NetPOPUP
FeaturesNetPOPUP may seem to be doing a simple job as sending across messages, but with all the new changes in the platform and supporting multi threading the internal operations can get quite complex. It also boasts the following features.
| =============== **** All Hosts **** =============== |
One of the major features of NetPOPUP is the AllHosts function. This is an information gathering function that sends a broadcast on the local subnet to all the local popup hosts to identify themselves. When the other hosts receive this broadcast they respond with their configuration information. This allows the user to check which other hosts are currently active and other information about their host is available such as how many waiting messages, their popup and sound status, how long the computer has been operational etc. It is much more reliable then Microsoft’s Network neighborhood, which caches information and some times has invalid information. This results in some hosts not being detected and others which are that may have just shut down. NetPOPUP "All- Host" works real time at the instant it is initiated and hence all information is current. You can select a user to send message from this list of local hosts or choose to explore their shared resources like files or printers. |
| Custom Sounds | The user can define a custom wave file to play whenever a message is received. |
| Improved Capacity | Much large message
transfer capacity (64 kilobytes as opposed to 1k in
WinPOPUP) Increased Broadcast message capacity (300 bytes as compared to 40 bytes) |
| Automatic Message Acknowledgements | Message acknowledgement. Whenever the remote host successfully receives a message it sends back an acknowledgement that the message was received. This also tells the local user that a reverse path from the remote computer to the local computer exists. (Sometimes the host file/DNS screwups can cause a lookup in one direction only! Happens on our LAN okay?) |
| Multiple Storage Queues | Multiple Storage ques
are available for maintaining messages which have been : 1. Received 2. Sent 3. Deleted (sort of like a recycle bin in case a message is deleted accidentally) |
| Presistant Storage | Messages get stored to the system disk so that they are not lost when you restart the computer. |
| Auto Purge | Auto purge capability on all message boxes. This facility automatically trims off the messages from the que if they exceed a certain limit. For example if you set your limit on the inbox to 20 messages, and if more then 20 messages are received the last one will be automatically deleted. Really useful if you simply care about the recent x number of messages only. Also cuts down on you memory requirements (which are next to nothing anyway). |
| Message Rerouting | Message re-routing and forwarding with reverse address lookup. This feature enables messages to be sent through intermediate NetPOPUP hosts to the destination incase the local node cannot transmit directly to the remote node. For example if there are three hosts A, B and C. A cannot access C directly (perhaps due to network topology) but B can access both A and C. Then A can send a message to C indirectly through B by addressing C with the address C@B . Similary when the user at C replies the return address will automatically converted to A@B. This rerouting is not limited to one level only, but can be nested multiple times. Example host1@host2@host3 etc. This facility acts like a gateway. The purpose of having it incorporated was due to the physical limitations of our LAN. Based on thinnet coax Ethernet, which is limited in length to 180meters by IEEE standards, our LAN was well over twice this length. This had the effect that hosts at the extreme ends could not see each other, and hence had to communicate through intermediate hosts in the middle. This feature is called Multi-Link messaging. |
| Multilink Error Reporting | If an intermediate host in a MultiLink message fails the sender is informed which intermediate host was not able to be contacted so that the user can choose a different route. |
| Message Headers | Messages when received get headers appended informing which host the message was received and at what local time. This is useful when you want to debug Multilink messages. The sequence of which host received the message and at what time is available. |
| Auto Replier | The program supports auto-replying (sort of like an answering machine). When the user is not available at his/her station, the auto replier can be enabled. All messages will get responded to automatically. |
| Random Auto Reply Messages | The program supports a list of multiple auto replies. Two modes of autoreply exists. Single mode always replies with one particular auto answer message for all users, and Random mode selects a message at random from the list and replies with it. |
| Twit Filters | The popup features filter capability. This allows messages from certain hosts to be given more or less priority then the regular messages. By default you can globally set if the program will POPUP (maximize in front of the user’s desktop) when a new message is received. Sometimes when working you will disable this. But you may also want to be notified of an important message from a certain host. You can ask the filter to always popup up for that user. Similarly you can ban some users, so that the program never pop’s up for their messages. Some users can be totally ignored by automatically deleting their message when received. |
| Minimize to System Tray | NetPOPUP can minimize to the system tray and keep out of users normal workspace during normal use. The Icon in the system bar will flash as a visual indication of the arrival of a message. |
| Loop Protection | Complete protection from looping of messages. There is no means of looping the message in the program and flooding the network. Looping may occur if a sender enables his autoreply and sends a message to another host with autoreply enabled. Normally this would get stuck into an endless loop where both hosts keep replying to each others auto replies. This is avoided by following the rule that no automated message from popup (like auto replies, acknowledgements, status queries etc) will be responded with auto answers. |
| For bugs and more information contact : Techno Junkie |    |
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