SOS Technical Reference Document
Copyright (c) 1994 by Synergistic Office Solutions, Inc.

TOPIC..: Temp File Accumulation
REVISED: 03/02/95

WARNING --- WARNING ---- WARNING ---- WARNING ---- WARNING --- WARNING

If this document appears when you are starting your program, you have
accumulated a very high number of temporary files. To avoid
difficulties running the program in the near future, you should read
the following information and take the recommended actions.

SUMMARY ----------------------------------------------------------------

While operating, both OM and CM produce temporary overlay swap files.
These files are automatically deleted by the program if you exit the
program normally by selecting Exit to DOS on the EXIT menu. If,
however, the program is terminated abnormally due to a power outage,
some sort of system crash, or just turning off the computer while the
program is still on the screen, several of these swap files will be
left on the disk. Each time this sort of thing happens, several more
are left behind. If this number should reach 99, the program will no
longer be able to run and you will have to manually delete any leftover
temporary files.

CORRECTIVE ACTION ------------------------------------------------------

1. Exit all programs, menus, shells so that the cursor is blinking
next to the system prompt, which may look something like:

C:\>

If the prompt is longer and specifies a particular directory, that
is ok.

2. Determine where the overlay swap files are stored on your system,
and what they are named.

* METHOD 1 (for those using DOS 5 and higher)

Type the following command at your system prompt. Be careful to
get your slashes right. The first one is a BACKslash; the second
is a FRONTslash:

DIR \*.$* /S

The files will scroll by, but don't worry about it. As long as
there is at least one visible on the screen, we will be able to
find the information we need. Note the part of each line that is
the same. If there are several different filenames, note the one
that appears most often or the ones that have recent dates next to
them. If this method does not work, try method 2 below.

Temp Files Page 2


* METHOD 2

Type:

SET and press <ENTER>

Look for a line that starts with "OVL_SWAP", such as:

OVL_SWAP=C:\OM\$$SOSTMP

If you can't find it, and you think that it might have scrolled off
the top of the screen, you can print all of the settings by typing
the following command:

SET > PRN and press <ENTER>

The character in the middle is the "greater than sign" and is typed
by holding down the <SHIFT> key and pressing the period on the main
part of the keyboard.

3. You can now determine the exact location of the temporary files by
inspecting the results of step 2.

C:\OM\$$SOSTMP.$77
|____________| <------------------- location and filename

OVL_SWAP=C:\OM\$$SOSTMP
|____________| <---------- location and filename

The location and name could be quite different from that in our
example, but it still gives us everything we need.

4. If you are working on a network or multiuser system, it is IMPORTANT
to be sure that nobody else is using any of the SOS programs prior
to taking this next step.

To delete the temp files, type DEL followed by the location and
filename, followed by a period and an asterisk. Here are some
examples:

DEL C:\OM\$$SOSTMP.*
DEL D:\SOSTEMPS\$$SOSTMP.*
DEL F:\TEMP\SOS\SOSTEMP.*
DEL E:\$$SOSTMP.*

and press <ENTER>.

5. When the cursor returns, you can go ahead and resume business as
usual. If you have not been exiting the program properly, be sure
to do so in the future.

PREVENTION -------------------------------------------------------------

If you are working on a single user computer (as opposed to a network),
you can add the above delete command to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so that
every time you start your computer leftover temporary swap files will

Temp Files Page 3


be automatically deleted. If you do so, you may notice that most of
the time you will see a message "File not found" appear on the screen
as your computer goes through its startup process. This message is
actually good and indicates that there were no leftover files to
delete.

If you are working on a network, we recommend that temp file cleanup be
incorporated in the procedure or batch file used to start your daily
backup. You SHOULD NOT put the delete command in every station's
AUTOEXEC.BAT file, unless you are sure that each person's temp files
are being directed to a different drive or directory. That is possible
by manipulation of the SET OVL_SWAP command in each AUTOEXEC. The
problem arises if everyone is storing temp files with the same name in
the same directory on a shared drive. If you were to delete the files
while someone else was using the program, it would result in a program
crash.

RELATED DOCUMENTS ------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
CHANGING YOUR AUTOEXEC.BAT FILE
NETWORK PERFORMANCE TIPS