ALARM CLOCK 3.1

This is not the version of this excellent application that is included in the collection (v4.0) because author Yury Semka insists that 3.1 was a dreadful creation, although we really liked it. The new version is, admittedly, even better, but the read me is not a patch on this one ;-)

--------------------------------------------------------- Alarm Clock Version 3.1 --------------------------------------------------------- 1.Foreword. 2.Licence agreement. 3.Disclaimer. 4.Description. 5.Questions and comments. 1.Thank you for using Alarm Clock 3.1 and congratulations! Why? Because where can you get a brand new alarm clock for free? So, this is the case. I would not say it's as good as Seiko or Citizen but, it works anyway.  By the way, this program can be considered as Office application because who, in the name of God, needs the Alarm Clock installed on his or her PC? By the rare exception it should be an office worker. Just imagine: if someone has learned enough customs of his boss and knows exactly the time of being checked, he can easily set up Alarm Clock just five or ten minutes before the moment and sleep well! At the time of the boss appearance, fresh and happy, he is sitting in upright position, paying full attention to a monitor and exposing extreme diligence. No more stresses, no more tranquilizers! (Jesus, I've just realized that my program has a concern to Health Care!).  Well, let's talk about the program itself. First: it is written in alternative programming language RGH PROFAN 3.3, created by Roland G. Hülsmann. It is a very flexible and user-friendly language. But, as long as some lunatics write viruses using Microsoft or Borland environment, there are very low chances to get a virus attached to Alarm Clock. I don't say it's impossible but, anyway, hardly it's going to be. Second: this program does not make any changes to the Registry, all configuration files are stored in the same folder where Alarm Clock 3.1 is. That means, you can delete it any time without bringing any harm to your computer. Third: it can run even when your PC is suspended (of course, it should), but the only thing: you have to disable the screensaver which is being used by Windows. By the way, it can be run under Windows 95 or 98. I have no idea about Windows NT,ME,2000,XP,ABCD but, I guess, it should too. 2. I could start like, you know, "THIS IS THE END-USER LICENCE AGREEMENT BLAH - BLAH - BLAH...", I won't. Instead: this is a COMPLETELY FREEWARE with all ins and outs of the meaning. Do whatever you like with it: use it, copy it, install, delete, disassemble, reverse-engineer... I don't know what else to add. Saying about disassembling an alarm clock - it's a good task for a child who is too curious about things, and reverse-engineering: what else can you make out of alarm clock? 3.You have to know: I am not a programmer. If real programmers do not accept any responsibility for accidental damage of the software or even a hardware by programs they write, then I am innocent like a baby.  4.To install Alarm Clock 3.1 you can use Install.bat which is included into a folder Alarm3_1. It will copy the folder onto a drive C:\ and put two shortcuts onto your Desktop: Alarm3_1 and Readme.txt. Also these two shortcuts will be included into your Start Menu. It is a matter of your choice wich ones to use and which ones to remove. You can also copy a folder Alarm3_1 directly to your harddrive and run it from there. In this case you have to change shortcuts' target. To uninstall the program, simply delete the folder and shortcuts. Nothing more. This program is designed for screen resolution 800 x 600 but it can be used on PC with any resolution - from 640 x 480 up to 1600 x 1200. Just it has the best appearance with 800 x 600. When you start it, you can see Alarm Clock interface which is quite understandable: two up and down spots for setting hours are on the left, two similar spots are on the right. Main display is in the centre. When you click the spot (or "Sensor") it will be highlighted and hours will appear on the display. One click up adds one hour, down - subtracts. Minutes can be set up and down in five, I think it should be a sufficient accuracy. Setting of hours and minutes is a looped procedure, so you can click up or down infinitely if you've got nothing else to do. Note: hours should be set first, then you can go to minutes. It is impossible vice versa. If you press "Cancel", while setting hours, the value will be dropped to zero, such as "00", and you can continue setting hours again.The same thing occurs during setting minutes. You'll see that "Cancel" button is working separately with hours and minutes. When you press "OK" button, the timer starts running and, eventually, it will give Alarm Sound (short beeps) and Alarm Message ("Wake Up!") displaying the current time on the screen at wake up event. If you are not satisfied with that, you can go to Preferences which are hidden under square with "P" letter. Once you click it and an additional window on the left will appear with options: "Alarm Sound", "Alarm Text" and "Background". If you click one of those, a new window above will appear. Click one of them - and you will have it as long as you wish, unless you click another one. Note: "Input Sound File" means Windows *.wav file. This program doesn't support any other format of sound files. When you choose to input your own wake up message you should take into account the length of it. The higher is your screen resolution - the longer wake up message is allowable. Anyway, you can try to experiment with that. I have included two simple screensavers into "Background" by the reason explained above. One displays a real-time clock, which has random movement across the screen and colour change. The other screensaver is the same, just some lines are added to produce a kind of pattern on the screen. When I was writing this program I understood: it should be mouse - insensitive. If the User is snoring too loud behind the computer, the mouse might roll away and, of course, Alarm Clock could be disabled. Then I tried to imagine the situation when the poor one, captured by Morpheus (not the one from "The Matrix"), is pressing a bunch of keys on the keyboard by his  forehead... Same thing, right? Thus, I left the only "Esc" key to exit the program. OK, joking apart, it's done to allow the User to install "Running minimized" option which allows to run any other program (programs) while Alarm Clock is running on the background. In this case you'll see Alarm Clock icon in the upper right corner of the screen and an appropriate button on the taskbar. If you want to abort it - just press "Esc" button as in any other case. If you want to exit the program right after the start - press exit ("X") button. Under button "i" an information about the program is placed. Note: If you pressed one of preferences while top menu is on the screen you have to press "OK" button to have you settings saved. If you opened the top menu and don't want to change anything, you have to press "OK" button. If you will press "Cancel" button out of this menu, ALL preferences will be set back to default. This program automatically writes and rewrites its configuration files when you change preferences. Every time it starts it's reading those files first and makes your personal settings active. Such a way, once having new options choosed you have to exit the program and to start it again to have them being read by the program, otherwise, if you wish to continue the session, it will go ahead with preferences chosen before. Then, next time when it starts you will get your settings on. Sometimes you will need to double click "Cancel" buttons from Preferences' submenues (left and upper windows). Those are some minuses of the program which I could not eliminate completely. It doesn't mean that program is "hanging" or something wrong has happened to your computer. I had to take precautions about the program's stability then it was made just the way it is. On the other hand, remember: I'm not a programmer! 5. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions regarding Alarm Clock 3.1 or disregarding it, you can visit my homepage: http://semka.bigsitecity.com or send a message via e-mail: ys@neonet.lv  Note: if you are going to curse, sending me a message full of swearwords, don't waste your time: you'll get it back automatically. Any other messages are welcome, just I have to admit that some of them might be left unanswered. Sorry about that. Sweet Dreams! 21.06.2001 Yury Semka, the author of Alarm Clock 3.1 .