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FLASHBACK DEVIL FLASHBACK DEVIL FLASHBACK DEVIL FLASHBACK
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1. INTRODUCTION 

Flashback Devil is a system-tray tool which will help you 
start any program file (exe, com, pif), documents (like
doc, txt), bitmaps (bmp, gif or jpg for example), Internet
sites (htm, html etc.) or just - Windows Explorer shotcuts
(lnk).

A small difference between Flashback Devil and other 
similar software lies in a very useful option: Date. Every 
item you put into the Devil-tray menu, can own a special 
date attribute, which is used in the launch sequence,
where it's set as the system date by Devil before the 
actual execution tooks place. It means you can avoid 
annoying manual date swapping when you test your self-
written shareware considering time limitations.

All you have to do is to download Devil.zip, install it in 
directory you choose, and if you find it handy, put a copy 
of it's link (shortcut) into Startup directory, where it
would be automatically started, every time Windows boots. 
Devil does not make any changes in your Windows directory,
nor it copies files in directories other than you specify. 
Program itself, consits of two executables; Devil.exe and 
FB-Edit, and an Ini-file which determines what items the 
Devil tray menu is to fill with. 

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2. AUTHOR

This program was written as a birthday present for a
friend of mine, Ivan. Since he didn't find this program 
useful nor interesting, that was a pretty excellent 
compliment! However, I thought this program could awake 
some interest considering wider frontiers, and here were 
are... Hello my global village! I hope this visit will 
motivate you to write me an e-mail. Any feedback; 
suggestions, comments, critics, sources and other 
contributions are wellcome. Every e-mail will be replied. 
Perhaps you'd like to outer your source interests? 
Flashback Devil was written in April 1998 by Nikola Injac, 
student of Vienna Institute of Technology at the present. 
You can mail me at: e9525167@student.tuwien.ac.at, and 
Nikola_Injac@hotmail.com.

Or snail me in ol' fashioned manner;
Nikola Injac
Gudrunstrasse 124
A-1100 Wien

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3. DEVIL TRAY 

Flashback Devil Tray popup menu will appear, every time 
you push the smiley icon drawn in the system tray.

Choosing one of the pre-defined items from the menu, 
Devil will launch the program associated with particular 
name directly (exe, com, pif) or try to make a shotcut to 
the program that handles the item. Pop-up menu modifying 
on the fly is aimed through the "Start FBD Edit" command,
which will launch Devil Editor. Possible system date
alterations are indiced through the slightly different 
blinking tray icon. Temporary set date will alse be 
indicated in the pop-up menu through a check sign in 
front of the choosen item. You can set the original date 
executing the menu command "Reset Real Date", or simply 
by clicking the right mouse button over the Devil tray 
icon. The possibility to forget reseting date will be
solved after 2 minutes by the Devil himself, when he will
start to smile, again.
Before you leave Flashback Tray, the original date 
will be set as the actual system date. You can experience 
two different executing modes, depending on the object 
shortcut-nature (see shortcuts).

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4. FLASHBACK EDIT 

4.1 Inserting Items:
All you have to do to insert the item of your choice in 
the popup Devil Tray menu is to open Winfile or Windows 
Explorer, search for the files you'd like to have in the 
Flashback Tray menu and drag it from its original position 
into the dialogue. After you dropped the Item, it's name 
will appear in the list (a). This version supports max. 22 
user items in the tray pop-up menu. 

4.2 Modifying Names:
Initial name used for the item you drop in the list is the 
objects' name. It has nothing to do with the Exec-name of 
the item itself. You may change this name to the name you 
would like to appear in the Tray menu by clicking the 
edit-box (b) as soon as the name of the choosen list item 
appears - first click the list item in (a). After you 
finished the input, press the [return] key - changed name 
should be shown in the list-box (a). 

4.3 Modifying Date:
The file you just inserted into the list will have the 
Date flag off - determined by Date checkbox (c). This flag 
will signal Devil, that the particular item does not need 
any special date at the execution but the real one. 
Calendar with its belonging fields (d) will be disabled 
until you check the Devil Flag (c). In the case you decide 
to change initialy disabled date, first suggested date 
will be the file-generation date. After you've chose the 
right date using calender (d), don`t forget to confirm 
modifications with Modify-button (e). Otherwise, your 
input will be lost. 

