
                              Tips and Tricks

The DOS Limit

DOS imposes a limit of 123 characters for shell commands. If Potato tries
to pass a command longer than this to PGP, you will get a error message.

You will need to shorten the command. You can do this by using shorter
pathnames. For example, if you were attaching the file
c:\stuff\myfiles\programs\example.zip, you might relocate it to
c:\temp\example.zip.

You can also shorten UserIDs passed to PGP from the Encrypt and Sign
fields. For example, instead of yournym@nym.alias.net, you might use just
yournym, or yournym@nym. As long as PGP has enough to uniquely identify the
key, it will work.

You can also specify an alternate UserID with your nym, used for signing.
Place the UserID in parenthesis after the nym address.

In addition, if you are sending PGP your passphrase, set "longphrase" =yes
or =extra in the ini file.

Most importantly, set armorlines=0 in your PGP config.txt file. Then set
"---pgp=pgp" in POT.INI. This will save you about 14 characters on the PGP
command line.

Pasting and Copying with a DOS Window

It is possible to copy and paste text to and from Potato using the
Windows95 clipboard. QuickEdit must be turned on in the window properties,
and it is helpful to have the toolbar active.

The shortcuts which come with Potato already have QuickEdit turned on. If
you need to do this manually, click on the blue bar across the top of the
window with your right mouse button. Select Properties and under Misc turn
on QuickEdit. You may also wish to turn FastPasting on, and increase the
idle sensitivity. (PGP will run faster in the background that way.)

You should also turn on Close On Exit to avoid the message "This MS-DOS
program has finished...". This way the window will close instantly when you
press Esc.

Seeing the Message

If you wish to observe the raw output of Potato before it is encrypted to
remailers, enable diagnostic mode by pressing Alt-g. When Potato runs,
after each stage you can press S to exit to DOS. After viewing the
appropriate file, remember to type exit to return to Potato.

Or, load the file in your Window's editor while Potato is paused.

Test Messages

When sending test messages, give each one a unique name or number, and save
a book for that message. When the messages come back, you can refer to the
book to see exactly how it was sent.

Another test method is to attach a copy of the book file for the very
message you are mailing. In that way the message contains all information
about how it was sent. To attach a book file:

   * Fill out the form, attaching the book file. Either encrypt it or use
     "-a" to ascii armor it.
   * Save the book file with Alt-s - you must do this before running.
   * Run with Alt-r.

When receiving the message, if you wish to view the attached book file,
decrypt it, then load it into Potato.

Windows Keyboard Macros

Using such shareware programs as Fastkeys, Stackkeys, Winkeys, etc., you
can create keyboard macros for both Windows95 and Windows 3.1. Since
windows doesn't offer much in the way of scripting, keyboard macros are an
alternative to tasks you find yourself repeating.

With a single keypress, a properly set macro can load text into Potato, and
with another single keypress you can have your email program mail Potato's
output file to the address which you've copied to the clipboard.

Once you identify a repetitive task, chances are you can automate it with a
set of macros. Check out www.hotfiles.com and www.shareware.com for some of
these programs.

PGP UserIDs

Potato allows you to include a UserID in parenthesis when sending a nym
message. This UserID is passed to PGP in lieu of the email address.
Generally, including a UserID is not necessary unless a) you want more room
on the command line, b) your nym's email address is not in the key's
UserID, or c) you have more than one key with that email address in the
UserID.

Because PGP does a substring search, it may find the wrong key if the
UserID you specify is a substring of another. Alternatively, you can
specify a key using the keyID. For example:
mynym@nym.alias.net (0xAD4C8D7E)

where "AD4C8D7E" is the KeyID.

Address Books and Remailer Lists

If you wish to keep your address book in a seperate file, just list one
address per line in a text file, and save it as c:\pot\address.txt, for
example. Then add the following line to the "To" list in POT.INI:
---fil=c:\pot\address.txt

When Potato reads the ini file, it will include the addresses.

Similarly, a remailer list can be saved to a file, and included in the
"Remailer" list of POT.INI. Any list in POT.INI will include one or more
files specified with a "---fil=" line.

This is particularly useful if your POT.INI file is secured. You can edit
the remailer list, address list, newsgroup list, etc., without desecuring
POT.INI.

Remailer Statistics

If you would like to display remailer statistics while using Potato, save
them to a file on your hard drive, such as c:\temp\remailer.htm or
c:\temp\remailer.txt.

In POT.INI, set:

---shl=edit c:\temp\remailer.htm

(You may substitute any file viewing utility for edit.)

While using Potato, press Alt-d to view statistics.

A Useful Tip Contributed by a Potato User:

          Potato useful tip #38:

          When modifying the DEC.ini file, do not save it as POT.ini


