README.TXT for Community Signs for Windows version 2.0 Community Signs for Windows is a freeware educational program for practicing reading, spelling and matching the names of over fifty different warning, direction, and street signs. Community Signs for Windows requires: * Windows 95/98, ME, NT, 2000, or XP * 486 CPU or better * 8 megs of memory (RAM) * VGA monitor set at 640 x 480 resolution or higher Recommended: * 486DX-66 or better CPU -- a Pentium is fine * Windows video driver set at 256 colors (SVGA) * Windows compatible sound device with appropriate drivers installed * a mouse or trackball Community Signs for Windows must be installed by running the setup program which will run the InstallShield program. Community Signs for Windows includes Uninstall Shield so it can be easily uninstalled. ************************************************************************ HOW TO INSTALL COMMUNITY SIGNS FOR WINDOWS: It is recommended that you quit all extraneous programs that may be running. * If you have one self-extracting SETUPEX.EXE file: Download the file into a temporary directory on your hard disk (you may wish to make a directory where you download, e.g. C:\temp1). Use File Manager or Windows Explorer to go to the directory where SETUPEX.EXE is and double-click SETUPEX.EXE to run this InstallShield setup file. Follow the directions of InstallShield. You may then delete SETUPEX.EXE if you desire. Note: You may not be able to run SETUPEX.EXE from a CD-ROM drive because the file needs to self extract. If you receive errors when trying to run SETUPEX.EXE, simply copy SETUPEX.EXE to a drive with write permissions, e.g. hard drive. * If you have a CD-ROM which contains SETUP.EXE: Insert the CD-ROM in a drive and use My Computer or Windows Explorer to browse the CD-ROM drive to locate the folder for Community Signs. Run the SETUP.EXE file to install the program. Follow the InstallShield prompts. * If you have two floppy disks with SETUP.EXE on the first one: Insert the floppy disk in your A: or B: drive. Close all running programs on the task bar. Go to Start, Run, and type A:SETUP.EXE (substitute B: for A: if your floppy is in the B: drive). Follow the directions of InstallShield. * If you have downloaded two self-extracting files: SIGNS20-DISK1.EXE and SIGNS20-DISK2.EXE Running each of these files will unzip by default into the C:\My Downloads\Community Signs\Disk[x] folder on your hard drive. You may wish to have the WinZip Self Extractor program unzip to the A:\ floppy drive directly. After completing the self-extraction, browse to the disk and/or folder and run the SETUP.EXE file to install the program. Follow the InstallShield prompts. When you are finished you may delete your temporary folders C:\My Downloads\Community Signs\Disk[x] if you desire. *HELPFUL HINTS: If installing this program on Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows XP, you must be logged in as administrator or with administrative privileges. Community Signs for Windows is now 32-bit and will not install on Windows 3.1. Windows 95 or later is required. Have you disabled your virus scan program before running the setup file? Have you run ScanDisk to check your hard drive recently? Is your C:\windows\temp directory empty? Are you getting the same error on more than one computer? Perhaps you got a bad download, try downloading the program again. ************************************************************************ HOW TO UNINSTALL COMMUNITY SIGNS FOR WINDOWS: Start button > Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs. Scroll through the list of programs and select Community Signs for Windows. Select the Add/Remove button and follow the prompts for Uninstall Shield to remove the program. When Uninstall has finished, Uninstall Shield may say that not all the files could be deleted ("Some elements could not be removed"). This is okay. This refers to four files remaining which are in \WINDOWS\SYSTEM. The files that will not be uninstalled may be needed for other programs so it is recommended that you do NOT manually delete them from the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. These files include: BDS52F.DLL, CW3220.DLL, CW3230.DLL, and OWL52F.DLL. ************************************************************************ START-UP PARAMETERS: When this program is run certain parameters can be set that affect how the program will run. Note that these options can only be set at run time, they cannot be changed while the program is running. You must not type spaces between the = and the option itself, but you must use a space between multiple options. Here are the start-up parameters/options and a brief description: /? This displays a summary of the options that can be set. The program will not run with this parameter set, it will only display the Startup Options Dialog window. /background=no This causes the program to not display any background behind the main window. This can be useful if multi- tasking needs to be performed. /background=none the same as /background=no or /background=0 /background=x Displays an x colored background behind the main program window where x is one of the following numbers: 1 displays a blue background (default) 2 green 3 red 4 cyan 5 magenta 6 gray 7 brown 8 yellow 9 white 10 black 0 transparent / no background /colorcheck=no The program automatically checks to verify that the video card is capable of displaying 256 or more colors. If it is not, a warning dialog box is displayed -- the program will still run. Although the program looks best with 256 colors, it can be run with fewer. Setting /colorcheck=no This forces the program to not run the check, thus the dialog box will never be displayed. /fontcheck=no The program automatically checks that the default Arial font is available. Setting this parameter =no disables this check and thus the program will not display a warning dialog box. Note that this may cause the program not display words correctly. /help=no This parameter completely disables the help files including Help > About which normally displays the program name and version number. The F1 key will also be disabled. /options=no This disables the Options on the menu bar so that the user cannot turn the sound off or on, set any Advanced Options, nor change the Level Settings. In effect, this locks the program so that nothing can be adjusted. For example, in Windows 98, a user could click the Start button > Run and type the following all on one line: "c:\program files\Community Signs\signs.exe" /background=2 /help=no Pressing Enter would set a green background and disable the Help menu and F1 key while the program runs. These start-up parameters can be set at the command prompt or by changing the icon target properties in Windows 9x (right click the icon > Properties > Shortcut tab > Target:). ************************************************************************ KNOWN ISSUES: Do not install Community Signs for Windows in the same directory (folder) as Spell the Fruit or Spell the Vegetables. Otherwise saving the options will not work. This program will probably not run in Safe Mode on Windows 2000. It will show a dialog box saying "256 colors not detected" and neither the OK nor the Help button will function. The solution: Run the program in Normal Mode, i.e. not Safe Mode. Another option is to turn off checking for 256 colors on program startup by using the /colorcheck=no startup command parameter. ************************************************************************ Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. PKUNZIP is a registered trademark of PKWARE, Inc. InstallShield and Uninstallshield are trademarks of InstallShield Corporation. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. WINZIP is a registered trademark of Nico Mak Computing, Inc. ********************************************************************** some images copyright (c) Corel Corporation some images copyright (c) www.ArtToday.com some sound files courtesy of EarthStation1.com ************************************************************************ Community Signs for Windows is copyright (c) Bill Straub 2003 and 2000. Permission is granted to distribute this program as freeware as long as all the files are kept intact. e-mail: hope@northcoast.com Resources for Teachers of Basic Skills website: http://www.northcoast.com/~hope