AutoBoot v1.1 Readme:  (Best Viewed with Word Wrapping ON)

   AutoBoot is a utility program that monitors how long your PC has been running since the last reboot.  When your system uptime reaches 2 days, AutoBoot will first notify you that it will be rebooting in 10 minutes.  Whenever you get this notification you may click on the "Wait" button to wait another 10 minutes before receiving another warning, or you may click on the "Continue" button to go ahead and reboot in 10 minutes.  If you don't click any button, the system will still reboot in 10 minutes, so that if you are not present at your machine AutoBoot will still work.


Installing AutoBoot:

   Below are the 4 easy steps to installing AutoBoot.  This program doesn't come with an installer because it would make the download almost 20 times bigger!!  AutoBoot.exe is only 9K since it was written in Assembly Language.  With an Installer the package size would be roughly 280k!  Regardless, the install process is easy...

Step 1:

   Once you have unzipped the archive copy AutoBoot.exe to your Windows Folder or some other location of your choice.  Just remember where you put it.

Step 2:

   Double-Click on the AutoBoot.exe icon (Red Boot).  At this point you will notice a slight flash on your screen and a Boot Icon will appear in your system tray (near the clock).

Step 3:

   Double-Click on the Boot Icon in the tray.  You will get an "About Auto Reboot" window.

Step 4:

   In this window, check the checkbox labeled "Auto Load Reboot Program at Windows Start" and then click the "OK" button.

There... That's all!  It's now installed.  The program will now startup each time windows boots up and monitor your systems uptime.


Un-Installing AutoBoot:

   To Un-install AutoBoot double-click on the system Tray Boot Icon.  When the About Window comes up, un-check the "Auto Load...." checkbox and then click OK.

Next Right-Click on the system tray boot icon and a menu will pop up.  On this menu select and click on "Shutdown Auto Reboot", and then answer "YES".

Now you can go to the "My Computer" Icon and go to the folder where you originally copied AutoBoot.exe, and delete the program if you want to.  This step is not really necessary since the program barely takes any space, and you may want to re-activate it later.



Running AutoBoot:

   Once AutoBoot is running there's really nothing more to do other than to just let it run.  You can view your current system uptime by double clicking on the boot icon in your system tray at anytime.  This will bring up AutoBoot's "About" Window.  On this window you can click the "Refresh" button to update the system uptime or you can click the OK button to close the window.  The checkbox in this window was explained above, and should be checked so that the program will run each time windows starts up.


Test Mode:

   During the development of this program I needed a way to test it on different platforms without waiting 2 days for it to activate.  To run the program in "Test Mode", run it with a command line switch of /test (eg. AutoBoot /test).  Note that the /test has to be all lower case!  You also have to go to the command prompt to do this...

   Once the program starts up in "Test Mode" it will show you a dialog box to state that it is indeed in test mode.  In test mode the First warning will appear 5 minutes after program startup.  The Reboot will occur at 10 minutes after the warning or 15 minutes after program startup.  The boot time can be delayed however by clicking on the Wait button.  All the test mode does is starts the process early so that you can test the program's behavior.  After the first warning, everything works as if the 2-Day mark had been reached normally.


Other Notes:

   If you were to run this program and your system uptime is already past the 2-Day mark, the system will restart immediately!  Don't panic, this is normal.


   This program was written in 32-bit Assembly Language, and compiled using Hutch's MASM32 Package.  The MASM32 Package is a Freeware package, and is available at http://www.movesd.com for download.  I would highly recommend this package if you are a programmer and interested in 32-Bit Assembly Language.


   AutoBoot.exe is Freeware and is distributed AS IS without warranty!  USE THIS PROGRAM AT YOUR OWN RISK!  The author of this program cannot be held responsible for any delays, damages, loss of business, or any other problems that occur as a result of the use of this program!  The use of this program is at YOUR SOLE RISK!  Please feel free to distribute this program freely.

