QUESTION: I am interested in your Tracker Programs. My impression is that the system uses weekly data (Friday's close), which can be downloaded from you on Monday evenings. If this is the case, how would the system have given a sell signal in October 1987 on the Thursday before Black Monday? Would not the Friday data have been required to trigger the sell? ANSWER: When the signals start getting close, or you have a very fast moving market, you use The Mutual Fund Composite Average Calculator. You get a daily number to input along with the DJIA and DJ Transports to see what the program is signaling. You don't actually save this daily data, you just use it to find out what to do. QUESTION: Does your data delivery system support greater than 2400 baud modems? ANSWER: The Tracker Support BBS has modems that support transfer rates up to 16.8. The up-to-data files are also available for download on the Internet. Most Internet providers support rates up to 28.8 or higher. QUESTION: When The Mutual Fund Tracker or Wall Street Tracker up-to-date data files are ordered, I understand that I can get a FREE 30 day trial subscription if I ask for it. Is this a data file subscription service or is it a disk of the most recent data mailed to the purchaser for all funds listed in your menu? ANSWER: It's both. The up-to-date data is mailed on the program disk and installed when you install the program. Then on a trial basis, you can downloaded the up-to-date data from a BBS located in Austin, Texas or from the Internet. All of the funds listed in the FOLLOWED.FDS text file are included in the subscription. That file was included in the archive you downloaded. QUESTION: While your subscription service is interesting, I want to understand more about how the files can be updated from AOL and other online or internet services. Once the latest fund info is downloaded, can the program automatically incorporate that information into the fund data and calculations or is it necessary to manually enter the data just as would be required if the data is collected from the Wall Street Journal? ANSWER: Look at the text file named QUOTRACK.KIT. It was included in the archive you downloaded. It explains how The Quote Tracker works. The Quote Tracker makes the data update process of The Tracker Programs automatic! It will convert quotes downloaded from Prodigy, CompuServe, America Online, TC2000, Quote Com's Internet Quote Service, and is Stock-Watch, Pro-Util, PDL, PTT, and Quicken Quotes compatible. If you download ASCII or TEXT formatted (readable) quotes from a source we don't support, we can write a Custom Version of The Quote Tracker for you. The Quote Tracker is easy to use, the computer does all the work, it's that simple! QUESTION: Since MFT has the ability to add new funds, do you maintain data sets for funds other than Vanguard, Fidelity, etc, ect, to allow for a quick collection of 60 weeks of data for XYZ Fund? ANSWER: The only funds followed are in the FOLLOWED.FDS file. That file was included in the archive you downloaded. You might make note however, that historical data on AOL is included with the basic service at no additional cost. The Historical Data Importer is a FREE utility from us and it will import that data for you. QUESTION: Which funds would I be entitled to obtain in regular updates if I were to subscribe to your subscription service? ANSWER: The only funds included in the up-to-date data file subscription are listed in the FOLLOWED.FDS file. That file was included in the archive you downloaded. QUESTION: You mention in your documentation, the importance of the +DJIA, +Transports, & +MCFA indices in buy, sell, and hold signals. Is this information automatically provided in downloads from your subscription service (or online services such as AOL) or is it manually entered from financial sources such as the Wall Street Journal? ANSWER: Those figures are included in the up-to-date data files and the information is also freely available on Prodigy, the Internet, and on the support BBS. QUESTION: It looks like that the NAV of the chosen funds is the only data needed to be regularly entered. When evaluating the MFT's buy, sell, or hold signals, is it necessary to evaluate the data about the key indices separately and apply their signal to MFT's fund signal or does the program accomplish that automatically? ANSWER: The program will show you what the current signal is when you view the Key Indices. It's best to read the documentation, Appendix B entitled, "WHAT THE PROGRAM IS SIGNALING" on page 27. QUESTION: Thank you in advance for answering my questions. As I said, I'm actively looking for a reliable program to help me predict when to be in stock funds and when to be in money market funds and I'm hoping your program is the one that will fit my needs. ANSWER: A lot of people think it is! QUESTION: I want to first thank you for the Tech support you have provided me. The program is really one of the best tools I've seen for managing assets. I took your advice and downloaded quotes from AOL first and then the up-to-date data files from your BBS. That cleared up the date problem that I had last week. All the dates and data is going to the correct place now. ANSWER: Yes. Make sure that any updates you do to other data groups are done first. Then download the up-to-date data files and unzip them into the proper directories. QUESTION: A problem I am having now is when I download from your BBS, the file name gets changed. For example, when I download MFTDATA5.ZIP, the name changes to MFTDAT00.ZIP. The same thing happens to PROFUND.ZIP and MFTSUPP5.ZIP. I'm not sure if my modem software is doing this or what. I elect not to "append" to the file when downloading. ANSWER: Selecting not to append is the right choice. Here is what is happening. Your modem software is seeing a file by the same name so rather than overwrite it, it renames the incoming file. If you have an overwrite option in your software setup, then pick to overwrite existing files and that will take care of the problem. QUESTION: You need to add an edit function to delete a weeks entry. ANSWER: Done! QUESTION: I've been using MFT for almost 3 years with almost no problems. The program is working great, I currently track about 120 funds using The Quote Tracker. Today I mistakenly updated one data set twice giving me two data points with the same date and quotes for location 59 and 60. Is there and way to delete the last entry of a data set? ANSWER: A feature has been added to the program that will delete an entire periods entry. Get the latest version, which is FREE, and you won't have to worry about double entries anymore. QUESTION: I have a new Pentium 133 with Windows 95. I want to change my "SIGNALS" to Buy; Sell; Hold; Watch List. Can you help? ANSWER: Use The Configuration Editor. It's on The Tracker Utilities disk. QUESTION: I am following the "adjust for dividends" procedure for the first time, and I have a question. Do you recommend following this procedure for regularly scheduled monthly or quarterly income dividends? ANSWER: Yes. To keep your data current and the signals accurate, you have to make these adjustments. When you purchase the up-to-date data we offer, these adjustments are made for you. QUESTION: I have entered several stocks in The Wall Street Tracker. Is it possible to get one or two years of historic data on stocks. ANSWER: Yes. Several online services offer this. AOL has it as part of their basic service. The Historical Data Importer will import the data for you and is compatible with many online services. QUESTION: I need help in understanding why the program issued a "Buy" signal on 8/2/96. Page 27, Appendix B states that a "Buy' will be issued when the 4 WMA moves above the 30 WMA and is still moving up. This has not happened. ANSWER: The key indices that govern a signal change follow a different set of criteria than those of funds.