you to DOS.


      Help Key

      The <F1> key, when pressed from Snooper's Main screen, displays the
      second of two help screens: keys available while you're in Snooper.
      The first help screen, accessible with <PgUp>, <Up>, or <Home>, shows
      Snooper's command line syntax, just as if you had used Snooper's help
      switch at the DOS prompt. Press <O> to see registration information:
      benefits of registration, prices, contact points, etc.






                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  21







      Order/registration Key

      Pressing <O> from either help screen takes you to Snooper's ordering
      information screen. Once there, if you'd like to print an invoice to
      fill out and send to us, press <P>. Along the bottom of your screen
      is listed every parallel and serial port in your system. You also may
      print to a disk file named SNOOPER.INV, which you can then print
      yourself. Press the corresponding number and Snooper will print an
      invoice to that port. Normally, you would type <1> for LPT1. This is
      an easy and fast way to register Snooper; we hope you find it
      convenient (soon!).


      Consecutive Drive Keys

      You can use the <Left>, <Up>, and <PgUp> keys to tell Snooper to get
      disk information for the next lower-lettered disk. For example, if
      you're looking at C:'s info, press <PgUp> to see drive B:. <Right>,
      <Down>, and <PgDn> do the opposite. <Home> takes you to drive A: and
      <End> takes you to the last valid drive in your computer. The list at
      the top right of the display shows you which drives are available on
      your system, and which drive's info you are looking at.


      Drive Letter Keys

      Alternatively, you can press the letter corresponding to the drive
      you want to see. If you want the A: drive's data, for example, just
      press <A>.
         If you press an invalid drive letter, Snooper will beep (if sound
      is enabled) and display a message in the message box.


      File Editing

      From the Main screen you can invoke a text editor to edit your
      CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, and SNOOPER.LOG files.
         Snooper has a simple but capable editor built in. Press <F1> when
      you're in it to view a help screen of its keystrokes. The obvious
      advantage of using the internal editor is it's always available. If
      you wish, however, you can have Snooper load an external editor,
      perhaps one with special features you like. The Setup screen lets you
      choose which editor Snooper will use, internal or external.
         Whatever editor you choose, Snooper ensures the file you want to
      edit exists before attempting to load the editor. The message box
      will alert you if the file is missing.
         After you exit the editor, Snooper asks if you want it to reboot
      your computer, necessary for changes in the CONFIG.SYS and
      AUTOEXEC.BAT files to take effect. If you choose to reboot, Snooper
      will delay a few seconds to ensure the file is actually written to
      the disk. Otherwise, a disk cache with write-delayed caching may not
      have time to save the edited file.

      22   Snooper, the system checker







      If you don't wish to use the built-in editor, you may use one of your
      choosing. It must be named EDIT.COM, EDIT.EXE, or EDIT.BAT. It must
      be in the current directory or on the path. If it's not already named
      EDIT, you can simply rename it or create a batch file called EDIT.BAT
      that calls it. You can, of course, add other commands in the batch
      file. Use a replaceable parameter for the filename. Here's a sample
      EDIT.BAT file that would work for any of the three files Snooper lets
      you edit:

         echo off
         copy %1 c:\backups\%1
         ed /r %1

      In this example, the original file is copied to another directory for
      safe keeping. Also, a hypothetical switch (/r) is passed to an editor
      named ED. This should give you some ideas about what can be put in
      EDIT.BAT.


      Edit CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT Keys

      Press <Alt-C> to edit CONFIG.SYS or <Alt-A> to edit AUTOEXEC.BAT.
      Snooper looks for the file in the root directory of whatever drive
      you're looking at on its Main screen. So if you want to load
      C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT, ensure drive C:'s information is showing before you
      press <Alt-A>. Check the highlighted letter in the drive list to be
      sure. Snooper will tell you if the file you want to edit doesn't
      exist in the root directory of the drive you're looking at.


      Edit SNOOPER.LOG Key

      From Snooper's Main screen press <Alt-V> and Snooper will invoke an
      editor so you can edit an existing SNOOPER.LOG file. You may want to
      do this to compare earlier screen dumps with recent ones, or to add
      comments to the log file. See above for editor-naming conventions.


      Log Key

      Use <Alt-L> to write a log file to disk or to a port, such as a
      printer port (see also Log to Printer key, below). You may log any
      screen with this key. It works similarly to the logging command line
      switch except that it works immediately, not after you exit. If you
      also specified the logging switch with a filename, it will use that
      filename (the display will be logged again when you exit). If not, it
      will use the SNOOPLOG environment variable if it exists; otherwise,
      SNOOPER.LOG.
         The information you're looking at when you press the logging key
      is the information that will be logged. Because of this, you can
      press <Alt-L> in the Main screen, then <Alt-D>,<Alt-L>,<Esc> and so
      on until you have a log file containing snapshots of all the screens

                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  23







      you're interested in. This log file can be very useful when you need
      to remember what kind of computer someone has.


      Log to Printer Key

      <Alt-P> will print the screen you're looking at and it works with all
      screens. It sends its output to PRN. If your printer is on LPT2:,
      simply set the SNOOPLOG environment variable to LPT2 and use <Alt-L>.


      Log CONFIG.SYS/AUTOEXEC.BAT Key

      Pressing <Alt-F> causes Snooper to copy your CONFIG.SYS and
      AUTOEXEC.BAT files to the log file. Again, the files on the drive
      whose information you're viewing are the ones that will be added to
      the log file. The message line will tell you if neither file was
      found. If only one file is found, it will be logged. If no log file
      is found, it will be created.


      Log to Clipboard Key

      When Snooper is running under Windows, you can press <Shift-Delete>
      to paste a copy of Snooper's display to the Windows Clipboard. 
      (<Ctrl-Insert>, the copy key, would have been more appropriate, but
      it's only available on enhanced keyboards.) Because many Windows
      fonts don't include high-ASCII characters, Snooper will translate its
      line-drawing characters into low-ASCII characters as usual. You can
      then paste the display into a Windows document. Of course, for the
      characters to align, you must use a monospaced font such as Courier
      or OEM.


                                    ERRORLEVEL

      If certain errors occur, upon exit Snooper sets the ERRORLEVEL batch
      file variable and shows the value of ERRORLEVEL on the screen in the
      message box. Here are the errors ERRORLEVEL reports:














      24   Snooper, the system checker







      Errorlevel  Explanation
          0       Successful completion--there were no errors.
          1       Drive door was open or there was no disk in a requested
                  (or default) disk drive, or a disk was bad or
                  unformatted.
          2       User specified an invalid drive on the command line.
          4       DOS version is older than 3.1.
          8       Error occurred while Snooper was writing a log file.
         16       User specified an invalid command line parameter.
         32       Abnormal termination--Snooper encountered an
                  unanticipated problem and terminated.

      Notice the numbers aren't consecutive. This numbering scheme allows
      Snooper to add the numbers to indicate multiple errors.
         For example, if you specified an invalid drive and Snooper
      encountered an error writing a log file, it would set ERRORLEVEL to
      ten, the sum of two and eight. The ERRORLEVEL variable can be tested
      in batch files; for example:

         if errorlevel 24 goto LOGERROR_DOOROPEN

      See your DOS manual for details of the ERRORLEVEL variable and how to
      use it.


                                       BUGS

      Snooper has been under development for over six years, but it may
      have a bug or two lurking in it. To debug Snooper thoroughly, we
      would need access to a huge array of computers and peripherals. We
      don't. We have tested it on over a hundred machines but such testing
      is never comprehensive.
         If you think you've found a bug, please let us know by sending the
      invoice with a specific description of the bug. Include a printed log
      file if you can. Of course, an inaccurate report may mean your
      hardware, BIOS, DOS, TSRs, or something else is incompatible or is
      interfering with Snooper, especially on older machines. We'd like to
      hear from you anyway.


                             Known Bugs and Anomalies

         * A few machines lock up when running Snooper. The culprit is
           sometimes the CPU and/or NDP detection routines. Simply specify
           the "C" or "M" command line switch (the message box will tell
           you which, or try both). We've fixed this problem more than once
           but there's always one more machine out there. . . .






                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  25







         * Because of the way NDOS and 4DOS allocate memory in their
           non-swapping modes, Snooper can't find the environment, and will
           give an incorrect Environment report such as:
           Free 65,536 Total 0.


                                    WISH LIST

      Snooper will never be complete, of course. We have continually found
      new reports and features to add to make it an easy-to-use and
      powerful utility. There are a few things we still want from Snooper:

         * Brand detection of more non-Intel CPUs and NDPs
         * Detection of VL local bus
         * Detection of tape drives
         * Differentiation of ST506, IDE, ESDI, and SCSI hard drives
         * Lots of registration fees

      If you think you can help us with the above challenges, please call,
      write, or leave E-mail. With your help, Snooper can become an even
      more-powerful utility. Also, we're likely to make you a registered
      user for your help. We will at least mention your help in the
      acknowledgments (All together: "Oooh, aaah!").


                                   MAIN SCREEN

      Following, roughly in the order they appear on-screen, is a detailed
      list of Snooper's Main screen reports, followed by the reports on the
      other screens.


