Installation

You see work in progress here; this section already reflects future TED Notepad version 5.4.1.1.
This section may contain incomplete, premature, or mistaken information, prone to change without notice.

There are several ways, how to get TED Notepad ready for use:

• First, you may use an Installer. It will install TED Notepad onto a computer, create some shortcuts in the start menu and optionally add some additional Filters. An installation as a default notepad replacement may be chosen, but also may turn out unsuccessful. See below.
• Second, you may install TED Notepad from a ZIP package by yourself, without use and help of any wizards and/or automated dialogs. This is usually the most preferred way when installing as a portable application.
• Third, you may run TED Notepad with no installation procedures at all. Just unpack from the ZIP package and run.

All three types are described further below.

Basic installation with the Installer

Follow these steps to install TED Notepad using a NullSoft System Installer.

1. Download the Installer file of your choice and run it.

Note: Please, be careful to choose an appropriate installation file according to your system. You will have to choose between Windows 95/98/Me and Windows NT/2000/XP versions. The version for Windows NT/2000/XP will not run on Windows 95/98/Me. On the other hand, version for Windows Windows 95/98/Me is unable to fully support all Unicode characters.

Note: You may also choose between LE and RE clones. The LE clone is the default one and is recommended. Please, see chapter RichEdit clone for more details about the available RE clone before installing.

2. Follow steps displayed by the Installer.

You will be able to choose, whether to install TED Notepad as a notepad replacement and as a standalone application. Additionally, you may choose to setup some basic Filters and External viewers as well. Finally, you may add a portable INI file to your installation.

Installing as a standalone application will install TED Notepad into a specified directory, including the manual and all other files. This is the default installation type for a text editor.

Installing as a notepad replacement will try to install TED Notepad as your default Notepad application. This may be considered as a violation by your System. Please, see File protection troubles below.

The meaning and use of a portable INI file is described in chapter Portable INI file.

If you come to a problem during the installation, read all notes above and below and also review the on-line manual for any further changes. You can find the most recent version of the on-line manual at http://jsimlo.sk/notepad/manual/.

If you find no answer to your problem, feel free to contact me directly through a form at http://jsimlo.sk/notepad/. In such case, please, try to describe your problem as clearly as possible. Also note, that these pages are translated automatically by google. I do not understand German, Dutch or Portuguese... Really! I have already got several messages in Portuguese. I have not understood a single word.

Note, that this is a manual of TED Notepad version 6.3.1. If you are trying to install an older or newer version and have found no answer here, please refer to an appropriate manual version. You can find all reliable versions at http://jsimlo.sk/notepad/manual/.

ZIP packages

These zip packages, downloadable on the same page as the Installers, contain all the files you will need for a hand-held installation and/or for a direct, i.e. with no installation at all.

To run TED Notepad without any installation, just unzip the content of a package to a directory of your own choice and run the TedNPad.exe. Keep the documentation file TedNPad.htm in the same directory as the executable application. Otherwise the manual will not be accessible from the application.

To install TED Notpead, unzip the content of a chosen ZIP package into a desired directory. Then, it may be worthwile to add the chosen directory to the PATH enviroment variable (e.g. by modifying the autoexec.bat or System variables).

When installing as a default notepad replacement this way, the desired locations are %WINDIR% and %SYSDIR%. Usually these locations are directories like C:\WINDOWS, C:\WINNT, C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM, C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 and C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32. It depends on the System type and version you use (ie. Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP).

To see what the desired locations may be, type this into the command prompt:

echo %WINDIR% echo %SYSDIR%

Windows 95/98/Me notes

Please, be sure, you have downloaded a correct version, designed for Windows 95/98/Me. These older versions of windows may not be able to work with applications designed directly for Windows NT/2000/XP.

Windows NT/2000/XP notes

Please, be sure to have Administrator rights when installing TED Notepad into Program Files directory. Without Administrator rights, you may only be able to run it directly with no installation. See ZIP packages above.

The system may reject TED Notepad as a notepad replacement. See File protection troubles below.

How to modify file associations?

Find a file with an extension that you want to assign to TED Notepad. E.g. A *.txt file.

To modify the file associations, right-click on the file and choose Open with... and then Choose program... from the menu. A list of applications should appear. Select TED Notepad from the list. If TED Notepad is not listed there, click on Other... button to add TED Notepad to the list manually. Finally, choose Always use this program... and click the Ok button. The System should renew the file associations.

Note: This method is not available on some older versions of Windows. On these versions, you will have to try a second one described below.

Another method to modify the file association is to open Windows Explorer and click on the Folder Options menu item, located within View or Tools menu. A dialog opens with a page named File types where the file associations can be fully managed.

File protection troubles

On several versions of Windows (especially on Windows 2000/XP) you may come across the problem of a file protection while installing TED Notepad as a notepad replacement. Even after a successful installation, TED Notepad may be overwritten back by the original Windows Notepad. This is because your System is trying to protect you and your data by protecting its basic set of applications.

Whatever tricks could be done to bypass this file protection may be considered as a violation by your System. It will try to resist the tricks and restore the original Windows Notepad application at all costs. Below come several descriptions of how to do such tricks, however this manual does not encourages you to do so. Proceed on your own risks.

All occurences

One such trick is to replace all occurrences of notepad.exe on your computer at once quickly (I said quickly!). Be sure to handle all these locations: %WINDIR%, %SYSDIR% and and %SYSDIR%\dllcache. You may need to write a script or a batch file to do so quickly enough. Windows will then start complaining about an unrecognized version of a notepad.exe and will ask for an installation CD. You can choose to ingore the warning and keep the unrecognized version.

Note, that if you use the Windows Installation CD/DVD in the future, TED Notepad may be (and probably will be) replaced by the original Windows Notepad. Keep-up the fight or just give up.

File protection list

Another trick is to add notepad.exe to a list of unprotected files. In order to do that:

• Run command prompt, i.e. click the Start menu -> Run and type cmd there.
• In the command prompt type cd %WINDIR%\system32\Restore to change the directory.
• Then type attrib -S -H -R filelist.xml to clear hidden, system and read-only flags.
• Then type notepad filelist.xml to edit the file and add the highlighted lines into the Exclude section:

<Exclude> <REC>%windir%\system.ini</REC> <REC>%windir%\tasks\desktop.ini</REC> <REC>%windir%\win.ini</REC> <REC>%windir%\notepad.exe</REC> <REC>%windir%\system32\notepad.exe</REC> <REC>*:\AUTOEXEC.BAT</REC> <REC>*:\CONFIG.MSI</REC> <REC>*:\CONFIG.SYS</REC> </Exclude>

• Save the file and exit Notepad.
• Back in the command prompt, type attrib +S +H +R filelist.xml to restore the flags.
• Install TED Notepad as a notepad replacement.