Download Arachnophilia 5.2, build 1959 (12/08/2003) (Java)

Please complete all the steps in the list below (don't leave anything out):

1. Read "A note about Freeware"

2. Acquire the Arachnophilia executable.
   • For Windows users more comfortable with automatic installation programs, download the Windows executable installation program Arachnophilia.exe  (1.7 MB) containing the Arachnophilia executable Java JAR file.

   • For all others, download the executable Java JAR file Arachnophilia.jar  (1.5 MB).

3. Acquire the required Java 2 release 1.4 or better runtime engine.
   • Click this http://java.com link to download the required Java runtime engine (needed by those who don't already have a release 1.4 or newer runtime engine).

   • Important Note for Windows users. While installing the JRE, unless you have a compelling reason to do so, do not allow the Java JRE to become the default Java engine for MSIE's handling of Internet applets. This choice frequently results in a significant decrease in performance. The JRE installation program gives you the opportunity to choose this option, and it is selected by default. Deselect this option unless you really need to use JRE 1.4 for Internet applets.

4. Install Arachnophilia
   • Those who downloaded the Windows install program:
     Run the install executable you downloaded (Arachnophilia.exe), follow the instructions, be sure you have also installed the Java runtime before running Arachnophilia.

   • Those who downloaded the JAR file version:
     Put the JAR file you downloaded (Arachnophilia.jar) anywhere appropriate on your system, be sure you have also installed the Java runtime before running Arachnophilia.

5. Run Arachnophilia
   • Those who downloaded the Windows install program:
     Click the program icon located at "Start ... Programs ... Arachnophilia ... Arachnophilia"
     This icon can be copied onto the desktop or anywhere else you want.

   • Those who downloaded the JAR file version:
     Open a command console (Linux: shell console), move to the Arachnophilia program directory, type "java -jar Arachnophilia.jar"
     For convenience, this command can be made part of a shell script, and those using X windows can easily make a desktop icon.

Installation Notes:

• If you have not completed all the steps in the list above, please do not write me to say the program is not working. Instead:
  1. Complete all the steps in the list above.
  2. Complete all the steps in the list above.
  3. Complete all the steps in the list above.

• One more thing. Did I remember to mention that you have to complete all the steps in the list above?

• Each user who logs onto your system (or network) will get a separate installation of the Arachnophilia configuration files. This means each user's configuration choices are distinct and separate.

Read "A note about Freeware"

Read the Online Arachnophilia Documentation.

Read the Arachnophilia Frequently Asked Questions.

To read about CareWare, visit the CareWare Home Page.

Permissions and Prohibitions

Something happened recently that was so completely astonishing that I feel I must clarify a few issues.

• For those Arachnophilia power users who want to, please feel free to write and distribute Arachnophilia macros, in fact, this is encouraged.
  
  
• For those who want to tear into the Arachnophilia JAR file, strip out my copyright notices and sell what is left over, you may not do this, and you will be prosecuted if you do.
  
  

If, while reading this, you think, "No one would be so stupid as to consider this course of action," think again. The average IQ of Internet users is in ballistic free-fall and has been for some time, and it appears there is no end in sight for utterly brainless schemes like the one described above, an example of which just came to my attention.

Arachnophilia is © Copyright 2003, P. Lutus. Modification of the Arachnophilia program in any way whatsoever is a federal copyright violation, and removal of copyright notices is a separate federal offense.

Discussion: Why is Arachnophilia now a Java program?

There are several reasons:

1. Virtually from the day I released the earlier version of Arachnophilia, people on non-Windows systems have been asking for a version for their machines. This new release addresses that need — it will run on virtually any computer.

2. Until recently I wrote programs only for Windows, but like many, I have noticed that Microsoft's originally positive behavior and attitude toward its customers has gradually evaporated, replaced by an increasingly fascist policy — greater profit, less time wasted improving its products. Over time, Microsoft's programs have gotten worse — more and more features, less and less internal coherence. But this all pales compared to an apparent Microsoft corporate goal: complete control of the end user's computer. It has recently been discovered that Windows XP users may have parts of their operating system replaced by Microsoft while they are on line, without any overt notification or permission. This change of policy is official — it is in very small print, but Microsoft is not trying to conceal their plans.

   Things are so bad at Microsoft that someone like me can write and give away a program that does things no Microsoft program can do, at any price. This is not a claim that Arachnophilia is a fantastic program, it is more a statement that Microsoft's programs are rapidly drifting toward dreadful.

   Look at it this way. When you download Arachnophilia, I don't require you to call me up to "activate" my software. I won't sell your name to my "corporate enterprise partners," in fact chances are I will never find out your name. Arachnophilia won't die suddenly because you didn't call me up within 50 days of the installation, it won't surreptitiously connect you to my corporate office so I can spy on your computer, it doesn't die if you try to install it on more than one machine or give it to a friend. And — hard to believe — all these dreadful things are true of current Microsoft products.

   And possibly more important, Arachnophilia learns things from you — you tell Arachnophilia how to behave. If you don't like how a toolbar button acts, simply right-click it and edit its contents. There is no Microsoft program at any price that can do this.

   Read more about Microsoft's recent behaviors on my Boycott Microsoft page.

3. Computer programs written for one platform are doomed to an early obsolescence. This is a truth about computer programs that is only now being addressed by languages like Java. In modern computer technology, there is a rapid trend toward computer hardware costing less and less, and computer software costing more and more.

   This means portable, reusable code is increasingly important. I have spent most of my programming career writing programs that lasted, say, five years, after which (obsolescence issues aside) there might not be a machine that could run them any more.

Related Links

• Arachnophilia FAQ. Hints for problem-solving.
  

  Always look here for new suggestions — the online version of the FAQ may be more recent than the one bundled with your copy of Arachnophilia.

• Revision History

  A blow-by-blow history of the changes in Arachnophilia.

• Arachnophilia 4.0 (legacy, no longer supported)
• java.sun.com

Bug reports

• Very few of the bug reports I receive are actually reports of bugs at all, or, if that, bugs in Arachnophilia. If you think it is appropriate to submit a bug report, do this:
  1. Look for the the file (user home directory)/.Arachnophilia/ArachErrorLog.txt. If it has any contents below the dashed line, include the entire contents in your bug report (especially the first line). If there are no errors reported, be sure to say this also.
  2. Go to http://www.arachnoid.com/arachnophilia/arach_email.html to submit your report. This page is not for inquiries about making an HTML table look a certain way. It is only for Arachnophilia bug reports.