CHEMWATCH IN GENERAL - CHEMWATCH SOLUTIONS - TRAINING - REGISTERING NEW MATERIALS - OPERATING SYSTEM SUPPORT - INSTALLATION - DOCUMENTATION - LABELS - PRINTERS - NETWORKS - STORES - PASSWORDS - WEB - SCANNED SUPPLIERS MSDS'S - VIRUS FREE - MOLECULES & VRML - BACKUP

CHEMWATCH IN GENERAL back to top

 

Q. What is Clocktower?
A. That is Chemwatch Global HQ. It is the happy institution (US Readers, Home) that houses all of the Chemwatch's finely tuned apparatus and dedicated team of professionals

 

Q. Is Chemwatch always available to answer any questions I have about the program and its operations?
A. Yes. There is a 24 hour contact number for chemical emergencies only (within America, +800CHEMCALL, within Australia, 1800 039 008, everywhere else, +800 CHEMCALL (+800 24362255)). There are people available to help with technical problems over the phone (+61 3 9572 4700) from eight AM to seven PM most days. We will also take queries by fax (+61 3 9572 4777) and email (Chemwatch@Chemwatch.net, helpdesk@chemwatch.net, it@chemwatch.net, sales@chemwatch.net) When you are reporting a problem, try to have as much information on hand as possible about what you were doing when the problem occurred, what happened when things went wrong and what any specific error messages said

 

Q. Can I sign up for a training course to tell me how to get the most out of my Chemwatch program?
A. Certainly. Contact your local Chemwatch representative or fill out the form provided on the documentation screen and fax it to Chemwatch and our trainers will contact you to organise the details

 

Q. Does Chemwatch have a web site?
A. Yes. Our web site is at http://www.chemwatch.net/
There are two sites - one that requires Flash and one that does not. You can also see us at
www.galleriachemica.net
collection.chemwatch.net
authorite.chemwatch.net
galleria.chemwatch.net

 

Q. Does Chemwatch have a way I can download tools, fixes and updates from an ftp site?
A. Yes. It is suggested you get our updates directly from our Mirror site http://mirror.chemwatch.net
This will have the fastest access to USA and other customers worldwide
It is available by HTTP and is synchronised daily with the Chemwatch server
http://mirror.chemwatch.net/pub/Chemwatch/
ftp://ftp.chemwatch.net/pub/Chemwatch/

 

There will be:

  • updated program patches and bug-fixes
  • tools not included in the most recent CD release
  • miscellaneous documentation not otherwise on the distribution media
  • documentation updates
  • information and updates pertaining to the Chemwatch for the Web

The main Chemwatch FTP server is ftp://ftp.Chemwatch.net/pub/Chemwatch/
It is on a slower link than the mirror site, so we recommend you try the mirror first and then only use this server if you can't get access to the mirror. This site will only be, at most, twenty-four hours in advance of the mirror

 

Q. What other online information services are available?
A. The weekly bulletin is available by email

 

Q. Does Chemwatch take and implement suggestions for improvements and new features from its customers?
A. Yes, wherever possible

 

Q. What do we use to develop the Chemwatch program?
A. Borland Delphi (currently version 2007), Codebase DataBase libraries in FoxPro emulation mode, Firebird SQL, InstallShield Professional (currently version 9), Visual Studio, Microsoft dot net blood, sweat, and tears

 

Q. Who uses Chemwatch?
A. Chemwatch is used world-wide by companies, Government organisations, Universities and colleges, schools, emergency services, law enforcement agencies, defence forces, hospitals, manufacturers, research facilities, Environmental facilities, aeronautical companies, chemical and pharmaceutical companies, and private individuals everywhere

 

Q. Where are Chemwatch staff representatives to be found?
A. Pretty much anywhere there is life and economic activity requiring the best safety information you can buy As this is growing rapidly, please see the contacts page on http://web.chemwatch.net/ for the latest list of helpful people near you. There are also dedicated staff contactable by international free call +800 CHEMCALL twenty-four hours a day

 

