		         Welcome to RetireA

Before  using  RetireA,  read  the  following  disclaimer  clause:

The author  of this program does not  make any  claims  about  the
ability of this program  to improve the user's financial position,
current or future. This program is merely  a tool and the  useful-
ness of this tool depends entirely  on the ability  of the user to
define,  predict  and   interpret  current  and  future  financial
factors.
The author  also disclaims  any responsibility  for damage  to the
user's data base or damage to  any  user's software  or equipment.

If you agree with  the above statements and agree  not to hold the
author (or the distributor where you received RetireA) responsible
for any losses incurred while using or because  of  using RetireA,
then proceed.
Otherwise stop now and do not use RetireA.

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Installation
Note: RetireA is designed to run  under  Windows 3.1.   It has not
been tested under earlier versions of Windows.

Since you are reading this file,   it  is  assumed  that  you have
extracted  the files  from the compressed file   that you received
from the library.

(Compressed files with a .ZIP extension are un-compressed by using
the PKUNZIP utility.  Self-extracting compressed files, which have
a .EXE extension, are decompressed by "Running" the file.   Before
doing  either  method,   place  the compressed file in a "RetireA"
directory that you have created.    Example - c:\RetireA )

After decompressing, you should have 10 extracted files.

RETIREA.EXE	Main Program
RETIREA.HLP	Help File
TMCGDLL.DLL	Author's Library
COMMDLG.DLL	
BWCC.DLL
README.TXT	This file.
SAMPLE.RET	Data sets
COUPLE.RET
FAMILY.RET
SINGLE.RET

The 10 files will take about 600K bytes of disk space.

Note:  The compressed file  is no longer  necessary  after the ten
files  are extracted  and  it is  suggested that it be copied to a
backup diskette and deleted from the hard disk.

RetireA icon
It is also suggested  that the RetireA icon be placed in an exist-
ing Program Group (in Window's Program Manager).     One way to do
this is to:
 1) Enter File Manager
 2) "Click" the RetireA directory
 3) Activate Window's "Task List"  (Ex.  Press CTrl-Esc keys)
 4) Press "Tile" button  -  so that Prog Mgr. & File Mgr. are both
displayed.
 5) Then, using the mouse, hold  left mouse button down and "drag"
the RETIREA.EXE program from the File Mgr. directory  to a Program
Mgr. Program Group. The icon will materialize in the Program Group
when the mouse button is released.    RetireA  can now  be run  by
double clicking its icon.

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Note to RetireA version 1.0 users.
First be aware that  this  is version 2.3.  There is a change that
affects  the .RET data files.  If  you  have  developed .RET files
using version 1.0, they  will still  be usable  with  version 2.1.
The only problem (temporary problem) is  when you use an "old" RET
file the  first time with vers 2.3.  The Start Date of the 30 year
period will be wrong. Correct this by doing the  Calculate | Setup
option.  Vers 1.11 (and later) saves  this information in the data
set;   Vers 1.0 did not.  If you are creating  new data sets,  you
should not have this problem.
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Changes from Version 1.0 to version 1.1.
In addition  to the  Start Date  for the 30 year calculation being
saved  in the data set  (mentioned above),  the  following changes
have been made:

. key F1 activates the RetireA Help.

. The flat vertical bar display  in Report 2  is now a 3D display.
Also, a 3 button tool bar has been added to make switching the 3 -
10 year periods easier (for Report 2 only). 

. The  starting year  range  of  incomes  and  expenses  has  been
increased.  The lower end is now the  current year - 30 years  and
the upper end  is the current year + 100. This also applies to the
30 year calculation.

. The initial logo at start up is held for 5 seconds regardless of
the machine speed.
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Changes from Version 1.1 to version 1.11.
Very minor changes have taken place to move to 1.11.    (The 100th
position  in  the  version number  will  be used  to denote  minor
changes. 

. Report 2 changed slightly; the left border  of the display given
more breadth for increased 3D look.      The Retired 'smoking man'
added for a little extra color.

. Limits placed on the font sizes used in the displays.  The fonts
used for numbers,  titles, text  on the report displays  have been
limited to the size that appear on a 640 X 480 display.  The fonts
will adjust to smaller sizes if the window size is decreased   (if
Auto Scale feature is ON) as before, but the max size of the fonts
will be limited to the size that looks best on a 640 X480 display.
This max size "may" look good on a 1024 X 768 or larger screen. If
not I will have to increase the upper font size limits.  This is a
minor change programming-wise,   but it may have a large impact on
users with high resolution screens.

. The "Gone Fish'in" icon added to the About dialog. 

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Changes from 1.11 to 2.1 (2.0 basically not distributed)

Additions (Highlights):

. Toolbar

. Reports 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b

. Quick Edit

. Expanded on-line Help

. View | Report Font Selection (Video)...

. Four new sort options

Improvements (Highlights):

. Report displays - Reports checked at 640, 800, 1024 - revisions
  made to provide proper scaling at these three resolutions.

. Data Entry dialog is not closed if a data entry error message is
  issued.

. Initial Logo set at 3 seconds. 	
	
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Changes from 2.1 to 2.11

. A serious bug has been corrected which  existed  in all previous
  versions. Data sets with > 50 items   (total incomes & expenses)
  would  cause  unpredictable results,  even cause  the program to
  abort.  Thanks to Bob Santos  of  Los Altos, Ca.,  for reporting
  this problem. 
  Note: The max size is 100 items

. The  current 10 year button  is highlighted  in  the the  3 view
  buttons in the Toolbar.   
   
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Changes from 2.11 to 2.2

. A Restore button has been added  to the  Font Selection routine.
  This restores the initial settings for fontnames, sizes, colors.

. An option to save the  current fontnames, sizes, & colors across
  sessions.       The setting are saved in C:\WINDOWS\RETIREA.INI.

. Toolbar buttons "Press & pop" like standard Windows buttons. 

. Up arrow  &  Down arrow buttons   added  to ToolBar  to increase
  /decrease  the  display character sizes  for the variable length
  reports. This allows one to control  of the # of lines displayed
  on a non scrolled screen.
__________________________________________________________________  
 
Changes from 2.2 to 2.3

. A 80 character Memo field has been added to each  income/expense
  item. This addition is only effective in the registered version.
  A  Windows environment utility  is provided with  the registered
  version  to convert  old data sets  to the  new data set format.
  The Max data set size for version 2.3 is 50 items (unregistered)
  and 60 items for the registered version.
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The first thing I recommend  is  reading  the on-line help topics,
especially the Overview, Quick Demo and the Tutorial.

If  you  do  not wish  to execute RetireA  at this time,  read the
RetireA  help  file  (RETIREA.HLP)  by  double  clicking  it  from
Window's File Manager.

If you have  a printer, print  the Tutorial  help  using  the Help
 File | Print.  Then, when  you are ready  to try RetireA,  follow
the Tutorial using the supplied test file SAMPLE.RET.

__________________________________________________________________ 

If  you  need  information  about  the  product,  contact  me   at
(610) 353-0834  or  CompuServe 71672,1203.

Thank you for your support.

	Tom McGrath   
