Bob Version 2.0.0
Programmed by Alex
Clark
The Clark Homepage
A program to simulate user interaction in Microsoft Windows 95, 98, NT and 2000.
What's New in Bob Version 2.0
Information on all Features
Mouse
All features here are fairly self explanatory, but here are
some statistics in the order that they occur:
There is a one in four chance that Bob will drag the mouse (depress
left mouse button, move the mouse, release left mouse button) if
that function is enabled.
The next location for the mouse pointer is chosen at random.
If clicking is enabled, the chances are:
50% - Do nothing
30% - Left Click
10% - Right Click
10% - Double Click
Programs
The list of applications can be edited by using the simple Add and Remove buttons. These are imported at start-up from the file "apps.txt" which is stored in Bob's own directory, wherever that may be. When Bob is running, he picks applications out of this list at random to run. Programs remain open for just under one second before they are TERMINATED. This means that they won't get a chance to free up resources they were using, so if you are going to be leaving Bob running for extended periods of time with this function enabled, you might not want to put programs in the list that take up lots of system resources (examples include things like Macromedia Flash, Microsoft Word, come to think of it just about any Microsoft application).
Sending text to the application is pretty straight forward, just enter your text and Bob will send it to every application he runs. This is why it is necessary to terminate an application, because things like Notepad ask you if you want to save changes to an altered document before they close, unless they are killed off with a terminate command.
Running applications minimised is yet again, self explanatory. Checking this means you cannot send text to any applications though, for the simple fact that they are minimised.
Websites
As before, you can select a text file with the list of URLs in
it for the websites you want to visit, or you can leave that
field blank and have Bob use his 15 default sites. For those of
you who are interested, these are:
http://www.yahoo.com
http://www.excite.com
http://www.ask.com
http://www.altavista.com
http://www.amazon.com
http://www.freeserve.net
http://www.hotmail.com
http://www.hotbot.com
http://www.lycos.com
http://www.infoseek.com
http://www.cnet.com
http://www.theonion.com
http://www.microsoft.com
http://www.whatsnew.com
http://www.www.com
Bob picks a URL from the list he obtains (either from a user created file or from his 15 defaults) at random.
Keeping the browser minimised is something many of you have requested, so that is now an option. Also, I have included a sample "URL List" template file, to demonstrate how to create them.
A brand new function of Bob is his "Intelligent URL Surfing" feature. If this is enabled, Bob will do the following whilst surfing to webpages:
The above gives a much more realisitic surfing effect as Bob actually browses through a website by visiting the links on it, instead of just going to new websites each time. If you couple this feature with the ability to do mouse clicks, leave the browser maximised and in the foreground, you will find that websites are either navigated through via random clicking or the Intelligent URL Surfing.
Misc. Functions
Minimise when in use
Bob will minimise himself when you click "Go"
Minimise to System Tray
Bob magically shrinks himself to an icon and hides himself next
to the clock in the bottom right of the screen. The usual Ctrl+B
hotkey will restore him, as will a double click on his icon.
Right clicking on his icon will bring up a context menu. The more
observant user will notice that the tray icon changes slightly
when Bob is running.
Run as service
Bob will remove himself from the task list (Ctrl+Alt+Del in
Windows 9x, Applications List on the NT Task Manager) and should
remain running even after you log out of Windows (95/98 only).
Exit when finished
Bob will close himself when he has finished running. This is
mainly for the purposes of scheduling, although it will work if
you click "Stop" also.
Hang up connections when finished
Bob will disconnect you from the Internet when he has finished
running. Again, this is useful for scheduling purposes.
Configure for Proxy Server
Check this if you are behind a Proxy and you want to use the
Intelligent URL Surfing functionality in Bob. Otherwise, you may
find Bob surfing through all the different Proxy error reports on
your server.
Random Event Delay
If this is checked, the pause between an event is altered in the
following way:
If the current delay for the event in question is less than or
equal to the random event delay +5, the operation is an addition.
If the current delay for the event in question is greater than or
equal to the random event delay multiplied by 2, the operation is
a subtraction.
Otherwise, the operation is chosen at random, 50/50 chance of
addition or subtraction respectively.
A number is then chosen, which is from 1 to the maximum delay
entered by the user. Depending on the operation (chosen above)
this number is then added to or subtracted from the delay for the
particular event.
If the user selects this function, Bob picks a random delay for each individual event, and he does this after the event has fired. This makes the delay change every time for every event, and makes it totally unique also.
Scheduling
Bob now has scheduling features, as many of you have requested this. He can start at a specified time, and/or run for a specified number of minutes (9999 being the maximum).
Errors and 'undocumented' features
"Your applications list file is missing or corrupt, see the readme for details"
Bob should still start up after this error, and select some default programs to go into the applications list. If you then close Bob, he will write these back to the "apps.txt" file, restoring whatever damage you may have done to it. Problem solved.
"[File Not Found]" in the URL file text box
The URL file you selected has gone missing. In this case, Bob reverts to his 15 default URLs. You will need to create a new URL file, or find the one that has gone missing.
Bob is reasonably forgiving, and will do his best to recover from errors, however if you do find a genuine problem or bug, please email me about it.
Leaving Bob running and active for extended periods of time (like several days) may cause him to crash. Nobody knows for certain though, as he hasn't been tested for any longer than 15 hours non-stop.
Minimising the browser can be slightly unpredictable. Internet Explorer has a nasty habit of popping up every time it feels you should lavish attention on it. To solve this, every Internet Explorer window on the system is minimised after Bob goes to a URL (if the minimise feature is enabled, of course). I don't know how Bob will behave with browsers such as Netscape and Opera, as I haven't been able to test him with them.
If you turn on clicking and dragging in the mouse options, ensure that any work you have opened is saved. Also, I had several unpleasant experiences with the printer, this being that the big print button in Internet Explorer is a little too accessible, and Bob almost always clicks on it once or twice during the night, waking up the family and wasting paper. Also, numerous windows were resized, new links had been added to the IE5 links bar, and I had about 3 new shortcuts on my desktop. Use caution, use your common sense and use it at your own risk.
Send Me Money (please...)
Bob is Guiltware. This means that you may continue to use him as normal for as long as you want, but the cost is one of the following:
£5 Cheque
$10 Cheque
Your immortal soul
Send cheques/immortal souls to the following address:
Alex Clark (Payee)
23 Cedarland Crescent
Nuthall
Nottingham
NG16 1AG
United Kingdom