                                     Computer

      The type of computer Snooper is being run on. On some XT and AT
      clones, Snooper can't tell if it's running on an actual IBM machine
      or a compatible, so it will report the IBM equivalent (e.g. "PC AT").
      Snooper can recognize over 110 machines by name, including many IBMs,
      Dells, Toshibas, ATTs, and Olivettis.

      NOTE: If you are not skipping CPU detection and Snooper reports
      Computer Type as "Unknown ID: . . ." please drop us a note with the
      ID numbers, and the exact model and brand computer Snooper was
      running on. Thanks.









      26   Snooper, the system checker







                         Advanced Power Management (APM)

      If your computer implements the Advanced Power Management (APM)
      specification for conserving energy, Snooper will say so after the
      computer type.


                          Central Processing Unit (CPU)

      The computer's microprocessor chip. Snooper can report the presence
      of: 8088/86, V20/V30, 80286, 80386SX, 80386DX, 80486SX, 80486DX,
      Pentium, and Hexium (or whatever they'll be called) CPUs.
         If you have a math coprocessor, and you disable CPU detection but
      leave math coprocessor detection on, Snooper will try to guess what
      CPU you have by the NDP type.

      NOTE: If Snooper reports "80386," it means your 386SX or 386DX CPU is
      in virtual-86 mode (explained below). Some operating environments and
      expanded memory managers (e.g. EMM386) would report an error if
      Snooper tried to determine which of the two chips is present.
      Instead, Snooper skips the determination and shows you have one of
      the two chips. If you unload the program that puts your CPU into
      virtual-86 mode, Snooper can then tell you which CPU you have.


                                    CPU Speed

      The number after the hyphen (e.g., the "16" in "80386SX-16") is an
      estimate of your computer's speed in Megahertz. This benchmark is
      very accurate, especially since it doesn't induce a noticeable delay
      in execution.


                                 Virtual-86 Mode

      If "V86" appears in the CPU report, your computer's CPU is operating
      in virtual-86 mode, instead of real mode (what DOS normally uses).
      The 80286 and newer microprocessors implement a protected mode, which
      is sometimes used by memory managers, multitaskers (including
      Microsoft Windows), and other software. Multitaskers which put the
      CPU in protected mode actually run the programs in virtual-86 mode,
      which lets each running program believe it has total access to the
      machine, when in fact the multitasker is controlling its access.


                           Numeric Data Processor (NDP)

      The Numeric Data Processor (NDP), also called the math coprocessor,
      or Floating Point Unit (FPU). Math coprocessors significantly speed
      calculations involving floating point numbers (i.e., numbers with
      decimal portions). Snooper can detect 8087, 80287, 80387SX, 80387,
      and Weitek 1167 math chips. Snooper will report "internal" for

                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  27







      80486DX and better CPUs, since they have math coprocessors built into
      them.
         Some computers have a switch inside which the user sets to reflect
      the presence (or absence) of a math coprocessor. Because these
      switches are often set incorrectly, Snooper's report is not dependent
      on this switch setting. But Snooper does check the switch. If Snooper
      finds that its NDP report and the switch setting don't agree, it
      displays a check mark in the NDP report. This lets you know you
      should check (and reset) the switch (and/or system configuration, if
      you have an AT-class computer). If you don't see a check mark, the
      switch or configuration is set properly.


                                       Bus

      The architecture of the bus your computer uses. The bus is the part
      you plug expansion cards into--the slots. Most computers report
      "ISA," which stands for Industry Standard Architecture, the bus in
      PCs, XTs, ATs, and most clones.
         Most IBM PS/2 computers will report "MCA," or Micro Channel
      Architecture. The MCA is entirely different and cards based on it are
      incompatible with those for the ISA standard, but MCA does add
      features and increase performance in some cases. Some computers have
      both MCA and ISA buses, in which case Snooper reports "MCA+ISA." For
      a list of the Micro Channel adapter cards in your system, invoke the
      Bus screen by pressing <Alt-B>.
         A consortium of companies worked out a different standard. It is
      called "EISA," (pronounced EES uh) meaning Enhanced ISA. It retains
      compatibility with the older ISA bus, but like the MCA, it adds
      features and power. Snooper can detect all three bus types.


                                      Memory

      Conventional Memory

      Bytes of conventional RAM (the infamous 640K) in your computer.

      NOTE: A few computers use more RAM than most for their video
      displays, so Snooper may not report all the memory the computer has
      (e.g., it may report 624K instead of 640K on some Tandys).


      Free Memory

      Bytes of conventional RAM still available for programs and data. This
      report allows you to see, for example, the effect of changing the
      BUFFERS statement in your CONFIG.SYS file, and loading and unloading
      memory resident programs.




      28   Snooper, the system checker







      Used Memory

      Bytes of conventional memory DOS and memory resident programs are
      using (total minus free memory).


      Extended Memory

      Extended memory is available only on AT-type machines; that is, those
      with 80286 or newer microprocessors. (If you have an XT-type
      computer, this report will always be blank.) Programs written to do
      so can store data and programs in extended memory. This report shows
      the total amount of extended memory installed, despite how you've
      configured it. Even if a program is using it all, Snooper will still
      show the total amount installed. This report is taken from the CMOS.
      See the CMOS screen section below for an explanation of the CMOS.


      Ext Free

      This report shows how much extended memory you still have available.
      Snooper gets this report from the computer's BIOS. This memory is
      only available to mostly older programs that don't use the eXtended
      Memory Specification (see below).


      XMS Memory

      As we mentioned above, programs written to do so can store data
      and/or programs in extended memory. The trouble is, different
      programs handle extended memory differently. This is because until
      the eXtended Memory Specification (or "XMS"), there was no standard
      for accessing extended memory, and the computer's built-in facilities
      are crude at best. Some programs are polite enough to decrease the
      amount of extended memory they report to other programs by the amount
      they themselves are using. Some aren't so polite, leaving themselves
      open to having their memory overwritten by another program. As you
      might imagine, this leads to problems.
         If you have loaded an eXtended Memory Manager, or XMM (e.g.,
      Microsoft's HIMEM.SYS)--that is, if you have XMS memory, Snooper will
      report how much is still available. 


      eXtended Memory Manager Level

      The number displayed after "XMS" is the version of the eXtended
      Memory Specification the loaded XMM supports. This is different from
      the internal version number of the XMM program itself. Different
      versions support different features, so be sure you have an XMM that
      supports the program you want to run.



                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  29







      High Memory Area (HMA)

      The high memory area is the 64K (less 16 bytes) block beginning at
      the one megabyte boundary, immediately above the ROM BIOS. It, like
      all types of extended memory, can only be used on AT-type computers,
      and only by programs written for it. This report shows if a HMA
      exists (you must have an XMM loaded to provide it), and if it is
      available for use ("free") or is in use by a program ("in use").


      A20 Line Status

      Shown after "HMA," this report shows if the address line called A20
      is enabled. Snooper shows "(A20)" is the A20 is enabled, nothing if
      it's not. Usually, the A20 is handled automatically by memory
      management software. At times, you may need to know the A20's status,
      perhaps while debugging your memory setup.


      Upper Memory Block (UMB)

      With DOS 5 and some third party memory managers, you can load most of
      your device drivers and memory resident programs above conventional
      memory, into what are called upper memory blocks. Snooper reports the
      largest available UMB. You must have the line "DOS=UMB" in your
      CONFIG.SYS file for this report to work.


      Enhanced Memory Specification Total

      The amount of enhanced memory (EMS) installed. Lotus, Intel, and
      Microsoft developed EMS to break DOS's 640K memory barrier (kind of).
      Some programs, which have been written to do so, can use EMS to store
      data. Not surprisingly, many spreadsheet programs use EMS. Unlike
      extended memory, EMS is available on XT and AT-class machines.


      Enhanced Memory Manager Level

      Shown after "EMS," the version of Enhanced Memory Specification the
      hardware and/or software is implementing. As of this writing, this
      report probably should be either 3.2 or 4.0. Some programs require
      EMS 4.0, which has enhanced capabilities. Like the XMM version, this
      reflects the specification version, not the EMM program's version.


      EMS Memory Free

      The amount of EMS still available for programs and data.




      30   Snooper, the system checker







                                      Drives

      Floppy

      The number of floppy drives installed. Despite what some people
      believe, 3.5" diskettes are floppy disks, not hard disks, despite
      their hard plastic shells. Thus, they will be counted in this report.


      Hard

      The number of hard disks (also called fixed disks) installed. Each
      physical hard disk adds one to the total, regardless of its
      partitioning. That is, if you have one hard disk split into C: and D:
      drives, it will count as only one hard disk.


      Physical

      Simply the sum of floppy and hard disks. These are physical drives
      attached to your computer.


      Logical

      The total number of disk drives DOS recognizes. These include floppy,
      hard, RAM, CD-ROM, and network drives. Also included are simulated
      disk drives made with the DOS ASSIGN and SUBST commands, all hard
      disk partitions, and possibly other types. This report includes the
      drives identified in the Physical Drives report (above).
         Sometimes software splits a hard disk into two or more
      "partitions" (usually C: and D:), usually because the disk is bigger
      than 32M, a limit imposed by DOS versions before 4.0. A hard disk
      like this will count as two. If you have a single floppy disk drive,
      the number given will not include drive B:, as it's simply another
      name for drive A:. But every other available drive letter counts. 

















