============================================================================ BackWeb Client Version 6.1.4 ============================================================================ For the latest information see http://www.backweb.com.

This README file consists of the following topics: - System Requirements - New features - Installation Instructions - Uninstalling BackWeb - Subscribing to BackWeb Channels - Important note regarding Internet Connection and Communication - Known issues that may affect some users - Technical Support ============================================================================ System Requirements ============================================================================ 1. BackWeb InfoCenter Client for Microsoft Windows Operating System: Windows Windows Windows Windows Windows Windows Windows Windows Windows 95 98 Millennium NT 4.0 Workstation NT 4.0 Server 2000 Professional 2000 Server XP Home XP Pro

BackWeb Client as Service requires Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 or Windows XP. TCP/IP protocol should be installed on the machine Minimum Hardware: CPU: RAM: Disk Space: Pentium PC or higher 32MB 12MB of space for BackWeb Client, plus approximately 6MB per registered channel (user configurable).

Internet Connection: Connection to the Internet at 28800 bps or faster Web browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 or higher or Netscape Navigator 4.08 or higher Note: Netscape Navigator 6.0 is partially supported see limitations below

2. BackWeb Accelerator Client for Microsoft Windows Operating System: Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP TCP/IP protocol should be installed on the machine Minimum Hardware: CPU: Pentium PC or higher

RAM: Disk Space:

Windows NT, 2000 and XP: 64MB Windows 95 and 98: 32MB 12MB of space for BackWeb Client, plus approximately 6MB per registered channel (user configurable).

Internet Connection: Connection to the Internet at 28800 bps or faster Web browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 SP2, 5.0 or 5.01. Netscape Communicator 4.7 or Netscape Navigator 4.08

=================================================================== New features in version 6.1.4 =================================================================== * Support for Windows XP. =================================================================== New features in version 6.1.3 =================================================================== * The Foundation Agent now exists in English US, English UK, French FR, French CA, Spanish Spain Traditional, Spanish Argentina, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese Brasil. The following parts of the BackWeb Client have been translated: The Global Options and Channel Status dialogs The Tray Icon menu Sprite menus and messages Security and other client messages

Note that Infocenter and the client Help have not been translated. The Shadow UI and Help files have been translated and are available in a separate package - Shadow 1.0.1. * Multi-language support for custom components. Read more about this in the Console Readme. * You can package several languages in a client installer. A Lite Installer will download and install only the language relevant to your system. A full installer will install the language relevant to your system and English US. * Targetting InfoPaks by Client language has been fixed to work with the OS language. =================================================================== New features in version 6.1.2 =================================================================== Improvements in Event Reporting as Supported by PAS 1.5 ======================================================= * The Client now generates a BW_MARKED_AS_READ event any time that a story is marked as read (and whether or not it was already marked as read). This can result from flash play, wallpaper play, opening a full story, opening a summary, and marking a story as read in the UI. This is in addition to all events reported in

previous versions, such as BWE_SUMMARY_OPENED and BWE_FULL_STORY_OPENED. * When uploading the events to the server, the Client sets user profile variable M_bw_ to its current time_t value. This way, the event hook on the server side can convert the timestamp of each event to server time by calculating how long ago they occured, without making the incorrect assumption that all Client machines' clocks are set to the same time as the server. =================================================================== New features in version 6.1 =================================================================== Communication Improvements ========================== * Automatic proxy detection is now possible even if the browser is using dynamic proxy configuration (a JavaScript which is called for each URL to find the appropriate proxy for this URL based on host name, time of day, date etc). Previously, it only worked if the browser was configured with static proxy information (proxy address plus port). * "Traffic detection", a new mode of detecting Internet connection, has been added to address some special cases where the client may fail to properly detect the connection using the existing modes ("Assume always connected" and "Detect connection"). In "Traffic detection" mode, the client constantly checks the incoming/outgoing traffic and concludes that there is a connection if (and only if) it detects traffic. Roaming Users ============= * Remote shut-down. If a user forgets to shutdown the Client or log out before leaving a machine, and then tries to use the client on another machine, the new session will detect that the Data directory is still being used by another session and will allow the user to remotely shut-down the abandoned session. * Network Upgrade. In order to enable automatic upgrade of Roaming Users configurations, the clients are now configured to look for software upgrades on the network. Client Extensions ================= * It is possible to write extensions in VBScript, instead of having to use C. * New properties - RunOncePerUser and RunAfterChannelsReady - can be used to restrict the invocation of extensions, as implied by their names. * Extensions can be notified of system shut-down and user log off as well as BackWeb client shut-down. * The Client SDK now offers services for setting timers that trigger callback notifications after the specified number of seconds, as well as "idle timers" that trigger callbacks on user activity or inactivity.

