PopNote Changelog

What's new in PopNote 6.10

Feb 13, 2013
  • For users with previous releases you can upgrade and save time by doing an online upgrade. Go to the Networks menu and click "Monitor Mode is On" (this
  • toggles it off) then go to the Functions menu and click on Upgrade. The process takes about 30 sec.

New in PopNote 6.08 (Jan 29, 2013)

  • A new build of PopNote was released today (v6.0.8) that promises to run ok on all Windows versions.

New in PopNote 6.04 (Jan 14, 2012)

  • By default PopNote uses the "Enter" key to Send a PopNote. This is in conformity with most other Chat programs. One disadvantage reported is accidentally Sending before your PopNote is ready, as well as not
  • having the ability to create line feeds (or CRLFs) from the Enter key. You can now over-ride the use of the defauly Enter key to Send by going to the right click menu and Toggling "Enter key to Send" from ON to OFF". When the Enter key is pressed now it will just insert CRLF's. You then must Send with the hot-key combination Ctrl+Enter, Ctrl+S or the Send button (as they still
  • function as before). However if you prefer continuing to use the Enter key to Send you can also insert any number of CRLF's (carriage returns/line feeds) using the hotkeys Alt+Enter. Note: if you change the default Enter key to "not Send" or "Send", PopNote will remember these changes the next time PopNote is launched.
  • Fixed a bug in the IPFile/Add FQDN menu choice. Re-designed the PopNote FAQ web page to make it easier to jump to exactly what interest you. Also re-routed the POPNOTEF hot link thats displayed when PopNote first boots up to the new revised PopNote FAQ. (hot7.1)

New in PopNote 6.02 (Dec 13, 2011)

  • Altered the "mouse over" pop up help text displayed for the "IP and ID" dialog boxes. This reflects the elimination of previously entering port changes that were formerly entered there. Using non standard ports now requires that they be placed as command tails in shortcuts. Added new sub menu under Help titled "Mirror Site" to reflect an alternative PopNote support server.

New in PopNote 6.01 (Nov 1, 2011)

  • a major rewrite of PopNote
  • eliminating, among other things, the use of slower,
  • less robust, internal OS timers for such things as
  • polling the receive sockets. This release is noticably
  • faster and more robust than any previous version. Kudos
  • to the author of HotBasic for his unwavering help in
  • this regard. A massive project is currently underway to
  • update PopNote's online documentation file (Menu
  • Help/PopNote Doc).

New in PopNote 5.29 (Nov 1, 2011)

  • Fixed a bug in the Away message function that failed to
  • reset the Away message to the default message when using
  • the Clear button in Away message window. Remember,
  • with Away active, sending a PopNote disables the Away
  • message from being sent until the Away Timer triggers
  • Away back on again. Away delay time can be toggled from
  • 3 to 15 minutes vi Ctrl+T. Note: An Optional AWAY.TXT
  • message file (if found) is used in lieu of a default
  • internal Away message. However, a manually typed Away
  • message in the Away window will trump either.

New in PopNote 5.28 (Nov 1, 2011)

  • "Sent to All" now optionally allows Sending to first
  • 3 or last 2 buttons. Activated vi F6 or menu IPFile/Send to All.

New in PopNote 5.27 (Nov 1, 2011)

  • fixed the omission of senders ID using F6 function.

New in PopNote 5.26 (Nov 1, 2011)

  • fixed bug in function Menu Network/Resolve FQDN.

New in PopNote 5.25 (Nov 1, 2011)

  • minor cosmetic change to flash each User Button as
  • they are used to Send when invoking F6.

New in PopNote 5.24 (Nov 1, 2011)

  • The F6 function (send same popnote to first three
  • populated buttons) was re-written to shorten the code
  • and make it more efficient. Type your popnote as usual
  • but DO NOT use the Enter key to send; instead, use the
  • F6 key in its place. This will Send the same popnote to
  • the first three 3 populated user buttons.