                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  31







                                      Video

      Video Type

      The type of video adapter, and, mostly for VGAs, either the adapter
      brand or the type of monitor used. Snooper can detect:

      Report    Video card
      MDA       Monochrome Display Adapter, probably a text-only card (one
                that doesn't provide any graphics capability)
      Hercules  Hercules Graphics Card (a monochrome card with graphics
                capability) or a Hercules-compatible; Snooper can detect
                Hercules Graphics, InColor, and Plus cards
      CGA       Color Graphics Adapter
      EGA       Enhanced Graphics Adapter
      PGC       Professional Graphics Controller
      MCGA      Multi-Color Graphics Array
      VGA       Video Graphics Array
      SVGA      VGA card with more than 256K
      XGA(-2)   eXtended Graphics Adapter, detected on Micro Channel
                systems


      VGA Adapter Brand

      Snooper recognizes several VGA cards by brand, and many specific
      models.


      VESA

      A few years ago, several video hardware manufacturers formed the
      Video Electronics Standards Association, or VESA (pronounced
      "VEE suh" or "VEH suh"). Their purpose is to standardize the PC video
      marketplace, making recommendations for standardized resolutions,
      frequencies, and so on. If the Video report begins with "VESA," your
      VGA card seems to comply with their recommendations. Snooper also
      shows you the VESA specification version your card complies with.


      Monitor Type

      Snooper can sometimes tell what type of monitor you are using. If
      Snooper has room, it shows which of three kinds of monitor you have:
      monochrome (usually displays green or amber), color (digital with
      EGAs or analog with VGAs or MCGAs), or digital color (for some
      MCGAs).






      32   Snooper, the system checker







      Video Memory

      On EGA and some VGA cards, Snooper reports how much video memory is
      installed on the card. EGAs can have 64K to 256K; VGA cards, 256K to
      2.5M and beyond. The amount of video memory, the video card, and the
      monitor together determine the maximum resolution and colors you can
      see on your computer. With some VESA cards, Snooper may show a little
      less memory than is actually installed (e.g., 1.5M versus 2M).

      NOTE: There is no correlation between your video card's memory and
      your computer's memory, or RAM. You can have, for example, a 256K
      machine with a 2M VGA card, or a 4M machine with a 64K EGA card, or
      many other combinations.


                                      Ports

      Serial Ports

      The addresses of all serial, or RS-232, ports installed. Usually, you
      would use these ports for modems, pointing devices (such as mice),
      some printers, plotters, and a variety of less common equipment.
      More-advanced serial port information is available in the Diagnostics
      screen, accessible via <Alt-D>.


      Parallel Ports

      The addresses of all parallel ports (also called printer ports)
      installed. Parallel ports are usually used for printers, occasionally
      for scanners or network adapters. More-advanced parallel port
      information is available in the Diagnostics screen, accessible via
      <Alt-D>.

      NOTE: Novell networks trick software (including Snooper) into
      thinking there are more parallel ports than are actually present. If
      your system is part of a Novell LAN, don't be surprised to see three
      or more parallel ports, some with the same address. To find out how
      many parallel ports there really are, take your machine off the
      network and rerun Snooper.


      Game Port

      The presence of a game port, or joystick adapter. The word "Game"
      will appear next to "Ports" if Snooper detects a joystick. On AT and
      later computers, Snooper asks the BIOS if a joystick is present. On
      PCs and XTs, Snooper uses a different method. These methods seems to
      work well, but may not be perfect. Also, a joystick has to be plugged
      into the port for the report to work.



                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  33







      Sound Cards

      The presence of Sound Blaster, Adlib, or Roland MPU-401 MIDI sound
      cards, or their compatibles, such as the Thunder Board. The
      Diagnostics screen will show the port address of some sound cards.
      Press <Alt-D> for this screen.


                                     ROM BIOS

      Brand

      The brand (i.e., manufacturer) of the computer's ROM BIOS. Snooper
      can recognize several BIOS brands: American Megatrends, Inc. ("AMI");
      Award; Chips and Technology ("C & T"), Compaq; DTK; IBM; Phoenix; and
      Zenith.
         How well the BIOS was written has much to do with how compatible
      your computer is. A poorly-written BIOS plagues its owner with
      compatibility problems: programs won't run or they lock up the
      computer, new hardware refuses to install properly, etc. A
      well-written BIOS is, of course, a joy to behold.


      Date

      The date stored in the ROM BIOS, which provides an indication of your
      computer's age. The computer was built since that date.


      Plug-N-Play

      With limited hardware resources such as IRQ lines and DMA channels
      (described in the Diagnostics screen section below) to go around,
      many users endure hours of configuration nightmares when installing a
      new adapter card. Although the Micro Channel and EISA buses solve
      this problem with semi-automatic configuration, nothing has helped
      the ISA bus. Plug-N-Play hopes to do just that. With Plug-N-Play
      extensions in your system's BIOS, your computer can arbitrate
      potential hardware conflicts for you, automatically. Ahhh!


      Extensions

      The segment addresses (places in memory) of any BIOS extensions in
      the computer. These extensions, which supplement the computer's
      built-in BIOS, are usually found on add-in cards. An EGA or VGA BIOS,
      for example, adds routines not found in the computer's own ROM BIOS
      video routines, and are often found at C000. An XT's hard drive BIOS
      is usually found at C800. Snooper searches for an extension every 256
      bytes from C000 to FE00 (i.e., C000, C100, C200, etc.). This report
      comes in handy for telling your memory manager to avoid addresses
      used by adapter cards.

      34   Snooper, the system checker








                                      Mouse

      Brand and Driver Version

      Shows what brand of mouse is installed (Microsoft, Logitech, Z-NIX,
      and Mouse Systems), and the driver version.
         A mouse usually requires a software-based driver (program). Its
      file is usually called MOUSE.COM or MOUSE.SYS. If a driver is loaded,
      Snooper will report its version. This report is useful for debugging,
      because if you're having trouble with your mouse, you may find that a
      new driver solves the problem. Also, forcing the driver to load into
      conventional, and not high, memory also can solve other problems.
      Drivers are often available free or at low cost from the vendor.
         Some drivers, such as Genius and Logitech, report a
      Microsoft-equivalent version rather than their own internal version.
      Snooper can detect a Logitech mouse driver's true version.


      Port

      Possible reports are: "bus" (the mouse connects to an expansion card
      inside the computer), "Microsoft Inport" (a Microsoft-brand bus
      mouse), "serial" (the mouse plugs into a serial port), "Hewlett
      Packard," and "PS/2."
         If you have a serial mouse, Snooper tries to guess which serial
      port it is connected to by knowing what resources the mouse is using.
      If it isn't using IRQ4 (COM1 or COM 3) or IRQ3 (COM2 or COM4),
      Snooper displays which IRQ it is using. The Diagnostics screen shows
      which IRQ the mouse is using, and if it's a serial mouse, which port
      it's on. This can help in troubleshooting. 


                                     Keyboard

      Present

      The first number in the Keyboard report. Shows what kind of keyboard
      you have attached to your machine. Possible answers are "84" (non-
      enhanced), "101" (enhanced), or, if your computer only supports
      84-key keyboards, "N/A" (if your computer doesn't support enhanced
      keyboards, Snooper can't test for one).


      Support

      Reports what type of keyboard your computer's BIOS supports. If "101"
      appears after the keyboard type, your computer's ROM BIOS supports an
      enhanced keyboard, usually with function keys along the top and a
      separate cursor keypad. It will recognize the keys an enhanced
      keyboard adds to the standard (XT) keyboard, such as F11, F12 and
      certain cursor key combinations.

                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  35








                                   Environment

      The "environment" is an area of memory in which DOS keeps certain
      information it needs to run. Some pieces of information in the
      environment are the format of the DOS prompt and the series of
      directories DOS searches for executable files. These are the PROMPT
      and PATH strings, and there are others. A string consists of the
      variable name (such as PATH), an equal sign, and the value of the
      string (often a path or list of paths such as C:\UTILS;C:\DOS;C:\).
      This sample PATH string looks like this:

         path=c:\utils;c:\dos;c:\

      You can view and edit the environment with the SET command. Because
      of the way 4DOS and NDOS allocate memory for the environment in their
      non-swapping modes, the environment reports will be inaccurate when
      Snooper is run under those environments.


      Free

      The number of bytes available in the environment. To calculate this
      report, for each string, Snooper counts each character of the
      variable name (such as "PATH"), the equal sign, each character of the
      value (such as "C:\DOS;C:\"), and one extra character.


      Total

      The number of bytes of environment space allocated by DOS. You can
      change the amount of memory DOS allocates to the environment with
      the /E switch of the SHELL command in your CONFIG.SYS file. Different
      DOS versions use different memory units for the extra environment
      space. Check your DOS manual.