Windows Service Support ("Client as Service") ============================================= * The BackWeb client with Windows Service Support now runs (by default) using the account of the logged in user (rather than the System account). It runs using the System account only when no user is logged in. Support for Netscape Navigator 6.0 ================================== Netscape Navigator 6.0 is supported under the following limitations: 1) It is supported in the Infocenter Client but not in the Accelerator Client. 2) Detection of Proxy settings from the browser does not work with Netscape Navigator 6.0. =================================================================== New features in version 6.01 =================================================================== * The Client SDK now offers the ExtensionVariables object, which can be used to store extension-specific numeric or string values from one Client session to another. * The macros $RegEntry and $RegEntryExists (used in Auto File Update and Segmentation) map registry keys under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\BackWeb\BackWeb\Public to a location in the data directory that is compatible with "side-by-side" clients and with multiple users and roaming users configurations. Their new location is also accessible through the new Client SDK ExtensionVariables object. Entries in the old area in the registry are imported to the new location in the data directory. * An InfoPak arriving from the server can request from the client to give it a version number. This allows slave servers in a cluster to generate on-the-fly versionable InfoPaks, and it allows client extensions to insert InfoPaks to the same series as the server. =================================================================== New features in version 6.0 =================================================================== "Side by Side" ============== More than one BackWeb client of version 6.0 and up may be installed and running on a single machine. All the clients perform their download and auto-play activities in an orchestrated manner. This way, users can get, for example, their anti-virus updates through one BackWeb client and their news flashes through another. Moreover, a single BackWeb client of version earlier than 6.0 may also be installed and running. BackWeb clients of version 6.0 and up are referred to as "BackWeb Applications". In some rare scenarios, the user may be required to arbitrate when there is conflict between the side by side applications. For example, when registering to channels using a web browser, the user may be requested to select the application to add the channel to (in case there is no other way to determine the correct application).

There is a known issue with web registration when 6.0 (or higher) applications are installed side by side with an older BackWeb client: If all 6.0 (or higher) applications are shut down, instead of turning to the user for arbitration, the channel is sometimes added to the older client. To work around the problem, make sure the 6.0 (or higher) application is up and running while registering to new channels. Only one Flash is displayed at a time. A special synchronization mechanism implements this feature cross applications. Wallpapers are replaced in a synchronized manner by side by side BackWeb Applications. If a client of version earlier than 6.0 allows wallpaper autoplay, then 6.0 (or higher) applications will disable their own wallpaper autoplay. Tickers that belong to different applications (and one ticker that belongs to a BackWeb client of version earlier than 6.0) can run side by side. If they hide each other, users can reposition them according to their personal preference. NewsTitles that belong to different applications will never run together, though. If one is already running, any attempt to start another will fail with an appropriate informative message. However, no measures are taken to prevent the NewsTitle of an older BackWeb client (of version earlier than 6.0) to play simultaneously with a 6.0 (or higher) NewsTitle. This may have unexpected results and it is recommended to manually close one of them. Multiple Users ============== Several users may share the same computer. Each one of them can see its own content and set its own preferences. Configuration updates that are downloaded while one of the users is logged in are available to the other users. Roaming Users ============= Users may roam from one computer to another. User data is stored on a network file server, using a mapped drive, or in the Windows roaming user profile. Limitations and known issues: 1) "Roaming Users" and "Client as Service" cannot be configured together. 2) Targeting InfoPaks by operating system and hardware capabilities only makes sense in "Roaming Users" applications when the machines they login to are homogenous, because an InfoPaks that download to one machine on day1, might be played on another machine on day2. 3) If the user data is stored on a Windows 2000 machine, and the folder is limited in size (this is a Windows 2000 feature), then if the user logins to a Windows NT machine and runs the BackWeb Application, it will not be able to save any user data. File Replication Enhancements ============================ File replication may be configured to retry failed file