New in PopNote 5.23 (Sep 22, 2011)

  • PopNote will now auto-save its address file (PopNoteA.CFG) anytime a new IP address is received. This will solve cockpit problems of losing new IPs in the address list when shutting Windows down while PopNote is still running.

New in PopNote 5.22 (Sep 22, 2011)

  • Several reports have been coming in relative to PopNote 5.21 shutting down all by itself on Vista and Windows 7 machines. Fortunately this seems to be a random and infrequently observed problem; however I hope to have build 5.22 out soon to correct this and other issues.
  • I am also reverting back to build number increments even for minor changes. Previously the build numbers remained the same for minor changes, cosmetic and bug fixes. This will help identify any build with specific
  • problems and at the same time make way for future changes such as IP6.

New in PopNote 5.2 (Apr 11, 2011)

  • Incorporates several new features and a few bug fixes. Several new features involve shelling to 3rd party web servers to accomplish spelling and WHOIS
  • checks. Several bugs were squashed involving correct operation of the right click "copy paste etc" popup menu not pasting to the correct text windows. The popup
  • hot-key help box (Ctrl+H) was converted to a floating window.

New in PopNote 5.1 (Apr 11, 2011)

  • Because of frequent and common user request over the last several months, I have decided to release one final version of PopNote with the following changes and additions. First, the hotkeys Ctrl+Enter no longer will append an extraneous carriage return when using those keys to send a Popnote (which forced a line to be skipped). The few who preferred that inadvertent bug can toggle "skip a line" with the hotkeys Ctrl+J. Second, the right click popup menu for Copy/Paste etc now functions for either the top or bottom windows (the chat dialog or message composition window). Also fixed a text color bug in the Print routine.

New in PopNote 5.0 (Aug 2, 2010)

  • The hotkeys Ctrl+Enter no longer will append an extraneous carriage return when using those keys to send a Popnote (which forced a line to be
  • skipped).
  • The few who preferred that inadvertent bug can toggle "skip a line" with the hotkeys Ctrl+J.
  • The right click popup menu for Copy/Paste etc now functions for either the top or bottom windows (the chat dialog or message composition window).
  • Also fixed a text color bug in the Print routine.

New in PopNote 4.0 (Apr 23, 2010)

  • If a user chooses either "Resolve IP" (or Resolve FQDN) from PopNote's Network menu, sometimes there is a noticeable delay caused by Network Lags or the resolve function timing out. Therefore I added a "Resolving
  • now, please standby..." screen message to indicate when resolving is still working.
  • Rewrote several menu functions for shorter code and execution time.
  • Fixed a bug where Ctrl+N was intermittently not backing up the "current or memory state" of some CFG files. Recoded the routine to append the date and time to the backup file names, thereby creating new and unique backup files each time Ctrl+N is used. The backup files are now placed in a sub folder of POPNOTE to eliminate clutter.
  • Example: C:\POPNOTE\PN_BACKUPS\POPNOTEA_3-01-2010_at_1-05-20-PB.BAK
  • The above example illustrated PopNote's main configuration file (PopNoteD4.cfg) that was backed up on March 1st, 2010 at 5 minutes, 20 seconds past 1am in the morning. Should the original file get lost or corrupted, it's easy to rename this backup and copy it to popnote's main folder.
  • The lower Send window will now track the upper Chat window's font style and foreground color along with point size, and the background color. For those who prefer the old default black System font in the lower send window with
  • the white background, use Ctrl+7 to revert. This change will not be saved and must be repeated as required.
  • Fixed a minor bug involving use of encryption wherein the default or current "popdown" setting (via Ctrl+B) was reversed.
  • Greatly expanded PopNote's MOTD web News file.

New in PopNote 3.9 (Jan 1, 2010)

  • Fixed the "NAME HERE" alert bug that randomly appeared when Sending a popnote.
  • Improved the R/T loop time resulting in slightly more accurate reporting of Lag times.
  • Fixed a program crash when activating Cloak on some systems.
  • Added several user's request for Cloak'ing to be automatically turned off when initiating or sending a popnote; similar to how Away is reset when on.
  • Fixed miscellaneous minor menu bugs.

