Horse Menu FAQ
0. What happened
to Horse Menu?
Regrettably, Horse Menu is no longer available for download or purchase.
We are very sorry for the inconvenience. You may contact software@nimatoad.com
with any questions or comments.
1. Why did
you create Horse Menu?
I originally created Horse Menu because I wanted a quick way to view
information about my current machine's hardware and software configuration.
There are many ways of gathering the bits and pieces of information that Horse
Menu provides. However, I desired a tool that would put all of the information
in a centralized location, quickly.
2. How does
Horse Menu gather information so quickly?
Unlike many other utilities, Horse Menu does not use any command
line programs to gather information. Additionally, information is only gathered
once it has changed. Horse Menu does not needlessly update its contents. This
results in better responsiveness, a smaller memory footprint, and lower usage
of system resources in general.
3. Does Horse Menu require me to authenticate as an Administrator?
Although no authentication is required to simply gather data, some
features require Administrator privileges. For example, changing the priority
of running processes, and sending signals to processes which you do not own.
If Administrator privileges are ever required, you will be prompted with a
dialog. Immediately after the task has been performed, Horse Menu
will deauthenticate to prevent unauthorized or accidental use.
4. Why doesn't
Horse Menu tell me about <your feature here>?
There are several possible reasons. 1) I haven't thought of it yet. 2) I haven't
devised an efficient way of doing it yet. 3) No one has suggested
it yet. 4) There is no good way of doing it.
The best thing to do is email
Nimatoad Software and request the feature. Many of Horse Menu's features that
have been added since version 1.0 were based on user requests.
5. Why does
the All Processes menu item need to open a separate panel?
One of the primary goals of Horse Menu is to keep it fast and responsive
(see question #2 above). It takes a few moments to gather this information,
even on a fast machine. This lag would result in a huge reduction in responsiveness
if the All Processes menu was a part of the main menu. By showing this information
in a separate panel, the delay is hardly noticeable. The reason this panel
closes after you make a selection is because the information needs to be updated
as often as possible. Otherwise, there would be a chance that the process
you think you are killing (or doing anything else to) was actually a different
process. Forcing the panel to be reopened results in more accurate information.
6. How can
I help?
For information
on Horse Menu plug-in development, click
here. If you would like to join the Horse Menu development mailing list,
send an email to majordomo@nimatoad.com.
In the body of your message, only include the text subscribe
horse-menu-dev. I use this list to periodically distribute pre-release
versions of Horse Menu that incorporate new or experimental features.
7. Why is
it named Horse Menu?
Nimatoad Software
has a tradition of animal-themed names (Nimatoad
Software, MooSB,
Horse
Menu). The reason we chose to use a horse for this particular program
is best left to your imagination.