CutWarn Instructions

Please read the EULA.txt file before running this program; it contains your license agreement.

Introduction

This animated System Tray based program gives several visual and audible warnings of when ISPs with cut-off times will disconnect you. It uses negligible CPU time, has fully configurable alerts and sounds, and ensures you are never "caught out" when you are talking with someone online, playing a game, or doing any other lengthy task where you might get cut off the Internet unexpectedly.

Usage

1. This program has and requires no installation. Simply copy the CutWarn program file & documentations to a folder of their own, where you would like the program to be run from.
2. Run the CutWarn.exe program as normal.
3. Within the System Tray (the area next to the Windows clock), a new icon for CutWarn should have appeared. Double-click it to open the main Window.
4. The interface is well labelled and is self-explanatory from now on - simply click a tab to switch pages within the Window.

Features & Points to Note

• The Tray icon will start off grey, and fill up blue in a clockwise fashion as your connection time is used up. When it goes red, you have been disconnected.
• You can get a better idea of your time left by either hovering over the Tray icon or minimizing the main Window to the Taskbar for a realtime report.
• CutWarn cannot be run across any network. It must be on a dedicated connection to be capable of seeing when the Internet is connected or disconnected.
• The program keeps connections alive by accessing random webpages at the interval you specify, beginning with "http://", then a random string of between 10 and 20 characters, then another "/". This effectively simulates webpage navigation whilst keeping an extremely low probability of actually downloading a webpage. Therefore almost no bandwidth is used, and the program is safe to be running even while playing online games with a slow connection.
• This program uses Internet Explorer 4 and up to perform the keep-alive task. You need to ensure (even if Internet Explorer is not your current browser), that it is set up to and can correctly access the Internet anyway.
• The "Reconnect if connection is broken" option requires you to have set the default connection in the Windows "Internet Options" Control Panel and ensure it is set up to autodial when a page in Internet Explorer is accessed. If in doubt, disconnect yourself, access a webpage in Internet Explorer and see if your connection dials. If it does, then CutWarn should reconnect you successfully.
• Using the Speaker options on non-NT machines (9x and Me), will generate a system beep instead of sounding the system's Internal Speaker. This is by design and is to avoid having to talk to hardware directly.

Warning

Using the "Keep connection alive" and "Reconnect if connection is broken" options may be against your ISP's Terms & Conditions. I do NOT accept any responsibility for lost accounts, fines or other problems due to violations of these terms & conditions (please ensure you have read the CutWarn EULA)!

Removing the program

Should you want to remove CutWarn, simply quit the program by right-clicking the system tray icon, and select "Exit". Then, delete the CutWarn program and associated documentation like you do any other files.

If you are Windows Registry literate and want to remove all CutWarn's associated settings, delete the Key "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\CutWarn", and remove the Value "CutWarn" in "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run", if you chose to have the program run on startup.

Remember, this program is FREEWARE, so feel free to give it to anyone you want!

Kindest regards, Gregory Maynard-Hoare

... (please leave the "(GMHNoSpam)" in the subject title along with the brackets - I have strong e-mail spam filters in place for obvious reasons. If you remove it from the subject, it is highly unlikely I will see your e-mail!)

Version History

• V1.00 (15 Oct 2003) : First version, unreleased.
• V1.14 (24 Jul 2004) : Redesigned the GUI, added customizable sound effects and multiple-instance protection, and fixed a minor bug.

Credits

• Borland for Delphi 4.0 (which I used to write this program)
• Markus Oberhumer & Laszlo Molnar for UPX (to compress the EXE)
• Thomas Hauck for the e-mail address encryption!
• ...and finally, thanks to YOU for using this program!