Q. Is Chemwatch familiar with the ISO9000 certification?
A. Yes - Chemwatch is now certified ISO 9001 compliant. If you don't believe us, call and sweet-talk our QA manager for the mission statement today

 

Q. Is it ChemWatch or Chemwatch?
A. Chemwatch

 

 

 

CHEMWATCH SOLUTIONS back to top

 

Q. What solutions does Chemwatch have available for me?
A. Chemwatch has 4 basic solutions available for customers; Stand-alone, LAN, Web, Chemwatch-hosted
internet (ASP)

 

Q. But wait, isn't there more?
A. Chemwatch also has the following products available:

Chemgold 3, ChemFFX, Backpack, Galleria, Chemwatcher;

Galleria: Chemwatch's information on everything?

Collection / Integrite: Access to millions of current and previous original suppliers data sheets online

Mobilite: Chemwatch on the PDA

Authorite: Authoring tool to write your own MSDSes with the help of Chemwatches experience and automatic recommendations

ChemFFX: Lightweight, fast access to core Chemwatch functionality


Q. What are the web options?
A. ChemGold 3: This consists of a suite of programs that can do more reports and risk assessments and custom label printing as well. All new features are being developed in ChemGold only

 

Q. What other new and exciting products are in the lab' right now?
A. There are several new and exciting products in the offing amongst which are;
We are also continually improving Galleria Chemica: The reference source which will know everything about materials
legislation, structures and much more besides ChemGold 4; Can you say distributed-Cloud?

 

Q. What about arrangements for materials?
A. For each type of Chemwatch solution listed above, there are 4 main types of system available, as follows:

Pure Chemicals: Customer gets access to approximately 35,000 pure chemicals
Full System: Customer gets access to everything we have got
Custom System: Customer gets access to chemicals they nominate (their 'own' system) as well as the Pure Chemicals database (their 'full' system)
Custom/Full System: Customers get access to chemicals they nominate (their 'own' system) as well as the Full System database (their 'full' system)

 

 

 

TRAINING back to top

 

Q. What training opportunities does Chemwatch offer?
A. Chemwatch offers a variety of courses half, one and two day courses on the use of the Chemwatch program and Hazardous substances

 

Q. Do the training courses on using the program expect me to be a computer whiz?
A. No, but you will be struggling if you have never touched a computer before

 

Q. Do I have to know how to use the Chemwatch program before doing the Hazardous substances level three course?
A. Yes

 

Q. Where is training held?
A. We can come to you or you can come to a session held in a city near you

 

Q. Where can I get more information about training?
A. Fill out the training information request form on the Chemwatch documentation and fax it to your nearest Chemwatch representative, or if you do not who they are, send it to Chemwatch HQ (fax number is on the form). You can usually get a list of representatives and their contact information from http://web.chemwatch.net/flashpage/non_flash/nfcont/index.html

 

Q. What do I get from training?
A. Knowledge, Satisfaction, the ability to use the Chemwatch system to its fullest capacity and a natty certificate with your name on it

 

 

 

REGISTERING NEW MATERIALS back to top

 

Q. How do I get new materials added to my Chemwatch database?
A. You contact your safety administrator (whoever orders the product or has dealings with Chemwatch) and get them to forward information about the new substance you wish registered. Send as much information about the product as you have available, including it's name, supplier, any supplier's MSDS's and product data. Try to gather your requests into batches as these will be processed with higher priority than dribs and drabs

 

Q. Will it cost me to add new materials to my system?
A. This depends on your maintainance contract. Contact Chemwatch if you do not know the details of your contract

 

Q. If I send you details for new substances, when can I see it on my CD
A. Chemwatch cuts off the database one month before each CD is issued. This means that the database cut off is as follows:

  • v1 release is cut off near the end of December in the previous year, in time for a last week of January release
  • v2 release is cut off near the end of March, in time for a last week of April release
  • v3 release is cut off near the end of June, in time for a last week of July release
  • v4 release is cut off near the end of September 1, in time for a last week of October release

The earlier in the development cycle you send the details, the more likely it is you will see your new materials on the next database

 