placements periodically. Also, when placement fails due to locked target files, it may be configured to update the files immediately after the next reboot. The user is prompted to reboot when user interaction is allowed. ============================================================================ Installation ============================================================================ Obtaining a Client Installer: In a network installation, the administrator should install a BackWeb Server and a BackWeb Server Console and then create predefined custom BackWeb Client installers for the network users from the BackWeb Server Console. 1. Installation on Windows NT requires administrator privileges, as it may involve replacement of DLLs in system folders. 2. Installation and uninstallation on Windows 2000 require administrator privileges. If logging-in as an administrator is not an option, a Windows Installer Package is required. In that case, contact BackWeb Support. ============================================================================ Uninstalling BackWeb ============================================================================ 1. In your system Control Panel, launch "Add/Remove Programs". 2. Choose your application from the list. 3. Click Add/Remove to uninstall BackWeb. ============================================================================ Subscribing to BackWeb Channels ============================================================================ Once you have installed BackWeb, you need to subscribe to "channels" to receive information. Access the Subscribe to Channels section by clicking on the button in the Navigation bar on the left of the user interface. Select the channels or topics that interest you and check the box beside each o ne, to subscribe. Some BackWeb channels, depicted with a "face" icon, can be personalized to your exact needs. When subscribing to such a channel, a dialog will open prompting you for additional information. The channel subscription process is done locally whenever possible, or through the Web. Once subscribed, you will receive the information from these channels regularly via BackWeb. ============================================================================ Internet Connection and Communication ============================================================================ We recommend that you use the BackWeb Polite Protocol whenever possible as it offers substantial benefits over HTTP. With the Polite Agent, your BackWeb client will communicate in an unobtrusive manner, and only when your connection is idle, allowing you to maximize your network bandwidth. In most corporate sites, the client will be behind a firewall. In

this case, if the client is to communicate with the server using the BackWeb Polite Protocol, there might be a need to configure the firewall to allow incoming traffic to the UDP port used by the BackWeb client. This port can be configured in the client s user interface, and by default is set to one of the ports in the range 9370-9400 (the first one in the range which is available). A range of ports is used to enable multiple BackWeb enabled applications running simultaneously (each one using a different port). The port is selected whenever the client starts up, based on port availability. Therefor, one should configure the firewall to allow incoming UDP packets to all the ports in the configured range. Note that the default for older BackWeb clients (prior to version 6.0) was set to UDP port 371. In case it is not desired to allow incoming UDP packets, it is possible to configure the BackWeb client to use the HTTP protocol, which is typically allowed by firewalls. Furthermore, by default, the BackWeb client (version 6.0 and above) is configured to fallback to HTTP in case it can not use the Polite Protocol (e.g. if the firewall blocks UDP packets). Thus, it is usually not needed to explicitly configure the BackWeb client s protocol. Configuring the BackWeb client to use other UDP ports, or use the HTTP protocol only, is typically done while generating the client installer using the server console. These configuration can also be done in the client's user interface, in the Connection tab of the Options dialog (Found in the Tools menu in Infocenter, or under Global in the Options menu in Accelerator). ============================================================================ Known Issues ============================================================================ 1. Installation Issues: a) During installation BackWeb updates some of your systems DLL files. In some cases these files require a reboot of your computer before they take effect. If you experience abnormal behavior following installation, please reboot your computer and re-start the application. When installing BackWeb on Windows NT with NTFS file system, make sure your system directory has the right permissions. b) If an upgrade or an "Install Over Install" fails, the application may become unusable. Installing it again may solve the problem. In any case, the data is not lost. 2. The BackWeb software configures your browser to include a registration helper application. If for some reason this setting is missing, you should restart the client, which will re-register the helper application. 3. In some cases where the Netscape browser was unable to locate the server of the given URL, it becomes impossible to invoke Web pages from BackWeb. In order to continue, click the OK button in the Netscape window to close the "Unable to locate server <URL>" message box. If BackWeb does not link to the browser, click the Start button, select Run, type www.backweb.com, and then hit OK. If this action still does not bring a Browser, then the URL association is not configured properly