New in PopNote 3.8 (Sep 10, 2009)

  • Major New Feature Release:
  • Chat window FG font color can now be changed.
  • Runtime Icons are now changeable on the fly (Ctrl+i).
  • When OnTop is ON PN will minimize when calling some ext operations.
  • Send Window font will now clone Chat font or default to System.
  • A right click Copy Paste etc popup menu has been added to Chat Window.
  • Away operation rewritten; "Away Message" menu choice added to Functions.
  • Away message Edit window now available vi Functions/Away message
  • AEDIT was modified to clone the font color used in PopNote.
  • Numerous other bug fixes, minor modifications etc
  • Hints and Tips using Multiple Instances and ports:
  • When in Multi Instances mode, PopNote's header will show (MI) + PORTS.
  • Each copy of PopNote must be run from a different folder in MI mode.
  • On the "same" PC, each copy PopNote must run on different ports.
  • If Router not in DMZ mode then each set of unique ports must be forwarded.
  • When running multiple copies, ALL copies must run in MI mode.
  • Shortcut Icon text can be edited to differentiate each PopNote copy.
  • Use shortcuts with command tails to launch each copy.
  • PopNote's Icons can be changed (Ctrl+i) to reflect the MI mode running.

New in PopNote 3.7 (Aug 15, 2009)

  • The download-able PopNote installer (PNE_INSTALL.EXE) now includes a very user friendly editor (AEDIT) for creating, adding, deleting and modifying entries in the PopNoteA.CFG file address database. This allows for more user flexibility in managing PopNote's Address file.
  • A new choice under the menu Functions called "Save Changes" has been added. This does the same job (saves the current default settings to PopNoteD4.cfg) as the hotkeys Ctrl+i.
  • PopNote will now recall the WAN or LAN mode it was left in.
  • A new feature was created called "Multiple Instances" and the selection choice is located under the Functions menu. By default PopNote will not allow more than one copy of itself to run. This new feature will allow advanced users to run multiple copies on different ports from different folders.
  • Changed numerous Menus titles to eliminate ambiguity.
  • Squashed a few more obscure bugs

New in PopNote 3.6 (Jul 1, 2009)

  • Users can now change default ports on the fly from the menu Network / Change Ports. This is an advanced user function and is in addition to the previous method of adding two unique ports as command tails in a windows
  • Shortcut. Command tails will still over ride any former default port settings. This new feature lends itself to the quick use of many additional private communication channels (or ports). Keep in mind that anyone you
  • communicate with must use the same ports as you do; and, any ports used must be forwarded thru your firewall.
  • PopNote will now remember the Away state (on or off).
  • The HotKey popup window was embellished (new hotkeys) and totally re organized for better clarity.
  • A new Delete address hotkey (Alt+K) makes removing any address from the drop down Address window easy and faster.
  • A new sub Menu item was added under Help which provides Firewall Tips on forwarding ports.
  • Selecting the VOIP choice under the PopToys menu will now minimize PopNote first (if OnTop is set to ON) befor displaying the VOIP GUI.

New in PopNote 3.5 (Jun 1, 2009)

  • This release incorporates all recent bug fixed as well as some cosmetic changes and several user requested modifications to LAN and WAN modes as well as other functions that were suggested by users including an "Are you Sure?" message when clicking menu Main/Exit. As always, its suggested doing a Ctrl+N to backup your existing PopNote and its configuration files before doing an upgrade.

New in PopNote 3.4 (Apr 16, 2009)

  • Added several more existing hotkeys to the HotKey popup list that were also formerly omitted: i.e. Ctrl+Enter (an alternative to Ctrl+S or the Send
  • button), and Ctrl+T (used to toggle thru various
  • Away messages activation delays (in steps of 3 min up to 15 minutes).
  • Fixed an obscure bug that would allow PopNote to Echo with a null local IP address.

New in PopNote 3.3 (Feb 4, 2009)

  • Fixed bug in Ban user function.
  • Fixed bug in copy IP to clipboard function.