Q. I need an MSDS now, what can I do?
A. Chemwatch can sometimes provide both emergency information on substances not currently in our database, and MSDS's same day delivery. If this is not covered in your existing contract, this will cost money. Note that this is separate to the Chemwatch Emergency Line

 

Q. What is the Chemwatch Emergency Line?
A. This is a service that Chemwatch offers which allows twenty-four hour access to emergency information. There is an Australian number ( 1800 039 008) and a world-wide international freecall number (0800 CHEMCALL) Some companies have made arrangements with Chemwatch to allow this number to be printed as the emergency number on their products

 

 

 

OS SUPPORT back to top

 

Q. What OS's does the main Chemwatch Blue ( Chemwatch LAN application) support?
A. The LAN program is cw32.exe. This runs on all 32-bit flavours of Intel-Win32 (this includes Win2K(all), WinXP, WinVista, Windows 7 and Win2K3. It should also include the new versions of Windows but until they're released we can't test to certify that)

Our support for Windows 95 is now non-existent. Lets face it, this OS is older than many of our children, and has been forgotten about by Microsoft and should be forgotten about by everyone else, in favour of newer, more secure and reliable releases that make better utilisation of the resources

 

Q. What OS's does the main Chemwatch for the Web support?
A. ChemGold is available in 32-bit Intel binaries only. It will work with web servers running on, 2000, 2K3, 2K8 as well as desktop XP, Vista, Win7. IIS6 is fully supported on all releases since mid-2005. Apache is fully supported (and has been used by Chemwatch on its W2K3 commercial servers very successfully)

 

Q. Are there any issues with IIS6,7 or 8 and Chemwatch?
A. Blimey no - they go together like two things that go together very well

 

Q. What Mac support is there?
A. You cannot run Chemgold2 or Chemwatch blue directly on the Mac. However, both will run under emulation. You have full acccess to the web-served version through safari or firefox. IE5.3 and before is not supported on the Mac
We recommend you negotiate a contract to access one of the Chemwatch servers available across the internet, updated weekly

 

Q. Does Chemwatch do Application Service Providing (ASP)?
A. You can negotiate a contract to access one of the Chemwatch Application servers available across the internet - this requires live internet access (dsl 256 or better is recommended) and any computer that can run a relatively current browser such as Firefox (version 3) or Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 6 or later) or equivalent
You then arrange a contract with Chemwatch and we register a password or IP address controlled access to your chosen version of Chemwatch

 

Q. How else can I get Chemwatch?
A. We can also provide you MSDS's to the PDA with direct access to web-servers over WIFI/WIMAX or equivalent

 

Q. What about all the other OS's?
A. The best multi-platform solution is to set ChemGold up on a server within your intranet and then ChemGold is available on all platforms that can run suitable browsers

 

Q. What about SAP?
A. Chemwatch provides an API to the web-server that allows scripts to be setup in a SAP or any other similar environment to get access to searches, MSDSs and other reports. There document in the docs/ChemWeb on each CD, called SAP_CHEM in Adobe acrobat format

 

Q. NT3.51, Citrix with NT3.51 - why do I get an error when I run cw32.exe?
A. The compilers we use do not build 32-bit executables compatible with NT3.51. Use a browser to access the web version as a work-around

 

Q. Any issues with Windows XP?
A. No. Chemwatch default to storing its cw.ini file in your "My Documents" folder. It will still honour old cw.ini files in the PROFILE folder and in the Windows directory. Having the cw.ini file stored in the "My Documents" folder means that you can support per-user configurations
1: Legacy systems with cw.ini in the windows directory need to modify the cw.ini file properties so that all users \ have write-permission to it

 

Q. The computer complains I need shfolder.dll
A. Either install it from the extras\shfolder\shfolder.exe on the first CD or in the installation path, or download it from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&familyid=6ae02498-07e9-48f1-a5d6-dbfa18d37e0f

 

 

 

INSTALLATION back to top

 

Q. How often is Chemwatch updated?
A1. If you use the hosted solution, it is updated weekly
A2. If you use the CD/DVD, then four times a year. End of January, April, July and October. Each program will expire seven months later

 

