Installation

CREATING A TEMP DIRECTORY

TEMP FILE

If your system does not have a temp file defined, define one before your start installing the software.

Q: I don't have a TEMP directory so how do I create one?
A: Using Windows Explorer, Under the file menu, create a new folder, C:\temp

To continue to use Ferret32 pass the evaluation period you'll will need to register.. Once you have recieved a registration via Email from Software Bychoice, run the program.

Click on Registration

You must enter your data in order to Validate.

You will be prompted to re-start Ferret32. This concludes registration.

It's always a good idea to close all programs before any install. This is especially true if you have any open unsaved documents.

Using Explorer, run the setup program
HINT: Activate Explorer by holding down the Windows key and then pressing the E key. or
Select the Start button, locate Run, then type in Explorer. Run Explorer

For Windows XP, right mouse click on MY COMPUTER then select Explore

You should close all other open programs and save any open documents

Single users with no special requirements should just allow SETUP to follows its standard defaults.

FERRET32's SETUP will install Ferret in the directory:
c:\Program Files\ferret32
You may, however, specify any directory name on any drive. If that directory does not pre- exist, SETUP will create one.
FERRET32 SETUP will place all files required to make FERRET32 run in this directory, except and specific DLLs or System files required. System files will installed in their required folders under the systems operating directories.

CAUTION: PRE-EXISTING DRIVERS

Ferret32 comes with various operating system interface files that help the program talk to other programs. Newer versions of these may be already loaded on your computer having been installed from some other source.

In this case, when FERRET32 SETUP program runs, it will tell you that a newer version of the a driver has been found,
Don't worry, this is normal.
You may then be asked to cancel or skip this operation.
It is usually OK to skip any write protected files.
You may be asked for permission to over-write files on your system that are NEWER that the files tis setup is trying to install. The proper answer is Keep newer files and DO NOT over-write your newer Files.

If FERRET32 SETUP, for any reason, does not finish completely due to an error, all changes and any files that may have been copied are removed, any directories newly created are also removed. Simply retry the Install.

No system environment settings are created for a standard install and none are required.

Temp files created by FERRET32 will land in the directory where FERRET32 was installed. To have something different happen see TEMP FILE topic above.

This is for users who are upgrading a previous installation to a newer one.

Backup your INI file (ferret.ini) and validate.bin to another folder. (i.e. Copy this file to another directory in a handy spot like "C:\Program Files\FERRET32_old") to maintain previous preferences. Ferret32 is backward compatible with these settings. You will need to copy this file back to the install directory overwritibg the ferret.ini and validate.bin files in that directory after the installation has been completed.

More than likely, you have been storing your bookmarks to this file:
c:\program files\ferret32\mybkmarks.htm
So you'll want to save that file as well.
I make double sure I don't miss anything by simply making a copy of the whole ferret32 folder and then renaming it to ferret32_old so I have the following folders BEFORE I begin the uninstall on the old program:
c:\program files\ferret32
c:\program files\ferret32_old


After the new install: Sort the _old directory BY DATE and copy these files to the few ferret32 directory:

c:\program files\ferret32\ferret.hst
c:\program files\ferret32\ferret_compare_strings.log
c:\program files\ferret32\ferret.hs0
c:\program files\ferret32\ferret_compare_log.bak
c:\program files\ferret32\cliphistory.txt
c:\program files\ferret32\cfiles.dir
c:\program files\ferret32\xxxx.dir
        for any other master directory files of hard drives Ferret32 may have Index for you recently
c:\program files\ferret32\last_bookmark_update_date_time.txt
c:\program files\ferret32\mybkmarks.htm
c:\program files\ferret32\ferret32favorites.txt
c:\program files\ferret32\write_url_list.txt
and
ferret.ini and validate.bin

Single users upgrading should remove the old program install first. This procedure, below, will show program removal step by step.

Make sure the Ferret32 program in NOT RUNNING at the time. Shut down all open data windows and all other programs in case something goes wrong, so no data is lost. Other programs running may prevent the DLL and OCX files from being over written, should older versions of these need upgrading.

Under Start, select Settings. Select Control Panel, click on Add/Remove programs

Select ferret32 to highlight what's to be removed.

Confirm program's removal.

Now we are ready for a fresh Install.

Under Start, select Settings. Select Control Panel, click on Add/Remove programs.

Click on Install. The program will check for any floppy diskettes then will wait for a program directory.

Using Browse, we will select c:\temp, where we ran the self extracting download file.

Select SETUP

Click on Finish.

Click on OK

Use the default settings or change directory.
Then continue as shown . . .

Progress shown . . .

THIS CONCLUDES THE SETUP.

Because Ferret may be used in several corporate capacities, what files and initialization values Ferret points to depends on how it is installed and used.

In the simplest case, all of Ferret's files as well as the program are installed in a single directory. This is the way SETUP will configure the software on install. When FERRET32 is run, and the directory has a FERRET.INI file, this file is always used for initialization. No environment settings are required.

In figure one, two install directories are shown. A bit unusual, but a way of having two different setups, each configured differently, and perhaps pointing to different groups of files.

System Administrators Ferret32 Setup

To make all users configuration the same and to share networked information, we recommend the following setup and methods.

Define workstations programs the same way on each workstation. In this way, file locations for WINDWORD, EXCEL, Web Browser, the assigned networked drives letters will all be assigned the same. In this manner, a standard INI File will work for all

If you can, get a site license. In this way, the users name in the INI file will be the same for all users as in ABC Company Site License/ ABC Company.

With a site license, you may copy both the ferret.ini file and the validate.bin to the ferret install directory for all users. Hence, the individual user need not go through the registration process. Individual software installs are, however, still required.

Ferret32 creates temp files. Temp.fer is created when a search completes. Where these files are stored on your system maybe be a concern if you are running low on space where the program was installed or handle very large data files.

The default case, temp files are stored in the same directory that Ferret32 executes from.

To fix where temp files are stored, a declaration need be set in the ferret.ini.

See Figure 5.
Add the line: Set temp = system to force temp files into the directory specified by your computer's environment settings (see MYCOMPUTER). Note that these temp files may be deleted by the Microsoft Operating system when the Operating system is re-started.

Add the line: Set temp = f:\tmp to force temp files into f:\tmp a directory of your choice. (Figure 6)

NOTE: System administrators want users to have a temp file setup if FERRET32 is to be called from a write or access protected directory on the Network.