Kurt...

 KW{at}> I thought I'd float a poll out here to see why people are running the
 KW{at}> software they're running, and why they like/dislike what they're
 KW{at}> running?

  I originally started with GT Power (dial-up only in 1992), then went to
Synchronet in 2003, then to Virtual Advanced in 2007. I started GT Power
under MS DOS 3.2, then went to DOS 5, then DOS 6, DOS 6.2, DOS 6.22, and
event ran it under DESQView and OS/2 Warp. Windows got upgraded to 95, 98, 
and finally XP...where I'm staying...because I have too many old legacy
16-bit applications that serve me well, and they won't run past Vista.

  For the frontend mailer (as it were), I use Internet Rex with BinkP. 
Utilities of VFIDO toss the mail, then I also have VSMTP (email) and VIRC 
(Internet Relay Chat). Then, I use a special ATI-Red theme, done by Tim 
Cornett, for the website. I poll and toss during nightly maintenance...as 
weather can be rather unpredictable in Arkansas...especially during the winter,

and tornado season. Lightning and power outages mean no BBS work.

  While VADV32 has the means to do a POTS line, several years ago, construction
crews working out at the apartment complex where I live, sliced the underground
cables like a knife through butter...even though they were clearly marked.
hen,
they left the holes open, and it poured rain that night, flooding the cables.
The resulting line noise made it foolish to worry about an analog phone line.
Besides, I could not see spending $50 a month for a "vanilla phone
line", when
for a MagicJack (voice mail) and a MagicJack Plus (fax) line, my total cost for
each of these is $6 a month...and I get all the features of a regular phone
line, plus unlimited long distance.
 
  The things I don't like about VADV32 is that the original author, Roland 
DeGraff, apparently after health forced him to give up working with it, lost 
the source code. So, you can't change things like the length of the password,
even though you can create VScripts to do various functions. Also, those
who created some utilities for VADV32 have long since disappeared, and you
can no longer register them. The VDupe utility (to remove duplicate messages)
requires a registration string...otherwise, you have to enter a key each
time you run it, and it shuts down after 60 days without that registration
deal. So, I just leave the duplicates in there, and the system zaps them every
28 days.

  Another thing I don't like about VADV32 is that you can't run non-fossil
doors, without using a special VScript, and the Doorway program (originally
done by Marshall Dudley, now done by Mike Ehlert). Synchronet has the 
DOSXTRN feature that'll handle these non-fossil doors with ease. However,
I didn't care for the flame wars that were constantly in Dove-Net, and I
didn't care for the website interface. My HTML knowledge is very basic, just
like with batchfiles.

Daryl
  
... As a computer, I find your faith in technology amusing.
--- MultiMail/Win32 v0.49
                                                                           
             
--- Virtual Advanced Ver 2 for DOS