New in PopNote 3.2 (Oct 17, 2008)

  • This release publicly introduces a formerly "consumer only" test version of PopNote wherein the User's unique send buttons were repositioned to the very bottom of the GUI. It appears everyone liked the new look.
  • Various minor bugs have been attended to, such as the use of Ctrl+G after PopNote opened and minimized, as well as a few code re writes to further improve speed and memory use.
  • Fixed a problem when running PopNote for the first time wherein it failed to acquire the WAN IP if a user was too slow in approving PopNote through their firewall.
  • This release will also create a new configuration file called PopNoteD4.CFG replacing the older PopNoteD3.CFG
  • If you want PopNote Ver 3.2 now, before the completeinstaller package comes out on the 17th, just do an online upgrade.

New in PopNote 3.1.2 (Oct 1, 2008)

  • The Ctrl+B hotkeys (used to block popdowns on sends) is now a toggle state and will be saved when PopNote is properly terminated or Ctrl+i is used to manually save the config file.
  • The Ctrl+G hotkeys (used to stop PopNote from minimizing after 15 seconds on first loading) is now a toggle state and will be
  • saved when PopNote is properly terminated or Ctrl+i is used.
  • Note: "Popdown on Sends" and "Minimize on loading" will continue to behave as originally designed until Ctrl+B or Ctrl+G are used.
  • Changed the intro run message to promote the PopNote Forum.
  • Modified User and Send Buttons to gray out when clicked.

New in PopNote 3.1 (Aug 1, 2008)

  • Build 3.1 incorporates split screen technology to allow
  • the user to change the ratio of heights between the
  • text dialog and send windows. Thus the user can set
  • their personal preference in window sizes by dragging
  • (up or down) the splitter bar separating the top dialog
  • and bottom send windows. Note: at present any change to the position of the Splitbar is not saved, so the splitbar will return to its static position when you
  • rerun PopNote. The Splitbar was a frequently requested
  • feature that I was finally able to find time to code.
  • Added Ctrl Enter as an equivalent to Ctrl S to assist
  • touch typist on Laptops for ease of Sending.
  • The [-] or minimize symbol on the top right corner of
  • the main form has been removed. The [X] (the top right Close X) had been changed many builds ago to minimize the Window, and NOT close (or exit) the program. To Exit or kill the program its still Ctrl K or the "Main/Exit" menu. Explanation: Windows native minimize routine was not compatible with a few of PopNotes new custom features.
  • Build 3.1 now creates a new configuration file titled
  • PopNoteD3.CFG (the D3 denoting the change to build 3.1)
  • There are numerous other minor bug fixes, changes to start up message, minor cosmetic changes, as well as code re-writes to improve GUI start up display time and improve overall flow efficiency. In addition, to allow more time to read the start up messages, the time delay for the GUI to clear and auto minimize has been increased from 10 to 15 seconds.

New in PopNote 2.4.4 (Jun 12, 2008)

  • Moved the generation of an incoming popnote Status
  • message (formerly in the receive loop) to the outgoing
  • echo sub routine. This diagnostic change was to confirm PopNote is in fact sending out the echos. Also changed the status dialog from "Sender is XYZ at IP" to "Echo sent to XYZ at IP".
  • Changed Ctrl-Q (a former equivalent hotkey to Ctrl-S or Send) to allow for a quick RESEND of the last outgoing popnote when its echo is in fact lost in route over the
  • Internet.
  • It should be noted that failure to receive an echo of
  • what you send does not necessarily mean the recipient
  • failed to receive your popnote. An echo just confirms
  • receipt. Receipt of two or more identical popnotes from
  • a remote usually means the remote resent the popnote after failing to get the first echo.
  • Miscellaneous code improvements to streamline various
  • subroutines in the send and recv modules.

New in PopNote 2.4.3 (Apr 25, 2008)

  • It was suggested that when a user has his Away message toggled on, and someone sends them a PopNote, it would be nice if the incoming PopNote was appended to the end of the outgoing Away message rather than just discarded. This has been done.
  • In addition, another user suggestion was to have only three static user buttons and two dynamic instead of the current first four static and the last one dynamic. This has been done.
  • Fixed a minor bug in Logs/AutoRecord menu option that prevented a user log from being created when an incoming PopNote had a User name containing a prohibited 8x3 file name character.