Q. Why so often?
A. Liability. Chemwatch has an obligation to keep the chemical information current for your safety

 

Q. I'm using Win 3.11 and I can't run anything from Chemwatch anymore?
A. If you are still stuck using Win3.11, I think you have more problems than not being able to run Chemwatch

 

Q. Will a new installation overwrite my stores and risk assessments etc?
A. No. Our installation program is well behaved and doesn't not overwrite your user data files nor remove them when you uninstall. What's more from 2004/1 on, Chemwatch installation will back up stores up to StoreBKP.Z

 

Q. Should I back up my stores, risk assessments and so forth on a regular basis and before doing a new version install
A. Yes, most definitely - for safety and in case of mishap to your systems

 

Q. Do I have to uninstall Chemwatch before installing a new version?
A. The short answer is no. Chemwatch will overwrite old versions of the files if possible
The long version of the answer is you should uninstall Chemwatch first as not all files that are installed may be needed for the new version. If you uninstall, it will remove old files and ensure you have only the current set. Uninstalling will not delete stores/manifests/risk assessments or other user files

 

Q. I have a floppy and a CD from Chemwatch. Do I need them both?
A. You need both of them, if you want to see your registered materials again. For installations using v2000/4 or later you use the setup.exe on the CD and have the floppy present in the drive, or the files from it available on the harddrive

 

Q. The setup program is prompting me for a password and I don't have one
A. Check the cover of your CD for the password. All installations have a password and use the setup.exe on the CD
If you don't have a password, contact Chemwatch

 

Q. I run Chemwatch from a CD stacker. Can I just put the new CD into the stacker and have the update done?
A. No. You must perform at least a "Compact" installation to get correct access to new and updated materials
You must use the install program. Chemwatch will not work if you just copy files from the CD

 

Q. Why do I not find any commercial materials when I do a search?
A. Your Chemwatch system has not been properly installed. You must perform at least a "Compact" installation to get correct access to commercial materials. You must use the install program. Chemwatch will not work if you just copy files from the CD

 

Q. Why, when I have done a compact installation does my computer now complain it cannot find Chemwatch?
A. You've probably taken the CD out of the drive. A compact installation installs the minimum possible file set to your computer and requires you to keep the Chemwatch drive in the same drive as you installed it (unless you configure the cw.ini appropriately for it to be moved - see docs\netman.txt for details)

 

Q. Does the program work on my operating system?
A. See the OS-Support section above

 

Q. How do I install Chemwatch on my network server that isn't a PC or running a PC-OS?
A. On a client computer, connect to your server as a user or administrator who has read/write privilege for the intended installation disk and perform the installation over the network

 

Q. I don't have a floppy drive on the server, what do I do?
A. Chemwatch installations will allow the name.Z file from the floppy to be read from any valid directory
Find a machine that can copy the data from the floppy, copy it to the network and when the Chemwatch installation program can't locate a floppy it will prompt you for the directory from which it is to read. Chemwatch can also email you this file if necessary

 

Q. My computer says it "cannot install ikernel.exe" or starts running the installation wizard and then stops without installing Chemwatch
A. The installation process will unpack itself into the system TEMP directory and run from there. Your TEMP directory is defined in the environment variable TEMP, as listed in the "System" control panel for Win9x, NT, 2K
The installer will not work if the TEMP variable is not defined, or there are too many files in the directory or if there is <60mb of temporary space on the drive. Windows XP requires you to have permissions to install files in the "Program Folders" directory

 

Q. When I run the installer, I am prompted with a message offering choices to 'Repair, Modify or Remove'
Why?
A. You've already installed Chemwatch, and it is second guessing that you would like to do something quicker than
reinstalling fully

 

Q. I have the 'Repair, Modify or Remove' options. How do I see the normal installation screen instead?
A. Select the 'Remove' option and fully remove Chemwatch from the system. Next time you run the Chemwatch' Setup.exe you will see the normal installation options

 

