M U T E v 1.10 Copyright 1994 Vincent Penquerc'h All Rights Reserved DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY THE AUTHOR WILL REFER TO VINCENT PENQUERC'H. THE PROGRAM WILL REFER TO MUTE, INCLUDING THE PROGRAM ITSELF, ITS DOCUMENTATION, AND ANY FILE IN THE ORIGINAL POWER BATCH PACKAGE. THE AUTHOR HEREBY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES RELATING TO THIS PROGRAM, WHENEVER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT ANY LIMITATION ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE AUTHOR WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT OR SIMILAR DAMAGES DUE TO LOSS OF DATA, DAMAGE OF HARDWARE OR ANY OTHER REASON, EVEN IF THE AUTHOR WAS ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH LOSS OR DAMAGE. THIS PROGRAM AND DOCUMENTATION ARE RELEASED "AS IS" AS SHAREWARE. IT IS COPYRIGHTED BY THE AUTHOR, AND ALL RIGHTS AND OWNERSHIP ARE KEPT WITH THE AUTHOR. YOU MAY USE IT, COPY IT, AND GIVE IT TO ANYBODY AS LONG AS NO MODIFICATIONS ARE MADE. PROGRAM AND DOCUMENTATION COPYRIGHT 1994 VINCENT 'INDY' PENQUERC'H, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL QUOTED PRODUCT AND COMPANY NAMES ARE TRADEMARKS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. What is Mute ? 2. System requirements 3. Command line options 4. Contacting the author 6. Revision history 1. What is Mute ? -------------- Mute is a small TSR that, once it is installed in memory, will continuously scan the PC Speaker and reset it to 'No Sound' state. This will prevent unwanted beeps from disturbing everyone in the area. However, digital music played thru the PC Speaker will not be affected by Mute (or by an extremely small amount that usually produces no difference with the original sound). This ability makes Mute a handy utility at work and at home. 2. System requirements ------------------- To use Mute, you will need a 8088 based PC, DOS 2.0 or higher. 3. Command line options -------------------- All Mute's switches are case independant, you can use indiferently uppercase and lowercase characters. For an overview of all available options, use the 'H' switch or '?': MUTE -H MUTE -? To unload Mute from memory, use the 'U' switch: MUTE -U If Mute can't uninstall itself from memory, it will write a message explaining it. If there is another program that hooked some interrupts Mute previously hooked, it will warn you so you can unsinstall this program first. If Mute's default muting factor is too slow for your computer (ie if your hear beeps while Mute is resident) or if you want Mute to activate less often, use the 'F' switch followed by a number that represents the speed Mute will check the PC Speaker. MUTE -F 1000 The higher the number, the more frequently Mute will check it, the less you will hear beeps, but the slower your computer will be. Learn by experimenting the good value for your machine, but be warned that if you try a too high value (highly dependant on your machine/processor), your computer may lock up, as Mute will trigger so often that it will take all the processing time, leaving no time slice to any other processes, including DOS. The muting factor can range from 1 (fast but not very efficient) to 60000. To toggle Mute, use the hotkey Alt-M. Be warned that toggling Mute won't work on any computer: when turning Mute off, you may hear beeps louder, but they will a little extinguished too. This is due I can't restore the timer interrupt's state while resident, because another program could hook it then, or could have hooked it before, making unloading uncertain. This hotkey may be changed using the 'K' switch: MUTE -K control esc This command line will toggle Mute whenever you press the given key combination. This is the template for using this switch. You first give the mask for the hotkey you want, after the letter 'K'. This mask can be any combination of the following key names: control, alt, leftshift, rightshift. You may specify any of them in any order, even none of them. But beware not being in conflict with another program that would use the same key combination. If you choose a null mask, that is if you don't give any of these four symbols, Mute will toggle any time you press this key, so it is likely to trigger even when you don't want it, if you are to use this key for another purpose. Giving one or more mask keys is wise. Once the mask is specified, give the key you want to toggle Mute. You may give any of the keyboard keys but the special keys, as the shifts, the scroll lock and num lock keys, the system request key, the break key, the caps lock key, the control key or the alt key. If the key you choose does not have an associated character to be displayed, such as the page up key, or the escape key, use the following table that gives you the word to use to designate this key: Function keys: F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, F7, F8, F9, F10, F11, F12 Arrow keys: up, down, left, right Keypad special keys: Keypad/, Keypad*, Keypad-, Keypad+, Keypad5 Other Keys: backspace, del, end, enter, esc, home, ins, pgdn, pgup, prtsc, spacebar, tab Know that some key combinations won't trigger Mute's keyboard handler, as no scan code is sent from the keyboard, especially when all status keys are pressed at the same time. Case is not significant. You may enter these symbols in upper or lower case, Mute will accept both. 4. Contacting the author --------------------- If you have any bug reports, comments, flames or if you want to register, feel free to write me at the following email address: penquerc@enssat.fr or via snail mail: Vincent Penquerc'h 3, rue d'Ecosse 35200 Rennes France The registration fee for this program is $10 (60 francs for France). Please note that Mute is shareware and is not free software nor public domain software. If you use this program after a two week free evaluation period, please register, so I can continue enhancing Mute and release other neat programs to meet your needs. Acceptable payments are in French francs or US $ (in this case, add $15 to the fee, due to very high exchange rate from my bank). Please see included file ORDER.FRM for more information. 7. Revision history ---------------- v1.10 February 2nd 1996 - Fixed the running clock problem. v1.0 October 25th 1995 - First version of Mute.