Filestar/2 Frequently Asked Questions

By Jim Read

Why does my drive keep churning away after it is read and the directory tree seems complete?
Answer:You probably have 'Read All Dirs' checked in the Drives menu. When this is NOT checked (default setup), the drive is scanned only to the extent necessary to find the directories required to show a valid directory tree. As you expand directories in the tree by clicking on a '+', the drive is againread, adding the required directories to the tree. This is normally the desired way of building the directory tree since the tree is built on demand and a lot of disk activity reading all directories is avoided.

When you check 'Drives->Read All Dirs', the same tree building as desribed above is first performed - but when that is finished, all directories (which may be hunderds more) are then added to the tree on a background thread This is typically the reason for the disk activity after the appearance of a normal tree.

Please note that this option may be set differently for each drive on your system. So you may experience this on one drive but not another.

Some editors (or viewers) won't work when I add them to the setup notebook as the editor or viewer to use for menu or double click actions.
Answer: If these programs have DLLs that are required for their operation, the DLLs are not being found during initialization of that program. Make sure that the path to the working directory for these applcations are in the config.sys LIBPATH statement.

How do I search for duplicate files?
Answer: You may search for duplicate files in any two directories or in multiple directories. Put all the directories of interest in a file window using the Directories->AddDir or ReadBranch menu selections. Be sure and use appropriate file filters to refine the types of files considered if appropriate, especially if reading the root directory of a drive. Then simply hit Alt+R to start the process.

The files are first sorted by size and then all files are compared using their CRC. Any file that is not a duplicate of any other in the window will be removed from the window. At the end of the process only exact duplicate files will be left in the window even if they have different names. To search for duplicates by other criteria, use 'Files->Compare->Show Duplicates' and select the criteria you desire for detemining duplicate files.

Can I set up a toolbar item that will always take me to the same directory?
Answer: Yes. RMB click in the toolbar and select 'Create Item'. Next, from the item setup notebook, select 'Position: After Current'. Then on the Action page, select 'Cmd: ChangeDir' from the function list. Add the complete path, such as X:\mydir\special' to the Parameters field. The last step is to select a BMP file to use for the item on the General page. You should have a BMP sub-directory in your filestar directory. These are BMPs to use as you please. If you have 'fdir1.bmp', use it for this function. Press Ok and your should have your custom toolbar item to take you to the directory you chose.

How do I install the InfoZIP product?
Answer: The InfoZip files are installed using the following instructions:


 * Create a temporary directory using FileStar/2.
 * Copy the two files from the InfoZIP diskette, UNZxxx.EXE and ZIPxxxxx.ZIP into the temporary directory.
 * The UNZxxx.EXE file is a self-extracting file. Execute the file by double clicking on the file name UNZ512.EXE in the temporary window. A zip window will open and the files will be extracted.
 * Rename the file unzip32.exe to UNZIP.EXE.
 * Copy the UNZIP.EXE file into the directory you desire for your archive utilities. Note that this directory should be included in the PATH statement of your CONFIG.SYS file so that other programs that use it can find it as well.
 * Select the ZIPxxxxx.ZIP file in the file window containing the temporary directory. Select the Unzip' option from the Files menu. The files will be extracted.
 * Copy the zip.exe file into the same directory as the unzip.exe file.

I am unable to unzip a file or unable to view a file in the ZipView window.
Answer: This problem is usually the result of the UNZIP interface being improperly set up.


 * Ensure that the file uses the extension .ZIP (not necessary for ZipView).
 * Ensure that an OS/2 compatible version of UNZIP is present.
 * The name of the unzip executable file must be UNZIP.EXE. If not, check the path and filename identified for UNZIP in the Settings Notebook. The Settings Notebook may be accessed by selecting the Setup option on the Action Bar, then selecting Settings from the menu. Next select the PATH tab. In the entry field next to the Unzip button, ensure that the full path and filename are specified, e.g. C:\UNZIPDIR\UNZIP32.EXE.
 * If the problem persists, ZIP a file using the InfoZIP product, then double click with the left mouse button on the resulting ZIP file. The ZipView window will appear. If the original file is listed in the window, then the UNZIP settings are properly set, and the problem most likely is the failure to UNZIP is the result of incompatibility between the version of ZIP used to compress the file and InfoZIP UNZIP. You can test this by attempting to unzip the file from the command line by entering UNZIP FILENAME.ZIP at the command prompt.