Q. I've done a remove, like you said in the previous question, but nothing changed. Help?
A. Installshield isn't always able to remove the registry keys that it created during an Installation
(Thank Microsoft for this technological innovation). This can be for a number of reasons such as your user account doesn't have the privileges required to change the registry. If you do have the necessary privileges, you can roll up your sleeves and manually delete the registry keys that Installshield writes out. To do this, first run regedit.exe. Now you can either do a search for all keys containing either 'Chemwatch' or 'cw32.exe' and remove their encompassing folders
There should be 2 Chemwatch keys - one is the group of icons created in your program menu and the other is the uninstallation key. Alternatively you might prefer to select "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\". Now the Chemwatch key is in a folder that is a huge long alpha-numeric key in braces (eg {6F716D8C-398F-11D3-85E1-005004838609}). You may have several of these, so inspect each for a display name of "Chemwatch". When you find the matching one, remove the entire key folder. The key will be different for each release of Chemwatch. It is an unfriendly alphanumeric string because standard Installshield doesn't clearly document how to make it anything else (in fact it says you can't make it anything else). All this applies to Chemwatch Gold as well

You can also use Microsoft's installer cleaner to remove references to programs that have been uninstalled. This can
be downloaded from http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=290301

 

Q. How do I install ChemGold?
A. You need to negotiate a license with Chemwatch to have access to setting up your own ChemGold server. Once you have this, you should receive a password for ChemGold on a sticker on each DVD (Chemgold is not available on CD). Then, prior to 2002/1 you needed to install the database and then run ChemGold.exe. From 2002/1 on you need just need to select Web - Gold from the main setup.exe. This will then install the full database and the ChemGold programs

 

Q. Do we have any other sources of information for securing Windows Servers?
A. Check Microsoft's official guide to securing Win2K servers at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/prodtech/Windows/SecWin2k/Default.asp

 

 

 

DOCUMENTATION back to top

 

Q. Where do I find documentation on Chemwatch?
A. On the first screen of Chemwatch there is a button marked "Documentation". There is information for the network managers and installers of Chemwatch on the "Network" tab of "Turbo Tools". There is additional documentation for the ChemGold product in the ChemWeb directory on every CD
You can also download our latest documentation from the http://www.chemwatch.net/

 

Q. What documentation is available for users of Chemwatch?
A. The latest version of each manual is in the "docs" folder on each cd. Most documents are available in Adobe PDF format. There is:

  • A technical manual, covering most areas of Chemwatch operation
  • Workbook 1 which covers training course level 1 and 2
  • Workbook 2 which covers training course level 3
  • Workbook for the Web which covers training in the ChemGold program
  • Additional ChemGold documentation in the "docs\ChemWeb" sub-folder
  • The release letter. Each CD we send a letter with important information about the update with the cd. As most people throw it away before the information is passed on, we put a copy of it on the CD
  • A request for training. If you are interested in training, fill this out and fax it to our trainin? staff and they will keep you posted on exciting opportunities in your neighbourhood
  • A change of contact details form - if you have become the new person on your site responsible for Chemwatch, send this through to us
  • Other miscellaneous forms
  • A frequently asked Questions guide (this document). This will be on each CD as faq.txt and also available from our ftp site (ftp://ftp.Chemwatch.net/pub/dist/tools) and on our web site (http://www.Chemwatch.net/Chemwatch/FAQ.htm) There is also a mirror of the ftp site http://mirror.chemwatch.net/
  • Some translated documentation is also availabe in "docs\Chinese"
  • Some documents relevant to the United States in "docs\USA"
  • Legislation of interest in "docs\legislat"

Q. What documention is available for administrators, network managers and technical types?
A.

  • Important information for network managers and client side setup is available in netman.txt and netclnt.txt. These are text files with embedded HTML
  • People trying to import stores can read about this process in storconv.doc
  • Intranet information is held in docs\Chemweb\readme.doc on the CD. This contains system requirements, installation istructions and frequently asked web questions
  • Intranet connectivity information is held in docs\Chemweb\SAP.doc. This details the API for connecting to Chemwatch CGI programs directly on your local webserver

 

 

 

LABELS back to top

 

