OVERALL SYSTEM DESCRIPTION (Screen 1 of 4) The stock charting system consists of 3 separate programs: Add/Delete Stocks, Data Entry and Bar Graph. Each program has its own menus, which always appear on the bottom of the screen. Like its restaurant counterpart, a menu offers a choice of selections. To make a choice, press the letter key corresponding to the desired function, such as S for Stock Select or A for Add/Delete. As soon as the key is pressed, the selection is activated. The correct programs are automatically loaded into memory as required, and menu choices permit switch- ing freely among the programs. Each menu has a "Help" function. Just type H to get an explanation of all the choices offered by that menu. All menus also have a "Quit" function. To get out of the stock charting system and back into DOS, just press Q. This and some other functions will first ask you for confirmation of your choice in case you pressed the wrong key. Type Y for a Yes response or N for a No res- ponse as appropriate. If you make an invalid response, an error message will flash on the bottom line until a correct response is entered. To see the next Help screen, press the ENTER key now. The ENTER key is the large key near the right-hand side of the keyboard. Or, to cancel the "Help" screen display, press the Escape key now. The Escape key is the one labelled "Esc" and is on the top row near the left- hand side. OVERALL SYSTEM DESCRIPTION (Screen 2 of 4) Make all entries in Capitals - set the Caps Lock key. The function keys are not used. The program diskette is always in the left-hand drive; the data diskette which contains stock prices and other related information is always in the right- hand drive. You should not remove a diskette when the little red light is on. Normally, after the initial screen, the stock charting system will take you first to the Data Entry program, the assumption being that you will want to update volume and price data for stocks already existing on the data diskette. But you can change to one of the other programs by making the appropriate menu choice. If you are starting for the first time, insert a newly formatted diskette in the right-hand drive. The stock charting system will recognize this, and (after the initial screen) will take you directly to the Add/Delete Stocks program. You will then be prompted for the name, symbol and other information about the first stock. Press ENTER to see next Help screen, or Esc key to cancel Help screen display. OVERALL SYSTEM DESCRIPTION (Screen 3 of 4) You can have as many different data diskettes as you want. The maximum number of stocks that can be followed on one diskette will depend on the amount of information kept for each stock. If the amount of information for each stock is small, up to about 110 stocks could fit on a double-sided diskette, or about 62 on a single-sided diskette. To get a "snapshot" printout of the contents of the display screen at any time, press one of the shift keys and PRNT simultaneously. Make sure the printer is on and its "ready" light glowing first. Press ENTER to see next Help screen, or Esc key to cancel Help screen display. OVERALL SYSTEM DESCRIPTION (Screen 4 of 4) When a program wants a data item such as the name of a stock or a price, a solid reverse video block will appear, along with a blinking underline cursor. The solid block defines the maximum number of characters the item can have, and the cursor cannot be moved outside the block. The required data is to be typed into this block. Typing errors can be corrected with the Backspace key. The Backspace key is in the top row of the keyboard. After typing in the required data item, press the ENTER key. The solid block does not have to be filled. If the data is invalid, an appropriate error mes- sage will flash on the bottom line until another key is pressed. The data can then be corrected, possibly without completely re-entering it. After each data item is entered correctly, it is automatically moved to the appropriate spot on the display. Some data items are optional, such as annual earnings, dividends and price goals. In these cases - or if an item has already been entered - entry can be bypassed by pressing the ENTER key by itself. If the program requires the data, it will tell you. Press ENTER or Esc key when finished viewing.