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The main window is the heart and soul of VADV32. It is essentially a 32-bit Waiting For Call (WFC) screen. Packed with useful information about your BBS, such as event messages, current node activity, system statistics and more.

The text box or "debug textbox" is where messages from the program are displayed. VADV32 will tell you connection information, error messages, maintenance status, etc.

Each night at midnight, the text box will be reset.

If you double click on the text box, you will get a menu option to clear its contents.

The node listing shows all nodes that are available for connection. It displays each node number, the number of the user and the user's handle who is on the node, and the user's current action on the BBS.

The number of nodes that are listed is determined by the maximum number of channels you have configured in VConifg (Main Configuration). The maximum number of nodes is 100.

You can left click on each individual node to select that node.

If you right click on a node, you will get a menu of actions you may perform (not all are shown below):

The actual options of the menu depends on if anyone is currently on your BBS, and if the node that is selected has a user occupying it.

• Show Node Window - This will restore the current node window and activate it.
• Hide Node Window - This will cause the current node window to become hidden from view.
• Show All Node Windows - This will restore all node windows to the desktop if they are minimized or hidden.
• Hide All Node Windows - This will cause all node windows to become hidden from view.
• Close Node - This will forcibly terminate the selected BBS node. This is the same as selecting the BBS node and hitting X and telling it to stop the process. This should only be done on nodes that are locked up and not used as a way to disconnect users.
• Reset Node - If you find that a node states that a user is online or some unusual message even though there is no one currently using it, then try resetting the node.
• Reset All Nodes - This is the same as above, except it resets each node.
• Send Oneliner to Node - This will allow you to send a short message to the node (up to 255 characters).
• Send Oneliner to All Nodes - This will allow you to send a short message to all nodes (up to 255 characters).
• Edit This User Account - This will open the user editor to the current user logged into that node.
• Chat With User - When this option is executed, the currently selected node window will be restored to the desktop and it will simulate the pressing of Shift-F1. This will cause the current node to enter split-screen chat mode. When you are done chatting, press ESC to exit chat mode.
• Boot User - When this option is executed, the currently selected node window will be restored to the desktop and it will simulate the pressing of F10. This will cause the node to disconnect the user and close.
• Boot User With Line Noise - When this option is executed, the currently selected node window will be restored to the desktop and it will simulate the pressing of Shift-F10. The node will simulate "line noise", which is garbled characters that was caused by a bad modem connection. While this feature may not be needed today or even fool the person online, it is fun to play with :)
• Boot All Users - When this option is executed, it will simulate the pressing of F10 on all nodes that are currently active, thereby causing all nodes to close.
• Block User's IP - This option will add the current user's IP address to the block list.

In the spirit of the VADV Waiting For Call (WFC) screen, you can view your current BBS statistics. They are updated every five minutes.

Just like with the VADV WFC screen, you can view selected hard drive information. It shows the total capacity of the drive, the amount of free space left and the percentage of free space. The drive list is configured in VConfig (Main Configuration). The list is updated every five minutes.

You can double click a drive letter and a DOS prompt will be opened to that drive.

A Real-Time BBS List is a dynamic bbs listing. VADV32 has support to update your account built-in. Updates occur every five minutes. The status of the update is displayed on the main window. There are four possible messages which might appear:

• Successful Update - Your account was successfully updated.
• Invalid Username/Password - The username or password that you configured is incorrect. Check your settings.
• No Response - When the update request was sent, it never received a reply. This could be caused by a loss of Internet connectivity, the RTBBSList service being down, or from an mis-configured firewall/proxy. Be sure to install all current Windows updates as well (this fixed one occurrance).
• Unknown Response - The request was sent, but the reply it got back was invalid. You should never see this message.

The default RTBBSList service is BBSfinder. You can register for a BBSfinder account, or get more information at http://www.bbsfinder.com.

You can view the current server status in the upper left corner of the window. You can set the server status from the File menu.

• Green - Normal operation. VADV32 is accepting connections.
• Red - The server is not accepting connections.
• Yellow - The server is accepting connections, but the user will receive a message that the BBS is down for maintenance and to try calling at a later time. The user will then be disconnected.

VADV32 will monitor three areas of your BBS, as a convenience to SysOps. In the lower right portion of the main window, there are three icons. Normally, these icons are grayed out, but they will come to life in full color when an alert has been triggered. The icon meanings are:

• Mail Icon - The mail (or letter) icon specifies if you have any unread feedback waiting. You can double click this icon to load VMail.
• Pager (Smiley) Icon - If the SysOp pager is on, then this icon will be lit. If the pager is off, it will be dimmed. You can toggle the pager either from the Tools menu or from the tray icon.
• File Icon - The file folder icon specifies if there are any new files that need to be reviewed before being added to the file area.
• Inbox Icon - The inbox icon specifies that there are new messages that must be validated before they are sent out to their appropriate network.

The alerts are updated every five minutes by default.