Q. I have printed the A4 or Small label for my favourite chemical. It has all the text, but no graphics have appeared. Why?
A. Chemwatch A4 and Small labels must be printed on preprinted stock, available from Chemwatch. We provide this as preprinted stock to overcome the need for most clients to find a colour printer that can print waterproof, infra-red safe labels. You can also design equivalent labels with the Custom Label generator that do not require Chemwatch printed stock

 

Q. Where do we get the labels for other than the A4 or Small?
A. Check your local Office stationary supply company or printers. Labels are also available directly from large suppliers such as JAC

 

Q. What kind of high speed, high performance printers can I get to print labels by the hundreds or thousands
A. Chemwatch recommends TEC printers for fast, high quality tough labels. They are a roll printer that can print in the 15cm-25cm per second rate onto a range of chemical safe materials from fine card to thick plastics
The ribbons come in a range of materials suitable for all manner of applications

 

 

 

PRINTERS back to top

 

Q. What printers does Chemwatch support?
A. Chemwatch uses the windows system printing interface, so any printer you have a driver for or you can use from other windows programs can be used with Chemwatch. However, based on many customer's experience, Hewlett Packard Laserjet printers series 2, 3, 4, 5 and 2100 are problematic. Different configurations and different drivers have been known to cause layout measurement, font size and graphics problems. Chemwatch has been configured to resolve all known printer problems where possible, but if you must buy a Hewlett Packard Laserjet, we would recommend get a Laserjet 6 or later. We have been advised in 2003/3 that new drivers are available from Hewlett Packard which do solve these problems with laserJet 2-5

 

Q. I have a networked Hewlett Packard printer that has its own ethernet card rather than an interface to a local computer or printer server and print jobs are vanishing from the print queue or even never appearing on the printer queue. Whose fault is this?
A. The compiler we use (Borland Delphi ) does not always correctly use printers that do not have their own print host. Printing can be routed through a subsidiary print host that redirects jobs to the network printer. Novell has commands for aliasing lpt0 to the interface network print interface

 

Q. What printers does Chemwatch use?
A. We use a Samsung NL1600 for our bulk printing. At 16ppm, for 60000 pages pcm, why not

 

Q. The graphics on my reports are not appearing. Why not?
A. Ensure that the graphics are turned on in the Printer Setup screen. If they are turned on, try the four different graphics printing modes. Mode 4 is a failsafe mode that works on all documented HP printers that Chemwatch customers have reported using. Modes 1-3 will work on most printers

 

Q. I am using a HP LaserJet 3, 4 or 5 and the fonts spacings are coming out "funny" on my reports. How do I get a more readable report?
A. Hewlett Packard advises to check your printer driver's document defaults. If this page contains a choice to "Print true-type fonts as bitmap", then enable this option. This will print more slowly, but should correct the spacing problems. Please notify Chemwatch of the model printer and driver you are using, and we will do what we can to remedy this problem for future versions

 

Q. Do I require any special drivers to print from within Chemwatch?
A. No. Chemwatch uses the system printer drivers in the Windows printing system. By default, it will print to the default system printer. Other printers may be chosen from the Printer Setup screen

 

Q. What kind of high speed, high performance printers can I get to print labels by the hundreds or thousands
A. Chemwatch recommends TEC printers for fast, high quality tough labels. They are a roll printer that can print
in the 15cm-25cm per second rate onto a range of chemical safe materials from fine card to thick plastics
The ribbons come in a range of materials suitable for all manner of applications

 

Q. Can I fax reports directly from Chemwatch, the program?
A. Yes. There are two ways to do this; either print the report to a file and then import it to a fax capable program or use a program such as WinFax-Pro(tm) which installs a driver that makes the modem pretend to be a printer, which is then selectable on the printer setup screen

 

Q. Can I generate PDF's directly from Chemwatch, the program?
A. Currently only by using a pdf-printer like Acrobat Distiller or PDF-printer

 

 

 

NETWORKS back to top

 

Q. Is Chemwatch at home on Local area networks?
A. Yes. See documentation Turbo Tools Screen, Important information for Network managers ("docs\netman.txt")

 

Q. Can my data be shared around networks?
A. Yes. See documentation in Turbo Tools Screen, Important information for Network Clients ("docs\netclnt.txt")

