Introduction
This System Tray-based program allows you easily navigate to and automatically refresh a webpage at a specified interval. It makes it easier to stay on certain websites that "time out" after inactive periods, or for other purposes such as checking online services for messages.
Usage
- This program has and requires no installation. Simply copy or move the AutoRefresh program file & documentation to a folder of their own (where you would like the program to run from).
- Run the AutoRefresh.exe program as normal.
- The main window opens by itself as well as appearing in the System Tray (next to the Windows clock).
- Enter a URL ("web address") into the Address textbox, and press Enter.
- Navigate to the webpage you want to automatically refresh.
- Set the refresh interval. The default is 540 seconds (9 minutes), with the minimum being 30 seconds.
- Enable the Timer to have the page refreshed at the specified interval.
- Close the window to make the program run in it's System Tray icon. To re-open the window double-click the Tray icon, and to quit it, right-click the Tray icon. AutoRefresh does not quit when you close it's main window.
Features & Points to Note
- You can run more than one copy of the program at once if you want to refresh multiple sites.
- You can halt a page before it starts to download by selecting the "Cancel on Load" option.
- Opening webpages in a "New Window" will not work due to popup blocking in effect.
- AutoRefresh requires and uses Internet Explorer 4 (or later version) to run.
Removing the program
- Should you want to remove AutoRefresh, simply quit the program by right-clicking the system tray icon, and select "Exit". Then, delete the AutoRefresh program and associated documentation like you do any other files.
- There are no other files or registry entries stored by the program.
Remember, this program is FREEWARE, so feel free to give it to anyone you want!
Kindest regards, Gregory Maynard-Hoare
... (please leave the "(GMHNoSpam)" in the subject title along with the brackets - I have strong e-mail spam filters in place for obvious reasons. If you remove it from the subject, it is highly unlikely I will see your e-mail!)
Version History
- V1.00 (31 Jan 2004) : First version, unreleased.
- V1.11 (02 Aug 2004) : Redesigned the GUI, added various features, and released the program as freeware.
- V1.12 (03 Aug 2004) : Fixed a "Division by Zero" error that occured on some sites, and disabled popup windows.
- V1.20 (05 Aug 2004) : Fixed the irregular and elusive seemingly unexplainable "EAccessViolation" error on exit that I could not work out why it happened! Turns out to be because I allowed more than 64 characters in the tray icon, and some pages changed the title in the background to overflow the memory bounds (what is odd, is that the program did not crash at the time!). Page titles are now properly truncated to 64 characters, minus what AutoRefresh uses.
- V1.21 (28 May 2005) : The main window is now disabled whilst the timer is active (to prevent accidental clearance when filling in web forms) and the focus should no longer be taken when a refresh is triggered in the background.
Credits
- Borland for Delphi 4.0 (which I used to write this program)
- Markus Oberhumer & Laszlo Molnar for UPX (to compress the EXE)
- Thomas Hauck for the e-mail address encryption!
- ...and finally, thanks to YOU for using this program!
Copyright © 2004 - 2005 Gregory Maynard-Hoare. All Rights Reserved.