by the browser. To overcome this in BackWeb, select the browser explicitly. Verify that the path selected is correct by going into the browser settings in Infocenter and de-selecting "use default browser". Select your browser and verify its path. 4. Plug-in applications launched from InfoPaks may produce sound even when the InfoPak is muted. 5. When a plug-in is played in a Flash over the current sequence (with window=embedded) and then the sequence is animated, the plug-in blinks. 6. If you have installed a plug-in or QuickTime / QuickTime VR software during the current BackWeb session, you still may not receive InfoPaks that require these plug-ins. In order to recognize the installed plug-ins, shut down BackWeb (from the File menu) and re-launch BackWeb by double-clicking on the BackWeb icon on the desktop or by selecting on the Start button, selecting Programs and then BackWeb. Alternatively, you may restart your system so that BackWeb will be automatically re-launched. 7. If you use the Netscape browser, we recommend that you do not include the Netscape executable in your StartUp folder. Every time that BackWeb starts up, it makes sure that Netscape is set up properly allowing you to add BackWeb channels. However, due to the way Netscape works, this verification is only effective when Netscape is not running. If you have Netscape in the StartUp folder, it is quite possible that Netscape will already be running every time that BackWeb starts up, and the set-up routine required for adding BackWeb channels will not take place. If you must put Netscape in the start-up folder, you can make sure that the set-up is done properly at least once by manually shutting down both Netscape and BackWeb (by choosing Shut Down BackWeb in BackWeb's File menu), then restarting BackWeb and then Netscape. You should then try registering to a new channel (via Add Channel using Web Directory on BackWeb's Channel menu) to make sure everything is working properly. Note: All of this refers to adding channels from the Web. It does not affect subscribing to channels in the Infocenter. 8. If you do not have Microsoft Internet Explorer installed in your computer, the embedded browser option is not available. 9. Dial-up: 8.1 Due to a known problem on Windows NT 4.0, in order to use the Infocenter's built-in scheduler to dial to the Internet using dial-up, you must configure your Dial-up Networking connection to use a script and not a terminal window. 8.2 On Windows 95 and on Windows 98 without IE5 the password for dial-up sometimes can't be saved. This problem has to do with old system dlls and can be solved by installing IE5. Under such circumstances, an attempt to set a password for dial-up through Infocenter (Tools | Options | Connection | Dial-up Schedule) seems to succeed. There is no error message indicating that the password is not saved, but opening the same dialog again, one can see that the password is not there.

10. Due to a known problem with Dr. Solomon's WinGuard for NT (versions 7.71 and below) one might experience problems with BackWeb's downloading. We strongly suggest to upgrade to a newer version of WinGuard. 11. Mouse cursor flickering when moving over BackWeb's ticker or newstitle, are caused by mouse trails. You could turn it off from the Control Panel: Start->Settings->Control Panel, Mouse. 12. You can configure BackWeb's Screen Saver Settings (Delay time between slides ) via Start->Settings->Control Panel, Display. 13. When using McAfee Vshield version 3.1.6 with the BackWeb Client running, you r machine may suffer a decrease in performance. This is due to Vshield scannin g the BackWeb Client executable whenever the BackWeb Client is engaged in downloading. The solution for this problem is to include the BackWeb Client executable in your list of Exclusions for Vshield. 14. Using client file replication feature running on the same machine with the BackWeb console application, is not recommended. In these cases, BackWeb client may require to be restarted after working with the console applicatio n. 15. Due to a known problem on Windows caching the BackWeb desktop icon might sho w as the wrong icon. In this case, restart Explorer from the task manager or reboot your machine. 16. a) The BackWeb Client can't be configured to have both Windows Service Suppo rt and Ticker. In a similar manner, The BackWeb Client can't be configured t o have both Windows Service Support and Screen Saver. b) The BackWeb client with Windows Service Support does not play wallpapers. c) The BackWeb client with Windows Service Support registers a service using the System account, and will not work properly if this account is changed to any other account. Note that even though the service runs using the System account, it launches the BackWeb Client using the account of the currently logged in user. d) The BackWeb client with Windows Service Support does not support a MultiU ser configuration. 17. When the client runs at startup, it launches a Splash Screen which may stay resident in memory as an independent process for up to two minutes. So if you try to uninstall the client within this time, the uninstall will n ot be able to remove this file, and will therefore fail. 18. Changes to the Application Context list in the Behavior tab of the Options dialog only take effect after restarting the application. 19. If Internet Explorer 5.0 was installed before BackWeb and was uninstalled afterwards, the BackWeb Client may cease to function. Internet Explorer 5.0 must be reinstalled in order to continue using BackWeb.