                                       DOS

      Brand and Version

      Snooper can detect: PC-DOS (from IBM), MS-DOS (from Microsoft,
      Phoenix, and others), DR DOS (from Digital Research), HP-DOS (from
      Hewlett Packard), DEC-DOS (from Digital Equipment Corp.), or Zen-DOS
      (no, not Eastern mysticism, just DOS from Zenith). Snooper also will
      report if it is running under OS/2 1.x or 2.x. The DOS version
      appears after the brand. Also, a letter appears after the version on
      systems running DOS 5.0 or newer. This is the DOS revision, a
      sub-version, so to speak.

      DOS 5.0 can load most of itself into the HMA, freeing the
      conventional memory it would normally use. If "HMA" appears after the

      36   Snooper, the system checker







      DOS type, DOS is loaded there. If "ROM" appears, DOS is stored in the
      computer's ROM, as with some laptops.


      Shell

      A DOS shell is a program that either provides features DOS doesn't,
      or makes DOS easier to use. Snooper can report the presence of:
      Windows Real, Standard, or 386 Enhanced modes; Concurrent DOS;
      DoubleDOS; 4DOS and NDOS (only in swapping mode); Desqview; Taskview;
      Topview, DOS 5's task switcher, the Virtual Control Program Interface
      (VCPI), the DOS Protected Mode Interface (DPMI), and ANSI.SYS. It can
      often report the DOS shell's version number as well. If Snooper
      detects Desqview, it uses the BIOS to write to the screen.
         If Snooper detects 4DOS or NDOS, it tells what shell level it is
      running under. This kind of shell has a different meaning. When you
      shell from a program (it can be called something else, such as "DOS
      prompt"), you leave the program in memory but return to the DOS
      prompt. You type "exit" to return to your program. This is faster
      than exiting, then reloading the program, and lets you perform a
      simple task such as formatting a diskette. "Root" means you're not
      shelled out of a program; "1" means you've shelled out of one
      program; "2" means you shelled out of one program, loaded and shelled
      out of another; and so on. Snooper doesn't have a shell feature.


      Files

      The number of files DOS will allow to be open at once, as defined by
      the line "FILES=" in your CONFIG.SYS file. DOS always reserves some
      files for itself. Usually, your computing activity will require
      several files to be used at once, especially if you use a
      multitasking environment or a database. Most software vendors
      recommend you make at least 20 files available, requiring the line
      "FILES=20" to be in your CONFIG.SYS file. A few programs, notably
      Windows, may increase this number, so don't be surprised if the
      number is higher in Windows than in DOS.


      Buffers

      Number of buffers DOS uses for disk operations, as defined by the
      line "BUFFERS=" in the CONFIG.SYS file. When your computer requests
      data from a disk, DOS transfers the data from the disk into RAM,
      where the program can access it. Subsequent requests for the same
      data are read from RAM, not from the disk. The reason is simple: RAM
      is fast, the disk is comparatively slow, so disk operations are sped
      up. Snooper detects the number of primary and secondary buffers (if
      defined). Consult your DOS manual for more details.




                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  37







      Break

      Break status (on or off). Pressing Ctrl-Break can force your computer
      to stop what it's doing in an emergency. Normally, DOS only checks
      for a Ctrl-Break keystroke when it's writing to the screen or reading
      from the keyboard. However, if break is on, DOS checks more often.


      Verify

      Disk verify status (on or off). If verify is on, DOS uses a checksum
      method to confirm (in theory) what it writes to a disk is valid. Of
      course, when verify is on, disk operations are a bit slower.


                                    Disk Cache

      Reports the presence of a disk cache, and often, its version.
      Recognized caches (and sources) include: Smartdrive (which comes with
      DOS and Windows); Norton Cache (Norton Utilities); PC-Cache 6.0 and
      above (PC Tools); Super PC-Kwik 3.20 and above, Hyperdisk, and
      QuickCache II (shareware products); and IBMCache (from you know who).

      NOTE: Because PC-Cache and Qualitas's QCache are versions of Super
      PC-Kwik, they respond to the same detection method and so may be
      reported as Super PC-Kwik. PC-Cache 5.1 would be reported as Super
      PC-Kwik 3.20, PC-Cache 5.5 as Super PC-Kwik 3.27. QCache 4.00 would
      be reported as Super PC-Kwik 4.00.


                                     Network

      A network is a combination of hardware and software that enables
      users to share peripherals and data. Snooper can detect several
      networks: Novell, LANtastic, Microsoft, Invisible, PC LAN, and
      Easy-Net. It also detects SHARE.EXE, which is often loaded in
      networking environments. Sometimes this report only tells you the
      computer has a LAN card, not that a network is up and running. On
      LANtastic, it also shows the version. For more information about your
      Novell network, invoke the Network screen by pressing <Alt-N>.













      38   Snooper, the system checker







                                 Disk Information

      Drive List

      Snooper reports the letters of all valid disk drives in the upper
      right corner of Snooper's display, enclosed in brackets. The current
      drive's letter is highlighted and capitalized. If you have a
      single-floppy system, the list will not include drive B:, as it
      merely references drive A:. If your system has at least 20 logical
      drives, Snooper will list them in two rows.


      Label

      The volume label of the current drive. You can change the label with
      the LABEL program, supplied with DOS.


      Directory

      Shows the default directory of the selected drive. If the first
      character shown is a plus sign, Snooper has omitted the first part of
      the directory to make it fit.


      IDE Drive Model/SCSI Host Adapter

      On most IDE hard drives, Snooper can report the model name. Sometimes
      you can clearly see the actual model, sometimes the brand.
      Occasionally, Snooper is fooled by a non-IDE drive and this report
      contains gibberish. This shouldn't happen often, though, and this
      report can save you the trouble of opening the computer to check the
      drive model. Recall that Snooper skips detection of the IDE model
      under Windows 386 Enhanced mode. 

         Snooper also can recognize Adaptec SCSI host adapters, and will
      report the model number in this report. It also will report the slot
      the card resides in if it's an EISA adapter.


      NOTE: The next reports (Drive Type through Cylinders) concern the
      disk drive, and not the diskette in it, if it's a floppy drive. For
      example, if you have a 1.2M floppy disk drive and you have a double
      density (360K) diskette--or no diskette at all--in the drive, Snooper
      will report 15 Sectors Per Cylinder. That's because high density
      drives can handle disks with 15 sectors per cylinder, although 360K
      disks only have nine.
         The report works this way so you can tell if the drive is high
      density without needing a diskette to be in it. You can determine the
      total capacity of a diskette (and thus its type) from the Total Space
      report.


                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  39







      Drive Type

      Reports what type of disk drive you're examining. Snooper usually
      bases this report on a BIOS report for the drive, but it also uses
      other methods. Snooper can detect the following capacities for 5.25"
      drives: 1.2M, 360K, 320K, 180K, and 160K. For 3.5" drives, it can
      detect: 2.88M, 1.44M, and 720K drives. Other possibilities are:
      "fixed disk" (probably a hard disk), "CD-ROM" (if it's local), "RAM
      disk," "Bernoulli," or "ID: nnh" (meaning Snooper doesn't recognize
      the disk type and shows the actual disk type byte instead).


      CMOS Type

      Snooper queries the CMOS to find out what hard drive type (expressed
      as a number), or what size and capacity floppy drive is installed.


      Status

      Shows if the disk is being compressed by DoubleSpace (available with
      MS-DOS 6.0) or Stacker. If Stacker is present, its version is
      reported. Other reports are "local" and "network." If the DOS
      commands SUBST or JOIN are affecting the disk, they are reported.


      Heads

      The number of heads a disk drive has. This number is often the same
      as the number of sides the disk has. Most floppy drives will report
      two; hard drives usually report several.


      Sectors/cylinder

      The number of sectors per cylinder on the disk drive. Sectors are
      "pie slices" of the disk; cylinders are concentric rings. Normally,
      floppy drives report 9, 15, 18, or 36; hard drives, 17, 26, or 34.


      Cylinders

      The number of cylinders on a disk drive. Cylinders are concentric
      rings on the disk. Typically, floppy drives report 40 or 80; hard
      drives, a few hundred to several hundred.

      NOTE: Original PCs and some XTs can't report heads, sectors/cylinder,
      and cylinders. Neither can simulated disk drives (that is, logical
      but not physical drives, such as RAM drives). If they can't, Snooper
      will usually leave the appropriate areas blank.



      40   Snooper, the system checker







      For the following disk reports, if the drive is empty, if the disk is
      defective or unformatted, or the drive door isn't closed, Snooper
      will report "Drive not ready."


      Sector Size

      The number of bytes stored in each sector. This number is usually
      512, although some hard disks may show higher numbers.


      Cluster Size

      The number of bytes in each cluster. Recent DOS versions call them
      "allocation units" (brevity takes a slap in the face). A cluster is
      the smallest space a file can take. Thus, even if "DIR" reports a
      file is only 256 bytes, if the disk's cluster size is 2048 bytes, the
      file will take 2048 bytes of disk space. A floppy disk may report
      1024, an XT's hard disk usually 8192, an AT's hard disk usually 2048.


      Total Space

      The capacity of the disk in bytes. This includes all bytes, even if
      the FORMAT program has marked some areas unusable.


