Archgrove - Implicit Definition

The usage checker is currently broken - sorry! I hope to have a new version up in the next couple of days, but my time is spread rather thinly at the moment.

This application monitors the usage of your capped Zen Internet account.

Download the installer (and it’s associated GPG signature file. You’ll need Windows 2000, XP or 2003 to use this.

Download the source code. Build it with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 (or Visual C++ Express, if you don’t have the full studio).

The readme follows.

Zen Usage Checker v1.1.1
(c) Adam Wright, 2006
http://www.archgrove.co.uk/software/zenusagechecker/

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About
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Zen Usage Checker is a small Wwindows application that automatically
monitors the used and remaining bandwidth for capped usage Zen
Internet customers.

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Requirements
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This application requires Microsoft Windows 2000, XP or 2003. If
there are a significant number of users on Windows 9x, please submit
a bug report and I’ll add support. Other platforms are in the works
(see the FAQ).

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Usage
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Simply select “Zen Usage Checker” from
Start->Program Files->Zen Usage Checker to load the application. On
the first run, it will prompt you to enter your portal username and
password (these may not be the same as your ASDL signin details!). If
you do not have a portal account, simply visit https://portal.zen.co.uk/
and create one. You may also enter a proxy server, if you require one
(i.e. www.example.net:8080).

From that point on, a small icon sits in your system tray indicating the
your current usage level as a black pie chart. It will update hourly,
or you can force an update by right clicking on the icon to view the
context menu.

You may want to place this tool in your Windows startup folder, so
that it runs every time you login.

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Contact
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The website for this tool can be found at
http://www.archgrove.co.uk/software/zenusagechecker/. The latest
versions and information will be posted there.

Questions, comments and bug reports are welcomed by e-mail. Contact me
at adamw@archgrove.co.uk.

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FAQ
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* How does the account usage checker work?

+ The tool is fundamentally an automated screen scraper. It will login
to your portal account using the details you provide, and obtain the
data by parsing the returned HTML

* Does this mean the tool will break if Zen change the portal?

+ Indeed, if Zen make large changes to the portal layout or structure,
this application will stop working. At this point, it should
display a suitable error message indicating where you can obtain
an update.

* I don’t have a capped account, but would still like to see my usage.
However, your tool just gives me an error. How can I fix this?

+ To correct this, I need a willing helper with an uncapped account to
send me the data I require to update the tool. Willing volunteers
can contact me, and I’ll work with you to update it as I can.

* How often will it update?

+ The usage monitor when it is loaded, and will continue to update once
an hour until you close it down. You can manually update it by right
clicking on the tray icon and choosing “Update” at any time. However,
please don’t do this too often - Zen’s server administrators will not
thank you for it!

* When I manually log into the portal, my last used date is very recent!
I didn’t log in then, did I?

+ As the usage checker has to login to the portal to gather your usage
data, your last portal login date will always be the last time the
checker ran.

* Are you going to steal my account details?

+ No. Your account password is stored only on your machine, in an
encrypted form that should be very difficult to break. At no point is
it transmitted to any site aside from https://portal.zen.co.uk/. If
you don’t believe me, you’re welcome to download the source code, check
it and compile this tool for yourself.

* What about other platforms? Will this work on my Mac?

+ Yes, shortly. I’m planning to port the tool to OS 10.4 as time permits.
I doubt I’ll be writing a Linux version, though anyone interested
should have an easy time of it - just download the source code, throw
away the WindowSpecific.cpp/.h files and write your own replacement.

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Source code
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The source code for this application is available under a Creative
Commons non-commercial share-a-like licence. Visit
http://www.archgrove.co.uk/software/zenusagechecker for details.

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Credits
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Many thanks to the teams behind the OpenSSL, cURL and Boost libraries
for their excellent work.

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Version History
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1.1.0: (This release).
Updated to handle some code changes to the Zen Portal

1.1.0: Updated to handle some code changes to the Zen Portal
Added proxy server support
Corrected pie chart rendering
Updated compiler (Now using Visual Studio 2005)

1.0.0: Initial release