AutoTask 2000 - Cypress Technologies
Current Version: 2.51 Release
Last Updated...: 08/23/02

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CONTENT
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* OVERVIEW
* INSTALLATION NOTES
* VERSION HISTORY

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OVERVIEW
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Auto Task 2000 is a scheduling service for Windows 
95/98/ME/NT40/2000/XP. It is designed to automatically run programs 
at specified times without the need for user interaction. With 
AutoTask’s feature rich functionality, it supports a variety of 
automation needs. Listed below are some of the features support:

* Ability to define multiple commands per each task.
* Run tasks at specified frequency, like daily, weekly, monthly. 
* Run tasks repeatedly at specified intervals such as every xx 
  minutes and xx hours.
* Run tasks under the system account or user accounts(NT/2000/XP), 
  thereby controlling the resources to which the program will have 
  access.
* Determines whether the tasks should be allowed to interact 
  with any logged-on user(NT/2000/XP).
* Run tasks regardless of whether any user is logged on.
* Run tasks based on whether or not a defined condition is met, 
such as file exist, file has changed or application running.
* Sends user defined keys to applications to emulate operation that 
  would normally be done by a user interacting with the program. 
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INSTALLATION NOTES
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Most likely the first time you install AutoTask, the installation 
program will ask you whether or not to replace DLLs that are 
currently in use. You must answer yes and reboot your PC before the 
program will work correctly.

Windows 95 users require that Dcom95 be installed. If you have not 
yet installed this Microsoft program, do so before installing 
AutoTask. You can download this file from the following URL: 
http://www.cypressnet.com/download/dcom95.exe

If installing on Windows NT/2000/XP the installation program will
automatically setup AutoTask as a service. 

NOTE TO VERSION 1.xx USERS (UPGRADING)
As this version was rewritten to take advantage of new technology, we 
recommend great care be taken to protect your current task files. 
Although we have tried to take all precaution in preserving your tasks
with the new version and to make the upgrade as painless as possible, 
there are bound to be those situations we had not counted on. The 
following is our recommendations on how you might want to proceed
with the installation of this version. Should you encounter any 
problems with this upgrade please do not hesitate to let us know.
Send a email message to support@cyressnet.com and we will put the 
highest priority in getting you up and running. 

1. Backup your task files to a safe place.
2. Backup your license file. (AT2000.LIC) This file will be
   found either in the WinNT directory or the AutoTask directory. 
   This file will only be deleted if you originally installed the 
   program from a diskette copy purchased.
2. Shutdown the at2engine service through the control panel.
3. Now from a DOS box change directories to the AutoTask directory.
   issue the following command: at2engine.exe -uninstall. This will
   remove the service from the service manager.
4. Make sure the Administrator program has been shutdown.
5. Uninstall the current version. 
6. Install the new version, using the same directory path as the
   old version was installed to. This is not required but if not 
   installed here your current task files would not be converted. 
7. Start the Admin program and verify your old task have converted
   properly and working.
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VERSION HISTORY
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--VERSION 2.51
* Fix problem with login passwords not being encrypted correctly in 
  the task files. 
* Added "Last x Day of Month" to the monthly options. You can now 
  define a task that would run for example on the "Last Monday of Month"
* Add Tip of the Day dialog to the program. 

--VERSION 2.50
* Modified for XP compatibility

--VERSION 2.45
* Modified the NT Resource tab so that the domain name if needed can
  be enter on separate line. For clarification
* Modified the sendkeys function so that the CAPS lock will be turned 
  off before the sendkeys are sent. On NT/2000 the previous status of 
  the capslock is put back after the sendkeys are completed. This 
  function is not available on 95/98/ME.

--VERSION 2.42
* Fixed a problem with the sendkeys "Month","Day","Hour","Minute" 
  functions. When doing math with this functions the return values 
  were incorrect. 
* Fixed a problem with the conditions "FileChange" and "FileExist" not
  being initialize correctly. 

--VERSION 2.41
* Fixed a problem with the sendkeys functionality seen on Win2000 
  operating system. Control keys such as Shift, Cntrl, and Alt were 
  not being handled correctly. 
* Fix problem with NumPad keys not working in the sendkeys command.

--VERSION 2.40
* Added functionality to the QuitProgram command. Now you can chose
  and quit programs based on file names instead of just programs that
  have windows to attach to. This allows you to Quite any running 
  program that shows up in the Windows task list or manager.

  Also added to the condition triggers "Process Running" and 
  "Process Not Running". In line with the above functionality to can 
  now set a condition based on a program running even if a Window
  is not part of the program. 

* Fixed a problem with RunDOSCommand on NT. The problem was that if 
  Interact with desktop was not selected the commands were not ran
  even through all indication by AutoTask was that the commands were
  run. 

--VERSION 2.31 
* Made a change to how the running flag is saved. This is to ensure
  that when you restart your machine the last running state is honored.
  This was only an issue on Windows 95 and Windows 98. 

--VERSION 2.30
* Added the ability to send an Internet email message as a command. 
  The command requires you have access to an SMTP server. 

--VERSION 2.21a
* Fixed a problem with RunDOSCommand not closing handles when completed.
  This would cause the system to become unstable after many executions 
  of the command.