4.4 Deleting Items:
Deleting operation is associated with delete key. After 
you picked one of the item from the list (a), pressing 
[del] key will force Devil to ask you a confirmation 
question, and expunge the item on your request. 

4.5 Saving Ini:
FileDevil will notice if the item list went throug any 
modification during the session, asking you, after you 
pressed the Cancel button, if the changes should be saved. 
You can also reach this operation with Save button. If 
Devil is loaded, the popup list will change on the fly- 
you don't have to exit FBD Edit; as soon as the Devil.Ini 
file has been sucessfuly saved, the menu will promptly 
change. 

4.6 Shortcut or not?
Please, bare in mind, that Devil executes objects in two 
possible ways. Exe, Com and Pif files are executed from 
Devil directly, and therefore rather quick. Shortcuts and 
other non-executing files, on the contrary, are handled 
indirectly, using Shell-execute which, on slower machines 
may consume slightly more time during the execution - just 
as a normal Explorer shortcut. Hence, try to avoid 
shortcuts whenever possible.

4.7 Screensaver
Flashback Devil can be useful if you insert a screensaver
module (*.scr) among the "normal" items. Choosing the
screensaver from the pop-up menu will promptly start the
saver you picked, regardless to the default Windows system
settings. Helpful if you attend to leave your computer for
a short time period.

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5. REQUIREMENTS

Following system requirements are expected by Flashback 
Devil. 

5.1 Platform:
Written as a pure 32bit Windows software, Devil works on 
Windows 95 systems and Windows NT, respectively.

5.2 Video Card:
VGA card or better will do. All colors used are derived 
from Windows standard palette - no quantization needed. 

5.3 Memory:
Memory consumption of Flasback Devil Tray in idle mode is 
about 160KB. I assume Devil will work on configurations 
with 4MB. If someone already has 32bit Windows, I just 
can't imagine one really enjoying his work without at 
least 16MB. Thanks Bill - what was that "Ought to be 
enough for everybody" agian?! 

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6. LICENSE

Devil is free! No, I didn't mean him - Flashback Devil is 
freeware! That means you don't have to pay for it - you 
may use it, copy it and give it to your friends, as long 
as all files from Devil pack originally distributed. 
Alterations and modifications of any kind in binaries or 
help files are not wellcome. I mean, they are not allowed. 
Well, let's just say, don't play with the Devil...

BUT, YOU USE DEVIL AT YOUR OWN RISK! I DO NOT TAKE ANY
RESPONSIBILITIES FOR EVENTUAL MISUSE, POSSIBLE DEFECTS 
CAUSED BY DEVIL, HAZARDS, DATA LOSS AND SIMILAR THINGS WE-
REALLY-REALLY-DON'T-WANT-TO-HAPPEN RELATED TO DEVIL.

I would appreciate if you inform me if you like or dislike 
this program. 

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7. DOWNLOAD

The original pack consists of these following files:

1. Devil.exe
2. FB_Edit.exe
3. Devil.ini
4. Readme.txt

IMPORTANT! If you download this program, that means you 
have red, and you agree with License terms (7).

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8. INSTALLATION

The entire Installation is just a simple unzipping process 
using PKzip or WinZip. It's advisable to provide Devil 
with its' own directory, where the decompression should 
find place. All names are saved in 8.3 format, so you 
don't have to warry about that. You can place a shortcut 
of FB_Devil.exe at your Desk, or in the Startup folder 
(see why).

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9. SOURCE

Maybe you're a programmer and you would like to see how 
Flashback Devil was done. Write me an e-mail, send me your 
URLs, introduce me to your programming work. A possibility 
to public the source code in public domain is not 
excluded, we'll see.

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(c)1998 by Nikola Injac
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FLASHBACK DEVIL FLASHBACK DEVIL FLASHBACK DEVIL FLASHBACK
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