About ThomWare
Share and Organize IM Away messages. Automatically Randomize IM AMs [WIN9x/NT]
Sort IP Addresses {WIN9x/NT}
IP Netmask Calculator {WIN9x/NT}
Politically Correct Joke {WIN(x/NT}
Joke Application Generator {WIN9x/NT}
{WIN9x/NT}
{DOS or Server}
Batch Utilities DOS should have had {DOS}
{DOS or SERVER}
You PC gives advice {DOS/WIN9x/NT}
Simple security for DOS

ThomWare - Useful software that is ALWAYS free!

Useful software that is always FREE!
Shareware is a great concept. There are many applications (and games) that rival the commercial "Bloatware" that is offered by commercial companies! Most of the shareware developers are skilled professionals that deserve some form of financial compensation for their wonderful work!
But I believe that to share is to make available to everyone. These applications are all original creations of mine. Each one was generated as a result of some "inspired" need or desperate necessity.
Now that I have put the effort and time into creating them, I feel obliged to share them with you. I am asking NO financial compensation for their use and, likewise, will accept no responsibility for their use, abuse, misuse or misbehavior.
If, however, you find the program or the idea entertaining and/or useful, please drop me a message to let me know what you think.
If you have any complaints, just Email to MAILER-DAEMON@host-unknown.net and don't expect a response.


 
Windows 95/98/NT


  IM-GREAT - Instant Messenger GRaphical Away message Tool

Download


Now you can organize and share all your creative Away Messages with friends!
IM-GREAT includes a unique RANDOM feature that allows you to automate IM and present a random Away Message to your IM buddies.




  IPSort - Sort IP addresses

Download		 This application was born out of need. The specific format of TCP/IP addresses makes it very difficult for software to properly sort them. Many (most) organizations that must manage a large pool or pools of IP addresses almost invariably use Microsoft Excel as their source database. Unfortunately, Excel cannot properly sort these peculiar numbers. Many attempts have been made to develop useful macros but they always involve modifying the address data somehow (listing seperate octets in different cells or applying a formula to every cell).
With IPSort you simply EXPORT any Excel spreadsheet (or ANY application or database that can create comma delimited output) as a CSV file. Then IPSort can read and display the contents of that file for you. IPSort is smart enough to recognize any rows of information that represent a HEADER and display them at the top of the list.
You can then choose to SAVE the sorted list as another CSV file that can be IMPORTED into MS Excel.



  TIPNC - Thom's IP Netmask Calculator

Download		 In any networking environment (and, especially, any Internet-related industry) the IP or Internet Protocol address is an integral part of configuration.
TCP/IP relies on the Internet Protocol addressing scheme, which utilizes a 32 bit number that is most often expressed as four seperate octets.
An octet is a decimal (sometimes hexidecimal) representation of an 8-bit word (or byte).
The shortage of IP addresses has caused a shift in the addressing scheme to provide a slightly more flexible way of allocating the address numbering. This newer "slash notation" allows you to define the network address more precisely by specifying the number of 'mask' bits that comprise the sub-net.
This application was designed to "take the guesswork out of" calculations of the netmask.

  Politically Correct

Download		 PC is the world's first true WORD Processor! Another hotfiles.zdnet.com favorite and included on the Software USA CD 4.01!
It is crucial in today's social climate to be cautious about your choice of words and word usage. [in documents, Email, and such]
This program will "filter" any text document, replacing questionable words with the Politically Correct substitute.
PC features an interactive Configuration/Editor to allow customization of the PC library.
Other LIBrary files may also be imported and used with this application.
PC is offered as a "Tongue-in-cheek" commentary on our (overly) serious concern about Political Correctness.

Visit these other sites poking fun at Political Correctness.

Special thanks to Pat Haney for his assistance in developing the PC library.