 

Q. Is Chemwatch at home on Wide area networks?
A. Chemwatch for windows can be used on WAN's, but the speed of execution is not great. It can be optimised, using local caching. However, for best WAN performance, Chemwatch recommends ChemGold for the Web

 

Q. What about thin clients?
A. Many of our clients use Chemwatch on a Terminal Server or Citrix Server with great satisfaction

 

Q. How do I install Chemwatch on my network server that isn't a PC or running a PC OS?
A. On a client computer, connect to your server as a user or administrator who has read/write privilege for the intended installation disk and perform the installation over the network

 

 

 

STORES back to top

 

Q. Why don't I have any CHANGE/DELETE or NEW buttons on my screen?
A. You have "Use Shared Stores" turned on in Turbo Tools. Return to the Turbo Tools screen and untick the "Use Shared Stores" option. Shared stores are forced to be read-only

 

Q. I've just unticked "Use Shared Stores" and now I can't see any stores. Why?
A. When "Use Shared Stores" is turned on, the data is read from the shared store directory. When you turn Shared Stores off, you are reading from your CHEM directory (mentioned in the CHEM= line in your cw.ini file). See the "More Info Please" button on the Turbo Tools Stores panel, or read storinfo.txt to learn about how to get and retrieve shared stores

 

Q. I'm using ChemWeb (with the marbled background) and can't find my manifests - what have I done?
A. As of 2004/4, ChemWeb no longer supports manifests, as the new security system is not able to be ported to it. If you use manifests/inventory features, then you need to upgrade to ChemGold

 

Q. What about security for my stores?
A. See docs/Security.pdf for a full explanation of what is available

 

 

 

PASSWORDS back to top

 

Q. How do Chemwatch passwords work?
A. Chemwatch has a built-in password facility that can be used to limit people's ability to change data or to access certain areas of the program. This can be used to supplement the network passwords and shared-data controls. See the purple, "More Info Please" button the Chemwatch password screen for a detailed explanation

 

Q. How do I access the Chemwatch password screen?
A. On the startup screen of Chemwatch, there is a "Password" button. When you have pushed this, you will be prompted for a master password to gain access to the Chemwatch password facility
Chemwatch is shipped with a default master-password of <I>supervisor</I>

 

Q. When should I use Chemwatch passwords?
A. If you want to restrict some users from getting access to database level-2 components or their ability to view and change certain data

 

Q. Are these passwords the same as stores passwords and security?
A. No

 

 

 

WEB back to top

 

Q. I want to distribute Chemwatch across a wide-area network. Can I use the cw32.exe?
A. Yes, but it will be very slow. Chemwatch for the Web has been designed for simpler access across low bandwidth
connections

 

Q. What do I need to setup the web?
A. A working web server on a platform capable of running Windows 32bit Intel binaries, 650Mb of disk space and someone familiar with the web server and its workings to set the program up

 

Q. What web servers does Chemwatch reccomend?
A. Chemwatch has found Apache available from http://www.apache.org to give reliable service

 

Q. What problems are there with Microsoft IIS?
A. New security flaws are being discovered in it on a regular basis. It provides all the functionality required, but Chemwatch would strongly reccomend downloading all security patches from http://download.microsoft.com every week

 

Q. What sources of information are there for setting up the Web?
A. docs/ChemWeb contains a quick setup guide in the Readme.pdf files. There is also a step-by-step guide to setting up ChemGold with IIS4,5,5.1,6 and 7 as well as Apache. If you would like another type of server documented, contact Chemwatch. Also check our ftp site for current and new documents

 

Q. Why is there a license document and lots of qualification to the setup instructions for the Web?
A. Web servers are complex program that can introduce a number of frailties or security flaws to networks ChemGold programs are secure and are regularly checked for security issues. However, poorly setup web-servers are not. We reccomend that the setup on your web-site is done by a professional IT person to ensure that a misconfiguration of the web server doesn't introduce flaws in your network
Chemwatch issues a license for the Web that insists you must make ChemGold available only to your corporate network as we have worked hard on this on your behalf and do not wish to send this information out for free