      Free Space

      The number of bytes still available for use.


      Used Space (bytes)

      The number of bytes in use by files, subdirectories, and any areas
      marked unusable. You can use this figure to compute how many floppy
      disks you will need to back up your hard disk (floppy disks needed =
      (used space / floppy disk capacity) + 1).


      Used Space (%)

      The percentage of disk space being used. Even on an empty disk, this
      number may not be zero because of bad sectors or empty directories.


      Used Space (bar graph)

      Provides an easily-absorbed way to see how much disk space is in use.
      The Used Space graph is one of Snooper's handiest features and
      provides a quick way to monitor disk use.


                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  41







                                DIAGNOSTICS SCREEN

      This screen, accessed via <Alt-D>, shows you details about your
      computer's hardware status. It can help you diagnose interrupt
      conflicts and other problems. If you have a multitasker or network
      running, Snooper will pop up a warning and a prompt to continue
      before letting you into this screen. The reason is these routines may
      disrupt serial or parallel communications going on in other tasks.
      For example, if you were transferring a file in one window and
      Snooper is running in another and you tried to access the Diagnostics
      screen, Snooper would likely disrupt your transfer--or even hang
      up--forcing you to start over. None of us would want that. 
         Also, networks and multitaskers sometimes can interfere with
      Snooper's ability to gather accurate information. Unload the network
      or multitasker and you may view the Diagnostics screen safely. In
      fact, this screen is most helpful when you boot your computer from
      plain DOS--no TSRs, no network.
         If you try the Diagnostics screen and your computer locks up,
      simply reboot with minimum CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files and it
      should work fine.


                                   Serial Ports

      Address
          
      Here Snooper ensures that an actual serial port exists by testing the
      serial port chip (see UART, below). It doesn't just rely on a likely
      port address; it makes sure the address points to a working port. If
      fewer ports appear on this screen than on the main one, you may have
      a faulty port.


      UART

      The Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter chip handles the
      receiving and transmitting of data through the serial port. Snooper
      detects which model is in each serial port in your computer (you may
      have more than one kind). It detects the 8250 (found in most XTs),
      16450 (found in many ATs), 16550 (found in early PS/2 models 50, 60,
      and 80), 16550A (necessary for high-speed communications), and Type 3
      (supports DMA, found in latter PS/2s and others).
         The latter two chips add 16-byte first in, first out buffers
      (FIFOs) to store characters being sent or received from the serial
      port. These are necessary for high-speed communications at 9600
      bits-per-second or faster. The 16550 had defective FIFOs, rendering
      the buffers useless. The problem was corrected in the 16550A.
      Internal modems provide their own serial ports, so if yours is
      internal, Snooper will tell you what UART is supplied by the modem
      itself. 
         Snooper displays an asterisk next to the UART if the FIFO buffers
      are open, a condition which normally shouldn't occur.

      42   Snooper, the system checker








      Speed

      Shows the speed at which the serial port has been initialized. This
      speed can differ from the speed of a modem that may be attached.


      Format

      Data bits: The number of bits (per byte) the port treats as a
      character. It can be 5, 7, or 8, with 8 being the most common.
      Transmitting 7 data bits means 7 of the 8 bits will be treated as a
      character; the eighth is ignored or treated as a parity bit.
         Parity: Parity provides a crude method of error-detection but is
      largely ignored today. Nearly all BBSs use No parity. Other reports
      are: Even, Odd, Mark, and Space.
         Stop bits: The stop bit or bits are sent after each character.

      NOTE: Although the values of the above parameters are important, even
      more important is that they be identical on both ends of the
      communications link (your modem and the one you're calling).


      IRQ

      Snooper performs a test to determine what IRQ (see Interrupt Request
      Lines, below) each serial port would use. These are not just the
      default values, but the actual IRQs the port would use. If software
      (e.g., a mouse driver) configured the port to respond with an
      interrupt upon, for example, receipt of data, Snooper displays just
      the IRQ number. If no interrupt would be triggered, Snooper displays
      the IRQ number in parentheses. This just means no program is loaded
      that uses the port. Occasionally, a port becomes dissociated from its
      usual IRQ, and Snooper can't tell what IRQ that port would use. In
      that case, Snooper leaves the IRQ report blank.


      Device

      Modems and mice are two common peripherals attached to serial ports.
      Snooper can usually detect the presence of Hayes-compatible modems
      and fax/modems, and fully Microsoft-compatible mice, and report which
      is connected to each port. It also can sometimes show if both are
      connected to one port (two ports sharing one address). If the modem
      is external, it must be turned on for this report to work. A mouse
      driver must be loaded for mouse detection to work.


      Fax Info

      If Snooper finds a fax/modem, it asks it what classes it supports.
      Classes are specifications that define what capabilities a fax/modem

                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  43







      has. Class 0 is simply a data modem. Class 1 adds fax capabilities.
      Classes are shown as a series of digits under the appropriate port
      (e.g., "0,1"). Snooper also will check for the presence of two fax
      interfaces, the Communicating Applications Specification (CAS) and
      FaxBIOS. If either of these is found to be active, Snooper will show
      its name and version on the line below Fax Info.


                                  Parallel ports

      Address

      The same as the addresses on Snooper's Main screen.


      IRQ

      Snooper does a live test to determine what IRQ (see Interrupt Request
      Lines, below) each parallel port would use. Again, these are the
      actual IRQs the port would use, not just defaults. If software
      (e.g., a print spooler) configured the port to respond with an
      interrupt when, for example, the printer is ready, Snooper displays
      just the IRQ number. If no interrupt would be triggered, Snooper
      displays the IRQ number in parentheses.
         Occasionally, a port becomes dissociated from its usual IRQ, and
      Snooper can't tell what IRQ that port would use. Also, unfortunately,
      many parallel ports don't generate interrupts correctly. In either
      case, Snooper leaves the IRQ report blank. 

      NOTE: Your printer does not need to be on, or even attached, for this
      report to work. You may hear it make a noise when Snooper checks the
      port's IRQ. This is normal.


      Status

      Snooper also indicates the status of the parallel ports. The error
      conditions change with different printers, so little can be said
      about what each line really indicates. The only universal seems to be
      your printer is ready to print when only the Selected report is
      active.

      NOTE: To help you debug a printer problem quickly, the parallel port
      status is constantly monitored, so if, for example, you turn on your
      printer or press its On-line button, the status indicators will
      change. However, you should never plug in or unplug any peripheral
      until you have turned off power both to the system and peripheral.






      44   Snooper, the system checker







                                Sound Card Address

      Displays the sound card that appears on Snooper's Main screen, and
      may show the port address to aid in diagnosing port conflicts.


      For the following IRQ and DMA reports, "Available" will appear if the
      resource seems to be unused, "In use" if it has been reserved by a
      hardware device.

                             Interrupt Request (IRQ)

      The right side of the Diagnostics screen shows which Interrupt
      Request lines are currently active (indicated by the asterisks). The
      PC had 8 IRQ lines, the AT has 15. These lines are used to get the
      CPU's attention when a hardware device needs servicing. Several
      devices have assigned IRQs. For example, COM1 can trigger IRQ4 when a
      character enters the port. Snooper displays these default
      assignments, although they may not coincide with your system's, which
      may be configured differently.
         Some hardware devices don't permanently reserve the IRQs they use.
      For example, you may have a scanner that uses IRQ 5, but only when
      you're scanning. Snooper has no way to know this because you're not
      likely to be scanning while Snooper is running. On the other hand,
      you may be trying to add a device that also doesn't permanently
      reserve its IRQ, and will never be used when the scanner is being
      used. Then it's all right to assign IRQ 5 to the new device. Use
      Snooper's IRQ list as a starting point in determining which IRQs are
      safe to use.
         If a mouse driver is loaded, "Mouse" appears in the IRQ list,
      indicating which IRQ your mouse is using. If your driver is new
      enough, Snooper also will tell you if the driver is a TSR loaded in
      your AUTOEXEC.BAT file ("MOUSE.COM"), or a device driver loaded in
      your CONFIG.SYS file ("MOUSE.SYS").


                            Direct Memory Access (DMA)

      Next to the IRQ report is the Direct Memory Access report. DMA
      channels are used to transfer data without the aid of the CPU,
      speeding transfers. The PC had four DMA channels, AT-class computers
      have seven. Because Snooper can't accurately detect use of the upper
      channels on the AT, it only shows the first four channels.
         Snooper shows which DMA channels have been reserved by various
      hardware devices (again, the asterisks indicate the active channels).
      The original Sound Blaster, for example, uses DMA channel one, so if
      you have this card, and DMA use hasn't been disabled on the card,
      Snooper will show channel one is in use. What this report really
      shows is if the channel has been used since the machine was last
      turned on or reset, not necessarily if it is currently in use. Often,
      this is close enough. If, however, all DMA channels in your system
      seem to be in use, you may have to disregard Snooper's DMA report.

                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  45







                                    BUS SCREEN

      With the Micro Channel bus architecture comes the ability to detect
      adapter cards by name. Snooper can recognize over 1,100 cards.

      Snooper will list slots zero through nine, and identify what cards
      are in which slots. A slot with no corresponding text is empty.