  Customizable Slithering Button Application Generator

Download		 Have you seen those fun programs that promise something unbelievable with just the press of the mouse button?
The answer to "The meaning of life" will be given if you press the button. But as your mouse cursor approaches the button, it slithers away, unattainable!
This program is an Application Generator that allows you to create just such a "joke" program.
With CSBAG, you can create your very own, customized, prank program with up to three buttons (each labeled however you choose) that will slide away from your unsuspecting victim
There is an Interactive Configuration Editor built into the program.
CSBAG is small, simple, self-documenting and loads of fun! It requires no additional DLLs or runtime files.
The slithering button applications you generate can be distributed easily via Email or on floppy disk!
This application earned 4 stars from hotfiles.zdnet.com - search: 'CSBAG'!

Now, version 3.0 includes the ability to create a series of question boxes!
As the application exits it can call any other application (even itself again with a different control [ini] file!)
The possibilities are endless
Try it today. You'll LOVE it!
 

  Service Timer

Download		 This program came out of a need to capture time spent on customer projects. I was working in the IS department of a company that housed a large telephone technical support group for the software they wrote.
The technical support agents were required to carefully log time spent working on a customer problem (both on the phone and off).
With Service Timer you can start any number of instances of the program. Each one can have a customer name attached to it. The timer(s) can be paused at any time. Once a timer is stopped, the time and customer name is written to the Windows clipboard.
It is then a simple matter to Paste the information into ANY tracking software. It can also be written in this way many times to several different applications (something I was unable to do with OLE!).
Service Timer is small, fast and completely stand-alone. It relies on no DLLs or Runtime files!

 
DOS


  CLear ATTRibutes

Download		 Although this is a small (4K) DOS program it is extremely useful with Windows 95/98!
While working in a large IS group, I found myself repeatedly frustrated by Windows 95 insistence that it needed to protect me!
There are many files that Windows will not permit us to modify. Among these are the MSDOS.SYS and MSDOS.DOS files. Even the ATTRIB command will not affect these Hidden/Read-Only/System files!
But CLATTR will remove ALL attributes from ANY file. It accepts wildcards and can parse multiple filenames on the command line.
As with all ThomWare, it is self-documenting and fast due to its extremely small size.
Fortunately, its author is quite humble :-)

  Security

Download		 This (fun) program was written in the days just before Windows 95. It is intended to be operated on a DOS system that is left unattented.
Essentially, this small (5.5K) program will prompt for a password when run. Then the display will appear to be a normal DOS window. But when any typical DOS commands are entered, the system responds in quite unexpected ways!
Only entering the previous input password will return control to the system.

    Here is a sample of the program output
    C:\DOS> dir

    Volume in Drive C is BIG DRIVE

    Directory of C:\DOS



    File not found


    C:\DOS> type

    You are NOT my TYPE!


    C:\DOS> format

    OH No you don't!


    C:\DOS> exit

    EXIT.  Stage Right!


    C:\DOS>
DISCLAIMER: This program is NOT intended to provide any real security or prevent access to a computer system! It is intended as a comical "screen saver" type of application!

  Advise

Download		 How often are you faced with a difficult decision and wish you could just turn to someone in complete secrecy and ask for advice?
Your computer can now be that confidant! Advise will answer ANY question. The answer(s) you get may not be what you expect, but will always be thought-provoking AND entertaining!

    Here is a sample of the program output
     C:\>advise will there be trouble on January 1, 2000 ?

                   ADVISE.COM   Copyright (c)1993-2001  Thom Parkin

     I am just a machine!  What do you expect from ME?

  BATch UTILities

Download		 This group of utilities was written in the days before DOS 5.0
There are MANY useful features (and extrinsic commands) missing from DOS. Anyone familiar with UNIX can attest to the frustration in trying to write "smart" Batch files.
While working in an IS group of a mid-sized company, I found myself often writing Batch files on our servers. There are many useful commands that just do not exist in the MS-DOS shell language (like FindStr [below]. BAT-UTIL addresses that void!
In addition to making batch files that are "smarter", you can also dress up your batch routines with colorful screen and cursor manipulation routines.
Give it a try today!

  Find String

Download		 Although DOS provides a command to display every occurance of a string wihtin a file, there is NOT a way for a Batch file to determine if a particular string exists in a file.
Again, while writing batch files for servers in a mid-sized company (as part of the IS department) I created this small (6K) utility to fill a need.
As with all ThomWare, the program is self-documenting, small and fast (and quite useful)