New in PopNote 2.4.2 (Mar 30, 2008)

  • When running non standard ports and doing an online upgrade, after upgrade completion, 2.4.1 would reload back to its default ports. This has been corrected in 2.4.2 so the non standard ports will be reused. Recoded the Away timer to run from 3 to 15 minutes.

New in PopNote 2.4.0 (Feb 15, 2008)

  • Fixed a minor bug introduced in build 2.3.9 when the copyright stamp was updated to 2008. This bug causes PopNote 2.3.9 to fail to notify the user if a copy of itself is already running and preventing the new instance from loading. This check was necessary to prevent port conflicts. That is, no two client/servers on the same PC can open the same ports without causing WinSock conflicts and subsequent error messages.
  • Since some users enjoy running several instances of PopNote on ports other than the default of 54538 and 54539, build 2.4.0 will allow more than one copy of PopNote to run "IF" and only if different ports are used on each running copy. NOTE: When multiple copies of PopNote are to be run from ONE PC, each copy should be in its own folder. Furthermore, the copy running in default mode (ports 54538 & 54539) should be launched first; OR, both copies should use port command tails. For more details on using other ports, check a recent question in the FAQ.
  • Changes were made to behavior of the AWAY message function. Previously when AWAY was ON and a PopNote came in, if you replied and or later sent a PopNote, this would automatically toggle AWAY to OFF, requiring you to manually reset AWAY back to ON when desired. The theory being that if you are now sending PopNotes, you no longer want the Away message going out but rather have your contact see his usual echos. This eliminated you from manually having to turn Away off. After all, isn't the idea of a computer to automate many of your tasks. However, that being said, I am always coming and going from my terminal, and when I leave I frequently forget to turn Away back ON. Therefore, now when AWAY is ON and you Send, the new code changes turns AWAY off (like before), BUT, if you don't send anything within the timers default setting (3 minutes), AWAY automatically turns itself back ON again (until you manually turn Away OFF from the Functions menu). In addition, this timer is reset to its current value each time you send a PopNote. To conclude, if you are replying or sending PopNotes within the timers expiration point, Away stays off until the timer expires without a send. If the default value of 3 minutes is not a long enough delay for your style of operating, click Ctrl-T to increment the delay in 2 minute steps up to 21 minutes then back. The Status Bar will indicate what delay is currently in use. PopNote will remember the delay you use for your next session.

New in PopNote 2.3.8 (Dec 7, 2007)

  • Added Ctrl-W, a new hotkey combination that restores a backup copy of the PopNoteA.cfg address file to the
  • drop down IP address select window. This NEW backup
  • file is created as PopNoteA.BU
  • Note: At some point beforehand, Ctrl-N must be used to create the backups, which now includes the new
  • PopNoteA.BU file. Ctrl-W will not be listed in the
  • Functions/HotKey menu popup window as this is a
  • diagnostic/repair tool rather than an everyday
  • function.

New in PopNote 2.3.7 (Nov 17, 2007)

  • Introducing a new "Ban User" function under the IPFile
  • menu. When chosen, this function (a toggle) will ban by IP address whatever user is currently showing in the
  • pull down Address window including a null IP. A second
  • click stops the Ban. This feature is being incorporated
  • on a temporary basis and may later either be removed or expanded to allow for bans of multiple IP addresses.
  • Fixed a minor "User Button" bug in previous builds
  • wherein clicking a populated user button when no text
  • was entered into either the Chat or Send dialog windows generated the proper error message but also killed the receive polling loop.
  • Introduced a LAG calculation (in msec) appended to the end of the "Echo from" message that appears in the Status Bar to the right of the running clock. Most RTT (round trip totals) or lags should average under 400 msec.
  • Recoded numerous PopNote system status message functions to increase display speed.
  • Reduced receive polling loop time to every 50ms.
  • Added various coding changes to improve overall efficiency.