      If you see a message like "Unknown card, please contact author,"
      please make a note of the four-digit number and the actual card
      installed (your Reference Diskette will tell you), and let us know.
      We'll add it to our Micro Channel adapter database.









































      46   Snooper, the system checker







                                  NETWORK SCREEN

      Press <Alt-N> when you're running Snooper on a Novell network (we
      hope to add other network types), and the Network screen will show
      you several reports about your network. See your Netware
      documentation for more details about items Snooper reports on.


                                   Network Type

      This will remind you of the network type from Snooper's Main screen.


                                 Network Address

      The network address uniquely identifies the part of the network
      you're on.


                                   Node Address

      The node address uniquely identifies the workstation you're on.
      ARCnet cards need to have their node addresses set at installation,
      Ethernet cards come with a pre-defined node address. Usually, network
      cards in workstations cannot share the same address.


                                      Socket

      Users aren't typically aware of this low-level resource, but it may
      come in handy in troubleshooting network installations.


                                    User Name

      The name with which the user logged into the default server. Note you
      can log onto different servers with different names.


                                     Hardware

      Network Card

      Shows what network card is installed in your system if you have an
      ODI driver loaded. You do not need to be logged into the network.
      Snooper also shows hardware resources the network card is using:
      memory addresses, IRQ lines, port addresses, and DMA channels.






                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  47







                                     Software

      These reports show version numbers, levels, and interrupts in use by
      drivers and other network software. Software listed in the second
      column are running on the server.


                                      Server

      Default

      The name of the default server.


      Connection

      The connection number the workstation is using to connect to the
      default server.


                                   Connections

      These reports show the maximum connections (users) allowed on the
      default server, the number of users currently logged in, and the most
      users connected at once since the server was last booted.




























      48   Snooper, the system checker







                                   CMOS SCREEN

      Every computer based on the PC-AT standard, i.e. all ATs, 386s, 486s,
      Pentiums, etc., have a small area of memory called the CMOS
      (pronounced SEE moss), used to store configuration information about
      your computer. The letters in "CMOS" stand for the material the
      configuration chip is made of (Complementary Metal Oxide
      Semiconductor, if that helps).
         CMOS memory is non-volatile, meaning its contents are retained
      even when the computer is turned off. This is accomplished with a
      battery that constantly supplies power to the CMOS chip.
         Each time the computer is booted, it checks that the CMOS
      configuration accurately reflects the actual configuration. If not,
      the computer warns you the configuration has changed. This may occur
      because the CMOS battery is dead, or (more rarely) a renegade program
      has wiped out the CMOS. Perhaps after replacing the failing battery
      with a fresh one, you are required to change the CMOS information to
      reflect the actual configuration. Snooper's CMOS screen lets you do
      just that.
         Most computers now come with a built-in setup facility, accessible
      with a keystroke when the system boots. So why duplicate that
      functionality in Snooper?
         First, Snooper's Setup screen is more friendly. Some built-in
      setup screens are user-hostile. For example, you may have to choose a
      drive type without knowing the drive parameters for that type. You
      would have to hunt down the computer's documentation, and hope the
      drive table was included and accurate. Snooper shows you the
      parameters for the drive type you are about to choose, and you can
      easily view each drive type to select the most appropriate one. Also,
      some built-in setup programs don't let you abandon your changes if
      you want to. Snooper does.
         Second, Snooper provides a fast, attractive, consistent way for
      technicians to edit CMOS data without having to learn each setup
      screen's user interface. You can use Snooper's screen with point-and-
      shoot ease, or press a single letter to quickly access the intended
      option. Some built-in setups make you change or confirm all the
      options at once, instead of letting you choose just the one you want.
         Third, you can log the CMOS data, along with Snooper's other
      screens, into a file for later reference. You can't do that with
      built-in setup programs.


                            Navigating the CMOS Screen

      To move around this screen, press the highlighted letter for the
      option you want. Alternatively, you can use <Tab> and <Shift-Tab> or
      the arrow keys to move the highlight bar to the option. Press <+> and
      <-> or <PgUp> and <PgDn> to change the option.

      WARNING: Be very careful when editing CMOS data. You can render your
      system temporarily un-bootable by specifying the wrong drive type. If


                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  49







      you're not absolutely sure what you're doing, stop! Get help from a
      professional.


                                   CMOS Status

      Snooper will list up to seven errors that can occur with the CMOS.
      Most often, you'll see "Incorrect configuration" when you've added or
      removed a drive or some memory. "CMOS battery is dead" means you
      probably should replace it. If there are no CMOS errors, Snooper
      reports "OK."


                                  Date and Time

      These options change the date and time. To aid you in setting the
      date, the day of the week is also displayed, although you can't set
      it directly.

      NOTE: Unlike all other options on this screen, changing the date and
      time changes the real date and time as you press the <+> and <->
      keys. Even if you escape from the CMOS screen without saving your
      other changes, the date and time will still reflect any changes you
      made to them.


                                      Memory

      Tells the computer how much conventional and extended memory is
      present. These options can be changed in 128K increments.


                                  Floppy Drives

      Tells the computer the capacity and size of the installed floppy
      drives. Choices range from the 360K floppy to the 2.88M. Take care
      that both the size and capacity you select match those of the
      installed drive. There is a rare 720K 5.25" drive.


                                   Hard Drives

      Here you are allowed to choose the hard drive types. Choose type zero
      if you have no drive, or if you have a SCSI drive. Otherwise, choose
      the type that matches the parameters of the hard drive you have.
      "Pre-comp" is short for Write Pre-Compensation, often abbreviated
      "WPC." "L-zone" is the landing zone, the cylinder the read/write
      heads will come to rest on when the system is turned off.
         Snooper finds the drive type parameters in your computer's ROM
      BIOS. Snooper can find the beginning of the table, but there's no
      fool-proof way to tell where it ends. In some computers, the table
      has as few as a couple dozen entries; in others, a couple hundred. If

      50   Snooper, the system checker







      you see some strange drive types that don't make sense, you've gone
      past the end of the table.

      NOTE: Some memory managers have a feature that provides more upper
      memory block space by moving the ROM BIOS to another memory location.
      If this feature is in use on your system, Snooper may not be able to
      find your computer's hard drive table because the memory manager
      moved it. If so, disable the memory manager's feature or use your
      computer's built-in setup utility.

      If you see "User defined" after the drive type, it means Snooper has
      run out of pre-defined types and the type you're looking at can be
      defined by the user to fit a hard drive whose parameters don't appear
      in the list. If you need to define a custom drive type, you can't use
      Snooper to do so. You must use the computer's own setup program
      (often stored in the ROM BIOS and accessed via <Ctrl><Alt>-<S> or
      <Ctrl><Alt>-<Esc>, or with <Delete> or <F10> during boot-up). BIOS
      makers haven't standardized on a way to store user-defined drive
      parameters in the CMOS, so Snooper wouldn't know where to put them.


                                     Display

      Here you indicate what kind of video adapter is installed. If you
      have a text-only monochrome or a Hercules Graphics monochrome
      adapter, select "monochrome." For CGA cards, you should choose "CGA
      80 columns" (the normal number of columns). If you have an EGA, VGA,
      SVGA, XGA, or PGC card, choose "VGA and EGA."


                                   Coprocessor

      If your system has a math coprocessor, choose "Installed." Snooper's
      Main screen will tell you if your system has a math chip (or NDP),
      despite this setting.


                               Saving Your Changes

      Press <Esc> when you are finished with the CMOS screen. If you have
      made changes, Snooper will prompt you in the message box to save your
      changes permanently into the CMOS chip. If you want to abandon your
      changes, press <N>, or <Enter>. Or press <Y> to save them. For your
      changes to take full effect, you may have to reboot your computer.
      Snooper will do this for you, with your permission. If you pressed
      <Y>, Snooper will then ask if you want it to reboot your system. If
      so, press <Y>, and within a few seconds, your computer will reboot.

      NOTE: If you reboot, and you are using a multitasker such as
      Microsoft Windows, any unsaved work you may have been doing in
      another window will be lost.


                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  51







                                 BENCHMARK SCREEN


      Snooper's Benchmark screen provides three speed indexes: CPU, Video,
      and Hard drive throughput. They are displayed as both numbers and
      horizontal bar graphs.
         The CPU benchmark is run continually when you're viewing this
      screen. Since the other benchmarks may take several seconds to run,
      they must be invoked by you by pressing a key. If you run benchmarks,
      then return to the Main screen, only to return to the Benchmark
      screen, the benchmark scores will reappear so you needn't run them
      again. You may, of course, run them as may times as you like.
         The scales for the bar graphs adjust automatically for different
      CPUs, and adjust themselves again if the score would exceed the
      default scale for that CPU (i.e., if the system were particularly
      fast for its CPU class). The default scales and graphs are displayed
      in green, in blue if the scales were adjusted again to accommodate
      fast hardware. Snooper's automatic scaling is effectively infinite.