--VERSION 2.21
* Fixed the visual indicator of the systray icon for At2Admin that 
  had a memory leak.
* Fixed a problem with the At2Admin program not shutting down properly
  when logging off NT machine.
* Fixed a problem with logging to file where if more than one task is 
  trying to write to the file at the same time one would fail. 
* Fixed memory leak in the autotask.exe 

--VERSION 2.20a
* Disabled the visual indicator of the systray icon on the Admin
  program. This functionality creates a memory leak. We are working to
  correct the issue. Until then users should use the 2.20a version. 

--VERSION 2.20
* Added an Update Wizard to the program. This new feature will allow
  you to search our web site for newer versions of AutoTask. If the 
  program finds that there is indeed a newer version of the program 
  than the one you are running, the program will give you the 
  opportunity to view the readme file that is associated with the new
  version and a chance to download and install the newer version. The
  readme file will let you know what is new in the update. This feature
  will also automatically check for updates every 30 days. Actually it
  will notify you that it is time to check for updates.
* Added a new program to the suite called AutoTask Scheduler Monitor.
  This program sits in the systray and visually indicates the status
  of the scheduler as to whether or not it is running. The program also
  has a menu, which allows you to start and stop the scheduler as well
  as bring up the Admin program. You can access the menu by right 
  clicking the systray icon. By default the install program puts 
  a shortcut to this program in the startup group so that it launches
  when you log in. This is a great alternative to running the Admin 
  program all the time. 
* Added the systray menu that was in version 1 back to the Admin 
  program. This was by popular demand of long time users. The menu is
  available whenever the Admin is running and can be accessed by right
  clicking the system tray icon. Also modified the icon to visually 
  show the status of the scheduler. The check mark will toggle between
  red and green to correspond to the status of the scheduler. This is
  an alternative to running the monitor program if you like having the
  Admin always running.
* Added the ability to use Dialup connect and disconnect as a command
  option. This command is only available if Dialup Connection is 
  installed on your system.

--VERSION 2.12 Release
* Fixed a problem with log files being saved to different directories
  when a path is not defined. Now if a path is not defined the program 
  will assume the log file is to be placed in the same directory as the
  program.
* Fixed a problem with the FDATE function of sendkeys. Was not working.
* Fixed a problem with the program slowing down other program operations
* Changed how the system commands "Shutdown and Reboot" work. This 
  change made to make the commands more reliable on Windows 98 and NT. 

--VERSION 2.11 Release
* Fixed a problem where the system options for the scheduler were not
  being maintained after a reboot of the computer. File was become
  corrupted in certain scenarios. NOTE! that it is recommended that you
  delete the two dat files when installing this fix. You will need to 
  reset the system options once you start the program but this will 
  prevent any lingering problems.

--VERSION 2.10 Release
* Added the ability to disable/enable commands in the command list
  without the need to remove them. Great for debugging a process.
* Added the ability to copy a command in the command list when editing
  a task. 

* Fixed the problem with running a monthly nth day of month not
  rescheduling properly.
* Fixed a problem with At2Admin not maintaining the selection of Sunday
  on a weekly task. 
* Fixed the interactive flag not being honored when turned off and user
  set to system. NT Only...
* Fixed sendkeys so that special characters such as a comma could be
  part of the string being sent.    
* Removed the Stop after option. This option is obsolete with this 
  version of the program. 
* Fixed the earlier version conversion. Conditions were not being 
  handled correctly.
* Changed the description editbox not to recieve characters that are 
  illegal for file names. 
* Fixed the F10 key for sendkeys. Was not working.
* Fixed a problem with Autotask not being able to see changes when 
  users delete task files from the task directory using external 
  programs. 
* Fixed the FileExist function not being able to detect network files
  when the scheduler is running as a NT service. 
* Fixed the problem with task not honoring the delete after execution
  flag.
* Fixed the error produced by the scheduler when the task contained 
  comments in the command list.

--VERSION 2.05 Release
* Fixed a problem where Rescheduling a weekly task would not honor
  the non-workdays when specified.
* Added the loading of user profiles and environment when running a 
  task as under NT/2000 and the owner has been set to a user log on 
  name. 
* Fixed a problem with RunProgram and RunDOSCommand would not honor 
  quotes put in by the user for long filenames. The program was 
  trying to make its own determination. 

--VERSION 2.04 Release
* Fixed a problem with memory access when adding or copying a task. 
  The problem only appeared if you added a task then shutdown the Admin 
  and reopened the admin. 

--VERSION 2.03 Release
* Fixed a problem where the user as owner was doing a Logon for each 
  command in the task list rather than one logon for the task.
* Fixed a memory leak in the startup of the Administrator.
* Fixed the uninstall to clean up registry entries made by the program.
* Fixed a problem with the weekly task rescheduling correctly when a 
  start and stop time is defined. 
* Fix a problem with RunProgram where if you left the working directory 
  blank the program would not honor the wait flag. (at2cmd.dll)
* Fix the problem of not being able to set working directory when 
  running as an NT service and the task owner was a user rather than 
  the system.

--VERSION 2.00 Release
*This is the initial release of this version.