 

 

 

SCANNED SUPPLIERS MSDS'S back to top

 

Q. What are Scanned Suppliers MSDS's?
A. As well as being one of the major supplier's of independently reviewed Material Safety Data Sheets, Chemwatch has established a database of scanned copies of the original suppliers MSDS

 

Q. How do I get these things?
A. Contact Chemwatch and request a copy of the suppliers MSDS cd. You will need to supply a list of materials that you would like, as the entire collection requires approximately 15 CD's and is only available by agreement with Chemwatch

 

Q. Can I add my own?
A. Chemwatch provides cwscan32.exe as an application for scanning suppliers MSDS's or other related documentation. You can access this by searching for a material and then going to the summary screen and pushing the suppliers MSDS button. You can use any other scanning software you have and enjoy, by selecting it on the Turbo-Tools SCAN tab. Further documentation is also available there. You can also send documents to Chemwatch to be added to the Chemwatch central repository

 

Q. What other ways do I have of getting to the scans?
A. Chemwatch scanned supplier's MSDS's are also available over the net from the Chemwatch web services
Contact Chemwatch for details of how you might connect to this

 

 

 

VIRUS FREE back to top

 

Q. Are Chemwatch CD's free from Viruses?
A. Yes, most assuredly

 

Q. How do you know?
A. We scan the outgoing programs with the latest version of VET anti-virus (http://www.vet.com.au). You can see the verification log in the "Virus Scan" button under "More Technical Docs" on the documentation screen

 

Q. Why do you not just use Norton AntiVirus?
A. Norton has twice given false-positives on viruses in the Chemwatch software (once in our web package and once in Installshield's 6.31 setup.exe). These reports were wrong and caused by problems with the updated macro files that were downloadable from the Norton update service at that time. These caused considerable unecessary consternation amongst some of our users

 

Q. What should I do if my virus scanner reports problems with Chemwatch?
A. Check you are scanning the original CD, and not a subsequent installation that may have been infected subsequently on the machine. If so, then please contact Chemwatch to report the incident and staff will advise you

 

Q. What else does Chemwatch do to fight viruses?
A. We use email-filtering services of MessageLabs to ensure that all email-borne viruses are removed before they even come on site. We have banned the use of Microsoft Outlook so that OTD (outlook-transmitted diseases) will not propogate

 

 

 

MOLECULES & VRML back to top

 

Q. How is the 3D modelling of the molecules done?
A. VRML (Virtual Reality Markup Language). The files are cached in the mols directory of your CHEM folder if you want to look at them outside Chemwatch

 

Q. In ChemGold I can't get the Cosmo Plugin to work - it hangs my computer - what do I do?
A. Use Windows-Update from Microsoft to update your browser and apply all the patches. This will stop this happenin?

 

Q. I still can't get the plugin working - do I panic now?
A. No - any VRML browser will do. Chemwatch has had good displays from the ParallelGraphics plugin for PC & Mac
http://www.parallelgraphics.com

 

Q. What other resources are there for finding VRML browsers for the mac?
A. For Macintosh, start at http://www.macweb3d.org. Also search on www.google.com for vrml browser macintosh

 

 

 

BACKUP back to top

 

Q. What files do I backup to keep my Chemwatch data safe so that I can sleep nights?
A. Chemwatch has an automatic facility that can backup your files for cw32.exe. This is accessed through the Backup
button on the first screen of Chemwatch. You can backup the files to a network, or local drive or removable media. CW32.exe offers the choice of using compressed files or direct copies. You can also use the backup tool (bkupTool.exe) shipped on the CD. This tool allows you the choice of backing up your files to a backup directory and automatically keeping N many months of archives, or limiting the archive so that it will keep N many megabytes of archives. You can also run this from the command line

 

Q. I want to do my own backing up. How do I find out what files to backup?
A. Chemwatch lists all possible user files in backup.lst. These will occur in CHEM directories and STORE directories

 

Q. What do I backup on a web server?
A. Backup your webcw.ini and the contents of the CHEM directory. All user files are written out to the CHEM directory