                                  CPU Throughput

      This benchmark test is run continually, a fact you can demonstrate by
      switching your computer in and out of turbo mode. You will see the
      speed in Megahertz, and the benchmark score change. This test is an
      estimate of the speed at which an AT (e.g., a 286 computer) would
      have to run to be as fast as your computer. For example, if the CPU
      throughput score is 150, an AT would have to run at 150 Megahertz to
      keep up with your system.
         Also, during normal operation, you may see a slight fluctuation in
      speed as TSRs briefly gain control of your system (for example, a
      disk cache writing data to a hard drive). You can hold down a key and
      see the key repeat feature slow the system a bit. If you're running
      Snooper under a multitasker such as Microsoft Windows, you may see
      large fluctuations in speed as other programs gain control and
      Windows performs housekeeping functions. All this speed changing is
      normal, and doesn't indicate a problem.


                                 Video Throughput

      When you press the <V>, Snooper performs a video benchmark test. The
      resulting figure shows how fast your computer can display text, in
      thousands of characters per second. This figure is heavily reliant on
      your system's CPU and its speed and the video card. Note this may
      have little correlation to how fast your system draws graphics, or
      how well it would perform under Microsoft Windows. It only measures
      text speed. Obviously, if you're measuring the speed of a system that
      is to be used mostly in DOS, this figure is quite relevant.




      52   Snooper, the system checker







                                 Disk Throughput

      Press <D> to perform the hard drive benchmark on drive one
      (normally C:). This test may take just a few seconds, or it may take
      a minute or more, depending on the hard drive's speed.
         If you have two hard drives, you can press <2> to test the second;
      its score will replace the first's. A number will appear at the left
      of the graph, showing which drive was last tested. Note you must have
      two separate hard drives, not just two partitions on the same drive
      (they would have the same score anyway).
         When discussing hard drive speed, much emphasis has been put on
      average access time--the time it takes for the read/write heads to
      reach a particular cylinder. But this measure is only part of the
      picture. Also important is the speed at which the computer can
      transfer data from the drive to system memory. Snooper's Disk
      Throughput report combines these measures into one. It transfers data
      from the drive into memory, choosing disk areas both randomly and
      sequentially, imitating your hard drive's normal operation. Note that
      for the safety of your data, this test never writes to your drive, it
      only reads, so there's virtually no chance of it damaging your data.

































                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  53







                                   SETUP SCREEN

      You may change Snooper's color scheme and other defaults by pressing
      <Alt-S> from the Main screen. You will see the Setup screen options
      and a "fake" display to show you what Snooper will look like with a
      color scheme you specify.


                           Navigating the Setup Screen

         To move around this screen, press the highlighted letter for the
      option you want. Or use <Tab> and <Shift-Tab> or the arrow keys to
      move the highlight bar. You may have to press the arrow key twice to
      get past the license number and config filename options. Press <+>
      and <-> or <PgUp> and <PgDn> to change the selected option. For the
      license number and filename options, type the text you want and press
      <Enter>.


                                    Mono Mode

         You can force Snooper to use its black-and-white mode by using
      this option. Normally, Snooper will detect monochrome cards and set
      this default automatically. But you may have a reason to override the
      default. For example, you may have a laptop that emulates a VGA
      display (making Snooper think you have a color monitor) but the
      display is more readable with the black-and-white background. Set
      this option to Yes and Snooper will use its mono background color.
      The default is "Auto," meaning Snooper will try to determine if Mono
      mode is necessary.


                                  Desqview Mode

         Again, Snooper normally knows when to use Desqview mode, but you
      may have a reason to specify this option. For example, if you have an
      old CGA card and you see "snow" when Snooper draws its display. The
      default is "Auto," meaning Snooper decides if Desqview mode is
      needed.


                                      Editor

         This option tells Snooper if you want to use its internal editor
      or an external one called EDIT. The default is "Internal."








      54   Snooper, the system checker







                                      Drive

         You may want Snooper to give you information about a certain drive
      first, without having to specify it on the command line. Perhaps
      you're a systems administrator and despite what drive your users are
      running Snooper from, you want it to show information for their C:
      drive. Use the default disk drive option to specify it. Snooper will
      cycle through all the letters of the alphabet and the word "default."
      Of course, once you're in Snooper, you can change to any drive in the
      system. If Snooper doesn't find the drive you specified when it's
      run, it will show information for the current drive. The default for
      this option is, of course, "Default."


                                      Sounds

      When you press a wrong key, try to select an invalid drive, or an
      error occurs, Snooper usually beeps. This option is on by default but
      you may turn off all sounds with this option.


                                Allow CMOS Editing

      This invisible option allows you to toggle the function of the CMOS
      screen from editing to simply viewing. If you're a network
      administrator and you want to prevent non-technical users from
      editing their CMOS configurations, simply press <A> ONCE and save the
      configuration file. Subsequent invocations of Snooper will provide a
      CMOS viewer--the CMOS screen will look almost identical, and it can
      be logged like all other screens, but no editing can be performed. To
      revert to CMOS editing mode, return to the Setup screen and press <A>
      once again. Don't forget to save your changes. This option is
      invisible so users can't change the option themselves to use the
      editor. Be careful about letting them see this page of the manual.


                                      Colors

         You can change Snooper's colors to suit your taste. Snooper will
      cycle through the available colors. You can go through them in either
      order by using the <+> and <-> keys. Snooper's "fake" display will
      show you how the real display will look. Remember, you must save your
      changes, exit, then reinvoke Snooper for the changes to take effect.










                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  55







                                  License Number

         To make that annoying Registration Reminder Screen (RRS) go away
      forever, press <L> and enter the license number we sent you when you
      registered. Be sure to enter the number exactly as it appears or
      Snooper won't accept it (it's awfully picky). After you save your
      work (see below) and exit, Snooper will no longer show its RRS. Your
      license number is shown at the top of the order information screen
      (from the Main screen, press <F1>, <O>).

      NOTE: After you enter your license number, you probably should save
      your config file under the default name, so it always will be
      available to Snooper. Otherwise, the registration reminders might
      start popping up again. Eeek!

      It would be foolish, of course, to give your license number away to
      anyone--they should pay, too!


                               Saving Your Changes

      If you want to quit and not save your changes, press <Esc> and no new
      configuration file will be written.
         If you've made changes you want to keep, you must save them to a
      configuration file. The default configuration filename is always
      displayed. This is the file that was loaded when Snooper was invoked,
      or would have if it existed. To accept the default, simply press <S>,
      then <Enter>. To specify a new file, enter a new filename and press
      <Enter>.
         Snooper will write a config file with the new options, overwriting
      any old file of the same name. To create multiple files, simply enter
      different names at the prompt. Snooper will report if the file was
      successfully saved, or show an error message if it wasn't. If the
      save is successful, the next time you run Snooper, the new options
      will take effect. That's all there is to it!
         When you're done with the Setup screen, press <Esc> to return to
      the Main screen.
















      56   Snooper, the system checker







                       A LITTLE BIT ABOUT SNOOPER'S AUTHOR

      We'll take the liberty of assuming some of you want to know a little
      more about Snooper's author. We'll keep it short. The following
      paragraph was written by John Vias, Snooper's principle author.
         "I'm originally from Evanston, Illinois (suburban Chicago) but
      have lived most of my life in Florida. At the University of Florida,
      I earned a degree in English, a fact I hope is reflected in this
      manual. I now own a computer services and technical writing business
      called Vias and Associates (pretty catchy, huh?). Some day, Real Soon
      Now, I expect to move to the West Coast to write about computers,
      combining my favorite hobbies."


                      A LITTLE BIT ABOUT SNOOPER'S CREATION

      Snooper was developed over hundreds of hours when we probably should
      have been sleeping. Snooper began in February 1987 on an 8 MHz AT
      compatible, then moved on to a 386SX compatible (yuck!). It was
      tested along the way on hundreds of machines. It originally was
      written in Turbo Pascal version 3.01A, and has since been expanded
      under every version through 6.0. Its source code as of this writing
      consists of over 13,000 lines of Pascal, including some BASM
      assembler.





























                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  57







                                 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      Snooper was not created in a vacuum, of course, although John's head
      has been likened to one. Here are a few sources of information we
      used, and for which we are very grateful. We apologize to those we
      forgot to mention. Without them, Snooper would be only . . . well, we
      hate to think about it.

      PC Magazine (by Ziff-Davis Publishing Company)
         An invaluable source of information about the IBM PC family. A
         great deal about PCs can be learned from its pages. It has helped
         many a programmer.

      Turbo Pascal 6.0: Techniques and Utilities (by Neil J. Rubenking:
      Ziff-Davis Press, 1991)
         With the help of this book, Snooper's code grows better and more
         efficient by following Mr. Rubenking's advice. Highly recommended
         for anyone who wants to write Turbo Pascal programs.

      Advanced MS-DOS Programming (by Ray Duncan: MS Press, sec. ed., 1989)
         Written by one of PC Magazine's stable of PC wizards, this book
         was our source for documented BIOS and DOS calls.

      Programmer's Guide to the IBM PC (by Peter Norton: MS Press, 1985)
         The Programmer's Guide was an excellent reference in Snooper's
         early years. Eventually, we turned to more up-to-date works, but
         Mr. Norton's book did help at first.

