COLLEGE AID CALCULATOR (tm)  -CAC-   README.TXT  1/22/96

Welcome.
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NOTE 1: Before attempting to run CAC, be sure your AUTOEXEC.BAT file is configured as described below. Then, reboot your computer before starting CAC. See QUICK START below for CAC installation instructions. For navigation instructions, choose HELP at CAC's Main Menu.

NOTE 2: STRATEGIES TO REDUCE COLLEGE COSTS--our electronic book, has been written in Rich Text Format (RTF)--a Microsoft standard, which may be read by Microsoft Word and many other word processors. Boot your word processor, Choose File, Open, File Type: RTF or Rich Text Format, select the C:\col_aid directory and the strats21.rtf file. Open it and proceed as instructed.

If your word processor is not able to read the strats21.rtf file, you may use your word processor's ascii file format reader to open the strats21.txt file instead. This format does not retain all of the nice formatting codes that RTF handles, such as Font sizes, Bold, Underline and Italics. However, if this is your only choice, just use your word processor to add these attributes as you read.

DISCLAIMER:
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Formulas from the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE-Institutional Methodology 1996-97 Computation Specifications are used in this application with permission of the College Board. (c) 1995 by the College Entrance Examination Board. All rights reserved. The College Board has not reviewed, and assumes no reponsibility for the accuracy of either the programming or the results in this  application.

Think Ahead, Inc. and Bob Fesler, Jr., author of College Aid Calculator have made a sincere effort to make all  calculations  as accurate as possible, but cannot warranty your success at using CAC. After entering data and utilizing CAC's "What IF?" feature, we recommend consulting your favorite advisor. 

Thank You. Think Ahead, Inc.,PO Box 5G, Dresden, ME 04342
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INSTALLATION REQUIREMENTS, TROUBLESHOOTING, TECHNICAL SUPPORT
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If CAC installed SHARE for you, read AUTOEXEC.BAT below. If CAC takes much more than 45 seconds to load your old 386 ...read below. If problems arise, and all else fails, read the instructions below.  Additions, updates or modifications to this notice are available at http://www.maine.com/collegeaid. CAC is a 32 bit program, it will not run on an 8088 or 80286--and on a 386, it runs very slowly

QUICK START DOS ... 4 MB of RAM required:
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1. At the A: DOS prompt, type ... SETUP ... press Enter.
2. Follow the instructions. 
3. At C : type CD\col_aid, press ENTER, type CAC, press ENTER

QUICK START WINDOWS ... Requires 8 MB of RAM:
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1. At PROGRAM MANAGER, go to FILE, RUN. Type in A:SETUP and press ENTER.
2. Follow the instructions.
3. To ADD an ICON: At PROGRAM MANAGER, choose FILE, NEW, Program Item, OK. Description: College Aid Calculator; Command Line: c:\col_aid\cac.bat; Working Directory: C:\col_aid. Press OK, CHANGE ICON, Browse (go to the COL_AID directory) double click on COL_AID.ICO, OK, OK. Done! 
4. To start CAC, double-click on the CAC icon.

If an Error message pops up when you attempt to boot CAC:
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Did you remember to reboot your computer before attempting to launch CAC? This is necessary if you do not have a math co-processor or if CAC has installed SHARE (read AUTOEXEC.BAT below). Reboot and try again.

Running under DOS on a drive that is NOT c:\
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Please use Windows Notepad or any ASCII editor to edit the A4.VMC file and change the drive reference to the drive you are using. This file sets up the virtual memory manager that is done automatically by Windows.

MEMORY:
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You will need either 4 MB of RAM with at least 2 MB of free extended (XMS) memory and 256 K free conventional memory or, if you have less than 4 MB of free XMS memory, you will need approximately 6 MB of free disk space for a virtual memory swap file.

CONFIG.SYS
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FILES=50 and BUFFERS=32 are the minimum settings needed by CAC. A DPMI memory manager such as HIMEM.SYS, QEMM.SYS or 386MAX must be loaded.

AUTOEXEC.BAT ... SHARE ...
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The following line must be included in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (after MOUSE, and before WIN if AUTOEXEC.BAT also launches WINDOWS for you) SHARE /F:5024 /L:200. If CAC installed SHARE for you, and WINDOWS comes up when you boot your computer, you will need to move SHARE to this position. To do so, EXIT WINDOWS, and at the DOS prompt, write: edit autoexec.bat. Note the position of SHARE. Press ENTER in front of WIN, where SHARE belongs. Re-write SHARE ... into this place, delete the original, go to File, Exit, Save. Reboot. Please refer to your DOS manual for more information about SHARE, which is a DOS command that allows for file sharing. 