20. Alert names may not include underscores. Defining an alert with an underscor e in its name does not result in any warning, and seems to be successfully completed, but when the alert definition is viewed again, the channels and categories are missing. 21. Any user can run BackWeb on Windows 2000, but if the user does not belong to the Administrators group, note the implications: - Auto File Update requires write privileges to the destination location. By default, ordinary users do not have write privileges to the Windows folder and other special locations. - The Auto File Update ability to retry placement of locked files after rebo ot requires write privileges to the registry and therefore would not work for ordinary users. - Upgrade InfoPaks cannot be used. You can achieve the same result by performing "install over install" through Windows Installer. For more information, contact BackWeb Support. - When the client runs as a service, a non-privileged user cannot start or stop the service, so it should be configured to be Automatic , and it is recommended to start it at the end of installation. 22. Multiple Users - Let's say that several users on the same machine ran a Clie nt version prior to 6.0, and this Client was uninstalled and another pre-6.0 Client with a different home server was installed instead of it. Now, instal l a 6.0 or 6.1 Client with the same home server as the currently installed pre-6.0 Client, but run it for the first time in an account in which the original (uninstalled) pre-6.0 Client has been run, but which was not the on e that uninstalled it. The result will be that the new Client will not inherit the data from the currently installed pre-6.0 Client, even though it has the same home server. 23. Auto File Placement Issues: a) When files are placed in one destination and updates of them are placed i n another, the files in the first location are left intact. This takes up space and may cause confusion. b) "Place Files" fails when file names on the local file system are restricted to the 8.3 format. c) The following bug is likely to appear in applications that involve "Seeding", that is, distribution of initial content on a CD and distribution of updates to this content through BackWeb s Auto File Placement mechanism. When using the "Place Files" option for the first time, where the destination directory contains some of the same files that are about to be placed, replication will repeatedly fail for this InfoPak. To avoid this situation, run the frimport utility on the destination directory prior to downloading the first InfoPak. To obtain the frimport utility and for more information on this issue, contact Back Web Support. If possible, refrain from replicating into a pre-existing direct ory that contains similar files.

24. Due to a design flaw in the Windows OS, some 16-bit applications may not fun ction correctly on Windows 95, 98 and ME when the BackWeb Client is running. The BackWeb Client uses a Windows hook (IadHide.dll) to monitor user idle ti me, network communication, and the list of currently running programs. This moni toring is required to implement several core parts of the BackWeb Client's politene ss feature: idle time before autoplay, prevention of unintended Client-initiate d dial-ups, and suspension of download and autoplay when it would otherwise pr event concurrently running programs such as ScanDisk from functioning properly. Wi ndows hooks are DLLs that are "injected" into every application that is running, i n order to capture and process the Windows messages it sends and receives. The infor mation gleaned by the Client's Windows hook is only used for the politeness purpose s mentioned above and never leaves the Client machine. It is a known fact that the use of Windows hooks may cause some 16-bit appli cations to not function correctly or at all. Here is a quote from the MSDN about thi s issue: "...In-context functions may cause an overflow when the DLL containing the f unction is loaded into a 16-bit application. This problem happens because 16-bit applications use a fixed size stack that may not be large enough to accommod ate the chain of system function calls resulting in a call to the function..." Note that this can happen only with 16-bit applications and only with some o f them. This is the reason that this problem can occur only on Windows 95, 98 and ME , but not on Windows NT, 2000, and newer systems. Among the applications with which we have experienced problems are certain v ersions of charmap.exe (Character Map utility) and Windows games (Solitaire, Hearts, MineSweeper and FreeCell). The common workaround so far had been to provide a "fixed" version of the problematic 16-bit applications, produced by accessing their header data and changing the stack size definition. 25. Upon upgrading from Windows 98 to Windows XP, when Backweb Client already in stalled, The BackWeb Client will not work due to folder security issues. Reinstall the Client (Install over Install) as an administrative user in ord er to fix the problem. The problem occurs because of the fundemental differences in the security mo dels

between Windows XP and Windows 98. The folder in which BackWeb Client is ins talled should be marked as available for access by ordinary users. 26. The new encryption file system(EFS) in Windows XP allows a user inadvertentl y to encrypt the BackWeb application directory or one of it's sub-directories. The implications are that it prevents other users from using the BackWeb Cli ent. 27. Remote Desktop feature of Windows XP is not supported by BackWeb Client. In a Remote Desktop environment, the BackWeb Client Flashes are not displaye d correctly. ============================================================================ Technical Support ============================================================================ For support, please refer to your vendor documentation.