      Ralf Brown (INTERvvx.ZIP)
         (The "vv" is the volume of release and the "x" is "A," "B," or
         "C." Ralf now distributes the list in three files.) An enormous
         list of DOS, BIOS, and program-specific interrupt calls, many
         otherwise undocumented. Quite simply, some of Snooper's reports
         wouldn't exist without it. Very useful in that it reports bugs and
         incompatibilities books rarely mention. And it's free! Be sure to
         check out the book Undocumented DOS, co-written by Ralf.

      Andrew Rossman (InfoPlus)
         Mr. Rossman maintains a multi-page system information utility.
         From it we got snippets of code and programming techniques.

      John Fox (EDIT2.PAS)
         Mr. Fox wrote the freeware editor whose source code Snooper uses
         in its internal editor. Thanks, John!

      Vernon E. Davis, Jr. (TPXMS101.ZIP)
         Author of a Turbo Pascal pre-6.0 unit for using an eXtended Memory
         Manager (e.g., HIMEM.SYS).

      Yuval Tal (TP6XMS.ZIP)
         Author of a Turbo Pascal 6.0 unit for using an XMM.


      58   Snooper, the system checker







      Kenneth Morse
         He downloaded Snooper from Compuserve, read Snooper's wish list,
         and via E-mail, helped us figure out how to detect joysticks and
         RAM disks. Thanks, Kenneth.

      Greg Barton (sysop, ACCUG BBS)
         Special thanks to Greg Barton, who kindly set up a Snooper
         conference on his BBS, and on short notice.

      Greg Wrey
         Thanks to Greg Wrey, who beta-tested Snooper on his systems many
         times.

      Our friends (by their parents)
         Those with more patience than we deserved who helped debug
         Snooper. They ran it on their machines and told what happened
         right before it crashed.

      All those we forgot to mention
         Those folks who left E-mail or wrote letters, reporting we forgot
         something or shouldn't this be such-and-such.

      Snooper's Registered Users
         Without the encouragement and support of Snooper's registered
         users and site licensees, John would have given up in disgust and
         moved to a tiny cottage in the hills, forever writing programs for
         his own amusement. Occasionally, when registrations are slow, he
         still threatens to. . . .

























                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  59







                                      INDEX

      A20 Line Status  30
      Acknowledgements  58
      Address, parallel port  44
      Address, serial port  42
      Address, sound card  45
      Advanced Power Management (APM)  27
      Association of Shareware Professionals  2
      AUTOEXEC.BAT, editing  23
      AUTOEXEC.BAT, logging  24
      Benchmark screen  52
      Black-and-white mode switch (B)  16
      Brand, ROM BIOS  34
      Break, DOS  38
      Buffers, DOS  37
      Bugs  25
      Bus  28
      Bus screen  46
      Cache, disk  38
      Central Processing Unit (CPU)  27
      Chip detection bypass switches (C, M)  17
      Clipboard, log to  24
      Cluster size  41
      CMOS drive type  40
      CMOS screen  49
      CMOS Status  50
      Colors, Setup screen  55
      Computer  26
      CONFIG.SYS, editing  23
      CONFIG.SYS, logging  24
      Configuration file (Sfilename])  17
      Configuring Snooper  54
      Connection  48
      Connections  48
      Consecutive Drive keys  22
      Conventional memory  28
      Conventional Memory, CMOS screen  50
      Coprocessor, CMOS screen  51
      Copyright  12
      CPU speed  27
      CPU Throughput  52
      Current directory  39
      Cylinders  40
      Data bits  43
      Date, ROM BIOS  34
      Date/Time, CMOS screen  50
      Default  48
      Desqview mode switch (D)  16
      Desqview Mode, Setup screen  54
      Device, serial port  43
      Diagnostics screen  42

      60   Snooper, the system checker







      Direct Memory Access (DMA)  45
      Directory, current  39
      Disk cache  38
      Disk drive argument (D:)  16
      Disk information  39
      Disk label  39
      Disk Throughput  53
      Display, CMOS screen  51
      DMA  45
      DOS  36
      DOS brand  36
      DOS break  38
      DOS buffers  37
      DOS files  37
      DOS installation  10
      DOS revision  36
      DOS shell  37
      DOS verify  38
      DOS version  36
      Drive letter keys  22
      Drive list  39
      Drive status  40
      Drive type  40
      Drive, Setup screen  55
      Drives  31
      Drives, floppy  31
      Drives, hard  31
      Drives, logical  31
      Drives, physical  31
      Edit CONFIG.SYS/AUTOEXEC.BAT keys  23
      Edit SNOOPER.LOG key  23
      Editing AUTOEXEC.BAT  23
      Editing CONFIG.SYS  23
      Editor conventions  23
      Editor, Setup screen  54
      EMM level  30
      EMS memory free  30
      EMS total  30
      Enhanced Memory Manager level  30
      Enhanced Memory Specification total  30
      Environment  36
      Environment free  36
      Environment total  36
      Environment variable, logging  17
      Errorlevel  24
      Examples  19
      Exit key  21
      Ext free  29
      Extended memory  29
      EXtended Memory Manager level  29
      Extended Memory, CMOS screen  50
      Extensions, ROM BIOS  34

                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  61







      Fax Info  43
      File-editing  22
      Files on this disk  9
      Files, DOS  37
      Floppy  31
      Floppy Drives, CMOS screen  50
      Format, serial port  43
      Free memory  28
      Free space  41
      Free, environment  36
      Game port  33
      Hard  31
      Hard Drives, CMOS screen  50
      Hardware, network card  47
      Heads  40
      Help key  21
      Help switches (H|?)  15
      High Memory Area (HMA)  30
      How to order  14
      IDE drive model  39
      Installation  10
      Interrupt Request (IRQ)  45
      IRQ  45
      IRQ, parallel port  44
      IRQ, serial port  43
      Keyboard  35
      Keyboard present  35
      Keyboard support  35
      Keystrokes  21
      Known bugs and anomalies  25
      Label, disk  39
      Legalities  11
      Liability  12
      License  12
      License Number, Setup screen  56
      Little bit about myself  57
      Little bit about Snooper's creation  57
      Log CONFIG.SYS/AUTOEXEC.BAT key  24
      Log CONFIG.SYS/AUTOEXEC.BAT switch (F)  19
      Log file environment variable  19
      Log key  23
      Log to Clipboard key  24
      Log to Printer key  24
      Logging switch (L[filename])  18
      Logical  31
      Main screen  26
      Memory  28
      Memory, A20 line status  30
      Memory, CMOS screen  50
      Memory, conventional  28
      Memory, EMS free  30
      Memory, extended  29

      62   Snooper, the system checker







      Memory, extended free  29
      Memory, free  28
      Memory, HMA  30
      Memory, UMB  30
      Memory, used  29
      Memory, video  33
      Memory, XMS  29
      Monitor type  32
      Mono Mode, Setup screen  54
      Mouse  35
      Mouse brand, driver version  35
      Mouse port  35
      Network  38
      Network address  47
      Network card  47
      Network screen  47
      Network type  47
      Node address  47
      Non-interactive mode switch (N)  16
      Numeric Data Processor (NDP)  27
      Operation  20
      Order/registration key  22
      Ordering  13
      Parallel port IRQ  44
      Parallel ports  33
      Parallel ports, Diags screen  44
      Parity  43
      Philosophy behind Snooper  11
      Physical  31
      Plug-N-Play  34
      Port, game  33
      Port, mouse  35
      Ports  33
      Ports, parallel  33
      Ports, serial  33
      Present, keyboard  35
      Pricing  14
      Quiet mode switch (Q)  16
      Registration  13
      Registration benefits  14
      Requirements  9
      ROM BIOS  34
      ROM BIOS brand  34
      ROM BIOS date  34
      ROM BIOS extensions  34
      Saving Your Changes, CMOS screen  51
      Saving Your Changes, Setup screen  56
      SCSI Host Adapter  39
      Sector size  41
      Sectors/cylinder  40
      Serial port IRQ  43
      Serial ports  33

                                          Copyright 1989-1993 John Vias  63







      Serial ports, Diags screen  42
      Server  48
      Setup screen  54
      Shell, DOS  37
      Socket  47
      Software, network  48
      Sound card address  45
      Sound cards  34
      Sounds, Setup screen  55
      Speed, serial port  43
      Status, CMOS  50
      Status, drive  40
      Status, parallel port  44
      Stop bits  43
      Support, keyboard  35
      Syntax  15
      Total space  41
      Total, environment  36
      UART  42
      Updates  14
      Upgrading from a Previous Version  11
      Upper Memory Block (UMB)  30
      Used memory  29
      Used space (%)  41
      Used space (bar graph)  41
      Used space (bytes)  41
      User name  47
      Verify, DOS  38
      VESA  32
      VGA adapter brand  32
      Vias & Associates  2
      Video  32
      Video memory  33
      Video Throughput  52
      Video type  32
      Virtual-86 mode  27
      Warranty  12
      What is shareware?  13
      What is Snooper?  8
      Who needs Snooper?  8
      Windows installation  10
      Windows Operation  21
      Wish list  26
      XMM level  29
      XMS memory  29








      64   Snooper, the system checker