MEMMAKER:
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For your computer to best be able to digest this change, use your memory management program to optimize your computer's memory ... the DOS program that does this is MEMMAKER. (If you are using QEMM or another such program, refer to your user manual.) For MEMMAKER, the process is easy. At the DOS prompt, type: MEMMAKER and enter. The easiest way to do this is to follow the instructions on the screen as they come up ... and use the "Express Setup." If you have not done this for a while, you may find that your programs will run faster and/or more reliably now. Read about MEMMAKER in your DOS manual.

If you do not run MEMMAKER, and SHARE was installed, you must reboot your computer before SHARE is activated ... or CAC will not run correctly. Please read about "performance" below ... so CAC will run as fast as possible.

Slow performance ... bootup taking a long time
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You may need to do some computer house-cleaning. When was the last time you defragmented your hard drive? Are there old programs or program fragments clogging your disk? Once your disk is clean and organized, you should speed along. Using a 386? You may also want to look into one of those 486 speed doubling chips and a math co-processor. Both would make CAC fly. 

Unless you have a special way that you are already using to defragment your hard disk, you may want to utilize the DOS command DEFRAG to handle this job. The process is easy, and can make your various programs (especially CAC) run much faster. At the DOS prompt, type: DEFRAG and press ENTER. Select your hard drive letter and press ENTER. Follow instruction ... Press F1 for Help. Read your DOS manual for more information.

WINDOWS 3.x
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8 MB of RAM is recommended, more is better. If you find yourself exiting CAC unexpectedly ... suddenly you find yourself back at the Window Program Manager or whatever program is next behind CAC, you may have insufficient memory or a memory conflict. 

WINDOWS Memory settings
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Go to Program Manager - Control Panel Enhanced Virtual Memory. A Swapfile Setting of at least 10,000 is usually OK, nearer to 25,000 is best. Click on Change, and enter an amount. Swapfile type should be set to Permanent (click on far right side, on down arrow, to change). Cache size of 512 KB is recommended ... after making changes, reboot as instructed. Choose "32 Bit Disk Access" if allowed on your computer. "32 bit File Access" may not be a good choice. Read your WINDOWS manual for more information.

WINDOWS 3.x CRASH:
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If CAC just disappears ... is gone ... and in a flash, you see a screen full of EEEEs and #s, the word granular and addresses ... you have most likely experienced a memory conflict.

CAC is sometimes a brat. It likes to be first. Most likely, if this occurs, you will have had more than one program running at the same time under WINDOWS, and CAC and one of the others simultaneously attempted to utilize the same memory address. Try rebooting with CAC first. For assistance in seeing that your computer is running at top performance, read what is above, starting at "Memory ..." 

This may never happen, but if it does, whatever you entered since the last time you saved (which happens automatically every time you go from one worksheet to another) will likely need re-entering. 

This has been a problem with some Gateway computers. 

WINDOWS '95 CRASH:
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Right click on the program icon; Select Properties from the pop up menu. Click on the Memory tab. Change MS DOS Protected Mode (DPMI) memory to 8192.

386MAX on a Monochrome or CGA Monitor
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You need to add this statement: EXCLUDE A000-B000 to the device line in your CONFIG.SYS file.

QEMM on a Monochrome or CGA Monitor
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You need to add this statement: NOVIDEOFILL to the device line in your CONFIG.SYS file.

SETUP error ... "Data error reading drive A"
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Keep pressing "Retry." Disk drive may need cleaning. Disk may be defective.

PROBLEMS NOT SOLVED BY THE ABOVE?
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If you experience an different kind of installation problem, and solve it, please let us know what you did. We'll update this README.TXT file and our World Wide Web site ... http://www.maine.com/collegeaid. Thank you.

Please provide us with some feedback
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We want to make CAC be all that you need it to be - press Q from the CAC Main Menu to access the questionnaire, fill it in, print it and mail it to us. Thanks.

Deleting CAC from your hard drive.
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If during installation, you told CAC that you would be running CAC within Windows, and then later you delete CAC, an error message will appear when you reboot Windows. Just press ENTER to continue or, to eliminate the message (which harms nothing), go to Program Manager, Run (type  SYSEDIT), click on system.ini, go to the [386Enh] section and delete the line ... DEVICE=C:\COL_AID\WEMU387.386. This line will only appear if you do not have a math co-processor.

Good luck to you.  Bob Fesler, Jr., Author, PO Box 5G, Dresden, ME 04342
