FreeFile Version 1.00
                   Copyright (c)1994 Gorgon Enterprises, Inc.
                                  P.O. Box 200
                                Avenel, NJ 07001
                                  Best Buy BBS
                                  908.634.5117

Copyrights herein are the property of their respective owners.


INTRODUCTION

Why FreeFile?
Gorgon Enterprises, Inc. runs Best Buy BBS a subscription Bulletin Board
Service in Woodbridge, New Jersey at (908)634-5117. Even though our service
is for paid subscribers, there are certain files we make freely available to
non-subscribing callers: file lists, RipTerm, subscription information, etc.
In order for a non-subscriber to obtain these files, they would have to log
on, find the free file directory, flag the file or files and download them.
With FreeFile installed as a Logon Script (see INSTALL.TXT) they are auto-
matically presented with these files as soon as they log in. This program
was written with the idea of drastically increasing the number of times
these selected files are downloaded. We felt as though this would increase
our base of paying callers by making it easier for the callers to obtain
our file lists and other system information. With this information in hand,
the caller will be more likely to call again and end up registering.


BACKROUNDER

Gorgon Enterprises, Inc. is a New Jersey corporation that was founded in
November, 1993. We provide consulting, networking and custom application
services to small and medium size businesses throughout Northern New Jersey,
Manhattan, Long island and upstate New York.

The company's founder and President, John P. Carroll, has been in the
computer industry for over a decade. Besides hardware and networking, John
has been working with X-Base languages for over six years. He started out
with dBase III plus and worked through dBase IV, Foxpro 2.0 for DOS, Foxpro
2.5 & 2.6 for Windows and Microsoft Access 2.0.

We currently develop custom applications for clients in Foxpro 2.6 for
Windows and Lotus Notes 3.2. With our interest in the BBS community,
Shareware and PCBoard itself, we saw PPL 3.0 as being a natural extension
of the services we currently offer.


OVERVIEW

FreeFile is a PPE for PCBoard 15.2+ that makes it very easy for unregistered
callers to obtain files that you wish to make freely available.

FreeFile is installed as a Logon Script and in the CMD.LST. As a Logon Script,
the program is started immediately after a caller enters their password. In the
CMD.LST, FreeFile becomes a command available to the caller from the Main Board
Command prompt.

Although we already have ideas for the next version of FreeFile (see
WHATNEXT.TXT), version 1.00 is a complete, debugged application. We have
seen many BBS applications, whether they are doors or PPEs or whatever, that
have bugs or functions that just don't work. This usually happens because
the programmer just can't figure out a problem and releases the program with
no concern for fixing the problem. Such programs are rarely supported and
many of them are never updated to fix these problems.

There are features of FreeFile that are disabled in unregistered versions of
FreeFile. However, this program is not CrippleWare, BegWare or PauseWare.
FreeFile is Shareware. It is FULLY functional - none of the main features or
functions are disabled to encourage registration. For additional information
on registration see REGISTER.TXT. For information on the shareware concept,
see SHAREWAR.TXT.


MAJOR FEATURES OF FreeFile v1.00

- File Existence Testing

When displaying the files that you have configured, FreeFile tests for their
existence. If the files do not exist, a red * is automatically inserted in
front of the file name. A line similar to the following also appears below the
list of files:

*FILENAME = Unavailable File

The * here is also red. This works nicely because if a caller flags all of the
free files for download, they are not surprised when one is missing.

- Immediate Download

Part of the intent of this program was to get our free files into the hands of
the new caller right away. When installed as described in INSTALL.TXT, FreeFile
will activate for a New Caller immediately after Quick Registration and for a
caller who is calling for the second or later time immediately after entering
their password. When the caller has selected the files they wish to download,
they are presented with the option of downloading the files right away. When
the caller responds 'Yes' to the question, they end up downloading the free
files before they even get to the Main Command Prompt!

- Selection Errors

If a caller makes an invalid file selection an error message is displayed. There
are currently only 3 valid selections. * selects all files, #-# selects a range
of consecutive files and #,# selects multiple, non-sequential files. If a caller
makes a selection that does not fit these criteria or selects a file number
higher than the number of files available, an error screen is displayed. This
screen informs the caller of the error and shows the proper ways of selecting
files. The FreeFile program is then restarted.


TIPS AND IDEAS

Best Buy BBS is configured for FreeFile to run for Security Level 11 only. As
such, Line 4 in our FreeFile.cfg file has '11' in it. Configured for Level 11,
FreeFile will not run for any other security level - not even sysop. While we
were setting up FreeFile, the sysop (obviously not at Level 11) needed to be
able to run it. He did not wish to put a * in Line 4 in case people of higher
security levels called in while he was setting it up. What he did was put 110
in Line 4 which is our Sysop Security Level. This, along with logging into the
node he was working on using USER - BUSY instead of SYSOP - BUSY on the Call
Waiting screen allowed him to test the full functionality of FreeFile. When
finished configuring and testing FreeFile, the sysop simply changed Line 4 in
FreeFile.cfg to '11'.


TROUBLESHOOTING

Problem: You have the correct directory specified on Line 16 of FreeFile.cfg
         and the files are in the specified directory, but they all have the
         red 'Unavailable File' asterisk in front of them when you start the
         program.
Answer:  Make sure you have a \ at the end of your directory specification on
         Line 16 of FreeFile.cfg. If you have 'C:\PCB\FREEFILE' with out the \
         and one of the file names is YOURBBS.ZIP, FreeFile will be looking for
         C:\PCB\FREEFILEYOURBBS.ZIP and this obviously won't exist!

Problem: FreeFile only runs for one security level and not others.
Answer:  We designed FreeFile with the idea of running it for only one security
         level. If it were a door, we would have installed it as a security
         specific logon door. PCBoard does not currently have a similar feature
         for PPE's, so we had to figure out an acceptable way of installing it.
         We came up with installing FreeFile as a Logon Script as our best
         option, because this would run every time a caller logs on. However,
         the Logon Script is one of the few items in PCBoard that does not
         recognize Security Level specific versions i.e. configure PCBSETUP with
         C:\PCB\GEN\SCRIPT and create a script called SCRIPT11. What we did to
         get around this was to read Line 4 from FreeFile.cfg. Line 4 will only
         accept a * or a number. A * will cause FreeFile to run for all security
         levels on your BBS. A number will cause FreeFile to run for ONLY that
         security level. At this point, FreeFile will only accept one specific
         level on Line 4 of FreeFile.cfg. So, it's either have FreeFile run for
         one security level or all. Future versions of FreeFile will be able to
         configure multiple security levels on Line 4 of FreeFile.cfg.